Arden (estate)

Arden was the estate owned by railroad magnate Edward Henry Harriman and Mary Averell Harriman outside Harriman, New York. By the early 1900s, the family owned 40000acre in the area, half of it comprising the Arden Estate. The main house is at the top of a mountain east of the village, reachable by Arden House Road from NY 17. Since 2011 it has been owned by the nonprofit Research Center on Natural Conservation.HistoryOn September 17, 1886, Harriman bought at auction the 7863acre Peter Parrott family estate for $52,500, which was named Arden by the Parrott family after Mrs. Parrott's maiden name. Over the next several years, he purchased an additional 20000acre, almost forty different parcels of land, and built 40mi of bridle paths. Harriman hired Carrère and Hastings to design a home, which was begun in 1905. Harriman had planned it for many years, but lived in it for only a few months before his death in 1909.The house features a dramatic music room, modeled after a medieval great hall. Around the central courtyard is a brick corridor lined with murals by Barry Faulkner. Harriman commissioned a number of American artists to decorate the house. James Earle Fraser did a bas-relief portrait of Harriman over one of the fireplaces, as well as a fountain in the interior court; Malvina Hoffman did a bust of Mrs. Harriman; and Charles Cary Rumsey did a fountain of the Three Graces, a marble fireplace surround that featured a caricature of architect Thomas Hastings, and corbel carvings of bighorn sheep in the music room. He also managed to marry Harriman's daughter, Mary, in 1910, much to the surprise of society. Lining the staircase were Herter Brothers tapestries depicting the creation of the house. On the second floor was an "Indian Corridor", featuring photographs of Native Americans taken by Edward S. Curtis during the Harriman Alaska Expedition of 1899.