Vesper Cliff House, Owego New York

Date added: April 05, 2024

South-facing facade of Davis-designed main block (2004)

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Vesper Cliff, known otherwise as the Johnson-Platt House and originally Tioga Terrace, is an extremely rare surviving example of Greek Revival-style residential design authored by prominent antebellum architect Alexander Jackson Davis. Referred to by architectural historian Talbot Hamlin in his 1942 study Greek Revival Architecture in America, though at the time he was not aware of the building's pedigree, the Johnson-Platt House represents an interesting variation of the monumentally porticoed Greek Revival style house popular among wealthier patrons in that era. The bold effect of the exterior and the sophistication of the interior treatments of Vesper Cliff betray the skilled hand of Davis, a prominent member of the New York City architectural scene who during the period emerged as a designer of national distinction under the tutelage of Ithiel Town. Davis fielded the commission, which was executed for Robert Charles Johnson, in 1834, during his association with Town, though it appears the project represented a side commission without the involvement of other men in the Town & Davis office. The Johnson commission is an early example of Davis's reworking of an existing building, in this instance really a considerable addition to an existing dwelling, which emerged as an increasingly important staple of the architect's work as seen with the modifications he oversaw at Blithewood, Locust Grove, the Bronson House, and Montgomery Place, all in the Hudson Valley. The late architectural historian and preeminent Davis authority Jane Davies's list of known Davis commissions suggests only seven residential properties in the Greek Revival style which were designed all or in part by Davis are extant in the United States. Of these Vesper Cliff appears to retain perhaps the highest level of integrity to Davis's original design intent. The Corinthian-porticoed Russell House in Middletown, Connecticut, was largely conceived and designed by Ithiel Town before the formation of his association with Davis, while the remaining houses have all suffered from various levels of modification, expansion, and denaturing.

Additional historical interest is gained through the house's association with several prominent citizens who called the residence their home during the nineteenth century. Among these men are R.C. Johnson, merchant and Owego Bank President Jonathan Platt, and the Reverend Samuel Hanson Cox, a member of the New York State Abolitionist movement.

Alexander Jackson Davis (1803-1892)

Alexander Jackson Davis maintained a notable position in American architectural practice during a period roughly spanning the Jacksonian era to the Civil War. Emerging from the New York cultural scene of the 1830s, Davis established himself as an architect of national visibility, working first in the prevailing Greek Revival fashion and subsequently with the various Romantic-Picturesque styles of the day. Davis's professional association with Ithiel Town (1784-1844) and his more informal relationship with Andrew Jackson Downing (1815-1852) were both of considerable consequence in the ongoing evolution of American architecture during the nineteenth century and helped place the designer at the forefront of his field in the antebellum period. Gifted with considerable artistic talent and a seemingly instinctive feel for design, yet at times a caustic and irascible personality, Davis left a discernible imprint on the American architectural scene during the productive years of his professional career. "Imaginative, innovative, and influential," to borrow the words of the preeminent Davis scholar Jane Davies, "Alexander J. Davis was an extraordinary figure in American architecture in the rapidly changing and confusing period between Charles Bulfinch and Henry Hobson Richardson."

Prior to his fruitful alliance with A.J. Downing, and his own efforts to adapt the Gothic and other Picturesque styles to the dwellings of the republic's burgeoning middle and upper classes, Davis enjoyed a position as junior partner of Ithiel Town in the architectural firm of Town & Davis (1829-35). From this partnership emerged what is generally recognized as the first fully developed architectural office formed in the United States, credited with numerous advances in the field. Davis matured professionally under the influence of the older Town, establishing himself among the leading interpreters of the Greek Revival style during their association. It was Davis's talented drafting hand that gave shape to many of Town & Davis's commissions, much as it would later help articulate Downing's vision for a new rural architectural paradigm. A versatile artist and designer, Davis distinguished himself as one of the preeminent draftsman of the period, capable of giving form to potent and well-conceived conceptions.

