Bykenhulle
Encyclopedia
Bykenhulle, originally known as Ivy Hall, is a historic house
located on Bykenhulle Road near the hamlet of Hopewell Junction
, New York, United States, in the Town of East Fishkill
. It is a wooden house in the Greek Revival
architectural style
.
First built in the middle of the 19th century by a member of the locally prominent Adriance family, it was originally the center of a large farmstead. By the early 20th century the failing farm was subdivided, leaving the house on a smaller lot. A later set of owners bought it for use as a country retreat
and renamed it after the original Dutch
spelling of their name.
They renovated and restored
the house with the intent of preserving
its historic character. It retains enough despite the much newer residential construction around it that, in 1991, it and two of its outbuildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places
. Currently it is used as a bed and breakfast
.
to the rear. It is on a slight rise just south of the Fishkill Creek
flood plain. The neighborhood is wooded except for the cleared lots, many of which compare in size to Bykenhulle. A brick fence runs along the front.
The buildings are mostly located on the 3.7 acres (1.5 ha) lot, the larger of the two. At its east corner, a driveway leads in past the house and continues through to an exit at the parkway in the rear. A brick fence runs along the front of the property. The lot has mature trees and plantings, with an evergreen buffer at the rear along the parkway. The two-acre (8,000 m²) lot to the southwest is today mostly a large lawn.
There are three other buildings and a swimming pool
to the side and rear of the main house. Two of the buildings, a dairy barn and poultry house, date to the era of its construction and are considered contributing resources
to the Register listing. The carriage house
, now modified to serve as a garage, and swimming pool are not.
frame
structure sided
in clapboard
. The south (front) facade
has a centrally located three-bay porch, supported by four wooden columns, with a balustrade on top to serve as a balcony
. All windows have wooden louver
ed shutters
. Above a plain frieze
, a gable
d roof shingled in asphalt is pierced by two brick chimneys at either end. The north facade has a similarly centrally located entrance with roofless masonry
porch and iron railing. Three dormer windows pierce the roof on this side.
A two-story, four-by-two-bay kitchen wing projects to the east. It has a similar treatment to the main block, with eyebrow windows in the frieze and an end chimney. The windows on its north facade are irregularly placed. The sunroom on the west end has glazed French doors on all three sides.
The recessed and trabeated main entrance is framed by pilaster
s on either side. The doorway is further framed by a transom
and sidelights with pilasters decorated in a Greek style. The paneled door opens into a grand central hall with 11 feet (3.4 m) ceilings, encircled by a sculpted plaster cornice
. The interior doorways have a post-and-beam surround similar to the exterior ones, and a stairway to the second floor has a mahogany
spindled balustrade and finely detailed turned newel
post.
On the west are two large parlors. They are similarly decorated to the hall, adding ceiling medallions, silver-plated door hardware and black marble mantelpieces. A wide pocket door
entryway with enormous Grecian surround connects them. The functional rooms on the east are similar in scale but more restrained in their decoration
. The second-story rooms follow a similar layout but are more restrained in scale and decoration.
iron designed to imitate clapboard. A screened pheasant coop
has been attached to the west, and the northeast corner has been extended to build a garage.
The poultry house is located further to the northwest, in line with the house and barn. It is a long frame two-story structure, sided with the same material as the barn, that has been converted into a hunting lodge. A cobblestone
chimney and fireplace has been added to the west side, and the roosts removed from the interior. The building is entered by tipping a carved wooden liquor bottle into a nearby shot glass to reveal a peephole
.
The carriage house was original to the building, but has been modified over the years. It is a rectangular frame building with front-facing gabled roof similar to the house. Its interior has been converted into two apartments, and the exterior has had new windows added, some old ones close and been resided with wider modern clapboards.
There were two other buildings and one structure formerly located on the property. The latter is on the north side of the property, the site of a former well still visible in the woods near the Taconic. The collapsed remains of a frame milk house are located to the east of the carriage house, and between the two there was once a frame storage building, of which no trace remains.
who moved from Long Island
to Dutchess County
in the late 18th century, gave the newly built house to his daughter Mary Ann and her husband, James Wilkinson, himself the scion of a wealthy Quaker family in the area, in 1841. From his 400 acres (161.9 ha) farm, he partitioned 150 acres (60.7 ha) to them. The house was in the highest of contemporary style, its dimension and decor less restrained than other Greek Revival farmhouses of the time. Finishings like the door hardware and marble mantelpieces would have been made in the city and brought to the house, testifying to the affluence of the Adriance family. They were on conspicuous display in the social spaces visitors would have experienced; the more restrained private and functional rooms are a reminder that the house was still the center of a large working farm.
