George Washington's First Presidential Mansion Was Samuel Osgood House

Summary: George Washington's first presidential mansion was the Samuel Osgood House on Cherry Street in the new nation's temporary capital, New York City.

"The First Presidential Mansion. No. 1 Cherry Street. Occupied by Washington during the first Session of the First Congress," lithograph by George Hayward, 120 Water Street, New York, for D.T. Valentine's Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York for 1853, opposite page 304: Public Domain, via New York Public Library Digital Collections

George Washington's first presidential mansion was the Samuel Osgood House, which was located at 3 Cherry Street in the current Civic Center neighborhood in the new nation's temporary capital, New York City.

George Washington (Feb. 22, 1732-Dec. 14, 1799) began the first of his two unanimously-elected terms as the first President of the United States (POTUS) with a delayed inauguration. The new nation's first presidential inauguration had been scheduled for Wednesday, March 4, 1789. A travel-caused delay in achieving quorums in the U.S. House of Representatives and in the U.S. Senate necessitated setting Monday, April 6, 1789, as the date for the electoral vote tally.

The U.S. Senate appointed Charles Thomson (Nov. 29, 1729-Aug. 16, 1824), secretary of the Continental Congress (in office: Sep. 5, 1774-July 23, 1789), to deliver the official certificate of election to George Washington, at home at Mount Vernon, Fairfax County, Northern Virginia, according to American historian and lawyer Thomas E.V. (Edward Vermilye) Smith (1857-1922) in The City of New York in the Year of Washington's Inauguration 1789, published in 1889 (page 214). Charles Thomson left New York the next day, Tuesday, April 7; arrived Tuesday, April 14, "at about noon" at Mount Vernon. An hour later, he handed the certificate of election and a congratulatory note from John Langdon (June 26, 1741-Sep. 18, 1819), first President pro tempore of the Senate (in office: April 6, 1789-Aug. 9, 1789), to the new nation's first President-Elect.

President-Elect Washington departed from Mount Vernon on Thursday, April 16, accompanied by his secretary, Colonel David Humphreys (July 10, 1752-Feb. 21, 1818), and Charles Thomson. The trio arrived Thursday, April 23, at Elizabeth Point, New Jersey, where they boarded the presidential barge for New York City (Smith: pages 218-219).

One week ahead of his first inauguration, President-Elect George Washington arrived in New York City. The barge docked at Murray's Wharf, near the intersection of the foot of Wall Street with Water Street. Carpeted stairs had been emplaced for the President-Elect's landing. A festive procession of dignitaries and governmental officials formed at Merchants Coffee House, at the southeast corner of Wall and Water streets, and escorted President-Elect Washington to his official residence (Smith: pages 219-222).

President-Elect George Washington arrived in Manhattan on Thursday, April 23, 1789, one week before his first presidential inauguration; he disembarked from the presidential barge at Murray's Wharf, at the foot of Wall Street; a procession formed at Merchants Coffee House (festooned building; right), at the corner of Wall and Water streets and escorted the new nation's first president to his first presidential residence, 3 Cherry Street; "President-Elect Washington Welcomed at the Merchants Coffee House, New York," from a painting by Charles P. Gruppe, private collection of William Harrison Ukers; W.H. Ukers, All About Coffee (1922), page 114: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive

George Washington's first inauguration took place Thursday, April 30, 1789, in New York City. His first term ended Monday, March 4, 1793.

George Washington resided in three official residences during his first presidential term. The Samuel Osgood House and the Alexander Macomb House were located in New York City. With the shifting of the nation's temporary capital to Philadelphia in 1790, the President's House in Philadelphia's historic Center City district served as George Washington's executive residence for the last two and one-third years of his first term.

He resided in only one executive residence during his second presidential term. The President's House in Philadelphia functioned as President Washington's official residence for the entirety of his second term.

