Villa Lewaro - Madam C.J. Walker Estate

Irvington, New York

“Villa Lewaro, “ Madam C.J. Walker’s Estate, Irvington, NY

First female self-made millionaire in the United States.

Born Sarah Breedlove, Madam C.J. Walker was the first child in her family born into freedom after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.  She went on to become an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political activist.  Walker's fortune came from her line of beauty and hair products for Black women.  She is thought to be the nation’s self-made millionaire.  The mansion is an Italianate villa house designed by Vertner Tandy, the first African-American architect registered in New York.  She only lived in it for one year before her passing.

Just north of Villa Lewaro along the Hudson River in Sleepy Hollow is the Philipsburg Manor, a mill and trading complex where an enslaved community lived and labored for generations.

Madam C.J. Walker