The Margaret Delprat Remsen Mansion - 3 East 80th Street

 

William W. Hall erected lavish speculative mansions on the Upper East and West Sides in the 1890s and early 1900s.  He often commissioned the architectural firm of Welch, Smith & Provot to design his homes.  Such was the case in 1898 when he hired the firm to design a sumptuous double-wide mansion at 3 East 80th Street, just steps from Fifth Avenue.  Alexander Welch took the reins, designing the five-story residence in a dignified take on the French Beaux Arts style.

Foregoing the foliate swags and architectural confections often associated with the style, Welch created a refined design.  The offset entrance above a short stoop sat within a rusticated limestone base.  The three-story midsection, faced in gray brick and trimmed in limestone, was dominated by a three-sided stone oriel capped with a balustrade.  Welch faced the fifth floor with stone and crowned the wreathed-bracketed cornice with a row of copper anthemions.

The American Architect and Building News, September 1, 1900 (copyright expired)

On January 18, 1896, two years before Hall broke ground for 3 East 80th Street, Robert George Remsen died in his brownstone residence at 87 Fifth Avenue, just north of 16th Street.  One of the founders of the "Patriarchs," he and his wife, the former Margaret Delprat, were among the original New York 400--Manhattan's highest social clique.  At the time of Remsen's death, their once exclusive neighborhood was being invaded by commerce.

Margaret Delprat Remsen purchased 3 East 80th Street.  She and Robert had four daughters, Margaret Sophia, Georgiana Delprat, Frances, and Caroline.  Only Margaret, who was known as Maizie or May, was unmarried.  She moved into the new mansion with her mother.

The two women spent the warm months at their country residence in Connecticut.  On November 11, 1902, The New York Times updated its readers, "Mrs. Robert G. Remsen and Miss Remsen are in town for the Winter at their residence, 3 East Eightieth Street.  They were in New London, as usual, this Summer."

The women were given a fright on the evening of April 18, 1906.  A workman was hired to paint the servants' rooms on the top floor.  When he went home that afternoon, he left behind a burning cigar.  By 7:00, the draperies had caught fire.  May Remsen went into crisis mode.  The New York Times reported that she "sent the butler to turn in an alarm, and then organized the servants into a bucket brigade."  Despite their heroic efforts, it was not enough.  By the time the firefighters arrived, "the fire was gaining headway rapidly," said the article.  It took them half an hour to extinguish the blaze.  The New York Times reported, "The upper floor of the house was wrecked.  The loss is $3,000."  (The damages would translate to about $108,000 in 2025.)

The frightening chaos was almost too much for Margaret Remsen to bear.  The Times said she became "very much excited during the fire," and was taken next door to the Frank W. Woolworth mansion "where she was cared for."

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

The butler whom May sent for help was John Smith.  He had been with the family since 1887, when he was 17 years old.  While many butlers lived with their employers, Smith lived with his wife and two children at 301 East 83rd Street at the corner of Second Avenue.  The faithful servant caught a cold in the winter of 1916.  It worsened to pneumonia and he died on March 29, just short of having served the family for three decades.

On Christmas Eve 1919, May hosted a debutante dance and supper at Delmonico's for Sylvia Remsen Hillhouse.  Sylvia was the daughter of May's sister, Georgiana and her husband Charles Betts Hillhouse.  The New York Herald reported, "Miss Remsen, Mrs. Hillhouse and her daughter received the guests, numbering about 250 of the younger set."  

Margaret Remsen was not mentioned.  It was likely that the elderly dowager was not there.  Two months later, on February 16, 1920, Margaret Delprat Remsen died.  Her funeral was held at Grace Church three days later.

May Remsen immediately left the mansion.  On April 23, The New York Times reported, "No. 3 East Eightieth Street was sold a few days ago to Miss Brice."  "Miss Brice" was Helen Olivia Brice, the 49-year-old daughter of Calvin S. and Olivia Meily Brice.  

Helen was presented to Queen Victoria in 1896.  The Evening Telegram said she, "is known equally as well in European society as in this country."  Like May Remsen, she would never marry.  The newspaper explained, "while her engagement to several scions of nobility has been rumored she has just as often made emphatic denials and is still single."

Helen would not immediately move into the mansion.  There would be decorating to do and the addition of a rooftop level unseen from the street.  And during the upcoming summer social season she would occupy her Newport residence, The Bluffs.  Then, on October 29, 1920, the New York Herald reported, "Miss Helen O. Brice, whose home since her youth was at 693 Fifth avenue, has moved into her new home at 3 East Eightieth street."

John Singer Sargent painted Helen's portrait in 1907.  (private collection)

Five months after moving in, Helen, like May Remsen had done, took charge of handling a fire in the mansion.  On March 13, 1921, The Evening Telegram titled an article, "Society Girl Directs Fight Upon Flames."  The report opened by saying:

While flames raged at the bottom of an elevator shaft and with clouds of smoke choking her, Miss Helen O. Brice, millionaire daughter of the late United States Senator Calvin S. Brice, organized a bucket brigade of her six servants in her home at No. 3 East Eightieth street today and fought the flames with sand until the arrival of the firemen.

The newspaper said that Helen was preparing to go to church when she heard the cries of "Fire!"  She found her servants pouring buckets of water on the flames and told them that "sand was the only thing with which the flames would be extinguished."  The Evening Telegram reported, "The servants were sent to the rear yard where three of them began digging up the dirt while three others carried the pails and buckets back into the house."  The article said that despite the heat and smoke, Helen stood at the door of the elevator shaft and directed the operations.

As May Remsen had done, Helen sent a servant to "sound the fire alarm."  When firefighters arrived, she was still on the scene, "directing her servants in fighting the flames."  The fire was extinguished and, while it was confined to the elevator shaft, fire officials said that the smoke, "perhaps did considerable damage to the furnishings in the house, which the firemen described as being magnificent."

