Inventory #

248

 The William Ludlow House was built in 1786 by this prominent Claverack merchant. The property consists of 19.60 acres in two lots in the historic hamlet of Claverack, Columbia County, NY. It is a large gambrel-roof Georgian brick structure, central hall, two rooms deep, two stories plus large attic, with full basement. Gross square footage on the two main floors is 4800 square feet. The house is in excellent restored condition with appropriate contemporary amenities (kitchen, bathrooms, closets). The Ludlow house is likely the best preserved substantial eighteenth-century house in the county, retaining essentially all of its original architectural features. It is illustrated and described in the book A Visible Heritage, Columbia County New York, a History in Art and Architecture, in Historic Houses of the Hudson Valley and in American Georgian Houses.
   The property consists of two lots, the house and out buildings on four acres on State Route 23B in the hamlet of Claverack where it is surrounded by other historic homes within a National Register of Historic Places District. On the land is a 3 bay modern garage, an early (1786) stone summer kitchen. an adjacent early stone and brick root cellar, a 19th century ice house, and a contemporary in-ground swimming pool. The remaining 15.6 acres are to the rear forming a natural private wood lot with potential for development with complete privacy and a separate right-of-way from another road.

The house is one of a small group of large Georgian homes built in the upper Hudson River Valley before and after the Revolution. The William Ludlow house descended in that family with almost no alterations until the 1970s; it is remarkably well preserved. A sensitive restoration (mostly just painted surfaces) has brought it back to its early appearance. A heating system, new bathrooms and closets have been unobtrusively installed.
   The four-square arrangement of rooms includes an unusually wide central hall on both floors which constitute rooms in themselves. On the first floor a side hall entrance was added in 1817 giving private access to the large kitchen. The dining room is across the side hall from the kitchen. On the other side of the main hall is a living room and behind a library. All the rooms have original fireplaces, mantles, cornice moldings, doors, windows and trim. The window sashes are all original and contain early blown glass. The doors originally were figured mahogany grain painted which had deteriorated but are now accurately repainted in the same manner.
   The second floor has four large bedrooms, again with original fireplaces, mantles etc. Between the two pairs of bedrooms on one side of the hall two full bathrooms have been inserted. Between the two rooms on the right side two large closets have been inserted. A stairway mounts to the most expansive attic imaginable, a single large space with a very high ceiling. It is a size of a two story house in itself.

County:

 Columbia

Address:

505 State Route 23B

Town:

Claverack

School:

Hudson

Price:

$1,250,000

Sq Ft:

4300 net sq ft (2 main floors)

Lot Size:

19.58 acres

Year Built:

1786

Type:

Georgian

Pool:

20x40' in ground

Fireplace:

10 (8 working)

Porch / Deck:

Front stoop, rear porch

Views:

Local, meadows, woodlands

Zoning:

Residential

Rooms all:

11 plus two large halls

Bedrooms:

4, with fireplaces

Bathrooms:

2 full, one half

Other Buildings:

3 car garage, stone summer kitchen, stone root cellar, ice house