The Church of the Incarnation -- Madison Ave. and 35th Street

During the Rev. Dr. Taylor’s sermon on the day of the consecration of the new Grace Church on March 7, 1846, he said “my object is to ask of you to give me the means of building, and preparing for the most efficient and the most immediate operation, Grace Church Chapel.”   Taylor recognized that Manhattan’s population was already moving past the borders of his parish.

Three plots were purchased on the northwest corner of Madison Avenue and 28th Street and a "neat and tasteful building erected thereon."  More than half a century later, in 1912, historian Joshua Newton Perkins noted “The site selected for the chapel was in a sparsely settled district, a short distance north of Madison Square…In 1852 the chief house in that locality was the little white cottage of Corporal Thompson at the corner of Broadway and Twenty-third Street.”  The New York Times commented that the chapel was “intended for the many poor of the congregation who could not afford to pay pew-rent.”

On April 19, 1852 the mission committee met for the purpose of forming a new parish—separating from Grace Church.  The result was the Church of the Incarnation.  Rev. Huntington later asked the Rev. Edwin Harwood how he chose the name.  “He said he gave it the name, as the parish had started from Grace Church, ‘for by grace came the Incarnation.’”

The “neat and tasteful building” was soon a problem. John Jay at a vestry meeting on November 8, 1855, noted “the very defective construction of the church edifice.” Three years later, on May 31, 1858 the New York Churchman wrote “The Church of the Incarnation was built some five years since, as a Chapel of Ease of Grace Church in this city.  The appearance of the structure would suggest great age, and the contrast is the more glaring from the comparison with the substantial edifices in its vicinity. It must have been originally very imperfectly put together, and demands reparation, if only from the consideration that it is God’s House-‘the place where His Honour dwelleth.’”

The property was sold back to Grace Church and in June 1863 the rector announced that $50,000 had been subscribed to the building fund and that amount would be spent on the northeast corner of Madison Avenue and 35^th Street.  (As it turned out, the property was acquired for $48,000.)

Joshua Perkins related “Three designs for the building had been under consideration, submitted respectively by Messrs. Gambrel and Post, Mr. H. G. Harrison and Mr. E. T. Little.  The vestry decided upon the plan of Mr. Little, and he was accordingly appointed architect of the church.”

Emlen T Little was born in Philadelphia and focused almost exclusively on ecclesiastical design.  Like Richard Upjohn, he preferred Gothic Revival for his church architecture. And so it would be for the Church of the Incarnation.  His instructions, according to Perkins, were “that the church should be without galleries, should seat eleven hundred and six people, that the organ be placed near the chancel and that the entire cost should not exceed the original estimate.”

The cornerstone for the new building was laid on March 8, 1864 by the powerful Bishop Horatio Potter.  Despite the upheaval caused by civil war the building continued at a blinding rate. Six months later, on September 26, The New York Times remarked “The new church is of the early decorative Gothic order, and is intended to seat about twelve hundred people, without the side galleries.  It is built of Newark stone, the dressings and weatherings of Cleveland stone; the Chancel of Apisdal, and lighted from above.”

The $8,000 organ by Stambridge had already been installed at this point.  “The wheel of the organ is to be turned by a running stream of water, a new style, and one which it is said will produce a greater evenness of sound.  A peculiar feature of the building will be a beautiful series of memorial windows.  The Church is to have a spire 185 or 190 feet high, and its cost, without the spire, will be about $130,000,” said the newspaper.

The edifice was completed by December and its cost came in a little under The Times’ prediction at $120,000—over $1.8 million today.   The church which was originally intended for the poor who could not afford pew rent now sat squarely among the mansions of some of New York’s wealthiest citizens.

The church as it appeared prior to the fire--only backwards.  The publisher accidentally flipped the negative.  History of the Parish of the Incarnation, 1912 (copyright expired)

Emlen T. Little described his work saying it “is in the Early Decorated English Gothic style, of the first part of the XIVth century, adapted to modern principles and improvements in architecture…The exterior and interior sculptures are modeled after natural leaves; the arch braces of the roof are filled with tracery purlins and intermediates, forming square panels, above which is the chestnut ceiling.  The chamfers have been colored with vermilion and the roof oiled and stained.”

