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| 1895 Map of New Jersey showing location of The Hermitage |
The site on which The Hermitage is located is in the Borough of Ho-Ho-Kus in Bergen County in northern New Jersey. The house site is between Franklin Turnpike, an early road that was probably a prehistoric trail, and the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook. Although Native Americans visited The Hermitage property before the coming of the Europeans there are no above ground remains of their structures.
Likewise, while the pioneer Traphagen family occupied the land for much of 20 years between 1740 and 1760, there is no identifiable vestige of their dwelling place.
The existing house contains parts of the stone house that was probably built by the Lane family around 1760. Remaining early fabric includes the east, west, and north stone walls of the main block. The south wall was removed for the addition of a new stone wing in 1847-48. There is no extant visual image of The Hermitage’s 18th century appearance and the building was so extensively remodeled in 1847-48 that its earlier appearance is conjectural. We do have a description of the house in an advertisement for its sale in 1763 by Elizabeth Lane, following her husband’s death. It appeared in the February 28, 1763 issue of The New York Gazette:
A choice Plantation at Ancocus Brook, (or a Place called Peramos) in the county of Bergen, and Eastern Division of the Province of New Jersey; containing about 105 acres of good arable land, part of which is cleared, the remainder well wooded; there is on the same a good new Stone Dwelling House 40 foot front, and 23 foot back, the front is all of hewn stone, a Cellar under the Whole, and a Well of good Water before the Door; the Walls are near two Foot thick, and good Sash Windows to the House; there is also a good Kitchen 23 Foot one Way, and 20 Foot the other Way, and a good Fire-place therein; The House contains four Fire-places and is two Story high, is pleasantly situated between two Main Roads, and has an entry through the House into the Kitchen, all very beautifully contrived: There is also on the said Tract a small Barn, a good Gristmill, and a good Sawmill, all in good Order, and has not wanted for Water in the driest times; there is likewise a thriving young Orchard on the same, ‘tis as publick and pleasant a Place as is in the Country fit for Merchant’s business, a Tavern, or any other business.
Physical evidence suggests that in the late 18th century the house
was symmetrical, having three bays with a central hall with a room on either
side, each with fireplace in the center of the end wall. The second floor
rooms also had fireplaces. The kitchen wing, for which there is archeological
evidence supporting the advertisement’s description, extended from the north
side of the house. While the gambrel roof because of popular use in Dutch
colonial revival designs is often the visual image for the roof of a
Dutch-American stone house, the actual buildings frequently had gable roofs.
Since the original block of The Hermitage is only 23’ deep, it probably
originally had a gable roof. The existing roof’s shape dates to the mid-19th
remodeling.
Whether the house in the 18th century had a full second floor or had a half-story under its roof is not clear today. Typically the early stone houses in the region had stone walls that were only one full story high or only partially extended into the second story. The upper rooms were under the roof. Only two houses survive in Bergen County that have stone walls that are two full stories high and both dated to the 19th century. Interestingly one is in Ho-Ho-Kus and is now the Ho-Ho-Kus Inn.
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Examples of Dutch American Stone Houses in Bergen County, New Jersey |
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| Albert Pulis House, Franklin Lakes, NJ. Before its 1874-48 remodeling The Hermitage may have had similar massing to this one-room deep stone house, which is 48'x21' feet. | Rathbone-Zabriskie House, Ridgewood, NJ. It is possible that The Hermitage once resembled this nearby house, which has stone walls extending into the second story and a stuccoed front. The porch, dormers, and side wing of the Ridgewood house are modifications. | |
The style of the 18th century building, since it was owned by an affluent person of English birth, may have been vernacular Georgian. However, the existing reddish-brownstone walls show local workmanship and existing woodwork reused in the remodeling of the house put it clearly within the local Dutch-American vernacular building tradition.
The Hermitage is included in a survey of the Early Stone Houses of Bergen County that was conducted for Bergen County in 1978 by the Office of Albin Rothe. At the time 222 early stone houses were surveyed. The typical early stone house had four exterior walls of stone. Often the front wall was of more finely dressed stone than the other walls as is the case at The Hermitage. The early walls are of the reddish-brown Triassic sandstone that is indigenous to the area. The house type had doors that were split so that the upper half could open to provide access and ventilation while the lower half kept out wandering animals. These “Dutch” doors remained popular in the region for many years, and a Dutch door, which is probably earlier fabric reused in the remodeling, is present today in the kitchen at The Hermitage.
