Merchant's House Museum

>Saturday, June 20, 3 p.m.
Special Interactive Tour for Families: A Child’s View of Life in 19th Century New York
29 East Fourth Street was home not only to the eight Tredwell children, but also to two young granddaughters. Come tour the house and learn what life was like for children (and adults) in the 1850s, from schoolwork and chores to games and play. Could you carry a bucket of coal up steep stairs? Do you have a calling card? A top hat? What, no hoop skirt? How did you take a bath? And penmanship really, really mattered. Best for children 8 to 12 years old. $15, one adult, one child. $20, one adult, two children (max.)

Friday, June 19, 6:30 p.m. & 7 p.m.
Candlelight Ghost Tour

Sunday, June 14, 12:30 p.m.
Second Sunday Walking Tour: 19th Century Landmark Treasures of Noho

Tuesday, June 9, 6:30 p.m.
Illustrated Lecture: Conserving the Merchant’s House Gas Chandeliers
As well as being the first designated exterior landmark in Manhattan, the Merchant’s House is one of only 117 interior landmarks in New York City (1981). A significant presence in the House’s interior is a pair of gas chandeliers in the Greek Revival double parlor – possibly the oldest gaseliers remaining in situ in the Northeast. Conservator Julie Baker speaks on her 2006-7 project of dismantling, conserving, researching and documenting, and re-mounting these unique lighting fixtures with state-of-the-art fiber-optic illumination.
$10. $5 MHM Members.

Tuesday, June 2, 8 p.m.
Illustrated Lecture: The Merchant’s House Museum: A Culinary Exploration of Old New York
A collaboration with the National Arts Club
In this illustrated talk, culinary educator, professionally trained chef and museum guide Carl Raymond will present a virtual culinary tour of this extraordinary historic house museum, from the intimate family dining room and kitchen with its original servant call bells on the lowest level, to the richly appointed Greek Revival double parlor with formal dining room, all the way to the 4th floor Irish servants’ quarters. Your journey through nearly 100 years of New York City’s 19th century culinary history will cover the city’s market culture, recipes and dishes likely served at the Tredwell table including formal dinner parties, celebrations, and receptions and the essential rules of dining etiquette.
Free, reservations not required.
NOTE LOCATION: The National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South.  The Club encourages proper attire for ladies and gentlemen at all times.

May is Lower East Side History Month
Lower East Side History Month is an annual celebration of the rich and diverse history of the Lower East Side. Conceived by LES-based arts and community groups, LES History Month is an umbrella for a variety of public events, exhibits, tours, and learning opportunities — aiming to connect our present to our past, exploring how our history can inform and inspire our future. See the full schedule of events at www.leshistorymonth.org

Saturday, May 23, 3 p.m.
Exhibition Talk: Tredwell Costume Collection/Two-piece Day Ensemble, ca. 1858
With Pamela Long, Textile Conservator

Saturday, May 16, 10:30 a.m.
“Behind the Ropes” Tour of the Merchant’s House 1832 Ornamental Plasterwork with Historic Plaster Specialist David Flaharty
The Merchant’s House Museum’s original Greek Revival decorative plasterwork is considered by many to be the most important extant in a pre-Civil War residential interior in the United States. Its survival is now jeopardized by two major construction projects on East Fourth Street. Plaster restoration expert David Flaharty, who initially repaired portions of the Museum’s plaster in a major 1970s stabilization, will lead a unique “behind the ropes” tour and fascinating exploration of this outstanding 19th century craftsmanship. Flaharty will also discuss and demonstrate DIY decorative plaster techniques to create your own Merchant’s House.
David Flaharty, sculptor and ornamental plasterer, has worked on the restoration and new construction of ornamental plasterwork in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum, the Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the U.S. Department of State, and The White House. He has been involved in the preservation and restoration of the Merchant’s House for almost 40 years.
$20, Members $10. 75 minutes.

Friday, May 15, 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Candlelight Ghost Tour of “Manhattan’s Most Haunted House” (The New York Times)

Sunday, May 10, 12:30 p.m.
Special Mother’s Day Walking Tour: 19th Century Landmark Treasures of Noho
Celebrate with Mom and join us on this one-hour promenade through the NoHo Historic District.

