 Stier and his family moved to the United States several years earlier to escape the French Revolution (1788–1789).Upon purchase, he named his holdings Riversdale, and began constructing his residence that same year.The mansion was modeled after the Stier family’s Belgian home, Chateau du Mick, and when completed in 1807, the building stood as a two-story stuccoed-brick dwelling in the style of late Georgian architecture.