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| Kitchen Dutch door, Historic American Buildings Survey NJ-98 |
The Proprietors of Eastern New Jersey warned people not to buy land in the Ramapo Tract advertised by private individuals, because the proprietors still held title to it. Nevertheless, Elizabeth Lane again advertised the property in 1766.
Around 1766 Captain James Marcus Prevost bought a 150 acre tract of unoccupied land adjacent to the Lane property and then in 1767 he bought the Lane parcel. He was able to obtain a good title to the land. Soon after the purchase, Prevost sold the home which was then named The Hermitage together with 61 acres to his wife Theodosia’s widowed mother Ann De Visme. Some years later unsuccessful ad in The New-York Packet and the American Advertiser for May 18, 1780 describes the property:
A Tract of Sixty-one Acres of good LAND, situated at Paramus, on the Clove road, about three miles above the church; on which is a fine Orchard, with a variety of the best grafted fruit; a green house; an exceeding commodious stone dwelling house, well finished, and pleasantly situated; a good barn, stable, out-houses, &c. For terms inquire of ANNE DEVISME.
This ad with the reference to barn and other accessory buildings indicates that the house is farmstead. The reference to a greenhouse is of special interest.
In the latter part of the 1760s, the Prevosts built a home on their adjacent land by Ho-Ho-Kus Brook which became known as The Little Hermitage. Little is known about the construction and style of this house, except from a brief extract from a letter by Aaron Burr to Theodosia Prevost in 1781 which referred to “the common room and one of the back rooms.” Both house sites appear on maps of 1778 made for the Continental Army.
After the Revolutionary War, The Hermitage property passed through the hands of a number of owners including William Bell, before it was bought in 1807 by Dr. Elijah Rosegrant (Rosencrantz). The fate of the Little Hermitage by the brook is not known, but it does not appear on 19th century maps.
It is possible that Rosegrant did some remodeling when he purchased The Hermitage. Budd Wilson, the archeologist who studied the in-ground remains of the north wing in 1973, thinks that it was removed around 1800. Probably a west wing was built in the same location as the current kitchen, as the foundations of the current west wing suggest an early 19th century date. Additionally, the exterior stone walls of the house were coated with a lime wash and then painted a cream color, a “modernization” probably designed to bring the house more into conformity with the classical taste of the Federal period that favored planar wall surfaces over the textural stone walls. This coating is visible today on the rear of the main block of the house under the porch. About the same time the existing free-standing stone smokehouse was erected. It is a sturdy building with ashlar brownstone walls, gable roof, and a single doorway. Although its chimney is now missing, it is an excellent example a type of accessory building once common on early farms in the region.
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| Smokehouse, Photographer T.R. Brown, 2002. |
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| Stones with Masonic symbols in front facade. Photographer, T.R. Brown, 2002 |
One of the mysteries of The Hermitage is the two prominent diamond-shaped stones set into the front wall of the house on either side of what is now a dining room window, but which earlier was the front entrance doorway. One shows a T-square and dividers and the other a hammer and a trowel. These are symbols usually associated with the Masonic order, a secret society of men.
One consultant judged that they were inserted into the house before 1807, which is before the arrival of the Rosencrantz family. There are no known connections between the Lane family and the Masons. Records indicate that Augustine Prevost, brother of James Marcus, was an active member of the Masons, but there is no record that James Marcus belonged to this order.
It is known that Union Lodge, No. 6 of the Masons was established in Hackensack in 1787. William Bell, who became owner of The Hermitage in 1794 and may have resided there before that date, was the first senior Warden of that lodge. He became its treasurer in 1790. Although this lodge ceased to exist after 1794, Lane may well have been the owner who inserted the symbolic Masonic stones into the front wall of The Hermitage.
To add to the puzzle is the fact that Christian Rosenkrantz is a legendary figure in Masonic lore. In the early 17th century a religious sect- the Rosicrucians- based their beliefs on his philosophy. Rosenkrantz is credited with writing three books, published in the early 17th century, which were said to have been found on his tomb. It is not believed that the Rosencrantz family at The Hermitage is descended from Christian Rosenkrantz, but the similarity of names heightens the mystery of the Masonic symbols.
