Duff House

4767 Henry Hudson Parkway West | Riverdale | built 1931

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1863
James Renwick designs a Gothic stone manse with a mansard roof for Riverdale Presbyterian Church
James Renwick built this small stone house in 1863 as the rectory of the Riverdale Presbyterian Church, at the same time and in the same late Gothic Revival style as the church next door. To give the second floor enough headroom, he tucked a then-fashionable mansard roof behind Gothic gables and dormers, a mix the Landmarks Preservation Commission later called a clear example of practical needs reshaping a style.
“…the architect could not resist, in designing the manse, the introduction of the currently fashionable Mansard roof, tucked away behind Gothic gables and dormers…”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1966
April 19
The city designates the former rectory, Duff House, a landmark
On April 19, 1966, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated Duff House, the former manse of the Riverdale Presbyterian Church, as a New York City landmark. Hearings in January and February 1966 drew one supporter and no opponents, and the church's Board of Trustees, which owned the house, wrote that it was pleased by the designation.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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