Earth and Space News: George Washington second presidential residence

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Thursday, February 23, 2023

Washington's Second Presidential Mansion Was Alexander Macomb House

Summary: George Washington's second presidential mansion was the Alexander Macomb House on Broadway in the new nation's temporary capital, New York City.

The Alexander Macomb House, also known as McComb House, numbered as President Washington's second executive residence, occupied by the first U.S. president for six months one week (Tuesday, Feb. 23, to Monday, Aug. 30, 1790) during the first of his two presidential terms; M.J. Lamb, History of the City of New York, vol. II (1880), page 362: Public Domain, via Library of Congress Book/Printed Material

George Washington's second presidential mansion was the Alexander Macomb House, which was located at 39-41 Broadway in the current Financial District neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in the new nation's temporary capital, New York City.

Non-White House dweller George Washington (Feb. 22, 1732-Dec. 14, 1799) lived in three executive residences during his two terms as the first President of the United States (POTUS). His first two official residences were located in New York City, the new nation's temporary capital. His third official residence was sited in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, designated as the temporary federal capital for the decade from 1790 to 1800. The transition from New York City to Philadelphia was stipulated by the Residence Act of Friday, July 16, 1790, during the first U.S. president's first term (Thursday, April 30, 1789, to Sunday, March 3, 1793).

The Samuel Osgood House, at 3 Cherry Street, in Lower Manhattan, numbered as the first official residence. The three-story, stone-ornamented brick mansion had been built in 1770 by American Quaker merchant Walter Franklin (Dec. 11, 1728-Aug. 6, 1780).

The first U.S. president noted having made a lease agreement Saturday, Dec. 30, 1789, for the Alexander Macomb House in his diary entry for Monday, Feb. 1, 1790, according to Diary of Washington: From the First Day of October, 1789, to the Tenth Day of March, 1790, edited by 19th-century American historian Benson John Lossing (Feb. 12, 1813-June 3, 1891) and published in 1858 (page 75). The Alexander Macomb House was known also as the McComb House, a variant of the owner's surname that President Washington observed.

Alexander Macomb (July 27, 1748-Jan. 19, 1831) was born in Ballynure, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and immigrated with his parents and siblings to New York in 1755, according to David B. Dill, Jr., in "Portrait of an Opportunist: The Life of Alexander Macomb," published Sunday, Sep. 9, 1990, as the first of a special three-part series in New York North Country region's The Watertown Daily Times. The Irish-American fur trader, land speculator and merchant had purchased numbers 39 and 41 as vacant lots Monday, May 8, 1786, according to Liber Deeds XLVI: 6, in The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909, vol. V (page 1210), published by American architect I.N. (Isaac Newton) Phelps Stokes (April 11, 1867-Dec. 18, 1944) in 1916. Construction of Macomb's mansion was completed by Wednesday, Oct. 10, 1787, according to the Minutes of the Common Council of the City of New York (MCCCNY) 1784-1831 for that date (MCCCNY, vol. I, page 327; Stokes: page 1210).

The second presidential mansion was "one story higher than Osgood's house, and in every way more commodious," according to American bookseller, editor, publisher and writer James Grant Wilson (April 28, 1832-Feb. 1, 1914) in The Memorial History of the City of New-York From Its First Settlement to the Year 1892, volume III, published in 1893 (page 68). The mansion's location in the Financial District (FiDi) neighborhood in Manhattan's southern tip was a more convenient location than the Osgood House's placement, to the northeast, in Lower Manhattan's current Civic Center neighborhood, near the East River, 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. The Macomb House was sited "a block-and-a-half above Bowling Green" (page 413). Bowling Green was established Thursday, March 12, 1733, as New York City's oldest public park, according to the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation's online description of the park's historical marker of bronze plaque on Milford pink granite plinth, erected in 1938.

The stone-ornamented, brick Alexander Macomb House was designed as a four-story residence. Quoins patterned in alternate lengths accented the building's corners. The five-bay mansion's "slightly projecting central bay" featured "an elaborate fan- and side-lit doorway" in the first floor, a Palladian window in the second and third floors, and a double hung window on the fourth floor" (Stillman: page 413).

President Washington's occupancy of the Alexander Macomb House lasted from Tuesday, Feb. 23, to Monday, Aug. 30, 1790. Preparations for the relocation included the addition of a stable at his new official residence. "Walked to my newly engaged lodgings to fix on a spot for a new stable which I was about to build. Agreed with . . . . . to erect one 30 feet square, 16 feet pitch, to contain 12 single stalls; a hay loft, racks, mangers, &c.; planked floor, and underpinned with stone, with windows between each stall, for £65," President Washington diarized for Saturday, Feb. 6, 1790 (Lossing: page 76).

