House at 20 Center Street

The House at 20 Center Street (formerly 37 Center Street ) is a residential building in Highland Falls, New York in the United States, built in timber frame construction mid-19th century in the classical style. It is one of the few houses in this style, while the stilechteste in the Hudson Highlands. It was recorded in 1982 on behalf of a Multiple Property Submission to the National Register of Historic Places.

Building

The house is located on the east side of Center Street, about one-half block north of Mountain Avenue (New York State Route 218) and one block west of the center of Highland Falls. North and south of the house are other houses, mostly from the same time or done before, but during the time were modified. On the west side of the road the terrain rises to a sports field and subsequently the Highland Falls Middle School. The house stands on a small lot with a picket fence at the sidewalk.

The building itself is a thrilling five to two yokes two and a half storey building with wood floor covering on a pedestal of granite boulders. It has a gabled roof is covered with shingles made ​​of tar paper and on its First a chimney made ​​of bricks secured at both ends. There is a porch that runs the entire length of the building located on the west front. The roof of the porch is supported by decorative posts.

History

The house was first documented with the initials BK on a map of 1875, these initials stand for the name of the then owner Bernard Kenney. The simple architectural Verschmückung of the house, mainly just the window sills and lintels, similar to the other houses in the vicinity, which were built in 1850 or earlier. This is the oldest group of houses in Highland Falls. However, the house is standing out because no other neoclassical residential building in the Hudson Highlands to the style so perfectly expressed.

Since its construction, the house was always used for residential purposes, and it is inhabited in 2010. It has not changed much in its history. The picket fence at the front was added in 1982. Towards the end of the 20th century, the house number was changed from 37 to 20, as houses in many streets in Orange County received new house numbers to facilitate emergency operations.