Hamilton-Holly House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Hamilton-Holly House |
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Hamilton-Holly House, in 2010
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| General information | |
| Architectural style | Federal |
| Location | 4 St. Mark's Place New York, New York 10003 |
| Coordinates | 40°43′45″N 73°59′23″W / 40.7291°N 73.9897°W |
The Hamilton-Holly House is a historic building located at 4 St. Mark's Place in the East Village area of Manhattan, New York. It was built in 1831 in the Federal style. This house is famous because it was the home of Eliza Hamilton, the wife of Alexander Hamilton, from 1833 to 1842. Alexander Hamilton was a very important person in early American history. For many years, a cool punk fashion store called Trash and Vaudeville was also located here.
The House's Design and Early Days
A British real estate developer named Thomas E. Davis built this house. He developed the whole block of St. Mark's Place, which is also known as East 8th Street. Davis built many houses in the Federal style on both sides of the street. Two other houses from his project still stand today: one at 25 St. Mark's Place and the Daniel LeRoy House at 20 St. Mark's Place.
The Hamilton-Holly House is about 26 feet wide and three and a half stories tall, plus a basement. It is made of brick laid in a special pattern called Flemish bond. The basement level is made of white marble. The house has a tall front stoop leading to the main entrance. This entrance has a fancy Baroque style design with large stone blocks and a triple keystone. The windows on the main floor are long, and the roof is peaked with two dormer windows.
Originally, there was a curved iron balcony on the first floor. Around 1865, a two-story addition was built at the back of the house. By the 1890s, a fire escape was added to the front.
Eliza Hamilton's Home
For nine years, from 1833 to 1842, the house at 4 St. Mark's Place was the home of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, also known as Eliza. She was the widow of Alexander Hamilton, who was the first Secretary of the Treasury and one of the founding fathers of the United States.
In November 1833, Eliza's son, Col. Alexander Hamilton Jr., bought the house from Thomas E. Davis for $15,500. At the same time, Davis bought The Grange, which was Eliza's home in upper Manhattan, for $25,000. Eliza was 76 years old at the time. Selling The Grange helped the Hamilton family buy the new townhouse. Eliza lived in the Hamilton-Holly House with two of her grown children and their spouses: her son Alexander and his wife Eliza, and her youngest daughter Eliza Hamilton Holly and her husband Sidney Augustus Holly.
In October 2004, the building was officially recognized as a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. This means it is a historically important building that needs to be protected.
What Happened Next
In the 1870s and 1880s, the building was used as a place for meetings that people could rent. The top two floors became apartments. Later, the street level and basement were rented out to different businesses.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the basement of the building became the Tempo Playhouse. This theater showed American premieres of plays by famous writers like Jean Genet and Eugène Ionesco. Later, another theater called the New Bowery Theater used the space and showed some early underground films.
For more than 40 years, from 1975 to February 2016, the first floor and basement were home to Trash and Vaudeville. This was a very popular punk fashion store.
In 2015, the property was put up for sale for about $12 million. After the store and four apartments were empty, an investment group bought the building in April 2016 for $10 million. In November 2016, plans to fix up the building were approved. These plans included restoring the front of the building, rebuilding the grand curved balcony, adding a new entrance, and changing the inside to create more homes.
See also
In Spanish: Casa Hamilton-Holly para niños
