The Admiral's House is a historic building located in the Nolan Park area of

Governors Island Governors Island is a island in New York Harbor, within the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the Buttermilk ...

New York Harbor New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay, ...

. It was originally designed by Martin E. Thompson in the

Greek Revival style Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

, and completed in 1843. The Admiral's House is both on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

and a

New York City designated landmark The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and c ...

History

It was designed in 1840 by Martin E. Thompson in the

, and construction was completed in 1843."Governors Island Admiral's House"
''Daytonian in Manhattan'' (October 23, 2010) A south wing was added in 1886, and the roof was raised for the installation of a

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the arch ...

entrance

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

with

Doric columns The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

1893–1918. The rear of the house was redesigned in 1936-37 by Charles O. Cornelius, who removed the house's original peak roof and added ironwork to the structure.

Uses

Governors Island hosted a U.S. Army post alternately known as Fort Columbus and

Fort Jay Fort Jay is a coastal bastion fort and the name of a former United States Army post on Governors Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. Fort Jay is the oldest existing defensive structure on the island, and was named for John Jay, a m ...

and headquarters from the 1870s until 1965 when the structure was known as the Commanding Officer's Quarters or Quarters 1. Residents included

Omar N. Bradley Omar Nelson Bradley (12 February 1893 – 8 April 1981) was a senior Officer (armed forces), officer of the United States Army during and after World War II, rising to the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He wa ...

Robert Lee Bullard Lieutenant General Robert Lee Bullard (January 5, 1861 – September 11, 1947) was a senior officer of the United States Army. He was involved in conflicts in the American Western Frontier, the Philippines, and World War I, where he commanded t ...

Adna Chaffee Adna Romanza Chaffee (April 14, 1842 – November 1, 1914) was a lieutenant general in the United States Army. Chaffee took part in the American Civil War and Indian Wars, played a key role in the Spanish–American War, and fought in the Boxe ...

John J. Pershing General of the Armies John Joseph Pershing (September 13, 1860 – July 15, 1948), nicknamed "Black Jack", was an American army general, educator, and founder of the Pershing Rifles. He served as the commander of the American Expeditionary For ...

Walter Bedell Smith General (United States), General Walter Bedell "Beetle" Smith (5 October 1895 – 9 August 1961) was a senior officer (armed forces), officer of the United States Army who served as General Dwight D. Eisenhower's chief of staff at Allied Forc ...

Leonard Wood Leonard Wood (October 9, 1860 – August 7, 1927) was a United States Army major general, physician, and public official. He served as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, List of colonial governors of Cuba, Military Governor of Cuba, ...

, Jonathan Wainwright, and

Winfield Scott Hancock Winfield Scott Hancock (February 14, 1824 – February 9, 1886) was a United States Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service ...

, who ran for president while living here. In 1966 the island became a U.S. Coast Guard base and headquarters for the Third Coast Guard District and the Atlantic Area Command, and the house was renamed Admiral's House. It was officially designated as Building 1. On December 7, 1988, the house was the location of a meeting between

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

, then General Secretary of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and U.S. President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

, immediately after Gorbachev's speech to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

announcing "

perestroika ''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...

". The summit meeting helped the two countries to take steps which led to the end of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. The Coast Guard base closed in 1996, in some part due to the

peace dividend ''Peace dividend'' was a political slogan popularized by US President George H. W. Bush and UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the light of the 1988–1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, that described the economic benefit of a decrease in ...

which resulted from the lessening of tensions.National Park Service
"Admiral's House"
''WiredNewYork'' The Admiral's House was designated a New York City landmark in 1967"Admiral's House Designation Report"

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the Government of New York City, New York City agency charged with administering the city's Historic preservation, Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting Ne ...

(September 19, 1967) and was added to the

in 1972."Admiral's House"
National Register Digital Asset Management System

Description

The Admiral's House is two stories tall, with a high basement to its east, where the land slopes downward. The original (1843) wing was described as having "the character of a country villa with some unusual exterior woodwork" as well as a

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

with scalloped molding as well as latticed porch columns. The porches on both the east and west sides have two-story-high Doric wooden columns. The porch on the west side contains granite steps, while the porch on the east side has a

veranda A veranda (also spelled verandah in Australian and New Zealand English) is a roofed, open-air hallway or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front an ...

that branches out to semicircular brick steps. There are wrought-iron lamps beside both staircases as well as a wrought-iron railing at the back staircase. The southern and western elevations of the south wing also have a porch with wrought-iron railings. A brick walkway flanked by a pair of cannons leads from Nolan Park to the front entrance, on the western side. A Colonial Revival doorway is located at the front entrance, while full-height windows with shutters are located to either side of the front door. The rear porch on the eastern side has double doors below transoms. The other windows in the Admiral's House are either six-over-six or nine-over-nine, with shutters.

References

External links

Photos from HABS
{{Authority control Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan Houses completed in 1843 Federal architecture in New York City Governors Island 1843 establishments in New York (state) New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan

History

Uses

Description

See also

References

External links