Wave Hill

Built in 1843. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. 15 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1891.

From the record

“Wave Hill is a 28-acre (11 ha) estate in the Hudson Hill section of Riverdale in the Bronx, New York City. Wave Hill currently consists of public horticultural gardens and a cultural center, all situated on the slopes overlooking the Hudson River, with expansive views across the river to the New Jersey Palisades.”
Wikipedia article Wave Hill, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 91 National Register listings published here for Bronx County · listed in 1983 · category: Building · built in 1843.

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

The listing

Address. 675 W. 252nd St., New York, 10471
When was it listed? September 1983
Category. building
Borough. The Bronx
When was it built? 1843
National Register reference number. 83001646 - 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.

Then and now

1891 to 1998

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 107 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Wave Hill, surveyed 1998

Topographic sheet covering Wave Hill, surveyed 1891

Fires near this property

2,066 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2,066 fires within 5 miles of Wave Hill between 2000 and 2020, burning about 734 acres in total. 110 started naturally. 121 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	1450
Recreation and ceremony	132
Smoking	130
Arson/incendiarism	121
Natural	110
Equipment and vehicle use	50
Debris and open burning	44
Misuse of fire by a minor	12
Power generation/transmission/distribution	7
Other causes	7
Railroad operations and maintenance	3

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
9 September 2015	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	NA
9 September 2015	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	NA
9 September 2010	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
9 September 2010	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
9 September 2010	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
9 September 2010	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
9 September 2010	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
9 September 2005	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named

Every fire recorded in Bronx County

Mines and quarries near this property

9 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Wave Hill: 5 occurrences, 3 past producers, 1 plant. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Titanium, Garnet, Zirconium, Beryllium. 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
(Facility) Laurel Hill Refinery	Copper, Gold, Nickel, Silver, Tellurium, Selenium, Palladium, Platinum	Plant
155th St & 10th Ave Garnet Deposit	Garnet, Zirconium	Occurrence
159th St & 11th Ave Beryl Deposit	Beryllium	Occurrence
176/178 Sts & 11th Ave Deposit	Titanium, Garnet, Gemstone	Occurrence
200th St & 10th Ave Kyanite Deposit	Kyanite	Occurrence
Bergenfield Plant	REE	Past Producer
Hickory Lane Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer	1890
Star Sand and Gravel Inc. Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
180th St & 10th Ave Rutile Deposit	Titanium	Occurrence

Every working recorded in Bronx County

Maps showing this location

15 surveys

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

1891 USGS Harlem quadrangle1:62500
1897 USGS Harlem quadrangle1:62500 - 4 printings
1898 USGS Harlem quadrangle1:62500
1900 USGS Harlem quadrangle1:62500 - 16 printings
1947 USGS Yonkers quadrangle1:24000 - 2 printings
1949 USGS New York quadrangle1:250000
1954 USGS New York quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1956 USGS Yonkers quadrangle1:24000 - 2 printings
1957 USGS New York quadrangle1:250000
1958 USGS New York quadrangle1:250000 - 3 printings
1960 USGS New York quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1966 USGS Yonkers quadrangle1:24000 - 3 printings
1969 USGS New York quadrangle1:250000
1984 USGS Long Island West quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings
1998 USGS Yonkers quadrangle1:24000

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
Henry F. Spaulding Coachman's House	under 500 feet	1982
Robert Colgate House	0.2 miles	1983
William E. Dodge House	0.3 miles	1977
Riverdale Presbyterian Church Complex	0.3 miles	1982
Christ Church Complex	0.3 miles	1983
Riverdale-Spuyten Duyvil-Kingsbridge Memorial Bell Tower	0.6 miles	2012

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 83001646 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Bronx County	All 91 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.