The Merchant's House Museum

Here is where the Tredwells took many of their family meals, around the center table. This room also served as an informal family sitting room. It was customary for the father of the family to read aloud to the others as they sat around the table. 

During the day, the younger children played in this room, watched over by their mother or older sisters, who sat mending or doing fancy needlework. Sometimes, the Tredwells entertained extended family members or very close friends, but usually it was a space devoted to the immediate family’s private activities.

Fireplaces provided the only source of heat in the house and burned coal. Unlike a wood fire, a coal fire did not produce flames; rather, the ignited coal embers sat in a metal basket, or grate, where they glowed and produced a steady warmth. The coals needed to be replenished twice a day by the Tredwells’ servants.

Notice the tole (painted tin) plate warmer in front of the fireplace. It dates to 1820 and stood laden with heavy plates for so many years that it actually wore footprints in the marble hearth.

Here is where the Tredwells took many of their family meals, around the drop leaf table in the center, which was extended by raising both leaves.

The Tredwells brought the red silk sofa, ca. 1820, with them when they moved here from Dey Street. Already out of fashion by the 1840s or 50s, this sofa was likely relegated to the ground floor family room when they bought new parlor furniture.

The large engraving, George Washington and his Generals, dates to 1856. Washington was revered as a national hero, and his image was often found in 19th century homes. The engraving provides insight into the Tredwells’ politics: despite coming from an ardent Loyalist family, Seabury Tredwell embraced the new political order and was proudly American.

In the 19th century, the passion for collecting and displaying ornamental objects that began in the 18th century was widespread. The whatnot shelf was a popular piece of furniture used to display the family’s china, ornaments, or “what not.”

Imagine this kitchen in full swing when the servants prepared meals for the Tredwells’ large family. No doubt the cook and her helper were always cooking or getting ready to cook — tending to the coals in the cast-iron cook stove, chopping vegetables, heating water, kneading bread dough, straining jelly, whipping cream — probably with a couple of Tredwell children underfoot.

The servants were up before dawn, making preparations for the day. Soon the brass call bells on the wall began to rock and jingle. This signified that it was time to carry up hot water to the bedrooms so the family could wash up before dressing.

Built into the brick wall at the left side of the fireplace is an old-fashioned brick oven, which was part of the open-hearth technology. It is called a beehive oven because of its domed interior.

When this house was built in 1832, cast-iron cook stoves were already available. However, often times people are somewhat slow to adopt a new technology, which is why the builder of this house provided an open hearth for cooking. This was the way people had been cooking for centuries, with heavy kettles hanging over the fire and meat roasting on a spit. 

By the 1850s, the Tredwells had adopted the new cooking technology by installing a cast-iron coal-burning stove in the fireplace.

Every day the servants climbed flights of stairs over and over carrying heavy buckets of coal upstairs and ashes downstairs.

The pie safe protected baked goods from vermin. It could also be locked. The punctured tin panels allow air to circulate within. Notice the discoloration on the bottom of the legs, which were placed in bowls of water to prevent insects from climbing up.

The utility sinks were used for many tasks, including laundry and washing large pots and pans. The water from the 4,000 gallon cistern in the rear yard was used only for washing, cleaning, and bathing, not for drinking or cooking.

The wealthy merchants who lived in these row houses moved in a very exclusive social circle. Rigid rules of etiquette dictated their every move. To maintain ties with their friends and business associates, they practiced some customs that are unfamiliar to us today. 

One of the customs that has completely disappeared was the “ceremonial calling,” performed almost exclusively by women. In order to make a ceremonial call, the visitor had to take a rather dramatic journey from the street, up the steep stoop to vestibule to her final destination: the front parlor. 

Fanlights were an identifying element of the late Federal style of architecture. 

Notice the plaster walls of this little room, which were painted with a turkey feather to resemble Italian marble from Siena. This decorative treatment, called “faux marbre,” was very fashionable and offered an elegant first impression of the interior of the house.

