Rider-Hopkins
Farm and Olmsted Camp - Table of Contents
The James and Abigail Hopkins House
Style - Greek Revival
TEXT
#6 on the map |
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Detail |
Cf., The Silver Tendril |
Rectangular transom light and side lights |
Entablature |
Modillions decorate raking cornices |
Modillions decorate raking cornices |
Stone lintels and sills |
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Rectangular transom light and side lights |
Greek Revival staircase |
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Corner block in upper left - a typical Greek Revival ornamentation |
Hopkins Farm circa 1910 |
The text below is a reprint of the nomination for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places prepared by Olaf W. Shelgren Jr. and Francis R. Kowsky
The farmhouse consists of three sections:
- a three-bay wide, two-and-a-half story main block;
- a three-bay, one-and-a-half-story wing adjoining the south side of the main block;
- and a single-story wooden wing extending from the southern side of this lower portion of the building.
The main block and the one-and-a-half-story wing are built of red bricks that tradition holds were made from clay taken from the banks of nearby Cattaraugus Creek. Cornices and other wooden trim are painted white. The brick is laid in common bond, with a bond course of headers every eighth course.
The roofs of the all three sections are of the simple, low-pitched saddleback type covered with asphalt shingles.
Louvered shutters, stone lintels and sills occur at every window and door in the brick portions.
An L-shaped porch supported by four wooden Doric columns runs across the east and south sides of the lower brick wing. This porch retains the original wooden benches against the wall of the house where farm hands could rest.
A number of simple, wooden decorative features dignify the farm house exterior.
- The handsome horizontal raking cornices on all sides of the brick portions are adaptations of Plate 15 in Asher Benjamin's 1839 builder's manual, "The Architect, or Practical House Carpenter." (The farmhouse cornices omit Benjamin's ovolo molding.)
- Likewise, the entablature running along the porch on the brick wing was inspired by Plate 6 of Benjamin's book. (The triglyphs are omitted in favor of a blank frieze, but the mutules with guttae of Benjamin's design are present.)
Windows throughout the house are double hung, with six-over-six lights on the two-and-a-half story part and nine-over-nine on the one-and-a-half-story section.
The two exterior doors on the front have six panels. Another door, on the north wall at the northeast corner, once led from the dining room into a one-story, ten-square-foot wooden addition This addition was added in the 1880s and remained attached until c. 1920 when it was removed
The Doric-columned porch at the main door dates only from 1989 and was designed by architect O. William Shelgren who based the details on Asher Benjamin's work. The wooden entrance porch stands on stone steps that are original to the house
Interior
Inside, the living spaces of the main part of the house are arranged around a central stairhall. The second floor has three bedrooms.
The house has had few changes on the inside where most of the original woodwork is in tact. Asher Benjamin's "The Architect, or Practical House Carpenter" and his "Practice of Architecture" (1833) are the sources for most of the interior trim.
- The stair rail, for example, has a circular handrail supported on two spindles at each tread, as shown in Benjamin's books.
- Each upward tapering spindle is round at the top and square at the base.
- The parlor has cornerblock, Benjamin-inspired casings [the finished, often decorative framework around a door or window opening] at doors and windows.
Doors throughout the house are the six-panel type and patterned after the upper right illustration in Plate XXXIV of Benjamin's "Practice of Architecture." The important doors on the first floor have a raised field on the panels as shown in Plate XXXIV, while the rest omit the raised area.
Wing
The north section of the one-story wooden south wing (painted white) is believed to have been moved from a neighboring farm around 1920. The date of its original construction is probably c. 1890. It is of balloon frame construction with a plastered interior and once served as the summer kitchen. The fact that it was a preexisting structure explains the awkward location of the door under the roof of the farmhouse's side porch. the south half of this wing has a study post and beam frame, which indicates an earlier date of construction. The function of this portion and its original location are not known.