24/4/13 – Tour of Gracie Mansion

Most days on the way to the gym we pass ‘Gracie Mansion’ which is the official residence of the Mayor of the City of New York. As Mayor Bloomberg already had his own residence and was keen restore the residence to its original state, he has not lived at Gracie Mansion at all during his 12 year term.

Instead he enlisted the expertise of designer Jamie Drake and with the aid of funds from a generous ‘anonymous donor’ (widely thought to be the billionaire Mayor himself) has used his time in office to complete the restoration work. As a result of all this effort the place now looks absolutely magnificent. Instead of being a residence the place has now become a public venue used for official events, receptions, award ceremonies, press releases and, from time to time, to provides secure and luxurious accommodation for important guests, like Nelson Mandela.

Archibald Gracie built the two storey Ezra Weeks designed Federal style home in 1799 (in what is now Carl Shurtz Park) at the corner of East End Avenue and E 88^th Street on the edge of the East River at a spot those who sailed the river called ‘Hell Gate’ (because of the treacherous currents found there).

The wooden floors are painted black and white to look like marble tiles as these were unavailable and too expensive at the time. The marble skirting boards are also really painted wood and the current, although not original, entrance hall is decorated with whale oil lamps and toleware (tin) ornaments.

 

One of the distinguishing features of the Federal style of house design is that all of the rooms in the house are ‘perfectly balanced’ – that is they are symmetrical. We first saw this in the morning room which has a pretty vista looking out over the lawn and the river. This neat and tidy room is complete with Phyfe furniture and a ‘marble’ - pine painted fireplace. The dining room is the only room in the residence without ‘balance’ as it incorporates where the location of the first front door. 

We learned that an American colonial ‘mirror’ was a convex polished metal surface the sole purpose of which was to reflect the light from the candles attached to the front of it. Such mirrors were usually topped with a flying American eagle, complete with ball and chain, apparently protesting the oppression of King George III. A modern day glass mirror was called a ‘looking glass’. This room was complete with Zuber panoramic wallpaper (an 18^th century French woodblock painted fabric).

 

The Gracie Mansion parlour was painted yellow and so famous is the colour today that it has been patented. It is decorated with gasolier (gas fuelled candeliers) and artwork by James Pringle. The upstairs hall is furnished with a chest (of the kind usually given to newly married couples in the Hudson River area in the 1700s) and a rare 5 backed settee, also from the 1700s. The three guest bedrooms depicted different time periods from 1800s - country bedroom furniture from folk art museum, a Chinoiserie decorated ‘bamboo’ suite and a third 1850s bedroom complete with a traditional Irish fireplace. 

Downstairs we viewed the space that we see on TV – the Susan Wagner Wing. This 1950s addition to Gracie Mansion was made to provide some privacy for the Mayor’s family since previously the various functions were held literally ‘in the home’ of the Mayor. In this, the ‘public wing’ of the building, we saw the familiar platform and lectern backed with the flags representing the nation, the state and the city.

But there was also a fourth flag that we did not recognise and were impressed to discover that Mayor Bloomberg always has a POW and MIA flag present at official functions as a mark of respect and to show that those who have served their country (and their city) at great cost are not forgotten.

In the reception room as well as a magnificent chandelier, we saw the portrait of Susan Wagner (the wife of Mayor Robert Wagner). Unfortunately she passed away from breast cancer at quite a young age, but the addition of an official reception area had originally been her idea and so, even though she did not live to see it completed, the room has always been named after her. Her portrait takes pride of place in the centre of the room and the yellow colour paint for this room was especially designed to match her portrait.

The blue room (whose colour is the blue of the union army) next door follows a Civil War theme with a period mirrored candelier and Phyfe bookcase. There is also a portrait of one of the daughters of Archibald Gracie who died at 25 and also one of Archibald Gracie III (a General in the Confederate Army who was killed in the Battle of Petersburg during the Civil War).

Interestingly, his son, Archibald Gracie IV, was one of the few adult male survivors of the wreck of the RMS Titanic in 1912, but he died less than eight months after the ordeal from complications with his diabetes that were a direct result of the exposure and hypothermia he suffered.