Davis was born in New York City in 1803 and spent portions of his youth in New Jersey and central New York. After finishing formal schooling at the age of sixteen, Davis moved south to Alexandria, Virginia, where he worked with his half-brother Samuel as a typesetter for the Alexandria Gazette. The building activity in Utica and Auburn, New York and in Washington, D.C., as pointed out by Jane Davies, enacted a profound influence on Davis's young and impressionable mind and according to the designer himself helped form the direction of his professional aspirations. In 1823 Davis returned to New York City and enrolled at the Antiques School where he "applied himself to perspective, the grammar of his art," and developed the command of pen and watercolor that became a signature of his practice. Through commissions gained for renderings of public buildings and a brief apprenticeship in the office of architect Josiah R. Brady (c. 1760-1831), the young designer became "gradually initiated into some of the first principles of his art." By 1827 Davis had opened an office at Wall Street, providing drawings for the city's builders and perspective views for publishers. Shortly thereafter he was approached by Town, who offered to form a professional association with the younger man, an offer which Davis readily accepted.

Davis's professional partnership with Town, which corresponded with the widespread acceptance of the new Greek architectural fashion in New York City, allowed him the opportunity to broaden his proficiency as a designer, or "architectural composer," the title he used to describe his vocation. The association of Town, an established and successful architect and engineer, and Davis, a precocious draftsman and architectural delineator, marks one of the early landmarks in the history of American architectural practice. Town shared with Davis his enthusiasm for the forms of Greek antiquity, gleaned from the remarkable collection of architectural books and folios he maintained," and instilled in his younger associate a sense of professionalism that lent definition to Davis's forming ideals. As an experienced builder practiced in structural engineering, Town likewise offered his partner, described by architect James Gallier, Sr. (1798-1868) as "no mechanic, but a good draftsman" with "much taste as an artist," the wisdom of sound building fundamentals that Davis, inexperienced in the building trade, lacked. The Town & Davis partnership gave concrete form to the professional architectural office and helped lend definition to the new parameters of a field then struggling to assert its validity.

By the late-1830s, following his association with Town and a brief partnership with the New England builder and architect Russell Warren, Davis was working predominately in the Picturesque vein, and in 1838 first came in contact with Downing. During the next decade, Davis would aid Downing in his efforts to popularize the various Picturesque styles for domestic applications while fielding commissions for projects, many located within the Hudson River Valley corridor. Davis lent Downing advice and drafting services while profiting considerably from the success of Downing's books, which recommended Davis's services, among others, to prospective clients. During the 1830s Davis also produced his own book, Rural Residences, a sparsely distributed folio of designs that in many ways foreshadowed Downing's better-known and widely influential works. While Davis worked with the various styles then popular among the Romantic eclectic architects of the day, he showed a particular affinity for the Gothic Revival, helping to champion its application for the nation's domestic architecture. Davis's design for Lyndhurst, 1864-67, which evolved from an earlier villa of his design ("Knoll," 1838-42), perhaps as well as any residential building erected in the United States during the period highlights the design principles and complexities of the Gothic Revival style. It remains one of the landmark works of the American Gothic Revival and a masterpiece of the native Romantic tradition. In addition to larger villas, Davis likewise produced designs for countless more modestly scaled Picturesque cottages, among them the Delameter House in Rhinebeck, 1844, an outstanding example of the "Carpenter Gothic" aesthetic.

The 1840s and 1850s were decades of great productivity for Davis, as he fielded numerous projects both in New York, particularly the Hudson Valley, as well as for clients as far afield as Virginia and North Carolina. It was during this period that Davis aided Llewellyn Haskell in his vision for a planned Picturesque suburb complete with Romantic architecture and landscaping, Llewellyn Park in South Orange, New Jersey, attempting to bring to full fruition the rural ideal he shared with Downing. By the conclusion of the Civil War, however, Davis's presence on the American architectural scene had all but faded. Although he lived into the 1890s and maintained a professional office well into his life, his once-productive career gave way to limited commissions as his work and design principles fell into obsolescence. Davis died in 1892.

