Bartow–Pell Mansion

Template:Short description Template:Good article Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox NRHP

The Bartow–Pell Mansion is a historic house museum at 895 Shore Road in the northern section of Pelham Bay Park, within the New York City borough of the Bronx. The two-story building, designed in the mid-19th century by an unknown architect, has a Greek Revival facade and federal interiors and is the last surviving manor house in the Pelham Bay Park area. The grounds surrounding the mansion take up Template:Convert and include a three-story carriage house; terraced gardens overlooking Long Island Sound to the east; and a small burial plot for the Pell family, which once occupied the land.

The house sits on an estate that Thomas Pell purchased from the native Siwanoy in 1654; the Pell family built two previous residences on the grounds in both 1675 and 1790. Robert Bartow, a relative of the Pell family, built the third and current house at some point between 1836 and 1842. Ownership of the house remained in the Bartow and Pell families until 1888, when the government of New York City bought it, and the house remained empty until 1914 when the International Garden Club, co-founded by Zelia Hoffman and Alice Martineau, leased it. The IGC renovated the home into a clubhouse and moved in during 1915. Mayor Fiorello La Guardia used the mansion as his summer residence during 1936. The IGC opened part of the house to the public as a museum in May 1946 while continuing to use it as a clubhouse. The mansion's carriage house was restored between 1987 and 1993.

The house is oriented on a north-south axis with wings on either side, and has a stone facade with balconies and large windows. The interior of the mansion's first floor is arranged around a square central hall with an elliptical staircase; it includes two parlors, a sitting room and a small dining room. The second floor contains bedrooms, while the cellar was used for storing wine. The carriage house, which contained a stable hand's home, vehicular storage, and the hayloft, has served as an exhibition and educational space since 1993. Some of the furnishings include the desk of Aaron Burr and a Lannuier bed. The mansion's facade, interior, and surrounding grounds are designated as a New York City designated landmark and a National Historic Landmark.

Site

The Bartow–Pell Mansion is located in the northern section of Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx in New York City.<ref name="park-map">Template:Cite map</ref> Although its official address is 895 Shore Road, the house is within a wooded portion of the park<ref name="New York City Department of Parks & Recreation 2006 w242">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and is accessible only via a driveway extending Template:Convert off Shore Road.<ref name="p12374095212">Template:Cite news</ref> There is a parking lot in front of the mansion, at the end of the driveway.<ref name="n136042686">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Transportation 2023 m262">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Rhododendrons and lilacs were planted along the driveway during the mid-20th century.<ref name="n136109292">Template:Cite news</ref> The Bartow-Pell Woods and Pelham Bay Park's lagoon are to the east, while the Pelham Golf Course is to the northwest. Orchard Beach is across the lagoon.<ref name="park-map" /> A hiking path called the Siwanoy Trail loops around the estate.<ref name="n136047919">Template:Cite news</ref> The nearest New York City Subway station is the Pelham Bay Park station,<ref name="nyt-2002-04-28" /><ref name="bxbus">Template:Cite NYC bus map</ref> located across the Hutchinson River.<ref name="park-map" /> Bee-Line Bus's 45 route also stops outside the estate.<ref name="nyt-2002-04-28" /><ref name="bxbus" />

The mansion and its garden take up Template:Convert of Pelham Bay Park.<ref name="n136116027">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Chen 2020 b893">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Northeast of the mansion itself is the estate's carriage house.<ref name="NYCL-0125E">Template:Cite report</ref> To the east of the mansion is a formal terraced garden, which slopes down gently toward the lagoon and Long Island Sound.<ref name="n136055984">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="The New York Times 1915 c350">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> As built, the garden is composed of several levels, with a sunken square fountain in the center and a set of steps on either side.<ref name="NYCL-0125E" /> During the spring through fall, the fountain was surrounded by rose and tulip beds.<ref name="The New York Times 1964 i092">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The other terraces were planted with petunias and yew trees,<ref name="p12374095212"/> as well as dahlias, zinnias, asters, and chrysanthemums.<ref name="p516109827">Template:Cite news</ref> The garden is surrounded by a Template:Convert wall,<ref name="n136042686" /><ref name="NYCL-0125E" /><ref name="The New York Times 1964 i092" /> which is made of locally sourced stone and was covered with wisteria.<ref name="n136109292" /><ref name="The New York Times 1964 i092" /> There are iron gates in the wall,<ref name="n136116027" /><ref name="The New York Times 1964 i092" /> as well as a wrought-iron fence above the wall on the eastern end of the garden.<ref name="NYCL-0125E" /> East of the fence was a lawn that overlooked the water,<ref name="p12374095212"/> although Long Island Sound was no longer visible from the mansion by the 20th century.<ref name="nyt-1987-05-29">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Mellon 2010 pp. 8-9">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The Mary Ludington Herb Garden adjoins the terraced garden.<ref name="Gothamist 2014 o201">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Newsletter Summer 2011 pp. 1, 4">Template:Cite book</ref>

