Development was delayed because of the Revolutionary War, but by the late 18th century some houses had been built in the area.
Foremost among them was what is now known as the Ten Broeck Mansion, built by another landed descendant of Dutch settlers, Abraham Ten Broeck, after his previous house burned down.
By 1797, when he and his wife Elizabeth built the brick Federal style mansion on five acres (2 ha) that they leased from her brother, Stephen van Rensselaer III, he had served as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in 1775, a general commanding New York's militia at the Battle of Saratoga and later Albany's mayor and a state senator.

Ten Broeck named the mansion Prospect due to the commanding view it offered of the Hudson and its river traffic (some other accounts suggest he called it Arbor Hill from the beginning).
He lived there until his death in 1810; Elizabeth survived him by three years.
By that point a few other houses had likely been built nearby, but not enough to make the group a neighborhood, even after Colonie was annexed by the city in 1815.
The mansion was sold to new owners who, over the next three decades, refurbished and expanded it with elements of the similar Greek Revival architectural style.

The northward expansion of the city envisioned by the elder van Rensselaer finally came to pass after 1825, when the Erie Canal was opened.
Many new arrivals to the city, drawn by the canal and its economic opportunities, needed places to live and work.
They looked north, along Broadway and North Pearl.
Some found the mansion neighborhood and the blocks to its west to their liking, enough that city directories of the period show a few residents and businessmen listing "Arbor Hill" as their address.
During the 1830s, they built some of the first houses in the district after the mansion.
A few from this period, such as 10 Ten Broeck Place and 31 Second Street, survive.
Similarly, the mixed-use Greek Revival buildings around the intersection of Second and South Swan were built in the early 1840s.
Development was delayed because of the Revolutionary War, but by the late 18th century some houses had been built in the area. Foremost among them was what is now known as the Ten Broeck Mansion, built by another landed descendant of Dutch settlers, Abraham Ten Broeck, after his previous house burned down. By 1797, when he and his wife Elizabeth built the brick Federal style mansion on five acres (2 ha) that they leased from her brother, Stephen van Rensselaer III, he had served as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in 1775, a general commanding New York's militia at the Battle of Saratoga and later Albany's mayor and a state senator.
Ten Broeck named the mansion Prospect due to the commanding view it offered of the Hudson and its river traffic (some other accounts suggest he called it Arbor Hill from the beginning). He lived there until his death in 1810; Elizabeth survived him by three years. By that point a few other houses had likely been built nearby, but not enough to make the group a neighborhood, even after Colonie was annexed by the city in 1815. The mansion was sold to new owners who, over the next three decades, refurbished and expanded it with elements of the similar Greek Revival architectural style.
The northward expansion of the city envisioned by the elder van Rensselaer finally came to pass after 1825, when the Erie Canal was opened. Many new arrivals to the city, drawn by the canal and its economic opportunities, needed places to live and work. They looked north, along Broadway and North Pearl. Some found the mansion neighborhood and the blocks to its west to their liking, enough that city directories of the period show a few residents and businessmen listing "Arbor Hill" as their address. During the 1830s, they built some of the first houses in the district after the mansion. A few from this period, such as 10 Ten Broeck Place and 31 Second Street, survive. Similarly, the mixed-use Greek Revival buildings around the intersection of Second and South Swan were built in the early 1840s.
Arbor Hill Historic District–Ten Broeck Triangle