James Beekman

James Beekman (1732–1807) was a New York City merchant.

Mount Pleasant

He is best remembered for his mansion, known as Mount Pleasant, which he built in Manhattan on the East River in 1763, near the northwest corner of 1st Avenue and East 51st Street. This mansion served as the British military headquarters during the American Revolution, and was the site of the trial of Nathan Hale.[1]

On his death, Beekman left the mansion to his nephew, James William Beekman.

Beekman is known to have commissioned portraits of his children from the painter John Durand, and the entry for payment in his account book, dating to 1766, is the first record of the artist in New York.[2]

Exhibition

In 2004, the New-York Historical Society presented an exhibition based around a coach owned by Beekman, one of only three such coaches to survive in its original condition. Beekman had bought the coach in 1771 from Peter Burton, a London sea captain, for £138.[3]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Captain Nathan Hale (1755 - 1776)", by Mary J. Ortner, The Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.
  2. ↑ "Artist Info: John Durand". nga.gov. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  3. ↑ "Arriving in Style: Treasures of 18th Century New York", The New-York Historical Society, November 23, 2004 - February 20, 2005.
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