Last Wednesday, January 29th, a group of WHSAD students took a trip to the Bronx to see the Bartow-Pell Mansion and Museum. The house and gardens are now part of Pelham Bay Park but once served as a high-class family home. Thomas Pell acquired the land the park now sits on through a treaty with the Lenape, the Native American tribe that controlled the land, in 1654. In 1836, Robert Bartow, a descendant of Tomas Pell, used the land to build the mansion. After the family sold the property to the city in 1888, the house served as the headquarters for the International Garden Club, who decided to restore the mansion to its former glory, and open it as a museum.
Although none of the furnishings inside the mansion are original, they are all period appropriate and aligned with what the rooms would have served as when the Bartow’s lived there. Visiting the museum is akin to stepping into a time machine. The building is far removed from the looks of a modern home, and every detail of it was designed for a very specific purpose and way of life. The architecture is unique to the period it was built in, much of the outside being Federalist style, where the inside, which was refinished later, has notes of Greek Revival.
This trip gave students the chance to compare different architectural styles and broaden their knowledge of history and art. They spent a lot of time sketching, taking pictures, listening to the history of the land, and asking questions. It was mind blowing to see how this quiet oasis is only a few minutes away from the bustling streets and towering skyscrapers.
Here are some students’ takeaways from their time at the museum:
54,000 acres of land can go a long way, the Bartow-Pell family owned the same amount of land in acres. Our school, WHSAD, visited the house built on this land, where we had the chance to learn about how people lived back then. The house itself was mostly constructed of grey brick, with one side made of red bricks, possibly indicating a separate attachment or door. As a house that is historic, its square footage is 27,000 square feet and took up 283 acres which isn’t even a quarter of what they owned. The property was leased in 1918 to New York City for about $40,000. In today’s market, the house would be worth around $1,000,000. When we walked inside, the rooms on the first floor were all connected, with many doors and walls. Everything from the Bartow-Pell house was unfortunately taken out but they replaced the furniture with ones in the same timely fashion from back then. All the furniture has animal feet on the bottom, whether it be a seat, table or desk. Another distinction that I noticed was that some of the tables had mirrors on the bottom. During the time the family lived there, lights didn’t exist so the only way to bring light was through the reflection of the sun.
As we moved toward the dining room, I noticed two back-to-back doors, which raised questions. One possible assumption is that the first door led to a space where servants would change or prepare food. Since the servants’ area was not as updated, they would have stood in the space between the two doors while the family was in the main room. In this time frame only the family was allowed to the second floor, with that we noticed the ceilings were not as high as the first floor because guests were not allowed upstairs. Each room was elegant and had many designs. It was intriguing to see the contrast in the house—while certain areas were lavish, the attic, where the female servants stayed, was dark, cramped, and oddly eerie. As we walked back down another detail pointed out that in the living room one side of the room had eagles while the other had angel faces. At that time, men and women would often be separated when it came to having parties, the room with angel faces on the windows was near the nursery, allowing women, including servants, to check on the babies. When we went outside there was a barn where the horses and the men’s servants stayed because they could not stay in the house. There was a lot of backyard space and even a fountain which was iced over due to the weather. Visiting this house was very fascinating, seeing how the historic fashion and being wealthy tied together was beautiful and something you can look at for hours. Not only was it alluring but the information and education behind the way the house is structured intrigued me.
–Alyssa Diaz
The trip to the Bronx mansion was fun and interesting. I went with my friends, so I really enjoyed it. It was a half an hour ride on the bus and I liked looking outside the window. I loved seeing the different houses and buildings as well as the architecture of the city.
Before we arrived at the mansion, I thought it was going to be a modern style building, but I was way wrong because it was in fact a Greek revival style mansion. The outside looks like a government building, but the inside is where you see the Greek style. The entryways resembled Greek temples and the house was overall very 1800s. My favorite part of the trip was the conservatory because it was really pretty there and I loved the plants. There was a big table for everyone to sit down and eat their food. Also, you could see the fountain outside, as well as the trees, which was a nice view. I would say my least favorite part of the trip was going up and down the stairs in the mansion. I was scared I was going to trip and fall so I didn’t enjoy that part. Overall, I had a great time and I learned a lot. One thing I learned is that the garden has two different level stairs called a Trompe L’oeil, or an optical illusion. Also, the mansion was restored in 1914 by the garden club and there are similar mansions in the area.
–Rehanna Carryl