History, Design and Construction of Vesper Cliff

Davis fielded the commission for Robert C. Johnson's Tioga Terrace in the early weeks of 1834. The project is recorded in the Architect's Office Journal and represented in a surviving principal floor plan in the collection of the New York Historical Society, noted by Davis as "Plan of a dwelling house designed for Mr. R. C. Johnson, Owego, New York." An entry in the Architect's Office Journal, which records architectural projects and their associated fees, noted that the design was rendered in January 1834 for Johnson, and that the construction documents were produced at the cost of $60.00. Though produced during the Town & Davis association, the design was identified by Davis historian Jane Davies in her published list of the architect's works as a project independent of the partnership. The construction documents, including an unknown number of drawings and specifications for the carpenter and masons, were likely conveyed to Johnson's contractors as a bound set. In the absence of superintendence by Davis, difficulties in the interpretation of materials by the contractors, if any, was likely addressed via correspondence, as was the case with other projects fielded by Davis in remote locations.

It has yet to be determined how Robert Charles Johnson (1806-1886) came to seek Davis's services for the modifications made to the house he purchased the previous year. A personal connection likely exists between the Johnson family and Davis, or perhaps Ithiel Town, that has not yet been established; the Johnson family had ties to New Haven, as did Town. Johnson came to Owego from Stratford, Connecticut in February 1830, where he settled along with his cousin, Charles Frederick Johnson; he was born in Stratford in June 1806 and married Mary Eliza Pumpelly. Johnson oversaw an extensive mill development along the banks of the Owego, which he developed in concert with his cousin Charles F., prior to removing to Chautauqua County in 1851. The Johnson cousins purchased considerable lands adjacent to the Owego Creek near its confluence with the Susquehanna from Thomas Matson, who had previously established a grist mill operation there. In a letter to his sister in New York City written in March 1835, Charles F. Johnson provided some account of Robert C. and Mary Johnson's life in their newly expanded house:

Robert Chas and Mary are really well and truly at house-keeping, and seem very pleasantly situated. They occupy as you may suppose, but a small part of their big house; R.C. found himself before he thought of it commending the snug little room in which they live-- (the one intended for a library according to the plan) we agreed, that nothing is pleasanter than a comfortable, small house. . . They appear very happy, R.C. is particularly pleased..."

The men contracted by Johnson to build Vesper Cliff or Tioga Terrace, as it was then known, unfortunately remain unknown. It can only be presumed that Johnson, having commissioned one of the foremost architectural designers of that era in Davis, turned to the best masons and carpenters in the Owego-Binghampton area to bring the conception to fruition. Owego's surviving architecture from the period attests to the skilled builders and masons who were active there, and the village remains perhaps best known, architecturally, for its Greek Revival-style buildings.

The design Davis authored for Johnson retained the existing dwelling house of plank construction, largely modified on the interior, to which was added the monumental two-story porticoed front section producing a T-shaped footprint. Unity between the existing and new work was achieved on the exterior by the addition of porches on the east and west elevations of the rear block, the square piers of which mimic those of the portico of the new section. Details such as the cupola, crowned by pedimented blocking courses embellished with handsome acroteria cresting, the large consoles which flank the portico, and the overall dignity and dramatic effect of the exterior composition all speak to Davis's command and considerable comprehension of classical architectural vocabulary. Davis lent dynamic tension to the exterior composition with a subtly asymmetrical scheme achieved by a portico that is carried around only two sides of the main block, the long south elevation and the gabled east elevation. This, incidentally, places the fulcrum of the design at the southeast corner, from which the grade of the site slopes steeply downward; an effect of considerable dignity is achieved when the building is viewed from this vantage point. Further enhancing the bold effect of Davis's portico was the relegation of the chimney flues to the rear pitch of the side gabled roof, therefore masking them from view from these primary elevations. Such subtle but perceptible touches are characteristic of Davis.