Helen Olivia Brice died at the age of 79 in 1950.  She had sold 3 East 80th Street on October 18 the previous year.  The following day, The New York Times reported, "Plans for converting the five-story private dwelling at 3 East Eightieth Street, near Fifth Avenue, into small apartments were announced yesterday."

The renovations resulted in two doctors' offices on the first floor, three apartments each on the second through fifth floors, and one in the top level.  Over the subsequent decades, the ground floor spaces saw a succession of physicians, therapists, and one gallery, the Wender, which was here in the late 1980s through the early 1990s.

A renovation completed in 2000 created two triplex apartments.

photographs by the author

The Eugene and Josephine Arnstein House - 16 East 80th Street

 

image via streeteasy.com

Developer Anthony Mowbray began construction of a trio of high-stooped rowhouses at 16 through 20 East 80th Street in 1884.  Designed by McElfatrick & Sons & Debaud in the Queen Anne style, they were faced in brownstone at the basement and parlor levels, and red brick above.  Interestingly, while construction was still ongoing in July 1885, Mowbray brought in architect William E. Mowbray (presumably a relative) to make minor "internal alterations" to 16 East 80th Street.  The changes were most likely requested by Anthony Mowbray's potential buyers August and Josephine Schmid.

August Schmid arrived in America from Switzerland at the age of 12.  His father co-founded the Lion Brewery and, after learning the fundamentals of the business, August traveled to Munich to study beer making.  In 1879, he was made a full partner and, by now, he had amassed a fortune.

Their new home was completed in 1886.  August Schmid would not enjoy his impressive residence for long.  On June 7, 1889, the New York Evening Post reported, "The funeral of the well-known brewer, August Schmid, took place at ten o'clock this morning at his late home, No. 16 East Eightieth Street and was largely attended."  The article said representatives "from nearly every prominent German organization, as well as from the different brewing and malting associations," attended the service.  Josephine inherited approximately $1 million--about 34 times that much in today's money.  She stepped into her husband's position as a partner in the Lion Brewery.

On February 9, 1893, shortly after her 21st birthday, Josephine's eldest daughter, also named Josephine, died.  Her funeral was held in St. Patrick's Cathedral.  

At the time, Asbel Parmelee Fitch and his family lived at 1388 Lexington Avenue.  Two years later, in the fall of 1895, the Real Estate Record & Guide reported that Fitch had sold the house to Josephine Schmid, "for a consideration of $27,000 in a trade for a larger residence in East 80th Street."  Fitch and Schmid no doubt knew one another well, since he was a director in the Lion Brewery.  (Josephine did not intend to live in the Lexington Avenue house.  Instead, she would erect a striking mansion at 807 Fifth Avenue.)

Including his Lexington Avenue property, Fitch paid $75,000 for the 25-foot-wide East 80th Street house, according to The New York Times on October 29, 1895.  (The figure would translate to about $2.8 million in 2024.)  He and his wife, the former Elizabeth A. Cross, were married in 1874 and had three children, Elizabeth (known as Bessie), Ashbel, Jr., and Ella.  The family's country home was in Tarrytown-on-the-Hudson.

Ashbel Parmalee Fitch, The National Magazine, December 1893 expired)

Born in 1848, Fitch had deep American roots, descending from William Bradford of the Mayflower.  A graduate of Columbia Law School, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1887 through 1893.  When he purchased 16 East 80th Street, he had been Comptroller of New York City for two years.

Ashbel Jr. was attending Yale in 1897.  On June 22, he boarded the Richard Peck in New Haven headed to New York City with three other Yale students.  When the boat landed, the 20-year-old and his companions were promptly arrested "on charges of intoxication, disorderly conduct, and malicious mischief," as reported by the New York Evening Post.  The captain complained "that they were noisy, smashed beer bottles on deck, and did various objectionable things."

The captain said he was "especially goaded" into pressing charges "by young Fitch's conduct."  The Evening Post quoted him:

He told me that his father was the Comptroller of New York, and that he would have me discharged from my job, and that he would have any policeman broke who attempted to arrest him.  He blustered up a great deal, and I called Policeman Snydecker aboard, and he, with three other officers, placed the young men under arrest.

In court, Magistrate Meade let the four go, but not before admonishing them, "you should be ashamed of the disgrace you have brought on yourselves, your parents, and your college."  One can imagine the more severe talking-to Fitch received at home.

More positive press centered around the Fitch daughters.  On January 5, 1898, The New York Times reported on Ella's debutante reception in the house, "an event of widespread social interest."  The article said, "There was a large attendance of fashionable people."

Ella was married to Henri George Chatain on November 15, 1902 in the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church.  The reception was held in the East 80th Street house.  In reporting on the wedding, The New York Times commented, "Mr. Fitch has made his daughter a wedding present of a house on West End Avenue."

In the meantime, Fitch was defeated in the election for Comptroller in 1897.  Two years later, he co-founded the Trust Company of America, becoming its first president.  He was, as well, a director of the Bowling Green Trust Company, the Germania Bank, the Title Insurance Company of America, and the American Light and Traction Company.

The first hint that Ashbel Fitch's health was failing came in the fall of 1903.  On November 1, The New York Times reported, "Ex-Controller Ashbel P. Fitch, President of the Trust Company of American, who has been seriously ill at his house, 16 East Eightieth Street, for three weeks, is reported as improving, although still seriously ill."

Five months later, on April 19, Elizabeth Cooke Fitch was married in the drawing room to Harold Webster Ostby.  The decision not to have a church ceremony was almost assuredly based on Ashbel Fitch's health.  Nevertheless, The Sun reported, "There were many guests at the reception afterward.

Three weeks later, on May 3, 1904, Ashbel Parmalee Fitch died "from a stroke of apoplexy," according to The New York Times.  His funeral was held in the drawing room where his daughter had been married.  The Evening Post reported on May 6, "The gathering was so large that many persons were compelled to stand on the sidewalk, admission to the house being impossible."

