Jan Van Hoesen House
Encyclopedia
Jan Van Hoesen House is an early 18th century house in New York State. Driving northeast on NY 66
from Hudson
to Chatham, just east of Claverack Creek
, stands sentinel a vacant medieval-looking brick structure over the Dutch Acres Mobile Home Park. Like the Columbia County Historical Society's Luykas Van Alen House in Kinderhook
, this steeply pitched roof, parapet
gable
d house is a rare surviving example of a type of rural house characteristic of the upper Hudson Valley
in the first half of the 18th century. Van Hoesen house is located on Route 66, north of the City of Hudson
.
and was descendant of medieval longhouses.
The form was introduced into New Netherland
before the mid-17th century, but did not become prevalent in the region of Columbia County until about 1715, a period of economic prosperity. According to cultural historian Ruth Piwonka, such brick houses are not merely farmhouses but substantial upper middle-class residences expressing tastes and prosperity in a northern European manner.
Originally the approach to the Dutch Acres' house was from the southwest and northeast on a road that led to Claverack Landing (present-day Hudson
). In a reversal of the well-known Dutch urban house, which places the main entrance in the gable
end, the house has its entrances in the side walls and its chimneys in the gable
s. The present back of the house was originally the front. Five openings of equal width, height, and spacing are indicated on this facade
. These openings are marked by gauged flat arches in the masonry made decorative through the use of red vertical stretchers alternating with blackened Winker headers. These arches are a rare survivor of such decorative technique. All the openings are altered from their original form, either made smaller or changed in function.
The house's southwesterly gable
wall contains a thin engaged chimney flue that enabled the occupants to benefit from fireplaces in the cellar
and on the main floor. This is also a rare example of such construction although it is known to have once been common throughout the region. The doorway at the corner leading to a cellar
kitchen
is original to the house as are the garret
and granary
window openings and frames. Wrought-iron fleur-de-lis
beam anchors on both gables and iron gutter hangers are also distinctive surviving features.
The tin roof is a later replacement for the shingled or possibly tiled original roof. The easterly gable of the house contains five windows and a door. The first floor windows and door are later additions. The second floor windows are alterations of original windows and one even shows evidence of an early window frame. The granary windows are also original openings.
The truly principal feature of this gable
, however, are die initials "T" and "I V H" worked in the masonry in black clinker brick
headers. These are the monograms of the first occupants of the house, Jan van Hoesen (1687–1745) and his wife Tanneke. The "T" stands for Tanneke, given name of the wife of Jan Van Hoesen, Tanneke Wittbeck. The letters "V" and "H" stand for Jan's family name Van Hoesen. Jan's given name is represented by the letter "I", which is the Dutch
representation of the letter "J".
and town of Greenport
. Jan,nonetheless, served as a deacon in the Lutheran church at Lunenberg (presentday Athens
) across the Hudson River
and,along with his wife, was extremely active in Lutheran church affairs. Jan and Tanneke had eleven children, of whom three sons appear at the locality of this house at the time of the Revolution. And the house remained in the family for several generations.
, the Jan van Hoesen house is significant. It reflects the tastes and life style of the prosperous Hudson Valley Dutch freeholder, who is often overlooked by a historical emphasis on the lifestyle of the manor lords. The house was nominated to the New York State Inventory of Historic Resources in January 1976. Around 2008 the Van Hoesen House Historical Foundation was established for the purpose of promoting public awareness of the structure and eventually protecting and preserving it. In February, 2009, the home was included on the "Seven To Save" list of endangered historic properties by the Preservation League of New York State.
In June, 2011, New York State Museum researchers began the first phase of an archaeological excavation project at the Van Hoesen house site in Claverack, NY. They will be searching for buried artifacts that could reveal details about colonial life in the Hudson Valley.
New York State Route 66
New York State Route 66 is a state highway in the Capital District of New York in the United States. The route begins at an intersection with NY 23B in the Columbia County city of Hudson and ends at a junction with NY 2 in the Rensselaer County city of Troy...
from Hudson
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...
to Chatham, just east of Claverack Creek
Claverack Creek
Claverack Creek is a tributary to Stockport Creek in Columbia County, New York, in the United States. Its source is in the town of Claverack at the hamlet of Mellenville, and its mouth is at its confluence with Kinderhook Creek to form Stockport Creek, in the town of Stockport.-History:The lower...
, stands sentinel a vacant medieval-looking brick structure over the Dutch Acres Mobile Home Park. Like the Columbia County Historical Society's Luykas Van Alen House in Kinderhook
Kinderhook (town), New York
Kinderhook is a town in the northern part of Columbia County, New York, United States. The population was 8,296 at the 2000 census. The name of the town means "Children's Corner" in the language of the original Dutch settlers . The town of Kinderhook contains two villages, one of which is also...
, this steeply pitched roof, parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
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 house is a rare surviving example of a type of rural house characteristic of the upper Hudson Valley
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in New York State, United States, from northern Westchester County northward to the cities of Albany and Troy.-History:...
in the first half of the 18th century. Van Hoesen house is located on Route 66, north of the City of Hudson
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...
.
History and architectural influences
The house, built between 1715 and 1724, is one of approximately seven similar brick dwellings to survive into the 21st Century. Built usually in an elongated rectangular form of brick over a timber frame, these residences varied in the arrangement of windows, doors, and rooms according to the tastes of their owner. The style originated in the 16th-century NetherlandsNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and was descendant of medieval longhouses.
