88th Street and East End Avenue
(212) 570-4751
This white frame colonial
house has been the home of New York City’s mayor since Fiorello
LaGuardia moved in in 1942. Not surprisingly, the house has a
history every bit as combative as its current occupant Rudy
Giuliani. The land was purchased by Jacob Walton, a merchant from
Flatbush, who built a home there for his new bride. In 1776, the
George Washington and the American Army appropriated the site and
built a fort to ward off the redcoats. However, in September of
that same year, English battleships razed the fort to the ground.
After the war Walton's heirs reclaimed the property, and in 1798
they sold it for $5,625.00 to Archibald Gracie. Gracie, a
successful merchant of Scottish descent, built his home there in
1799. Gracie hosted many luminaries of the time at his mansion
including Louis Phillipe (who would become King of France), John
Quincy Adams, and James Fennimore Cooper.
In 1896 the City of New York
commandeered the property and incorporated the eleven acres of the
former Gracie estate into East End Park, extending along the East
River from Eighty-fourth Street to Ninetieth Street. The park was
later named for Carl Schurz, a German immigrant who served as
Minister to Spain, United States Senator and a member of the
Cabinet of Rutherford B. Hayes.
The mansion fell into
disrepair until it was refurbished by the Parks Department in 1927
when it served as the Museum of the City of New York. That museum
moved to Fifth Avenue in 1932, and the house remained vacant until
then-Parks Commissioner Robert Moses convinced the City that the
property should be used as the Mayor’s official residence.
