Guy Park
Why it's listed
Guy Park is a two-story stone mansion on the Mohawk River at the west end of Amsterdam, New York. Guy Johnson built it in 1773, after lightning destroyed an earlier frame house put up in 1766 by Sir William Johnson for his daughter and her husband. Johnson, a Tory, served as Superintendent of Indian Affairs and fled to Canada in 1775; the property was later confiscated and sold. In the 1840s it passed to James Stewart, a Scottish stonecutter and contractor who worked on the Erie Canal, and the flanking wings were added in the mid-nineteenth century. The house now sits between railroad tracks and Barge Canal Lock #11, built after the state acquired the land in 1905. The Barge Canal was completed in 1918. Its coursed rubble masonry, Georgian symmetry and bracketed cornice mark the building, while the site reflects the shift from colonial Indian affairs to canal and rail transportation in the Mohawk Valley.
Significance in brief: The nomination presents Guy Park as an important example of Georgian architecture in the Mohawk Valley and as the home of Guy Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs and a figure in colonial New York. Its later owner James Stewart links it to the Erie Canal, and the adjacent railroad tracks and Barge Canal Lock #11 tie it to nineteenth and twentieth century transportation and engineering.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 73001206, listed February 6, 1973. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | W. Main St., Amsterdam |
|---|---|
| County | Montgomery County |
| Listed | February 6, 1973 |
| Reference number | 73001206 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1773, 1850's, 1905-18 |
| Architect / builder | Guy Johnson (builder); mid-nineteenth century enlargement by James Stewart |
| Architectural style | Late Georgian |
| Areas of significance | Military, Architecture |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Condition listed as good and altered; owned by the State of New York, occupied, and opened as a historic site by the city of Amsterdam. A restoration begun in 1952 was never completed. |
| Acreage | 1 |
| Within district | New York State Barge Canal |
| Coordinates | 42.94710, -74.20956 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 73001206.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q14706307
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.