The furnishings were of ash, walnut, and chestnut and the ceiling was decorated in brilliant colors.  “The lower panels filled with plaster tinted to deep ultra-marine, are relieved with constellations of golden stars,” said Little’s notes.  “The upper panels are filled with white glass with ruby border…The walls of te church are encrusted with diaper work in plaster.”

The church was formally opened on December 11, 1864.  The Times reported “Notwithstanding the exceedingly inclement weather, a very large congregation occupied the spacious and beautiful sanctuary.”  The newspaper was taken by the care Little had taken to eliminate outside glare. “The light is so admitted that not a ray falls into the eyes of the people.  At night the church is illuminated by gas-jets around the poles of the columns, and by a superb corona in the chancel.”

The concept of free pews for the poor had fallen by the wayside.  On the Friday following the first service a public sale of pews was held at 7:30 p.m.  The New York Times remarked a few days later “We understand that one hundred thousand dollars’ worth of pews have been sold in the new Church of the Incarnation.”  Additional monetary gifts of $25,000 had been donated and $20,000 in “premiums” had been received.  “The success recorded above is believed to be without a parallel in the history of the Protestant Episcopal Church in this or any other city,” opined the newspaper.

The congregation of the Church of the Incarnation included the names of some of Manhattan’s most respected citizens.  So when vestryman Louis F. Therasson was arrested in November 1877 it was shocking at least.   Reporters were told he was “regarded as a man of means and as an energetic Christian worker, above the faintest breath of suspicion.”

The 57-year old lawyer was, according to The New York Times “of nervous temperament” and “of highly respectable parentage.”  He lived “in good style” at No. 518 Madison Avenue; a style more understandable when it was discovered her had swindled clients out of around $130,000.

The same month that the messy affair was publicized, the church unveiled an 8-foot memorial to the Rev. Dr. H. E. Montgomery who died in 1874.  Designed by architect Henry Hobson Richardson, it incorporated bronze panels by Auguste St. Gaudens.  The Gothic memorial consisted of carved sandstone and marble and cost the donors $1,500.  There was only one other memorial—a white marble tablet to Admiral Farragut—in the church.

Dormers with leaded glass openings provide additional light to the interior.

In 1882 Sexton James P. Tibbitts was concerned that the gas light burners were too near the ceiling.   Workmen were brought in to lower the fixtures to prevent fire.  The cautionary move produced the opposite result.

The gas-fitters finished their work around noon on March 24, 1882.  When Assistant Sexton William Garvin returned to the church after dinner, around 8:15, to prepare for the next day’s service, “he found the building full of smoke, and on passing into the church, saw smoke rolling along the Gothic roof.”

Instead of sending an alarm to the fire department, Garvin ran to the house of Sexton Tibbitts at No. 1284 Broadway.  By the time Tibbitts got to the church the fire had advanced.  “When firemen entered by the chapel door the flames were bursting through the floor of the church behind the chancel and in the passageway leading from the chancel to the chapel,” reported The Times.

After an hour of fighting the fire, it was finally under control.  The Church of the Incarnation was nearly entirely destroyed.  According to a congregant, Mrs. Kellner, when the rector arrived “a neighboring Presbyterian minister could not resist saying to him, ‘You Episcopalians manage your fires with as much decorum as you do everything else.’”

Inside the building highly-expensive items were lost, like the $20,000 organ by Erben which had replaced the original; and the $15,000 memorial window in the west end of the church.  “The roof of the church, with the exception of a small portion toward the front, was destroyed, but the walls of the building and the square tower on the south-west corner of the structure were intact. The chancel was burned out entirely, and the handsome fount and reading-desks were destroyed,” reported The New York Times.

The damage was estimated at $50,000, all of which was covered by insurance.  Rather than demolish the ruins and start over; the congregation opted to repair their beloved structure.  On June 29, 1882 John L. Riker announced plans for the rebuilding of the church.  “The walls are to be taken down and the structure rebuilt as it was before the fire,” reported a newspaper.

Two days later the Real Estate Record & Builders’ Guide noted that the architects chosen for the project were brothers David and John Jardine.  The church was enlarged “and improved,” and the construction was completed by Christmas.  The cost of rebuilding and outfitting the building was $75,000.  The architects respected Little’s original exterior design; however the “interior presents an entirely new appearance,” according to The New York Times on December 25, 1882.

