Alexander Macomb House

The Alexander Macomb House at 39-41 Broadway in Manhattan served as the second presidential mansion. President George Washington occupied it from February 23 to August 31, 1790, during the two-year period when New York City was the national capital.

The first presidential mansion, the Samuel Osgood House at 1 Cherry Street in Manhattan, was occupied by Washington from April 23, 1789, to February 23, 1790. He had been living there a week before his inauguration as the first President of the United States on April 30, 1789.

Alexander Macomb (1748-1831) was an Irish-born American merchant and land speculator. He built his four-story city house on the west side of Broadway in 1786-88, with an extraordinary view of the Hudson River out its rear windows. Macomb leased it to the French consul, the Comte de Moustier, who occupied it until early 1790, when he returned to Paris.

Washington found the Osgood House cramped for his presidential household. It was also in the most congested part of Manhattan, near the port along the East River. The Macomb House was significantly larger, in a neighborhood a mile away.

With his own money, Washington purchased furniture, mirrors and draperies from the departing Comte de Mostier, including American-made furniture in the French style. Some of these items survive at Mount Vernon and elsewhere.[2]

Steward Samuel Fraunces, former owner of nearby Fraunces Tavern, managed a household staff of more than 20 wage workers, indentured servants and enslaved servants. Slavery was legal in New York, and Washington brought seven African slaves from Mount Vernon to work in his presidential household: William Lee, Christopher Sheels, Giles, Paris, Austin, Moll, and Oney Judge.[3]

Two of Martha Washington's grandchildren were part of the First Family: Nelly Custis (b. 1779) and "Wash" Custis (b. 1781).

Under the July 1790 Residence Act, the national capital moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for a 10-year period, while the permanent national capital was under construction in the District of Columbia.

Washington vacated the Macomb House on August 31, 1790, and returned to Mount Vernon, stopping in Philadelphia to examine what was to become the third Presidential Mansion, the President's House in Philadelphia.

In 1821, the Macomb House became Bunker's Mansion House Hotel.[4]

In 1939, the Daughters of the Revolution erected a bronze plaque at 39 Broadway.[5]

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References

  1. ^ "Mr. Huntington has in his famous painting of the Republican Court made the Macomb home on Broadway the background of his picture. This was a much more commodious house, to which the President and his family removed in the spring of 1790." Anne Hollingsworth Wharton, Salons Colonial and Republican (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1900), p. 52.
  2. ^ "Plain for Its Situation" at www.mountvernon.org
  3. ^ Biographical sketches from www.ushistory.org
  4. ^ "Bunker's Mansion House, a famous hotel, was situated at No. 39 Broadway, and was a large double-brick house, erected in 1786 by General Alexander Macomb as a residence for himself. It was a most comfortable and well-conducted hotel, and was patronized largely by Southern families. Bunker, who was noted for his affability to his customers, grew rich rapidly, and eventually sold the property and retired from business." – James Grant Wilson, A Memorial History of the City of New York (1893), p. 365.
  5. ^ Site of Second Presidential Mansion from Historical Marker Database.