The Gertrude and Michael Gavin Mansion - 12 East 65th Street

In June 1906 Minnesota railroad magnate James J. Hill purchased the sumptuous mansion at No. 8 East 65th Street.  The New York Times remarked that he was the "second of the Western railroad magnates to reach the decision recently that he spends enough time in New York to justify his buying a house here."  Another member of the Hill family would, too, be moving to the block before long.

On September 21 that same year a Minnesota newspaper reported "The engagement of Miss Gertrude Hill, daughter of James J. Hill, to Michael Gavin, a lawyer of New York, was announced last evening at a dinner given at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Theron Slade."  Noting that Gertrude had made her debut two years earlier, the article added that she "is musical in her tastes."

Gertrude Hill Gavin on her wedding day.  from the collection of the Minnesota Historical Society 

The wedding took place in St. Paul later that year.  The couple received a handsome wedding gift from James J. Hill; a Manhattan mansion.

Next door to the Hills' New York home, at No. 12 East 65th Street, was the 22-foot wide brownstone residence of Judge Charles H. Truax, built in 1876.  The Traux family had lived in the house since the mid 1890's.  In 1907 the judge sold the now out-of-fashion brownstone to Hill.

The architecturally outdated Traux house, left, contrasted with the ebullient Beaux Arts mansions of James J. Hill and William Bliss.  from the collection of the Minnesota Historical Society

The title to the property was put in Gertrude's name.  When the couple returned from their honeymoon trip, they set about planning their new home.  On August 29, 1908 the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that architect Walter B. Chambers had been hired to design a five- and six-story brick and stone dwelling.  The projected cost was placed at just over $1 million today.

The New York Times explained the "five- and six-story" issue.  "The design is unusual, the house being five stories high in front and six stories in the centre, and three at the rear.  It will have a mansard and a second-story balcony, and be finished with a central stair hall and foyer."

Chambers carefully melded the new house to its neighbors to the west.  He matched the rusticated base, and lined up the second floor balconies and cornices.  A quieter presence, the design was nonetheless harmonious and elegant.

Although educated in law, Gavin was a junior partner in the investment banking firm of Moore & Schley when the couple moved in.  In 1915 he joined the brokerage firm of Montgomery & Company; and before long became a full partner in the financial firm Montgomery, Clothier and Tyler.

The Gavins were highly visible in society, traveling to Europe regularly and entertaining both in the Manhattan home and their Bernardsville, New Jersey estate.  On August 19, 1910 The New York Times advised "Mr. and Mrs. Michael Gavin will sail on the Adriatic next week for France, where they expect to visit friends and spend considerable time motoring.  They will return to New York in October."

Gertrude was highly active in charities and activities related to the Roman Catholic Church.  In 1920 she was elected the first president of the National Council of Catholic Women.  She was awarded the papal medal Pro Ecclesia and pontifical diploma in 1924.  Her religious interests spilled over into the entertainments in the 65th Street house.  On January 16, 1923, for instance, she hosted a lecture by Father Clifford, Professor of Scholastic Philosophy at Columbia University, on "faith, faith cures and the doctrine of the miraculous."

In 1920 the Gavins gave up the Bernardsville summer home after Graenan, their French Renaissance-style mansion designed by John Russell Pope, was completed on their 50-acre Oyster Bay, Long Island estate.  In 1926 Gertrude had Chapelle de St. Martin de Sayssuel, a medieval chapel in the French village of Chasse, dismantled and shipped to the Oyster Bay estate.  John Russell Pope was brought back to oversee the careful reconstruction on the grounds.   The project sparked the legend that Graenan, too, had been imported stone-by-stone from France; a rumor that survives.

The charming chapel was removed to Marquette University in Wisconsin, in 1966 following the destruction of Graenan by fire.  photo by Sulfur

In the meantime, Gertrude may have surprised some when she announced in November 1924 that she would be stepping down from the presidency of the National Council of Catholic Women.  She had been selected by Cardinal Patrick Joseph Hayes to "work among Catholic immigrants landing at New York."

