John Rider House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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John Rider House
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The front of the John Rider House in 2007.
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| Location | Danbury, CT |
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| Area | 1.3 acres (0.53 ha) |
| Built | 1785 |
| Architect | John Rider |
| Part of | Main Street Historic District |
| Added to NRHP | November 23, 1977 |
The John Rider House is a historic home located on Main Street in Danbury, Connecticut. It's a wooden house built in the late 1700s.
This house stayed in the Rider family until 1925. In the 1940s, people worked hard to save it from being torn down and made it look new again. This was the start of efforts to protect old buildings in Danbury. Today, the John Rider House is home to the Danbury Museum and Historical Society. It is the oldest house in Danbury that is still in its original spot.
In 1977, the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This is a list of important places in the United States. Six years later, it became a key part of the Main Street Historic District, which also got listed on the Register. It was special because it was the oldest building in that historic area.
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About the John Rider House
The John Rider House stands on the east side of Main Street. It's at the southern end of Danbury's historic district. The property is about 1.25 acres. Behind the house, there's another old building called the John Dodd Shop, built in 1836. This shop is Danbury's oldest business building. It's also owned by the museum, but it's hidden by big trees and isn't part of the Register listing.
The area around the house is a busy city neighborhood. You can see 19th-century houses across the street. To the south, there are large apartment buildings, and to the north, there are shops. The ground around the house is flat.
What the House Looks Like
The house itself is made of wood with overlapping boards called clapboard. It has five windows across the front and two on the side. The house is two and a half stories tall and sits on a stone base. Two brick chimneys stick out from the top of its steeply sloped roof. The house is quite simple, with very little decoration, except for a small overhang where the roof meets the walls. A small addition, called a lean-to, covers part of the back.
Inside the House
When you enter the house through the front door, you step into a central hallway. This hall separates two large rooms at the front of the house. These rooms stretch all the way to the kitchen at the back. There's a special doorway with a window above it (a transom) leading to the kitchen. Behind the kitchen, there's another back room.
Most of the wooden parts inside the house are original. The only new parts are a wooden rail on the back wall and the wood panels between the kitchen and the stairs. The brick fireplaces have fancy carved frames around them.
There are two sets of stairs that lead up to the second floor. The fireplaces in the bedrooms upstairs are smaller and plainer. If you go up to the attic, you can see the original wooden beams that support the roof. There are also two more fireplaces in the basement. The lean-to addition at the back doesn't have any original finishes left, except for its oak floor.
History of the House
John Rider was a local carpenter and a captain in the state army during the American Revolutionary War. He built this wooden house in 1785. The house stayed in his family for a very long time, until 1925.
By 1941, the house was in bad shape. It was going to be torn down to make room for a gas station. But people who cared about history stepped in to save it. The John Rider House became the first of several buildings owned and managed by the Danbury Museum and Historical Society. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, recognizing its importance.
Today, the Danbury Museum and Historical Society runs the house as a museum. It was closed for a while in the mid-2000s for big repairs, but it is now open again for visitors to explore.
See also
