Newcomb-Brown Estate
Encyclopedia
The Newcomb-Brown Estate is located at the junction of the US 44
highway and Brown Road in Pleasant Valley, New York, United States. It is a brick structure built in the 18th century just before the Revolution
and modified slightly by later owners but generally intact. Its basic Georgian
style
shows some influences of the early Dutch settlers
of the region.
At the time of its construction it was the home of Zaccheus Newcomb, a local farmer who owned much of the area of Pleasant Valley now surrounding the neighborhood. Over the 19th century, much of that original landholding was subdivided and sold off as the Brown family sold it to others, including the main house. In the early 20th century, it returned to the family again when one of his descendants bought it and converted it from working farm to country house
, restoring
and modifying it slightly while keeping its original integrity. In 1988 it and several outbuildings from the farming era were added to the National Register of Historic Places
.
, divided into northern and southern sections by Brown Road. The area is rural residential, with newer houses built on large lots. Except for those portions of the lots that have been cleared, it remains mostly wooded. The estate lands are mostly level, but rise slightly at the north end, in keeping with the terrain's general regional slope up from the Hudson River
to the Taconic Mountains
.
Between the main house and the highway, on the house's west, is a small pond about one acre (4,000 m²) in area said to have been created when the clay was dug to bake the bricks for the house. A two-acre (8,000 m²) lawn is between the house and Brown Road, set off by one of many stone wall
s on the property. Around the house are many mature trees of species ranging from those common to the area like maple
and shagbark hickory
to more unusual ones like horse chestnut and gingko. Behind the house, on its north, is a large group of lilacs. The otherwise level ground rises slightly to the rear and is covered in second-growth
woods. An old apple orchard is to its east. All of the outbuildings save one are to the northeast of the main house.
On the south side of the roughly east-west Brown Road, the property is mostly natural, with a hay field, woods, and a shallow pond straddling the property line. It is fed by a small stream that runs through it from northeast to southwest. In the northeast corner is the other outbuilding, a wagon shed.
in cedar
shake
pierced by wide brick chimneys at either end. It has a one-and-half-story kitchen wing on its east side and a flat-roofed open porch on the west. The kitchen wing is sided in wooden shingles; its gambrel roof is pierced by a wide shed dormer window.
Its six-bay
south (front) facade
is laid in Flemish bond; the other three sides are done in common bond. A Dutch-style paneled door almost four feet (120 cm) wide with a six-light transom
is located in the center of the ground story. It is sheltered by a small wooden portico
with three stone steps leading down to a short walk to the driveway.
The first-story windows are topped with splayed wooden lintels painted dark red and incised to resemble flat brick arches. At the roofline the gambrel flares outward slightly, opening up space for a block modillioned cornice
.
On the west side, the iron anchors holding the roof rafter
s are shaped to look like the letters Z and N, for the original owner. French doors lead on both levels to the porch and its balcony, with balustrade. All doors and windows on this elevation are topped by brick segmental arches.
The east wall anchors are the more common "S" shape, and the attic windows have been bricked in. Otherwise the treatment on that side echoes its counterpart. The north elevation (rear) is likewise similar to the front except for having fewer windows. It has a similar portico and door. A rear dormer identical to the one on the front is on the kitchen wing.
Inside, the main entrance leads to an 8-foot–wide (2.4 m) central hallway, the axis of a symmetrical floor plan. The rooms on the west are a double parlor; those on the east are the dining room and library. All have most of their original trim, including baseboard
s, cornice
s, molded
chair rails and diagonally oriented corner fireplaces that share a chimney with the other room on that side. Paneled doors lead between all spaces. Flooring is random-width wide pine boards, and those in the southwest parlor are clear-grained
. All first-story rooms share 9 feet (2.7 m) ceilings with the hallway. All windows have paneled shutters
that recess into the 24-inch–deep (61 cm) walls with window seat
s below.
The front parlor fireplace, in the southwest corner, is surrounded by Bristol
tiles; the others have carved wooden mantels
. The dining room fireplace has a closed cupboard
, and another corner has a cupboard with carved pediment
, reeded pilaster
s and its original glass.
