Picture today’s Upper West Side as it was in the late 18th century, when it was known as the rural village of Bloomingdale and filled with acres of meadows, streams, and wildflowers.
And towering over the landscape on a hill near Columbus Avenue and 91st street was the Apthorp Mansion (below, how it looked in 1790, according to a 1907 drawing).
Constructed in 1764 by wealthy Loyalist Charles Apthorp, the mansion, called Elmwood for its gorgeous trees, was conceded to be “the finest house on the island,” writes Peter Salwen in Upper West Side Story.
A newspaper ad for the property from 1780, reprinted in Upper West Side Story, reveals its loveliness:
“…about 300 acres of choice rich land, chiefly meadow, in good order, on which are two very fine orchards of the best fruit. . . . An exceedingly good house, elegantly furnished, commanding beautiful prospects of the East and North-Rivers, on the latter of which the estate is bounded.”
The house survived the Revolutionary War (it was in the middle of a battleground, after all) and Apthorp was charged with treason. After his 1797 death, his 10 children divided and sold off the land.
In the 19th century, some of the grounds became a popular picnic area called Elm Park. Finally the house itself met its end in 1891 (above), torn down to make way for 91st Street, as the village of Bloomingdale became part of the modern city.
The mansion is commemorated by the beautiful circa-1909 apartment building the Apthorp, on Broadway between 78th and 79th Streets.
Tags: Apthorp apartment house, Apthorp Mansion, Apthorpe estate, Charles Ward Apthorp, Elm Park Upper West Side, Loyalist New York City, New York in the Revolutionary War, Upper West Side mansions, village of Bloomingdale Upper West Side, villages of the Upper West Side
Ephemeral New York 
July 30, 2012 at 10:33 pm |
Your recent post on the 1871 Orange Day massacre has a connection:
In 1870 the Orangemen started their parade from headquarters, but marched uptown to Elm Park.
July 31, 2012 at 4:15 am |
Yes, the Elm Park reference made me curious!
July 31, 2012 at 7:04 pm |
Fascinating, thank you. I went to high school at the corner of 91st Street and Columbus Avenue and had no idea of this story.
July 31, 2012 at 8:37 pm |
I agree; this is a new one on me. So, The Apthorp is named after a Loyalist! Such treason! : )
July 31, 2012 at 9:44 pm |
Fascinating is right. Thank you.
August 1, 2012 at 5:08 pm |
Additional info on the Apthorp house and a great deal more UWS history can be found on the W 75th St Block Association site at http://www.w75ba.org/roots.html
August 1, 2012 at 5:24 pm |
Fantastic resource–thank you MR.
August 1, 2012 at 10:39 pm |
Who is/are wildnewyork and how does it connect with Gravitar? Because when I click on VIEW COMPLETE PROFILE there’s nothing to see but a sideways G
December 5, 2016 at 4:26 am |
[…] exactly did they gather to remember? The Apthorp farm for one, with its stately mansion. In 1908, the Apthorp apartment residence opened on West End Avenue and 78th […]
June 12, 2017 at 5:23 am |
[…] old when the subway opened, but it helped bring new residents and beautiful apartment houses—like the Apthorp and Astor Court at 90th Street—to the newly developed Upper West […]
June 14, 2017 at 7:39 pm |
[…] old when the subway opened, but it helped bring new residents and beautiful apartment houses—like the Apthorp and Astor Court at 90th Street—to the newly developed Upper West […]
March 15, 2018 at 1:02 pm |
[…] such as the Waldorf-Astoria and Astor Court, this project is named after the owner of the former Apthorp mansion, merchant and Royalist Charles Ward Apthorp. Elmwood, as the mansion was called, was built in […]
September 26, 2019 at 3:59 pm |
[…] it’s rare to find more photographs or drawings of Elmwood, the Upper West Side Story reprinted a newspaper ad for the property in 1780, which delves deeper into the beauty of the […]
June 9, 2022 at 2:42 am |
[…] News: Back in the 18th Century, the Apthorp Mansion was a site to see at 91st Street and Columbus Avenue, perhaps the finest building on the whole island. It was torn down in 1891, but the Apthorp apartment building on 79th Street pays tribute to the old mansion. (Ephemeral New York) […]