Enlargement and Remodeling of The Hermitage in the Gothic Revival Style, 1847-1848
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| The Hermitage, Photographer T.R. Brown, 2001 |
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| Gothic Revival features include asymmetrical massing. Tudor arches, sturdy stone walls, steeply pitched roofline enlivened with a proliferation of gables, dormers, bargeboards, finials, and decorative chimneys, and inviting veranda, porches and large windows with diamond panes linking the house to its natural setting. |
By the mid-1840s the house built for the Lane family around 1760 was more than 80 years old and the Rosencrantz family had owned the house for almost 40 years. The house was clearly old-fashioned and lacking in the modern technology that was bringing conveniences to domestic living. It was at this time that Elijah Rosencrantz II (1814-1888) remodeled his family home. He was the third son of Dr. Elijah Rosegrant I, who had purchased The Hermitage in 1807. In 1847, Elijah II was a 33 year-old bachelor who lived with his mother on the family estate of more than 100 acres. He was an industrialist who managed his family’s water-powered cotton mill, in addition to the other mills and agricultural fields on the Ho-Ho-Kus property. He was the postmaster of Ho-Ho-Kus. The Ramapo & Paterson Railroad was being constructed behind the house (it was operative in 1848). The relative prosperity in the 1840’s of Elijah’s economic enterprises made the remodeling of The Hermitage possible.
In 1847-48 The Hermitage was extensively remodeled and enlarged to the designs of architect William H. Ranlett. The architect described the style chosen as “after the Old English style.” The transformed building is one of our nation’s outstanding examples of picturesque domestic Gothic Revival architecture. It is a National Historic Landmark for its architectural significance. The “complete and well constructed farm Cottage Villa” was an advanced design for its day. A typical Gothic Revival villa of the time had decorative features, but not the asymmetrical plan and irregular roofline which enliven The Hermitage. The Cottage Villa was a country house of “large accommodation” that was of a size to require several servants and to have an important place in its community.
Why did Rosencrantz decided to remodel the house? By 1847 cultured and fashionable people knew that a well-designed Cottage Villa was an appropriate home for “men of imagination,” to use the description of Alexander Jackson Downing, the popularizer of picturesque domestic architecture. The Gothic Revival style satisfied the intellectual and social aspirations of owners and suggested high moral character. Undoubtedly Elijah sought a tasteful home to display his leading position in his community and to reflect positively on his character. His architect complimented him on “his refined tastes and liberality.” It is probable that Elijah II wanted a fine home with modern conveniences to appeal to a potential bride. In 1851, Elijah II married 17 year-old Cornelia Livingston Dayton.
The Architect: William H. Ranlett
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| Ranlett, The Architect II, 1851 |
How and why Rosencrantz choose Ranlett as his architect is not known. It is quite possible that he knew him personally. According to Richard C. Muhlberger, Ranlett on May 30, 1833 married Adelaide Sexton, whose family lived in Ho-Ho-Kus near the Rosencrantz family. At the time The Hermitage was enlarged, Ranlett was an increasingly well-known New York City architect who resided in a Gothic Revival house that he had designed on Staten Island. Since 1846 his serial publication, The Architect, gave him a national as well as regional reputation as a skillful designer of country homes.
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| William H. Ranlett, The Architect, Vol. I, 1849 |
Ranlett was born in Augusta, Maine, on July 3, 1806. Little is known of his early training which he probably received as an apprentice to another architect. During the early 19th century there were no academic institutions offering architectural education. By 1840, Ranlett had moved to New York City and was a practicing architect with an office on Wall Street. At the time he was in partnership with Joseph C. Wells. While this partnership lasted only about a year, it probably broadened Ranlett’s architectural knowledge. Wells had emigrated from England in 1839 and was familiar with English architectural philosophy and styles. Both men continued to practice in New York City after the end of their partnership. Both designed important Gothic Revival houses in the mid 1840’s that are now open to the public. Ranlett’s design is The Hermitage, while Wells designed Roseland Cottage, the Henry Chandler Bowen House, built in 1846 in Woodstock, Connecticut.
Ranlett has an important place in American architectural history because of his publications and his skillful use of mid-19th century architectural styles in his designs, most notably in the enlargement of The Hermitage.
Ranlett espoused the romantic picturesque architectural philosophies which had their origins in England and in the 1840’s were becoming increasingly part of American popular culture. Romanticism as seen in art, architecture, literature, and music in the mid 19th century was a reaction against classicism. In America, the romantic movement produced the Hudson River School of painting and the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Edgar Allen Poe and others. Romantics favored an almost spiritual connection with nature and country living, encouraged expression and personal feelings, and emphasized imagination and mood. In architecture romanticism was eclectic, encompassing a number of different styles which were chosen for their aesthetic and associative qualities. For instance, Ranlett in The Architect included designs in various Gothic Revival styles (English, Old English, Elizabethean, English Cottage), as well as Anglo Italian, Grecian, Swiss, Romanesque, French, Italian Bracketed, Venetian, Anglo-Norman, Indian and Persian. He also included less ornate buildings in the bracketed, rural, and rustic modes. The different styles were seen as each embodying differing ideals and inspiring and reflecting lifestyle changes. At the same time, architects stressed function and utility. Ranlett wrote “It should always be remembered that a dwelling is constructed for the accommodation of a family.”