The Samuel Osgood House accommodated the presidential family and retinue for 10 months, from Thursday, April 23, 1789, to Tuesday, Feb. 23, 1790. The foursquare, three-story brick mansion featured stone ornamentation, according to American art historian Damie Stillman (born July 27, 1933) in "Six Houses for the President," published in the October 2005 issue of The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. A pattern of alternately lengthed quoins accentuated each corner. Five bays of rectangular windows illuminated each side of the mansion's second and third floors. The frieze's five rectangular panels paralleled each window. A series of six bowknots sequenced as frames for the opening and closing panels and as decorative accents between each panel on the mansion's frieze. A roof balustrade framed with a panel at each corner soared above the frieze on each side (pages 412-413).

Alternative designations for the Samuel Osgood House included the Walter Franklin House, the Franklin-Osgood-Clinton House and the Franklin-Washington-Osgood-Clinton House. American Quaker merchant Walter Franklin (Dec. 11, 1728-Aug. 6, 1780) built his mansion in 1770. The building's ownership passed to widower Samuel Osgood (Feb. 3, 1747-Aug. 12, 1813) with the American merchant and statesman's Wednesday, May 24, 1786, marriage to Franklin's widow, Maria Bowne Franklin (March 4, 1754-March 7, 1813).

The Samuel Osgood House survived for approximately 66 and one-fourth years after losing its presidential residents. Widening of Pearl Street, Cherry Street's northern cross street, for a traffic congestion relief project required the demolition of the first U.S. presidential mansion in May 1856, according to Henry B. Hoffmann's "President Washington's Cherry Street Residence," published in the July 1939 issue of The New-York Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin (pages 100-101).

Although the painting's background suggests Mount Vernon, President George Washington and his wife, Martha Dandridge Custis Washington, first posed with Martha's grandchildren, George Washington Parke Custis and Eleanor "Nelly" Parke Custis Lewis, and an unnamed servant for "The Washington Family, 1789-1796," oil on canvas by American portraitist and engraver Edward Savage (Nov. 26, 1761-July 6, 1817) at the Samuel Osgood House; Andrew W. Mellon Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC: Public Domain, via National Gallery of Art

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

"The First Presidential Mansion. No. 1 Cherry Street. Occupied by Washington during the first Session of the First Congress," lithograph by George Hayward, 120 Water Street, New York, for D.T. Valentine's Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York for 1853, opposite page 304: Public Domain, via New York Public Library Digital Collections @ https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-2aa2-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99; Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_First_Presidential_Mansion.jpg; Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/manualofcorporat1853newy/page/n342/mode/1up; (nothing about copyright), via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/manualofcorpora1853newy/page/n340/mode/1up

President-Elect George Washington arrived in Manhattan on Thursday, April 23, 1789, one week before his first presidential inauguration; he disembarked from the presidential barge at Murray's Wharf, at the foot of Wall Street; a procession formed at Merchants Coffee House (festooned building; right), at the corner of Wall and Water streets and escorted the new nation's first president to his first presidential residence, 3 Cherry Street; "President-Elect Washington Welcomed at the Merchants Coffee House, New York," from a painting by Charles P. Gruppe, private collection of William Harrison Ukers; W.H. Ukers, All About Coffee (1922), page 114: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/allaboutcoffee00ukeruoft/page/114/mode/1up

Although the painting's background suggests Mount Vernon, President George Washington and his wife, Martha Dandridge Custis Washington, first posed with Martha's grandchildren, George Washington Parke Custis and Eleanor "Nelly" Parke Custis Lewis, and an unnamed servant for "The Washington Family, 1789-1796," oil on canvas by American portraitist and engraver Edward Savage (Nov. 26, 1761-July 6, 1817) at the Samuel Osgood House; Andrew W. Mellon Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC: Public Domain, via National Gallery of Art @ https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.561.html: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Edward_Savage_-_The_Washington_Family_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

For further information:

Bayer, Jonathan. "Society at Auction: Coffee-House Culture in Occupied New York." JAR Journal of the American Revolution > Culture > Food & Lifestyle. Nov. 10, 2016.
Available @ https://allthingsliberty.com/2016/11/society-auction-coffee-house-culture-occupied-new-york/

Berggren, D. Jason. "Presidential Election of 1789." Mount Vernon > Washington Library > Center for Digital History > Digital Encyclopedia.
Available @ https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/presidential-election-of-1789/

