Eustatia

Eustatia (Greek for "good place to stay") is a brick house overlooking the Hudson River in Beacon, New York, USA. Located on Monell Place in the northwestern corner of the city, it is a rare survival in Beacon of a cottage in the Victorian Gothic style.^[1]

It was built in 1867 to designs by Frederick Clarke Withers for his friend John Monell (after whom today's street is named), a New York state judge. Monell had recently married Caroline DeWindt Downing, widow of the influential Newburgh architect Andrew Jackson Downing, with whom Withers had worked. They built the house on property deeded to them by her father, John DeWindt, near her family's own cottage.^[1]

Withers' design was heavily influenced by the sketches and design ideas of his mentor Downing, and appeared eight years later in an edition of Downing's popular Cottage Residences, among many other plans Withers had added. It retains the form and reserve of many of Downing's designs, but adds the "polychromatic enrichment" of the Ruskinian gothic styles Withers was beginning to explore.^[1] A garden next to the house remains as originally planned, and the interior retains many period details such as a tiled marble entry floor and dark walnut moldings.^[1]

Its original form and appearance have remained largely intact since its construction despite subsequent changes in ownership and the addition of modern utilities.^[1] In 1979 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Sharp, Corwin (November 27, 1978). "National Register of Historic Places nomination, Eustatia". http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=1968. Retrieved 2008-01-14.