28 Hamilton Avenue

Description

Built in 1870 and lovingly restored by its current owners, this Queen Anne Victorian at 28 Hamilton Avenue sits in the heart of Historic Ossining. Both yards are planted with apple, cherry, Asian pear, pawpaw, hazelnut, raspberry, blueberry, and strawberry, along with a working vegetable garden — a rare thing to find alongside a home of this character. Approach through a deep front yard bursting with pollinators, wisteria draping the covered porches. The house keeps its greatest surprise for later — the breathtaking views of the Hudson River and the Palisades are revealed as you move deeper inside, unfolding room by room. Cross the double-door vestibule into a gracious foyer with soaring double-height ceilings, rich wainscoting, inlaid parquet floors, and a staircase anchored by an elaborately turned newel post — all presided over by the first of four hand-carved ceramic tile fireplaces. The main level was built for both formal entertaining and comfortable everyday living. Two spacious living rooms, each with its own ceramic tile fireplace, open into a sun-drenched den with a spectacular coffered wood ceiling, three walls of windows, and doors facing each other — one to the front porch, one to the rear. The formal dining room, with its own fireplace and a sweeping Hudson River School-inspired mural, connects to a well-appointed kitchen with an original farmhouse sink, a corner butler's pantry with intact original cabinetry, and discreet service stairs tucked behind. Throughout, the turret windows with their curved glass are a signature of the era, and of this street. Step out the back and the Hudson opens before you — wide, silver, and immediate — framed by a terraced garden and a covered rear porch made for long evenings. This is the river that stirred a generation of painters to invent an American landscape tradition, that carried commerce and dreams in equal measure, that poets and wanderers have stood before and felt genuinely small. It is your backyard now. Upstairs, four bedrooms include a primary suite of nearly 20 by 18 feet, wrapped in a turret bay, with a screened balcony, ensuite bath, and the kind of proportions that are simply not built anymore. The current owners have thoughtfully upgraded the electrical and insulation throughout the attic, creating a series of carefully considered spaces — a serene room for yoga, meditation, or quiet work, a jewel-like sitting room with leaded diamond windows, a full bath, and at the crown of it all, a lookout tower lined with curved bookshelves and wide-plank floors, from which this house has contemplated the mighty Hudson for 155 years. A ten minute walk brings you to Metro North and 45 minutes later, Grand Central. Historic downtown Ossining — its shops, restaurants, and the extraordinary Sing Sing Museum — is at your doorstep. A rare opportunity to live inside a piece of history, on the banks of one of the great rivers of the world.