Top Cottage | |
 | |
 Interactive map showing Top Cottage’s location | |
| Location | Hyde Park,NY |
|---|---|
| Nearest city | Poughkeepsie |
| Coordinates | 41°45′54″N73°53′19″W / 41.76500°N 73.88861°W /41.76500; -73.88861 |
| Built | 1938-1939 |
| Architect | Henry Toombs andFranklin Delano Roosevelt |
| Architectural style | Dutch Colonial Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 97001679[1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | December 9, 1997 |
| Designated NHL | December 9, 1997[2] |
Top Cottage, also known asHill-Top Cottage, inHyde Park, New York, was a private retreat designed by and forFranklin D. Roosevelt.[3][4][5] Built in 1938-39, during Roosevelt's second term asPresident of the United States, it was designed to accommodate his need forwheelchair accessibility. It was one of the earliest such buildings in the country, and the first significant building designed by a person with a disability.[4]
Although it was meant as a retreat, FDR also received notable guests at the cottage, including Britain'sKing George VI andQueen Elizabeth. After half a century in private ownership, the property was restored and given to theNational Park Service, which today operates it as part of the nearbyHome of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site. Top Cottage was declared aNational Historic Landmark in 1997.[2][6] Guided tours of the cottage are available from the main site but private vehicles are not permitted.
This building is the only building designed by a sitting U.S. president other thanThomas Jefferson, who designed several at his home inMonticello,Poplar Forest, theUniversity of Virginia, and theVirginia State Capitol.[4]
The cottage is in theDutch Colonial Revivalarchitectural style, built offieldstone. It is one of several buildings in Hyde Park and surrounding communities that FDR ensured were built in that style, which he hoped to revive in the region. It is located at the end of Potters Bend Road, a residential street in a rural area of Hyde Park, at the top of the 500-foot (152 m) ridgetop unofficially known as Dutchess Hill where Roosevelt had played as a child.[3] In FDR's time, it had commanding views of theHudson River and theCatskill Mountains, now obscured by trees.[6]
Although Roosevelt built a vacation house in Georgia at the end of his term as governor of New York (near the hot-spring estate in Bullochville, Georgia that he had bought in 1927 and renamedWarm Springs), he had never owned a year-round home of his own. He had moved into his mother's house atHyde Park, enlarged for him and his family, and otherwise lived in family townhouses inNew York City, rented houses inAlbany andWashington, D.C., or official residences such as theNew York State Executive Mansion and theWhite House.[7][8] In 1933, Roosevelt realized the family home in Hyde Park did not offer him sufficient distance from the pressures of the presidency. He realized he would need a more isolated retreat, "a small place to go to escape the mob..."[3]
Two years later, Roosevelt and his cousinMargaret Suckley spent some time together on the top of the hill, with a view over theHudson River to theCatskill Mountains, and were both impressed by the possibilities. He would refer to it as "Our Hill";[9] she as "the nicest Hill in Dutchess County".[10] In October of that year he suggested it would be the perfect spot for "a one-story fieldstone two-room house ... one with very thick walls to protect us." She responded enthusiastically, with a sketch that looks similar to the finished building.[9]
Roosevelt at first envisioned it as where he would live after his presidency, and bought the 118-acre (48 ha) hillside parcel in 1937, afterhis re-election. By that point in his life, he needed to use awheelchair for much of the time due to hisparalytic illness and could only walk short distances with great difficulty and assistance, a fact he and others concealed from the public. He designed the cottage to accommodate the wheelchair, with one flat floor and everything he could want or need located within easy reach of someone in a sitting position. Top Cottage is the only presidential residence, other thanThomas Jefferson'sMonticello andPoplar Forest, designed by a president. It is also the first significant accessible building designed by a disabled person.[11]
Roosevelt began submitting sketches to architects in 1938.[4] He commissioned architectHenry Toombs to help finish the design, who suggested Roosevelt be credited as architect despite his lack of professional training or experience,[12] angering someRepublican architects when an article about the cottage doing exactly that ran inLife magazine.[13] There are some indications that Toombs was the architect but suggested he be listed only as the associate with Roosevelt being credited as the architect.[4] Crediting Roosevelt as the architect brought criticism from others, including John Lloyd Wright, son of architectFrank Lloyd Wright. Wright said, "awaited 'pictures of 'Doctor' Roosevelt performing an appendectomy.'"[4]
At the time when houses cost$1,000 the cottage cost $16,599, but in the end, it is thought that Roosevelt never spent a single night at the cottage; despite being designed after becoming disabled, his mother's larger home was more suitable for Roosevelt's disability.[4][7] The design had many other problems; the ventilation was faulty, the bedrooms were too small, and it had only one bathroom and no closets. Nonetheless, when guests visited Hyde Park, Roosevelt always showed them Top Cottage first.[7] Modern renovations to the cottage, allowing it to open to the public, cost $1,500,000, including $750,000 to buy the cottage.[4]
The next year it would be host to the famous picnic where Roosevelt cooked and servedhot dogs to KingGeorge VI andQueen Elizabeth on the first state visit to the United States by a British sovereign.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20] It was during the King and Queen's visit that Roosevelt broke protocol and proposed a toast to the Queen. She reportedly became flustered at the break in protocol and drank to herself.[4]
His original intention to use it as a retirement home were put on hold whenhe won an unprecedented third term the next year. But he continued to use Top Cottage as a retreat, bringing important visitors such as British Prime MinisterWinston Churchill there to discuss theatomic bomb,[3] as well as close friends like Suckley, who took the only two published photos of him in his wheelchair on the cottage's porch.[9]
After Roosevelt's death, his sonElliott Roosevelt lived there for a while.[4] He made some renovations, such as addingdormer windows and amud room. Later he sold the house to the Potter family, who gave their name to the street leading to the home. It remained in their possession until 1996, when it was sold again to theOpen Space Institute (OSI). The following year it was recognized as aNational Historic Landmark, and the OSI began renovations, removing Elliott Roosevelt's additions and thinning some of the trees that had obstructed the view. In 2001, it was turned over to theNational Park Service to be made part of the existing historic site. The house was opened to the public for the first time in 2001. It is used as a conference center, in addition to being open to the public.[4]
The cottage is located in Hyde Park, New York. It is open only to those with reservations.[4][21] Although the original furnishings were lost, in 2011 the Park Service furnished the main area with reproductions and antiques which match the original contents.
The cottage was subject of a review book,The President as Architect: Franklin D. Roosevelt's Top Cottage, was compiled by John G. Waite Associates, an Albany architectural firm specializing in restorations.[4] It is also prominently featured in the 2012 film,Hyde Park on Hudson.
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Media related toTop Cottage at Wikimedia Commons
