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McVICKAR HOUSE
National Register of Historic Places, 2003
Irvington's newest addition to the National
Register of Historic Places now serves the community as the home of the
Irvington Historical Society, which previously did not have a permanent
site for public research and visitation. The Reverend John McVickar built
the house in 1853 as a residence for his son Reverend William McVickar,
first rector of the Church
of St. Barnabas. The elder McVickar was also responsible for the construction of
the St. Barnabas church, located a short distance
to the north and also listed on the National Register. John McVickar's own
house stood on Fargo Lane, close by the home of his friend Washington
Irving. Local tradition holds that Irving enjoyed the view from John
McVickar's home better than that from his own Sunnyside.
The house passed out
of the McVickar family in 1870 and a string of private owners followed
until the house came into possession of the Consolidated Edison Company in
1957. Con Edison built a substation behind the house, and rented the house
out to Dr. Mario Dolan, who lived in the house with his family for a brief
time but kept an office there until 1984. Several other tenants followed
until 1992 when the house was abandoned. The Village of Irvington acquired
the house in 2002. The renovated and restored McVickar House was
opened to the public in November 2005 as the Irvington History Center.
Pastel drawing given to the
Historical Society by the Fallon family, owners of the house from 1935 to
1957.
It is believed to depict the house about 1937.
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