History of the Parish of the Incarnation, 1912 (copyright expired)

Although the church was reopened in December, it would take years to totally complete the renovations.  In May 1883 the installation of the new organ was completed and a “complimentary concert” was given.

Artist John La Farge was given the commission to create to panel paintings.  As he worked on them in November 1885, the Record and Guide deemed them “the most important work he has yet undertaken in the character of the subject, the artistic aim, and the linear dimensions.”

William Garvin, the sexton who had discovered the fire in 1882, was an Irish immigrant.  A widower, he lived with his two sons and a daughter in Brooklyn.  On the evening of Saturday June 17, 1892 Rev. Dr. Arthur Brooks reminded him to lock up and be back early to open the church for services.  When Sexton Jackson arrived at 10:00 on Sunday morning, he was surprised to find the choir waiting outside and the doors still locked.

“Jackson opened the door with his own keys, and found Garvin lying dead in one of the aisles,” reported The Times.  He had apparently suffered a massive stroke.

By 1895 the interior decorations were essentially finished.  La Farge’s two panels, the Nativity of Christ and the Visit of the Magi, were acclaimed by The Times’ art critic.  “Both are delightful, each in its way, the latter perhaps being richer in color than the former, and having greater depth and fullness of tone.”

The stained glass windows were executed by the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company; two by La Farge; and seven by Henry Holiday in England.

The often-acerbic art critic Helen Henderson would be less glowing when she described the La Farge panels in 1909, calling them “badly set.”  She called his two windows “early examples of no great importance.”

Henderson did not confine her criticisms to La Farge.  “The embellishment of the Church of the Incarnation seems to have been pursued without definite plan, and the result is more curious than pleasing.”  She complained that Holiday’s and La Farge’s styles “were diametrically opposed” and “it is unfortunate for the ensemble that the work of the two artists should be thus juxtaposed.” And she called the two small stained glass windows by William Morris “of little consequence.”

Helen Henderson was nearly alone in her opinions.  The Times considered the Holiday windows “of the highest character” and said that La Farge’s windows “both well represent him.”  The baptismal font was sculpted by Louis St. Gaudens and surmounted by a figure of John the Baptist.  “This work is attractive in many ways, and marks a commendable departure from the inartistic architectural designs of fonts generally seen in other churches,” said the newspaper.

In 1896 the trustees hired architects Heins & La Farge to enlarge the church by moving the rear wall back six feet.   The renovation cost the congregation $5,000.

The neighborhood around the Church of the Incarnation changed in the 20^th century. The mansions of Madison Avenue were replaced by office buildings that towered over the Gothic stone structure.  But the residential side streets of Murray Hill remained upscale and the congregation continued to be well heeled.

A mid-century postcard depicted the impressive church.

Nevertheless, the church adapted to changing times.  Allen Hughes, writing for The New York Times on December 19, 1970, said “Most of the music being presented in Christmas programs in churches this season is traditional, but at the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation tomorrow a more modern sound will be heard.  Richard Felciano’s ‘God of the Expanding Universe’ will be performed, and it is a work for electronic tape and organ.”

A century after the rebuilding of the Church of the Incarnation, its age was posing a danger.  In 1990 chunks of stone began falling off the building, prompting officials to erect scaffolding with mesh netting to protest pedestrians.  The following year a $1 million restoration was initiated.   The reddish tone of the brownstone reappeared after 127 years of city soot was removed.  The roof and the masonry were repaired.

Ornate iron gates protect to portico.

Another restoration was conducted in 2014.  Despite Helen Henderson’s pedantic rant in 1909, the Church of the Incarnation represents a treasure of 19^th century architectural and artistic work.

non-credited photographs by the author

The Lost Church of the Covenant - Park Avenue and 35th Street

When this photo was taken the bell tower of the Church of the Incarnation, at left on Madison Avenue, had not yet received its spire.  Note the elegant fencing that surrounds the center sections of Park Avenue.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

In 1858 Dr. George Lewis Prentiss resigned his position as pastor of the Mercer Street Presbyterian Church because of illness.  Two years later, having returned from Europe where he regained his health, he was approached by a group of former parishioners and friends who urged him to create a new Presbyterian church on Murray Hill.  Like his former church, it was to be of the "New School," sometimes referred to as the "Liberal Presbyterian."