A year after Peter Adriance died in 1852, his daughter and son-in-law availed themselves of the large inheritance he left her and moved to Poughkeepsie
. They sold the house to a cousin on her mother's side, Charlotte Storm Genung, also descended from another old Dutchess settler, and her family. The Genungs named the house where their descendants would live for the next five decades Ivy Hall.
Very little is known about the Genungs during this period, as they apparently lived quietly, running the farm, making no changes to the house, building some of the outbuildings, and taking little role in public affairs. A county history in 1882 to which Charlotte's son Isaac contributed notes his ancestry and lists his profession as "farmer and assessor". It is the only record available about the Genung period of the house.
When Isaac died, his heirs were either unable or unwilling to sustain the farm, and defaulted
on the mortgage
. The farm and all its buildings and structures went into foreclosure
. At a 1907 auction on the steps of the Dutchess County Court House
in Poughkeepsie, it was sold for $4,000 ($ in contemporary dollars) to a Moses Lee of Patterson
. Two years later, he realized a profit, selling it for $5,750 ($ in contemporary dollars) to Webster Wagner of New York City, a wealthy descendant of the co-inventor of the Pullman car
. He delegated farming operations to tenants, preferring to use Ivy Hall as his country house
.
It is believed that Wagner converted the poultry barn into a hunting lodge and built the pheasant coop so that he would have game
birds to hunt, as hunting was a popular hobby among wealthy men of the era. He made no alterations to the house. In 1929 Florence Bicknell, wife of U.S. Rubber
chairman John Bicknell, bought the house from Wagner for $100 ($ in contemporary dollars). It is not known why the property changed hands for such small amount. The low price could have reflected the onset of the Great Depression
, a personal relationship between the parties, or might simply be an error in recordkeeping.
Indicative of a strong interest in historic preservation
as a reason to own the home, the Bicknells changed the name of the property to Bykenhulle, the original Dutch
spelling of their name. That principle guided their completion of the main house's transition from farmhouse to country retreat. They added the current historically themed wallpaper to the front hall, put in modern heating and plumbing in an unobtrusive fashion and remodeling the northern rooms into a library and dining room. They made more changes to the upper story, eliminating a stair and replacing it with a false fireplace. In the process of modernizing the kitchen wing completely, they changed its original layout but kept its scale and design consistent with the main house.
In the late 1930s the Taconic State Parkway
was built through the area, cutting the main house area off from some of its former pasturelands. In 1963, when the Bicknells sold the land, Mary Ann Wilkinson's wedding gift was subdivided into 1 – lots, spurring the current exurban residential development. The pool was added to the property in 1972, and a traditional garden planted in 1990. A year prior to the latter, the sunroom was added to the west of the house. Later owners of Bykenhulle have included an IBM
executive and the current bed and breakfast
operators, both of whom have continued to maintain the property's historic character.
Historic house
A historic house can be a stately home, the birthplace of a famous person, or a house with an interesting history or architecture.- Background :...
located on Bykenhulle Road near the hamlet of Hopewell Junction
Hopewell Junction, New York
Hopewell Junction is a hamlet in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 2,610 at the 2000 census...
, New York, United States, in the Town of East Fishkill
East Fishkill, New York
East Fishkill is a town on the southern border of Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 25,589 at the 2000 census. The town name is derived from its formation from Fishkill, NY....
. It is a wooden house in the 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...
architectural 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...
.
First built in the middle of the 19th century by a member of the locally prominent Adriance family, it was originally the center of a large farmstead. By the early 20th century the failing farm was subdivided, leaving the house on a smaller lot. A later set of owners bought it for use as a country retreat
Cottage
__toc__In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities, and in places such as Canada the term exists with no connotations of size at all...
and renamed it after the original Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
spelling of their name.