The following year, Elizabeth Fitch sold 16 East 80th Street to Eugene and Josephine Mendelbau Arnstein.  Before moving in, they hired the architectural firm of Janes & Leo to remodel the outdated residence.  While the architects retained a stoop, they replaced the brick and brownstone facade with limestone.  The toned-down Beaux Arts design featured a large, arched parlor window, a full-width balcony at the second floor with an elaborate French railing, and a balustraded stone balcony at the fourth floor.

The New York Architect, 1907 (copyright expired)

Born in Germany in 1840, Eugene Arnstein was a manufacturer of paints and varnishes.  He and Josephine had four adult children.  As had been the case with August Schmid, he would not enjoy his home long.  The couple was in Munich, Germany on October 10, 1907 when Arnstein died at the age of 67.

The first floor had just three rooms--the parlor, music room, and dining room.  The New York Architect, 1907 (copyright expired)

At least two of Josephine's children, Edna and Hugo, lived with her.  In 1909, Hugo and his brother Leo partnered to found The Thread-Tight Company, a "plumbing, heating, and gas fitting business," according to Domestic Engineering on September 18 that year.

Although Josephine rarely appeared in society columns, Edna did.  On February 27, 1910, for instance, The New York Times reported, "Miss Edna Arnstein gave a fancy-dress dance at her home, 16 East Eightieth Street, on Saturday evening.  The first prize, given for the most attractive costume, was won by Miss Dorothy Drey, and the second by Miss Rene Seligman."

In May 1914, Josephine leased 16 East 80th Street to James J. Imbrie and his wife, the former Marie McCrea Pritchett.  Imbrie was the principal of the financial firm Imbrie & Co.  The couple had five children, James, Jr., Dorothy Jane, Janet Morris, Marie Dawn, and Robert McCrea.  The mansion on their Englewood, New Jersey summer estate in Englewood, New Jersey was inspired by Washington's Mount Vernon.

The house was originally similar to the as-yet unchanged neighbor to the right.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Joseph Arnstein sold the house in October 1916 for the equivalent of $1.5 million today.  The Sun remarked, "The new owner will occupy the property."  If Irving C. Miller and his family did move in, their residency was not long-lived.  By 1920, architect Albert H. Stursberg was leasing the house.  In July that year, he designed $10,000 in alterations for the residence.

Mrs. R. M. Morriss Betts occupied 16 East 80th Street in the 1930s.  She announced the engagement of her daughter, Marjorie Morriss MacCollom (from her former marriage to Donald Hoyt MacCollom) to Benjamin T. Fairchild 3d on June 27, 1938.  The couple was married in St. Thomas' Church on October 7, the El Paso Herald-Post noting the bride "wore the white satin gown lavishly trimmed with rosepoint and duchess lace which has been in the Fairchild family for generations."

A renovation to 16 East 80th Street in 1962 resulted in the removal of the stoop and the lowering of the entrance to the basement level.  There were now 19 apartments in the once-opulent mansion.  A subsequent remodeling reduced the number of apartments to 16.

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The John Prentice Kellogg House - 9 East 82nd Street

 

photo via streeteasy.com

In 1894 architect Henry Anderson designed a row of four dignified rowhouses on East 82nd Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues, for developer Daniel Hennessy.  Completed the following year, their entrances sat within a rusticated limestone base above a two-step porch.  The Greek motif of rosettes and triglyphs in the entrance entablature reappeared in the second floor frieze, as well as the frieze below the copper cornice.  The three uppermost floors were faced in yellow brick and trimmed in elaborate terra cotta.

According to the New York Herald on November 24, 1897, Ellen Prentice Kellogg purchased 9 East 82nd Street "for about $74,000."  (The purchase price would equal about $2.4 million today.)  Ellen was the widow of stockbroker Charles Kellogg, who had died in 1892.  She lived in the house next door, at 11 East 82nd Street, which she bought in 1895.  

Ellen Kellogg leased 9 East 82nd Street to Albert Gould Jennings and his wife, the former Suzanne Beatrix Crimmins.  The young couple had been married in 1894.  The location of their rental home was perfectly situated for watching the on-going construction of their mansion across the street at 2 East 82nd Street.

The couple moved into the new residence in the first weeks of 1900.  On February 3, The New York Times reported, "Mrs. Albert G. Jennings will give a large reception in the afternoon at her residence, 2 East Eighty-second Street."  

Ellen Kellogg next leased 9 East 82nd Street to the family of Henry Francis and Lena Marianna Cook.  Then, in 1906, she sold it to her only son, John Prentice Kellogg and his wife, the former Ethel Thornell.  At the same time, Ellen sold her son the Kellogg family house in Newington, Connecticut.  The Georgian-Federal style structure had been built around 1808 for General Martin Kellogg.

John Prentice Kellogg purchased the ancestral Kellogg house from his mother in 1906.  photograph by Sage Ross

Born on January 27, 1878, John Prentice Kellogg had graduated from Princeton University in 1900.  The Princeton Alumni Weekly later said, "After traveling around the world he became associated in the banking business with the firm of Strong, Sturgis & Co., of New York City, and in 1902 became a member of the firm of Schmidt & Gallatin, bankers."  Kellogg rose to the top of his profession, becoming a governor of the New York Stock Exchange.  He and Ethel would have three children, Barbara, John, Jr., and Claire.

With America's entrance into World War I, Kellogg became focused on domestic security.  He organized a fleet of patrol boats to police New York Harbor, and became head of the Marine Section of Home Defense in New York City.  He then enlisted in the New York State National Guard, serving as captain of the Motor Transport Corps until the end of the war.

During the winter season of 1918-19, the Kelloggs leased their home furnished to newlyweds John Sloane and Elsie Nicoll Sloane, who had been married June 23, 1917. 

It may have been John Kellogg's health that prompted the couple's leaving New York City's cold.  He was suffering from pleurisy, an inflammation of the lungs resulting in severe chest pain.  He and Ethel Kellogg had barely settle back into their 82nd Street home when, on April 10, 1918, the 41-year-old suffered a fatal heart attack.

