1886 Bowling Alley

Believe it or not, a bowling alley stood here during the Jay family's ownership of the Estate. Documents date the structure as far back as 1886. For decades, it was a place of recreation and fun, as well as an escape from the formality of the gardens. It was demolished in the 1980s but enough remnants and archival photos survive that its exterior may be reconstructed. Adaptive reuse of the site being considered includes re-creation of the elegant Victorian exterior with interior modern modifications to house visitor bathrooms and allow some storage for garden equipment.

Thanks to the research of Jay Fellow and Columbia University GSAPP student Rachel Erickson in 2020, which included paint analysis of fragments, we now know that the structure was painted peach and chocolate brown!