The original house on the site was built in 1661 by Hendrick Barents Smidt, from land that was granted to him by Peter Stuyvesant.[1] Another part of the structure, expanding from the original house, was built in 1709 by Paulus Vander Ende.[3] The house was mentioned in a 1769 survey that established the boundary between Kings and Queens counties and may have been largely constructed around this time.