Sunday, April 26, 6 p.m.
Concert – Farewell, Father, Friend and Guardian: A Musical Elegy Commemorating President Lincoln’s Death
In commemoration of President Lincoln’s assassination 150 years ago, the Bond Street Euterpean Singing Society presents music composed in 1865 offering solace to a newly reunited nation in shock and grief. The program title comes from a popular song by celebrated American composer George F. Root, most famous for his Civil War songs. An illustrated lecture about the history of Lincoln’s assassination, its aftermath, and the funeral train that transported the president from Washington, D.C. to his final resting place in Springfield, Illinois intertwines iconography and period photos to make this a unique and edifying multimedia presentation.
$30, $20 Members

Tuesday April 21, 8:30 p.m.
30 Glorious Minutes of the Merchant’s House Museum on TV!
Tune in to see the Merchant’s House episode on Blueprint: New York City.
Channel 25, NYC Life, the City of New York’s lifestyle channel, Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. Originally aired on March 17.

Blueprint: New York City “offers viewers a chance to look past the bricks and mortar and discover the history of some of the most famous buildings in New York.”

Friday, April 17, 6:30 p.m. 
‘April is the Cruellest Month’ Candlelight Ghost Tour
Doors slam, floorboards creak, voices call into the night. Venture into the shadows of history to see the house where eight family members died (and The New York Times called “Manhattan’s Most Haunted House”) by flickering candlelight and hear true tales of inexplicable occurrences from the people who actually experienced them.
50 minutes. $20, $10 Members. Upcoming Ghost Tours: Friday, May 15 and June 19.

Sunday, April 19, 12:30 p.m.
50th Anniversary Celebration of the Passing of the Landmarks Law on April 19, 1965
Special Walking Tour: 19th Century Landmark Treasures of Noho
On this one-hour walking tour of the Noho Historic District, promenaders will see 11 buildings designated as individual New York City landmarks. The tour begins at the 1832 Merchant’s House – Manhattan’s first landmark in 1965 – and within a few blocks traces 100 years of social, economic and technological changes during the 19th century, from a residential enclave for the wealthy merchant families of Old New York to a center of manufacturing and busy cultural center. The tour will feature stories of famous as well as infamous residents and builders of these landmarks and the renowned architects who designed them. Stops will include LaGrange Terrace, the DeVinne Press Building, Astor Library, The Cooper Union, and the Bayard-Condict Building.
$10, $5 Students & Seniors, FREE for Members. Reservations not required.

Saturday, April 11, 3 p.m.
Special Interactive Tour for Families: A Child’s View of Life in 19th Century New York
29 East Fourth Street was home not only to the eight Tredwell children, but also to two young granddaughters. Come tour the house and learn what life was like for children (and adults) in the 1850s, from schoolwork and chores to games and play. Could you carry a bucket of coal up steep stairs? Do you have a calling card? A top hat? What, no hoop skirt? How did you take a bath? And penmanship really, really mattered.
Best for children 8 to 12 years old. $15, one adult, one child. $20, one adult, two children (max.).
Reservations required.

Tuesday, April 7, 6:30 p.m.
Preservation, Who Needs It Anyway? With Hugh Hardy, FAIA, Founding Partner, H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture
Preservationists were once welcomed in urban environments as the lynchpin for stabilization and recovery and the key to balanced and intelligent development. Now they’re often portrayed as adversaries and obstacles to growth. Why this flip-flop? Is this accurate? Does the preservation movement still have an important positive role to play in New York City? And what is that role?

Hugh Hardy is the founding partner of H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture, known for design of distinctive new buildings, restoration of historic structures, and planning projects for the public realm across America. A major presence in New York, H3 has completed restoration of Radio City Music Hall, multiple projects for the Brooklyn Academy of Music and New York Botanical Garden’s Leon Levy Visitor Center together with restoration of Bryant Park. Their faithful recreations of the New Victory and the New Amsterdam theaters on 42nd Street were pivotal to reemergence of this famed street as one of New York’s premier places of entertainment. Mr. Hardy’s work is consistently recognized by civic, architectural, and preservation organizations for a progressive spirit and sensitive understanding of context.

Reception to follow. $25, $15 Members.

This program is part of NYC Landmarks50 Alliance, the multi-year celebration of the 50th anniversary of New York City’s Preservation Landmarks Law (April 19, 1965). All proceeds go directly to helping defray legal and engineering expenses incurred to protect the House from the impending construction next door.

