Gracie Mansion (also known as Archibald Gracie Mansion) is the official residence of the mayor of New York City. Built in 1799, it is located in Carl Schurz Park, at East End Avenue and 88th Street in the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan. The federal-style mansion overlooks Hell Gate in the East River and consists of the original two-story house and an annex built in 1966. The original house is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The house's site was previously occupied by Belview Mansion, built in 1770 for local merchant Jacob Walton and destroyed during the American Revolutionary War. In 1799, Archibald Gracie built a new house on the same site, which he used as his country home until 1823. The family of Joseph Foulke used the house from 1823 to 1857, and the family of builder Noah Wheaton used it from 1857 to 1896, when the municipal government made its grounds part of Carl Schurz Park. During the early 20th century, the mansion was used as public restrooms, an ice cream stand, and classrooms. Gracie Mansion housed the Museum of the City of New York from 1924 to 1936, and it was a historic house museum until 1942, when it became a mayoral residence. Since then, each mayor except for Michael Bloomberg has lived at Gracie Mansion at some point during their tenure; most mayors redecorated the house upon taking office. A reception wing, named for New York City first lady Susan Wagner, was completed in 1966. Further major renovations took place in 1983–1984 and in 2002.
The facade is composed of clapboard panels with shutters. The original mansion's first floor includes parlors, a dining room, a kitchen, and a library; the annex also includes a ballroom and reception rooms. The second floor has been traditionally used as bedrooms, while the basements contain offices. The mansion's upkeep is partially overseen by the Gracie Mansion Conservancy, although the city government continues to own it. In addition to governmental business and special events, Gracie Mansion hosts public tours. Over the years, the house has been the subject of commentary, and it has also received accolades and has been depicted in numerous media works.
Site Gracie Mansion, also known as Archibald Gracie Mansion, is located in Carl Schurz Park (at East End Avenue and 88th Street) in the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The mansion faces northeast toward Hell Gate, a channel in the East River. By the early 21st century, it was the only remaining country estate in Yorkville. Gracie Mansion sits atop Carl Schurz Park's highest point.
Previous site usage The Europeans established their first settlements in modern-day New York City in the 17th century. From that point until the end of the 19th century, only six men owned the site. The first European owner of Gracie Mansion's site was Sybout Claessan, who received either or from the Dutch West India Company in 1646. Claessan's land, which includes Carl Schurz Park, was initially known as Hoorn's Hook or Horn's Hook, after the city of Hoorn in North Holland. The site was alternately known as Horen Hook, Harris' Hook, or Harris' Point. Dutch immigrant Resolved Waldron obtained the land in 1690 after Claessan died; it passed through three other members of the Waldron family over the next eight decades and was subdivided after William Waldron's death in 1769.
Jacob Walton, a merchant from what is now Flatbush in Brooklyn, obtained around Hoorn's Hook and built a house, Belview Mansion, on the site in 1770. He moved into the house with his wife Polly Cruger. Drawings indicate that the earlier mansion was composed of a two-story central section and one-story wings on either side. Ornamentation on that house included quoins at its corners; keystones above the windows; a weather vane and finials at the roof; and a triple bay of windows at the end of each wing. The Waltons were forced to leave the house in February 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, and the site became a Continental Army fort, which was completed in April 1776. The house was severely damaged by cannonball fire on September 8 or September 15, 1776. British troops controlled the site until 1783.
The Waltons never went back to Belview; their four children did not receive the land until 1791. Belview Mansion included a hidden tunnel to the East River, which still existed when Gracie Mansion was developed on the same site. The brick tunnel ran north from the mansion's basement and then turned east toward the river. It is not known why the tunnel was built, but one newspaper said the tunnel could have been used as an escape route during the American Revolution or as a secret lover's entrance. For more than two centuries, there was little documentation on Belview Mansion's existence. One of the cannonballs that destroyed the mansion was later displayed.
Early history
Gracie occupancy The merchant Archibald Gracie, at the time one of New York City's richest men, bought Walton's land in two phases in December 1798 and January 1799. At the time, the Gracies' city residence was a house that they rented from New York City mayor Richard Varick. Gracie built a new country estate on the Walton site in 1799, though there is disagreement over whether Gracie destroyed or reused the remains of Belview Mansion. In either case, Gracie removed the Revolutionary War-era earthworks and landscaped the gardens. Gracie's mansion was abutted to the west by the house of banker Nathaniel Prime, which later became St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum. Other houses along the East River included those of the Rhinelander family, Alexander Hamilton, John Jacob Astor, and Isaac Chauncey, which have long since been demolished. Gracie Mansion, at the time, was accessible only via the East River and was several miles from the developed parts of Lower Manhattan. There was a dock and a stone stable just south of the house.
