[Article Transcribed by Ginny and posted here with Permission]

"The Weekly Beat" - Poughkeepsie

Friday, July 9, 2004

Town Grants Historic Status

by Ian MacFarland

Two Poughkeepsie houses, one of them constructed before the Revolutionary War and the other after World War II, entered the Town's historic landmark registry at the Town Board meeting on Wednesday, July 7.

The Abraham Fort Homestead, located on the property of the Casperkill County Club currently being developed by the Ginsburg Development Corporation, was narrowly saved from demolition in May when the house's historic nature was brought to the attention of developers and town officials. A second house, known as the McComb House, has met with less fanfare but nonetheless was judged to have historic and artistic value as one of the only 15 homes in New York state designed by renowned modernist architect Marcel Breuer. Both historic designations were approved 5-0, with Boardmember Michael Cifone (R-Ward 4) absent.

Abraham Fort was a veteran of the Revolutionary War whose family estate was built in Poughkeepsie sometime around 1760. He and several generations of his family are buried in a cemetery across Route 9, tucked behind a grove of trees on South Gate Drive.

Town residents displayed a tremendous outpouring of support for the historic designation of the Fort Homestead at the public hearing held at the board meeting. Kevin Marrinan of Ginsburg Development Corporation explained that the company received a demolition permit and was just beginning the demolition process when the house's history came to light. Work was then halted on the house, and the main house itself was not damaged, he said. "We continue to be very cooperative with the historical commission," he said, "We do not object to the designation-we support it."

He added that Ginsburg has retained an architectural historian, Walter Wheeler, to investigate the house's history. Wheeler's report will be included in the environmental impact statement for the property, he said, and will become available to the public at that time.

Town Historian, Jean Murphy, noted that the house is recognizably a historic structure written abut in a work of history entitled "Dutch Houses in the Hudson Valley Before 1776." She also said that Ginsburg has been very cooperative in the historic designation process, even offering to board up several engraved original windows to keep them from being destroyed.

Meredith Sawyer, who moved to the Town of Poughkeepsie in 1999, called the Fort Homestead one of many "beautiful jewels to preserve" in the Route 9 area that might help neighborhood residents realize that it has more to offer than just strip malls and traffic. She also argued that the near-destruction of the historic site points to a need for the town to impose a moratorium on new construction until the town's master plan is finalized and approved. That action, she said, needs to happen soon.

Barbara Sweet, a resident of Hyde Park, noted that the Fort Homestead is one of the few Revolutionary War-era houses remaining in the Hudson Valley Greenway area.

Virginia Buechele, a town resident, amateur historian and genealogist, presented the board with 500 signed petitions supporting the designation.

Modernist House Preserved

The McComb House, located at 27 Hornbeck Ridge, was built in 1950 for Peter McComb, a descendant of W. W. Smith, according to Murphy, At that time, she said, the architect Marcel Breuer had just completed one his most notable buildings, the Ferry House Co-Operative at Vassar College.

Dr. Arthur Groten, the house's current owner and occupant, noted that at 54 years old the house just barely qualifies for historic designation. However, he said, the house is one of only 55 in the country designed by Breuer, adding that the state registry of historic places contains only one modernist house. "It would be a crime not to preserve this house." Breuer taught at the Harvard School of Design, where his students included noted architects Philip Johnson and I. M. Pei. His best-known building is the current home of the Whitney Museum in Manhattan.