Montgomery Place
Encyclopedia
Montgomery Place, near Barrytown, New York
, United States, is an early 19th-century estate
that has been designated a National Historic Landmark
. It is also a contributing property
to the Hudson River Historic District
, also a National Historic Landmark.
It is a Federal
-style house, with expansion designed by architect Alexander Jackson Davis
. It reflects the tastes of a younger, post-Revolutionary
generation of wealthy landowners in the Livingston family
who were beginning to be influenced by French trends in home design, moving beyond the strictly English models exemplified by Clermont Manor
a short distance up the Hudson River
. It is the only Hudson Valley
estate house from this era that survives intact, and Davis's only surviving neoclassical country house.
Andrew Jackson Downing
praised the landscapes
of the estate, work he had informally consulted on that was not completed in its final form until almost the mid-20th century. The southern 70 acres (28.3 ha) of the estate, which he called the Wilderness and is today known as the South Woods, is the oldest oak forest in the Hudson Valley. It has grown to 434 acres (175.6 ha), and includes many outbuildings. A network of trails and paths connects them and offers both quiet wooded tracts and views of the river and Catskill Mountains
.
The estate was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1975. Ten years later, the Livingston descendants sold it to Historic Hudson Valley
, a regional historic preservation group. The district was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1990, and Montgomery Place received that designation itself in 1992. Montgomery Place is located on Annandale Road near Barrytown, just off NY 9G
. The house and grounds are open to the public; the interior has been open for tours since May 2010. (It was previously closed due to restoration
efforts). In 2009, the Historic Hudson Valley board considered selling the property.
across it in the distance.
Five of the 22 buildings, structures and sites identified on the estate have been listed as contributing resources
to its historic character. These are the main house, three other Davis-designed buildings and the surviving landscaping.
building sided
in stucco
over rubble stone, with two frame
wings on the north and south. The latter was originally sanded
to give it a stonier appearance. A veranda is on the west (rear) elevation. The metallic hipped roof
is pierced by two pairs of brick chimneys on the sides.
All facade
s are heavily decorated
. Swags are on all four chimneys, and balustrades rim most of the roof lines. A central pier on the east above the main entrance is topped with an urn, flanked by wreathed balustrades, a cornice
and frieze
with triglyph
s and metope
-ornamented medallions. The double-doored main entrance is flanked by pilaster
s and topped with a fanlight and ornate keystone
. It is sheltered by a semicircular portico
supported by fluted
Corinthian
columns.
A similar portico adorns the rear, with its balustrade also topped by urns. On the wings flat pilasters support a frieze, with columns on the semi octagonal south wing creating an arcade
.
The main entrance leads into a rectangular hall with doors leading to the two parlors on either side. It is partly divided by a segmental arch supported by two tapered wooden columns. The library is to the north, with a stair hallway on the south. Much of the decorative woodwork is original.
shed, the clapboard
-sided Court, a wrought iron
greenhouse
, and the coach house. This last building is the only outbuilding visible from the main house. It is a flushboard-sided one-and-a-half-story frame house with cross-gable
d roof topped by a polygonal cupola
. Pilasters mark the corners as well as the flanks of the main building. The interior contains much of the original woodwork.
To the east, close to the road, is the barn complex. It consists of an 1861 barn along with frame structures like the farm office and storage sheds, along with an octagonal stone reservoir building. The board-and-batten farmhouse features a cross-gabled roof and a triple Palladian-style window on the rear.
A group of cottages is located just downhill from the farmhouse. Most are simple frame structures, but one, the Swiss Cottage, was designed by Davis. It features a low-sloping truncated-gabled roof with vergeboard on the roofline and balconies
on the rear. The Thompson House also has a dentilled and bracketed
cornice
.
There are some other isolated outbuildings elsewhere, mostly modern, such as the visitors' center. A cement power station is at the creek mouth, with dams. Some small 20th century cottages are scattered in the orchards. Some buildings described by past visitors to the estate, such as the conservatory, are no longer extant.
