A common element of Hudson Valley Anglo-Dutch architecture found at Philipse Manor Hall is the building’s Dutch doors. These exterior doors split in the middle, allowing for air flow and light, while keeping small children inside and farm animals out. These doors are notably shorter than the ceiling heights of the rooms they enter. In an era when home heating relied on wood-burning fireplaces, large front doors and the high ceilings found within signified wealth; only the affluent could afford the extra wood needed to heat such inefficient spaces. This style of split door can be found in many European cultures but was very popular in the Netherlands, leading to the moniker “Dutch door.” Used in both urban and rural settings, Dutch doors can be seen in many paintings by Dutch masters of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Philipse Manor Hall has four functional Dutch doors and one sealed Dutch door. There are two functioning doors in the main entry gallery, another facing east by the Grand Staircase, and the oldest facing South. The reconstructed door opposite the south entrance, now sealed, once led to various additions throughout the house's history.
The large south-facing Dutch door (pictured above) was the original main entrance of Philipse Manor Hall. The original door is believed to have been brought, along with other building supplies, from Holland by Margariet Hardenbroeck DeVries in the seventeenth century. However, all exterior doors have been replaced at least once and possibly several times. The fanlight window in the transom contains the oldest piece of original glass found in the house. Locally made Dutch doors can be seen in the east wing of the building, and similar Dutch doors exist throughout the Hudson River Valley, including another large front door at Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson.
