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53-581: It was built by William Boyce Thompson , a mining tycoon and financier, as his weekend home. At the turn of the century, large riverside estates characterized much of Yonkers; today the Thompson Mansion is one of the few to have survived the city's 20th-century urbanization. The Thompson family lived there until the mid-20th century; afterwards it was willed to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and became Mary Elizabeth Seton High School,

106-483: A Bloomsday celebration. The mansion cost the group $ 1.2 million to acquire, and it was estimated that fully restoring it would take another $ 2 million. Throughout the 2000s Tara Circle made limited use of the building due to its condition. It offers classes in Irish music and culture, and has hosted a concert by Ronan Tynan . Further revenue has been raised by renting the mansion for weddings and banquets, and film shoots. It

159-411: A junior college . At that time some modifications were made. The addition of a chapel and a fire escape were done discreetly, with great sensitivity to the architecture. On the inside, however, some rooms were modified extensively to serve as bedrooms and offices. Among these were the basement den, where Thompson had displayed his gem collection. Its Chinese-themed decor was greatly minimized, and only

212-453: A considerable fortune developing low grade, large scale porphyry copper deposits at the same time he got lucky with his high-grade Magma mine, which proved a phenomenal bonanza. He retired from the New York stock exchange in 1915 and later created his own holding company, Newmont Mining Corporation , to which he transferred his many mining interests. By the time of his death, Newmont Mining was

265-418: A full basement. Its main block is topped by a tiled hipped roof pierced by chimneys and alternating hipped and gabled dormer windows set with one-over-one double-hung sash. A small two-bay wing projects from the south. On the north end is a two-story service wing, itself with two small wings. A brick terrace continuing the stone balustrade from the forecourt surrounds the building; there are loggias at

318-494: A major factor in world copper production. Today, Newmont is the largest gold producer in the United States but continues the legacy of Thompson to explore and bring into production new ore deposits. Thompson's promotions and financial holdings were scattered from Canada to Peru. They included Indian Motorcycle Co. He financed lead, zinc and coal mines, street railways, and handled the sensational Midvale Steel financing during

371-621: A park in Butte. To his alma mater, Phillips Exeter Academy, Thompson donated $ 2 million during his lifetime. His donations created the Boyce Thompson science building, a new gymnasium in 1923, squash courts, a baseball field, sports cage, The Exeter Inn , and other facilities. He willed $ 1 million to Phillips Exeter. Thompson also bequeathed a significant gem and mineral collection to New York's American Museum of Natural History . His wife, Gertrude Hickman, and daughter, Margaret Thompson, inherited

424-670: A propaganda campaign to counteract Kerensky's mounting unpopularity, and growing popular sentiment against the ongoing war with the Central Powers. With the help of Thompson, the Provisional Government created the Committee of Civic Education in Free Russia to oversee the propaganda drive, with pro-Kerensky Russian revolutionary Catherine Breshkovsky at the organization's head. According to W.B. Thompson biographer Hermann Hagedorn,

477-546: A railroad between them – is now part of Arizona's vast Morenci open pit, largest in the United States. Joining the brokerage firm of Hayden, Stone & Co. during the early 1900s he expanded his promotions: to Ely, Nevada , where he helped organize the Nevada Consolidated, which eventually became a part of the multinational Kennecott Copper Company (Guggenheims), of which he was a director; Mason Valley where he opened old copper mines and built his smelter town which

530-435: A target for vandals and thieves. Among the items stolen were the brass nameplate at the main entrance, a chandelier and a Tiffany glass window. The city put out a request for proposals from interested parties. Two years later, in 1997, it accepted a proposal from Tara Circle, an Irish American cultural organization, which had been looking for a permanent home for ten years. On June 16 of that year, it held its first event,

583-412: Is a rare English-style trompe-l'œil ceiling. An Italian-style coffered ceiling is in the music room, complementing its imported 15th-century Italian stone fireplace. The dining room has French-style coffering; both it and the library have oak paneling and classically inspired carved white marble mantelpieces . The stairwell is three stories high. The main stair has a carved iron and wood rail, and

