The 1903 Mansion at No. 1016 Madison Avenue

No. 1016 Madison Avenue was the centerpiece of the three mansions -- photo by Alice Lum

At the turn of the last century Madison Avenue rivaled Fifth Avenue as the prestigious residential address.  Millionaires like Stuyvesant Fish, Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo and Henry Marquand erected massive stone mansions on Madison Avenue, establishing the thoroughfare as a highly enviable address.

In 1902 speculative developer Jeremiah C. Lyons began work on three harmonious residences at Nos. 1014 to 1018 Madison Avenue, adjoining the Fish mansion.  The architectural firm of York & Sawyer designed the houses to appear as a single, grand French palace.    The five-story Beaux Arts style residences were completed a year later, creating an elegant and imposing presence on the block.  No. 1016, the central mansion, was perhaps the most eye-catching, with its expansive centered windows rising three stories.

Despite the exclusive location and the quality of the mansions, Lyons had difficulty selling Nos. 1018 and 1016; and the advent of the Financial Panic of 1907 did not help. On February 8, 1910, seven years after the homes were completed, The Sun reported that the two properties were to be sold in foreclosure.   The auction took place the following month and on March 20, 1910 the sale of the two handsome structures was announced in the New-York Tribune. 

The New-York Tribune pictured the houses on March 20, 1910 (copyright expired)

No. 1016 was purchased by Philadelphia art collector and explorer Thomas Cardeza.   It would seem that Cardeza purchased the property as an investment, for he never lived in the house; choosing instead to lease it.

The 34-year old son of wealthy heiress Charlotte Drake Cardeza apparently preferred the gentleman’s lifestyle to being grounded to a regular job.  In March of 1912 he was staying in a hunting lodge in Hungary when he headed back to the United States to receive medical treatment.  He met his mother in Cherbourg, France and on Wednesday, April 10 they boarded the new ocean steamer, the R. M. S. Titanic.

Mrs. Cardeza and her son shared one of the two deluxe B-deck parlor suites—reportedly finer accommodations than John Jacob Astor and his new wife enjoyed.  The sitting room was outfitted with a marble fireplace and there was a 50-foot private promenade deck with potted plants and Tudor woodwork.  (The other deluxe parlor suite was taken by J. Bruce Ismay.)

Mrs. Cardeza needed the expansive suite, for she boarded the liner with fourteen trunks, three packing crates and four suitcases.  Reportedly Thomas Cardeza spent much of the voyage playing poker.  Along for the voyage were Cardeza’s manservant, Gustave Lesueur, and Charlotte Cardeza’s maid, Annie Moore Ward.

Thomas Cardeza and his stylish mother pose on deck -- http://alhambralibrary.blogspot.com/2012/03/library-commemorates-100th-anniversary.html

Four days after boarding, on April 14, the Titanic famously struck an iceberg.  All four of the Cardeza party managed to board Lifeboat No. 3 and survived the disaster. 

Within the year Cardeza sold the house at No. 1016 Madison Avenue to Henry Ingersoll Riker.  The 41-year old New York City native had received his law degree from Harvard and was admitted to the bar in 1894.  But three years later he left the legal profession to join the banking firm of Redmond, Kerr & Company.  After serving in the Spanish-American War as a member of Troop A, New York Cavalry and then in Puerto Rico, he married his cousin May Riker, in 1903.

photo by Alice Lum

By then he was the head of his own brokerage firm at No. 74 Pine Street.   Henry and Mary moved in to No. 1016 with their three children, John Lawrence, age 9; and twins Henry and Mary, age 5.

The Rikers would remain in the house until 1926 when it was sold to Francis H. Lenygon.   The English-born Lenygon was a world-renowned authority on period interiors and furniture.   He had arrived in New York in 1910 to decorate the mansion of Whitelaw Reid.  One commission followed another and he finally established a branch of his London firm Lenygon & Morant, Inc. in New York.

After purchasing No. 1016, Lenygon moved his business from No. 16 East 60th Street.  He lived in the upper floors without actually converting the house to a dual-purpose structure.  Lenygon & Morant was responsible for the interior decoration of the homes of Harry F. Guggenheim, Colonel M. R. Guggenheim, Percy R. Pyne, Guy Fairfax Cary and other millionaires. 

photo by Alice Lum

More importantly, Francis Lenygon lectured on fine arts at New York University, and on period furniture and interior decoration at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  He wrote three important books used by instructors and designers:  “Decoration and Furniture of English Mansions,” “Furniture in England,” and “Decoration in England.”

When John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and his wife Abby Aldrich Rockefeller became involved in the rescue and restoration of Williamsburg, Virginia they searched for a leading expert in English 17^th and 18^th century interiors.  They chose Francis Lenygon. 

