Merchant's House Museum

Location: 29 East Fourth Street
Phone: (212) 777-1089
Description: The Merchant's Museum is New York City's only family home preserved intact from the 19th century. A National Historic and New York City landmark, the house was built in 1832 and was home to a prosperous merchant family for 100 years. It is the City's prime example of a Greek Revival home. Complete with its original furniture, decorative arts, and personal memorabilia, it offers an intimate glimpse of domestic life during the period when New York was transformed from a colonial seaport to a thriving metropolis. An importer of hardware, Seabury Tredwell worked in the South Street Seaport and "commuted" by horse-drawn omnibus from the Bond Street area, as the city's exclusive residential neighborhood was known in the 19th century. In 1835, he moved his large family of seven children into the red-brick and white marble rowhouse. Tredwells continued to live in the house until 1933, and the house was opened as a museum in 1936.