Bykenhulle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Bykenhulle
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South elevation and west profile, 2008
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 Location in New York
Location in the United States
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| Location | Hopewell Junction, New York |
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| Nearest city | Poughkeepsie |
| Area | 5.7 acres (2.3 ha) |
| Built | 1841 |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 91001872 |
| Added to NRHP | December 30, 1991 |
Bykenhulle, also known as Ivy Hall, is an old house located near Hopewell Junction, New York. It's a wooden house built in the Greek Revival style. This style was popular in the 1800s and looks a bit like ancient Greek temples.
The house was first built in the mid-1800s by the Adriance family, who were important in the area. It was the main building of a very large farm. Later, the farm was divided into smaller pieces of land. A new set of owners bought the house to use as a country getaway. They renamed it Bykenhulle, using the old Dutch spelling of their family name.
These owners worked to fix up and restore the house. They wanted to keep its original historic look. Even though many new homes have been built around it, Bykenhulle still looks much like it did long ago. Because of its history, the house and two other old buildings on the property were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. Today, Bykenhulle is a bed and breakfast, where people can stay and enjoy its history.
Contents
Exploring Bykenhulle: House and Grounds
Bykenhulle sits on about 5.7 acres of land in East Fishkill, New York. The property is surrounded by roads and other homes. It's on a small hill, close to the Fishkill Creek. The area is mostly wooded, but Bykenhulle has a large, clear lawn. A brick fence runs along the front of the property.
The main house and most of the other buildings are on the larger part of the land. A driveway leads past the house and continues to an exit at the back. The property has many old trees and plants. There's also a green buffer of evergreen trees at the back, next to the highway.
Old Buildings on the Property
Besides the main house, there are three other buildings and a swimming pool. Two of these buildings are very old and important to the house's history. These are a dairy barn and a poultry house. They were built around the same time as the main house. The third building, a carriage house, has been changed a lot over the years. The swimming pool is also a newer addition.
The Main House: A Closer Look
The main part of Bykenhulle house has two and a half stories. It's made of wood and covered with clapboard siding. The front of the house has a porch with four wooden columns. Above the porch is a balcony with a railing. All the windows have wooden shutters. The roof is gabled, meaning it has a triangular shape, and has two brick chimneys.
A two-story kitchen wing extends from the east side of the house. It looks similar to the main part. On the west side, there's a sunroom with glass doors.
The main front door is set back a bit and has decorative pillars on each side. The doorway also has a window above it and side windows with more decorative pillars. Inside, the main hall has tall ceilings and fancy plaster designs. The doorways inside also have a classic look. A beautiful wooden staircase leads to the second floor.
On the west side of the house are two large living rooms. They are decorated like the main hall, with fancy ceiling designs and marble fireplaces. A wide pocket door connects these two rooms. The rooms on the east side of the house were for daily use and are simpler. The rooms upstairs have a similar layout but are smaller and less decorated.
Other Historic Buildings
Right behind the main house is the old dairy barn. It's a two-story wooden barn that has been changed over time. It's now covered with metal siding that looks like wood. A screened area for pheasants was added to one side, and a garage was built on another.
Further away, to the northwest, is the poultry house. This long, two-story building is covered with the same material as the barn. It used to be where chickens were kept, but it was later turned into a hunting lodge. A stone chimney and fireplace were added to one side.
The carriage house was built at the same time as the main house. However, it has been changed a lot over the years. It's a rectangular building with a gabled roof. Inside, it has been divided into two apartments. New windows have been added, and some old ones have been closed up.
There were also other buildings on the property in the past. These included a well, a milk house, and a storage building. Only the well can still be seen today.
Bykenhulle's Journey Through Time
In 1841, Peter Adriance gave this new house to his daughter, Mary Ann, and her husband, James Wilkinson. Peter Adriance was from a Dutch family who had settled in Dutchess County, New York. He gave them 150 acres of land from his large farm. The house was built in a very stylish way for its time. It was bigger and more decorated than other farmhouses. Fancy items like door handles and marble fireplaces were brought from the city. This showed how wealthy the Adriance family was. These beautiful details were put in the rooms where guests would visit. The private and work rooms were simpler, reminding everyone that it was still a working farm.
In 1852, Peter Adriance passed away. His daughter and son-in-law inherited a lot of money and moved to Poughkeepsie, New York. They sold the house to a cousin, Charlotte Storm Genung, whose family also came from early Dutchess County settlers. The Genung family named the house Ivy Hall. Their descendants lived there for the next 50 years.
Not much is known about the Genung family during this time. They lived quietly, running the farm and making few changes to the house. They built some of the other buildings on the property. A local history book from 1882 mentions Charlotte's son, Isaac, as a "farmer and assessor." This is one of the only records from the Genung period.
When Isaac died, his family couldn't keep the farm going. They couldn't pay their mortgage, so the farm was taken by the bank. In 1907, the farm and all its buildings were sold at an auction for $4,000. Two years later, a man named Moses Lee sold it for $5,750 to Webster Wagner from New York City. Wagner was a rich descendant of one of the inventors of the Pullman train car. He preferred to use Ivy Hall as his country home and had tenants run the farm.
It's thought that Wagner changed the poultry barn into a hunting lodge. He also built the pheasant coop so he could hunt game birds. Hunting was a popular hobby for wealthy men back then. Wagner didn't make any changes to the main house. In 1929, Florence Bicknell bought the house from Wagner for a very small amount, just $100. It's not clear why the price was so low. It might have been because of the start of the Great Depression, a personal connection, or simply a mistake in the records.
The Bicknell family was very interested in preserving history. They changed the property's name to Bykenhulle, using the original Dutch spelling of their name. This idea guided their work to turn the farmhouse into a country retreat. They added new wallpaper to the front hall that looked old. They also put in modern heating and plumbing in a way that didn't change the historic look. They changed some rooms into a library and dining room. They also updated the kitchen wing, making it modern but keeping its style similar to the rest of the house.
In the late 1930s, the Taconic State Parkway was built through the area. This road separated the house from some of its old farmlands. In 1963, when the Bicknells sold the land, Mary Ann Wilkinson's original wedding gift was divided into smaller lots. This led to many new homes being built around Bykenhulle. A swimming pool was added to the property in 1972, and a traditional garden was planted in 1990. A year before that, the sunroom was added to the west side of the house. Later owners of Bykenhulle have included an IBM executive and the current bed and breakfast operators. Both have continued to take care of the property and keep its historic character.
