The Lost Marianna Ogden Mansion - 266 Madison Avenue

The Architectural Record, July 1896 (copyright expired)

Born in Walton, New York on June 15, 1805, William Butler Ogden would have a varied and impressive life.  Upon his father's death he took over the running of the family real estate business while still a teenager.  At the age of 30 he was elected to the New York State Assembly; but following his one-year term went west to Chicago.  In 1838 he became that frontier town's first mayor.

Ogden was highly instrumental in connecting Chicago to the East, promoting and investing in the Illinois and Michigan Canal; then founding the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad.  He later become president of the Union Pacific Railroad which linked Chicago to the West coast.

Following the Civil War Ogden purchased an estate in New York as a second home.  Ogden family historian Laura Wheeler explained in 1907 "Mr. Ogden's business interests causing him to spend so much time in New York, he determined upon possessing an eastern residence.  This was consummated in the spring of 1866 when he purchased of J. Kennedy Smyth a handsome Gothic villa called 'Boscobel' at Fordham Heights, Westchester Co., N.Y. and adjoining High Bridge."  The High Bridge, a graceful Roman style aqueduct designed by James Renwick, Jr. and completed in 1848, was a popular destination for weekend promenades with its stunning river views and natural landscape.

Ogden added to the property, extending it to ten acres, landscaped it and added a conservatory, stables and greenhouses.  The fruit orchards and flowerbeds at his Chicago estate, Ogden Grove, were duplicated.  Laura Wheeler wrote "The many gabled house is of blue-stone, with Ohio freestone trimmings, and surrounded by broad verandas, from which well-shaven lawns slope down the hill."

Frequent guests at both Villa Boscobel and Ogden Grove were Ogden's close friend, John Arnot, his wife Harriet, and their grown children John, Jr. and Marianna.   Ogden was a life-long bachelor and when there, Marianna often acted as hostess to his other guests (like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Samuel J. Tilden).

Not long after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, Ogden became "weary of business," according to Wheeler, and "retired to 'Boscobel' to spend the remaining years of his life, and enjoy a well-earned repose."  Now in his early 70's, the bachelor finally turned his focus from business to romance.

On February 9, 1875 he married Marianna Tuttle Arnot.  The 50-year-old bride was 20 years younger than the groom.  Theirs would be a short marriage.  At 2:00 on the morning of August 3, 1877, William Butler Ogden died at Villa Boscobel.  The Chicago Inter Ocean reported "His physicians informed him his death was at hand--not more than a few hours.  The dying man received the last sacrament of the Church, and quietly awaited his end."

Marianna lived on in Villa Boscobel.  In 1888 she erected the Arnot-Ogden Memorial Hospital in Elmira, New York, where she was born, as a memorial to her father and her late husband.  

The wealthy dowager was not sequestered from society in her suburban estate.  She annually leased a cottage in Newport, for instance.  

But then in 1893 she stepped into the Manhattan limelight.  Marianna purchased the vintage home of Dr. Cornelius R. Agnew at the northwest corner of Madison Avenue and 39th Street and hired the Boston firm of Peabody & Stearns to design an up-to-date replacement.

Completed in 1894, its entrance was on 39th Street above a sideways stoop.  A deep light moat which provided light to the basement was protected by a solid stone wall.  The rusticated limestone base was sparsely decorated, with only a few carvings on the understated entrance.  The second and third floors were clad in brick and trimmed in stone.  A Palladian window on the Madison Avenue side boasted Renaissance carvings and a deeply-recessed shell within the arch.  In stark contrast to the 18th century inspired lower floors, the top floor behind a handsome stone balustrade took the form of a French mansard.

The firm of Davis, Reid & Alexander had handled the interior decorations.  The Real Estate Record & Guide reported on November 24 "One of the details especially noticeable is the introduction of Venetian glass mosaic for mantle facings."

The Architectural Record called the house "most original" and "certainly quite typical of the good modern house of our Eastern cities."

