Gerard Crane House
Encyclopedia
The Gerard Crane House is located on Somerstown Turnpike (US 202
) opposite Old Croton Falls Road in Somers
, New York, United States. It is a stone house dating to the mid-19th century, built by an early circus
entrepreneur in his later years.
The house itself is an unusually sophisticated late application of the Greek Revival
architectural style
. The interior features a high level of decoration
, particularly English Renaissance
-style plaster
moldings
on the ceilings that are not commonly found in rural Greek Revival houses. It is the center of a 30 acres (12.1 ha) estate
that includes not only the original outbuildings but an original section of Somerstown Turnpike and one of its mileposts.
It remains largely as it was originally built. In 1985 the area was designated a historic district
and listed on the National Register of Historic Places
.
, just opposite Old Croton Falls Road. At the oblique intersection a grassy stretch of the old route of Somerstown Turnpike continues across the front yard and parallel to Route 202 for approximately 800 feet (243.8 m) north of the house until the road resumes that course. The house itself is located on a small rise, with outbuildings and a garden to the south. There are 10 other contributing properties
to the listing on the parcel, five buildings and five structures. A portion of Rhinoceros Brook flows through the property on its way to East Branch Reservoir
.
stone building on a raised basement with a shallow hipped roof
with small cupola
and identical chimneys on the north and south. It is sided in a locally quarried
granite
with an unusual natural marbleized appearance in a smooth-faced ashlar
pattern with quoin
s on the front (reverting to random ashlar on the rear and sides). The roofline has a plain frieze
, simple cornice
and is set off by a stringcourse
.
The east (front) facade
has a central entrance portico
featuring classical
ornamentation
. Fluted
Doric
columns and consoles support an entablature
with denticulated cornice. A transom
, sidelights, and ornate frontispiece
frame the slightly recessed four-inch–thick (10 cm), 500 pounds (226.8 kg) mahogany
door. In the rear is a similar portico with a less elaborate door, chamfer
ed Doric columns and a molded
entablature.
There is much decoration inside the house. On the north side of the central hall are library and parlor with high ceilings. Their plaster molding features a band with a talon
motif over a cornice with an acanthus
band and a broad ribbon of flowers and leaves. Below that is a frieze
with meticulously detailed plaster heads of noteworthy literary figures encircled and connected by oak leaves and acorn
s. The doorways and windows are framed by fluted Corinthian
pilaster
s with foliated entablatures atop. A chandelier
hangs from an ornate plaster medallion in the library ceiling. Also in the library is an Italian marble
fireplace with colonnettes, paneled spandrels and finely carved friezes and cartouche
s. It has a cast iron
fireboard ornamented with a brass crane
.
On the south side, the dining room has a similarly foliated band around the ceiling. The original music room has since been converted into a kitchen. There is a less ornate fireplace on the south side. The mahogany staircase has turned
baluster
s, a chamfered newel
post and a scroll motif on the risers
.
The second floor has a similar layout although it is less ornate. All the bedrooms have cast-iron heat registers and a brass nameplate on the door with the manufacturer's name. The third story's garret
was used as a ballroom
. Four queen post
s surround the area under the skylight in the middle of an L-shaped set of servants' quarters on the north and east.
In the basement is the original kitchen, with a large fireplace and bread ovens. Below it is a sub-basement with a datestone
giving the names of the contractors and a built-in safe
.
to a two-car garage. It is a one-story building cut into the hillside, sided
in granite with a flat roof and stepped parapet
. Farther to the rear, and also cut into the hill (steeper at this point), is the gambrel roofed barn with stone foundation
and vertical wood siding. It has an elliptical fanlight
in its east gable, among other varied fenestration
, and a silo
to the northwest. Also attached is a deep stone foundation that may be the remains of the original icehouse
.
A frame
springhouse is slightly to the south, and a one-story granite shop to the northwest, also now in use as a garage. Just off the house's southwest corner is the privy
, made of dressed granite with a flat roof, overhanging wooden cornice, mahogany door and six-over-six double-hung sash window
.
Contributing structures include the iron fence along the original front lot line of the house, a stone wall between the summer kitchen and barn and a stone bridge over the brook. The original alignment of Somerstown Turnpike, which now serves in part as a driveway
for the property, is included, as is one of its stone mileposts.
