Van Cortlandt Historic House grounds improvements set
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BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
An historic house that is the
oldest standing building in the
borough is getting spruced up.
The Van Cortlandt House
Museum in Van Cortlandt Park
is about to receive improvements
to the grounds around
the historic building, which
dates back to 1748.
A Van Cortlandt Historic
House Landscape Plan created
by a committee is recommending
the improvements.
They were made possible
through a grant obtained by
the Friends of Van Cortlandt
Park from the Paul and Klara
Porzelt Foundation in partnership
with the museum, which
is run by The National Society
of Colonial Dames of the State
of New York.
Plans began once funding
was obtained in April 2018
from the foundation, which
funds restoration projects from
the American Renaissance Period
between 1876 to 1917, said
Christina Taylor, FVCP executive
director.
The plan seeks to restore the
overall look of the landscape
around the time the house
fi rst opened as a museum and
shortly thereafter, a period
Van Cortlandt Historic House is implementing a new landscape plan for its exterior. Photo courtesy of the Friends
of Van Cortlandt Park
from 1897 to 1917.
“Our overall mission with
this project is to make the museum
grounds more welcoming
and better maintained,”
said Taylor.
The work that is being done
will supplement NYC Parks Department
efforts to maintain
and landscape the area, said
Taylor.
The museum welcomes
school group visits as well as
educational efforts, and is open
to the general public as well.
It is also in a very visible
part of the park, located on the
southern end of the Van Cortlandt
Park parade grounds,
and is seen by groups who come
to park for cross country meets
and other events, said Taylor.
Laura Carpenter, Van Cortlandt
House Museum director,
said that the time period was
chosen because it was more
practical to try to restore the
area around the building to
the way it looked when it fi rst
opened as a museum than it
was to go further back to when
the Van Cortlandt Family lived
there and farmed.
“We are about embracing
what is existing and improving
on it,” said Carpenter.
Carpenter said she hopes to
improve the view of the house
that visitors see and make it
more noticeable to parkgoers
by removal of overgrown
plants.
Removing non-native invasive
plant species is also a priority,
she said.
“I am a fi rm believer that
you have one chance to make a
good fi rst impression,” she said
of the landscaping improvements.
The Porzelt grant will fund
a series of improvements that
the working group is calling
‘Phase 1.’
The fi rst phase includes
projects such as pruning
nearby trees in order to improve
the view of the house, replacing
some shrubs with lowmaintenance
plants, as well as
installing a historic old Albany
Post Road Mile Marker within
a herb garden.
Other parts within this
phase include refurbishing of
a knot garden, installation of
an ADA accessible and labeled
sensory garden, replacing cedar
posts bordering garden
beds, mulching shrubs and
small ornamental trees.
Parks has been helpful in
providing mulch and doing
some pruning on very large
trees limbs, said Carpenter.
Taylor said that she would
like to spend the grant money
before the end of the city’s fi scal
year that ends on June 30,
2019.
A second phase with different
tasks would have to be completed
later on through a different
grant, she said.
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