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Dorothy Reister House at Stone Quarry Art Park

Hilltop House and Studio
Good
  • Identity of Building/Site
  • History of Building/Site
  • General Description

Dorothy Reister House at Stone Quarry Art Park

Site overview

On a summer day in the late 1950s, multidisciplinary artist Dorothy Riester and her husband Bob Riester packed a picnic and drove from their home in Syracuse, NY to Cazenovia, NY to look at a plot of land, 23 acres in size located just off Route 20 on Stone Quarry Road. They decided to purchase the land and spent the next year building a summer home on the hilltop, taking advantage of views to Cazenovia and Oneida lakes. Designed and built between the late 50s and the early 70s, the home tells a story of a life lived fully in art and is a celebration of midcentury residential architecture. The house embodies the energy of Riester, from the handcrafted decorative furnishings and lively color scheme, to the carefully curated collection of art and objects within.

Dorothy Reister House at Stone Quarry Art Park

Site overview

On a summer day in the late 1950s, multidisciplinary artist Dorothy Riester and her husband Bob Riester packed a picnic and drove from their home in Syracuse, NY to Cazenovia, NY to look at a plot of land, 23 acres in size located just off Route 20 on Stone Quarry Road. They decided to purchase the land and spent the next year building a summer home on the hilltop, taking advantage of views to Cazenovia and Oneida lakes. Designed and built between the late 50s and the early 70s, the home tells a story of a life lived fully in art and is a celebration of midcentury residential architecture. The house embodies the energy of Riester, from the handcrafted decorative furnishings and lively color scheme, to the carefully curated collection of art and objects within.

Dorothy Reister House at Stone Quarry Art Park

Site overview

On a summer day in the late 1950s, multidisciplinary artist Dorothy Riester and her husband Bob Riester packed a picnic and drove from their home in Syracuse, NY to Cazenovia, NY to look at a plot of land, 23 acres in size located just off Route 20 on Stone Quarry Road. They decided to purchase the land and spent the next year building a summer home on the hilltop, taking advantage of views to Cazenovia and Oneida lakes. Designed and built between the late 50s and the early 70s, the home tells a story of a life lived fully in art and is a celebration of midcentury residential architecture. The house embodies the energy of Riester, from the handcrafted decorative furnishings and lively color scheme, to the carefully curated collection of art and objects within.

Dorothy Reister House at Stone Quarry Art Park

Site overview

On a summer day in the late 1950s, multidisciplinary artist Dorothy Riester and her husband Bob Riester packed a picnic and drove from their home in Syracuse, NY to Cazenovia, NY to look at a plot of land, 23 acres in size located just off Route 20 on Stone Quarry Road. They decided to purchase the land and spent the next year building a summer home on the hilltop, taking advantage of views to Cazenovia and Oneida lakes. Designed and built between the late 50s and the early 70s, the home tells a story of a life lived fully in art and is a celebration of midcentury residential architecture. The house embodies the energy of Riester, from the handcrafted decorative furnishings and lively color scheme, to the carefully curated collection of art and objects within.

Dorothy Reister House at Stone Quarry Art Park

Site overview

On a summer day in the late 1950s, multidisciplinary artist Dorothy Riester and her husband Bob Riester packed a picnic and drove from their home in Syracuse, NY to Cazenovia, NY to look at a plot of land, 23 acres in size located just off Route 20 on Stone Quarry Road. They decided to purchase the land and spent the next year building a summer home on the hilltop, taking advantage of views to Cazenovia and Oneida lakes. Designed and built between the late 50s and the early 70s, the home tells a story of a life lived fully in art and is a celebration of midcentury residential architecture. The house embodies the energy of Riester, from the handcrafted decorative furnishings and lively color scheme, to the carefully curated collection of art and objects within.

Dorothy Reister House at Stone Quarry Art Park

Site overview

On a summer day in the late 1950s, multidisciplinary artist Dorothy Riester and her husband Bob Riester packed a picnic and drove from their home in Syracuse, NY to Cazenovia, NY to look at a plot of land, 23 acres in size located just off Route 20 on Stone Quarry Road. They decided to purchase the land and spent the next year building a summer home on the hilltop, taking advantage of views to Cazenovia and Oneida lakes. Designed and built between the late 50s and the early 70s, the home tells a story of a life lived fully in art and is a celebration of midcentury residential architecture. The house embodies the energy of Riester, from the handcrafted decorative furnishings and lively color scheme, to the carefully curated collection of art and objects within.

Primary classification

Residential (RES)

Terms of protection

In 1991 in an effort to ensure the land would always be available to those that had come to enjoy its offerings Dorothy incorporated Stone Quarry Hill Art Park as a non-profit art park. A conservation easement protects the 104 acres of land from future development and maintains the aesthetics of Stone Quarry Hill's history, first as a quarry and then in the late 1800s as a working farm. 

Designations

National Register of Historic Places (2014)
The Dorothy Riester House and Studio is significant under Criterion C as a highly intact example of a mid-twentieth century modern house and artist studio.

In 2011, its 20th anniversary year, Stone Quarry Hill Art Park was recognized as #2 in National Geographic’s “Top Ten Sculpture Parks and Trails” in Secret Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 of the World’s Best Hidden Travel Gems. 

How to Visit

Stone Quarry Art Park is open every day from dawn to dusk. The Art Park provides visitors the opportunity to explore unique outdoor artwork amidst 104 acres of conserved land, along four miles of trails, with vista views of the breathtaking rural landscape of Cazenovia and Madison County in Central New York. 

House tours are scheduled to resume in 2022. Please check website for details.

Explore Modern Partnership

Your Docomomo US membership card will grant you a 20% discount off tours of the Dorothy Riester House and gift store purchases.

More sites in the Explore Modern Partnership

Location

3883 Stone Quarry Rd
Cazenovia, NY, 13035
More visitation information

Case Study House No. 21

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Original Brief

Dorothy Riester designed the house to be a summer place, to be small with low maintenance, and to be part of the landscape. The house would be shaped like a cone on its side, two stories high...with a curving facade that would follow the contour line of the hill. 

Current Use

Over the years Dorothy and Bob continued to purchase surrounding acreage when it became available. In 1965 the Riesters made their summer hilltop home their permanent residence, adding a library and front entrance and expanding the small A-frame studio Dorothy used as work space for her various sculptures. Officially, 3883 Stone Quarry Road was private residence, but for Dorothy, an active artist and community member, her home, studio, and land were always open for the enjoyment of others, but by the mid-1980s, they were the owners of some 85 acres of beautiful rural land. 

General Description

The building exemplifies mid-century house design with its use of common, ready-made materials and prominent front-gable massing, large expanses of windows, and open interior plan. However, unlike a typical mid-century house, the building also incorporates elements of Dorothy Riester's sculptural background and her desire to integrate nature into her art." Today, Stone Quarry Hill Art Park offers visitors an unparalleled experience that is at once, serene yet stimulating, self-directed yet suggestive, familiar yet thought-provoking. "The Park is not an outdoor museum of sculpture placed statically in a landscape setting, but rather an ever-changing partnership between the artist and environment…" - Dorothy Riester, Art Park Founder

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