Old House Journal

Hudson Valley Rebirth

Boarded up and forlorn, the colonial house was adopted, then dismantled and moved to the Hudson Valley by a couple of dedicated preservati­onists.

- PHOTOGRAPH­S BY STEVE GROSS & SUSAN DALEY GARDEN PHOTOGRAPH­S BY KINDRA CLINEFF

Surviving since colonial days, the Hall Christy House is a vernacular Dutch dwelling built in 1747. Lynne Denton had wanted the house for years, and finally got it when a club acquired the property but had no interest in the structure. Even after the sale was underway, years went by before the building could be dismantled, moved, and re-erected in New York’s Hudson Valley. Lynne and Kevin Denton sited the house in the middle of the field rather than at the roadside, in anticipati­on of gardens and a long approach that would leave the modern world behind.

“We found the house without its ‘Dutch kick’ or flared roof overhang,” Lynne says, “but I knew it had had one. Sure enough, when the carpenters dismantled the house, they found an original rafter, which we used as a template for the overhang.” Wasting nothing, holding on to the dynamic history of the house, the Dentons repurposed that old rafter as the handrail for the cellar stairs. Roofs were redone in cedar shakes. The siding reproduces the original riven-oak siding, but in cedar. Boards are all hand planed, and rose-head nails were placed over modern nails used during reconstruc­tion.

Like most old houses, this one had evolved. An addition was added around 1760, with a large room downstairs, a buttery connecting parlor and dining room, and a master chamber upstairs. Today the downstairs room—a multipurpo­se large

room or grootkamer— is the formal dining room. Window sashes were meticulous­ly reproduced with the original profiles, and refitted with the old glass. (One pane in the dining room is etched with W H, for first owner William Hall.)

In the late 18th century, a recycled keeping room was bolted with iron straps and pins to the 1747 section of the house. The space used as a kitchen was added in the early 19th century. The Dentons added five feet to the kitchen, using locust wood posts saved from a later porch.

The Dentons knew they would need authentic parts for restoratio­n, and so they acquired the 1750s Skidmore House, an old gambrel. The restored shell became a garage below, and a guestroom and potting shed above. Floorboard­s were salvaged for use in the kitchen and library of the Hall Christy House. The gambrel house also supplied the fireplace for the keeping room. When the Dentons added a boxed (closed) back stair up to the secondfloo­r hall, they lined it with sheathing from the Skidmore House.

A dogleg staircase from the 1747 parlor to the loft is original. “There was a trap door to the loft,” Lynne says, “but the building inspector would not allow it.” The loft area above now holds a bedroom and a bath.

Jars displayed on the closed back stair were made at the Wingender factory in New Jersey in the 19th century; the makers hailed from Westerwald, Germany. Furniture in the living room reflects 45 years of collecting. A black Windsor chair came from Maine; a cherry wingback chair with fluted legs from the Hudson Valley. The dining-room table is a reproducti­on [ text cont. on page 28]

of one at Van Cortlandt Manor. The Dutchess County (N.Y.) kas or large Dutch cupboard, still in its old stained finish, is unusual for the stop-fluting on the sides. The chandelier is an 18th-century piece from a tavern in Fishkill, since razed. The hanging candlebox dated “1806” is from Greene County, New York. Delftware (antique, found in Amsterdam shops) and most of the brass is Dutch.

A modest kitchen was built in one corner during restoratio­n. The partial wall with a pass-through is meant to look like an old tavern room. (Plumbing added for the bathroom above hides in the upper wall portion.) The wood lintel over the cooktop came from one of the old firebox interiors; building codes had not allowed its reinstalla­tion during reconstruc­tion. The kitchen’s cherry countertop­s were made from large boards found stored in the attic.

Lynne wanted the garden plan to reflect the interior spaces of the house. With modificati­ons over the centuries, the house had step-ups and narrow hallways. Lynne took that arrangemen­t and translated it for the landscape, using brick and stone walls and wood fences, paved walkways, and patios to create room-like spaces, albeit with more sunlight than the ancient rooms admit.

The dwelling house comprises the vernacular Dutch 1747 house, the dining room and upstairs chamber added ca. 1760, the recycled 18th-century keeping room later attached to the house, and an early 19th-century kitchen addition.

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 ??  ?? ABOVE The door to the keeping room is an 18th-century split “Dutch” door; its paneled exterior has remnants of original paint.
OPPOSITE The massive maple behind the house was the first tree introduced by the Dentons. (inset) The roof flare or “kick”...
ABOVE The door to the keeping room is an 18th-century split “Dutch” door; its paneled exterior has remnants of original paint. OPPOSITE The massive maple behind the house was the first tree introduced by the Dentons. (inset) The roof flare or “kick”...
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 ??  ?? ABOVE A pass-through connects the eating area with the small working kitchen, where the mustard-color paint on the ceiling is original. The tavern table is 18th century. The fanback Windsors are reproducti­ons.
TOP (left) Crewel for drapery and bed...
ABOVE A pass-through connects the eating area with the small working kitchen, where the mustard-color paint on the ceiling is original. The tavern table is 18th century. The fanback Windsors are reproducti­ons. TOP (left) Crewel for drapery and bed...
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