Exclusive Tour of Van Cortlandt House

On Monday, courtesy of the New York Adventure Club (which I of course joined as soon as I heard about it, even if I cannot afford to go to many of their events), I took part in an exclusive tour of the Van Cortlandt House, the oldest house in the Bronx and one of the oldest in NYC - it dates back to 1748!

Because this was an exclusive private tour for the club, we got to go behind gates and ropes and actually into the rooms (my history buff self was thrilled) as long as we promised not to touch anything, and everyone was super respectful and actually honoured that promise (my former tour guide self was more thrilled)! There was a lot to take in, so I took a lot of photos, but I will try not to overload this entry with them and only post a few of the many many photos that were taken. Hey, if you wanna see more of the house, plan a trip to the Bronx to see it, as it's really quite nice.


The Van Cortlandt House was built in 1748 by Frederick Van Cortlandt, the son of a Dutch immigrant (Let's not forget that New York was once New Amsterdam), for his rapidly rising-through-the-social-ranks family. The Van Cortlandts were wealthy and well-connected, intermarrying other influential families such as the Jays (Where John Jay, one of the authors of the Federalist Papers, came from).

Although Frederick did not live to see the completion of the house, he wanted a nice Georgian house on his family's wheat plantation, which was then 4 hours away from New York City (which used to only be the Wall Street-Battery Park area - in fact back then, this area was part of Yonkers!) to display that wealth. 

There aren't a lot of Dutch details in the house but there are a few that hint at the family's origins. Dutch colours are used in the house's interior, including one surprisingly charming use of 'Dutch Orange' - and the outside of the house has 'grotesques' over all the windows instead of plain keystones, pictured at left. In Dutch superstition, these faces are said to ward off evil the same way gargoyles might. At least that's what our tour guide said. I don't know how superstitious Frederick was though - he may have just wanted some old world charm!

After Frederick's death, the house and the plantation were left to his son James Van Cortlandt. James was also involved in government, serving as Supervisor of the Precinct of Yonkers and as a member of the Committee of Safety and the Westchester County Militia during the Revolutionary War. Although, the family's actual leanings during the Revolution - be they loyalist or patriot - are unknown. On one hand, James was serving under the British. On the other hand, his younger brother Augustus hid certain documents from the British, and the house was one of many places where Washington stayed to plan battles against the British. In fact it's very likely that parts of the Battle of Yorktown were planned here when Washington, Lafayette, and Rochambeau stayed here in the 1780s! More on that later...

Let's step inside...

Our tour guide/interpreter was named Michael, and he was very informative and clearly very passionate about both the history of the house, and its context within the history of New York history, which I really appreciated. He's also a historical reenactor who sometimes plays George Washington at events so I will likely cross paths with him again.

Here, he is showing a map of what New York City was back then, underneath some tobacco jars, in the less-formal of the house's two parlours, the West Parlour. This would have been where the Van Cortlandt family took their casual meals, with more formal dinners with guests being taken in the East Parlour across the hall. In my opinion, the West Parlour was cuter, as it used colour rather than elaborate wood carving to decorate, which really gives it a pop by modern standards.

This is the room where that Dutch Orange colour I mentioned is used, in the china cabinets on either side of the fireplace. The china in the cabinets is original - and it's actually from China! The Van Cortlandts, like many wealthy 18th-century families, bought imported Chinese porcelaine because it was trendy at the time. The tiles around the fireplace are also original. It's not the first Colonial-era room I've seen with a tiled fireplace like that, a lot of the Colonial rooms at the Met have that as well, so I'm beginning to think that was trendy as well...

The colours may seem bright and garish - in fact, they reminded me of the Mid-Century Modern decor of the 1950s-1970s. But these were the original colours of the room in the 18th century, as determined by microscopic paint analysis. We tend to forget this in the modern era because old paintings fade and old photos are black and white, but history was actually really colourful.

And in case anyone is curious, here is the more formal East Parlour, complete with harpsichord.

The Van Cortlandt House is more a mansion than a house - seriously, this thing is huge - so after marveling at the two gorgeous parlours and the wooden eagles flanking the front door in the entryway, we made our way up to the second floor (out of three floors, if I recall correctly) where the bedrooms were.

At left is the bed in the West Chamber, which is likely where George Washington stayed in at least one of his stays here (if I'm remembering correctly, he stayed here on three separate occasions, but don't quote me on that). While I knew beforehand that the house dated back to the Colonial period - that's why I went, in my ongoing quest to experience all of Colonial New York - I did not know before visiting that Washington stayed here. (This also happened to me at Morris-Jumel Mansion, so it's beginning to feel like Washington is following me around New York City - odd, considering he was a Virginian!)

John Adams also stayed in this room during his presidency, but no one cares about John Adams.

The bedroom is the most formal of all the bedrooms in the house, and when it wasn't housing men like Washington, Lafayette, and John Adams, it was likely where the owners of the house slept.

The bed, the drapery around the bed, and the windows all have the same chintz fabric. This particular pattern of chintz that is used in this room is a reproduction made from the archives of the Dutch East India Company - one of the major importers of patterned textiles during the 18th century.

Displayed in the room when we visited, and pictured at right, is a representation of what the side table may have looked like when Washington and his men used this house as a temporary headquarters, when Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette met with Rochambeau in this room. (The coat is not original - it was made by our tour guide to wear when he plays Washington at reenactments!)

I'm not sure where Lafayette would have slept. Knowing the 18th century, he very well may have shared a bed with General Washington. Knowing Lafayette and his hero worship of the man, I don't think he would have minded this very much.

There were two other bedrooms on the front section of this floor. One was a guest bedroom, as back then guests at dinner parties would have been invited to stay over night, as long travel after dark was dangerous. And one was the children's bedroom, for the Van Cortlandt children, featuring one of the oldest extant dollhouses I've ever seen:

I'm sorry, let me ramble about this dollhouse a little bit, because this thing is incredible, It was built in 1744 so it actually predates the house, and it has a charming dining room downstairs and a bedchamber upstairs. Dollhouses like this would have been played with by not just very young girls, but preteens as well, if you'll pardon the anachronistic use of the word 'preteen'. It wasn't just a frivolous plaything. At the time, a well-bred girl would one day run a household of her own, and dollhouses were used as practise for decorating the rooms and setting tables and other things she would be expected to oversee as someone's wife. In a way, it was an educational tool.

Just behind the children's room was the 'servant's quarters', which is typically closed off to the public, but since we were a private event we were allowed to go in. Just like with many other house museums (including the one I used to work at), this closed off area is currently being used for storage, such as with these lovely original tiles that are in the process of being restored.

While the small, not-well-lit room is unfurnished now, at that time it likely had a very simple table and chair and a grass mattress on the floor for the servants and/or slaves to sleep on.

While the area is called the 'servant's quarters', the guide himself admitted we don't know if the people living in this part of the house and serving the Van Cortlandts were paid servants or slaves. Slavery was not yet illegal in New York at the time that the house was built, so they very well could have been slaves, which was a sad and sobering thought to think about when wandering through this closed off area of the house. Looking at the beautiful porcelain and chintz fabric downstairs, it's easy to forget about the darker side of the eighteenth century and the American Colonial period...

All in all, though, it was a fascinating trip, and I'm glad I journeyed all the way up to the Bronx in order to take it. Even for someone who already knew a lot about the period, I learned a lot!

Thank you, New York Adventure Club! Hopefully I'll be able to afford tickets to more events like this in the future!
-Nym