Just south of the Bartow–Pell Mansion was a tree named Treaty Oak.<ref name="Kazimiroff 2014 p. 5122" /><ref name="Jenkins p. 314">Template:Harvnb</ref> The Siwanoy Native American chief Wampage and English colonist Thomas Pell signed a treaty under the tree in 1654, in which Pell purchased all land east of the Bronx River in what was then Westchester County, New York.<ref name="Kazimiroff 2014 p. 5122" /><ref name="Barr p. 24">Template:Harvnb</ref> The oak tree, which was surrounded by a fence, was destroyed in 1906<ref name="Jenkins p. 314" /><ref name="n7574740">Template:Cite news</ref> and replanted in 1915.<ref name="The New York Times 1915 c350" /><ref name="p575440317">Template:Cite news</ref> Approximately Template:Convert south of the house<ref name="p571518528">Template:Cite news</ref> is a burial plot belonging to the Pell family, who had once occupied the site.<ref name="Kazimiroff 2014 p. 5122">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Inskeep 2000 p. 136">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Cook pp. 175–176">Template:Harvnb</ref> This plot contains headstones dating from between 1748 and 1790.<ref name="p571518528" /><ref name="Inskeep 2000 p. 136" /> Surrounding the plot are four granite posts with pelican motifs,<ref name="Pell Graves : NYC Parks 2006 p086">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> symbolizing the Pell family's coat of arms.<ref name="Cook pp. 175–176" /><ref name="Jenkins pp. 313–314">Template:Harvnb</ref> There formerly may have been additional gravestones, but they were scattered throughout the grounds by the time the International Garden Club (IGC) took over in the early 20th century.<ref name="Inskeep 2000 p. 136" /> A path lined with chestnut trees connects the house to the burial plot and Long Island Sound's shoreline.<ref name="n136116027" /><ref name="p437441577">Template:Cite news</ref>

History

In 1654, Thomas Pell purchased Template:Convert from the Siwanoy, comprising the land of the current Pelham Bay Park as well as the nearby town of Pelham, New York,<ref name="Barr p. 24" /> and made his estate on Template:Convert of that land.<ref name="nyt-war-record-1921">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Pell1917">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Cook p. 173">Template:Harvnb</ref> Pell's land became known as Pelham Manor in 1666.<ref name="Pell1917" /> In the 17th and 18th centuries, during the colonial era of the United States, various prominent families built houses within Pelham Manor, including the Bartow, Bayard, Burr, Fish, Leroy, Lorillard, and Pell families.<ref name="LoRusso p. 208">Template:Cite report</ref><ref name="NYCL p. 1">Template:Harvnb</ref> By the 18th century, several members of the Pell family had married members of the Bartow family.<ref name="n136103401">Template:Cite news</ref>

Thomas's nephew John built a residence close to Long Island Sound around 1675, about a decade after Pelham Manor was created.<ref name="p437441577" /><ref name="n136110091">Template:Cite news</ref> The house was located either east of Shore RoadTemplate:Efn or at the extreme end of Pelham Neck (which is located between Eastchester Bay and the Long Island South).<ref name="Cook p. 175">Template:Harvnb</ref> This house was designed in an English style, with a facade of Holland brick.<ref name="p1112927922">Template:Cite news</ref> The first residence was occupied by three of Pelham Manor's lords of the manor before it burned in the American Revolutionary War.<ref name="n136042686" /><ref name="n136110091" /> The second house, occupied by John Bartow and his wife and cousin Ann Pell Bartow, was erected circa 1790.<ref name="n136042686" /><ref name="Barr pp. 44–45">Template:Harvnb</ref> The second house may have reused the foundation of John Pell's first house; at the time, it was common for buildings to reuse the foundations of demolished structures on the same site.<ref name="Barr pp. 44–45" /> The Bartows sold the estate in 1813 to the merchant Herman Leroy.<ref name="Barr pp. 44–45" /><ref name="Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum 2022 w174">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The second house was likely demolished when the Leroys owned the estate.<ref name="n136175775">Template:Cite news</ref>

Use as residence

Robert Bartow, a relative of the Pell family<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Kazimiroff 2014 p. 5122" /> and one of John Bartow's grandsons,<ref name="p437441577" /><ref name="Barr p. 41">Template:Harvnb</ref> bought Template:Convert of his ancestor's old estate in 1836.<ref name="nyt-2002-04-28">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Barr p. 41" /> Robert Bartow and his wife Maria Lorillard Bartow built a mansion on the site, the third house to occupy the estate.<ref name="Inskeep 2000 p. 136" /><ref name="HMS p. 1">Template:Harvnb</ref> Construction was complete on the Bartow Mansion and an adjacent carriage building by 1842,<ref name="nyt-2002-04-28" /><ref name="HMS p. 1" /> though the exact date of the house's construction is unknown.<ref name="Barr p. 42">Template:Harvnb</ref>Template:Efn Robert Bolton's Guide to New Rochelle, published in 1842, stated that Robert Bartow "lately" constructed the mansion but did not specify further.<ref name="Barr p. 42" /> The house had cost $60,000 (Template:Inflation).<ref name="Lounsbery p. 28">Template:Harvnb</ref> When it was completed, the house was part of Westchester County,<ref name="n136103401" /> specifically in the town of Pelham, New York.<ref name="Barr p. 42" /> The new mansion was sited to the southwest of the first manor house built in 1675.<ref name="Barr pp. 42–43">Template:Harvnb</ref>

The Bartow and Pell families alternately owned the building for the next four decades.<ref name="arch-1595">Template:Cite report</ref> Initially, Robert, Maria, and their seven children lived in the house.<ref name="n136175775" /> Robert Bartow died in 1868,<ref name="Barr p. 41" /><ref name="nyt-2002-04-28" /> and the mansion first went to his widow, then to his sons.<ref name="Barr p. 41" /> The Bartow family occupied the mansion until at least 1883.<ref name="Fein Kugielski 1982 p.">Template:Cite book</ref> In June 1884, Governor Grover Cleveland signed the New Parks Act into law, authorizing the creation of a system of parks in the Bronx, including Pelham Bay Park.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Bartows wanted the city to give them $467,953 for their property, although the city government had concluded that the estate was worth only $131,000.<ref name="nyt-1886-03-06">Template:Cite news</ref>