On the east are the property's orchards, leased and operated by Montgomery Place Orchards. On the farm, over 60 different varieties of apple and pear trees are planted and harvested as well as berries, vegetables, grapes and peaches. Annandale Atomic hard cider is also now produced on the farm from early American and English varietal apples. The produce is sold at the Montgomery Place Orchards market. Black locust
trees line the 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) unpaved allée
and surround the lawn of the main house. The lawn on the west of the house slopes down to a reflecting pond at the edge of the wooded shore.
use as a seasonal hunting ground at least 5,000 years ago. These investigations have continued and the area's historic designation reflects its potential in this area as well.
After European settlement
in the 18th century, the Saw Kill was used for various mills. Janet Livingston Montgomery purchased 242 acres (97.9 ha) in the late 1770s, shortly after the death of her husband, General Richard Montgomery
, at the Battle of Quebec
. The couple had been living in nearby Rhinebeck
at the time, where they were building their Grasmere
estate, and she moved into that after the Revolutionary War
.
She had plans for a Federal style mansion on the riverfront property drawn up and hired a local builder. Naming the house Chateau de Montgomery after her late husband, she moved in after it was completed in 1805. With tree samples her friends sent her from many places near and distant, she established a working farm on the property, employing many slaves and freemen. She lived there until her death in 1828, when the property was bequeathed to her brother.
Edward Livingston
had summered there with his wife Louise while he was living in Louisiana
, where he had moved after a scandal cost him his jobs as U.S. Attorney for New York and mayor
of the city. He had returned to New York and was serving in the House when his sister died. Subsequently he was chosen a Senator and later became the 11th Secretary of State
, then as ambassador to France
before leaving public service in 1835. They renamed the estate Montgomery Place.
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He died the next year, leaving the house to his wife Louise. In 1844 she hired Alexander Jackson Davis
to convert the stately mansion into a more ornate villa, in keeping with the era's emerging Romantic
sesnsibilities. The two wings and exterior decoration were added at this time. A colonnade on the front entry, the only ornament on the original house, was moved to the interior, one of the only changes to Janet Livingston's original plan.
With the informal help of Andrew Jackson Downing
, a friend of Louise's and mentor to Davis, she began developing the landscapes. Her daughter Cora Barton worked with the architect on designing a garden and conservatory. Davis also drew up plans for outbuildings on the estate.
In 1860, upon Louise's death, Cora and her husband hired Davis again to actually build some of the earlier outbuildings. These were the Coach House, Swiss Cottage and farmhouse. They also extended the landscaping. These were part of their overall intent to make the house and its "pleasure grounds" more separate and distinct from the farming operations, which they also began to reduce in scope.
From Cora's relatives it eventually passed to another Livingston descendant, John Ross Delafield, in 1921. He added modern heating and plumbing to the main house. He and his wife, Violetta White Delafield, made the last major additions to the property by extending the landscaping and adding small gardens to it in the years before World War II
.
After his death in 1964, his son John White Delafield and his wife moved in. They established two corporations to own and operate the property.. In 1975 it was listed on the Register. Eleven years later it was sold for $3 million to
Sleepy Hollow Restorations, which later renamed itself Historic Hudson Valley
. After a five year and $3 million restoration, the house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1992.
s. Accordingly their own homes often sat on high ground where they could view their holdings, which in the Livingston family's case included, at that time, portions of the Catskills across the river. The rectilinear forms of the Federal and Greek Revival
styles established their authority and dominance of the land.
In the second quarter of the 19th century this began to change. Andrew Jackson Downing
of nearby Newburgh
championed villa and cottage-style houses in the styles that later came to be known as Carpenter Gothic
and Picturesque
. These were smaller structures, generally frame, that were topped by steeply pitched
, often cross-gabled, roofs with decorated cornices that were intended to harmonize with surrounding natural features, giving the impression of a comfortable place to live. His pattern books sold widely and were used for many houses all over the growing nation.
Janet's descendants called on Downing's friend Alexander Jackson Davis
to expand and renovate the house into a more classically-inspired villa over a period of 20 years. He used curved forms in the balustrades and wings to offset the strong vertical lines of the existing building. The arcaded pavilion makes the veranda common on many mid-19th century houses into a wing of its own. Textures were added to the surface in the abundant decorations, many using floral motifs. All these features link the house more firmly to its surrounding landscape. Davis scholar Jane Davies calls it his finest country house.
