Courtesy of Wikipedia
This past weekend’s New York Times Metropolitan section reported that Parks Department negotiations to purchase the Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead and turn it into a house museum have stalled. In 1999, the city offered $2 million for the house and its historic contents, among them a sword etched with the royal crown and initials for George Rex III and windowpanes with the initials of two Hessian soldiers who stayed there during the Revolution.¹ In addition, the current owners, the Monts, would have been able to live there rent-free provided this deal went through.
However, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services has now offered the Monts considerably less than originally promised and a deal is no longer close to being done. I sincerely hope this deal gets done because this treasure of a house deserves to be a public space for all history buffs to marvel at.
Click here to read the entire article and as well as see fantastic pictures of the house.
¹Blumenthal, Ralph. “A Prewar Home, to Say the Least.” The New York Times. 29 January 2010.