William E. Ward House

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. 13 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1892.

From the record

“Ward House, known locally as Ward's Castle, is located on Magnolia Drive, on the state line between Rye Brook, New York and Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. It is a reinforced concrete structure built in the 1870s.”
Wikipedia article William E. Ward House, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 250 National Register listings published here for Westchester County · listed in 1976 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 2 buildingss as contributing to the listing.
Listed as. Ward, William E., House - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
Address. Comly Ave., Rye, 10573
When was it listed? November 1976
Category. building
Town. Rye town
Architectural style. Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada, Gothic Revival
National Register reference number. 76001294 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

298 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 298 fires within 5 miles of William E. Ward House between 2000 and 2020, burning about 235 acres in total. 21 started naturally. 23 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	167
Smoking	29
Recreation and ceremony	28
Arson/incendiarism	23
Natural	21
Debris and open burning	13
Equipment and vehicle use	7
Misuse of fire by a minor	6
Power generation/transmission/distribution	3
Railroad operations and maintenance	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
8 September 2010	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
8 September 2005	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
7 September 2005	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
7 September 2004	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
5 September 2010	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
5 September 2007	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
3 September 2008	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
27 September 2013	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	N/A

Every fire recorded in Westchester County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of William E. Ward House: 9 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Granite, Stone, Dimension, Stone. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Christiano Oak Ridge Diorite Gneiss Rock Quarry	Stone	Past Producer	1833
Christiano Hamilton Avenue Diorite Gneiss Rock Quarry	Stone, Dimension	Past Producer	1873
Ritch Diorite Gneiss Rock Quarry	Stone, Dimension	Past Producer	Unknown
Voorhis Diorite Gneiss Rock Quarry	Stone, Dimension	Past Producer
Christiano Hamilton Avenue Quarry	Granite	Past Producer
Chritiano Oak Ridge Quarry	Granite	Past Producer
Lake Street Granite Mine	Granite	Producer
Lake Street Granite Quarry	Granite	Past Producer	Granite
Ritch Quarry	Granite	Past Producer
Voorhis Quarry	Granite	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Westchester County

Storms near this property

13 since 2001

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rye, the town this property stands in, in 13 storm reports between 2001 and 2023: 5 flash flood, 5 thunderstorm wind, 2 lightning, 1 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
October 2010	Flash Flood	Rye	$50,000	Flooding caused portions of many major roads to be closed. Specifically, the Saw Mill River Parkway was closed in both directions between the Taconic State Pkwy. and Manville Rd. in Pleasantville. Southbound lanes from Interstate 287 and northbound lanes from Interstate 87 to Rt. 119 in Elmsford were also closed, as was Exit 7 at Tuckahoe Rd. in Yonkers. The Bronx River Pkwy. was shut in both directions from the Sprain Brook Pkwy. in Yonkers to the Main St. Bridge in White Plains. Fourteen families living in a two-story apartment building on Harrison Ave. in Harrison were evacuated after a ceiling in the hallway collapsed, causing flooding throughout the building. Property damage amounts are estimated. Total rainfall amounts ranged from 3.58 inches in White Plains to 6.25 inches in Yorktown Heights.
September 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Rye	$6,000	A large tree down on New Street took down some wires.
August 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Rye	$6,000	Multiple trees were reported down throughout Rye, including along Chamberlain Street and Stuyvesen Avenue.
September 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Rye	$4,000	Wires down across Natoma Street and Purchase Street.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Rye	$3,000	Trees reported down onto the roadway near the Rye Metro North station resulting in hundreds with power.
August 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Rye	$2,000	Power lines down on North Street in Harrison.
July 2010	Lightning	Rye	$1,000	A house at 10 Dogwood Lane in Rye was struck by lightning.
June 2023	Hail	Rye	-	NWS Employee reports 1 inch hail.
September 2021	Flash Flood	Rye	-	Several cars drove around barricades in Rye and are now stuck in flood waters.
September 2011	Flash Flood	Rye	-	A vehicle was stranded in high water at the intersection of Peck Ave. and Midland Ave. in Rye.
August 2009	Flash Flood	Rye	-	Vehicles were disabled due to flooding on Abdendroth Ave., Midland Ave., and Fox Island Rd. in Port Chester. Numerous secondary streets were also flooded.
March 2007	Flash Flood	Rye	-	Multiple streets flooded and car rescues; high school football stadium flooded as well.
April 2001	Lightning	Rye	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Westchester County

Maps showing this location

13 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1892 USGS Stamford quadrangle1:62500
1893 USGS Stamford quadrangle1:62500
1899 USGS Stamford quadrangle1:62500 - 13 printings
1944 USGS Glenville quadrangle1:24000
1947 USGS Hartford quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1948 USGS Hartford quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1951 USGS Glenville quadrangle1:24000 - 2 printings
1951 USGS Glenville quadrangle1:31680
1960 USGS Glenville quadrangle1:24000 - 4 printings
1961 USGS Hartford quadrangle1:250000
1962 USGS Hartford quadrangle1:250000 - 3 printings
1965 USGS Hartford quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1986 USGS Bridgeport quadrangle1:100000 - 3 printings

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Bush-Lyon Homestead	0.9 miles	1982
Life Savers Building	1.4 miles	1985
St. Peter's Episcopal Church	1.5 miles	2006
US Post Office-Port Chester	1.6 miles	1989
Capitol Theater	1.7 miles	1984
Putnam and Mellor Engine and Hose Company Firehouse	1.8 miles	1983

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 76001294 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Westchester County	All 250 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.