Westchester County Department of Parks

As an up and coming corporate executive, William Sloane was expected to have a certain lifestyle that included a country estate. 

On December 6, 1905, William Sloane purchased the deeds to two pieces of property, the Joseph Sarles estate and the E.V. Weeks estate on Byram Lake Road in Mount Kisco to be his legal residence. Family oral history states that it was Mrs. Sloane who found the property when she and her mother would ride around the Mount Kisco and Bedford area in a horse and carriage looking for property.

The photos below of the building of Merestead, circa 1907, are courtesy of the Andy Diem photo collection.

The 26-room main dwelling Family oral history states that William Sloane rolled a gold piece down a table and said,“Build it big, boys,” when discussing the building of a main dwelling at Merestead.  However, Mrs. Sloane wanted something small and intimate.  The resulting 26-room main dwelling was the compromise.

View from Byram Lake Road, ca. 1909 Situated between farms to the east and west, the main dwelling rises up with understated elegance on a terrace. The brick and marble main dwelling was designed by the architectural firm Delano and Aldrich 1906-1907. It is a significant early hybrid work that anticipates an American country estate style that Delano and Aldrich would become famous for designing. At Merestead, classical French and English architectural sources have been re-interpreted to create a style that we interpret as Georgian Revival.

Front view, ca. 1909 The architectural elements of the L-shaped main dwelling include a symmetrical design, a marble keystone over each window and a marble string course which all create an exterior of understated elegance.