The first U.S. president regularly walked from the Samuel Osgood House to his second official residence. On Saturday, Feb. 13, the President wrote: "Walked in the forenoon to the house to which I am about to remove. Gave directions for the management of the furniture, &c., and had some of it put up" (page 78). He walked to the Macomb House on Friday, Feb. 19. On Saturday, Feb. 20, he visited the Broadway mansion twice, once on foot and then again by carriage. He noted: "Sat from 9 until 11, for Mr. Trumbull. Walked afterwards to my new house -- then rode a few miles with Mrs. Washington and the children before dinner; after which I again visited my new house in my coach (because it rained)" (Lossing: pages 82-83). Monday, Feb. 22, the day before moving, President Washington wrote: "Set seriously about removing my furniture to my new house. Two of the gentlemen of the family had their beds taken there, and would sleep there to-night" (Lossing: page 83).

Tuesday, Feb. 23, found the President, his wife, Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 2, 1731-May 22, 1802), and two of Martha's grandchildren, George Washington Parke Custis (April 30, 1781-Oct. 10, 1857) and Eleanor "Nelly" Parke Custis Lewis (March 31, 1779-July 15, 1852), in the second Washington presidential residence. President Washington recorded: "After dinner, Mrs. Washington, myself, and children removed, and lodged at our new habitation" (Lossing: page 83).

George Washington vacated his second official residence after six months and one week of presidential occupancy. His inhabitation of his third presidential residence, Philadelphia's President's House, dated from Saturday, Nov. 27, 1790, to Friday, March 10, 1797.

"The Republican Court (Lady Washington's Reception Day)," 1861 oil on canvas by American Hudson River School artist Daniel Huntington (Oct. 4, 1816-April 19, 1906), was set in the Alexander Macomb House, inaccurately, according to American historian and writer Anne Hollingsworth Wharton (Dec. 15, 1845-July 29, 1928), who critiqued: "Mr. Huntington has in his famous painting of the Republican Court made the McComb house on Broadway the background of his picture. This was a much more commodious house, to which the President and his family removed in the spring of 1790. . . . The President did not usually stand beside his wife on these occasons, as he considered himself a private citizen when at Mrs. Washington's receptions, and moved from group to group." (Salons Colonial and Republican [1952], page 52); on view in Luce Visible Storage and Study Center, 5th Floor, Brooklyn Museum, New York City borough of Brooklyn: No known copyright restrictions, via Brooklyn Museum

Acknowledgment

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

Dedication

This post is dedicated to the memory of our beloved blue-eyed brother, Charles, who guided the creation of the Met Opera and Astronomy posts on Earth and Space News. We memorialized our brother in "Our Beloved Blue-Eyed Brother, Charles, With Whom We Are Well Pleased," published on Earth and Space News on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, an anniversary of our beloved father's death.

Image credits:

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Conway, Moncure D. (Daniel). "Three entries from Washington's diary may be given in closing our account of 1789: '. . . . Monday, Dec. 28. Sat all the forenoon for Mr. Savage, who was taking my portrait." Page 68. In: James Grant Wilson, ed., The Memorial History of the City of New York, From Its First Settlement to the Year 1892. Volume III. Chapter II New York as the Federal Capital, and During Washington's First Term, 1789-1793: Pages 45-86. New York: New-York History Society, 1893.
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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.
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Lossing, Benson John. "Monday, [Dec.] 28th. Sat all the forenoon for Mr. Savage, who was taking my portrait." Page 56. Diary of Washington: From the First Day of October, 1789, to the Tenth Day of March, 1790; From the Original Manuscript, Now First Printed. New York: n.p., 1858.
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Marriner, Derdriu. "George Washington's First Presidential Mansion Was Samuel Osgood House." Earth and Space News. Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/02/george-washingtons-first-presidential.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "George Washington's Three Presidential Residences No Longer Exist." Earth and Space News. Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023.
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Marriner, Derdriu (DerdriuMarriner). "George Washington: The United States President Who Designed a Sixteen Sided Barn." Wizzley. Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014.
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Marriner, Derdriu (DerdriuMarriner). "Scent of a President: Four American Presidents Favoring Caswell Massey Fragrances." Wizzley. Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2014.
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New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. "The Earliest New York City Parks." New York City Department of Parks & Recreation > About > Parks Histories > History in New York City Parks.
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Stillman, Damie. "Six Houses for the President." The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 129, no. 4 (October 2005): 411-431.
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Stokes, I.N. (Isaac Newton) Phelps. "Bunker's Mansion House. 20-1, 2. Site: Nos. 39-41 Broadway. Erected by Paulus Leendertsen van der Grift c. 1648 (Jameson's Nar. N. Neth., 339); demolished and new house on site built by Francois Rombouts 1671 (Liber Deeds, B: 184); demolished and house erected by Alexander Macomb 1786-7 (M.C.C., MS., IX: 4); residence of President Washington 1790 (Diary of Washington, ed. by Lossing, 86-7; Mag. of Am. Hist., XXI: 107); opened as a hotel called the Mansion House by C. Bunker 1821 (Haswell's Reminiscences 121); legendary site of the earliest houses on Manhattan Island. See Miscellaneous, Earliest Houses. Shown on Pl. 56, Vol. I; and Pl. 98, Vol. III; also in Man. Com. Coun., 1855, p. 582; drawing by C. Burton, Bourne Series of N. Y. Views." Page 977. 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_00000852.html
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/iconographyofman_b03stok/page/n894/mode/1up

