The Morris–Jumel Mansion (also known as the Morris House, Mount Morris, Jumel Mansion, and Morris–Jumel Mansion Museum) is an 18th-century historic house museum in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the oldest extant house in Manhattan, having been built in 1765 by British military officer Roger Morris, and was also home to the family of socialite Eliza Jumel in the 19th century. The New York City government has owned the house since 1903. The house's facade and interior are New York City designated landmarks, and the building is a National Historic Landmark and a contributing property to the Jumel Terrace Historic District and the Dominican Historic District.
Roger Morris developed the house for himself and his wife Mary Philipse Morris, but only lived there until 1775. Continental Army General George Washington used the mansion as his temporary headquarters for one month in late 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, after which British and Hessian officers occupied the house until 1783. After the British evacuation of New York, the house passed through multiple owners over the next three decades, being used variously as a residence and a tavern. The Jumels bought the house in 1810, living there intermittently until the late 1830s; the Jumel family and the related Chase family then occupied the house consistently until 1887. After being sold twice more, the house was owned by the Earle family from 1894 to 1903. After the city acquired the mansion, it reopened as a museum on May 29, 1907, and was operated by the Washington Headquarters Association. The house has undergone renovations in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1980s.
The house, designed with elements of the Federal, Georgian, and Palladian styles, has a raised basement and three above-ground stories. It has a wooden facade with a double-height portico facing south and an octagonal annex in the rear. The interior consists of a kitchen in the basement; a parlor, library, and dining room on the first floor; bedrooms on the upper floors; and wide central hallways. The museum's collection includes furniture, decorations, household items, and personal items belonging to its former occupants. The museum also presents performances and events at the house. Both the museum's exhibits and the house's architecture have received positive commentary, and the mansion has been featured in several media works.
Site The mansion is located at 65 Jumel Terrace in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. The house is in Roger Morris Park, within the boundaries of the Jumel Terrace Historic District, but is landmarked separately from the historic district. The entirety of the Jumel Terrace Historic District is within another historic district, the Dominican Historic District. The land lot, which is coextensive with Roger Morris Park, measures with a frontage of and a depth of . The site is bounded by Jumel Terrace to the west, 160th Street to the south, Edgecombe Avenue to the east, and 162nd Street to the north.
Extending west of the mansion is Sylvan Terrace, which was originally the mansion's carriage driveway. The house is surrounded by residential buildings, such as the 555 Edgecombe Avenue apartment building (formerly the Roger Morris Apartments) to the south. There are numerous row houses on the surrounding blocks, which include some of Manhattan's last remaining wood-frame houses. The 163rd Street–Amsterdam Avenue station of the New York City Subway is near the mansion.
The mansion sits atop Coogan's Bluff, from which Lower Manhattan, the Hudson River including the Palisades, the Bronx, Westchester, the Long Island Sound, and the Harlem River were once visible. The mansion also overlooked the Polo Grounds baseball stadium immediately to the east. The Jumel family, who once occupied the mansion, claimed to be able to see seven counties from the house. In the late 19th century, the house was visible from several miles away and had views of most locations in Manhattan, despite being readily accessible from the elevated Ninth Avenue Line. This led one 19th-century writer to state that "as a point of observation it is hardly to be excelled".
Roger Morris Park Roger Morris Park, within which the mansion is situated, is a park bounded by Jumel Terrace, Edgecombe Avenue, 160th Street, and 162nd Street. The park, named after British military officer Roger Morris, is the only remnant of a estate that belonged to him and his wife, Mary Philipse Morris. The Morris property covered some distance from Harlem all the way to the Hudson River to the west. The mansion itself was built on one of the highest natural points in Manhattan, though the site sloped slightly upward to the north.
A gate to the west, along Jumel Terrace, provides entry to the park. The gate is overshadowed by a saucer magnolia, and a brick path leads from the gate to the mansion's front door, which is lined with additional trees. Due to the steep slope of the site, there is a masonry retaining wall to the east, facing Edgecombe Avenue. There are brick pathways throughout the park.
The northeast corner of the park contains a sunken garden, which was designed by Helen Elise Bullard during a 1934–1935 Works Progress Administration renovation. It was adapted from an earlier Victorian-style garden on the site. The garden, which measures about , is octagonal; the shape was inspired by that of the mansion's octagonal annex. Stone paths divide the garden into quadrants, and there is a retaining wall around it. Next to the garden is an octagonal structure with a brick facade. There are also lawns on the west and north sides of the mansion, as well as a rose garden on the east side.