Marianna's decision to built in the city was most likely prompted by the erection of the Washington Bridge.  Opened on December 1, 1888 it connected Manhattan and The Bronx at 181st Street.  Suddenly Villa Boscobel was less tranquil and bucolic.

And the precise location may have been prompted by its proximity to the home of her sister, Fannie, who was married to millionaire George G. Haven.  The Haven family lived at Nos. 24-26 East 39th Street, essentially across the avenue from Marianna's new home.

The Madison Avenue mansion, like Villa Boscobel had been, was closed late every spring as Marianna traveled to her homes at Newport and Lenox.  She was at Newport on September 16, 1900 when the New-York Tribune reported "Mr. and Mrs. George Griswold Haven have deferred their departure for Lenox owing to the illness of Mrs. Haven's sister, Mrs. William B. Ogden, who is seriously sick at her cottage."

About three weeks later, on October 7, the newspaper reported "Mrs. William B. Ogden, who has been quite ill here for some weeks, was able to return to her New-York residence this week, travelling in a special car."

Marianna arrived in Lenox from Newport around September 14, 1904.  After taking a short drive on the 27th, she complained of trouble breathing.  The New-York Tribune wrote "A physician was summoned and her sister, Mrs. George Griswold Haven, was called."  The following morning she seemed to have rallied.  But then, "as Mrs. Ogden was about to take some nourishment, she suddenly expired."  The 84-year-old had suffered a heart attack.

In reporting her death The New York Times mentioned "After Washington Bridge was opened Mrs. Ogden lived but little at Boscobel, preferring her residence at 266 Madison Avenue."  

The bulk of her estimated $20 million estate was left to Fannie.  But, possibly because she anticipated that her favorite niece, Marion Haven, would soon marry, she left the Madison Avenue mansion to her.   On November 2 the New-York Tribune reported "Mr. and Mrs. George G. Haven and Miss Marion Haven arrived in town from Lenox yesterday, and are at Mrs. William B. Ogden's house."

Marion Arnot Haven's engagement to Forsyth Wickes was announced not long after, on January 21, 1905.  The ceremony in St. Bartholomew's Church took place on April 27.  It was a social event.  The New York Times reported "The wedding was one of the most largely attended of the year, over 1,000 invitations having been issued for the church ceremony."  The Sun rather coarsely added that Marian "was the richest bride of the season."

The newlyweds spent two months at Tuxedo, New York, then sailed for Europe for the summer.  The New York Times advised "next Winter they will occupy the house at 266 Madison Avenue, inherited by Mrs. Wickes from her aunt, Mrs. W. B. Ogden."

The long honeymoon was advantageous, since the New-York Tribune advised on March 16 that the mansion "will be entirely refurnished and redecorated and will probably not be ready for the young people until the autumn."

Forsyth Wickes had spent much of his youth in France.  He had graduated from Yale in 1898 and Columbia Law School two years later.  He would become senior partner in the legal firm of Wickes, Riddell, Bloomer, Jacobi and Mcguire.

When the newlyweds moved in, as seen in this 1905 photograph, nothing about the mansion had changed outside.  The American Architect and Building News, April 22, 1905 (copyright expired)

The Wickes' social rounds in Lenox, Newport and Manhattan were brought to a halt by World War I.  Forsyth enlisted in the U. S. Army in the summer of 1917 and became a captain in the Infantry later that year.  Before the end of the year he was deployed to France.  Following the Armistice he was sent home in December 1918 and returned to civilian life the following month.   He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the French Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre.

A cultured and avid collector of 18th century French paintings and porcelain, he filled the Madison Avenue house with treasures.  Decades later his collection was listed among the 26 "most outstanding" in the world.

But by the time Forsyth returned from the war, the Madison Avenue neighborhood was noticeably changing from an upscale residential enclave to a commercial thoroughfare.  On November 15, 1919 the Record & Guide reported "The Forsyth Wickes residence a four story building at 266 Madison av...with a two-story stable in the rear has been leased for twenty-one years for business purposes."  The lease came with a $13,000 per year rent--just under $190,000 today.  The deal was possible only because, as pointed out by the New-York Tribune, "The house is outside the Murray Hill restricted zone."