An open straight-run staircase rises from south to north on the east side of the central hall. It has square baluster
s and scroll-shaped consoles on the side of each step. Upstairs there are four bedrooms, with 8½-foot (2.6 m) ceilings and walls of the standard 18 inches (45.7 cm) depth. The windows have seats but no shutters. The two front bedrooms have corner fireplaces as well. A closed staircase leads to the attic, which has a pine floor but is otherwise unfinished. The roof peak is 12 feet (3.7 m) above the floor.
The kitchen wing has been modernized. Its first floor has a laundry, kitchen and half bathroom. Enclosed stairs at the north wind up to the second story, about 4½ inches (4+1/2 in) lower than the corresponding floor in the main house. It has two small bedrooms and bathrooms.
to the National Register listing, remain from the days when the estate was a much larger working farm. All but one are located to the east and northeast of the main house. The largest is a frame carriage shed, now used as a barn. It has a box stall and two straight ones. A smaller barn nearby, also of two stories, is embanked into a hillside, with ground-level entrances on both levels. Between the two are the remains of the foundation
of an earlier barn.
Other buildings in that area include two chicken coop
s, a small shed and a frame clapboard
-sided toolhouse believed to have originally been a milkhouse. Across Brown Road, on the northeast corner of the southern section of the property, is the other contributing resource, a wooden wagon shed. To its south is the remains of another old building, the foundation stones of a former smokehouse
.
, in the mid-1720s, came west with his father Thomas to what is now Pleasant Valley in 1746 when the older man purchased the 3000 acres (1,214.1 ha) Great Lot 8 of the Great Nine Partners Patent
. Five years later, Thomas deeded the 200 acres (80.9 ha) around the current parcel to Zaccheus. He remained a farmer but was also politically active. During the Revolutionary War
he served in the Continental Army
, and was later a judge.
A later genealogy
suggests that Newcomb's wife Sarah built the house while her husband was away at war. It is more likely that the house was built before the war, around 1770, since a Baptist
Society Newcomb allowed to meet in his home was founded that year. The architect is unknown.
The basic forms of the house reflect the Newcomb family's New England
origins — its Georgian
plan, gambrel roof and modillioned cornice were common for large houses in the area of Connecticut the family emigrated from. But some aspects of the design, such as the flared roof, doors and generally buly massing, are more typical of houses built by Dutch settlers
in the Hudson Valley
. It is not known to what extent those traditions might have influenced the house's design.
Zaccheus Newcomb died in 1790, leaving portions of his landholdings, including some "Wild Lands" in the Adirondack
town now known as Newcomb
, and other assets to his nine children. Three more generations of Newcombs lived on the farm until 1859, when it was sold out of the family to a James Allen. He, in turn, sold it to Homer Briggs.
During this period in the late 19th century many of the extant outbuildings were erected. The original front portico, similar to the current one, was replaced by a wider Victorian
porch in the 1880s. In 1912 it returned to the Newcomb family when Flora Newcomb-Brown bought it, ending its use as a working farm to make it her country house as many other wealthy residents were doing with old Dutchess County farms they bought.
She restored the original front portico, working in the newer Colonial Revival
style to have a replacement of the original built. From her it went first to her brother-in-law, John Spraker, and then to his daughter, Dorothy Spraker Francke. In 1960 she subdivided the property, leaving the current parcel around the house, and sold it to James and Jane Neighbors, who modernized the interior of the kitchen wing but made very few other alterations to the house or other buildings.
U.S. Route 44 in New York
U.S. Route 44 in the state of New York is a major east–west thoroughfare in the Hudson Valley region of the state. Its entire length is maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation, with the exception of the Mid-Hudson Bridge, which is maintained by the New York State Bridge...
highway and Brown Road in Pleasant Valley, New York, United States. It is a brick structure built in the 18th century just before the Revolution
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...
and modified slightly by later owners but generally intact. Its basic Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
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...
shows some influences of the early Dutch settlers
Dutch colonization of the Americas
Dutch trading posts and plantations in the Americas precede the much wider known colonization activities of the Dutch in Asia. Whereas the first Dutch fort in Asia was built in 1600 , the first forts and settlements on the Essequibo river in Guyana and on the Amazon date from the 1590s...
of the region.
