The Society for the Preservation of Hudson Valley Vernacular Architecture April – June 2013 Newsletter Vol.16, No.4-6 HVVA is a not-for-profit corporation formed to study and preserve the vernacular architecture and material culture of the Hudson Valley 368 Hooker Avenue, Poughkeepsie, NY. Peter Sinclair Photo by Neil Larson. Founder, Trustee Emeritus West Hurley, Ulster County, NY Walter Wheeler – President Troy, Rensselaer County, NY [email protected] Ken Walton – Vice President Gardiner, Ulster County, NY [email protected] Robert Sweeney Corresponding Secretary & Treasurer Kingston, Ulster County, NY [email protected] Michele VanHoesen What is vernacular architecture? Recording Secretary At the stuffing party preparing tal, cultural, technological, and historical Highland, Ulster County, NY the last issue of the newsletter for the context in which it exists. It has often [email protected] mail, a conversation started over what been dismissed as crude and unrefined, but John Ham – Secretary “vernacular” actually meant. This is also has proponents who highlight its impor- Troy, Rensselaer County, NY not an unusual question in response tance in current design. It can be [email protected] to the announcement that one studies contrasted against polite architecture John Stevens – Past President vernacular architecture or is the member which is characterized by stylistic elements Senior Architectural Historian of a group named Hudson Valley Vernacu- of design intentionally incorporated for Hurley, Ulster County, NY lar Architecture. But it is a aesthetic purposes which go beyond [email protected] question that we should be able to answer a building's functional requirements.” and a term we needn’t waste time debating The Encyclopedia of Vernacular Archi- Neil Larson – Newsletter Editor Woodstock, Ulster County, NY its meaning. Simply put, vernacular tecture of the World defines [email protected] means local, and vernacular architecture vernacular architecture as “comprising is architecture that derives its meaning or the dwellings and all other buildings of – Trustee Tom Colucci significance primarily from local contexts. the people. Related to their environmental High Falls, Ulster County, NY [email protected] It may respond to influences from broader contexts and available resources they are geographical contexts, global cultural move- customarily owner- or community-built, Jim Decker – Trustee ments or universal published sources, but utilizing traditional technologies. All forms Hurley, Ulster County, NY these are perceived through the lens of vernacular architecture are built to meet [email protected] of the local experience and applied specific needs, accommodating the values, Conrad Fingado – Trustee within the local social framework. economies and ways of life of the cultures Pleasant Valley, Dutchess County, NY According to Webster’s Seventh New that produce them.” [email protected] Collegiate Dictionary, the word derives from Many definitions of vernacular Don Hanzl – Trustee the Latin vernaculus, which means native. architecture use terms such as simple, ordi- West Camp, Ulster County, NY The French word verna refers to “a slave nary, unsophisticated, which limits our at- born in his master’s house,” another way of tention to the most mundane buildings. – Trustee Bob Hedges saying native. The principal definition However, if we use the operative meaning Pine Plains, Dutchess County, NY [email protected] reads, “using a language or dialect native to of vernacular as being local, then any a region or country rather than a literary, building existing in a local context is consid- Maggie MacDowell – Trustee cultured or foreign language.” Rather pejo- erable, from the meanest dwelling to the New Paltz, Ulster County, NY rative, but you get the point. most elite mansion. Today, most scholars [email protected] Wikipedia provides the following of vernacular architecture consider it to Karen Markisenis – Trustee definition for vernacular architecture. “Ver- be a perspective for the study of a place Kingston, Ulster County, NY nacular architecture is a category of archi- rather than a category of building. [email protected] tecture based on localized needs and And what is the value of studying archi- William McMillen – Trustee construction materials, and reflecting local tecture in the local context? To quote Eu- Glenmont, Albany County, NY traditions. Vernacular architecture tends to dora Welty, “One place understood well [email protected] evolve over time to reflect the environmen- helps to understand other places better.” 