The farmhouse, too, shows Davis's variations on a popular Downing pattern, "Bracketed Cottage with Veranda", from the posthumously published The Architecture of Country Houses. Davis updated it to the Italianate
style more popular at that time, adding the Palladian-style window.
Downing's influence can also be seen in Davis's Swiss Cottage. This pattern, widely republished but rarely built, was varied by Davis, who is not known to have built any other such cottages. He added more entrances since it was expected to have multiple tenants, but four of them are disguised as windows. The essential features of Downing's pattern, such as its floor plan, the low, broad roof; construction into a hillside exposing the basement on one side and multiple galleries and balconies offering views of a nearby stream, remain.
The landscapes were inspired by contemporary European trends. The Bartons had followed Edward Livingston
to France when he served there and saw many of Europe's celebrated gardens. Cora Barton had a full set of copies of Joseph Paxton
's The Magazine of Botany sent to her when she moved in. Downing, a friend, visited in 1847 and wrote favorably about the resulting landscapes for his own magazine, The Horticulturist. He praised "the deep and mysterious wood" with "dark, intricate and mazy walks" in the "Wilderness" in the north of the property near the Saw Kill. He called it "the most complete estate in America".
Barrytown, New York
Barrytown is a hamlet within the town of Red Hook in Dutchess County, New York, United States. It is within the Hudson River Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, and comprises four of the Hudson River Valley estates: Edgewater, Messina, Rokeby, and Sylvania...
, United States, is an early 19th-century 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 has been designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
. It is also a contributing property
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 Hudson River Historic District
Hudson River Historic District
The Hudson River Historic District, also known as Hudson River Heritage Historic District, is the largest such district on the mainland of the contiguous United States...
, also a National Historic Landmark.
It is a Federal
Federal architecture
Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the United States between c. 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815. This style shares its name with its era, the Federal Period. The name Federal style is also used in association with furniture design...
-style house, with expansion designed by architect Alexander Jackson Davis
Alexander Jackson Davis
Alexander Jackson Davis, or A. J. Davis , was one of the most successful and influential American architects of his generation, in particular his association with the Gothic Revival style....
. It reflects the tastes of a younger, post-Revolutionary
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
generation of wealthy landowners in the Livingston family
Livingston family
The Livingston family of was a prominent family which migrated from Scotland to the Dutch Republic to the Province of New York in the 17th century. Descended from William, 4th Lord Livingston, its members included signers of the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States...
who were beginning to be influenced by French trends in home design, moving beyond the strictly English models exemplified by Clermont Manor
Clermont Manor
The Clermont State Historic Site, also known as the Clermont estate, the Clermont Manor or just Clermont, is a New York State Historic Site in southwestern Columbia County, New York, USA...
a short distance up the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
. It is the only Hudson Valley
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in New York State, United States, from northern Westchester County northward to the cities of Albany and Troy.-History:...
estate house from this era that survives intact, and Davis's only surviving neoclassical country house.
Andrew Jackson Downing
Andrew Jackson Downing
Andrew Jackson Downing was an American landscape designer, horticulturalist, and writer, a prominent advocate of the Gothic Revival style in the United States, and editor of The Horticulturist magazine...
praised the landscapes
Landscape architecture
Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor and public spaces to achieve environmental, socio-behavioral, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic investigation of existing social, ecological, and geological conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of interventions...
of the estate, work he had informally consulted on that was not completed in its final form until almost the mid-20th century. The southern 70 acres (28.3 ha) of the estate, which he called the Wilderness and is today known as the South Woods, is the oldest oak forest in the Hudson Valley. It has grown to 434 acres (175.6 ha), and includes many outbuildings. A network of trails and paths connects them and offers both quiet wooded tracts and views of the river and Catskill Mountains
Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, an area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief. They are an eastward continuation, and the highest representation, of the Allegheny Plateau...
.
