One of New York City’s oldest surviving homes will soon be opened for the first time to the public as a new museum.
The Art Newspaper reports Brooklyn’s Hendrick I. Lott House was built as a farmhouse in 1720 by Johannes Lott. The property was incorporated into a larger structure by Hendrick I. Lott in 1800 and was altered and enlarged over the years.
The Lott family were initially slaveowners, but they freed their enslaved works in 1805 and the house was later part of the Underground Railroad system that sheltered enslaved people fleeing from the South.
The Lott family lived at the house until 1989. The city acquired the property in 2002 and renovated its exterior and landscape over the following 11 years, but its interior was never made available for public viewing. The volunteer group Friends of the Lott House is collaborating with city agencies on interior and structural preservation and renovation, which will include updates to the property’s HVAC and plumbing. Work is set to begin early 2026, with virtual and small hardhat tours to keep the public abreast of the progress on this endeavor.
“It touches on a time that we don’t necessarily think of with regards to New York City, which is a rural and agricultural history,” Alyssa Loorya, the president of Friends of the Lott House and principal investigator of Chrysalis Archaeology. “The city is bigger than just downtown Brooklyn and Manhattan. I always say that New York City could not truly function without the outer boroughs, because the people in the outer boroughs operate and run the city, and that was true in the 1600s as well.”
Photo: Friend of the Lott House