Ethel sold the mansion in April the following year to stockbroker John Hone Auerbach and his wife, the former Dorothy Pennington Toler.  Their residency was short-lived.  The sold the house in August 1921 to William Fitz Hugh Whitehouse for a reported $160,000, the equivalent of $2.3 million today.

Born in 1877, Whitehouse was married to Sybil Douglas.  The couple had two children, Adelaide Frances and William, Jr.   Whitehouse had been the roommate of Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt at Yale University.  He was perhaps best known as an explorer of Africa.  According to the 1902 book, Through the Country of the King of Kings, he was the first white man in an unknown region "south of the chain lakes."

Whitehouse (left) and Alfred G. Vanderbilt relax in their comfortable dorm room in 1899.  from the collection of Historic New England.

Like their predecessors in 9 East 82nd Street, William and Sybil Whitehouse were prominent in high society.  There were listed as numbers 357 and 358 of "The 400" in the 1904 The Ultra-Fashionable Peerage of America.

William's mother had lived in Paris for a number of years.  Nearly every year the family traveled to France to visit.  On March 11, 1924, for instance, the New York Evening Post reported, "Mr. and Mrs. William Fitz Hugh Whitehouse, of 9 East Eighty-second street, will sail for Europe on April 2.  Their daughter, Miss Adelaide F. Whitehouse, and their son, Mr. William F. Whitehouse, jr., will accompany them.  They will go to Paris to visit Mrs. Whitehouse."  The article assured its readers, "Mr. and Mrs. Whitehouse and their family will spend the summer as usual in Newport."

It may have been William's election to the State Senate in 1926 that prompted the sale of 9 East 82nd Street in March 1928 to Dr. Allan S. Blumgarten and his wife, Stella.

An endocrinologist, Blumgarten had served in the Medical Corps during World War I and was the author of several medical books.  Stella was a young widow when the couple met while she was doing Red Cross work in the war.   Their son, James H., was three years old when they moved into the 82nd Street house.

Blumgarten's talents went beyond medicine and writing.  An amateur stained glass artist, he designed and installed a window in the rear of the house executed in pastel colors.  Along with medical and musical symbols, it contains the quotation, "The vintage of wisdom is to know that rest is rust and that real life is in love, laughter, and work."

The 1940 census shows four live-in servants in the Blumgarten household, all of them in their 50's other than 31-year-old Catherine O'Donnell.  Following the Blumgartens in the house was Bridget McGovern, who died in 1953.  

photograph by the author

The residence was converted to apartments in 1959 and by 1980 the ground floor became La Boetie Gallery, which remained until about 2014.  In 2015 the gallery Oliver Forge & Brendan Lynch was here.  A recent gut renovation returned 9 East 82nd Street to a single-family residence.

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The Edward J. King, Jr. Mansion - 7 East 82nd Street

 

In 1895 real estate developer Daniel Hennessy completed an elegant row of four 25-foot-wide homes at 7 through 15 East 82nd Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues.  Designed by Henry Andersen, the easternmost mansion, No. 7, like its siblings, rises five stories, with three floors of yellow brick sitting atop a two-story limestone base.  An imposing five-foot-high iron fence and gate surrounds the areaway.  The entrance, above a three-step stoop, sits within fluted Greek Doric columns that support an entablature decorated with rosettes and triglyphs.

Those elements reappear at the second floor, where Doric pilasters flank the openings and uphold a frieze embellished, again, with rosettes and triglyphs.  Elaborate terra cotta frames surround the third floor openings.  Between the brackets of their prominent cornices flank the rosette motif is continued.  The triglyphs and rosettes would make yet one more appearance in the frieze of the copper cornice.

On November 5, 1897 The Jewish Messenger reported that Edward J. King, Jr. had married Jessie Rosette Ickelheimer two days earlier.  The groom was 43 years old and the bride was 26.

The following year, on August 11, 1898, The New York Times reported that Daniel Hennessy had sold 7 East 82nd Street to King.  The New York Herald placed the price "at about $85,000" (around $2.74 million today).

Edward was a partner with his brothers David and Bennett in the furrier firm of Edward J. King & Sons.  Jessie, whose parents had both died prior to the wedding, had grown up in affluence.  Her father, Isaac Ickelheimer, had been a member of the stock brokerage firm Heidelbach, Ickelheimer & Co. and a director in several banks.

The four neo-Classical style residences form an elegant, dignified row.  7 East 82nd east at the far left.

It appears that Edward's busy work schedule did not always suppress Jessie's travel plans.  On January 27, 1901, for instance, the New York Herald reported, "Mrs. Edward J. King, of No. 7 East Eighty-second street, will leave for California during February.  She will give her last at home for the season on Friday afternoon."  ("At homes" were the published days when other socialites were welcome to call.)

More often, of course, the couple traveled together.  On July 30, 1905 the New-York Tribune reported that among those "returning to the Mount Washington [Hotel]" in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in the White Mountains were the Kings.  Two summers later they used millionaire Levi P. Morton's Pine Brook Camp on Upper Saranac Lake for the season.

After being in the 82nd Street mansion over a decade, in 1911 King commissioned the well-known architect John H. Duncan to update the interiors.  The "general alterations" cost the equivalent of around $141,000 today.

The Kings leased the house for the winter season of 1914-15 to Elihu Root, Jr. and his wife, the former Alida Stryker.    They had barely settled in when the couple became a trio.  The Utica Sunday Tribune reported, "Tuesday, October 13, a son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Elihu Root, jr., of 7 East Eighty-second street, New York City.  This is their first son and has been named Elihu Root, 3d, being a grandson of United States Senator Elihu Root."

Incursion of commerce into exclusive residential neighborhoods had been the bane of millionaires for decades.  Although the property along the 82nd Street block was protected by restrictive covenants that prevented the homes being used for commercial purposes, that was not the case on Madison Avenue.  Early in 1928 Edward J. King alerted his neighbors that undertaker Frank E. Campbell had laid plans for an upscale funeral parlor at the corner of Madison Avenue and 82nd Street.

