A Mansion Where an Astor Lived

An attention-getter since its appearance in 1853 along the Hudson River, an Italianate villa known as Nuits in the Westchester village of Irvington, once home to John Jacob Astor III, ,making it one of the highest priced properties in the Rivertowns.
Also known as the Cottenet-Brown House, the three-level mansion was designed by the German-born architect Detlef Lienau for François Cottenet, a merchant who wanted a bit of his native France in a river villa. To achieve that, Lienau used yellow-hued limestone from Caen, France, that served as ballast aboard ships owned by Cottenet.

The original footprint of the mansion grew in the 1860s, when Cottenet added a wing that included several bedrooms, a billiards room and a conservatory. (Mr. Dolan said a scene in the 1993 film “The Age of Innocence” was filmed in the conservatory.) Over the years, the house passed through the hands of several owners, many with deep ties to the village. One of them, Cyrus West Field, who was one of the founders of the Atlantic Telegraph Company, did not own it for long, but his short ownership yielded some long-term stipulations: The building can be used only as a residence.

John Jacob Astor III spent the last years of his life there. After his death in 1890, the house was sold to Manhattan College, which sought to ease Field’s restriction and use it for educational purposes. When that effort failed, the estate was sold to a local businessman who parceled off much of the mansion’s 65 acres for the development of the neighboring Ardsley Park. The mansion now sits on five acres of rolling and landscaped lawns, bordered at the river’s edge by tennis courts operated by the Ardsley Country Club.

On a recent tour, Dalia Valdes, of Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty, noted the mansion’s distinctive features, including floor-to-ceiling louvered French doors. A long open hallway on the first floor offers a clear view from the front to the rear of the house. Original details include a marble floor in the conservatory and fireplaces with windows atop them, allowing visitors to enjoy the fire and the view at the same time.