The Van Cortlandt House, also known as the Van Cortlandt Mansion, is the oldest known surviving house in the Bronx in New York City. It is located in the southwestern portion of Van Cortlandt Park. The house is operated as a historic house museum known as the Van Cortlandt House Museum. Built by Frederick Van Cortlandt and completed in 1749, the house is a -story Georgian building with a rubblestone facade and Georgian-style interiors. It served as a residence of one branch of the Van Cortlandt family for 140 years before it reopened as a museum in 1897.
The house is built on an estate that Jacobus Van Cortlandt acquired in the 1690s. Frederick began constructing the building in 1748, although he did not live to see its completion, and Frederick's son James inherited the house. During the American Revolutionary War, both British and American troops variously occupied the house; the structure was passed down to various members of the Van Cortlandt family through the 19th century. The city government acquired the house in 1888 as part of the construction of Van Cortlandt Park and initially used the building as a police barracks. The Society of Colonial Dames of the State of New York leased the house in 1896 and opened it to the public on May 28, 1897. Various modifications were made to the grounds over the subsequent decades, and a caretaker's house was built in the 1910s. The house underwent renovations in the 1960s and 1980s.
The original house is L-shaped, with wings to the south and east; the caretaker's house to the north is attached to the rest of the structure. The mansion has a largely plain facade, except for brick keystones that depict Van Cortlandt family members' faces. The interiors include a kitchen in the basement; two parlors, an entry hall, and a dining room on the first floor; and bedrooms on the second and third floors. The museum has historically presented various performances and events at the house, and it operates tours and educational programs. Critics have praised both the museum's exhibits and the house's architecture. The house's facade and interior are New York City designated landmarks, and the building is a National Historic Landmark.
Site The Van Cortlandt House is located at the southwestern corner of Van Cortlandt Park, near the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. It is surrounded by the park's Parade Ground to the north, the Memorial Grove to the west, a swimming pool and the Van Cortlandt Stadium to the south, and a burial ground and Van Cortlandt Lake to the east. The nearest street is Broadway to the west; the New York City Subway's Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street station is located on Broadway just outside the park.
The Van Cortlandt House's site was a salt marsh along Tibbetts Brook until the 1690s, when the nearby Van Cortlandt Lake was formed along the brook's course. When the house was built in 1748, it stood on the eastern slope of a set of hills along the eastern bank of the Hudson River. The house and surrounding landscape are preserved as part of Van Cortlandt Park, although the fields around the mansion date from the Parade Ground's construction in the late 19th century. The grounds overlooked the Spuyten Duyvil valley to the south, the Palisades to the west, and Tibbetts Brook to the east; the view to the south was interrupted by hills in Fordham, Bronx, and in Manhattan.
Originally, there was a driveway from the side entrance to the front entrance. The driveway was paved with stones, so the house's occupants could hear visitors on the driveway before they arrived. The house's approach is flanked by gateposts that were once topped by wooden bird sculptures; these sculptures were later moved into the house. There were horse chestnuts on either side of the gateposts. The grounds surrounding the house were landscaped in what the historian Mary Lanman Ferris called "the Dutch manner of gardening". These included manmade terraces, large box trees, and water features such as fountains. The mansion was also surrounded by large old-growth trees. In the early 1900s, a Dutch garden was built just south of the mansion, with a canal on three sides, a fountain in the center, and four square sections around it. The garden has since been replaced with trees and a herb garden.
History
Prior to European settlement, the Lenape Native Americans occupied the site of the Van Cortlandt Mansion, and there was a nearby Native American village known as Keskeskick. Adriaen van der Donck, a Dutch settler, was the first European to occupy the Van Cortlandt House's site, having bought the land from the Dutch West India Company in 1646. Van der Donck died in 1655. Following the takeover of New Netherland by the British in 1664, the claim to the estate was awarded to van der Donck's brother-in-law, Elias Doughty, who proceeded to sell off the portions of the property. Doughty sold a tract, including the site of the Van Cortlandt House, to Frederick Philipse, Thomas Delavall, and Thomas Lewis. Philipse bought out Delavall's and Lewis's land shares, making the land part of the expansive Philipsburg Manor. When Philipse's wife died, he remarried the daughter of Dutch brewer Oloff Stevense Van Cortlandt, herself a widow. Philipse's daughter Eva later married Jacobus Van Cortlandt, who was Olof's son and Philipse's second wife's brother.
Jacobus Van Cortlandt acquired parcels from Philipse through 1699 and dammed Tibbetts Brook to create Van Cortlandt Lake. He and his wife largely lived in Manhattan but used the estate as a plantation in the early 18th century. The property's proximity to Tibbetts Brook, which drained into the Harlem River and Spuyten Duyvil Creek to the south, made it easy for Van Cortlandt to ship grain and timber products by water. In 1732, Van Cortlandt acquired an additional parcel from the Tippett family. The estate was passed in 1739 to Jacobus's son Frederick Van Cortlandt. When Frederick inherited the land, the site was considered part of lower Yonkers in Westchester County. Horses, oxen, cattle, hogs, sheep, and hens roamed across the farm, while crops such as flax and fruits were grown there. Several slaves also worked on the plantation.
