Major Jacob Hasbrouck Jr. House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Major Jacob Hasbrouck Jr. House
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Front (east) elevation, 2008
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 Location in New York
Location in the United States
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| Location | New Paltz, NY |
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| Nearest city | Poughkeepsie |
| Area | 5 acres (20,000 m2) |
| Built | 1786 |
| Architectural style | Dutch Colonial |
| NRHP reference No. | 99000808 |
| Added to NRHP | July 23, 1999 |
The Major Jacob Hasbrouck Jr. House is a historic home located on Huguenot Street in New Paltz, New York, United States. It was built in 1786 by Jacob Hasbrouck Jr. He was the grandson of Jean Hasbrouck, one of the original Huguenot settlers who came to the New Paltz area in the late 1600s. Jacob Jr. built this house after moving out of his family's original home, which is about two miles south in what is now the Huguenot Street Historic District.
What makes this house special is that a descendant of Major Jacob Hasbrouck Jr. still lives there today. It is believed to be the only stone house from the 1700s in the New Paltz area that has stayed in the same family since it was built.
Major Hasbrouck's house shows how important and wealthy he was. He owned a lot of land and served as the town supervisor. He also fought in the American Revolutionary War. This house is a great example of the Dutch/Belgian-style stone houses that were built all over Ulster County during the century before. Over time, his family changed the house to fit new styles and needs. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999, recognizing its importance.
Contents
About the House and Property
The Major Jacob Hasbrouck Jr. House sits on a 5-acre (20,000 m2) piece of land on the west side of Huguenot Street. There are also a few other buildings on the property that were once part of the farm, but they are not used for farming anymore.
Original Design
The oldest part of the house is the front section. It's a one-and-a-half-story building with very thick stone walls, about 20-inch (510 mm) thick. A porch covers the front door, which is located between two sets of windows. The upper floor has two large, wooden gabled dormers that were added later. There are also three smaller, original dormers.
Later Additions
At the back of the house, there's a later addition called the "outlet." This name comes from the Dutch word "uitlayt." It's a one-story stone room about 12 feet (3.7 m) wide that stretches across the entire back of the house. It even has its own basement.
Inside the House
The inside of the main part of the house follows a common design from the 1700s, called a center-hall plan. This means there's a hallway in the middle, with the kitchen on one side and the parlor (living room) on the other. The "outlet" section is divided into five rooms. Three of these rooms connect to the kitchen side, and two connect to the parlor side.
Other Buildings and Features
Behind the house, there are three old farm buildings. One is a granary (where grain was stored) that has been turned into another house. There's also a very old chicken coop and a modern barn used for storing firewood. On the southwest corner of the property, there's a baseball field used for local Little League games. These farm buildings and the baseball field are not considered part of the historic value of the property. However, an old well house behind the kitchen and the stone wall at the front and north side of the property are considered historically important.
History of the Hasbrouck Family Home
The Hasbroucks in the 1700s
The land where the house stands was originally part of a huge area owned by Jean Hasbrouck. He died in 1714. His grandson, Jacob Hasbrouck Jr., was born much later, in 1727.
Jacob Jr. lived in the original family home with his father. His older brothers moved out to their own land, which their father had set aside for them in his will. Jacob Jr. was supposed to receive only money and bonds. The idea was that he would inherit the family house. But in 1747, Jacob Jr.'s oldest brother, Benjamin, sadly died after falling from a horse. Because of this, the will was quickly changed. Jacob Jr. then received the best lands between the Wallkill River and the Shawangunk Ridge. When his father died in 1761, Jacob Jr. inherited the land and the house.
The next year, Jacob Jr. served as the town supervisor for the first time. He worked with other descendants of the original New Paltz settlers (called the Duzine, or "Dozen") to divide and develop the land. In the early 1770s, he became supervisor again. He stepped down in 1776 when the American Revolutionary War began. He had already become a captain in the local militia. Three years later, he was promoted to major. From then on, he was known as Major Hasbrouck in family stories to tell him apart from his father and his son, Jacob J. Hasbrouck.
Family stories say that Major Hasbrouck built this house in 1786 for his younger son, Jacob J., to live in after he passed away. His other son, Josiah, was to live in the old family house. The Major himself moved into the new house to spend his later years there. He wasn't as involved in farming or land deals anymore. In 1798, a tax assessment showed he owned both houses and was the wealthiest man in New Paltz. He died in 1806, and the house went to Jacob J. and his growing family.