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636-426: Is an entablature and central arch flanked by oval windows and supported by a combination of pilasters and freestanding columns. On the opposite side, a broken pediment above the segmental arched main entrance is supported by engaged columns. It has other classical detailing. Doors of glass and wrought iron open into a vestibule with marble floors and terra cotta bas-reliefs . The marble floors continue into

689-659: Is libelous—Gunn was not a lowly miner/prospector born in Nevada and working in Montana when "discovered" by Thompson as a worthy partner. Gunn, an Ohian who attended Oberlin and Ohio State University, had worked his way up to mine superintendent when he met Thompson in Helena. The two later became a powerful team (not as Hagedorn writes) after they met again while Gunn was with Guggenheim Exploration, mine finders, and Thompson with Hayden, Stone & Company brokerage. Their Gunn-Thompson partnership

742-474: Is located in the northwestern corner of Yonkers, on bluffs 300 feet (91 m) above the Hudson River a thousand feet (300 m) to the west. It is on the west side of North Broadway, set back 600 feet (180 m) from the road atop a slight rise, at the end of a curving driveway flanked by shrubs and small trees that ends in a paved forecourt with a stone balustrade . On the opposite side of North Broadway

795-576: Is now the magnificent Boyce Thompson Arboretum. < https://btarboretum.org/ > The Mediterranean style home is occasionally open for tours through the arboretum. In 1925, Thompson ordered a luxurious private railroad car, named the Alder , from the Pullman Company. The car was later used by ASARCO and in 1971 was owned by the National Railways of Mexico. Thompson died from pneumonia in 1930 and

848-431: Is often a large room or complex of rooms (in a theatre , opera house , concert hall , showroom , cinema , etc.) adjacent to the auditorium . It may be a repose area for spectators, especially used before performance and during intermissions , but also as a place of celebrations or festivities after performance. In other buildings, such as office buildings or condominiums, lobbies can function as gathering spaces between

901-601: Is the South Westchester Executive Park with taller modern buildings. To the north is the 39-acre (16 ha) Lenoir Nature Preserve, a Westchester County park. St. John's Riverside Hospital is on the south. The trailway along the Old Croton Aqueduct , a National Historic Landmark , passes through the woods next to the preserve on the steep slopes leading westward down to the river. At the river itself are some modern high-rise apartment buildings around

954-571: The Greystone station on Metro-North Railroad 's Hudson Line . Around the house is extensive landscaping . There are terraces and sculpture gardens to the south. It is complemented on the north by a walled classically inspired garden with many authentic Roman artifacts. At its west end is a replica of the Theatre of Dionysus in Athens . The main building is a 2½-story seven- bay limestone structure on

1007-671: The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company . By the 1920s he was a director of Sinclair Oil and promoter of Gulf Sulphur , but all these were diversions from his main interest in mining copper. In 1925, when planning to scout mining properties in South Africa, he became ill and returned home halfway through the trip, his last, lingering illness. Rotund, good-natured, bald, a tireless worker, a devoted family man, Thompson chewed tobacco, underpaid his employees (though equivalent to pay given by his contemporaries) and, as one of

1060-453: The 22 acres (8.9 ha) on which he built his mansion. Originally called Alder Manor after Alder Gulch , his hometown, since the cliffs of the Palisades across the river reminded him of the scenery there, it was intended to be a weekend residence. He commissioned Carrère and Hastings to design the house. As a lover of plants and gardens, Thompson had supervised the planning and planting of

1113-578: The Bolshevik Revolution" by Antony Sutton that W.B. Thompson gave considerable sums of money to the Bolsheviks. This is a misconception that can be traced back to Thompson's own time, originally appearing in newspapers asserting his support for the Bolsheviks. As pointed out by W.B. Thompson biographer Hermann Hagedorn, when the press uncovered Thompson's financial support for Kerensky and the Committee of Civic Education in Free Russia, they "jumped to

