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Montebello Park
75 Montebello Road
Suffern, New York 10901
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A Historical Perspective
Any history of Montebello must include the fortunes of its creator and
builder,
a gentleman who was an orphan at age five, one Thomas Fortune Ryan...
In 1874, at the ripe old age of 23, Thomas Fortune Ryan bought a seat on the
New York Stock Exchange. During the following years, he became a major financier
involved in dozens of trusts and corporations.
By the early 1900's, he controlled virtually all trolley transit in New York City
via his Metropolitan Traction Co.,
the world's first holding company. He co-founded the American Tobacco Company,
and developed vast mining concerns
in the African Congo with the Guggenheim Family.
Clearly, Thomas Fortune Ryan possessed a rare business acumen. His farsightedness made
him a multimillionaire by 1900 -
the year he and his wife, Ida Barry, decided to build their summer mansion in Suffern,
New York at Montebello Road.
"Montebello", positioned with an impressive view of the Ramapo Mountains, took two years
to build at a cost of $500,000
(and that was in 1900 dollars!). It consisted of 44 rooms, 14 fireplaces, two bowling
alleys, and an in-house chapel,
as well as room for a live-in priest and numerous room size vaults protecting their
family treasures.
But, alas, their relationship faltered. By 1906, Thomas Ryan began withdrawing more
from his business and financial
concerns and spending more time at his North Carolina mansion - leaving Mrs. Ryan in
Montebello. When Mrs. Ryan died in 1917,
he remarried only 12 days later (much to the anger of some of his children).
Not surprisingly, he sold Montebello in 1921,
and he died in 1928 - leaving the estate worth over $200 million.
Unfortunately, Montebello was not part of his estate, as it would have been spared
years of vacancy, vandalizing,
and perhaps the ultimate indecency - a storage facility to protect corporate records
from atomic attack.
In 1983, Montebello was purchased by another financier: Gary M. Goldberg. Thus began
a new era - the return of Montebello
to the grandeur it so richly deserves.
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