Changes in the 1800s
Jacob J. Hasbrouck needed more space for his family. So, he built the back extension known as the "outlet." This type of extension was common in Dutch architecture. It was 12 feet (3.7 m) wide and ran across the entire back of the house, continuing the slope of the roof. Jacob J. even left his initials in the plaster on the north wall inside. A fancy neoclassical archway connected the outlet to the main house. These updates were finished by 1810.
In 1825, Jacob J. Hasbrouck moved to a brick farmhouse about two miles away to retire. His son, Maurice, took over the stone house. Maurice focused mainly on farming, as most of the family's land had been divided and sold off. He didn't make any big changes to the house, just regular upkeep. In 1870, Maurice moved out when his own son, Abram, got married and needed the space, just like his grandfather had before him. By this time, the house was almost 100 years old and needed some serious work. The original Hasbrouck land was mostly gone, with only 400 acres (160 ha) left. The family was also finding new ways to earn money. By the mid-1800s, people started to prefer newer house styles over the old stone houses.
Abram began making the most noticeable changes in 1876. He added the two front window gables, which gave the house a more "picturesque" look. He also updated the front entrance and hallway, though it's not clear exactly what changes were made. The porch roof might have been changed to a flat hipped style, which was popular in Victorian times.
The House in the 1900s
When Abram died in 1910, the house went to his daughter, Laura, and the woman he married after Laura's mother passed away. After her stepmother died in 1924, Laura started spending more time at a house in the nearby village. This showed how the Hasbrouck family's goals had changed over time. She sold half of the remaining land for new houses after Route 32 was built through the property in the late 1920s.
Eight years later, in 1932, Laura got married and moved to Ossining. She left the house to caretakers and only returned on weekends. Laura knew how important the house was historically. She became involved in early local efforts to save old buildings. She encouraged her caretaker, who was a Danish stonemason, to do some restoration work. He redid the walls, chimneys, and fireplaces. Laura also had him build a new staircase inside and remove the plaster ceilings to make the house look more like its original 1700s style.
In 1944, she sold the rest of the property, keeping only the two acres (8,000 m²) around the house. The north end of the house was remodeled into a caretaker's home. It had to be rebuilt after a fire damaged it. Laura Hasbrouck died without children in 1964. She left the house to Richard Relyea Hasbrouck, a descendant of Maurice Hasbrouck's brother. She did this specifically to keep the house in the family, as Richard had two sons. He only found out he owned the house when the lawyer called him about paying taxes on it!
Richard Hasbrouck, like the family members before him, updated the house to fit his family's needs and modern times. An inner wall was added to help save heat in the old house, and a new kitchen was built. Thirty years after moving in, in 1994, one of the walls in the "outlet" section was removed to create a larger bedroom. He also bought the 3 acres (12,000 m2) with the old farm buildings, bringing the property to its current size.
House Style and Changes Over Time
According to architectural historian Neil Larson, the Major Jacob Hasbrouck Jr. House is a perfect example of the traditional stone houses found in Ulster County. These houses were first built based on European city designs, like the smaller, rectangular Jean Hasbrouck House and other old homes on Huguenot Street. As the children of the Duzine moved to the surrounding lands, the houses changed into farmhouses with a three-room layout, because builders had more space. Major Hasbrouck might have chosen this style to keep his family's traditions alive. Some people at that time built homes in more English styles, like Josiah Hasbrouck's Locust Lawn Estate.
The builder of Major Hasbrouck's house made the front look very neat, with continuous horizontal lines connecting all the family spaces. There are no vertical breaks like you might see on other stone houses. The stones used were carefully shaped, but not perfectly smooth like "ashlar" stone. The kitchen wing on the north side was placed a bit off-center to show that it had a different purpose.
Inside, the house was more traditional in its early years, with very little decoration except for the doors and trim. This was because the Major, despite his wealth, wanted to appear humble and religious. His son, Jacob J., tried to change this by adding a decorated archway, plastering the ceilings, and even using charcoal to make some walls look like marble. This suggests he felt the house was old-fashioned and too small for his family. Maurice Hasbrouck's additions in the 1800s, which included more modern features, likely came from a similar desire to update the house.
