Pruyn House, a beautifully restored home situated on 5½ acres in the hamlet of Newtonville, Town of Colonie, is a living connection to the Dutch heritage of New York’s Capital District.

Built by Casparus Pruyn about 1830 as a country home for his wife, Ann, and their eight children, it is a blend of Federal and Greek Revival architecture. Along with his position as land and business agent for Stephen Van Rensselaer III, the last patroon, Mr. Pruyn used a portion of his 170-acre estate for farming.

The house and 114 acres of the estate were sold in 1848 to Alfred Mayell for $3,800. In 1893, the property was purchased at an Albany County land auction by John H. Henkes Jr. and his wife, Carrie, who lived on an adjoining farm. The Henkes family used the 40-acre parcel as a working farm. The outbuildings consisted of barns, a carriage house, stables, a smokehouse, a well house, a combined storage and privy, a potting shed, and greenhouses. The stables and one barn were lost to fires, and a summer kitchen at the rear of the house was removed to make way for a circular driveway. Very few structural changes have been made to the house.

The house and 5 ½ acres were acquired by the Town of Colonie in 1982. The purchase was financed by a bond issue for $110,000 for the house and $140,000 for the first phase of the restoration. This included brick work, roofing, plumbing, heating, windows, floors, some woodwork, and a kitchenette.

An inventory of the contents of the house and outbuildings was found, and has been of immense value in determining the manner in which the house was furnished up to the 1850s.

There are currently ten buildings on the Pruyn House Historic and Cultural Center site. They include the Buhrmaster barn, reconstructed and moved to the site in 1987, and the Verdoy schoolhouse that was moved to the site in 1995. Other structures include a smokehouse, potting shed, woodshed/privy building, carriage house, well house and restroom facility. Herb and flower gardens, maintained by local garden clubs, are focal points of the site. They feature brick walks, painted fences, and a sun dial.

The Buhrmaster barn was originally located on the Mohawk River where it was rebuilt in the late 1800’s after a fire, and moved to the Troy-Schenectady Road. It was moved to the Pruyn House site in 1987. The barn retains many early features, such as hand-hewn beams and wooden pegs. It has double doors and is a lovely site for a summertime party, when the gardens and the grounds are at their best.

The Buhrmaster barn is used for our concert series, flower shows, quilt shows, contra dancing, and meetings. It is also a popular venue for weddings and receptions. Other uses include fund-raising events, such as antique and craft shows, theatrical performances, and exhibitions.

The Verdoy schoolhouse was built in 1910. It is a good example of the early one-room schools built in the Town of Colonie and used until the 1950s. The schoolhouse was donated by the North Colonie School District. It has been restored to preserve an important part of Colonie’s history.
About the Pruyns

About the Pruyns

The Pruyn family of Albany was one of the oldest Dutch families in New York. Frans Jansen Pruyn was the first Pruyn to come to America, arriving in the 1660s. Records show that in 1683 the Pruyns were members of Albany’s Dutch Reformed Church. Successive generations married into prominent local Dutch families, such as the Lansings, Ten Eycks, and Van Burens.

Casparus Francis Pruyn, a sixth generation American, had this house built in 1830 as a country home for his wife, Ann Hewson, and their several children. One of their sons, Robert Hewson Pruyn, practiced law in Albany. He was twice elected speaker of the New York State Assembly, and achieved the rank of brigadier general in the State Militia. In 1861, President Lincoln appointed him minister to Japan where he served with success and distinction.

Robert Dunbar, Casparus's uncle, was an agent of the Van Rensselaer Manor and probably gifted Casparus the property, as no deed is recorded until it was sold in 1848, two years after Pruyn’s death.