Built by the hatter Joseph Brewster between 1831 and 1832, the edifice is a four-story building with a Federal-style brick facade and a Greek Revival interior.

Brewster built the house as a speculative development, selling it in 1835 to the merchant Seabury Tredwell, who lived there with his family and servants.

The Merchant's House Museum has a raised basement, a front doorway accessed by a stoop, a slate roof, and a rear garden.

[18] Joseph Brewster, a hatmaker who also developed speculative real estate projects, acquired two land lots in 1831 for a combined $6,550 (equivalent to $187,000 in 2023).

[32] Sarah eventually moved to the Cadillac Hotel near Times Square, where she died in 1906, leaving just Phebe, Julia, and Gertrude.

[47] The New York State Education Department installed a plaque the same month, commemorating the fact that the house had been Seabury Tredwell's residence,[48] and numerous photographs of the structure were taken as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey,[49] and photographs of the interior were exhibited at Columbia University's Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library.

[54] According to New York Times architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable, the structure was so weak that a severe storm could potentially destroy the plaster ceilings,[57] and the original furnishings were "ready to crumble on a touch".

[54] Following this announcement, preservationists asked both federal and state officials to protect the house as a landmark,[61] and a hundred children protested the planned demolition.

[75] The museum hired several staff members in April 1990, including executive director Margaret Halsey Gardiner,[81] and spent $600,000 to stabilize the structure.

[34][75] During the early 21st century, the museum hosted tours of the surrounding neighborhood to raise money since it was susceptible to changes in New York City tourism numbers.

[19] In 2012, Kalodop II Park Corporation proposed an eight-story hotel immediately west of the Seabury Tredwell House.

[24] Gardiner opposed the hotel's construction,[24] and preservationists also spoke out against the project, claiming that the development could destabilize the Seabury Tredwell House.

[95] Gardiner formally sued the DCP and Kalodop in mid-2018,[96][98] and a subcommittee of the New York City Council voted against the hotel plans that September.

[100] As the dispute over the adjacent hotel development continued, NYC Parks announced plans in 2024 to renovate the Seabury Tredwell House for $3.2 million.

[101] Though parts of the Seabury Tredwell House's design may have been derived from books of architectural patterns published in the 1820s and 1830s, no single architect has been credited.

[105] The Seabury Tredwell House has a Federal-style facade and a Greek Revival interior, though sources disagree on which style is more predominant.

[29] The cistern, with a capacity of 4,000 U.S. gallons (15,000 L), predates the construction of the Croton Aqueduct, which once supplied New York City's water system.

[31] According to the LPC, there are several unfounded rumors regarding the passageway, including claims that it connected to the street, was used to sneak suitors into the house, or was used to shelter fugitive slaves as part of the Underground Railroad.

[122][c] An LPC report indicates that the passage likely was used to facilitate the maintenance of the sliding parlor doors,[122] but a museum curator said in 1965 that the passageway terminated in a dead end.

Each master bedroom has two gaslit sconces, in addition to a fireplace with white hearthstones, marble mantels, and a coal grate.

[121] At the top of the handrail is a post with a carved acanthus leaf,[124][121] which, according to architectural critic Talbot Hamlin, was designed in a style characteristic of cabinet maker Duncan Phyfe.

[20] The house has also had a music box,[31][135] a grand piano,[136] oil lamps,[34] cupboards with rare china, and brass doorknobs.

[34] Tableware and mahogany pieces are shown in the parlor rooms,[133] while objects such as the family's china collection and a pie safe are exhibited in the kitchen.

[143] The house has been used for performances, such as the off-Broadway plays Old New York: False Dawn in 1884,[144] Ellen Terry (A Public and Private Talk With Our Most Beloved Actress) in 1996,[145] and Bright Lights, Big City in 1999.

[153] Shortly after the museum opened, a writer for the Elmira, New York, Star-Gazette wrote that the house was "a marvelously authentic exhibit of the best of urban living", akin to the Morris–Jumel Mansion, because it showcased the family's actual artifacts.

"[88] After the museum reopened in the 1980s, The Christian Science Monitor wrote that the surrounding industrial and commercial buildings contrasted with the cozy character of the house, particularly the ornate interior.

Before the museum opened, a New York Times reporter wrote that "the house was built in the finest traditions of the period", citing its main entrance and brick facade.

[13] Dorothy Draper of the New York Herald Tribune wrote in 1948 that, while the front door stood out from the surrounding neighborhood, the "perfect proportions of the large rooms with their high ceilings and heavy moldings" were the most notable part of the interior.

[157] Arthur Meeker of the Chicago Daily Tribune praised the facade's appearance but criticized the interior as a disorganized mashup of items.

When the city's landmarks law was signed in April 1965,[158][159] The Village Voice reported that the Seabury Tredwell House was "a likely candidate for salvation".