the historic 1758 valentine-varian home in the bronx & more

Posted October 13, 200816 yr

here are some shots of this historic 1758 home that i took during a walk in the bronx the other day.

it’s a beautiful house sited in a small park setting surrounded by, um, lots of the bronx. :laugh:

remarkable that it still exists as it not only survived bronx development, but it was one of only two structures to survive the revolutionary war battles intact (along with the van cortlandt mansion). all other bronx homes and buildings were destroyed or dissembled during the fighting.

also included are some historic photos that were inside the house. enjoy!

Valentine-Varian House, Varian House Park

3266 Bainbridge Avenue at East 208th Street

Bronx, NY 10467

Subway: D to 205th Street; #4 to Mosholu Parkway Bus: Bx10, 16, 28, 30, or 34 to Bainbridge Ave./208th Street Liberty Lines Express Bus 4A, 4B

The Valentine-Varian House was built in 1758, when carriages traveled the nearby Boston Post Road through a Bronx that was still mostly farmland. The second oldest house in the borough stands today inside a wrought-iron fence in a small park in the Norwood neighborhood of north-central Bronx.

The two-story fieldstone home was built by Isaac Valentine, a blacksmith and farmer who bought the parcel of land from the Dutch Reformed Church. The house then stood one block south across Bainbridge Avenue. During the Revolutionary War, Valentine and his family had to abandon their home, which was occupied by British, Hessian and American troops. Though close to several fierce battles with cannons clustered on a nearby hill, the house miraculously survived.

The Valentines returned after the war, but sold the home and 260-acre property to Isaac Varian, a successful butcher and farmer, in 1792. The Varians kept the house for three generations; one of Isaac's sons (also named Isaac) was the 63rd Mayor of New York City from 1839 to 1841.

The building was sold at auction in 1905 to William F. Beller.

In 1965, his son, William C. Beller, donated the house to The Bronx County Historical Society. It was moved diagonally across the street to a new foundation in the same year.

The sturdy home has a symmetrical style called "Georgian Vernacular," with evenly placed windows and identical chimneys at either end. Inside, rooms mirror each other across a central hallway. Sections of the house retain the original floorboards, hand-forged nails and homemade mortar. Deep-set splayed windows throughout the house were designed to let in light and keep out of the cold.

The structure is today the home of the Museum of Bronx History. More here:

http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_about/parks_divisions/historic_houses/hh_valentine_varian.html

Outside & inside - This blocked up door once led to a connected blacksmith shop

Close-up & inside is the original flooring

Not sure what this was a piece of?

This 1874 photo shows the varian family: jesse huestis varian, his wife lorinda conklin varian & michael varian, patriarch of the family & who’s father purchased the house from the valentine’s in 1792.

You can still see the blacksmith shop in this 1905 photo. It fell to ruin. On the right is part of the williamsbridge reservoir, which opened in 1889. It was linked to the kensico reservoir upstate by 15.2 miles of pipeline.

Here again is the house in 1934, now all crowded by apt buildings!

A 1934 aerial of the reservoir and the neighborhood. It was no longer needed by that time.

Another aerial from 1938. The reservoir next became willamsbridge oval park. city parks commissioner robert moses, yep the man himself, opened the park in 1937. You can see the valentine-varian house in the upper right corner by the tunnel entrance.

June 30-july 1st, 1965 was a big day for the v-v house, it was moving day. The 600 ton house, ribbed by steel bands and supported by steel beams, was turned 180 degrees and moved across the street to the park setting where it sits today.

They did it! :clap:

Just for the record, this bland apt building across the street is the original site of the v-v home:

bonus: some of the historic bronx & city photos and info found inside the house:

1975 map of the various native lands of the nyc area. terrible photo, but by all the colors you can see there there were many tribes all over the region.

Henry Hudson exploring in 1609

Thee earliest depiction of the dutch settlement in lower manhattan (1625-ish)

depiction of a 1642 treaty signing with the locals in the home jonas bronck, for whom the Bronx is named after (“that’s up around the bronck’s farm, etc.” and so later it became…‘the bronx’).

this 1813 runaway slave ad was placed by john delancey of west farms in the west-chester patriot. since it mentions punishment for anyone hiding him, it is presumed that there was some network to assist runaway bronx slaves.

There was an exhibit inside of the v-v house on freedomland, an amusement park on the east side of the Bronx that was nyc’s Disneyland. Today it is the site of co-op city apt complex. Reid’s mill (1738) was there until it blew down in a storm in 1900 -- this photo is from the 1800’s.

miller house was nearby

last up are some photos by the legendary urban photographer camilio jose vergara. His style is to revisit street scenes over the years and document the changes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camilo_Jos%C3%A9_Vergara

seabury street and 172nd street, looking north (1980). You may recognize the ruined church from the classic movie ‘wolfen.’

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083336/