Building The Lott House
When looking at the Lott House today, it reflects the architectural fabric and reflects the family's evolving identity over the last three centuries. The house is unique among Dutch American farmhouses.
Johannes H. Lott Builds A House
The Lott House we see today was constructed in two phases. The oldest portion of the house was built sometime after Johannes H. Lott purchased the property from Coert Voorhies on December 12, 1719. Originally, this 1720s house was a small two-room house with a loft. The oldest portion of the house was built in 1720 by Johannes H. Lott, a second-generation Dutch colonial. The 18th-century house was constructed with an "H" frame, mirroring a typical Dutch-Colonial style for the Lower Hudson Valley-Northern New Jersey area. These early homes tended to be small square buildings that were simple, functional dwellings for the Dutch farmers and their families.
The original 1720 layout features a central room with a brick-walled hearth along the side of the house and a smaller secondary room at the north end of the main room. An oak stairway also led to a second-floor life, which still exists today, featuring centuries of wear. At some point after the initial construction, a lean-to was added, which provided both a kitchen and a workspace. The new portion of the house was now more open, allowing access to a garret space and the second floor through a small staircase.
Today, the main room of the 1720s house exhibits three centuries of architectural fabric. Eighteenth-century details remain: a twelve over eight pane window and wide-planked wainscoting with simple chair railings, 19th-century wallpaper and fireplace mantle, and 20th-century radiators and oak flooring. There is a closet in the kitchen with a trap door in the ceiling. Beyond the trap door is the old landing with the garret spaces on either side and remnants of the old stairway. Candle drippings are still visible on the stairs as you walk up.
Hendrick I. Lott Inherits the Family House
Toward the end of the 18th century, Hendrick I. Lott inherited the 1720 house and property he had grown up in.
In the early 1790s, Hendrick worked as a professional house carpenter in the Collect District of Manhattan. Using his carpentry skills, he designed and constructed a new, larger home incorporating the 18th-century home his grandfather built. Although the construction of the present Lott House is 1800, Hendrick was building on the property as early as 1796. Local Flatlands farmer John Baxter noted in his diary that he and other town residents helped Hendrick raise several large barns on the property.
The house that Hendrick built reflected the area's various cultural influences and rural nature. The exterior of the house Hendrick built mirrored the neighboring Dutch American farmhouses in the area while including some English and American architectural elements. The foundation walls were constructed of cut New Jersey brownstone and local river cobbles in areas that were not readily viewable, like the rear of the house. Hendrick chose to design the house using more British-style building techniques. Instead of an "H" frame, the 1800s portion features a post and beam, mortise and tenon construction, and no nails were used in the framing.
Also distinguishing the house from other Dutch houses is the lack of a central fireplace. The chimney stacks run along the house's western wall and the center wing's eastern side, which is more typical of Anglicized homes of the period. It attaches symmetry to the house's exterior, which has three chimneys and four fireplaces.
Although the house's interior was more English, the exterior maintained the classic Dutch American farmhouse design. The roof features a distinct slop with extended eaves. The house has front and back porches, both with columns, formal round columns on the front and square columns in the back, a mid-late 20th-century change. The Double Dutch doors open into the main hallway.
The house exhibits Federal style architectural details reflecting Hendrick's skill as a house carpenter. We believe some architectural elements were carried over from Hendrick's carpentry work. The entry into the house features a grand hallway, and though the décor of the hall was updated in the late 19th century, the original 13' ceilings are unmistakably impressive. The first floor has nine rooms, including two parlors for entertaining, each accessed through the main hall. The two main parlors have wallpapered walls, chair rails, high ceilings with fine molded plaster details, chandeliers, and fireplace mantles, and seem more suited to a Manhattan mansion than a farmhouse.
An early Federal-style mantle was incorporated into the hearth, converting it into a formal fireplace. Yet some original features remained, including the wide-plank wainscoting and one twelve-over-eight-pane window at the rear of the house.
The second floor, though large, is more typical of the Dutch American farmhouse and was designed for function and as a private space. Each of the five rooms are different sizes and shapes, the ceilings are lower, and though they are wallpapered, the decorative architectural elements seen on the first floor are missing.
Updating and Modernizing the Dutch Farmhouse in the 20th Century
The mid-19th century brought many changes for the Lott family and their house. When Hendrick's son Johannes inherited the house and property, the family had increasing prosperity. Johannes modified the house embracing a more Americanized style.
The Stone Kitchen, 1927. Image part of the Hendrick I. Lott House Collection
From the mid-century onward, there were decorative and technological upgrades. The family installed new wallpaper throughout the house, constructed new built-ins, and had the first-floor parlors outfitted with gas lighting. In addition, ornamental dormers were added to the south-facing bedrooms on the second floor.
During the last quarter of the 19th century, an interior gravity-fed toilet was installed. An indoor bathroom at the time was not only a new fad but also a symbol of status. Though electric lines were installed in the early years of the 20th century, sewer and water lines did not arrive until 1926. By the end of the 19th century, the lean-to wing became a full-time kitchen, and by the 20th century, it no longer shared kitchen duty with the separate stone kitchen, which was demolished in 1927.
The House Today
In 2001, the City of New York purchased the Lott House, and it became part of the Historic House Trust of New York. In 2008 the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation completed an extensive exterior restoration and completed a landscape renovation in 2013. As of 2023, the exterior and ground have been restored, and interior restoration is pending.
