Rossman–Prospect Avenue Historic District

Geography

The district is a five-acre (2 ha) area along the two streets it takes its name from. It is on the slopes of Academy Hill, sometimes called Prospect Hill, the city's highest at 420 ft. Houses on Rossman, which climbs the hill to a dead end near the reservoir, have a view over the city to the Hudson River and Catskill Escarpment to the southwest. To the north is Columbia Memorial Hospital and, beyond, the large Hudson Historic District. The reservoir and its wooded buffer lands are on the west and south. East of the district is the residential end of Warren Street, Hudson's main street, and US 9.

Its boundaries include some of the houses on the south side of Prospect east of Rossman, and both sides of Rossman up to where the houses end. There are 12 lots in total with 14 contributing properties. Two other garages are modern and non-contributing. The houses are in a variety of styles popular before and after the turn of the 20th century, such as Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Craftsman Bungalow and Tudorbethan.

History

In the middle of the 19th century the entire area was the estate of Allen Rossman, formerly county treasurer and a director of a local bank. Hudson was growing quickly during this time, and began experiencing frequent water shortages. The city government decided in 1874 to pump water from the river up to a reservoir behind Prospect Hill, and condemned a right-of-way for the aqueduct through Rossman's property.

He donated enough extra land for a street 50 ft wide to be built atop the aqueduct, and began planting trees and subdividing the property into 13 lots. The first house, 11 Rossman Avenue, would not be built until 1887. Rossman died soon afterwards, and his descendants sold some of the other lots on the west side of the street during the 1890s. Many of these were Queen Anne Style, with restrained decoration similar to that found elsewhere in Hudson.

The lots on the east side were developed in the early 20th century. Many of these houses show the influence of the Arts and Crafts movement, particularly the bungalows. These were unusually sophisticated applications of the style, with Federal and Georgian-inspired detailing. The last two houses to be built in the district, 2 and 4 Rossman (the latter built as a residence for the hospital superintendent), were Tudorbethan-style English country houses, a mode not seen much elsewhere in Hudson.

References

References

1. Shirley Dunn. (October 1983). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: New York MPS Rossman--Prospect Avenue Historic District". National Archives and Records Administration.