Merchant's House Museum

The Merchant's House Museum, known formerly as the Old Merchant's House and as the Seabury Tredwell House, is the only nineteenth-century family home in New York City preserved intact — both inside and out. Built "on spec" in 1832 by Joseph Brewster, a hatter by trade, it is located at 29 East Fourth Street, between Lafayette Street and the Bowery in Manhattan. It became a museum in 1936, founded by George Chapman, a cousin of the family who once lived there. Brewster sold the house to Seabury Tredwell, a wealthy New York merchant, for $18,000. Tredwell's daughter, Gertrude, was born in the house in 1840, and lived there until her death in an upstairs bedroom in 1933. Three years later, the perfectly preserved home opened to the public...