Eustatia
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Eustatia (
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
for "good place to stay") is a brick house overlooking the
Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
in
Beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
, United States. Located on Monell Place in the northwestern corner of the city, it is a rare survival in Beacon of a
cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a Cotter (farmer), cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager ...
in the
High Victorian Gothic High Victorian Gothic was an eclectic architectural style and movement during the mid-late 19th century. It is seen by architectural historians as either a sub-style of the broader Gothic Revival style, or a separate style in its own right. Prom ...
style. It was built in 1867 to designs by
Frederick Clarke Withers Frederick Clarke Withers (4 February 1828 – 7 January 1901) was an English architect in America, especially renowned for his Gothic Revival ecclesiastical designs. For portions of his professional career, he partnered with fellow immigrant Cal ...
for his friend John J. Monell (after whom today's street is named), a New York state judge. Monell had recently married Caroline DeWindt Downing, widow of his friend the influential Newburgh architect
Andrew Jackson Downing Andrew Jackson Downing (October 31, 1815 – July 28, 1852) was an American landscape designer, horticulturist, and writer, a prominent advocate of the Gothic Revival in the United States, and editor of ''The Horticulturist'' magazine (1846–5 ...
, with whom Withers had worked. They built the house on property deeded to them by her father, John Peter DeWindt, near her family's own cottage. As per Withers's specifications, the house is built of red Hudson River brick and light Milwaukee brick for the
polychromy Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors. Ancient Egypt Colossal statu ...
. This cream-colored brick he also called for in the construction of his Arcade Building (1871) for
Riverside, Illinois Riverside is a suburban village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. A significant portion of the village is in the Riverside Historic District (Riverside, Illinois), Riverside Landscape Architecture District, designated a National Historic La ...
, a suburb under development by his once partner
Calvert Vaux Calvert Vaux (; December 20, 1824 – November 19, 1895) was an English-American architect and landscape designer, best known as the co-designer, along with his protégé and junior partner Frederick Law Olmsted, of what would become New York Ci ...
and
Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...
. Eustatia was notably produced from the office of Vaux, Withers, & Co., the second architectural partnership Withers formed with Vaux; the latter's involvement is unclear. Withers's design was heavily influenced by concepts from his mentor Downing, and the house appeared in the 1873 edition of Downing's popular ''Cottage Residences'' (1842), among many other plans added by
George E. Harney George Edward Harney (1840–1924) was a late 19th-century American architect based in New York City. Biography George Edward Harney was born in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1840. He received his early training in the office of local engineer Alonzo L ...
. It retains the form and reserve of many of Downing's designs, but adds the "polychromatic enrichment" of the
Ruskinian John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...
Gothic style Withers had explored in Beacon beginning in 1859 with its
Reformed Church Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...
. A garden next to the house planned by
Henry Winthrop Sargent Henry Winthrop Sargent (November 26, 1810 – November 11, 1882), American horticulturist and landscape gardener. Early life Henry Winthrop Sargent was born in Boston, the first child of Hannah (Welles) Sargent and artist Henry Sargent (1770–1 ...
has been destroyed, but the interior retains many period details such as a tiled
marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...
entry floor and dark
walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...
moldings after a fire. Its original form and exterior appearance have remained largely intact since its construction despite subsequent changes in ownership and the addition of modern utilities. In 1979 it was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
. The house is named for
Eustatia Island Eustatia Island is a 30-acre island of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) in the Caribbean. The word "Eustatia" is a Greek derived word meaning, "good place to stay." The entire island, and a small neighboring island, Saba Rock, are under the same ...
, a 30-acre
island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
of the
British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = "Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Brit ...
(BVI) in the
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
where DeWindt's family had once lived as Dutch immigrants.


References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Gothic Revival architecture in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Dutchess County, New York Houses in Beacon, New York Frederick Clarke Withers buildings {{DutchessCountyNY-NRHP-stub