Pelham Manor

Realtor Kristin Bischof with Sotheby's has lived in Pelham Manor for 20 years. "One of the first things I tell people when they're looking for a home," she says, "is if you meet somebody at a party or event, chances are you'll run into them on the train or walking to school." At just 1.5 square miles and with a Metro-North Rail Road stop right in the middle of town, Pelham Manor is small enough to be walkable, and it's on a grid system, so it's easy to figure out. "There are sidewalks on every street, and children walk to school," says Bischof. Pelham Manor is the first Westchester County neighborhood north of the Bronx. Founded in 1891, this community offers the best of the suburbs, just a 28-minute train ride away from the concrete canyons of Midtown Manhattan.

There are some attractive prewar brick cooperative apartment buildings with stone facades or even Tudor-style ornamentation, along with a smattering of postwar high rises, where buyers can find a quiet one-bedroom unit for under $150,000. Still, for the most part, Pelham Manor is a neighborhood of detached houses. At the bottom of this price range, buyers will find renovated prewar colonial four squares with pale-painted siding on well-manicured landscapes for under $600,000. Bischof says most lots are around a quarter of an acre. Six-bedroom Tudor homes built with English bond brickwork aged into a lovely patina of rusty reds with separate garages and large bricked driveways can be found for under $1.5 million. At the top of the price range, palatial prewar Tudor mansions renovated with in-ground pools, security systems outside, modern appliances, and polished oak-beam ceilings inside are listed for under $2.75 million.

"Most of the businesses in Pelham Manor are independently owned, which differentiates it from other areas in Westchester," says Bischof. "There aren't any chain stores." She recommends Cantina Lobos for great Mexican food, Café Regatta, a white-tablecloth seafood restaurant with great lighting, and Sergio's for "excellent Italian food." Inside the latter, diners can enjoy eating chicken parmigiana and drinking Beaujolais under a coffered ceiling while reclining in mahogany chairs. Foodies will be pleased to know Michelin Bib Gourmand-award-winning Croatian restaurant Dubrovnik sits just a few blocks away in New Rochelle. Off State Route 1, Pelham Manor Plaza is a charming strip mall featuring a CVS and the independent Manor Market grocery store.

A quaint shopping district is centered around the Metro-North stop on the north side of Pelham Manor. The Pelham Picture House has been showing independent films since 1921 and is owned by the local non-profit The Picture House Regional Film Center. On the opposite side of the train tracks are the expansive indoor and outdoor Bauhaus-inspired grounds of the Pelham Arts Center, a colorful and family-friendly venue for art makers and viewers alike. The Pelham Public Library is housed in a stately old neo-classical building and offers a summer reading class for young students and a strong English as a Second Language program. While Pelham Country Club and the New York Athletic Club are big draws for this neighborhood, Glen Island Park is extraordinary. A 105-acre island connected to Pelham Manor by a drawbridge, this island in the Long Island Sound has beaches, boat ramps and fishing piers, among other amenities.

The Pelham Union Free School District is highly ranked, receiving an A-plus on the school rankings website Niche. Colonial School, recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School in 2023, has been educating elementary school students since 1910. Pelham Middle School received an A on Niche and has its own maker space club where students learn game design and 3D modeling, along with other things. Pelham Memorial High School received an A-plus on Niche. Housed in a towering stone gothic revival building straight out of a Harry Potter book, this high school is home to National Merit Scholars and a vibrant theater arts program. With Grand Central Station in New York City only 28 minutes by train, many residents commute to the city for work. Others are active in the healthcare field, says Bischof, working just south of the neighborhood in the Montefiore Hutchinson Medical Campus. But no matter where they spend their working days, residents seem to relish coming home to Pelham Manor.

Written By

Abbot Street

Photography Contributed By

Leon Cato

Video By

Stewart Taveras