Kykuit (in modern Dutch spelling Kijkuit, also uitkijk, is a compound noun meaning "lookout, look-out"[4][3]) is situated on the highest point in Pocantico Hills, overlooking the Hudson River at Tappan Zee.

[5] When Rockefeller and his son chose Pocantico Hills as their residence, he quietly purchased multiple homes and properties in the area, and used the houses for himself and his family and staff, or to rent out.

The couple would spend winter weekends and parts of each summer and fall there, sharing the upstairs rooms with their adult children and in-laws, pending construction of the manor house.

The New York Times mentioned that Rockefeller had never been satisfied with the destroyed house's electric wiring, which had been installed before certain safety measures were developed.

[6][7][5] Kykuit was designed originally as a steep-roofed three-story stone mansion by the architects Chester Holmes Aldrich and William Adams Delano.

[citation needed] The home's interiors were designed by Ogden Codman Jr., and feature collections of Chinese and European ceramics, fine furnishings, and 20th-century art.

[10] Nelson Rockefeller transformed previously empty basement passages beneath the mansion that had led to a grotto into a major private art gallery containing paintings by Picasso, Chagall, and Warhol, the latter two having visited the estate.

[citation needed] Between 1935 and the late 1970s more than 120 works of abstract, avant-garde, and modern sculpture from Nelson's collection were added to the gardens and grounds, including works by Pablo Picasso (Bathers), Constantin Brâncuși, Karel Appel (Mouse on Table), Jean Arp, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Georg Kolbe (Ruf der Erde), Gaston Lachaise, Aristide Maillol, Henry Moore, Louise Nevelson, Isamu Noguchi (Black Sun), and David Smith.

[citation needed] Public tours are conducted by Historic Hudson Valley, an organization established in 1951 by John D. Rockefeller Jr. "to celebrate the region's history, architecture, landscape, and material culture, advancing its importance and thereby assuring its preservation.

During much of the 20th century, the 1,420 hectares (3,510 acres) estate featured a resident workforce of security guards, gardeners, and laborers, and had its own farming, cattle, and food supplies.

[13] Among guests hosted by Nelson and his brother David have been American Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and their wives.