Closing Bell: Inside the Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead
In case you missed it, the New York Times ran a great slideshow revealing the interiors of the historic Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead at East 22nd Street and Avenue P. The best-preserved and most beautiful of the Dutch Colonial farmhouses in the area, the Wyckoff-Bennett house is still privately owned by the couple that purchased it for…
In case you missed it, the New York Times ran a great slideshow revealing the interiors of the historic Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead at East 22nd Street and Avenue P. The best-preserved and most beautiful of the Dutch Colonial farmhouses in the area, the Wyckoff-Bennett house is still privately owned by the couple that purchased it for $160,000 in 1983. What a trip!
Great Slideshow of Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead [NY Times]
Photo by wallyg
These old houses are fascinating.
I always think to myself that if I lived in an old house like this, I would be spending alot of time in the backyard digging and excavating for lost pieces of the past.
I don’t know how people live in Rome and don’t spend half their day digging a hole in their basement to find an emperor’s old bathouse or a secret passage beneath the Vatican.
I like the idea that it is privately owned too. In this case, anyway.
This sort of thing does thrill me.
Yes, Joe, apology accepted, I was talking about the museum house on Clarendon Rd, which may technically be East Flatbush but feels mysteriously far away from everything. It is worth the trip, however; details at http://www.wyckoffassociation.org/
what a shame that there were 70 or so of these houses left as recently as the 1950’s (according to the article) and now you can count them on your fingers.
If this sort of thing thrills you, make the trip out to the wilds of East Flatbush to see the Wycoff Farmhouse Museum, which is open to the public and truly seems to date from the Middle Ages (it is, simply, the Oldest House In New York, period!)
Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush at February 1, 2010 10:24 PM
My bad Brenda! I misread you. Thought you were talking about this place.
East 22nd and Ave P ain’t East Flatbush. Where do people get the ideas that Flatbush (East or West) could be south of Midwood? This is Madison, MAYBE Midwood, not too far from Marine Park, definitely nowhere near any kind of Flatbush.
And yes it’s a beautiful house Joe from Brooklyn admired long before he knew anything of architecture.
This…is…my…dream house. I had the great pleasure many years ago (maybe on a BCUE tour??) of touring it inside and meeting these nice folks who own (or perhaps more accurately curate) it. Unlike some of the overstuffed tassel-clad monstrosities of high Victoriana on the brownstone house tours, this place is utterly livable and comfortable.
If this sort of thing thrills you, make the trip out to the wilds of East Flatbush to see the Wycoff Farmhouse Museum, which is open to the public and truly seems to date from the Middle Ages (it is, simply, the Oldest House In New York, period!)
I love the idea that it’s still privately owned. It makes the house vibrant and alive, instead of what it will undoubtedly soon become: a relic. (Albeit a wonderful relic.)