The first woman to become a self-made millionaire in the United States had a rough road from
rags to riches. Hi everyone, ken here, welcome to "ThisHouse". Today we are exploring Villa
Lewaro in Irvington, New York. Make sure to hit that subscribe button so you never miss
an exciting episode of "ThisHouse".
After Abraham Lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation, Sarah Breedlove was the first
free person to be born in her family. Her parents had labored as slaves near Delta,
Louisiana, and when they were freed, they did not even have a penny to their names.
Sarah got a rough start to life which became even worse as she began to grow up. First
her mother died when she was only 6 years old, then her father passed away the following
year. By the age of 7, she was an orphan. 3 years later, her sister and brother in law
living in Vicksburg Mississippi took her in. She worked full time as a domestic servant,
saving up for the day she could move out. After 4 years of enduring abuse from her brother
in law, she married her first husband at the age of 14. He was much older than her and
had passed away by the time she was 20 after having a child, named Leila, with him.
Now with a toddler to take care of, Sarah knew she had to make more money, but there
just wasn’t much opportunity in Mississippi. She heard that she had a couple of brothers
in St Louis who were barbers by trade, so she decided to reach out to them, hoping that
there was more opportunity there, and she would not be disappointed.
Upon arriving to St Louis, Sarah was given a job at a laundromat making 1 dollar per
day, or the modern day equivalent of 31.24 per day, which was more than she had ever
made, but still hardly enough to feed her baby. But then something happened, her hair
began to fall out. Working around the harsh chemicals was taking its tole on her scalp,
so she asked her barber brothers what to do to keep her hair. They began taking care of
her hair and teaching her about various cosmetics. Learning about beauty interested her so much
that she applied to be a saleswoman for beauty products at the 1904 world’s fair in St.
Louis and got the job. She was instantly successful, surpassing her sales quotas and acquiring
new customers. Her charisma drew an advertiser by the name of Charles Walker to her and in
no time the two were married. They schemed up a plan to take the world by storm together.
With her knowledge of beauty products and his success in marketing, they rebranded Sarah
as Madam C. J. Walker and began selling their own beauty products across the country. They
traveled by train, city to city, doing live demonstrations of their products and enlisting
women as sales agents. Now operating in every major city, the money started to roll in.
Against all odds, Sarah had become the first self made female millionaire in the history
of the United States.
With the money she made, she purchased a town house in New York City’s Harlem and began
planning a proper vacation house. She wanted to have a big impact in her community and
inspire others to achieve their dreams. She hired New York’s first registered African
American Architect, Vertner Woodson Tandy to design for her the 20,000 square foot estate
which would be named Villa Lewaro after her daughter.
The palatial estate was planned to boast symmetrical sections with large stone columns composing
grand porticos. Perfectly manicured Gardens stretched from elaborate terraces ornamented
with stone balustrade and potted tropical plants.
When the house was finished, she invited her employees to celebrate with her by hosting
a ball with food prepared by chefs on the tables and live music ringing through the
halls.
The interior was every bit as spectacular as the exterior with custom designed furniture
decorating the stair hall. Each archway had been carved from stone and set below a gilted
coffered ceiling.
The music room was finished out with painted wood panels separated by gilted pilasters
with rounded windows and built ins set in intervals on the walls. In the center of the
room, suspended from the ceiling, was an electric crystal chandelier glittering amongst gold
accents. Music was very important in this house with not only a grand piano elegantly
placed infront of the window, but an Estey Pipe organ at the opposite end of this grand
room.
The drawing room was every bit as elaborate with a floor to ceiling marble fireplace boasting
intricate relief work in its upper mantle. Soaring above persian rugs, the coffered ceiling
was hand stenciled, mirroring the floral motif below it.
The dining room boasted antique furniture centered on French doors opening out to the
terrace and the barrel vaulted ceiling contained hand stenciled images between its bowed beams.
Unfortunately, Sarah did not enjoy her house for long. Just one year after its completion
her kidneys began to fail, and in 1919 she passed away. Her daughter inherited her company
with 2 thirds of her wealth being donated to charities. Her daughter continued to live
at Villa Lewaro until her death in 1931 when she donated the house to the NAACP. Unfortunately,
following the great depression, the NAACP was not able to afford its upkeep so the organization
made the tough decision to sell the home. The house went on to be used by several other
charitable organizations until it was purchased in the 1980s by a developer who had plans
to tear it down to build residential blocks.
The house went on to be used by the Companions of the Forest in America before gaining its
National Historic Landmark status in 1976. In 1993, Harold Doley purchased Villa Lewaro,
and began extensive restoration work to restore the house to its original condition. Upon
completion of the restoration work, in 2014, the house was named a National Treasure by
the US National Trust for Historic Preservation. Ideas were tossed around about opening the
house as a house museum, however, Harold Doley eventually ended up selling the villa to
to The New Voices Foundation who use it as Sarah had originally intended, as a think
tank for African American Women to collaborate on their entrepreneurial endeavors.
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