Some of the most spectacular features of Samuel Untermyer’s historic gardens are basking in glory again, a century after their heyday as one of the greatest gardens in America and fifteen years into an extraordinary restoration effort. Under the leadership of the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy and with support from the public, the treasures of this landscape are still being unearthed.
The Garden Conservancy’s Jean and John Greene Prize for Excellence in American Gardening will provide $45,000 toward the project, estimated to cost about $775,000. Sullivan and Cromwell LLP provided pro-bono legal support to prepare the land agreement, signed this year between St. John’s Riverside Hospital, the City of Yonkers, and the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy. Ferguson & Shamamian Architects created a rendering of the restored gardens.
Visitors to Untermyer love the fact that on every visit, they find something new, Byrns says. They discover the stunning Vista after strolling through the Walled Garden, entering a loggia, and finding a modest-si]e doorway that reveals the breathtaking view. The Color Gardens will add a whole new element of surprise.
Originally, the Color Gardens were six terraces: pink, blue, red, white, and yellow, with a delphinium garden at the base. The restoration by Timothy Tilghman, Head Gardener, envisions new color themes, incorporating contrasting hues for a more vibrant effect.
Today, the upper terraces are buried beneath pavement, overgrown vegetation, and a hospital parking lot. The top terrace, now under a road, is lost forever. The next is half present, with a road cutting through the north end. Below that, an overgrown lot hides a set of terrace steps and a decorative limestone arch, and next is a hospital parking area where another terrace was.
In 2027, the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy plans to relocate the parking spaces and reconnect the upper areas of the garden. It will also need to move the boundaries of the critically important deer fence, installed in 2011-2012 around the perimeter of the garden. Once those projects are complete, the hope is to begin rebuilding the Color Gardens in 2028.
The two lower terraces hint at what’s to come. Above a semicircular lawn with traces of the old beds, a stairway is now restored, framed by low stone walls designed to serve as planters. They are filled with beautiful, bright green, yellow and purple sedums.
