Thursday, October 7, 2010

A fine Colonial house






Colonial houses don't really rock my world. I respond to early 20th Century Colonial Revivals instead, as long as they're grand and formal. The legitimate articles, however, are too restrained for my corrupted taste. Having admitted as much, I will confess to admiring a very fine Colonial style house near me in Millbrook. Built in 1832 by a house proud farmer named Tristram Coffin, it is adorned with particularly fine Greek details. During the 1920s a rich New Yorker named Alfred Maclay enlarged the house - perhaps a bit too much - and named it Killearn Farm. The first image shows the house before it gained weight, so to speak. Having already tripled its size, Mr. Maclay decided to push forward a portion of the kitchen wing wall so as to make it flush with the original facade. The second photo shows the result. Photo 3# is a view under the eaves showing a motif I've never seen before - literally thousands of dominoes. The fourth image shows the main stair. Nothing Edwardian here, but so fine a piece of work - both in terms of aesthetic restraint and quality of craftsmanship - as to be a definition of elegance. The last is a picture of the front door, whose delicate Greek porch is famous amongst Hudson Valley architectural historians.

2 comments:

  1. you are right, but it is so amazing thinking about the people (all) they trough years leved here... this is history, our history...

    see you

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  2. Well, it seems as though they've done all they can to preserve this wonderful masterpiece of history. It would be hard to imagine how much value this house could hold right now. It could mark it as priceless, but that would be cheating. The Greek porch is something out of my grandmother's stories. Truly magical!

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