Amazingly, however, nothing was changed to the exterior of the mansion.  It retained the appearance of a private residence while firms like Roberts & Thompson, silk merchants, and the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce operated from within.

In 1923 there was little hint that the former mansion was anything but a residence.  On 39th Street is Marianna Ogden's former stable.  photograph from the collection of the New York Public Library

Despite the 21-year lease, the once-elegant home was doomed.  It was demolished in 1923 to be replaced by the 19-story 266-272 Madison Avenue.

The D. Willis James Carriage House - No. 144 East 39th Street

On April 20, 1885 D. Willis James purchased the 25-foot frame building at No. 144 East 39th Street.  He paid $14,000 for the old structure, built around 1865.  It would not stand much longer.

D. Willis James had erected his mansion at 40 East 39th Street at the southwest corner of Park Avenue in 1872.  His choice of location was not surprising.  His mother was Elizabeth Woodbridge Phelps, daughter of Anson Stokes Phelps.  It was the Dodge and Phelps families who had first established the exclusive residential neighborhood in 1852.  James was a partner in Phelps, Dodge & Co.

D. Willis James chose the property at No. 144 East 39th Street as a convenient site for his carriage house.  A mixture of Romanesque and Queen Anne styles, the three-story structure had much in common with several of Napoleon Le Brun's brick and stone fire houses.  The wide carriage bay was centered within the rough-cut brownstone base, flanked by two smaller arched openings.  The two upper floors were faced in red brick and trimmed in stone.  Here were decorative touches like creative brickwork in the blind arch of the hay loft and a handsome corbel table below the cornice.

The building would have housed horses and vehicles on the ground floor and provided living space on the top floor for stable hands or drivers.  No matter how distinguished the architecture of carriage houses, the noises and smells were unpleasant at best.  Behind the stable would have been a manure pit and in the heat of summer the flies and stench were repellent.   The location was near enough to the James mansion to be convenient; yet effectively far enough away.

D. Willis James was married to the former Ellen S. Curtiss.  The couple had one son, Arthur Curtiss James.  The same year that construction began on the carriage house James purchased what the New-York Tribune deemed "a fine country estate" in Madison, New Jersey.

The millionaire's philanthropies, especially to the Children's Aid Society, were well-known, and Madison would benefit greatly from its newest resident.  In 1887 James purchased a large tract of land there, which he developed into a public park; and by 1890 had spent more than $250,000 on public improvements in the town--including a stone library building, an opera house, a "spacious assembly room," and stores.

James and his wife spent the summer of 1907 at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.  Just as the season came to an end, he suffered a heart attack "while chatting with friends on the piazza of the hotel," according to the New-York Tribune.  About a week later, on September 13, he died there.

D. Willis James -- New-York Tribune, September 14, 1907 (copyright expired

The James family retained ownership of the carriage house, hiring architect and builder Whitney-Steen Co to renovated it in 1911 at a cost of $1,500.  The updated stairs and fire doors were possibly for wealthy sisters Sarah C. and Eleanor G. Hewitt, who soon leased the stables for their use.

The unmarried women were the daughters of former Mayor Abram S. Hewitt, and granddaughters of Peter Cooper, founder of the Cooper Union.  They lived in the mansion at No. 9 Lexington Avenue, just off Gramercy Park, and maintained a 34-acre summer estate, Burris Farm, in New Jersey.

Eventually, in April 1918, Arthur Curtiss James sold the carriage house to the sisters.

When Eleanor died in 1924, she left $2.2 million to her sister.  Sarah lived for nine more years, dying on July 18, 1933 at the age of 71.  The carriage house was valued at $55,000 at the time (just over $1 million in 2016 terms).  It was inherited by her brother, Erskine.

When Erskine Hewitt sold the building in March 1939 the buyer announced its intentions "to remodel it."  The renovations, completed the following year, resulted in a "drafting room and office" on the ground floor, offices on the second, and two apartments on the third.

