14 N Church St Schenectady

 Hendrick  Brouwer / James Rosa House

By tradition, Hendrick Brouwer is alleged to have died in 1707 in this house, or an earlier house on this site which he may have constructed some years earlier, although Brouwer also owned a house and lot on Washington Avenue.  Like many of his neighbors, Brouwer was a fur trader and has been repurted to have been known for the fairness of his dealings with the Native Americans.  Some parts of an earlier house may have been incorporated in the present structure, as suggested by evidence of three separate construction periods.

The house was sold by Brouwer’s heirs to James Rosa in 1799 and it is likely that Rosa enlarged the front portion and applied the unifying flush board wood siding that gives the house its Georgian style appearance.  The entry door and windows to the left of the entrance may be part of the first phase of construction, and the windows to the right, due to the greater spacing from the side of the entry door jamb, may reflect a second construction phase.  A “gable-end-to-street” structure at the rear of the present house may be either an earlier structure on the site, or may have been added later.

Portions of the wood post and beam structure may date back to an early 18th century smaller house that contained Dutch jambless fireplaces.  Seams in the foundation wall stonework visible from the sidewalk show where additions may have been made and where window and cellar door openings have been added and closed.  Some of the cellar beams in the north part of the house are 23 inches square and foundation walls are 34 inches think.  Floor boards are of pine, 15 inches wide.  All walls, including those in the interior, are filled with clay bricks.

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