Old Southeast Town Hall

The Old Southeast Town Hall is a former City Hall on Main Street (U.S. Highway 6 ) in Brewster, New York, United States. The building was constructed in 1896 and housed the main office of the Town of Southeast, is one of the Brewster. 1964 covered the city manager and the eunuch to be located in the building of the recently closed First National Bank of Brewster a little further down on the same road, although some municipal offices are located today in the building, which also houses a local history museum.

The building was registered in 1979 in the National Register of Historic Places and thus supported the importance of this early fully developed structure of the Colonial Revival account.

Building

In the building there is a dreiströckiges rectangular structure with three bays, in running bond and today is spachtelverputzt. The front elevation has a remote, emphasized main entrance with a portico in the amount of the second floor, which is framed by pilasters. These range through to the roof edge. The entrance itself, which today is located behind modern vestibule doors, consists of four wooden doors which are framed in the neoclassical style with recessed columns, full main beams and a large skylight. On both sides of the portico there are sliding windows, inside the similarly shaped aprons on the smaller side entrances.

The hipped roof is interrupted on the front with three dormers, reflecting its tapered rims to neumaurischen trend in architecture a little earlier in the 19th century. Four console with fireplaces sit on the ridge.

The arrangement of the other four windows on the front side is irregular. Is still the original wrought-iron fire escape on the east side. There is an additional entrance to the basement of the building on the south side. There is a small, similarly structured wing, which was added shortly after the completion of the building and a prison housed At its western end; it is the only extension of the building.

Inside, the floor is on the ground floor is bare marble. The ceiling is supported by two rows of cast iron columns. The main staircase leads to a lecture hall on the first floor leads. This is the two floors to wooden, exposed roof factory ceiling. The three dormers provide light for balcony in the auditorium behind.

History

Brewster and the surrounding area experienced in the years after the American Civil War a major growth that is due to the construction of the Harlem Valley Rail Road. Therefore, a new Town Hall was built in 1869 in the architectural style of the Second Empire. This building burned down on 23 February 1880, when a fire on the south side of Main Street destroyed many buildings. 1882 built a new building in 1893 met the same fate.

Considering these two fires, the current building was built fireproof as possible through the company's Child & DeGroll from New York City, used by safer materials such as iron and brick. The new building was opened in 1896 and the prison wing in the West was built in 1900.

The city government moved into the building, due to the further growth of the rooms were too small. 1964 subjected to the treasurer and the city manager in the building of the First National Bank of Brewster near the train station at the Brewster Metro-North Railroad to that was become vacant recently when the bank closed. The Southeast Museum, founded a year before eventually moving into the building.

Prior to the recognition of the building as a historic landmark, it was extensively renovated in 1977. This work that returned the building to its original appearance, were funded jointly by the Museum and Village Brewster. The executive architect Richard Brennan from New Canaan, Connecticut used for the restoration of the original plans. The stage has been extended to three meters in order to make the requirements of modern performance sequence and the basement has been remodeled to accommodate some minor municipal offices and other institutions of the community, the City Court.

The updated General Plan in 2002, the city of recommended measures, after which the building would meet the current legal requirements and use should be improved. In particular, the court was in to tight spaces. This plan eventually led to the construction of a new Town Hall and the complete withdrawal of the municipality.