Despite Pelham residents' opposition to the park, the New York City government acquired the land for Pelham Bay Park in 1887, and it officially became a park in 1888.<ref name="Legislature 1888">Template:Cite book</ref> The same year, the New York City government obtained the house from descendants of the Bartow family.<ref name="NYCL p. 1" /><ref name="Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum 2022 w174" /> 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, for a total of $190,625.<ref name="Barr p. 41" /> The mansion was vacant for over two decades;<ref name="NYCL p. 1" /><ref name="nyt-2002-04-28" /> during this time, the house fell into a severe state of neglect, and the grounds became overgrown.<ref name="Lounsbery p. 28" /> Although the house was owned by the New York City government, it was still part of Westchester County until 1894<ref name="n136109292" /> or 1895,<ref name="Barr p. 42" /><ref name="n136115700">Template:Cite news</ref> when the boundary between Westchester and the Bronx was moved northward.<ref name="n136109292" /><ref name="Barr p. 42" /> The Home for Crippled Children occupied the mansion for a short period in the early 20th century.<ref name="Cook p. 173" /><ref name="n136175775" /> The carriage house on the property was used for various purposes after being sold and was ultimately turned into storage.<ref name="n136118431">Template:Cite news</ref>

Use as clubhouse

Renovation and reopening

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) leased the building to the International Garden Club in 1914.<ref name="Castellucci 1977">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Barr pp. 38–39">Template:Harvnb</ref> The IGC had been co-founded by Zelia Hoffman and Alice Martineau the previous year to promote formal gardens,<ref name="nyt-2002-04-28" /> and they wished to create an educational garden on the estate.<ref name="n136050860">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="p97580943">Template:Cite news</ref> In addition, the club wished to host exhibits and lectures, and it planned to curate a library in the mansion.<ref name="p97580943" /><ref name="Lounsbery p. 28" /> The IGC agreed to lease the house and grounds for three years, landscape the grounds with their own funds, and return the property to the city after three years.<ref name="n136056388">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="The New York Times 1918 k793">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The firm of Delano & Aldrich was hired to restore the home.<ref name="n136042686" /><ref name="p910570846">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The exterior was renovated, and the formal gardens were constructed from 1914 to 1917.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The interior was also renovated to accommodate the clubhouse's functions, although the house's architectural details were preserved as much as possible.<ref name="Lounsbery pp. 28–29">Template:Harvnb</ref> A designer identified only as Miss Swift redesigned the first floor, while Hoffman selected furnishings and decorations for the second floor.<ref name="Lounsbery p. 29">Template:Harvnb</ref> Sources disagree on whether the renovations cost $25,000 (Template:Inflation)<ref name="p575440317" /><ref name="Lounsbery p. 29" /> or $100,000 (Template:Inflation).<ref name="n136175775" /><ref name="Barr pp. 38–39" />

The mansion opened as the IGC's headquarters on May 1, 1915, with a ceremony attended by New York governor Charles Whitman.<ref name="The New York Times 1915 c350" /><ref name="p575440317" /> As part of its lease with the city, the club had to open the mansion's gardens to the public.<ref name="nyt-2002-04-28" /> In its first three years at the mansion, the IGC spent over $70,000 on the house and often held public speeches. Initially, the house was open seven days a week; although the house was usually free to enter, the club collected admission fees on two days to pay for maintenance.<ref name="n136056388" /><ref name="The New York Times 1918 k793" /> The IGC was responsible for maintaining the house's interior and garden, while the city government oversaw the facade and the rest of the grounds.<ref name="Castellucci 1977" /> The club did not meet there during the summer.<ref name="p12374095212"/><ref name="nyt-1936-06-26">Template:Cite news</ref> All of the other mansions nearby were gradually destroyed, leaving the Bartow Mansion as the only remaining mansion in Pelham Bay Park.<ref name="Barr pp. 122–123">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Smith 2013 p133">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Mid-1910s through early 1940s

The IGC started hosting summertime outdoor flower shows in June 1916.<ref name="n136058921">Template:Cite news</ref> The same year, Hoffman hired the landscape design firm Olmsted Brothers to discuss the possibility of adding a wide variety of gardens and a greenhouse. None of these ideas were ever implemented.<ref name="nyt-2002-04-28" /> The club renewed its contract with the city government in 1917 for five years.<ref name="The New York Times 1918 k793" /> The following year, Bronx parks commissioner Joseph T. Hennessy unsuccessfully tried to evict the IGC from the mansion because of how they were using the grounds.<ref name="n136056388" /><ref name="The New York Times 1918 k793" /> The IGC had additional plans for the property, including a rock and rose garden and a painting collection, though these were delayed by World War I.<ref name="p1115121956">Template:Cite news</ref> In the 1920s and 1930s, the IGC continued to host its annual "garden parties" at the mansion,<ref name="The New York Times 1928 e139">See, for example:

Template:Unbulleted list citebundle</ref> and it also hosted "distinguished foreigners" such as a member of the French Academy of Sciences.<ref name="nyt-1932-03-03">Template:Cite news</ref> The mansion's driveway was modified in the 1930s, when a parking lot was added in front of the mansion.<ref name="Mellon 2010 pp. 8-9"/>

