Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site — Attraction in City of Yonkers

The Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site is an amazing historic house museum located in the city of Yonkers of Westchester County, New York.

Built in 1682, the Philipse Manor Hall is considered to be the 2nd oldest building in Westchester County, New York. It initially served as the residence of Frederick Philipse, and his wife, Margaret Hardenbroeck de Vries Philipse.

Frederick Philipse was the builder of the Philipse Manor Hall, the first Lord of the Manor of Philipseborough and the patriarch of the Philipse family, a prominent Dutch family that owned vast acreage of land spanning Dutchess County, Putnam County, & Westchester County. During his lifetime, he was regarded as one of the richest individuals in colonial America.

In 1868, long after the end of the Philipse family’s ownership of the Manor Hall, the building functioned as the Yonkers municipal center and later served as City Hall up until the early years of 20th century.

During the 20th century, the ownership of the building was transferred to the State Of New York and now functions as museum of art and history.

Due to its rich heritage and distinctive architectural features, the Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site is listed on the U.S. National Register Of Historic Places and is recognized as a U.S National Historic Landmark.

In February of 2019, I brought and treated my wife and myself for a visit to the Philipse Manor Hall to celebrate our Happy Valentine’s Celebration!!! We went to the manor hall to watch a Beethoven musical performance conducted by the Rivertown String Quartet. Both my wife and I highly enjoyed the show!!!

During our visit and prior to the show, my wife and I were able to view the manor hall’s extensive collections which included multiple paintings of nearly all the Presidents Of The United States, portraits of the Philipse family members as well as artwork and imagery that featured activities relevant to the Philipse family.

My wife and I really loved visiting the Philipse Manor Hall and if you are an admirer of art and history, we definitely recommend that you take a moment to visit this outstanding...

What a wonderful, inviting atmosphere with a patient, kind and knowledgeable staff! We visited on a weekday afternoon, and the staff was so pleasant. We arrived an hour early for the 3pm historical tour, and the docent brought us to a really cool open room to play old-fashioned games with our children.

Obviously it is still a 340 year old home so children need to behave accordingly and not run around touching everything, but I found it to be balanced with letting children be children and still enforcing the respect and decorum due the building.

In terms of history, I found this place to be again - balanced. There is no such thing as neutral; everyone carries a worldview with them as they interpret the facts. That said, this was a well-balanced presentation of the history of this local area without tainting it with too many present-day politically driven interpretations. I would highly recommend this as an educational visit and the tour is definitely vital to getting a feel for the history.

The display right in the entry way with the indigenous man, the Dutch woman and the African man, along with the map depicting global trade were beautiful. Seeing the complicated history of how I came to be formally in a museum setting was very validating. My mom always told me this history, but I have yet to see it on display like this in any history museums. Usually, the complex history is compartmentalized or one culture is emphasized over the other.

There is a small parking lot where we were able to park both of our cars, the bathrooms are impeccably kept and...

The most balanced, inclusive, local history museum I've yet visited. I have to say that I've visited Yonkers and the facade of the Philipse Manor Hall many times as a kayak guide out of midtown Manhattan, but over the winter holidays decided to bring the family by train (Metro North out of Grand Central) and pay it a longer visit.

As a lifelong history buff, I've visited hundreds of such museums in dozens of states since I was a kid (I just turned 55, so...) and this one---recently renovated and re-opened I'm told---includes not just the land-usurping founding family but the enslaved people and First Peoples as much as is possible in equal measure.

The stories of the Munsee Lunape (Lenape) and the many Africans (most of west-African extraction) are told side-by-side with that of the Dutch that arrived in the 16th century. It is a fascinating, tragic, intertwined story that adults and kids should see. Static artifacts and displays are mixed with video, audio (hear words in Lenape and an African dialect), touch (a cured beaver pelt for example) and even the smells of some of the product produced here.

Lisbeth, our guide gave a wonderful presentation, even opening the front half-door (apologies, I've forgotten the Dutch name for it Lisbeth!) and allowing us to imagine the view the Philipses had, and education coordinator John F. was a font of additional information. Kudos to all of you. Keep up...