Alexander Macomb House (New York City)
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The Alexander Macomb House at 39–41 Broadway in
Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...
, New York City, served as the second U.S. Presidential Mansion. President
George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
occupied it from February 23 to August 30, 1790, during New York City's two-year term as the national capital. The building was demolished in 1940.


Macomb

Alexander Macomb (1748–1831) was an Irish-born American merchant and land speculator. He built the four-story city house on the west side of Broadway in 1786–1788. Macomb leased it to the French Minister Plenipotentiary, the Comte de Moustier, who occupied it until his return to Paris in early 1790.
It was one of a block of three houses erected in 1787 and was four stories and an attic high, with a width of fifty-six feet. From the rear of the main rooms glass doors opened onto a balcony giving an uninterrupted view of the Hudson River. On entering, one found a large hall with a continuous flight of stairs to the top of the house. On each side of the hall were spacious, high-ceilinged rooms, used for the levees and dinners and always referred to by Washington as "public rooms."
President Washington purchased furniture, mirrors and draperies from the departing Minister with his own money, including American-made furniture in the French style. Some of these items survive at Mount Vernon and elsewhere.


Presidential Mansion

The first Presidential Mansion was the
Samuel Osgood House The Samuel Osgood House, also known as the Walter Franklin House, was the first official residence of the President of the United States. It housed George Washington, his family, and household staff, from April 23, 1789, to February 23, 1790, ...
at 1 Cherry Street in Manhattan, which Washington occupied from April 23, 1789, to February 23, 1790. He had been living there a week prior to his April 30, 1789, inauguration as first President of the United States. The Osgood House (demolished 1856) was in the most congested part of Manhattan, near the port along the East River, and Washington found it cramped for his presidential household. The Macomb House was significantly larger, located in a neighborhood just north of the Bowling Green. The presidential household functioned with a staff of about 20, composed of wage workers, indentured servants and enslaved servants. Slavery was legal in New York, and Washington brought 7 enslaved Africans from Mount Vernon to work in his presidential household: William Lee,
Christopher Sheels Christopher Sheels (born , Mount Vernon, Virginia – year and place of death unknown), was a slave and house servant at George Washington's plantation, Mount Vernon, in Virginia, United States. As a teenager, he worked as Washington's "body s ...
, Giles, Paris, Austin, Moll, and
Oney Judge Ona "Oney" Judge Staines ( 1773 – February 25, 1848) was an enslaved woman of mixed races who was owned by the Washington family, first at the family's plantation at Mount Vernon and later, after George Washington became president, at the ...
. Two of Martha Washington's grandchildren were part of the First Family: Nelly Custis (born 1779) and "Wash" Custis (born 1781). Under the July 1790 Residence Act, the national capital moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for a 10-year period while the permanent national capital was under construction in the District of Columbia. Washington vacated the Macomb House on August 30, 1790, and returned to Mount Vernon, stopping in Philadelphia to examine what was to become the third Presidential Mansion, the Masters–Penn–Morris House at 190 High Street.


Hotel

In 1821, the Macomb House was converted into Bunker's Mansion House Hotel: "Bunker's Mansion House, a famous hotel, was situated at No. 39 Broadway, and was a large double-brick house, erected in 1786 by General Alexander Macomb as a residence for himself. It was a most comfortable and well-conducted hotel, and was patronized largely by Southern families. Bunker, who was noted for his affability to his customers, grew rich rapidly, and eventually sold the property and retired from business." In 1861, Daniel Huntington painted a fanciful depiction of the interior. "Mr. Huntington has in his famous painting of the Republican Court made the Macomb home on Broadway the background of his picture. This was a much more commodious house, to which the President and his family removed in the spring of 1790." In 1939, the
Daughters of the Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote ...
erected a bronze plaque at 39 Broadway. The house was demolished in 1940.


See also

*
Samuel Osgood House The Samuel Osgood House, also known as the Walter Franklin House, was the first official residence of the President of the United States. It housed George Washington, his family, and household staff, from April 23, 1789, to February 23, 1790, ...
, first Presidential mansion * President's House (Philadelphia), third Presidential mansion *
Germantown White House The Germantown White House (also known as the Deshler–Morris House) is a historic mansion in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the oldest surviving presidential residence, having twice housed Founding Father George Was ...
, twice temporarily occupied by President Washington * White House * List of residences of presidents of the United States


References

* At NYC auction in 1787, McComb purchased 19,840 acres in Range 2, Township 6 of the Northwest Territory; see ''Papers of the
Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...
,'' No. 59, Vol. 3, pp. 135–140. * Decatur, Stephen Jr., ''The Private Affairs of George Washington'' (1933). * Miller, Agnes. "The Macomb House: Presidential Mansion". ''Michigan History'', vol. 37 (December 1953): 373–384.


External links

*
Macomb's Mansion
(mlloyd.org). * Herbert, Lelia
''The First American: His Homes and His Households''
(New York: Harper & Brothers, 1900). {{Broadway (Manhattan) Broadway (Manhattan) Buildings and structures demolished in 1940 Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan Financial District, Manhattan Houses completed in 1788 New York City as the National Capital Presidency of George Washington Presidential homes in the United States Macomb Slavery in the United States Macomb Homes of United States Founding Fathers