Originally the center of a Dutch West India Company bowerie, or farm, the original portion of the Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House was built c. 1652 by Pieter and his wife Grietje Van Ness and is the oldest surviving structure in New York City. The house was enlarged c. 1740 and again in 1819 in a pattern typical of the Dutch-American farmhouse.

The house was built along Canarsie Lane, which linked the settlement of Canarsie with Kings Highway. During the Revolutionary War, Pieter and Grietje’s great-great grandson, Peter A. Wyckoff, and his wife, Heyltie Remsen lived here with three small children and several slaves.

The Wyckoff house is an excellent example of Dutch Colonial vernacular style with its H-frame structure, shingled walls, split Dutch doors, and deep, flared “spring” eaves. Today, it is one of the few surviving examples of the many hundreds of such buildings that dotted the landscape of Kings County when British and American forces clashed in the Battle of Brooklyn on August 27, 1776.

The Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House is owned by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, is operated by the Wyckoff House & Association, and is a member of the Historic House Trust of New York City.

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