As 1886 drew to a close, Congressman William Walter Phelps did something that would seem unfathomable today.
Phelps threw open the doors of his beloved Teaneck estate, Teaneck Grange, to everyone. The sprawling mansion, known throughout Bergen County for its striking architecture and prized art collection, had just been completed after years of renovations.
To mark the occasion, Phelps, the son of a railroad baron, planned a holiday open house, inviting neighbors, friends and even distant acquaintances to experience the grandeur of the Christmas season firsthand.
Teaneck Grange home before the fire.
Teaneck Grange was no ordinary house. Originally a simple Dutch farmhouse, it had grown into a 300-foot-long estate, transformed by architects into a series of rooms, each showcasing Phelps’s interests.
Every corner of the estate was filled with objects he had collected during his travels. There were rare tapestries, mosaics, European bronzes and carpets from distant markets.
The gallery, a recently completed space on the other side of the mansion, was built to exhibit paintings by well-known artists of the time. It also served as a ballroom. Guests could dance or marvel at the walls filled with pieces, such as Frederic Edwin Church’s “Damascus” and a striking portrait of President James A. Garfield, gifted to Phelps by Garfield’s widow.
The open house during the holidays was the talk of the town in Bergen County. Hundreds attended and mingled in the great halls and reception areas. They wandered through rooms with oak-paneled bookshelves and gazed at the vaulted ceilings as they warmed themselves by the enormous fireplaces that Phelps installed to reflect the home’s rustic origins.
Teaneck Grange house after the fire.
An eloquent statesman and world traveler, Phelps welcomed everyone personally, moved easily through the crowd and made every guest – from local farmers to New York business leaders – feel at home.
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The success of the open house inspired Phelps to organize a similar event the following year, specifically on New Year’s Day in 1888. As word spread, even more people attended – 500, according to The Montclair Times – crowding the halls and filled every room. His daughter Marian was the host in place of his wife Eleanor. Guests enjoyed views of Teaneck’s rolling lawns, admired the library’s immense book collection and enjoyed refreshments served through the spacious dining room’s large bay window.
The 1888 event was memorable not only for its magnitude, but also because of a poem by L. (possibly Lewis L.) Fosdick published in the aftermath that captured the magic of the day and read in part:
“The yule log burned and threw back
The challenge for sunshine – for hospitality.
The warm embrace, the kind words, the warm welcome,
Were cheerful enough of the brilliant host
Held high in the esteem of a privileged people.
May the New Year bring him his heart’s desire;
May it bless his indeed;
May his cup overflow with health and honor;
And may the Grange ever live on
A suitable environment for the noblest son of Bergen.”
However, Teaneck Grange’s greatness would be short-lived. Just a few months later, on the night of April 1, 1888, the sprawling mansion was destroyed by fire.
While Phelps was in Washington, his staff at Teaneck smelled a strong odor of gas coming from the art gallery. When a window was opened to ventilate the room, the gas ignited, causing an explosion that quickly spread through the gallery and to the rest of the house. By the time help arrived from nearby Hackensack and Englewood, the mansion had been reduced to ruins.
Griggs House in Teaneck.
Phelps returned the next morning to find only a few items recovered from the fire by neighbors and his daughter who had helped during the fire. The Garfield portrait, along with almost all the other paintings in the gallery, was lost. Less than five months later, the other stables and outbuildings also burned down. Phelps joked that he was being chased by the “fire devil.”
Only the stone walls and a few tall chimneys remained. In subsequent years, they became a vine-covered curiosity that invited locals to reminisce or at least imagine. Phelps moved his family to an adjacent estate, the Griggs House, from where he continued to seed the property with white pine, Norway spruce, and American elm. But he never rebuilt Teaneck Grange and the open house era ended.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: The Teaneck estate that started the open house tradition had a tragic ending
