Mount Vernon Hotel Museum

Mount Vernon Hotel Museum and Garden
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location:	421 East 61st Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
Coordinates:	40°45′38″N 73°57′36″W / 40.76056°N 73.96°W / 40.76056; -73.96Coordinates: 40°45′38″N 73°57′36″W / 40.76056°N 73.96°W / 40.76056; -73.96
Built:	1799
Architectural style:	Federal,[1] or American Colonial
Governing body:	Private
NRHP Reference#:	73001223
Added to NRHP:	January 12, 1973[1]

Mount Vernon Hotel Museum is a former carriage house located at 421 East 61st Street, near the East River, in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. Built in 1799 as a carriage house and stable, it was a hotel from 1826 to 1833,^[2] and then a private residence. It was purchased by a utility company in 1905. The building was purchased by The Colonial Dames of America in 1924 and opened as a museum in 1939. Although it has undergone extensive alternations, it is one of the few remaining 18th-century buildings in New York City.^[3] Until 2000 it was known as the Abigail Adams Smith Museum in honor of one of the early owners of the property.^[4]

The museum is open to the public from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays through Sundays for tours of the period rooms and garden. The museum focuses on a period when the hotel's location offered a respite from the dirt, noise and bustle of city life. In the early part of the 19th century, New York City extended only as far north as approximately 14th Street, and it was common for members of the upper and middle classes to take day trips to "the country", the then rural setting that is now midtown Manhattan. At day hotels like the Mount Vernon Hotel, guests could enjoy boating trips, carriage rides, and other leisure activities.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2008-04-15. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
2. ^ Mount Vernon Hotel Museum: About. ARTINFO. 2008. http://www.artinfo.com/galleryguide/22153/8671/about/mount-vernon-hotel-museum-formerly-the-abigail-adams-smith-museum-new-york/. Retrieved 2008-07-24 
3. ^ Museum History
4. ^ Historic Timeline, accessed September 4, 2010

External links

• Official Site
• Description of museum at ny.com