The estate was 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...
in 1975. Ten years later, the Livingston descendants sold it to Historic Hudson Valley
Historic Hudson Valley
Historic Hudson Valley is a not-for-profit educational and historic preservation organization headquartered in Tarrytown, New York, in Westchester County...
, a regional historic preservation group. The district was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1990, and Montgomery Place received that designation itself in 1992. Montgomery Place is located on Annandale Road near Barrytown, just off NY 9G
New York State Route 9G
New York State Route 9G is a state highway in the Hudson Valley of New York in the United States. It runs north from U.S. Route 9 at Poughkeepsie, starting out as Violet Avenue, then follows the Hudson River mostly along the eastern side of the US 9 to Rhinebeck, where the two...
. The house and grounds are open to the public; the interior has been open for tours since May 2010. (It was previously closed due to restoration
Building restoration
Building restoration describes a particular treatment approach and philosophy within the field of architectural conservation. According the U.S...
efforts). In 2009, the Historic Hudson Valley board considered selling the property.
Property
The estate is bounded on the east by Annandale Road, the north by the Saw Kill and the west by the river. A tree-lined driveway from the road leads west to a visitor center and parking lot next to an orchard. From there it is short walk through a grove of trees to an open lawn in front of the main house, atop a bluff overlooking the river and the Catskill EscarpmentCatskill Escarpment
The Catskill Escarpment, often referred to locally as just the Escarpment or the Great Wall of Manitou, and known as the Catskill Front to geologists, is the range forming the northeastern corner of the Catskill Mountains in Greene and Ulster counties in the U.S. state of New York...
across it in the distance.
Five of the 22 buildings, structures and sites identified on the estate have been listed as contributing resources
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 its historic character. These are the main house, three other Davis-designed buildings and the surviving landscaping.
Main house
The house itself is a two-and-half-story five-by-four-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:...
building 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 stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
over rubble stone, with two 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...
wings on the north and south. The latter was originally sanded
Sandpaper
Sandpaper, also known as glasspaper, is a heavy paper with abrasive material attached to its surface.Sandpaper is part of the "coated abrasives" family of abrasive products. It is used to remove small amounts of material from surfaces, either to make them smoother , to remove a layer of material...
to give it a stonier appearance. A veranda is on the west (rear) elevation. The metallic 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...
is pierced by two pairs of brick chimneys on the sides.
All 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"....
s are heavily decorated
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...
. Swags are on all four chimneys, and balustrades rim most of the roof lines. A central pier on the east above the main entrance is topped with an urn, flanked by wreathed balustrades, a 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 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 triglyph
Triglyph
Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze, so called because of the angular channels in them, two perfect and one divided, the two chamfered angles or hemiglyphs being reckoned as one. The square recessed spaces between the triglyphs on a Doric...
s and metope
Metope (architecture)
In classical architecture, a metope is a rectangular architectural element that fills the space between two triglyphs in a Doric frieze, which is a decorative band of alternating triglyphs and metopes above the architrave of a building of the Doric order...
-ornamented medallions. The double-doored main entrance is flanked by 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 and topped with a fanlight and ornate keystone
Keystone (architecture)
A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone piece at the apex of a masonry vault or arch, which is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch to bear weight. This makes a keystone very important structurally...
. It is sheltered by a semicircular 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...
supported by 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...
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...
columns.
A similar portico adorns the rear, with its balustrade also topped by urns. On the wings flat pilasters support a frieze, with columns on the semi octagonal south wing creating an arcade
Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
.
The main entrance leads into a rectangular hall with doors leading to the two parlors on either side. It is partly divided by a segmental arch supported by two tapered wooden columns. The library is to the north, with a stair hallway on the south. Much of the decorative woodwork is original.
Outbuildings
Five outbuildings, most of them built around a garden, are in the nearest cluster, south and southwest of the main house. These include the shingle-sided Lodge and its board-and-battenBatten
A batten is a thin strip of solid material, typically made from wood, plastic or metal. Battens are used in building construction and various other fields as both structural and purely cosmetic elements...
shed, the clapboard
Clapboard (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...