Ranlett was neither the first nor the most important popularizer of mid 19th century romantic architecture in America. Alexander Jackson Davis published Rural Residences in 1837 with his outstanding picturesque designs. The landscape architect Andrew Jackson Downing was the most influential writer in the mid-19th century promoting proper house design. Ranlett is significant because his books established a new standard for architectural publications. Ranlett, according to Adolf K. Placzek, an authority of American architectural books, was “a pioneer of the genre” of architectural pattern books. His books with their large format and high quality production values contained philosophical discussion and detailed plans, elevations and specifications. They were models for subsequent architectural pattern books.
Ranlett’s Architectural Philosophy
Because Ranlett was a writer as well as an architect, we are able to excerpt the following quotes and share his opinions with you. Ranlett believed that a building’s style should reflect the character of its owner and its purpose. While he used many different styles based on the architecture of the past, he believed that his and other mid-19th century designs should have “an American expression” which he saw in the comfort and livability (“habitableness”) of his houses.
Existing buildings that were designed by William H. Ranlett
The Mid 19th Century Gothic Revival Cottage Villa
In the 19th century the various architectural styles were seen as evoking and suggesting particular character traits of the people who chose them for their homes. The Gothic Revival style as befitting a mode based on the great churches and cathedrals of the Middle Ages was viewed as denoting high moral character. Literature of the day such as the novels of Sir Walter Scott contributed to the appeal of the mode. Furthermore the style, as amply illustrated by The Hermitage, epitomized the picturesque romantic architectural ideals. Irregular massing, a profusion of decorative features ranging from upward projecting finials to inviting verandas, as well as a cozy inviting human scale added to the appeal of the Gothic Revival Style. Beginning in the 1830s, houses of the style began to be built in America by discerning home owners. While frequently the mid 19th century Gothic Revival designs are symmetrical, the best of them, like remodeled Hermitage, are asymmetrical. Porches, dormers, bay windows, chimneys and decorative trim project and cast shadows creating fanciful designs that capture the picturesque ideal. This freedom with plan allowed the architect to place rooms where needed and to freely adapt the building to the needs of the occupant.
The Remodeling and Enlargement, 1847-48
Elijah Rosencrantz II, after having agreed on the Gothic Revival style, gave Ranlett, according to Ranlett’s own account, great freedom in carrying out the remodeling and enlargement of the house. The design for the house as developed by Ranlett was printed in 1847 in his serial publication of The Architect and included in volume II of the book version published in 1851. The house was called “Waldwic Cottage” in the publication. While the name Waldwick continues as the name of the municipality near the house, this name did not replace “The Hermitage” as the name favored by the Rosencrantz family and others for their home.
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| William H. Ranlett, The Architect, Vol. II, 1851 pages 31-32 | |
The Historic Structure Report done for The Hermitage in April 1981 by Short and Ford Architects stated:
The house Ranlett built for as satisfactory a patron as Elijah Rosencrantz was based on the most up-to-date mid-nineteenth century ideas of style and comfort. The picturesque irregularities of its plan and massing were in sharp contrast to the symmetrical geometry favored by previous generations. The intimate interrelationship to the outdoors, created by ample porches and projecting bays, bespeak the era’s romantic attitudes towards nature. The building was intended to incorporate the most modern devises for heating and plumbing, and was planned to take advantage of natural cooling. The Hermitage is thus one of the earliest buildings of its type in the country. It is also, despite its many vicissitudes, one of the best preserved.
In carrying out his plan Ranlett transformed the rectangular stone house into a sophisticated asymmetrical Gothic Revival design. He gutted most of the interior, retaining only the cellar, the east wall and portions of the north and west stone walls of the original house. The interior of the house was reframed, the floor plan radically modified, and ceiling heights were increased on the first and second floors. (Today, the original height of the first floor ceiling and the level of the second floor can still be seen in the east wall of the dining room which has a section where the plaster is absent exposing the interior structure.)
