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Stone Street Historic District (New Hamburg, New York)
Encyclopedia
The Stone Street Historic District is a one-block section of the west side of that street in the hamlet of New Hamburg
, New York
, United States
. It was recognized as a historic district
and added to the National Register of Historic Places
in 1987 as the largest group of intact houses in the hamlet.
An acre
in area, it includes four houses built in the middle of the 19th century in vernacular
styles
ranging from Greek Revival
to the only Second Empire house in the hamlet, reflecting architectural tastes of that time. Located atop a small rise with views to the Hudson River
from the rear, they were in their time the premiere residential area of their small community. The houses opposite them were demolished in a railroad expansion, but the remaining homes have been altered very little.
on Stone between Bridge Street on the south and Division Street on the north. The house at 18 Division is also included. All are contributing properties
. There are two outbuildings, one of which is also considered contributing.
.
Marvin Van Anders, owner of the New Hamburg Hotel on Point Street, built 5 Stone Street for himself later that year. The lot next door went through several owners until Peter and Rachel Leroy bought it and built the house where they would live for the next 20 years. Finally, 9 Stone was sold in 1870 to William Bogardus, baggage master for the railroad. The original house at 18 Division Street was heavily renovated that year as well.
Around 1900 the neighborhood changed significantly when the New York Central
, which now owned the tracks, decided to convert the tunnel
originally built north of the New Hamburg station to an open cut. In order to do this, it acquired the homes on the east side of the street and demolished
them, opening up the space in front of the homes on the west. The neighborhood changed again in 1928, when the railroad decided to expand the main line to four tracks and closed off the Main Street grade crossing. It was replaced by the new Bridge Street, which intersected Stone just south of today's district, making it a little more accessible to the center of the small community.
Since then some of the houses have been converted into apartments, as New Hamburg's days as a commercial shipping center have long ended, and the New York Central has given way to Metro-North
's commuter service. Stone Street has remained largely intact.
A unifying touch to all four houses is the Hudson River Bracketed
porches. This too reflects some awareness of architecture outside the immediate vicinity of New Hamburg.
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...
. It 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 as the largest group of intact houses in the hamlet.
An acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
in area, it includes four houses built in the middle of the 19th century in 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...
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...
ranging from 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...
to the only Second Empire house in the hamlet, reflecting architectural tastes of that time. Located atop a small rise with views to 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...
from the rear, they were in their time the premiere residential area of their small community. The houses opposite them were demolished in a railroad expansion, but the remaining homes have been altered very little.
Buildings
The district includes all four homes on 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...
on Stone between Bridge Street on the south and Division Street on the north. The house at 18 Division is also included. All are contributing properties
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
. There are two outbuildings, one of which is also considered contributing.
- 5 Stone Street. A two-story, three-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:...
brick home on a raised brick-and-stone 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:...
built circa 1858. Front doorway behind full-length porch has original paneled door with side and transomTransom (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...
lights divided by pilasterPilasterA 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. - 7 Stone Street. A Second Empire home of similar composition, size and fenestrationWindowA window is a transparent or translucent opening in a wall or door that allows the passage of light and, if not closed or sealed, air and sound. Windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent material like float glass. Windows are held in place by frames, which...
built in 1870. It has a mansard roofMansard roofA mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
with slateSlateSlate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
tile and pedimentPedimentA 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...
ed dormer windows. Has a small, contributing barn with tin roof in rear. - 9 Stone Street. One-and-a-half-story 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...
house on raised basementBasement__FORCETOC__A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. Basements are typically used as a utility space for a building where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system...
with L-shaped 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 in diamond-patterned slate, built ca. 1870. Three-bay front porch has bracketedBracket (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...
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...
. - 18 Division Street. Five-bay two-story 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...
house originally built in 1845 and heavily renovated in 1870. Bracketed cornice on all elevations; windows have architraveArchitraveAn architrave is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the columns. It is an architectural element in Classical architecture.-Classical architecture:...
s with straight corbelCorbelIn architecture a corbel is a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight. A piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a "tassel" or a "bragger". The technique of corbelling, where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a wall support a projecting wall or...
ed heads.
History
The Stone Street lots were originally the property of Samuel and Maria Ellis, who bought them all in 1841 and built the original home at 18 Division Street. After Samuel Ellis died in 1857, Maria and her children began selling off the other lots. the recent construction of the nearby Hudson River Railroad had made Stone Street a prime residential property location, atop a low rise a short walk from downtownMain Street Historic District (New Hamburg, New York)
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 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...
.
Marvin Van Anders, owner of the New Hamburg Hotel on Point Street, built 5 Stone Street for himself later that year. The lot next door went through several owners until Peter and Rachel Leroy bought it and built the house where they would live for the next 20 years. Finally, 9 Stone was sold in 1870 to William Bogardus, baggage master for the railroad. The original house at 18 Division Street was heavily renovated that year as well.
Around 1900 the neighborhood changed significantly when 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...
, which now owned the tracks, decided to convert the tunnel
Tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...
originally built north of the New Hamburg station to an open cut. In order to do this, it acquired the homes on the east side of the street and demolished
Demolition
Demolition is the tearing-down of buildings and other structures, the opposite of construction. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for re-use....
them, opening up the space in front of the homes on the west. The neighborhood changed again in 1928, when the railroad decided to expand the main line to four tracks and closed off the Main Street grade crossing. It was replaced by the new Bridge Street, which intersected Stone just south of today's district, making it a little more accessible to the center of the small community.
Since then some of the houses have been converted into apartments, as New Hamburg's days as a commercial shipping center have long ended, and the New York Central has given way to Metro-North
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...
's commuter service. Stone Street has remained largely intact.
Aesthetics
5 and 7 Stone Street present an interesting contrast in styles. The Greek Revival forms of the former are extremely conservative for their time, suggesting an almost deliberate choice of a mode that had largely fallen out of favor by then, even in smaller towns. The Second Empire stylings of its neighbor are, by contrast, an early use for such a small town. It is possible that Leroy, a riverboat captain, had greater exposure to contemporary architectural trends through his work and visits to other Hudson Valley communities and reflected that in the way he chose to build his house.A unifying touch to all four houses is the Hudson River Bracketed
Hudson River Bracketed architectural style
The Hudson River Bracketed architectural style was originated by architect Alexander Jackson Davis. An example of his implementation is in Oliver Bronson House, a National Historic Landmark...
porches. This too reflects some awareness of architecture outside the immediate vicinity of New Hamburg.