A servant admitted guests into the vestibule, an unfurnished transitional space that is neither in the house nor out. The guest(s) had the option of making a “personal” visit or just leaving her calling card. If the guest intended only to leave her card, this was as far as she went.

A visitor was invited to sit in this area while the servant took her calling card to Eliza Tredwell or one of her daughters, who might be upstairs in a bedroom or even in the rear parlor behind the sliding mahogany pocket doors separating the two rooms. After a brief interval, Eliza Tredwell made her appearance and the call took place.

The fireplace mantel is made with the finest Italian black-and-gold marble. The mantel was meant to showcase the Tredwells’ refined taste and lavish lifestyle. 

In the center of the room, you’ll notice the bronze gasolier (or gas chandelier). A matching one hangs in the rear parlor. Many experts believe them to be among the oldest domestic gas fixtures in situ (original place) in the United States. The Tredwells had the house retrofitted for gas in the mid-1850s.

The large, ornate plaster medallions in the center of the 13½ foot ceiling are often cited as the finest example of this type of architectural detail in existence. Note how the centers are recessed and how the swirling design creates a sense of movement.

Sliding mahogany pocket doors separated the two rooms. They are shown open, but were generally kept closed during the 19th century.

During the 1840s and 50s, many different styles of furniture were available, but among the most popular was Rococo Revival, based on the style of French furniture during the reigns of Louis XIV and XV. It was Rococo Revival that the Tredwells chose for the new front parlor furniture when they redecorated in the mid-1850s after they installed gas lighting.

Notice the three bronze Argand lamps with dangling prisms (c. 1840) on the mantel. In the 1780s, Swiss chemist Ami Argand invented an oil burner that revolutionized lighting. Because it brought more oxygen to the flame, an Argand lamp burned 10 to 12 times brighter than a candle. The whale oil was stored in the reservoir at the side and delivered by gravity to the burner. The Argand burner was used in all types of lighting during the 19th century.

The rosewood square piano, ca. 1846-48, is arguably the most significant piece of furniture in this room. The piano played a very important role during evenings when music was part of the social activity.

Notice the large oil portraits are of Eliza and Seabury Tredwell in their later years.

The carpet is an exact reproduction of the carpet installed by the Tredwells in the 1850s.

The red silk damask draperies were introduced to the house as part of the 1850s house renovation. 

Greek Revival style interiors were very popular when the Tredwells lived here in the 19th century. Symmetry and balance were important components of this style, provided here by a false door that does not lead anywhere. 

Usually, the Tredwells took their meals downstairs in the family dining room. For formal dinner parties, however, they used the rear parlor, sometimes called the dining parlor. The rear parlor was also a sitting room where the Tredwells spent many hours relaxing, reading, or entertaining close friends and extended family.

The mahogany dining table (and mahogany balloon-back chairs) forms a circular center table when closed, but once the leaves stored in the kitchen are added, it can easily accommodate a party of 12.

In the center of the room, you’ll notice the bronze gasolier (or gas chandelier) that matches the one in the front parlor. 

The mahogany sideboard was used to store linens and dishes and as a place to put serving dishes during the meal service. The deep central drawer has wooden compartments for wine or liquor bottles.

The black horsehair sofa, ca. 1835, represents the new, and very fashionable, machine-made furniture that the Tredwells bought when they moved into this house. Called Grecian Plain Style, sometimes referred to as Late Empire, this furniture was devoid of carving and characterized by C and S scrolls. The thin veneer was also cut by machine, then applied by hand.

Two marble-topped tables, ca. 1840, represent the new and very fashionable machine-made furniture that the Tredwells bought when they moved into this house. 

Symmetry and balance were important components of a Greek Revival style interior, which is why the architectural details of the front and rear parlor match – the fireplace mantels, the gasoliers, the ornamental plasterwork, and the doors. The two rooms were called a double parlor.

