Stevens House (Queens)

The Stevens House was located on Vernon Boulevard and 30th Road in Astoria, Queens, New York City.

Stevens House
Stevens House, 1937, by Berenice Abbott
Location within New York City
Stevens House (Queens) (New York)
General information
Architectural styleColonial, Federal
LocationVernon Boulevard and 30th Road
Town or cityAstoria, New York
Coordinates40.7712°N 73.9338°W / 40.7712; -73.9338
OwnerEbenezer Stevens

The Stevens House is a large wood frame house set on a stone foundation featuring a porch supported by bricks piers.[1] The original house "stood on the top of a hill, from which there was an extensive view of the East River or Sound, which before the channel was freed from its many obstructions was most picturesque with its ever-changing, whirling, eddying currents."[2]

History

The house was built as a country residence by General Ebenezer Stevens, who named it Mount Napoleon,[3] which was later shortened to "The Mount."[2] Stevens purchased the land from the Hallett family not long after the American Revolutionary War.[3] Stevens was the father of banker John Austin Stevens and surgeon Alexander Hodgdon Stevens, and the grandfather of historian John Austin Stevens (who founded the Sons of the Revolution),[4] and the great-great-grandfather of activist Eugenie Mary Ladenburg Davie.[5]

During the War of 1812, Stevens hosted New York City mayor DeWitt Clinton (the former U.S. Senator from New York and later the 6th Governor of New York) and several other prominent military figures at the house on July 14, 1813 for the inauguration of the military works for the protection against the British located at Hallett's Point (known as Fort Stevens in his honor[6]).[7]

Stevens' son Byam Kerby Stevens (who married the daughter of Albert Gallatin) inherited the house.[8] Gallatin himself died at the home in 1849. The house was later inherited by Stevens' son, Byam Kerby Stevens Jr., a banker who was prominent member of New York society during the Gilded Age.[2]

References
  1. "Stevens house, Vernon Boulevard and 30th Road, Astoria, Queens". digitalcollections.nypl.org. New York Public Library. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  2. "THE OLD STEVENS HOUSE. | A Historian's Account of the Historical Mansion at Astoria". The Sun. January 26, 1903. p. 6. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  3. Wilkerson, Lyn (2010). Historical Cities-New York City. Lyn Wilkerson. p. 93. ISBN 9781452413730. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  4. Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). "Stevens, Ebenezer" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.)
  5. Library.marist.edu Archived 2014-04-08 at the Wayback Machine, The Stevens Family Genealogy, Marist College Archive and Special Collections.
  6. Teitel, Ilana. "OLD ASTORIA". OANA - Old Astoria Neighborhood Association. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  7. Historical Guide to the City of New York. F. A. Stokes Company. 1909. p. 281. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  8. "Mrs. Francis Gallatin Stevens". Pittsburgh Daily Post. December 3, 1877. p. 2. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
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