(ASHPS) in 1924. The ASHPS opened the house as a museum in 1930 and handed over operations to the NPS in 1960. For the next four decades, the NPS attempted to move the house so the building could be restored. The Grange was closed for restoration and relocation between 2006 and 2011.
The Grange is a two-story frame Federal-style house with a ground level basement. It is a rectangular structure with porticos on the front and rear facades, as well as piazzas to its left and right. The basement dates from 2011 and contains the gift shop and exhibits, while the other two stories are part of the original house. On the first floor are Hamilton's study, a parlor, a dining room, and two additional spaces. The second-floor spaces were used as bedrooms. Most of Hamilton's original belongings were sold after his death to other American institutions, and many of the current objects in the house are replicas created in 2011. The Grange has been the subject of architectural commentary over the years, and it is the namesake of several structures in the neighborhood.
Site
The house is located in the Hamilton Heights and Sugar Hill sections of the neighborhood of Harlem in Manhattan, New York City.[4] It has occupied three sites in the neighborhood throughout its history, all within the bounds of the U.S. founding father Alexander Hamilton's original estate.[5] The estate was part of section IX of what was known as Jochem Pieter's Hills. John Delavall bought lot IX in 1691 and sold the southern half of the lot to Samuel Kelly (or Kelley), who then sold that site to druggist Jacob Schieffelin in 1799. Schieffelin's parcel was bounded by the Hudson River to the west, 140th Street to the south, St. Nicholas Avenue to the east, and 145th Street to the north.[6] The Bloomingdale Road bisected Schieffelin's parcel into western and eastern plots; Hamilton's estate, the Grange, occupied the eastern plot.[7][a] The Grange name extended across much of the surrounding area, which remained largely rural until the late 19th century.[10]
The second site was at 287 Convent Avenue, approximately 250 feet (76 m)[22] or 350 feet (110 m) south of the original location.[23][24] The house occupied this location from 1889 to 2008.[25] It was located on the east side of the avenue[12] and sloped down significantly to the east, toward Hamilton Terrace.[26] East of the house was a 5,400-square-foot (500 m2) lawn owned by St. Luke's Episcopal Church.[27] After the house was moved in 2008, children planted a flower garden at 287 Convent Avenue.[28]
The third and current site is at 414 West
141st Street, at the southern end of Hamilton Terrace.[29][30] The house is within St. Nicholas Park, 500 feet (150 m) south of the second site.[25] The current site abuts the campus of City College of New York (CCNY), a unit of the City University of New York.[31] The parcel covers nearly 1 acre (4,000 m2)[24][32] and consists of a plateau measuring no more than 50 to 60 feet (15 to 18 m) wide.[33]
Use as residence
Alexander Hamilton was born sometime between 1755 and 1757
In late 1798, Hamilton wrote to his wife Eliza that he was planning a project in New York City, the details of which he was keeping secret.
Inspector General of the United States Army, trying to fend off a war against France; as such, he could not devote time to his "project".[42] He wrote a letter to the merchant Ebenezer Stevens in October 1799, offering to buy a parcel adjoining Stevens's land from Jacob Schieffelin.[42][43] Hamilton had wanted the plot west of the Bloomingdale Road, but Schieffelin would only sell the plot to the east of the road.[7] Hamilton bought the eastern site on August 2, 1800, paying $4,000 for a plot of 15 acres (6.1 ha).[7][12][44] That September, he bought 3 acres (1.2 ha) to the north of his existing parcel[45] from Samuel Bradhurst.[46][47] Hamilton also acquired the rights to fish in the nearby rivers and hunt game in the woodlands of Upper Manhattan.[48] He and his wife's family, the Schuyler family, had been developing plans for a permanent house for nearly two years at that point.[49]
Development
After officially acquiring the Schieffelin site, Alexander, Eliza, and their seven children moved into an existing farmhouse on the site. Alexander hired architect John McComb Jr. to remodel that house for an estimated $70.90 (equivalent to $1,273 in 2023).[c][d][49] McComb had, at the time, just designed Gracie Mansion and was in a competition to design New York City Hall.[40] Hamilton also commissioned McComb to design a country home on the estate.[50][51] Eliza's father Philip Schuyler tried and failed to hire a contractor from Albany, New York, delaying the construction of the permanent house by a year.[52] Ultimately, Ezra Weeks was hired to build the house;[50][52] Hamilton had defended Weeks's brother in a murder trial two years earlier.[53]
Weeks and McComb drew up a proposal for the house, dated June 22, 1801, in which they divided the work between them.[54] Weeks probably began excavating the foundation in late 1801, and he first billed Hamilton in December of that year. After Weeks excavated the site and built the foundation and frame, McComb probably commenced his portion of the work in May or June 1802.[55] Timber in the mansion was sourced from the grounds of the General Schuyler House in Saratoga, New York.[48][56] The house was mostly done by mid-1802, although some work such as painting continued through February 1803.[45][40] Hamilton wrote a letter to Eliza in late 1803, requesting alterations to an ice house on the site.[57][58] In total, the house and surrounding structures cost $17,972.06 (equivalent to $382,679 in 2023), excluding lumber that Philip Schuyler gave to Alexander as a gift.[59] Hamilton's friends estimated that the house cost as much as $25,000.[60]
Hamilton occupancy
The Hamilton family moved into the house in August 1802.