For the interior of the Johnson house, Davis retained but relocated the entrance hall and main stair within the existing unit," thereby giving the primary floor of the addition over entirely to a double-parlor treatment suitable for formal entertaining, with two large bedrooms above. The ornamental treatments of the two first floor rooms include trabeated mantels of veined black marble, likely shipped from New York City or possibly Albany or Troy via the Erie Canal; the two larger rooms communicate via a small passage in which is situated a dumbwaiter and china closet. Sliding doors can segregate these two parlors in a characteristic Greek Revival treatment, or they can be thrown open en suite, the parlor length windows along the south wall allowing for access to the spacious area beneath the portico. Both rooms are encircled by a deep entablature and struck plaster cornices, the openings to the hall and windows flanked by pilasters upon which the entablature rests, with a paneled transom above the door openings.

The interior of the primary story of the existing plank house was likewise reconfigured with an entrance and stair hall adjoining and communicating with the parlors and a dining room.

The following ownership chronology for Vesper Cliff was compiled in 1990. The earliest documented owner of the property on which the house was constructed was Colonel David Pixley, who acquired the property c. 1791. Pixley is credited with the construction of the first grist mill on Owego Creek, which emerged as an early center of hydraulic industry in the ensuing decades; Pixley's mill was established prior to 1793. Thomas Matson and his son Reuben acquired the property in 1801; it was during the Matson ownership period that the original house and woodshed were constructed, and possibly the barn as well. Robert Charles Johnson acquired the property in 1833, and commissioned Davis shortly thereafter. The following list chronicles the owners in the post-Johnson ownership period:

1841 Horace Frizelle

1842 Jonathan Platt, local merchant and for many years president of the Bank of Owego; Platt was likewise president of the village in 1834 and a village trustee. The property was known as "Glenbetsy" in those years.

1854 Reverend Samuel Hanson Cox, active in the abolition movement in New York State, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Owego 1855-59, and later president of the Female Collegiate Institute at LeRoy, Genesee County. The name "Vesper Cliff" appears to date from Cox's ownership of the property.

1859 Captain John B. Sardy, Brooklyn merchant who made his wealth by importing guano from South America. Used the house as a summer residence.

1867 Thomas C. Platt, known as "The Easy Boss"; "The Machiavelli of Tioga County;" U.S. Representative from New York 1873-77; delegate to Republican National Convention from New York, 1876, 1880, 1884, 1888, 1892, 1896, 1900, 1904, 1908; U.S. Senator from New York 1881, 1897-1909.

1869 Samuel S. Watson

1883 John Hardman. The property has remained in the hands of Hardman family members since its acquisition by Hardman, passing first to his son-in-law J.F. Leahy and most recently to Leahy's direct descendants.

Building Description

Vesper Cliff is a Greek Revival-style residence located immediately outside of the Village of Owego on the west bank of the Owego Creek, north of the creek's junction with the Susquehanna River, in the Town of Tioga, Tioga County, New York. The primary access to the property is gained via a drive off of New York State Route 17, which, after crossing the Owego Creek to the east, becomes Main Street in Owego. The primary building is a dwelling of plank construction to which was added, c. 1834, a monumental temple-fronted addition designed by New York City architect Alexander Jackson Davis. The landscaped 29-acre parcel includes the dwelling, the Davis-designed addition of which was constructed for Robert C. Johnson, with three outbuildings including an unusual barn with a distinctive neoclassical facade treatment, as well as a chicken coop and ice house. The interior and exterior of the house both appear almost entirely intact to c. 1834, with very few exceptions.