On the exterior the old brownstone was stripped of its coats of wash and paint. The front wall was redesigned. The central doorway was shortened to make a window. It and other first-story windows were capped with wooden label moldings. The south window was replaced by a double-leafed door with Gothic panels, surrounded by sidelights and transom of colored and etched glass. To this entrance was added a frame one-bay Tudor-arched and battlemented portico. The windows on the second-story front were raised into three steeply peaked gable dormers, with the larger, projecting center one supported by brackets. Dormers, which contain windows for both second and third stories, were enlivened with elaborately carved bargeboards and finials. While the dormers’ walls were made of wood, they were painted to simulate stone.
To study detailed drawings of The Hermitage go to National Park Service’s website with HABS drawings
Within the rebuilt shell of the old house were, on the first floor, an entrance hall, a dining room, library, closet and pantry. On the second floor there was the stairwell, a cross hall, several bedrooms, a dressing room, and closets. The new stair had a newel embellished with Gothic panels. The woodwork in the first floor rooms had full-bodied mid-19th century moldings around the doors and windows with a chair rail in the dining room. The windows were diamond-paned with interior shutters. A Tudor-arched marble mantel adorned the dining room fireplace. Upstairs the rooms had simpler finishes and some panel doors from the original house were reused.
To this core of the original house, Ranlett added several wings which not only increased the house’s size, but changed it from a rectangular block to picturesque irregularity. The wings also added a variety of interior rooms with specific functions.
To the north was added a one-story frame entrance porch with diamond-pane glazing. This provided a separate entrance to the library. To the south Ranlett added a two-story stone wing with its roof ridge perpendicular to that of the original block and its mass projecting beyond the original block. Under the bold front gable with bargeboard and dramatic finial is a rectangular attic window, a pair of second-story windows under label molding, and on the first-story, a projecting bay window with floor-length diamond-paned windows. Two large wall dormers project from the south slope of the roof of this wing. A three-bay wide veranda or porch with low roof supported by bundled columns provides added visual variety. The porch is a feature Ranlett and other American architects felt was important to a well designed country or suburban home. The visual importance of the porch is a particularly American characteristic of mid-century domestic architecture. The Hermitage’s picturesque composition was enhanced by substantial overhangs, carved bargeboards and finials, and grouped chimneys.
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| South wing added in 1847-48, Photographer T.R. Brown, 2001 |
On the interior of the 1847-48 south wing the drawing room and parlor each had access to the porch through diamond-paned French doors. A chimney served a fireplace in each room with Tudor-arched marble mantels. On the second floor were two ample bedrooms each with a fireplace and with closets. In the attic under the steeply pitched roof were additional bedrooms.
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| Rear of The Hermitage, showing south wing at right, original section in center with kitchen wing projecting from it. At left is the summer kitchen wing, which replaced a mid-19tg century service wing, Photographer T.R. Brown, 2002 |
To the west replacing the old kitchen, Ranlett built a one-and-a-half story stone wing with gable roof. This service wing intended as the workplace of servants had simpler finishes than spaces used by the family and their visitors. On the first floor was an entry with a back stairs and a new kitchen. Above the kitchen was a bathroom with bath and water closets, a very modern feature in the house’s rural location in 1848. The bathroom today does not retain early fixtures. To the north of the kitchen, at a level three steps lower is a one story stone dairy or cold cellar wing. This wing dates to 1847-48. West of the kitchen was a passage, an open shed over river-water cisterns, and a frame wing with vertical board-and-batten-siding containing a laundry, bake house and two water closets with outdoor access. These wings had steeply gabled roofs, pierced by Gothic-paneled brick chimneys. The passage and west wing no longer exist although the replacements of the 1888’s suggest their massing.
The remodeled Hermitage reflected the transformation of household technology in the 19th century that was first seen in the homes of the well-to-do. Ranlett equipped the reconstructed house with a number of comfort-producing, innovative technologies. The house had a heating furnace, running water, water closets (toilets), a bathroom, a number of storage closets, as well as numerous rooms for specific purposes. Ranlett mentions that the house had Walker’s improved furnace that provided it with at least a partial hot-air system with vents in the floors of the principal rooms. The house had an advanced plumbing system for its day. A hydraulic ram was used to lift water from the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook and in later years the tunnel through which the water entered the house was erroneously thought to have been a hiding place for the Underground Railroad. Water was stored in cisterns, and supplied to outlets for running water and for water closets. The sink in the rear hall is part of the house’s mid-19th century plumbing. There also was a heater in the kitchen that provided hot water for the house. The house had numerous closets and storage rooms including built-in storage such as the dresser in the closet off the master bedroom. The pantry has an opening into the closet by the dining room to allow transfer of food and serving dishes.