At the time of its construction it was the home of Zaccheus Newcomb, a local farmer who owned much of the area of Pleasant Valley now surrounding the neighborhood. Over the 19th century, much of that original landholding was subdivided and sold off as the Brown family sold it to others, including the main house. In the early 20th century, it returned to the family again when one of his descendants bought it and converted it from working farm to country house
Cottage
__toc__In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities, and in places such as Canada the term exists with no connotations of size at all...
, restoring
Building restoration
Building restoration describes a particular treatment approach and philosophy within the field of architectural conservation. According the U.S...
and modifying it slightly while keeping its original integrity. In 1988 it and several outbuildings from the farming era were 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...
.
Buildings and grounds
The estate is a 33.7 acres (13.6 ha) parcel on the east side of US 44U.S. Route 44 in New York
U.S. Route 44 in the state of New York is a major east–west thoroughfare in the Hudson Valley region of the state. Its entire length is maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation, with the exception of the Mid-Hudson Bridge, which is maintained by the New York State Bridge...
, divided into northern and southern sections by Brown Road. The area is rural residential, with newer houses built on large lots. Except for those portions of the lots that have been cleared, it remains mostly wooded. The estate lands are mostly level, but rise slightly at the north end, in keeping with the terrain's general regional slope up from 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...
to the Taconic Mountains
Taconic Mountains
The Taconic Mountains or Taconic Range are a physiographic section of the larger New England province and part of the Appalachian Mountains, running along the eastern border of New York State and adjacent New England from northwest Connecticut to western Massachusetts, north to central western...
.
Between the main house and the highway, on the house's west, is a small pond about one acre (4,000 m²) in area said to have been created when the clay was dug to bake the bricks for the house. A two-acre (8,000 m²) lawn is between the house and Brown Road, set off by one of many stone wall
Stone wall
Stone walls are a kind of masonry construction which have been made for thousands of years. First they were constructed by farmers and primitive people by piling loose field stones in what is called a dry stone wall, then later with the use of mortar and plaster especially in the construction of...
s on the property. Around the house are many mature trees of species ranging from those common to the area like maple
Maple
Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...
and shagbark hickory
Shagbark Hickory
Carya ovata, the Shagbark Hickory, is a common hickory in the eastern United States and southeast Canada. It is a large deciduous tree, growing up to 27 m tall, and will live up to 200 years. Mature Shagbarks are easy to recognize because, as their name implies, they have shaggy bark...
to more unusual ones like horse chestnut and gingko. Behind the house, on its north, is a large group of lilacs. The otherwise level ground rises slightly to the rear and is covered in second-growth
Secondary forest
A secondary forest is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a major disturbance such as fire, insect infestation, timber harvest or windthrow, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident...
woods. An old apple orchard is to its east. All of the outbuildings save one are to the northeast of the main house.
On the south side of the roughly east-west Brown Road, the property is mostly natural, with a hay field, woods, and a shallow pond straddling the property line. It is fed by a small stream that runs through it from northeast to southwest. In the northeast corner is the other outbuilding, a wagon shed.
Main house
The main house is a two-and-a-half-story rectangular brick-faced structure on a stone basement with a gambrel roof shingledRoof shingle
Roof shingles are a roof covering consisting of individual overlapping elements. These elements are typically flat rectangular shapes laid in rows from the bottom edge of the roof up, with each successive higher row overlapping the joints in the row below...
in cedar
Cedar wood
Cedar wood comes from several different trees that grow in different parts of the world, and may have different uses.* California incense-cedar, from Calocedrus decurrens, is the primary type of wood used for making pencils...
shake
Shake (shingle)
A shake is a basic wooden shingle that is made from split logs. Shakes have traditionally been used for roofing and siding applications around the world. Higher grade shakes are typically used for roofing purposes, while the lower grades are used for siding purposes...
pierced by wide brick chimneys at either end. It has a one-and-half-story kitchen wing on its east side and a flat-roofed open porch on the west. The kitchen wing is sided in wooden shingles; its gambrel roof is pierced by a wide shed dormer window.
