Letter to the Editor: The BAR Should Preserve and Promote Neighborhood Character

August 21, 2024
To the Editor

When we moved to Scarsdale in 1971, 53 years ago, we bought a beautiful Georgian Colonial house surrounded by inspired landscaping, with beautiful shrubs and trees. The other houses on the street were all of different styles in addition to Georgian Colonial, for example: Tudor, French Revival, Spanish Colonial and American Craftsmen. There were no commonplace or standard issue houses. This kind of setting was half the reason or more that people bought homes in Scarsdale. The homes were varied, often stately, and many were elegant. Very few could be called “ordinary”. In areas of less expensive homes they were also of distinctive styles, still charming but smaller. No one would ever have dreamed of ruining or distorting the appearance of these homes with unnecessary and/or unattractive add-ons.

Then, suddenly came the era of take down any house if you like, or add anything you like, and to hell with the neighborhood character. Opulence has replaced elegance or charm. To hell with beauty. Let her rip.

So now, we live with tear downs or renovations to original houses, regardless of how totally unattractive the new houses and/or the add-ons might be. It is both disheartening and depressing.

The same attitude holds for large stately trees. The idea that these trees are very beautiful seems to be totally irrelevant. The idea seems to be, “let’s build what we think we can sell for the most money, no matter the aesthetic impact.” In the case of 21 Autenrieth Road, the idea of possibly endangering an historic tree in order to add a garage to the front of this elegant Georgian Revival house-despite the fact that it already has two separate garages-seems both absurd and obscene, to say nothing of destroying the appearance of this elegant home.

To think that the BAR, whose stated responsibility is to preserve and promote the character of buildings within the Village of Scarsdale and to ensure that the buildings are designed in harmony with the neighboring community, would even CONSIDER approving such a request is outrageous, unimaginable and unconscionable.

P.S. The BAR approved all the add-ons the developer requested for the house which will ruin the house’s elegant appearance and endanger the valued tree.

Ronee I. Bank, M.D.