Alexander Macomb House (New York City)
Encyclopedia
The Alexander Macomb House at 39-41 Broadway in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

 served as the second presidential mansion. President George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

 occupied it from February 23 to August 31, 1790, during the two-year period when New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 was the national capital.

The first presidential mansion, the Samuel Osgood House
Samuel Osgood House (New York City)
The Samuel Osgood House, also known as Walter Franklin House, was a house at 1 Cherry Street in Manhattan. It served as the first Presidential Mansion, housing George Washington, his family, and household staff, from April 23, 1789 until February 23, 1790, during the 21 months that New York City...

 at 1 Cherry Street in Manhattan, was occupied by Washington from April 23, 1789, to February 23, 1790. He had been living there a week before his inauguration as the first President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 on April 30, 1789.

Alexander Macomb (1748-1831) was an Irish-born American merchant and land speculator. He built his four-story city house on the west side of Broadway in 1786-88, with an extraordinary view of the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...

 out its rear windows. Macomb leased it to the French consul, the Comte de Moustier, who occupied it until early 1790, when he returned to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

.

Washington found the Osgood House cramped for his presidential household. It was also in the most congested part of Manhattan, near the port along the East River
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...

. The Macomb House was significantly larger, in a neighborhood a mile away.

With his own money, Washington purchased furniture, mirrors and draperies from the departing Comte de Mostier, including American-made furniture in the French style. Some of these items survive at Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon
The name Mount Vernon is a dedication to the English Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon. It was first applied to Mount Vernon, the Virginia estate of George Washington, the first President of the United States...

 and elsewhere.

Steward Samuel Fraunces
Samuel Fraunces
Samuel Fraunces was the owner/operator of Fraunces Tavern in New York City. During the American Revolution, he provided for prisoners held during the British occupation, and may have been a spy for the American side...

, former owner of nearby Fraunces Tavern
Fraunces Tavern
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 American Revolution history. The building, located at 54 Pearl Street at the corner of Broad Street, has been owned by Sons of the Revolution in...

, managed a household staff of more than 20 wage workers, indentured servants and enslaved servants. Slavery was legal in New York, and Washington brought seven African slaves from Mount Vernon to work in his presidential household: William Lee
William Lee (valet)
William Lee , also known as Billy Lee or Will Lee, was George Washington's personal servant and the only one of Washington's slaves freed outright by Washington in his will...

, Christopher Sheels
Christopher Sheels
Christopher Sheels , was a "dower" slave at George Washington's Virginia plantation, Mount Vernon, who was owned by the estate of Martha Washington's first husband, Daniel Parke Custis...

, Giles, Paris, Austin, Moll, and Oney Judge
Oney Judge
Oney "Ona" Judge, later Oney Judge Staines , was a slave at George Washington's plantation, Mount Vernon in Virginia. A servant in Washington's presidential households beginning in 1789, she escaped to freedom in 1796 and made her way to New Hampshire, where she lived the rest of her life...

.

Two of Martha Washington's grandchildren were part of the First Family: Nelly Custis
Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis
Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis , known as Nelly, was the granddaughter of Martha Washington and the step-granddaughter of George Washington.-Childhood:Nelly was the daughter of John Parke Custis and Eleanor Calvert Custis...

 (b. 1779) and "Wash" Custis
George Washington Parke Custis
George Washington Parke Custis , the step-grandson of United States President George Washington, was a nineteenth-century American writer, orator, and agricultural reformer.-Family:...

 (b. 1781).

Under the July 1790 Residence Act
Residence Act
The Residence Act of 1790, officially titled An Act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the Government of the United States, is the United States federal law that settled the question of locating the capital of the United States, selecting a site along the Potomac River...

, the national capital moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, for a 10-year period, while the permanent national capital was under construction in the District of Columbia.

Washington vacated the Macomb House on August 31, 1790, and returned to Mount Vernon, stopping in Philadelphia to examine what was to become the third Presidential Mansion, the President's House in Philadelphia.

In 1821, the Macomb House became Bunker's Mansion House Hotel.

In 1939, the Daughters of the Revolution erected a bronze plaque at 39 Broadway.

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