The house was built in 1748 in the Georgian style by Frederick Van Cortlandt (1699 - 1749) for his family. Van Cortlandt died before its completion and the property was inherited by his son, James Van Cortlandt (1727 - 1787). It is a -story, L-shaped house with a double hipped roof. It was built of dressed fieldstone and is representative of the high Georgian style.The Van Cortlandts, a mercantile family prominent in New York affairs, established a grain plantation and grist mill on the property. The house was used during the Revolutionary War by Rochambeau, Lafayette, and Washington. In 1889, after 140 years of occupancy by the Van Cortlandt family, the property was sold to the City of New York and made public parkland. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1967 and became a National Historic Landmark in 1976. The house has been operated as a historic house museum since 1897, the first in the city and fourth in the country.
