Top Cottage | |
Location | Hyde Park, NY |
---|---|
Nearest city | Poughkeepsie |
Coordinates | 41°45′54″N73°53′19″W / 41.76500°N 73.88861°W |
Built | 1938-1939 |
Architect | Henry Toombs and Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
Architectural style | Dutch Colonial Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 97001679 [1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | December 9, 1997 |
Designated NHL | December 9, 1997 [2] |
Top Cottage, also known as Hill-Top Cottage, in Hyde Park, New York, was a private retreat designed by and for Franklin D. Roosevelt. [3] [4] [5] Built in 1938 to 1939, during Roosevelt's second term as President of the United States, it was designed to accommodate his need for wheelchair accessibility. It was one of the earliest such buildings in the country, and the first significant building designed by a person with a disability. [4]
Although it was meant as a retreat, FDR also received notable guests at the cottage, including Britain's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. After half a century in private ownership, the property was restored and given to the National Park Service, which today operates it as part of the nearby Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site. Top Cottage was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1997. [2] [6] Guided tours of the cottage are available from the main site but private vehicles are not permitted.
This building is the only building designed by a sitting U.S. president other than Thomas Jefferson, who designed several at his home in Monticello, Poplar Forest, the University of Virginia, and the Virginia State Capitol. [4]
The cottage is in the Dutch Colonial Revival architectural style, built of fieldstone. It is one of several buildings in Hyde Park and surrounding communities that FDR ensured were built in that style, which he hoped to revive in the region. It is located at the end of Potters Bend Road, a residential street in a rural area of Hyde Park, at the top of the 500-foot (152 m) ridgetop unofficially known as Dutchess Hill where Roosevelt had played as a child. [3] In FDR's time, it had commanding views of the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains, now obscured by trees. [6]
Although Roosevelt built a vacation house in Georgia at the end of his term as governor of New York (near the hot-spring estate in Bullochville, Georgia that he had bought in 1927 and renamed Warm Springs), he had never owned a year-round home of his own. He had moved into his mother's house at Hyde Park, enlarged for him and his family, and otherwise lived in family townhouses in New York City, rented houses in Albany and Washington, D.C., or official residences such as the New York State Executive Mansion and the White House. [7] [8] In 1933, Roosevelt realized the family home in Hyde Park did not offer him sufficient distance from the pressures of the presidency. He realized he would need a more isolated retreat, "a small place to go to escape the mob..." [3]
Two years later, Roosevelt and his cousin Margaret Suckley spent some time together on the top of the hill, with a view over the Hudson River to the Catskill Mountains, and were both impressed by the possibilities. He would refer to it as "Our Hill"; [9] she as "the nicest Hill in Dutchess County". [10] In October of that year he suggested it would be the perfect spot for "a one-story fieldstone two-room house ... one with very thick walls to protect us." She responded enthusiastically, with a sketch that looks similar to the finished building. [9]
Roosevelt at first envisioned it as where he would live after his presidency, and bought the 118-acre (48 ha) hillside parcel in 1937, after his re-election. By that point in his life, he needed to use a wheelchair for much of the time due to his paralytic illness and could only walk short distances with great difficulty and assistance, a fact he and others concealed from the public. He designed the cottage to accommodate the wheelchair, with one flat floor and everything he could want or need located within easy reach of someone in a sitting position. Top Cottage is the only presidential residence, other than Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and Poplar Forest, designed by a president. It is also the first significant accessible building designed by a disabled person. [11]
Roosevelt began submitting sketches to architects in 1938. [4] He commissioned architect Henry Toombs to help finish the design, who suggested Roosevelt be credited as architect despite his lack of professional training or experience, [12] angering some Republican architects when an article about the cottage doing exactly that ran in Life magazine. [13] There are some indications that Toombs was the architect but suggested he be listed only as the associate with Roosevelt being credited as the architect. [4] Crediting Roosevelt as the architect brought criticism from others, including John Lloyd Wright, son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright said, "awaited 'pictures of 'Doctor' Roosevelt performing an appendectomy.'" [4]