In 1801, Gracie hosted a meeting of New York Federalists at the mansion to raise funds for the establishment of the New York Evening Post, which eventually became the New York Post. During the city's 1803 yellow fever epidemic, the house's isolated position allowed Gracie to avoid infected people in the city. Although the house originally faced southeast, it was expanded in 1804 to face northeast toward Hell Gate. The mansion was valued at $5,200 by 1809. Further expansions were completed in 1811; the work included relocating the main entrance, adding a pantry and parlor at ground level, and adding two bedrooms upstairs. Cannons were installed during the War of 1812 to defend the house's elevated site, and the house itself may have served as a military post.
The house entertained up to fifty guests at a time. Gracie hosted guests such as Hamilton, Astor, future French king Louis Philippe I, U.S. president John Quincy Adams, and writers James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving. The Riker, Rhinelander, and Schermerhorn families were also guests, as were the poet Thomas Moore, U.S. Army general Winfield Scott, and New York governor DeWitt Clinton. Future Boston mayor Josiah Quincy III, who also stopped by the mansion, described the house as "elegant" and the grounds as having a tasteful layout. Irving may have written part of his novel Astoria while at the house, and he wrote in 1813 that "I cannot tell you how sweet and delightful I found this retreat, pure air, agreeable scenery and profound quiet".
Gracie continued to maintain a residence in Lower Manhattan; he bought a new city residence at 1 State Street in 1805 and moved to another house at 15 State Street in 1813. Gracie was so wealthy that, when he lost $1 million in 1807 due to naval blockades, his net worth was unaffected. Although Gracie's firm lost more than $1 million during the War of 1812, he used the house as his country home until 1823. Ultimately, the aftermath of the war depleted his finances. Two of U.S. Founding Father Rufus King's sons married two of Gracie's daughters, and King bought the mansion prior to 1823. King placed the mansion for sale in April 1823, and Gracie's company, Archibald Gracie & Son, was dissolved the next month.
Foulke use The same year as Gracie's firm was dissolved, the house was sold to Joseph Foulke, a slave owner who had gained his wealth from trading largely in Central America and the Caribbean, and exploiting the labor of enslaved people there. Foulke paid $20,500 for the house and about of land, which became known as Foulke's Point. Initially, the Foulke family used Gracie Mansion only as a summer mansion, but they eventually used the house as their primary residence. The Foulkes added a fireplace mantel in the parlor but are not known to have made any other modifications. When Foulke died in 1852, the mansion and estate were passed to his seven children, and the land was subsequently divided.
Wheaton use Foulke's family sold the house in 1857 to a builder named Noah Wheaton, who also purchased 12 adjacent lots. By then, many of the estates on the East River were being replaced with industrial development. Wheaton added a two-story brick stable north of the mansion, built a kitchen in the mansion itself, and added gas lighting. One of the Wheatons' guests wrote that they used to swim at Gracie's old mansion, where "there was comparatively deep water on the North side".
Wheaton declared bankruptcy in 1859, and the house went into foreclosure two years later, although the family was allowed to remain there. The Great Western Insurance Company, who had foreclosed on the house, resold it to Wheaton in 1870. The 1870 census describes Wheaton as living in the house with his wife, their three daughters, and two servants; by then, his affluent neighbors had moved toward the middle of Manhattan. Wheaton's daughter Alice Hermione Wheaton Quackenbush and her husband Lambert S. Quackenbush lived in the mansion for five years in the 1870s; the Quackenbushes' two oldest children, Amalie and Daniel, were also born in the mansion.
Wheaton took out several mortgages on the house and frequently encountered business troubles. His entire family may have left the house for a short time in the 1870s during one such business failure. Wheaton established a business on Broadway in 1878, but the business is not listed in an 1879 directory. In directories for subsequent years, listings for Wheaton mention only that he lived at Gracie Mansion, although he is recorded as being a "merchant" in 1882 and 1883. The house continued to be affected by Wheaton's business failures until his youngest daughter, Jane, married the lawyer Hamlin Babcock in 1884. Babcock moved into the house and remained there until 1896.
Parks Department takeover The New York City government took over the land northeast of 86th Street and East End Avenue in 1891, converting it into what would later become Carl Schurz Park. The house itself was acquired by the city in 1896 and added to Carl Schurz Park. According to Susan Danilow, who directed the Gracie Mansion Conservancy in the 2000s, the city government took over the mansion because the taxes had not been paid. The mansion served various functions as part of the park, including an ice cream stand, storage rooms, classrooms, and as a public toilet where, for five cents, people could use the house's bathrooms.
In 1911, the mansion was outfitted with steam heat; at the time, the house was being used as a clubhouse for girls' clubs. The porch began to sag, while the paint was peeling. The house was in such disrepair that local residents wanted the mansion demolished, although a group led by Mrs. Graeme Elliot advocated for its preservation.
Museum of the City of New York use