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13-421: The Luykas Van Alen House is an historic Dutch Colonial farmhouse at 2589 New York State Route 9H in the town of Kinderhook , Columbia County, New York , United States. Built about 1737 and enlarged about 1750, it is one of the finest surviving examples of Dutch colonial architecture in upstate New York. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1967. It is now an historic house museum operated by

26-660: A decades-long close friendship with Jesse Merwin , a teacher of a nearby school, and was a close friend of Kinderhook native (and U.S. President) Martin Van Buren , a neighbor of the Van Alens and a frequent guest in the town. This property (interior and exterior) was a location scene in the 1993 Martin Scorsese film The Age of Innocence , starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Daniel Day-Lewis . Dutch Colonial architecture (New Netherland) Dutch colonial architecture

39-464: A house with a gambrel-roof,—   Standing still, if you must have proof.— "Gambrel?—Gambrel?"—Let me beg   You'll look at a horse's hinder leg,— First great angle above the hoof,—   That's the gambrel; hence gambrel-roof.) An earlier reference from the Dictionary of Americanisms , published in 1848, defines gambrel as "A hipped roof of a house, so called from

52-436: A mansard roof, but a gambrel has vertical gable ends instead of being hipped at the four corners of the building. A gambrel roof overhangs the façade , whereas a mansard normally does not. Gambrel is a Norman English word, sometimes spelled gambol such as in the 1774 Boston carpenters' price book (revised 1800). Other spellings include gamerel, gamrel, gambril, gameral, gambering, cambrel, cambering, chambrel referring to

65-423: A wooden bar used by butchers to hang the carcasses of slaughtered animals. Butcher's gambrels, later made of metal, resembled the two-sloped appearance of a gambrel roof when in use. Gambrel is also a term for the joint in the upper part of a horse's hind leg, the hock . In 1858, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. wrote: Know old Cambridge? Hope you do.—   Born there? Don't say so! I was, too. (Born in

78-604: Is the type of architecture prevalent in the construction of homes, commercial buildings, and outbuildings in areas settled by the Dutch from the early 17th to early 19th century in the area encompassing the former Dutch colony of New Netherland in what is now the United States. In the early 17th century, the original portion of most dwellings started out, as a matter of immediate need, as simple one-story dwellings constructed primarily of local available material. When available

91-531: The Columbia County Historical Society , and open for tours on weekends from June to October. The Van Alen House is located in a rural setting of the upper Hudson River valley, on the west side New York 9H, about 2 miles (3.2 km) south of its junction with U.S. Route 9 . It is a 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 -story brick structure, with a steeply pitched gabled roof. It has three chimneys, one at each gable end, and one between two of

104-419: The gable ends. Gambrel roof Europeans historically did not distinguish between a gambrel roof and a mansard roof but called both types a mansard. In the United States, various shapes of gambrel roofs are sometimes called Dutch gambrel or Dutch Colonial gambrel with bell-cast eaves, Swedish, German, English, French, or New England gambrel. The cross-section of a gambrel roof is similar to that of

117-670: The house would be constructed of fieldstone such as the Abraham Manee House on Staten Island . The wood for the joists and rafters were trimmed with an adze from trees felled on or near the property. The ceiling and interior walls when constructed after the initial construction were usually framed then plastered with clay from local deposits, mixed with horse hair for strength, over rough trimmed wood laths . Common characteristics of Dutch colonial architecture are they typically, but not always, had Gambrel roofs with flared eaves , Dutch doors and brick chimneys built at

130-602: The resemblance to the hind leg of a horse which by farriers is termed the gambrel ." Webster's Dictionary also confusingly used the term hip in the definition of this roof. The term is also used for a single mansard roof in France and Germany. In Dutch the term 'two-sided mansard roof' is used for gambrel roofs. The origin of the gambrel roof form in North America is unknown. The oldest known gambrel roof in America

143-505: The staircase) have been brought in from similar period houses. The house was built about 1737 by Luykas Van Alen, who purchased the land from Mohican Native Americans. As built then, it was just two rooms, with no internal connection between them, and a sleeping loft above. The third room was added about 1750. The house remained in the hands of the Van Alen family until 1961, undergoing numerous alterations before falling into disrepair. It

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156-478: The three rooms that make up the ground floor. The brick is laid in a typical Dutch style, with the gables also finished in brick. The gable lines differ from typical urban Dutch architecture of the period by being straight lines, rather than stepped or curved. The house's three rooms each have separate entrances, with reproduction sash windows beside them. The interior retains a number of features original to its construction or later alteration, but some features (notably

169-628: Was given by them to the Columbia County Historical Society , which undertook a complete restoration. It is now operated by the Historical Society as an historic house museum illustrating 18th century Dutch Colonial life. The Van Alen House and its farm are believed to have served as the inspiration for homestead of the Van Tassel family in Washington Irving 's short story " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow ". Irving established

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