357 Van Cortlandt Park Avenue
Also listed as Leslie Sutherland Park
Park Hill (2002)
approx. pp. 320-322
Location Bounded by Overcliff Street and Alta Avenue on the north, Park Hill Terrace and the rear lot lines of buildings facing McLean Avenue on the west, the rear lot lines of buildings facing McLean Avenue on the south, and the rear lot lines of buildings facing Van Cortlandt Park Avenue on the east. Landscaped park with rubblestone retaining walls, benches, and memorial. Granite monument with bronze plaque including bust of Leslie Sutherland and text reading "For more than fifty years an outstanding leader in the political, civic and charitable life of the City of Yonkers. He lived in a house by the side of the road and was a friend to man.” The monument was erected by his friends and associates in 1946.
Significance: Park Hill (2002), pp. 742-755, identifies Leslie Sutherland Memorial Park as the site of the destroyed Hendrick Hudson hotel, whose charred stone remains were long known as the Park Hill "Ruins" before the city acquired the site and incorporated the original retaining walls and pathways into the park.
Park Hill West (1994)
approx. p. 41
Leslie Sutherland Park; features include random-rubble stone walls; granite memorial with plaque in memory of Leslie Sutherland dated 1946.
Significance: Park Hill West (1994), pp. 48-58, identifies Leslie Sutherland Memorial Park as the site of the destroyed Hendrick Hudson hotel, whose charred stone remains were long known as the Park Hill "Ruins" before the city acquired the site and incorporated the hotel's original retaining walls and pathways into the park.
Park Hill (1984)
approx. pp. 424-435
Significance: Park Hill (1984), pp. 424-435, identifies Leslie Sutherland Memorial Park as the site of the destroyed Hendrick Hudson hotel, whose charred stone remains were long known as the Park Hill "Ruins" before the city acquired the site and incorporated the original retaining walls into the park.
Related source items (1901 to 1979)
Related images and articles trace the short life and long afterlife of the Hendrick Hudson Hotel site: the hotel image itself, the 1901 fire, the ruins as a scenic overlook, the cave and elevator-access stories, and the later creation of Leslie Sutherland Park.
- 1901 An oval-framed image captioned "Hotel Hendrik Hudson--Park Hill" shows the large chateau-like hotel with steep roofs, towers, dormers, balconies, and broad porches or terraces. Source: Yonkers Historical Society.
- 1906 A postcard frames Yonkers through surviving stone arches of the Park Hill ruins, using the masonry as a high overlook toward the city, Hudson River, and distant shore. Source: Yonkers Historical Society.
- 1909 A postcard titled "Lovers' Road to the 'Ruins'" shows a tree-lined road or lane leading toward the ruins area. Source: Yonkers Historical Society.
- 1909 A postcard shows stone arches and remaining walls at the Park Hill ruins, with rubble in the foreground and the Hudson River and Palisades beyond. Source: Yonkers Historical Society.
- 1926 A Herald Statesman front-page feature published photographs of the Hendrick Hudson / Park Hill Hotel fire and identified the blaze as occurring at dawn on Sunday, March 31, 1901. Source: The Herald Statesman, November 20, 1926, p. 1, accessed through Newspapers.com.
- 1946 A photograph shows the opening ceremony for Leslie Sutherland Park, with a crowd, flags, bunting, the park sign or stone feature, and the Hudson River landscape beyond. Source: Yonkers Historical Society.
- 1962 A Herald Statesman article describes "The Cave" on Park Hill's southern point and connects local stories about the cave to the hotel elevator-access works. Source: Herald Statesman, July 1962, held by Yonkers Historical Society.
- 1976 A postcard or photograph scan shows the dark cave or tunnel opening cut into exposed rock near the ruins. Source: Yonkers Historical Society.
- 1979 Charles R. Shakeshaft's "When A Hotel Crowned Park Hill" describes the 230-room hotel, its opening-night fire, the elevator shaft and tunnel, the ruins, later redevelopment proposals, and the creation of Leslie Sutherland Park. Source: Yonkers Historical Bulletin, Volume XXVI, Number 1, Summer 1979.