Fair Lawn (Cold Spring, New York) facts for kids

Fair Lawn is a beautiful old house found near Cold Spring, New York. It sits just off Route 9D. A famous painter named Thomas Prichard Rossiter designed this house. He lived there for the last ten years of his life. Later, other owners made small changes to the house. In 1982, Fair Lawn was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This means it's an important historical place in the United States.

Exploring Fair Lawn's Location

Fair Lawn is located on a private road. This road starts across from a place called Plumbush. Plumbush used to be the home of Robert Parrott, who made cannons. For a while, Plumbush was a bed and breakfast. In 2013, it became a private school.

The Fair Lawn house is surrounded by tall trees on three sides. From the house, you can look out over Foundry Cove. This cove is part of the Hudson River. You can also see amazing views of Storm King Mountain. The beautiful Hudson Highlands are visible too.

What Does Fair Lawn Look Like?

The house itself is three stories tall. It has a flat roof with a fancy edge called a cornice. The outside walls are made of painted brick. They have stone blocks at the corners, known as quoins.

There is a brick and shingle wing on the north side of the house. This wing has a sloped roof. Another flat-roofed section extends from its north side. On the west side of the house, there is an enclosed porch. This porch has columns that look like those from ancient Rome.

A large porch wraps around the other three sides of the house. On the front (east) side, there is a special covered entrance for cars. This entrance is called a porte-cochere. It is part of a section that sticks out from the house.

The History of Fair Lawn

The painter Thomas Prichard Rossiter designed Fair Lawn. The house was finished in 1860. Rossiter then moved in and lived there until he passed away in 1871.

After Rossiter's death, a new owner named Chalmers Dale bought the house. He added the wings and the upper cornice to the building. Since then, there haven't been many big changes to Fair Lawn. In 1982, it was officially recognized as a historic place.