J.R. Roosevelt Place: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site, National Park Service

Killion, Jeff; Coffin Brown, Margaret; von Bieberstein, Alexandra

The J.R. Roosevelt Place is part of the 836-acre Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site (NHS), located within the Town of Hyde Park, in Duchess County, New York. The Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) NHS preserves and interprets properties associated with Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945), the thirty-second president of the United States. FDR was elected to an unprecedented four terms during which he led the United States through the Great Depression and World War II. The park includes a large portion of the former Roosevelt Estate, which covered 1,522 acres at time of FDR’s death in 1945. The Home at Springwood was FDR’s primary residence from his birth in 1882 until his death. Adjoining Springwood to the south is the estate of James Roosevelt “Rosy” Roosevelt, FDR’s half-brother. The 159-acre property includes the main residence known as the Red House, a chauffer’s house, historic specimen trees and allées, fragments of formal gardens, agricultural fields and meadows, and woodlands and forest plantations accessed by historic roads and trails. The J.R. Roosevelt property, as well as the 23-acre Bellefield property north of Springwood, primarily serve to buffer Springwood from the impacts of surrounding development and to facilitate park operations. Today these parcels are accessed by the Post Road (US 9, also known as the Albany Post Road). The J.R. Roosevelt Place property was part of the Roosevelt family estate, Springwood, for three generations, from 1868 to 1962. FDR and Rosy’s father, James Roosevelt, acquired the property in two separate transactions: the main parcel including the Red House, known as the Boreel Place, in 1868 (also included the southern part of the Home Farm), and the Kirchner Place to the south in 1886. James Roosevelt left both parcels to his son, J.R. Roosevelt, upon his death in 1900, and Rosy’s heirs continued to live there until 1962. Thereafter, the property changed hands several times, during which time portions were developed for commercial uses, notably the Hyde Park Mall that still occupies the former southern front field. Most of the remaining property of the J.R. Roosevelt Place has since been reacquired by the National Park Service, including the two-story Federal-style Red House, which forms the core of the property on the edge of a ridge overlooking the Hudson River. The property’s former entrance road from the Post Road is now town owned and serves as access to both the Red House and the Hyde Park Mall. To the north of the road on town property are remnants of a maple allee and beyond that is park property and a field that holds a special use permit for hay production. To the south of the house are contemporary park maintenance facilities and an archives building in the former formal garden, maintenance area, and trotting course. To the north of the house is the site of a former garden enclosed by low stone walls. To the west and below the Red House is the Lower Field, which reflects the estate’s agricultural past and historically formed the foreground of the river and mountain view from both the Red House and the Home. The view of river is presently obstructed by woods on the lower portion of the Boreel and Kirchner places. The Lower Woods feature stone fences, earthen/gravel roads with a bridge over Big Cove Creek that flows from the former Rogers estate, Crumwold Farms, to the north of Bellefield. At the northern boundary with Springwood (Wheeler Place) is a masonry dam that forms the Ice Pond, which extends into the Wheeler Place. It is accessed by River Road, the road from Springwood to the Hudson River that extends from the Wheeler Place through the Lower Woods of the J.R. Roosevelt Place to where the Roosevelts maintained a boathouse and railroad siding. The Lower Woods reflects the common history of the J.R. Roosevelt Place and Springwood (Wheeler Place). Public use of the J.R. Roosevelt Place is not encouraged, except for the Lower Woods that are accessible by the Hyde Park Trails. The park does not currently interpret the property or promote visitor access. The property is primarily used for park operations, and the Red House is currently leased as a private residence.

J.R. Roosevelt Place: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site, National Park Service

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