{"nrhp_refnum":"79001622","name":"Patroon Agent's House and Office","other_names":["Whish-Hull House and Rector"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"15 Forbes Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Rensselaer","county":"Rensselaer County","state":"NY","lat":42.657286326000076,"lon":-73.73496695399996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-08-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-a-half-story brick Greek Revival house with an attached one-story brick office at 15 Forbes Avenue in Rensselaer, New York, completed in 1839 as the home and rent office of Casparus Pruyn, agent for William Van Rensselaer.","why_significant":"The nomination ties the property to the Anti-Rent Wars, the Van Rensselaer family and the history of the city of Rensselaer. It also argues for architectural significance as a well-preserved Greek Revival building with an unusual attached office containing secured vaults, an arched ceiling and a rare Empire style newel post.","narrative":"Built in 1839 near the Hudson River in the north end of Rensselaer, this brick house and attached office served Casparus Pruyn, rent collection agent for William Van Rensselaer, whose family held the manor of Rensselaerswyck. The office wing contains two heavily secured vaults for rent returns and valuable papers, with iron bars and heavy iron doors meant to foil thieves and anti-renters. Pruyn worked in the middle of the Anti-Rent Wars between 1839 and 1844, when tenant farmers resisted back rents. The house is a typical northeastern Greek Revival design with a five-bay front, sandstone lintels, built-in folding shutters, marble mantels and a mahogany stair rail rising to the attic from a rare rosewood-veneer newel post. The office has a corbeled-arched ceiling and an unusual sloping roof on a truss. The residence and office were first sold separately in 1904, and the house has changed little since.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition is listed as good and altered. The house continues as a residence, and the office is used for storage. The two parts are in separate ownership.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:38.588939-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/79001622.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001622/a52d6285c2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001622/a52d6285c2-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RensselaerNY_15ForbesAve.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RensselaerNY_15ForbesAve.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75321274","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patroon_Agent%27s_House_and_Office","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7148153"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/rensselaer-county/patroon-agents-house-and-office-79001622/"}