Quoted in The New York Times on November 10, she explained "Many of these Italians as well as Catholic immigrants from other countries become confused in the struggle for existence in the new country and from lack of information sometimes make mistakes."

Michael Gavin retired in 1928.  His time was not idle.  The Gavins traveled almost every year to the Saint John River where Gertrude loved salmon fishing.  Along with the Hills, they were members of the exclusive Jekyll Island Club.  They eventually acquired a third home in Boca Grande, Florida.

Wealthy socialites gave their assistance during World War II to relief work and to military support--like the Soldiers' and Sailors' Clubhouse.  Gertrude did her part by helping to organize and run the Cathedral Canteen of New York.  Both the Departments of the Army and the Navy awarded her certificates of appreciation following the war.

In 1949 the Gavins sold the 65th Street house to the Dominion of Pakistan.  They moved to an apartment at No. 760 Park Avenue where, within six months of one another, the couple died in 1960.

The Republic of Pakistan purchased the James Hill mansion in 1951 and today still owns both properties.

photographs by the author

The John Russell Pope House - 4 East 81st Street

Brothers William B. and Ambrose M. Parsons hired architects Thom & Wilson to design a row of 11 brownstone residences on East 81st Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues in 1883.  The high-stooped, neo-Grec homes were completed the following year.

The homes within the ambitious row were intended for financially-comfortable families.   The 20-foot wide, brownstone clad houses were four stories high above an English basement.  Their neo-Grec architecture featured windows with architrave surrounds sitting on diminutive brackets, and handsome sheet metal cornices with four paired brackets.

Rather amazingly, every one of the 11 houses sold within a one week period in April 1884.  Isaac Rosenstein paid $40,850 for No. 4--just over $1 million today.   Rosenstein was the principal in the clothing "ready-made clothing" manufacturer Isaac Rosenstein & Co. at No. 23 White Street.  The firm made boys' and men's shirts for working class customers, such as "cotton shirts, flannel shirts," and "jean shirts."

Like other well-to-do Jewish families, the Rosensteins were limited mainly to Jewish social circles.  They were among the patrons of the lavish ball of the Young Ladies and Gentlemen's League of the Montefiore Home in Carnegie Hall in January 1895.  The New York Times said "The ball promises to be the most brilliant event in Jewish society this season."  Providing the music that evening was Victor Herbert.

The Rosensteins remained in the 81st Street house for 15 years, moving to No. 16 East 96th Street in 1901.  They sold the house in April to the wealthy widow, Mary Herschfield, who lived here quietly until 1905.  That year she sold it to Cornelius Fellowes and his wife, the former Caroline Suydam Whitney.  The couple had two children, 26-year old Cornelius, Jr. and Carolyn Whitney Fellowes, who was 23. 

Fellowes was born in 1840 in Louisville, Kentucky, and was educated at Columbia University.  He amassed his fortune in the stock and cotton brokerage firm of Fellowes, Davis & Co.  He had retired in 1890 and was now best known for his affiliation with the fashionable National Horse Show.  He was also secretary of the Coney Island Jockey Club and rubbed shoulders with other prominent horse owners like August Belmont, William C. Whitney, Pierre Lorillard and Alfred Vanderbilt, just a few of the millionaires The New York Times deemed Fellowes's "intimate friends."

When the Fellowes purchased No. 4 it was decidedly out of fashion, architecturally speaking.  The architectural firm of Foster, Gade & Graham was called in to remedy that problem.  In April 1906 plans were filed.  The Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported on the alterations.  "The rear and front will be enlarged with a 3 and 4-story extension, light shafts, stairs and other interior changes."

At the time the frothy French Beaux Arts style was falling out of favor among wealthy New Yorkers.  Millionaires like Andrew Carnegie and Paul Tuckerman were living in neo-Georgian mansions that hearkened back to Colonial days.  Foster, Gade & Graham's redo of the Fellowes house, completed within the year, would follow the trend.