Its six-bay
Bay (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:...
south (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"....
is laid in Flemish bond; the other three sides are done in common bond. A Dutch-style paneled door almost four feet (120 cm) wide with a six-light 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...
is located in the center of the ground story. It is sheltered by a small wooden 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...
with three stone steps leading down to a short walk to the driveway.
The first-story windows are topped with splayed wooden lintels painted dark red and incised to resemble flat brick arches. At the roofline the gambrel flares outward slightly, opening up space for a block modillioned 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...
.
On the west side, the iron anchors holding the roof rafter
Rafter
A rafter is one of a series of sloped structural members , that extend from the ridge or hip to the downslope perimeter or eave, designed to support the roof deck and its associated loads.-Design:...
s are shaped to look like the letters Z and N, for the original owner. French doors lead on both levels to the porch and its balcony, with balustrade. All doors and windows on this elevation are topped by brick segmental arches.
The east wall anchors are the more common "S" shape, and the attic windows have been bricked in. Otherwise the treatment on that side echoes its counterpart. The north elevation (rear) is likewise similar to the front except for having fewer windows. It has a similar portico and door. A rear dormer identical to the one on the front is on the kitchen wing.
Inside, the main entrance leads to an 8-foot–wide (2.4 m) central hallway, the axis of a symmetrical floor plan. The rooms on the west are a double parlor; those on the east are the dining room and library. All have most of their original trim, including baseboard
Baseboard
In architecture, a baseboard is a board covering the lowest part of an interior wall...
s, 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...
s, 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...
chair rails and diagonally oriented corner fireplaces that share a chimney with the other room on that side. Paneled doors lead between all spaces. Flooring is random-width wide pine boards, and those in the southwest parlor are clear-grained
Wood grain
In speaking of wood the term grain refers to the alternating regions of relatively darker and lighter wood resulting from the differing growth parameters occurring in different seasons . The term is used in several ways. Perhaps most important is that in woodworking techniques...
. All first-story rooms share 9 feet (2.7 m) ceilings with the hallway. All windows have paneled shutters
Window shutter
A window shutter is a solid and stable window covering usually consisting of a frame of vertical stiles and horizontal rails...
that recess into the 24-inch–deep (61 cm) walls with window seat
Window seat
A window seat is a miniature sofa without a back, intended to fill the recess of a window. In the latter part of the 18th century, when tall narrow sash windows were almost universal, the window seat was in high favor, and was no doubt in keeping with the formalism of Georgian interiors. It...
s below.
The front parlor fireplace, in the southwest corner, is surrounded by Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
tiles; the others have carved wooden mantels
Fireplace mantel
Fireplace mantel or mantelpiece, also known as a chimneypiece, originated in medieval times as a hood that projected over a grate to catch the smoke. The term has evolved to include the decorative framework around the fireplace, and can include elaborate designs extending to the ceiling...
. The dining room fireplace has a closed cupboard
Cupboard
A cupboard or press is a type of cabinet, often made of wood, used indoors to store household objects such as food, crockery, textiles and liquor, and protect them from dust,vermin and dirt....
, and another corner has a cupboard with carved pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
, reeded 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 its original glass.
An open straight-run staircase rises from south to north on the east side of the central hall. It has square 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 and scroll-shaped consoles on the side of each step. Upstairs there are four bedrooms, with 8½-foot (2.6 m) ceilings and walls of the standard 18 inches (45.7 cm) depth. The windows have seats but no shutters. The two front bedrooms have corner fireplaces as well. A closed staircase leads to the attic, which has a pine floor but is otherwise unfinished. The roof peak is 12 feet (3.7 m) above the floor.
The kitchen wing has been modernized. Its first floor has a laundry, kitchen and half bathroom. Enclosed stairs at the north wind up to the second story, about 4½ inches (4+1/2 in) lower than the corresponding floor in the main house. It has two small bedrooms and bathrooms.
