Gardens are sanctuaries, places of healing, and reflect a gardener’s care, even within an urban environment. New Yorkers and visitors do not have to travel far to discover a garden gem that is being restored and polished to a new brilliance. Untermyer Park and Gardens in Yonkers, just 30 minutes north of Manhattan, is an Indo-Persian walled garden that has been rescued and restored over the past 14 years by a group of experienced gardeners, talented board members, and enthusiastic volunteers. The extraordinary restoration is still ongoing and led every step of the way by its president and founder of the Untermyer Garden Conservancy, Stephen F. Byrns.
In partnership with the City of Yonkers which owns the municipal park, the Conservancy works to restore, interpret, and enhance Untermyer Park and Gardens and to raise funds to support its annual operation and capital expenses.
This 43-acre public garden overlooking the Hudson River has an illustrious history starting in the mid 1800s with the building of the house, Greystone, by hat manufacturer, John Waring. Then former New York governor and presidential candidate, Samuel Tilden, acquired the house and grounds building 13 greenhouses and expansive vegetable and flower gardens. Afterwards, in 1899, Samuel and Minnie Untermyer bought the house and gardens from the Tilden estate and, in 1916, hired the architect and landscape designer Wells Bosworth to “create the finest garden in America.”
Samuel Untermyer was a prominent lawyer, investor, and supported many organizations that improved civic welfare while Minnie was instrumental in transforming the New York Philharmonic among other important organizations. Samuel was a knowledgeable and committed horticulturalist.
At the height of the Untermyer ownership in the 1920s and ‘30s, the garden was one of the only gardens in America to be open to the public on a regular basis. Special events, including the displays of Untermyer’s famous chrysanthemums and tulips, were enjoyed by so many visitors. Thirty-thousand people visited it on one day in 1939. At that time, the garden comprised 150 acres maintained by 60 gardeners, and was supplied by 60 of its own greenhouses.
The years passed and the gardens went through many ups and downs with the house being demolished in 1946. That same year, the Untermyer family gave 16 acres to the City of Yonkers as a public garden. And many years later, in the 1990s, some remaining acreage was acquired to bring the grounds to the current 43 acres.
On a recent really hot day in New York when the garden felt particularly cool and appealing, Side of Culture had the opportunity to tour Untermyer Gardens and to speak to its president, Stephen F. Byrns, who talked about the history of the garden and how he came there. After a long and active career as an architect, he became reacquainted with the Untermyer Gardens and started the Conservancy in 2011. The Conservancy was the lynchpin that turned the garden around along with tremendous support from volunteers and generous donors. Byrns spearheaded the restoration of the garden to what visitors experience today. He sought out the counsel and expertise of Marco Polo Stufano, the founding director of horticulture at Wave Hill in the Bronx, who had been a student of T.H. Everett – the dean of American horticulture and a gardener whom Samuel Untermyer hired off the boat (literally) from England. The best gardeners at that time came from England and Untermyer offered housing in a dormitory for unmarried gardeners.
Importantly Stufano suggested to hire Timothy Tilghman as the head gardener who has literally transformed the garden. Today, Tilghman still leads the garden’s ambitious restoration effort. With more than 30 years of horticultural experience, most of which are devoted to public horticulture, Tilghman is the mainstay of the garden itself uncovering ruins, discovering hidden paths and layouts, and planning renovations for the future.
Today the garden is a delight for all the senses. At the center is the Walled Garden, which is literally based on the Garden of Eden, as described in the Book of Genesis and is considered the finest Ino-Persian Garden in the Western Hemisphere. The crisscrossing canals represent the four rivers of Paradise while the four land quadrants represent earth air, fire, and water. And it goes on from there. The Persian Pool is alluring and photogenic complete with marine life mosaics. The meadow overlooking the Hudson is still being planted out today.
An inconspicuous doorway in the north loggia of the Walled Garden leads to a breathtaking staircase to the Hudson River with ancient Roman columns. Then there is the ornamental vegetable garden tended by student interns from the Yonkers public high schools, the Rhododendron Walk, the Ruin Garden, and the Woodland trail, the Carriage Trail, the Stumpery, the Temple of Love and the Rock and Stream Garden and the Crescent Garden each with their horticulture features throughout the year. You can explore the entire garden with a docent or with a free digital guide on Bloomberg Connects. The richly illustrated book, Forgotten No More: The Restoration of Untermyer Gardens, chronicles the garden’s progress.
The big news from Stephen Byrns is after 12 years of discussions and negotiations, the City of Yonkers, St. John’s Riverside Hospital, and the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy have signed an agreement to swap some land owned by the City and the hospital. A portion of the parking lot at the hospital will be relocated, which will enable the Conservancy to restore the last major element of the historic Untermyer Gardens, the Color Gardens. The Vista was originally bordered by six Color Gardens. Now the bottom two Color Garden footprints are visible but with the land arrangement, three of the remaining Color Gardens can be restored. When all is done, there will be five Color Gardens featuring fountains and statuary.
One of the most brilliant and attractive aspects of the Untermyer Gardens today is its flourishing and dedicated community of volunteers and public outreach. Highschool students are maintaining the vegetable gardens; there are workshops, classes, and school visits; tours; classes for adults from painting and horticulture to photography; and an annual family day. Regular concerts and performances in the afternoons and evenings are held in the garden. Each year ends with a brilliant celebration: the Grand Holiday Illumination which has become a Yonkers tradition, and thousands of visitors come to enjoy the spectacle, enjoy free hot chocolate and the community.
Beautiful public gardens that are surrounded by diverse, urban areas become even more special because of their surroundings that may be noisy and crowded and intense. City gardens offer their neighbors, communities and visitors from near and far, a beautiful respite, an oasis, a destination that offers beauty and restful green landscapes. Samuel Untermyer’s dedication and legacy are carried out today in the current exemplary standards in horticultural, design, as well as the monumental architecture.
The Conservancy is committed to sharing this outstanding resource with a diverse, global audience. It is free to the public and open seven days a week. The garden is located at 945 North Broadway and there are many restaurants and hotels nearby.
By Victoria Larson, publisher of SideofCulture.com
Top Photo is by Jessica Norman. This is the north-south axis that terminates at an amphitheater flanked by two sphinxes sculpted by Paul Manship and set on cipollino marble columns, based on a similar feature int he Boboli Gardens in Florence, Italy.
