Taylor Cottage Slated for Move

An old cottage that was once part of the estate of Moses Taylor is slated to be transported to a new located as early as this Friday.

Chappaqua resident and interior designer Brenda Kelly Kramer purchased the house for $1 from property owner Steve Tavolacci last year to save it from being demolished, and has been working since last April to get things ready. It will be moved from its current location on Taylor Road to her home about three miles away.

Kramer already has the top portion of the building at her property, but the first floor needs to be moved. She said that it will be cut vertically, right down the middle, and that temporary walls will be put into the cottage. The bottom part of the cottage is already off the foundation and on rails, and will be jacked up and lifted for the move, Kramer said. The process could begin as early as today.

The decision to cut the building was done to make it easier to move.

Once the rest of the building is moved to its new location, Kramer said that it will be set on a foundation and a carpenter will start securing it. It will then be put back together.

"It's going to be fun to recreate the house," Kramer said. "That's going to be really neat."

With most of the project now a go-ahead, the only aspect of it that is still not finalized is a planned breezeway that Kramer would like between her house and the cottage. It is still pending before the New Castle Architectural Review Board, which previously reviewed it at a recent meeting earlier this month.

In an interview after the meeting, Architectural Review Board Chairman Lonnie Goodman was supportive of her effort, and said that hopefully people will keep pieces of Chappaqua's architectural history alive as a result.

Gray Williams, the New Castle Town Historian and Chairman of the New Castle Landmarks Advisory Committee, said the house is one of the few from the Taylor estate that still exists. Among the others are a gate house, a carriage house and property on the grounds of the Mount Kisco Country Club. He also owned what is now Crabtree's Kittle House.

Williams said that at one time the estate was 600 acres and was between Bedford Road (Route 117) and Armonk Road (Route 128). Taylor's broader property was called Annandale Farm, which he made out of a combination of several smaller farms. There he raised Guernsey cows and horses, among others.

"I think it's wonderful that she's saved it and I think it deserves a little recognition, in which case we'll try to put in on our landmark list," said Williams in an interview earlier this month.