I’ve been living in Briarcliff Manor for about 18 years and noticed these two huge, fluted Ionic columns almost as soon as we arrived. However, until now I had never taken a picture of them.

If you’re travelling north on Route 9 from Tarrytown, just before you reach the intersection with Scarborough road you’ll see them on the left side of the road.

They frame the former main entrance to the Vanderlip mansion: Beechwood.

According to Wikipedia Frank Arthur Vanderlip, Sr. (November 17, 1864 – June 30, 1937) was:

… an American banker and journalist. He was president of the National City Bank of New York (now Citibank) from 1909 to 1919, and was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury from 1897 to 1901. Vanderlip is known for his part in founding the Federal Reserve System, and for founding the first Montessori school in the UNited States, the Scarborough School and the group of communities in Palos Verdes, California.

Born in rural Illinois, Vanderlip worked in farms and factories until beginning a career in journalism in 1885. His efforts in financial journalism led him to become Assistant Secretary of the Treasury until the National City Bank hired him. While president of the bank, Vanderlip worked with the Jekyll Island group to develop a federal reserve; Vanderlip’s later proposals also influenced the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913. His later life was focused towards developing Palos Verdes and creating the Scarborough School at his estate, Beechwood, in Briarcliff Manor, New York, as well as gentrifying the hamlet of Sparta nearby. In addition, he helped found and was the first president of Sleepy Hollow Country Club. Vanderlip died in 1937 in New York Hospital, after weeks of treatment there.

It goes on to say that:

In 1907, while Vanderlip was vice president of the First National City Bank (later Citibank), he had two columns from the headquarters 55 Wall Street shipped to Beechwood (55 Wall Street was being remodeled and the columns were re-spaced, with two left over). He had the columns placed two-thirds above ground in Beechwood’s entranceway off of Albany Post Road (now U.S. Route 9), an entrance which was later closed due to increasing traffic volume on Route 9 (the current entrance is off Scarborough Station Road).

The former entrance was designed by William Welles Bosworth