The 29 acres that comprise the "Vesper Cliff" estate survive largely unspoiled and provide an evocative and intact setting for the dwelling and its complement of period outbuildings. Large mature conifers and deciduous trees, including a massive oak tree to the rear of the building with a circumference of nearly eighteen feet, intersperse the property, which is bounded to the east by the Owego Creek, and to the north and west by open fields planted with crops. The long side of the front block, with its portico of eight antae, faces south towards Route 17. From the road a tree lined allee leads directly to the front of the house before splitting into a loop that encircles the building, the grade of the property rising from the level of the road to the house. The property is largely screened from the road and the main house largely buffered and only partially visible from it. To the west and north are agricultural fields planted with corn and other crops.

The main house is defined by three distinct sections: the original two-story house of vertical plank construction, an attached story-and-a-half woodshed of heavy frame construction that post-dates this section but pre-dates the Davis work, and the two-story front block, which was built to the designs of Davis. The Davis-designed section was erected perpendicular to the other two units to form a T-shaped footprint, with the original house intersecting the rear of the Davis-designed addition; the woodshed abuts the north side of the original house. The exterior characteristics of each will first be described, followed by interior characteristics.

The Davis-designed portion of the house features a subtly asymmetrical composition with a monumental portico of eleven freestanding square anta piers of wood construction carried around the south and east sides of the house, with a side gabled roof aligned parallel to the long axis. The anta piers rest on fieldstone bases that likewise support the framing of the porch; between the bases, beneath porch level, are decorative sawn inserts on the south elevation and lattice work on the east and west elevations. The porch floor is tongue-and-groove wood plank. There are additionally three engaged antae on the building itself, recessed behind the portico, one at the southeast corner and two that terminate the entablature at the northeast and southwest corners. A deep Ionic entablature, complete with fully pedimented gables on the east and west sides, is carried around all four elevations; the soffit of the entablature is paneled. The facade and east elevations are sheathed with fitted boards while the west and north elevations are sheathed with clapboard. Asphalt shingles cover the roof.

Four bays, asymmetrical in their arrangement, punctuate the facade, the porch of which is elevated above grade and accessed by two sets of stairs flanked by stylized consoles; the stairs are aligned between the second and third and eighth and ninth anta piers. The four bays corresponding with the primary floor on the south elevation are treated as parlor-length windows, deeply recessed, with separated transom lights and inward-swinging French doors. The four windows above which light the two master bedrooms feature inward swinging casements in a four-over-two configuration with a prominent center mullion. A handsomely treated cupola with anthemion-embellished blocking courses, pilasters and double-hung six-over-six windows rises from the roof ridge. The cupola rests on a raised square base enclosed by a balustrade. Two brick chimneys punctuate the pitched roof on the north side of the ridge. The structural system is heavy frame above an excavated basement and foundation of mortared fieldstone; the joists and beams visible in the basement were reciprocating sawn.

The east elevation is two bays wide, with fenestration matching the configuration of that on the primary elevation. Engaged anta piers define the southeast and northeast corners of the mass of the building, recessed within the portico, and carry a second entablature across the east and south sides. The west elevation also is two bays wide, and like the east elevation has two windows apiece corresponding with the primary and second floor. It is clear, however, from the execution of that the west and north sides of the building were deemed secondary elevations, as they are sheathed with clapboard and not fitted boards.

The original dwelling house is oriented at a right angle to the front, Davis-designed addition, and is five bays wide on the east elevation and seven bays wide on the west elevation. The roof ridge of this gable-ended section intersects the later addition just above cornice level. A brick chimney rises near the ridge on the east-facing slope. This portion of the house is of heavy plank construction with a joined frame of eight posts and intermediate vertical plank in place of studs. The five-bay east elevation was likely the original facade, with the third bay of the first story presumably the original center entrance, now removed; the southernmost bay is currently the formal entrance to the interior. The door is of the vertical two-panel variety, reached via a flight of wood steps that lead to a porch that is covered by a porch supported by square piers mimicking those of the main section. Exterior sheathing consists of wood clapboard and asphalt shingle roofing. Windows are double-hung with six-Over-six wood sash on the east and west elevations. The west elevation is seven bays wide and has two doors at the first floor level. A pent-roofed porch carried by anta piers runs the full length of this elevation; below this porch is an area way with large stone flagging that provided access from the outside to the basement kitchen. The porch is reached via a wide flight of wood steps. Wood lattice forms a partial enclosure for the area beneath the porch and likewise between the piers at porch level.