In 1944 Leo Nejelski opened his newly-formed public relations firm in the building; and by 1961 the consulting engineer firm of Syska & Hennessy was headquartered here.  Principal John F. Hennessy and his family lived above the offices.  The firm would remain in the building until 1976.

That year renovations were made for Aegis Productions, Inc.  The apartments were converted to offices and a photographic studio installed on the two lower floors.

Today the former James carriage house is home to the English Speaking Union, which moved here from its former home at 16 East 69th Street in 1999.  It was founded in 1920 by Sir Evelyn Wrench who felt "that maintenance of the close personal and national ties forged during World War I was necessary for the preservation of peace," according to the group's website.

The handsome structure survives from the days when the liveried drivers awaited the call from Murray Hill mansion owners for their carriages.

photographs by the author

The Joseph W. Gray House -- No. 114 East 39th Street

By 1872 the family of Joseph W. Gray lived in the handsome brownstone home at No. 114 East 39^th Street, between Lexington and Park Avenues.  Gray was a well-to-do importer, whose office was at No. 179 Broadway.  He and his wife and daughter, Mary, summered in their country home in Utica, New York.  Like all wealthy New Yorkers, they spent time abroad, as well.  On August 10, 1872, for instance, they boarded the steamship Washington for France.

Gray and his wife had a nearly-tragic experience in August of 1881.  Gray was driving his rockaway (a light and low four-wheel carriage) on the way to Yonkers.  As the carriage was traveling south, a newfangled contraption came north—a bicycle.

Joseph Gray later reported “I saw my horses kind of stick up their ears, and I beckoned to the man to keep away; I saw my horses were rather astonished at it; and I slowed them down on a slight trot; however, he didn’t keep back.”   

Never having seen a bicycle before, the horses jumped.  Gray and his wife were tossed into a ditch with the carriage on top of them.  Luckily, after the bicyclist continued on his way, not bothering to stop, the horses relaxed.  They stood still, munching on grass.  Their hooves were mere inches from Gray’s head.

It was the last time Mrs. Gray would trust the bays.  “I had to sell them,” Gray said.  “my wife would not ride behind them again.”

In 1888 the 39^th Street house became home to the family of Frank Shepard Benson.  Benson had graduated with a law degree from Yale; however he never practiced.  Instead he focused on academic pursuits.  He was a leading member of the Numismatic and Archeological Society of New York, a member of the English Society for Hellenic Studies and of the Historical Society of Long Island.

Before moving in, Benson commissioned the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White to do interior renovations.  The upgrades cost him $3,000—in the neighborhood of $77,000 today.   The Italianate-style exterior was left intact.

On July 6, 1893 Benson’s father, Arthur W. Benson, died.  In his will he left Frank and his sister, Mary, nearly the entire Montauk Peninsula—10,000 acres.  When Arthur purchased the lane on October 1, 1885, he was given a paper certifying that “since that time the Indians have continually been absent from the Peninsula of Montauk.”

That was not the case.

In 1882 Arthur Benson began development.  He commissioned Stanford White to design seven Shingle-style “cottages.”  The sprawling country seats were intended for wealthy New Yorkers. 

Within a few months of inheriting the land, Frank Sherman Benson formed the Montauk Yacht Club with William L. Andrews, Alfred M. Hoyt, Alfred W. Hoyt and Alexander Orr.  It was officially opened in January 1894.  A year later a train line was extended to the new resort community.

The Native Americans were not happy with their new neighbors.  The Montauk tribe tried to fight Benson but, as pointed out by The Sun, “Indians as a tribe have no standing before our courts.”   And since it was a tribal issue, not an individual one, the issue simmered for years.

Finally in 1906 the Montauk tribe received the legal rights to sue and did so, claiming the deeds to their land were obtained by “fraud or undue influence.”  But Frank S. Benson would not live to see the trial play out.  Now widowed, he died at the age of 52 on February 28, 1907.

