1740s to 1770s

Frederick began developing the Van Cortlandt House on the property in 1748.^[31][34][41] According to the Van Cortlandt House Museum, Frederick likely did not build the house himself, despite being credited as the builder.^[42] Frederick's family used the Tippett house while their new structure was being built.^[43] The mansion was built in a vale that the historian Robert Bolton described as "about one mile north from Kings bridge",^{[44][lower-alpha 2]} next to what is now Broadway.^[46][20] One descendant wrote that the mansion was probably built on the site of, or close to, Van der Donck's farmhouse;^[47] the foundation of Van der Donck's old house remained intact in front of the Van Cortlandt House.^[48] East of the mansion was a mill dam across Tibbetts Brook, a small mill, and the Van Cortlandts' previous residence. To the northeast of the mansion were woodlands.^[43][49] In Frederick's will, signed on October 2, 1749, he indicated that the house was almost complete.^[50][10]

Frederick died before the house was finished, and he bequeathed the estate to his son, Jacobus (James) Van Cortlandt.^[29][35][51] His bequest also included either 11 or 12 slaves who worked on the plantation.^[52] Vault Hill, the Van Cortlandt family burial ground to the north of the mansion,^[53][54] was created in 1749,^[31] and Frederick was interred there.^[55][54] After its completion, the Van Cortlandt House was often called the manor house, although this was a misnomer, as the "manor" name applied to the Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson, New York.^[56] The mansion was also called "Lower Cortlandt's" to reduce confusion with Frederick Van Cortlandt's farm, "Upper Cortlandt's", west of Broadway.^[57]

The family used the grist mill and saw mill next to the lake.^[58] Within the house, the family salted the pork and beef; cured the ham and bacon; and stored the various fruits that grew on the premises.^[36] The Van Cortlandts did not primarily live in that house, instead staying in Manhattan most of the time.^[31][34] Two early historians wrote that James Van Cortlandt frequently intervened on behalf of neighbors who had been robbed.^[35][56] The family often invited civilian and military officials to the mansion, serving lobsters from the Long Island Sound and hams from the estate's grounds.^[59] Slaves performed many of the tasks around the house, including laundry, cleaning, and cooking.^[42]

Revolutionary War

The Van Cortlandt family land served as a neutral ground during the American Revolutionary War^[60] and was used by both the Loyalists and the Patriots.^[36][61] On May 30, 1775, the New York Provincial Congress placed James Van Cortlandt on a committee to create a report on whether it was feasible to build a fort near his family's house.^[62][63] Although James was described as not having been "a very active loyalist", he was not fully committed to the Patriots' cause either,^[56] and the Van Cortlandts wished to stay neutral.^[31][43] Augustus Van Cortlandt hid city records under Vault Hill to protect them during the war, turning them over to the new American government afterward.^[54][64][65] Some members of the Van Cortlandt family continued to reside at the mansion during most of the war.^[66]

The grounds were used by Patriot militia leaders Comte de Rochambeau, Marquis de Lafayette, and George Washington.^[67][64] The house itself was Washington's headquarters after his troops were defeated in the 1776 Battle of Long Island,^[68] and Washington stayed at the house prior to the Battle of White Plains.^[43] After Washington's troops were defeated in the Battle of White Plains, British General William Howe made the house his headquarters on November 13, 1776,^[69][70] placing it behind British-held ground.^[31][68] Hessian troops had pillaged the mansion before Howe's arrival, and various documents were as such scattered.^[70] Royal Navy admiral Robert Digby occasionally invited the future British King William IV to the mansion during the war,^[71][72] and Digby gifted Augustus Van Cortlandt a pair of wooden bird sculptures that had been taken from a Spanish privateer.^[12][73] American troops unsuccessfully tried to retake the house in 1777.^[74][75] A British captain surnamed Rowe was severely wounded in a battle nearby in 1780, and he died in the house just after his fiancée arrived,^[76][77] giving rise to rumors that Rowe's ghost haunted the house.^[7]

