Ethan Flagg House/Blessed Sacrament Monastery

The Ethan Flagg House/Blessed Sacrament Monastery is an historic site in Yonkers, New York. In the 1850’s Ethan Flagg became the first owner of the home. Flagg was an important figure in Yonkers history, as the first President of the Yonkers Savings Bank. Flagg had the house designed in the Italianate villa style. By 1915 the Sacramentine Nuns purchased the building, which was used as a residence for the Sisters and a boarding school for girls. In 1996, The Blessed Sacrament Monastery was purchased by Greyston Health Services, Inc. A year later the building was converted into a medical and social service center for people with HIV, by the architectural firm of Rothzeid Kaiserman Thomson & Bee.

Ethan Flagg (1820-1884), who was the first owner of the home, was one of the leading citizens of Yonkers during the city’s major period of growth. Flagg was born in West Hartford, Connecticut and moved to Yonkers in 1844 where he purchased 400 acres of land. After moving, Flagg made a fortune in real estate, including the construction of the 250-seat Flagg’s Hall, in 1845. He also gave land and funds for the construction of multiple churches. One of the churches was the First Presbyterian Church, to which he belonged.

In addition to real estate, Flagg worked in the manufacture of hats, served on the board of the Yonkers Gas-Light Company, and was one of the founding members of the First National Bank of Yonkers. When Yonkers became a city in 1872, Flagg became an alderman that year. He went on to serve as a President of the Common Council, Supervisor for the town, and was a school trustee and water commissioner.

The home that Flagg commissioned in the 1850’s was designed in the Italianate villa style, which was a common design in Yonkers during this period. Some of the Italianate features of Flagg’s home included the wooden doors, plaster ceiling moldings, and the grand stairway. The building was designed as a cubic structure with a lantern cupola.

When Ethan Flagg passed away in 1884, the house was inherited by Flagg’s second wife. The home was kept in the Flagg family’s name until 1915 when it was sold to the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. The history of the Sacramentine Nuns goes back to France in 1639. Although members of the order were executed during the French Revolution, the Sacramentines lived in France until 1902. They were forced to leave when France passed the Law of Associations (1901), which closed down institutions solely engaged in charitable or missionary work.

Many of the Sisters moved to countries such as Belgium and England. In 1910, the nuns established the order in North America. The Sisters supported themselves by teaching French, sewing, baking bread, and in 1915, opened an academy for girls in this historic house in Yonkers. Once the religious community grew, a much larger building containing a chapel and other facilities was built nearby, and in 1955 the house was physically joined to it. The current owners are the Greyston Foundation, a charitable organization.

1. Dolkart, Andrew S.. Ethan Flagg House/Blessed Sacrament Monastery. National Register of Historic Places. Published June 1st 1998.
2. "Ethan Flagg, Yonkers man." The Herald Statesman (Yonkers) July 18th 1972. .
3. Raynor, Vivien. "ART; Domestic Architecture in Yonkers." The New York Times (New York) August 13th 1989. , WC sec, 12-12.
4. Williams, Gray, Picturing our Past, National Register Sites in Westchester County, Published by WCHS, 2003.