Bayley-Ellard - Madison

Bayley-Ellard was part of an estate owned at the end of the 19th century by George Danforth.  Danforth built a romantic Gothic revival mansion in 1872-73 on the Madison Avenue side of his property. After Danforth’s death, the estate was sold to Hamilton McKay Twombly. In 1897, Twombly sold the Danforth house and 40 acres abutting Madison Avenue to Frederick Bell who called this newly created estate “Bellwood.” Bell expanded the 1873 house, built the stone boundary wall, created an Italian garden and erected the stables designed in a French Renaissance-inspired style by Carrere and Hasting. In 1906, the estate was purchased by Adolphe de Bary of Summit, who renamed the property “Cecilhurst.” Six years later, the 19th Century house burned down, and de Bary sold the property to Leland Ross of Morristown. Ross built the existing house in 1921, designed by the firm of Behr and Smith in the colonial Revival style with a soaring slate roof. The mansion had 35 rooms and 11 full baths, with a large dining room, drawing room, morning room and library on the main floor. In 1948, Cecilhurst became the home of the Bayley-Ellard Regional High School of the Diocese of Patterson and was adapted for that use. Bayley-Ellard was the site of the Mansion in May1994. The high school closed in 2005 and today the diocese uses the property as a religious educational center.