Residential history During the 17th century, the site was part of the town of Harlem and was located on a larger plot called the Great Maize Land. The first house on the site had been developed by Jan Kiersen, who received a half-morgen of land, about , in 1695 or 1696. He also received permission to build a house, barn, and garden east of Kingsbridge Road (now St. Nicholas Avenue). Kiersen received a deed to the land in 1700 or 1701 and gradually enlarged his estate. The land had been passed down to Kiersen's daughter Yantie (also spelled Jannetje) and her husband Jacob Dyckman by the late 1750s. Kiersen's two sons had sold off their interests in the farm prior to 1763, when the property was sold to James Carroll for 1,000 New York pounds. Carroll farmed on the land for two years before selling it to Roger Morris in 1765.
Morris ownership
Development and early occupancy Roger Morris, who served as a member of the Executive Council of the Province of New York, had retired from the British Army in 1764. At the time, Roger and Mary Morris lived at Broadway and Stone Street near the site of the present Bowling Green Custom House. Concurrently, the New York Mercury published an advertisement for a site in Upper Manhattan, with an orchard, two nearby rivers, and panoramic views in all four directions. Morris may have purchased the site around June 1765, when the advertisement was withdrawn. At the time, the site was still rural, the land was part of the British Province of New York, and New York City comprised what is now Lower Manhattan.
Construction began in mid-1765. Contractors secured oak timbers from the nearby forest, which oxen then pulled to the site. Roger Morris described the site as a place where he "might find an eligible retreat for a gentleman fond of rural employments and who wishes to pass the Summer months with pleasure and profit". The house was originally known as Mount Morris but was also referred to as the Roger Morris House. Morris also built a stable and carriage house near the mansion. The entire estate was completed by 1770. There also were a set of barns, which were located to the north, near what is now 165th Street.
The Morrises' two sons and two daughters were born at the house, and four slaves also resided there. The Morrises lived there until 1775, when the American Revolutionary War began. Both Roger and Mary were Loyalists affiliated with the British cause. The historian William Henry Shelton wrote that Mount Morris was vulnerable to arson attacks from Patriots—who sought American independence—since Roger was a member of New York's legislative council. In an attempt to protect his property, Roger went to England at the start of the war. The rest of the family stayed at the house in mid-1775 and possibly early 1776, but they had fled by mid-1776, likely to the Philipse estate in Yonkers.
Use during the American Revolutionary War
Continental Army general William Heath and his officers occupied the house as early as September 5, 1776, holding it for their commander in chief, George Washington. Washington used the mansion as a headquarters for a month after British troops forced his army to retreat to Upper Manhattan. He entered the house on the night of September 14–15, 1776; the exact date and time of his arrival is unclear. The house was chosen because of its elevated topography, which enabled Washington to see approaching enemy troops. There were claims that Washington may have chosen the site because of a previous romantic attraction to Mary Morris, but these rumors were unfounded.
Washington stayed at the mansion for a month with his military secretary and several aides, strategizing for the Battle of Harlem Heights while headquartered there. About 8,000 troops stayed in nearby camps, while some troops set up wooden huts along modern-day Sylvan Terrace. He reportedly observed the Great Fire of 1776 from the mansion's second-floor balcony. The Continental Army remained in "undisturbed possession of their camps" until about October 18, when the Battle of Pell's Point began. Washington retreated around October 21–22 to flee advancing British troops, and Continental Army colonel Robert Magaw was left to guard the house. On November 16, 1776, during the Battle of Fort Washington, Washington's troops tried to reenter the house but were beaten back by British troops. The British captured about 3,000 Continental Army soldiers, took nearby Fort Washington, and occupied the house. Captured Continental Army prisoners were tied up in the mansion's barns.
The British occupied the house from 1776 until the evacuation of New York in 1783. Documentation of the British troops' time at the house is sparse and is described mainly in two soldiers' journals. Records do not show who occupied the house just after the British captured Fort Washington. Maps from 1777 and 1782 showed that there were four buildings around the mansion's site, which likely included a barn, a coach house, and another house. The mansion became the headquarters of British lieutenant-general Henry Clinton until 1777 and Hessian commander Baron Wilhelm von Knyphausen during 1778. The latter's staff also took up some space in the house. Other Hessian and British commanders sporadically occupied the mansion, and a tent camp existed nearby. During 1780, the British used the house as a lookout station, and Hessian major general Von Lossburg also lived there.
Confiscation, 1780s to 1800s
In 1779, the Colony of New York's Commissioners of Forfeiture passed the Act of Attainder, which confiscated all Loyalists' properties as soon as the British withdrew from New York. The Morrises forfeited their Harlem Heights estate, which was advertised for sale in the New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury in 1783. Following its confiscation, Mount Morris was occupied by several different tenants. The house was recorded as having been sold in July 1784 to John Berrian and Isaac Ledyard for 2,250 New York pounds. Josiah Collins Pumpelly and the St. Louis Post Dispatch stated that Ledyard lived in the house for at least a year, but Arnold Pickman wrote that neither Berrian nor Ledyard lived in the house.