Perched high atop the crest of a hill overlooking the Hudson Valley, Olana reigns as a supreme example of the romantic ideal engendered by the artists of the Hudson River School of painting. Undoubtedly this artistic movement's most famous member, internationally famous Frederic Edwin Church created Olana as his retreat from the pressures of urban life, his escape into the romanticism and beauty of the Valley's landscape he so popularized. Created in collaboration with Calvert Vaux, Olana combines the intimate pleasures of carefully crafted domestic architecture, a personal vision of interior decoration with the expansive arts of landscape design to bring together in one creative expression all of the elements of mid-nineteenth century American Romanticism.

Church traveled extensively through Arabia and Morocco absorbing the colors, styles and philosophies of the Islamic arts and culture. In creating his hilltop home, he synthesized the Islamic aesthetic with his own in creating his vision of paradise, Olana. Infused with Islamic themes, colors and patterns, Olana exudes a restful yet vibrant calm providing an idealized focus of family life and happiness.

The house is surrounded by an idealized Romantic Landscape, first envisioned by the members of the Hudson River School of Art. The landscape is a carefully crafted sequence of rooms and vistas, sweeping lawns and groves of trees, all carefully realized to heighten the expanding views and draw the eye outward into a super-real vision of the real world. Standing on the Moorish portico, you are drawn down the acres of lawns and over a reflecting pond, out, miles out to the mighty Hudson River coursing through the hills disappearing into the distant mists. Beyond the river rise the majestic Catskills parading in mauve and plum and above it all the ever changing canopy of the sky and the light changing from aquamarine to vermilion as the day wanes and the clouds dance. Olana is the realization of the Romantic Ideal, it is a vision brought to earth.

Visiting Olana is a pleasure at any time of the year. The grounds, a state park, are open daily till dusk and provide many forms of outdoor recreation, from quiet strolls to cross country skiing. When you visit Olana, bring a picnic and laze in the warm sun and refreshing valley breezes. The house is open for guided tours from April through October till 4pm, closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.