Tour of Manhattan’s Oldest Surviving Home: Morris-Jumel Mansion

[@UrbanistExploringCities]

🎟 Use code URBANIST2021 for a discount when buying a ticket to the mansion: www.morrisjumel.org/

[@aperson2730]

Thank you Meg and Ariel for allowing us to see inside this character-filled mansion. All the very best.

[@aukej6024]

Very interesting tour! Meg is the ideal guide, she’s very knowledgeable and eloquent. Thank you Ariel and Meg!

[@MissSassyFrass]

The truth about the enslaved would have been nice to learn. The amount of labor needed to care for the mansion.

[@cristobalbarrera7461]

Thanks to both of you. I'm 65 and ever since I was in school I've always been interested in history. I wish that some day I can take this tour. Please continue too bring us more videos like this one.

[@UrbanistExploringCities]

my pleasure! I'm so happy you enjoyed this, I really love covering places like these. Be sure to go on my facebook page to see my older videos in other old houses like these: facebook.com/UrbanistLive And there will be definitely be more future episodes like this!

[@cristobalbarrera7461]

All the thanks fo you.

[@debschmitt761]

This was a wonderful collaboration. I did see the PBS special , lucky you Ariel to be able to sit in the room where it happened.

[@janetywilliamson9984]

Thank you Meg and Ariel for an awesome tour and history--my first mansion tour!

[@pizzareviewsonthego]

Awesome! So glad you did this, I went to the Garibaldi mansion today and it was closed. So few people visit these places nowadays, we need to make them virtual! I hope you and Meg will collaborate again, she seems like a knowledgeable historian.

[@aviemore6188]

absolutely great! thank you both so so much! love it all. so well done.

[@judithhinton5784]

I missed the stream so just watched the replay. This was a great tour with Meg as the guide. Its been years since I visited Jumel Mansion.. it's changed quite a bit. Beautiful mansion filled with interesting history. Thanks, Ariel!

[@misswho6673]

Wow! This was fantastic! Thank you.

[@jardent5755]

My great grandmother was a daughter of the American Revolution.

[@Wendyo630]

That makes you a daughter of a daughter of the American Revolution

[@drfulgione]

thank you! I've been here many times with my fifth graders. It was nice to see it again!

[@moonfire41]

This was a delightful tour! I loved the architecture and learning the history. We've got some Livingstons and Morrisons in our family. I didnt know the background checks for proving your ancestry to join the Daughters/Sons of the Revolution was so strict, but it was interesting to know how much maintenance they put into this beautiful house.

[@feleciakelly-applewhite9137]

This was AWESOME!!!!! Thank You so much. I had no idea this was right here in NYC & we can still tour at this time. You're a Great History Guide. I'm going up to the Heights. Thank You again! 😎

[@patriciaspadea2266]

God Bless that WELL IN KITCHEN! ☺️WE IN 2021, CAN see and enjoy possibly due to the well🧡🧡🧡

[@fchino-jr.3340]

Thank you for this tour Arial & Meg. I’d love to see more historical tours if you can in the future, so interesting 🧐

[@patriciaspadea2266]

I love love history but, historic homes really blow me away! I'll be watching this video many times over🧡🇺🇸🧡

[@lauriew110]

hi ariel :) this was a fascinating and beautiful home and enjoyed the tour's historical knowledge. the house and its interior was gorgeous to see. thank you very much for taking us for this experience today!

[@fortheearth]

This was a wonderful tour. Thank you Urbanist!

[@hiss3]

- Wonderful tour and video !! Thanks

[@joechilds1573]

Megs voice is so🔥

[@FrenchRiviera4K]

🌞 So Great Video 🌞 💛 Greetings from the French Riviera💛

[@joechilds1573]

Meg lynch is🔥😍😍😘

[@georgemartinez3682]

Hi Sir, following you from TT !

[@AmbientWalking]

Wow! Good! Enjoyed this! : )

[@johannsmithe2570]

P.s.02 ... of course Ya' on a roll with another great joint tour, perhaps nyc has more tour guides?👌 Or, another Megan tour or a walkabout ... a historical fashion/costume tour. (assuming she's married. Ah, your kids would have had great eyebrows 😃.)

[@johannsmithe2570]

*Great tour* viewing it the second time. 57:34 is that the Hessian's apartment (administrator offices)? It's not shown on the 55:10 plan. Guess da tour doesn't include the second half of the basement and the servants quarters in the attic. Is there still a loft space in the second floor 'Washington' room? The two adjacent smaller spaces are an office and/or storage with stairs to loft space above?

[@Wendyo630]

Found stuff about this house in the attic of an old house we bought, trying figure out what an old house in Rhode Island would have photos of an old house in NYC

[@IoniAppelberg]

How much is this mansion valued at today? And how much did it cost to first build?

[@robyndavis3043]

The house is on the "old Post Road"

[@sleazybizniz]

I love haunted tours👻

[@TheChuckoluck]

I can guarantee that much of the upstairs is not the original floor plan. Bedrooms in the 18th and 19th century were very small. 7' by 7' or 8x8. Just big enough for a bed, a nightstand, and a dresser. They were small to make them easier to heat in the winter. People didn't hang out in bedrooms in those days so they were kept small. There were no closets. Hanging clothes was unheard of because of moths. They were kept folded in cedar lined chests. The average person had few clothes, that was for the wealthy. But even in a wealthy house the bedrooms would have been tiny.

[@abbeyroad935]

Hi James! We actually have the original floor plan on display in our current exhibition “From Mansion to Museum” - so you can some see for yourself that the while there have been some minor alterations, the main bedrooms have remained the same size since 1765!

[@TheChuckoluck]

The upstairs floor plan makes no sense. Look at the pic I included. That huge open space where you're standing would not have been there in the 18th century, It's useless wasted space and builders didn't waste space then. The walls around you look modern, like somebody gutted the 2nd floor and rebuilt it. Are the floor plans available online? Did you mention where the staircase on your right goes upstairs? Attic rooms, maybe. I see it was majorly renovated in 1945. That's when they would have knocked out the interior walls and installed electric. I have seen old homes that were never renovated and they still have the electric wiring on the outside of the walls. Here is the pic I mentioned: i.imgur.com/ilfYPgn.jpg

[@johannsmithe2570]

One floor plan of the building. images.app.goo.gl/ved9r9BKcoR9SVwz8 there are more around The mansion was built in 1765 as a *summer* residence. Likely the Phillips-Morris families were very wealthy. While most people would consider this a mansion it would be considered a summer cottage to others. The floor plan is basically Palladinian designed for cross-ventilation so larger rooms, with high ceilings, are better for air flow to cool the house. The high open attic space would collect the warm rising air venting it to the exterior. On the front gable end there is a semi-circular vent. Andrea Palladio was a Venetian architect, Northern Italy, where the climate is hot. New York City does get hot in the summer and fall months. It was built on a hilltop for ventilation in addition to drainage, view, etc. Smaller rooms would have impeded air flow and trapped heat especially at night when one wanted to get away from the oppressive heat and humidity. Structurally if balloning framing was used from the ground to roof joists the second floor plan would mirror the first floor plan for load-bearing walls. See link above. Wooden floor and ceiling joists can only span a certin maximum distance determining where the bearing walls are placed. Also, the masonry fireplaces determine where the rooms go. Mansions were designed for upper class clients not average 'verncular' personage so larger rooms were used for other purposes. One would be to show wealth. Social functions another. So, what may be seen as 'wasted space' or impractical to some is no big deal. In this case the client dictates what the builder constructs. Morris' relatives were European architects so the Pallidinian influence. A building is designed for either hot or cold climates. To do both part of the house is closed off depending on the season. Then, yea, smaller rooms would be practical if one didn't have a winter/summer house in Europe or the Caribbeans. These people could afford that. Also, the porch is reminiscent of Southern plantations houses. Look up the West Indies Sugar Rum Triangle that covered an area from New England down the coastal colonies to the Carribean. New York City had large 'southern' neighborhoods. Again, the building was built as a summer residence for wealthy clients emulating European upper class standards. Small rooms would have been heat traps hence the need for large rooms and hallways to keep the warm air circulating out of the house.

