Treasures of New York: Roosevelt House 

CLUE mansion huh?

How fortunate you were to have had the experience. Did you feel as if Miss Sara's spirit were present at times? I ask because I was the janitor for a historical building whose original owner's ghost would make appearances occasionally when I was working. I wasn't afraid, but everyone else was. So much so that I was requested to continue working that account until my replacement could be hired. I worked as long as I could, but I don't think they ever found another janitor.

@Helen Firth We are very luky to be able to find ways to look into our own history and find out so much mroe than our parents and grandparents ever would have known. I always wish I coud just go and see them or call them and tell them about it all! My parents/grandparents are not alive now and so do miss those opportunities of sharing anything so speical. Abraham Lincoln is a very great President for you to be proud to have in your family's ancestry. My husband has George Washington and former Pres Cooledge as ancestors. Many of the Presidents reach out to the Royal family. This world is really small when we think how people married all over the world and people are related to many more than they ever could be known! The Royals married other country royals, in order to continue bloodlines among themselves by distant marriages *usually* and try to keep peace where possible, anyway. TY for sharing!

It was never a museum. In the early 70's it was a student activities building. Sororities, Hillel, Protestant and Nemnan club had their own floors. Many recitals and banquet lunches, board meetings and the such

@@edbarron cool, so it was still a Publix space so I stand by what I said

dave rg .....Me Too. I Love History. I will never get to NY so I rely on Documentaries.

my fave President

So essentially Hunter College allowed the Roosevelt House deteriorate. That Raab saw fit to restore the House is to her credit.

So it wasn't so much a restoration as a remodelling of the House for modern usage. Still...

The problem is that in the democrat fiefdom of New York property taxes are so excessive that even oligarchs like the Roosevelts could not afford the upkeep and taxes. The Vanderbilt’s once owned the largest private house in NYC where Bergdorf Goodman now stands. Taxes became so high that keeping the house was a bad investment and the McKim/Meade/White masterpiece was destroyed.

@@PrayToHealAmerica property taxes in NYC are actually much lower than in Westchester or Nassau County - furthermore, the great homes were given up due to the change in lifestyle rather than affordability. An example is the Duke-Seamans mansion by the Met - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0rZzuX7PvR4.html

@@PrayToHealAmerica True and if they keep going up they will be seeing many more houses just sitting around going downhill, as people move away. They will probably need to house all the people coming over the border and give them housing someplace. They will become many people's neighbors and they can feed and clothe them. We do it even now as taxes are so high!

Isabel Cutler we really don’t care.

Want a cookie

No need to be nasty.

@@PoisonFlyer why are you here? why do you breathe?

@@michelejohnson9483 Some people....just "bored"...and boring.

How badly we need him now! He would be absolutely demonized by the Republican Party even beyond what he was during his lifetime.

inkyguy Right now, (thank goodness) after a year, we are back in some what peaceful waters... after all harm done by # 45...

The start too of welfare

Need President Trump not a Marxist liberal

Mary Ann Lay Lanzon well then go to live in Russia 🇷🇺... you will be very happy there... or any other Communist country...

That's true. Eleanor had the maternal instinct of a golf club, completely clueless on how to care for children, how to run a household, and how to budget. Sara, her mother-in-law, generously paid for *everything.* She paid their clothing bills, household staff, school and college fees, *everything.* But she supported Eleanor in everything she did and loved her as her own daughter and many times took Eleanor's side against Franklin.

I will p

She was well-liked and very intelligent. She did help her husband in many ways.

Absolutely *not* true. Sara thought Eleanor was a wonderful and intelligent person, loved her dearly, supported her not only emotionally, but financially. Sara was *NOT* critical of Eleanor who was a disaster at motherhood, running a house, and budgeting. Both Eleanor and Franklin were quite self-centered people.

Erica Pearson have you toured it yet

BlueHooloovoo, Couldn’t stand either! Damn socialists!

They both were high and mighty people that did a lot in their office, but many Republicans think they did a poor job. Actual reporters nowadays should try to be very honest.

gayboyzig. Very are very true, the social security act also included health benefits. The health benefit part was never brought in until Obama care. The republican never liked the social security act and didn’t wanted it passed. They gave in, but held back the health benefits. You these were socialist measures in a way popular all over Europe. When you asked the man if he wanted to give up his social security benefits he didn’t answer you. I had the Act but somebody stole it in my office.

@@terry4137 This country has always had a mixed economy--part socialist and part capitalist. Has been from day 1. The only business entity referenced in the constitution is run by the collective for the benefit of the collective. The Post Office. So are you pissed at Madison and Franklin too?

