An Eighty Acre Estate in New York City 



By The Onlooker. 



Pn.)bably some wlm glance luirrieill_\- thmugh the 

 pages of The Gakdexer.s' L'iiko.\ici-i; may at tir>t 

 thought conclude that an error has been made in this 

 iieadline. "An eighty acre estate in New York City?" 

 I hear someone inquire as he adds, "well, yes, but why 

 should The Ciikoxici.e branch out into real estate (ir 

 building site jiroblems?" 



In all seriousness, however, here we have one of the 

 most trimly, attractive places and beautifulh- planted 

 gardens it has been my privilege and pleasure to see 

 and describe. It is the property of George W. Per- 

 kins, located at Riverdale, in Xew York City. 



The place stands on high ground in an airy elevated lo- 

 cation, everywhere abundantlv timbered, and while there 

 are spacious lawns and excellent vistas immediately 

 around the house itself, one also finds that these are 

 equally balanced by as much woodland environment 

 through which one meanders under a cano])y of leafy 

 Linden trees. Elms, Beeches, Oaks and not a few 

 Pines and Conifers. This wilderness feature is the 

 salvation of such places as those of Mr. Perkins, for 

 while the smaller type of suburban garden or property 

 almost necessarily must be burnished and laid out 



upon ])urely decciralive lines in iirder to be comfor- 

 table, pleasant and fitting, a ten-acre or twenty-acre 

 stretch of "Nature unadorned" supplies, in the fullest 

 degree, all that one could get or expect in or on a 

 country estate many miles further from Fifth avenue 

 or Wall Street. Net all i)f this woodland l)elt that 

 stretches far down to the bosom of "the American 

 Rhine" is not strictly unadorned — or not left unaided 

 by the hand of man. This is just the i)lace that Mr. 

 .\lbert Millard, the superintendent who .so faithfully 

 and with much skill manages the estate, has seized 

 uijon for the naturalization of Daffodils. Tulips and 

 other Holland bulbous stock. 



The outstanding features frtjm the gardener's 

 standpoint are the very well-kept lawns and tall um- 

 brageous trees, without which no garden has anv dig- 

 nity or measure. Secondly, and as the balancing fac- 

 tors in the layout, there is a handsome and solidly- 

 built pergola, a high retaining wall, balustraded above 

 the line of the lawns, together with a children's pla}-- 

 house as an architectural addition forming a very use- 

 ful, agreeable and satisfactory terminal to the terrace 

 wall. 



.\ VIEW OF THE ROSE C.M-tDEX OX THE COl'XTRV EST.\TE OF I.EORCE W. PKKKIXS AT Rn-ERl)Ar,E, 

 I,miTS OF XEW YORK. WHERE .XLUERT ^^l,l.AKIl PRESU'ES .\S Sl'PERIXTEN HEXT. 



WITHIX THE (.ITV 