The stoop was removed and the facade pulled forward to the property line.  The entrance was now located above a shallow stoop, slightly higher than the sidewalk level.   The red brick was laid in Flemish bond, to mimic age, and splayed limestone lintels carried on the early 19th century motif.  Three copper-clad dormers perched on the stone cornice.

The renovations were completed just in time for Carolyn's important society wedding.  On June 9, 1908 she was married in Grace Church.  The reception was held later in the East 81st Street residence.  Society pages were, perhaps, less interested in the bride than the groom.   Richard Lewis Morris was the son of Dr. Stuyvesant Fish Morris.  The separate components of his name alone constituted a significant representation old New York society.

Cornelius Fellowes was suffering from arterio-sclerosis at the time of the wedding.  That winter his health forced him to step down as president of the National Horse Show and as officer in The Jockey Club.  In February 1909 he took a severe turn for the worse, and fell into unconsciousness on April 27.  He died three days later without regaining consciousness.

Caroline did not remain in the house she had planned and shared with her husband.  Beginning in October 1910 she leased it to a succession of well-heeled tenants.  In June 1912 Franklin Delano Williams signed a lease "for a term of years."

Williams was a cotton goods merchant with a highly-interesting background.  He was born in Hong Kong in 1855.  His father, Franklin D. Williams, Sr., was a founder of the China export trading firm Wetmore, Williams & Co.  The family moved to Boston in 1861 where Franklin was educated.  He married Ruth Morse and the couple had one child, Mary Nelson Williams.  She was married in Boston in 1882 to lawyer Henry Ware Putnam.

Williams became a member of the cotton manufacturing firm Wellington, Sears & Co.  The family spent their summers in their Newport estate known as Wyn Wyc Cottage.  When they moved into the 81st Street house they had been living in New York only about three years.

After a lengthy illness, Williams died on February 4, 1914.  Ruth received a trust fund of $100,000, which amounted to nearly $2.5 million in today's dollars.

Caroline Fellowes continued to lease the house.  In 1915 it was rented by J. F. A. Clark, a member of the brokerage firm Clark, Childs & Co.   Like the Williams family, the Clarks summered in Newport.

Caroline Suydam Whitney Fellowes died in her stylish apartment at No. 1049 Park Avenue at the age of 70 on September 22, 1922.   She had sold No. 4 the year before to esteemed architect John Russell Pope.

Even if Pope had not been an acclaimed architect, his and his wife's names would have been well known, socially.  Both Southerners by birth, they were considered by The New York Herald to be "a prominent part in the summer life of Newport."  John's father, also named John, was a successful portrait artist whose subjects included Henry Ward Beecher, actor Edwin Booth, and Secretary of War Edward McMasters.  Sarah Pope was the daughter of millionaire Pembroke Jones and Sarah Wharton Green. 
 
Somewhat interestingly, Pope had also purchased the 50-foot wide lot on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 96th Street around the same time where, according to the New-York Tribune, he "intended to erect a home on the site for his own occupancy."
 
The Popes' change in plans may have had to do with the devastating tragedy which occurred shortly after they took possession of No. 4.   Around the first of March, 1922 little 7-year old Sarah Pope complained of stomach pains.  Within the week, on March 6, she had died of peritonitis.

Rather surprisingly, only five weeks later the house was the scene of the wedding of Sarah Pope's mother.  Pembroke Jones had died in January 1919.  On April 11 Sarah Green Jones married an old family friend, Henry Walters, described by The New York Herald the following day as "railroad executive, yachtsman and noted art connoisseur."

Two years later another family wedding would take place here.  John's sister, Minga, married Robert Halsey Patchin on April 4, 1924.  Both the bride and groom were widowed and the ceremony in the 81st Street house was subdued.  The Times noted that "relatives and a few intimate friends will be present."

On October 6, 1925 Pope received a notable commission when it was reported he had "won the competition for a design for the Roosevelt Memorial to be erected in Washington."  It was the first of several important D.C. structures he would design, including the Jefferson Memorial, the National Archives, and the West Building of the National Gallery of Art.

