PARSON WILLIAMS HOUSE, DEERFIELD, MASS. 1707.
VAN CORTLANDT HOUSE, VAN CORTLANDT PARK, N. Y.
New York Georgian of second phase.
CHAPTER VII
GEORGIAN ARCHITECTURE IN NEW YORK
STRANGE as it may seem, the territory comprised in the present state of New York is not nearly so rich in Georgian remains as are the other parts of our country contained within the boundaries of the original Colonies. At first it may astonish the student of architectural history to find one of the oldest, wealthiest and most important communities, rich not only in material resources but in history, so devoid of the Georgian landmarks that characterise the adjacent sections of the country. New England is filled with well preserved memorials of the eighteenth century. So likewise are New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and the South. How is it, then, that New York is, by comparison, so deficient in this respect?
Several reasons may be assigned in answer to this question. In the first place, the representative Georgian houses in all parts of the Colonies were the homes of that part of the population that enjoyed affluent circumstances; they were not the homes of the plainer folk nor of those in humble circumstances. The majority of well-to-do citizens were to be found in New York City and there, naturally, were most of the Georgian houses. Even those that counted themselves as residents of other parts of the Province, as a rule, had their town houses there. What befel the Georgian country houses we shall shortly learn.
Unfortunately for the student of our architectural history, the relentless tide of mercantile progress in New York City has ruthlessly swept aside nearly all the landmarks of former generations and replaced them with high office buildings, factories, flats or warehouses. Only in the fabric of a few of the older churches or in some of the backwaters left by the eddying currents of urban life have a few scattered remnants of the city of the eighteenth century been preserved for us and even these are rapidly disappearing.