Proposed by: The Little Garden Club of Rye, Zone III

In 1916, Samuel Untermyer hired Welles Bosworth to create a magnificent garden for his mansion overlooking the Hudson River. It became one of the most important private gardens of the early 20th century. In the years after Untermyer’s death, many of the gardens were abandoned and the rest minimally maintained by the family; the mansion was razed. Eventually the land was given to the city of Yonkers to become a public park. In the 1990s, Stephen Byrns, a founding partner of BKSK Architects in Manhattan, first visited the skeletal remains of the languishing gardens. Stephen started to envision the possibility of rescuing the once-famous gardens. In 2011, he began in earnest and within a few short years had established a conservancy, recruited a board of directors, negotiated a public/private agreement with the City of Yonkers, and secured funding to replant the walled garden and install deer fencing around the 43 acres.  Since then, restoration has continued at an energetic pace such that under Steve’s inspiring and creative leadership, the once-neglected gardens have become a crown jewel for the City of Yonkers and have now been restored to national prominence.