3. The Flatiron District is home to the only presidential birthplace open to the public
The Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site is New York City’s only presidential birthplace open to the public. Roosevelt was born here in 1858 and lived there until 1872, though in 1916, the home was demolished to make way for a retail building. In 1919, weeks after his death, the Women’s Roosevelt Memorial Association purchased the lot on which the home had been located to recreate his childhood home. The reconstructed home reenvisions the interior design of the original house from the years 1865 to 1872.
The home, located between Broadway and Park Avenue South, was originally built in 1848. Though Theodate Pope Riddle, who survived the sinking of the Lusitania and designed a number of estates in Connecticut and New York, was tasked with reconstructing the home followng its destruction. The row house next door was instrumental in the redesign, and the home was refurbished with help from Edith Roosevelt. The three-story brownstone was donated to the National Park Service in 1963.