Cornelius S. Muller House

The Cornelius S. Muller House is a residential building on New York State Route 23B in Claverack - Red Mills, New York in the United States. The brick house from the period before the American War of Independence is in the style of Dutch settlers, but has influences of English architecture.

During the Revolutionary War the house was the meeting place of the local Committee of Safety and venue of military courts. The house was renovated in 1840, remained otherwise unchanged since its construction. In 1997 the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Buildings and grounds

The house stands on the suede route 23B, at the northern end of a 2.2-hectare plot of land, the rest of the original farm. It is located near the road. The neighborhood consists of residential areas with many tall trees and other houses from the 18th and 19th centuries. On the other side of the street is the former Trinity Episcopal Church. This was built in the early 20th century and is also performed in the Nation Register. On the back side there is a small outbuilding, which is considered a contributing property.

The house is a one and a half storey building which includes two bays in width and four in length. The walls are made of bricks which are brick in the English cross bond and stand on a foundation of stones and bricks. The building sits a Gambreldach, which is covered with shingles, and is interrupted by two bay windows at the two ends. A brick fireplace stretches each up about it. On the back is a single-storey extension, which extends over the whole length of the house.

The divided transversely running gray and red Paneeltüre on the north facade serves as the main entrance and is located here in the second bay from the west. They are shaded by a reconstituted open veranda, some stone steps lead up. The windows all have splayed red-painted window sills and shutters of gray and red, which harmonize perfectly with the door. Between the yokes metal wall anchors are set, which together form the numbers 1767. Under the western yoke is the door to the cellar, which under the easternmost bay has a small barred window. On the east and west side of the house there are only ever two windows; they are in the attic.

Inside the main entrance of the two rooms on the ground floor opens to the east. A closed staircase leads to the southeast corner to the top. The eastern room has exposed beams and an open fireplace. In the brick stove area some of the original red Lehmbodenfließen are obtained. The floor plan of the attic has been changed since the construction of the house. The wooden floor is original, as is the plaster lath walls.

The outbuildings on the back is a built of massive beams wooden building on a stone foundation. The walls are verschindelt and the roof covered with sheet metal. Since this outbuilding was used for agricultural purposes in the past, it is considered contributing to the historic character of the property.

History

In the 19th century there were many members of the Muller family in Claverack. These came from both Dutch and Palatine immigrants. Cards from a somewhat later period show that the land on which the house stands, a Cornelius S. Muller belonged. Unlike most of his neighbors, he supported American independence and was a member of the local Committee of Safety and was the host of the meetings. Even military trials were held in the house and those who refused to pay the penalties imposed, were imprisoned in the basement of the house.

The house also shows the growing English influence on the vernacular architecture of the built in Dutch style buildings in the Hudson Valley during the late 18th century. Early houses from the area were built of field stones and had steep roofs such as the Bronck House, a National Historic Landmark on the other side of the Hudson River in Coxsackie.

Cornelius Muller house has an English architecture entstamme ends Gambreldach and uses at that time already better availability of bricks from. But it has such as the early Dutch houses an asymmetrical arrangement of the input and only a small width. The division of the interior into two rooms is in contrast to the undivided open spaces of the houses of Dutch settlers, in turn, attributed to the English influence.

The Muller family lived for several generations in the house. By 1840, the annexe was built on the back. End of the 20th century, before the entry in the National Register, used a new owner from still existing ingredients and an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum to damaged facilities such as shops to supplement and replace with the renovation by replicas.