Hyde Hall is a neoclassical country mansion in

Springfield Center, New York Springfield Center is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet (and census-designated place) in the town of Springfield, New York, Springfield, Otsego County, New York, Otsego County, New York (state), New York, United States. According to the 2010 US census, ...

, designed by architect

Philip Hooker Philip Hooker (October 28, 1766 – January 31, 1836) was an American architect from Albany, New York, known for Hyde Hall, the facade of the Hamilton College Chapel, The Albany Academy, Albany City Hall, and the original New York State Capitol bu ...

for George Clarke (1768–1835), a wealthy landowner. The house was constructed between 1817 and 1834, and designed with English and American architectural features. It was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 1986 for its architecture, and the completeness of its architectural documentary record. It is one of the few surviving works of Philip Hooker, a leading 19th-century American architect.

History

The George Clarke who commissioned the building was the great grandson of another George Clarke (1676-1760), who held several posts in the government of the

colony of New York The Province of New York was a British proprietary colony and later a royal colony on the northeast coast of North America from 1664 to 1783. It extended from Long Island on the Atlantic, up the Hudson River and Mohawk River valleys to the G ...

in the first half of the 18th century, including acting governor from 1736 to 1743. The ancestral home of the Clarke family was at Hyde in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

in northwest England, now part of Manchester. The younger George Clarke, having inherited his great grandfather's extensive fortune and lands in New York, settled in Albany in 1806. His ownership of much of the land he inherited was long disputed, though he won in the lower courts in December 1815 and his title was vindicated by the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

in 1818. In 1813, Clarke married Ann Low Cary Cooper, a member of one of New York's most prominent families and the widow of

James Fenimore Cooper James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonial and indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...

's elder brother. In 1817 he purchased lands on Lake Otsego adjacent to his wife's estate and contracted with Hooker for a country villa. The construction project expanded over time, aided in part by Clarke's further inheritance from his father in 1824.

Architecture

The architecture reflects the building's evolution during the 14 years of its construction, with a series of wings facing a central courtyard. The first phase, the family rooms called the Stone House, is "

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

in form with a central two story, hip roofed core flanked by one story wings and fronted by a porch". Among its details are "Tuscan piers on the porch, a Palladian window surmounted by an oval arch, five oval windows and simple moldings in a restrained Federal style. The walls are smooth ashlar limestone with a narrow intervening band for every third course. The interior rooms are intimate, focused around a pair of library-living rooms." The second phase, larger than Stone House, contained quarters for servants and services, as well as second-floor bedrooms. Its details are plain in comparison with Stone House and the exterior in

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 ...

. The third construction project, the Great House, adopted a neo-Classical style unlike the Palladian. It emphasizes right angles and avoids curved forms for doorways, windows, and moldings. It represents one of the earliest uses of

Doric columns The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

found in New York, using a form more slender than their ancient models. As in the second phase of construction, large undecorated

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

blocks form the walls. The Great House contains two entertaining rooms, a drawing room and a dining room. They are grandly proportioned, each 34 by 26 feet and 19 feet high. The ceilings are elaborately decorated. A smaller pavilion upstairs, reached by a semi-circular staircase, serves as billiard room.

Present day

It is located in New York within Glimmerglass State Park on Otsego Lake at the base of Mount Wellington. Also on the grounds, constructed at the same time as the mansion, is Hyde Hall Bridge, a covered bridge. The building is a

New York State Historic Site The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (NYS OPRHP) is a state agency within the New York State Executive Department Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Law § 3.03. "The office of parks, recreation and h ...

known as ''Hyde Hall State Historic Site''. It was declared a

in 1986. Members of the public may reserve a tour of the mansion by calling (607) 547-5098.

References

External links

*
NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation: Hyde Hall State Historic Site
*

Historic American Buildings Survey The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

(HABS): ** ** ** {{Protected areas of New York Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) National Historic Landmarks in New York (state) New York (state) historic sites Museums in Otsego County, New York Historic house museums in New York (state) Houses in Otsego County, New York Historic American Buildings Survey in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Otsego County, New York New York State Register of Historic Places in Otsego County

History

Architecture

Present day

See also

References

External links