2 April – June 2013 Tour of Historic Properties in the Town of Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County – Saturday, April 20, 2013 An unexpected inquiry from a new owner of an old house We made a stop at another 19th-century Poughkeepsie in Poughkeepsie resulted in a rather spontaneous tour of house and barn before having lunch at “Coppola’s on 9,” the Town of Poughkeepsie. Until very recently the house which occupies an old Westervelt House built in the late had been owned by the Kimlin family, who settled there in 18th century and still retains noteworthy architectural the 1850s; however, it is reputed to have parts dating back features even though used as a restaurant for many years. to the 18th century. The owner has removed accumulated After lunch, we enjoyed a walking tour of New Hamburg, finishes to expose some of the skeleton of the house, a rare and wonderful surviving 19th-century Hudson River which allowed us to see for the first time, if that was the landing. case. Included on the tour was the Kimlins’ cider mill, which for many years was a popular local landmark. Our thanks to James Papp, Cider Mill Friends of Open It now is owned by a local preservation group that Space and Historic Preservation, and Sarah Johnson endeavors to restore it to its original, folksy grandeur. of the New Hamburg History Group. Kimlin House from SE. AT RIGHT, FROM TOP: Kimlin House from NW. Kimlin House interior. Kimlin Cider Mill. Kimlin House from NE. www.hvva.org 3 LEFT, FROM TOP: Westervelt House, South Rd. House and stores, Main St., New Hamburg. House on Conklin St., New Hamburg. Detail of porch on Main St., New Hamburg. ABOVE: Brick house on Water St., New Hamburg. BELOW: Original H.R.R.R. tunnel (1850), New Hamburg. BOTTOM: St. Nicholas Church, Point St., New Hamburg. 4 April – June 2013 Style and Vernacular Architecture By Neil Larson Introduction Style is an emotionally charged word in the study of historic architecture. In some circles, it is the end-all and be-all of criticism; that is, if a building cannot be classified in a manner or taste, then it can have no significance as architecture. In others, consideration of style is regarded as an act of pretension that deflects our analysis of architecture from a natural (and honest) realm into a profane world of wealth, class and power. Each of these extremist views wields style as a club in an ideological battle that is more about contem- porary attitudes toward history than about history itself. Fig. 1 – Wurtemburg Farmhouse, ca. 1870, Rhinebeck, NY. All photos by In the study of vernacular architecture, the controversy Neil Larson unless otherwise indicated. over style has motivated most scholars to avoid it altogether. The rationale is that style in traditional buildings is an indi- vidualistic, subjective phenomenon that cannot be reliably interpreted other than in the broadest of terms and that the deeper meaning of the architecture is in its physical (as opposed to metaphysical) fabric. As a result, while we have grown fluent in vocabularies of types, forms and plans and skilled in methods for finding patterns in organization and function, our ability to articulate the substance of a building’s emotive content or to discern the range and diversity of its expressive power has developed to a far lesser degree. As we have become attuned to the complexities of vernacular buildings, we have continued to refine our interpretive frame- works to accommodate new empirical data. Meanwhile, we continue to approach style in the most general way, relying Fig. 2 – Henry Delamater House, 1844, Rhinebeck, NY, Alexander Jackson on casual, often uncritical, references to established para- Davis, architect. digms (as we would never do for house form or function) and on universalizing terminology (such as Georgian or Picturesque) without really responding to the specific nature of the object. Case Study I The style of late-19th-century German houses Furthermore, as we have come to recognize that physical in Rhinebeck changes in a building can serve as indicators of cultural transformations in an individual or a society, we seldom When considering the style of houses built by German families regard differences in style as profoundly. As a result, by in Rhinebeck during the last half of the 19th-century, it is easy avoiding the issue of style in vernacular architecture, we to categorize the design as American Picturesque, especially deprive ourselves of a valuable tool in the search for its in the Hudson Valley where the design taste popularized meaning and, more important, severely limit our opportuni- by native-son Andrew Jackson Downing was widely expressed ties for interpreting it as a “cultural system,” to borrow (Fig. 1). When compared to a text-book example like the Clifford Geertz’s term. Delamater House, built a generation earlier in Rhinebeck, there are certain visible similarities (Fig. 2). Both houses have square What follows are two case studies that demonstrate how massing and symmetrical facades dominated by central gable a more rigorous and critical analysis of style enhances dormers and broad porches. They have hipped roofs, deep our understanding of vernacular architecture, particularly eaves and little bay windows on the parlor side. Their floor plans in situations where form, plan and function do not provide are roughly the same, although the architect’s version plays with much insight into the cultural system of which the architec- the arrangement of interior spaces a bit more, and, of course, ture is a part.