Olana State Historic Site, House museum and estate in Greenport, United States
Olana State Historic Site is an estate and house museum in Greenport, New York, set on a hill above the Hudson River. The building combines Victorian forms with Middle Eastern ornament using colored brick, wood, and ceramic tile, surrounded by roughly 250 acres of designed landscape.
Frederic Edwin Church bought a 126-acre farm on a south-facing slope near Hudson in 1860 and first added a cottage, gardens and a studio. In 1867 he acquired mature woods at the hilltop, and after an 18-month trip to Europe and the Middle East he worked with Calvert Vaux on the mansion, built 1870–1872. A studio wing followed in 1888–1890.
Church took the name Olana in 1879, after Isabel gave him books on the geography of the ancient Middle East; it refers to a fortress-treasure house in Greater Persia that also overlooked a river valley. The interior keeps its 19th-century arrangement, with objects from his travels and some 40 paintings by Church and his friends.
The New York State Office of Parks offers guided tours through the interior and across the grounds with its paths and gardens. The tour takes about an hour and provides views across the valley and surrounding hills.
Church designed the stencil patterns himself, visible on the exterior walls and inside rooms. The amber glass windows create warm light that highlights the Middle Eastern tiles and carved woodwork.
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