James Van Cortlandt moved away during the war because of his poor health, and he died in 1781.^[35] Because James had no children, his younger brother, New York City Clerk Augustus Van Cortlandt, took over the property.^[57][78] Washington returned to the house in 1781 to strategize with Rochambeau while their troops waited outside on what is now the Parade Ground and Vault Hill.^[31][65] Although Washington had wanted to scout British forts in Upper Manhattan,^[79] his troops instead headed south to Virginia, defeating the British in the siege of Yorktown.^[9][60] Washington lit campfires outside the house to deceive the British into thinking that his troops were still on the grounds.^[54][71][80] Washington used the house one final time in 1783 after the Treaty of Paris. The British had just withdrawn their troops from Manhattan, and Washington and George Clinton were getting ready to enter the island, stopping over at the house before doing so.^[31][64]

Late 18th and 19th centuries

Augustus Van Cortlandt's family moved to the house after the Revolution ended.^[29] The 1790 United States census shows that Augustus Van Cortlandt kept 17 slaves on the property. Augustus, his wife, another woman, and 10 slaves were recorded as living on the estate in 1800. The census of 1810 showed that Augustus's household consisted of six free people and 15 slaves; at the time, the farm may have still been operated as a plantation.^[81] Augustus Van Cortlandt continued to own the house until he died in 1823;^[57][77] he had no male children to which he could pass down the house.^[57][82] As such, his son-in-law Henry White (who had married Augustus's daughter Anna) received his life estate,^[77] and Henry's son Augustus White was allowed to have the house if he changed his surname to Van Cortlandt.^[29][82][83]

Augustus White Van Cortlandt moved the mill on the estate to the shore of Van Cortlandt Lake in 1823.^[76] The estate's slaves were freed in 1827, when slavery in New York became illegal.^[81][84] The younger Augustus owned the house until his death on April 1, 1839, upon which he bequeathed the house to his brother Henry White Van Cortlandt, who had no children and survived only until October 1839.^[83] Neither Augustus White nor Henry White had male heirs, so the house was to pass to their sister's son Augustus Bibby Van Cortlandt upon Henry's death.^[83][85] Augustus Bibby owned the house for four and a half decades;^{[85][lower-alpha 3]} he renovated the mansion and farmed much of the estate. The fireplaces were trimmed back to make way for stoves.^[87] An account from the late 1840s described the house as having a front garden with box trees, which had been planted upon a set of fountains.^[88] The old mill and the Van Cortlandts' original house still existed on the estate, and the house's interior was decorated with various portraits.^[73]

New York City annexed the southern part of Westchester County in 1874, and the Van Cortlandt estate became part of the Bronx.^[87] The Van Cortlandts were looking to sell their land by the 1870s because of the area's increasing urbanization.^[89] In June 1884, New York governor Grover Cleveland signed the New Parks Act into law, authorizing the creation of a system of parks in the Bronx, including what would become Van Cortlandt Park.^[90] The act gave the city the right to acquire 700 acres (280 ha) from Augustus Bibby via eminent domain.^[85] Legal disputes over the act carried on for years.^[91] The Van Cortlandt family did not fully vacate the house until 1888,^[92] and the mill next to Van Cortlandt Lake was in use until 1889.^[76] Records indicate that the family held events in the house as late as 1890, when Augustus Bibby Van Cortlandt married Ethyle Wilson there.^[93] The New York Herald Tribune described the house and surrounding property as having "for generations symbolized the vast wealth in real estate amassed by Oloff and Jacobus Van Cortlandt".^[94]

