The Real Story of Merchant House Museum

At the time of his birth in 1780, Seabury Treadwell was a descendant of Episcopal Bishop Samuel Seabury. He was born into a distinguished Long Island family. Treadwell wed Eliza Parker in the year 1820, and the couple went on to have seven children, five of whom were girls and two of whom were boys. During the following fifteen years, up to the year 1835, when he finally retired. Outside of his town, Treadwell was not widely recognized, despite the fact that he had achieved great success as a businessman. A hat manufacturer and speculative real estate developer named Joseph Brewster purchased two property parcels in the year 1831 for a total price of $6,550. Within one of them, he constructed a townhouse at 29 E. Street, which would be equivalent to $187,000 in the year 2023.

Donald Reynolds, an architectural writer, said that Brewster put the finishing touches on the home in April of 1832 and resided there for a period of three years. After Sarah, the second youngest daughter, suffered terrible injuries in a stagecoach accident in the 1850s, Gertrude, her two brothers, and her five sisters moved in with their parents. Sarah was the second youngest daughter the family had. For the purpose of transporting Sarah to her bedroom, a hand-operated elevator was erected. Moreover, the staircase that led to the third level was reconstructed. After getting married and leaving the home, just three of the Treadwell family's children left the house. One son and four daughters didn't end up getting married. He passed away in the year 1882.

In the year 1884, the sibling's brother who had not yet married came next. By that time, a significant number of their rich neighbors had already relocated. Although the New York Times and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation state that it was unknown why the family stayed in their current location, the Toronto Star reported that the Treadwells were unable to relocate to the Uptown neighborhood due to their financial situation. Despite the fact that they were spinsters, sisters Julia, Phoebe, Sarah, and Gertrude stayed in the home. Over time, they made improvements.

The sisters were able to survive on their father's estate by selling off property in Brooklyn and New Jersey when money got scarcer. Despite the fact that they want to keep the furnishings as Papa had wanted them, they were unable to do so since they did not have any earning potential. According to George Chapman, the grand nephew of Barry Treadwell, Sarah finally relocated to the Cadillac Hotel, which is located close to Times Square. She passed away in 1906, leaving behind just Phoebe, Julia, and Gertrude at the House dot. The family was not a very sociable group. By 1909, three of the sisters who were still alive had passed away. After her father stopped her from marrying a Roman Catholic physician, Gertrude, the sole sister who had survived, had turned into a hermit.

She employed a maid to meet the few guests that came to her home. There was a disagreement between her and the Consolidated Gas Company, which had previously made it possible for the Treadwells to pay their gas account less often. Gartrut's gas supply was shut off by a young and inexperienced bill collector who, according to the New York Herald Tribune, was under the incorrect impression that the family had not paid their account. An apology was made by dot, who was a director of the gas firm.

After an hour, Gertrude continued to refuse to engage in conversation with him. As her health continued to deteriorate, Gertrude stayed confined to her bedroom on the second floor for the whole of the 1910s and 1920s. As a result of the relocation of one of her nephews to the third floor. They spent the most of their time at the home, and during the year, they spent a few weeks at Lake Champlain. The latter years of Gertrude's life were marked by the need of selling her possessions and taking out a mortgage on her house.

Gertrude seldom had guests, and she passed away alone in one of the bedrooms on the second floor in 1933. Despite this, she maintained the house in its original state long after all of the private residences in the neighborhood had been destroyed or renovated. Her nephew had passed away in 1930. In an article published in the New York Times, it was said that she had passed away as a kind and well-bred loner, surrounded by ugly people, and that she had been forgotten. It had been some years since anybody had lived in the residence. With the intention of paying off the debt on the home, Eliza Nichols, who was the daughter of Gertrude's eldest sister, Elizabeth, intended to sell the building along with its belongings.

As reported by the New York Times, George Chapman purchased the building, so preventing it from being put up for foreclosure and being demolished. The home was purchased by Chapman the night before the auction, and the contents of the house were going to be put up for public sale. On the eighth of May, 1936, the group held a special celebration for the museum, and on the eleventh of May, 1936, they opened the museum to the public. To begin at eleven o'clock in the morning till five o'clock.

In the same month, the New York State Education Department took the initiative to commemorate Seabury Treadwell's home by installing a plaque. A large number of photographs of the home were taken by the historic American Building Survey in the same year. Additionally, the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University displayed photographs of the interiors of the buildings.

A fundraising effort was initiated by the Historic Landmark Society in the same year that the organization charged $3,500 annually for the management of the museum. In 2005, however, the admission charge is fifty cents. Oh, my goodness. It was not sufficient to have annual tourists. In a warning, Chapman said that the home was in danger of being sold at the moment. He was able to pay off the mortgage and proceed with the operation of the property as a museum. From the time that Florence Helm passed away in 1954 until the time when Harry Lundberg and Florence Helm, the custodians of the museum, resided in the basement. The museum had a total of one thousand visitors per year by the year 1950.

A meeting of the Board of Directors of the Historic Landmark Society was held the following year to address the endowment fund, which had increased to a total of $25,000 but was still unsuccessful in reaching its objective. a dot In the event that the museum managers were to comply, the Hale Foundation, which is located in Boston, pledged to contribute $45,000. in order to match the contribution. However, this did not take place. The museum was equipped with a gas heating system that was built by Consolidated Edison in 1952. By the early 1960s, the home had deteriorated to the point that it required renovations that cost a total of $200,000 to be completed.