On January 14 The Evening Post reported that the "silk stocking residents" opposed the plan.  The article explained that "fear that scenes like those that accompanied the funeral of Rudolph Valentino may occur in the midst of their exclusive neighborhood have led prominent property owners of the section to protest."  A letter to the neighbors signed by Edward King warned that their property values would drop by 25 to 33 -1/3 percent.  It said, as well:

In addition, conveyances bearing corpses of the deceased would presumably drive up with their burdens at all hours of the day and night, since the business of the mortician is known as one where the telephone never sleeps.

Frank Campbell had already purchased the property, however, and the efforts of King and his well-to-do neighbors were fruitless.

Jennie Rosette King died on May 20, 1933 at the age of 62.  Edward survived her by two years, dying in the mansion on October 11, 1935 at the age of 81.

The following year The New York Times detailed the distribution of his estate, reported at $3,110,201--more than $58 million in today's money.  Because the Kings were childless, much of the fortune went to charities, including Lenox Hill Hospital, the Trudeau Sanitarium, the Henry Street Settlement and the New York Association for the Blind.  King was generous to his loyal servants, as well.  Two maids received the equivalent of $280,000 today; and three other live-in servants received the equivalent of $187,000.

In July 1939 the King estate leased the 82nd Street mansion to Dr. Harry Gold, with the option to buy.   The New York Sun noted a surprisingly early amenity, saying the house "contained an electric elevator and is air-conditioned."  The article said, "After alterations are completed, the house will be occupied as an office and home."

Gold was a 1919 graduate of Columbia University.  Born in Russia on December 25, 1899, he was brought to the United States as an infant.  He was now a heart specialist connected with the Cornell University Medical College.  His wife, Bertha, was a professor of physiology at Hunter College.  Of their four children, three--Stanley, Muriel and Naomi--would all pursue medical careers.

Dr. Gold took advantage of his option to buy in 1942.  Five years later he became a professor of clinical pharmacology at Cornell University Medical College and would become the consulting cardiologist at Beth Israel Hospital and at the Hospital for Joint Diseases.

By 1967 he had established the Harry Gold Research Fund for Human Pharmacology, Inc., with offices in the house.  A pioneer in developing modern potent forms of digitalis for heart disease, he was given the Award of Distinction of the Cornell Medical College Alumni Association in 1971, which cited him "as founder of clinical pharmacology, which concerns the effect of drugs on man rather than on other species, and provides basic principles for evaluating the efficacy, potency and toxicity of drugs."

On April 21, 1972 Dr. Gold suffered a fatal stroke in the 82nd Street house.  He was 72 years old.  Bertha Gold died on December 25, 1987 at the age of 91.

The mansion remains a single family home today.  Interior renovations were completed in 1992, but the exterior is essentially unchanged since Edward and Jessie King moved in nearly 125 years ago.

photographs by the author

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The James F. A. Clark House (Goethe House) - 1014 Fifth Avenue

William W. and Thomas M. Hall were prolific developers at the turn of the last century.  At a time when millionaires were lining Fifth Avenue across from Central Park with lavish palaces, the brothers joined the trend with speculative residences that held their own among the custom-designed mansions.  In 1906 they hired the architectural firm of Welch, Smith & Provot to design a pair of upscale homes on the vacant block of Fifth Avenue between 82nd and 83rd Streets.

On July 21 the New-York Tribune reported "Plans have been filed for two six story and basement, private residences to be built at Nos. 1014 and 1015 Fifth avenue for William Hall's Sons, as owners."  Among their cutting edge amenities, the article noted that the 25-foot wide residences "will be be equipped with passenger elevators."  Each was projected to cost $85,000 (about $2.45 million today) to construct.

The architects turned to the still-popular Beaux Arts style in designing the residences.  Near mirror images they sat on rusticated bases, their entrances accessed by five stone steps.   At the second floor, or piano nobile, two arched openings framed pairs of French doors which opened onto charming Juliette balconies.  Above the bracketed limestone cornice the sixth floor took the form of a copper clad mansard with protruding dormers.

As construction neared completion William Hall's Sons published an impressive brochure to market the homes.  It detailed the up-to-the-minute "improvements" for which the Hall brothers were well-known.  

The William Hall's Sons brochure depicted a tranquil Fifth Avenue in front of No. 1014.  (copyright expired)

Included was an upgraded steam heat system.  "In place of COIL radiators in the main rooms, fresh air, which a few moments before was in Central Park, is heated by passing over large steam coils enclosed in galvanized AIR-TIGHT houses...In the main parts of the house the heat temperature is controlled by the Johnson Thermostatic System."  

At a time when some were still uneasy with elevators, the brochure insisted in capital letters that the Otis Automatic Passenger Elevator, "of the most modern type," was "ABSOLUTELY SAFE."  It went on to describe its operation:

A passenger, on entering the car, touches a button, when it rises to the floor indicated, stops, and the door opens.  It cannot be moved until the door is automatically locked...It can be operated without any risk by a child.

Although the houses were touted as "fireproof," the architects had built an extra precaution into the structures.  An interior service staircase was totally enclosed, "built of brick and hand burnt hollow blocks."  That staircase was constructed of steel with slate treads and the doors were deemed fireproof.  "No apprehension need be felt in case of fire, as it can be easily and quickly entered, and in cold or inclement weather, once within the enclosure, there should be no reason to leave the house."

Servants were well accommodated.  In the rear of the first floor was a room for the butler (should the family or visitors arrive late at night, they would not have to wait long for him to open the door).  Another bedroom on the fourth floor would house either the lady's maid or governess--again, its location lessening the response time when she was needed.  The remainder of the staff slept on the sixth floor where there were seven single rooms and two double rooms.  The brochure was clear that propriety had been considered.  "The men's quarters, with their own bathroom, etc., are entered from a hallway which entirely separates them from the rest."

The houses were scheduled to be completed in November 1907 and were each priced at $335,000--a jaw-dropping $9.65 million today.

