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Main Street Historic District (New Hamburg, New York)
Encyclopedia
The Main Street Historic District in New Hamburg
, New York
, United States
is located along that street just west of the train station
. Six buildings on a single acre (4,000 m²) are an intact remnant of the hamlet as it was developed in the middle of the 19th century, prior to the Hudson River Railroad's construction, which cut it in half.
Its contributing
buildings, three houses and three commercial buildings, are made of brick
and representative of vernacular
applications of the then-popular Greek Revival
and Gothic Revival styles
. The neighborhood was recognized as a historic district
and added to the National Register of Historic Places
in 1987. It is the smallest in area of the 62 Main Street Historic Districts on the Register.
along the north side of Main between Railroad and Bridge streets. On the south side, a former church building converted
into apartments at 12 Main Street is not included due to those modifications. All buildings save one on the remaining lots between Main and Bridge are considered contributing properties.
and Wappingers Falls
via road. By the 1840s, most of the Point Street lots had been taken and newer residents were turning to Main Street, a few blocks inland. The house at 9A Main Street, built by John Lawson, a descendant of the area's first European settlers
, is the earliest known to have been built in the current district.
In 1848 construction began on the Hudson River Railroad. An 800 feet (243.8 m) tunnel was built through a hillside north of town, and the work being done there triggered the development of Main Street as a commercial area. This continued after the tunnel was completed, since a passenger station and freight facilities were built for transshipment
purposes. An 1858 map of the area shows four of the six houses already complete, and by 1876 another map shows all of them.
The railroad that had nurtured Main Street eventually caused its decline. In 1928, now part of the New York Central
, the line was expanded from one track to two, and in the process Main Street's grade crossing was eliminated in favor of a new overpass called Bridge Street, one block to the north. Traffic to what little commercial activity remained at the riverfront simply followed the new street straight to it, turning Main into a short side street that remained important to the community only as the location of its general store
.
After the Second World War, the railroad would itself decline, taking commercial activity along Main and in New Hamburg with it. The station was eventually closed, but later reopened as a commuter rail station by Metro-North Railroad
, which eventually succeeded the New York Central (later the Penn Central and then Conrail) as the regional passenger operator on the line. Most of the buildings along Main were converted to primarily residential use.
style still popular at the time of their construction. Their form is rectilinear; their interiors follow that style's central-hall format. The eyebrow windows are a further touch common to such buildings.
Later buildings show the rise of the Gothic Revival movement. The Central House's steeply-pitched front cross-gable is the most notable application, showing the sophistication of the Picturesque
mode. It may have influenced the later additions in that style to some of the other buildings, most notably the Lawson House.
New Hamburg, New York
New Hamburg is a small hamlet along the Hudson River in Dutchess County, New York, best known as home of a popular marina and a busy Metro-North Railroad Hudson Line station. It is located in the southern corner of the Wappingers Falls....
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
is located along that street just west of the train station
New Hamburg (Metro-North station)
The New Hamburg Metro-North Railroad station serves the residents of the Wappingers Falls, New York and the Town of Poughkeepsie, New York via the Hudson Line. Trains leave for New York City every hour on weekdays, and about every 25 minutes during rush hour...
. Six buildings on a single acre (4,000 m²) are an intact remnant of the hamlet as it was developed in the middle of the 19th century, prior to the Hudson River Railroad's construction, which cut it in half.
Its contributing
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...
buildings, three houses and three commercial buildings, are made of brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
and representative of vernacular
Vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture is a term used to categorize methods of construction which use locally available resources and traditions to address local needs and circumstances. Vernacular architecture tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural and historical context in which it...
applications of the then-popular 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...
and Gothic Revival styles
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 neighborhood was recognized as a historic district
Historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries, historic districts receive legal protection from development....
and added to 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...
in 1987. It is the smallest in area of the 62 Main Street Historic Districts on the Register.
Buildings
The district includes all the lotsLot (real estate)
In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner. A lot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property in other countries...
along the north side of Main between Railroad and Bridge streets. On the south side, a former church building converted
Adaptive 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...
into apartments at 12 Main Street is not included due to those modifications. All buildings save one on the remaining lots between Main and Bridge are considered contributing properties.
- 9A Main Street. A 2-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:...
frameFraming (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...
residence built by John Lawson c. 1845 on a brickBrickA brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
and stoneStonemasonryThe craft of stonemasonry has existed since the dawn of civilization - creating buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone from the earth. These materials have been used to construct many of the long-lasting, ancient monuments, artifacts, cathedrals, and cities in a wide variety of cultures...
foundationFoundation (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:...
. It has been subsequently modified with a hipped-roofHip roofA 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...
porchPorchA porch is external to the walls of the main building proper, but may be enclosed by screen, latticework, broad windows, or other light frame walls extending from the main structure.There are various styles of porches, all of which depend on the architectural tradition of its location...
with Tuscan columns and a spindleSpindle (furniture)A Spindle, in furniture, is an cylindrically symmetric shaft, usually made of wood. A spindle is usually made of a single piece of wood and typically has decoration fashioned by hand or with a lathe...
