Fraunces Tavern is a tavern, restaurant and museum housed in a conjectural reconstruction of a building that played a prominent role in pre-Revolution and Revolution history. The building, located at 54 Pearl Street at the corner of Broad Street, has been owned by Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York Inc. since 1904, which claims it is Manhattan's oldest surviving building.[4] The building is a tourist site and a part of the American Whiskey Trail and the New York Freedom Trail.[5] [6]
Pre-Revolution history
New York Mayor Stephanus van Cortlandt built his home in 1671 on the site, but retired to his manor on the Hudson River and gave the property in 1700 to his son-in-law, Etienne "Stephen" DeLancey, a French Huguenot who had married Van Cortlandt's daughter, Anne. The DeLancey family contended with the Livingston family for leadership of the Province of New York.
DeLancey built the current building as a house in 1719. The small yellow bricks used in its construction were imported from Holland and the sizable mansion ranked highly in the province for its quality.[7] His heirs sold the building in 1762 to Samuel Fraunces who converted the home into the popular tavern, first named the Queen's Head.
Before the Revolution, the building was one of the meeting places of the Sons of Liberty. During the tea crisis of 1765, the patriots forced a British naval captain who tried to bring tea to New York to give a public apology at the building. The patriots, disguised as American Indians (like those of the subsequent Boston Tea Party), then dumped the ship's tea cargo into New York Harbor.
Revolution history
In August 1775, Americans took possession of cannons from the artillery battery at the southern point of Manhattan and fired on the HMS Asia. The British ship retaliated by firing a 32-gun broadside on the city, sending a cannonball through the roof of the building.
When the war was all but won, the building was the site of "British-American Board of Inquiry" meetings, which negotiated to ensure to American leaders that no "American property" (meaning former slaves who were emancipated by the British for their military service) be allowed to leave with British troops. Board members reviewed the evidence and testimonies that were given by freed slaves every Wednesday from April to November 1783, and British representatives were successful in ensuring that almost all of the loyalist blacks of New York maintained their liberty.[8]
After British troops evacuated New York, the tavern hosted an elaborate "turtle feast" dinner on Dec. 4, 1783 in the building's Long Room for U.S. Gen. George Washington where he said farewell to his officers of the Continental Army.
The building housed some offices of the Continental Congress as the nation struggled under the Articles of Confederation. With the establishment of the U.S. Constitution and the inauguration of Washington as president in 1789, the departments of Foreign Affairs, Treasury and War located offices at the building. The offices were vacated when the location of the U.S. capital moved on Dec. 6, 1790 from New York to Philadelphia.
Damage, reconstruction and landmarks
Fires
The building operated throughout much of the 19th century, but suffered several serious fires beginning in 1832. Having been rebuilt several times, the structure's appearance was changed to the extent that the original building design is not known. In 1890, the first floor exterior was remodeled and its original timbers sold as souvenirs.
The building was threatened in 1900 with demolition by its owners, who wanted to use the land for a parking lot. A number of organizations, notably the Daughters of the American Revolution, worked to preserve it, and convinced New York government leaders to use their power of eminent domain and designate the building as a park. The designation was rescinded when the property was acquired in 1904 by the Sons of the Revolution In the State of New York Inc. An extensive reconstruction was completed in 1907 under the supervision of preservation architect William Mersereau.[9] The building served as the location of the General Society Sons of the Revolution office until 2002, when the general society moved to its current location at Independence, Mo.
Historian Randall Gabrielan wrote in 2000 that "Mersereau claimed his remodeling of Fraunces Tavern was faithful to the original, but the design was controversial in his time. There was no argument over removing the upper stories, which were known to have been added during the building's 19th-century commercial use, but adding the hipped roof was questioned. He used the Philipse Manor House in Yonkers, N.Y. as a style guide and claimed to follow the roof line of the original, as found during construction, traced on the bricks of an adjoining building."[10]
Architects Norval White and Elliot Willensky wrote in 2000 that the building was "a highly conjectural reconstruction -- not a restoration -- based on 'typical' buildings of 'the period,' parts of remaining walls, and a lot of guesswork."[11]
Bombing
A bomb was exploded in the building on January 24, 1975, and killed four people and injured more than 50 people. The Puerto Rican nationalist group FALN, which had exploded other bombs in New York, claimed responsibility. No one was prosecuted for the bombing.
Landmarks
The building was declared in 1965 a landmark by New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, and the building's block bounded by Pearl Street, Water Street, Broad Street and Coenties Slip was included on Nov. 14, 1978.[2] The building's block was included on April 28, 1977[3] on the National Register of Historic Places by National Park Service, and the building was included on March 6, 2008.[1]
Gallery
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National Register of Historic Places marker at Fraunces Tavern
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George Clinton Room at the Fraunces Tavern museum
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Dining room at Fraunces Tavern
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References
External links
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