Close inspection reveals the subtle differences between the two nearly mirror-image residences.  No. 1014 has iron-railed balconies, its French doors are styled slightly differently, and its dormers are squared rather than arched.  Picket fences protect the vacant lots on either side.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

No. 1014 was sold in December 1909 for significantly less than the list price.  The Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that J. A. F. Clarke was the buyer and had paid $275,000.  The article describe the property as "a most modern 6-story fireproof American basement dwelling, with splendid restrictions and easements for light and air."  Those restrictions, written into the deeds of it and the surrounding properties, regulated that only high-class private homes could be built on the lots.  At least for now.

James Francis Aloysius Clark had married Edith Evelyn Bigelow exactly three years earlier, on December 12, 1906.  
Clark was a member of the banking and stock brokerage firm of Clark, Ward & Co.  Edith, born in London in 1885, was a trained operatic soprano, although, of course, she never went on the stage.  The Woman's Who's Who of America would later say that other than her church and humanitarian work, her "recreations" were "writing, poetry and prose, reading, needlework, music, study of theology."

James Francis Aloysius Clark from Notable New Yorkers of 1896-1899 (copyright expired)

Earlier in 1909 Clark had tried his hand at real estate development.  On July 24 the Record & Guide reported that he was building an apartment house at Nos. 144-146 East 40th Street, designed by Walker & Gillette.

In the meantime, the couple settled into their new mansion.  
A month after moving in, on December 7, 1910 The New York Press announced "Mrs. J. F. A. Clark has invitations out for a dinner this evening in her home, No. 1014 Fifth avenue, in compliment of her sister, Dorothy Bigelow.  The dinner will be followed by a small dance."

In 1911 the house next door was purchased by millionaire George J. Gould as a wedding present to his daughter, Marjorie, and Anthony J. Drexel.  The bridegroom came from a long line of financiers, and his father was the partner of J. P. Morgan in Drexel, Morgan & Co.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Clarks had moved into their completed apartment house on East 40th Street by February 1911.  They did not give up the title to No. 1014, however, choosing instead to lease it furnished at $20,000 per year, according to the Record & Guide.  It was a princely rate, equivalent to about $44,500 per month today.  

In September 1912 they leased it to Ada Sorg Druillard.  The daughter of millionaire industrialist Paul J. Sorg, she had inherited $10 million upon his death in 1906.  Her name appeared in newspapers less for social functions than her often surprising actions.  

On November 11, 1913, for instance, The Evening World commented "Mrs. Drouillard and her mother recently attracted much attention in society through their friendly competition to obtain the finest sable coat in the world.  More than one hundred imperial sable pelts, selected by a commission which travelled throughout Europe were used by Mrs. Drouillard's furriers in making her sable coat, which was valued at $35,000."

And while she moved into the Clark mansion, her husband did not.   She had married retired Army captain James Pierce Drouillard the same year her father died.  He came from a long line of military figures, his ancestors having fought in the Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Civil War.

Born in 1874, Drouillard had enlisted in the Army in 1896.  The Evening World said of him "He saw service in China and the Philippines and was nearly killed in a battle during the Samar campaign.  He was promoted for bravery displayed on the islands.  He resigned from the army shortly before he married Miss Sorg."  Drouillard was now treasurer of the Lachman Manufacturing Company."

The couple had been leasing the William Hall mansion, half a block away at No. 1008 Fifth Avenue.  But troubles boiled up between the two.  The Evening World said simply, "Mrs. Drouillard went to her home at No. 1014 Fifth avenue, while her husband became a permanent guest at the St. Regis."

Nevertheless, at least for a time, they had an on-again-off-again relationship.  Ada told a reporter " “We never knew…whether we would live together again. It was just one of those cases where we might have made up any day and again we might not.”   She frequently consulted him regarding household and business matters and he was in charge not only of the Drouillard estate, but the Sorg estate as well.

Ada Sorg Drouillard and Captain James Pierce Drouillard in happier days.  Middletown in Black and White, 1908 (copyright expired)

But in November 1913 Ada filed for divorce, charging infidelity.  Her complaint said the separation had been brought about "by a woman unknown to the plaintiff."  The hearings were held behind closed doors, "some of which were stormy with the Captain on the defensive," according to The Evening World.  The newspaper reported on November 11, "Mrs. Drouillard insisted upon a speedy termination of the suit.  And she got it."

The two would be required to show up in court four months later when Sara Hall sued them for the damages she said they inflicted on her furniture and other household goods in No. 1008 Fifth Avenue.  On March 14, 1914 The New York Times reported that the complaint claimed “that through carelessness and inefficiency $9,000 worth of damage was done to the furnishings.  An extra $850 is demanded in order to restore the billiard room to its former condition, Capt. and Mrs. Drouillard, according to the complaint, having divided it into bedrooms.”  Ada scoffed that the accusations and called Sarah Hall's furnishings "shoddy."

The mansion was the scene of Ada's wedding to broker Henry Clark Pritchitt on January 16, 1915.  Newspapers could not help once again bringing up her divorce from the military hero, her $10 million inheritance, and her $35,000 fur coat.

Before long the Clarks had returned to No. 1014--and they now had two children, Evelyn Bigelow Clark and John Bigelow Clark.  On May 12 1917 The Evening Post announced "Mr. and Mrs. J. Francis A. Clark have closed their town house at 1014 Fifth Avenue and are now at their villa in Newport, R.I., for the summer season."

The Clarks routinely leased a mansion in Newport, as evidenced on May 4, 1918 when The Evening Post reported that the family "will again spend the summer months in Newport, where they have leased Thornton Wilson's villa."  But in 1919 they acquired their own estate.  On December 14 The Sun announced "Mr. and Mrs. James F. A. Clark purchased recently the estate of the heirs of Mrs. Joseph Busk, known as Indian Spring, in Ocean avenue, and are to take possession soon after the first of the year.  This is one of the large estates in that vicinity and Mr. and Mr.s Clark have in mind a number of improvements before next summer."  Among the least costly of those improvements was a name change, to Wrentham House.

