{"nrhp_refnum":"87001894","name":"Beecher-McFadden Estate","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"E. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Peekskill","county":"Westchester County","state":"NY","lat":41.298335531500044,"lon":-73.89515163159484,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1987-11-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-acre country estate on a hillside off East Main Street in Peekskill, Westchester County, New York, with a brick mansion, a large support building (garage, stable and quarters) and landscaped grounds. The mansion began as Henry Ward Beecher's 1875 summer house and was remodeled in the 1920s.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the estate is the most intact and distinguished early twentieth century estate in Peekskill. It reflects the period when wealthy New York City families built country estates in Westchester County. The Jacobethan Revival mansion, its complementary support building and the picturesque landscape form a unified ensemble. The grounds also retain Beecher's informal landscape plan.","narrative":"Perched on a steep hillside on the eastern edge of Peekskill, this four-acre estate centers on a brick mansion and a large half-timbered support building that once held a garage, stable and staff quarters. The house began in 1875 as a twenty-room Victorian Gothic summer residence built by the clergyman Henry Ward Beecher, who had bought farmland on the hill in 1859 and planted its trees and gardens. After Beecher's death in 1887 the property passed to Louis Ettlinger in 1902, and in the 1920s his daughter and son-in-law, the William T. McFaddens, remodeled the house into a Jacobethan Revival mansion with brick walls, stone trim, parapet gables, leaded casement windows and Tudor-arched porches. Only the rear wall of Beecher's house survives. The picturesque landscape of open lawns and wooded slopes still follows his plan. The estate is described as the most intact early twentieth century estate in Peekskill, reflecting the wave of country estates built in Westchester County.","period_of_significance":"1875-c.1925","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Jacobethan Revival (1920s remodeling of an 1875 Victorian Gothic residence)","criteria":[],"status_note":"The estate is privately owned and has been converted to multi-family residential use. The support building's interior was altered in the mid-twentieth century when the property was part of a school campus.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:44.947649-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/87001894.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75322955","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beecher-McFadden_Estate","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4879632"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/westchester-county/beecher-mcfadden-estate-87001894/"}