Dr. Samuel MacKenzie Elliott House

69 Delafield Place | West New Brighton | built 1899

Open on the map3 entries

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

1. 1840

   Dr. Samuel MacKenzie Elliott builds a Gothic Revival stone cottage of his own design

   Built around 1840 of local random stone, with walls 23 inches thick, the house is one of more than 22 that the doctor is said to have designed in the same style. It has eight large rooms, an attic and a huge cellar. The entrance in the gable end is framed by blue and orange diamond-paned sidelights under a fan-patterned transom, and scalloped wooden vergeboards trim the gables.

   “Constructed of locally quarried random stone, the house was built about 1840 by Dr. Elliott, who was one of this country's early oculists.”

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

2. 1840

   Abolitionist eye surgeon Samuel Mackenzie Elliott reputedly makes the house an Underground Railroad refuge

   Scottish-born Samuel Mackenzie Elliott, an oculist whose prominent patients included Horace Greeley, Peter Cooper, John Jacob Astor and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, built this as one of 22 similar investment houses nearby. His influence on this part of the North Shore was such that the neighborhood was called Elliotville. An active abolitionist, he is said to have fitted out both this house and his own as hiding places for people fleeing slavery on the Underground Railroad.

   Source: Wikipedia

3. 1967

   April 12

   The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the vine-covered Elliott House

   At the September 13, 1966 hearing, three witnesses, the owner among them, spoke for designation and nobody opposed it. The Commission designated the house in April 1967, describing it as a stone monument to the doctor who designed it. At the time trumpet vine and Virginia creeper covered its walls.

   “Three witnesses spoke in favor of designation including the owner of the property. There were no speakers in opposition to designation.”

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Further reading

• Dr. Samuel MacKenzie Elliott HouseWikipedia

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All 8 buildings with stories in West New Brighton