Phelps Mansion Museum — Attraction in City of Binghamton

The Phelps Mansion is a magnificent Gilded Age home located in Binghamton, NY. The house was built in 1872 by architect Isaac Perry, who also worked on the NY State Capitol building. The mansion was owned by Binghamton businessman Sherman Phelps. Altogether, the house has 9 bedrooms, four bathrooms, a full kitchen, and has fireplaces in almost every room. Some of the best highlights of the house are the wood carvings that can be seen in different rooms. The staircase is also a stand out because of its large size and black walnut woodwork. You will also notice that most of the rooms are very “tall” and have high walls and ceilings. Most rooms also have large mirrors to create a brighter atmosphere. The dining room is one of the best rooms in the house with its long dining table and intricate wood carvings located around it. The library also is unique with its fireplace. Many other rooms in the house are decorated with artifacts from Binghamton’s history. Be sure to check out the paintings throughout the house as well. Most of the furniture in the house is not original to it, but the house goes out of its way to depict what the house would have looked like when it was first built and at the height of style. The Phelps Mansion offers both guided tours and self-guided audio tours. It is best to buy a ticket on their website for a tour. It is possible to buy a ticket at the door. The Mansion does a great job exhibiting the history of Sherman Phelps and his family, but Binghamton as well. This is a great place to visit...

Phelps Mansion has been preserved by the efforts of a woman's society called the Monday Club. Just because the society transformed to become the Phelps Mansion society, do not believe that the women's society doesn't have a presence in the house. The renovations, bath room modifications and even the ball room addition carry the influence of this 1800s society into the Twenty-First Century. The volunteers who guide the walks through the house have been well groomed. My guide has just finished her doctoral thesis for a history degree from Binghamton University, so Chelsea could really handle almost any question raised by guests.

If you love American paintings from the Hudson River School era, you'll love that the Monday club decorated the drawing rooms and dressing rooms with unmentioned members of the school. The club bought the house for ten thousand dollars around 1905 and literally gave to the house a priceless number of rare objects.

I hope to soon catch a concert in the ball room, which looks like a chamber with...

The Phelps Mansion, formerly known as The Monday Afternoon Clubhouse, is a three-story brick and stone mansion located on Court Street in Binghamton, New York. It was built in 1870 as the private home of Sherman D. Phelps. Mr. Phelps was a successful business man, banker, Republican elector for Abraham Lincoln, and mayor of the City of Binghamton. The building was designed by Isaac G. Perry who later became the chief architect for the New York State Capitol building in Albany, New York.

The mansion was purchased in 1905 by the Monday Afternoon Club (a women's civic organization). The club constructed a large ballroom on the back of the mansion in 1905 and continues to hold its weekly meetings there to this day. In 1986 ownership of the mansion was transferred to The Phelps Mansion Foundation.

The Phelps Mansion was charted by the New York State Board of Regents as a...