Caleb T. Ward Mansion
Ward Hill , Staten Island, New York City, New York, United States
The Caleb Tompkins Ward Mansion is an imposing Greek Revival structure built about 1835 on the crest of Ward's Hill ccermanding a magnificent view of the New York Harbor and the metropolitan area. Originally surrounded by an estate of 250 acres, the Ward Mansion is one of the last great houses remaining from a period of the city's history when the north shore of Staten Island was a fashionable resort for wealthy New Yorkers.
Development of the area, began shortly after the close of the War of 1812, influenced by Daniel D. Tompkins (1774-1825) , Governor of the State of New York from 1807 to 1816, and Vice President of the United states under James Monroe from 1817 to 1825. Tteipkins purchased large tracts of land on the island, amounting to about 700 acres and started the village of Tompkinsville. Further changes began to take place after the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 which caused a. period of rapid econcmic growth in New York. This economic growth coincided with the spread of the Greek Revival style and some of the finest examples of it were built on Staten Island. Sailors' Snug Harbor was begun in 1831, the Seamen's Fund and Retreat in 1832, and Thomas E. Davis formed the New Brighton Association in 1834 which began to erect Greek Revival residences along Richmond Terrace. The Caleb T. Ward Mansion is one of the great houses built during this era.
Caleb Tompkins Ward (1789-1850) was descended from the prominent family of Eastchester and may have bean a nephew of Daniel D. Tompkins. Ward began to acquire his estate in October of 1826 when he purchased a large parcel of land from Thomas Hulme . In February 1829, he had his land surveyed and in January of 1833, he filed the land map with the county government It is likely that the house was built within a few years of the filing date. After Caleb's death in 1850, the land passed to his son, Albert, a prominent jurist on the island who had served as the first judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Richmond County from 1844 to 1846.
Albert Ward is responsible for building St. Paul's Memorial Church (1866-70) on St. Paul's Avenue in memory of his sister, Mary Mann Ward. The Church and Rectory were designated New York City Landmarks in July, 1975. Albert Ward died in 1878 and is buried in the family plot at St. Paul's Church, Mt. Vernon, N.Y,
In December 1904, Sally Lewis Wood Nixon acquired the house from the trustees of the Ward estate -. Mrs. Nixon, a descendant of General Andrew Lewis, a Revolutionary patriot, was originally from Washington. In 1891, she married Lewis Nixon, a prominent naval architect and pioneer in the use of steel construction for shipbuilding. Lewis Nixon (1861-1940) was born in Leesburg, Virginia, where he received his early education.
In 1878, he was appointed to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis from which ha graduated first in his class in 1882. He was then sent to the Royal Naval College in England where he continued his studies in naval architecture, marine engineering and gunnery. While in Europe, he studied at the great ship, gun and armor works of England and France.
After his return to this country, he was assigned to the John Roach Shipyard at Chester, Pennsylvania. He also served under the Chief Constructor at Washington and at the Brooklyn Navy Yard- Nixon, to a great degree, is corrected ,with the design and construction of the entire, U.S. Navy Fleet at the and of the 19th century. In 1890, he resigned from the Navy and, for the next five years served as superintendent of construction at Cramp & Sons in Philadelphia. Ha purchased the Crescent Shipyards at Elizabethport, New Jersey, where, within six years, he built one hundred vessels«. He organised the Standard Motor Construction Co., the Lev/is Nixon Shipyards and was president of the International Smokeless Ponder and Dynamite Co., the Nixon Nitration Works, the Raritan River Sand Co. , vice-president of the New York Auto-truck Co., and director of the Idaho Exploration and Mining Co. Prior to World War I he was asked to design ships for Czar Nicholas II.
Nixon was also actively involved in New York City politics, serving ess head of Tammany Hall from 1901 to 1902. He was commissioner of Public Works for Richmond County in 1914-15 and was appointed Superintendent of Public Works for New York City in 1919. Later, he was named Public Service Commissioner.
In 1923, Sally Nixon sold the rams ion to the Ward Hill Realty Corporation which converted the house from a single family residence to a Multiple dwelling. In order, to comply with the then existing building codes, a number of alterations ware made to the exterior and interior of the building.
The architect of the mansion is unknown although George B» Davis (1806-1869) is credited with building it, Davis, born in Somerset, Massachusetts, came to Staten Island about 1832 in connection with the construction of the Seamen's Fund and Retreats new the United States Marine Hospital. The first building on the grounds, now demolished, was completed on June 12, 1832 and Davis may have been the builder/ architect of this building. The large Greek Revival Hospital, still standing, was begun in 1834 and designed by A, P, Maybee.
During the early part of the 19th century in New York, the separate roles of architect and builder were not clearly defined. It was common practice for the owner of an undeveloped property to hire a builder—reason, carpenter, etc. —when he wished to erect a house and the builder would then hire a draftsman to draw up the plans for the house. Moreover, there was the widespread use of builders' guide books by contractors of the period. These books gave practical advice on construction techniques to those in the building trade and often included plans for booses arid designs for architectural detail,
Among the most influential of these books at the time the Ward Mansion was built were those by Minard Lafever which are, in part, responsible for the popularization of this Revival style throughout the country.
The mansion is a monumental three-story high brick structure stuccoed to simulate stone. It is five bays wide- and four deep, the stories decrease in height as they rise.
The two-story, tetrastyle Ionic portico of the entrance stands in front of the three central bays. Pilasters flank the front and bays and the bays of the side and rear facades. The rear facade is further enhanced by a one-story covered piazza supported by six piers. Above the entablature of the second story, the attic third story is marked by simple piers on line with the pilasters < long horizontals of the roofline are broken by a blocking course on all four sides. A large rectangular cupola crowns the building. The square-headed windows are recessed and without enframements, only the sills of the second floor windows are original.
- From the 1978 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report