Creation and early years

One of New York City's park commissioners proposed in March 1893 that the mansion be converted into a museum for Revolutionary War artifacts.^[100][101] The park commissioners provided $187 for interior painting and papering in December, and they provided $250 for renovation work the next month.^[102] The city's Park Board voted in 1894 to add an inscription honoring Washington to the mansion.^[103] In early 1896, the Society of Colonial Dames of the State of New York applied to the park commissioners for permission to repair the mansion and operate it as a historic house museum.^[98] The New York State Legislature had given the society control of the mansion by that May.^[104][105] The Park Board agreed in December 1896 to lease the mansion to the society;^[106] the initial lease lasted for 25 years.^[76][107] The society then began renovating the house.^[12][108] The project, which cost between $4,000 and $5,000,^[12] involved restoring the house to its original condition.^[108]

The Colonial Dames took over the mansion on May 27, 1897, and opened the house to the public on that date.^[107][109] At the time, the Van Cortlandt Mansion was one of a few old residences preserved on public grounds in New York City, along with Gracie Mansion.^[110] It was also one of the first historic house museums in the city; it was followed by other residences such as the Morris–Jumel Mansion, King Manor, and Dyckman House.^[111] The Van Cortlandt Mansion was one of the few mid-18th-century buildings in New York City that still retained its original carpentry.^[112] The museum was open to the public every day of the week and was free most of the time.^[76][113] On Saturdays, it charged each guest 25 cents to raise money for the house's maintenance.^[7]

A colonial garden around the house was approved in May 1897^[114] and announced to the public that July.^[113] New York City park superintendent Samuel Parsons Jr. began constructing the colonial garden that August at a cost of $50,000,^[115] and the New York City Board of Estimate allocated $15,000 that October for the garden.^[116][117] The Colonial Dames dedicated a tablet outside the mansion, which described the house's history, in late 1900.^[118][119] At the time, the museum had recorded more than 50,000 visitors over the previous four years.^[119] The next year, the old mill used by the Van Cortlandt family was destroyed by lightning.^[47][58] A statue of National Guard major-general Josiah Porter was dedicated behind the house in 1902,^[120] and the colonial garden adjacent to the mansion was completed in 1903.^[16][121] A window from the old Rhinelander Sugar House was brought to the Bronx in 1903 and installed next to the mansion.^[122][123] By 1908, the mansion was easily accessible from the rest of the city via the New York City Subway's Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street station.^[124]

1910s to 1970s

The Colonial Dames began raising money in the early 1910s for an expansion of the museum's collection.^[125] The Dames also announced plans to build an annex to the house, but Park Board landscape architect Charles Downing Lay vetoed these plans in April 1912.^[126] The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) received bids for the annex's construction in 1913 but initially rejected all of them.^[127] After a subsequent contract was approved, annex, consisting of a caretaker's apartment adjacent to the main house, was finished in 1916 or 1917, just before World War I.^[87][128] The Department of Parks awarded a contract for repairs to the house at the end of 1914.^[129] The architect Norman Isham was hired to renovate the mansion, which included restoring the fireplaces, adding paneling, moving the radiators, and installing interior shutters.^[87] By the late 1910s, the museum was charging admission fees on Thursdays; although the museum no longer charged a fee on Sundays, it had shorter operating hours on that day.^[130]

By the early 1930s, the Van Cortlandt House saw 50,000 to 60,000 visitors each year, including many foreign-born visitors.^[131] A walnut tree was planted in front of the mansion in 1938, replacing an older tree underneath which Washington had once stood.^[132][133] The guns outside the Van Cortlandt House were scrapped in 1942 after then–parks commissioner Robert Moses found that the weaponry was "of neither historic nor esthetic value".^[134] The New York Herald Tribune reported in the mid-1940s that the Van Cortlandt House had 100,000 annual visitors.^[94] NYC Parks announced plans in 1953 to install an iron fence around the mansion at a cost of $26,424; the fence had been relocated from the median of Delancey Street in Manhattan.^[135][136] During the late 1950s, a group led by New York State Assembly member Mildred F. Taylor found that the building was still in good condition.^[137]

