Built around 1661, it was the location of a Quaker meeting in 1662 that resulted in the arrest of its owner, John Bowne, by Peter Stuyvesant, Dutch Director-General of New Netherland.

Bowne successfully appealed his arrest to the Dutch West India Company and established a precedent for religious tolerance and freedom in the colony.

For example, John's great-grandson Robert Bowne was an early founder with Alexander Hamilton and others of the Manumission Society of New York in 1784.

Archaeological investigations have been conducted by Dr. James A. Moore of Queens College, City University of New York.

[7] The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977,[1] and is also a New York City designated landmark.