Olana State Historic Site in Greenport, New York, was the estate home of Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900), one of the major figures in the Hudson River School of landscape painting. Olana’s villa overlooks parkland and a working farm designed by the artist, with a wide view of the Hudson River Valley, the Catskill Mountains, and the Taconic Range. The estate takes its name from a fortress-treasure house in ancient Greater Persia (modern-day Armenia), which also overlooked a river valley.
The home is a mixture of Victorian, Persian, and Moorish styles. Frederic and Isabel Church were impressed by the architecture they had seen on their travels in Beirut, Jerusalem, and Damascus in 1868. Upon their return to their farm, they abandoned preliminary plans for a manor house in the French style and instead instead created a more personal vision influenced by their travels.