Benson had one daughter, the teen-aged Thyrza.  His will gave her “my house and lot now known as No. One Hundred and fourteen (114) East Thirty-ninth (39^th) Street, in the Borough of Manhattan City of New York.”  Thyrza also received his portion of the Peninsula of Montauk (which by now held the town of East Hampton) and other properties in Brooklyn.

Thryza Benson moved to fashionable Brooklyn Heights and leased the 39^th Street house.  In 1917 Henry Lewis signed a lease.  The family moved in just in time for the marriage of daughter Ethel.  The wedding took place in the house on Saturday, December 22, 1917.  Like many wartime romances; her marriage to Lieutenant Richard E. Dole was small and hurried.  The New York Times reported “The ceremony was witnessed only by the families and a few intimate friends.  Lieutenant Dole is stationed at Camp Upton.”

The following year Thryza, by now Mrs. Montague Flagg, leased the house to John R. O’Mara and his wife, Mary. 

In the spring of 1919 it was converted for use by the newly-formed Aviators’ Good Landing Club.  It was formally opened on May 4 by Sir Thomas Lipton.  The Sun explained “Any aviator of any country may apply for membership.  Besides being a club for men of this vicinity it purposes to welcome and entertain men of the aviation service arriving from overseas.”  Dues were $2 a year with a $1 initiation fee.

A society tea was given by the “treasure and trinket committee” to raise funds for the club.  Items made of precious metals were donated to be sold for scrap.  The Sun reported “Donations of treasures and trinkets are requested and from the sale of such articles it is hoped a good sum will be raised.  Anything that is made of gold or silver will be acceptable, such as old thimbles, spoons, bracelets, chains, cigarette cases, coins, useless trinkets, and in fact no broken  bit is too small to be returned to the mint.”

In 1920 the O’Maras purchased No. 114 from Thryza Flagg.  By 1924 the former Aviator’s Good Landing Club had given way to rented rooms.   Among the residents here in 1926 were Sidney J. Levi, described by The Times as “a well-to-do retired wholesale grocer,” and his wife.   The couple was somewhat surprised when Federal agents knocked on the door and arrested Levi on November 9 that year.

Sidney Levi had a history of mental instability and had been committed to a sanitarium in Canandaigua, New York in 1912; later to the McDonald Sanitary in Central Valley; and again to one in Brewster, New York.

Now Levi drew the attention of investigators when he wrote “letters of a vague, rambling and extraordinary nature” to President Calvin Coolidge, Governor Al Smith, District Attorney Banton, U.S. Postmaster Kiley, “and other public officials.”  The letters were generally “not threatening,” according to The Times; however at least one of them said he wanted to “go into partnership in the murdering business.”  Levi suggested to District Attorney Banton that he be appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court.

When questioned by United States Commissioner O’Neill, Levi told him he was immune from prosecution; explaining “he was not a citizen of the United States, as he was born in Schenectady.”

Mrs. Levi provided the $1,000 bail and berated the officials for their interference.  The Times said she “volunteered the suggestion that it was a shame to molest her husband when there were so many criminals at large.”

For the next half century the once-upscale home was operated as 19 furnished rooms.  The New York Ceramics Studios occupied the basement level in the 1930s; holding a show here in December 1935. 
 
In 1973 a conversion resulted in three apartments each in the basement through 2^nd floors; and two each on the upper stories.

Today the Pajama Program (an organization which provides new pajamas and books to needy children) operates from the basement level.  No. 114 is the sole survivor of the long row townhouses; making it still possible to imagine East 39^th Street when handsome carriages waited for moneyed residents to descent the brownstone stoops.

photographs by the author

The George G. Haven Mansion -- Nos. 24-26 E. 39th Street

On November 29, 1886 Lizzie Hochstetter, described by The New York Times as “a bright appearing girl of 15,” hobbled into the Essex Market Police Court aided by “a very primitive crutch” and a neighbor, Mrs. Riley.  The brave girl made a complaint against her mother for domestic abuse. 

The crippled girl earned about 80 cents a day working in a shop that made furniture trimmings, like tassels and braids.  But she complained that her mother not only took all her wages, but did not give her sufficient food or decent clothing, and that she beat her.  The tipping point had come the previous Sunday when her mother threw her down the stairs.

