 |
| photo by Alice Lum |
On January 10, 1896 The Sun reported on the rumors that had
circulated through Manhattan’s high-toned sitting rooms for weeks. “Mrs. Mary Scott Dimmock of 40 East
Thirty-eighth street would not admit or deny yesterday the correctness of the
statement published in The Sun’s Indanapolis despatch yesterday that she is
soon to marry ex-President Benjamin Harrison.
There is a well-defined belief prevalent in the neighborhood of Mrs.
Dimmock’s place of residence, however, that the story is true.”
Mary Dimmock and her sister, Mrs. J. H. Parker, had closed
their door to reporters and gossip-mongers—for now. The well-to-do widows both had a connection
to the former president. Mary’s aunt, Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison,
was his wife and First Lady. In
1889 Mary had moved into the White House to serve as her aunt’s personal
assistant. Mary’s sister had been married
to the now-deceased Lieutenant J. H. Parker, a distinguished military officer and
Private Secretary to Harrison during his term in office.
Now the two ladies shared in a brownstone home in the
fashionable Murray Hill neighborhood, drawing attention to themselves only
because of Mary’s highly-noticeable gentleman caller. Tidbits in the newspapers perked the
attention of the matrons of society. Three
days after The Sun’s article, The New York Times mentioned “Gen. Harrison
remained in the Fifth Avenue Hotel yesterday until after luncheon. He went out at 3 o’clock to call on Mrs.
Dimmock, at 40 East Thirty-eighth Street, returning to his hotel for dinner.”
The silence on the part of both parties was frustrating to
reporters and the public alike. On
January 12 The Times grumbled “[Harrison] was willing to speak of the favorable
state of his health, of the weather, and about his trip, but when reference was
made to the reported marriage, his manner changed, and he very coldly said: ‘I
cannot discuss the matter.’”
When the former President left through the Fifth Avenue
Hotel’s private entrance after dinner and “strolled up Broadway,” The Times
said “He told nobody where he was going, and seemed desirous of having his
movements unknown.”
The newspaper added “Inquiry at the residence of Mrs.
Dimmock, at 40 East Thirty-eighth Street, developed the fact that the
ex-President had not been there, and that Mrs. Dimmock was also out for the
evening. Mrs. Dimmock had sent word
earlier in the day, when asked for information, that she must be excused from
saying anything.”
The rumored romance of the couple was fertile ground for
wagging tongues. Not only were they
slightly related by marriage, Mary was 37 years old; Harrison was 62. Finally, on January 17 the gossip was put to
rest. Harrison’s secretary, Colonel
Tibbetts, had announced a press conference in the hotel lobby at 9:00 that night
“for the communication of National importance.”
The New York Times said that the hotel’s corridors were “thronged”
with politicians awaiting news. At 9:00
Tibbetts appeared and distributed a printed announcement that read “Gen.
Harrison authorized the announcement that he and Mrs. Dimmock are engaged to be
married, and that the marriage will not take place until after lent.”
 |
| Mary Dimmock, the niece of his deceased wife Caroline, caught the eye of Benjamin Harrison --photograph Library of Congress |
The couple was married in St. Thomas Episcopal Church on
Fifth Avenue on April 6, 1896. With Mary
married, her sister left the 38th Street house as well. Two years later the owner Fannie J. Byrnes
leased the house for five years to “a Mrs. St. John,” according to The Times on
August 18, 1898.
The St. John family did not live out their lease and in 1901
Fannie Byrnes sold the brownstone rowhouse.
Newspapers hinted at the buyer.
And on May 24 The Times said “it is reported that A. B. Emmons has bought
the four-story dwelling.”
The wealthy Emmons and his wife, the former Julia W. Parish,
were more well known in Newport society than in Manhattan. Their estate there, Hillside, was the site of
their most important entertaining and it was there that Emmons had announced his
engagement to Julia in 1891.
With their new purchase, the Emmons family had acquired a
wide town home in Murray Hill—an exclusive neighborhood populated by
millionaires and aloofly removed from the more public Fifth Avenue. But the post-Civil War residence was
decidedly out of style.
Change was coming to Murray Hill in terms of architectural
renovation. New owners were modernizing
their old brownstones with new facades and interior make-overs by the city’s
most esteemed architects. Arthur Emmons
joined the trend by hiring the firm of Parrish & Schroeder to transform the
stern high-stooped Victorian house to an up-to-date Beaux Arts palace.
