Olana | |
 The Olana mansion | |
   | |
 Interactive map showing the location of Olana | |
| Location | Greenport, Columbia County, New York |
|---|---|
| Nearest city | Hudson |
| Coordinates | 42°13′04″N 73°49′46″W / 42.21778°N 73.82944°W |
| Area | 250.2 acres (101.3 ha) |
| Built | 1870–72 |
| Architect | Frederic Edwin Church, Calvert Vaux[1] |
| Architectural style | Exotic Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 66000509 |
| NYSRHP No. | 02111.000001 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
| Designated NHL | June 22, 1965 |
| Designated NYSRHP | June 23, 1980 |
Olana State Historic Site is a historic house museum and landscape in Greenport, New York, near the city of Hudson. The estate was home to Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900), one of the major figures in the Hudson River School of landscape painting. The centerpiece of Olana is an eclectic villa which overlooks parkland and a working farm designed by the artist. The residence has a wide view of the Hudson River Valley, the Catskill Mountains and the Taconic Range. Church and his wife Isabel (1836–1899) named their estate after a fortress-treasure house in ancient Greater Persia (modern-day Armenia), which also overlooked a river valley.[2]
Olana is one of the few intact artists' home-, studio- and estate-complexes in the United States; it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965.[1][3] The house is also a prime example of Orientalist architecture.[2] It is owned and operated by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and is also supported by The Olana Partnership, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.[4] The main building is an architectural masterpiece designed by Frederic Church in consultation with the architect Calvert Vaux.[1][5][6] The stone, brick, and polychrome-stenciled villa is a mixture of Victorian, Persian[3] and Moorish styles.[7] The interior remains much as it was during Church's lifetime, exotically furnished and decorated with objects from his global travels, and with some 40 paintings by Church and his friends. The house is intricately stenciled inside and out; Church designed the stencils based on his travels in the Middle East. The house contains Church's last studio, built as an addition from 1888 to 1890.
- ^ a b c "Frederic E. Church House (Olana)". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. September 11, 2007. Archived from the original on May 25, 2008. Retrieved September 19, 2007.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
Wernerwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Greenwood, Richard (December 12, 1975). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Frederic E. Church House" (PDF). National Park Service.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) and Accompanying 8 photos, exterior, from 1975 and 1964. (834 KiB) - ^ "Membership". The Olana Partnership. 2007–2009. Retrieved April 8, 2010.
- ^ "Learn: The House". Olana. The Olana Partnership. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
- ^ Ryan, James Anthony (1989). "Frederic Church's Olana: Landscape and Architecture as Art". In Kelly, Franklin (ed.). Frederic Edwin Church (PDF). Washington: National Gallery of Art. p. 135. ISBN 0-89468-136-2.
- ^ Seamon, David (1992). Donald G. Janelle (ed.). "A Diary Interpretation of Place: Artist Frederic Church's Olana". Geographical Snapshots of North America: Commemorating the 27th Congress of the International Geographical Union and Assembly. Guilford Press. ISBN 0-89862-030-9. Retrieved May 12, 2010.