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1166-450: The Bolsheviks could keep channels of trade open and influence the Bolsheviks to be less radical. According to him, "if [we] leave Russian radicalism to itself to grow like a cancer, it is going to be a menace to the world." Thompson argued that the Bolsheviks would "soon learn that capital and labor must go hand in hand" and continue the war against Germany. Nevertheless, Thompson's predictions did not come true. The Bolsheviks withdrew from

1219-609: The Committee by Thompson was quickly exhausted, prompting Breshkovsky to appeal to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson for support. Thompson reached out to President Wilson himself, but failed to produce any further funding for the Committee. The Provisional government was overthrown in the October Revolution and the Bolsheviks came to power. But this did not prove to be an immediate set-back in Thompson's plans for Russia. Thompson and his compatriot Raymond Robins attempted to deal with

1272-620: The Republican party, philanthropist , and founder of Newmont Mining . Thompson was one of the early twentieth century mine operators that discovered and exploited vast copper deposits that revolutionized Western American mining, and reaped tremendous fortunes. The William Boyce Thompson School in Yonkers, New York , is named after him. Born in Virginia City , Montana Territory and raised in Butte , he

1325-579: The War when the stock rose from 290 to 500. He promoted the great Nipissing silver deposit at Cobalt, Ontario , Canada for the Guggenheims and reaped a quick million dollars return. He refinanced American Woolen Co. and Tobacco Products Co., launched Cuba Cane Sugar Co., got control of Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Co. , organized Submarine Boat Corp. and the Wright-Martin Aeroplane Co. He was a director of

1378-688: The aim of the propaganda disseminated by the Committee was to "beg the Russians in terms which the simplest could comprehend to obey the government and resume the war, not to save the Allies but to save the Revolution." Despite Thompson's generous funding, the Committee was largely unsuccessful and could not compete with the anti-war propaganda of the Russian radicals, specifically that of the Bolsheviks . The million given to

1431-560: The artist's estate; she claimed in her autobiography 'Faith is a Song' (1951) that she offered it to Thompson's daughter who set a fee for the privilege of destroying the portrait. The portrait is now in the New York State Museum at Albany. Thompson visited Russia just after the February Revolution of 1917 which resulted in the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II . The effects of crop failure and starvation were rampant. Thompson

1484-546: The balance of his wealth. In 1941, The Alder , Boyce-Thompson's 265 ft. motor-yacht, was given to the U.S. Navy to aid the war effort. The Boyce-Thompson family listed by ancestry/generation: Fortunately for future historians, Thompson began writing his reminiscences before his death. However, a word of caution about Hermann Hagedorn's The Magnate, William Boyce Thompson and His Time (1935) based on this material. Journalist Hagedorn at times writes more hagiography than biography. For example, his depiction of George E. Gunn

1537-533: The conclusion that he [actually] had given the money to the Bolsheviki for propaganda purposes" likely because of Thompson's unpopular public opinions on the Bolsheviks and their role in the future of Russia. In 1920, he decided to establish the Boyce Thompson Institute , and endowed it with $ 10 million, a veritable fortune in the 1920s. He hoped that this "seed" money would enable the institute to acquire

1590-471: The connections to finance the developments. Again, many of the tall tales Hagedorn relates about the pre-1913 era, especially about Gunn, need correctives: Gunn's eyes were not gray they were blue and one needs to discount the rest of Hagedorn's description of his intellect and appearance; he was not buried by an ex-con and the boys, but by the Masonic lodge he had long been a member of and by a reverend, Hagedorn to

1643-400: The contrary. Same could be said of Hagedorn's depictions of and roles of Philip Wiseman, Henry Krumb, Fred Flindt, Walter Aldridge and others. For a more balanced but still dated account see A. B. Parsons, The Porphyry Coppers . Entryway A lobby is a room in a building used for entry from the outside. Sometimes referred to as a foyer , reception area or entrance hall , it

