Rider-Hopkins
Farm and Olmsted Camp - Table of Contents
Three Cottages
TEXT
|
|
|
|
|
|
##1, 2, and 3 on the map |
##1& 2 on the map |
#1
|
#1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
#1 |
#1 |
#1 |
#2 on the map |
|
|
|
||
|
#2 |
#2 |
The text below is a reprint of the nomination for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Placesprepared by Olaf W. Shelgren Jr. and Dr. Francis R. Kowsky
Cottages
Three wood frame, board and batten cottages known as the north, middle, and south cabins, stand 150 feet east of the dormitory in a grove of large trees near the astern edge of the Olmsted camp area of the Rider-Hopkins Farm. These cabins stand atop a steep bank that drops down to a portion of Savage Road that was abandoned in 1958. They were built facing this now-defunct roadway. Each is a variant of a simple two-room cabin with a small porch (a bath was added to the middle cottage in the 1950s). The southern most cottage (#3 on map; known also as the "animal house") was constructed in 1902; the middle (#2 on map) and north (#3 on map) cottages were designed by Harold Olmsted and built in 1910.
The Olmsted Camp
The Olmsted Camp is a five-acre area in the southwest corner of the Rider-Hopkins Farm property.
Having no legal boundaries distinct from those of the farm, the camp consists of five wooden structures and a garden disposed within an old-fashioned greensward, viz., an area of lawn shaded by trees planted singly or in irregular groups.
On the west and north sides, the camp lies open to views of the Hopkins house and farmland; on the east and south, woodlands form the property boundary and screen the camp from outside observation. On the south, a steep bank descends 70 feet to the Cattaraugus Creek.
The camp, which continues to be used as a family summer retreat, contains the following buildings:
- the main cabin at the south end of the property;
- the dormitory located behind and slightly to the north of the main cabin;
- and a row of three small, two-room cottages grouped together in a grove of trees along the eastern border of the property.
The Olmsted Camp buildings are in the Arts and Crafts style, with red cedar shingle roofs (except for one of the cottages) and board and batten siding. All of these building are simply constructed and designed for summer use only.
Studs and rafters are exposed on the interiors where internal partitions are formed with vertical paneling. The maple floors are one or two steps above grade. Windows are single valve casement type and usually have a top row of three small panes over one large pane. Doors are made of vertical boards, tongue and grooved, and held together on one side by horizontal wood cleats at top and bottom and a diagonal cleat in between.
The main cabin and the dormitory have hipped roofs; the three smaller cabins have saddleback roofs.
Exterior and interior walls of all five buildings are unpainted. However, the porch floor of the main cabin, which is of Douglas fir, is painted a neutral gray and the ends of the rafters at the eaves are painted teal blue.
Windows on all of the camp buildings are painted various shades of dark green
