This Week on Upstater: A Cadre of Classy Colonials in the Hudson Valley & Catskills

  |  November 7, 2016

 

2405-state-route-82-ancram-ny

2405 State Route 82, Ancram: $250,000

Classifying a residential home as “Colonial” is sort of like referring to an Irish Setter simply as a “quadrupedal mammal”: That doesn’t really narrow it down much. Colonial-style homes span a wide variety of styles and time periods (pick up A Field Guide to American Houses to get a full breakdown all those Colonial styles and to fall into a delightful rabbithole of home design), but in generally, we’re gravitating toward actual Colonial homes, i.e. homes that were actually styled after and/or built in the same time period as the Colonists in New England.

bronck-house-coxsackie

Bronck House c. 1663, Coxsackie via Wikipedia.

Dutch Colonials that started popping up in the Hudson Valley during the 17th century have some specific distinguishing aspects: Small or few windows (guess it was pretty hard to get glass to the colonies back then), mainly constructed of stone (giving way to wood later), central chimney, and pitched roof. Over the centuries, this look has been opened to include just about any house with a rectangular appearance, pitched roof, and maybe a gable or two.

What’s great about this area is that we got a lot of the real deal Colonials, and some of them have been giving internal makeovers to open them up and make them feel a little more modern with the addition of big windows. This week, we’ll be celebrating those cool Colonials all over the Upstater area. Some will be old, some will be on the newer side, but one thing is for sure: They’ll be fun to look at. Stay tuned…

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