sweet gum trees, symbolizing the Thirteen Colonies,[69][70][67][g] and he also planted a circular flower bed.[67] Though early-20th-century sources described him as an avid farmer and gardener,[68][72] he had very little free time and described the house itself as his hobby.[45]
Hamilton worked in Lower Manhattan, a three-hour round trip from his estate;[73][74] he traveled to his law office by stagecoach several times a week.[62] His house was close to the Albany Post Road, which led directly to Lower Manhattan.[72][74] Hamilton also had a second residence in Lower Manhattan, and his wife maintained the Grange during his absences.[74] Details of Hamilton's life at the Grange are known only from accounts written by his relatives, friends, and followers. The historians Alfred Mongin and Anne D. Whidden wrote that the Grange housed not only the Hamiltons and their seven children,[h] but also the children of friends or family.[75] The Schuyler family, to whom the Hamiltons were especially close, were frequent visitors, as were Alexander's friends Gouverneur Morris and Rufus King.[44][76][77] The Hamiltons also hosted other guests such as jurist James Kent and French royal Jérôme Bonaparte.[76] During the winter, the family stayed in a house on Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan.[74]
Hamilton lived at the house for two years, dying after his duel with Aaron Burr on July 11, 1804.[62][70] Although he had been a successful lawyer, Hamilton was "essentially land poor" when he died.[78] His legal estate was in significant debt because of the Grange's high cost;[79][80] his account books showed that he spent $11,840.27 (equivalent to $240,910 in 2023[c]) in six months.[80][81] The Grange estate was secured for about $20,000, an amount that included liens on the actual property, and a consortium was formed to control the legal estate.[82] One writer said that "going into debt to maintain his station gives a hint of" Hamilton's life.[83]Archibald Gracie bought the house at auction in 1805 for $30,000[15][82] and set up a trust to take over the estate.[19][82] The purchase price excluded approximately $7,600 in mortgage loans that Hamilton had received from the site's previous owners, Schieffelin and Bradhurst.[82]
Eliza Hamilton took title to the Grange on July 6, 1805, but Hamilton's legal estate still owed about $55,000, which was only repaid after additional land had been sold off.[84] The last debts on the house were paid off in 1808.[84] During the 1810s, Eliza Hamilton received land and payment from the federal government to compensate for her husband's military service.[84] Eliza is recorded as having sent correspondence from the Grange through at least 1819.[85] Although a 20th-century source describes the family as having rented out the house,[86] a 1980 study did not find records of Eliza renting the Grange.[85]
Subsequent residents
Eliza Hamilton is recorded as having sold the Grange in 1833; at the time, the estate covered over 32 acres (13 ha).
mortgage loan given to Samuel Ward.[86][9] The latter took over ownership of the house in 1845.[16][9] The family of Ward's brother, the lawyer William G. Ward, moved into the house. Although William Ward died in 1848, his widow and the families of his sons continued to live there during the summer.[9]
By the mid-1850s, the area was gradually densifying. The house was accessed only by a driveway that led to the former King's Bridge Road, and there was a stable to the rear and a lawn in front of the house.
Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank took over the house in 1876 after foreclosing on the property.[86][90] At the time, the Wards owed $53,402 (equivalent to $1,528,000 in 2023[c]).[90]
The house was sold for $312,500 in 1879 (equivalent to $10,219,000 in 2023).[87][90][91] The buyer, Anthony Mowbray, resold the house for the same amount to William H. DeForest, his client and business partner,[90][91] the month afterward.[92]The New York Times wrote in 1880 that the house had fallen into disrepair. At the time, "two good-natured Irish families" occupied the premises and allowed visitors to look at the house.[93] The DeForest family removed some mantels and mirrors.[94] One observer, writing in 1886, said the Third Avenue Cable Railroad now ran right outside the house and the stone fence around the estate was crumbling.[94] Another account stated that none of the original furniture remained.[95]
Subdivision of the old estate
When DeForest acquired the Grange estate, he intended to divide it into parcels.[16][90] The estate was thus split up into 300 land lots;[24][90][96] the Times described the remaining portion of the estate in 1880 as covering 8 or 10 acres (3.2 or 4.0 ha).[93] By the mid-1880s, the house was in danger of being demolished to make way for the Manhattan street grid, which had just reached Harlem.[97][98] The site had been condemned since it was in the path of 143rd Street;[24][73] in particular, the street ran through the northwest corner of the house.[98] Had the house not been moved, the street would have cut through the porches diagonally.[48] Most of the streets in the neighborhood, except for 143rd Street, had been laid out by 1884.[99] The Manhattan street grid had been built through the rest of the old estate by 1920,[100] and Hamilton Place, which followed the old Bloomingdale Road, remained intact.[100][71]
The Third Avenue Cable Railroad opened in the late 1880s on what is now Amsterdam Avenue, which spurred development in the area.[101] The plots that comprised the Hamilton Grange estate were offered for sale in late 1887,[102][103] and many lots were sold on the condition that they remain in residential use.[96] Real estate developer Amos Cotting acquired the lots south of 143rd Street.[73][98] The remainder of the original estate was developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the construction of the New York City Subway's first line spurred development in the area.[10] The neighborhood was initially known as Hamilton Grange.[101] The estate's sweet gum trees were enclosed by a fence in the 1880s, when they started to die.[48] The trees were supposed to be sold in early 1892,[104] but O. B. Potter bought the site, preserving the trees.[105][106] They were placed for sale again in 1898,[100][107] and the few remaining trunks were felled in 1908.[15][72]
Use by St. Luke's Church
St. Luke's Episcopal Church, which was based in Greenwich Village but whose congregation had moved uptown, was looking for a new site in 1888.[98][108] The church's rector, Isaac Henry Tuttle, looked at several lots in Upper Manhattan until he came across a site at the corner of Convent Avenue and 141st Street, within the boundary of the original Hamilton Grange.[98] One of his old congregants offered $5,000 to move the congregation there.[108] The church agreed in late 1888 to buy the lots on the northeastern corner of that intersection.[98][109] After Tuttle saw the Grange while visiting his recent acquisition, he contacted Cotting, who decided to give the house to the congregation for use as a temporary chapel.[110][111] The house was one of a few remaining late-17th and early-18th-century mansions in Upper Manhattan at the time.[112]
Relocation and 1890s
In November 1888, St. Luke's submitted an application to the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) requesting that the house be relocated; the DOB approved the request the next month. At the time, the house was recorded as occupying an irregular lot of 125 by 200 by 100 feet (38 by 61 by 30 m).[98] The church moved the house to 287 Convent Avenue, approximately 250 feet (76 m) south of the original location;[22] the house itself traveled about 500 feet (150 m).[113][114] Relocation commenced on December 5, 1888, and a subsequent renovation of the house was finished by the end of June 1889.[115] The original front and rear porches were removed, and the front porch was moved to the western or left side of the house.[73][115] Even so, the building protruded slightly into the Rockefeller family's property to the north.[116]
At its new site, the house was set back 33 feet (10 m) from the street.
rectory after the first part of the new building opened on December 18, 1892,[118] and the rector prepared his sermons in the house's large rooms.[122]
By 1894, the house had developed severe structural issues; for example, it needed a new roof.[118][123] Although members of St. Luke's congregation believed it would be more cost-effective to just demolish the house, Tuttle thought that the building could be repaired.[118][124] The new roof cost $1,500 (equivalent to $53,000 in 2023).[118][125] After the roof was repaired, Tuttle set aside two of the rooms for the church and related organizations.[125] Following Tuttle's death in 1896, a day school leased part of the mansion.[118][124][126] The day school, operated by Ella K. Morgan, occupied either the first story or the basement.[118]
1900s to early 1920s
A decade after the first relocation of Hamilton Grange, there were attempts to relocate it again to a more pastoral setting.[73] A bill in the New York State Senate was introduced in early 1900, providing $50,000 for the state government to acquire Hamilton Grange's original site and relocate the house there.[127][128]Alexander Hamilton Post pushed for the introduction of another State Senate bill in 1901,[124] allowing the New York City government to acquire the house and maintain it.[65][129] The 1901 bill failed, but efforts to preserve the house continued.[124] A companion bill to the 1900 legislation, providing $50,000 for the state to take over the house, was introduced in the New York State Assembly in 1903.[130] One newspaper estimated that it would cost $150,000 to convert the original site to a park.[131] The local board of improvement voted in favor of the relocation at the beginning of 1905,[132] but the state legislature voted against acquiring the house.[133] The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) placed a commemorative tablet on the house's steps in 1907,[15][134] and the DAR also pressured the city government to acquire the house to officially preserve it.[135]
