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Merestead: Architecture

 Building Merestead, ca, 1907 courtesy of the Andy Diem Photo Collection 

As an up and coming corporate executive, William Sloane was expected to have a certain lifestyle that included a country estate. 

On Dec. 6, 1905, William Sloane purchased the deeds to 2 pieces of property, the Joseph Sarles estate and the E.V. Weeks estate on Byram Lake Road in Mount Kisco to be his legal residence. Family oral history states that it was Mrs. Sloane, who found the property when she and her mother would come up to the Mount Kisco and Bedford area to drive around in a horse and carriage looking for property.

Building Merestead  ca, 1907 courtesy of the Andy Diem Collection Photo Collection

Family oral history states that William Sloane rolled a gold piece down a table and said,“Build it Big, Boys,” when discussing the building of a Main Dwelling at Merestead.  However, Mrs. Sloane wanted something small and intimate.  The resulting 26-room Main Dwelling was the compromise.

 View from Byram Lake Road,  ca. 1909

Situated between farms to the east and west, the Main Dwelling rises up with understated elegance on a terrace.   The brick and marble Main Dwelling was designed by the architectural firm Delano and Aldrich 1906-1907.  It is a significant early hybrid work that anticipates an American country estate style Delano and Aldrich would become famous for designing.  At Merestead, classical French and English architectural sources have been re-interpreted to create a style that we interpret as Georgian Revival.

View of front  ca. 1909   

The architectural elements of the L-shaped Main Dwelling include a symmetrical design, a marble keystone over each windows, and a marble string course which all create an exterior of understated elegance. 

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