Overview The Big House—also historically known as the Meeting House and later as the Old Library—is the oldest surviving dwelling in Palisades and the only extant structure from the hamlet’s formative eighteenth-century settlement. Built principally in the mid-1730s, it is a large stone house whose appearance reflects successive architectural layers rather than a single stylistic category. Although sometimes described in modern real-estate listings as an “English manor,” the house is more accurately understood as a Hudson Valley stone house built in the Dutch vernacular tradition, later altered in the nineteenth century with Victorian rooflines and verandas that give it a manor-like aspect.

The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and occupies a prominent position within the Snedens Landing Historic District overlooking the Hudson River corridor.

Construction and Architectural Character The core structure dates to approximately 1735–1738, with dendrochronological analysis of foundation timbers establishing a firm construction window within those years. The house was built of locally quarried red sandstone, with walls measuring up to 23 inches thick. The original form was a long, deep, one-and-a-half-story masonry dwelling with a gable roof, linear plan, multiple entrances, and a central hall flanked by two rooms on each side.

Interior features surviving from the eighteenth century include massive hand-hewn ceiling beams, wide board floors, multiple fireplaces, and important white pine paneling, particularly in the principal living room. Ceiling heights are unusually tall for a house of this period, contributing to its later mischaracterization as an “English manor.”

An eastern service wing, traditionally associated with the kitchen, contains an early fireplace with a beehive oven and a garret that originally functioned as a sleeping loft. Local tradition once assigned this wing a seventeenth-century date (as early as 1684 or 1685), but no physical evidence supports continuous survival from that period. If a seventeenth-century structure existed on the site, it belonged to an earlier building now entirely lost.

Early Ownership and Site History The house is traditionally attributed to Henry Ludlow, whose family held extensive lands in the region during the early eighteenth century. Ludlow’s father-in-law, Captain John Corbett, is documented as owning approximately 3,410 acres “more or less” in the area, underscoring the house’s origins within a large landed estate.

The property later passed into the hands of Jonathan Lawrence (ca. 1695–1777), known as Jonathan Lawrence the Elder, who purchased the house and approximately 504 surrounding acres from the Ludlow family in 1749. This acquisition marked the Lawrence family’s principal establishment in Snedens Landing.

The Lawrence Family and Eighteenth-Century Expansion Around 1770, Jonathan Lawrence substantially enlarged and improved the house, transforming it from a substantial farmhouse into a prominent residence appropriate to the family’s standing. The house remained associated with successive generations of the Lawrence family throughout the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Among its occupants was Jonathan Lawrence Jr. (1759–1802), a Revolutionary War veteran sometimes styled “Captain Lawrence,” who is most often associated with the house’s Revolutionary-era traditions. Through the Lawrences, the Big House became a focal point of political, military, and social life in Snedens Landing.

Revolutionary War Associations During the American Revolution, Snedens Landing occupied a strategic position along the Hudson River, with ferry crossings and roads connecting Tappan, Closter, Sparkill, and the riverfront. According to long-standing and well-documented local tradition, General George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette dined at the Big House in the summer of 1780 while Washington was headquartered in nearby Tappan. Baron von Steuben is sometimes included in these accounts.

According to the Historical Society of Rockland County, the generals were awaiting developments related to the trial of British Major John André, held in nearby Tappan. Martha Washington is also said to have visited the house on a separate occasion, stopping for tea while traveling to meet her husband. While such visits cannot be conclusively documented in surviving military correspondence, they are consistent with Washington’s known movements and the strategic importance of the site.

A round table traditionally believed to be the one at which Washington and Lafayette dined later stood in the house during its period as the Palisades Library.

Nineteenth-Century Alterations Following American independence, the house passed through multiple owners. Significant architectural changes occurred in several phases:

In 1820–1821, a matching single-story wing was added to the west end, balancing the earlier eastern service wing.

In 1867, the roof was raised approximately three feet, steeply pitched gables were added, and a full second story was created.

A broad veranda with grooved posts and Gothic-inspired brackets was constructed along the southern façade, dramatically altering the house’s exterior appearance.

These nineteenth-century alterations account for much of the building’s “Victorian” or “manor house” character and led at least one contemporary observer to lament the loss of “much of the quaint look the house had in early days.”

Palisades

In 1898, Lydia Green Underhill Lawrence (1830-1913) —whose husband Henry Effingham Lawrence was distantly related to the earlier Lawrence family—purchased the house for use as the Palisades Library. To accommodate this function, interior changes were made, including the opening of an archway between two large downstairs rooms and the cutting of additional windows through the stone walls to increase daylight.

Library Use and Twentieth-Century Preservation In 1898, Lydia Green Underhill Lawrence (1830-1913) —whose husband was distantly related to the earlier Lawrence family—purchased the house for use as the Palisades Library. To accommodate this function, interior changes were made, including the opening of an archway between two large downstairs rooms and the cutting of additional windows through the stone walls to increase daylight.

The Palisades Library remained in the Big House for forty-five years, from 1899 until 1943, before relocating first to the Old School (now the Community Center) and later to its present location in 1951.