Riverdale Historic District

The Riverdale area, along the east bank of the Hudson River, was part of the large region inhabited by the Mahican Indians until 1646, when it came under the control of Dutch trader Adrian Van der Donck. Although the area remained relatively untouched, the land immediately acquired a higher speculative value in 1849 upon the completion of the Hudson River Railroad. A group of influential and wealthy businessmen purchased a 100-acre parcel in 1852 and founded Riverdale as a suburban summer community. The earliest known railway suburb of New York City, the community was for a time the only stop on the railroad between Spuyten Duyvil and Yonkers.

Riverdale was originally developed as seven estates linked by a carriage alley, now Sycamore Avenue. Encompassing about fifteen acres of steeply sloping land overlooking the Hudson River and the Palisades, today the Riverdale District is composed of thirty-four buildings. These include villas of the 1850s with their later alterations; nineteenth and early twentieth century stables and carriage houses later converted to residential use; and traditional houses from the first half of the twentieth century. Riverdale was prototypical in its picturesque layout, with all the houses sited to take advantage of the original landscaping and topography of the seven estates. These landscape features include stone borders and retaining walls, terraces, steps, path and driveways, cobbled street gutters, individual specimen trees, and rows of trees and hedges. ©2014