And yet many leaders, who never served (because they had national guard deferment or a medical deferment for "bone spurs" arranged by their fathers) enter into war without serious consideration of its consequences and no one from their family will ever be in danger or harm's way.

@@inkyguy I know. Their sons will NEVER suffer.

That's when I would reach for the noose and a high rafter.

I'd encourage you to actually read a biography of the Roosevelts. I've read several and have visited both Roosevelt homes (Hyde Park and Val-Kill). Sarah Roosevelt was an incredibly domineering and controlling woman. She was the social and political version of a stage mother. I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that she only tolerated her son's marriage so there would be someone to bear Franklin's children. At heart, Sarah perceived Eleanor as an unfortunate necessity.

Sarah helped with the kids and built the house.

Jrgnc1/Thats been my dream situation. Living with and ruled by my mother in law. Oh wait, I dont have one.

@Katarina G BLESS YOU!!!!

That’s what you get when your mother owns every property where you are ever lived and you don’t actually own any property.

A recipe for disaster. What Sarah told her grandchildren was despicable and terrible!!! FDR should have out on his foot down but he was a mommy's boy!

Steven Torrey I agree with you,that was quite a lapse on his part.

7 13 19 Hey Steben Torrey, One does recover from the acute phase (@ least FDR did), & one lives with the disability their entire life. I know, splitting hairs here. Be well. v

If he didn't recover from the illness, he would have died from it. He did recover. He was left with the irreversible effects of Polio.

@@virginiatyree6705 I don't know what you mean by "recovering". He never regained the use of his legs; he managed to move by ambling himself in braces. That is not "recovering", that is managing.

@@michaelwarren6467 I don't know what you mean by "recovering". He never regained use of his legs; he managed to walk by ambling himself in braces. That is not "recovering", that is managing.

Yes,alot of people think Sara was just so wonderful, she wasn't. I think it was horrible how she couldn't let her son be a husband and father,or allow Eleanor to mother her children.

Although I agree that it would have been nice to see it that way, I’m pleased that it goes beyond just another historic house museum and instead is being utilized and inspiring students - a living breathing space

Well...it's not a full=on museum....but there are some original items from the 20s/30s and earlier. Reportedly, Roosevelt's mom...who owned the house moved many of the items up to Hyde Park...tohers back/forth to the White House...and the various children after FDR, and then Eleanor died. There are at least 3 conference rooms...the larger rooms used as meeting space by Hunter College and some local civic groups.

fyi- The Teddy Roosevelt House...@W 28th Street///near Park Avenue South is more like a traditional house museum. The church he was baptized...episcopal...is on E 17th Street....off Broadway-6th Avenue....near the Flatiron Building and Madison Square Park.

maybe so but this is a far better use of the space and much more in keeping with the ideals of Eleanor.

That's incorrect. Franklin's mother threatened to cut off the money if Franklin went through a divorce he wanted with Eleanor.

@@patricksmith2274 I stand corrected :)

Andrew Gibbon-Williams Not surprised to hear it coming from a German knowing how Hitler confiscated everyone’s guns. And look how that went! And obviously you know little about Churchill and his conservatism.

Kate Perr, Hitler did NOT confiscate everyone's guns. He and the Nazis heavily armed members of their own party to make sure they were the only ones who were armed. Today every democratic nation on Earth has much stronger gun control than the U.S. and most are arguably freer and many have a higher standard of living as well as lower rates of crime and violence. Our guns aren't doing anything for us but making gun manufacturers wealthy.

Well said Mr. Gibbon-Williams. The US has done the wrong thing to countries and groups so many times. It’s long past time that we discard our childish, violent ways and work together for a better nation and world. It’s good to know that not everyone in other countries gave up on us in the dark, recent past.

peter n Yes it has,we need a man like Franklin in the White House again,instead of the insane clown posse of an administration!

@Michael well said Michael!

@@gerardorcastellanos950 - you're the only insane clown, moron !

Gerardo R Castellanos your to stupid to even have a comment

The Democratic Party is much more conservative on the whole and yet is demonized and intentionally mischaracterized by the Right as socialism or communist.

And the fascism we fought in WWII has infiltrated our beautiful country. I wonder what FDR, Eisenhower, Patton and the citizens who sacrificed their bodies and souls for us would say about the decline of our democratic republic, which is now owned by corporations. For those of you who will clutch your pearls in horror that I would say our government is turning fascist, I give you the definition: www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/fascism?q=fascism

@@lilivonshtup3808 Yup!

Christian Patriot ..... So True.... How Did she Cope ? Omg... What Betrayal. So Sad, Wrong. Disgusting.

