On August 8, 1839, eight young men established Beta Theta Pi, the first men’s fraternity founded west of the Allegheny Mountains. The men, “of ever honored memory” were John Reily Knox, Michael Clarkson Ryan, David Linton, Samuel Taylor Marshall, James George Smith, Charles Henry Hardin, John Holt Duncan, and Thomas Boston Gordon.
I became acquainted with the Knox College chapter of Beta Theta Pi years ago when I visited the Pi Beta Phi chapter at Knox. The men’s chapter house is on campus. Later, my sons would become members of Xi Chapter.
Another member of that Xi Chapter has his name on one of Beta’s top awards, honoring his service as Beta Theta Pi’s President. Coincidentally that man, Francis Hinckley Sisson, married Grace Lass during her tenure as Pi Beta Phi’s Grand President. They were married in Galesburg, Illinois, on June 16, 1897. She served as Pi Phi’s Grand President from 1895-99 and he was President of Beta from 1912-18.
Grace Lass Sisson
At the time of their marriage, Mr. Sisson, who had done post-graduate work at Harvard University, was the Editor of the Galesburg Daily Mail. In 1903, the couple moved to New York City, where he was hired by McClure’s Magazine. A year later, he became Advertising Manager for the American Real Estate Company and later was its Secretary from 1908-14. He then took a job with the H.E. Lesan Advertising Agency. From there he became the Assistant Chairman of the Railways Executive’s Advisory Association. In 1917, he was employed as the Vice President of the Guaranty Trust Company. He was still with the company when he passed away in 1933. In addition, he served as President of the American Bankers Association
When the Sissons moved to New York City, they lived in several homes. The 1906 Pi Beta Phi Directory lists the Sissons at 839 West End Avenue. In 1917, their address was 70 Undercliff in the Park Hill section of Yonkers. The 1931 Westchester City Social Record lists the Sissons as still living at the 70 Undercliff address with a winter residence of 480 Park Avenue. In the 1936 Pi Beta Phi Directory, the Sissons were living at 170 Shonnard Terrace in Yonkers.
The Sissons called the home at 170 Shonnard Terrace “Chateau Fleur de Lys,” the name given to it by Dr. H. deB. Seebold of New Orleans who built it in 1890. The Gothic Renaissance chateau was designed by Seebold and he spent 20 years collecting old world treasures to use in it.
The gray stone home was said to be only one of four French chateaus on the Hudson River. An article about a charity bridge event that Mrs. Sisson hosted for the Charity Organization Society in the early 1930s, described the home’s interior:
Through this foyer one reaches the beautifully proportioned Robin Hood room in which the bridge will be held. The handsome, carved oak ceiling, from which the room derives its name, came originally from the Earl of Nottingham’s manor house and is made from black oaks which grew in Sherwood Forest.
Here also are the huge windows, reaching from floor to ceiling, brought from a French chateau. Of leaded opaque stained glass, with a pattern of rippling gold, they flood the room with a honey-colored light.
There is a room for every mood in this fascinating house. There is the quiet sanctity of the Chapel, lighted with the jewel colors of stained glass that lends to its dimness a beauty which changes with every shifting light and the gayety and brightness of the frivolous Marie Antoinette room, with its painted woodwork and garlands of flowers.
Each room has its share of treasures, from the library with its exquisitely carved Italian door to the kitchen with its simple Norman fireplace, all showing the artistic design and careful workmanship which the artisan of that brought to his task….And in this house, Mrs. Sisson has created a gracious background and a fit setting for this unique collection, through her understanding of its enduring perfection.
Mrs. Sisson died on August 16, 1939 at the age of 71. In 1941, dancer Michel Fokine and his wife Vera purchased the home. The home stood empty from 1958-63 when it was the target of vandals and souvenir hunters. It was purchased by Thelma Stovel. A article in a 1966 Herald Statesman, told the story of “one of Yonker’s oldest and most historic homes” and the effort Stovel was putting into the chateau’s renovation.
In 2001, Kohle Yohannan purchased the home from a Haitian woman in her eighties who was then living there. Windows were broken, squirrels roamed freely, the roof leaked, and the list of repairs that needed to be done was very long. Although it took 10 years and much effort, he did a phenomenal job of restoring the home. It has been rented for photo shoots (Neiman Marcus, Victoria’s Secret, Vogue magazine), music videos (Beyonce’s Irreplaceable) and film/television (Mona Lisa Smile, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire). He changed the name to Greystone Court. The home sold recently.
Take a look at the castle in which the Presidents of Pi Beta Phi and Beta Theta Pi once lived.
