Ball, Clifford

The Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House is the oldest building in New York State and was New York City's first building to be protected and landmarked by the Landmark Preservation Commission in 1965. The oldest portion of the house was built circa 1652, while additions to the house were completed by circa 1740. The last major renovations to the house prior to its restoration in 1982 occurred in 1819. Pieter Claesen Wyckoff immigrated to New Amsterdam (now New York City) in 1637, and began living in the house circa 1652. His descendants occupied the house until 1901 when the house was sold outside the Wyckoff family. In 1963, the Wyckoff Association, formed in 1937 by Wyckoff descendants, purchased the house and in 1969 the Wyckoff House Foundation donated the house to the City of New York. The Foundation offered to run the house as a museum if the City would restore it. In 1982, the $900,000 restoration was completed. The house now serves as a museum documenting New York's Dutch history. As of 2011, the house is owned by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation and the museum is operated by the Wyckoff House & Association. The Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House (now called the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum) is located in M. Fidler-Wyckoff House Park in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn.

The Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead was built circa 1766 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976. As of 2011, the Dutch Colonial style house remains a private residence, as it has since its construction. Over the years, the house has been owned and occupied by only a few families including the Wyckoff family, from 1776 to 1835; the Bennett family from 1835 to 1983; and the Mont family, from 1983 to the present. The homestead is located 1669 East 22nd Street, near Avenue P, in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn.

From the guide to the Clifford Ball photographs of the Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House and the Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead, 1982, (Brooklyn Historical Society)