William Shay Double House

Last updated
William Shay Double House
William Shays Double House.jpg
Front (west) elevation and north profile, 2008
Location New Hamburg. NY
Nearest city Poughkeepsie
Coordinates 41°35′12″N73°56′59″W / 41.58667°N 73.94972°W / 41.58667; -73.94972 Coordinates: 41°35′12″N73°56′59″W / 41.58667°N 73.94972°W / 41.58667; -73.94972
Builtca. 1870 [1]
Architectural style Gothic Revival
MPS New Hamburg MRA
NRHP reference No. 87000121
Added to NRHP1982

The William Shay Double House is a residential duplex at Point Street and River Road in New Hamburg, New York, United States. It was built around 1870 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Contents

Shay, a local rag and cotton merchant, lived nearby and worked out of an adjacent warehouse. The duplex is a brick building in the Gothic Revival architectural style, unusual for both its scale and amount of decoration for utilitarian worker housing of the period in the area. It is still in use as a rental property.

Building

The house is a two-story brick building with raised basement. Its gable roof, pierced by two chimneys, is surfaced in asphalt shingles. A steeply-pitched cross-gable runs from east to west; on both elevations it has trefoil detail in the peak and a single rounded-arch window with corbeled stops. The roofline has a wooden cornice decorated with paired brackets and acorn pendants flanking frame panels all around. Star anchor bolts are in the brick all over, and a string course is laid between the lower stories. [1]

On the west elevation is a raised vestibule porch. The double doors are flanked by paired brackets and a brick transom. It is flanked by two one-and-a-half-story brick bays with narrow windows. The rear has a more modern shed-roofed porch. [1]

There are two other buildings on the lot. Shay's Warehouse and Stable is separately listed on the Register and was built prior to the house. A frame one-story flat-roofed clapboard-sided garage was built in the 20th century. [1]

Aesthetics

Duplexes built on a mirror plan were not unusual in the area at the time; there are some in nearby Wappingers Falls, where they were built mainly to house workers in the village's industries, which included some of the earliest cotton textile mills in New York. It is likely that Shay's business as a ragman took him there, where he would have seen them and decided to undertake a similar project in New Hamburg. [1]

The duplex he built, however, was on a larger scale than similar houses in any nearby community. It also included many ornamental touches, both inside and out, not seen on such houses, showing in some areas a sophistication normally seen on houses of the well-to-do in the region, reaching a Picturesque level. [2] The alternation of panels and paired brackets in the roof, for instance, is identical to one shown in Villas and Cottages, an 1857 pattern book by Calvert Vaux. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King-Hooton House</span> Historic house in Florida, United States

The King-Hooton House is a historic home in Pensacola, Florida. It is located at 512–514 North Seventh Avenue. On August 23, 1991, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver Brewster House</span> Historic house in New York, United States

The Oliver Brewster House is a Gothic Revival home located on Willow Avenue in Cornwall, New York, United States, right across from Willow Avenue Elementary School. It was originally built as a farmhouse in the mid-19th century. Later, as Cornwall became a popular summer resort for visitors from New York City, it was expanded and renovated for use as a boardinghouse as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bachelor's Hope (Centreville, Maryland)</span> Historic house in Maryland

Bachelor's Hope is a historic house in Centreville, Maryland. Built between 1798 and 1815, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baker House (Rehoboth, Massachusetts)</span> Historic house in Massachusetts, United States

The Baker House is a historic house at 191 Hornbine Street in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. This two-family house was built c. 1875–90, and is a rare period duplex in the town. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Main Street Historic District (New Hamburg, New York)</span> Historic district in New York, United States

The Main Street Historic District in New Hamburg, New York, United States is located along that street just west of the train station. Six buildings on a single acre are an intact remnant of the hamlet as it was developed in the middle of the 19th century, prior to the Hudson River Railroad's construction, which cut it in half.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mayhurst</span> Historic house in Virginia, United States

