Benner House

The Benner House at Mill Street is a rectangular stone building with a gabled roof and flared stone lintels framing its openings. The Dutch door sits off-center, and the diagonal orientation of the lot creates a distinctive view toward the road and surrounding landscape.

Johannes Benner, an emigrant from Upper Bavaria, built this one-room stone house in 1739. The structure stands as the oldest surviving residence in Rhinebeck Village and documents the region's early German-speaking settlement.

The house reflects German building traditions that settlers from German-speaking regions brought to the area. Its simple interior layout and construction technique show how early Hudson Valley residents built their homes following ancestral patterns.

The property sits adjacent to U.S. Route 9 with easy visibility from the roadway. Its location on a wooded lot offers views of the valley, though the diagonal placement of the house means approaching from different angles provides varying perspectives.

This is the only surviving example of a one-room stone house in Rhinebeck, embodying the region's early German building traditions. Its construction reveals how settlers applied their European skills in the new Hudson Valley environment.

Location: Rhinebeck

Inception: 1739

Address: 77 Mill Street

GPS coordinates: 41.92056,-73.90944

Latest update: December 12, 2025 17:49