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Jans Martense Schenck house

Historic house in New York City

About

The Jan Martense Schenck house was built by Dutch settler Jan Martense Schenck (1631-1687), within what is now the Mill Basin section of Brooklyn, New York City. Believed to be one of New York City's oldest houses, the structure was later moved to the Brooklyn Museum, where it is used as a public exhibit.

Schenck was born in Amersfoort in the Dutch Republic. In 1675, Schenck bought a parcel of land on Molen Eylandt (Mill Island) in the Dutch town of Nieuw Amersfoort (now Flatlands), and his family owned the house for over a century. The area around the old house started to become heavily developed in the 1920s. In 1952, the Brooklyn Museum made a commitment to save the house, dismantled it, and stored it for about ten years until plans to install it in the Brooklyn Museum were finalized. The house was opened to the public in 1964.

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