Built in 1832, the Merchant’s House was home to a prosperous merchant-class family and their Irish servants for nearly 100 years. The period rooms remain complete with the family’s original furnishings, household objects, personal possessions, and even their clothing, offering an intimate glimpse of domestic life in the mid-19th century. The Merchant’s House opened to the public in 1936, and provides an unparalleled resource for the study of architecture, decorative arts, Irish immigration, and NYC history in the mid-19th century. It is a lone survivor of Old New York, the only family home preserved intact – inside and out – from the 19th century.
Through public education programs and exhibitions, restoration of its 1832 landmark building, and conservation of its original collections, the Merchant’s House Museum tells the story of the domestic life in mid-19th century New York, a period when socio-cultural, economic, and political forces dramatically changed the neighborhood, city, and the nation.