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| Sink in rear hall, Photographer T.R. Brown, 2002 |
While the financial records remaining at The Hermitage do not have a full accounting of the cost of the enlargement and remodeling, records suggest that design work was probably completed by the spring of 1847 and that the house was likely completed by early summer 1848. Ranlett received four payments between July 30, 1847 and April 7, 1848, totaling $306. Three mantels were purchased in December 1847. Abraham Post, a carpenter, was paid $241.56 for 214 and3/4 days of work on the “new house.” William Osborne received $37.50 for “30 days work painting at New House.”
The relationship of a country house to its natural setting was an important part of picturesque mid-19th century domestic architecture. Ranlett published a landscape plan for The Hermitage’s grounds in his serial The Architect in 1848 (II, no. 5, plate 29) and in volume II of the book version (1851).. The 1859 map of the property and archeological investigations indicate that this plan was never fully implemented. Very probably the cost of the remodeling strained Elijah Rosencrantz II’s finances so that he did not have constructed the numerous new accessory buildings and ornamental gardens shown on the plan. The curving paths and roads so typical of country villas were constructed. With the many handsome trees and sturdy stone walls along Franklin Turnpike, these paths and roads provide an appropriate setting for the Gothic Revival house.
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Ranlett’s architectural career probably was thriving at the time he was the architect of the remodeling for Elijah Rosencrantz II. He continued publishing his serial with designs. Due to his publications Ranlett’s designs were erected in upstate New York, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Virginia as well as in the metropolitan New York City region.
Ranlett apparently caught the gold fever of the California gold rush of 1849 for he went to California in that year. Later he was joined by his wife and daughter Abigail, or "Abba". William Kostura in Russian Hill: The Summit 1853-1906 (1997) chronicles his stay there. It is not known whether Ranlett actually went to the gold fields. He settled in San Francisco where he designed a number of buildings. He is listed in the 1854 San Francisco city directory as an architect. Several houses Ranlett designed remain in the Summit Hill Historic District in San Francisco which he attempted to develop in 1853 with several partners. His own house of Italianate style was known as the “House of Many Corners” because of its very irregular massing.
In 1851 Ranlett helped form the Committee of Vigilance to control crime in San Francisco. He wrote Elijah Rosencrantz in June 14, 1851, “we had had one hanging of a bad fellow + hope to have another soon¼.We have had 57 murders in this City in 12 months + no one hung for them.”
Unable to make a living solely as an architect, Ranlett participated in other enterprises. In 1850 he operated a storage warehouse and two lumber yards and made maps. In 1853 with partners he purchased land which was they developed into the Long Mountain Cemetery. Ranlett was superintendent of the cemetery, but the ambitious project, the building of his home, and the recession of 1854 caused financial failure. In 1856 or 1857 the Ranletts abandoned their mortgaged home to their creditors and returned to the New York City metropolitan area.
While he was in California the second volume of The Architect (1851) was published by Dewitt & Davenport of New York. This was followed in 1856 by The City Architect which provided designs for urban buildings. From 1858-62 Ranlett reappears in New York City directories as an architect with offices at 52 John Street. He became a neighbor of Rosencrantz family, living in Ho-Ho-Kus on East Saddle River Road in an early stone house which he probably enlarged and updated. Locally he designed a number of buildings, the Republican Union Hall, a school for Ho-Ho-Kus, and Christ Church (1865-66). None of these building remain standing.
According to local stories Ranlett was a great patriot. At the beginning of the Civil War support for the Union in Bergen County, New Jersey, was far from unanimous. When the minister of the Old Paramus Church hung a union flag from the church, there was a threat that Copperheads would tear it down. Ranlett is crediting with organizing at his own expense a group of 25 men who successfully protected this flag. It is said that a number of people left the church because of this incident. Interestingly Ranlett himself left the congregation of the Old Paramus Church. With Elijah Rosencrantz and others, he was one of the founders of Christ Episcopal Church in Ridgewood, New Jersey. His last known design is the church for this congregation.
Ranlett died tragically on November 8, 1865. His death is described by Killie Rosencrantz in a letter to her son William Dayton Rosencrantz of November 12, 1865:
..we have been plunged in great grief, for Mr. Ranlett was thrown from his wagon last Wednesday afternoon, and killed. Papa had to do every thing he could for Mrs. Ranlett, and had not time to think of anything. Mr. Ranlett and Willie (whose body was brought on [sic] from the South a couple of weeks ago) are to be buried today at two o’clock, what a sad, sad day for Mrs. Ranlet..
