Olana State Historic Site
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Olana State Historic Site is located in Columbia County, New York, USA. The site is the former estate of artist Frederic Edwin Church. Olana is located in the south part of the Town of Greenport and is south of Hudson, New York and east of Catskill, New York.
The house is a mixture of Victorian and Persian styles. A collection of 40 paintings by Church is on exhibit. Church was a prominent member of the Hudson River School of painting.
The grounds, now more than 250 acres, exceed the amount of land that Church had purchased for his home. Extensive scenic views of the Hudson Valley can be seen from the property and the house.
The interior remains much as it was during Church's lifetime, exotically furnished and decorated with objects from his extensive travels, and by paintings by Church and his friends. The house is intricately stencilled inside and out; Church designed the stencils based on his travels in the Middle East. The house contains Church’s last studios, built as an addition in 1888-1890. Working over a 40-year period, Church designed the entire 250-acre estate to complement the picturesque landscape with its views of the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains.
Olana is one of the few intact artists’ home, studio and estate complexes in the United States; it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1968.
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