The Dyckman House, now the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum, is the oldest remaining farmhouse on
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
island, a vestige of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
's rural past. The
Dutch Colonial-style farmhouse was built by William Dyckman, c.1785,
and was originally part of over of farmland owned by the family.
["Dyckman House Museum"]
on the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...
website It is now located in a small park at the corner of
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
and
204th Street in
Inwood, Manhattan
Inwood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, at the northern tip of Manhattan Island, in the U.S. state of New York. It is bounded by the Hudson River to the west, Spuyten Duyvil Creek and Marble Hill to the north, the H ...
.
[
]
History and description
Dyckman was the grandson of Jan Dyckman, who came to the area from Westphalia
Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants.
The territory of the regio ...
in 1661.[Kuhn, Jonathan. "Dyckman House" in ] William Dyckman, who inherited the family estate, built the current house to replace the family house located on the Harlem River
The Harlem River is an tidal strait in New York, United States, flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the New York mainland.
The northern stretch, also called the Spuyte ...
near the present West 210th Street, which he had built in 1748, and which was destroyed in the American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
.
The current two-story house is constructed of fieldstone
Fieldstone is a naturally occurring type of stone, which lies at or near the surface of the Earth. Fieldstone is a nuisance for farmers seeking to expand their land under cultivation, but at some point it began to be used as a construction mate ...
, brick and white clapboard
Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping.
''Clapboard'' in modern Americ ...
, and features a gambrel roof
A gambrel or gambrel roof is a usually symmetrical two-sided roof with two slopes on each side. (The usual architectural term in eighteenth-century England and North America was "Dutch roof".) The upper slope is positioned at a shallow angle, w ...
and spring eaves. The porches are typical of the Dutch Colonial style, but were added in 1825. The house's interior has parlors and an indoor winter kitchen in the basement, thus serving as a heating for the first floor. The rooms have floors of varying-width chestnut wood. The house's outdoor smokehouse
A smokehouse (North American) or smokery (British) is a building where meat or fish is cured with smoke
Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with t ...
-summer kitchen, in a small building to the south, may predate the house itself. The back of the house holds a short hedges that resemble a maze.
The house stayed in the family for several generations until they sold it in 1868, after which it served as a rental property for several decades.[Historical plaque located near the house. Accessed: May 30, 2014] By the beginning of the 20th century, the house was in disrepair and in danger of being demolished, and in 1915, the Dyckman family bought it back.
In 1915–16, two sisters of the Dyckman family, Mary Alice Dyckman Dean ( Mrs Bashford Dean) and Fannie Fredericka Dyckman Welch, began a restoration of the farmhouse under the supervision of architect Alexander M. Welch, Fannie's husband. In 1916, they transferred ownership of the house to the City of New York, which opened it as a museum of Dutch and Colonial life, featuring the original Dyckman family furnishings.
The farmhouse – which is not only the oldest remaining in Manhattan, but the only one in the Dutch Colonial style, and the only 18th-century farmhouse in the borough as well – has been a New York City Landmark
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
and a National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
since 1967.
In 2003, the house underwent a major restoration, after which it re-opened to the public in the fall of 2005.''Dyckman Farmhouse''
on the Cultural Landscape Foundation website
In popular culture
* The Dyckman House was featured in
Bob Vila
Robert Joseph Vila (born June 20, 1946) is an American home improvement television show host known for ''This Old House'' (1979–1989), ''Bob Vila's Home Again'' (1990–2005), and ''Bob Vila'' (2005–2007).
Early life and education
Vila, a C ...
's
A&E Network
A&E is an American basic cable network, the flagship television property of A&E Networks. The network was originally founded in 1984 as the Arts & Entertainment Network, initially focusing on fine arts, documentaries, television drama, dramas, and ...
production ''Guide to Historic Homes of America''.
Gallery
File:Dyckman House front porch.jpg, Front porch
File:Dyckman House rear porch.jpg, Rear porch
File:Dyckman House west side from rear.jpg, West end of the house, seen from the rear
See also
*
*
*
List of National Historic Landmarks in New York City
This article lists National Historic Landmarks in New York City, of which there are 116. One of the New York City sites is also a national monument, and there are two more national monuments in NYC as well. These are listed further below. It al ...
References
Notes
External links
Dyckman Farmhouse Museum websiteon the
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...
website
{{Broadway (Manhattan)
1784 establishments in New York (state)
Broadway (Manhattan)
Historic American Buildings Survey in New York City
Historic house museums in New York City
Houses completed in 1784
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan
Inwood, Manhattan
Museums in Manhattan
National Historic Landmarks in Manhattan
New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan
U.S. Route 9