The first service was held on November 25, 1860 in the chapel of the Home of the Friendless on 29th Street near Madison Avenue.  The troubled times gave Prentiss reason to worry about the advisability of a new venture.  Abraham Lincoln had been elected a few weeks earlier and tensions in the South were at a breaking point.  In his first sermon he said:

The state of the times, I confess, does not, at first thought, seem auspicious for the success of our work  Our dear country is in the throes of a great trouble; fear is on every hand; the most hopeful patriotism is smitten with anxious forebodings; we know not, we dread to guess, what awful calamity may be impending over us.

George L. Prentiss The History of Brick Church, 1909 (copyright expired)

Prentiss's trepidation was well-founded.  Five months later the Confederates bombarded Fort Sumter, plunging the nation into civil war.  

The name of the congregation was not chosen until the spring of 1862, after elders were appointed and Prentiss was formally elected as pastor.  In May 1862 the Church of the Covenant was decided upon.  The congregation now needed a permanent place in which to worship.

The 83 members of the church were well-to-do.  A committee consisting of Benjamin F. Butler, Charles H. Leonard, Enoch Ketcham, William E. Dodge and George B. de Forest secured the northwest corner of Park Avenue and 35th Street.   James Renwick, Jr., whose masterful St. Patrick's Church was rising on Fifth Avenue, was chosen to design the new building.  The cornerstone was laid on November 5, 1863.

The Church of the Covenant was dedicated on April 30, 1865.  Renwick produced what The New York Herald deemed "an elegant and substantial church edifice."  The brick and stone structure was designed in the Sicilian Romanesque style.  The three entrances on Park Avenue were sheltered within stone porticoes, the central of which projecting slightly forward.  Directly above was an arcade of stained glass openings.  The gable was dominated by an enormous stained glass rose window.

Two additional entrances opened onto 35th Street, each below a story-tall stained glass window.  Directly behind the main church was the chapel, of matching materials.  It featured two striking towers.

An early stereopticon slide shows the newly completed structure before the fence was installed.  Park Avenue is paved with granite blocks.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

Ironically, five months after its completion, the church was the scene of the funeral of one of the men who had made it possible.  Wealthy merchant George Beach de Forest, Sr. died at his summer estate on September 23, 1865.  His funeral was held here three days later.

The following year the pipe organ was completed and installed.  On November 15, 1866 The New York Herald reported "A concert will be given this evening at the Church of the Covenant, Thirty-fifth street, on the occasion of the opening of the new organ.  Messrs. Morgan and Bristow will perform on the organ, and Mrs. Abbott and Mrs. Gommer will sing."

The massive new organ featured scores of pipes.  The History of Brick Church, 1909 (copyright expired)

The Church of the Covenant was the venue for a remarkable meeting in 1869.  On May 20 The New York Herald announced that the assemblies "of the two great Presbyterian bodies" would be meeting that day.  "The Assembly of the Old School will hold its sessions in the Brick Presbyterian church, corner of Fifth avenue and Thirty-seventh street.  The Assembly of the New School will meet in the Church of the Covenant."  The nearly 500 delegates had an important decision before them.  "The most important question to come before the Assemblies this year is that of union."

On the eighth day of the conferences the members of the Old School Assembly came to the Church of the Covenant for a joint prayer meeting.  Before they returned to the Brick Church hands had been shaken, old fractures mended and there would never again be separate assemblies.

Dr. Prentiss turned his attentions to those on the East Side with nowhere to worship.  In 1870 he pointed out that "it would be a shame for them to worship in such comfort and leave their East Side brethren poorly accommodated," according to Shepherd Knapp.  Land was acquired at No. 310 East 42nd Street and architect J. Cleveland Cady hired to design a chapel.  Called the Memorial Chapel, the $50,000 structure was dedicated in December 1871.

The interior of the Memorial Chapel was decorated with festoons of leaves in this photo--possibly Thanksgiving decorations.  The History of Brick Church, 1909 (copyright expired)

On April 27, 1873 the 67-year-old Prentiss preached his last sermon in the Church of the Covenant.  He began it with Victorian eloquence and drama:  "When the alarm of secession was thundered across the broad expanse of this country, and when already in the distance the roar of the cannon and rattle of musketry could be heard, the project of building this church was first broached."  He ended it with similar articulation.  "When I leave you I do not intend ever to return to the pulpit, but my heart and all my good wishes will forever be clustered in the church and its congregation.  Goodbye, my friends."

