Institution

The two story house located at Number 24 Bedford Road in the Bedford Road Historic District was built ca.1850 by local resident Reuben B. Tyler. The building exhibits features that are attributable to the Federal style, such as a narrow gable profile and an articulated entranceway. The home also possesses a gable roof, two interior brick chimneys, six-over-six windows and two-over-two windows, sidelights, Doric pilasters, and a full Doric entablature. A bay window was added in 1880. Like the other homes in the Bedford Road Historic District, the Reuben B. Tyler House is cohesive in its scale and enhanced by its setback, mature trees, and low plantings. To the present day, it remains visually evocative of Armonk's early history and serves as a physical reminder of the community 170 years ago. The house's preservation is due to the commendable efforts of Michael Fareri, who saved and restored the Reuben B. Tyler House after it had fallen into major disrepair. The Bedford Road Historic District, including the Reuben B. Tyler House, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.Information and photos for this entry were contributed by the North Castle Historical Society. Special thanks to Sharon Tomback, North Castle Town Historian.

24 Bedford Road Armonk front of house from April 1986

The Reuben B. Tyler House is a private residence located in the Bedford Road Historic District in the hamlet of Armonk, NY. The two story Federal style building was originally constructed ca.1850 for local resident Reuben B. Tyler. The house features two interior brick chimneys, six-over-six windows and two-over-two windows, sidelights, and Doric pilasters. A bay window was added in 1880. The Bedford Road Historic District, including the Reuben B. Tyler House, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Reuben B. Tyler House (Bedford Road Historic District)

Director

In the eighteenth century, the area of Armonk where the Bedford Road Historic District is located was an agricultural community. Settlers in this scenic valley enjoyed access to the fertile land surrounding the Wampus River, which runs in a north-south direction across Bedford Road. Bedford Road itself is an east-west road, which for generations served as an integral link in the overland transportation system of the region. Into the nineteenth century, the Bedford Road area developed with the construction of residences. Many decades later when Interstate 684 was built nearby, Armonk Road (NY Route 128) was turned into a main thoroughfare, and the “new” NY Route 22 (Main Street) was realigned. A number of the original mid-1800s homes in the Bedford Road Historic District were left undisturbed.Six of these private residences make up the Bedford Road Historic District, along with an outbuilding, a church, and a cemetery. Visually, the streetscape is enhanced by the uniform setback of the buildings, their spacing, and the regularity of the Greek Revival style.St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church dates to 1842 and is the oldest surviving structure in the Bedford Road Historic District. Carpenter Ziel J. Eggleston built the Greek Revival church, which is marked by fluted Doric columns on the front of the recessed porch entry. Adjacent to the church is the cemetery of approximately 450 graves, the earliest of which dates to 1844. Once a much larger piece of land, in the mid-1880s, the property surrounding the church was subdivided for residences.  The six homes in the Bedford Road Historic District include Number 12, Number 16, Number 24, Number 30, Number 40, and Number 44. Except for Number 44, which dates to the 1880s, all were built around 1850 and illustrate both the Federal and Greek Revival taste, as it was interpreted in the regional rural vernacular. Four of the six houses are sided with synthetic materials that cover and replicate their original wooden clapboard sheathings. While this alteration affects the material integrity of the district, the form, details, and association of the district components are dramatically evident.Number 12 Bedford Road was built about 1851 for a man named John B. Williams. The modest two story house features six-over-six windows, a paneled entrance door with sidelights, a wraparound veranda, and a central brick chimney. Number 16 Bedford Road is a two story house that belonged to local resident Emily Husted. Originally constructed ca.1850, it was moved to its present site about 1888. It rests on a stone foundation, features a central brick chimney, and six-over-six windows.Number 24 Bedford Road from ca.1850 is a two story house originally owned by Reuben B. Tyler. A bay window was added in 1880. Two interior brick chimneys, six-over-six windows and two-over-two windows, sidelights, and Doric pilasters are features of the construction.Number 30 Bedford Road is a ca.1850 two story, clapboard building known as the Nehemiah Searles House. Named after its first owner who served as a vestryman of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church for a total of thirty-five years, beginning in 1843. The Searles House features six-over-six windows and six-light casement windows. It was sold to St. Stephen’s in the 1940s when the church’s original parsonage was demolished to provide a site for town offices.Number 40 Bedford Road was built ca.1850 as the parsonage of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. It was later acquired by the second rector of St. Stephen's, Isaac Dyckman Vermilye. After Rector Vermilye's passing in 1864, it was owned by his widow, Josephine, who lived there for at least another twenty years. It remains a private residence. It is two and a half stories with a gable roof, two exterior brick chimneys, six-over-six windows, three-light casement windows, and a Greek Revival half-round main facade entrance porch. There is a contributing outbuilding.Number 44 Bedford Road is the youngest residence in the Bedford Road Historic District. A one and a half story house, it was constructed about 1880. The building features a gable roof, hip roof veranda with turned posts, and a shed roof addition in the rear.The Bedford Road Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.Information and photos for this entry were contributed by the North Castle Historical Society. Special thanks to Sharon Tomback, North Castle Town Historian.