After various members of the Colonial Dames provided donations "to make the mansion a more authoritative eighteenth-century home",^[138] the Colonial Dames closed the Van Cortlandt House in December 1960 for what was supposed to be a four-month renovation.^[139][140] The house's reopening was delayed by two months to June 1961.^[141] This renovation involved restoring the walls and the original floors,^[60] as well as upgrades to the caretaker's apartment and mechanical systems.^[87] The house was still open seven days a week in the 1960s, charging admission four days a week,^[142][143] but was only open on weekends by the 1970s.^[144] It had several caretakers during this time. A poet, Hagop Yacoubian, began caring for the house in 1959, shortly after coming to the U.S. from Armenia.^[145] Robert and Ann Porter, who were hired as the museum's caretakers in 1973 following a chance meeting with one of the museum's directors, sometimes hosted private parties in the house when the museum was closed.^[128] By the mid-1970s, the Bronx County Historical Society was also involved in the house's maintenance,^[146] although the Colonial Dames still operated the house and provided decorations and furniture.^[147]

1980s to present

The grounds of the house were landscaped during 1980,^[148] and the house itself was closed in 1986 for a renovation.^[147][149] The work included a new 150-seat auditorium under the house; an expansion of the cellar for taller guests; new bathrooms; and mechanical, structural, and fire-safety upgrades.^[150] In addition, the parlors were repainted in their original colors.^[87] The renovation, which cost $571,900,^[147][150] reopened in December 1988 to celebrate Van Cortlandt Park's 100th anniversary.^[151][152] The Van Cortlandt Mansion was one of the founding members of the Historic House Trust, established in 1989.^[153][154] At the time, the house's roof needed to be replaced.^[154] By the early 1990s, the house was open five days a week and charged admission fees at all times.^[155] Students from Brooklyn College conducted excavations around the house's site between 1990 and 1992.^[156][157] After a set of tennis courts were proposed east of the mansion in the 1990s, preservationists raised concerns that the tennis courts would ruin views from the house and destroy historical artifacts,^[158][159] though the courts were approved anyway.^[160]

By the mid-1990s, some rooms had peeling paint or water damage, and there were concerns that the furniture had bug infestations. The museum's director Laura Carpenter Correa wanted to renovate the house for $1 million, and the house's roof was to be repaired with $250,000 from the New York City Council and the Bronx borough president's office. However, there was no funding for further repairs, and the museum had only a $100,000 annual operating budget.^[79] Carpenter also doubled as the house's caretaker and continued to direct the museum through the early 21st century. The Van Cortlandt House had outdated mechanical systems, and, although Carpenter was allowed to live in the house rent-free, the city admonished her for trying to add a satellite dish.^[161] The Colonial Dames was still operating the Van Cortlandt House Museum in the early 21st century.^[162]

Brooklyn College students undertook further archeological excavations at the site in 2003,^[84] and the house was open six days a week during the 2000s.^[163] The house's dining room was restored in 2015; the work involved a restoration of the paneling, wallpaper, and fireplace tiles.^[164] The mansion was closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City,^[165] and it reopened next year for self-guided tours.^[166] The house's communications systems were refurbished in 2022,^[167] and the fence around the house was to be rebuilt in the mid-2020s.^[168]

Basement

The kitchen is within the raised basement.^[157] The walls of the basement are 3 feet (0.91 m) thick, a defensive measure,^[178][179] and are made of plaster on stone.^[180] There are two small windows near the top of the western wall, which may have been intended as defensive loopholes.^[178][181] The basement's ceiling has low wooden beams,^[180] which measure 11 by 13 inches (280 by 330 mm)^[178][182] and were hand-crafted out of cypress and cedar.^[179] Water for the kitchen was originally sourced from Vault Hill.^[12] There is a Dutch brick oven embedded in the kitchen's wall.^[180][179] On one wall is a wide, short fireplace with a hearth and an arched opening.^[180] A dresser and a porcelain closet occupied the kitchen.^[181] There is also a newer basement with a classroom^[157] and an auditorium.^[150] The museum's restrooms are also in the basement.^[183]

