Van Rensselaer Lower Manor House
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Van Rensselaer Lower Manor
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South elevation and east profile, 2008
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| Location | Claverack, NY |
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| Nearest city | Hudson |
| Coordinates | 42°13′29″N 73°43′32″W / 42.22472°N 73.72556°WCoordinates: 42°13′29″N 73°43′32″W / 42.22472°N 73.72556°W |
| Area | 1.3 acres (0.53 ha) |
| Built | 1715–90 |
| Architectural style | Colonial |
| MPS | The Architectural and Historic Resources of the Hamlet of Claverack, Columbia County, New York |
| NRHP Reference # | 97001615 |
| Added to NRHP | January 7, 1998 |
The Van Rensselaer Lower Manor is located along the NY 23 state highway on the east side of Claverack, New York, United States. It is a combination of two 18th-century houses, one stone and the other frame, later connected with a hyphen and then combined into one building and sided in wood. One local historian called the result a "growth" that no longer had any architectural merit. It retains much of its original interior layout, finishes and fenestration.
One of the houses was among the earliest built in the region. The structure continued to be expanded. As its name suggests it was used by the Van Rensselaer family to maintain a presence on the southern boundary of their family lands during the colonial era. In 1998 it and an associated barn were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The 1.3-acre (0.53 ha) lot on which the house is located is on the north side of Route 23 0.8 miles (1.3 km) east of its junction with routes 9H and 23B at the center of Claverack. The land slopes up gently to the house from the south and more steeply from the west. There is a barn to the north and a greenhouse/shop to the southeast. An unpaved driveway runs along the east side, between the house and a low retaining wall, to the barn.
The house itself is a two-story building, five bays wide by six deep. Its front section has a metal roof that slopes up from a full-width front porch over the course of the two southernmost side bays to a crest pierced by a brick chimney, then drops slightly to remain flat all the way to the rear, where another chimney rises. It is sided in white clapboard save a small portion on the rear of the first story where the original stonework is visible. The front section has a cellar, accessible from the west side.
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