@@andreamurphy1126 They thought about divorce, but his mother threatened to cut off the flow the family money if they did, and Louie Howe, his political advisor, warned that a divorce would end any hope he had of a political career. So they stayed married. But, then to add insult to injury, his secretary became his 2nd mistress for all intents and purposes. FDR wrote a will that left more to the secretary than to Eleanor, but the secretary died before FDR did so the will was moot. Eleanor spent most of the their White House years traveling so FDR went back to his first mistress and was with her when he died. Biographer Edward Jean Smith strongly implies that Eleanor was a lesbian, but that doesn't excuse FDR's behavior.

no, that was fdr's home in warm springs, georgia

Yeah what a rat.

Very human, in fact. What mattered was what Franklin (and Eleanor) did for both their country and humanity. Both put the needs of their country and others first. They lived to serve, tirelessly. Given that, I don't care what they made of their marriage or who they slept with. I just hope they found some companionship and love along the way. The current President's personal life, however, is emblematic of his narcissism, selfishness and egocentrism. He is incapable of putting anyone's interests, including those of his country and its citizens above his own. He occupies the office entirely to milk what he can from it and benefit himself and his family, intentionally bending government to serve the purposes of the wealthy and corporate America, at the expense of everyone else.

It’s time.......

Trade with Chinese including opium

Christian Patriot, gee, dude, give the partisanship a rest.

You forgot the word sickening before “liberal homage”. The drooling over the crypto-Marxist couple who created the military/industrial complex to successfully do what 12 years of statist expansionism FAILED to do and that is end The Depression that would have been brief without the unilateral, unconstitutional federal intrusion into the free market economy and usurpation of gold, industry, banking, markets etc...which only prolonged The Depression and suffering, made more insufferable by that snob going around in his Rolls Royce looking past his pretentious cigarette holder down his privileged, effete nose at “the common man”. Did you know NOT ONE civil rights law was passed during FDR’s 12 year long regime and he killed the 1933 anti-lynching act to curry favor with the Dixiecrats? Facts are stubborn things. He turned the American miracle of free representative government into a bloated, redundant, inefficient, collectivist crony bureaucracy and albatross around the necks of the working man for all time. He also allowed the Red Menace and the godless, statist Cultural Marxist devils to flood the new mammoth bureaucracy successfully opening wide the doors for their dogmatic, anti individual liberty “long march through the institutions” to run unfettered while America’s best natural defenders were over seas fighting other people’s globalist wars. His cabinet was teaming with seditious Cultural Marxists. FDR should be despised, not lauded.

hell a lot more than the Orange Moron. Inject disinfectant...LMAO, can't get dumber than that but no doubt he'll lower bar again really soon. Oh and President Obama got BIN LADEN! Boom, mic drop. Bye Felicia, munch on a Tide Pod on your way out...

Oh, shut up.

I think you must have gotten a whiff of COVID and are ranting and raving like an orange mad person.

she had an emotional relationship, even loving, with a woman. being gay is an issue of birth sexual identity development, what she had would not clinically be considered being gay.

how low can you go?

WHO GIVES A FUCK WHAT YA THINK LOL

7 13 19 Hey SDYNEY HI, Her actions & service to the country pretty much speaks for itself, her private life, it's interesting, & hope she had joy, kindness, & love in her life; stuff/things can be complicated. Be well. v

SYDNEY HI , your language is harsh and disrespectful and definitely unnecessary. You must be young or just ignorant or both. Be well.

liberty Ann so true!!

liberty Ann- President Trump is better then FDR; much better then that socialist !

liberty Ann assholes like you never cease to amaze me at how foolish and dumb you can be

gayboyzig why would we do that we paid into it stupid but the facts are it’s not a very Good investment and I’m not to sure you would know that it’s been raided and money taken out for decades by your side that’s why it’s gonna go broke stupid

FDR had the benefit of a fully functioning mind and a pretty decent heart, neither of which Trump possesses.

then go away. You must've been happy to see Jon Meacham's name...face....voice come up in the first fw seconds.

Anatoly Balthasar ... you're a fucking Russian troll. Meacham is brilliant. Go away

Maybe journalists aren't educated in your country. American and Canadian journalists are very well educated. They all have a minimum of a college degree and many have graduate degrees.

inkyguy Well, I do like the fact that you had included both Canada and USA. It feels better? Unfortunately, the requirements for university degree in North America are very modest. Perhaps, one would argue, too modest. However, I do admire your solidarity. Bravo!

Glenn Leahey Correct. Must admit.