New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia announced in June 1936 that the mansion would be used as the city's first-ever "Summer City Hall";<ref name="n136106932">Template:Cite news</ref> this allowed him to be close to his family in Westport, Connecticut.<ref name="nyt-1936-06-26" /><ref name="n136101352">Template:Cite news</ref> La Guardia and several aides officially moved into the house on July 2, 1936.<ref name="p1330794458">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="nyt-1936-07-03">Template:Cite news</ref> A temporary telephone line and a teleprinter were added to ease communication with people at City Hall in Manhattan.<ref name="p1237410916">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="nyt-1936-07-01">Template:Cite news</ref> A temporary bus service to the New York City Subway's Pelham Bay Park station was established to transport people to the house,<ref name="p1237410916" /> and officials even replaced a 135-year-old "10 Miles to City Hall" sign five miles away so that it directed visitors to the mansion, rather than to City Hall.<ref name="nyt-1936-07-01" /> Policemen on motorcycles traveled between the mansion and City Hall several times a day, although the mansion received relatively few visitors during La Guardia's time there.<ref name="n136103704">Template:Cite news</ref> Although staffers and newspaper reporters alike complained because of the mansion's remoteness,<ref name="n136158344">Template:Cite news</ref> La Guardia liked the house so much that he decided to stay for a week longer than he originally anticipated.<ref name="nyt-1936-08-07">Template:Cite news</ref> La Guardia and his staff left on September 4.<ref name="nyt-1936-09-05">Template:Unbulleted list citebundle</ref>

La Guardia used the Bartow Mansion as a summer City Hall only in 1936; during the next several years, he moved his summertime offices to Queens.<ref name="nyt-1939-10-26">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="p1256599657">Template:Cite news</ref> His successors did not use summertime City Halls.<ref name="n136158344" /> The IGC continued to use the building. The Manville family hosted a party to raise money for the mansion in 1937,<ref name="nyt-1937-05-30">Template:Unbulleted list citebundle</ref> and the club hosted a tour of the house in 1941 to raise money for the British during World War II.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Use as museum

1940s to 1970s

Following World War II, the IGC was no longer allowed to export or import plants, so it turned its efforts to renovating the house.<ref name="n136109292" /> The club renovated the mansion into a historic house museum, which opened in May 1946.<ref name="n136110091" /><ref name="p1284524027">Template:Cite news</ref> NYC Parks, the Museum of the City of New York, Brooklyn Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art assisted with the renovation.<ref name="p1318017252">Template:Cite news</ref> Initially, the Bartow Mansion Museum consisted of only four rooms: the entrance hall, dining room, parlor, and second-floor master bedroom. The IGC re-furnished the house with the assistance of the three larger museums' staff.<ref name="p1284524027" /> A former president of the IGC, Mrs. Eliot Tuckerman, received an award in 1947 for her role in restoring the mansion.<ref name="p1318017252" /><ref name="nyt-1947-05-08">Template:Cite news</ref> Initially, the house was open as a museum only on Tuesdays and Saturdays.<ref name="p516109827" /><ref name="p1284524027" /> Club members, who could visit at any time,<ref name="p516109827" /> had to cover their shoes with rubber covers to avoid damaging the rugs.<ref name="The New York Times 1964 i092" />

The house was renamed the Bartow–Pell Mansion in 1959, in honor of the original landowners.<ref name="n136175775" /> By the 1960s, the house invited visitors three days a week, although the garden was open every day. The IGC continued to lease the house from the city government in the 1960s, paying $1 a year and taking responsibility for maintenance. In 1963, the club upgraded the kitchen and pantry at a cost of $14,000.<ref name="The New York Times 1964 i092" /> During the late 20th century, the mansion comprised either 10,<ref name="The New York Times 1973 k100" /><ref name="n136122545">Template:Cite news</ref> 11,<ref name="n136114433">Template:Cite news</ref> or 12 rooms.<ref name="n136042686" />

The Bartow–Pell Mansion Museum was still open to the public three days a week in the 1970s.<ref name="n136042686" /><ref name="The New York Times 1973 k100">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The museum saw few visitors because of its remoteness (a Los Angeles Times article from 1975 wrote that "the building is largely deserted"<ref name="p158004606">Template:Cite news</ref>), but its proximity to population centers made the estate vulnerable to trespassers.<ref name="n136042686" /> The IGC continued to use the mansion as its headquarters,<ref name="The New York Times 1973 k100" /> and it renovated one of the rooms during the mid-1970s.<ref name="n136042686" /> The museum received $6,000 in 1977 to renovate the carriage house after it raised matching funds.<ref name="Castellucci 1977" /> The next year, the New York state government provided $1.3 million for repairs and upgrades to 58 historical buildings across New York state, including the Bartow–Pell Mansion.<ref name="p123798082">Template:Cite news</ref> Mary Means Huber, the mansion's curator in the late 20th century, refurbished a second-floor sitting room after joining the museum in the late 1970s. Under Huber's tenure, the museum, whose collection largely consisted of items borrowed from other museums, began buying its own furnishings.<ref name="Newsletter Summer 2013 p. 5">Template:Cite book</ref>

1980s and 1990s

The museum began hosting educational programs Template:Circa, which attracted 1,500 students annually within three years.<ref name="n136117981">Template:Cite news</ref> The brickwork and wooden floors of the mansion's carriage house had become degraded,<ref name="n136118431" /> and work on the project began in 1986.<ref name="p278634619">Template:Cite news</ref> Jan Hird Pokorny was hired to carry out the carriage house's renovation.<ref name="p278634619" /><ref name="n136117613" /> The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation provided $110,000 in late 1987 for the restoration of the carriage house.<ref name="n136117613">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="p277757673">Template:Cite news</ref> As a precondition of the state grant, museum officials had to raise an equivalent amount; the museum had raised $110,000 from NYC Parks and $150,000 from several donors and foundations.<ref name="n136117613" /> The following August, the city agreed to give $150,000 if donors raised three times that amount.<ref name="n136118431" /> The entirety of the carriage house's renovation was expected to cost $875,000, much of which had been raised by late 1988.<ref name="n136117981" /><ref name="n136118431" /> The project also included new educational programs within the carriage house.<ref name="n136117981" /><ref name="The New York Times 1986 z972">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Bartow-Pell Landmark Fund also received $6,000 to create a cutaway model of the carriage house.<ref name="n136048218">Template:Cite news</ref>

