Garden Conservancy headquarters relocates to Winter Hill

On Monday, August 20, 2012, the Garden Conservancy moved our headquarters into a beautifully restored historic building in Garrison, New York, with an expansive view of Hudson Valley hills. The new facility houses Garden Conservancy employees who have been, for the last twelve years, divided between two locations in nearby Cold Spring. It also provides a large meeting room and other public spaces where we plan to host events and programs for the public. The twenty-nine acres surrounding the building include woodlands and a sweeping lawn, which is popular in winter as a sledding site.

Winter Hill: A nonprofit center in the Hudson Valley
For more than 120 years, Winter Hill has served as a spiritual and cultural center in the Hudson Valley. The building is an elegant example of the historic Tudor Revival style of architecture, with the modest massing, overhangs, half-timbering, and other features of English architecture of the 1500s. It was recently refurbished to serve as offices and a meeting place for cultural institutions.

We are pleased to be a part of this community effort and to be sharing residency with two other like-minded organizations who have had considerable impact in the valley: the Hudson Highlands Land Trust and the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. The Land Trust is devoted to protecting the natural resources, rural character, and scenic beauty of the Hudson Highlands. For twenty-five years, the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, the region’s only professional Shakespeare company, has produced critically acclaimed shows on the grounds of Boscobel, a nearby nineteenth-century estate overlooking the Hudson River.

The Garden Conservancy also has deep roots in the Hudson Valley. The Conservancy was founded in Cold Spring, New York, by renowned plantsman Frank Cabot in 1989. Since then, we have maintained our national headquarters in the town of Philipstown, which includes both Cold Spring and Garrison and lies within easy reach of New York City. The lower Hudson Valley was also where our Open Days program began in 1995 and it continues to serve as the Northeast hub for the program. Winter Hill’s goals to preserve historic buildings and landscapes and to encourage community engagement and cultural vitality are closely aligned with the Garden Conservancy’s own preservation mission and values. We welcome the opportunity our new home presents to deepen and expand our relationships with other cultural and environmental organizations in the region.

Please note our new contact information:

Moving to Winter Hill
Renovation of Winter Hill required many months of work restoring the house as well as the grounds. Landscaping of the grounds was designed by Nick Pouder of New Milford, Connecticut. Outdoor seating by John Danzer of Munder-Skiles adorns the porches and patios, and interior designer Deborah Buck decorated the first floor, including shared conference space, meeting rooms, and other facilities for special events.

To furnish our office space on the second and third floors at Winter Hill, we turned to two of New York’s finest interior architecture firms for help. Maddy Burke at Gensler advised us on the use of the space to best accommodate staff and work areas, and Tom Krizmanic of Studios, helped us select furniture that would complement the classic and somewhat formal interior, which still has most of its original fireplaces and windows.

In anticipation of the move, the Garden Conservancy planted 1,000 daffodils at Winter Hill last fall in honor of former chairman Tom Armstrong, who died in June 2011. Daffodils were a favorite of Tom’s; he planted thousands of them in his garden on Fishers Island, which he often shared with the public through our Open Days program. The daffodils were generously donated by Elliot Wadsworth and White Flower Farm. We plan to continue to add to this display (photo, right) each fall.

History of the site
The 8600-square-foot house was built by the Reverend Walter Thompson, a local pastor, in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The property served as a home for unwed mothers before passing to its current owner, who has beautifully restored the building to serve as a center for nonprofit organizations.

For more information about Winter Hill, its history, and our new neighbors, visit the winterhilloffices.com.

This two-story, nine-room 1900 Colonial house in Cold Spring, New York, has been headquarters to the Garden Conservancy for more than twenty years. When we moved in, our need for office space was small, with just three staff people and one computer. Soon, the enthusiasm and support for our work added more staff (and computers). In 1996, the Garden Conservancy became the owner of the building and began to renovate the building and grounds.   The property is listed for sale by Robert A. McCaffrey Realty.