Bowen, Clarence Winthrop. "The Inauguration of Washington." The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, vol. XXXVII, no. 6 (April 1889): 802-833.
Available via Google Books Read Free of Charge @ https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Century_Illustrated_Monthly_Magazine/6NJPAAAAYAAJ
Available via HathiTrust @ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015074189716&view=1up&seq=814
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/centuryillustratv39newy/page/802/mode/1up

Brown, Henry Collins, ed. "The Franklin Mansion on Cherry Street." Opposite page 304. Valentine's Manual of the City of New York 1917-1918. New Series No. 2. New York NY: The Old Colony Press, 1917.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/valentinesmanual00brow/page/n170/mode/1up
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/valentinesma191719182brow/page/n168/mode/1up
Available via Internet Archive @ https://ia600309.us.archive.org/23/items/valentinesma191719182brow/valentinesma191719182brow.pdf
Available via Smithsonian Libraries and Archives @ https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/valentinesma191719182brow

Brown, Henry Collins, ed. "When Washington Was in New York." Pages 133-139. Valentine's Manual of the City of New York 1917-1918. New Series No. 2. New York NY: The Old Colony Press, 1917.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/valentinesma191719182brow/page/133/mode/1up
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/valentinesmanual00brow/page/133/mode/1up
Available via Internet Archive @ https://ia600309.us.archive.org/23/items/valentinesma191719182brow/valentinesma191719182brow.pdf
Available via Smithsonian Libraries and Archives @ https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/valentinesma191719182brow

Cadou, Carol Borchert. "Chippendale Side Chair." Mount Vernon > Washington Library > Center for Digital History > Digital Encyclopedia.
Available @ https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/chippendale-side-chair/

Cadou, Carol Borchert. "Presidential Residency in New York." Mount Vernon > Washington Library > Center for Digital History > Digital Encyclopedia.
Available @ https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/presidential-residency-in-new-york/

Decatur, Stephen. "Flashback: George Washington and His Presidential Furniture." American Collector (February 1941): 8-15. Collectors Weekly > Articles. April 2, 2009.
Available via Collectors Weekly @ https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/george-washington-and-his-presidential-furniture/

Decatur, Stephen. Private Affairs of George Washington From the Records and Accounts of Tobias Lear, Esquire, his Secretary. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1933.

Digital Culture of Metropolitan New York. "Plaque commemorating George Washington's landing at Murray's Wharf." Digital Culture of Metropolitan New York > All Collections > CUNY Graduate Center Collection, Murray Hill.
Available @ http://dcmny.org/islandora/object/murrayhill%3A176/compound-parent-metadata

Harrison, Constance Cary. "Washington in New York in 1789.." The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, vol. XXXVII, no. 6 (April 1889): 802-833.
Available via Google Books Read Free of Charge @ https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Century_Illustrated_Monthly_Magazine/6NJPAAAAYAAJ
Available via HathiTrust @ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015074189716&view=1up&seq=862
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/centuryillustratv39newy/page/850/mode/1up

Herbert, Leila. The First American: His Homes and His Households. Copyright, 1899, by Harper & Brothers. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1900.
Available via Google Books Free to Read @ https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_First_American/Kue1SxVrIMMC?hl=en
Available via Google Books PDF @ https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_First_American/Kue1SxVrIMMC?hl=en

Herbert, Leila. "The First American: His Homes and His Households. Part I. -- Childhood and Life at Mount Vernon." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. XCIX, no. DXCII (September 1899): 494-506.
Available via Harper's Magazine @ https://harpers.org/archive/1899/09/the-first-american-his-homes-and-his-households-part-i-childhood-and-life-at-mount-vernon/
Available via HathiTrust @ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31210007350133&view=1up&seq=508
Available via HathiTrust @ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015056082632&view=1up&seq=522

Herbert, Leila. "The First American: His Homes and His Households. Part II. -- In New York." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. XCIX, no. DXCIII (October 1899): 712-722.
Available via Harper's Magazine @ https://harpers.org/archive/1899/10/the-first-american-his-homes-and-his-households-part-ii-in-new-york/
Available via HathiTrust @ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31210007350133&view=1up&seq=726
Available via HathiTrust @ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015056082632&view=1up&seq=746

