Guilderland
Historical
Society
- Guilderland properties listed in the
National Register of Historic Places - Strassburg House
The Strassburg House* was nominated
for the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, among the
other properties grouped in the Guilderland multiple resource area.
It was judged eligible, but was not included in the National
Register, because the owner objected. It was placed in and remains
on the New York register.
Strassburg House viewed from McKown Road (April 2020)
Photos of the Strassburg House in the 1982 NRHP nomination document
(marked June 1980)
click on an image to obtain full size view
1. Strassburg House seen from McKown Road
2. carriage barn looking south [photo is
missing from file]
Text information from NRHP nomination of 1982
Application file # 2; National Register Guilderland Multiple
Resource Area # 36.
There are commercial properties on the north side of the property
and residential communities on the east and south. The house was
moved in 1945 from the corner of McKown Rd. & Western Avenue to
its present site behind its carriage house.
Features: Two-story, multi-gable roof, Queen Anne style
design, square tower with flared eaves and crowned with wrought-iron
finial, exposed framing in end gables, house and carriage house have
pressed-tin roofing shingles, porch posts are decorated with carved
fan brackets.
Date of initial construction: 1887; moved, to new foundation
ca. 1945-47
Historical and Architectural importance: The largely
unaltered house and matching carriage house are outstanding examples
of the modest scaled Queen Anne style buildings surviving in the
town. At one time the house was located on the eastern corner of
Western Avenue and McKown Road and a similar house was located on
the western corner. The move to a rear lot prevented this house from
becoming the severely altered commercial structure its "sister"
building became. Although not in its original setting, the building
retains its integrity of design and materials and is a
well-preserved example of its type and period in a suburban area
where such survivals are extremely rare. The original setting has
been encroached upon by commercial development and would no longer
provide a character appropriate to the detailed residential
building.
The two-story building is distinguished by turned porch posts with
carved fan brackets, bands of fishscale shingles which contrast with
the first and second story clapboard, gable ornamentation and
brackets. Its irregular plan and massing, incorporated tower, and
encircling veranda are classic and defining characteristics of the
Queen Anne style. The pressed metal roofing shingles are unusual
surviving examples of late nineteenth century roofing materials.
Strassburg
House NRHP nomination document (1MB pdf)
* This house was built for William McKown (1843-1924); in the normal
custom of naming register houses after their first owner, this would
be more appropriately known as the William McKown House. More
information on this house, and the McKown's, is available on the
mckownville.org website: this
house; and the
McKown's and McKownville.
The carriage house was destroyed sometime after May 2011 and before
September 2013. The original tin roofing shingles on the house have
been replaced by asphalt shingles, and the clapboard siding has also
been replaced by new material, and the old gable ornamentation
brackets removed.
map location from NRHP document (Strassburg House #2)
site map with building location from 1979 tax map
Google Earth kml file
Guilderland NRHP properties
Guilderland Historian
Guilderland Historical Society