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Mount Vernon Hotel Museum and Garden | |
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| Location | 421 East 61st Street,Manhattan,New York City,New York, USA |
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| Coordinates | 40°45′38″N73°57′35″W / 40.76056°N 73.95972°W /40.76056; -73.95972 |
| Built | 1799 |
| Architectural style | Vernacular Architecture |
| NRHP reference No. | 73001223 |
| NYSRHP No. | 06101.000422 |
| NYCL No. | 0426 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | January 12, 1973[1] |
| Designated NYSRHP | June 23, 1980 |
| Designated NYCL | January 24, 1967 |
TheMount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden, formerly theAbigail Adams Smith Museum, is a historicantebellum building at 421 East 61st Street, near theEast River, on theUpper East Side ofManhattan inNew York City. It is open to the public as a museum. Since 1924, it has served as the national headquarters of theColonial Dames of America. As of June 2023, the museum is open for tours on selected weekdays.
One of the few remaining pre-1800 buildings in Manhattan, the house was originally planned in 1795 as an estate for ColonelWilliam S. Smith and his wife,Abigail. The Smiths never completed the building; it was ultimately built as acarriage house andstable in 1799 for the nearby estate of William T. Robinson.Joseph Coleman Hart bought the house and converted it into a hotel in 1826.[2]
The Mount Vernon Hotel operated in a city experiencing huge commercial growth after the opening of theErie Canal. Its location offered guests a respite from the dirt, noise, and bustle of city life. In the 1830s, the commercial shipping and business districts of New York City lay belowCity Hall, while private residences extended as far north as modern-dayChelsea, and it was common for upper- and middle-class residents and visitors to take day trips to the then-rural setting that is nowmidtown Manhattan.[3] One of over 50 day hotels in or near New York City, the Mount Vernon attracted middle-class guests with leisure activities such as boating trips, tours of unusual exhibitions and social events. In a city without public parks or public libraries, these day hotels offered "gentlemen and their families" an escape from the explosive growth of New York City's population and ensuing urbanization (the population of New York City, 123,706 in 1820, had grown to 202,589 by 1830). They could spend a quiet day near the river and be home downtown by sunset.[4][5][6]
Frances Trollope and James Stuart, a Scottish diarist, are two foreign travelers who visited New York City during the time when the Mount Vernon Hotel operated under Hart. Stuart recorded his 1829 stay at the Mount Vernon Hotel in hisThree Years in North America (1833).
The Mount Vernon Hotel operated until 1833, when it was purchased by Jeremiah Towle, who converted it to a private residence. His daughters continued to live in the house through 1905, when theStandard Gas Light Company bought the house and erected gas tanks nearby.[2] The house was then bought by Jane Teller Robinson in 1919.[2] TheColonial Dames of America purchased the site in 1924 to use as its headquarters.[7]
In 1939, the house opened to the public as the Abigail Adams Smith Museum.[8] The planting plan for the Abigail Adams Smith Museum gardens was by New York landscape designerAlice Recknagel Ireys andGeorgian landscape designer Kate Basilashvili.
In the early 2000s, there was an unsuccessful attempt torebrand the area around the museum as "Mount Vernon". At the time, the surrounding blocks were not given a specific name (unlike other parts of theUpper East Side), and much of the former Mount Vernon estate had been demolished to make way for theQueensboro Bridge, which had opened in 1908. This area is considered part of the Upper East Side orLenox Hill.[9]
The museum is currently owned and operated by the Colonial Dames of America.[7]
The museum tells the story of New York City's tremendous period of growth following the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, one year before the Mount Vernon Hotel opened. Tours, public programs, and other educational programs are offered.[10] The museum is open to the public 11 am to 4 pm Tuesday through Sunday for interpreter-led tours of the period rooms and garden. The museum provides school field trips and hosts an average of 35 programs throughout the year, including monthly Lunchtime Lectures, Children's Storytime, summer concerts, and History Weeks for school-aged children. Annual events include the George Washington's Birthday Ball, Halloween Murder Mystery, and Candlelight Holiday Tours.[11]
Each summer, Hearst Fellows conduct original research on aspects of New York history and daily life, including trade, travel, leisure, education, urban development, popular music, and gender and race relationships of the 1820s–30s.[12]
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