Olana - Home of Frederic Church

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Olana State Historic Site

Home of Frederic Church - American Hudson River Artist

5720 Route 9-G

Hudson, NY 12534

Phone: (518) 828-0135

Located in Hudson, NY - Columbia County - Olana is a masterpiece created by Frederic Edwin Church (1826 - 1900), one of the most renowned American artists of the Hudson River School. The stone, brick, and polychrome stenciled Persian-style villa is the best known element of Olana. Church designed "the castle" as the family home for his wife and four children, as well as a multidimensional work of art. Church's architectural approach paralleled the way he planned his artwork - first pencil sketches, followed by more finished colored sketches, then creation.

The exotically furnished interior remains as it was during Church's lifetime, decorated with an eclectic mixture reflecting Church's aesthetic sense, objects from Church's extensive travels, and paintings by the artist and his friends. Notable is the intricate stenciling on both the exterior of the building and the interior rooms. Each decorative stencil was created by Church, its design inspired by his travels to the Middle East and illustrations from books in his extensive library. The site also has the last of Church's studios, built as an addition to his home in 1888-1890.

Olana encompasses the house, the farm and the entire 250-acre estate owned by Frederic Church. The picturesque landscape, with panoramic vistas of the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains, like the house, was designed by Church. Over a 40-year period he transformed 250 acres of treeless farm fields into an artistic composition encompassing a lake, park, farm, extensive road system, and gardens. Visitors throughout the year enjoy guided and self-guided tours of the Church-inspired landscape.

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