The Popes' two daughters, Jane and Mary, were in their teens now and were being readied for society.  On April 24, 1930 the New York Evening Post mentioned that the family "are sailing for Europe tomorrow on the Majestic.  They will return the middle of the summer to go to Newport."  The family may have made their trip somewhat short because Mary's 19th birthday was in August and her debut would soon follow.  

John Russell Pope - from the collection of the Library of  Congress

Sarah Walters gave her granddaughter a lavish birthday present in Newport--a new coupe automobile.  One week later, at around 6:00 on the evening of August 18, Mary was driving her new car with Adelaide F. Whitehouse along for the ride.  At the corner of Eustis Avenue and Old Beach Road, she collided with the car driven by James W. Sullivan, Jr.  According to Sullivan's report, after Mary's car struck his, it "swerved and turned over two or three times."  Adelaide was thrown from the car, but Mary was trapped inside.

She suffered a skull fracture and was taken to the Newport Hospital where she died.

Five years later, in August 1935, Jean Landon Pope's debut was celebrated with a ball in August 1935 at the Popes' Newport estate, The Waves.  (John had designed the lavish Newport in 1927.)

On August 27, 1937, John Russell Pope died at the age of 63.  His reputation as an architect was deemed by The Times as "international."  King George VI of Britain referred to his Tate Gallery in London as "the world's finest sculpture gallery."

Sarah inherited the entire estate, valued at $812,974 (around $13.6 million today).  Pope had explained in his will that Jean Landon Pope, his only surviving daughter, "is otherwise provided for" and said "I am confident that my wife will act for her best interests."

A reception was held in the 81st Street house following Jean's wedding to Navy war hero Anthony B. Akers in St. Thomas Episcopal Church on November 28, 1942.  Now alone, Sarah lived on here until 1949 when she sold it to Benjamin Gladwin.  He announced his intentions "for converting [it] into eleven modern apartments."

The renovations were completed in 1950, with two apartments each in the basement through fourth floors, and a single apartment on the fifth.

Outwardly little has changed to the house since Cornelius Fellowes made his dramatic changes in 1906.

photographs by the author

The Virginia Fair Vanderbilt House - No. 60 East 93rd Street

photo Carltonhobbs.com

1930 in New York City was, for most, dark times.  The Great Depression had fully set in.  Bread lines snaked down sidewalks and ramshackle shanties had already begun appearing beneath the 59th Street Bridge on the East River. Once-successful businessmen sold pencils and apples on the street or simply begged for a handout.

Virginia Graham Fair Vanderbilt, however, was building a new house.  She had divorced William K. Vanderbilt three years earlier.  A devout Roman Catholic, she had resisted divorce although the couple had not lived together for ten years.  But by 1927 William K. had decided to remarry.

William K. and Birdie enjoy Florida during happier marital times in 1907 -- photo vanderbiltcupraces.com

In 1929 she had engaged the services of architect John Russell Pope who would design a 50-room mansion. Birdie, as she was popularly known, was not dependent upon the Vanderbilt money. Her father, James Graham Fair had made $200 million from the Nevada Comstock silver lode.

She purchased three houses on East 93rd Street in 1930–Nos. 60 to 64–as the site for her new home.
 She was no doubt encouraged in the choice of that block by the nearly simultaneous construction of mansions by her friends, William and Florence Loew, and George Baker, Jr. (Florence's brother).  Like the Loew house which was started the same year, Vanderbilt’s mansion would be both dignified and restrained.

Pope produced a Louis XV-style limestone palais entered through a lofty arched doorway, placed to the side above a small flight of steps.  A steep slate mansard roof was protected by a stone balustrade and high, narrow stone chimneys thrust upward on one side. There was a 20-foot by 57-foot private garden in which to escape on warm afternoons or evenings.

