The Briarcliff Manor

The Briarcliff Manor has been a Gilded Age house, a rumoured speakeasy, quarters for a circus, a riding stable and a French restaurant. It has been a wedding venue since the DiNapoli family bought and restored it in May 2015. The house was built in 1902 as the Haymount Estate for the Wall Street financier Williamson Whitehead Fuller and his wife Annie Staples. The grounds look out over the Hudson and the Palisades. On money, this is one of the better documented venues in this group, though none of the figures are the venue’s own. Here Comes The Guide lists package pricing at $140 to $225 per person with a 22 percent administrative fee on top, and a rental fee of $1,000 to $3,000 per event. The Knot separately lists a $1,000 reception fee, a $1,500 ceremony fee and a venue starting price of $10,000. The venue’s own packages page names Gold, Silver and Platinum and prints no numbers at all.

The history is unusually well documented and unusually strange

Built in 1902 as the Haymount Estate for Williamson Whitehead Fuller and Annie Staples. Rumoured to have run as a speakeasy during Prohibition. Occupied by the Holland Classical Circus in the early 1940s, when fire destroyed one wing and a second wing was later demolished so the house would look symmetrical again.

In the 1950s Robert and Pauline Morin ran it as The Walk, Trot, and Canter Club, a riding stable. From the 1970s to the 2000s it was Maisson Lafitte, a French restaurant owned by Giovanni Susech, after which it fell into disrepair. Perry and Vincenza DiNapoli bought it in May 2015 and restored it. The architect is not published.

That is the venue’s own account, from its about page, and it is more specific than most venue histories we read. We have not independently verified the speakeasy, which the venue itself describes as a rumour.

The packages are sold by day of week and the hours differ

The Gold Wedding Package is a five hour event for Thursday to Sunday evenings. Here Comes The Guide describes it as including a champagne greeting or champagne wall on arrival, passed and plated service, an open bar, a Viennese table with coffee and cake service, and event staff.

The Silver Wedding Package is a four hour event, for Monday to Wednesday evenings and weekend daytimes. A Platinum package is referenced on the venue’s site without detail. So the difference between a Friday evening and a Tuesday evening here is an hour of your reception, before any price difference.

Ask what Platinum adds. Ask what an additional hour costs on either package. Ask whether the five hours include the ceremony if you are holding one on site.

The 22 percent administrative fee is the number to hold on to

Here Comes The Guide states that an administrative fee of 22 percent applies. On a 150 guest wedding at the middle of the published range, that fee alone is a five figure line. What the fee covers, and how sales tax is handled on top of it, is not published by anyone.

The Knot adds its own warning that starting prices exclude service fees, taxes, gratuity and rental fees. Read the per person range as a base and nothing more. Ask whether the 22 percent is gratuity, an administrative charge or both. Ask whether it is taxed, and whether anything further is expected for staff.

Two marketplaces disagree about how many people fit

Here Comes The Guide gives a seated ceremony of 180 indoors or outdoors, standing cocktails for 250 indoors or outdoors, and a seated reception of 180 indoors or 250 outdoors. The Knot lists the venue as holding up to 170 guests with a typical booking range of 101 to 150.

The venue publishes no capacity of its own, and does not publish room names, square footages or per room capacities either. If your guest list is near 170, this is a question to settle in writing before a deposit, since 170 and 250 are not variations of the same answer.

Note also that the larger reception figure is the outdoor one. A seated dinner for 250 outdoors implies a tent, and a tent implies a rental bill, a floor, lighting, heating in October and a decision deadline. Ask whether tenting is included, offered or your problem entirely.

Catering and alcohol are in house, which sets the shape of the whole budget

Catering is in house only. Alcohol is in house only. An in house decor specialist is included, and planning and day of coordination are handled by the operator. Amplified music is permitted indoors. No outside vendor fee and no preferred vendor list is published.

That is a full service model, and it means the per person figure is doing most of the work in your budget. It also means the usual lever of hiring a cheaper caterer does not exist here. Ask what is included at each package tier and what the upgrade prices are, because that is where the real variation sits.

The rental fee is published twice, differently

Here Comes The Guide gives a rental fee of $1,000 to $3,000 per event, varying by day, time and season. The Knot lists a reception fee of $1,000 and a ceremony fee of $1,500, along with an overall venue starting price of $10,000 and a note that couples usually spend $30,000.

Both are marketplace figures and we are printing both. It is possible they describe the same structure from different angles, and it is also possible one is out of date. The venue publishes no site fee at all, so a written quote is the only way to know.

A few housekeeping points before you enquire

The venue is operated by DiNapoli Hospitality Group, whose sister venues are The Pleasantville Manor in Pleasantville and The Somers Pointe in Somers. Both are in Westchester County and both are worth a look if this one is booked.

No exclusivity statement appears anywhere, and the operator runs its own ticketed events at the property, a cigar night among them. Ask what else is happening in the building on your date. As of 11 September 2026 The Knot also carried a standing offer of up to 26 percent off remaining 2026 dates, which is the kind of thing worth raising directly if you have a short timeline.