Prentiss was replaced by the Rev. Marvin R. Vincent, who would remain for 15 years.  Vincent was not only "popular" and "widely known," as described by the New-York Tribune; he was a prolific author of religious books.  The newspaper noted "In addition to his books Dr. Vincent has published numerous pamphlets, magazine articles and tracts."

Rev. Marvin Vincent The History of Brick Church, 1909 (copyright expired)

The Thanksgiving service in 1879 was remarkable for two reasons.  On November 28 The New York Times said it "was somewhat out of the usual order, consisting almost entirely of a musical programme."   A quartet was backed up by a 40-voice chorus who performed selections from Handel's Messiah, including the Hallelujah Chorus along with other solos and choral pieces.

But even more unusual were the decorations.  Rev. Vincent had asked the congregation "for gifts of fruit and flowers and more substantial remembrances, to be distributed to the poor and among the various charitable institutions," said The Times.  But before that distribution, they were arranged as sanctuary decorations.

"In the Gothic arches, on either side of the pulpit, masses of flowers arose from walls of fruits.  Foundations compactly built of bananas, apples and grapes gave tempting support to a superstructure of cut flowers, tastefully arranged in baskets and bouquets.  Above these rose a bank of flowering plants, surmounted by graceful palms."  The pulpit was decorated with grape clusters, "making a striking frontispiece to a luscious background."

Rev. Vincent was a staunch supporter of the Temperance movement and he hosted a meeting of the Temperance Institute in the church on January 31, 1886.  Among the speakers was Dr. J. Leonard Corning, whose topic was "The Relation of Alcohol to Insanity."  He assured the audience "that there was nothing more certain than that the abuse of alcohol constitutes on of the most potent causes of insanity."

Vincent resigned in November 1887 and in December 1888 Rev. James Hall McIlvaine was installed as his successor.  Five years later he entered into merger talks with Brick Church.  After months of voting, discussion and negotiations, on November 30, 1893 the New-York Tribune reported "Arrangements are nearly finished for consolidating the historic Brick Presbyterian Church...and the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant."  The agreement meant that the congregation of the Church of the Covenant would move to Fifth Avenue and the Park Avenue structure be abandoned.

Not all of the members were content with the pact.  Of the 500 members, about half opted to form a new congregation, housed in the Memorial Chapel building on 42nd Street.

On March 4, 1894 the New-York Tribune reported that the Park Avenue buildings, including the church, Sunday school rooms and parsonage, had been sold "to a private syndicate of wealthy property owners."  The price was $325,000, or about $9.8 million today.

The syndicate had been formed by wealthy Murray Hill residents who feared that otherwise the church would be razed for what they "considered would be a detriment to the neighborhood."  The New York Times announced that they would "tear down the church and parsonage and cut up the plot into lots for high-class residences."

As demolition commenced, the cornerstone and the "memorial table of 'Faith'" were removed and installed in the 42nd Street church.   The Faith tablet had been presented to the church in 1863 by William Curtis Noyes.  "It is of the purest Italian marble, and represents a female figure gazing up at a cross that seems emerging from the clouds.  It was executed by E. D. Palmer in 1858," explained the New-York Tribune on December 17, 1894.

In January 1895 the last of the building plots on the site was sold.  In reporting the sale the New-York Tribune noted "The property was purchased by the syndicate in order to prevent business houses being erected on it."  But the days of private residences in the Park Avenue neighborhood would not survive many more decades.  In 1939 the 19-story apartment building designed by Henry C. Pelton was completed on the site of the Church of the Covenant.

photo via streeteasy.com

The 1902 John Sanford Barnes House - 10 East 79th Street

John Sanford Barnes was born at the United States Military Academy at West Point on May 12, 1836, the son of Lieutenant James Barnes who was an instructor there.  Barnes would later good-naturedly say that he came from "good old stock."  His ancestors had left England to escape religious persecution in the 17th century.

Unlike his Army father, he joined the Navy in June 1851 at just 14 years old and was appointed to the newly-organized Naval Academy at Annapolis by the Secretary of the Navy, William A. Graham.  His seven-year career in the navy included an extraordinary feat.  

