The Wyckoff House
All Work | The Wyckoff House, Brooklyn, NY
The Wyckoff House
Brooklyn, New York
Scope
Reportedly constructed in 1640, the Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House, is situated in Brooklyn, NY, on land purchased from the local Lenape people in approximately 1636. Although construction dates vary, it is known that the Wyckoff family resided in the house by 1652. The house is one of the oldest surviving examples of a New World Dutch anchor-bent framed houses in America, and it was one of the first structures built by Europeans on Long Island. The site is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and is a New York City Designated Individual Landmark.
It has been estimated that nearly 14,000 historic sites in the US will be lost as a result of rising seas due to climate change by the year 2100. Hurricane Ida, which occurred in September 2021caused considerable damage to the Wyckoff House and site, as well as a number of other Historic House Trust properties.
In a forward-thinking effort, the Historic House Trust of New York, with funding from the NY Landmarks Conservancy, enlisted the services of JHPA, Inc. to prepare a report that would identify extant conditions at the house and site that may make it vulnerable to future environmental disasters, and provide recommendations for short-and-long term interventions that may assist to mitigate future damage or total destruction of the site. The informative report was the first in what will be a series of resiliency studies of Historic House Trust properties.