The stabilization of the carriage house had been completed by 1989.<ref name="n136040955">Template:Cite news</ref> The house was still obscure; the New York Daily News wrote the same year that the Bartow–Pell Mansion was "possibly the least-known of all the historic houses in the Bronx".<ref name="n136046976">Template:Cite news</ref> The Bartow–Pell Mansion was one of the founding members of the Historic House Trust, established in 1989.<ref name="Historic House Trust of New York City 1989 j3922">Template:Cite press release</ref><ref name="nyt-1989-06-20" /> At the time, the main house's roof needed to be replaced.<ref name="nyt-1989-06-20">Template:Cite news</ref> Students from Brooklyn College conducted excavations around the house's site between 1990 and 1992,<ref name="n135424629">Template:Cite news</ref> and several hundred trees were planted just north of the mansion in 1992.<ref name="p278478039">Template:Cite news</ref> The carriage house was officially rededicated in 1993 after its renovation was complete.<ref name="p278634619" /> The IGC, which no longer operated as a garden club nor operated internationally,<ref name="n136158344" /> still supported the museum's operation, but the Bartow Pell Landmark Fund operated the museum.<ref name="n136176103">Template:Cite news</ref>

2000s to present

The IGC repainted the rooms in the late 1990s and early 2000s and expanded its collection during that time. By 2002, the museum's new director Robert Engel planned to renovate the entrance, demolish the parking lot, and clear a site between the carriage house and garden.<ref name="nyt-2002-04-28" /> As part of a promotional agreement with the New York City government, The History Channel agreed in 2004 to donate money to finance the preservation of the mansion and other historical sites in the city.<ref name="n136222338">Template:Cite news</ref> Adventures in Preservation started funding the preservation of the Bartow–Pell Mansion in 2008;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the same year, the IGC became the Bartow-Pell Conservancy.<ref name="Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum 2022 w174" /> Between 2008 and 2011, the Bartow-Pell Conservancy re-landscaped the garden and planted new flower beds, while NYC Parks planted native plants north of the mansion.<ref name="Newsletter Summer 2011 pp. 1, 4" /> Concurrently, the museum created a master plan for the garden, which included restoring a sightline from the house to Long Island Sound.<ref name="Mellon 2010 pp. 8-9" /> NYC Parks began receiving bids in 2009 for a restoration of the mansion's exterior, but they did not select any of these bids.<ref name="Newsletter Fall 2016 p. 1">Template:Cite book</ref>

The Bartow–Pell Mansion Museum participated in a 2012 competition administered by Partners in Preservation (a partnership between the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express).<ref name="Slepian 2012 j634">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Wall 2012 h091">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After a social-media campaign that attracted participants from as far as Australia and Sweden,<ref name="Wall 2012 h091" /> Partners in Preservation gave the Bartow–Pell Mansion Museum $155,000 for a restoration of the terraced garden and chestnut-tree walkway.<ref name="Wall 2012 h091" /><ref name="Newsletter Fall 2012 p. 1">Template:Cite book</ref> Mark K. Morrison Associates was hired to rebuild the garden, add new plantings, and restore the garden's gates.<ref name="Newsletter Winter 2014 pp. 1, 4">Template:Cite book</ref> The gardens were redesigned using photographs of Delano & Aldrich's original garden.<ref name="nyt-2015-09-28">Template:Cite news</ref> In addition, the roof was repaired in 2012 following Hurricane Sandy, and the Historic House Trust hired Fifty-Three Renovations in 2013 to restore the mansion's interior.<ref name="Newsletter Fall 2016 p. 1" /> A $1.7 million renovation of the mansion's exterior commenced in April 2015,<ref name="Wirsing 2015 h287">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and that work was finished the next year.<ref name="Newsletter Fall 2016 p. 1" />

The attic was opened to the public in June 2018.<ref name="Newsletter 2018 p. 1">Template:Cite book</ref> The Bartow–Pell Mansion Museum received 20,000 visitors annually by 2019. The mansion was closed temporarily in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, although the mansion had live-in caretakers who continued to maintain the property.<ref name="Chen 2020 b893" />

Architecture

Mansion

It is not known who designed the Bartow–Pell Mansion,<ref name="n136042686" /> although the engineer and historian Reginald Pelham Bolton claimed in 1930 that John Bolton, one of his uncles, built the mansion.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The exterior is designed in the Greek Revival style, with decorations inspired by the work of architect Minard Lafever.<ref name="United States. National Park Service Historic Sites Survey (U.S.) 1977 p. 17">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Barr p. 43">Template:Harvnb</ref> There are unproven claims that Lafever designed the mansion, in part because he designed a church that Robert Bartow's brother attended. A. J. Davis and Martin E. Thompson were also cited as the possible architects of the structure.<ref name="Barr pp. 43–44">Template:Harvnb</ref> The interiors are designed in the Federal style.<ref name="n136042686" /> Along with the Van Cortlandt House, the Bartow–Pell Mansion is one of two remaining manor houses in the Bronx.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Exterior

The house is oriented on a north-south axis,<ref name="p12374095212"/> with wings on either side.<ref name="Barr p. 43" /> The facade is made of plain cut stone,<ref name="NPS p. 2">Template:Harvnb</ref> which was sourced from the surrounding area.<ref name="Lounsbery p. 28" /> The exterior walls are at least Template:Convert thick, allowing the mansion to remain cool even during the summer.<ref name="p12374095212"/> There is a painted cornice at the top of the facade, as well as beveled quoins at each corner.<ref name="NPS p. 2" />

