Ross-Hand Mansion
Azariah Ross was instrumental in extending the Northern Railroad to Nyack. On May 28, 1870, he hosted in the grounds of the Ross–Hand Mansion a celebration of the arrival of the rail line. A banner was strung over the entrance reading 'Welcome to Nyack, the Gem of the Hudson' surrounded by fluttering flags. The chairman of the reception committee, Seth B Cole, gave a fulsome welcome to the crowds on the Mansion's lawn: “Nyack embosomed in the semi-circling hills that adorn the west bank of the noble Hudson at Tappan Zee - in possession of beauty and wealth of attractions rarely equaled, has cherished the unfolding hope ... when appreciative, intelligent, worthy and wealthy votaries shall seek and find a resting place in her bowers. Nyack in slumbering loveliness, has dreamed of this joyful hour”.
By 1871, trying to stave off financial uncertainty, Ross converted his house into a hotel, the Ross Mansion. Note that in the application packet to have the house considered for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, one source incorrectly attributes another name to the house during its years as a hotel. On May 8, 1883, after Ross' death, the home was purchased at a public auction hosted by A J Bleeker in New York City by Mary Elizabeth Haddock Hand (1836-1917). Mary's husband, William Henry Hand (1837-1898), specialized in decorative woodwork and, with their sons William, Roger and Walter, he completed extensive renovations on the property and installed elements, including a marble fireplace, from the Alexander Turney Stewart Mansion on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan that had recently been demolished. They converted the rear part of the property into a working farm with help from a lodger named Robert Latimer who had previously managed a family farm in West Nyack.
Hand's grandson, also named William Henry Hand (1900-1978), was an assistant to an elderly Thomas Edison. However, strong ethical differences over Edison's business practices led Hand to set out on his own and by 1930 he had established the Hand Laboratory for Electro-Chemical Research and Development in a barn on the grounds of his family's South Nyack mansion. There, over the next thirty years, Hand and his small team developed a long-life battery that was used by emergency services, the military, public works vehicles, school buses and in boats.
William Henry Hand lived at the house with his brother Raymond (1899-1972), sister Dorothy Crawford (1903-1995) and her daughter Adelma. When William died in 1978, Dorothy and Adelma and Adelma's children were the remaining occupants. In the early 1990s when Adelma wanted to list the property for sale, the analysis of soil samples found dangerous levels of lead contamination: over three decades of battery development, it appears that battery acid, lead and other experimental material was dumped on the grounds of the mansion. The property was deemed a risk to human health and placed as a Class 2 site on the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Division of Hazardous Waste Remediation register of Inactive Hazardous Waste Sites, #344040. Adelma undertook a private remediation on her property. The NYS DEC performed additional soil testing of neighbouring properties and implemented their full remediation with state funds. The area was finally considered safe and removed from the NYS DEC register in 1998.
Also on the property is a 19th-century barn and stable with a gymnasium (in the former battery laboratory) and a small brick smokehouse. The Mansion's original summer kitchen was located to the rear of the property and was demolished in about 1999.
In June 1997, the Mansion was the venue for the Hudson River Designer Show House with rooms reimagined by a number of designers including Louis Navarrete, Jean-Pierre Dovat and Mario Buatta.
The property was sold in 1998, then again in 2014 and, most recently, in 2019.
The Ross-Hand Mansion was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ https://nyacknewsandviews.com/blog/2013/10/nsl_hand-house/
- ^ History of Nyack https://visitnyack.org/history-of-nyack/
- ^ Death of a veteran of 1812 https://nyti.ms/3BYGwb0
- ^ "The Architecture of country houses : Including designs for cottages, farm-houses, and villas, with remarks on interiors, furniture, and the best modes of warming ad ventilating". 1861.
- ^ "The Architecture of country houses : Including designs for cottages, farm-houses, and villas, with remarks on interiors, furniture, and the best modes of warming ad ventilating". 1861.
- ^ Some rascals, too mean to live in any civilized community, have been guilty of the low act of girdling the beautiful shade trees planted by Mr. Azariah Ross, in front of his residence https://news.hrvh.org/veridian/?a=d&d=rocklandctyjournal18590430.2.11
- ^ Opening of the Nyack Railroad https://news.hrvh.org/veridian/cgi-bin/senylrc-larc?a=d&d=rocklandctyjournal18700528.2.12
- ^ The Shady Side of the River - hotels https://news.hrvh.org/veridian/?a=d&d=rocklandctyjournal18710805.2.5
- ^ Ross' obituary https://news.hrvh.org/veridian/cgi-bin/senylrc-larc?a=d&d=rocklandctyjournal18780316.2.18
- ^ The Evening Post, May 5, 1883
- ^ "Rockland County Journal 12 May 1883 — HRVH Historical Newspapers".
- ^ November 15, 1898, William Henry Hand dies https://news.hrvh.org/veridian/cgi-bin/senylrc-larc?a=d&d=jbaggcgi18981116-01.1.3
- ^ The Hand family on the deck of the mansion in 1885-87 https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/nyacklib/id/1450/rec/9
- ^ Cantor, Jay E. (1975). "A Monument of Trade: A. T. Stewart and the Rise of the Millionaire's Mansion in New York". Winterthur Portfolio. 10: 165–197. doi:10.1086/495838. JSTOR 1180563. S2CID 161963159.
- ^ Robert Latimer expired from apoplexy https://news.hrvh.org/veridian/?a=d&d=rocklandctyjournal18950209.2.8
- ^ Oral history interview with William Henry Hand from 1974 https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/nyacklib/id/5763/
- ^ Advertisment for the Hand Laboratory, Nyack, NY https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/nyacklib/id/5492/
- ^ "Nyack Sketch Log: The Hand House".
- ^ NYS Environmental Site Remediation entry https://extapps.dec.ny.gov/cfmx/extapps/derexternal/haz/details.cfm
- ^ The Journal News newspaper, 22nd September, 1997, page 3A.
- ^ NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) "Record of Decision", March 1998.
- ^ Austin N. O'Brien (July 1983). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Ross-Hand Mansion (requires Java)". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Retrieved 2010-05-28. See also: "Accompanying 11 photos (requires Java)".
- ^ 1940s image of the Summer Kitchen https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/nyacklib/id/5060/rec/14
- ^ https://www.instagram.com/louisnavarretedecoration/
- ^ https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Jean-Pierre-Dovat/F3F2C6EAC8BFA9D4/Biography
- ^ New York Times, June 5, 1997, Try Opening the Doors In This Show House https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/05/garden/try-opening-the-doors-in-this-show-house.html
- ^ New York SP Ross-Hand Mansion. File Unit: National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records: New York, 1964 - 2013.