They renovated and restored
Building restoration
Building restoration describes a particular treatment approach and philosophy within the field of architectural conservation. According the U.S...
the house with the intent of preserving
Historic preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
its historic character. It retains enough despite the much newer residential construction around it that, in 1991, it and two of its outbuildings were 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...
. Currently it is used as a bed and breakfast
Bed and breakfast
A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Since the 1980s, the meaning of the term has also extended to include accommodations that are also known as "self-catering" establishments...
.
Buildings and grounds
Bykenhulle is located on a pair of lots totalling 5.7 acres (2.3 ha) in the north of East Fishkill. They are bordered by Bykenhulle Road on the south, neighboring residences on the east and west, and the Taconic State ParkwayTaconic State Parkway
The Taconic State Parkway , is a divided highway between Kensico Dam and Chatham, the longest parkway in the U.S. state of New York. It follows a generally northward route midway between the Hudson River and the Connecticut and Massachusetts state lines...
to the rear. It is on a slight rise just south of the Fishkill Creek
Fishkill Creek
Fishkill Creek is a tributary of the Hudson River in Dutchess County, New York, United States. At it is the second longest stream in the county, after Wappinger Creek. It rises in the town of Union Vale and flows generally southwest to a small estuary on the Hudson just south of Beacon. Part of...
flood plain. The neighborhood is wooded except for the cleared lots, many of which compare in size to Bykenhulle. A brick fence runs along the front.
The buildings are mostly located on the 3.7 acres (1.5 ha) lot, the larger of the two. At its east corner, a driveway leads in past the house and continues through to an exit at the parkway in the rear. A brick fence runs along the front of the property. The lot has mature trees and plantings, with an evergreen buffer at the rear along the parkway. The two-acre (8,000 m²) lot to the southwest is today mostly a large lawn.
There are three other buildings and a 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...
to the side and rear of the main house. Two of the buildings, a dairy barn and poultry house, date to the era of its construction and are considered contributing resources
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...
to the Register listing. The carriage house
Carriage house
A carriage house, also called remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack.In Great Britain the farm building was called a Cart Shed...
, now modified to serve as a garage, and swimming pool are not.
House
The main house's main block is a two-and-a-half-story, five-bayBay (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:...
frame
Framing (construction)
Framing, in construction known as light-frame construction, is a building technique based around structural members, usually called studs, which provide a stable frame to which interior and exterior wall coverings are attached, and covered by a roof comprising horizontal ceiling joists and sloping...
structure sided
Siding
Siding is the outer covering or cladding of a house meant to shed water and protect from the effects of weather. On a building that uses siding, it may act as a key element in the aesthetic beauty of the structure and directly influence its property value....
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...
. The south (front) facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
has a centrally located three-bay porch, supported by four wooden columns, with a balustrade on top to serve as a balcony
Balcony
Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...
. All windows have wooden louver
Louver
A louver or louvre , from the French l'ouvert; "the open one") is a window, blind or shutter with horizontal slats that are angled to admit light and air, but to keep out rain, direct sunshine, and noise...
ed shutters
Window shutter
A window shutter is a solid and stable window covering usually consisting of a frame of vertical stiles and horizontal rails...
. Above a plain frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
, a 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 shingled in asphalt is pierced by two brick chimneys at either end. The north facade has a similarly centrally located entrance with roofless masonry
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...
porch and iron railing. Three dormer windows pierce the roof on this side.
A two-story, four-by-two-bay kitchen wing projects to the east. It has a similar treatment to the main block, with eyebrow windows in the frieze and an end chimney. The windows on its north facade are irregularly placed. The sunroom on the west end has glazed French doors on all three sides.
The recessed and trabeated main entrance is framed by pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s on either side. The doorway is further framed by a transom
Transom (architectural)
In architecture, a transom is the term given to a transverse beam or bar in a frame, or to the crosspiece separating a door or the like from a window or fanlight above it. Transom is also the customary U.S. word used for a transom light, the window over this crosspiece...
and sidelights with pilasters decorated in a Greek style. The paneled door opens into a grand central hall with 11 feet (3.4 m) ceilings, encircled by a sculpted plaster 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...