, moved to Somers from their hometown, nearby North Salem
, in 1823. They had become active in the new business of exhibiting exotic animals, and records show that they had taken a lion
to the Carolinas three years earlier. They bought land from Hachaliah Bailey, whose exhibition of Old Bet
at the building now known as the Elephant Hotel
is considered the beginning of the circus
in America, that they would later build on.
They added to their menagerie
, got partners
, and exhibited as far as west as the Mississippi River
. They were among the founders of an early trade organization called the Zoological Institute, which collapsed in the Panic of 1837
. Crane himself was not so unfortunate; he served as a director, and latter president of a local bank, and had just concluded four years as town supervisor
at the outset of the panic.
In 1849, having married Roxana Purdy, he had the house built. Its extensive detailing and finely crafted stonework are features of a country manor house in the highest Greek Revival tradition. The English Renaissance
-style molded plasterwork on the first floor ceilings, common in urban homes of this type but rare in rural variants, reflects Crane's cosmopolitan tastes.
The next year's census
shows the Cranes at that address, with their six children and one other woman. He died in 1872. The house and estate have remained a private residence since then. Other than the barn's gambrel roof and the conversion of the main house's music room into a kitchen during the 1980s, there have been no significant alterations to the property.
U.S. Route 202 in New York
U.S. Route 202 is a part of the U.S. Highway System that runs from New Castle, Delaware, to Bangor, Maine. In the U.S. state of New York, US 202 extends from the New Jersey state line near Suffern to the Connecticut state line east of Brewster. While most of US 202 is signed...
) opposite Old Croton Falls Road in Somers
Somers, New York
Somers is a town located in northeastern Westchester County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a population of 20,434...
, New York, United States. It is a stone house dating to the mid-19th century, built by an early circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
entrepreneur in his later years.
The house itself is an unusually sophisticated late application of the Greek Revival
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
architectural style
Architectural style
Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...
. The interior features a high level of decoration
Ornament (architecture)
In architecture and decorative art, ornament is a decoration used to embellish parts of a building or object. Large figurative elements such as monumental sculpture and their equivalents in decorative art are excluded from the term; most ornament does not include human figures, and if present they...
, particularly English Renaissance
English Renaissance
The English Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England dating from the late 15th and early 16th centuries to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginning in Italy in the late 14th century; like most of northern...
-style plaster
Plaster
Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...
moldings
Molding (decorative)
Molding or moulding is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster but may be made from plastic or reformed wood...
on the ceilings that are not commonly found in rural Greek Revival houses. It is the center of a 30 acres (12.1 ha) estate
Estate (house)
An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...
that includes not only the original outbuildings but an original section of Somerstown Turnpike and one of its mileposts.
It remains largely as it was originally built. In 1985 the area was designated a historic district
Historic district (United States)
In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...
and listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Property
The estate is located on the west side of the road, about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of downtown SomersSomers Hamlet Historic District
The Somers Hamlet Historic District is located along US 202 in that town in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is the stretch of highway between the junctions with NY 100 and NY 116, including small portions of both highways...
, just opposite Old Croton Falls Road. At the oblique intersection a grassy stretch of the old route of Somerstown Turnpike continues across the front yard and parallel to Route 202 for approximately 800 feet (243.8 m) north of the house until the road resumes that course. The house itself is located on a small rise, with outbuildings and a garden to the south. There are 10 other contributing properties
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
to the listing on the parcel, five buildings and five structures. A portion of Rhinoceros Brook flows through the property on its way to East Branch Reservoir
East Branch Reservoir
East Branch Reservoir, formed by impounding the eponymous branch of the Croton River, is part of New York City's water supply network. It is located in the Putnam County town of Southeast, near the village of Brewster 35 miles north of the city....
.
