The Oval Office through the Village

On this day after Election Day, presidential history marches on. And that history has often marched through Greenwich Village and the East Village, as denizens of both the White House and 1 Observatory Circle (the vice president’s residence) have made their marks in our communities.

Aaron Burr at Richmond Hill

The Charlton-King-VanDam Historic District was once the site of Richmond Hill, one of Manhattan’s most imposing mansions, built in 1767 by Major Mortier. That grand home was located on a 400-ft-high hill, “surrounded by gardens, meadows and woods, all with an impressive view of the Hudson,” according to the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The mansion quickly became famous after it was used by George Washington as his base of operation in New York during the American Revolution.

New York City was designated the nation’s capitol after the war, and Richmond Hill — which would have been bordered approximately by present-day Varick, MacDougal, Charlton, and VanDam Streets — became the vice-presidential mansion for John Adams, the first person in the office. After the capitol was moved from the city, the mansion was sold to Aaron Burr, who eventually became our third vice president. On the morning of July 11, 1804, Burr arose from Richmond Hill and had himself ferried across the Hudson to his fateful duel with Alexander Hamilton.

After Hamilton’s death, Burr fled New York. He then developed and ultimately sold the Richmond Hill Estate, which forms the current surrounding historic district as well as the southernmost block of MacDougal Street. 

Grover Cleveland and the 13th Street Presbyterian Church

In 1884, Republican presidential candidate James Blaine was mired in a bribery and corruption scandal that resulted in many Republicans jumping ship and supporting Grover Cleveland, who if he won would be the first democrat to hold the highest seat in the land since the Civil War. Republicans fought back, building on the scandalous rumor that Cleveland fathered a child out of wedlock. At a Republican rally, the Rev. Samuel Burchard, leader of the 13th Street Presbyterian Church, warned loyalists not to support the party of “rum, romanism, and rebellion,” citing the party’s large constituency of Southern former Confederates and northern Catholics (who were thought to be particularly fond of drink).

The press learned of the insult and painted Blaine as anti-Catholic. In one of the closest presidential elections in history, Cleveland won the election after securing New York’s 36 electoral votes by just 1,000 votes (0.1%), the edge coming from high levels of support in heavily Catholic New York City. Cleveland would be the only Democrat elected to the White House between 1860 and 1912.

Jimmy Carter and 742 East Sixth Street

Former president Jimmy Carter and his late wife Rosalynn Carter were long at the forefront of Habitat for Humanity, the nonprofit that helps communities build new homes and improve existing residences. While the Carters’ work with the organization over nearly four decades brought them to neighborhoods in need around the world, their first major project with the organization was right here in the East Village.

In the 1970s and ’80s, many buildings in Alphabet City were empty, stripped of resources such as copper plumbing and marble staircases, and left uninhabitable. One such building was 742 East Sixth Street (between Avenues C and D), a vandalized and dilapidated 24-family tenement known as Mascot Flats that was being used as a drug den and encampment for the homeless in the 1980s. In 1983, Bruce Schoonmaker, a minister running the Graffiti Ministry Center on East 7th Street, helped convince Habitat. for Humanity to start a project at this building; almost a year later, the former president toured the site. What the ex-president found was a building in total disrepair: no roof or permanent staircase, interiors fire-blackened and knee-deep in garbage.

For the following two summers, Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter were joined by volunteers from his church and local residents on a gut renovation of the building. The ex-president’s furniture-building skills qualified him as one of the group’s carpentry experts. Together, they replaced rotted beams, rebuilt the roof deck, and laid new floors, among other tasks to build 20 apartments for East Villagers in need and make 742 East 6th Street livable again. Since then, Habitat for Humanity has renovated more than 1,000 homes and apartments across New York City.