-sided Court, a wrought iron
Wrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
greenhouse
Greenhouse
A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
, and the coach house. This last building is the only outbuilding visible from the main house. It is a flushboard-sided one-and-a-half-story frame house with cross-gable
Gable
A 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 topped by a polygonal 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....
. Pilasters mark the corners as well as the flanks of the main building. The interior contains much of the original woodwork.
To the east, close to the road, is the barn complex. It consists of an 1861 barn along with frame structures like the farm office and storage sheds, along with an octagonal stone reservoir building. The board-and-batten farmhouse features a cross-gabled roof and a triple Palladian-style window on the rear.
A group of cottages is located just downhill from the farmhouse. Most are simple frame structures, but one, the Swiss Cottage, was designed by Davis. It features a low-sloping truncated-gabled roof with vergeboard on the roofline and balconies
Balcony
Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...
on the rear. The Thompson House also has a dentilled and bracketed
Bracket (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...
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...
.
There are some other isolated outbuildings elsewhere, mostly modern, such as the visitors' center. A cement power station is at the creek mouth, with dams. Some small 20th century cottages are scattered in the orchards. Some buildings described by past visitors to the estate, such as the conservatory, are no longer extant.
Landscapes
The north and south sections of the property, known as the North and South Woods, remain heavily wooded. The South Woods, approximately 70 acres (28.3 ha) in size, is the oldest oak forest in the Hudson Valley. The North Woods slopes down to the ravine the Saw Kill flows through. Winding paths and trails lead through both wooded tracts. In the North Woods they lead to a waterfall; in the South Woods to the river's edge.On the east are the property's orchards, leased and operated by Montgomery Place Orchards. On the farm, over 60 different varieties of apple and pear trees are planted and harvested as well as berries, vegetables, grapes and peaches. Annandale Atomic hard cider is also now produced on the farm from early American and English varietal apples. The produce is sold at the Montgomery Place Orchards market. Black locust
Black locust
Robinia pseudoacacia, commonly known as the Black Locust, is a tree in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. It is native to the southeastern United States, but has been widely planted and naturalized elsewhere in temperate North America, Europe, Southern Africa and Asia and is...
trees line the 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) unpaved allée
Allee
Allee may refer to:* Alfred Allee , U.S. sheriff.* J. Frank Allee , U.S. merchant and politician.* Warder Clyde Allee , U.S. ecologist, discoverer of the Allee effect.* Verna Allee , U.S. business consultant....
and surround the lawn of the main house. The lawn on the west of the house slopes down to a reflecting pond at the edge of the wooded shore.
History
Archaeological investigations on the property have revealed evidence of Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
use as a seasonal hunting ground at least 5,000 years ago. These investigations have continued and the area's historic designation reflects its potential in this area as well.
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...
in the 18th century, the Saw Kill was used for various mills. Janet Livingston Montgomery purchased 242 acres (97.9 ha) in the late 1770s, shortly after the death of her husband, General Richard Montgomery
Richard Montgomery
Richard Montgomery was an Irish-born soldier who first served in the British Army. He later became a brigadier-general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and he is most famous for leading the failed 1775 invasion of Canada.Montgomery was born and raised in Ireland...
, at the Battle of Quebec
Battle of Quebec (1775)
The Battle of Quebec was fought on December 31, 1775 between American Continental Army forces and the British defenders of the city of Quebec, early in the American Revolutionary War. The battle was the first major defeat of the war for the Americans, and it came at a high price...
. The couple had been living in nearby Rhinebeck
Rhinebeck (village), New York
Rhinebeck is a village located in the Town of Rhinebeck in Dutchess County, New York, USA. The population was 2,657 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York–Newark–Bridgeport,...
at the time, where they were building their Grasmere
Grasmere (Rhinebeck, New York)
Grasmere is a national historic district and estate located at Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, New York. It consists of 12 contributing buildings and four contributing structures. The main house was originally built about 1824 and expanded about 1861 and in 1907-1908. The original house was built on...
estate, and she moved into that after the Revolutionary War
American 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...
.
