[11][12] Jacob Walton, a merchant from what is now Flatbush in Brooklyn, obtained 11 acres (4.5 ha) around Hoorn's Hook and built a house, Belview Mansion, on the site in 1770.

[18] Gracie hosted guests such as Hamilton, Astor, future French king Louis Philippe I, U.S. president John Quincy Adams, and writers James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving.

[9][44] The Riker, Rhinelander, and Schermerhorn families were also guests, as were the poet Thomas Moore, U.S. Army general Winfield Scott, and New York governor DeWitt Clinton.

[45][37] Irving may have written part of his novel Astoria while at the house,[9][44][42] and he wrote in 1813 that "I cannot tell you how sweet and delightful I found this retreat, pure air, agreeable scenery and profound quiet".

[49][50] The same year as Gracie's firm was dissolved, the house was sold to Joseph Foulke,[50][51] a merchant who had gained his wealth from trading largely in Central America and the Caribbean.

[30] The mansion served various functions as part of the park, including an ice cream stand, storage rooms, classrooms,[30][39] and as a public toilet where, for five cents, people could use the house's bathrooms.

[63][67] Although NYC Parks had not awarded control of the house to either organization, The New York Times wrote that MCNY officials were already marking their letters as having come from Gracie Mansion.

[61] The New York Times wrote in the late 1920s that the house's presence "helps to sustain the old-fashioned atmosphere" of the surrounding blocks, where apartments were quickly being built.

[89] A reporter for the New York Herald Tribune wrote in 1940 that the house "cannot hide from modern visitors its lack of running water and adequate heat" despite the ornate decorations.

[106][107] This made Gracie Mansion one of a few official mayoral residences in the U.S.[108][109] To convince La Guardia, Moses proposed closing the house's restrooms and evicting Carl Schurz Park's caretaker from the second floor.

[112] WPA workers started renovating the mansion and surrounding grounds on January 22, 1942;[113] although the project was supposed to last three months, it was delayed by labor and material shortages.

[161][162] The Wagner sons rode bicycles around Gracie Mansion in the spring and fall, and NYC Parks employees put up Christmas trees in the house during the holiday season.

[157] Other guests during Wagner's tenure included U.S. presidents Truman and John F. Kennedy,[159] as well as Congress members, governors, visiting mayors, and foreign politicians.

[190][189] The Lindsay family temporarily lived at the Roosevelt Hotel during early 1966;[192][193] his wife Mary wanted to fire some of the mansion's staff[194] and expressed an intention to help workers fix up the house.

[204] Guests such as Constantine II of Greece, Harold Arlen, Johnny Carson, Charlie and Oona Chaplin, and Robert Redford visited the mansion during the Lindsays' time there.

[222] During the first several weeks of his term, Beame continued to live at his house in Belle Harbor, Queens,[223] and he and his wife Mary moved into Gracie Mansion at the end of February.

[224] During the Beames' occupancy, the mansion hosted guests such as Japanese emperor Hirohito and actress Gloria Swanson, and it also held events such as a United States Bicentennial celebration.

[240] Whereas his predecessors' families typically ate at the mansion alone or with a small number of guests, Koch regularly invited dozens of people for breakfast and dinner.

[241][242] Koch also hosted other visitors including U.S. president Ronald Reagan,[243] Archbishop of New York John O'Connor, Catholic saint Mother Teresa, and filmmaker Woody Allen.

[237][252] Charles A. Platt was named the coordinating architect,[252][253] Albert Hadley and Mark Hampton were hired as interior decorators,[253] and Dianne Pilgrim and David McFadden were employed as the curators.

[248] The report found that there had been several "wasteful projects" at the mansion during Koch's tenure, including $53,000 of work on a kitchen barbecue[xvii] and thousands of dollars worth of custom-made equipment.

[316] The renovation was designed by Bloomberg's personal decorator Jamie Drake and involved replacing mechanical systems, reinforcing the internal structure, and repainting and restoring historical elements.

Under Bloomberg's mayoralty, the house hosted such varied overnight guests as Miami mayor Manuel A. Diaz, South African archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon.

[309] A Daily News investigation that year found that 16 active violations of city building codes had been recorded at the house, including a crumbling wall.

[23] The winner, Bill de Blasio, delayed moving into the mansion until the end of the 2013–2014 academic year, as his son Dante was attending Brooklyn Technical High School.

[116][117] The library's windows include etchings of the names of Gracie's granddaughter Millie; John Lindsay's daughter Margi;[362] Caroline Giuliani; and Donna Hanover.

[18] Various pieces of antique furniture were loaned, donated, or purchased for the Wagner wing,[365] including an 1820s Duncan Phyfe table built for Joseph Bonaparte.

[22] Another writer said in 1922 that "no resident of such a mansion could wish to travel or to forsake its cheerful rooms always suggestive of home",[66] while The Atlanta Constitution called it "a worthy example of the solidity and beauty of early New York architecture" in 1927.

[40] The New York Daily News wrote in 1973 that the mansion was "a dignified dowager of early American architecture" that remained a prominent presence on the East River.

[404] De Blasio's wife Chirlane McCray has claimed the mansion is haunted, alleging that there are sounds of doors opening and closing by themselves, and creaks from the wooden floorboard.