The Bartow–Pell Mansion is a historic house museum at Shore Road in the northern section of Pelham Bay Park, within the New York City borough of the Bronx. The two-story building, designed in the mid-19th century by an unknown architect, has a Greek Revival facade and federal interiors and is the last surviving manor house in the Pelham Bay Park area. The grounds surrounding the mansion take up and include a three-story carriage house; terraced gardens overlooking Long Island Sound to the east; and a small burial plot for the Pell family, which once occupied the land.
The house sits on an estate that Thomas Pell purchased from the native Siwanoy in 1654; the Pell family built two previous residences on the grounds in both 1675 and 1790. Robert Bartow, a relative of the Pell family, built the third and current house at some point between 1836 and 1842. Ownership of the house remained in the Bartow and Pell families until 1888, when the government of New York City bought it, and the house remained empty until 1914 when the International Garden Club, co-founded by Zelia Hoffman and Alice Martineau, leased it. The IGC renovated the home into a clubhouse and moved in during 1915. Mayor Fiorello La Guardia used the mansion as his summer residence during 1936. The IGC opened part of the house to the public as a museum in May 1946 while continuing to use it as a clubhouse. The mansion's carriage house was restored between 1987 and 1993.
The house is oriented on a north-south axis with wings on either side, and has a stone facade with balconies and large windows. The interior of the mansion's first floor is arranged around a square central hall with an elliptical staircase; it includes two parlors, a sitting room and a small dining room. The second floor contains bedrooms, while the cellar was used for storing wine. The carriage house, which contained a stable hand's home, vehicular storage, and the hayloft, has served as an exhibition and educational space since 1993. Some of the furnishings include the desk of Aaron Burr and a Lannuier bed. The mansion's facade, interior, and surrounding grounds are designated as a New York City designated landmark and a National Historic Landmark.
Site The Bartow–Pell Mansion is located in the northern section of Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx in New York City. Although its official address is 895 Shore Road, the house is within a wooded portion of the park and is accessible only via a driveway extending off Shore Road. There is a parking lot in front of the mansion, at the end of the driveway. Rhododendrons and lilacs were planted along the driveway during the mid-20th century. The Bartow-Pell Woods and Pelham Bay Park's lagoon are to the east, while the Pelham Golf Course is to the northwest. Orchard Beach is across the lagoon. A hiking path called the Siwanoy Trail loops around the estate. The nearest New York City Subway station is the Pelham Bay Park station, located across the Hutchinson River. Bee-Line Bus's 45 route also stops outside the estate.
The mansion and its garden take up of Pelham Bay Park. Northeast of the mansion itself is the estate's carriage house. To the east of the mansion is a formal terraced garden, which slopes down gently toward the lagoon and Long Island Sound. As built, the garden is composed of several levels, with a sunken square fountain in the center and a set of steps on either side. During the spring through fall, the fountain was surrounded by rose and tulip beds. The other terraces were planted with petunias and yew trees, as well as dahlias, zinnias, asters, and chrysanthemums. The garden is surrounded by a wall, which is made of locally sourced stone and was covered with wisteria. There are iron gates in the wall, as well as a wrought-iron fence above the wall on the eastern end of the garden. East of the fence was a lawn that overlooked the water, although Long Island Sound was no longer visible from the mansion by the 20th century. The Mary Ludington Herb Garden adjoins the terraced garden.
Just south of the Bartow–Pell Mansion was a tree named Treaty Oak. The Siwanoy Native American chief Wampage and English colonist Thomas Pell signed a treaty under the tree in 1654, in which Pell purchased all land east of the Bronx River in what was then Westchester County, New York. The oak tree, which was surrounded by a fence, was destroyed in 1906 and replanted in 1915. Approximately south of the house is a burial plot belonging to the Pell family, who had once occupied the site. This plot contains headstones dating from between 1748 and 1790. Surrounding the plot are four granite posts with pelican motifs, symbolizing the Pell family's coat of arms. There formerly may have been additional gravestones, but they were scattered throughout the grounds by the time the International Garden Club (IGC) took over in the early 20th century. A path lined with chestnut trees connects the house to the burial plot and Long Island Sound's shoreline.
History
In 1654, Thomas Pell purchased from the Siwanoy, comprising the land of the current Pelham Bay Park as well as the nearby town of Pelham, New York, and made his estate on of that land. Pell's land became known as Pelham Manor in 1666. In the 17th and 18th centuries, during the colonial era of the United States, various prominent families built houses within Pelham Manor, including the Bartow, Bayard, Burr, Fish, Leroy, Lorillard, and Pell families. By the 18th century, several members of the Pell family had married members of the Bartow family.