The western facade, facing Shore Road, was decorated with iron balconies, shutters, and window trimmings.<ref name="Lounsbery p. 28" /> The main entrance, on the western facade, is through a set of double doors flanked by a protruding iron balustrade.<ref name="NPS p. 2" /> There is an empty niche above the double doors.<ref name="p12374095212"/> The eastern facade, facing Long Island Sound, has iron balconies on the first and second stories, with windows that open onto the balconies.<ref name="Lounsbery p. 28" /> All of the balconies are made of elaborately decorated iron and are painted black.<ref name="The New York Times 1964 i092" /> The large windows and the design of the stonework were typical of structures built in the area during the late 1830s and early 1840s.<ref name="Barr p. 43" />

Interior

The interior of the first floor is arranged symmetrically around the west-east axis.<ref name="NYCL p. 2; NPS p. 2">Template:Harvnb; Template:Harvnb</ref> The entrance leads to a square central hall.<ref name="n136042686" /><ref name="Lounsbery p. 29" /> Within this hall is a curving elliptical stairway<ref name="p437441577" /> that ascends to the attic and descends to the basement.<ref name="Lounsbery p. 29" /> The stairway has a balustrade with turned wood balusters and a newel post with a volute; it is illuminated by a clerestory window at the attic. The hallway itself has a plasterwork cornice and a rosette on the ceiling.<ref name="NYCL p. 2; NPS p. 2" /> On either wall are window openings and doorways, each of which is flanked by paneled pilasters and topped by a wooden pediment.<ref name="NYCL p. 2; NPS p. 2" /><ref name="The New York Times 1970 k828" /> Decorations such as eagles and depictions of Cupid are placed within the pilasters, while the tops of each pilaster depict honeysuckles and acanthus leaves.<ref name="The New York Times 1970 k828" /> When the house was renovated in 1915, the halls had white woodwork and mahogany doors.<ref name="Lounsbery p. 29" />

At the eastern end of the central hall is a niche flanked by doorways, which in turn lead to two elaborate, symmetrical parlors (a dining room and a drawing room) on the eastern side of the first floor.<ref name="NYCL p. 2" /> Each of these rooms measures about Template:Convert.<ref name="p12374095212"/> The drawing room is to the left or north, while the dining room was to the right or south.<ref name="Lounsbery p. 29" /> The doorways from the central hall to each room are flanked by pilasters with anthemion motifs and Corinthian-style capitals, as well as a pediment above each doorway.<ref name="NYCL p. 2" /> The pediment above the drawing room depicts an eagle, while the pediment above the dining room's doorway depicts a cherub.<ref name="NYCL p. 2" /><ref name="Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum 2022 v597">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Both rooms contain fireplaces with marble mantelpieces; the shelves of each mantelpiece are supported by brackets with palmettes. The center of each room's ceiling contains a rosette that is more ornate than that in the central hallway.<ref name="NYCL p. 2" /> Two medallions were also placed on one wall of the drawing room.<ref name="Lounsbery p. 29" /> There are sliding doors between the parlors, as well as French doors leading from either parlor to the terraced garden.<ref name="NYCL p. 2">Template:Harvnb</ref>

To the right of the central hall, one door leads to another door that connects with a small sitting room. Both doorways have paneled pilasters and wooden pediments akin to those in the central hall, and the sitting room itself has a black marble mantelpiece. To the left of the central hall, a similar set of doorways leads to a smaller dining room, which shares design features with the sitting room.<ref name="NYCL p. 2" /> The small dining room hosted luncheons and breakfasts.<ref name="n136042686" /> There is also a kitchen that is shared by the main museum and a separate caretaker's apartment.<ref name="n136122545" />

The second floor contains four bedrooms.<ref name="p12374095212"/><ref name="nyt-1936-06-26" /> Unlike the first-floor rooms, the bedrooms have plain design elements, including white-marble mantelpieces and molded trimmings. Each bedroom had a high ceiling to accommodate the large wardrobes and beds that were used in these rooms.<ref name="NPS p. 6">Template:Harvnb</ref> One of the bedrooms, known as "Clarina's Room" after one of the Bartows' daughters, was used by at least one of the family's three daughters. Another bedroom, the nursery wing, is not publicly accessible.<ref name="Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum 2022 v597" /> There is also a two-bedroom apartment for the house's live-in caretaker on the second floor.<ref name="Chen 2020 b893" /> The third floor, also known as the attic, was used as a servants' quarters.<ref name="Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum 2022 v597" /> The basement contained a wine cellar.<ref name="p12374095212"/>

After the house was renovated by the IGC in 1915, the right or south wing of the house contained an "orangery" for serving tea.<ref name="n136055984" /><ref name="Lounsbery p. 29" /> The orangery, also described as a conservatory,<ref name="The New York Times 1915 c350" /><ref name="p12374095212"/> was described by Harper's Bazaar as having French windows, white walls, cement floors, and a domed ceiling.<ref name="Lounsbery p. 29" /> One of the smaller rooms in the northern wing was turned into a secondary reception room with a green, black, and coral color scheme, while another room became a boardroom with gray walls and black marble mantel. A stair led to the IGC's writing room and library on the northern wing's second floor.<ref name="Lounsbery p. 29" />

Carriage house

The carriage house was built no later than 1842 and is the last remaining outbuilding on the Bartow–Pell Mansion's site.<ref name="p278634619" /><ref name="New York City Department of Parks & Recreation 2006 x538" /> It is also the last remaining masonry carriage house in New York City that retains its original design.<ref name="New York City Department of Parks & Recreation 2006 x538" /> The three-story building was built into the slope of a hill, making it appear two stories tall on one side.<ref name="New York City Department of Parks & Recreation 2006 x538" /><ref name="NYCL-0125E" /> Although it was common for mid-19th-century carriage houses to be built on hillsides, the hill surrounding the Bartow-Pell carriage house is artificial, with downward slopes to the north, east, and south.<ref name="HMS p. 2">Template:Harvnb</ref> The stable was constructed of the same locally sourced stone as the main mansion. On the front or west facade is an elliptical brick arch flanked by a rectangular window with a brick frame and stone lintel.<ref name="NYCL-0125E" />

