Cedar Lawn

Built 1874-75, for Augustus Corey Richards, it was originally a picturesque country villa designed in consultation with Alexander Jackson Davis, with a conical corner turret, and named "Ridgeview". In 1906, it was purchased by Isaac Stern, one of the three founders of the Stern Brothers Department Store in Manhattan. He remodelled the existing house into a the austere castle seen in the picture below. Although he renamed it "Cedar Lawn," it was often referred to by locals as "Stern Castle". His son, Robert B. Stearns - co-founder of the investment bank Bear Stearns - lived here until his death in 1954. Left empty, it burned down in 1959 and was demolished in 1961. Five years later, Irvington High School was built in its place and remains there today.