The Bedford Road Historic District is a scenic east-west corridor located in the hamlet of Armonk in the Town of New Castle in northern Westchester County, NY. The district, which encompasses the area between today’s Main Street and Maple Avenue, memorializes the mid-1800s birth of Armonk. It is anchored by the 1842 Greek Revival St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, which was the first building erected in the hamlet. Six surviving private residences and a contributing outbuilding also make up the Bedford Road Historic District, all of which date to the 1850s, except for the 1880’s home at Number 44 Bedford Road. The houses reflect the taste for unornamented, Neoclassical style-inspired buildings that characterized many hamlets in this region of the country in the pre-Civil War years. Also included in the district is the cemetery adjacent to St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church; the earliest gravestone here dates to 1844. The Bedford Road Historic District has retained its historical and architectural significance for over 175 years. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Now called Armonk, the community in the center of the Town of North Castle in northern Westchester County, NY, was formerly known as Mile Square. In the early 1840s the Episcopalians of Mile Square desired to establish their own church, as they had to travel to Bedford or White Plains to attend services. The Reverend Robert William Harris of Grace Church in White Plains began leading services in Mile Square in 1841, and on October 10, 1842, St. Stephen's Church was formally organized with the Reverend Harris as rector. The new congregation gratefully accepted the donation of a 1/4-acre parcel from farmer Elisha Sutton, on which it built a church that was completed and consecrated by September 1843.St. Stephen's Episcopal Church was constructed in the Greek Revival style. It was built by Ziel Eggleston, a vestryman of the church, although there is no record of who designed the building. The structure's most distinguishing features are massive Doric columns at its entrance, as well as its two-stage tower. Several additions have been made to the church. In 1889 an addition, constructed in the Gothic style, was completed. A parish hall was built in the 1940s, followed by the construction of a parish house in the 1960s.In February 1850 St. Stephen's Episcopal Church acquired a 13-acre parcel from the estate of Elisha Sutton. The church subdivided this estate into 40 lots, and after reserving one lot for a parsonage and one lot for a burial ground, the remaining lots were sold, which greatly helped the church's financial situation. The church used the name Armonk in conjunction with the sale of the property, and this name ended up replacing the name Mile Square. The parsonage building, which no longer serves this function, still stands at 40 Bedford Road. The burial ground, which is open on the north and east sides and enclosed with fences on the south and west sides, contains about 450 interments, most of which were made in the 19th century. The gravestones are evenly spaced in a regular pattern of north-south rows. Small and modest in size, the stones reflect a variety of styles: from the classical white marble forms and Greek-styled embellishment of the settlement period graves, to later Picturesque granite forms with Victorian iconography, to plain, contemporary markers. Included in the cemetery are twenty-three Civil War veterans, as well as veterans of the two world wars and the Korean War.The congregation struggled during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After New York City announced its intentions to acquire land along Wampus Brook for watershed purposes, a number of residents moved out of Armonk, and St. Stephen's, which was also slated for acquisition, was closed for four years in the 1890s. Although New York City did not acquire St. Stephen's, its struggles continued even after it reopened, and between the two world wars it was a "missionary parish" of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Mount Kisco. The church became an independent parish again in 1944, a status that it still holds today. St. Stephen's Episcopal Church and Cemetery were added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Bedford Road Historic District in 1985.