Inside the carriage house was the stable hand's home, vehicular storage, and the hayloft.<ref name="New York City Department of Parks & Recreation 2006 x538">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Originally, the carriage house's main level had a carriage room, stalls, and harness room.<ref name="p278634619" /><ref name="HMS p. 2" /> The rooms were partitioned so the horses' stalls were separated from the harness and carriage rooms, the latter two of which were intended as "clean areas".<ref name="HMS pp. 2–3">Template:Harvnb</ref> Each stall was no more than Template:Convert wide and had a gutter to drain away horses' urine into the cellar.<ref name="HMS pp. 3–4">Template:Harvnb</ref> The attic contained the hayloft and could be accessed only via a ladder in the stall area.<ref name="HMS pp. 2–3" /> It is not known how hay was hoisted into the attic, but there may have been an exterior loading platform and a stair to ground level near the carriage house's northwest corner. The attic likely also included a cupola and air gaps on its roof for ventilation.<ref name="HMS pp. 5–6">Template:Harvnb</ref> The cellar contained a cistern and two disconnected rooms.<ref name="HMS p. 2" /> The cistern may have used water that was collected in gutters on the roof.<ref name="HMS pp. 8–9">Template:Harvnb</ref>

Operations

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation owns the house.<ref name="Historic House Trust of New York City 2022 q680">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The mansion and garden are operated by the Bartow-Pell Conservancy,<ref name="Historic House Trust of New York City 2022 q680" /> formerly the International Garden Club.<ref name="Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum 2022 w174" /><ref name="Bruzelius 2014 x321">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The museum itself is operated by the Bartow Pell Landmark Fund,<ref name="n136176103" /><ref name="Cause IQ 2022 m753">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which has been listed as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization since October 1975.<ref name="Suozzo Glassford Ngu Roberts 2013 r685">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:As of, the mansion operates as a museum three days a week;<ref name="Transportation 2023 m262" /><ref name="Historic House Trust of New York City 2022 q680" /> although the gardens are free to visit, the mansion has an admission fee.<ref name="Nast 2013 a930">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The house is not wheelchair-accessible, as the main entrance can only be accessed by a short flight of steps, and there is no elevator.<ref name="Transportation 2023 m262" /> Template:As of, Alison McKay is the Bartow–Pell Mansion Museum's executive director.<ref name="Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum 2023 o190">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Collection and exhibits

In the mid-20th century, many of the mansion's furnishings were displayed on loan from larger museums.<ref name="n136042686" /><ref name="The New York Times 1964 i092" /> A news article from the 1960s described the house as having Savonnerie carpets, Aubusson tapestries, and Turkish rugs. In addition, there were furnishings in the Empire, Federal, and Regency styles, as well as an authentic Lannuier bed.<ref name="n136109292" /> By the 1970s, the furniture displayed at the mansion was made of dark fine-grained wood, ornamented with features such as white marble, carvings, or gold paint. The furniture included less ornate sofas with feet shaped like lions' paws; more elaborate neoclassical sofas and chairs with wooden borders and carved legs; and a tall bed with a covering at its top.<ref name="The New York Times 1970 k828" /> The bedrooms included the "Pell room", decorated with a portrait of John Pell and a carpet; the "red" room, with mahogany linen-press; and the "yellow" room, with a Duncan Phyfe bed.<ref name="n136042686" /> Also on display was a piece of Treaty Oak.<ref name="n136114433" /> The dining and drawing rooms had satin curtains, lamps, gilded-bronze fireplace mantel clocks, chandeliers, landscapes of New York state, and portraits from the 1830s.<ref name="NPS pp. 2, 6">Template:Harvnb</ref>

In the 1970s, the museum began acquiring items for its own collection.<ref name="Newsletter Summer 2013 p. 5" /> By the 1980s, the interiors were painted green, blue, and pink to evoke Pompeiian ruins, and they were furnished with Italianate and Greek decorations. The front hall had a marble bust depicting Julius Caesar, the parlors had urns, and the top of the main stairway had a statue of Venus.<ref name="n136116027" /> According to a New York Times article from that decade, about half of the furniture at the time came from the Garden Club.<ref name="nyt-1987-05-29" /> In the 2000s, the house still displayed artifacts loaned by other museums, but it also displayed Bartow family artifacts.<ref name="nyt-2001-04-20">Template:Cite news</ref>

Some of the mansion's modern-day furnishings include the desk of Aaron Burr,<ref name="Kreisman 2023 u788">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> who married a distant Bartow relative, Theodosia.<ref name="Barr p. 126">Template:Harvnb</ref> The Lannuier bed, which has a white-and-orange canopy, also remains in the collection.<ref name="nyt-2002-04-28" /> Modern objects also include two 19th-century wooden tables, a mahogany library table, a Pembroke table,<ref name="Newsletter Fall 2012 p. 5">Template:Cite book</ref> a fire screen with desk, two side chairs, and a rosewood barometer.<ref name="Newsletter Summer 2013 pp. 4-5">Template:Cite book</ref> The three rooms on the carriage house's main floor are outfitted with exhibits, while the carriage house's lower level contains an education gallery and an architecture and transportation gallery.<ref name="p278634619" /> There have also been temporary exhibits over the years, such as a display of gardening tools in 2012<ref name="nyt-2012-04-26">Template:Cite news</ref> and an exhibit of objects relating to the house's history in 2014.<ref name="p1941462435">Template:Cite news</ref>