The Clarks got a new next door neighbor in September 1919 when James Watson Gerard purchased the former Drexel house.  Oddly enough, there had still been no other residences erected on the block.  In reporting the sale the Record & Guide commented, "The house...and the residence of Mrs. J. F. A. Clark, at No. 1014, adjoining, are the only two homes on the block, both corners being vacant."  The article added "It is considered one of the finest private homes in the Carnegie Hill district, and will be occupied shortly by Mr. Gerard."

The first years of the 1920's saw increased development in the area in the form of apartment buildings.  And Fifth Avenue, a quiet residential neighborhood in 1906, was now bustling.  It may have been those changes in the neighborhood that prompted Edith Evelyn Clark to demand a reduction in the $210,000 assessment of her home in June 1922.  She complained that the heavy traffic on the avenue was "making it impossible to secure comfort during certain hours" and made note of "the influx of apartment houses between Sixtieth and Ninety-sixth streets."

The impossibility to secure comfort did not force the Clarks to leave and their entertainments during the winter season continued to draw social attention.  On January 17, 1922 The New York Herald announced "Mr. and Mrs. J. Francis A. Clark of 1014 Fifth avenue will give a dinner tonight for Priscilla, Countess of Annesley."  Edith and the children, incidentally, had just returned from three months in France after closing Wrentham House in October.

Edith's complaints about apartment houses appearing within the mansion district hit extremely close to home in 1925 when construction of No. 1010 Fifth Avenue began next door.  It was apparently the last straw for the Clarks.  On June 1, 1926 the New York Evening Post reported they had closed No. 1014 "and are at their summer place at Newport."  They would not return.

The following month they sold No. 1014 to their next-door neighbor, James W. Gerard.  The Clarks moved into a massive 20-room apartment on Park Avenue.   Gerard's sale of No. 1015 and his short relocation was most likely prompted by a not-to-be-refused offer by a developer who eyed the northern corner for an apartment building.

Before the Gerards moved in, they did extensive renovations.  A large extension, for instance, to accommodate a ballroom was added, the entrance was slightly lowered and the steps moved into the foyer, and significant redecorating was done.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Gerards did not turn to the current Jazz Age, Art Deco interiors as might have been expected.  Instead the detailing was even more in keeping with the gilded age than the originals.  The grand staircase railing, for instance, was changed from rather simple, straight bronze balusters, to a more complex French design terminating in 19th century inspired scrolls.

The staircase railing was redone in 1926, as were the floors, now tiled in a warm Giallo di Sienna stone.

The new ballroom on the second floor looked as if it had been there thirty years; its carved floor-to-ceiling Rococco paneling cresting like a wave onto the ceiling.

The carving of the ceiling molding is incomparable.

By the time the Gerards moved into the renovated home, the apartment building was finished on the site of their former house.  No. 1014 Fifth Avenue was now tightly constricted between two 14- and 15-story structures.

When Wurts Bros. took this photograph in 1928, the Gerard house still wore the construction company's sign on the balcony and the door was covered with plywood.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

After the massive remodeling project was completed, on November 9, 1928 the New York Evening Post announced "Mr. and Mrs. James W. Gerard have opened their home at 1014 Fifth Avenue, which they have not occupied for nearly two years."

James W. Gerard was an internationally-known figure.  Educated as a lawyer, he was the former (and last) American Ambassador to Imperial Germany.  His wife, the former Mary Augusta Daly, was the daughter of Marcus Daly, a Montana copper mogul known widely as the Copper King.  The couple had been married since 1901.

James and "Molly" Gerard arrived in New York on the Frederick VIII on October 10, 1916.  from the collection of the Library of Congress.

When Gerard's assignment as ambassador was ended by the outbreak of World War I, he was seen as a national hero.  The New York Times later remarked "His handling not only of American interests but of those of the Allied powers who had been at war with Germany since 1914 won him acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic."

When, in 1916 for example, Germany embarked on an unrestricted submarine warfare campaign, Gerard protested, telling Foreign Minster Zimmerman of Germany that "this form of warfare would mean trouble with the United States."  Zimmerman replied that America would "never dare" to engage in hostilities with Germany because there were "500,000 German reservists in the United States who would rise up in revolt."

Gerard coolly replied, "We have 500,000 lamp posts on which to hang them."

Then, after diplomatic relationships between the two countries were severed in 1917, the German Government refused to return his passport enabling him to return to America unless he signed a document reaffirming the Treaty of 1869 between the U.S. and Germany.  Gerard declared that he had no authority to sign such a document and "Even if I had I would stay here until hell freezes over before I would put my name on such a paper."

Gerard had been reared among the highest echelons of New York society.  The Times remarked that the Gerard family "numbered among its friends both the Hyde Park and the Oyster Bay Roosevelts, the Belmonts, the Astors and others of their type and class."

Retirement did not dilute Gerard's esteem in political and social circles.  On February 3, 1932, for instance, the New York Evening Post reported "Mr. and Mrs. James W. Gerard of 1014 Fifth Avenue are returning from Washington today where they went yesterday to attend the dinner party given last evening at the White House by President and Mrs. Hoover for Speaker of the House of Representatives and Mrs. Garner."

Although the couple did not have children of their own, the mansion was the scene of a wedding on November 14, 1934 when Hannah-Lee Sherman married State Senator Walter Watson Stokes.  The Albany newspaper the Times-Union noted "The bride was given in marriage by her cousin, Mr. P. Tecumseh Sherman, only surviving son of General William Tecumseh Sherman."  Attending the ceremony were illustrious society names, including Cornelius Vanderbilt and his wife, Mrs. Henry Reese Hoyt and Virginia Fair Vanderbilt.

Interior detailing from the 1926 renovation, like this plasterwork panel in deep relief, hearken to a much earlier period.

