Cornelius H. Evans House
Encyclopedia
The Cornelius H. Evans House is located on Warren Street in downtown Hudson
, New York, United States. It is a brick house dating to the mid-19th century.
It was the home of Evans, a local brewer and businessman who served two terms as the city's mayor. His descendants remained in the house for 80 years. After being used as a synagogue
and community center for short periods, it has returned to residential use. In 1974 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
. It is also a contributing property
to the Hudson Historic District
.
east of North Fourth Street. The level ground starts to slope up gently to the east. The neighborhood is urban and densely developed, with houses of a similar vintage on the north side of the street and mixed-use development
opposite. There is a small front yard, set off by an iron fence, on the 0.75 acres (3,035.1 m²) lot. Parking is in the rear.
Two and a half stories high and five bays
wide, the house is faced in brick with sandstone
window trim. A three-story tower is attached on the west side. At the roofline of the main block is a bracketed
cornice
. Above it is a mansard roof
with gable
d dormer windows shingled in fish-scale polychrome
slate, pierced by two brick chimneys on the eastern side. The tower has a similarly treated pyramidal roof whose flar top is crowned with a finial
.
The south (front) facade
has a small wooden hood on its centrally located main entrance, reached via a small set of stone steps. Ivy climbs up the southeast corner almost to the roofline and on the west side of the main entrance. Above it the central window on the second story has a classical treatment, with two flanking pilaster
s and a dentil
ed pediment
. The dormer window above it has two flanking smaller windows.
On the three-bay east side a bay window with narrow windows projects from the center of the first story. Above it is a round window. The roof has two dormers at the ends; the chimneys rise between them. The tower has circular and round-arched windows. Besides the tower the west profile is marked by an enclosed veranda.
The interior follows a center hall plan. The hallway has the main staircase and original wainscoting. Scrolled archways lead into the flanking spaces, and the floor is decorated in a raised-pattern wallpaper
with a pattern resembling tooled leather. The molded
woodwork
, white marble mantels
, stained glass
, brass doorknobs and interior shutters
are all original.
in the city dating to 1796. Since then he had expanded it fourfold. The house was his statement of success and commitment to the city of Hudson. Its architect is unknown, but it shows the influence of James Renwick
, who in the years before had pioneered the mansard-roofed buildings that evolved into the Second Empire style
with the original Corcoran Gallery
in Washington and, closer to Hudson, Main Building
at Vassar College
in Poughkeepsie
. The Evans House applies those ideas to a smaller, residential structure.
The year before the house was built, Cornelius Evans had joined the family business as a clerk. Four years later, in 1865, he became a member of the corporation and, on his father's death in 1868, took over as its head. Under his leadership the company grew even more. Sales of its major product, Evans India Pale Ale, were so high that the company opened its own bottling plant
next to the brewery in 1889. Within a year the bottling plant had to be doubled in size to keep up with demand.
Cornelius Evans succeeded his father as a civic leader as well, serving as a director
of National Hudson City Bank, as Robert had. In the 1870s he was elected to two non-consecutive two-year terms as the city's mayor.
Cornelius Evans Jr. inherited the house when his father died in 1902. The brewery had to close in 1920 when Prohibition
began. When Cornelius Jr. died in 1941, his son Roland sold the house out of the family. Five years later that owner sold it to Congregation Anshe Emeth, a local synagogue
, for use as a house of worship and community center. In 1970 it was sold again and returned to residential use.
Hudson, New York
Hudson is a city located along the west border of Columbia County, New York, United States. The city is named after the adjacent Hudson River and ultimately after the explorer Henry Hudson.Hudson is the county seat of Columbia County...
, New York, United States. It is a brick house dating to the mid-19th century.
It was the home of Evans, a local brewer and businessman who served two terms as the city's mayor. His descendants remained in the house for 80 years. After being used as a synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
and community center for short periods, it has returned to residential use. In 1974 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...
. It is also a contributing property
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 Hudson Historic District
Hudson Historic District (New York)
The Hudson Historic District includes most of downtown Hudson, New York, United States, once called "one of the richest dictionaries of architectural history in New York State". It is a area stretching from the city's waterfront on the east bank of the Hudson River to almost its eastern boundary,...
.
Building
The house is located on the north side of Warren Street, a few lotsLot (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...
east of North Fourth Street. The level ground starts to slope up gently to the east. The neighborhood is urban and densely developed, with houses of a similar vintage on the north side of the street and mixed-use development
Mixed-use development
Mixed-use development is the use of a building, set of buildings, or neighborhood for more than one purpose. Since the 1920s, zoning in some countries has required uses to be separated. However, when jobs, housing, and commercial activities are located close together, a community's transportation...
opposite. There is a small front yard, set off by an iron fence, on the 0.75 acres (3,035.1 m²) lot. Parking is in the rear.
Two and a half stories high and five bays
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:...
wide, the house is faced in brick with sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
window trim. A three-story tower is attached on the west side. At the roofline of the main block is a bracketed
Bracket (architecture)
A bracket is an architectural member made of wood, stone, or metal that overhangs a wall to support or carry weight. It may also support a statue, the spring of an arch, a beam, or a shelf. Brackets are often in the form of scrolls, and can be carved, cast, or molded. They can be entirely...
