The historic tower above the bathhouse at Oakland Beach in Rye Town Park, long a symbol of the park’s dilapidation, is being rapidly restored.
The re-stuccoing of the exterior of the tower building, which dates to 1910, is one of a series of new projects underwritten by the Friends of Rye Town Park, which raised $450,000 last spring, enabling it to cover the $500,000 cost.
In addition to the tower project, the Friends have used that money to restore eight quatrefoil rosette tower windows and the upper-level column windows. The group plans to rebuild the wall from the tower building to Dearborn Avenue.
The Friends also bought four new “shower towers” for the outdoor shower area, which is now being rebuilt with public money by the Rye Town Park Commission.
“It is indeed wonderful to see so much improvement happening at Rye Town Park,” said Diana Page, president of Friends of Rye Town Park, calling this a “golden age of investment and improvement for this previous jewel by the sea. The tower building is important, because it dominates the landscape. We realized that no matter how beautiful we made the gardens, or how much we improved the green spaces throughout the park, it was overshadowed by the decrepit tower building and broken-down walls looming over it. It was an utter eyesore. It was depressing to see.”
The Friends, Page said, are also exploring lighting for the park towers “similar to the beautiful lighting at Playland.” Once the tower construction is done, the group plans to renovate gardens near the beach bathhouse and flagpole.
The Spanish Mission-style park buildings date to 1910 and were designed by the Upjohn and Conable architecture firm. Conable is known for having designed historic churches in Manhattan and Queens. The Rye Town Park buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The private money raised by the Friends group came through 230 donations, ranging from $10 to a $200,000 matching grant from the Sue and Edgar Wachenheim Foundation. The Purchase-based philanthropy is led by Edgar Wachenheim, CEO and chairman of the Greenhaven Associates investment firm. Wachenheim is also the author of the 2016 book “Common Stocks and Common Sense.”
The Wachenheim Foundation has provided support for the Jay Heritage Center as well.
The challenge grant proved effective, Page said.
“Mr. and Mrs. Wachenheim were the wind in our sails with their $200K challenge grant on Mother’s Day, and by June 6 — less than two months after launch — without an expensive party, with just a PowerPoint presentation and help from our friends in the local press and on social media — we had raised over $450K,” she said. “It took a while to get through all the planning and permitting processes, but we started work this spring, and we are on track to finish by early summer.”
