Historic House Trust Explained

The Historic House Trust of New York City was formed in 1989 as a public-private partnership with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation^[1] to preserve the historic houses located within New York City parks, although most of the houses were not originally city-owned.^[2] The Trust works with the individual houses to restore and promote the houses as a means of educating residents and visitors about the social, economic and political history of New York City and cast urban history in a new light. The Trust includes 23 historic sites, with 18 operating as museums and attracting 729,000 annual visitors.^[3]

Properties

The Historic House Trust includes properties in each of New York City's five boroughs,^[4] and there is a house for every period in the City's history, depending on one's scheme of dividing history.^[5] A number of the properties have live-in caretakers to help prevent vandalism and other problems.^[6]

Landmark name	Image	date width="5%"	Built	Borough	Description
Alice Austen House Museum			Staten Island 40.6149°N -74.0636°W	Home of photographer Alice Austen. Now a museum.
Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum			The Bronx 40.8716°N -73.8059°W	Exemplifies a type of early 19th-century country living in the Pelham Bay Park area.
The Conference House			Staten Island 40.5029°N -74.2538°W	The Staten Island Peace Conference held here on September 11, 1776 unsuccessfully attempted to end the American Revolutionary War. This National and New York City Landmark is the only surviving pre-Revolutionary manor house in New York City.
Dyckman Farmhouse Museum			Manhattan 40.8675°N -73.9233°W
Gracie Mansion			Manhattan 40.7761°N -73.9433°W
Historic Richmond Town			Staten Island 40.5713°N -74.1458°W
King Manor Museum			Queens 40.7031°N -73.8619°W
Kingsland Homestead			Queens 40.7637°N -73.8243°W	Home to the remains of a weeping beech tree that was one of New York City's two "living landmarks"^[7] and the 'matriarch' of such trees in the United States^[8]
Lewis H. Latimer House			Queens 40.7661°N -73.8294°W
Lefferts Historic House			Brooklyn 40.6643°N -73.9638°W
The Little Red Lighthouse			Manhattan 40.8502°N -73.9469°W
Hendrick I. Lott House			Brooklyn 40.6103°N -73.9328°W
Merchant's House Museum			Manhattan 40.7276°N -73.9925°W
Morris-Jumel Mansion			Manhattan 40.8345°N -73.9386°W
The Old Stone House			Brooklyn 40.673°N -73.9846°W	A 1930 reconstruction with some original materials of the Vechte-Cortelyou House which was destroyed in 1897. The site was part of the Battle of Long Island. It also housed the predecessors to the Brooklyn Dodgers at one time.
Edgar Allan Poe Cottage			The Bronx 40.8653°N -73.8944°W
Queens County Farm Museum			Queens 40.7484°N -73.7226°W
Seguine Mansion			Staten Island 40.5152°N -74.1975°W
Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre			Manhattan 40.78°N -73.9702°W
Valentine-Varian House			The Bronx 40.8772°N -73.8797°W
Van Cortlandt House Museum			The Bronx 40.89°N -73.8964°W
The Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum			Brooklyn

History

In 1988, the City Parks department established a Historic House Office to preserve the 23 City-owned historic house-museums located in City parks. This office gave way to the Historic House Trust of New York City in 1989, funded by private donations, as well as grants,^[9] with the goal of each house becoming a professionally accredited museum.^[10] In an effort to increase awareness of the program during its first year of operation, the Trust developed a so-called passport program wherein visitors would receive stamps each time they visited one of the houses. If a visitor went to all 23 properties, they would receive an audience with the Mayor.^[11] HHT's passport program was brought back in 2008 as a method of commemorating the Trust's 20th anniversary.^[12]

The Trust also holds events such as the Historic Houses Festival, during which all the houses are open with different events at each, in order to raise awareness.^[13] New properties are added to the Trust when they come under city control if private care-taking or ownership has not succeeded,^[14] although the contents of the home may remain under private ownership.^[15]

Notes and References

1. News: Restoration bringing Lott all back home. Albanese. Laura. 2007-03-26. New York Daily News. 2008-08-13. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110605020812/http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2007/03/27/2007-03-27_restoration_bringing_lott_all_back_home.html. 2011-06-05.
2. Web site: Polishing the City's Gems. 2008-03-15. 1989-06-23. The New York Times.
3. Web site: About Us. 2008-03-15. The Historic House Trust of New York City. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20080216003142/http://www.historichousetrust.org/page.php?p_id=16. 2008-02-16.
4. Web site: Houses. 2008-03-15. The Historic House Trust of New York City. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20080316064845/http://www.historichousetrust.org/item_list.php. 2008-03-16.
5. Web site: Houses Bring New York's Past to Life. 2008-03-15. 2004-09-08. Amy Gale. The Christian Science Monitor.
6. Web site: Making it Work; A Life of Housework. 2008-03-15. 1999-05-23. Lynn M. Ermann. The New York Times.
7. Web site: Old Tree May be Benched. 2008-03-15. 1999-01-17. Richard Weir. The New York Times.
8. Web site: Weeping Beech Will Live On in Memory, and in Art. 2008-03-15. 1999-03-14. Richard Weir. The New York Times.
9. Web site: Marine Park; A Farmhouse with a Future. 2008-03-15. 1998-06-28. Richard Weir. The New York Times.
10. Web site: Old Yacht Club. 2008-03-15. 1991-11-10. Timothy C. Forbes, Betsy Gotbaum. The New York Times.
11. Web site: Currents; A Passport to History in Houses. 2008-03-15. 1989-06-22. Carol Vogel. The New York Times.
12. Web site: 20th Anniversary. Historic House Trust. 2008-08-13. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110726151519/http://historichousetrust.org/assets/template_images/menu/menu_anniversary.jpg. 2011-07-26.
13. Web site: 15 Historic Houses Saved from Obscurity. 2008-03-15. 1989-05-11. The New York Times.
14. Web site: Fort Totten's Old Houses are Tottering. 2008-03-15. 1999-02-28. Richard Weir. The New York Times.
15. Web site: Fresh Hope for a Modest House That Helped Nurture Freedom. 2008-03-15. 2003-06-22. Jim O'Grady. The New York Times.