Stephen Storm House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Stephen Storm House
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South elevation and east profile, 2008
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 Location in New York
Location in the United States
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| Location | Claverack, NY |
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| Nearest city | Hudson |
| Area | 3.6 acres (1.5 ha) |
| Built | ca. 1810 |
| Architectural style | Federal |
| MPS | The Architectural and Historic Resources of the Hamlet of Claverack, Columbia County, New York |
| NRHP reference No. | 97001616 |
| Added to NRHP | January 7, 1998 |
The Stephen Storm House is a beautiful brick home located on Route 217, just east of Claverack, New York. This house was built around 1810 in the Federal style, a popular building design from that time. It mixes ideas from both city and country homes of the Federal style. Inside, the house has many fancy details that are still in great shape today. Because of its history and unique style, the Stephen Storm House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.
Contents
Exploring the Stephen Storm House Property
The Stephen Storm House sits on a 3.6-acre (1.5 ha) piece of land. It is on the north side of Route 217, about a quarter-mile (500 meters) east of where Route 217 splits from Route 23. The house is set back a bit from the road, behind a wooden fence. A small stream runs between the house and the old foundations of two barns that burned down a long time ago. These barn foundations are important because they help tell the story of the property's past.
The land around the house gently slopes upward toward the east. Nearby, you can see other old houses on larger, partly wooded lots. Across the road, there's a big farm field that rises to the south.
The House's Design and Look
The house itself is a two-story brick building with five windows across the front and one on the side. It sits on a strong stone foundation and has a metal roof. A brick section extends from the back-left side of the house. Next to and behind this section are some sheds that have been made into a modern kitchen and workshop.
On the front of the house, all the windows have wooden shutters that can be opened and closed. A decorative border runs along the roofline. A fancy entrance with columns, similar to the Dr. Abram Jordan House about a mile west, covers the main front door. This main door has a decorative frame, windows on the sides with shutters, and a stone arch above it.
The sides of the house each have one window on each floor. On the east side, there's also a unique pointed oval window in the attic. The section at the back of the house has been updated with a newer two-story part and other additions.
Inside the Historic Home
When you step inside the main door, you enter a narrow central hallway. The doors leading to the living rooms on either side have their original wooden decorations. Each step of the main staircase has a special carved fan design on its side. The railing of the staircase is made of cherry wood in the Federal style. At the back of the hall, a smaller staircase leads to the back parts of the house.
Both living rooms still have their original decorations, including inside window shutters and fireplaces. The living room on the east side is more decorated. Its door has fancy metalwork and detailed carvings. The fireplace mantel (the shelf above the fireplace) has a deep border with a central rectangle that has a molded strip and a flower design. The sides of the fireplace have decorative columns.
A door to a smaller room at the back of the house is framed by decorative columns. Above this door, there's a border with a sunburst carving in the middle and flower designs at the ends. This room's ceiling has molded plaster with an oval design and a central medallion.
The living room on the west side has similar decorations, but without the fancy door borders. Next to its fireplace, there's an original china cabinet. A door from this room leads to the west entrance of the house.
This small entry area leads to the back part of the house. The original kitchen area has a rebuilt fireplace and an original Dutch door (a door that can open in two halves). There's a bedroom on the upper floor of this section.
The bedrooms on the second floor are similar in size and layout to the rooms downstairs. They also have detailed original decorations, though not as many as the main living areas. The fireplace mantel in the east bedroom has decorative columns and a deep border. These bedrooms do not have inside window shutters.
History of the Storm Family and House
The Storm family came to the New Netherland colony (which later became New York) from a region called Brabant in the mid-1600s. They first settled in Brooklyn. Over time, their family moved up the Hudson Valley. They held various public jobs as the area changed from Dutch to English, then British, and finally American control.
Stephen Storm was born around 1788. His father, Judge Thomas Storm, might have moved to Claverack from Stormville. Thomas Storm was a Judge and lived in a large house about two miles east of where Stephen's house is now.
In 1807, Stephen married Catherine Phillips. Catherine was set to inherit a share of land from a lease that dated back to the 1760s. It's believed that Stephen and Catherine first lived in an older, smaller brick house that was in the same spot. The current Stephen Storm House was built around 1810. That same year, Stephen gave his father-in-law a large mortgage of $10,000. The new house was built much larger, covering five sections and having a small addition at the back. Some of the materials from the older house were reused to build the new Federal-style home, like floor beams and old pine floorboards.
Stephen and Catherine Storm had five children. Catherine passed away in 1819.
Architectural Style and Influence
Federal style houses were very common during this time. The Storm House is a good example because it's a size often seen in country Federal homes, but it also has features usually found in city Federal houses, like its narrow central hallway and shallow depth with single-story additions at the back. The inside of the Stephen Storm House is one of the most richly decorated of any house from that period in Columbia County.
The house shares some design and interior details with other Federal-style homes in Claverack. For example, the decorative carvings on the staircase are similar to those found in the James Vanderpoel house and the Plumb-Bronson mansion. The east living room also has similar carvings above its doors.
The front of the house was built with a special brick pattern called Flemish bond. The rest of the house used a common English bond brick pattern.
In 1817, Stephen Storm bought 150 acres of land across from his house for his farm. He bought it from Jacob R. Van Rensselaer, whose family had owned a lot of land in the area for a long time. Jacob Van Rensselaer was also active in politics, serving as a state assemblyman and even as the Speaker of the New York State Assembly. Stephen Storm himself served one term as an assemblyman in the early 1820s.
In 1839, after his wife died, Stephen Storm moved to nearby Hudson and sold the house to Andrew Pulver. The Pulver family made one main change: they raised the roof of the back addition. They lived in the house until Andrew died around 1900. Later, in the 1970s, John Delafield, a descendant of the Livingston family, thought about helping to preserve the house.
