Thomas McDowell House

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Thomas McDowell House

Thomas McDowell House.jpg

House in 2007
Location Little Britain, NY
Nearest city Newburgh
Coordinates 41°28′11″N74°06′39″W / 41.46972°N 74.11083°W / 41.46972; -74.11083 Coordinates: 41°28′11″N74°06′39″W / 41.46972°N 74.11083°W / 41.46972; -74.11083
Built c. 1770 [1]
NRHP reference # 04000753 [2]
Added to NRHP July 28, 2004

The Thomas McDowell House is located on Lake Road in the Little Britain section of the Town of New Windsor in Orange County, New York, United States. It was built c. 1770 by McDowell, an early settler of the area, and was later rented out by his descendants to prominent local weaver James Alexander. In 2004 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Little Britain, New York is an area in the town of New Windsor, Orange County. The name spread to the surrounding region, which at that time was part of Ulster County, New York.

New Windsor, New York Town in New York, United States

New Windsor is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The Town of New Windsor is in the eastern part of the county, bordering the Town of Newburgh and the City of Newburgh. The population was estimated at 25,244 in 2010 by the US Census.

Orange County, New York county in New York, United States

Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 372,813. The county seat is Goshen. This county was first created in 1683 and reorganized with its present boundaries in 1798.

Contents

It is one of the last surviving homes built by the original Little Britain settlers, a mostly Irish group that had survived a difficult sea voyage to the New World, and the only one that remains mostly in its original form. Some later residents left behind reminders of the tastes of later eras.

New World Western Hemisphere

The New World is one of the names used for the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas.

Property

The main house is a ​1 1⁄2-story three-bay main block with a one-story, three-bay kitchen wing on the west and a smaller, newer bedroom wing to the north. Both are built of heavy-hewn post and beam framing and sided in clapboard with a fieldstone foundation. Both the main block and the kitchen wing have medium-pitched gabled roofs, with the latter's flaring out to the rear, producing a saltbox effect. Cedar shakes cover both roofs. [1]

Bay (architecture) space defined by the vertical piers, in a building

In architecture, a bay is the space between architectural elements, or a recess or compartment. Bay comes from Old French baee, meaning an opening or hole.

Clapboard (architecture) wooden siding on a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping

Clapboard or clabbard, also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping.

Fieldstone

Fieldstone is a naturally occurring type of stone, which lay at or near the surface of the Earth. Fieldstones were a nuisance for farmers seeking to expand their farms, but at some point these stones started being used as a construction material. Strictly speaking, it is stone collected from the surface of fields where it occurs naturally. Collections of fieldstones which have been removed from arable land or pasture to allow for more effective agriculture are called clearance cairns.

The south-facing front facades of both blocks feature windows and an entrance in the westernmost bay. The main block's door is a board-and-batten piece that retains its original ironwork. There is a single window on the west elevation; on the east is a three-sided projecting bay window added later on. A brick chimney comes up from the roof at the west. [1]

Bay window closed, covered, reaching over one or more projectiles porch on the facade of a house

A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room.

Brick Block or a single unit of a ceramic material used in masonry construction

A brick is building material used to make walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Traditionally, the term brick referred to a unit composed of clay, but it is now used to denote any rectangular units laid in mortar. A brick can be composed of clay-bearing soil, sand, and lime, or concrete materials. Bricks are produced in numerous classes, types, materials, and sizes which vary with region and time period, and are produced in bulk quantities. Two basic categories of bricks are fired and non-fired bricks.

Chimney structure that provides ventilation for hot flue gases or smoke from a boiler, stove, furnace or fireplace to the outside atmosphere

A chimney is a structure that provides ventilation for hot flue gases or smoke from a boiler, stove, furnace or fireplace to the outside atmosphere. Chimneys are typically vertical, or as near as possible to vertical, to ensure that the gases flow smoothly, drawing air into the combustion in what is known as the stack, or chimney effect. The space inside a chimney is called a flue. Chimneys may be found in buildings, steam locomotives and ships. In the United States, the term smokestack is also used when referring to locomotive chimneys or ship chimneys, and the term funnel can also be used.

