Bartow-Pell Mansion
895 Shore Road | Pelham Bay Park | built 1836
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1654
Thomas Pell and the Siwanoy chief Wampage sign a land treaty under an oak beside today's mansion site
In 1654 the English colonist Thomas Pell and the Siwanoy chief Wampage signed a treaty under a tree later known as the Treaty Oak, which stood just south of where the mansion is now. Pell bought 50,000 acres, including today's Pelham Bay Park, and kept 9,188 acres for his own estate. The oak was destroyed in 1906, and a new one was planted in 1915.
“The Siwanoy Native American chief Wampage and English colonist Thomas Pell signed a treaty under the tree in 1654…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1842
Robert and Maria Lorillard Bartow complete their stone mansion on the old Pell estate
Robert Bartow, a grandson of John Bartow and a relative of the Pells, bought 30 acres of his ancestors' former estate in 1836. He and his wife, Maria Lorillard Bartow, built the third house on the estate, finished with a carriage building by 1842 at a cost of $60,000, and lived there with their seven children. After Robert died in 1868 the house went to his widow and then his sons.
“Robert Bartow and his wife Maria Lorillard Bartow built a mansion on the site, the third house to occupy the estate.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1842
An unknown designer gives the house a Greek Revival exterior and Federal-style rooms
Nobody knows who designed the mansion; Minard Lafever, A. J. Davis and Martin E. Thompson have all been suggested, and Lafever's work inspired its ornament. Behind walls of local stone at least two feet thick, a square central hall holds an elliptical stair running from basement to attic. On the east side are two matching parlors, each about 30 by 20 feet.
“The exterior is designed in the Greek Revival style, with decorations inspired by the work of architect Minard Lafever.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1888
New York City buys the mansion for Pelham Bay Park, then leaves it empty for two decades
After the 1884 New Parks Act, the Bartows asked $467,953 for their property, while the city judged it worth $131,000. In 1888 the city acquired the house from Bartow descendants for $190,625 in all, including $33,000 for the mansion itself. The building then sat vacant for more than twenty years, badly neglected, apart from a brief stay by the Home for Crippled Children.
“The city paid $63,000 for the ground immediately surrounding the mansion, $33,000 for the mansion itself, and $94,625 for fourteen adjacent land lots…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1915
The International Garden Club opens its restored headquarters with Governor Whitman on hand
Zelia Hoffman and Alice Martineau founded the International Garden Club in 1913 and leased the empty mansion from the city in 1914. The firm Delano & Aldrich restored the house and laid out formal gardens. Governor Charles Whitman attended the opening on May 1, 1915, and the lease required the club to let the public into its gardens.
“The mansion opened as the IGC's headquarters on May 1, 1915, with a ceremony attended by New York governor Charles Whitman.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1936
Mayor Fiorello La Guardia moves into the mansion as the city's first Summer City Hall
Wanting to be close to his family in Westport, Connecticut, the mayor moved in with several aides on July 2, 1936. A teleprinter and a temporary phone line connected the house to City Hall, and officials even turned a '10 Miles to City Hall' sign, by then 135 years old, so that it pointed toward the mansion. Aides and reporters grumbled about the distance, but the mayor liked it enough to stay an extra week, leaving September 4.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1946
The Garden Club opens the mansion to visitors as a historic house museum
Barred from shipping plants abroad after World War II, the club turned to the house, opening it as a museum in May 1946 with help from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, NYC Parks and the Museum of the City of New York. Only four rooms were shown at first, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Members, who could come anytime, had to pull rubber covers over their shoes to spare the rugs.
“Club members, who could visit at any time, had to cover their shoes with rubber covers to avoid damaging the rugs.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1966
The Landmarks Preservation Commission names the mansion one of the city's finest Greek Revival houses
At hearings in January and on February 8, 1966, speakers including representatives of the International Garden Club backed designation, nobody opposed it, and Parks Commissioner Thomas Hoving recommended it by letter. Designating the house on February 15, 1966, the commission praised its cast-iron balconies and handsome interiors and credited the Garden Club with beautifully restoring and maintaining it.
“In a letter, Park Commissioner Thomas Hoving recommended designation.”
- 2012
An online campaign wins the museum $155,000 to restore its terraced garden
The museum entered a 2012 competition run by Partners in Preservation, a partnership of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express. A social-media campaign drew supporters from as far away as Australia and Sweden, and the museum won $155,000 for the terraced garden and the chestnut-lined walk. The gardens were rebuilt using photographs of the original Delano & Aldrich design.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Bartow–Pell MansionWikipedia
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