Lizzie’s tenement flat had nothing in common with the high end, brownstone fronted residences of East 39^th Street between Park and Madison Avenues.  There, at the corner, sat the imposing mansion of William B. Ogden; and just around the corner, at No. 24 East 39^th Street, lived Mariana Ogden’s sister, Fanny and her husband George Griswold Haven.  George Haven was described by The Evening World as a “millionaire banker and broker and well-known horseman.”

News of the crippled girl’s plight reached East 39^th Street, however, and a few weeks later the records of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society noted a gift:  “George G. Haven, 24 East Thirty-ninth street, one artificial limb for Lizzie Hochstetter.”

George Griswold Haven could trace his American roots to Richard Haven, who arrived in Massachusetts in 1645.  A Columbia College graduate in 1857, he had founded the banking firm George G. Haven & Co. with offices on Wall Street.  A director in several banks and other institutions, he was a member of prominent social clubs and was highly responsible for the founding of the Metropolitan Opera House.

Six years earlier, in 1880, Haven married Fanny Arnot Palmer.  It was the second marriage for both.   Fanny was the daughter of Elmira, New York millionaire John Arnot, and the widow of Dr. Richard Suydam Palmer.  Haven’s first wife, Emma Martin, died in 1872.  The combined families (Fanny had two sons, and George had two sons and two daughters) moved into the brick and brownstone home at No. 24 East 39^th Street.  Before long there would be another child, Marian.

Tragedy visited the Haven house one year before the Lizzie Hochstetter incident.  On Thursday, November 5, 1885 Fanny’s 18-year old son, John Arnot Palmer, collapsed in the house with a cerebral hemorrhage.  He died almost instantly.  The funeral was held in the parlor three days later at 1:00.

The Havens were prominent in high society and maintained a cottage in Newport and a magnificent estate, Sunnycroft, in Lenox.  George was a member of the New York Yacht Club—yachts being a near requirement for Newport residents.  He had retired by November 19, 1890 when Mayor Hugh J. Grant appointed him Park Commissioner in place of Haven’s nearby neighbor, J. Hampton Robb, who had recently resigned. 

But he reserved his greatest focus for the Metropolitan Opera House.  The New York Times would say of him “He has probably done more for grand opera in New York than any other one man.

Although Fanny’s son, Richard Suydam Palmer, had inherited the “large estate” of his grandfather, Courtlandt Palmer, he continued to live in the 39^th Street house.  Like his stepfather, he graduated from Columbia, in 1889.  And, also like his stepfather, he was passionate about yachting.  He spent much of his summers on his yacht Marguerite; before purchasing the outstanding Yampa. 

So impressive was the Yampa that when Palmer moored her at Kiel, Germany, in 1898, Kaiser Wilhelm asked to buy it.   When Richard returned to New York, he sent the yacht back to the Emperor.

The yacht Yampa, which the German Emperor could not resist. photo by J. S. Johnston

That same year the Spanish-American War broke out.  Richard enlisted as a seaman on the St. Louis, and was quickly promoted to ensign.  He was in command of a cutter at Santiago and while there, was “forced to sleep in wet clothes” for about a month, according to The Sun.  When he developed appendicitis, he was brought back to the States and operated on successfully in New York.  But because of complications arising from his time in Cuba, he was sent to Colorado Springs to recover.  Fanny and Marian went with him.  He died there on Tuesday, February 28, 1899.

Deemed by The Sun “one of the wealthiest young men in New York,” his funeral was held in St. Bartholomew’s Church on March 6.   The flags of the Metropolitan, Union, Knickerbocker and University Clubs were flown at half-staff.   Among the “large assemblage” at the church were Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt, the Sloane sisters, Mr. and Mrs. Bayard Cutting, August Belmont, Lewis Cass Ledyard, and James Brown Lord.  The bulk of Richard’s sizable estate went to his mother.

