Sturges Paranormal http://www.sturgesparanormal.com/wordpress_site New York City (347)291-1326 Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:36:26 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 History Of The Merchant’s House http://www.sturgesparanormal.com/wordpress_site/2011/02/28/history-test-post/ http://www.sturgesparanormal.com/wordpress_site/2011/02/28/history-test-post/#comments Mon, 28 Feb 2011 22:30:26 +0000 DanSturges http://www.sturgesparanormal.com/wordpress_site/?p=798 Continue reading →]]>
circa 1899

The House

Built in 1832, the Merchant’s House Museum is a unique survivor of Old New York. Just steps from Washington Square, this elegant red-brick and white-marble row house on East Fourth Street was home to a prosperous merchant family for almost 100 years.

Complete with its original furniture, decorative objects, clothing, and personal memorabilia, the house offers a rare and intimate glimpse of domestic life from 1835 to 1865, during the pivotal era of the mid-19th century when New York City was transformed from a colonial seaport into a thriving metropolis.

Bond Street circa 1837

The Neighborhood

The NoHo Historic District, designated in 1999, includes approximately 160 buildings, 11 of which are distinguished as individual NYC Landmarks. Taken together, these 11 buildings tell the remarkable story of the economic, social, and technological forces that transformed New York during the 19th century.

In 1832, when the Merchant’s House was built, elegant Greek Revival row houses of red brick and white marble flanked the tree-lined streets of this fashionable residential enclave, known then as the Bond Street Area. At mid-century, cast iron construction made its first appearance with the founding of The Cooper Union. Commercial buildings and factories gradually began to dominate the area. By the 1880s wealthy residents moved uptown, completely abandoning the neighborhood. By century’s end, Louis Sullivan’s 12-story steel-framed office building was scraping the sky on Bleecker Street.

Today, Historic NoHo is once again a very fashionable place to live, work, shop, and dine, proving that history does indeed repeat itself!

New York Botanical Gardens recognized the significance of the Merchant’s House by including a model of it in their annual holiday train show.

The Museum

The Museum

The architectural and historic importance of the Merchant’s House has been recognized by numerous landmark designations:

  • 1936, documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey
  • October 14, 1965, designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission as one of the first 20 New York City landmarks
  • 1965, designated as a National Historic Landmark — one of only 2,000 in the country
  • December 22, 1981, designated as a New York City interior landmark
  • Listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
]]> http://www.sturgesparanormal.com/wordpress_site/2011/02/28/history-test-post/feed/ 0