First story

The front hall is accessed from the main entrance on the south end of the building. Doorways with eared frames lead to parlors on the west and east walls.^[99] The front hall's floor is made of yellow pine boards covered by a canvas-painted cloth.^[13] The western wall of the front hall contains a U-shaped stairway,^[99] which ascends to the second and third stories.^[119][174] The inner portion of the stairway has a railing with turned balusters, a round newel at the bottom, and square newels on each landing. The stairway's outer wall has paneled wainscoting.^[99] At the stairway's first landing, there is a niche containing a large window.^[99][184] The stairway's high ceiling was intended as a symbol of wealth when the house was built.^[13] Behind the front hall is the rear hall, which has a simple stairway and leads both to the dining room and to a servants' entrance.^[180][13] The rear hall was added shortly after Frederick Van Cortlandt died, when the house was being finished, and provided a private entrance for Frederick's widow Frances.^[13]

To the left (west) of the front hall is the western parlor, which served as Washington's quarters in 1783. On the northern wall is a fireplace surrounded by blue-and-white tiles,^[99] which depict scenes from the Bible.^[185][186] Pilasters separate the fireplace from an arched cupboard on either side; each cupboard has two paneled doors and a set of shelves for storing porcelain. The rest of the north wall is painted blue and is paneled, while the three other walls are made of white plaster with a baseboard, a dado rail, and a molding at the ceiling. The south wall has three windows.^[99] There was a group of seats next to the window on the south wall.^[99][187]

To the right (east) of the front hall is the eastern parlor, which was intended as a formal room.^[28][99] It was likely used for tea and card games.^[180] Each wall is covered in paneling with a cornice at the top.^[99] This room has a fireplace, which was probably added after the house was finished.^[170][99] The fireplace has a marble hearth with a wood molding, as well as a carved marble mantel with eared moldings, a shelf, and a carved frieze underneath.^[99] Above the fireplace is an overmantel with a frieze, eared moldings, and a broken pediment with an urn;^[188] the overmantel depicts Adam and Eve, a serpent, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.^[185][189]

The dining room is in the eastern wing, separated from the eastern parlor by the rear hall,^[189] and is designed in a late-18th-century style. It was likely not originally used for meals, as Americans generally did not have dedicated dining rooms prior to the American Revolution.^[180] The dining room had a fireplace with a mantel from c. 1800,^[170] which had ornamentation such as pilasters, sunbursts, and motifs of one-quarter of a fan.^[180] There was a small closet built into the side of the fireplace mantel, which was used to keep items warm during winters. One corner of the room also featured a large white cupboard which was used to store porcelain.^[190] The walls are made of light plaster above dark buff wainscoting, and a chimney occupies the north wall. Atop the wall was a ceiling molding, which likely dated from the 19th century.^[180] An 18th-century ceiling molding and fireplace mantel were restored in a subsequent renovation.^[191]

Upper stories

On the second floor, there is a hallway in the center of the southern wing, which connects with the house's main stairway. At the south end of the hallway is a sash window with inward-facing shutters and a seating area.^[180]

Next to the hallway are two rooms, one each to the west and east.^[180][192] These bedrooms both contain white walls; doorways with molded frames; fireplaces with paneling and white tiles; windows with internal shutters; cornices above the windows. The western room was known as the Washington bedroom^[180] and had furniture used by Washington.^[193] The north wall of the Washington bedroom has a fireplace flanked by closets, similar to the cupboards on the first-floor western parlor.^[180] Behind the eastern bedroom was a spinning room.^[194] A third bedroom to the northeast has a fireplace with allegorical Dutch tiles.^[195] One of the bedrooms was named the Monroe room because one of the family's maids had married a man surnamed Monroe.^[53]

A narrow U-shaped stairway in the second-floor hall continues up to the third floor.^[196] On the third floor were two smaller rooms for servants, one of which was in an incomplete condition.^[176] The attic has been adapted into an exhibit on the lives of the slaves who worked on the Van Cortlandt plantation.^[166]