Mount Vernon Hotel Museum

The Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden presents the period of the Mount Vernon Hotel which operated from 1826 until 1833. Constructed in 1799 as a carriage house for a 23-acre estate, and converted into the Mount Vernon Hotel in 1826, this stone building sits on land originally owned by Colonel William Stephens Smith, and his wife Abigail Adams Smith, daughter of John Adams. 

This fashionable country resort was popular among New Yorkers who wished to escape the hustle and bustle of the city which at that time extended only as far north as 14th Street. The Hotel advertised itself as “free from the noise and dust of the public roads, and fitted up and intended for only the most genteel and respectable” clientele. In those days, one could take the stagecoach or steamboat up to 61st street and spend the day at the hotel sipping lemonade in the ladies parlor or playing cards in the gentlemen’s tavern.

In 1833, the house became the home for three generations of a New York City family. In 1905, as the area became more industrialized, the building was purchased by Standard Gas Light Company (today’s Con Edison).  The Colonial Dames of America, a woman’s patriotic society purchased the building in 1924. After extensive restoration to the structure, the Colonial Dames opened the site to the public in 1939.  The building endures as a rare reminder of an important era in New York City’s history.

Tour#1
From Carriage House to Country Escape (and everything in between)

Why would someone convert a carriage house into a country resort for New Yorkers in the early 1800s?  Why wasn’t this building torn down to accommodate an encroaching city?  This tour provides the answers to these and many other questions concerning the various lives and uses of the museum and reveals how, by repeatedly reinventing itself, this unique 18th-century building survived in a growing urban environment. 

Price: $10, $9 seniors

Tour #2
Behind the Ropes: A Decorative Arts Tour

Go “behind the scenes” at the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum.  On this tour, visitors will closely examine specific pieces from the Museum’s collection including the distinctive Chinese writing desk, ornate Empire tables, and the historic kitchen.  Guests will see how historic house curators use period artifacts, reproductions, and props to interpret the past.  A walk through the Museum Garden will follow this tour. 

Price: $10, $9 seniors

Tour #3
Upstairs, Downstairs: A Social History Tour

Travel back to the 1820s and 30s when the Mount Vernon Hotel was visited by affluent guests and staffed by working-class New Yorkers.  Learn about both the well-to-do ladies and gentlemen sipping turtle soup in the dining hall, as well as the African American and Irish employees who waited on them.  Upstairs, meet a lady guest of the Mount Vernon Hotel, played by a costumed interpreter, who will take visitors on an interactive tour of the ladies’ double parlors. This tour includes tea and scones.

Price: $20, $19 seniors

Please note: Tours #1 and #2 may be followed by a gourmet boxed lunch in the Museum Garden (April-September weather permitting) or by a discounted lunch at a participating local restaurant.  Please call the 212 838-6878 for more information or to book a tour.