Encounter the treasures of a home made for music.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Rosen House is a work of living history. You can enjoy the Rosen House in many ways: take a tour, enjoy an Afternoon Tea, hear a concert in the Music Room or Spanish Courtyard, or attend a fundraising event.
Please email boxoffice@caramoor.org for requesting tours in French, Spanish, or additional languages.
The Mediterranean-style House was built during the period between 1929 and 1939 by Walter Rosen, a Berlin-born, Harvard and NYU Law School-educated international banker specializing in railroads, and Lucie Bigelow Dodge Rosen, an independent, spirited, and highly intelligent member of a prominent New York City family.
Filled with examples of fine and decorative Asian and Renaissance art, the House offers a number of treasures, including complete 18th-century rooms, originally from private villas and chateaux in Italy, France, and England. The Burgundian Library is a French 17th-century, paneled room with a brilliant blue groin-vaulted ceiling. An exquisite 16th-century painted Spanish ceiling resides in an alcove off the Music Room.
The Formal Dining Room features doors thought to have been designed by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1695-1770), made for a Venetian palace, along with turquoise Chinese export wallpaper featuring birds perched in flowering trees.
Walter Rosen’s bedroom has Gothic paneling from a residence in the Tyrol region of Italy and is furnished with pieces from Renaissance Italy and Spain. Lucie Rosen’s bedroom contains a carved and gilded bed that belonged to Pope Urban VIII.
“We built a home my husband and I, not to be old or new, just to be beautiful. And we built it for music.”
–Lucie Rosen
The majestic Music Room includes Renaissance furniture and architectural elements such as the intricately carved coffered ceiling from a house in Lecce, Italy; a pair of pink marble twisted columns from Verona, once in the collection of William Randolph Hearst; Urbino maiolica; reliefs from the workshop of Della Robbia and Old Masters; and a magnificent Franco-Flemish tapestry titled “The Holy Family.” From a slightly later period, our 18th-century needlework chairs delight Music Room visitors.
Many other rare and distinctive art objects, including sculpture from the 16th through 20th centuries, paintings, stained glass, an impressive Asian collection, and a spectacular array of works by E.F. Caldwell, many commissioned by Walter Rosen, also fill the 25,000-square foot House.
The House’s Spanish Courtyard contains gardens and cloisters, as well as niches with intricately painted wall designs. This distinctive space is “Spanish under the influence of the Italian Renaissance” given the architectural styles reminiscent of 15th-century Italian architect Filippo Brunelleschi.
The Caramoor experience was born in the House and continues to this day. As great lovers of music, the Rosens filled their home with friends and neighbors for intimate musical performances, lavish parties, and musical soirées. In 1946, as those performances and parties gained momentum, the House was opened to the public, spawning the early years of what became Caramoor’s year-round music programming.
Today, nearly 15,000 annual visitors come to the House, including more than 6,000 school-aged children who learn about the House, arts, and culture through Caramoor’s schools programs. Portions of the House are also used for private parties, events, and film shoots.
Caramoor Members can enjoy special Members-only events in the House.
To arrange a group tour of the House, please contact us at boxoffice@caramoor.org or 914.232.1252.