A scare occurred on May 12, 1903 that reached the Chicago newspapers.  George Haven, Jr. was taking a brand new coach for a ride with his half-sister, Marian.  The pleasant drive turned nearly disastrous when the coach was hit at 92^nd Street by a Columbus Avenue streetcar.  Although there were two coachmen, “both in livery,” on the coach, George was handling the reins.  He was “violently thrown” from the vehicle, as were the other two men. 

Marian “had a thrilling ride tonight behind a pair of runaway bays,” according to the Chicago Tribune.  “These horses, gathering themselves after the impact, dashed through Ninety-second street toward Central park west, in the wake of the leaders, which had broken away from the coach, and one of which later leaped to death in Central park.”  The newspaper said that Marian, “clinging to the seat rail,” calmly appealed to passersbys.  The terrifying ride ended when another streetcar crashed into the coach, jamming it against a tree.

“Pale but self-possessed, Miss Haven stepped from the partially overturned coach and looked approvingly at the motorman of the car, who, badly frightened, was attempting to make explanations and apologies,” reported the Chicago newspaper.

“You arrived just in time,” Marian told him.

Later that year, on September 28, Fanny’s widowed sister, Mariana A. Ogden, died at her Lenox summer home.  She left the bulk of her $20 million estate to Fanny, including the mansion at Madison Avenue and 39^th Street, and her estates in Newport and Lenox.  Of the Haven children, she named only two—Marian and John Arnot Haven, George Jr.’s son.

Mrs. Ogden’s will apologized for giving Marian only $100,000 (in the neighborhood of $2.8 million today), saying “I do not give her a larger sum, as I think it best she should receive through her mother’s will what her mother may deem may be for her best interest.”

She made young John work for his inheritance. “ A grandnephew, John Arnot Haven, is to have $5,000 provided he abstains from beer, liquor, wine and tobacco until he is 20 years old, and another $5,000 should he remain abstemious for five years more.”

It may have been Fanny’s massive inheritance that prompted a renovation and enlargement of the 39^th Street house.  Around 1901 Fanny had purchased the former Frederic Jesup Stimson house next door at No. 26 and since that time her stepson J. Woodward Haven and his wife had been living there.  They would have to temporarily move while Fanny made changes.  On May 21, 1904 the Real Estate Record & Builders’ Guide reported that she and George had hired mansion architect C. P. H. Gilbert to create a single 50-foot wide mansion from the two properties.  “No, 26 will be entirely demolished and No. 24 partially so.  The new structure will have a façade of light stone (Nova Scotia) and brick.” 

Before the renovation the Haven house (right) looked much like the other brownstones on the row.  photo from the collection of the New York Public Library

 The following day the New-York Tribune expanded on the details.  “A rear extension is to be erected, a new elevator installed and new staircases built and the interior remodeled throughout.”  Gilbert estimated that the project would cost the Havens $35,000, or just under $1 million in 2016.

Gilbert’s completed design was rather surprising.  The Haven’s immense fortune certainly did not require any scrimping; yet the high stoop—out of fashion for several years—was retained.  And it does not appear that the old Stimson residence was demolished—merely updated.  Gilbert made no attempt to hide the fact that this was a marriage of two earlier structures.  The treatments of the openings of the two buildings, for instance, have nothing in common with one another.

On March 7, 1908 George Griswold Haven was operated on for gallstones in the renovated house.  On March 19 The New York Times reported “All seemed to go well until Saturday, when he suffered a relapse.  From then until the hour of his death his five children were constantly at his beside or within call.  He gradually grew worse, and yesterday was kept alive by oxygen until 6 o’clock, when he died.”

Haven’s will provided $5,000 to be divided among his servants and gave Fanny “the privilege of occupying his country house at Lenox during her lifetime, on the condition that she will pay all expanses of maintaining the place during her occupancy.”  The will was written shortly after Fanny had inherited her sister’s $20 million estate and The Times noted “Mr. Haven says he would have made more ample provision for his wife but for the fact that she already has sufficient private estate.”

