Elisha Williams House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Elisha Williams House
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North (rear) elevation, 2008
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 Location in New York
Location in the United States
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| Location | Hudson, New York |
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| Built | ca. 1810 |
| Architectural style | Federal style |
| MPS | Hudson MRA |
| NRHP reference No. | 99001483 |
| Added to NRHP | 1999 |
The Elisha Williams House (also called the Hawthorne House) is located on Aitken Avenue in Hudson, New York. It is a brick building built around 1810. It shows off the Federal style of architecture, which was popular in the early 1800s. This house is special because it looks a bit different from other Federal style homes in Hudson. Later on, some Victorian decorations were added to it.
Elisha Williams, the first owner, was a lawyer and a politician. He was famous across the country for being an amazing speaker. This house was once his large property, which explains its unique spot in the neighborhood. In 1999, the Elisha Williams House was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This means it's an important historical building that should be preserved.
Contents
Exploring the Elisha Williams House Design
The Elisha Williams House sits on a slightly sloped piece of land. It's a rectangular building with two and a half stories. The house is made of brick laid in a pattern called common bond. It rests on a strong stone foundation. The house is angled a little bit on its land. This makes its front side face more directly west than other houses on the street.
Roof and Windows
The roof has a pointed shape, known as a gabled roof. It is covered with wood shingles. You can see two brick chimneys near the ends of the roof. There are also two small gabled dormer windows sticking out from the roof on the north side. These dormers have decorative boards called vergeboards. A neat, boxed cornice runs along the edge of the roof.
The windows have brick frames above them, called lintels. They also have thin stone sills below them. The main front door has a wooden frame. It features two simple columns, known as pilasters, on either side.
Special Features and Inside Layout
In the southwest corner of the house, there's a limestone block with "Hawthorne" carved into it. This is called a cornerstone. A two-story kitchen area sticks out from the back of the house. It has an open porch on its south side.
Inside, the house has a classic center-hall layout. This means there's a main hallway in the middle with rooms on both sides. The original design of the house hasn't changed much. Some of the original details are still there. For example, the main hall has a beautiful cherry wood staircase. The newel posts (the main posts at the end of a stair railing) are also original. The fireplace in the parlor still has its original mantelpiece. While the first floor is mostly original, the second floor has some newer additions, like modern bathrooms. The basement is not finished.
Unique Style of the Williams House
The Elisha Williams House is not the only Federal style house in Hudson. However, it looks quite different from the others. Most other Federal style homes in the city are closer to the Hudson River. Williams' house used a brick pattern called common bond for the entire building. In contrast, other Federal houses in Hudson often used a fancier pattern called Flemish bond on their front walls.
Also, the Williams House doesn't have some common Federal style features. It lacks the narrow windows on the sides of the main door (sidelights). It also doesn't have the half-circle window above the door (elliptical fanlight). These features were usually found around the main entrance of Federal style homes.
Why the Differences?
These differences might be because of where the builders came from. The Federal houses downtown were built by people whose families had moved from coastal areas like Massachusetts and Rhode Island. These families were often whalers, people who hunted whales. Elisha Williams, however, was from inland Connecticut. His background might have influenced the unique design of his house.
History of the Elisha Williams House
Elisha Williams was born in 1773 in Pomfret, Connecticut. He became an orphan when he was young and was raised by a family friend. He studied law by "reading law" under a judge in Litchfield. This meant he learned law by studying books and working with an experienced lawyer. In 1793, he became a lawyer in New York and moved to a small town called Spencertown.
A Rising Legal and Political Star
Williams was a very persuasive speaker. His fame as a lawyer quickly grew both in New York and beyond. After marrying his legal guardian's daughter in 1795, he moved to Hudson in 1799. Just two years later, he was elected to the New York State Assembly. He served nine terms there as a member of the Federalist Party.
It's believed that Elisha Williams had this house built, but no one knows the exact year. An 1801 map of Hudson doesn't show the house. This might be because it was outside the city limits back then. An 1816 map, however, shows a brick house at this spot. Most people think he either built or bought the house around 1810. At that time, the front of the house faced Union Turnpike, which is now NY 66.
Later Years and New Owners
Williams' career as a lawyer and politician continued to do well. This was true even as the Federalist Party became less powerful after the War of 1812. In 1821, at New York's constitutional convention, he strongly argued against letting men without property vote. However, his side lost. He stayed in office for the rest of the 1820s. But he also started focusing on other projects. One of these was helping to establish the village of Waterloo in Seneca County.
As his health declined, Williams spent more time in Waterloo. But he was still officially living in Hudson when he sold his property to a local farmer named Richard Atwell in 1832. Williams passed away a year later.
Atwell sold some of the land in 1835 but continued to live in the house. The house became known as the Hawthorne House. This name came from the "Hawthorne" inscription on the cornerstone. No one is sure where this stone came from. There is a Hawthorne Valley near Spencertown, so Williams might have brought the stone with him when he moved. By 1856, Atwell's son-in-law, Richard Aitkin, owned the land. He owned the house for the longest time. The street built next to the house in 1913 was named Aitken Avenue in his honor.
