Wildcliff, also referred to as the Cyrus Lawton House, is a historic residence overlooking Long Island Sound

Long Island Sound

Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the United States between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south. The mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, empties into the sound. On its western end the sound is bounded by the Bronx...

 in New Rochelle

New Rochelle, New York

New Rochelle is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state.The town was settled by refugee Huguenots in 1688 who were fleeing persecution in France...

 in Westchester

Westchester

Westchester may refer to:*Westchester, Connecticut*Westchester, Florida*Westchester, Illinois*Westchester, Indiana*Westchester, Los Angeles, California*Westchester County, New York*The Westchester, a shopping mall in White Plains, New York...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. The 20-room house, , built in about 1852, was designed by prominent architect Alexander Jackson Davis

Alexander Jackson Davis

Alexander Jackson Davis, or A. J. Davis , was one of the most successful and influential American architects of his generation, in particular his association with the Gothic Revival style....

 in the gothic revival style. Tudor architectural features were added by a later owner.

Clara Prince, whose family acquired the house in 1913, donated Wildcliff to the City of New Rochelle in 1940. She intended for it to be used as a natural science museum

Science museum

A science museum or a science centre is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in museology have broadened the range of...

. It has since been used for that and other purposes, including a performing arts center

Performing arts center

Performing arts center, often abbreviated PAC, is used to refer to* A multi-use performance space that is intended for use by various types of the performing arts, including dance, music and theatre....

. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 on December 31, 2002. It had fallen into disrepair, and an extensive restoration project was initiated in 2006 to replace the slate

Slate

Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...

 roof and make numerous interior improvements.

Since late 2010, the local organization Jen's Community at Wildcliff has been working with the City of New Rochelle and its citizens to bring awareness to the building and to create a preschool and education center.

Further reading

• Davis, Alexander Jackson, Day Book vol.2, October 1853 - December 1869 (collection Columbia University, Avery Library)
• Davis, Alexander Jackson, Diary [Journal] (collection Metropolitan Museum of Art, Department of Prints and Drawings)
• Peck, Amelia, ed., Alexander Jackson Davis: American Architect 1803 - 1892. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art and Rizzoli, 1992.