Is Gracie Mansion Haunted? Zohran Mamdani and Rama Duwaji’s New Home and Its Resident Ghost

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mansion built in 1799 on Manhattan’s Upper East Side is now officially the residence of New York City’s newly elected mayor, Zohran Mamdani. Known as Gracie Mansion, the corn-yellow house has a rich history and, if rumours are to be believed, it is haunted by the ghost of a woman named Elizabeth Wolcott.

While addressing the press, Mamdani said, “This is a remarkable home with a remarkable history. Rama [Duwaji] and I intend to strive each day to be the best possible custodians of this beautiful home, because we know that we are only its temporary occupants.”When asked if he had met the ghost of Gracie Mansion, Mamdani replied, “Why do people keep talking about the ghost? I haven’t yet met the ghost or heard from the ghost.”Former New York City mayor Eric Adams even joked, “I gave him a good note and I left the ghost there.”

The Ghost of Gracie Mansion

The mansion was built in the late 18th century by Archibald Gracie, one of New York’s wealthiest men. Elizabeth was the bride of Archibald’s son, William. On 2 July 1813, their wedding celebrations took place at Gracie Mansion, but according to rumours, Elizabeth died the same night.Vanity Fair cited an excerpt from author Walter Barrett’s book The Old Merchants of New York City, published in 1863: “The festivities were kept up until a late hour. The bride retired with her bridesmaids, and the happy husband was sent to see his young bride die. She had ruptured a blood vessel. It was a melancholy affair.”The author added a sensational twist to her death, even though historical records state that Elizabeth died in 1819 from apoplexy. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the term “apoplexy” was historically used to describe sudden paralysis or stroke caused by bleeding in the brain.It is this dramatic story that has lingered with the house, which has witnessed many significant historical events.

According to the Gracie Mansion Conservancy website, “Financial hardship, caused in part by the trade barriers of the War of 1812, forced Gracie to sell his house in 1823 to Joseph Foulke and his family.”In 1857, Noah Wheaton purchased the property and continued to use it as a country retreat. The site also notes, “In 1896, the City of New York appropriated the estate due to the non-payment of taxes, incorporating its 11 acres into East River Park, which was renamed in 1910 for the German-American statesman Carl Schurz.”For the next few decades, the mansion served unlikely purposes, including a public restroom and even an ice cream shop. It was finally restored in 1925 and became the first home of the Museum of the City of New York. The Gracie Mansion Conservancy website states, “Its ‘power broker’ commissioner, Robert Moses, convinced city authorities to designate the house as the official residence of the mayor. In 1942, Fiorello H. La Guardia and his family moved in, prompted in part by security precautions mandated by the United States’ entry into the Second World War.”

The mansion also experienced a period during which a man named Thomas J. Clooney lobbied to turn it into a nightclub.Spanning more than 11,000 square feet, Gracie Mansion is one of the oldest surviving wooden structures in Manhattan, according to Architectural Digest. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.Dubbed by Mayor La Guardia as New York’s “little White House”, Gracie Mansion remains both a historic landmark and the official home of the city’s mayor.