Lenygon served as consultant on the restoration and traveled to England to choose the furnishings for the Governor’s palace.

The same year that Lenygon purchased No. 1016 Madison, he married Jeannette Becker.   The couple lived together in the house for nearly two decades.  Then, in 1943, the 66-year old Lenygon’s health failed and he died in the house on Saturday evening, June 12.

The mansion became home to the Perls Galleries in 1954.  Run by Klaus G. Perls and his wife Amelia (better known as Dolly), the gallery originally sold works by European artists like Utrillo, Maurice de Vlaminck and Raoul Dufy.  The Perls branched into modern American art and the same year that they moved into No. 1016 they began representing Alexander Calder.

During the 1960s and ‘70s Calder boarded in the house and the artist designed the stone walkway that serves as the sidewalk in front of the three York & Sawyer mansions.

By the 1990s the aging couple began donating important collections to museums.   In 1991 they gave 153 pieces of African royal art to the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art—carved ivory tusks, musical instruments, bronze figures, jewelry and decorative masks among them.  Four years later they gave the Metropolitan Museum thirteen important works—the largest donation ever received to date by its department of 20^th century art—including works by Pascin, Picasso, Braque, Modigliani, Leger and Soutine.

The Perl Galleries remained in the Madison Avenue mansion for forty-three years, closing its doors in 1997.  The Arader Gallery moved into the house shortly afterward, continuing the tradition of upscale art.  The house has still not been structurally divided.  The remarkable mansion was put on the market a few years ago for a jaw-dropping $75 million.

photo by Alice Lum

Thanks to reader R. Steuber for requesting this post

The 1898 New Era Building - 495 Broadway

photo by Hubert J. Steed

As the 19th Century wound to a close, Jeremiah C. Lyons had become one of the most prominent real estate developers in the city, owning and managing the J. C. Lyons Building and Operating Company. Many of the firm’s holdings were located along 5th Avenue; however Lyons developed rows of upscale residences in high-end neighborhoods, such as the eight limestone mansions on East 74th Street designed by Buchman & Deisler in 1898, one of which, at No. 55, Eleanor Roosevelt would later occupy.

Lyons had earlier commissioned the same architects to design an eye-catching commercial building that was completed that year at No. 495 Broadway—The New Era Building.

While Italianate palazzo-inspired buildings were rising along Broadway at the time, Buchman & Deisler stepped out of the box with their design.  Drawing on the modern Art Nouveau sub-style popularized by designers and architects like the Scottish Charles Rennie Mackintosh, they produced a no-nonsense behemoth unlike any of its neighbors.

Decades later the AIA Guide to New York City would call it an “Art Nouveau marvel: from the squat street-level Doric columns, fairly bulging from the weight of the masonry walls above, to the colossal multistory copper mansard, six floors up.”

The solid-looking structure was originally intended for a printing firm; however it soon became the headquarters for Butler Brothers, one of the first mail-order catalogue companies in the United States. In the 1870’s the three Butler Brothers – Edward, George and Charles – started their business selling wholesale merchandise to retail stores across the country.  Expanding to New York in 1880, the firm was selling to about 100,000 customers when it moved into The New Era Building.

In the final days of World War I, Butler Brothers made headlines when it refused to accept shipment of German-made toys and china shipped through Holland without notice; even though the goods had been paid for prior to the declaration of war years earlier.

“America does not need German-made goods and Butler Brother will in no way encourage the German propaganda designed to place German-made goods back in the American market,” said company vice-president Walter Scott. Speaking in October of 1918 he added “Butler Brothers feel that the American children should have American-made toys. They are therefore willing to accept any loss which may be occasioned by their refusal of this shipment, because they feel it will help to keep German-made goods out of this market.”

photograph by the author

In 1927 the firm launched a string of franchised variety stores under the name Ben Franklin Stores. That same year fire raged through the New Era Building. On December 20 The New York Times reported that “Damage of $1,000,000 was wrought by the fire which early yesterday morning swept through the building at 495-497 Broadway, occupied by Butler Brothers, wholesale dealers in general merchandise, and came perilously close to injuring several companies of firemen.”

The fire had burned for two hours before smoke was detected and an alarm set off. Sections of floors fell through and no fewer than seventy firemen were necessary to fight the blaze.

After more than a century since its construction, The New Era Building looks remarkably as it did in 1898 and, as it did then, commands the attention of the most casual passer-by. The thick street-level columns, the bold, confident stone arches at the sixth floor, and the outstanding copper mansard make the New Era Building a one-of-a-kind treasure.