1838 Peter Augustus Jay House
|
1838 Peter Augustus Jay House
|
|
The Jay Estate in Rye, NY
|
|
| Location | Rye, New York |
|---|---|
| Built | 1838 |
| Architect | Edwin Bishop with influences by Minard Lafever, Asher Benjamin and Chester Hills |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| Part of | Boston Post Road Historic District (Rye, New York) (#82001275) |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 29, 1982 |
| Designated NHLDCP | August 30, 1993 |
The 1838 Peter Augustus Jay House and surrounding 23-acre (9.3 ha) Jay Estate form the centerpiece of the Boston Post Road Historic District of Rye, New York. The site is the surviving remnant of the 400-acre (1.6 km2) farm where one of America's seven Founding Fathers,John Jay (December 12, 1745 – May 17, 1829), grew up and where he also returned to celebrate the end of the Revolutionary War. The preserved property is located on the south side of the Boston Post Road (US 1) in Rye and has a 3⁄4-mile (1.2 km) view of Milton Harbor. It overlooks a 10,000+ year old Paleo-Indian archaeological site and the oldest man-managed meadow on record in New York State.
The house and its landscape are the keystones of a National Historic Landmark District (NHL) created in 1993.
Of America's seven founders, Jay alone was a native of New York State. He was raised in Rye from infancy at a country seat called "The Locusts" overlooking Long Island Sound. He returned there frequently throughout his illustrious career for important family gatherings most famously a celebration of his role as one of the three American peace commissioners who negotiated the Treaty of Paris.
Jay inherited the entire property outright in 1813 and conveyed it nine years later in 1822 to his eldest son Peter Augustus Jay. Seven years after his father's death, Peter reluctantly took down the ancestral house but reincorporated its timbers, doors, shutters and nails into a new 1838 structure, locating the second construction on the footprint of the first building. Stylistic elements appear to have been influenced by architectural pattern books by Minard Lafever, Asher Benjamin and Chester Hills. While the style of the mansion's facade is grand, the rear piazza replicates the simplicity and same dimensions of the first house, one story high and 80 feet (24 m) long.
...
Wikipedia