Herbert, Leila. "The First American: His Homes and His Households. Part III. -- In Philadelphia and Germantown." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. XCIX, no. DXCIV (November 1899): 847-855.
Available via Harper's Magazine @ https://harpers.org/archive/1899/11/the-first-american-his-homes-and-his-households-part-iii-in-philadelphia-and-germantown/
Available via HathiTrust @ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31210007350133&view=1up&seq=861&size=125
Available via HathiTrust @ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015056082632&view=1up&seq=885

Herbert, Leila. "The First American: His Homes and His Households. Part IV. -- Final Days at Mount Vernon." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. C, no. DXCV (November 1899): 146-159.
Available via Harper's Magazine @ https://harpers.org/archive/1899/12/the-first-american/
Available via HathiTrust @ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015056082624&view=1up&seq=160

Hoffmann, Henry B. "Changed House Numbers and Lost Street Names in New York of the Early Nineteenth Century and Later." The New-York Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin, vol. XXI, no 3 (July 1937): 67-92.
Available via New York Historical Society Digital Collections @ https://digitalcollections.nyhistory.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A7500#page/3/mode/1up

Hoffmann, Henry B. "President Washington's Cherry Street Residence." The New-York Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin, vol. XXIII, no 3 (July 1939): 90-103.
Available via New York Historical Society Digital Collections @ https://digitalcollections.nyhistory.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A16978#page/1/mode/2up

Lander, Eric. "First Presidential Mansion 1 Cherry Street." The Historical Marker Database (HMdb). June 6, 2011. Last updated April 9, 2019, by Larry Gertner. Last revised Jan. 31, 2023.
Available @ https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=131945

Irving, Washington. Life of George Washington. Volume V. New York NY: G.P. Putnam, 1859.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/lifeofgeorge05washrich/

Library of Congress. "Today in History -- March 4." Library of Congress > Digital Collections > Today in History.
Available via Library of Congress @ https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/march-04/

Marriner, Derdriu. "George Washington's Three Presidential Residences No Longer Exist." Earth and Space News. Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/02/george-washingtons-three-presidential.html

Marriner, Derdriu (DerdriuMarriner). "George Washington: The United States President Who Designed a Sixteen Sided Barn." Wizzley. Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014.
Available @ https://wizzley.com/george-washington-the-united-states-president-who-designed-a-sixteen-sided-barn/

Marriner, Derdriu (DerdriuMarriner). "Scent of a President: Four American Presidents Favoring Caswell Massey Fragrances." Wizzley. Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2014.
Available @ https://wizzley.com/four-american-presidents-favoring-caswell-massey-fragrances/

Miller, Tom. "The Lost 1770 Walter Franklin House -- 1-3 Cherry Street." Daytonian in Manhattan Blog. Monday, Aug. 10, 2020.
Available @ http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-lost-1770-walter-franklin-house-1-3.html

National Gallery of Art. "Edward Savage The Washington Family, 1789-1796." National Gallery of Art > Collection.
Available @ https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.561.html

National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy. "George Washington's New York: How England’s Treasured Colony Became the Capital of a New Nation." Official Walking Tour.
Available @ https://nyharborparks.org/wp-content/uploads/park-guides/tour_gwny.pdf

Smith, Thomas E.V. "Chapter VII. George Washington and John Adams." Pages 214-244. The City of New York in the Year of Washington's Inauguration 1789. New York: Printed by Trow's Printing and Bookbinding Company for the Author, 1889.
Available via Library of Congress @ https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/public/gdcmassbookdig/cityofnewyorkiny01smit/cityofnewyorkiny01smit.pdf

Solomont, Elizabeth. "A Piece of History Stands Hidden on Brooklyn Bridge." The New York Sun. Friday, June 30, 2006.
Available @ https://www.nysun.com/article/new-york-piece-of-history-stands-hidden-on-brooklyn-bridge

Stillman, Damie. "Six Houses for the President." The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 129, no. 4 (October 2005): 411-431.
Available via JSTOR @ https://www.jstor.org/stable/20093818