Although the state legislature passed a law in 1908 which permitted the city government to take over the house and relocate it to St. Nicholas Park, the house remained in place.[117] Morgan's day school operated in the house until 1909, when her lease was canceled.[126] Afterward, the house's facade was painted in 1909.[100] The interior was refurbished and repurposed, with offices and meeting rooms on the first floor and living spaces for the rector and curate on the second floor.[100][136] Further changes to the interior were made in 1914, when the offices in the rear became a kitchen and maid's bedroom; the meeting spaces in the octagonal rooms became a parlor and a dining room; and the basement was converted to living space for the sexton's family.[137] In addition, the facade was again painted, and the site was landscaped.[100][137]
Edward Hagaman Hall, executive secretary of the
apartment building was completed in the early 1920s to the north,[4][138] thereby enclosing the house.[51][140] St. Luke's began to perceive the house as a liability over the years,[141] and the Hamilton Society of Chicago proposed relocating the house to that city in the early 1920s.[64][142] The ASHPS opposed the house's relocation to Chicago[143] and resumed its advocacy for the house's preservation.[64][142] A writer for The New York Times said in the mid-1920s that the relocation of the house was worse than if a portion of the house had remained in its original location.[144]
Use as museum and memorial
American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society operation
Establishment of museum
The ASHPS bought the Grange in November 1924[143] after anonymous donors paid $50,000 for the house.[56][64] The donors, later revealed as bankers George Fisher Baker and J. P. Morgan Jr.,[141][138] also established a $50,000 trust fund to pay for upkeep.[138][145] The ASHPS planned to convert the house into a museum,[48][146] and it appointed a committee of several people, including two of Hamilton's descendants, to collect memorabilia for the museum.[146] At the time, the Grange was the only remaining building associated with Hamilton; his law office and residences in Lower Manhattan had been replaced, while his home in Weehawken, New Jersey, had been demolished.[48] The house's wallpaper and woodwork had been restored, and many of the other interior decorations remained unchanged from when Hamilton occupied the house.[146] In the long run, the ASHPS planned to move the house elsewhere so it could be restored fully.[147][148]
The society wanted to raise money for a renovation but still did not have sufficient funds by 1928;[149] it hoped to raise $125,000.[150] The ASHPS launched a fundraising campaign in early 1929[151] and renovated the roof the same year.[148] Further renovations took place between 1932 and 1933, when electricity was installed and one side of the house was painted.[148][152] The balustrades were also removed to allow the repainting of the three other facades, which was never completed due to a lack of money.[148] The house opened to the public in 1933.[148][153] Furniture and decorative objects associated with the Hamilton family were displayed there.[154]
1930s to early 1960s
Initially, the house was open to the public every day and did not charge admission fees.[17] In early 1934, the DAR's Washington Heights chapter moved into a room on the second floor.[155][156] With the ASHPS's permission, the DAR redecorated one of the house's living rooms.[157] A statue of Hamilton by William Ordway Partridge was relocated from the Hamilton Club of Brooklyn after the club closed in 1936,[4][148][158] and it was dedicated outside the Grange that October.[159] By the early 1940s, numerous people were donating Colonial memorabilia to the museum, regardless of whether the objects were related to Hamilton.[141] As early as 1949, there were proposals to move the house to a park, although local real-estate developers opposed the move.[160] By then, the house was dilapidated; some of the upstairs rooms did not have any furnishings, and the facade needed to be repainted.[161]
As early as 1950, the ASHPS was asking New York City park commissioner Robert Moses to relocate the Grange to Claremont Park, where the Claremont Inn was being razed.[162] At the time, the group's members felt that the Grange had degraded to a "shabby" condition.[163] The city government asked the state legislature in 1955 to move the house to the City College of New York (CCNY)'s campus,[164] as that site was close to buses and the subway.[145] Had the house been moved to CCNY, the campus's gates would have had to be disassembled.[165] The New York State Assembly passed a bill that March to permit the house's relocation to the CCNY campus,[166] and governor W. Averell Harriman approved the bill the next month.[167] The society planned to ask local banks for $400,000 because Hamilton had helped establish the modern U.S. banking system.[145] During a 1957 tour of the house, Assembly member Mildred F. Taylor found that the building was in poor condition and that it was closed during the midday.[168]
The Grange had still not been relocated by early 1958, and the ASHPS was raising $375,000 to move the house to the CCNY campus.[169] Largely white philanthropists also wished to relocate the house southward, away from the majority-black Hamilton Heights neighborhood,[170] and there were also proposals to move the house to Riverside Park or the Cloisters.[73][171] Ultimately, no action was taken on any of the relocation proposals.[171] Preservationists also proposed relocating the apartment building that abutted the house to its north.[171] By the early 1960s, the house saw few visitors but was targeted by thieves on several occasions.[145] The house was deteriorating and had a single, worn-down plaque commemorating its status.[172]
Mayer, Josephine; East, Robert A. (October 1, 1937). "The Settlement of Alexander Hamilton's Debts: A Footnote to History". New York History. Vol. 18, no. 4.