St. Stephen's Episcopal Church was founded in 1842 to serve the Episcopalians in Mile Square, now called Armonk. The following year, in 1843, the congregation constructed a Greek Revival church on land that had been donated by a local farmer. In 1844 they began using the ground immediately next to the church building for the burial of parishioners. In 1889, a Gothic-style addition enlarged the original church building, which would see enlargements again in the 1940s and 1960s when a parish hall and parish house were built, respectively. The St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church Cemetery is the final resting place of over 450 individuals and remains in active use, along with the church itself. St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church and Cemetery are both included in the Bedford Road Historic District, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

St. Stephen's Episcopal Church & Cemetery

The two story house presently located at Number 16 Bedford Road in the Bedford Road Historic District was built ca.1850. When it was originally constructed it was located on an adjacent lot (where today’s Number 24 Bedford Road sits). The building was moved to Number 16 Bedford Road in 1888 when the lot containing Number 12 Bedford Road was subdivided into two lots, each with fifty feet of street frontage. When the structure at Number 16 Bedford Road was built, it served as a shoemaker’s shop. In 1888 when the building was moved to the lot next door, it was also converted into a private residence that belonged to local resident Emily Husted. The Emily Husted House rests on a stone foundation and features a gable roof with return eaves, a central brick chimney, six-over-six windows, and a porch on the main facade with Doric pillars. To the present day, it remains visually evocative of Armonk's early growth and serves as a reminder of the residents who lived in the community 170 years ago. The Bedford Road Historic District, including the Emily Husted House, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.Information and photos for this entry were contributed by the North Castle Historical Society. Special thanks to Sharon Tomback, North Castle Town Historian.

The Emily Husted House, also known as the former shoemaker’s shop, is a private residence located in the Bedford Road Historic District in the hamlet of Armonk, NY. The building was originally situated on the lot adjacent to its current location. It was constructed ca.1850 to serve as a shoemaker’s shop. In 1888, the shop was moved down the road when the property at Number 12 Bedford Road was subdivided into two lots. At that time, it was also converted from a shoemaker’s shop to a private home that belonged to local resident Emily Husted. The house rests on a stone foundation, features a gable roof with return eaves, a central brick chimney, six-over-six windows, and a porch on the main facade with Doric pillars. The Bedford Road Historic District, including the Emily Husted House, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Emily Husted House/Former Shoemaker’s Shop (Bedford Road Historic District)

Within a decade after the 1842 St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church was built in the hamlet of Armonk, work began on the construction of a church parsonage. Also referred to as the rectory, the parsonage was erected on a neighboring parcel of about thirteen acres that had been purchased from the estate of Elisha Sutton in February of 1850 and then divided into multiple lots. The first rector of St. Stephen’s, Robert William Harris, lived in the parsonage for the first few years. Reverend Harris had also served at Grace Church in White Plains before his congregational oversight was expanded to include that of Armonk’s St. Stephen’s community. In April 1853, Reverend Harris resigned his duties as rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. Isaac Dyckman Vermilye, who had been serving as assistant rector, then assumed leadership of the congregation. Reverend Vermilye moved into the parsonage that same year, a building which he would own by the time of his death, in 1864. In 1865, ownership passed to Reverend Vermilye’s widow, Josephine, and she lived there for at least another twenty years. She also operated the seminary at St. Stephen’s. Since Josephine’s passing, the former parsonage at Number 40 Bedford Road in the Bedford Road Historic District has remained in use as a residence to this day. Two and one-half stories tall with a central entry and five-bay facade, the house embodies the characteristics of the Greek Revival period, especially in its distinctive entrance, which uses the popular post and lintel motif of Greek architecture to outline the doorway sidelights and transom. The two and one-half story scale is unusual in rural areas and is emphasized by stylish windows in the frieze. Overall, the building exhibits a restraint in scale and ornamentation typical of earlier Georgian architectural traditions.The Bedford Road Historic District, including the, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.Information and photos for this entry were contributed by the North Castle Historical Society. Special thanks to Sharon Tomback, North Castle Town Historian.

The Isaac Dyckman Vermilye House is a private residence located in the Bedford Road Historic District in the hamlet of Armonk, NY. The two and one-half story building was originally constructed ca.1850 to serve as a parsonage for St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, which is located on a neighboring parcel. Isaac Dyckman Vermilye, the second rector of St. Stephen’s, acquired the property, which was passed on to his widow, Josephine. It has remained in use as a private home and is considered the most imposing residence in the district. The house features a gable roof, two exterior brick chimneys, six-over-six windows, three-light casement windows, and a Greek Revival half-round main façade entrance porch. There is also a contributing outbuilding located on the property. The Bedford Road Historic District, including the Isaac Dyckman Vermilye House/Former St. Stephen’s Parsonage, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Bedford Road Historic District

Reuben B. Tyler House (Bedford Road Historic District)

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources