Jumel Terrace Historic District

The houses that comprise this district provide an attractive and homogenous setting for the Morris-Jumel Mansion, individually designated as a Landmark in 1967. The majority of these structures were the first buildings built on the rural estate, and hence the only construction ever to have taken place at these sites.

The two rows of wooden houses along Sylvan Terrace represent the oldest group of structures, dating from 1882. These residences present a rare example of an original New York City wooden vernacular development. What followed was a sequence of developments in a variety of architectural styles. A series of brick row houses constructed in the asymmetrical Queen Anne style were built on West 160th Street in 1890-91. Along Jumel Terrace and 160th Street, Romanesque Revival stone houses were constructed between 1895-96. And on 162nd Street, a housing development in the Classical Revival style was built in 1902.

The most recent building in the district is its only apartment house, a Federal Revival brick and limestone structure at the corner of Jumel Terrace and West 160th Street. With the exception of the early vernacular houses on Sylvan Terrace, the buildings in this district possess a unified ensemble due to the fact that all construction took place within a relatively brief 30-year period in complementary materials. ©2014