She had plans for a Federal style mansion on the riverfront property drawn up and hired a local builder. Naming the house Chateau de Montgomery after her late husband, she moved in after it was completed in 1805. With tree samples her friends sent her from many places near and distant, she established a working farm on the property, employing many slaves and freemen. She lived there until her death in 1828, when the property was bequeathed to her brother.
Edward Livingston
Edward Livingston
Edward Livingston was an American jurist and statesman. He was an influential figure in the drafting of the Louisiana Civil Code of 1825, a civil code based largely on the Napoleonic Code. He represented both New York, and later Louisiana in Congress and he served as the U.S...
had summered there with his wife Louise while he was living in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, where he had moved after a scandal cost him his jobs as U.S. Attorney for New York and mayor
Mayor of New York City
The Mayor of the City of New York is head of the executive branch of New York City's government. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within New York City.The budget overseen by the...
of the city. He had returned to New York and was serving in the House when his sister died. Subsequently he was chosen a Senator and later became the 11th Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
, then as ambassador to France
United States Ambassador to France
This article is about the United States Ambassador to France. There has been a United States Ambassador to France since the American Revolution. The United States sent its first envoys to France in 1776, towards the end of the four-centuries-old Bourbon dynasty...
before leaving public service in 1835. They renamed the estate Montgomery Place.
Alexander Jackson Davis
Alexander Jackson Davis, or A. J. Davis , was one of the most successful and influential American architects of his generation, in particular his association with the Gothic Revival style....
to convert the stately mansion into a more ornate villa, in keeping with the era's emerging Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
sesnsibilities. The two wings and exterior decoration were added at this time. A colonnade on the front entry, the only ornament on the original house, was moved to the interior, one of the only changes to Janet Livingston's original plan.
With the informal help of Andrew Jackson Downing
Andrew Jackson Downing
Andrew Jackson Downing was an American landscape designer, horticulturalist, and writer, a prominent advocate of the Gothic Revival style in the United States, and editor of The Horticulturist magazine...
, a friend of Louise's and mentor to Davis, she began developing the landscapes. Her daughter Cora Barton worked with the architect on designing a garden and conservatory. Davis also drew up plans for outbuildings on the estate.
In 1860, upon Louise's death, Cora and her husband hired Davis again to actually build some of the earlier outbuildings. These were the Coach House, Swiss Cottage and farmhouse. They also extended the landscaping. These were part of their overall intent to make the house and its "pleasure grounds" more separate and distinct from the farming operations, which they also began to reduce in scope.
From Cora's relatives it eventually passed to another Livingston descendant, John Ross Delafield, in 1921. He added modern heating and plumbing to the main house. He and his wife, Violetta White Delafield, made the last major additions to the property by extending the landscaping and adding small gardens to it in the years before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Sleepy Hollow Restorations, which later renamed itself Historic Hudson Valley
Historic Hudson Valley
Historic Hudson Valley is a not-for-profit educational and historic preservation organization headquartered in Tarrytown, New York, in Westchester County...
. After a five year and $3 million restoration, the house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1992.
Aesthetics
Janet Livingston's original home reflected the tastes of its era. She and her family derived most of their wealth and prestige from agriculture, leasing lands to tenant farmerTenant farmer
A tenant farmer is one who resides on and farms land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management; while tenant farmers contribute their labor along with at times varying...
s. Accordingly their own homes often sat on high ground where they could view their holdings, which in the Livingston family's case included, at that time, portions of the Catskills across the river. The rectilinear forms of the Federal and 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...
styles established their authority and dominance of the land.
In the second quarter of the 19th century this began to change. Andrew Jackson Downing
Andrew Jackson Downing
Andrew Jackson Downing was an American landscape designer, horticulturalist, and writer, a prominent advocate of the Gothic Revival style in the United States, and editor of The Horticulturist magazine...
of nearby Newburgh
Newburgh (city), New York
Newburgh is a city located in Orange County, New York, United States, north of New York City, and south of Albany, on the Hudson River. Newburgh is a principal city of the Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown metropolitan area, which includes all of Dutchess and Orange counties. The Newburgh area was...
championed villa and cottage-style houses in the styles that later came to be known as Carpenter Gothic
Carpenter Gothic
Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic, and Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures built by house-carpenters...
and 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...
