Chapter XI

      Building a Home

       Table of Contents

      The same yearning for rest in the country which seems to have been felt by so many men at the termination of a busy public career, came to Hamilton as well, and a few years before his death he wrote: "To men who have been so much harassed in the base world as myself, it is natural to look forward to complete retirement, in the circle of life as a perfect desideratum. This desire I have felt in the strongest manner, and to prepare for it has latterly been a favorite object. I thought I might not only expect to accomplish the object, but might reasonably aim at it and pursue the preparatory measures."

      It is true that these sentiments were directly provoked by his political disappointments, as well as a realization that he must make provision for his old age, but it may be assumed that the time had come for the enjoyment of the comforts of a house of his own in the quiet country. Possibly his familiarity with Virgil's bucolics, and especially the First Eclogue, had filled his mind with sylvan longings; or, again, there may have been the influence of his early life, spent in a clime full of beauty and restfulness, that prompted him to look about for a retreat which was far enough removed from the bustle and affairs of men to enable him to find relaxation in the happiness of seclusion. It is somewhat difficult to-day to realize that the isolated place he then selected, which was eight miles from the Bowling Green, is now a somewhat crowded part of a great city which extends several >miles further north. At that time stage-coaches ran but three days in the week to a point which now corresponds with 42d Street and Broadway, and is a congested thoroughfare, although through service to Albany then enabled one to descend at Hamilton's gate. He had, during the summer and fall of 1798, leased and occupied, in company with his brother-in-law, John B. Church, a country house in the neighborhood of what was afterward his own estate.

      Although his professional income at that period was comparatively large, his earnings being twelve thousand dollars annually, he was obliged, before he got through building, to make financial arrangements which would enable him to meet the demands of masons and builders, and early in 1804 his warm friend and client, Louis Le Guen, loaned him five thousand dollars on bond and mortgage. After some search he found a tract of land to his liking which, to-day, is that roughly bounded by St. Nicholas and Tenth Avenues, and which extends from 141st to 145th Streets, but formerly was much larger in extent, the western limit being the Hudson River. The Albany or Bloomingdale Road which passed diagonally through it has, of course, now entirely disappeared, but undoubtedly divided the part upon which the house stood from the farm on the easterly side. General Ebenezer Stevens, who was then a prosperous merchant, had, at the time, a country place in the vicinity, and to him Hamilton wrote, making inquiry as to available property:

       Alexander Hamilton to Ebenezer Stevens

      25th of October, 1799.

      If the owner of the ground adjoining you will take Eight Hundred pounds (£800) for sixteen acres including a parcel of the woodland, and lying on the water the whole breadth, you will oblige me by concluding the bargain with him, and I will pay the money as soon as a good title shall appear. If he will not sell a part at this rate, I request you to ascertain whether he will take Thirty pounds an acre for the whole tract and let me know.

      If I like it, after another view of the premises, I shall probably take the whole at this price. But I can only pay one half down, a quarter in six months and the remaining quarter in a twelve month. He shall be satisfied on the score of security if he desires.

      Yrs with regard,

      A. Hamilton.

      The building itself which is now in existence, although moved from its original position, stood for a long time at the corner of 142d Street and Tenth Avenue, but within recent years has been moved so that it adjoins St. Luke's Episcopal Church, and is used as a school. It is little the worse for age, despite all it has gone through, and was never an architectural triumph, although it is a type of the comfortable country house of the period. It is a square structure two stories high, and had verandas on both the north and south sides as it originally stood. The main entrance was on the west. Near the southwest corner was a group of thirteen gum trees, planted in a circle by Hamilton, one for each of the original States, but they were so closely set that they never attained a great size, and all eventually languished and died, their destruction being hastened by the depredations of the relic hunters.

      The house was designed by John McComb, one of the leading architects and builders of the time, and was constructed by Ezra Weeks,1 who superseded a builder named Putnam. McComb's excellent work which remains to-day is the old City Hall, which shows the artistic influence of Sir Christopher Wren, and, in some ways, is one of the most charming old buildings in the country. It is quite probable that Hamilton himself worked at the plans, and was frequently in consultation with General Schuyler, who manifested his interest by furnishing timber from his own estate at Saratoga. In this connection he writes to his son-in-law:

       Philip Schuyler to Alexander Hamilton

      ALBANY, Monday, August 25th, 1800.

      MY DEAR SIR: Your favor of the 13th instant with the plan of your intended house was delivered me on Thursday last, that of the 18th by the mail I received yesterday. I have delivered Mr. Putnam the builder, the plan, and a paper of which you have a copy on the other side, and expect his answer tomorrow. If the house is boarded on the outside, and then clap boards put on, and filled in the inside with brick, I am persuaded no water will pass to the brick. If the clapboards are well painted, and filling in with brick will be little if any more expensive than lath and plaister, the former will prevent the nuisance occasioned by rats and mice, to which you will be eternally exposed if lath and plaister is made use of instead of brick.

      The partitions between the apartments in the interior of the house, if made of joice and then lathed and plaistered also have vacancies as receptacles for rats and mice. It is a little but not much more expensive to have the partitions of plank of 2 or 2 1/2 inches thick set vertically from floor to ceiling and joined together, but not planed, on these planks the lathes and plaister are to be put, and thus a solid partition is formed. In the bill of scantling which you have sent me I do not find any timbers for the gutters, perhaps this has been ommitted.

      Should Mr. Putnam refuse to contract unless for the whole house in all its parts, except the masonry, I will receive his proposals on a statement which I shall make and transmit it to you without delay, or should he be extravagant in his demand, I shall as soon as Cornelia is brought to bed, go up and contract for the timber and purchase the boards and planks, and if possible I will cause the boards and planks to be put into water for two months and then piled up with decks between them that they may be seasoned before they are worked up.

      It will save very considerable expense if the clap boards and boards for the floors were sawed to the proper breadth and thickness at the sawmills, I therefore wish you to send me how many of each Mr. -- thinks will be wanted, their breadth and thickness. I rejoice, my dear Son, that my Philip1 has acquitted himself so well, and hope that his future progress may correspond with your and my wishes.

      All here unite in love to you, my Eliza and the children. I am my dear Sir

      Ever most affectionately yours,

      PH. SCHUYLER.

      Honble M. Gen. Hamilton.

      On August 22d, 1802, he wrote to Mrs. Hamilton:

      I