The Dwight-Hooker Avenue Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Portions of the content on this web page were adapted from a copy of the original nomination documentation. [1]
Description
The crescent shape of Dwight Street, its trees, and large, landscaped lawns immediately convey it as a turn-of-the-century planned neighborhood, the precursor of the winding streets to its south. The houses along it and just around the corner on Hooker Avenue were built in the eclectic styles of architecture, beginning about 1895. Represented are dwellings exhibiting the Shingle, Tudor Revival, Spanish Revival, and Colonial Revival styles in a variety of materials and methods of construction. These include clapboards, stone, smooth stucco, stained shingles, and terra cotta roofs. Most of the houses are two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half stories tall. There are two modern houses at the South Hamilton Street end of Dwight Street.
Significance
The Dwight-Hooker Avenue Historic District represents the most architecturally significant turn-of-the-century neighborhood in Poughkeepsie. Originally part of the Whitehouse estate, the land was surveyed and Dwight Street was laid out about 1895. The advising architect was Horace Trumbauer, known for planning Philadelphia's picturesque turn-of-the-century neighborhoods with their tree-lined winding roads. Most of the houses in the Dwight-Hooker Avenue Historic District were constructed between 1895 and 1915 in the eclectic styles, which provide a rich variety of "natural" materials such as brown-stained shingles, orange terra cotta, and neutral stucco. At least two local architects, Percival M. Lloyd and DuBois Carpenter, are represented by houses in this district. Also, DuBois Carpenter subcontracted the construction of his two residences built of hollow tile to the Poughkeepsie Engineering and Contracting Company. At the time of their construction, the Dwight Street residences were the most modern and distinctive of their type in Poughkeepsie, and represented high-style taste in architecture across the country. Although there are two modern houses at the South Hamilton Street end of the district, they are set back on large lawns and do not severely alter the Dwight-Hooker Avenue Historic District's turn-of-the-century appearance.
References
Platt, History of Poughkeepsie, 1905.
City Directories: 1896-1897 to 1953.
Maps: Contour Map of Dwight Street, C.1895, Dwight Street, c.1900.
Platt and Platt, Eagle's 50th Anniversary Edition, 1911.
Nearby Neighborhoods
Street Names
Crescent Road • Dwight Street • Hooker Avenue