Residential use The Van Cortlandt House is the oldest known surviving house in what is now the Bronx, as well as one of three surviving 18th-century buildings in the borough. Along with the Bartow–Pell Mansion, it is one of two remaining manor houses in the Bronx.
1740s to 1770s Frederick began developing the Van Cortlandt House on the property in 1748. According to the Van Cortlandt House Museum, Frederick likely did not build the house himself, despite being credited as the builder. Frederick's family used the Tippett house while their new structure was being built. The mansion was built in a vale that the historian Robert Bolton described as "about one mile north from Kings bridge", next to what is now Broadway. One descendant wrote that the mansion was probably built on the site of, or close to, Van der Donck's farmhouse; the foundation of Van der Donck's old house remained intact in front of the Van Cortlandt House. East of the mansion was a mill dam across Tibbetts Brook, a small mill, and the Van Cortlandts' previous residence. To the northeast of the mansion were woodlands. In Frederick's will, signed on October 2, 1749, he indicated that the house was almost complete.
Frederick died before the house was finished, and he bequeathed the estate to his son, Jacobus (James) Van Cortlandt. His bequest also included either 11 or 12 slaves who worked on the plantation. Vault Hill, the Van Cortlandt family burial ground to the north of the mansion, was created in 1749, and Frederick was interred there. After its completion, the Van Cortlandt House was often called the manor house, although this was a misnomer, as the "manor" name applied to the Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. The mansion was also called "Lower Cortlandt's" to reduce confusion with Frederick Van Cortlandt's farm, "Upper Cortlandt's", west of Broadway.
The family used the grist mill and saw mill next to the lake. Within the house, the family salted the pork and beef; cured the ham and bacon; and stored the various fruits that grew on the premises. The Van Cortlandts did not primarily live in that house, instead staying in Manhattan most of the time. Two early historians wrote that James Van Cortlandt frequently intervened on behalf of neighbors who had been robbed. The family often invited civilian and military officials to the mansion, serving lobsters from the Long Island Sound and hams from the estate's grounds. Slaves performed many of the tasks around the house, including laundry, cleaning, and cooking.
Revolutionary War The Van Cortlandt family land was part of the "Neutral Ground" during the American Revolutionary War and was used by both the Loyalists and the Patriots. On May 30, 1775, the New York Provincial Congress placed James Van Cortlandt on a committee to create a report on whether it was feasible to build a fort near his family's house. Although James was described as not having been "a very active loyalist", he was not fully committed to the Patriots' cause either, and the Van Cortlandts wished to stay neutral. Augustus Van Cortlandt hid city records under Vault Hill to protect them during the war, turning them over to the new American government afterward. Some members of the Van Cortlandt family continued to reside at the mansion during most of the war.
The grounds were used by Patriot militia leaders Comte de Rochambeau, Marquis de Lafayette, and George Washington. The house itself was Washington's headquarters after his troops were defeated in the 1776 Battle of Long Island, and Washington stayed at the house prior to the Battle of White Plains. After Washington's troops were defeated in the Battle of White Plains, British General William Howe made the house his headquarters on November 13, 1776, placing it behind British-held ground. Hessian troops had pillaged the mansion before Howe's arrival, and various documents were as such scattered. Royal Navy admiral Robert Digby occasionally invited the future British King William IV to the mansion during the war, and Digby gifted Augustus Van Cortlandt a pair of wooden bird sculptures that had been taken from a Spanish privateer. American troops unsuccessfully tried to retake the house in 1777. A British captain surnamed Rowe was severely wounded in a battle nearby in 1780, and he died in the house just after his fiancée arrived, giving rise to rumors that Rowe's ghost haunted the house.
James Van Cortlandt moved away during the war because of his poor health, and he died in 1781. Because James had no children, his younger brother, New York City Clerk Augustus Van Cortlandt, took over the property. Washington returned to the house in 1781 to strategize with Rochambeau while their troops waited outside on what is now the Parade Ground and Vault Hill. Although Washington had wanted to scout British forts in Upper Manhattan, his troops instead headed south to Virginia, defeating the British in the siege of Yorktown. Washington lit campfires outside the house to deceive the British into thinking that his troops were still on the grounds. Washington used the house one final time in 1783 after the Treaty of Paris. The British had just withdrawn their troops from Manhattan, and Washington and George Clinton were getting ready to enter the island, stopping over at the house before doing so.
Late 18th and 19th centuries