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Published: 02 May 2012

Created: 02 May 2012

Last Updated: 02 May 2012

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The year 2012 is the hundredth anniversary of some momentous historical events …. the Titanic collided with an iceberg and sunk on April 15, 1912, Paramount Pictures was founded and released the first Sara Bernhardt film in the U.S., and Greenacres was born in Scarsdale. That’s why the Greenacres Association is planning a Centennial Celebration at Scarsdale Golf Club on Saturday night June 2nd. This will be no ordinary neighborhood get-together. The evening will feature cocktails, dinner and dancing to tunes spun by a D.J.

You’ll have a chance to greet your neighbors and look back at Greenacres’ illustrious past and colorful residents.

Here are a few trivia items to whet your appetite for what’s to come on June 2:

Who Built Scarsdale’s First Swimming Pool?

The first pool in Scarsdale was not built in Heathcote. In fact, it was at 80 Garden Road at the home of Mrs. Bevor-Webb. And who was Mrs. Bevor-Webb? None other than the wife of the captain of J. P. Morgan’s yacht Corsair. She later became J.P. Morgan’s mistress and he bought her 8 acres on Garden Road and built her a home and a “rock garden having a concealed system of water pipes available at will for the purpose of filling the basins and supplying the fountains in the rock garden.” The home is still there today.

Where is the fountain on Fountain Terrace?

Developer Robert Farley built the Italianate fountain pictured above along the Bronx River in front of the “Tea House” in the early 20th century. Unfortunately, the fountain disappeared with the Bronx River Parkway was improved in 1974.

Learn more about your neighborhood at the gala celebration on June 2, 2012. Your invitation should have already arrived in the mail. Use the R.S.V.P. card to reserve your place or go to greenacres10583.com to sign-up.

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Published: 07 May 2012

Created: 07 May 2012

Last Updated: 07 May 2012

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All aspects of green living and sustainability were on display at Sustainable Scarsdale Day on Saturday May 5. There were electric cars, ecologically responsible home products, new technologies to power your home, gardens to grow your own and more.

Here are just a few of the activities that took place at the event, which was sponsored by the Scarsdale Forum, Scarsdale Village and the Scarsdale Schools:

Tours of the Middle School vegetable garden were given by teachers Cara Forray and Meredith Rivellini and Kaleidoscope Garden Design. The garden is tended by students in all grades who dig, plant, water and weed to cultivate their crops.

From the high school, vegetables and plants were on sale, and for each plant purchased, another was donated to the large garden on the Post Road side of Scarsdale High School.

Annabelle Stanley of the Scarsdale-Edgemont Girl Scouts held a bake sale to raise funds to install a large sustainable border of native perennials and shrubs around the pond at the Scarsdale library. These plants will help to control flooding and will attract butterflies and dragon flies. The planting plan was drawn by landscape designer Beverly Isis. To fund the project, Stanley received a grant from the Scarsdale Friends of the Parks and raised the rest. She will receive a Silver Award for the project. Planting will take place this Saturday May 12 at Scarsdale Library Pond and volunteers are needed.

As part of the new Love ‘Em and Leave “Em leaf mulching initiative, landscaper Anthony Vulpone demonstrated how leaves could be mulched or ground in place, and returned to the lawn to feed it. In just a few minutes, a mountain of leaves was shredded, and became compost, a rich organic resource for the ground.

Three electric cars, the Nissan Leaf hatchback, the Tesla Roadster and the Chevy Volt were on display to demonstrate how drivers could eliminate fuel use, tailpipe pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

The Junior League of Central Westchester demonstrated their efforts to organize volunteers to clean-up debris and invasive vines along the Bronx River.

Eva from the Green Design Expo on Central Avenue displayed an array of sustainable building materials for the home and shared a sample of an earth friendly all surface cleaner made with parsley.

Lunch was provided by Lange’s as well as Andy’s Pure Food who supplied an impressive array of veggie dishes including kale salad, roasted butternut squash and quinoa.

And Middle School students who were part of the One Million Bones club demonstrated how they were making “bones” out of toilet paper and art paste that will be sent to the mall in Washington D.C. to represent those who died in genocides in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Funds from this initiative will be used to build schools in these countries in an effort to educate children and create a sustainable economy.

Pictured here are Hannah Fuehrer, Sabrina Knaack and Sarah Kurien. Nakul Srinivas and James Xu are also involved in the effort. Learn more at onemillionbones.org .

The day ended with a joyful concert by Tom Chapin and friends who sang “whole grain” songs from their album “Give Peas A Chance”, about locally grown foods, gardening, recycling and the food chain. Clever lyrics such as “a berry shipped from Chile,” and ”buy your food from a local dude,” kept everyone in the audience from toddlers to grandparents amused.

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Published: 24 April 2012

Created: 24 April 2012

Last Updated: 24 April 2012

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The same week that preservationist made their report on proposed historic properties in Scarsdale, The Historic Preservation Committee of Scarsdale met to consider whether to preserve or permit the demolition of a list of local properties. Following the April 17 meeting, the Board cleared the way for the demolition of the following homes:

• 10 Ogden Road
• 9 Stonehouse Road
• 16 Cambridge Road
• 50 Brookby Road

They held over a decision on 9 Hamilton Road, (pictured at top) a home that was listed as a candidate for landmark designation status in the report. The house was built in in 1921 and originally owned by Ida F. Ruggiero. Why is it remarkable? According to the report, “Although relatively small in scale, 9 Hamilton Road is a picturesque and whimsical example of Mediterranean-inspired residential design with its stuccoed façade, Spanish-tile roof, and arched loggia. The massing is especially well conceived as different masses, each clad in Spanish tile, build up to a hip-roof tower-like level.”

Another home, 50 Brookby Road could not be saved, despite the sentiments of residents who live on the street. The current home on the site was sold in August, 2011 for $1,225,000 and developers are already advertising a rendering of a large colonial to replace it at, $3,675,000.

50 Brookby Will Be Torn Down

Here are excerpts from Munghia's comments about preserving 50 Brookby Road:

• Many of the older homes on Brookby and Quentin, including 50 and 54 Brookby Road, constitute a neighborhood representative of the earliest suburban development in Scarsdale.
• Both the Scarsdale Housing Committee and the Federal Housing Commission welcomed the new development of affordable housing to be built by Brookby, Inc. in what is now our neighborhood on Brookby Road and the surrounding streets. It is my belief based on documents at the Building Department and this article that 54 Brookby Road was the model home that visitors were encouraged to examine during the course of its building in 1935.
• This application is the first step in a larger plan by the current owners. Their application to demolish two lovely older homes which embody the
  

  A Rendering of a Proposed New Home at 50 Brookby Road
  history and architecture of our neighborhood is an effort to redraw the property lines and build three new houses where there are now two.
• The criteria articulated in Sections 182-5 of the Village Code are guidelines for determining the historical significance of a building. I maintain that the collective history of the buildings surrounding the building in question should be considered by the Committee as well. Our homes are the realization of a New Deal initiative—providing affordable homes to a nation of struggling young families in the newly built suburban developments throughout the country.

Overriding her objections, the Board voted to permit demolition of 50 Brookby Road. While Scarsdale Village Trustees mull over what can be done with the preservationists recommendations, and what code changes, if any, will be made, houses continue to disappear at a rapid pace.

54 Brookby Road  On the Market for $1,450,000