Niagara Engine House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Niagara Engine House
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East (front) elevation and south profile, 2008
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| Location | Poughkeepsie, NY |
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| Built | 1909 |
| Architect | Percival M. Lloyd |
| Architectural style | Late Gothic Revival |
| MPS | Poughkeepsie MRA |
| NRHP reference No. | 82001155 |
| Added to NRHP | 1982 |
The Niagara Engine House is a cool old building in downtown Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. It's made of brick and was built a long time ago, in the early 1900s. This building is special because it's the only fire station left from the six different fire companies that used to protect the city!
A local architect named Percival M. Lloyd designed it. He used a style called Gothic Revival, which was popular for public buildings back then. In 1982, this firehouse, along with two other old fire stations in Poughkeepsie, was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This means it's an important historical site!
Contents
Discover the Firehouse Building
The Niagara Engine House is a brick building that stands three stories tall. It has several sections, called bays, on each floor. The front of the building faces east.
Right under the flat roof, there's a cool decorative edge called a cornice. Below that is a brick frieze with blue squares that spell out "Niagara". Large and small decorative supports, called brackets, hold up this frieze.
Windows and Details
The windows on the building are all different! The windows on the third floor have pointed arches, which is a classic Gothic style. The main window on the second floor sticks out and has a top that looks like a castle wall, called a castellation. This window also has diamond-shaped glass panes.
Above the first floor, there's a stone line, or course, with letters carved into it. It says "1810 NIAGARA 1909". This tells us some important dates for the fire company.
Brick columns, called pilasters, frame the big garage door where the fire trucks used to come out. Inside the building, you can still see the original tiled floor and the shiny brass pole that firefighters used to slide down!
A Look Back at the Firehouse History
The fire company that eventually became "Niagara" started way back in 1810. That's why you see that date on the building! However, they didn't start using the name "Niagara" until 1847. Poughkeepsie used to have six different fire companies, but this building is the only one still standing today.
In 1909, the city hired Percival M. Lloyd to design this new fire station. He was the same architect who designed another unique building nearby, the Lady Washington Hose Company building. Lloyd included many features of the Gothic Revival style in his design for the Niagara Engine House.
Gothic Revival Style Features
Some of these cool Gothic Revival features include:
- A central section that sticks out from the building.
- Castle-like tops on the roof and windows.
- Stone frames around the windows with decorative edges, called molding, and arches.
- A stone line separating the first and second floors.
- A base at ground level that looks like a stone basement.
After the fire department moved out, a private ambulance company used the first floor of the building. Luckily, they kept all the original features of the firehouse just as they were!
