Kykuit: A Patchwork Fairytale

Kykuit, view from south-east.

Kykuit (KY-kit or KY-cut, from the Dutch for “lookout”), the Rockefeller estate in Pocantico Hills near Tarrytown, NY, is like a fairytale: to enjoy it, you must accept its logic and suspend your disbelief. If you ask questions, especially those that start with a “why?” (e.g., “Why did Cinderella’s father marry a shrew and let her mistreat his daughter?”), the tale instantly loses its charm. So is Kykuit – delightful and enchanting on its own terms, when the rules of the outside world are placed on hold and the back story is forgotten.

The main players who shaped the history of Kykuit were John D Rockeller (JDR Senior), the founder of the Standard Oil, his son, JDR Junior, and Junior’s wife, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and their son, Nelson, the four-term Governor of New York (1959–73).  

JDR Senior (1839–1937) made good use of the traits and training he received from his parents, - a traveling snake-oil seller nicknamed “Devil Bill” and a pious Baptist woman, - and became the ultimate “robber baron” with a fortune equal to 1.5% of the US GDP in 1937. After his retirement from business, Senior spent his time playing golf, enjoying his grandchildren, and spending money on massive philanthropic projects. Like JP Morgan (who was only two years his senior and, according to JDR, "wasn't even a rich man"), Senior was blighted by a flaw in his appearance: in middle age he was stricken by general alopecia and by the early 1900s lost all his hair. Coupled with distinctive deadness of his eyes and mouth, the hair loss gave him the look of post-renovation Voldemort and eventually forced him to wear wigs.

His toys: Rockefeller Center in 2006
with Anish Kapoor's Sky Mirror

Junior (1874–1960) wrestled with the role of an heir to his father’s enormous wealth as well as with his conscience and self-doubt. After his fair share of business-related controversies and scandals, which culminated in the Ludlow massacre in 1914, Junior turned his attention to philanthropy in hopes of restoring the family’s reputation (and largely succeeded at it). 

A breath of fresh air into the Rockefellers’ strict, devout, down-to-the-last penny dutiful family was brought by Junior’s wife, Abby Aldrich (1874–1948), who was relaxed, outgoing, worldly and artistic. Once their six kids were grown, Abby started collecting art, especially modern art. Although Junior often relied on his wife’s judgment, their tastes in art could not have been more different. While Junior established the Cloisters to house a growing collection of medieval art, Abby became the driving force behind the creation of the Museum of Modern Art, for which Junior, despite his strong initial opposition to the project, eventually donated land at the museum's current location. Their son, Governor Nelson Rockefeller (1908–1979), took after his mother in his appreciation of modern art and assembled a large collection of modern sculpture at Kykuit.

Her toys: Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Architect: Yoshio Toniguchi.

Kykuit, like other residences of American royalty, such as the nearby Lyndhurst or Biltmore in North Carolina, and unlike the palaces of European bloodsuckers, leaves you puzzled and slightly sorry for its owners. First, all these places have a whiff of unreality about them, like extremely lavish movie sets. Second, these estates often bear signs of family strife, power struggles, and clashing tastes and ideas, and because of this, these places feel unstable, as though they are barely holding on to existence for the visitors' pleasure - look away and they'll crumble. Third, these places, built in the era of Titanic, argue with Nature (and usually lose). Fourth, they often reveal questionable taste and judgment, which, as it turns out, cannot be had even at the highest price and with nearly unlimited means. Fifth, these places show how hard it is to delegate tasks and get exactly what you want. In other words, a visit to an American estate is a life lesson, which you will not find at a frilly European palace.

The local quip describes Kykuit as a place that “God would have built, if only He had the money”. Meanwhile God or Nature have done quite well in the area by creating the Hudson Valley with its magnificent cliffs on the river’s west bank, known as the Palisades. Senior started buying land along the Hudson in the 1890s, when he first started thinking of retirement, and spared no expense to acquire farms, an entire village, and even a college around Pocantico. Although the estate was intended to be Senior’s retirement home, its construction was mainly Junior's responsibility. Junior continued buying land, and eventually the estate grew to be 3,600 acres. For the third generation, the upkeep of the family castle has become too difficult and estate taxes too high. Nelson bequeathed his part in the estate to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which eventually opened the estate to tours in 1994.

Today Kykuit can be explored with guided tours that leave from the tourist center located at Philipsburg Manor, an old farm (which belonged to European-born slave-owners!) not far from Tarrytown train station. The most comprehensive Grand Tour allows visitors to view the main house, including the art collection in the basement, gardens, and the Coach Barn, which now houses a collection of vintage automobiles.

Oceanus, view in south-east direction.
Copy of a fountain by Giambologna (1576).

Arriving at the manor via the main driveway, visitors have a chance to wonder about Oceanus, a replica of the 16-century Florentine opus by Giambologna, which blocks the spectacular south-eastward view from the forecourt. In Florence, the ornate fountain is enveloped by the background of tree canopies in Boboli Gardens (the original is in Bargello Museum), but here in Kykuit, projected against the sky, it is too large, stunningly out of place and unnecessary. Senior did not like the naked pagans that Junior installed in the gardens, partly because they were too expensive. The cost of garden landscaping went 45 times over the original estimate.

Main driveway with a Tiffany torchère.

The driveway ends with a loop leading to the main entrance, which is marked by two glorious lamps with Tiffany Favrile glass flame-shaped globes on top. From this side, the house appears to be small, because of its narrow, wisteria-covered façade with only three slender windows. The four-story Beaux-Arts house built in 1907-1913 was designed by Delano and Aldrich, partners in a well-connected architectural firm. The project did not go smoothly, took six years to complete, and in the end cost four times more than originally planned, yet boasted all of the modern conveniences: electricity, phones, telegraph, refrigerator, dumbwaiter, and underground passages for the servants. The interiors were designed by Ogden Codman and the gardens were developed by William Welles Bosworth. 