Mayhurst is an 1859 Italianate mansion in Orange, Virginia. It was built by the Willis family relatives of President James Madison as the plantation house for an estate comprising 2,500 acres (10 km2) of fields, pastures and forest. It was a scene of action in the Civil War. It is currently operated as an Inn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Pleasant (Indian Falls, New York)</span> Historic house in New York, United States

Mount Pleasant is a farm complex located in the Town of Pembroke, New York, United States, east of the hamlet of Indian Falls. It was established in the mid-19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Building at 426 South Main Street</span> United States historic place

The building at 426 South Main Street is located in Canandaigua, New York, United States. It is a two-story brick dwelling in the Italianate architectural style built around 1880. In 1984 it and its neighboring barn were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Miller House</span> Historic house in New York, United States

The Stephen Miller House, also known as the Van Wyck-Miller House, is located along the NY 23 state highway in Claverack, New York, United States. It is a wooden farmhouse dating from the late 18th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Harden Mansion</span> Historic house in New York, United States

The Edward Harden Mansion, also known as Broad Oaks, is a historic home located on North Broadway in Sleepy Hollow, New York, United States, on the boundary between it and neighboring Tarrytown. It is a brick building in the Georgian Revival style designed by Hunt & Hunt in the early 20th century, one of the few mansions left of many that lined Broadway in the era it was built. Also on the property is a wood frame carriage house that predates it slightly. Both buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Grove Street Historic District</span> Historic district in New York, United States

The North Grove Street Historic District is located along the north end of that street in Tarrytown, New York, United States. It consists of five mid-19th century residences, on both sides of the street, and a carriage barn. In 1979 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jackson Park Town Site Addition Brick Row</span> United States historic place

Jackson Park Town Site Addition Brick Row is a group of three historic houses and two frame garages located on the west side of the 300 block of South Third Street in Lander, Wyoming. Two of the homes were built in 1917, and the third in 1919. The properties were added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 27, 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Cote</span> Historic house in Virginia, United States

West Cote is a historic home located near Howardsville, Albemarle County, Virginia. The house was built about 1830, and is a two-story, five-bay, brick dwelling. The front facade features a two-story, Tuscan order portico with paired full-height columns and no pediment.. Also on the property are a contributing office / guest house, smokehouse, well, corn crib, and stable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farrington House</span> Historic house in New Hampshire, United States

The Farrington House is a historic house at 30 South Main Street in Concord, New Hampshire. Built in 1844 as a duplex, it is a distinctive local example of high-style Greek Revival architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cotton-Smith House</span> Historic house in Maine, United States

The Cotton-Smith House is a historic house at 42 High Street in Fairfield, Maine. Built in 1890, it is one of Fairfield's finest Queen Anne Victorian houses. It was built by Joseph Cotton, owner of the Maine Manufacturing Company, which produced iceboxes, and occupied by him for just four years. The house was acquired in 1983 by the Fairfield Historical Society, which operates it as the Fairfield History House, a museum of local history. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weller House (Chesterton, Indiana)</span> Historic house in Indiana, United States

Weller House, also known as The Old Prison Farm, is a historic home located in Pine Township, Porter County, Indiana. It was built about 1870, and is a two-story, rectangular, Italianate-style frame dwelling. It consists of a middle section flanked by projecting wings. The house features an entrance portico and round-cornered window frames.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John B. Robarge Duplex</span> Historic house in Vermont, United States

The John B. Robarge Duplex is a historic multi-unit residence at 58-60 North Champlain Street in Burlington, Vermont. Built 1878–79, it is one of the city's few examples of an Italianate two-family house. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twin City Historic District</span> Historic district in Georgia, United States

The Twin City Historic District in Twin City in Emanuel County, Georgia is a historic district which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon Hitt Farmstead</span> United States historic place

The Gordon Hitt Farmstead is a former farm located at 4561 North Lake Road near Clark Lake, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. It now serves as a vacation rental.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Larson, Neil. "National Register of Historic Places nomination, William Shay Double House". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation . Retrieved 2008-10-18.
  2. Hill, Charles. "18 Point Street" . Retrieved 2008-10-20.