. The interior doorways have a post-and-beam surround similar to the exterior ones, and a stairway to the second floor has a mahogany
Mahogany
The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....
spindled balustrade and finely detailed turned newel
Newel
A newel, also called a central pole, is an upright post that supports the handrail of a stair banister. In stairs having straight flights it is the principal post at the foot of the staircase, but it can also be used for the intermediate posts on landings and at the top of a staircase...
post.
On the west are two large parlors. They are similarly decorated to the hall, adding ceiling medallions, silver-plated door hardware and black marble mantelpieces. A wide pocket door
Pocket door
A pocket door is a sliding door that disappears, when fully open, into a compartment in the adjacent wall. Pocket doors are used for architectural effect, or when there is no room for the swing of a hinged door. They usually travel on rollers suspended from an overhead track, although some also...
entryway with enormous Grecian surround connects them. The functional rooms on the east are similar in scale but more restrained in their decoration
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...
. The second-story rooms follow a similar layout but are more restrained in scale and decoration.
Outbuildings
Directly behind the house is the dairy barn. It is a two-story wooden English barn modified with a basement and swing beam sided in galvanizedGalvanization
Galvanization is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, in order to prevent rusting. The term is derived from the name of Italian scientist Luigi Galvani....
iron designed to imitate clapboard. A screened pheasant coop
Chicken coop
A chicken coop is a building where female chickens are kept. Inside there are often nest boxes for egg laying and perches on which the birds can sleep, although coops for meat birds seldom have either of these features....
has been attached to the west, and the northeast corner has been extended to build a garage.
The poultry house is located further to the northwest, in line with the house and barn. It is a long frame two-story structure, sided with the same material as the barn, that has been converted into a hunting lodge. A cobblestone
Cobblestone
Cobblestones are stones that were frequently used in the pavement of early streets. "Cobblestone" is derived from the very old English word "cob", which had a wide range of meanings, one of which was "rounded lump" with overtones of large size...
chimney and fireplace has been added to the west side, and the roosts removed from the interior. The building is entered by tipping a carved wooden liquor bottle into a nearby shot glass to reveal a peephole
Peephole
A peephole is a small opening through which one may look.In a door, a peephole allows people inside the security of seeing outside without opening the door...
.
The carriage house was original to the building, but has been modified over the years. It is a rectangular frame building with front-facing gabled roof similar to the house. Its interior has been converted into two apartments, and the exterior has had new windows added, some old ones close and been resided with wider modern clapboards.
There were two other buildings and one structure formerly located on the property. The latter is on the north side of the property, the site of a former well still visible in the woods near the Taconic. The collapsed remains of a frame milk house are located to the east of the carriage house, and between the two there was once a frame storage building, of which no trace remains.
History
Peter Adriance, one of the descendants of Dutch settlersDutch colonization of the Americas
Dutch trading posts and plantations in the Americas precede the much wider known colonization activities of the Dutch in Asia. Whereas the first Dutch fort in Asia was built in 1600 , the first forts and settlements on the Essequibo river in Guyana and on the Amazon date from the 1590s...
who moved from Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
to Dutchess County
Dutchess County, New York
Dutchess County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, in the state's Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley. The 2010 census lists the population as 297,488...
in the late 18th century, gave the newly built house to his daughter Mary Ann and her husband, James Wilkinson, himself the scion of a wealthy Quaker family in the area, in 1841. From his 400 acres (161.9 ha) farm, he partitioned 150 acres (60.7 ha) to them. The house was in the highest of contemporary style, its dimension and decor less restrained than other Greek Revival farmhouses of the time. Finishings like the door hardware and marble mantelpieces would have been made in the city and brought to the house, testifying to the affluence of the Adriance family. They were on conspicuous display in the social spaces visitors would have experienced; the more restrained private and functional rooms are a reminder that the house was still the center of a large working farm.
A year after Peter Adriance died in 1852, his daughter and son-in-law availed themselves of the large inheritance he left her and moved to Poughkeepsie
Poughkeepsie (city), New York
Poughkeepsie is a city in the state of New York, United States, which serves as the county seat of Dutchess County. Poughkeepsie is located in the Hudson River Valley midway between New York City and Albany...
. They sold the house to a cousin on her mother's side, Charlotte Storm Genung, also descended from another old Dutchess settler, and her family. The Genungs named the house where their descendants would live for the next five decades Ivy Hall.
