Merchant's House Museum

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Old Merchant's House (Seabury Tredwell House)
(U.S. National Historic Landmark)
Location: 29 East Fourth Street, Manhattan, New York City
Coordinates: 40°43′39.5″N 73°59′33.13″W / 40.727639, -73.9925361Coordinates: 40°43′39.5″N 73°59′33.13″W / 40.727639, -73.9925361
Built/Founded: 1832
Architect: Minard Lafever
Architectural style(s): Federal-style (exterior)
Greek revival (interior)
Designated as NHL: June 23, 1965[1]
Added to NRHP: October 15, 1966[2]
NRHP Reference#: 66000548[3]
Governing body: Private Museum

Merchant's House Museum, known formerly as Old Merchant's House and as Seabury Tredwell's House, is a Federal-style red-brick row house built in 1832 by Joseph Brewster. It is located at 29 East Fourth Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York State. It was designed by Minard Lafever. It became a museum in 1936 and is the only Nineteenth Century family home in New York City preserved intact - both inside and outside.

Contents

[edit] History

In 1835 it became the home of Seabury Tredwell[4], a wealthy New York merchant, and his family. Tredwell's daughter, Gertrude, was born in 1840 and lived in the house until her death in an upstairs bedroom in 1933. Three years later, the perfectly-preserved house opened to the public as a museum. Located between Lafayette Street and the Bowery,

The house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965.[1],[5]

[edit] Exterior and interior

Living room interior.
Living room interior.

The building's facade is reminiscent of earlier Federal-style homes, but the interior, especially the formal parlors, represent New York's finest example of Greek revival architecture. The interior also contains the Tredwell family's original furnishings, including pieces from New York's finest cabinetmakers.

Considered one of the finest surviving Greek Revival rowhouses in America, the MHM is a miraculous survivor of “Olde New-York.” Located in the once ultra-elegant “Bond Street Area”, the house was purchased for the princely sum of $18,000 in 1835.

The House is important for its outstanding collection of original furnishings, decorative objects, magnifenctly preserved 19th Century clothing and other personal effects of the Tredwell family. Some of the original interior furnishings are the work of Duncan Phyfe and Joseph Meeks. Stepping through the front portal is stepping into a time when New York City was becoming the most important seaport in North America and the House reflects these fortunate circumstances.

[edit] The family

Gertrude and her seven siblings, two brothers and five sisters, all lived here together with their parents, four servants, and an ever-changing assortment of nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts and other relatives. Only two daughters and one son ever married which was unusual for that era and for an affluent family with social position.

Seabury died in 1865 and the remaining family lived at the home into old age. Gertrude, the youngest member of the immediate family, lived here alone for 24 years after her sister Julia died in 1909. As she grew older and more eccentric she became obsessed with holding on to the elegant home in a neighborhood that had become, by the early 20th Century, a run-down, semi-industrial, and disreputable part of town. Burdened with severe financial hardship in her last years, she somehow managed to keep this beautiful home in nearly original condition, long after all the neighboring private homes had been demolished or converted into rooming houses, tenements, or commercial structures.

After her death, a distant cousin, George Chapman, purchased the building, saving it from foreclosure and demolition. In 1936, after needed repair and renovation, the house opened as a museum and has remained such ever since. The Merchant’s House Museum remains a unique time capsule of the lives of a typical affluent New York merchant family of the 19th Century complete with the original possessions of the family.

[edit] The museum

In addition to its magnificent period rooms, the Museum presents many performances, presentations, lectures, exhibits and special events throughout the year. Ongoing research and state-of-the-art documentation and conservation techniques assure that more is constantly being learned about the House, its furnishings and outstanding textile collections, and “what life was really like” for a 19th Century New York family.

[edit] Landmark designations

Due to its architectural and historic importance, the Merchant's House has been recognized by the following landmark designations:

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Old Merchant's House (Seabury Tredwell House). National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service (2007-09-15).
  2. ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
  3. ^ NHL writeup
  4. ^ NPS.gov writeup
  5. ^ Richard Greenwood (July 16, 1975), National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: The Old Merchant's HousePDF (319 KiB), National Park Service  and Accompanying 2 photos, exterior, from 1975PDF (211 KiB)

[edit] External links

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