By Mia Padovano
The Rye Historical Society is planning a $4 million restoration and expansion of the Knapp House, the 1670 structure that is the oldest residential property in Westchester County.
Jackie Jenkins, president of the historical society’s board of trustees, said the project is to begin in the next two years and include an addition. The work, she said, will be done “in phases, starting with the original house, and the addition would be the last phase.”
The Knapp House, which the historical society bought in 1992, becoming the fifth owner of the property, is used for educational purposes. It predates the Square House on Purchase Street, where the historical society has its headquarters, by 60 years.
Under previous ownership, several additions were made to the house, and “supporting beams were cut through, destabilizing the building,” Jenkins said. The historical society has made temporary renovations, but major work is needed to restore the structural integrity of the building.
“Though the work will be done in phases, that is more for structural reasons rather than financial reasons,” Jenkins explained. “The temporary shoring project we completed five years ago must remain in place and be shifted to perform the permanent repairs. Hence, one room at a time.”
“We are looking to fund all of the necessary work through private donations and grants, both state and federal,” Jenkins said.
Restoration is to be the first stage of the project, and the second stage is to be the construction of a new building on the property to store archives. The Knapp House has been the repository of many of the artifacts and documents the society collects, but the building is out of space.
“The archives, which we removed from the Knapp House, are in a temporary secure storage facility in Port Chester for which we pay a rental fee,” Jenkins said, “When the new building is completed, they will all be moved back into the Knapp House. We would no longer keep the rental facility as the new space is being built to not only house our current holdings, but with extra space for future acquisitions.”
The new space is to house hospital documents, local country club documents, most of the local volunteer organizations’ records, the City of Rye’s archives, Boy and Girl Scout records, and past editions of The Rye Chronicle, one of the first newspapers in Rye. It will also protect Native American artifacts, pottery, and contraptions to capture rainwater that were found in the backyard of the Knapp House, Jenkins said.
The Knapp House is a registered historic building and is landmarked by the City of Rye, so city approval will be needed for the historical society to move forward with the project.
Jenkins said she expects that to be a simple process. “We aren’t changing much,” said another board member, who requested anonymity. “Ultimately this is about saving the only remaining original home of Rye.”
The new building will be climate- and light-controlled with few windows. Those windows will have protection so that “light is filtered through a special glass,” Jenkins said. “It won’t look modern, and the color will blend in.”
With the new building, people will have easier access to documents that might interest them. For example, Jenkins said, “when people move to Rye, people look to verify what year their house was built. We’re always able to dig something up.”
Rye residents are currently able to make an appointment to visit the archives with a volunteer archivist who is “truly passionate about the fabulous documents from the 1700s,” Jenkins said. Such meetings take place at the Square House, but the new building is to be used for future inquiries, Jenkins said.
Jenkins hopes the improved Knapp House becomes a more “adaptive space for the Rye community; an educational space, a meeting space, and an interactive space” where residents can learn about the city’s history.
