Preliminary design for an elevation of Knoll, now known as Lyndhurst, Tarrytown, New York

Alexander Jackson Davis is regarded as the pre-eminent American architect of the mid-19th century. Davis studied at the American Academy of Fine Arts, the New York Drawing Association and the Antique School of the National Academy of Design before going into partnership with Ithiel Town (1784-1844) in February 1829. Town and Davis produced many civic, institutional, religious, commercial and residential buildings across numerous States and deployed various gothic and classical motifs in their designs.

The drawing offered here would appear to relate to designs for William Paulding's "Knoll" near Tarrytown, New York (1838-1842) which was later enlarged and aggrandized as "Lyndhurst" between the years 1864 and 1867. Lyndhurst is now owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is open to the public.