Tall and spare, his bearing was distinguished, his face handsome and refined; his manners were courtly, of what is known as the 'old school'; his tact was great--he had a faculty for saying the right thing.

In his own house his hospitality was enhanced by a graceful urbanity and a ready wit." The story of Philip Hone's life is substantially the story of the town from 1780 till 1851.

When he first saw the light in Dutch Street, there were but twenty thousand persons for the occupying British troopers to keep in order.

When, after his return from Europe in the early '20s he bought on Broadway in the neighbourhood of City Hall Park, that was the centre of fashionable residence.
But by 1837 trade was claiming the section, and Hone sold out and built himself a new home, this time at the corner of Broadway and Great Jones Street.

He saw the residence portion of the city go beyond that point, saw it grope up Fifth Avenue as far as Twentieth Street.