The Harriet Phillips Bungalow is located on NY 23B on the western edge of Claverack, New York,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It is a stucco-sided

frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

building dating from the 1920s. A strong example of an American Craftsman Bungalow, it is possible that the house may have been built as a catalog home sold by an Iowa company that preceded

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

in offering full kits that included materials and designs for such homes. In 1997 it was listed on 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 ...

Property

The house is on the eastern side of Route 23B,While Route 23B is signed an east-west route, as it enters Claverack its orientation is closer to north-south. slightly north of Willmon Road on the opposite side. The property includes a small front lawn. The surrounding neighborhood is residential, with most other houses built in the early or mid-twentieth century. At the lot's southeastern corner is a garage that is similar in

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

and material to the house. It is considered a

contributing resource In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

to the National Register listing. The bungalow is a one-and-a-half-story frame structure on a

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

of poured concrete. It is faced in stucco. Wide overhanging eaves, supported by occasional paired

brackets A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or ' ...

, mark the line of the side-gabled roof that is shingled in asphalt and pierced by large

dormer window A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable spac ...

s in the front and rear. The other roof lines have similar treatments. A brick chimney rises on the eastern side. The northern (front) facade has a full-length porch with an arched support. Inside, the front entrance, offset slightly to the east, has a screen door and a beveled-glass front door. The entrance leads into a first floor, which is divided into four large spaces: a front hall with a staircase, living room, dining room, and kitchen. A

Tuscan order The Tuscan order (Latin ''Ordo Tuscanicus'' or ''Ordo Tuscanus'', with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but with ...

columned archway leads into the living room from the hall. Double

French door A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security by ...

s separate the living room from the dining room, which has a

bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. Types Bay window is a generic term for all protruding window constructions, regardless of whether they are curved or angular, or ...

on the western wall. The landing between the first floor and the half-story has a stained glass window. Many original finishes remain. Most reflect the Arts and Crafts styles of the era, particularly the leaded glass in the window panes and the clear slash grain Douglas fir

woodwork Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first mater ...

, especially the full-height kitchen cabinets. Other early twentieth century styles influenced the interior decoration, however. The columned entrance to the living room is a

Classical Revival Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

touch, and the turned spindle balusters on the stairway are a sign of lingering Queen Anne influence.

History

Bungalows, small houses with broad, sloping roofs, first became popular in California and then spread to the rest of the country. The Phillips house exhibits a primary characteristic of the form, in the recessed porch, which treats the space as more part of the interior than as an appendage. Aspects further associated with the American Craftsman influence are the broad eaves and the use of stucco as an exterior material. It is possible that the house may be a catalog house or "kit house", as they also are known, assembled from prefabricated materials that are sold directly to homeowners. While these houses most commonly are associated with

, which made most of them between 1908 and 1940, there were other manufacturers. The Philips bungalow is very similar to a design in the 1923 catalog of another manufacturer, the Gorden-Van Tine Company of Davenport, Iowa, which had preceded Sears in offering a complete package of design and factory-cut materials. Many details and dimensions are identical. The only changes seem to be the elimination of a den on the first floor to allow for a larger bedroom and front hall, and the rearrangement of the staircase and upstairs bathroom to allow for a third bedroom upstairs. Originally, the roof was covered in

cedar Cedar may refer to: Trees and plants *''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae *Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar Places United States * Cedar, Arizona * ...

shake. The porch had been enclosed soon after construction, but that has been reversed. There have been no other significant changes to the house. It has remained a private residence since it was built.

Notes and references

{{National Register of Historic Places in New York Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Houses completed in 1926 Claverack, New York Bungalow architecture in New York (state) Houses in Columbia County, New York National Register of Historic Places in Columbia County, New York

Property

History

See also

Notes and references