The Guy Fairfax Cary Mansion - 61 East 91st Street

 

photograph by Jim Henderson

Born in November 1879 to Clarence Cary and the former Elisabeth M. Potter, Guy Fairfax Cary was the great-grandson of the 9th Lord Fairfax (for which Fairfax County, Virginia, is named).  He was prepared for college at Groton School and received his A. B. and LL. B. degrees from Harvard in 1902 and 1904, respectively.  He was admitted to the New York bar in 1905 and became an influential attorney, the counsel to the National City Bank (later Citibank) and a trustee in the estates of William Rockefeller and Robert W. Goelet.

Shortly after the death of Arthur Scott Burden on June 15, 1921, Cary began a romance with his widow, the former Cynthia Burke Roche.  Born in April 1884 to Sir James Boothby Burke Roche, 3rd Baron Fermoy, and American heiress Frances Eleanor Work, Cynthia had married Burden on June 11, 1906.  The couple had a daughter, Eileen, who was born in 1911.  

Shortly after Cynthia's mourning period elapsed, the September 1922 issue of Harper's Bazar titled an article, "Newport Goes To An Expected Wedding At the Home of Mrs. Burke Roche."  The article reported, "Mrs. Arthur Scott Burden and Mr. Guy Fairfax Cary were married in Newport at Elm Court, the residence of the bride's mother, Mrs. Burke Roche," adding, "The wedding was Newport's happiest surprise of the season."  The first-time groom was 43 years old and his bride was 38.

The wedding party.  Harper's Bazar, September 1922 (copyright expired)

Eight months later, on May 26, 1923, The New York Times reported that H. H. Benkard had sold "the two private houses at 57 to 61 East Ninety-first Street," noting, "The buyer will rebuild and occupy the premises."  That buyer was Guy F. Cary who commissioned architect Mott B. Schmidt to design a replacement mansion on the site.

Schmidt had recently gained attention by transforming 19th century brownstones in Sutton Place to magnificent neo-Georgian mansions for the likes of Anne Tracy Morgan, Anne Vanderbilt, and Elisabeth Marbury.  He returned to the style for the Cary mansion.

Construction of the five-story, 51-foot-wide residence was complete in 1924 and cost $1.3 million (about $23.8 million in 2026 terms).  Faced in red Flemish bond brick, its entrance sat under an arched hood supported by fluted Scamozzi columns.  Brick quoins divided the two-story midsection into three bays.  The fourth floor, sitting upon a prominent cornice, was unexpectedly spartan.  Equally unfinished looking was the mansard with its five unassuming dormers.

Samuel H. Gottscho captured the mansion on film on April 25, 1930.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

The mansion contained 23 rooms, 10 bathrooms, and two elevators.  The Carys filled the mansion with English and Continental antique furniture and a significant art collection.  The family's country home, Oak Hill, in Jericho, Long Island, was built for Cynthia's late husband in 1915, designed by John Russell Pope.  (It was at Oak Hill that Burden died following a polo playing accident.)

Oak Hill in Jericho, Long Island.  The Architecture of John Russell Pope, Volume I, 1925 (copyright expired)

Eileen Burden was 11 years old when her mother married Cary.  She would soon have two half-siblings.  Guy Fairfax Cary Jr. was born in 1923, and Cynthia Cary arrived the following year.

The winter social season of 1929-1930 was Eileen's debut.  On November 28, 1929, The New York Times reported that her parents "will give a dance on Dec. 27 at their home, 61 East Ninety-first Street, to introduce to society [their] daughter, Miss Eileen Burden."  The newspaper followed up on the "supper dance" on December 28, noting, "The guests included many of the débutantes and young men who have been seen at other parties of the season."

The following spring, Cynthia and Eileen sailed to Europe.  On May 2, 1930, The Evening Post reported that they "are returning this evening on the Aquitania."  It would be one of the last travels the mother and daughter would share.

On February 9, 1932, The New York Sun reported on the "important wedding" of Eileen Burden to Walter Maynard in the Church of the Heavenly Rest.  Cynthia Cary, who was eight, was the flower girl.  "A reception follows at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Cary, 61 East Ninety-first street," said the article.

With America's entry into World War II, Guy Jr. entered the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of lieutenant before the war's end.

Upon the death of Cynthia's mother in 1947, she inherited Elm Court in Newport.  The family now spent most of their summer season there.

Elm Court (original source unknown).

The Carys were at Elm Court on August 27, 1950 when Guy Fairfax Cary suffered a fatal heart attack.  He was 70 years old.  Interestingly, the East 91st Street mansion was bequeathed to Guy Jr.  Cynthia moved permanently to Elm Court shortly after her husband's death.

On August 25, 1952, The New York Times reported that the Cary mansion had been sold.  "It will be used as a nursing and convalescence home under the name of Park Town House," said the article.

photo by Samuel H. Gottscho from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

The Park Town House catered to well-heeled residents.  Among them over the years was art collector Richard Goetz who assembled "a collection of both modern and classic paintings valued at an estimated third of a million dollars," according to The New York Times.  Never married, upon his death here in December 1954, he left his $300,000 collection to a cousin.  (The value of the artwork would translate to about $3.5 million today.)

Stage and silent film actor Jack Devereaux was also a resident.  The son-in-law of famous actor John Drew, he died here in January 1958 at the age of 76.

Irish-American actor Jack Devereaux, Motography magazine, 1917 (copyright expired)

In 1964, the former Cary mansion was acquired by the Dalton School to house its First Program (kindergarten and first grade levels).  The facility's main location was on East 89th Street.  Founded by Helen Parkhust in 1919 as the Children's University School, it was renamed in 1924.  

On August 26, 1990, The New York Times reported, "The Dalton School has added another town house to its diverse holdings on the Upper East Side."  The school acquired the former Martha Rusk Stuphen mansion next door at 63 East 91st Street.  It enlarged the capacity of the "lower school" housed in the Cary mansion, which currently had about 400 students.

photograph by Jim Henderson