At the time when houses cost $1,000 the cottage cost $16,599, but in the end, it is thought that Roosevelt never spent a single night at the cottage; despite being designed after becoming disabled, his mother's larger home was more suitable for Roosevelt's disability. [4] [7] The design had many other problems; the ventilation was faulty, the bedrooms were too small, and it had only one bathroom and no closets. Nonetheless, when guests visited Hyde Park, Roosevelt always showed them Top Cottage first. [7] Modern renovations to the cottage, allowing it to open to the public, cost $1,500,000, including $750,000 to buy the cottage. [4]
The next year it would be host to the famous picnic where Roosevelt cooked and served hot dogs to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on the first state visit to the United States by a British sovereign. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] It was during the King and Queen's visit that Roosevelt broke protocol and proposed a toast to the Queen. She reportedly became flustered at the break in protocol and drank to herself. [4]
His original intention to use it as a retirement home were put on hold when he won an unprecedented third term the next year. But he continued to use Top Cottage as a retreat, bringing important visitors such as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill there to discuss the atomic bomb, [3] as well as close friends like Suckley, who took the only two published photos of him in his wheelchair on the cottage's porch. [9]
After Roosevelt's death, his son Elliott Roosevelt lived there for a while. [4] He made some renovations, such as adding dormer windows and a mud room. Later he sold the house to the Potter family, who gave their name to the street leading to the home. It remained in their possession until 1996, when it was sold again to the Open Space Institute (OSI). The following year it was recognized as a National Historic Landmark, and the OSI began renovations, removing Elliott Roosevelt's additions and thinning some of the trees that had obstructed the view. In 2001, it was turned over to the National Park Service to be made part of the existing historic site. The house was opened to the public for the first time in 2001. It is used as a conference center, in addition to being open to the public. [4]
The cottage is located in Hyde Park, New York. It is open only to those with reservations. [4] [21] Although the original furnishings were lost, in 2011 the Park Service furnished the main area with reproductions and antiques which match the original contents.
The cottage was subject of a review book, The President as Architect: Franklin D. Roosevelt's Top Cottage, was compiled by John G. Waite Associates, an Albany architectural firm specializing in restorations. [4] It is also prominently featured in the 2012 film, Hyde Park on Hudson .
Hyde Park is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States, bordering the Hudson River north of Poughkeepsie. Within the town are the hamlets of Hyde Park, East Park, Staatsburg, and Haviland. Hyde Park is known as the hometown of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States. His house there, now the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site, is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, as are the homes of Eleanor Roosevelt, Isaac Roosevelt, and Frederick William Vanderbilt, along with Haviland Middle School.
The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial is a presidential memorial in Washington D.C., dedicated to the memory of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, and to the era he represents. The memorial is one of two in Washington honoring Roosevelt.
The Little White House was the personal retreat of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, located in the Historic District of Warm Springs, Georgia. He first came to Warm Springs in 1924 for polio treatment, and liked the area so much that, as Governor of New York, he had a home built on nearby Pine Mountain. The house was finished in 1932. Roosevelt kept the house after he became President, using it as a presidential retreat. He died there on April 12, 1945, three months into his fourth term.
The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum holds the records of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States (1933–1945). Located on the grounds of Springwood, the Roosevelt family estate in Hyde Park, New York, the library was built under the President's personal direction in 1939–1940, and dedicated on June 30, 1941. It is the first presidential library in the United States and one of the thirteen presidential libraries under the auspices of the National Archives and Records Administration.
The Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site preserves the Springwood estate in Hyde Park, New York, United States. Springwood was the birthplace, lifelong home, and burial place of the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Eleanor Roosevelt is buried alongside him. The National Historic Site was established in 1945.
Fala, a Scottish Terrier, was the dog of United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt. One of the most famous presidential pets, Fala was taken to many places by Roosevelt. Given to the Roosevelts by a cousin, Fala knew how to perform tricks; the dog and his White House antics were mentioned frequently by the media and often referenced by Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor. Fala outlived Roosevelt by seven years and was buried near him.
Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site was established by the U.S. Congress to commemorate the life and accomplishments of Eleanor Roosevelt. Once part of the larger Roosevelt family estate in Hyde Park, New York, today the property includes the 181 acres (73 ha), buildings and other historic features that Eleanor Roosevelt called Val-Kill. It is located approximately two miles east of Springwood, the Franklin D. Roosevelt home. It is a few hundred feet east of New York State Route 9G, along which runs the Dutchess County bus route C to Tivoli.
Wilderstein is a 19th-century Queen-Anne-style country house on the Hudson River in Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, New York, United States. It is a not-for-profit house museum.
The U.S. Post Office in Ellenville, New York, United States, serves the ZIP code 12428, which covers Ellenville and much of the surrounding town of Wawarsing. It is located on Liberty Place in the center of the village.
The U.S. Post Office in Rhinebeck, New York serves the 12572 ZIP Code. It is located on Mill Street just south of the intersection with NY 308 at the center of the village.
The U.S. Post Office in Hyde Park, New York, serves the 12538 ZIP Code. It is a stone building in the Dutch Colonial Revival architectural style, located on East Market Street just east of US 9.
Margaret Lynch Suckley was a sixth cousin, intimate friend, and confidante of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as an archivist for the first American presidential library. She was one of four women at the Little White House with Roosevelt in Warm Springs, Georgia, when he died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1945.
The main U.S. Post Office, Poughkeepsie, New York, is located at the intersection of Market and Mansion Streets downtown; the address is 55 Mansion Street. The New Deal post office serves the 12601 ZIP Code, which covers the city of Poughkeepsie, New York and portions of the Town of Poughkeepsie adjacent to the city. It employs a hundred people and handles 300,000 pieces of mail a day and 10 million a year.
Louis A. Simon (1867–1958) was an American architect. He spent almost his entire career with the Office of the Supervising Architect for the U.S. Treasury. He served as the last supervising architect from 1934 to 1939 and thereafter of the Public Buildings Branch of the Federal Works Agency until 1941. He was also principal architect for the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York.
Archibald Rogers Estate, also known as "Crumwold," is a historic mansion located at Hyde Park in Dutchess County, New York. It was designed by noted New York architect Richard Morris Hunt. The house is currently owned by the Millennial Kingdom Family Church, a Christian group that operates like a cult.
Hyde Park on Hudson is a 2012 British historical comedy-drama film directed by Roger Michell. The film stars Bill Murray as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth, and Laura Linney as Margaret "Daisy" Suckley, a cousin and childhood friend of the President. It was based on Suckley's private journals and diaries, discovered after her death, and fictionally dramatizes her close personal relationship with Roosevelt and the 1939 visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to Roosevelt's country estate.
Fishkill Farms is a farm located in East Fishkill in Dutchess County, New York.
Eric Gugler was an American Neoclassical architect, interior designer, sculptor and muralist. He was selected by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to design the Oval Office.
The Hoover desk, also known colloquially as FDR's Oval Office desk, is a large block front desk, used by Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Oval Office. Created in 1930 as a part of a 17-piece office suite by furniture makers from Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Art Deco desk was given to the White House by the Grand Rapids Furniture Manufacturers Association during the Hoover administration. The desk was designed by J. Stuart Clingman, and was built by the Robert W. Irwin Company from American lumber and faced with Michigan-grown maple burl wood veneer. After Roosevelt's sudden death in 1945, Harry S. Truman removed the desk from the Oval Office and gave it to Roosevelt's wife, Eleanor Roosevelt. She displayed it at, and later donated it to, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York. The desk has been on display there ever since. The Hoover desk is one of only six desks to be used by a president in the Oval Office.
The Maritje Kill is a tributary of the Hudson River in Hyde Park, New York. Its source is three miles northeast of the village of Hyde Park, and it enters the Hudson at the Hyde Park campus of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). The river's name uses an old Dutch version of the given name Marietje, meaning "little Mary". It is one of two major waterways in Hyde Park, and flows north to south through the town.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires |journal=
(help); External link in |postscript=
(help)CS1 maint: postscript (link){{cite web}}
: Missing or empty |url=
(help)Media related to Top Cottage at Wikimedia Commons