House
The house is a two-and-a-half-story five-bayBay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
stone building on a raised basement with a shallow hipped roof
Hip roof
A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...
with small cupola
Cupola
In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
and identical chimneys on the north and south. It is sided in a locally quarried
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
with an unusual natural marbleized appearance in a smooth-faced ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
pattern with quoin
Quoin (architecture)
Quoins are the cornerstones of brick or stone walls. Quoins may be either structural or decorative. Architects and builders use quoins to give the impression of strength and firmness to the outline of a building...
s on the front (reverting to random ashlar on the rear and sides). The roofline has a plain frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
, simple cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
and is set off by a stringcourse
Course (architecture)
A course is a continuous horizontal layer of similarly-sized building material one unit high, usually in a wall. The term is almost always used in conjunction with unit masonry such as brick, cut stone, or concrete masonry units .-Styles:...
.
The east (front) facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
has a central entrance portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
featuring classical
Classical architecture
Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
ornamentation
Ornament (architecture)
In architecture and decorative art, ornament is a decoration used to embellish parts of a building or object. Large figurative elements such as monumental sculpture and their equivalents in decorative art are excluded from the term; most ornament does not include human figures, and if present they...
. Fluted
Fluting (architecture)
Fluting in architecture refers to the shallow grooves running vertically along a surface.It typically refers to the grooves running on a column shaft or a pilaster, but need not necessarily be restricted to those two applications...
Doric
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
columns and consoles support an entablature
Entablature
An entablature refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and are commonly divided into the architrave , the frieze ,...
with denticulated cornice. A transom
Transom (architectural)
In architecture, a transom is the term given to a transverse beam or bar in a frame, or to the crosspiece separating a door or the like from a window or fanlight above it. Transom is also the customary U.S. word used for a transom light, the window over this crosspiece...
, sidelights, and ornate frontispiece
Frontispiece (architecture)
In architecture, a frontispiece is the combination of elements that frame and decorate the main, or front, door to a building. The term is especially used when the main entrance is the chief face of the building rather than being kept behind columns or a portico. Early German churches often...
frame the slightly recessed four-inch–thick (10 cm), 500 pounds (226.8 kg) mahogany
Mahogany
The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....
door. In the rear is a similar portico with a less elaborate door, chamfer
Chamfer
A chamfer is a beveled edge connecting two surfaces. If the surfaces are at right angles, the chamfer will typically be symmetrical at 45 degrees. A fillet is the rounding off of an interior corner. A rounding of an exterior corner is called a "round" or a "radius"."Chamfer" is a term commonly...
ed Doric columns and a molded
Molding (decorative)
Molding or moulding is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster but may be made from plastic or reformed wood...
entablature.
There is much decoration inside the house. On the north side of the central hall are library and parlor with high ceilings. Their plaster molding features a band with a talon
Talon
A talon is a sharp claw of an animal, especially a bird of prey, such as the eagle, hawk, falcon, owl, or buzzard. It may also refer to:Places:* Talon, Nièvre, a commune in the Nièvre département in France...
motif over a cornice with an acanthus
Acanthus (ornament)
The acanthus is one of the most common plant forms to make foliage ornament and decoration.-Architecture:In architecture, an ornament is carved into stone or wood to resemble leaves from the Mediterranean species of the Acanthus genus of plants, which have deeply cut leaves with some similarity to...
band and a broad ribbon of flowers and leaves. Below that is a frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
with meticulously detailed plaster heads of noteworthy literary figures encircled and connected by oak leaves and acorn
Acorn
The acorn, or oak nut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives . It usually contains a single seed , enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne in a cup-shaped cupule. Acorns vary from 1–6 cm long and 0.8–4 cm broad...
s. The doorways and windows are framed by fluted Corinthian
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s with foliated entablatures atop. A chandelier
Chandelier
A chandelier is a branched decorative ceiling-mounted light fixture with two or more arms bearing lights. Chandeliers are often ornate, containing dozens of lamps and complex arrays of glass or crystal prisms to illuminate a room with refracted light...
hangs from an ornate plaster medallion in the library ceiling. Also in the library is an Italian marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
fireplace with colonnettes, paneled spandrels and finely carved friezes and cartouche
Cartouche
In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an ellipse with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name, coming into use during the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty under Pharaoh Sneferu, replacing the earlier serekh...
s. It has a cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
fireboard ornamented with a brass crane
Crane (bird)
Cranes are a family, Gruidae, of large, long-legged and long-necked birds in the order Gruiformes. There are fifteen species of crane in four genera. Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back...
.
