Wyckoff House Museum
5816 Clarendon Road | also 5902 Ditmas Avenue | East Flatbush | built 1652
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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.
- 1636
Director-General Wouter Van Twiller acquires the future Wyckoff House land from the Canarsie
In 1636 the Canarsie sold the land under today's Wyckoff House to Wouter Van Twiller, who served as Director-General of New Netherland from 1632 to 1638. The Landmarks Preservation Commission later described the house as the only existing building in New York City directly associated with a high-ranking Dutch official of the 17th century.
“The land on which it stands was acquired from the Canarsie Indians in 1636 by Wouter Van Twiller, Director-General of New Netherland (1632-8).”
- 1641
A Dutch frame farmhouse is estimated to stand on the site by 1641
Wikipedia says Van Twiller ordered several houses built before he was recalled to the Netherlands, and this one is estimated to date from before 1641, with the family of Pieter Claesen Wyckoff taking up residence about 1652. It is among the oldest surviving Dutch frame houses in America. Most of the present structure was added in the 19th century, and only the small kitchen section goes back to the 18th.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1667
Pieter Claesen Wyckoff, a Flatlands magistrate, is living in the house when the property passes to Flatlands
In 1667 the property was given to the town of Flatlands, and Pieter Claesen Wyckoff was then living in the house. He had come from Holland in 1636 and took the name Wyckoff after the English took over New Amsterdam. He became a wealthy man and a magistrate in Flatlands, and was among the representatives at a convention in Flatbush that sent delegates to Holland about New Amsterdam's distress.
“He rose to be a man of wealth as well as a magistrate in Flatlands…”
- 1965
The city landmarks the Wyckoff House over a highway department request to move it
At the September 21, 1965 hearing, more than fifteen witnesses spoke for designation, while a Department of Highways representative asked that the house be moved so Ditmas Avenue could continue; the Borough Historian opposed the request. The Commission designated the house on October 14, 1965, noting that the Wyckoffs had held it until 1901 and that a foundation set up by the Wyckoff Association in America had since acquired it.
“A representative of the Department of Highways asked that the house be moved to permit the continuation of Ditmas Avenue. The Borough Historian opposed this request.”
Further reading
- Wyckoff HouseWikipedia
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