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February 19, 2009

Kingston Notebook

We got away for a couple of days this past holiday weekend to a farmhouse outside Kingston, the former capital of New York State (something you'd already know if you were following us on Twitter!). We saw a lot of beautiful houses, but this one down in the Rondout Historic District was probably our favorite. Any architecture buffs out there care to take a stab at placing this is historical context?




Posted by Brownstoner at 10:29 AM | Comments (18)
Categories: Architecture

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Comments

That second story porch is spectacular. Too bad there isn't a more usable one on the first floor.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at February 19, 2009 10:44 AM

Beautiful houses. No jobs except IBM.

Posted by: denton at February 19, 2009 10:56 AM

It looks like a classic Dutch-inspired red barn, you can see the line of the roof very well in the first picture. So the initial building was a working farm and probably dates from the 18th century (or maybe even late 17th century.) The porches are classic Queen Anne additions, so done late 19th century? It's the ultimate Hudson Valley house, a mish mash of Dutch, German and English influences.

Posted by: Maly at February 19, 2009 11:07 AM

Probably has views of Hudson River and valley, I bet.
There is a very interesting group of about 6 attached row houses a couple blocks from this house (all 1 ownership) - would be great restoration project for someone.
Our weekend place is just north of Kingston so know it pretty well.

Posted by: Petebklyn at February 19, 2009 11:10 AM

A Queen Anne with a Dutch Gambrel. I'd guess that it's not a true Dutch Colonial, and it was built circa 1895 - 1905 and not any earlier.

Posted by: Shahn Andersen at February 19, 2009 11:12 AM

An overachieving McMansion of its day. I love it! I'd say it was a mixture of Dutch and Colonial Revival, with a few other influences tossed in. Dutch in the basic barn shape, and CR in the columns, scale and Palladian windows. The eaves are amazing. I'd place it between 1890 and 1910.

Whoops, just renewed the page and see many people agree. It's a great house.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at February 19, 2009 11:17 AM

Shahn and MM beat me to it - was going to say 1895 to 1915. If there's anything older in there, its well hidden in these photos.

Posted by: WBer at February 19, 2009 11:51 AM

Queen Anne Victorian, probably no later than 1910. I grew up in a neighborhood with many smaller versions of these. I love Montrose Morris' comment: "an overachieving McMansion of its day." Does that mean that our descendants will love the WHITE HOUSE that disappeared and all the other monstrosities?

My question to Mr. B and the group is about orientation. It seems a bit off. The picture which you present to us as the front seems more like a side view, and the one with that delirious (can't think of another word) overhang over the palladian window ALSO doesn't look like the front. Do you think the original front was where the boxed in porch is to the right?

Posted by: Minmin at February 19, 2009 12:06 PM

There are nice houses outside of brownstone Brooklyn? Really. Wow....

Posted by: shillstoner at February 19, 2009 12:11 PM

The "6 attached row houses a couple blocks from this house (all 1 ownership)" Petebklyn refers to were last purchased in Jan 2007. Interiors have been mostly renovated. Kingston has 2 very distinct, beautiful, intact (large) historic districts- see Brownstoner's link above to Rondout Historic District. Wikipedia has good info. Kingston was #5 on Business Week Magazine's 2007 list of "America's best places for artists" (NYC was #4).

Posted by: BKrupt at February 19, 2009 12:20 PM

That two-story porch is crazy nutty! I love how it echoes the gambrel of the main house. I've never seen anything like it. I would place this about 1900, because of the porch craziness.

Posted by: BrooklynButler at February 19, 2009 12:29 PM

Minmin- very perceptive about the house's orientation-
the main photo above is a side view from a narrow side street (the house is on corner of Rogers and Broadway- am I allowed to divulge?) -- the front view is from Broadway as it goes down a hill, hence the photos from below. The house has nice views of the Hudson river valley, but they were obstructed somewhat in the late 1960s when urban blight projects bulldozed entire city blocks of incredible brick rowhouses from the 1840s-70s, and erected a new raised highway/bridge over the Rondout creek.

Posted by: BKrupt at February 19, 2009 12:32 PM

Beacon has a street or two with houses like this a short walk from Dia. One was operating as a B&B a while back.

Posted by: slopefarm at February 19, 2009 12:37 PM

BKrupt: sounds like that row of houses (National Historic register) was converted without permits and everyone might be evicted. I'll have to go by this wkend and see how they look now. I did view couple several years back before work done.
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2009/02/13/news/doc4994fef8dcfae611435103.txt

Posted by: Petebklyn at February 19, 2009 1:52 PM

Awesome. And probably one third the price of a Clinton Hill brownstone.

***Bid half off peak comps***

Posted by: Brownstones Half Off at February 19, 2009 8:14 PM

I live in Kingston in a 1904 Foursquare house that I paid $152,000 for four years ago. I chose it because the interior reminded me of a Brooklyn house. I have a double lot (0.18 acre) in which I have a very productive food garden and fruit orchard. I am not in either of the two districts bKrupt mentions, but in another midtown neighborhood that is more working class, less pretty but also quite convenient. I've always thought the house pictured, which is in the Rondout section, is interesting, but ultimately kind of ugly. There are a lot of really nice old houses in Kingston, though, and many pre-Revolutionary stone houses, though on the whole the housing stock is not as grand as what you see in places like Hudson. What I like about K'town & Ulster County: affordable lifestyle, access to beautiful natural places, easy access to NYC by bus or car, small community in which it's easy to find friends. I dislike: sprawliness (still need a car), lack of good jobs (even IBM is in the midst of layoffs), lack of good ethnic food. We do have a great new Afghan restaurant. We have many NYC/Brooklyn transplants here. I actually think of Kingston as a far-flung neighborhood of NYC.

Posted by: kingston at February 19, 2009 8:16 PM

looks like maybe the row house people may not be evicted.
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2009/02/20/news/doc499e39acb5b7c255256368.txt

Posted by: Petebklyn at February 20, 2009 9:28 AM

We rented a lovely dutch stone farmhouse in nearby Rosendale several years ago. Lovely, authentic house. Lots in the area.

Posted by: Architerrorist at February 20, 2009 10:42 AM

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