He was assigned to the Saratoga, but transferred to the schooner Hoyt in St. Thomas on May 6 1856.  Yellow fever was raging through what Barnes later described as "this dirty town."  Nearly the entire crew of the Hoyt, including the captain and mate, had died of the disease and the United States Consul gave Barnes the duty of sailing it to Philadelphia with its cargo of flour.  With a crew of five sick men--he himself becoming so ill that he could not stand--Barnes managed to sail the vessel to the Capes of Delaware where he was taken to a hospital.  

Although he resigned on October 1, 1858, his rank was restored with the outbreak of the Civil War.  While on a short furlough on September 12, 1863 he married Susan Brainbridge Hayes, daughter of Captain Thomas Hayes of the U.S. Navy and granddaughter on her mother's side of Commodore William Bainbridge.  He retired with the rank of captain in February 1869.

Barnes studied law, and then practice in Albany and New York; became a partner with John S. Kennedy in the banking firm of J. S. Kennedy & Co., and was president of railroads in the West and Southwest.  He was the first president of the Navy History Society and an organizer of the New York Zoological Society.

On September 6, 1901 architect Grosvenor Atterbury filed plans for a new home for the Barnes family.  They called for a six-story, "stone front dwelling" on the 30-foot wide plot.  The cost was projected at $50,000--about $914,000 today.  The site was on the famous "Cook Block," where, by deed restrictions, only the most splendid homes could be built.  

Construction got underway in January 1902 and was completed within the year.  

A glass and iron marquee originally sheltered the entrance.  photo by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

Atterbury had achieved a dignified and restrained combination of Beaus Arts and neo-Italian Renaissance styles.  The high iron fencing that protected the areaway continued up the stoop, too tall and elaborate to be termed railings.

The continuing of the fencing up the stoop is nearly unique.

The openings within the two-story bowed bay were framed in near Gibbs surrounds.  The bay provided an iron-railed balcony at the fourth floor.  The double-height mansard was clad in clay tiles which continued onto the roofs of the topmost dormers.

John and Susan had five children, James, Jonathan Stanford, Edith, Charlotte and Cornelia.  Their summer estate was in Lenox, Massachusetts.  The 79th Street mansion was filled with treasures--artworks, military artifacts and documents, and antiques.  In 1912 a friend, calling Barnes a "true art-lover and collector," said "he delighted in good pictures and rare old china, and his country house at Lenox, Massachusetts, and his city home on Seventy-ninth street, New York, contain many beautiful things, not prized because of their intrinsic value, but because they had been slowly acquired and chosen by himself."  

This astounding room in the Barnes house looks as if it could have been plucked from a 15th century manor house.  photo by Byron Company from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

The Barnes collection of historic military items was increased following the death of Susan's brother, Richard Somers Hayes.  The Watertown [New York] Daily Times reported on March 18, 1905 "Capt. Hayes has left among other things to his sister, Mrs. John S. Barnes of 10 East Seventy-ninth street, a pair of pistola presented to Commodore [John] Barry by [John] Paul Jones himself, and these pistols, added in the collection of Jones relics already in the possession of the Barnes family, makes a Jones collection which is said to be the finest in existence."

The pistols joined a museum-worthy collection that included the logbook of the Bon Homme Richard, many letters written by John Paul Jones, and his commission, signed by John Hancock.  The Watertown Daily Times wrote "Other relics of interest were swords, pistols, sea paintings, logbooks and documents handed down by the two commodores and succeeding naval members of the family.  In fact, the whole of Mr. Barnses' 'den' was furnished with historic articles."

John Sanford Barnes - John Sanford Barnes, A Memorial, 1912 (copyright expired)

By now Barnes had essentially retired, spending his time writing.  He published The Log Books of the 'Serapis,' 'Alliance,' and 'Ariel,' a compilation of Jones's logbooks; and in 1910 wrote his autobiography, entitled The Egotistigraphy, intended for his family's eyes only.  He was active in outdoor recreation, as well.  Into his 60's he continued to enjoy golf and bicycling.

John and Susan were active philanthropists.  He sat on the board of directors of the New York House of Refuge, and the Home for Juvenile Delinquents on Randall's Island. 

