Feb 26, 02:53 pm
"MY" House
I’m very attached to a house that I know I will never live in or own. It’s the Jan Martense Schenck House, a seventeenth century house, which is located in the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The house was originally built as a farmhouse in 1675 in Brooklyn, New York, where I grew up and still live. In 1952, the Museum purchased it to save it from demolition and installed it on its fourth floor in 1964. It’s the oldest house in the U.S. and I first discovered it as a child while learning about the history of New York City in school. This house has been my favorite exhibit at the Museum ever since. No matter what exhibit has drawn me to the Museum over the years, I always wind up visiting “my” house. Looking through the windows and standing in the doorways of the house, admiring the beautiful seventeenth century furnishings and decorations, always makes me smile. The house means so much to me that when my husband and I were dating, on our first visit to the Museum, I had to take him to see “my” house. Although I knew it wouldn’t be his idea of our perfect dream house, I know he understood how much the house meant to me. I guess this house will always belong to me.
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