An Unlikely Barn: The Mount Vernon Hotel & Villa Building on the East River

As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Mount Vernon Hotel, we are delighted to present a lecture on the history of the building itself. Art historian J. Keith Doherty will explore both the1799-era structure that now houses the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum and the concept of "villa building" on the East River in the late 1700s. Ostensibly built as a barn on the former estate of William Stephens Smith, a colonel in the Revolutionary War, the building is more of a showpiece, demonstrating its owner’s great wealth and taste to those sailing past on the East River. Its “European” styling and sophisticated decorative elements were usually reserved for monumental residential buildings in the era. By adding them to a simple, utilitarian outbuilding, Smith and his successor William Robinson sought to distinguish themselves along a shoreline that by the late eighteenth century become crowded with lavish estate complexes.

Keith will also discuss his research into the history of villa building on the river, beginning with the Bowery farmhouse of Peter Stuyvesant and concluding with structures like the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum and Gracie Mansion. He will also provide an overview of comparable surviving New York City-area buildings, including Philipse Manor Hall in Yonkers, the Van Cortlandt House Museum and the Valentine-Varian House in the Bronx, and their common characteristics.

Help celebrate this milestone year and join us for an evening of early New York City architecture and history.

About the Speaker:

J. Keith Doherty is a former Professor of Art History at Boston University, where he taught for 14 years. Since returning to his native New York in 2012, he has been speaking and publishing on the earliest social and architectural history of New York City and surrounding areas. He is currently a researcher and historian at the Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site in Yonkers.

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1826-2026: Celebrating 200 Years of the Mount Vernon Hotel