Thomas's nephew John built a residence close to Long Island Sound around 1675, about a decade after Pelham Manor was created. The house was located either east of Shore Road or at the extreme end of Pelham Neck (which is located between Eastchester Bay and the Long Island South). This house was designed in an English style, with a facade of Holland brick. The first residence was occupied by three of Pelham Manor's lords of the manor before it burned in the American Revolutionary War. The second house, occupied by John Bartow and his wife and cousin Ann Pell Bartow, was erected circa 1790. The second house may have reused the foundation of John Pell's first house; at the time, it was common for buildings to reuse the foundations of demolished structures on the same site. The Bartows sold the estate in 1813 to the merchant Herman Leroy. The second house was likely demolished when the Leroys owned the estate.
Use as residence Robert Bartow, a relative of the Pell family and one of John Bartow's grandsons, bought of his ancestor's old estate in 1836. Robert Bartow and his wife Maria Lorillard Bartow built a mansion on the site, the third house to occupy the estate. Construction was complete on the Bartow Mansion and an adjacent carriage building by 1842, though the exact date of the house's construction is unknown. Robert Bolton's Guide to New Rochelle, published in 1842, stated that Robert Bartow "lately" constructed the mansion but did not specify further. The house had cost $60,000 (). When it was completed, the house was part of Westchester County, specifically in the town of Pelham, New York. The new mansion was sited to the southwest of the first manor house built in 1675.
The Bartow and Pell families alternately owned the building for the next four decades. Initially, Robert, Maria, and their seven children lived in the house. Robert Bartow died in 1868, and the mansion first went to his widow, then to his sons. The Bartow family occupied the mansion until at least 1883. In June 1884, Governor Grover Cleveland signed the New Parks Act into law, authorizing the creation of a system of parks in the Bronx, including Pelham Bay Park. The Bartows wanted the city to give them $467,953 for their property, although the city government had concluded that the estate was worth only $131,000.
Despite Pelham residents' opposition to the park, the New York City government acquired the land for Pelham Bay Park in 1887, and it officially became a park in 1888. The same year, the New York City government obtained the house from descendants of the Bartow family. The city paid $63,000 for the ground immediately surrounding the mansion, $33,000 for the mansion itself, and $94,625 for fourteen adjacent land lots, for a total of $190,625. The mansion was vacant for over two decades; during this time, the house fell into a severe state of neglect, and the grounds became overgrown. Although the house was owned by the New York City government, it was still part of Westchester County until 1894 or 1895, when the boundary between Westchester and the Bronx was moved northward. The Home for Crippled Children occupied the mansion for a short period in the early 20th century. The carriage house on the property was used for various purposes after being sold and was ultimately turned into storage.
Use as clubhouse
Renovation and reopening
The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) leased the building to the International Garden Club in 1914. The IGC had been co-founded by Zelia Hoffman and Alice Martineau the previous year to promote formal gardens, and they wished to create an educational garden on the estate. In addition, the club wished to host exhibits and lectures, and it planned to curate a library in the mansion. The IGC agreed to lease the house and grounds for three years, landscape the grounds with their own funds, and return the property to the city after three years. The firm of Delano & Aldrich was hired to restore the home. The exterior was renovated, and the formal gardens were constructed from 1914 to 1917. The interior was also renovated to accommodate the clubhouse's functions, although the house's architectural details were preserved as much as possible. A designer identified only as Miss Swift redesigned the first floor, while Hoffman selected furnishings and decorations for the second floor. Sources disagree on whether the renovations cost $25,000 () or $100,000 ().
The mansion opened as the IGC's headquarters on May 1, 1915, with a ceremony attended by New York governor Charles Whitman. As part of its lease with the city, the club had to open the mansion's gardens to the public. In its first three years at the mansion, the IGC spent over $70,000 on the house and often held public speeches. Initially, the house was open seven days a week; although the house was usually free to enter, the club collected admission fees on two days to pay for maintenance. The IGC was responsible for maintaining the house's interior and garden, while the city government oversaw the facade and the rest of the grounds. The club did not meet there during the summer. All of the other mansions nearby were gradually destroyed, leaving the Bartow Mansion as the only remaining mansion in Pelham Bay Park.
Mid-1910s through early 1940s The IGC started hosting summertime outdoor flower shows in June 1916. The same year, Hoffman hired the landscape design firm Olmsted Brothers to discuss the possibility of adding a wide variety of gardens and a greenhouse. None of these ideas were ever implemented. The club renewed its contract with the city government in 1917 for five years. The following year, Bronx parks commissioner Joseph T. Hennessy unsuccessfully tried to evict the IGC from the mansion because of how they were using the grounds. The IGC had additional plans for the property, including a rock and rose garden and a painting collection, though these were delayed by World War I. In the 1920s and 1930s, the IGC continued to host its annual "garden parties" at the mansion,See, for example: and it also hosted "distinguished foreigners" such as a member of the French Academy of Sciences. The mansion's driveway was modified in the 1930s, when a parking lot was added in front of the mansion.