Fourth Street Miracle –– Merchant’s House 175th Anniversary
One hundred and seventy-five years ago, when most of Manhattan was countryside and forest, and Andrew Jackson was president, Joseph Brewster built a brick and marble rowhouse on Fourth Street in what was then a quiet, exclusive suburb of the city.
In 1835, just three years later, the house was purchased by a prosperous hardware merchant, Seabury Tredwell, and the Tredwell family continued to live in the house for almost 100 years.
Today, miraculously, that merchant’s house still stands, though more than once it has come close to the brink of being lost forever.
The last surviving member of the family, Gertrude Tredwell, who had been born in the house in 1840, died in the house in 1933. Her cousin, George Chapman, recognizing the historic value of a 19th-century home that still retained its original furniture and family possessions, purchased the house, and after making extensive repairs, opened it as a museum on May 11, 1936.
For 25 years, Chapman provided almost all of the museum’s support with his personal funds, but by 1959, when he died, time had caught up with the old house and it was perilously close to being beyond repair.
In 1962, after limping along for three years with temporary caretakers, the museum was taken over as a project of the Decorators Club of New York City. They hoped, by raising funds, restoring furniture and reproducing the draperies and carpets, they could continue to present the house to the public.
However, in 1968, serious water damage convinced the Decorators that extensive structural repairs were needed –– repairs that were far beyond their ability to manage. Wisely, they called on Joseph Roberto, New York University architect, to advise them.
It was not long before Roberto fell in love with the house and committed himself to a complete structural restoration that would take more than nine years to complete.
He and his wife, Carolyn, an interior designer, worked tirelessly to raise funds and Roberto then undertook the restoration, scrupulously maintaining the integrity of the original design. Then, assisted by the Decorators Club, the Robertos restored and reinstalled the collection of the Tredwells’ furniture and personal belongings and reopened the Museum to the public in 1979. The Robertos and the Decorators did it all on a volunteer basis. Following Roberto’s untimely death in 1988, with the help of a number of the city’s preservation organizations the museum raised seed money to hire its first professional staff.
In 1977, the museum received a one million dollar grant from the Vincent Astor Foundation, thus for the first time securing an endowment that would provide for its future financial security. In 1999, the House joined the Historic House Trust of New York City, further ensuring its preservation for generations to come.
The Merchant’s House has a lot to celebrate in this, its 175th year. The house is here today because of the countless friends and volunteers who came under its spell and so generously offered their time and financial support over the years.