In order to keep Birdie and her guests separate from the staff, Pope designed the house as two separate sections: the main house rose three stories with 15-foot ceilings in some areas; while the ceilings in the servants’ areas were significantly lower, allowing for seven stories within the same height. Doors between the two sections were padded and there were separate elevators and staircases so servants and gentry had no reason to meet unnecessarily.

photo Carltonhobbs.com

Four English and French 18th century paneled rooms were installed, antique parquet flooring was imported for the third floor, and the gilt hardware for the doors was hand-made by Bricard in Paris. The limestone for the façade was imported from France from the same quarry used for the Loew house next door.  The stones were shipped finished, to be assembled on site.

Having entered the street doors, guests were led through an impressive stone entrance foyer to the main doors above the stairs to the left -- photo by Elissa DeSani

Only the finest materials were used.  The painted paneling in the reception hall, for instance, was of mahogany to withstand the torture of the New York climate in the days before temperature and humidity control.

Beneath the paint, the paneled walls of the staircase hall are solid mahogany -- photo by Elissa Desani

When not in Paris or her country seat, Fairmont, in Manhasset, Long Island, Birdie Vanderbilt entertained from the East 93rd Street house; often combining her many philanthropies with her social obligations.  On Christmas night 1932, for instance, she hosted a “small dance” in the ballroom to benefit the Lisa Day Nursery.

The sole-existing original mantel is in the Marble Room which overlooks the 50' garden. -- photo by Elissa Desani

In 1933 while driving home from his father's Florida estate Birdie’s 26-year old son, William Kissam Vanderbilt III, was killed in an accident on a South Carolina highway.  The socialite was thrust into profound grief from which she never totally recovered.  Two years later she died in her home from pneumonia, leaving an estate of nearly $7 million.

Byron C. Foy and his wife, Thelma, purchased No. 60.  Like Birdie, Thelma was independently wealthy, the daughter of Walter Chrysler.  Byron became the Vice-President and, ultimately, a director of the Chrysler Corporation.

Thelma Foy was known for her elegant style -- photo newyorksocietydaily.com

Thelma Foy was widely recognized as a discriminating collector and filled the mansion with French furniture, bronzes and artwork.  Her dining room table gleamed with an extensive set of antique Louis XV tableware.  Thelma entertained lavishly, hosting dinners and receptions as well as the debutante dances of daughters Joan and Cynthia.

An enclosed back staircase with bronze banister tightly winds down the span of the three stories -- photo Elissa Desani

Cynthia’s debut was two days before Christmas in 1949. Thelma had flowering quince and camellia trees brought in to decorate the ballroom and the “supper room” was adorned with greenery ropes and wreaths.  A tall Christmas tree in the entrance hall gave guests a “holiday note to the party,” according to The Times.

Despite her admiration for French antiques, it was apparently during Thelma's residency that the 18th Century paneling which Virginia Vanderbilt had installed in one particular room was removed, as well as all but one of the original fireplace mantels. 

Thelma Foy, whose obituary said was “noted for her elegance of wardrobe,” died in 1957 in her early 50s.

The mansion was purchased as the Romanian Mission to the United Nations.  Neighbors remember when Nikita Kruschev stayed over.  As the Soviet Premier's motorcade approached the house, a recording of the American national anthem was played from a nearby balcony as residents of the block lined the sidewalk.  Premier Kruschev paused on the steps of No. 60, turned to the crowd as if directing the music with his fingers, then turned again to enter.

After two decades in the house, the Mission sold it to the Lycee Francaise de New York in 1978 for $680,000, making it one of five grand homes in the school's possession.  By August 2000, when the school decided to move to a new facility on York Avenue it owned six such residences.

London-based antiques dealer Carlton Hobbs bought the Vanderbilt home for $10.6 million in 2002.  The prestigious dealer had founded his business in 1973, dealing in rare antique furniture and other objects, the buyers of which are either museums or extremely discerning and wealthy collectors.  Hobbs initiated a two-year restoration of the property which, upon completion, would become his firm’s headquarters.

According to Stefanie Rinza, managing director of the firm, the loving restoration was painstaking.  Each wall and window frame was scraped down to discern the original colors.  Approximately half of the Bricard door fixtures had to be replicated, and cracked limestone blocks in the facade were replicated with stone from the original French quarries.  Sixty workers toiled on the project.

