Irvington Historic District

The Irvington Historic District is located in the Village of Irvington, an area that was settled by the Dutch in the 1600s. It encompasses approximately sixty acres of municipal, commercial, industrial, and residential buildings. The district includes 318 structures, 274 of which are considered contributing historic buildings, most of which were constructed during the district’s period of significance between the 1830s and the 1930s. Also included is a small section of the Old Croton Aqueduct, which was completed in 1842 and is now a National Historic Landmark (Tunnel Ventilator No.16). A wide range of architectural styles are represented throughout the district, including Greek and Gothic Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, Romanesque, Second Empire, Victorian Venacular, and Colonial Revival. In 2014, the Irvington Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Once referred to as “Dearman” in recognition of a local merchant and farmer, the village now known as Irvington has been drawing settlers to its Hudson River shoreline and points east for over 400 years. Early Westchester County families, including the van der Doncks, Eckers, Buckhouts, and Dutchers, all were tenant farmers on land belong to the Philipse family manor in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. When the loyalist Philipse family had to flee after the revolution, these tenants were able to buy their farms. It is around the farm of Justus Dearman, that the Irvington Historic District developed.

Dearman was a New York City merchant who in 1812 had purchased 144-acres for farming purposes. He later sold the land to Gustavis Sacchi, who sold it to Franklin C. Field, a partner of the Jay and Field firm in Manhattan. Field had the property subdivided into individual lots, 250 of which were sold at public auction at the Merchants’ Exchange in New York City in 1850, creating what would become the Irvington Historic District. The name change from “Dearman” to “Irvington” was made four years later in honor of famous resident Washington Irvington, who built his home “Sunnyside” in 1835 on land just outside of the historic district. Other notable local estate owners of property nearby in Irvington but outside of the district included: James Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton (1837 “Nevis”), John Jacob Astor III (1852 “Nuits,” originally constructed for Frances Cottenet), and Madame C.J. Walker (1918 “Villa Lewaro”).

Development of the Irvington Historic District revolved around the three modes of transportation: water, rail, and road. The Hudson River provided a direct route both to New York City and the Erie Canal, allowing access to global trade routes. The Hudson River Railroad (later New York Central) reached the village in 1849, which, along with the Albany Post Road to the eastern edge of the district, made trade and travel easier via the network of interdependent railroads and roads. 

The streets in the Irvington Historic District were originally named with single letters in alphabetical order, with “A” Street closest to the river and ascending eastwards. Letters were later changed to the names of famous Irvington residents: “A” Street became Astor Street after John Jacob Astor; “B” Street became Buckhout Street after John Buckhout, an early settler who lived to 103; “C” Street was renamed for Francois Cottenet, a prosperous textile importer who built “Nuits” in 1852. “D” and “E” Streets were renamed for two original tenant farmers of the area, Barent Dutcher and Wolfert Ecker. “F” Street became Ferris Street after Benson Ferris, a prosperous merchant associated with Ferris Landing where ships docked with cargo for the village. “G” Street takes its name from Moses Grinnell, a nephew of Washington Irving by marriage who was a skilled politician and one of the largest suppliers of produce and staples to New York City retail markets. 

Some of the historically and architecturally significant sites in the Irvington Historic District include: the Cosmopolitan Building, designed by renowned architect Stanford White in the Classical Revival style and constructed in 1896 on land that had originally been settled by John Buckhout around the year 1700; the Irvington Presbyterian Church that was built in 1869 in the Romanesque Revival style; and the Irvington Railroad Station, a one-story Romanesque building of pink granite with red sandstone and brownstone trim built by the Hudson River Railroad in 1889. Additional structures are the Main Street School, a three and one-half story 1913 Colonial and Classical Revival building designed by architects Ewing and Chappell, and a number of private single-family dwellings, many of which are in the “half-captain” form.

The district also includes four additional properties that are listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places: Village Hall (NR listed 1984), McVickar House that is now home to the Irvington Historical Society (NR listed 2004), Lord’s Horticultural Manufacturing Company (NR listed 1999), and the Church of St. Barnabas (NR listed 2000).

1. “A Brief History of Nevis.” Nevis Laboratories, Columbia University. Accessed on March 20, 2022. https://www.nevis.columbia.edu/. 
2. “Irvington Historic District #13001095.” National Register of Historic Places. United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service. 2014. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/13001095 
3. Irvington Historical Society. www.irvingtonhistoricalsociety.org 
4. “Nuits #75323139.” National Register of Historic Places. United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service. 1977. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75323139
5. “Washington Irving’s Sunnyside.” Historic Hudson Valley website. https://hudsonvalley.org/historic-sites/washington-irvings-sunnyside/#info