Gracie Mansion is the official residence of the mayor of New York City.

Geography

Gracie Mansion is located in Carl Schurz Park, at East End Avenue and Eighty-eighth Street in Manhattan. It overlooks Hell Gate.

Architecture

Archibald Gracie built Gracie Mansion in 1799. In 1966, a new west wing (the Wagner Wing) was added under the instruction of first lady Susan Wagner. The building was restored (1981–1984) by the Gracie Mansion Conservancy, and again in 2002.

Gracie Mansion is in the Federal style and has two stories.

Utilization

A different building on roughly the same site was commandeered by George Washington during the American Revolutionary War, as it strategically overlooked Hell Gate. The British destroyed this house during that war.

Archibald Gracie then built another building — what we now call Gracie Mansion — on the site in 1799, and this was used by him as a country home until 1823, when he had to sell it to pay debts.

Others lived in the house until 1896, when the city seized it and made its grounds part of Carl Schurz Park. It served various functions as part of that park (at various times it housed public restrooms, an ice-cream stand, and classrooms) until 1924. From 1924 until 1936 it housed the Museum of the City of New York, and from 1936 until 1942 it was also a museum.

In 1942, Robert Moses successfully convinced then-mayor Fiorello LaGuardia to appropriate the house as a mayoral residence. Its main floor is open to the public and serves as a small museum.

As of 2005, current mayor Michael Bloomberg does not live in Gracie Mansion, although he uses it for meetings and events.

See also

• List of museums and cultural institutions in New York City

External links