Daughter Cornelia's engagement to Francis Rogers was announced in the spring of 1911.  On April 16 The Sun announced that after visiting in Boston she "returned to town on Friday.  Miss Barnes and her fiancé...have decided on a May wedding."  The ceremony was possibly hurried along because her father, now 75-years old, was gravely sick.

Exactly three weeks later, on May 7, the newspaper advised "John S. Barnes, who has been so ill, is getting better fast and the wedding of his daughter, Miss Cornelia Barnes, and Francis Rogers, will take place in May, as was planned."  Barnes was not improving to the point that he could travel and on the morning of May 17 The New York Press reported "The marriage of Cornelia Barnes and Francis Rogers will take place this afternoon in the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John S. Barnes, No. 10 East Seventy-ninth street.  Owing to the illness of the bride's father, none but relatives will be present at the ceremony.  There will be no reception."

Six months later, on November 22, John Sanford Barnes died in the 79th Street mansion.  The family held his funeral at the Church of the Incarnation rather than in the house.  The New-York Tribune mentioned "Mr. Barnes belonged to many organizations, including the Union League, Metropolitan, Union, University, Knickerbocker, Down Town, Riding, Whist and Westminister Kennel clubs."  

A memorial booklet added "As he was sincere in his love, his likings and his expressions of thought he seemed to bring out sincerity in others in their daily contact with him.  His servants, like his sons and daughters, felt this influence; their devotion was not lip-service--it was from the heart."

Susan, who was 72 at the time, remained in No. 10 with Charlotte, who was still unmarried.  She received the equivalent of $52 million from her husband's estate.  The women continued to summer in Lenox, their names appearing less often in the social columns.   On July 16, 1913 The Sun mentioned "Mrs. John Sanford Barnes and Miss Charless R. Barnes, who are passing the summer in Lenox, will go to Coldbrook, Vt., on July 22 to be the guests of Mr. and Mrs. S. Warren Sturgis."

On the morning of May 16, 1915 Susan Bainbridge Barnes died in the 79th Street house.  As had been the case with her husband, her funeral was held at the Church of the Incarnation.

Among the items listed in her massive estate were a diamond necklace appraised at more than $180,000 in today's dollars, and valuable paintings like Jules Jacques Veyrasat's "Horseshoeing," and Paul Léon Jazet's "Cavalry on the Road."  The estate was divided into equal shares among the five children.

Charlotte continued to live in the house.  It was leased for the winter season of 1916-17 to James Byrne.  The rent was not inexpensive; about $354,000 by today's standards.  It would not be a joyous Christmas here for the Byrne family.  They had earlier adopted a little Pekingese dog, Teddy, which had been rescued from war-torn Europe.  But now he was missing.

On December 26 The Evening Telegram reported that "his little owner, Miss Sheila Bryne," was disconsolate.  Teddy "is lost, and therefore a gloomy Christmas was passed by her.  Teddy 'sneaked' out the front door of the Bryne home, at No. 10 East Seventy-ninth street, when an armful of Christmas presents arrived."

Happiness eventually returned and on Valentine's Day 1917 the Brynes hosted a dance in the house for debutantes Teresa Fabbri, debutante daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ernesto G. Fabbri; and Flora Whitney, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney.

On August 15, 1917 that year Charlotte was married to attorney Shelton Edward Martin.  The Barnes family, nonetheless, temporarily retained possession of the 79th Street house.  The following winter season it was leased to millionaire I. Townsend Burden and his wife, the former Florence Sheedy.

It would be the last of the winter leases.  In August 1918 the Barnes estate sold it to Sumner Ballard for the odd amount of $183,750--around $3 million today.  In reporting the sale the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide noted "The Barnes house stands on the famous Cook block, bounded by Fifth and Madison avenues, 78th and 79th streets, where the homes of some of the city's most prominent citizens have had their residences."

Ballard was president of the International Insurance Company.  He had been living in an upscale apartment over Sherry's on Fifth Avenue at 45th Street; but had to find new accommodations when the Guaranty Trust Company laid plans to demolish the building for its new headquarters.  The Sun commented, "Mr. Ballard was one of the many notable New York business men and financiers who were made homeless by the taking over of Sherry's."

