{"nrhp_refnum":"68000035","name":"Burroughs, John, Riverby Study","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Between NY 9W and the Hudson River","address_restricted":false,"city":"West Park","county":"Ulster County","state":"NY","lat":41.800942688500044,"lon":-73.95660437310762,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1968-11-24","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1968-11-24","areas_of_significance":["Conservation"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Riverby is a roughly 14.5-acre riverside property in West Park, Ulster County, New York, on the west bank of the Hudson River. It holds the stone house John Burroughs built in 1873, his 1881 bark-covered Study, a summerhouse, a barn, and later buildings by his son Julian Burroughs.","why_significant":"The property is significant for its association with John Burroughs, a naturalist and influential author whose popular nature writing ran from 1865 until his death in 1921. Riverby and its land were frequent subjects in his work. His essays encouraged public interest in nature and the out-of-doors and so helped the growth of the conservation movement.","narrative":"Riverby occupies about 14.5 acres on a steep slope above the Hudson River in West Park, New York, directly across from the Vanderbilt Mansion. John Burroughs, a naturalist and widely read author, designed and built the stone house in 1873, using local stone laid as rubble with minimal mortar. In 1881 he added a small Study, about 15 feet square, clad in chestnut slabs with the bark left on, where he went to read and write away from household noise. A rustic summerhouse and a 1904 barn also date from his time. His son Julian added a Craftsman-style bungalow in 1903, a highly individual concrete and brick barn in 1917, and an observatory. The property is recognized for its link to Burroughs, whose nature essays, published from 1865 until his death in 1921, drew public attention to ordinary natural surroundings and contributed to the conservation movement. Both the house and the land appeared often in his writing.","period_of_significance":"1973-1921","architect_builder":"Burroughs, John; Burroughs, Julian","architectural_style":"Stick Style, Craftsman, Rustic","criteria":["B"],"status_note":"The main house is in good condition and the Study is in relatively good condition but needs underpinning at one corner. Julian Burroughs's barn is in very poor condition and the observatory is in poor condition.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:40.069216-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/68000035_NHL.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75316097","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverby","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2485512"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/ulster-county/burroughs-john-riverby-study-68000035/"}