 Based on stylisting evidence, the house was probably built between 1870 and 1890.Al Smith occupied this house, which he leased from the nearby St. James Church, from 1907 until 1923.His biographers describe this period as important in forming his political views and philosophy, which propelled him into the New York governorship beginning in 1919, and to is ultimately unsuccessful run for United States President in the 1928 election.