Choate House (New York)

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There is a Choate House located in Massachusetts, formerly owned by the same Choate family.

Choate House was built in 1867 by shoe manufacturer Samuel Baker located in what is now Pleasantville, New York. It later became the residence of Dr. George C. S. Choate. Choate added a wing to the house for his private sanitarium to house patients being treated for mental and nervous disorders. After the death of Dr. Choate in 1896 and the subsuquent end of the sanitarium ten years later, Dr. Choate’s widow, had the wing her husband had constructed moved down the hill to its present location closer to Bedford Road. Her intention was to occupy the house while turning over her original home to her newly married son as a wedding gift. The actual job of detaching and moving the wing from the original home began on New Year’s Day 1909 and lasted approximately 6-7 months. The wing of the house was pulled on logs by teams of horses, inched along past the pond, while at the same time avoiding the beautiful old trees that Mrs. Choate did not want disturbed; she wanted to preserve the natural landscape.

At it's new location, Mrs. Choate lived there until her death, at age 95, in 1926. As years passed, the newly moved wing-converted-to-a-house had three more private owners; banker Dunham B. Scherer; advertising executive Lewis H. Titterton, and eventually Wayne C. Marks - alumnus and then trustee of Pace College, now known as Pace University.

In 1962, Mr. Marks presented his alma mater with an extraordinary gift of giving his estate to Pace, which lead to the first property that Pace purchased to expand in Westchester County, New York. This house today is known as "Marks Hall", the wing that was separated from Choate House.

Eventually, the original house (Choate House), just a stone's throw away, became part of the campus also, but in order for Pace to buy and use the land, an agreement was made with the Choate family to maintain Choate House to its original state and remain its original color - pink. To this day, if one passes the Taconic Parkway toward the Pleasantville exit, one can see the pink house known as Choate House.[1]

Choate House[2] and Marks Hall[3] are part of Pace University in Pleasantville, New York. Choate is also the name of the campus pond located in front of Choate House.

Choate House today houses the campus office of the president of Pace University, as well as one of the University's art galleries and offices of the University's Dyson College of Arts & Sciences.

† American School & University magazine's Educational Interiors Showcase named Marks Hall as outstanding interior renovation.