In 1923, the 760 Park Ave. Corp. purchased and demolished the three rowhouses at the northwest corner of Park Avenue and 72nd Street. The syndicate commissioned the architectural firm of Rouse & Goldstone (composed of W. L. Rouse and L. A. Goldstone) to design a sumptuous apartment building on the site. Completed in 1924, 760 Park Avenue rose 13 stories, its nine-story, tan brick center section sat upon a three-story limestone base. Stone returned at the 13th floor, where it morphed into the modillioned roof cornice. The architect's reserved neo-Renaissance design included bowed, iron balconies at the second floor, brick and stone quoins, and recessed panels between the windows of the 13th floor.
As the building rose, its owners pre-advertised the apartments using unabashed snob appeal. An advertisement in The New York Times on May 31, 1923 began,
The apartments in 760 Park Avenue are planned on a scale that automatically restricts them to those who, because of their standing in society, must exercise discretion as to where to establish their homes, as well as giving consideration to the character of the building in which they live.
There were only 12 apartments in the building, one to a floor, most with 14 rooms and 6 bathrooms. The residents would buy, not rent, their apartments. An ad explained, "They are being sold on a highly endorsed Cooperative Plan."
A typical floor plan. The New York Times, May 31, 1923 (copyright expired)
The building opened in August 1924. Its initial residents came from the upper echelons of Manhattan society. Five months before construction was completed, the New York Evening Post reported that Colonel De Lancey Kountz had purchased "the entire top floor and part of [the] penthouse at 760 Park avenue, now being built." De Lancey Kountz was a banker and the chairman of the board of the paint and varnish firm Devoe & Raynolds, Co. His wife was the former Isabel Thomas, of Athens, Georgia.
A month later, on April 17, the newspaper reported that Mrs. Benjamin Brewster had bought "the last remaining apartment of fourteen rooms and six baths," noting, "In addition, to the entire second floor, she has purchased two extra servants' rooms, giving her a total of sixteen rooms and six baths." Elmina Hersey Dows Brewster was the widow of Benjamin Brewster, one of the original trustees of Standard Oil. He died in 1897. Elmina's country home, Scrooby, was in Cazenovia, New York.
On September 5, 1924, The New York Times reported, "Mrs. Phelps Stokes, after leaving her camp on Upper St. Regis Lake went to her country place in Ridgefield, Conn., where she will remain until moving to her new apartment at 760 Park Avenue." Helen Louisa Phelps Stokes was the widow of Anson Phelps Stokes. Born in 1846, she grew up in her family's brownstone mansion at 231 Madison Avenue. Living with her here would be her granddaughter, Helen O. Phelps Stokes.
All of the residents of 760 Park Avenue were listed in Dau's New York Social Blue Book and they appeared consistently in society columns. On June 3, 1925, for instance, the New York Evening Post reported, "Mrs. W. H. La Boyteaux of 760 Park avenue and her daughter, Miss Mary La Boyteaux, who have been abroad, are returning on the Homeric, which will land tomorrow."
Less socially conspicuous was James S. Jones, the founder and president of the Jones Brothers Tea Company. The Daily Worker called the company, "one of the largest tea concerns in the United States" and said Jones "was a pioneer in the chain stores idea and the application of factory technique to grocery workers." His summer estate was in Sayville, Long Island. Jones died of pneumonia in his apartment on May 13, 1927. His funeral was held there three days later. After the filing of his will on May 24, The Daily Worker reported, "The estate is understood to be several millions of dollars."
The following year, in February 1928, Velma Erminie Bailey Woolworth purchased the Jones apartment. Born in 1875, she was the widow of Fred Moore Woolworth. He was a cousin of F. W. Woolworth, founder of the five and ten cent stores, and in 1909 had traveled to England to establish a Woolworth chain there. He died in the Ritz Hotel in London in 1923, leaving an estate of over $15 million in today's money to Velma and their son, Norman.