Very little is known about the Genungs during this period, as they apparently lived quietly, running the farm, making no changes to the house, building some of the outbuildings, and taking little role in public affairs. A county history in 1882 to which Charlotte's son Isaac contributed notes his ancestry and lists his profession as "farmer and assessor". It is the only record available about the Genung period of the house.
When Isaac died, his heirs were either unable or unwilling to sustain the farm, and defaulted
Default (finance)
In finance, default occurs when a debtor has not met his or her legal obligations according to the debt contract, e.g. has not made a scheduled payment, or has violated a loan covenant of the debt contract. A default is the failure to pay back a loan. Default may occur if the debtor is either...
on the mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
. The farm and all its buildings and structures went into foreclosure
Foreclosure
Foreclosure is the legal process by which a mortgage lender , or other lien holder, obtains a termination of a mortgage borrower 's equitable right of redemption, either by court order or by operation of law...
. At a 1907 auction on the steps of the Dutchess County Court House
Dutchess County Court House
The Dutchess County Courthouse is located at 10 Market Street in downtown Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. It is the third county courthouse to stand on that site....
in Poughkeepsie, it was sold for $4,000 ($ in contemporary dollars) to a Moses Lee of Patterson
Patterson, New York
Patterson is a town in Putnam County, New York, United States. The town is in the northeast part of the county. Interstate 84 passes through the southwest part of the town. The population was 11,306 at the 2000 census. The town is named after early farmer Matthew Paterson...
. Two years later, he realized a profit, selling it for $5,750 ($ in contemporary dollars) to Webster Wagner of New York City, a wealthy descendant of the co-inventor of the Pullman car
Pullman (car or coach)
In the United States, Pullman was used to refer to railroad sleeping cars which were built and operated on most U.S. railroads by the Pullman Company from 1867 to December 31, 1968....
. He delegated farming operations to tenants, preferring to use Ivy Hall as his country house
Cottage
__toc__In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities, and in places such as Canada the term exists with no connotations of size at all...
.
It is believed that Wagner converted the poultry barn into a hunting lodge and built the pheasant coop so that he would have game
Game (food)
Game is any animal hunted for food or not normally domesticated. Game animals are also hunted for sport.The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world. This will be influenced by climate, animal diversity, local taste and locally accepted view about what can or...
birds to hunt, as hunting was a popular hobby among wealthy men of the era. He made no alterations to the house. In 1929 Florence Bicknell, wife of U.S. Rubber
United States Rubber Company
The United States Rubber Company was founded in Naugatuck, Connecticut in 1892. It was one of the original 12 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and became Uniroyal Inc...
chairman John Bicknell, bought the house from Wagner for $100 ($ in contemporary dollars). It is not known why the property changed hands for such small amount. The low price could have reflected the onset of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, a personal relationship between the parties, or might simply be an error in recordkeeping.
Indicative of a strong interest in historic preservation
Historic preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
as a reason to own the home, the Bicknells changed the name of the property to Bykenhulle, the original Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
spelling of their name. That principle guided their completion of the main house's transition from farmhouse to country retreat. They added the current historically themed wallpaper to the front hall, put in modern heating and plumbing in an unobtrusive fashion and remodeling the northern rooms into a library and dining room. They made more changes to the upper story, eliminating a stair and replacing it with a false fireplace. In the process of modernizing the kitchen wing completely, they changed its original layout but kept its scale and design consistent with the main house.
In the late 1930s the Taconic State Parkway
Taconic State Parkway
The Taconic State Parkway , is a divided highway between Kensico Dam and Chatham, the longest parkway in the U.S. state of New York. It follows a generally northward route midway between the Hudson River and the Connecticut and Massachusetts state lines...
was built through the area, cutting the main house area off from some of its former pasturelands. In 1963, when the Bicknells sold the land, Mary Ann Wilkinson's wedding gift was subdivided into 1 – lots, spurring the current exurban residential development. The pool was added to the property in 1972, and a traditional garden planted in 1990. A year prior to the latter, the sunroom was added to the west of the house. Later owners of Bykenhulle have included an IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
executive and the current bed and breakfast
Bed and breakfast
A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Since the 1980s, the meaning of the term has also extended to include accommodations that are also known as "self-catering" establishments...
operators, both of whom have continued to maintain the property's historic character.