New York Times: City Reneges on Deal for Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead
Courtesy of Wikipedia
This past weekend’s New York Times Metropolitan section reported that Parks Department negotiations to purchase the Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead and turn it into a house museum have stalled. In 1999, the city offered $2 million for the house and its historic contents, among them a sword etched with the royal crown and initials for George Rex III and windowpanes with the initials of two Hessian soldiers who stayed there during the Revolution.¹ In addition, the current owners, the Monts, would have been able to live there rent-free provided this deal went through.
However, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services has now offered the Monts considerably less than originally promised and a deal is no longer close to being done. I sincerely hope this deal gets done because this treasure of a house deserves to be a public space for all history buffs to marvel at.
Click here to read the entire article and as well as see fantastic pictures of the house.
¹Blumenthal, Ralph. “A Prewar Home, to Say the Least.” The New York Times. 29 January 2010.
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Local Landmark: Elias Hubbard Ryder House
Located at 1926 East 28th Street between Avenue S and Avenue T, the Elias Hubbard Ryder House is an extremely late example of the Dutch Colonial farmhouse, distinguished by a projecting roof eave, used to protect the masonry walls from rain and snow¹. Built in 1834, this two-story wood-frame house was built on the edge of the farmland inherited by Elias Hubbard Ryder, a member of a prominent Brooklyn family at the time.² In fact, here is a bit of Ryder family history:
On December 6, 1678, the common lands, in the extreme eastern part of Gravesend bordering Flatlands, were divided into fifteen acre lots. In 1712, two of these lots were purchased by Bernardus Ryder, who was an Elder in the Gravesend Church. His grandson of the same name, inherited the property and in turn passed it on to his sons. Additionally, Bernardus (the grandson) was appointed one of the original five Trustees of the Town of Gravesend. The property in question was lot #3, which was passed on to his son Elias Hubbard Ryder, for whom the house is attributed to. In 1822, Elias married Ann Stillwell, a descendant of Nicholas Stillwell, one of the original patentees, and constructed the house in 1834.³
According to the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s designation report:
When surveys were made for city streets in this section of Brooklyn, the house was found to be located in the middle of the planned roadbed for East 29th Street just off of Avenue S, actually straddling the blockfronts on either side. In 1928 the City acquired title through condemnation to the property and sold back the house, but not the land, to the Ryder family. The main body of the house was moved to 1926 East 28th Street after two rooms on the west and an end porch had been removed for structural reasons and in order to adjust the house to the dimensions of the new lot. To compensate for the rooms lost, the south porch was replaced with a room, and a bedroom and bath with dormer windows were added at the second floor. Also a rear second story wing was added to provide another bedroom.
According to Leonard Benardo and Jennifer Weiss in Brooklyn By Name:
The Hubbard family were landowners in Flatlands from 1652. Descendant and Revolutionary War patriot Elias Hubbard was one of Flatlands’ leading funders of the colonists’ cause. A 1790 census identifies his seventy-seven acre farm and five slaves. In 1896 the farm was finally sold off. Hubbard Place, a segment of the former Hubbard Lane, survives south of Avenue K and Kings Highway.
The AIA Guide to New York City has so affectionately described this house as ”Dutch Colonialism squeezed between neighboring middle-class funk. The funkiness is compounded by the specious shutters (non-working).”
This building was designated a New York City Landmark on March 23, 1976. Click here to read the full Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report.
Sources:
¹ ² Diamonstein-Spielvogel, Barbaralee. The Landmarks of New York. The Monacelli Press, 2005.
³ Elias Hubbard Ryder House Designation Report. New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. 23 Mar 1976. LP-0920.
Dolkart, Andrew S. and Matthew A. Postal. Guide to New York City Landmarks. 3rd Ed. New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.
White, Norval and Elliot Willensky. AIA Guide to New York City. 4th Ed. New York: Crown Publishers, 2000.
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