The Merchant House Museum
29 East Fourth Street, NY, NY. Home of the Tredwell Family for almost 100 years. Photo Credit: Sarah A. Combs. 2019.
FALSE FACE, FALSE HEART, my YA Historical project, set in the Bowery Theatre in New York City during the tumultuous year of 1849 has sent me on a journey Combing Through Research.
I stumbled across the Merchant House Museum while researching the living situations of the elite and working class during the 1840’s. The house on East Fourth Street—now known as the NOHO District—was the home of Seabury Tredwell and his family. It offers an exquisite example of an elegant gentry home. The museum website says it is, “considered one of the finest surviving examples of architecture from the period.”
So, of course, I took the train to the city and my son—who was living there at the time, and I took the guided tour (a pre-Covid in-person tour!) and were delighted to see that most of the furnishings are original!
My son, who is a lighting designer is looking at the original gas chandelier in the formal parlor. Photo Credit: Sarah A. Combs. 2019.
Photo Credit: Sarah A. Combs. 2019.
Seabury and Eliza Tredwell were married in 1820 (he was forty-years old and she was twenty three) They had eight children: Elizabeth, Horace, Mary, Samuel, Phebe, Julia, Sarah and Gertrude. When I saw pictures of the entire family, I learned that Julia Tredwell would have been 16 years old in 1849, close to the age of feisty socialite Ida Rose Blair, one of the fictious characters in my story. So, I turned Julia into the haughty, French speaking friend of Ida Rose, and fan of the actor William Macready.
Tredwell Family Tree. Julia Tredwell is at the bottom/center.
Photo Credit: Sarah A. Combs. 2019.
Cut away example of a woman’s undergarments, corset, hoop skirt and dress of the 1840’s. Photo Credit: Sarah A. Combs. 2019
One last tidbit – Gertrude, the youngest child, was born at the Tredwell home in 1840, never married and lived there until she died in 1933. Visitors and staff have witnessed strange sounds, smells and sightings of spirits in the house. Maybe Gertrude never left and her spirit remains haunting the house.
Here’s the link to the museum’s website. https://merchantshouse.org/the-house/
It’s well worth the visit!
