Olana State Historic Site was the home of Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900), one of the major figures in the Hudson River School of landscape painting. The centerpiece of Olana is an eclectic villa composed of many styles, difficult to categorize, which overlooks parkland and a working farm designed by the artist.

As well, the residence has a wide view of the Hudson River valley, the Catskill Mountains and the Taconic Range. The Olana Viewshed comprises panoramic views that begin in the Hudson River Valley and extend toward Massachusetts, Vermont, and Connecticut. Church built the home for his wife Isabel (1836–1899) and they named their estate after a fortress-treasure house in ancient Greater Persia (modern-day Armenia), which also overlooked a river valley.

Olana is one of the few intact artists' home, studio and estate complexes in the United States; it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965. It is owned and operated by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and is also supported by The Olana Partnership.

The main building is an architectural masterpiece designed by the architect Calvert Vaux working closely with Church. The stone, brick, and poly chrome-stenciled villa is a mixture of Victorian, Persian and Moorish styles. The interior remains much as it was during Church's lifetime, exotically furnished and decorated with objects from his global travels, and with some 40 paintings by Church and his friends, including his mentor Thomas Cole.

The house is intricately stenciled inside and out; Church designed the stencils based on his travels in the Middle East. The house contains Church's last studios, built as an addition from 1888 to 1890. The last forty years of his life, Frederic Church created a 250 acre designed landscape with breath taking views in every direction.