Rye was one of the earliest municipalities in New York State to adopt a historic preservation law, which was added to the Rye City Code in 1977. The city also has a remarkable number of listings on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), which includes districts, sites, and buildings that are significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture.
They include:
Timothy Knapp House and Milton Cemetery
Recognizes the house as one of New York’s oldest homes (built around 1667) and the cemetery as Rye’s first public burial ground.
Playland Amusement Park
Recognized for being the first completely planned amusement park in the U.S., as well as
for its significant Art Deco architecture, and its original rides like the Dragon Coaster and Derby Racer.
The Square House (also known as Widow Haviland’s Tavern)
Colonial-era tavern and inn (built circa 1730) later used as a municipal hall and Rye Historical Society’s office and museum.
Rye African-American Cemetery
Historic burial ground for free and formerly enslaved African Americans in the area, with veterans from various conflicts also interred there.
Rye Meeting House
The building, originally a one-room schoolhouse from the 1830s, was moved in 1867 and served various faiths before becoming a secular educational/historic site.
Rye Town Park-Bathing Complex and Oakland Beach
Noted for its significant early 20th-century recreational design, featuring Mission/Spanish Revival elements.
United States Post Office — Rye
Historic post office building, named for Caroline O’Day, who served four terms in the U.S. Congress.
The Boston Post Road Historic District
This includes three adjacent architecturally important buildings: Alansten at the Jay Heritage Center, Lounsberry (the Parsons family home) and Whitby Castle (the Rye Golf Club) as well as the historic Jay family cemetery and the Marshlands Conservancy. It is the only National Historic Landmark District in Westchester County.
Bird Homestead
Recognized for its 19th-century Greek Revival architecture, rare surviving farmstead status, and association with the prominent Bird family of scientists.
The Bird Homestead was added to the NRHP in 2010, but no other properties in Rye have been added since then.
Yet there are still other properties in Rye that might qualify for listing on the NRHP by satisfying one or more of the published criteria, including:
A – Association with significant events or broad historical patterns
B – Association with significant persons
C – Architecture, design, construction, or artistic value
One possible candidate is the Wainwright House on Stuyvesant Avenue, whose website describes the fine architectural details of the house (modeled after a French chateau) situated on five acres overlooking Milton Harbor and its association with Congressman J. Mayhew Wainwright, a distinguished political leader and descendant of Peter Stuyvesant.
