Beacon's Historic Homes: 17 Church Street

Beacon City Planner John Clarke currently is assembling a list of houses and buildings in Beacon for consideration by the city council as possible inclusions to the city’s Historic District and Landmark Overlay zone. Among the selections is the house at 17 Church Street. On the survey form Mr. Clarke writes of this house: The architecture contains elements of Gothic Revival, Italian Villa, and second empire styles. This house is one of the most intact examples of type, scale and period in the City. It possesses special historic and aesthetic value as part of the cultural history of the city.

About the house’s historical significance: from 1897 to 1903, 17 Church Street was the General Hospital of Fishkill Landing (see top photo).  The hospital served to fill the void in health care for the residents of the village--for 25 years prior to 17 Church Street opening, only the Highland Hospital in Matteawan was available to the sick and injured of the twin villages. In the five years of its existence the General Hospital cared for nearly 1,000 patients. It closed in 1903, when the new Highland Hospital on Verplanck Avenue opened in 1902.