Original Stone House (1818-1821)
- Oct 5, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 9
Construction of the southern wing of Hyde Hall began in July 1817 and is the oldest part of the house. It is composed of 10 rooms and has always served as the family's living area. It was designed by Philip Hooker to the specifications of the owner, George Clarke “The Builder.” It was called the Stone House because it was the first structure using a cut stone exterior in the area. Most of the furniture in the stone house today was purchased by the Clarkes between 1813 and 1820.
Piazza. A porch, called "The Piazza" in Hooker's original plans, encompasses the center of the main facade and commands the extraordinary view southward down Lake Otsego for eight miles to Cooperstown and the hills beyond. The columns are made of cast iron from the Oneida Glass and Iron Manufacturing Company in Taberg, New York. They are one of the earliest uses of architectural cast iron in America.
Libraries. The Outer Library connects to the Piazza on the south side of the Stone Cottage. The Inner Library connects to the Family Dining Room and the hall leading to Ann’s Suite. The rooms functioned as family living rooms for conversation, reading, writing, various games, and having tea. The green paint on the walls is a restoration of the original color.
Wine Cellar. The Wine Cellar is located beneath the Inner Library and is composed of three small rooms. The first room contains a shallow well to provide water for cleaning and cooling wine bottles. The middle room was used for storing ale, porter, whiskey, and hard cider in wooden kegs and barrels still in place. The last room has brick bins with stone shelves for storing 1500 bottles of wine, champagne, gin, rum, port, and Madeira.
George Clarke’s Suite. The larger room originally served as an office and dressing room and continued as an office for his grandson and great grandson. The jib window was created in 1832 with exterior stone steps so that people coming on business could enter directly into the room without disturbing the rest of the house. A separate cellar beneath the room held the Clarke family's personal and business papers.
The smaller room was George Clarke's bedroom from 1820 to 1835. The bedroom and his office were closed after his death in 1835. Both rooms were refurbished by his grandson, George Hyde Clarke “The Gentleman” and Mary Gale Clarke who used the rooms as joint offices. In 2017 the original wall color was restored and a Venetian carpet from an 1820s weaver's design book was laid on the floor.
Vestibule. The Vestibule, used as a breakfast room and for informal family meals, connected the family living quarters with the public entertaining rooms in the Great House and the service areas. The vestibule has doors to the Clarkes’ private suites and a staircase to the bedrooms on the second floor. The original wall color was restored in 1997.
Ann Low Cary Cooper Clarke’s Suite. The two rooms are identical to those in George Clarke's suite. The larger room was her sitting and dressing room, and the smaller was her bedroom. This location gave her direct access to the children's bedrooms on the second floor and the kitchen and household servants areas in the West Wing. The suite was repainted in its original colors in 2025; a Venetian carpet, copied from an 1820s original, was installed; and much of her furniture has been returned to the suite.
Stone House Second Floor. The Clarke children traditionally used the three bedrooms on the second floor. The southernmost room was first used by Anne Low Cary Cooper Clarke's sons from her first marriage and later used by subsequent generations of Clarke sons. The middle bedroom has two small windows and was referred to by Clarke children as “the dismal room” because of the lack of light. The third bedroom faces the courtyard and was the main bedroom for George Hyde Clarke and Mary Gale Clarke. It remains unrestored.
The north end of the hallway was turned into a full bathroom in the 1880s. All the fixtures were removed by New York State about 1970.