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...
. Above it is a mansard roof
Mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
with 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 dormer windows shingled in fish-scale polychrome
Polychrome
Polychrome is one of the terms used to describe the use of multiple colors in one entity. It has also been defined as "The practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." Polychromatic light is composed of a number of different wavelengths...
slate, pierced by two brick chimneys on the eastern side. The tower has a similarly treated pyramidal roof whose flar top is crowned with a finial
Finial
The finial is an architectural device, typically carved in stone and employed decoratively to emphasize the apex of a gable or any of various distinctive ornaments at the top, end, or corner of a building or structure. Smaller finials can be used as a decorative ornament on the ends of curtain rods...
.
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 small wooden hood on its centrally located main entrance, reached via a small set of stone steps. Ivy climbs up the southeast corner almost to the roofline and on the west side of the main entrance. Above it the central window on the second story has a classical treatment, with two flanking 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 and a dentil
Dentil
In classical architecture a dentil is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect Vitruvius In classical architecture a dentil (from Lat. dens, a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect...
ed pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
. The dormer window above it has two flanking smaller windows.
On the three-bay east side a bay window with narrow windows projects from the center of the first story. Above it is a round window. The roof has two dormers at the ends; the chimneys rise between them. The tower has circular and round-arched windows. Besides the tower the west profile is marked by an enclosed veranda.
The interior follows a center hall plan. The hallway has the main staircase and original wainscoting. Scrolled archways lead into the flanking spaces, and the floor is decorated in a raised-pattern wallpaper
Wallpaper
Wallpaper is a kind of material used to cover and decorate the interior walls of homes, offices, and other buildings; it is one aspect of interior decoration. It is usually sold in rolls and is put onto a wall using wallpaper paste...
with a pattern resembling tooled leather. The molded
Molding (decorative)
Molding or moulding is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster but may be made from plastic or reformed wood...
woodwork
Woodworking
Woodworking is the process of building, making or carving something using wood.-History:Along with stone, mud, and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by early humans. Microwear analysis of the Mousterian stone tools used by the Neanderthals show that many were used to work wood...
, white marble mantels
Fireplace mantel
Fireplace mantel or mantelpiece, also known as a chimneypiece, originated in medieval times as a hood that projected over a grate to catch the smoke. The term has evolved to include the decorative framework around the fireplace, and can include elaborate designs extending to the ceiling...
, stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
, brass doorknobs and interior shutters
Window shutter
A window shutter is a solid and stable window covering usually consisting of a frame of vertical stiles and horizontal rails...
are all original.
History
Robert Evans, Cornelius's father, built in the house in 1861, when his son was 20. The older man had, a quarter-century earlier, bought a breweryBrewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....
in the city dating to 1796. Since then he had expanded it fourfold. The house was his statement of success and commitment to the city of Hudson. Its architect is unknown, but it shows the influence of James Renwick
James Renwick
James Renwick may refer to:*Jim Renwick , Scottish rugby player*Jim Renwick *James Renwick , Scottish Covenanter...
, who in the years before had pioneered the mansard-roofed buildings that evolved into the Second Empire 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...
with the original Corcoran Gallery
Renwick Gallery
The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, located in Washington, D.C., and focuses on American craft and decorative arts from the 19th century to the 21st century...
in Washington and, closer to Hudson, Main Building
Main Building (Vassar College)
Main Building is on the Vassar College campus in Poughkeepsie, New York. It was built by James Renwick Jr. in the Second Empire style in 1861, the second building in the history of what was one of America's first women's colleges. At the time, it housed the entire college, including dormitories,...
at Vassar College
Vassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
in Poughkeepsie
Poughkeepsie (town), New York
Poughkeepsie is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 42,777 at the 2000 census. The name is derived from the native term, "Uppu-qui-ipis-in," which means "reed-covered hut by the water."...
. The Evans House applies those ideas to a smaller, residential structure.
The year before the house was built, Cornelius Evans had joined the family business as a clerk. Four years later, in 1865, he became a member of the corporation and, on his father's death in 1868, took over as its head. Under his leadership the company grew even more. Sales of its major product, Evans India Pale Ale, were so high that the company opened its own bottling plant
Bottling line
Bottling lines are production lines that fill a product, generally a beverage, into bottles on a large scale.-Wine bottling process:The first step in bottling wine is depalletising, where the empty wine bottles are removed from the original pallet packaging delivered from the manufacturer, so that...
next to the brewery in 1889. Within a year the bottling plant had to be doubled in size to keep up with demand.
Cornelius Evans succeeded his father as a civic leader as well, serving as a director
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
of National Hudson City Bank, as Robert had. In the 1870s he was elected to two non-consecutive two-year terms as the city's mayor.
Cornelius Evans Jr. inherited the house when his father died in 1902. The brewery had to close in 1920 when Prohibition
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
began. When Cornelius Jr. died in 1941, his son Roland sold the house out of the family. Five years later that owner sold it to Congregation Anshe Emeth, a local synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
, for use as a house of worship and community center. In 1970 it was sold again and returned to residential use.