Inside, the original side-hall floor plan is intact. Besides the board-and-batten doors, however, many of the finishings and decoration are of later vintage, possibly the early 19th century. [1]

Three other contributing resource are located on the property. Two are buildings, an 1870 carriage barn and a smaller shed known as the "garden studio". Both are wood. The last is a structure, the section of the original stone wall around the south and west sides of the property. [1]

Contributing property key component of a place listed on the National Register of Historic Places

In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant. Government agencies, at the state, national, and local level in the United States, have differing definitions of what constitutes a contributing property but there are common characteristics. Local laws often regulate the changes that can be made to contributing structures within designated historic districts. The first local ordinances dealing with the alteration of buildings within historic districts was in Charleston, South Carolina in 1931.

Shed single-storey structure in a back garden or on an allotment that is used for storage

A shed is typically a simple, single-story roofed structure in a back garden or on an allotment that is used for storage, hobbies, or as a workshop. Sheds vary considerably in the complexity of their construction and their size, from small open-sided tin-roofed structures to large wood-framed sheds with shingled roofs, windows, and electrical outlets. Sheds used on farms or in industry can be large structures. The main types of shed construction are metal sheathing over a metal frame, plastic sheathing and frame, all-wood construction, and vinyl-sided sheds built over a wooden frame.

Stone wall Masonry structural division

Stone walls are a kind of masonry construction that has been used for thousands of years. The first stone walls were constructed by farmers and primitive people by piling loose field stones into a dry stone wall. Later, mortar and plaster were used, especially in the construction of city walls, castles, and other fortifications before and during the Middle Ages. These stone walls are spread throughout the world in different forms. One of the best example is the Cyclopean Wall in Rajgir, India.

History

It is believed that McDowell built the house around 1770; although no records exist to show this, deeds do show that it was that year he acquired 34 acres (14 ha) from James Humphrey. McDowell was the son of James McDowell, a native of County Longford in Ireland who was one of the few survivors of a malnutrition-plagued Atlantic crossing in 1729 funded by Charles Clinton, grandfather of future New York State governor DeWitt. Bound for Pennsylvania, the survivors landed instead in Cape Cod. Two years later, in 1731, they made their way to the Hudson Valley where they were the first settlers in the area they called Little Britain. [1]

Thomas B. McDowell was 44 when he became the first owner of record in 1803. He may have added some of the interior decoration, such as a wooden mantelpiece typical of that era's Federal style homes. Sometime in the 1810s, he rented the house out to James Alexander, another Irish immigrant who was noted in histories of the period for his skill as a weaver. His son Joseph described the parcel as being about 60 acres (24 ha) at that time. [1]

In 1845 Thomas B. McDowell left the house to his son Alexander, who mortgaged it heavily to pay his debts. By this means it eventually became the property of Alfred Denniston, who probably added the east side's bay window. He sold it to Agnes Corwin in 1871. It remained in her family until the late 20th century. [1]

Aesthetics

The McDowell house is a ​1 1⁄2-story "half-house", with minimal fenestration so as to better retain heat in the winter, very typical of English vernacular architecture in the rural Hudson Valley during the colonial period. The minimal detail from the original house shows the influence of the waning Georgian style. The house may also have been influenced by Thomas McDowell's brief sojourn in New England after his arrival in America. [1]

Later styles are evident in some of the alterations. The wooden mantelpiece is a Federal hallmark, probably added during that style's rise in the early 19th century. The projecting bay window on the east is a common Picturesque feature, seen on many Hudson Valley homes built or modified around the middle of that century due to the influence of Newburgh resident Andrew Jackson Downing. [1]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Krattinger, William. "National Register of Historic Places nomination, Thomas McDowell House". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation . Retrieved 2008-09-21.
  2. ↑ National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service.
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