George Washington commandeered a different building on approximately the same site, during the American Revolutionary War, as it strategically overlooked Hell Gate. That building, called Belview Mansion, was the country residence of Jacob Walton, a New York merchant. The British destroyed this house during that war.
Archibald Gracie then built another building, now known as Gracie Mansion, on the site in 1799, and used it as a country home until 1823, when he had to sell it to pay debts. In the fall of 1801, Gracie hosted a meeting there of New York Federalists, called by Alexander Hamilton, to raise $10,000 for starting the New York Evening Post newspaper, which eventually became the New York Post.
Later history
Other people lived in the house until 1896, when the municipal government seized it and made its grounds part of Carl Schurz Park. It served various functions as part of that park (at various times it housed public restrooms, an ice cream stand, and classrooms) until 1924. From 1924 until 1936, it housed the Museum of the City of New York, and from 1936 until 1942, it was shown as a historical house.
In 1942, Robert Moses convinced Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia to appropriate the house as a mayoral residence. Its main two floors are open to the public on a limited basis for guided tours and serve as a small museum.
The house may only be used for official city business. Only visiting public officials and the mayor's family may reside with the mayor at the mansion, even for a single overnight stay.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg never resided at Gracie Mansion, although he used it for meetings and events and used the Mansion as a place for official visitors to stay while in the city. At the beginning of Bloomberg's term he initiated a major restoration of the mansion, funded by an anonymous donor, suspected of being the billionaire mayor himself.[4]
Mayor Bill de Blasio and his family currently live in Gracie Mansion.[5]
By suggestion of Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr.'s wife, Susan, plans were initiated for a new west wing, completed in 1966. The architect of the Susan B. Wagner Wing, as it is now called, was Mott B. Schmidt. Though criticized at the time for not being "modern," the wing has come to be regarded as an appropriate solution to the problem of expanding the small house for official functions. The Gracie Mansion Conservancy restored portions of the building during 1981-84, and made substantial decorative and functional restorations in 2002.[citation needed]
The mansion is featured in the film Ghostbusters II (1989), when the title characters visit the mayor regarding the imminent takeover of New York City by ghosts.
The mansion and its surroundings play a prominent role in the novel Hell Gate (2010), by Linda Fairstein.[7]
The original footage from the TV show The Yule Log was filmed on 16 mm film at Gracie Mansion and shown from 1966 to 1969 on WPIX-TV.[8]
In Mad Men, the mansion is mentioned by Bert Cooper in the episode entitled "New Amsterdam" (season 1, ep. 04) after Don fires Pete Campbell and is summoned to account for his actions.
^Steinhauer, Jennifer (28 April 2002). "A Worn Gracie Mansion Awaits Its Face-Lift". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 November 2011. The exterior part of the restoration will cost $85,000, paid for mostly by an anonymous donor who is widely believed to be the mayor himself. (His aides are not confirming. Nor are they denying.)
