Merchant's House Museum

Profile

Everything about this Federal-style building creates an immediate sense of warmth: It looks, feels, even smells like it could be a great-great-grandparent’s old house. The sparse number of attendants (there are usually only one or two workers present and no security guards lurking over visitors’ shoulders) adds to the intimacy. Built in 1832, this former dwelling of Seabury Tredwell, a wealthy importer, is the only completely preserved 19th century family home—from the pine floorboards to the molded ceilings. With four stories open to the public (the basement, parlor, bedroom floors, and fourth floor servants' quarters) showing off elegant Greek Revival interiors, formal parlors, and plaster ceiling medallions, the Merchant’s House gives visitors a sense of how the upper class lived in mid-19th-century New York. The last resident, Seabury’s daughter Gertrude, died alone in the house in 1933, at the age of 93. Some say the family never left. — Joy Armstrong

Double Parlors

Inside the front and rear parlors are the original mahogany dining table, 12 “balloon-back” dining chairs and reproduction of  the original red silk draperies.

Eliza Tredwell’s Bedroom
Seabury’s wife occupied a bedroom on the second floor, which served many purposes (common in those days). The dressing room, sitting room, sick room and delivery room were necessities in the life of a woman with eight children.

Garden
Through the basement is the entrance to the back courtyard.

Tours
Self-guided tours are free with admission. Guided tours are also free with admission and offered on Thursday at 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., and Friday through Monday at 2 p.m. Appointment for groups of students or adults can be scheduled throughout the week.

Weddings
This preserved nineteenth-century home boasts a granite-tiled garden filled with lush plants and cast-iron furniture. The ground-floor dining room, period kitchen, and Greek-Revival parlors can accommodate up to 40 people for a ceremony. All are decorated with their original furniture. Prices upon request.