- Plumbush
Infobox nrhp
name = Plumbush
nrhp_type =
caption = Front elevation in 2008
lat_degrees = 41
lat_minutes = 25
lat_seconds = 06
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 73
long_minutes = 56
long_seconds = 35
long_direction = W
location = Cold Spring, NY
nearest_city = Beacon
area = 9 acres (4 ha)
built = 1865cite web|last=Kuhn|first=Robert|title=National Register of Historic Places nomination, Plumbush|url=http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=7264|date=October 1991|accessdate=2008-05-24]
architect =George Edward Harney
architecture =Gothic Revival
designated = 1992
added =
established =
visitation_num =
visitation_year =
refnum = 82005386
mpsub =
governing_body = Private businessPlumbush is the former house and farm of
Robert Parker Parrott , the inventor of the Parrott gun. It is located at the junction of NY 9D and Peekshill Road south of Cold Spring,New York ,United States .It was built for Parrott by local architect
George Edward Harney in 1865, when he had taken over as superintendent of the nearbyWest Point Foundry . It is today abed and breakfast andrestaurant . It has been listed on theNational Register of Historic Places since 1992, due to its association with Parrott and Harney's interpretation of patterns byAndrew Jackson Downing .Building
The main Plumbush building is one of four located on a nine-acre (12 ha) parcel backed by Cold Spring Cemetery, the remnant of Parrott's original 65 acre (26 ha) farm. It was named Plumbush after another nearby farm by its original owner, Agnes Shewan, later the Marquise Agnes Rizzo dei Ritii, in the early 19th century.cite web|title=About Plumbush Inn & Restaurant|url=http://www.plumbushinn.net/history.htm|accessdate=2008-05-24|quote=Plumbush Inn, once the home of Marquise Agnes Rizzo dei Ritii, the American born Agnes Shewan, was built in the first half of the nineteenth century. It takes its name from a farm once located south of the spot.] One of the other buildings, a wood house, is also considered a contributing resource to the historic value of the property.
Harney's house consists of three rectangular sections, which remain largely intact today. The two-story 23 by 33-foot (7 by 10 m) main block is topped with a hipped roof shingled in patterned
slate . Averanda with rounded corner is wrapped around the south and west sides. The other original sections are the 15-foot (5 m) square east wing and a one-story wing withgable d roof. Two other wings, added when the house was converted into a restaurant, are concealed from view and designed so as not to detract from the house's overall character.Much of the original
fenestration and ornamentation remains. Newer additions, such as a wrought-ironspiral staircase between the veranda and the second floor has, as with the additions, been designed to be sympathetic with what already exists.Outbuildings
Three other buildings share Plumbush's lot. One, the former wood house, remains true enough to its original design to be considered a contributing resource. Its roof comes to a
cupola that itself has a flat roof. The interior has been substantially renovated so that it serves as a residence.The former
carriage house , which now serves as agarage is probably original to the property but has undergone extensive renovation and no longer retains its original integrity. A larger house near the rear of the property was built in the mid-20th century.Aesthetic
Harney built the house along
Picturesque lines, suggested by patterns in books by the influentialAndrew Jackson Downing , who had lived in Newburgh, just up the river, until his death in an 1852 steamboat explosion. Although only one building by Downing survives,Half of Downing's cottage fromMatthew Vassar 's Springside in Poughkeepsie is on display at theNew York State Museum in Albany.] his pattern books influenced many mid-19th century Gothic Revival andCarpenter Gothic cottages in theHudson Valley and elsewhere.Downing advocated rural cottages that were harmonious with the local natural environment, a "local fitness and an intimate relationship with the soil it stands upon" rather than challenging it as the blocky Federal and Greek Revival homes of the earlier century had. Harney carefully adapted the house to the site, in accordance with Downing's philosophies, putting the veranda next to a grove of trees and making sure the nearby
Hudson River and theHudson Highlands beyond could be seen from the upper windows.The house itself shows Downing's influence in the irregularity and assymetry of its three main blocks. The varied rooflines, truncated and cross gables, large veranda and
chimney s decorated with medieval crosses are also found in many of Downing's patterns.In 1870 Harney published a book of his own, "Barns, Outbuildings and Fences", with the original plans and sketches for Plumbush. His designs show the clear influence of some of the patterns shown in Downing's "The Architecture of Country Houses".
History
Parrott, one of the earliest settlers of Cold Spring and a graduate of the nearby
United States Military Academy at West Point, served as the foundry'sinspector general for the Army during the Civil War. After it ended, foundry ownerGouverneur Kemble persuaded him to resign from the Army and take over as superintendent of the foundry.He married Kemble's sister and moved into Plumbush. After his death in 1877, little is known of Plumbush' history or ownership until the restaurant was opened in 1971.
References
External links
* [http://www.plumbushinn.net/ Plumbush Inn website]
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