Smith House, The
Approximate location: the National Park Service places this pin arbitrarily within the property, not at a surveyed point (stated accuracy ±12 m).
Why it's listed
Set on a 1.4 acre parcel along Albany Post Road in the agricultural northern part of Montgomery, this two-story, five-bay farmhouse dates to about 1850. It has a center hall plan, a raised stone foundation, a gable roof, six-over-six windows, wide lintels and a Greek Revival doorway with sidelights and pilasters. Fish-scale slate siding, probably added in the 1880s, covers parts of the walls and is not known on any other house in the town. The house replaced an earlier stone dwelling built by Wilhelm Smidt, an early German Palatine settler, and it reuses doors, strap hinges and a box lock from that building. A summer kitchen, a small barn and a stone-lined well also survive from the mid-nineteenth century. The property was recognized for showing how Greek Revival design was adapted locally, how it grew out of the older farmhouse tradition, and for its rare surviving details.
Significance in brief: The house is argued to be an intact example of a late Greek Revival farmhouse that shows how the style was adapted to the local vernacular. It keeps eighteenth-century Germanic hardware reused from an earlier stone house on the site. It also has fish-scale slate siding from the 1880s that is found on no other house in Montgomery.
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 96000863, listed August 8, 1996. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 2727 Albany Post Rd., Montgomery |
|---|---|
| County | Orange County |
| Listed | August 8, 1996 |
| Reference number | 96000863 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | ca.1850-ca.1880 |
| Architectural style | Mid-19th Century/Greek Revival |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Still a single-dwelling residence; restoration was begun in the 1980s and continued by later owners. |
| Acreage | 1.4 |
| Coordinates | 41.55273, -74.23661 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
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 96000863.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q7764916
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.