Stokes, I.N. (Isaac Newton) Phelps. "Feb. 23, 1790. . . . In a detailed description of Washington's personal appearance and manner of address, written by a man whose father met Gen. and Mrs. Washington in their house in New York in 1790, there is the following account of the new residence: 'The home of Washington was in the Broadway, and the street front was handsome. -- The drawing-room in which I sat was lofty and spacious; but the furniture was not beyond that found in dwellings of opulent Americans in general, and might be called plain for its situation. The upper end of the room had glass doors, which opened upon a balcony commanding an extensive view of the Hudson River, interspersed with islands, and the Jersey shore on the opposite side." Pages 1262-1263. 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 V. New York: Robert H. Dodd, MDCCCCXXVI.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/iconographyofman05stok/page/1262/mode/1up

Stokes, I.N. (Isaac Newton) Phelps. "May 8, 1786. Alexander Macomb purchases two vacant lots at Nos. 39 and 41 Broadway -- Liber Deeds, XLVI: 6. Here he erected a large and handsome residence, which was completed by Oct. 10, 1787. -- M.C.C. (1784-1831), I: 327. this house was the residence of Pres. Washington early in 1790 (see F 22, 1790), and until he left the city on the removal of the seat of government to Philadelphia. -- Diary of Washington (ed. by Lossing), 86-87; Mag. of Am. Hist., XXI: 107. This large double building was opened as a hotel in 1821 by C. Bunker, who called it Bunker's Mansion House. -- Haswell, Reminiscences of an Octogenarian, 121. See L.M.R.K., III: 977; Pl. 174, Vol. III. The house is shown on Pl. 56, Vol. I and Pl. 98, Vol. III." Page 1210. 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 V. New York: Robert H. Dodd, MDCCCCXXVI.
Available via Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections @ http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/cul/texts/ldpd_5800727_005/pages/ldpd_5800727_005_00000278.html
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/iconographyofman05stok/page/1210/mode/1up

Stokes, I.N. (Isaac Newton) Phelps. "Plate 98 Broadway From the Bowling Green [The Bennett View of Bowling Green]. . . . During the early days of the Revolution, No. 1 Broadway was occupied by Washington. . ." Pages 589-590. 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, Chapter V The War of 1812 (1812-1815); Period of Invention, Prosperity, and Progress (1815-1841), pages 475-630: Description of Plates Frontispieces 1789 and 1798 and 80-122, c. 1812-c. 1841, pages 535-630. 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_00000250.html
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/iconographyofman_b03stok/page/n258/mode/1up

Wharton, Anne Hollingsworth. "Mr. Huntington has in his famous painting of the Republican Court made the McComb house on Broadway the background of his picture. This was a much more commodious house, to which the President and his family removed in the spring of 1790. Mrs. Washington, although most dignified in her bearing and manners, was of small stature, and Mr. Huntington, whether true to life or simply to his own artistic instincts, has made the small hostess appear as if standing upon a slight elevation above most of her guests. . . . The President did not usually stand beside his wife on these occasons, as he considered himself a private citizen when at Mrs. Washington's receptions, and moved from group to group. . . ." Pages 52-53. Salons Colonial and Republican. With Numerous Reproductions of Portraits and Miniatures of Men and Women Prominent in Colonial Life and in the Early Days of the Republic. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1900.
Available via HathiTrust @ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t16m3m49v&view=1up&seq=74

Wharton, Anne Hollingsworth. Salons Colonial and Republican. With Numerous Reproductions of Portraits and Miniatures of Men and Women Prominent in Colonial Life and in the Early Days of the Republic. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1900. p. 52.
Available via HathiTrust @ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t16m3m49v

Wilson, James Grant. The Memorial History of the City of New York, From Its First Settlement to the Year 1892. Volume III. New York: New-York History Society, 1893.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/memorialhistoryo03wilsuoft/

Thursday, February 16, 2023

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.

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.

Dedication

"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

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Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433066342712?urlappend=%3Bseq=159%3Bownerid=13510798882113340-163
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