As soon as you step onto the front porch, you sense the clash of eras and tastes: a Shih-Tzu shares the space under an ornate metalwork ceiling lamp with Brâncuși's Grand Oiseau, Giacometti’s Nude, and Fritz Wotruba’s Figure. "Aha, a junkyard," - you think.  

Nude by Giacometti 

Figure by Wotruba

Photography inside the house is not allowed, but the house is not remarkable in any way. The best parts of its decor are the collection of Chinese ceramics, Junior's passion and weakness, and a pair of vultures (by JJ Kandler) flanking a portrait of Senior by John Sargent and bearing a striking resemblance to the patriarch, no doubt a prank that only Nelson could conceive. The music room used to have an Aeolian organ on the wall, but when in the 1950s the organ became too fragile, Nelson replaced it with a huge Miro painting. Abby's collection of modern art, hidden in the basement out of Junior's way, looks just like anybody else's accumulation of old and unwanted things, if well organized. Enormous tapestries of several Picasso's paintings look intriguing, but in the end you realize that these are just Picasso-themed rugs. They say Junior and Abby's six kids used to ride their bicycles in the basement - and that was its best use.

Perhaps the strongest memory of the house is created by an irreverent combination of two glorious things: the view of the Hudson, which opens from the large plain window in the sitting room, and a marble statue of bodhisattva (Tang dynasty, 7th century) in front of this window. The graceful, mysterious statue lines up with Oceanus on the other side of the house along the north-west -- south-east axis, and just like the fountain, blocks the magnificent view behind it. When the guide announces that the two lamps next to the statue are by Giacometti's brother, you can only shake your head in disbelief. You can see a photo tour of the house, including the bodhisattva, in this video:

The original collection of outdoor sculpture included about twenty works by George Gray Barnard, Karl Bitter, and Janet Scudder. About seventy pieces of modern sculpture were bought and installed by Nelson Rockefeller, among them works by Maillol, Nadelman, and Picasso.

The house is surrounded by terraced gardens in several different styles. 

The south porch is equipped with an electrically-controlled marquee, a technical marvel at the time of its construction.

Nearest to the house are regular gardens dotted with sculpture installed mainly by Nelson.

Walls and filigree gates separate different parts of the garden. 

Somebody's powerful backside is behind the ironwork.

Maillol's Torso (1906) and Lachaise's languorous Nude remind you of the times when substantial women were en vogue.

Elie Nadelman's Two Circus Women (ca. 1930) look relaxed and imposing.

A linden alley leads past two swimming pools, now filled and turned into lawns.

Tea House

Maillol's Bather Putting up Her Hair (1930) stands in front of the Tea House, which fun-loving Nelson turned into an ice cream parlor.





At an intersection of two paths is a whimsical fountain by Emil Siebern with Orpheus playing a violin in the center. The idea is excellent, but the small size of the sculpture and the wear and tear on gilded bronze make it look shabby.






On the west side of the garden, David Smith's Banquet (1951) (far center) is installed on a stone barrier.

As delightful as Maillol is, the Hudson River behind the trees reminds you who the true master of this land is.

A piece by Jean (Hans) Arp takes some time to warm up to, but eventually wins you over.

But sometimes you wonder: is the drone technology older than we think?... Or was it Nelson who was so ahead of his time?...

And you keep wondering: in the hands of Junior, a copy of Praxiteles Venus de' Medici looks like a garden gnome...

...especially next to something like this, which evokes nostalgic memories of the Sun God on UCSD campus. I wonder if these creatures are related.

Strangely enough, even in a Rockefeller garden, bad taste seeks the same expressive means as everywhere else.

Cupid, Nike and the flag - priceless, hopeless or both?...

But they say that on a clear day one can see from here the outline of New York City at a distance.

Hardly anyone can resist dragging one of these Japanese bronze lanterns into the yard. They say an elderly Japanese man comes every week to care for the Japanese garden on the estate - for free, just for the pleasure of it.

On the northern side of the house, this evil clawed creature mocks the idyllic view behind it.

One level below, on the north-west side, the oft-copied Song of the Bowels (I'm with Junior here) - or was it Song of the Vowels (1931-1932) - by Lithuanian-born cubist Jacques Lipchitz - overlooks the pool.

Terraces and porches on the north-west side of the house are built to take advantage of the spectacular views of the Hudson and the Palisades.

Again, the river sets the priorities straight.

A couple of pergolas are built on the garden's middle terrace under the fruit trees.

Inside the round pergola - you would think that with unlimited means one could do better.

These have to be Lucio Fontana's Spacial Concept: Nature
also found in the garden of Hirshhorn Museum

Larger and more abstract sculptures are placed in the lower garden. They say Nelson chose the spots for his acquisitions himself and did not consult anybody. He was moderately successful at it. Perhaps the two best placed pieces are Alexander Calder's Large Spiny (ca. 1939) and Max Bill's Triangular Surface in Space, which, unfortunately, I could not access.

Finally, the Coach Barn is a cavernous space with gorgeous custard glass and metalwork chandeliers, one of which can be glimpsed through the open door – alas, photography was not permitted inside. The collection of elegant, wonderfully crafted hot-rods and newer autos was certainly my favorite exhibition at the estate. Senior was fond of going for car rides sitting in the back seat (which became known as “the hot seat”) flanked by young and pretty girls, often with a blanket spread over their laps. These days the Barn also houses the conference center that can be rented through the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. 

All photos by LB 2006-2010.

More information and much better photos of Kykuit can be found here, here, and here.