On the south side, the dining room has a similarly foliated band around the ceiling. The original music room has since been converted into a kitchen. There is a less ornate fireplace on the south side. The mahogany staircase has turned
Turning
Turning is the process whereby a single point cutting tool is parallel to the surface. It can be done manually, in a traditional form of lathe, which frequently requires continuous supervision by the operator, or by using a computer controlled and automated lathe which does not. This type of...
baluster
Baluster
A baluster is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, one of various forms of spindle in woodwork, made of stone or wood and sometimes of metal, standing on a unifying footing, and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase. Multiplied in this way, they form a...
s, a chamfered newel
Newel
A newel, also called a central pole, is an upright post that supports the handrail of a stair banister. In stairs having straight flights it is the principal post at the foot of the staircase, but it can also be used for the intermediate posts on landings and at the top of a staircase...
post and a scroll motif on the risers
Stair riser
A stair riser is the near-vertical element in a set of stairs, forming the space between a step and the next. It is often slightly inclined from the vertical so that its top is closer than its base to the person climbing the stairs...
.
The second floor has a similar layout although it is less ornate. All the bedrooms have cast-iron heat registers and a brass nameplate on the door with the manufacturer's name. The third story's garret
Garret
A garret is generally synonymous in modern usage with a habitable attic or small living space at the top of a house. It entered Middle English via Old French with a military connotation of a watchtower or something akin to a garrison, in other words a place for guards or soldiers to be quartered...
was used as a ballroom
Ballroom
A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms...
. Four queen post
Queen post
A queen post is a supporting post designed to span longer openings than a king post. A king post uses one central supporting post, whereas the queen post uses two.-Architecture:...
s surround the area under the skylight in the middle of an L-shaped set of servants' quarters on the north and east.
In the basement is the original kitchen, with a large fireplace and bread ovens. Below it is a sub-basement with a datestone
Datestone
A datestone is typically an embedded stone with the date of engraving and other information carved into it. They are not considered a very reliable source for dating a house, as instances of old houses being destroyed and rebuilt have been reported.Specific locations have often been chosen for...
giving the names of the contractors and a built-in safe
Safe
A safe is a secure lockable box used for securing valuable objects against theft or damage. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face removable or hinged to form a door. The body and door may be cast from metal or formed out of plastic through blow molding...
.
Outbuildings and landscape
Five original buildings remain on the property besides the house. Immediately to the rear is the original summer kitchen, now convertedAdaptive reuse
Adaptive reuse refers to the process of reusing an old site or building for a purpose other than which it was built or designed for. Along with brownfield reclamation, adaptive reuse is seen by many as a key factor in land conservation and the reduction of urban sprawl...
to a two-car garage. It is a one-story building cut into the hillside, sided
Siding
Siding is the outer covering or cladding of a house meant to shed water and protect from the effects of weather. On a building that uses siding, it may act as a key element in the aesthetic beauty of the structure and directly influence its property value....
in granite with a flat roof and stepped parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
. Farther to the rear, and also cut into the hill (steeper at this point), is the gambrel roofed barn with stone foundation
Foundation (architecture)
A foundation is the lowest and supporting layer of a structure. Foundations are generally divided into two categories: shallow foundations and deep foundations.-Shallow foundations:...
and vertical wood siding. It has an elliptical fanlight
Fanlight
A fanlight is a window, semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan, It is placed over another window or a doorway. and is sometimes hinged to a transom. The bars in the fixed glazed window spread out in the manner a sunburst...
in its east gable, among other varied fenestration
Window
A window is a transparent or translucent opening in a wall or door that allows the passage of light and, if not closed or sealed, air and sound. Windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent material like float glass. Windows are held in place by frames, which...
, and a silo
Silo
A silo is a structure for storing bulk materials.Silo may also refer to:* Silo , a 3D modeling software* Silo , a defunct chain of retail electronics stores* SILO , used in Linux...
to the northwest. Also attached is a deep stone foundation that may be the remains of the original icehouse
Icehouse (building)
Ice houses were buildings used to store ice throughout the year, prior to the invention of the refrigerator. Some were underground chambers, usually man-made, close to natural sources of winter ice such as freshwater lakes, but many were buildings with various types of insulation.During the...
.
