#FUVLove: Spuyten Duyvil Spreads Love for Villa Rosa Bonheur

In the early 1920s, lawyer John J. Mckelvy, the first editor of the Harvard Law Review, looked around Riverdale and decided he disliked the industrial style buildings going up around the community. The neighborhood of Spuyten Duyvil was a quaint enclave nestled in the west of the Bronx, full of greenspace and potential to be a pocket of the city that did not feel so metropolitan. So, he financed the construction of three beautiful sisters along the river named Villas Victoria, Charlotte Bronte and Rosa Bonheur. Now, Spuyten Duyvil is losing one of its lovely ladies. A community of love has sprung up around the property in response.

Developers began tearing down Villa Rosa Bonheur late last year. Every day, hundreds of people descend the Metro North stairs adjacent to the building, so the changes became hard to ignore. Community members said they first thought she was getting a much needed renovation, but as workers began to pull the terracotta tiles off her roof, they became concerned. It now stands with only a few remnant shingles, exposed to the elements and lacking much of its original beauty.

Dozens of Riverdale residents took to the Spuyten Duyvil streets this weekend to march for Rosa Bonheur. They left roses to represent their love of the house and protest its development.

The development company Timber Equities obtained the site under “as of right” status, meaning it does not require oversight from city committees. Community members said they fear it will become a tall apartment building that lacks the history and beauty of Rosa Bonheur. They worry a new building will block views of the river and natural light to other buildings in the area, and further congest traffic and parking.

Developers said they are proud to serve a growing need for housing in the Bronx, but community members are fighting back and grieving the damage to one of their three beloved sisters.
Miriam Gomez lived in Rosa Bonheur’s sister, Villa Victoria, for a number of years, and she said she is grieved to see Rosa Bonheur in such disarray.

“It’s very sad,” said Gomez. “Every time I walk by, I walked by this morning with my dog, I just want to cry.”

Gomez’s son Miguel Hummel says he is mourning more than the loss of the house – he is concerned for what development will do to his unique community.

“Everyone knows one another and that’s nice, especially when you’re living in New York City,” said Hummel. “That’s not something you’re really going to get anywhere else.”
He said Rose Bonheur represents those community values.

“That house represent some of that feel,” he said. “It ties it back into that history and how we’ve tried to maintain that sense of not feeling like the city. We don’t want these massive buildings just being put up.”

Longtime Riverdale residents said Rosa Bonheur is a touchstone to what Spuyten Duyvil strives to be – a corner of the Bronx that feels practically suburban. Sura Jesselsohn has lived in Riverdale for 50 years.

“If they continue removing that building and blocking us off further from the river, we’re just putting like a nail in the coffin of the beauty of Riverdale down there,” said Jesselsohn.

Jesselsohn said she was impressed with the turnout at the weekend’s vigil for Rosa Bonheur.

“Riverdale is a community. It’s made up of several sections…and they all have different characters, but there is no question that the people here all feel part of Riverdale,” said Jessselsohn.

Some residents are more optimistic than others about the possibility of saving Villa Rosa Bonheur. Others said they are more focused on convincing Timber Equities to account for the needs of community when the group constructs its new building.

Jodie Colon is a community organizer with the group Friends of Spuyten Duyvil. She said the community of love that has sprung up around the site is beautiful, despite the circumstances.

“One of the best things to come out of this is we’ve met a lot more of our neighbors, we’ve had a lot more opportunity to talk to each other and hear everybody’s different perspectives,” said Colon.

“For the Friends of Spuyten Duyvil, that is the most exciting thing about these challenges that face us, they’re opportunities for us to really be a neighborhood,” said Colon.