The form was introduced into New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
before the mid-17th century, but did not become prevalent in the region of Columbia County until about 1715, a period of economic prosperity. According to cultural historian Ruth Piwonka, such brick houses are not merely farmhouses but substantial upper middle-class residences expressing tastes and prosperity in a northern European manner.
Architectural features and layout
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...
). In a reversal of the well-known Dutch urban house, which places the main entrance in the 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...
end, the house has its entrances in the side walls and its chimneys in the 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...
s. The present back of the house was originally the front. Five openings of equal width, height, and spacing are indicated on this 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"....
. These openings are marked by gauged flat arches in the masonry made decorative through the use of red vertical stretchers alternating with blackened Winker headers. These arches are a rare survivor of such decorative technique. All the openings are altered from their original form, either made smaller or changed in function.
The house's southwesterly 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...
wall contains a thin engaged chimney flue that enabled the occupants to benefit from fireplaces in the cellar
Basement
__FORCETOC__A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. Basements are typically used as a utility space for a building where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system...
and on the main floor. This is also a rare example of such construction although it is known to have once been common throughout the region. The doorway at the corner leading to a cellar
Basement
__FORCETOC__A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. Basements are typically used as a utility space for a building where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system...
kitchen
Kitchen
A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation.In the West, a modern residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a...
is original to the house as are the garret
Garret
A garret is generally synonymous in modern usage with a habitable attic or small living space at the top of a house. It entered Middle English via Old French with a military connotation of a watchtower or something akin to a garrison, in other words a place for guards or soldiers to be quartered...
and granary
Granary
A granary is a storehouse for threshed grain or animal feed. In ancient or primitive granaries, pottery is the most common use of storage in these buildings. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food away from mice and other animals.-Early origins:From ancient times grain...
window openings and frames. Wrought-iron fleur-de-lis
Fleur-de-lis
The fleur-de-lis or fleur-de-lys is a stylized lily or iris that is used as a decorative design or symbol. It may be "at one and the same time, political, dynastic, artistic, emblematic, and symbolic", especially in heraldry...
beam anchors on both gables and iron gutter hangers are also distinctive surviving features.
The tin roof is a later replacement for the shingled or possibly tiled original roof. The easterly gable of the house contains five windows and a door. The first floor windows and door are later additions. The second floor windows are alterations of original windows and one even shows evidence of an early window frame. The granary windows are also original openings.
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...
, however, are die initials "T" and "I V H" worked in the masonry in black clinker brick
Clinker brick
Clinker bricks are partially vitrified brick stones used in the construction of buildings.Clinkers are burnt under temperatures so high that the pores of the fuel property are closed by the beginning sinter process. Thus they are considerably denser and therefore heavier than regular bricks...
headers. These are the monograms of the first occupants of the house, Jan van Hoesen (1687–1745) and his wife Tanneke. The "T" stands for Tanneke, given name of the wife of Jan Van Hoesen, Tanneke Wittbeck. The letters "V" and "H" stand for Jan's family name Van Hoesen. Jan's given name is represented by the letter "I", which is the Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
representation of the letter "J".
Evolution of the structure
Modifications from the late 18th century and periods in the 19th century are represented in this structure. More details on this subject are sought.Family history
Jan van Hoesen, who married in 1711 Tanneke Witbeck, a daughter of Hendrick Witbeck of Claverack, was a grandson of Jan Franse van Hoesen. It was the elder Van Hoesen who in 1662 purchased from the Mohicans the tract of land that included the present city of HudsonHudson, 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...
and town of Greenport
Greenport, New York
Greenport, New York may refer to:*Greenport, Columbia County, New York*Greenport, Suffolk County, New York...
. Jan,nonetheless, served as a deacon in the Lutheran church at Lunenberg (presentday Athens
Athens, New York
Athens, New York can refer to:* Athens , New York* Athens , New York...
) across the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
and,along with his wife, was extremely active in Lutheran church affairs. Jan and Tanneke had eleven children, of whom three sons appear at the locality of this house at the time of the Revolution. And the house remained in the family for several generations.
Significance and current activity
As the most intact remaining example of a type of Dutch architecture unique to the Hudson ValleyHudson Valley
The Hudson Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in New York State, United States, from northern Westchester County northward to the cities of Albany and Troy.-History:...
, the Jan van Hoesen house is significant. It reflects the tastes and life style of the prosperous Hudson Valley Dutch freeholder, who is often overlooked by a historical emphasis on the lifestyle of the manor lords. The house was nominated to the New York State Inventory of Historic Resources in January 1976. Around 2008 the Van Hoesen House Historical Foundation was established for the purpose of promoting public awareness of the structure and eventually protecting and preserving it. In February, 2009, the home was included on the "Seven To Save" list of endangered historic properties by the Preservation League of New York State.
In June, 2011, New York State Museum researchers began the first phase of an archaeological excavation project at the Van Hoesen house site in Claverack, NY. They will be searching for buried artifacts that could reveal details about colonial life in the Hudson Valley.
External links
- Van Hoesen House A website produced by Van Hoesen House Historical Foundation (VHHHF) with information about the effort to preserve and enhance public awareness of this historic Dutch house. Includes an online forum to accommodate discussion and sharing of information related to Van Hoesen House and the Van Hoesen family line.
- Forum for Van Hoesen House & Van Hoesen Genealogy Topics This forum is administered by Van Hoesen House Historical Foundation.
- Jan Van Hoesen House Listing on National Register Places in Columbia County, New YorkColumbia County, New YorkColumbia County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 63,096. The county seat is Hudson. The name comes from the Latin feminine form of the name of Christopher Columbus, which was at the time of the formation of the county a popular proposal...
that appear on the National Register of Historic Places.