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1696-471: The entrance and elevators to other floors. Since the mid-1980s, there has been a growing trend to think of lobbies as more than just ways to get from the door to the elevator but instead as social spaces and places of commerce. Some research has even been done to develop scales to measure lobby atmosphere to improve hotel lobby design. Many office buildings , condominiums , hotels and skyscrapers go to great lengths to decorate their lobbies to create

1749-405: The entrance hall, with a plaster ceiling designed by Thomas Hastings . All other floors are wooden parquet , with the exception of tile in the kitchen. Some of the doors retain their original Gorham knobs. Many of the original artwork and finishes also remain. The drawing room has walnut panelling and bolection molding with carved birds, flowers and swags around the fireplace. Above it

1802-626: The first Catholic school in Yonkers. After ten years as a high school, it was upgraded to a junior college . A few years after merging with Iona College , the campus was closed. While the other buildings on the property were repurposed , the mansion fell into neglect and was looted until Tara Circle, an Irish American cultural organization, bought it from the city. To raise money for its restoration , Tara Circle holds occasional events there and rents it out for weddings and filming for movies such as Mona Lisa Smile and A Beautiful Mind . The mansion

1855-550: The greatest gamblers of his time, discharged them for gambling. He was prominent behind the scenes in the Republican party, a presidential elector, party chair, as well as served on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1914 to 1919 and was twice (1916 and 1920) a delegate to the Republican National Convention . In 1921, he declined nomination for a cabinet post under President Warren G. Harding . He

1908-537: The house until his death in 1930. He left $ 20 million ($ 290 million in 2023) in trust to his wife and daughter on condition that they continue to live at Alder Manor. Gertrude Thompson lived there for another 20 years. After her 1950 death, she willed it to the Archdiocese of New York , which decided to use it as a Catholic high school. The Sisters of Charity ran it as Mary Elizabeth Seton High School, Yonkers' first Catholic secondary school. In 1960 they upgraded it to

1961-531: The landscapes around the house, and retained considerable influence over it. While the house has many similarities with the Frick Mansion in New York City, which the firm was designing and building at the same time, the Thompson Mansion has some touches that reflect his personal preferences, such as the colored marble in some columns, imported fireplaces, and classical detailing in the gardens. Thompson lived in

2014-469: The new Bolshevik government despite the protests of indignant American diplomats and businessmen that the Bolsheviks were merely paid agents of the German Kaiser and not true representatives of Russian democracy. Based on his own observations of Russia's political climate, Thompson believed that the new Bolshevik government was certain to remain in power, and that official Allied recognition & support of

2067-422: The north and south ends. The north facade incorporates the facade of an actual 16th-century Italian church. All bays below the roof on the main block are set with multi-pane casement windows ; the service wing's windows are six-over-six double-hung sash. In the center of the west (rear) face is an elaborate garden entrance. At the first story three French doors are recessed in a Palladian arcade . Above them

2120-507: The northern end of the second floor is a tiled indoor pool with a stained glass window looking out on the garden. The basement den has been extensively remodeled, but it still has an Asian design and a Chinese decorative wood carving along the stair leading to it. After success in the mining industry in his native Montana, William Boyce Thompson came to New York in 1895. He continued to be involved in mining as an investor on Wall Street , and made more money. A decade later, he began acquiring

2173-453: The people and the inability of the social democratic Provisional Government headed by Alexander Kerensky to handle the crisis and feed the hungry. Along with assisting the Provisional government in dealing with the famine, Thompson also endeavored to shape post-Revolutionary Russia's political landscape in a manner favorable to Wall Street. Thompson provided $ 1 million of his own money to fund

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2226-487: The very best scientists, equipment, and supplies and then to develop relationships with industry and the government to help finance research. He donated money for parks and libraries at many of his mining camps, including the Thompson-Hickman Memorial Library in his birthplace, Virginia City; his wife Gertrude Hickman Thompson officially transferred the building to the city in 1918. He donated $ 50,000 for