Stokes, I.N. (Isaac Newton) Phelps. "Franklin, Walter, House of." Page 949. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909: Compiled From Original Sources and Illustrated by Photo-Intaglio Reproductions of Important Maps, Plans, Views, and Documents in Public and Private Collections. Volume III, Landmark Map: Reference Key to the Landmark Map, pages 923-1012; Homesteads, Mansions, and Other Private Residences, pages 948-953. New York: Robert H. Dodd, MDCCCCXXVIII [1928].
Available via Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections @ http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/cul/texts/ldpd_5800727_003/pages/ldpd_5800727_003_00000824.html
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/iconographyofman_b03stok/page/n866/mode/1up

Yale University. "Thomas Edward Vermilye Smith, B.A. 1877. Born May 9, 1857, in New York City. Died March 3, 1922, in New York City." Pages 403-404. Obituary Record of Graduates Deceased During the Year Ending July 1, 1922; Including the Record of a Few Who Died Previously, Hitherto Unreported. Bulletin of Yale University. Number 2 of the Eighth Printed Series and Number 81 of the Whole Record; the Present Series Consists of Five Numbers. New Haven [CT]: Yale University, 1922.
Available @ http://mssa.library.yale.edu/obituary_record/1859_1924/1921-22.pdf

Ukers, William H. (Harrison). "The Merchants Coffee House." Pages 118-120. All About Coffee. Chapter XIII History of Coffee in Old New York, pages 115-124. New York: The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal Company, 1922.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/allaboutcoffee00ukeruoft/page/118/mode/1up
Available via Project Gutenberg @ https://www.gutenberg.org/files/28500/28500-h/28500-h.htm#Chapter_XIII

Ukers, William H. (Harrison). "Merchants Coffee House (at the Right) as It Appeared From 1772 to 1804. The original coffee house of this name was opened on the northwest corner of Wall and Water Streets about 1737, the business being moved to the southeast corner in 1772." Page 119. All About Coffee. Chapter XIII History of Coffee in Old New York, pages 115-124. New York: The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal Company, 1922.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/allaboutcoffee00ukeruoft/page/119/mode/1up
Available via Project Gutenberg @ https://www.gutenberg.org/files/28500/28500-h/28500-h.htm#Merchants_Coffee_House

Ukers, William H. (Harrison). "President-Elect Washington Welcomed at the Merchants Coffee House, New York. The receptin took place April 23, 1789, one week before his inauguration. From a painting by Charles P. Gruppe, owned by the author." Page 114. All About Coffee. Chapter XIII History of Coffee in Old New York, pages 115-124. New York: The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal Company, 1922.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/allaboutcoffee00ukeruoft/page/114/mode/1up
Available via Project Gutenberg @ https://www.gutenberg.org/files/28500/28500-h/28500-h.htm#PRESIDENT-ELECT_WASHINGTON_WELCOMED_AT_THE_MERCHANTS_COFFEE_HOUSE_NEW_YORK

Valentine, D.T. (David Thomas). "Coffee House Slip and New York Coffee House. Lith. by G. Hayward 120 Water St N.Y. For D.T. Valentine's Manual 1856." Opposite page 132. Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York for 1856. New York NY: McSpedon & Baker, Printers, 1856.
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433066342712?urlappend=%3Bseq=159%3Bownerid=13510798882113340-163
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/manualofcorpora1856newy/page/n158/mode/1up
Available via New York Public Library Digital Collections @ https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e0-d6c8-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Available via University of Michigan Library Digital Collections @ https://quod.lib.umich.edu/w/wcl1ic/x-1096/WCL001190#rights-permissions

Valentine, D.T. (David Thomas). "The First Presidential Mansion." Opposite page 304. Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York for 1853. New York NY: McSpedon & Baker, Printers, 1853.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/manualofcorporat1853newy/page/n342/mode/1up
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/manualofcorpora1853newy/page/n340/mode/1up

Wharton, Anne H. "Washington's New York Residence in 1789." Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, vol. 43 (May 1889): 741-745.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/sim_mcbrides-magazine_1889-05_43/page/741/mode/1up