Adolph Brower House
Encyclopedia
The Adolph Brower House is located at the corner of Division and Water streets in New Hamburg
, New York
, United States
, opposite the Abraham Brower House
. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1982.
It was built around 1845 by Brower, a New York City
native who owned a nearby lime
quarry
. A brick
Greek Revival
structure with many of the classic features of that style
, it and the other Brower house are the oldest in New Hamburg to remain largely as they were originally built.
with a noncontributing
swimming pool
and outbuilding. Although it fronts on the stub end of Division Street (which once continued west to a dock) and is parallel with the other houses on that street, its address
is Water Street.
It is a two-and-a-half-story, three-bay
structure of brick laid in common bond topped with a slate
gable
d roof and wooden cornice
. Two chimneys, one on the west exterior and an interior one from the northeast, rise from it. There are star-shaped anchor bolt
s between the stories on the east and west elevations.
The south (front) elevation has a two-story wooden porch
with low hipped roof
. Its square column
s, duplicated in the porch of the Abraham Brower House
on the opposite corner, have recessed panels and capitals
. A similar single-bay porch, its upper level enclosed in clapboard
, is attached to the east elevation. The front windows have stone sills and decorative
lintels.
A third two-story porch on the west elevation, overlooking the nearby Hudson River
, has also been enclosed with aluminum siding. The stone
foundation
comes up to the second floor here, behind the garage.
and bought the property. He built the house to overlook lime
quarry
ing and kiln operations nearby. His customers were local pig iron
producers and farmers and builders as far away as New Jersey
, supplied by river boat.
In 1870 the superintendent of the Poughkeepsie Iron Works, Albert Tower, bought the house and property. He destroyed all the kilns and concentrated strictly on quarrying limestone
, outcrops of which are still visible behind the house. Over the course of the 20th century, as New Hamburg's industries declined, the road was closed and the property relandscaped extensively. But other than the addition of some more modern building materials, and the exact rebuilding of some of the front porch trim, the house itself has not been altered.
New Hamburg, New York
New Hamburg is a small hamlet along the Hudson River in Dutchess County, New York, best known as home of a popular marina and a busy Metro-North Railroad Hudson Line station. It is located in the southern corner of the Wappingers Falls....
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, opposite the Abraham Brower House
Abraham Brower House
The Abraham Brower House is located at Water and Division streets in New Hamburg, New York, United States. It is a mid-19th century home of one the hamlet's early residents that was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987....
. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1982.
It was built around 1845 by Brower, a New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
native who owned a nearby lime
Lime (mineral)
Lime is a general term for calcium-containing inorganic materials, in which carbonates, oxides and hydroxides predominate. Strictly speaking, lime is calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide. It is also the name for a single mineral of the CaO composition, occurring very rarely...
quarry
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
. A brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
Greek Revival
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
structure with many of the classic features of that style
Architectural style
Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...
, it and the other Brower house are the oldest in New Hamburg to remain largely as they were originally built.
Building
The house is at the southeast corner of a 1 acres (4,046.9 m²) lotLot (real estate)
In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner. A lot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property in other countries...
with a noncontributing
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
and outbuilding. Although it fronts on the stub end of Division Street (which once continued west to a dock) and is parallel with the other houses on that street, its address
Address (geography)
An address is a collection of information, presented in a mostly fixed format, used for describing the location of a building, apartment, or other structure or a plot of land, generally using political boundaries and street names as references, along with other identifiers such as house or...
is Water Street.
It is a two-and-a-half-story, three-bay
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
structure of brick laid in common bond topped with a slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
d roof and wooden cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
. Two chimneys, one on the west exterior and an interior one from the northeast, rise from it. There are star-shaped anchor bolt
Anchor bolt
An anchor bolt is used to attach objects or structures to concrete. There are many types of anchor bolts, consisting of designs that are mostly proprietary to the manufacturing companies. All consist of a threaded end, to which a nut and washer can be attached for the external load...
s between the stories on the east and west elevations.
The south (front) elevation has a two-story wooden porch
Porch
A porch is external to the walls of the main building proper, but may be enclosed by screen, latticework, broad windows, or other light frame walls extending from the main structure.There are various styles of porches, all of which depend on the architectural tradition of its location...
with low hipped roof
Hip roof
A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...
. Its square column
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s, duplicated in the porch of the Abraham Brower House
Abraham Brower House
The Abraham Brower House is located at Water and Division streets in New Hamburg, New York, United States. It is a mid-19th century home of one the hamlet's early residents that was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987....
on the opposite corner, have recessed panels and capitals
Capital (architecture)
In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...
. A similar single-bay porch, its upper level enclosed in clapboard
Clapboard (architecture)
Clapboard, also known as bevel siding or lap siding or weather-board , is a board used typically for exterior horizontal siding that has one edge thicker than the other and where the board above laps over the one below...
, is attached to the east elevation. The front windows have stone sills and decorative
Ornament (architecture)
In architecture and decorative art, ornament is a decoration used to embellish parts of a building or object. Large figurative elements such as monumental sculpture and their equivalents in decorative art are excluded from the term; most ornament does not include human figures, and if present they...
lintels.
A third two-story porch on the west elevation, overlooking the nearby Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
, has also been enclosed with aluminum siding. The stone
Stonemasonry
The craft of stonemasonry has existed since the dawn of civilization - creating buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone from the earth. These materials have been used to construct many of the long-lasting, ancient monuments, artifacts, cathedrals, and cities in a wide variety of cultures...
foundation
Foundation (architecture)
A foundation is the lowest and supporting layer of a structure. Foundations are generally divided into two categories: shallow foundations and deep foundations.-Shallow foundations:...
comes up to the second floor here, behind the garage.
History
A previous structure is shown on the site in an 1800 map, when the land was owned by early settler Ephraim DuBois. In 1837 Adolph Brower came up from New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and bought the property. He built the house to overlook lime
Lime (mineral)
Lime is a general term for calcium-containing inorganic materials, in which carbonates, oxides and hydroxides predominate. Strictly speaking, lime is calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide. It is also the name for a single mineral of the CaO composition, occurring very rarely...
quarry
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
ing and kiln operations nearby. His customers were local pig iron
Pig iron
Pig iron is the intermediate product of smelting iron ore with a high-carbon fuel such as coke, usually with limestone as a flux. Charcoal and anthracite have also been used as fuel...
producers and farmers and builders as far away as New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, supplied by river boat.
In 1870 the superintendent of the Poughkeepsie Iron Works, Albert Tower, bought the house and property. He destroyed all the kilns and concentrated strictly on quarrying limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
, outcrops of which are still visible behind the house. Over the course of the 20th century, as New Hamburg's industries declined, the road was closed and the property relandscaped extensively. But other than the addition of some more modern building materials, and the exact rebuilding of some of the front porch trim, the house itself has not been altered.