Van Alen House facts for kids
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Luykas Van Alen House
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1737 Luykas Van Alen House
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 Location in New York
Location in the United States
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| Location | 2589 NY 9H, Kinderhook, NY |
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| Area | 33 acres (13 ha) |
| Built | c. 1737 |
| Built by | Luykas Van Alen |
| Architectural style | Dutch Colonial |
| NRHP reference No. | 67000011 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | December 24, 1967 |
| Designated NHL | December 24, 1967 |
The Luykas Van Alen House is a very old farmhouse in Kinderhook, New York. It was built around 1737. This house is a great example of Dutch Colonial style, which was popular when Dutch settlers lived in the area.
In 1967, the house was named a National Historic Landmark. This means it's a very important place in American history. Today, it's a special museum where you can learn about life in the 1700s. The Columbia County Historical Society takes care of it. You can visit it on weekends from June to October.
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About the Luykas Van Alen House
The Van Alen House is in the countryside, near the Hudson River. It's a brick house with a steep roof. It has three chimneys, one at each end and one in the middle. The bricks are laid in a special Dutch way.
What Does It Look Like?
The house is one and a half stories tall. It's made of brick, and even the triangular parts of the roof (called gables) are brick. Unlike some city houses from that time, its roof lines are straight.
The house has three rooms on the ground floor. Each room has its own door. There are windows next to the doors that look like the ones from the 1700s. Inside, you can still see many original parts. Some parts, like the stairs, were brought from other old houses to make it look just right.
Who Lived Here?
Luykas Van Alen built this house around 1737. He bought the land from the Mohican Native Americans. When it was first built, it only had two rooms. There was no way to go between them from inside. There was also a sleeping area upstairs. Around 1750, a third room was added.
The Van Alen family lived in this house for a very long time, until 1961. Over the years, many changes were made to the house. Eventually, it started to fall apart. The family then gave the house to the Columbia County Historical Society. They worked hard to fix it up and make it look like it did long ago.
Now, the Historical Society runs the house as an historic house museum. It helps people see what life was like for Dutch settlers in the 1700s.
A House in Famous Stories
The Van Alen House and its farm might have been the inspiration for a famous story! It's believed to be the home of the Van Tassel family in Washington Irving's short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Washington Irving was a famous writer. He was good friends with a teacher named Jesse Merwin, who taught nearby. Irving was also close with Martin Van Buren, who later became a U.S. President. Van Buren lived close to the Van Alens and often visited Kinderhook.
The house has also been used in movies! The inside and outside of the Van Alen House were used as a filming location for the 1993 movie, "The Age of Innocence". This movie starred Michelle Pfeiffer and Daniel Day-Lewis.
See also
- Van Allen House, another old house with a similar family name in Oakland, New Jersey
- John Evert Van Alen House is another house of the same family in Defreestville, New York
- List of National Historic Landmarks in New York
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Columbia County, New York