The woodshed is attached to the north side of the original dwelling; it is of heavy frame construction, the members reciprocating sawn and joined in the traditional manner. The west side is sheathed with a combination of fitted boards and clapboards, the east clapboard exclusively; two elliptically arched bays punctuate this elevation, one of which has been fitted with an overhead door. It is evident from the framing visible on the interior that the woodshed was not constructed at the same time as the dwelling it adjoins; Davis's drawing, however, confirms it was extant at the time of the commission for the addition.

Access to the interior is gained via the entrance from the east elevation of the original dwelling unit, which leads into a spacious entrance hall with a stair to the second floor situated against the northwest wall. The plan is arranged in the following manner:

Front section: Double parlors with two bedrooms above, with an unfinished, dirt-floor basement below. Fireplaces in both parlors and both bedrooms centered against the north wall. Dumbwaiter and china closet between parlors; built in closets in bedrooms. A steep stair between the bedrooms provides access to the cupola, which served to ventilate the building in warmer months.

Original dwelling: Stair hall/vestibule, dining room and kitchen/service area occupying the primary floor; modestly scaled chambers above. Back-to-back fireplaces in dining room and rear service area. Basement was finished and originally included a kitchen as evidenced by a substantial hearth and fireplace that retains iron cooking cranes.

Wood shed: The primary floor of the wood shed was given over to storage space that has since evolved into a garage. The half story is almost entirely open with the exception of a "two-holer" privy located in an enclosure at the extreme north side of the half story. The framing is exposed inside the wood shed and consists of heavy members, milled and not hand-hewn, and joined in the traditional manner.

Finishes within the main section are in large measure intact to c. 1834. Many of the finishes in the original section of the house likewise reflect the updating, though it is possible to distinguish between the older and newer plaster work in some areas by the presence of either split or sawn lath, the split lathe representative of the earlier phase. The floors of the new section are laid with standardized width tongue-and-groove plank; walls, ceilings and cornices in the parlors are plaster on sawn lath. The mantels of are of black Egyptian marble with gold veins and trabeated in typical Greek Revival fashion. Other details include two-paneled doors (consisting of vertical thin rectangular panels) paneled transoms and window aprons, pilastered door and window enframements, and, on the second floor, elaborated door casings, moulded wood baseboards and wood mantelpieces.

In the entrance hall is the stair to the second floor, the attenuated turned balusters of which terminate in a spiral at the base; the proportions and treatment are suggestive of the Federal style and therefore the elements may have been reused from an existing stair within the original house. A two-paneled door set within a plain casing with square corner blocks provides access to the dining room. This room has a plaster ceiling and walls and thin-width oak flooring. A fireplace with a black marble mantel is centered against the north wall. Behind this room is a kitchen with a fireplace against the south wall and an enclosed stair to the upstairs in the northwest corner.

The two-story barn is gable fronted with a heavy hand-hewn framing and clapboard exterior sheathing. It has an extremely unusual facade that is suggestive of a meeting house or school and not a barn; the possibility remains that the facade was salvaged from an earlier building. This south-facing elevation is three-bays in width with pilasters dividing each bay. The first story has a center entrance flanked by windows fitted with twelve-over-twelve wood sash, badly deteriorated; second story windows have louvered openings. The large entrance bay is situated on the east elevation. The barn is badly deteriorated and in danger of collapse.

There is likewise a small frame ice house and a frame chicken shed.