Changes to The Hermitage since 1848
Family records of the Rosencrantz family and existing conditions reveal that comparatively few changes were made to The Hermitage after 1848. A map of the Rosencrantz property of 1859 shows how the house is situated on the family’s holdings and its relationship to the family’s mills.
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| Detail of map of property in 1859. The Hermitage Collections |
About 1866 a new furnace, the "Excelsor" manufactured by Richardson & Boynton of New York with the patent date of 1866 was installed. This imposing remnant of 19th century technology is still in place in the basement along with the modern furnaces installed since 1970 that now heat the house.
In 1887 William Dayton Rosencrantz had the wooden connector and the small wooden laundry west of the kitchen replaced by a somewhat larger two-story masonry structure, which is known as the summer kitchen. The first floor was used as a summer kitchen and the second floor contained a game room with a billiard table. This building is an interesting example of poured-in-place concrete construction. The stones used with the concrete are so large that the walls appear to be of rubble stone construction with very wide joints. Because of the walls’ rough texture, many visitors initially think this wing is the oldest section of the house, rather than the newest. Instructions for how to build such concrete structures was found in How to Build, Furnish, and Decorate published in 1883.
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The Hermitage circa 1890 showing the new wing, the summer kitchen, at the left. The Hermitage Collections. |
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| Co-Operative Building Plan Association, How to Build, Furnish and Decorate, 1883 |
A number of interior changes were probably made to The Hermitage around the time the summer kitchen was built. These probably included new roofing and redecorating of the principal rooms including the installation of new wallpaper and narrow-board flooring or new carpeting. The bathroom was modernized.
Between 1902 and 1904 there were plumbing repairs and a new hot water heating plan, roof repairs and carpentry work on the house, and the moving of some outbuildings. An insurance appraisal in 1906 listed a frame barn with additions, a chicken house, a shed and a granary. There also were carriages and farm implements.
In 1908 the front parlor was repapered and several of the bedrooms and some ceilings were papered for the first time. After this date very little redecorating was done and probably very little maintenance. Kerosene lamps provided lighting until 1969. In 1922, after a fire in the summer kitchen building, repairs costing $2,500 were made, including roof replacement.
Some limited roof repairs were made in the mid-1960s. The failed heating system was not repaired. In 1969, electricity was introduced to The Hermitage for the first time, but only in two rooms to provide lights in the kitchen and rear parlor and electric heat in the latter.
The Preservation and Restoration of The Hermitage since 1970
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| The Hermitage in 1970. Collections of Friends of the Hermitage, Inc. |
When the State of New Jersey accepted the property that Mary Elizabeth Rosencrantz bequeathed, The Hermitage was suffering from years of neglect and was in need of major restoration. Deterioration of the roofs, chimneys and chimney flashings had permitted water to enter to the extent that much of the interior plaster had been destroyed. In addition, animals and birds had entered upper areas of the house and caused damage. The porches were badly decayed and had lost most of their ornamental wood work. There was erosion of mortar from the exterior walls. Trees and bushes around the house were markedly overgrown.
In the time before the state effectively took control of the property there was vandalism and looting of the furnishings, despite private efforts to hinder it. The state’s first moves were to prevent further damage by installing a chain link fence around The Hermitage, covering the roof with protective asphalt impregnated building paper, and covering first story windows and doors with plywood. Building clean-up and site clearing was undertaken beginning in 1971. The furnishings were removed and stored at Ringwood State Park in Ringwood, NJ. In 1973 a security trailer was moved onto the site and a security person was employed.
In January 1972 the Friends of the Hermitage, Inc., a private, non-profit organization, was incorporated. In agreement with the state, the Friends is responsible for historic site management including the furnishing and programs at The Hermitage, while the state is responsible for restoring the structure of the house. This public/private partnership has continued to the present time.
By June 1972 the Historic Sites Section of the Division of Parks and Forestry had prepared a “Master Plan” for restoration of the building and the site. This preliminary study established some rough priorities for restoration. There followed an inspection by the state Division of Building and Construction in January 1973. As a result some reinforcements were added in the cellar, some repointing was done to the exterior masonry and new lintels installed.
More extensive work was begun in the latter half of 1975 with the reconstruction of the chimneys, replacing the roofing on the main house, the smokehouse and the summer kitchen wing, more repointing of the stonework, carpentry work on windows, door, and trim, replacing of missing and broken glass, caulking, cleaning and repainting the exterior of buildings, and the removing of the interior plaster. A separate contract was given for exterior lighting.
