Building Address: 331 Beaver Dam Road
Section / Block / Lot:
Surveyor’s Name: Jayme Breschard
Survey Date: June 30, 2004
Building Type: residence
Owner’s Name: Richard, Jr. and Ann Wiswall
Building Name: John Warren Swezey house
Date of Construction: ca. 1850
Architect:
Building Dimensions: 61’ x 46’
No. of Floors: 2 ½
Decorative Features: partial recessed entry porch with post supports and second-story balcony with open rail, louvered shutters, cornice returns and dentils, bulkhead (cellar entrance), and belt course (denotes second-story addition)
Siding Material(s): clapboard, weatherboard in recessed entry porch
Roof Style: cross-gabled
Roofing Material(s): asphalt shingle, plain
Foundation: brick, wood piers under entry porch
Window Style(s): six-over-six double-hung sash, nine-light awning, paired twelve and eight-light casement, and one and four-light casement windows
No. of Entrances and Placement: off-centered entry on south façade (covered by a second-story balcony), recessed rear (north) entry
Chimneys and Placement: two brick interior slope and two brick exterior end-wall chimneys (west and north elevations)
Condition: excellent
Architectural Integrity: second-story and rear additions, new fenestration throughout building
Architectural Style: Colonial Cottage
Description:
The building at 331 Beaver Dam Road sits on the corner of Beaver Dam Road and Locust Road. On the south side of Beaver Dam Road, diagonally from the building’s façade, is a grassy meadow owned by the Post-Morrow Foundation, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation that preserves and conserves the rural, cultural, and historical character of the hamlet of Brookhaven and surrounding areas in Suffolk County. A one-story front-gabled double-car garage sits in the rear (north) lot with vertical board siding, paneled roll-up garage doors with a row of lights, and asphalt roof shingles.
Historical Information:
John Warren Swezey was born May 20, 1824 in Fire Place (now Brookhaven Hamlet), in the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York. He appeared on the 1850 census in Fire Place as a seaman. After 1851, John Warren lived at 331 Beaver Dam Road on property purchased from his brother, William Egbert Swezey. William Egbert lived in the house that is now located at 5 Locust Road (moved from Beaver Dam Road in 1928). In 1860, John Warren appeared on the census in Fire Place as a bayman. John Warren Swezey died in 1887, but his wife, Pheobe Hawkins Swezey, lived in the house until she died in 1903.
According to current homeowner, Ann Wiswall, the second-story was added in 1913.
Source:
Bigelow, Stephanie S. “Swezey-Wiswall house.” Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities: New York State Building-Structure Inventory Form, 10 March 1975.
Deitz, John B. 2000 – 2004. Brookhaven, New York; available from http://prometheusli.com/hamlet/hamlet_tree/f-p/d104.htm#P579; Internet; accessed 2 July 2004.
Gottfried, Herbert and Jan Jennings. American Vernacular Design, 1870-1940. New York: Van Norstrand Reinhold, 1985.