The William Jay House -- 22 East 72nd Street

 

Although he was an attorney and partner in the law firm Jay & Candler, William Jay was most often referred to by his military title, Colonel.  During the Civil War, he had served on the staff of General George Meade and saw action in the Battles of Gettysburg, Chancellorsville, Mine Run and Appomattox.  He was born on February 12, 1841 into a socially prominent, old New York family.  A great-grandson of Founding Father and first Chief Justice of the United States, John Jay; his grandfather was Judge William Jay; and his father, John Jay, was a lawyer and Minster to Austria.

Jay married Lucie Oelrichs in 1878.  While her American pedigree was not as deep as her husband's (her father, Henry Ferdinand Oelrichs, immigrated to America from Bremen, Germany around 1830), her family was no less wealthy.  Her brother, Hermann Oelrichs and his wife Theresa Fair were major players in New York and Newport high society.  The Jays had three daughters: Julia, born in 1879; Eleanor, born in 1882; and Dorothy, who died at the age of two in 1889.  The family's country estate was Bedford House, in Westchester County.

Colonel William Jay, from Portraits of the Presidents of the [Saint Nicholas] Society, 1914 (copyright expired)

On May 3, 1890, the Record & Guide reported that construction of the Jays' new townhouse on Fifth Avenue between 65th and 66th Streets was nearly completed.  At the time, the family of Alfred Nathan lived in the high-stooped brownstone at 22 East 72nd Street, just east of Madison Avenue. 

If the Jay family ever occupied the Fifth Avenue house, it was for a very short time.  Less than three years later, on March 18, 1893, the Record & Guide reported that Rose & Stone was designing a 25-foot wide, five story residence for William Jay on the site of the Alfred Nathan home.  Completed in 1894, the limestone faced structure was designed in the neo-Renaissance style.  A commanding portico with Scamozzi columns provided a stone-railed balcony at the second floor.   A four-story bowed bay was crowned with a stone balustrade that matched another atop the understated cornice.  A carved frieze of garlands ran below the roofline.

Lucie Oelrichs Jay was firm friends with Alva Erskine Smith Vanderbilt.  Their close relationship survived Alva's shocking divorce from William Kissam Vanderbilt in March 1895, when some socialites backed away.  On November 4, 1895, the rehearsal for Consuelo Vanderbilt's wedding to the Duke of Marlborough was held in St. Thomas's Church.  The New-York Tribune reported, "Only those persons directly interested and connected with the rehearsal were admitted."  Among those select few was Lucie Jay.  The article said she "suggested changes" to the procession of the bridesmaids.

Lucie Oelrichs Jay, from the collection of the Library of Congress

On November 5, the New-York Tribune noted, "Mrs. William Jay will give a dinner party in honor of Miss Vanderbilt and the Duke this evening at her home, No. 22 East Seventy-second-st."  Just over a week later, on November 16, The World reported, "Col. and Mrs. William Jay...gave a dinner on Thursday evening, when their guests included Mrs. William Kissam Vanderbilt and Mr. Oliver H. P. Belmont."  Alva Vanderbilt and Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont would be married two months later.

The family was in Hempstead, Long Island in October 1896 when 17-year-old Julia fell ill.  Back in the 72nd Street house, her condition did not improve.  On November 1, the New-York Tribune reported, "It was stated by authority of Colonel Jay, at the family home...that Miss Jay was doing well, and that the published statement that she was dying was without foundation."  But despite the denial, Julia had contracted typhoid fever and was seriously ill.  She died on November 10.

In December 1903, the Jays leased their home furnished to newlyweds Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt and his bride, Cathleen Neilson.  The Jay family moved to an apartment in the Essex Apartment Hotel.  

On October 30, 1904, The Sun reported that another pair of newlyweds, Robert and Elsie Goelet, "have taken the house of Mr. and Mrs. William Jay at 22 East Seventy-second street, furnished, for the season, and it is now being put in readiness for them."  The article mentioned that the Vanderbilts, who were at the St. Louis World's Fair, had "occupied the Jay house the winter after their marriage and their infant daughter was born there."

The Goelets moved in on November 2, 1904, but they would have to make themselves scarce before the month was over.  On November 27, The Sun reported that the couple, "will leave the Jay house...which they rented furnished, tomorrow, and decorators will be in possession to ornament it with white blossoms for the reception to be given by Col. and Mrs. Jay."  The wedding of the couple's only surviving daughter, Eleanor, to millionaire Arthur Iselin, was scheduled for November 29 at St. Agnes's Chapel on West 91st Street.  The socially prominent families who attended the reception had names like Vanderbilt, Sloane, Mackay, Belmont, Fish, Schieffelin, Twombley, Burden, Schermerhorn, Astor, Harriman and Morgan.

The national spotlight focused on 22 East 72nd Street in 1906 because of the Goelets' celebrated houseguest.  Alice Roosevelt was the daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt.  She arrived in New York on January 29 with her fiancé, Representative Nicholas Longworth of Ohio.  The New York Times said, "Miss Roosevelt will be the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Goelet at 22 East Seventy-second Street, until Wednesday night or Thursday morning." 

On December 7, 1907, The New York Times reported, "Mr. and Mrs. William Crocker are to move to-day into the Col. Jay house, 22 East Seventy-second Street, which Mr. and Mrs. Robert Goelet have been occupying since their marriage."

The Jays returned to East 72nd Street by 1914.  On November 25 that year, The Sun announced that William and Lucie "have returned from their country place, Bedford House, in Katonah, New York, and are at the Plaza before opening their house at 22 East Seventy-second Street.

Five months after that article, the Jays were at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.  William Jay died there on March 28.  On April 7, The New York Times reported the estate of the 74-year-old was estimated at "between $2,000,000 and $10,000,000." (The higher amount would translate to about $313 million in 2024.)  It was bequeathed entirely to Lucie and Eleanor.

Lucie left 22 East 72nd Street, continuing to lease it to socially-prominent tenants.  In 1916, William Sloane signed a lease, and Robert Goelet was back, alone, in 1918.  (Elsie had left him in 1914, accusing him of “misbehavior and wickedness repugnant to and in violation of his marriage covenant.")  In September 1919, Rufus Lenoir Patterson and his family moved in.

The Pattersons took possession just in time for the Grace Church wedding of their only daughter, Lucy Lathrop Patterson, to Casimir de Rham.  The reception was held in the 72nd Street house.

In August 1921, Henry Wainwright Howe purchased 22 East 72nd Street.  The price of $150,000 would equal about $2.5 million today.  His wife, the former Ethel Gardner, had died two years earlier.  Howe's purchase of the mansion was no doubt directly related to his recent marriage.  Four months earlier, on April 20, 1921, society had been shocked by an article in The New York Times, which began:

The fact that Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Fuller Potter of this city and Southampton had been divorced became known yesterday following the announcement that Mrs. Potter was married last Saturday to Henry Wainwright Howe...The report of the divorce and the marriage of Mrs. Potter came as a surprise to society.

Henry Wainwright Howe died in 1931.  Ten years later the mansion that had been home to so many of Manhattan's socially elite families was converted to apartments, two per floor.  

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

When the first and second floors of the house were converted to offices in 1967, the stoop was removed and the entrance lowered to sidewalk level.

A grainy tax photograph from around 1971 shows the altered first and second floors.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Then, as Ralph Lauren broke ground for its new building next door at the corner of 72nd Street and Madison Avenue in 2008, renovations to the former Jay mansion were initiated.  The stoop and portico were meticulously refabricated.  Today the house serves as part of the abutting retail establishment.

photographs by the author