Senate House | |
 North elevation, 2007 | |
   | |
| Location | Kingston, New York |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 41°56′6.28″N 74°1′8.8″W / 41.9350778°N 74.019111°W |
| Built | 1676 |
| Architectural style | Dutch Colonial |
| Part of | Kingston Stockade District |
| NRHP reference No. | 71000564[1] |
| Added to NRHP | August 12, 1971 |
The Senate House State Historic Site is located on Fair Street in Kingston, New York, United States. During the Revolutionary War, New York's First Constitutional Convention met there and on April 20, 1777, adopted the first New York State Constitution. After one month, the Senate fled the British troops who were advancing from Manhattan. The Senate House and much of Kingston was burned in retribution. It has served as a museum from the late 19th century. Currently it is owned and operated by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
In 1971 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the first building in Kingston listed. At that time it was a contributing property to the small Clinton Avenue Historic District. Four years later, in 1975, the original district was replaced with the larger Kingston Stockade District, which retained the Senate House and all the other properties of the original district.
The house first belonged to Wessel Wesselse Ten Broeck, born about 1636, who emigrated to New Amsterdam from Wessen, in Westphalia in 1659. It is generally described as having been built in 1676, but can be certainly dated to some time before his death in 1704.[2] The ground floor of the house consists of three rooms, lined up along the street, with an entrance hallway between two of the rooms. As is typical of early Dutch houses in the Hudson Valley, the house is of stone, with the exception of the rear wall which is brick, laid in Flemish bond. At the back is a kitchen wing, added early, but somewhat later than the original construction.
See also
References
- ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
- ↑ Helen Wilkinson Reynolds, Dutch Houses in the Hudson Valley Before 1776, Payson and Clarke Ltd. for the Holland Society of New York, 1929. Reprinted by Dover Publications Inc. 1965. pp. 219-221
External links
- Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. NY-4360, "Senate House, Kingston, Ulster County, NY", 3 photos, supplemental material
- Senate House State Historic Site at NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
- National Park Service: Senate House in Kingston
- Wildernet information about Senate House
- Archeology at the Senate House
- Rachel DuMont, A Brave Little Maid of the Revolution. A true story of the burning of Kingston; for girls and boys, and older people (1884)