"Nothing was lost," Rinza said, referring to suggestions that ceilings be dropped or walls altered to accommodate duct work.  "We found old flues ... there were nine chimneys ... and used those to run the ducts."

Unfortunately, years of use as a school had taken a serious toll.  The floors on the lower levels, having endured years of unsympathetic use, had to be replaced with parquet replicas, hand treated on site by the Hobbs staff in a labor- and time-intensive project.  Sadly, all of Virginia Fair's original lighting fixtures had been lost over the years

The thorough restoration was at times like an archaeological dig.  On the back of the carved paneling in the staircase hall were French inscriptions from the manufacturer.  Evidence of French doors that once looked out onto the side entrance hall were discovered, as was an unfinished door behind a wall in a French-paneled upstairs bath.

The exterior of the Virginia Graham Fair Vanderbilt house is remarkably unchanged since its completion in 1931.  And as the Carlton Hobbs headquarters, its interiors are lovingly preserved as the backdrop of museum-quality antiques.

Many thanks to Stefanie Rinza for taking the time to show me throughout the house and for sharing her extensive knowledge of it.

The 1912 DeKoven Mansion - No. 1025 Park Avenue

photo by Alice Lum

John Russell Pope is often remembered for his monumental, classically-inspired structures like the National Gallery of Art, the Jefferson Memorial and Richmond, Virginia's Union Station.  But the Jacobean Revival mansion he designed in 1911 for Reginald DeKoven and his wife on Park Avenue survives as one of his most striking accomplishments.

DeKoven was a prominent composer of light opera and popular songs. His “O, Promise Me,” became a staple at weddings, resulting in many tear-dampened hankies. Anna DeKoven was an author, among her works being “The Life and Letters of John Paul Jones,” and the pair was renowned in New York artistic and social circles.

When the train tracks to Grand Central in the deep channel down the center of Park Avenue were covered over in 1902, mansions began lining the broad boulevard. The DeKovens purchased the 60-foot wide plot at No. 1025 and consulted with Pope on designs for a new residence.

Anna DeKoven had an expressed fondness for 16th Century English architecture, as evidenced by the couple’s first home they had built in Chicago with its diamond-paned heraldic glass windows and paneled rooms. For the Park Avenue house she would request the same.

While the neighboring mansions would be Italian Renaissance, English Regency or French-inspired, the DeKovan house would be unique, or according to some opinions, “out of place.” An English country estate on Park Avenue, it featured a double-height room at the front for large social gatherings. The plaster ceiling of the music room (which doubled as a ballroom) was a copy of that in Haddon Hall. Pope used the magnificent Hatfield House in Hertfordshire as inspiration for the minstrel gallery, the stone doorways and the great carved stone mantle. Two-story bays small-paned windows with stained glass coats-of-arms visually dominated the exterior, contrasting starkly with the rusticated stone base.

The house was completed late in 1912 and on New Years Eve of that year the couple hosted a musical gathering, inviting some of the most prominent musical artists in New York. Later that season, the 17th Century-style main room was thrown open for an Elizabethan-period costume ball.

photo by Alice Lum

Eight years after moving in, Reginald DeKoven died in 1920. On January 11, 1945 the residence was sold and The New York Times reported that the composer’s mansion, known for the gala parties and dinners hosted there, was to become an apartment house.

George Beldock purchased the building on April 30 of the following year and the home was tenderly subdivided into 11 apartments. Wealthy socialites moved in, including Mr. and Mrs. John Bell Huhn who lived here in 1950 and Mr. and Mrs. Eric Moses Javits in 1956.

photo by Alice Lum

One by one, as the 20th Century progressed, Park Avenue’s grand mansions fell, to be replaced by glass-curtain offices and modern apartment buildings. No. 1025, somehow, managed to survive – delightfully even more “out of place” today than it was in 1912. The AIA Guide to New York City called it “A charming Tudor Revival town house that was opportunely overlooked in the serial redevelopment of Park Avenue.”