<p>The Museum of the City of New York was founded in 1923 by Henry Collins Brown, a Scottish-born writer with a vision for a populist approach to the city. The Museum was originally housed in Gracie Mansion, the future residence of the Mayor of New York. Hardinge Scholle succeeded Henry Brown in 1926 and began planning a new home for the Museum. The City offered land on Fifth Avenue on 103rd-104th Streets and construction for Joseph H. Freedlander`s Georgian Colonial-Revival design for the building started in 1929 and was completed in 1932.</p>

 Filip Wolak Courtesy Museum of the City of New York

 Filip Wolak,  Museum of the City of New York

 Coach made its first journey from Madison Square to Pelham on, May 1, 1876, thereby inaugurating the sport of coaching, in 1935  

The beautiful new&amp;nbsp;Georgian Colonial-Revival&amp;nbsp;building was dedicated on January 11, 1932, which provided the space to house, conserve, and showcase the extraordinary collection the Museum had amassed over the years.  

Donations started as low as $1 and came from a diverse group of contributors&amp;mdash;from well-known New Yorkers to even a scout troop! The fundraising goal was met, and just in time as this was right before the 1929 stock market crash and the subsequent Great Depression. The original plans for the building were scaled back, but construction began and continued throughout this turbulent era in New York City&amp;rsquo;s history.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;  

In 2000, during the Giuliani administration, the Board of Directors voted to move the Museum to the newly renovated Tweed Courthouse in downtown Manhattan. However, in 2002 the new Bloomberg administration decided that the courthouse would instead serve as the headquarters for the Department of Education.  

Museum of the City of New York

Gracie Mansion

 Donald Albrecht, Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of New York speaks about the Museum. 