[@marti_flute]

That is how my bedroom is (8' x 8') is, but I'm in a late 19th c. tenement-style walk up. I'd think it would be different in a mansion.

[@johannsmithe2570]

James, came across a sentence in this link harlemlive.org/community/orgs/MJmansion/index.html about rooms being added on as people moved in and out over the years. (Half-way down the article.) Could be referring to the two smaller rooms in the second floor bedroom over the octagonal space below, or for the slaves in the basement and indentured servants in the attic, or for guests coming and going? 26:20 1801-1810 it was a Tavern/Inn/Bar/what esle ... something Eliza would have felt at home with? Dunno One way to tell if there were smaller rooms would have been if the wooden floor boards are darker where there were walls. Or, different board lenghts, or nail holes (if they had metal or wooden pegs). But, as Megan said they are not the orginal flooring. The walls and ceiling might have indications of smaller walls. Each room would have had a window. If visible, the floor joists directions and lenghts would tell something. Wonder what actual or nomial size, depth and width, the orginal wooden floor/ceiling joists are for 20'-0" or greater lenghts? What type of tree for the lumber? If any moisture or insect damage there might have been? 55:10 the floor plan on the right shows the 3rd floor attic rooms. Probably for the servants these smaller rooms with less headroom are more of the sizes you mentioned. There's a attic hatchway by the stairwell to the roof observation deck. Must have been a great view of the Hudson and Harlem Rivers. 55:15 The building's section drawing shows the floors. The first floor is the entrance floor from the portico. In Europe it would have been the second floor with a grand staircase to be above the ground level for various reasons and make head room for horse carriage deliveries, a large stoop. The Stairway Hallway in your posted photo is 16'2"×16'4". Beyond that the hallway to the building's porch is about 18' to 20/24' lenght. The hallway would be considered a living area, an enclosed 'loggia', porch, to sit. Looks like the 'closet' wall has been removed for access to the rear stairs. *Yea* , it appears spacious, might because of the wide floor boards and high ceilings height optically make Megan look petite which then visually makes the space look larger. Or, Arial has a *wide-angle lens* ? The more or less carpetless bare floors acoustics give it its cavernous ambience feel. Opinion, the owners and guests would have preferred larger rooms for ventilation as the building was designed as a compact country summer villa. The floor plan resembles a temple from the southern front entrance to the oblong octongonal space. So, the present floor plan reflects mostly the orginal floorplan but without any the changes made inbetween. The east side of the staircase and above going to the kitchen basement doesn't show the office(s).

[@rolexomega8888]

THIS PEOPLE ARE VERY WEALTHY .ME TO OWN A BASIC CONDO TOOK TWENTY YEARS 😥😥😅😅😂😂

[@kathycaldwell7126]

Should that fact disqualify our interest?

[@JeffStoffa]

This is great but you can please let her talk

[@rolexomega8888]

I see the shadow behind the chest.seriously.

[@johannsmithe2570]

20:26 manly portrait of Eliza She paid after seeing that? Why not just paint a beard on it. (raised in a brothel and an actress. Is this a recurrent historical theme, houses and theaters, Tenderloin District, Soho London ... and everyone's favorite chorus 👧 Everlyn Nesbit. ) Doesn't make sense if the 77 year old Aaron Burr was an outcast from New York society why would nouve rich, possible Rum-Sugar Triangle, Bostonian Eliza Brown as an outcast herself marry dat guy in expectation of of being accepted by old money? Europe maybe. Again, this story has a beard.

[@Lawrenc57]

Lawrence krug is a relative he will love to her from you

[@DUFFYSaraxian]

I would have watched it through had the back and forth been kept to a minimum. Sorry.