Monday, February 2, through Friday, April 3
Exhibition – Out of their Boxes: The Tredwell Costume Collection on Display
On display, a one-piece spring and summer dress, 1859-1864, made of cream-colored sheer muslin with woven cream stripes and a printed black, tan, and red floral pattern. Printing with synthetic aniline dyes, which were discovered and initially produced in 1856, was a less costly way to replicate the look of more expensive, more intricately woven fabrics. This dress, because of its fragile condition, is rarely exhibited.

Of note, this dress is documented in the Index of American Design (IAD) at the National Gallery of Art. The IAD, a program of the New Deal Federal Art Project, was formed in 1935 to illustrate through watercolor renderings the history of American design in the applied and decorative arts. In 1937, the IAD documented 13 items in the Museum’s collection, including 8 of the 39 dresses.

Friday, March 13, 6:30 p.m.
“Spirit of the Irish” Candlelight Ghost Tour 
Doors slam, floorboards creak, voices call into the night. For more than seven decades, mystifying and mysterious tales have surrounded the Merchant’s House, leading The New York Times to call it “Manhattan’s Most Haunted House.” On this candle-lit tour, venture into the shadows of history to see the house where eight people died, and hear true tales of inexplicable occurrences from those who actually experienced them. Many of the most peculiar occurrences have been related to the Tredwells’ Irish servants, and so this special tour will include the 4th floor Servants’ Quarters.
50 minutes. $25, $15 Members.

Sunday, March 15, Walking Tour at 12:30 p.m., House Tour at 2 p.m.
St. Patrick’s Day Celebration: A Tribute to the Tredwells’ Irish Servants
Join us for a walking tour, ‘In the Footsteps of Bridget Murphy,’ and a back-stairs look at the Merchant’s House, “arguably the oldest intact site of Irish habitation in New York City” (Time Out New York). In our 45-minute walking tour of the neighborhood surrounding the Merchant’s House, we’ll explore the world of the Irish immigrants who worked as domestic servants for the Tredwells and other wealthy families of the Bond Street area. What did they do on their day off? Where did they shop? Go to church? How did they find employment when they first arrived? We’ll explore all of these questions and see sites associated with a servant’s life outside the walls of her employer’s home.
Then come climb the narrow staircase to the just-restored fourth-floor servants’ quarters and see where the Tredwells’ four Irish servants lived and did some of their work. You’ll learn why it would have been impossible to run a home like the Merchant’s House without them. Included with regular admission. Reservations not required.

Tuesday, March 10, 6:30 p.m.
Illustrated Lecture
Creating Landmarks: Revival Style Townhouses of 19th Century Manhattan
The 19th century European and American passion for historic, romantic, and picturesque architecture combined to create a profusion of revival styles, including the Greek, Gothic, Renaissance, Italian, French, and English. A rapidly expanding population with increasing wealth during this period made the emerging ‘Empire City’ a uniquely fertile site for architects, craftsmen, and home goods manufacturers to develop their arts and display their sophistication. The resultant urban landscape became a fantastic mix of styles, colors, patterns, and decoration – and ultimately the beloved stuff of today’s historic districts and individual landmarks.

Curtis Estes, architect and lecturer, returns for the final installment in his three-part series exploring the development of that most essential of all urban building types – the townhouse.
$10, $5 Members.

This program is part of NYC Landmarks50 Alliance, the multi-year celebration of the 50th anniversary of New York City’s Preservation Landmarks Law (April 19, 1965). All proceeds go directly to
helping defray legal and engineering expenses incurred to protect the House from the impending construction next door.

Sunday, March 8, 12:30 p.m.
Special Walking Tour: 19th Century Landmark Treasures of Noho

Saturday, February 21, 3:30 p.m.
Special Interactive Tour for Families: A Child’s View of Life in 19th Century New York
29 East Fourth Street was home not only to the eight Tredwell children, but also to two young granddaughters. Come tour the house and learn what life was like for children (and adults) in the 1850s, from schoolwork and chores to games and play. Could you carry a bucket of coal up steep stairs? Do you have a calling card? A top hat? What, no hoop skirt? How did you take a bath? And penmanship really, really mattered.
Best for children 8 to 12 years old. $15, one adult, one child. $20, one adult, two children (max.).
Reservations not required.

