Bartow-Pell Mansion

In 1654 Connecticut physician Thomas Pell purchased land from the Siwanoy Indians, on which a manor house was constructed in 1675. This manor served several generations of Pells before burning during the Revolutionary War. Pell descendant Robert Bartow built his mansion on the same site in 1843.

The entryway of the main house features an imposing spiral staircase. The two main floors have been decorated with 1830-1860s furniture and decorative plaster accents the expansive, high-ceilinged double parlor. One second-floor bedroom features a crowned mahogany sleigh bed hung in tangerine shantung silk and tall windows opening onto wrought-iron balconies. The windows grant a view of the nearby conservatory, which shelters fruit trees and a statue of Venus.

The main house and grounds

—which include formal terrace garden, fountain, herb and perennial gardens and stunning views of Long Island Sound—have been maintained by the International Garden Club since 1914. An adjacent 1840s carriage house serves as the exhibition center.

New York City bought the estate in 1888 as part of its parks program. The last of many mansions that once graced the Pelham Bay Park area, it was used by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia as a summer office in 1936. The architect is unknown.