Beckwith, Walter, House

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

The Beckwith, Walter, House is a historic district at 482 Jameson Hill Rd. in Stanford, Dutchess County, centered on a farmhouse built around 1876 in the Late Victorian Second Empire style, designed by architect James H. Seaman.

Why it's listed

It was listed under criteria A and C, with significance in architecture and agriculture at the local level. Its period of significance runs from about 1830 to 1960, reflecting the farmhouse's construction around 1876 and the farm's agricultural use through that period.

Physical character

The farmhouse has a mansard roof with dormer windows, board-and-batten siding, and a hipped-roof porch with scrolled brackets and square columns. Inside, it keeps an octagonal newel post, a turned balustrade, a plaster medallion, pocket doors, and a stone fireplace surround. Elsewhere on the property, buildings have wood clapboard walls with brick nogging on stone and brick foundations, under slate shingle, standing-seam or half-dome metal, or asphalt roofs. The barn gained an addition around 1900, and around 1930 the farm added a milking-parlor wing, a barn addition, a tractor barn, and concrete stave silos; around 1950 the house's rear porch was enclosed.

Historical context

Cornelius Campbell bought the farm from Tweedy in 1859 and sold it to Walter Beckwith in 1864; Beckwith took out promissory notes exceeding $6,000 in 1879, the year he was fatally gored by a bull. Dairy farming continued until 1960, and current owners bought the property in 2007.