H. R. Stevens House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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H.R. Stevens House
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South elevation, 2008
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 Location in New York
Location in the United States
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| Location | New City, NY |
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| Nearest city | Hackensack, NJ |
| Area | 0.9 acres (3,600 m2) |
| Built | 1775 |
| Architectural style | Colonial, Federal |
| NRHP reference No. | 04001480 |
| Added to NRHP | January 14, 2005 |
The H.R. Stevens House is a historic home located in New City, within Rockland County. This stone house was built a long time ago, around 1775. Over the years, it was made bigger with extra wooden sections and its inside was updated.
This house is special because it shows a mix of building styles from the Dutch and English settlers. These styles were popular in the Hudson Valley area during the colonial times. Because of its history and unique design, the H.R. Stevens House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. This means it's recognized as an important historical site.
About the H.R. Stevens House
The H.R. Stevens House sits on a small piece of land along Congers Road. It's located between downtown New City and DeForest Lake. The house is in a quiet neighborhood, with some larger buildings nearby. Across the road, you can find Clarkstown High School North with its sports fields. Trees and bushes separate the different properties in the area.
A paved driveway leads up to the house. It ends in front of a garage made of stone and wood. Even though the garage looks like it fits with the house, it's newer. So, it's not considered part of the original historic listing. A small stone wall in front of the house makes it sit a little higher than the road.
Looking at the Outside
The house has one and a half stories. It is built from pink-red sandstone that was found nearby. The walls are very strong and hold up the house. The roof is steeply sloped and covered with asphalt shingles. It has pointed sections called gables and windows that stick out from the roof, called dormer windows. There are also two brick chimneys on each end of the house. A one-story wooden section is attached to the west side of the house.
The front of the house, facing east, is mostly hidden by tall evergreen trees. A wooden porch sticks out from the middle of the first floor. Four square posts hold up a flat roof with a railing. At the top of the stone wall, there's a decorative trim. Above this, the gable section is covered with wooden boards. It has two windows and a small diamond-shaped window at the very top.
On the north side, the decorative trim from the front continues around the corner. A basement window on this side looks like it might have been a door a long time ago. The back of the house, facing west, has a door in the middle and three windows. One of these windows has a very large stone piece above it. On the roof, there's a long dormer with five windows. The two-window wooden section at the back has a small porch over its door.
Exploring the Inside
When you enter the main door, which is a copy of an old Dutch door, you step into a hallway that goes all the way through the house. The stairs to the upper floor are on the south side. They have fancy Italianate style newel posts (the main posts at the ends of the railing) and balusters (the small posts that hold up the railing).
Two rooms that were part of the original house are on the north side. They are about the same size. The entryway between them is larger than what you would usually see in two living rooms from the late 1700s. The lower parts of the walls have wooden panels, and the upper parts and ceiling are covered with plaster. The windows are set deep into the walls, showing how thick the stone walls are.
Both living rooms have fireplaces with Federal style wooden mantels. These mantels have detailed designs with panels and round columns. The fireplace in the back room has a similar design but uses a molded trim instead of columns. The hearths (the areas in front of the fireplaces) are made of red sandstone, just like the outside of the house. The floors are made of thin oak wood.
On the other side of the central hallway are two smaller rooms that were added later. The larger room at the back is now a dining room. It has a door that connects it to the kitchen, which is in the wooden section of the house. Upstairs, in the main part of the house, there's an L-shaped hallway with five rooms around it.
Below the main part of the house, there's a full basement. The wooden section of the house only has a crawl space (a very low space). In the basement, you can see the large wooden beams that support the floor above. A concrete block wall in the middle divides the basement into two rooms and helps support the beams. On the north wall, there are stone supports for the chimneys, with heavy wooden beams on top. There are also spaces for shelves. In the northeast corner, there's an old wooden door that used to be an exit.
A Look at History
It's hard to know the exact date the H.R. Stevens House was built because property records only go back to 1827. However, experts believe it was built around 1775. This is because the house uses carefully cut stone on all its sides. Older houses usually only used this type of stone on the front.
The stone walls show the influence of Dutch building styles, which were becoming less common in the area at that time. However, the original inside layout, with three rooms and fireplaces on the side, was more English in style. The size of the wooden beams in the basement also points to English building methods. There might have been a stone with the building date on the porch, but it's now covered.
The house's original outside might have looked similar to the Lozier House in Midland Park, New Jersey. The other two sections of the main house might not have been added until around 1820. This is suggested by the Federal style fireplaces, which became popular around that time. You can see a clear break in the stone wall in the basement where the addition began. Mr. Stevens, who used to be the town clerk and is the earliest known owner, moved into the house around 1827.
The next big change to the house probably happened around 1860. This is when the Italianate style of the newel posts and balusters on the stairs became popular. They replaced a simpler, older staircase.
The dormer windows and the cross-gable roof might have been added around this time too. Another idea is that they were added closer to the year 1900. This could have been to copy the look of other similar houses, like the Big House in Palisades. However, this style of roof and dormers was also common for older 18th-century houses. It was a way to add light and air to their previously dark and stuffy attics, especially when those attics were turned into bedrooms.
