Residents of Dutchess County are fortunate to live in the heart of the beautiful Hudson River Valley region, with its lavish landscapes and rich history. Much of this history continues to live in the form of buildings that have been preserved as part of the region's legacy: FDR's Springwood and the Vanderbilt Mansion at Hyde Park, the Livingston family's Clermont, artist Frederic Church's Olana and Wilderstein and Beekman Arms in Rhinebeck, to name only a few.

Other Hudson Valley treasures have not been so fortunate to have been preserved and maintained. The Hoyt House, also known as the Point, is one such example, and a significant one at that. Located deep within the forest of Margaret Lewis Norrie Park in Staatsburg north of Hyde Park, adjacent to the Mills Mansion estate west of Route 9, the house was built in the 1850s and designed by Calvert Vaux.

An important architect

Vaux was one of the most important building and landscape architects of the 19th century, having designed Central Park with Frederick Law Olmsted. Vaux was also the architect of the original Museum of Natural History and Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as Prospect Park in Brooklyn.

Now a victim of age and neglect, the Hoyt House was acquired in the 1960s by the New York state Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation from a less-than-willing family. The Robert Moses-inspired plan was to evict the house's owners and demolish the structure in order to erect a swimming pool in its place.

The swimming pool was never built and the building still stands. We are fortunate enough to have an example of Calvert Vaux's work right here in Dutchess County. The question is: How much longer will we have this treasure in our midst before the building inexcusably deteriorates into a pile of rubble?

The house is presently boarded up and uninhabitable. The rear portion, added later, is dilapidated and exposed to the elements. It is minimally maintained by New York state, but the state has been unwilling to allocate the necessary funds to sufficiently preserve the structure. A function for the building is also an issue.

Aside from a possible use as a commercial bed-and- breakfast along with other ideas, the option has more recently been discussed for a local college or consortium of schools to preserve and use the structure as an educational center for landscape and building architecture or a research center for New York State history studies. And the house could serve as a multiuse facility, offering conference and seminar space. None of these ideas have yet generated enough interest to become reality in order to save this endangered building.

Recently, a group of concerned preservationists and academics have formed the Hoyt House Preservation Committee to explore ways of not only preserving the Hoyt House but also finding a constructive use that will benefit the Hudson Valley community. Our committee is deeply reluctant to idly stand by while a valuable piece of Hudson Valley history simply crumbles to the ground and disappears for no reason other than benign neglect.

We appeal to state, local and even the federal government, as well as to the philanthropic, academic and preservation communities, to work together to rescue this magnificent piece of our American heritage.

Alan Strauber is chairman of the Hoyt House Preservation Committee. He is a Chancellor's Fellow in the doctorate program in American history at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and teaches American history at Hunter College. He can be reached by e-mail at astrauber@gc.cuny.edu