2279-425: The walls feature pilasters, entablatures and railings, all forming low colonnades at each level. At the top organ pipes of a Welte Philharmonic Organ are arranged in the shape of a window frame. What appears to be paneling along the walls of the upper stories is actually a line of closets. The master bedroom has another imported European fireplace; in the other bedrooms are more classically inspired carved ones. At

2332-572: The war, ratifying the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918. While the Soviet Union allowed foreign investments and free trade for a time during the era of the New Economic Policy , this accommodation ended when Joseph Stalin took power and inaugurated the first five-year plans for the national economy of the Soviet Union . There is a persistent narrative, most prominently outlined in "Wall Street and

2385-565: The woodwork remains today. The college also built a dorm to the west, blocking the view of the Hudson the mansion had once enjoyed. In 1989, Elizabeth Seton College merged with Iona College . For a while Iona used both campuses, due to space limitations across the county at its New Rochelle campus. Six years after the merger, in 1995, Iona closed the campus and consolidated operations in New Rochelle. The property began to be subdivided and sold. It

2438-513: Was a member of an American Red Cross relief mission that also hoped to encourage formation of a democratic government in Russia. He was awarded the honorary title of Colonel by the American Red Cross. The objective of Thompson's mission was to enlarge the business opportunities in Russia for himself and his Wall Street associates. But on the ground in Russia, he saw firsthand the suffering of

2491-433: Was attractive to developers since it was one of the few large mostly unbuilt parcels in Yonkers with river views. The city bought 14 acres (5.7 ha) including the mansion and other buildings, the latter of which it used as an elementary school . A developer bought the remaining land to the south and built an assisted living center. The mansion remained unused and vacant. Signs of neglect became apparent, and it became

2544-640: Was buried at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery . A 1935 biography of Boyce-Thompson, The Magnate , by Herman Hagedorn , the presidential biographer of Theodore Roosevelt , profiles his life. His portrait was painted by the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862–1947) about 1920-5, and was donated to the New York Chamber of Commerce around 1948/9 by the artist's friend, the soprano Jessica Dragonette (died 1980) who had acquired it from

2597-464: Was first used in that latter capacity as the mansion where Russell Crowe as mathematician John Nash drops mail off there in the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind . It was also used for scenes in The Royal Tenenbaums and Mona Lisa Smile . William Boyce Thompson William Boyce Thompson (May 13, 1869 – June 27, 1930) was an American mining engineer , financier , prominent in

2650-575: Was head of and principal supporter of the President Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Association from 1919 until his death. In 1912, he built the W. B. Thompson Mansion at Yonkers, New York . It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. During the 1920s, near Superior, Arizona, he built his winter mansion, Picket Post House, overlooking the beautiful desertscape and gardens he created at what

2703-490: Was named Thompson, Nevada after him (now a ghost town); and most fortuitously in the 1910s opened the Magma mine at Superior, Arizona , which became a major copper producer; and the promotion of the incredibly rich Inspiration Copper Company at Inspiration, Arizona , near Miami, Arizona , during the 1910s (absorbed by the "Anaconda crowd" in 1912, but with Thompson retaining a 15% share); all made him fabulously wealthy. He had built

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2756-524: Was schooled in the rough mining towns of southwest Montana - but also at Phillips Exeter Academy and the Columbia School of Mines . During the 1890s he joined his father, William, one-time mayor of Butte, in Montana mining and lumber ventures, before moving east to become a mine promoter and stockbroker. His first success, the Shannon Copper Company – where he opened mines, built a smelter, and

2809-507: Was searching in all the major new porphyry districts and developed a number of the major mines by the time heart disease impacted Gunn's abilities, then his death a year later March 11, 1913. Gunn the mine finder was a perfect match for Thompson the broker and high wheeling financier. Gunn had the talent in Salt Lake City on his staff or as consultants next door to find the mines—Mason Valley, Inspiration, Magma, for example—while Thompson had

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