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'Gracie Mansion' is the official residence of the Mayor of New York City. Built in 1799, it is located in Carl Schurz Park, at East End Avenue and Eighty-eighth Street in Manhattan. It overlooks Hell Gate.

Contents

Architecture

History

Current Use

See also

External links

Architecture

Archibald Gracie built Gracie Mansion in 1799. In 1966, a new west wing (the Wagner Wing) was added under the instruction of first lady Susan Wagner. The building was restored (1981–1984) by the Gracie Mansion Conservancy, and again in 2002.
Gracie Mansion is in the Federal style and has two stories.

History

A different building on roughly the same site was commandeered by George Washington during the American Revolutionary War, as it strategically overlooked Hell Gate. The British destroyed this house during that war.
Archibald Gracie then built another building — what is now known as Gracie Mansion — on the site in 1799, and this was used by him as a country home until 1823, when he had to sell it to pay debts.
Others lived in the house until 1896, when the city seized it and made its grounds part of Carl Schurz Park. It served various functions as part of that park (at various times it housed public restrooms, an ice-cream stand, and classrooms) until 1924. From 1924 until 1936 it housed the Museum of the City of New York, and from 1936 until 1942 it was also a museum.
In 1942, Robert Moses successfully convinced then-mayor Fiorello LaGuardia to appropriate the house as a mayoral residence. Its main floor is open to the public on a limited basis and serves as a small museum.

Current Use

As of 2005, current mayor Michael Bloomberg does not live in Gracie Mansion, although he uses it for meetings and events. At the beginning of Bloomberg's term he launched a major restoration of the mansion, which was funded by an anonymous donor, rumored to be the mayor himself. Bloomberg has used the Mansion as a place for official visitors to stay while in the city.

See also

★ List of museums and cultural institutions in New York City

External links

★ "A Brief History of Gracie Mansion"

★ Library of Congress materials