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Object Record
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Object name |
Scrapbook |
Physical description |
Collage of three newspaper clippings documenting the restoration of Fraunces Tavern. Transcription from front of scrapbook/collage The New York Times, Sunday, March 17, 1907: The New York Times. Sunday, March 17, 1907. 11 / The "Restoration" of Fraunces' Tavern / Sons f the Revolution Will / Reopen Famous House Now / Radically Changed---Architect / Replies to Sharp Criticism of / the Transformation. / Among the historic land- / markis to be found in / New York none is more / famous than Fraunces's / Tavern, the old hostelry / of the corner of Broad / and Pearl Streets, in whose "Long / Room" washington bade farewell to / his Generals at the close of the War of / Independence, and where, during the / colonial and REvolutionary days of the / Republic, countless epochmaking meet- / ings and social functions were held. / Since the time of Washington the / tavern has been almost destroyed, on / two occasions, by fire. Finally, about a year ago, it came into the hands of / the Sons of the Revolution, who an- / nounce that on May 1 it will be re- / opened as the headquarters of the so- / ciety and as a public museum of his- / toric antiquities. Perparatory to this / reopening, the building has undergone / a complete "restoration," as a result / of which, according to statements made / by the officers of th society, the / tavern will onve more appear exactly / as it was when it was first built, more / than two centuries ago. These state- / ments, however, have not been met / with entire acquiiescence. Critics are / not lacking who, from a study of the / tavern as it stands to-day, declare / that in a number of essential particul- / lars it does not appear as it was in / Washington's time. / Before the society undertook its / restoration, Fraunces's Tavern was / a square five-storied building, with / a flat roof. Now it is three / stories in height, with a sloping / roof ending in a square platform. / In thus altering the external appear- / ance of the building the architect, / William H, Mersereau, claims that . he has made a careful reconstruction / of the lines of the original tavern. / He declares that when the latter / was rebuilt after the fire which took / place in 1854, those lines were com-/pletely ignored, and that thus the / building standing on Broad and Pearl / Streets during the last fifty years / was quite unlike the real Fraunces's / Tavern. In this work of restoration, / it is said that "all the old oack beams / remaining in the house have been pre-/ served, including those holding the floor / of the 'Long Room,' upon which / Washington trod when he took leave / of his officers, and those over this / room that held the ceiling of the same. / Every tbrick and every piece of lumber, / so far as possible, of the original build- / ing has been left in place," and this so / completely that "if one of our former / citizens of the year 1783 could return / and pass the old tavern he would / notice no change in its appearance / from that which it had in his own / time." / The chief fault that has been found / with the tavern as it stands to-day in- / volves the style of roof that the archi- / tect has selected in his work of restora- / tion. Mr. Merseraeau claims that in / Tearing down the south wall of the / building the outline of the original roof / was plainly reveled in the brick and / plaster on the wall of an adjoining / house. A photograph of this original / roof line, as thus indicated, was made, and, as may be seen in the accompany- / ing cut, a roof running to a peak is / distinctly shown. The style of roof / used in the restoration, however, is / not peaked, but slopes upward to a / square platform surrounded by a bal- / ustrade. If the outline shown in the / cut is to be taken as a genuine indi- / cation of the original roof, the pres- / ent treatment of the latter, say the / critics, is obviously incorrect. / In defense of the present roof which / he has placed upon the tavern Mr. / Mersereau citied the famous Manor / Hall of Yonkers. The latter was built / at least thirteen years before Fraunces's / Tavern by Frederick Phillipse. This / Phillipse was connected by marriage / with the builder of the tavern, and is / supposed to have brought the bricks / from Holland with which the latter / was constructed. As his mansion in / Yonkers was one of the finest types of / Colonial architecture, and as he him- / self apparently had something to do with the building of the tavern, there / appeared to Mr. Mersereau to be a / legitimate historical precedent for / choosing the hip roof shown on the Yonkers Manor Hall as the style of / roof to be used in the present restora- / tion. / To the present generation, however, / this restored Fraunces's Tavern seems / strangely unfamiliar, and THE TIMES / has accordingly secured from Mr. Mer- / sereau the following account of what / has influenced him in his architectural / treatment of this famous old land- / mark. / How Fraunces's Tavern Was Restored / By William H. Mersereau |
Catalogue number |
X429 |
Collection name |
FTM |
Credit line |
Collection of Fraunces Tavern Museum |