Construction began in 1901 and the Emmons family packed
their bags for Newport. While the bulk
of society was returning to the city, they headed in the opposite direction
to wait out construction on the house.
The Newport reporter for The New York Times mentioned on October 16,
1901 “Arthur B. Emmons and family…arrived from New York to-day.”
A year later they moved into the completed house. No trace of the former building where
Benjamin Harrison courted Mary Dimmock survived. The old stoop was gone and the Emmons family
had a limestone-faced, American basement house fit for upper Fifth Avenue. A two-story bowed bay rose above the entrance
and a full-story, steep mansard roof completed the French design.
 |
| photo by Wurts Brothers, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UP1GHNJC3Z&SMLS=1&RW=1366&RH=603 |
Merely two years later, in April, Emmons sold the
mansion. It became home to the Rev. John
B. Morgan and his wife Juliet. Morgan
had been for many years the pastor of the American Episcopal Church in
Paris. His wife was the sister of nearby
neighbor J. P. Morgan, Jr.. Juliet
Pierpont Morgan would stay on in the house following her husband’s death in
1912.
Like Emmons before her, Juliet filled the house with
valuable art. On the walls were hung
paintings by 18th century English artists Joshua Reynolds, George Romney
and John Hoppner. On April 1, 1923
Juliet died at the age of 53. The Times
reported on her valuable jewelry and artworks; however seemed disappointed in
her wardrobe. “The report fixes the
value of Mrs. Morgan’s wearing apparel at only $350,” it said.
The 38th Street house was purchased by Donald Winchester
Brown. Mrs. Brown immediately staged
glittering entertainments. The Browns’
daughter, Charlotte Babcock Brown, was the focus of a dizzying number of
receptions, dinners and teas in 1926, the year of her debut. On December 11 The New York Times reported that “Mrs.
Donald W. Brown held a reception yesterday afternoon at her home, 40 East
Thirty-eighth Street, to introduce her daughter…to some of her older
friends. Mrs. Brown and her daughter
were assisted in receiving by Mrs. William Reynolds Brown, grandmother of the
debutante, who gave a large dance for her last month. Mrs. Rembrandt Peale, Jr., was at the tea
table. Mrs. Paul Gibert Thebaud will
give a luncheon today at Pierre’s, followed by a theatre party, for Miss Brown.”
 |
| The street address was incorporated into the carved cartouche over the entrance -- photo by Alice Lum |
Mrs. Brown accomplished an envy-inducing social coup in 1928
when a wireless report arrived at The New York Times office from London. On
June 12 the newspaper told readers that young Charlotte was “to be presented at
Buckingham Palace at the season’s fourth court, it became known today.” Charlotte had been chosen as one of six
American girls “who will curtsey before their Majesties."
The Browns moved on from East 38th Street in 1930
when they sold the house to Grace Rainey Rogers. Grace, too, was an art collector—surpassing perhaps
all the former owners of the residence. When
she died in 1943 the nation’s top art museums stood in line for their bequests—The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and the Cleveland Museum
of Art among them.
At the time of her
death, Grace was living at No. 58 Park Avenue and her niece, Bertha Rainey Plum,
was living in the 38th Street house.
Not long afterwards, it was divided into apartments.
Life as an apartment house would be short-lived for No. 40,
however. In 1950 the United States Golf
Association purchased the mansion to house its museum and headquarters. The USGA spent $100,000 for the property and for what
Marty Parkes, in his “Classic Shots: The Greatest Images from the United States
Golf Association” calls “suitable renovations.”
The association was responsible for developing standards for
the game, including golf balls and clubs.
In its museum here the public was invited to view the group’s extensive
collection of golf memorabilia and photographs.
Upstairs were club rooms and, on the third and fourth floors, two
apartments each.
The former mansion became known as “Golf House,” and would
continue its quiet operations here for over two decades. Then in 1972 it sold the house and moved its
administrative offices to a 70-acre former New Jersey country estate in Far
Hills. In 1991 the house was acquired by
the owners of the Kitano Hotel next door at No. 42 East 38th Street.
The Kitano management gutted the Edwardian interiors of
Parrish & Schroeder’s entrance level to install a sleek, double-height
restaurant, The Garden Café. The rooms
where socialites entertained among masterpieces of art gave way to an open,
soaring space where lunching Murray Hill businessmen talk trade.
 |
| photo http://www.chopsticksny.com/contents/restaurant-review/2009/09/2788 |
The gracious Beaux Arts exterior, however, remains
essentially unchanged.
 |
| photo by Alice Lum |
No comments:
Post a Comment