Historic House Trust
# Historic House Trust

The Historic House Trust of New York City was formed in 1989 as a public-private partnership with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to preserve the historic houses located within New York City parks, although most of the houses were not originally city-owned. The Trust works with the individual houses to restore and promote the houses as a means of educating residents and visitors about the social, economic and political history of New York City and cast urban history in a new light. The Trust includes 23 historic sites, with 18 operating as museums and attracting 729,000 annual visitors.

## Properties

The Historic House Trust includes properties in each of New York City's five boroughs, and there is a house for every period in the City's history, depending on one's scheme of dividing history. A number of the properties have live-in caretakers to help prevent vandalism and other problems.

| Landmark name | Built | Borough | Description |
| - | - | - | - |
| Alice Austen House Museum | 1690 | Staten Island 40°36′54″N 74°03′49″W﻿ / ﻿40.614917°N 74.063611°W﻿ / 40.614917; -74.063611﻿ (Alice Austen House Museum) | Home of photographer Alice Austen. Now a museum. |
| Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum | 1836 | The Bronx 40°52′18″N 73°48′21″W﻿ / ﻿40.871611°N 73.805944°W﻿ / 40.871611; -73.805944﻿ (Bartow-Pell Mansion) | Exemplifies a type of early 19th-century country living in the Pelham Bay Park area. |
| The Conference House | 1675 | Staten Island 40°30′10″N 74°15′14″W﻿ / ﻿40.502861°N 74.253778°W﻿ / 40.502861; -74.253778﻿ (The Conference House) | The Staten Island Peace Conference held here on September 11, 1776 unsuccessfully attempted to end the American Revolutionary War. This National and New York City Landmark is the only surviving pre-Revolutionary manor house in New York City. |
| Dyckman Farmhouse Museum | 1784 | Manhattan 40°52′03″N 73°55′24″W﻿ / ﻿40.867547°N 73.923256°W﻿ / 40.867547; -73.923256﻿ (Dyckman Farmhouse) | |
| Gracie Mansion | 1799 | Manhattan 40°46′34″N 73°56′36″W﻿ / ﻿40.776111°N 73.943333°W﻿ / 40.776111; -73.943333﻿ (Gracie Mansion) | |
| Historic Richmond Town | 1670 | Staten Island 40°34′17″N 74°08′45″W﻿ / ﻿40.571294°N 74.145814°W﻿ / 40.571294; -74.145814﻿ (Historic Richmond Town) | |
| King Manor Museum | 1750 | Queens 40°42′11″N 73°51′43″W﻿ / ﻿40.703056°N 73.861944°W﻿ / 40.703056; -73.861944﻿ (King Manor) | |
| Kingsland Homestead | 1785 | Queens 40°45′49″N 73°49′27″W﻿ / ﻿40.763718°N 73.824255°W﻿ / 40.763718; -73.824255﻿ (Kingsland Homestead) | Home to the remains of a weeping beech tree that was one of New York City's two "living landmarks" and the 'matriarch' of such trees in the United States |
| Lewis H. Latimer House | 1889 | Queens 40°45′58″N 73°49′46″W﻿ / ﻿40.766063°N 73.829402°W﻿ / 40.766063; -73.829402﻿ (Lewis Latimer House) | |
| Lefferts Historic House | 1777 | Brooklyn 40°39′52″N 73°57′50″W﻿ / ﻿40.664323°N 73.963802°W﻿ / 40.664323; -73.963802﻿ (Lefferts Historic House) | |
| The Little Red Lighthouse | 1889 | Manhattan 40°51′01″N 73°56′49″W﻿ / ﻿40.850242°N 73.946947°W﻿ / 40.850242; -73.946947﻿ (Little Red Lighthouse) | |
| Hendrick I. Lott House | 1720 | Brooklyn 40°36′37″N 73°55′58″W﻿ / ﻿40.610278°N 73.932778°W﻿ / 40.610278; -73.932778﻿ (Hendrick I. Lott) | |
| Merchant's House Museum | 1832 | Manhattan 40°43′40″N 73°59′33″W﻿ / ﻿40.727639°N 73.992528°W﻿ / 40.727639; -73.992528﻿ (Merchants House Museum) | |
| Morris-Jumel Mansion | 1675 | Manhattan 40°50′04″N 73°56′19″W﻿ / ﻿40.834528°N 73.938611°W﻿ / 40.834528; -73.938611﻿ (Morris-Jumel Mansion) | |
| The Old Stone House | 1699 | Brooklyn 40°40′23″N 73°59′05″W﻿ / ﻿40.672958°N 73.984625°W﻿ / 40.672958; -73.984625﻿ (Old Stone House) | A 1930 reconstruction with some original materials of the Vechte-Cortelyou House which was destroyed in 1897. The site was part of the Battle of Long Island. It also housed the predecessors to the Brooklyn Dodgers at one time. |
| Edgar Allan Poe Cottage | 1797 | The Bronx 40°51′55″N 73°53′40″W﻿ / ﻿40.865278°N 73.894444°W﻿ / 40.865278; -73.894444﻿ (Edgar Allan Poe House) | |
| Queens County Farm Museum | 1750 | Queens 40°44′54″N 73°43′21″W﻿ / ﻿40.748379°N 73.722612°W﻿ / 40.748379; -73.722612﻿ (Queens County Farm Museum) | |
| Seguine Mansion | 1838 | Staten Island 40°30′55″N 74°11′51″W﻿ / ﻿40.515218°N 74.19753°W﻿ / 40.515218; -74.19753﻿ (Seguine Mansion) | |
| Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre | 1877 | Manhattan 40°46′48″N 73°58′13″W﻿ / ﻿40.779976°N 73.970215°W﻿ / 40.779976; -73.970215﻿ (Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre) | |
| Valentine-Varian House | 1758 | The Bronx 40°52′38″N 73°52′47″W﻿ / ﻿40.877222°N 73.879722°W﻿ / 40.877222; -73.879722﻿ (Valantine-Varian House) | |
| Van Cortlandt House Museum | 1758 | The Bronx 40°53′24″N 73°53′47″W﻿ / ﻿40.89°N 73.896389°W﻿ / 40.89; -73.896389﻿ (Van Cortland House) | |
| The Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum | 1652 | Brooklyn 40°38′40″N 73°55′15″W﻿ / ﻿40.64444°N 73.92083°W﻿ / 40.64444; -73.92083﻿ (Wycoff Farmhouse Museum) | |

## History

In 1988, the City Parks department established a Historic House Office to preserve the 23 City-owned historic house-museums located in City parks. This office gave way to the Historic House Trust of New York City in 1989, funded by private donations, as well as grants, with the goal of each house becoming a professionally accredited museum. In an effort to increase awareness of the program during its first year of operation, the Trust developed a so-called passport program wherein visitors would receive stamps each time they visited one of the houses. If a visitor went to all 23 properties, they would receive an audience with the Mayor. HHT's passport program was brought back in 2008 as a method of commemorating the Trust's 20th anniversary.

The Trust also holds events such as the Historic Houses Festival, during which all the houses are open with different events at each, in order to raise awareness. New properties are added to the Trust when they come under city control if private care-taking or ownership has not succeeded, although the contents of the home may remain under private ownership.

