Where is rokeby mansion

We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. The Astor family name conjures up images of Gilded Age wealth, similarly gilded real estate, and necessarily rich heirs and heiresses, but Rokeby, the acre Hudson Valley estate owned by Astors for nearly years, tells a vastly different tale.

The room main house was built in and expanded periodically over the years—including substantial additions by acclaimed architect Stanford White in Today, it houses 43 rooms and a slew of let's say To give a sense of the depth of the legacy involved: as of a New York Times profile, the head of household is Richard Aldrich, a member of the 10th generation of his family to live on this estate.

The house, and sprawling surrounding acreage, was passed down from generation to generation, most recently when Aldrich's grandmother willed the property to him and his siblings.

Unfortunately, she had not left behind much in the way of cash to pay for upkeep on the house and grounds. In , when businessman William Backhouse Astor Sr. The room home was filled with artwork, books and grand pianos -- all in relatively pristine condition. But today, the estate would almost be unrecognizable to him. According to Alexandra Aldrich , who is one of the heirs of the estate, the outside of the home, has been a facade for years.

We first got a glimpse inside the house in , when The New York Times profiled Richard Aldrich , who still lives there today. From those photos we can see unkempt bedrooms, chipped paint on walls and a hallway that acts as a storage for heirlooms. And although it's worth noting that a house of this size is hardly an easy thing to maintain, and Aldrich does say there have been updates, she told the New York Post that the home still looks "rundown," to outsiders.

The condition of the house is visible in new images taken by Shannon DeCelle. But according to Aldrich, the family doesn't plan on ever selling the estate. And it has passed -- but not from my mind. John Armstrong, Jr. Born in Pennsylvania in , his father was known as the "Hero of Kitanning," an important engagement of the French and Indian Wars While a student at Princeton, the Revolution began and Armstrong enlisted in the Army.

He became an aide-de-camp to General Horatio Gates, a man for whom he held great affection and esteem. In while quartered in Newburgh, New York, Armstrong, reportedly at the urging of Gates, wrote the "Newburgh letters," in which he urged the officers of the revolutionary army, whose salaries Congress could not pay, to take control of the government from the ineffectural Congress.

At the time Washington called the letters scurrilous, but later indicated that he believed that Armstrong's intentions were honorable. After the war Armstrong returned to Pennsylvania where he served as a member of the Congress of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and also as its Adjutant General and Secretary of State.

By he had met, courted and married Alida Livingston and moved to New York state. Janet Livingston Montgomery had purchased the site of Montgomery Place and was awaiting a "proper" plan from Paris when she wrote her brother. Chancellor Robert Livingston, "My sisters are well except Alida, who still gives us a child every year and loses everyday her constitution -- Armstrong house is now completely filled with physical books, Doctors and Medicine.

He now talks of building next to me. Montgomery to Robert R. Livingston, 29 May , New york Historical Society. La Bergerie was not Armstrong's first building venture. He wrote to his former commander and friend. General Horatio Gates, "I am bout to build the handsomest house Gates as she is a sister architect Armstrong also wrote to Rufus King's agent when he learned King was thinking of settling in the area. Among available properties were two Armstrong had built for himself. The Meadows and Mill Hill.