Events and programming

Starting in 1984, the museum has hosted educational programs.<ref name="n136117981" /> When the carriage house reopened in 1993, the museum allowed students to participate in live reenactments of coachmen's lives, and videos were displayed in the carriage room's education gallery.<ref name="p278634619" /> Template:As of, the museum operates several educational programs for school classes, including courses on gardening, the habitat of the nearby woodlands, Lenape history, and the lives of the Bartow family and servants.<ref name="Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum 2023 a316">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The programming is largely targeted toward elementary school students.<ref name="NYC-ARTS 2012 c911">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The museum also operates after-school programs and a summer camp for children.<ref name="Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum 2023 t684">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Visitors can see the museum without needing to book in advance,<ref name="Transportation 2023 m262" /> though museum staff also provide guided tours of the mansion.<ref name="Historic House Trust of New York City 2022 q680" /><ref name="Dao 2016 b366">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The museum has also provided local-history programs.<ref name="n136158499">Template:Cite news</ref>

In the Bartow–Pell Mansion Museum's early years, the Garden Club hosted a variety of events to raise money, including tours,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> autumn festivals,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and fashion shows with tea.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The mansion also hosted debutante balls,<ref name="The New York Times 1962 v424">See, for example:Template:Unbulleted list citebundle</ref> weddings, cotillions, and Christmas sales.<ref name="The New York Times 1964 i092" /> In addition, the club had an active planting program, which in the late 1950s included dozens of perennial plantings each year.<ref name="nyt-2002-04-28" /> The house continued to host events such as debutante balls and Christmas boutiques through the 1970s.<ref>See, for example:Template:Unbulleted list citebundle</ref> By the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the house hosted events such as luncheons,<ref name="Charleston Daily Mail 1999">Template:Cite news</ref> architectural tours,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> St. Nicholas Day Festivals,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Open House New York events,<ref name="Wolfe 2015 z263">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Halloween tours.<ref name="Colangelo 2017 l999">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The mansion has also hosted recurring events such as the Friends of Pelham Bay Park's autumn galas,<ref name="p313726398">Template:Cite news</ref> Historic House Festivals,<ref>See, for example: Template:Unbulleted list citebundle</ref> and movie nights.<ref name="Minners 2008 j877">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Impact

In the 1880s, the New-York Tribune wrote that the mansion "has the solid and substantial appearance of an English country-house", declaring it to be one of the best country estates in Pelham Bay Park.<ref name="p573131526">Template:Cite news</ref> After the mansion was converted to a clubhouse in 1915, a writer for Harper's Bazaar said that the mansion "will no longer be a reproach to the City of New York".<ref name="Lounsbery p. 28" /> Another critic wrote for The Sun that the house "is full of interest and charm to all who delight in perfectly proportioned rooms, genuine wood carving over doors, beautiful mantels, and the best kind of elegant simplicity".<ref name="n136055984" /> A 1944 book said that the house "in its completeness, its elegance, and its beauty, is the product of a designer of great skill".<ref name="Barr pp. 43–44" /> A reporter wrote in 1975 that the ornate and expansive interiors "provided a fitting setting for the life of" its residents.<ref name="n136115700" />

In 1947, a year after the house was converted into a museum, a writer for The Christian Science Monitor said that both the Garden Club and Mrs. Eliot Tuckerman should be credited "for vision and persistence in restoring the beautiful old Bartow Mansion in Pelham Bay Park, not only to usefulness, but to be open to the public".<ref name="p516109827" /> A critic for The New York Times said in 1970 that the house's decorative elements, such as the windows, roof, and interiors, contributed to its Greek Revival "grandeur".<ref name="The New York Times 1970 k828">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A writer from the same newspaper described the mansion as "almost buried treasure" in 1987,<ref name="nyt-1987-05-29" /> while a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer said in 1984 that it was a "Greek Revival masterpiece".<ref name="p1820061932">Template:Cite news</ref> The Washington Post called the house "an exquisite enclave of peace and history, little-known to New Yorkers".<ref name="p307251379">Template:Cite news</ref> In the 2000s, a Christian Science Monitor writer described the house and grounds as a "further challenge to the hard-boiled reputation of the Bronx" and a remnant of the borough's rural past,<ref name="p405685980">Template:Cite news</ref> while Mimi Sheraton of the Times said that the house and gardens were both evidence of its occupants' luxurious lifestyle and a reminder that none of the other mansions in the area remained.<ref name="nyt-2001-04-20" />

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the mansion's exterior as a New York City landmark in 1966.<ref name="The New York Times 1966 f563">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The LPC held hearings in 1975 to determine whether the Bartow–Pell Mansion's first-floor interior should be designated as a landmark.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The LPC designated the interiors of the Bartow–Pell Mansion, Federal Hall's rotunda, and the Morris–Jumel Mansion as landmarks on May 26, 1975,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the New York City Board of Estimate ratified these designations that July.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The mansion became a National Historic Landmark on December 8, 1976,<ref name="United States. National Park Service Historic Sites Survey (U.S.) 1977 p. 17" /> and the IGC received a "certificate of proof" for the National Historic Landmark designation the next year.<ref name="Castellucci 1977" /> The exterior-landmark designation was extended in 1978 to cover the carriage house, gardens, and Pell family graveyard;<ref name="NYCL-0125E" /> the expanded designation covers Template:Convert of the park.<ref name="Mellon 2010 pp. 8-9" />

References

Notes

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Citations

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Sources

External links

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Bartow–Pell Mansion

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