A frame
Framing (construction)
Framing, in construction known as light-frame construction, is a building technique based around structural members, usually called studs, which provide a stable frame to which interior and exterior wall coverings are attached, and covered by a roof comprising horizontal ceiling joists and sloping...
springhouse is slightly to the south, and a one-story granite shop to the northwest, also now in use as a garage. Just off the house's southwest corner is the privy
Outhouse
An outhouse is a small structure separate from a main building which often contained a simple toilet and may possibly also be used for housing animals and storage.- Terminology :...
, made of dressed granite with a flat roof, overhanging wooden cornice, mahogany door and six-over-six double-hung sash window
Sash window
A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels or "sashes" that form a frame to hold panes of glass, which are often separated from other panes by narrow muntins...
.
Contributing structures include the iron fence along the original front lot line of the house, a stone wall between the summer kitchen and barn and a stone bridge over the brook. The original alignment of Somerstown Turnpike, which now serves in part as a driveway
Driveway
A driveway is a type of private road for local access to one or a small group of structures, and is owned and maintained by an individual or group....
for the property, is included, as is one of its stone mileposts.
History
Crane and his brother Thaddeus, descendants of a colonel in the Revolutionary WarAmerican Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, moved to Somers from their hometown, nearby North Salem
North Salem, New York
North Salem is a town in the northeast part of Westchester County, New York, United States. The county ranks second for wealthiest counties in New York State and the seventh wealthiest county nationally...
, in 1823. They had become active in the new business of exhibiting exotic animals, and records show that they had taken a lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
to the Carolinas three years earlier. They bought land from Hachaliah Bailey, whose exhibition of Old Bet
Old Bet
Old Bet was either the first or second elephant brought to the United States. There are reports of an elephant brought to the United States in 1796, but it is not known for certain that this was the elephant that was later named Old Bet....
at the building now known as the Elephant Hotel
Elephant Hotel
You may be looking for the Coney Island elephant hotel, also known as Lucy the Elephant.The Elephant Hotel is a National Historic Landmark located in Somers, New York, a town in Westchester County, New York, USA. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 as Somers Town...
is considered the beginning of the circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
in America, that they would later build on.
They added to their menagerie
Menagerie
A menagerie is/was a form of keeping common and exotic animals in captivity that preceded the modern zoological garden. The term was first used in seventeenth century France in reference to the management of household or domestic stock. Later, it came to be used primarily in reference to...
, got partners
Partnership
A partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests.Since humans are social beings, partnerships between individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments, and varied combinations thereof, have always been and remain commonplace...
, and exhibited as far as west as the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
. They were among the founders of an early trade organization called the Zoological Institute, which collapsed in the Panic of 1837
Panic of 1837
The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis or market correction in the United States built on a speculative fever. The end of the Second Bank of the United States had produced a period of runaway inflation, but on May 10, 1837 in New York City, every bank began to accept payment only in specie ,...
. Crane himself was not so unfortunate; he served as a director, and latter president of a local bank, and had just concluded four years as town supervisor
Town supervisor
Town Supervisor is an elective legislative position in New York towns. Supervisors sit on the town board, where they preside over town board meetings and vote on all matters with no more legal weight than that of any other board member .Towns may adopt local laws that allow them to provide for an...
at the outset of the panic.
In 1849, having married Roxana Purdy, he had the house built. Its extensive detailing and finely crafted stonework are features of a country manor house in the highest Greek Revival tradition. The English Renaissance
English Renaissance
The English Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England dating from the late 15th and early 16th centuries to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginning in Italy in the late 14th century; like most of northern...
-style molded plasterwork on the first floor ceilings, common in urban homes of this type but rare in rural variants, reflects Crane's cosmopolitan tastes.
The next year's census
United States Census, 1850
The United States Census of 1850 was the seventh census of the United States. Conducted by the Bureau of the Census on June 1, 1850, it determined the resident population of the United States to be 23,191,876 — an increase of 35.9 percent over the 17,069,453 persons enumerated during the 1840...
shows the Cranes at that address, with their six children and one other woman. He died in 1872. The house and estate have remained a private residence since then. Other than the barn's gambrel roof and the conversion of the main house's music room into a kitchen during the 1980s, there have been no significant alterations to the property.