Outbuildings
Seven support buildings, all considered contributing resourcesContributing 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 National Register listing, remain from the days when the estate was a much larger working farm. All but one are located to the east and northeast of the main house. The largest is a frame carriage shed, now used as a barn. It has a box stall and two straight ones. A smaller barn nearby, also of two stories, is embanked into a hillside, with ground-level entrances on both levels. Between the two are the remains of the 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:...
of an earlier barn.
Other buildings in that area include two chicken coop
Chicken coop
A chicken coop is a building where female chickens are kept. Inside there are often nest boxes for egg laying and perches on which the birds can sleep, although coops for meat birds seldom have either of these features....
s, a small shed and a frame 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 toolhouse believed to have originally been a milkhouse. Across Brown Road, on the northeast corner of the southern section of the property, is the other contributing resource, a wooden wagon shed. To its south is the remains of another old building, the foundation stones of a former smokehouse
Smokehouse
A smokehouse is a building where meat or fish is cured with smoke. The finished product might be stored in the building, sometimes for a year or more.-History:...
.
History
Zaccheus Newcomb, born in Lebanon, ConnecticutLebanon, Connecticut
Lebanon is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 6,907 at the 2000 census. The town lies just to the northwest of Norwich, north of New London, and east of Hartford...
, in the mid-1720s, came west with his father Thomas to what is now Pleasant Valley in 1746 when the older man purchased the 3000 acres (1,214.1 ha) Great Lot 8 of the Great Nine Partners Patent
Great Nine Partners Patent
The Great Nine Partners Patent, also known as the "Lower Nine Partners Patent," was a land grant in Dutchess County, New York, USA made in 1697.-The partners:* John Aarston * William Creed* James Emott * Hendrick ten Eyck...
. Five years later, Thomas deeded the 200 acres (80.9 ha) around the current parcel to Zaccheus. He remained a farmer but was also politically active. During 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...
he served in the Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
, and was later a judge.
A later genealogy
Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
suggests that Newcomb's wife Sarah built the house while her husband was away at war. It is more likely that the house was built before the war, around 1770, since a Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
Society Newcomb allowed to meet in his home was founded that year. The architect is unknown.
The basic forms of the house reflect the Newcomb family's New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
origins — its Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
plan, gambrel roof and modillioned cornice were common for large houses in the area of Connecticut the family emigrated from. But some aspects of the design, such as the flared roof, doors and generally buly massing, are more typical of houses built by Dutch settlers
Dutch colonization of the Americas
Dutch trading posts and plantations in the Americas precede the much wider known colonization activities of the Dutch in Asia. Whereas the first Dutch fort in Asia was built in 1600 , the first forts and settlements on the Essequibo river in Guyana and on the Amazon date from the 1590s...
in the 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:...
. It is not known to what extent those traditions might have influenced the house's design.
Zaccheus Newcomb died in 1790, leaving portions of his landholdings, including some "Wild Lands" in the Adirondack
Adirondack Mountains
The Adirondack Mountains are a mountain range located in the northeastern part of New York, that runs through Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties....
town now known as Newcomb
Newcomb, New York
Newcomb is a town in Essex County, New York, United States. The population was 481 at the 2000 census.The Town of Newcomb is at the west border of the county. It is southwest of Plattsburgh, southwest of Burlington, VT, northeast of Utica, NY, north-northeast of Albany, NY, and ...
, and other assets to his nine children. Three more generations of Newcombs lived on the farm until 1859, when it was sold out of the family to a James Allen. He, in turn, sold it to Homer Briggs.
During this period in the late 19th century many of the extant outbuildings were erected. The original front portico, similar to the current one, was replaced by a wider Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
porch in the 1880s. In 1912 it returned to the Newcomb family when Flora Newcomb-Brown bought it, ending its use as a working farm to make it her country house as many other wealthy residents were doing with old Dutchess County farms they bought.
She restored the original front portico, working in the newer Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...
style to have a replacement of the original built. From her it went first to her brother-in-law, John Spraker, and then to his daughter, Dorothy Spraker Francke. In 1960 she subdivided the property, leaving the current parcel around the house, and sold it to James and Jane Neighbors, who modernized the interior of the kitchen wing but made very few other alterations to the house or other buildings.