Grasse Mount
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Grasse Mount
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Grasse Mount, May 2016
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| Location | 411 Main St., Burlington, Vermont |
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| Coordinates | 44°28′33″N 73°12′12″W / 44.47583°N 73.20333°WCoordinates: 44°28′33″N 73°12′12″W / 44.47583°N 73.20333°W |
| Built | 1804 |
| Architect | John Johnson |
| Architectural style | Georgian colonial, Adamesque-Federal style, and Italianate |
| NRHP Reference # | 73000193 |
| Added to NRHP | April 11, 1973 |
Grasse Mount (otherwise known as the Thaddeus Tuttle House) is a campus building of the University of Vermont (UVM), which is located on 411 Main Street (adjacent to the intersection of Summit Street) in Burlington, Vermont. Built in 1804 for Captain Thaddeus Tuttle (1758–1836), a local merchant, the building was designed by architect and surveyor John Johnson and constructed by carpenter Abram Stevens. By 1824, Tuttle had lost his fortune and had sold the property to then Governor of Vermont, Cornelius Van Ness. Named after the French Admiral, François Joseph Paul de Grasse, "Grasse Mount" was added to National Register of Historic Places on April 11, 1973.
The land of the estate was originally owned by Ira Allen who served as an officer in the Green Mountain Boys militia (under his brother Ethan Allen) during the American Revolutionary War, and was also the founder of the University of Vermont. Allen claimed that he had been swindled out of the land by Captain Thaddeus Tuttle while he was abroad attempting to negotiate trade with England, and to purchase arms for the Vermont militia from France, at the behest of Governor Thomas Chittenden. The trip was delayed for some eight years by what was known as the Olive Branch Affair, where Allen was arrested and spent years detained in England and France. By the time of Allen's return his financial empire was in shambles, he had lost most of his land holdings, and was eventually forced to flee Burlington or face debtors' prison.
Sometime before 1797, Tuttle had started his mercantile business. By 1804, the same year that he had Grasse Mount built, he had also constructed a store on the corner of Main and South Prospect Streets in Burlington, Vermont, at the building known today as "Bittersweet". Historical records indicate that Captain Tuttle had also become involved in land speculation and possessed considerable holdings within the towns of Coventry, Shelburne, and Westford, Vermont. On 1 September 1817, Tuttle sold Grasse Mount and its entire estate of about 90 acres of land to Cornelius P. Van Ness for $9,000. However, three months later Van Ness inexplicably sold the entire estate back to Tuttle for the price of five-dollars, according to the recorded quitclaim deed. The reason for this odd exchange has led to much speculation over time, but is yet unknown. On 29 April 1824, after his business had failed, Tuttle sold the estate once again to the recently elected Governor Van Ness for $6,000. The sale included all but one acre of land along the northeast corner of the property, which had been previously conveyed to Icabod Tuttle. Until his passing in 1836, Tuttle resided on the property where his store had been built, just west of the estate. Historical accounts reflect the reason for Tuttle's bankruptcy was due to his business operating primarily on the basis of barter where there was very little handling of actual monies, and therefore the construction and sustained maintenance of Grasse Mount "was more than he could carry".
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