Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site

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Front of Roosevelt's House (2004)

Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site is the Springwood estate in Hyde Park , New York . Springwood was the birthplace and lifelong residence and burial place of the 32nd President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt . The National Historic Site was established in 1945.

History of Springwood

The land on which Springwood lies was originally part of a land purchase that covered the entire area between the Hudson River to the west and the Connecticut border to the east. The area of ​​this Great Nine Partners patent was 567 km², which nine New York City businessmen received from the English Crown in 1697. In order to guarantee all partners equal access to the river, the land on the river was divided into nine water parcels. Springwood is on one such parcel that was originally owned by a partner named William Creed.

The house where Franklin Delano Roosevelt lived with his family is now a National Historic Site.

While the early history of the house on Springwood remains unclear, the central portion of what is now the building is believed to be a large federal-style farmhouse built around 1800 . The property was bought in 1845 by the New York merchant Josiah Wheeler. Wheeler had the house rebuilt and designed in the then modern Italianate or Italian villa style, for example with the three-story tower at the south end and the spaces at the front and rear that extend the full length of the house. After this renovation, the house had a total of 15 rooms.

The property belonged to the well 2.5 sq km land in 1866 in this state of Franklin D. Roosevelt's father, James Roosevelt, Sr. at the price of 40,000 US dollars (1866, adjusted for inflation 663,000 US dollars) to buy. At that time there was already a stable and a racecourse, which was important to James Roosevelt because he had a great interest in horse breeding. From the purchase of the house to his death 34 years later, James Roosevelt had many improvements made to the house, including the extension of the wing for the servants and two more rooms. He also had a coach house built in the neighborhood.

The grave of Franklin Delano Roosevelt

In 1915 Franklin D. Roosevelt and his mother Sara embarked on the final major expansion of the house, remodeling it again to accommodate his growing family, but also to create a place where he could invite his political allies who supported his ambitions. Many of the ideas for the new design of the property came from Roosevelt himself; but since the construction work was financed by his mother Sara, she had to make compromises that also affected financial aspects. She commissioned the architecture firm Hoppin and Koen from New York City with the design. The size of the house was more than doubled by the two large fieldstone side wings designed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, the tower and a third floor with a flat roof . The shingled outer facade was replaced by plaster and most of the veranda gave way to a terrace paved with field stones with a balustrade and a small portico at the entrance supported by columns . These changes gave the house the appearance of a Colonial Revival mansion . Inside, much of the original floor plan was retained during the expansion. The design was primarily geared towards housing Roosevelt's growing collection of books, paintings, stamps, and coins. The renovation was completed after a year in 1916. Franklin D. Roosevelt also changed the look of the surrounding property by planting trees extensively. Between 1911, when he began large-scale planting, and his death in 1945, more than 400,000 trees were planted on the property. Eventually large parts of the property became an experimental forest station with the participation of the relevant faculty at Syracuse University .

Two years before his death, Franklin D. Roosevelt donated the property to the American people in 1943, on condition that his family retained a lifelong right to use the property. After the Roosevelts family waived this right, the property was transferred to the United States Department of the Interior on November 21, 1945 . Since then, the property has been managed by the National Park Service as a National Historic Site and is open to the public. In October 1966, it was entered as a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places . On December 9, 1997, the National Historic Site's Top Cottage , a smaller, wheelchair accessible home, received National Historic Landmark status . In 2005 the facility covered more than 3 km² and was viewed by 108,611 visitors.

Used by Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt was born in what was then the tower bedroom on the second floor at the south end of the house. At that time this served as the master bedroom. The room where he and later his sons slept during their childhoods was nearby on the same floor. After Roosevelt married Eleanor Roosevelt in 1905 , the young couple lived in this house with Roosevelt's mother. The estate remained the center of Roosevelt's life through all phases of his career. During his presidency he visited almost 200 times. The property served as a replacement for the White House in the summer and the President received his political friends and other prominent national and international guests here. When in June 1939 King George VI. and his wife Elizabeth made the first state visit by a ruling British monarch to the United States, the royal couple was housed in Springwood. Franklin D. Roosevelt used the property as a retreat for himself and his friends on election night of all of the presidential elections in which he ran. After the incoming results indicated that he had won the election, he went out onto the terrace at the front of the house where he gave the speech declaring himself the election winner. Franklin D. Roosevelt's last visit to Springwood was in the last week of March 1945, about two weeks before he died. At his request, he was buried in the rose garden on April 15, 1945. His wife Eleanor was buried at his side after her death in 1962.

Spaces

Entrance hall

Entrance hall

The entrance hall walls are largely covered with pieces from Franklin D. Roosevelt's collection of paintings. Above all, pictures of naval history and some historical cartoons are shown. Stuffed birds from Roosevelt's youth are also kept here. A statue shows him at the age of 29. In the corner behind the main staircase is a manually operated elevator cage which the disabled president used to move between floors.

Dining room and library

In the library

This room was where Franklin D. Roosevelt worked on his collections, which included a personal library of 14,000 volumes, more than 2000 paintings, prints and lithographs on the Navy, 300+ stuffed birds, 200+ ship models, 1,2 Included millions of postage stamps and thousands of coins, notes, badges and medals.

Music room

The music room, which is also called the Dresden Room because of the origin of some of the porcelain here , is a salon that contains many pieces of china porcelain and lacquer carvings . These date from the time when the family of Franklin D. Roosevelt's mother was in China , where her father made a lot of money in trade. Together with the adjoining dining room, this room served for formal entertainment of the guests. Among these guests were Prime Ministers Winston Churchill ( United Kingdom ) and Mackenzie King ( Canada ) as well as members of the European nobility such as the King and Queen of the United Kingdom in 1939, Queen Wilhelmina with the Princesses Juliana and Beatrix of the Netherlands , Prince Olaf and Princess Martha . A collection of signed photographs of these guests is on the piano in the music room.

Bedroom of Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt

When the house was expanded in 1915, a suite for Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt was set up in one of the side wings. Originally a meeting room and two dressing rooms belonged to these rooms; After Franklin D. Roosevelt developed polio in 1921 , one of the dressing rooms was converted into a bedroom for his wife Eleanor and the meeting room into a bedroom for his mother Sara.

Snuggery

This room, the cozy living room , was used by Sara Roosevelt to start her day and to run the household. In its present form, the room was created during the extensive construction work in 1915 by dividing the old southern salon into a gallery and the snuggery . Much of the old salon furnishings were taken over into the smaller room.

See also

swell

  • Springwood: birthplace of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Photography by Richard Cheek, text by Franklin D. Mares. Hyde Park Historical Association, Hyde Park, NY, 1993.

Individual evidence

  1. Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site on the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed November 1, 2019.
  2. Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: New York. National Park Service , accessed November 1, 2019.

Web links

Commons : Springwood (New York)  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

Coordinates: 41 ° 46 ′ 1.9 ″  N , 73 ° 56 ′ 8 ″  W.