Anna and Reverend Pierre P. Irving House

272 Richmond Terrace | also 131 Carroll Place | St. George | built 1915

Open on the map3 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1. 1839

   Henry McFarlane buys the lot under strict New Brighton Association rules

   Henry McFarlane bought this Richmond Terrace lot in 1839, and his deed required him to grade and pave the street in front, ask permission before building a private stable, and set his buildings back from the street as the association's directors planned. He put up the Greek Revival frame house as a speculative investment sometime between 1839 and 1845, and its deep setback from the street still reflects those early planning controls.

   “…the deed required McFarlane to pitch, grade, and pave the street in front of his property, to seek permission before building a private stable…”

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

2. 1851

   Rev. Pierre Paris Irving, Washington Irving's nephew, buys the house

   In 1849 Sarah Wotherspoon, wife of banker George Wotherspoon, bought No. 272, probably as a home for Reverend Pierre Paris Irving, newly hired as the first minister of Christ Church in New Brighton. Irving, a nephew of author Washington Irving, bought the house from the Wotherspoons in 1851 and kept it with his wife, Anna Henrietta Duer, until her death in 1874 and his own in 1878, when it passed to their daughters.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

3. 1905

   Merry-go-round proprietor David Leroy buys the old Irving house

   Harriet Irving, a daughter of the minister, lived here until around 1900 and then sold the house to Eliza Garrett. David Leroy bought it in 1905; the 1915 census lists him as the proprietor of a merry-go-round, and that year he, his wife Rose and their three daughters shared the house with hotel manager Henry Hugot and Florence Hugot. The Leroy family kept the house until 1984.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Nearby

• Opossum Acres270 Richmond Terrace | 3 entries
• 112 Carroll Place2 entries
• 106 Carroll Place2 entries
• 109 St Marks Place2 entries
• Frederick L. Rodewald House103 St Marks Place | 3 entries
• Stephen H. Brown House115 St Marks Place | 3 entries

All 47 buildings with stories in St. George