Additionally in 1975, the John Rosencrantz House was moved to The Hermitage property. This Shingle Style house was built in 1892 on then Rosencrantz property, some 175 feet south of The Hermitage, for John, a third generation of the family that originally came in 1807. The John Rosencrantz house with exterior sandstone on the first floor and shingles on the remaining floors had 11 rooms, seven on the first floor, four on the second floor, and two in the attic. After John’s death in 1914, the house passed through several owners, the last of whom, a developer, planned to demolish it. After protests, he offered the house as a gift to the Friends of the Hermitage. They agreed to pay for the move of the 300-ton structure to its present location just to the south of The Hermitage where it serves as a visitors and administrative building providing space for offices, storage and exhibitions.
In 1976 work on The Hermitage included the rebuilding of the wood porches, water-proofing the foundations, plastering the interior walls, installing an oil tank, installing the rough work for a security system, and running a water main from the John Rosencrantz House to the main house. A mortar analysis was done in 1979.
Archeological work by Budd Wilson between 1972-76 explored the sites of several outbuildings, areas around the house including the site of the former north kitchen wing and portions of the cellar. In 1982 Jan Kopleck and David Zmoda conducted archeological investigations as did Leonard Bianchi. In 1991 Richard Grubb & Associates prepared an archeological component related to landscape rehabilitation.
In 1981 Short and Ford Architects of Princeton, New Jersey prepared a Historic Structure Report commissioned by the Friends. It was supplemented by two engineering reports, one by Blackburn Engineering of Princeton and one by Seeler and Smith, Inc. of Atlantic City. They provided much historical information and structural analysis about the exterior of the house and of each of its rooms. For the latter there also was an analysis of their interior finishes. Prioritized recommendations were made for future restoration.
Additionally, this report made recommendations for interpretation of The Hermitage. It asked: “Should the house be interpreted as the Ranlett cottage villa, or should it reflect the late 19th century alterations? Another possibility...would include the wallpapers and fabrics of the 20th century?” The report judged that
The Hermitage should be restored to its appearance c. 1890. This preserves all the Ranlett work, plus the relatively major alterations, including the concrete kitchen wing. At the same time, it is earlier than such changes as the installation of the hot water heating system and the early twentieth century decorating scheme....Most of the Hermitage should be restored as a museum house, with offices, caretaker quarters and storage accommodated in the John Rosencrantz House. The exception is the concrete summer kitchen. This should be accurately restored on the exterior, with the interior adaptively used as shop, service kitchen and meeting room on the first floor, and museum space for temporary displays on the second.
Many of the suggestions for restoration and interpretation contained in the Historic Structure Report of 1981 have guided the restoration of this historic house.
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| The Hermitage, Photographer T.R. Brown, 2001 |
The restoration of the house spanned thirty years from the initial securing of the building in 1970 to the opening in 2001 of the dairy room to the public. The restoration was paid for by appropriations by the State of New Jersey and fundraising by the Friends. In the late 1980’s and the 1990’s activities focused on the restoration of the period rooms and the landscape and improvements to the mechanical, electrical, and structural systems. In 1986 an interpretive plan was prepared by Cultural Concepts. In the 1988 and 1989 paint analysis of interior woodwork was done by Acroterion. On March 13, 1992 a conference, sponsored by the Garden Conservancy, studied the question of how the landscape at The Hermitage should be interpreted with its findings published in November 1992, Restoring the Nineteenth-Century Landscape: The Hermitage: A Case Study of Restoration Potential. Landscape improvements of the 1990’s include the reconstruction of the picturesque well house on the front lawn and of the north gate, repair to the stone wall along Franklin Turnpike and improvements to exterior lighting. The installation of outdoor signs which use early photographs to show how outside areas near the house were used in the 1890’s add to the visitors’ understanding of the site. In 2001 with the physical restoration of the dairy room the last of the period rooms was opened to the public.
While maintenance of the historic house is on-going, the restoration of The Hermitage is largely complete. In 1999 the Friends added a large wing to the John Rosencrantz House transforming it into The Hermitage Education & Conference Center. The Friends now focus on enhancing the interpretation of the house, improving collections management and care, and building audiences through expanded hours and innovative programming.
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| The Hermitage Education and Conference Center, Photographer T.R. Brown, 2002 |
Web Page Credit
Text: Henry Bischoff and T. Robins Brown
Reviewer of Text: Moria LeMay