Friday, February 20, 6:30 p.m.
Dark Days of Winter Candlelight Ghost Tour 
Doors slam, floorboards creak, voices call into the dead of night. Venture into the shadows of history to see the house where eight family members died (and The New York Times called “Manhattan’s Most Haunted”) by flickering candlelight and hear true tales of inexplicable occurrences from the people who actually experienced them. 50 minutes. $20, $10 MHM Members.
Reservations required.

Saturday, February 14, 7:30 p.m.
Love in the Parlors: A Valentine in Concert
The Bond Street Euterpean Singing Society presents lush, romantic vocal music of the world’s greatest 19th-century composers performed in the Museum’s Greek Revival parlors. Singers Anthony Bellov, Rosalind Gnatt, Jane Elizabeth Rady, and Dayle Vander Sande with pianist Jai Jeffryes perform rarely heard gems by Rossini, Schumann, Brahms, Liszt, Delibes, Chaminade, Johann Strauss II, and others. Chosen by NBC Online and TimeOut NY as a top pick for Valentine’s Day.  75 minutes. $30, $20 Members. VIP Front Row tickets $40. 

Tuesday, February 10, 6:30 p.m.
Screening of The Heiress (1949), starring Olivia de Haviland, Montgomery Clift, and the Merchant’s House
Based on Washington Square, Henry James’s classic novel of mid-19th century New York City, this Academy Award winning and haunting film tells the story of young love — and a dominating father who didn’t approve. The similarities between James’s Catherine Sloper and our own Gertrude Tredwell are uncanny. Like Catherine, Gertrude never married, and according to family legend was forbidden from marrying her sweetheart, Luis Walton. We recently uncovered new information about Luis – and even a previously unidentified photograph in the Museum’s archives. The film and our new discoveries will be introduced by Merchant’s House board member Anthony Bellov. And you’ll see the Merchant’s House as you watch in the Greek Revival double parlor. The filmmakers designed the sets based on our period rooms. 114 minutes. $20, $10 Members.

Tuesday, January 20, 6:30 p.m.
Standing the Test of Time: The Merchant’s House and a Neighborhood Transformed
Francis Morrone discusses the 1832 Merchant’s House throughout the history of the neighborhood, at a time when new changes threaten the house once again. We’ll look at exclusive Lafayette Place and the first residential district developed solely for the affluent; the role of families such as the Astors and Schermerhorns in the area’s growth (including the construction of the Astor Library and the Astor Place Opera House); the post-Civil War growth of lofts and factories (including many now-landmarked structures); and the neighborhood’s revival as Noho, a highly desirable residential address. And through it all, how 29 East 4th Street has remained stalwart — and intact.

This is event is co-sponsored by the American Friends of the Georgian Group  and the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art.
$15 General Public, $8 GG, ICAA, and MHM members. Seating is limited. Reservations are required.

Francis Morrone is a renowned architectural historian and writer. The author of eleven books, including, most recently, “Guide to New York City Urban Landscapes” (W.W. Norton, 2013). Morrone has also written highly-regarded architectural guidebooks to Philadelphia, and Brooklyn. His writings have appeared in many publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the New Criterion, City Journal, Humanities and the New York Sun, where he was an art and architecture critic. He teaches architectural and urban history at New York University, and is the recipient of the university’s Excellence in Teaching Award. Travel + Leisure magazine named him as one of the 13 best tour guides in the world. Other awards include the Arthur Ross Award of the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art.

Friday, January 16, 6:30 p.m.
Dark Days of Winter Candlelight Ghost Tour 
Doors slam, floorboards creak, voices call into the dead of night. Venture into the shadows of history to see the house where eight family members died (and The New York Times called “Manhattan’s Most Haunted”) by flickering candlelight and hear true tales of inexplicable occurrences from the people who actually experienced them. 50 minutes. $20, $10 MHM Members.

NEW YEAR’S DAY, Thursday, January 1, 2 to 5 p.m.
‘Come Calling’ on New Year’s Day
Paying calls on friends and family on New Year’s Day was one of Old New York’s most cherished customs. Join us for tours of the house, 19th century readings about New Year’s Day celebrations, and punch and confectionery, as we continue the 19th century tradition of renewing, reviving, and reaffirming friendships. Holiday Raffle drawing at 4:30 p.m. “New York seemed to enjoy a general carnival. Broadway, from one end to the other, was alive with private carriages, omnibuses, cabs, and curricles, and lines of pedestrians fringed the carriageways.” From the Diary of Philip Hone, 1844. $20, $10 Members.