. These were smaller structures, generally frame, that were topped by steeply pitched
Roof pitch
In 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...
, often cross-gabled, roofs with decorated cornices that were intended to harmonize with surrounding natural features, giving the impression of a comfortable place to live. His pattern books sold widely and were used for many houses all over the growing nation.
Janet's descendants called on Downing's friend Alexander Jackson Davis
Alexander Jackson Davis
Alexander Jackson Davis, or A. J. Davis , was one of the most successful and influential American architects of his generation, in particular his association with the Gothic Revival style....
to expand and renovate the house into a more classically-inspired villa over a period of 20 years. He used curved forms in the balustrades and wings to offset the strong vertical lines of the existing building. The arcaded pavilion makes the veranda common on many mid-19th century houses into a wing of its own. Textures were added to the surface in the abundant decorations, many using floral motifs. All these features link the house more firmly to its surrounding landscape. Davis scholar Jane Davies calls it his finest country house.
The farmhouse, too, shows Davis's variations on a popular Downing pattern, "Bracketed Cottage with Veranda", from the posthumously published The Architecture of Country Houses. Davis updated it to the Italianate
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
style more popular at that time, adding the Palladian-style window.
Downing's influence can also be seen in Davis's Swiss Cottage. This pattern, widely republished but rarely built, was varied by Davis, who is not known to have built any other such cottages. He added more entrances since it was expected to have multiple tenants, but four of them are disguised as windows. The essential features of Downing's pattern, such as its floor plan, the low, broad roof; construction into a hillside exposing the basement on one side and multiple galleries and balconies offering views of a nearby stream, remain.
The landscapes were inspired by contemporary European trends. The Bartons had followed Edward Livingston
Edward Livingston
Edward Livingston was an American jurist and statesman. He was an influential figure in the drafting of the Louisiana Civil Code of 1825, a civil code based largely on the Napoleonic Code. He represented both New York, and later Louisiana in Congress and he served as the U.S...
to France when he served there and saw many of Europe's celebrated gardens. Cora Barton had a full set of copies of Joseph Paxton
Joseph Paxton
Sir Joseph Paxton was an English gardener and architect, best known for designing The Crystal Palace.-Early life:...
's The Magazine of Botany sent to her when she moved in. Downing, a friend, visited in 1847 and wrote favorably about the resulting landscapes for his own magazine, The Horticulturist. He praised "the deep and mysterious wood" with "dark, intricate and mazy walks" in the "Wilderness" in the north of the property near the Saw Kill. He called it "the most complete estate in America".
Further Reading
- Great Houses of the Hudson River, Michael Middleton DwyerMichael Middleton DwyerMichael Middleton Dwyer is an architect practicing in New York City known for renovating historic structures and designing new ones in traditional vocabularies. He is also a writer of architectural history who was the editor of Great Houses of the Hudson River and author of Carolands...
, editor, with preface by Mark RockefellerMark RockefellerMark Fitler Rockefeller is a fourth-generation member of the Rockefeller family. He is the youngest son of Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller and Happy Rockefeller...
, Boston, MA: Little, Brown and CompanyLittle, Brown and CompanyLittle, Brown and Company is a publishing house established by Charles Coffin Little and his partner, James Brown. Since 2006 it has been a constituent unit of Hachette Book Group USA.-19th century:...
, published in association with Historic Hudson ValleyHistoric Hudson ValleyHistoric Hudson Valley is a not-for-profit educational and historic preservation organization headquartered in Tarrytown, New York, in Westchester County...
, 2001. ISBN 082122767X.
External links
- Official website
- 13 photos, 1 map, and 11 data pages at Historic American Buildings SurveyHistoric American Buildings SurveyThe Historic American Buildings Survey , Historic American Engineering Record , and Historic American Landscapes Survey are programs of the National Park Service established for the purpose of documenting historic places. Records consists of measured drawings, archival photographs, and written...
- 3 photos, 1 drawing, 3 data pages of Farmhouse at Montgomery Place.
- 2 photos, 1 page of drawings, and 7 data pages, of Swiss Cottage at Montgomery Place, at HABS.
