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50. Albert Briggs House
13 First Street
ca.1834
A finely crafted two and one-half story, three-by-three bay,
gable-fronted, brick side hall plan Greek Revival style home with
both south and west wings. The main block and rear wing are built
upon a cut stone foundation set into a hillside. A moderately
pitched, asphalt shingle clad, gabled roof covers the house.
Fenestration is regular and symmetrical. Windows contain the
original six-over-six light sash. Original wood louvered shutters
flank all original windows. The lintels and sills are of cut stone.
The facade (east elevation), which is above the raised walk-out
basement level on this elevation, is formal in its design and
highlighted by a finely detailed main entrance. The entrance is
composed of a six-panel door flanked by engaged Doric columns, and
leaded sidelights. Above the door is a leaded top light. The fully
pediment gable is pierced by a lunette. The original porch roof
structure, which spanned the facade, is intact but altered and now
supported on non-historic wrought posts. The slightly later side
wing features a two-story bay window and a porch supported on
Picturesque style scroll sawn posts.
Shed
The large wood-frame shed was constructed outside the district's
period of significance and is classified as a noncontributing
building.
Albert Newton Briggs was a 19th-century businessman and landowner in
Coeymans known for building the prominent Briggs Estate in 1832. He
operated the North River Bluestone Quarry, transporting stone from
quarries in nearby Alcove to the Hudson River landing for shipment
throughout New York. Briggs constructed the 22-room Greek Revival
mansion as both a family home and symbol of prosperity overlooking
the Hudson River and Briggs Island.
Briggs valued education and civic order. The mansion's attic served
as a schoolroom for his children, while the basement reflected his
role as an early local jailor, with iron bars still remaining on the
cellar windows. The estate incorporated reclaimed materials from
historic Hudson River day boats, including pine flooring and a
staircase said to have come from the steamboat Clermont.
