Both the grounds and house have impressive pedigrees: Carrére and Hastings, the pre-eminent Beaux Arts architects of the time, designed Cairnwood. In 1898 their firm won the contract to design the New York Public Library. The grounds of Cairnwood, the Bryn Athyn Cathedral, the campus and the town of Bryn Athyn were designed by Charles Eliot of the firm of Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot, responsible for the design of Central Park in New York City and the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina.