Rehoboth (Chappaqua, New York)
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Rehoboth
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North profile and west (front) elevation, 2009
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| Location | Chappaqua, NY |
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| Nearest city | White Plains |
| Coordinates | 41°9′21″N 73°46′10″W / 41.15583°N 73.76944°WCoordinates: 41°9′21″N 73°46′10″W / 41.15583°N 73.76944°W |
| Area | 1.8 acres (7,300 m2) |
| Built | 1856 |
| Architect |
Horace Greeley (original), Ralph Adams Cram (conversion) |
| MPS | Horace Greeley TR |
| NRHP Reference # | 79003214 |
| Added to NRHP | April 19, 1979 |
Rehoboth is a historic former barn located on Aldridge Road in Chappaqua, New York, United States. It is a concrete structure that has been renovated into a house with some Gothic Revival decorative elements. In 1979 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
It was designed and built in the mid-19th century by newspaper editor and activist Horace Greeley as one of the agricultural experiments he dabbled in, testing whether concrete would make a good building material for farms. It was one of the first concrete structures in the country, and the first concrete barn. Greeley was so satisfied with the result he predicted that he would be remembered for it if nothing else.
Two decades after Greeley's death, his daughter Gabrielle and her husband, The Rev. Frank Clendenin, pastor of a New York City Episcopal church, commissioned architect Ralph Adams Cram to remodel it into their house, which he named Rehoboth. They lived there for the rest of their lives, the remodeled house becoming one of the centers of Chappaqua's social life as it completed its metamorphosis from country town to suburb. It has remained a private home since then.
The house's 1.8-acre (7,300 m2) lot is on the east side of Aldridge, a dead-end street, 600 feet (180 m) south of its intersection with Prospect Drive and Highland Avenue, both of which lead to King Street (New York State Route 120), the main road through Chappaqua. All the neighboring lots are of similar size, with more modern houses. Tall mature trees buffer them from neighboring properties.
Aldridge traverses a hill that rises steeply from the west, where downtown Chappaqua is located on one of the few level areas amid this generally hilly portion of Westchester County. To the east are similar residential lots on South Bedford Road (New York State Route 117). West, at the base of the hill, are Robert E. Bell Middle School and the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, another Register-listed property that was built by the Greeleys in memory of a daughter who died in childhood.
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