During the 19thcentury, it was customary for wealthy husbands and wives to have separate bedrooms. The rear bedroom belonged to Eliza Tredwell. This was not only a bedroom for Eliza, but it was also a place where she entertained close female friends, as well as a place for visiting female guests to store personal items (e.g., coats, shawls, and bonnets). Bedrooms for the children were on the floor above. Today, that floor serves as museum offices.

Guests arriving at a Tredwell party headed straight up the stairs to the bedrooms: the ladies, to this room. Here, the ladies put their shawls and bonnets on the mahogany four poster bed, ca. 1835.

Before a party, Eliza and her guests changed into their party slippers, which they had brought with them, smoothed their hair in front of the dresser mirrors, pinched their cheeks to make them pink (genteel women did not wear cosmetics) — and no doubt complimented each other on their finery. 

Before the introduction of vaccines or antibiotics, the little canopied bed, which dates to the first half of the 19th century, would often have been occupied by a feverish child. Here, he or she was under Eliza Tredwell’s watchful eye. Nursing the sick members of a large family was the duty of the mother.

The wash stand between the windows holds a basin and ewer, which were used for personal washing. Getting wet all over before the introduction of indoor plumbing was hard to do and even thought by some to be an unhealthy practice.

The framed chromolithograph, “The Lord Is My Shepherd,” is hung over the fireplace where it would be the first thing seen upon awaking. Quotations from the Bible and secular religious mottos were often seen on the walls of 19th century homes.

The mahogany writing desk, ca. 1820 (in the display closet), was an important piece of bedroom furniture because of the enormous amount of social correspondence that mid-19th century etiquette required.

The house has very few closets. Most of the Tredwells’ clothing was stored in rooms on the 4th floor servant’s quarters. 

For the occasional full bath, a portable tin bath tub was brought in and placed in front of the fire. However, even this “hat tub,” as it was called, did not involve submersion. One sat on the shelf with feet in the water.

The mantel is made of high quality Italian white Carrara marble, however it is not as fine as the black-and-gold mantels in the double parlor.

Seabury’s bedroom gave him direct access to his study—a room where he spent a lot of time. 

The mahogany four-poster bed is identical to the one in the rear bedroom, both purchased for the house in 1835. Notice the red wool-damask fabric used for the bed hangings. When Gertrude Tredwell’s cousin, George Chapman, was preparing to open the house as a museum in the 1930s, he discovered 35 yards of the fabric in a trunk in the attic. The fabric matched the original well-worn hangings, which had been removed, so Chapman consulted 19th century design books to make these hangings.

The commode can be disguised as a three-drawer chest when the hinged top is closed.

The large armoire with elaborately hand-carved “lion’s paw” feet, ca. 1830, was used to store folded clothing.

Notice that the desk and chair are positioned to maximize the light from the window.

What little we know about the Tredwells’ Irish servants comes from census reports. We know four women were usually in residence, that they came mainly from Ireland, and a complete turnover occurred at least every ten years. But they themselves left no written record. These “Irish girls,” as they were typically called regardless of their age, worked very long hours with little pay. 

Usually, households like the Tredwells’ had a cook, who was also responsible for the laundry, and her helper, who also waited on the tables. They also employed a parlor maid and a “second girl,” who tended to the upkeep of the parlor floor and the bedrooms.

Two servants shared this bedroom, which was sparsely furnished with the family’s cast-off furniture. Household manuals encouraged employers to provide each servant with her own bed, preferably made of iron, as a precaution against bed bugs because couldn’t burrow into metal.

The room was furnished with a basin and. The servant was expected to wash her face, neck, and hands, to comb her hair, and to wear a clean apron.

Notice the table and chair where the servants might have worked to mend clothing and write letters home (if they were literate) to their families.

The Irish servants were staunch Catholics and often hung their rosaries on the bed frames to be close at hand for prayers.

A coal stove, installed in the 1850s, provided heat during the winter months. Before then, this room was unheated.