HISTORIC HUDSON LECTURE BY J. WINTHROP ALDRICH

Carole Osterink

ccSCOOP Editor

07-01-09 – 11:30 a.m. - “Endangered Hudson Valley Architecture" was the topic of a lecture presented on Sunday, June 28, by J. Winthrop Aldrich, Deputy Commissioner for Historic Preservation for the State of New York. The lecture was the last in the 2009 lecture series presented by Historic Hudson, the not-for-profit preservation group in the City of Hudson.

Aldrich began his presentation by juxtaposing two significant buildings he visited recently in Central New York: Henderson House and Hyde Hall.  

Henderson House in the Mohawk Valley was presented as an example of what can happen when “people can’t afford to or don't care to” maintain something they own that has significance beyond themselves. Aldrich described Henderson House as a “Scottish castle” built of limestone in the nineteenth century. It remained in the same family until about thirty years ago, and in recent years has become abandoned and derelict. Aldrich now considers the house to be “irretrievable”: the roof has caved in, and the walls are collapsing.

Having presented these contrasts from another part of the state, Aldrich went on to talk about examples of endangered architecture in the Hudson Valley—some enjoying the happy fate of Hyde Hall and others possibly sharing the doomed future of Henderson House. He began with two sites in Columbia County, which some at the lecture had visited earlier that day with the Preservation League: the Van Hoesen House in Claverack and the Plumb-Bronson House in Hudson, both included among the League’s Seven to Save for 2009 and both having their advocates and protectors.

The Van Hoesen House, which was built around 1715 to 1720, is an example of the vernacular architecture created by the Dutch who originally settled the valley. The preservation of the house is now being pursued by the Van Hoesen Historical Foundation and the owner of the building, who also owns the adjacent trailer park. When the mention of trailer park elicited a hushed groan from the audience, Aldrich magnanimously pointed out that the owner could have demolished the building as an eyesore years ago but instead recognized its significance and spared it.

The Plumb-Bronson House, originally built in 1812 and refitted and expanded in subsequent decades by architect Alexander Jackson Davis, also has as its champions: Historic Hudson, the organization hosting Aldrich’s lecture. Last year, Historic Hudson finalized its thirty-year lease on the property with the State of New York (the house is located on the grounds of the Hudson Correctional Facility), after nearly seven years of lobbying and negotiation, and the long process of stabilization and restoration will begin this summer. Aldrich declared the restoration of the Plumb-Bronson House “worth all the huge effort it will require.”

The next house to be discussed was Wyndcliffe in Rhinebeck, the Norman Revival mansion built in 1853 by Edith Wharton’s aunt Elizabeth Schermerhorn Jones. According to legend, it is this house that inspired the expression “keeping up with the Joneses.” Edith Wharton, Aldrich commented, “did not enjoy life in this house,” so perhaps she would not be terribly distressed over its fate. Privately owned, the house, according to Aldrich, is “soon to be in the same state as Henderson House”—in a word, irretrievable.

Aldrich next turned his attention to another state-owned property: Mills Mansion at the Staatsburgh State Historic Site. The stone wall around the estate, he explained, is deteriorating, and house itself needs work. Aldrich acknowledged that repairs made to the house by the state fifty years ago were making things worse but expressed hope that the partnership now in place between the Friends of Mills Mansion and the State of New York will provide the needed stewardship.

A nearby state-owned property is not faring as well. That property is Hoyt House, also known as “The Point.” The Gothic Revival mansion was designed by Calvert Vaux and is “an important model of the period.” Built in 1855, the house remained in the same family for three generations until it was acquired—against the owners’ will—by the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation in the 1960s. Since then the house was been derelict and is now in “deplorable condition.” Hoyt House was named one of the Preservation League’s Seven to Save for 2007 and has been nominated for inclusion in the World Monuments Watch list.

Continuing down the Hudson Valley, Aldrich talked about a property that has been a favorite cause of his: the Hudson River State Hospital in Poughkeepsie. The work of architect Frederick Clarke Withers, with grounds designed by Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted, the enormous sprawling High Victorian Gothic building was designed to emit as much natural light into the rooms as possible. Construction of the hospital began in 1868 and continued for nearly thirty years. At its height, the hospital served more than 4,000 psychiatric patients. Beginning in the late 1970s, the building was progressively abandoned as a hospital site, and in 2005, it was sold for redevelopment as a hotel/apartment complex. Tragically, in 2007, the south wing of the building was destroyed by fire. According to Aldrich, a third of the enormous building still stands, and there is still talk of restoring it as a hotel.

Aldrich’s survey of endangered architecture included three sites in the City of Newburgh: the Dutch Reformed Church, designed by A. J. Davis and built in 1835; the City Club, built in 1851-1852 and the only surviving building in Newburgh designed by native son Andrew Jackson Downing; and the Tower of Victory, the Victorian folly erected in 1883 as a monument to peace near Hasbrouck House, George Washington’s Revolutionary War headquarters. The three properties are experiencing different fates. The Dutch Reformed Church, with special committee of the Newburgh Preservation Association devoted exclusively to it, recently received a Save America’s Treasures grant for its continuing restoration. The City Club, whose interior has been destroyed by fire, is now sealed up with its roof and cornices gone. The roof and observation deck of the Tower of Victory were blown off in a 1950 hurricane. The restoration of these missing parts was meant to be a Quadricentennial legacy project, but no funding was forthcoming.

The Glenwood Power Station in Yonkers was next on Aldrich’s list of endangered Hudson Valley architecture. Designed by Reed and Stern, it was built between 1904 and 1906 to enable trains entering New York City to be powered by electricity rather than coal-burning steam engines. Although named one of the Seven to Save for 2008 by the Preservation League of New York State, the power station is unprotected by local landmark designation. Showing a picture of the high-walled and clerestoried turbine room, Aldrich declared it would make a wonderful space for some adaptive reuse.

The final entry on Aldrich’s list was not a building but a boat—the SS Columbia, a 1902 steamship used for day trips out of Detroit on western Lake Erie. Aldrich envisions the Columbia restored and in service on the Hudson River, promoting heritage tourism in the Hudson Valley by bringing people to the area by water.

At this Historic Hudson gathering, Aldrich was clearly preaching to the choir, but even the preservation faithful need a revival meeting from time to time, and Aldrich’s presentation was certainly that. A quotation from Aldrich, printed on the post card Historic Hudson distributed to announce the lecture, expresses the essential message of the lecture and sentiment that all present carried away with them: “These are the buildings that make our heads ache but our hearts sing. If we care to be remembered as a civilized people, we must earn it by preserving and reusing the best that has been bequeathed to us. These exceptional properties offer a good place to begin.”