Tour of Manhattan’s Oldest Surviving Home: Morris-Jumel Mansion 

my pleasure! I'm so happy you enjoyed this, I really love covering places like these. Be sure to go on my facebook page to see my older videos in other old houses like these: facebook.com/UrbanistLive And there will be definitely be more future episodes like this!

All the thanks fo you.

That makes you a daughter of a daughter of the American Revolution

Hi James! We actually have the original floor plan on display in our current exhibition “From Mansion to Museum” - so you can some see for yourself that the while there have been some minor alterations, the main bedrooms have remained the same size since 1765!

The upstairs floor plan makes no sense. Look at the pic I included. That huge open space where you're standing would not have been there in the 18th century, It's useless wasted space and builders didn't waste space then. The walls around you look modern, like somebody gutted the 2nd floor and rebuilt it. Are the floor plans available online? Did you mention where the staircase on your right goes upstairs? Attic rooms, maybe. I see it was majorly renovated in 1945. That's when they would have knocked out the interior walls and installed electric. I have seen old homes that were never renovated and they still have the electric wiring on the outside of the walls. Here is the pic I mentioned: i.imgur.com/ilfYPgn.jpg

One floor plan of the building. images.app.goo.gl/ved9r9BKcoR9SVwz8 there are more around The mansion was built in 1765 as a *summer* residence. Likely the Phillips-Morris families were very wealthy. While most people would consider this a mansion it would be considered a summer cottage to others. The floor plan is basically Palladinian designed for cross-ventilation so larger rooms, with high ceilings, are better for air flow to cool the house. The high open attic space would collect the warm rising air venting it to the exterior. On the front gable end there is a semi-circular vent. Andrea Palladio was a Venetian architect, Northern Italy, where the climate is hot. New York City does get hot in the summer and fall months. It was built on a hilltop for ventilation in addition to drainage, view, etc. Smaller rooms would have impeded air flow and trapped heat especially at night when one wanted to get away from the oppressive heat and humidity. Structurally if balloning framing was used from the ground to roof joists the second floor plan would mirror the first floor plan for load-bearing walls. See link above. Wooden floor and ceiling joists can only span a certin maximum distance determining where the bearing walls are placed. Also, the masonry fireplaces determine where the rooms go. Mansions were designed for upper class clients not average 'verncular' personage so larger rooms were used for other purposes. One would be to show wealth. Social functions another. So, what may be seen as 'wasted space' or impractical to some is no big deal. In this case the client dictates what the builder constructs. Morris' relatives were European architects so the Pallidinian influence. A building is designed for either hot or cold climates. To do both part of the house is closed off depending on the season. Then, yea, smaller rooms would be practical if one didn't have a winter/summer house in Europe or the Caribbeans. These people could afford that. Also, the porch is reminiscent of Southern plantations houses. Look up the West Indies Sugar Rum Triangle that covered an area from New England down the coastal colonies to the Carribean. New York City had large 'southern' neighborhoods. Again, the building was built as a summer residence for wealthy clients emulating European upper class standards. Small rooms would have been heat traps hence the need for large rooms and hallways to keep the warm air circulating out of the house.

That is how my bedroom is (8' x 8') is, but I'm in a late 19th c. tenement-style walk up. I'd think it would be different in a mansion.

James, came across a sentence in this link harlemlive.org/community/orgs/MJmansion/index.html about rooms being added on as people moved in and out over the years. (Half-way down the article.) Could be referring to the two smaller rooms in the second floor bedroom over the octagonal space below, or for the slaves in the basement and indentured servants in the attic, or for guests coming and going? 26:20 1801-1810 it was a Tavern/Inn/Bar/what esle ... something Eliza would have felt at home with? Dunno One way to tell if there were smaller rooms would have been if the wooden floor boards are darker where there were walls. Or, different board lenghts, or nail holes (if they had metal or wooden pegs). But, as Megan said they are not the orginal flooring. The walls and ceiling might have indications of smaller walls. Each room would have had a window. If visible, the floor joists directions and lenghts would tell something. Wonder what actual or nomial size, depth and width, the orginal wooden floor/ceiling joists are for 20'-0" or greater lenghts? What type of tree for the lumber? If any moisture or insect damage there might have been? 55:10 the floor plan on the right shows the 3rd floor attic rooms. Probably for the servants these smaller rooms with less headroom are more of the sizes you mentioned. There's a attic hatchway by the stairwell to the roof observation deck. Must have been a great view of the Hudson and Harlem Rivers. 55:15 The building's section drawing shows the floors. The first floor is the entrance floor from the portico. In Europe it would have been the second floor with a grand staircase to be above the ground level for various reasons and make head room for horse carriage deliveries, a large stoop. The Stairway Hallway in your posted photo is 16'2"×16'4". Beyond that the hallway to the building's porch is about 18' to 20/24' lenght. The hallway would be considered a living area, an enclosed 'loggia', porch, to sit. Looks like the 'closet' wall has been removed for access to the rear stairs. *Yea* , it appears spacious, might because of the wide floor boards and high ceilings height optically make Megan look petite which then visually makes the space look larger. Or, Arial has a *wide-angle lens* ? The more or less carpetless bare floors acoustics give it its cavernous ambience feel. Opinion, the owners and guests would have preferred larger rooms for ventilation as the building was designed as a compact country summer villa. The floor plan resembles a temple from the southern front entrance to the oblong octongonal space. So, the present floor plan reflects mostly the orginal floorplan but without any the changes made inbetween. The east side of the staircase and above going to the kitchen basement doesn't show the office(s).

Should that fact disqualify our interest?