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add to 26 Prescott ave section

26 Prescott Avenue, a Victorian Tudor home, was built in 1896 out of stone and wood. It's earliest resident was William Winthrop Kent, an architect. The home was designed strategically for the lot, as it was mostly rocky terrain; most of the rooms face South, as to best capture shade and sunshine at various times of the year. It featured an oval-shaped dining room, as well as bottle glass windows. It was first called Oak Ridge Cottage, though, has been re-remembered as the Owl House, due to the large owl figurine that sits atop the roof. Years later, when artist William Thomas Smedley moved in, he added a large studio onto the house. He also had Kent, both the architect and former resident, add in a secret passage leading from one of the main rooms to his studio. Allegedly, this allowed him a quick escape during his wife's frequent parties.

William Thomas Smedley

"One Day in June" by William Thomas Smedley, 1909

William Thomas Smedley was a resident of Bronxville between the years of 1896 and 1920. During these time, he lived at 26 Prescott Avenue. He was recognized for his illustrations in the beginning of his career, and by the end, was an infamous commission painter for the wealthy residents of nearby New York City. He was born into a religious family, the son of a Quaker minister. In 1873, he was sent to Westchester, Pennsylvania to work at a local news outlet. There, he was encouraged by executives of the paper to take his talents to Philadelphia's Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. There, he studied under Thomas Eakins, an American painter and photographer. He also studied in Paris at the Academie Julian under Jean Pail Laurens. His works included several portraits of Congress members, as well as Supreme Court Justices. Some of his works have been included in the Library of Congress, as well as the National Gallery of Art.

Though he began in illustrations, he moved into painting around the turn of the century. He focused then on portraiture. This would remain his creative focus throughout his time in the park.

edits to the 25 Prescott Ave section:

Mary and Will Low

In 1897, Will Low worked on a wall panel for the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in NYC, which was his first major commission. The mural was set to be installed on the ceiling of the hotel, and was a lofty 34' by 26'. The house features a trap door in the floor of Will Low's former studio, which was useful to the artist in working on top sections of his paintings without using a ladder, as well as for canvas storage. The studio itself boasts large windows allowing for natural light. Within the chimney of the fireplace within the studio, there is a plaster medallion created by American sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens depicting the novelist Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote many infamous works such as Treasure Island. Low had previously connected Stevenson and St. Gaudens. Below the medallion is a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson entitled "Lines to Will H. Low". It is said that Will Low's final painting, a mural he created to be gifted to the local Bronxville School, was completed hours before his passing.

"Roses and Lilies" by Mary Fairchild MacMonnies Low

FThe Saint-Gaudens medallion depicting Robert Louis Stevenson; Built into the chimney of Low's studio at 25 Prescott Avenue

Will Low's second wife, Mary MacMonnies Low, was also a prominent figure in the art world. Following a divorce from her first husband, Scottish-American sculptor Frederick MacMonnies, Mary married Will Low, who had been an admirer of hers for some time. She moved from Paris to America with her daughters in 1910, and lived at 25 Prescott Avenue with her new husband for the rest of her life. In her youth, she studied at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts, eventually being awarded a three-year scholarship at the Academie Julian. In 1901, she was elected president of the American Woman's Art Association. While married to her first husband Frederick MacMonnies, she lived in a home at Giverny, often remembered as the grounds of infamous impressionist artist Claude Monet. The home was known for its landscaping and workshops. The home's aesthetics influenced many of her impressionist paintings from this era of her life. In 1902, she was awarded the Julia Shaw prize from the Society of American Artists. Four years later in 1906, she became an Associate of the National Academy of Design.

Mary's marriage to Will Low was described as a happy one. Will's second autobiography, A Painter's Progress, writes to Mary, "This is the life we have chosen well, the choice was mad, but I should make it again." The couple lived in the Lawrence Park home until they died, with Will passing first in 1932, and Mary over a decade later in 1946.

Family friends have remembered visiting the home and seeing "murals spread across the studio floor" , as well as "[the studio] was covered from floor to ceiling - you couldn't even see the wallpaper."