Among Velma Woolworth's neighbors were the Roland Livingston Redmonds. Redmond had grown up in the massive mansion at 701-705 Park Avenue. His wife was the former Sara Delano. Their summer home was at Tivoli-on-the-Hudson. A member of the law firm Carter, Ledyard & Milburn, he was for a period the personal attorney of Vincent Astor. Starting in 1947, he would serve, as well, as the president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Redmond apartment was unusual in that it was a duplex. Because the servants were having lunch in the kitchen on the afternoon of November 9, 1927, they did not immediately notice a fire in the living room. By the time it was discovered, it "had made rapid headway," according to The New York Times. As one servant phoned the fire department, a pedestrian looked up and saw smoke rolling from the windows. He, too, sent in an alarm.
The servants rushed the two Redmond children to the street. The Times said the firefighters, "put out the flames within a few minutes," noting, "so much water was poured into the room, however, that numerous antique tapestries and other works of art on both floors of the apartment were damaged."
Helen Phelps Stokes died of a heart attack on June 30, 1930 at the age of 83. In reporting her death, The New York Times recalled her many philanthropies, including the founding of the Grace Home for Children on Staten Island.
Evelyn Isabella Marshall Field was the former wife of multimillionaire Marshall Field III. Two years after their divorce in 1930, she sold their sumptuous mansion at 4-8 East 70th Street and moved into 760 Park Avenue. Her country home at Lloyd's Neck, Long Island, was described by the New York Evening Post as having, "the largest acreage of any private estate within commuting distance of New York City."
Evelyn's widowed mother, Josephine Mozier Banks Marshall, arrived from London in August 1932. She was described by The New York Times as being, "long socially prominent both here and in London." Josephine, who was born in Newport, Rhode Island, was a great-niece of James Lenox. She would never return to her home at 6 Grosvenor Square in London. She died in the Park Avenue apartment on June 4, 1933.
Velma Woolworth had been ill for months at the time of Josephine Marshall's death. She never recovered and died on February 8, 1934 at the age of 61. Among her numerous bequests, many of them charitable, she left each of her three grandchildren a $1 million trust (equal to about $22.8 million today).
The year 1934 was a socially important one for residents. On May 18, 1934, The New York Times reported, "Mr. and Mrs. de Lancey Kountz...have announced the engagement of their younger daughter, Miss Helen de Lancey Kountze, to Jacquelin Allen Swords." And on October 6, The Sun mentioned that daughters of three resident families would be introduced to society that social season: sisters Ruth Hilda and Prudence Anne Holmes, Sylvie L. Redmond, and Virginia Welsh.
In December, the Holmes girls' parents, Artemas Henry Holmes and the former Lillian Stokes, hosted a supper dance at the River Club to introduce their daughters.
Four years later, it was Joan Redmond's turn. On June 25, 1938, The New York Sun reported she, "will make her debut at a diner dance at White Elephant Farm, Syosset," noting, "The debutante was graduated from the Spence School last month. Her sisters, the Misses Sylvie and Sheila Redmond, also were presented at parties at the Redmond Syosset estate."
A name familiar to New Yorkers for other than social reasons was the recently divorced actor Tyrone Power, who moved into 760 Park Avenue in 1957. He married Deborah Jean Smith on May 7, 1958. But his residency here would be short-lived. He died of a heart attack at the age of 44 in Madrid, Spain on November 15, 1958.
The application of former President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, passed the coop board in February 1984. But then, on March 2, The New York Times reported that the couple "decided yesterday not to go ahead with the move." (The Nixons had recently been rejected at 19 East 72nd Street because the residents feared the media spotlight the couple would bring.)
A politically-connected couple who did move in were Edward Schlossberg and his bride, the former Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy. According to C. David Heymann in his American Legacy, The Story of John & Caroline Kennedy, following their honeymoon in 1986, "they paid $2.5 million for a third-floor co-op apartment at 760 Park Avenue."
The staid building is as exclusive today as it was when Elmina Brewster purchased the last available apartment in 1924.
photographs by the author
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