Ada Louise Huxtable, an architectural critic, said that the home was so fragile that it might be destroyed by a heavy storm. Additionally, the original furniture were on the verge of falling apart at the slightest touch. Despite this, the museum did not have sufficient visitors to be able to support its own operation. The authorities of the museum had made futile attempts to get funds from private contributors and had been unsuccessful in doing so. Jack, the curator of the museum, was personally paying for the institution's maintenance.

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) referred to it as a document of considerable significance due to its authenticity after Jack proposed selling the home and its contents in order to earn funds in the beginning of 1965. However, the LPC did not have the legal jurisdiction to preserve the document during that time. In addition, one hundred children demonstrated against the sale of the home, and preservationists petitioned state and federal authorities to preserve the property as a monument. During the month of August in 1968, the museum was closed for some restoration work since the decorators club indicated interest in repairing the home.

The club sought the advice of Joseph Roberto, an architect at New York University, which is located nearby, about matters pertaining to waterproofing. At that time, the group had amassed a total of $5,000. As a result, the home was brought back to its former glory. Roberto sent a number of letters to the authorities, requesting that they provide funding for the repair of the home. However, Huxtable wrote about it in 1970, which brought the concept to the attention of the public.

The first money for the rehabilitation was supplied in 1970 by the New York State Historic Trust as well as the New York City government. The Robertos, along with six other individuals, were appointed to the position of trustees at the museum. The construction of the external and structural components started in 1972 and was finished in three stages. The project required the reconstruction of the foundation, the replacement of almost two thousand and five hundred bricks along the party walls, and the replacement of the. Because it was so worn out, one of the carpets needed to be replaced.

Prior to restoring the walls to their original off-white hue, experts who specialize in dot restoration evaluated multiple layers of paint. Additionally, dot lighting fixtures that were installed in cast iron railings were also repaired. At the time of the renovation, the city landmark designation only extended to the exterior of the house. As a result, there were concerns that the interior of the house could be significantly altered during the renovation. Additionally, the city was in the midst of a severe fiscal crisis, which led the Christian Science monitor to describe the situation. a ray of hope in the midst of these difficult times for New York City... The first level was reopened to the public in November 1979, and the museum received an extra seventy thousand dollars in contributions to facilitate the renovation of the second story. In 1980, in order to commemorate the completion of the renovations to the second level, the authorities of the museum hosted a Christmas party.

At the time, the project had a total cost of $280,000, which was supported by more than twenty-two individuals. In the same year, the directors of the museum intended to invest an additional one hundred thousand dollars to refurbish the kitchen and the bedrooms. An award of Certificate of Merit was presented to Joseph Roberto by the Municipal Arts Society in recognition of his efforts on the restoration of the residences. An office located in the front of the building was where the Roberto family continued to work. It was written in 1987 by the New York Times. These days, the home is very much alive, since it is sometimes used for special events and festivities like weddings and birthday parties.

Three modest structures located near to the east of the Seabury Treadwell home at number 31 two are owned by the owner. It is recommended that the first and second levels of the basement be opened to the public on Sunday afternoons so that groups may schedule appointments throughout the weekdays. The mansion sustained damage of one million dollars as a result of the destruction of these structures the next year. The absence of a retaining wall to the east produced a fissure that ran the length of the home. When Joseph Roberto passed away in 1988, the interiors received water damage as a result of his passing. April of 1990 marked the beginning of the museum's quest for new employees. There were a number of staff members employed by the museum, one of them being Margaret, the executive director. According to Gardner, the stability of the home was achieved by the expenditure of $600,000.

As part of the master concept for the museum, the sculptor David Flaherty was engaged to repair the interior plaster work, and Jen Heard Picorni was hired to do research on the different residences, as well as the history and architecture of the buildings. The museum offered tours of the area in order to collect finances, and the amount of tourists visiting New York City varied throughout the year. As of the 20 tens, forty volunteers were in charge of running the museum, which attracted 15,000 visitors each year.

The neighborhood had evolved into a residential area that was rather trendy. It was projected by the Wall Street Journal that the building might fetch a price of $6 million in 2018 if it were still available for residential use. The LPC looked into the proposal that Koladop 2 Park Corporation made in 2012 for an eight-story hotel to be built west of the home because it had the potential to compromise the structural integrity of the building. It was guaranteed by the developers of the hotel that they would not do any harm to the museum, and that the new building would further strengthen the museum's structure. At the beginning of 2018, Gardner filed a petition with the Supreme Court of New York, arguing that the New York City Department of City Planning had given its approval to the hotel project on the basis of incorrect information provided by Caledop.

Gardner speculated that the building of the hotel may result in the collapse of the home, and administrators at the museum displayed posters that warned of the possibility that the museum could become bankrupt due to the rising expenses of legal representation. After filing a formal lawsuit against the DCP, Gardner was brought before a subcommittee of the New York City Council in the middle of 2018, where he voted against the hotel plans in September of that same year. Make a call, adopt, and then file a lawsuit to overturn the decision made by the City Council, saying that they intend to take measures to guarantee that the House will not be destroyed.

Late in the year 2020, the developer submitted new designs for the hotel; however, the Local Planning Commission (LPC) postponed making a judgment about these plans due to worries over the structural stability of the home. Late in the year 2023, when the hotel was given the green light, Gardner said that the vibrations caused by the building may potentially create damage that could not be repaired and threatened to sue Dota. The disagreement with the hotel construction that was near to him persisted. Beginning in late 2024, New York City Parks intended to begin the reconstruction of the Seabury Treadwell House at a cost of $3.2 million.