J. Woodward Haven apparently used part of his inheritance to leave the 39^th Street house.  Within three months of his father’s death American Architect and Architecture reported on July 1 that J. Woodward had purchased property on 79^th Street west of Madison Avenue “for the erection of a large and handsome new residence, to cost about $500,000.”

Fanny, however, remained in the double house at No. 24.    A troubling headline appeared in the New-York Tribune on September 17, 1919 that read “Mrs. George G. Haven Will Be Brought to Her Town House After Severe Illness.”  The article explained that Fanny had been ill at Sunnycroft and would “be moved” to the 39^th Street townhouse that week.  Unfortunately, that would not come to pass.  A special dispatch from Lenox to The Sun on September 20 announced “Mrs. George Griswold Haven died to-day at Sunnycroft, her country place here, at the age of 84.”

While her daughter Marion, now Mrs. Forsyth Wickes, inherited the bulk of the estate; Fanny was extremely generous to the household staff.    She left $10,000 to her secretary, Martin Eiche; $9,000 to a maid, Margaret Fisher; $6,000 to coachman John Harry; and $8,000 and $5,000 to servants Bessie McGahan and Caroline Samuelson, respectively.  Other than Martin Eiche, the servants all lived in the 39^th Street house with Fanny.   A Sunnycroft servant, Robert A. Schmid, received $5,000 and all the other services in her employ for five years of more received $1,000, the others receiving $500 or $200 depending on length of service.

Marian and Forsyth Wickes lived on in the 39^th Street house for a few years.  Then on June 24, 1924 the Williams Club of New York announced its plans to move from No. 291 Madison Avenue, a block to the north, into the former Haven mansion.  The club’s directors had paid $240,000 for the house.

University clubs—like the Yale, Harvard and Princeton Clubs--had been highly popular since the second half of the 19^th century.  They were not only a place to socialize; but provided lodging for out-of-town members. 

The Williams Club was founded in 1913 by alumni of Williams College.   The handsome rooms of the Haven mansion provided the appropriate setting for a college club.

The upstanding reputation of the club was nearly shattered in 1929 when the wife of one member sent an anonymous letter of complaint to the police department.  At a time when speakeasies and private clubs clandestinely broke Prohibition laws, the letter drew immediate attention.  On October 17, 1929 The Times reported “It is understood that the complaint in the letter had said that one of the club servants was maintaining a private bar on the premises.”

George B. Brooks, Vice President of the Williams Club, insisted that “There is nothing in that at all.  We have no bar and we have no servants keeping a bar.  I am familiar with all that goes on here and I know.”

Nevertheless, when Patrolman Isner visited the Club one afternoon around October 10, he found no bar; but arrested assistant steward John Fatseas for possessing two bottles of gin.

The clubhouse facilities were sometimes leased for special occasions, like the luncheon of the Rockefeller Foundation on June 2, 1932.  Dr. George E. Vincent addressed the group that day, speaking on the nation’s crime.  He blamed problems like the Lindberg kidnapping on the lack of “wholesome, spontaneous activities” for underprivileged youth and pressed for additional organizations like the Boys’ Club.

In 1953 the Williams Club completed a renovation that resulted in three dining rooms on the first story, along with a Ladies’ Lounge—a progressive step for college clubs.  The second floor housed the card room, library, conference room, office and four bedrooms.  The two upper floors were reserved for sleeping rooms.

But by the beginning years of the 21^st century, staid social clubs were falling from fashion.  On May 13, 2010 The Wall Street Journal announced that the Williams Club was closing.  “William’s closure is just the latest of the vanishing pool of private clubs that keep leather-bound books and deer antlers on their oak-paneled walls…The demise of the university clubs comes not from economic recession or a dwindling population of grads, but a change in leisure interests.  Younger generations of men and women, for good or ill, seem to prefer boutique hotels to the gilded clubhouse.”

 

Ironically, it would be one of those boutique hotels that replaced the Williams Club.  In 2014 The William opened for business, offering 33 suites by design firm In Situ Design.  The sleek, modern and brilliantly-colored interiors leave little hint of the Edwardian glitz enjoyed by George and Fanny Haven.

photographs by the author