The bachelor spread his influence among a variety of insurance firms other than the International Insurance Company.  He was the United States manager of the Metropolitan Insurance Company of Cuba, of the National Insurance Company of Copenhagen, the New India Assurance Company, Ltd., of the Osaka Marine and Fire Insurance Company, and the Skandinavia Insurance Company.  Ballard's wealth and distinguished pedigree were evidenced in his memberships to the Society of Mayflower Descendants, the St. Nicholas Society, the Metropolitan Club, Downtown Association, Sewanhaka Yacht Club, the Turf and Field Club, the Society of Colonial Wars, Sons of the Revolution and the Pilgrims.  

The absence of a Mrs. Ballard did not put a crimp in entertainments at No. 10.  The society wedding of Ballard's niece, Frances H. Ballard, to John H. Vincent, took place in the house on May 1, 1925.  Sumner gave the bride away before an assemblage that included Mrs. Thomas A. Edison, the Duke and Duchess of Richelieu, Mrs. William Kingland Macy, Jr., the Frederick F. Alexandres, among other notable society figures.

Three weeks later The New York Times commented, "One of the few formal dinners of this month will be given by Sumner Ballard tomorrow night at his home, in East Seventy-ninth Street, for the Duke and Duchess de Richelieu."

As a matter of fact, Ballard kept society columnists on their toes with his frequent, lavish entertainments.  On January 8, 1927 he gave a dinner and musicale for 79 guests; another in December that year for the about the same number--always including top tier names like de Rham, Twombly, Kountze, Frelinghuysen, Phelps, Rhinelander, Brokaw and de Koven.

An interesting twist was the dinner and musicale he hosted on December 10, 1929.  The Times noted "The music that followed the dinner was given in the roof garden."  It was, in reality, the top floor, and was used several times.  On February 14, 1931 Sumner gave a dinner for Lady Cowdray and her granddaughters.  "After dinner," reported The New York Times, "a cabaret performance was presented in the music room and roof garden on the top floor of the house, and there was general dancing, for which additional guests came on."

The house was again the scene of a wedding when another niece, Rosamond Egleston Ballard was married to W. J. Symington Phillips on March 29, 1931.  

In the fall of 1941 the 75-year-old was taken to the Harkness Pavilion where he died on October 23.  Survived by only two sisters, his 79th Street home was sold to the New York Archdiocese of the Greek Orthodox Church of North and South America, which moved in in 1942.

The Philippines suffered multiple blows that year.  The islands were occupied by the Japanese, whose soldiers slaughtered the caraboas, or water buffaloes, for food--making it impossible for farmers to grow enough rice to feed the population.  To exacerbate the emergency, deluges ruined much of the crops that year.  

The Archdiocese responded and on April 25, 1943 The New York Sun, in reporting on a city-wide clothing drive for the victims, reported "Tomorrow will be 'Greek Day' in the drive, and Archbishop Athenagoras, head of the Greek Orthodox Church of North and South America, will open his residence at 10 East 79th street, to serve as a clothing collection depot for the day."

The 1970's were a time of protest for any number of political and social issues and No. 79 was not immune.  On July 13, 1970 The New York Times reported that about 100 members of the Pan-Hellenic Fellowship, "dedicated to the preservation and protection of the Greek language," had staged a demonstration across the street from the house.  The protest, according to the group's president, was against "alleged efforts of Archbishop Iakovos to drop Greek from the liturgy and set up an independent American church."

Demonstrators were back in May 1971 as the Greek Independence Day Parade neared.  Archbishop Iakovos had not backed down from his intention to introduce more English into the Greek services.  He held that "English is essential to arrest the drift away from the church by second-generation and third-generation Americans of Greek descent."  

The older Greeks were concerned about a breakdown in traditions.  And the issue became heated.  On May 8 The New York Times reported "Bomb threats were received at one church and there were bitter disagreements in others and even a scuffle.  During one service a churchgoer shouted that the Archbishop should be lynched.  Demonstrations against the change have been held across the street from the archdiocesan headquarters at 10 East 79th Street."

A much friendlier group filled the street on April 14, 1977.  Pope Shenouda III, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church, was the guest of honor at a reception and prayer service hosted by Archbishop Iakovos.   An equally prestigious reception was held by the Archbishop on February 13, 1964 for Queen Frederica and Princess Irena of Greece.

Potted evergreens flank the entrance, exactly as they did in the vintage photograph when the Barnes were in residence.

The mansion, little changed, remains in the possession of the church.

photographs by the author