The Langdon Estate Gatehouse is a historic home located in

Hyde Park, New York Hyde Park is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States, bordering the Hudson River north of Poughkeepsie. Within the town are the hamlets of Hyde Park, East Park, Staatsburg, and Haviland. Hyde Park is known as the hometown of Fra ...

. It was built in 1876 and is a -story, two-bay dwelling in the

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of ...

style. It has a rectangular main block with a kitchen wing covered by steeply pitched, slate-covered, hipped roofs with round-head dormers. The house's elegant ceiling molding, oak hardwood floors, high ceilings and wooden mantles reflect the wealth of the estate. The home was built as the gatehouse for the Langdon Estate which was the home of Walter Langdon and Dorothea Astor Langdon, the daughter of wealthy New York City businessman

John Jacob Astor John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob Astor; July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848) was a German-born American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor. Astor made his fortune mainly in a fur trade monopoly, by exporting History of opiu ...

. Walter Langdon built the gatehouse as a wedding gift for Emily Astor Kane, his favorite niece. Emily Astor Kane married

Augustus Jay Augustus Jay (October 17, 1850 – December 25, 1919) was an American diplomat and member of the prominent Jay family. Early life Jay was born on October 17, 1850, in Washington, D.C. He was the only child of Peter Augustus Jay and Josephine (n ...

, the great-grandson of the nation's first Chief Justice of the

United States 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 ...

John Jay John Jay (, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of the Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the first chief justice of the United ...

, and the newlyweds moved into the home. Notably, Augustus Jay served as Secretary of the American embassy in Paris from 1885 to 1893. When Walter Langdon, Jr. died, the entire Langdon Estate was purchased by Frederick W. Vanderbilt. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reported the estate acquisition in an article on August 29, 1895, in which the reporter described the estate as "the finest place on the Hudson between New York and Albany." As part of Vanderbilt's extensive redesign of the grounds, he commissioned the construction of a new stone gatehouse. Vanderbilt ordered the Langdon Estate Gatehouse to be moved 50 yards south to the edge of the estate grounds where it now sits at 4419 Albany Post Road. The Gatehouse and property around the Vanderbilt Estate was eventually sold to private individuals and the remaining 211 acres of the Vanderbilt Estate were donated by the

Vanderbilt family The Vanderbilt family is an American family who gained prominence during the Gilded Age. Their success began with the shipping and railroad empires of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the family expanded into various other areas of industry and philanth ...

to the U.S. government and is now preserved by the National Park Service as the

Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site is a historic house museum in Hyde Park, New York, United States. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1940, it is owned and operated by the National Park Service. The property, historically known ...

. The Gatehouse was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

''See also:'' in 1993. The Gatehouse was historically restored in late 2015 and early 2016. The project was overseen by Handcrafted Builders of Rhinebeck. They applied a "built-by-hand" approach to the project - restoring even the smallest of details inside and outside the home. Langdon Estate Gatehouse

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