Elegant and
mellow stands Belvidere, on the Genesee River, one of the most imposing houses in New York State.
The pines on its
200 acres sigh, the river murmurs and a meaningful silence speaks of a century and a half of American life under its famous roof.
Its 13 hearths
roar against the winter wind, and sleep is sweet in any one of its ten bedrooms.
The 100,000
acres, of which Belvidere once was a part were settled by Capt. Philip Church, U. S. Infantry, Eaton-educated son of John B. Church, an Englishman, who sympathized with the States in the
Revolution.
John Church
married Angelica Schuyler, beautiful daughter of Gen. Philip Schuyler of Albany. She was the sister-in-law of Alexander Hamilton.
Philip Church and
his father obtained the vast Genesee Valley tract at a foreclosure sale in 1800.
Robert Morris,
financial backer of the Revolution, had borrowed $80,000 from the senior Church and put up the land for security. The Churches paid $81,679 for the land.
Philip
established the Village of Angelica—named after his mother—and set aside a site about 150 above a bend in the Genesee, on which to build a summer home for his parents.
He was living
there in a temporary two-story, white frame house—the first painted house west of Canandaigua—in 1804, when news that his uncle, Alexander Hamilton, had been shot by Aaron Burr reached him.
A year later,
Philip married Anne Matilda Stewart, daughter of Gen. Walter Stewart of Philadelphia, who was an aide de camp of George Washington. Young Church met his future bride at Washington’s funeral.
He brought her
and a Quaker cook back to the “White House,” as the temporary house at Belvidere was called, and here his parents, who had led a highly sophisticated and elegant life in England and France,
visited them in the summer.
The Senior
Churches came with an entourage, including a French chef named Godey, father of Louis Antoine Godey, founder of Godey’s Lady Book. Such elegancies, as well as Philip’s rising position as a land
developer, called for more pretentious housing.
About 1807, the
big house was started. Some authorities believe it was designed originally by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who did the Capitol in Washington.
The 27-room
Federal (or Post-colonial) mansion is approached by a winding drive through towering maples, elms and pine. Even in the midst of such horticultural splendor, sighting it is a breath-taking
experience.
Belvidere faces
the river, its four massive yet slender Ionic white wooden columns supporting a handsome matching cornice with lofty classicality.
The house is of
mellowed brick, remnants of the kiln have been found on the place—and of stone, probably from a large quarry across the road.
Combination of
the stones gives fascinating variety. Brick has grown rosy, stone silvered. Two stone wings with wide brick arches flank the main structure where the ceiling rises to 13 feet. A 100-foot east
wing was added between 1812-14.
White pine felled
in the forest, which covered the area when Philip Church arrived, composes joists, beams, trim and the magnificent pillars themselves.
Cornices are
decorated with modillions (ornamental blocks or brackets) and dentils (series of rectangular projecting blocks).
The fan
window-topped front door—paned in medallion pattern leaded glass—was brought by later owners from England. It is at the back of the house in a recessed porch with lower pillars.
Shutters are of
fairly dark green, and the many paned, high downstairs windows overlooking the river are constructed in three sections as at Monticello. An elliptical, leaded glass window in the pediment is
unusual in that it is placed vertically, instead of horizontally.
The Church family
occupied the house for more than 80 years. It was bought in 1947 by Robert B. Bromeley, publisher of the Bradford Era, and his wife, the former Marian Grow.
In addition to
installing gas, electricity and central heating in Belvidere, they have done research on the history of the house in libraries and museums throughout the country.
The Bromeleys
have redone the handsome interior in soft Williamsburg colors and reproductions of historic wallpapers.
The hallway from
which open the 17 by 22 feet drawing and dining rooms has Williamsburg blue woodwork, and the wallpaper in the red-damask-curtained, moss green-carpeted drawing room is a replica of one used at
Mr. Vernon in (?)1822.
Mr. & Mrs.
Bromeley have retrieved as many of the original furnishings as possible to date, exposed original oak flooring, revitalized fireplaces (a bake oven in the kitchen hearth still works) with their
pleasing Colonial paneled mantels and plaster hearths.
Excavation of a
disposal pit on the grounds disclosed fragments of Bell Flower glass and Lowestoft china, the pattern used at Belvidere. Corner cabinets in the gold damask-curtained dining room display pieces of
these patterns as the Bromeleys collect them.
A rare,
nine-sided barn and carriage house, built by Philip Church of brick similar in the house, now shelters a few fine hunters on which Robert Bromeley rides to hounds with the Genesee Valley hunt.
The seven-sided
teahouse by the river’s edge, which Church also constructed still stands.
And the garden of
Belvidere, occupying about an acre, still is planted according to an 1851 plan—encircled with lilacs, 300 climbing roses, sweet William, phlox and pinks as the season progresses.
Stories of
unidentified footsteps along the great porches of this historic mansion have wandered down through the years. Old Man Genesee River probably recognizes them—but won’t tell.
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