1970 to present

Hyde Hall is an extraordinary survival. Home to one of America’s wealthiest families, it was the largest private residence in this country until around 1840. It featured advanced heating and lighting systems, extensive and beautifully wrought ornamented ceilings, wall-to-wall Brussels and ingrain carpets, sophisticated draperies, and the first flush toilet west of the Hudson River. Despite the extensive decay, much, if not most, of this was still present in the house: original graining, marbleized walls, vapor light chandeliers, and around 70 percent of the furnishings purchased for it. Restoring Hyde Hall presents an opportunity to seize upon an untouched example of Anglo-American architecture and interpret it for people who appreciate and understand authenticity. The rich, detailed, and extremely rare context that survived in the form of its decorative elements is an extraordinary document of early American country house life. This is what Roger Kennedy of the Smithsonian meant when he wrote that Hyde Hall is “...a great house, architecturally, and a social document of the first importance.”

Hyde Hall’s restoration saga began in the early 1970s and continues today. Early efforts focused on assessing and addressing the priorities: stabilizing roofs and foundations, cleaning up the site, and rebuilding important outbuildings such as the Carriage House. Some buildings, deemed unimportant, were torn down. These include the Cattle Barn and Cart Hovel adjacent to the Apple House. Major work went into arresting decades of deterioration and restoring systems that had fallen into complete disrepair: the gutters, downspouts, cisterns, and piping that were designed to carry water away from the site. One by one, New York’s state architects and engineers dealt with the most pressing problems that had threatened to destroy Hyde Hall.

With this first phase of work done, Hyde Hall was finally on the road to recovery. But the goal of making it into a museum featuring tours, interpretation, and programming was still a long way off.

By the 1990s the Carriage House had become home to administrative offices. The officers of Hyde Hall then shifted focus to the interior of the house. Extensive plaster repairs were needed throughout the 50-room Hall. Virtually nowhere inside was undamaged. Rooms had rotted floors, and woodwork had been eaten away by a pernicious mold. But with energy, vision, and the talent of skilled workers, Hyde Hall began an incremental return to a semblance of its former glory.

Restorations slowed after 2000 but picked up again in 2011.

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With the skill of local artisans and strong financial support, the director, board chair, and staff of Hyde Hall worked to achieve the following interior restorations:

• Installed a comprehensive fire/security system

• Marbleized the Dining Room walls, first floor Front Corridor, and Grand Staircase Hall

• Restored vapor light chandeliers and installed period lighting fixtures throughout the Hall

• Painted rooms throughout the Hall based on paint analysis and restored original hardware

• Relaid the herringbone brick flooring and hearth stones in the Back Kitchen, restored the brick chimneys, and supplied the kitchens with period accoutrement, including copper pans and other period utensils

• Designed the carpets, curtains, and draperies based on surviving fabrics and other evidence

• Acquired Fine Art, Furniture, & Accessories based on the bills and receipts found in The Clarke Family Papers with the aim of more fully representing everyday life in the 1830s

• Reupholstered sofas and chairs in period-correct fabrics and restored many other original Clarke furnishings

• Engaged the services of an artist to create faux food examples of how tables were laid in the Hall

• Restored Ann Low Cary Cooper Clarke’s suite of rooms, including the fabrication of ceilings and cornices using period methods and tools

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Restoration work was not limited to interior work. Exterior restorations included:

• New roofs for the Hall, Tin Top, and Barn/Carriage House

• Rebuilt and painted the South Porch and sanded its columns to resemble stone (as called for in the original, 1817 contract)

• Rebuilt the stone Portico and the first floor in the servants’ section of the house

• Repainted the Hall’s shutters and exterior trim to reflect the original paint scheme

• Lime-washed the servants’ sections of the Hall

• Regilded and painted the wrought iron Portico Porch railings

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Work on the outbuildings and landscape included:

• Repurposed Tin Top to serve as the Visitors’ Center and Gift Shop and expanded the parking area

• Lime-washed the Apple House

• Restored the Clarke Family Crypt

• Rebuilt the Wood Shed

• Painted the Barn/Carriage House complex in their original colors

• Removed over 1,000 dead or diseased trees (mostly non-native species) to restore the original English, picturesque-style views and vistas