Deep in the southernmost reaches of Brooklyn, the Hendrick I. Lott house is a living time capsule of Gotham history, an extraordinary survivor from the Age of Discovery, a home to scores of women and men, immigrant and native-born, enslaved and free, who helped transform a wild land into New York City.
Still standing in its original orientation on its original site, the Hendrick I. Lott House is a rare surviving Dutch-American house in New York City. At its peak, the Lott family owned over 200 acres worth of land, according to the Historic House Trust. Much of their property would be sold off in the 1920s, with the neighborhood later becoming known as Marine Park, but the house remained in the family. As a result, the house is full of decorations, architectural detail, and other artifacts.
If you are or become an Untapped Cities Insiders, you can go inside this house, which is rarely opened to the public, on July 14th for free! The tour will be led by Friends of the Lott House board member, Alyssa Loorya, who is also president of Chrysalis Archaeological Consultants, a leading urban archeology firm in New York City.
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Today the house is maintained by Friends of the Lott House, a non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve and interpret the history and material culture of the 1720 and 1800 Hendrick I. Lott farmhouse. One of the extraordinary finds in this house is a closet believed to have been used to hide runaway slaves, with the house serving as an important stop in South Brooklyn on the Underground Railroad. Â