Mary Gerard was known popularly as "Molly."  Her younger sister, Harriot, had married Count Anton Sigray of Hungary in 1910.  In March 1936 Manhattan society was excited about the countess's arrival with her daughter, Margit, for a week's visit at No. 1014.  In reporting on the Gerards' house guest, the New York Post added "The Sigrays, whose estates were considered curtailed as a result of the terms of the Versailles treaty, have a town residence in Budapest, where they are popular hosts in the distinguished international set that that capital always attracts."

The house had another titled visitor on March 6, 1940 when Archduke Otto of Austria was the guest of honor at a tea.  When Grace Wilson Vanderbilt spirited the archduke away to her own mansion, it prompted syndicated society columnist Maury Paul to poke fun at how even the queen of American society competed for European nobility.

Like the Northwest Canadian 'Mounties" Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt always 'gets her man'--in this instance, the Archduke Otto...On Wednesday afternoon 'Her Grace,' along with State Senator and Mrs. Walter Watson Stokes, Dr. Alexander Hamilton Rice, 'Joe' Baldwin--and some of the Junior Baldwin 'secretaries--young Junior Baldwin Gerard, Jr., etc. was invited to drop in for tea at the 'Jimmie' Gerard manse, 1014 Fifth avenue.

Before the last cup of tea was poured, said the journalist, "she was taking the handsome young aspirant to Austrian and Hungarian monarchical honors in her vintage, maroon-colored Rolls Royce, down 'the avenue' to No. 640."  The affair seems to have gone on successfully without them.

Gerard never stepped out of the political spotlight.  In 1949 he demanded that United States Steel provide its laborers company-financed pensions.  And the following year President Harry S. Truman appointed him a member of the advisory board on International Development under chairman Nelson A. Rockefeller.

James W. Gerard died at the couple's summer estate in Southampton, Long Island on September 6, 1951.  He had been ill with a bronchial condition for several days.  His obituary required more than a full page in The New York Times.  It mentioned the Fifth Avenue mansion, saying "There he liked to entertain and talk with people of many shades of opinion.  Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of the President, was a frequent visitor.  So was Mr. Baruch, [and] General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower visited the Gerard home on several occasions."  An editorial on September 8 said "His death removes from among us a forthright, intelligent and courageous man who served America well."

The bulk of Gerard's $6 million estate was left to Mary.  She lived on at No. 1014 until her death in January 1956 at the age of 80.   The Times remarked on her life's work, much overshadowed by her famous husband.  "In Berlin, after World War I broke out, Mrs. Gerard devoted herself to the work of organizing help for the thousands of Americans and Britons stranded in Germany."  Then, "During World War II, Mrs. Gerard was an active volunteer worker for the Navy League of the United States, which organized recreation for Navy service men."

The handsome Carrarra marble mantel dates from 1906, the flooring, mirror and paneling from 1926.

Mary Daly Gerard did not forget her loyal servants in her will.  Newspapers nationwide reported on the generous benefactions received by her domestic staff.  On February 22 the Long Island Star-Journal announced "A 65-year-old butler, heir of $115,000 and living privileges in one of 5th avenue's swankiest mansions, spent last night in his modest Jackson Heights home."  Frank J. Hall's inheritance would top $1 million today.

The Nunda [New York] News added "In one of Fifth Ave.'s few remaining private homes, nine ex-servants today live a life surpassing even that of the proverbial Riley.  They not only have free food and lodgings and their regular wages, with an absolute minimum of work, but, with a secretary who lives out, they are heirs to more than half a million under the wills of their late master and mistress."  Mary's will directed that the live-in staff could remain in the house, with full pay, until the property was sold.

Two years earlier, on November 2, 1954, The New York Times reported "Heinz L Krekeler, West German Ambassador, said today that seven prominent businessmen and educators in the United States had agreed to sponsor a German institute in this country to foster cultural relations between the two nations.  The institute, to be known as Goethe House, will be opened soon in the residential area east of Central Park in New York."

The following year, in October, the Board of Regents in Albany granted a charter to Goethe House, Inc., "an institution that was organized to promote education and culture in German art, music, literature, science and law," explained The Times on October 29.  The article noted "Goethe House has not yet selected a site for its headquarters."

Goethe House opened temporarily at No. 120 East 56th Street.  Then, in 1959, the Federal Republic of Germany purchased the Gerard mansion for a reported $300,000 (nearly $2.6 million in today's dollars).  After renovations the Goethe House opened on February 6, 1961 with a performance of Faust, A Tragedy.      

The Goethe House library contained some 8,000 volumes, provided by the West German Government.  In an editorial article, The New York Times remarked on the need for cultural accord with the German people.  "This was badly damaged in two dreadful wars that were the product of a distortion of German culture and a denial of all that was good in it by a small group of megalomaniacs.  Happily for us and for the world they were not and are not Germany."

The article called the need for a German "culture center" in America "almost paradoxical" because "In better days there grew up in this country, naturally and almost automatically, great centers of German culture that made an immense contribution to the spiritual life of a growing country."  It ended "Naturally, we wish 'Goethe House' a great success and a happy and healthy growth."

That success came and Goethe House was a regular destination for New Yorkers as exhibitions and performances were held here.  On December 2, 1968, for instance, New York Magazine announced that an exhibition of Hans Christian Jenssen oil paintings was opening.

In 1969 Goethe House merged with the German cultural institute Goethe-Institut e.V to benefit from that organization's broader network.  The cooperative institutions, Goethe-Institut New York, remained until around 2008 when the New York City Fire Department deemed the old mansion unsafe as a public space.  The winding staircase stretched from the first floor to the sixth, in effect creating a chimney which would be disastrous in case of fire.

No. 1014 was vacated, presumably temporarily until a remedy to the staircase violation could be arrived at.  But that never happened.  The building sat vacant and somewhat neglected for a decade.  Recently, according to a spokesman, " the German Government has made plans to renovate the building and loan it to an American non profit to run it as a transatlantic space for collaboration and ideas." 

A remarkable survivor of Upper Fifth Avenue's Belle Epoch, it now awaits its next chapter.

photographs by the author