Rhinebeck Ny Area Welcomes A European Design Community Brook In Waterland

By Author: Rob Parker
Total Articles: 312
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Wow! If you love European architecture, specifically Dutch architecture, you must see the new project being built by Hudson Valley Development Group in Clinton, New York. The community is called Brook In Waterland and the model home there is just amazing! Eventually there will be about 23 homes in the community built in the traditional "post and beam" style with a working farm and vineyard.

The developer is working in tandem with the Winnakee Land Trust to be sure the land surrounding the community is preserved so that everyone who lives there can enjoy it.  The 23 homes will each be on about 1.5-2 acres and all the remaining land, about 150 acres, will used for the farm, vineyard and walking trails.

Everything in the homes is done by hand. The siding is planed by hand, the floors are reclaimed antique wood refinished to to a beautiful patina and the roof of the homes are hand made tiles and hammered copper. The gutters and downspouts are also copper and the windows are all modern day energy efficient replicas of windows that would have been used in the 1700's. There is a ...
... faux marble fireplace in the model that looks so real that you will knock on it to see if it is marble.

The woodworking in the home is painstakingly done, all exact replicas of woodwork as it would have been in the 1700's. The homes will all be 3 stories with kitchens on both the lower levels (which are walkout) and the middle level. Traditionally, the Dutch owners would have lived on the lower level, entertained on the main level and used the third floor as guest quarters. 

If you visit the model home the agent will give you a tour and point out a side door and explain to you that in the Dutch tradition that door was only used for two purposes during your lifetime in the home. You entered that door when you got married and when you passed away, you were removed from the home through that door. Does that make you wonder what the Dutch thought about marriage!?!

The homes are in the upper tier as far as price.  They start a bit above $2,000,000 but I don't believe you will find anything like this anywhere in the Northeast.  It is worth a trip just to see this home.