-turned balustrade. - 10 Main Street. A 2-story commercial clapboardClapboard (architecture)Clapboard, also known as bevel siding or lap siding or weather-board , is a board used typically for exterior horizontal siding that has one edge thicker than the other and where the board above laps over the one below...
commercial/residential structure built c. 1876. - 11 Main Street. A -story three-bay frame house on raised brick foundation built c. 1850. Low-pitchedRoof pitchIn building construction, roof pitch is a numerical measure of the steepness of a roof, and a pitched roof is a roof that is steep.The roof's pitch is the measured vertical rise divided by the measured horizontal span, the same thing as what is called "slope" in geometry. Roof pitch is typically...
saltboxSaltboxA saltbox is a building with a long, pitched roof that slopes down to the back, generally a wooden frame house. A saltbox has just one story in the back and two stories in the front...
roofline is accentuated by eyebrow windows around cornice. - 12 Main Street. A -story five-bay brick residence on stone foundation, built in 1875 as the New Hamburg post officePost officeA post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
. Projecting roof has paired bracketsBracket (architecture)A bracket is an architectural member made of wood, stone, or metal that overhangs a wall to support or carry weight. It may also support a statue, the spring of an arch, a beam, or a shelf. Brackets are often in the form of scrolls, and can be carved, cast, or molded. They can be entirely...
and spiked finialFinialThe finial is an architectural device, typically carved in stone and employed decoratively to emphasize the apex of a gable or any of various distinctive ornaments at the top, end, or corner of a building or structure. Smaller finials can be used as a decorative ornament on the ends of curtain rods...
s at corners. - 13 Main Street. A -story five-bay brick house on stone foundation built in two sections c. 1855 by Conklin Bishop. Eyebrow windows on south (front) elevation under corniceCorniceCornice 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...
d roof. Decorative porch added later. A more recent garageGarage (house)A residential garage is part of a home, or an associated building, designed or used for storing a vehicle or vehicles. In some places the term is used synonymously with "carport", though that term normally describes a structure that is not completely enclosed.- British residential garages:Those...
with gambrel roof is the district's only non-contributing resource. - 15 Main Street. Built c. 1855 as the Central House Hotel, it is the largest and most elaborate building in the district, a five-bay -story brick structure with tinTinTin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
gableGableA gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
d roof and two end chimneyChimneyA chimney is a structure for venting hot flue gases or smoke from a boiler, stove, furnace or fireplace to the outside atmosphere. Chimneys are typically vertical, or as near as possible to vertical, to ensure that the gases flow smoothly, drawing air into the combustion in what is known as the...
s. The front facade has a full-length, two-tier verandahVerandahA veranda or verandah is a roofed opened gallery or porch. It is also described as an open pillared gallery, generally roofed, built around a central structure...
with chamferChamferA 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, bracketed posts and decorativeOrnament (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...
jigsawJigsawJigsaw may refer to:* Jigsaw , a tool used for cutting arbitrary curves* Jigsaw puzzle, a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of interlocking pieces- Film and television :* Jigsaw , a 1949 film noir...
cutout on the balustrades. The lower floor was used as a tavernTavernA tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food, and in some cases, where travelers receive lodging....
while guests slept above.
History
New Hamburg began as a port community on the river, with ships loaded and unloaded along nearby Point Street and then taken to PoughkeepsiePoughkeepsie (city), New York
Poughkeepsie is a city in the state of New York, United States, which serves as the county seat of Dutchess County. Poughkeepsie is located in the Hudson River Valley midway between New York City and Albany...
and Wappingers Falls
Wappingers Falls, New York
Wappingers Falls is a village in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The name is derived from the local Wappinger Indians. One half of the village is in the town of Wappinger and the other half is in the town of Poughkeepsie, with Wappinger Creek forming the dividing line between the...
via road. By the 1840s, most of the Point Street lots had been taken and newer residents were turning to Main Street, a few blocks inland. The house at 9A Main Street, built by John Lawson, a descendant of the area's first European settlers
European colonization of the Americas
The start of the European colonization of the Americas is typically dated to 1492. The first Europeans to reach the Americas were the Vikings during the 11th century, who established several colonies in Greenland and one short-lived settlement in present day Newfoundland...
, is the earliest known to have been built in the current district.
In 1848 construction began on the Hudson River Railroad. An 800 feet (243.8 m) tunnel was built through a hillside north of town, and the work being done there triggered the development of Main Street as a commercial area. This continued after the tunnel was completed, since a passenger station and freight facilities were built for transshipment
Transshipment
Transshipment or Transhipment is the shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination, and then from there to yet another destination....
purposes. An 1858 map of the area shows four of the six houses already complete, and by 1876 another map shows all of them.
The railroad that had nurtured Main Street eventually caused its decline. In 1928, now part of the New York Central
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
, the line was expanded from one track to two, and in the process Main Street's grade crossing was eliminated in favor of a new overpass called Bridge Street, one block to the north. Traffic to what little commercial activity remained at the riverfront simply followed the new street straight to it, turning Main into a short side street that remained important to the community only as the location of its general store
General store
A general store, general merchandise store, or village shop is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general...
.
After the Second World War, the railroad would itself decline, taking commercial activity along Main and in New Hamburg with it. The station was eventually closed, but later reopened as a commuter rail station by Metro-North Railroad
Metro-North Railroad
The Metro-North Commuter Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, or, more commonly, Metro-North, is a suburban commuter rail service that is run and managed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority , an authority of New York State. It is the busiest commuter railroad in the United...
, which eventually succeeded the New York Central (later the Penn Central and then Conrail) as the regional passenger operator on the line. Most of the buildings along Main were converted to primarily residential use.
Aesthetics
The mid-century houses show the influence of the Greek RevivalGreek 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...
style still popular at the time of their construction. Their form is rectilinear; their interiors follow that style's central-hall format. The eyebrow windows are a further touch common to such buildings.
Later buildings show the rise of the Gothic Revival movement. The Central House's steeply-pitched front cross-gable is the most notable application, showing the sophistication of the Picturesque
Picturesque
Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year 1770, a practical book which instructed England's...
mode. It may have influenced the later additions in that style to some of the other buildings, most notably the Lawson House.