The George and Dorothy Draper House - 162 East 63rd Street

 

image via coldwellbankerhomes.com

In 1869, developer Gideon Fountain broke ground for six, 16-foot-wide rowhouses on the south side of East 63rd Street between Third and Lexington Avenues.  Designed by W. A. Hoffman, they were a symbiotic blend of Italianate and neo-Grec styles.  Three floors tall above a high English basement, their paired parlor level openings were fully arched.  The architrave frames of the upper windows sat upon dainty brackets and were crowned with prominent molded cornices.  The elaborate terminal cornices included rosettes and trios of full-relief sunflowers between the neo-Grec-style brackets.

The row was completed in 1870.  Gideon Fountain briefly moved his family into 162 East 63rd Street.  Then, on April 7, 1872, he advertised:

For Sale--A splendid, small three story and basement Ohio trimmed with brown stone front House, 162 East Sixty-third street, near Lexington avenue, very desirable location, at a low price; terms to suit.          

G. Fountain, owner, on the premises

The advertisement worked.  Two weeks later Fountain sold the house to James and Wilhelmina Graves for $16,750 (or about $444,000 in 2025 terms).  

Born in Philadelphia in 1836, Graves relocated to New York City at the age of 22.  He and Wilhelmina Smith were married in 1859 and they had one son.  The New-York Tribune later recalled that when Graves arrived in New York he was "engaged in the business of a lapidary, afterward becoming also an importer of diamonds."  When he and Wilhelmina moved into the 63rd Street house, he was a partner in the diamond importing firm M. Fox & Co. on Maiden Lane.

Well-to-do couples routinely traveled to Europe in the summer months.  James and Wilhelmina Graves went abroad in 1884, but their sojourn was not completely for relaxation--and a "rival Maiden lane diamond merchant," as worded by The Sun, suspected that was the case.  He contacted the Special Treasury Agent's office and warned that Graves was likely attempting to smuggle jewels into the country.

The couple arrived back in New York City on the Amerique on October 3.  The Sun reported, "When he and his wife landed at the Barge Office a number of Treasury detectives were present, and waited until he had made his declaration to Inspector Bucklin and the eight pieces of luggage he had brought had been examined by Inspector Barry."  Graves said that they had no dutiable articles and the inspector found nothing.

Then, James and Wilhelmina were separated and their clothing searched.  They found six turquoise stones in Grave's pocket and a bar of soap that contained 40 uncut diamonds.  Upon being pressed, Graves turned over his satchel, which had a false bottom.  It contained another batch of diamonds.

In the meantime, women inspectors searched Wilhelmina.  In her trunks, they found unset diamonds sewed into the lining of several garments.  In what must have been a humiliating situation for a 19th century lady, Wilhelmina was disrobed.  The inspectors said, "they found pinned on one of Mrs. Graves's undergarments a lace pin set with solitaire diamonds as big as peas.  In a pocket of her underskirt was a brooch with six big amethysts and a big pearl in the center encircled with brilliants."  In all, officials seized $12,000 worth of gems, mostly diamonds.  The value would translate to $388,000 today.

Although he cited his reason as ill health, it was most likely the embarrassing publicity that prompted Graves to retired shortly afterward.  He died from "acute bronchitis," according to the New-York Tribune, on November 29, 1888.  His funeral was held in the parlor two days later.

Wilhelmina sold 162 East 63rd Street to Louis E. Neuman for $15,750 in April 1891.  Born in Germany in 1835, he immigrated to America as a young man and served in the Civil War.  A widower, Neuman ran a lithography business on Pearl Street.  He suffered a fatal heart attack in the house on October 2, 1902.

The house was next home to attorney William H. Steinkamp and his family.  He sold it in June 1912 to Dr. George Draper, whose wedding to Dorothy Tuckerman was just three months away.  Dorothy was the only daughter of Paul and Susan Minturn Tuckerman.

When he purchased the 63rd Street property, Draper was affiliated with the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.  He later wrote that his new marital status "necessitated starting the practice of medicine, for browsing in academic halls, though entertaining, was not productive of much support."  He became an assistant attending physician at the Presbyterian Hospital and an instructor at the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Dr. George Draper (original source unknown)

Dorothy had had a privileged childhood.  Her parents owned not only the Tuxedo Park estate where she was married, but a Manhattan townhouse and a Newport cottage.  Her early education was at home, taught by her governess and tutors, before spending two years at the prestigious Brearly School.

The social position of the Drapers was reflected in George's memberships to the University Club and the Harvard Club in addition to his professional associations.  Dorothy was highly involved in social events.  As the anticipated Russian Ball at the Ritz-Carlton was being organized in the fall of 1913, for instance, the New-York Tribune announced, "Tickets may be obtained from Mrs. Draper at her home, No. 162 East 63d street."

The Drapers enlarged the narrow house, hiring architect Robert W. Gardner in May 1913 to add a one-story extension to the rear. 

Dorothy Draper's flair for interior design caught the attention of her society friends, who asked her do their homes.  Working with bold colors and oversized prints, she pioneered the style called Modern Baroque and, later, the Hollywood Regency style.

Dorothy Draper, from the collection of the Library of Congress

In 1915, George and Dorothy Draper purchased the house next door at 164 East 63rd Street.  One of W. A. Hoffman's 1870 row, it had just been given a new Mediterranean personality by architect Frederick Junius Sterner.

The Drapers moved next door to this house.  No. 162 East 63rd Street with its paired parlor windows can be glimpsed at the far right.  Architecture magazine, May 5, 1918 (copyright expired)

The Drapers sold 162 East 63rd Street in August 1915 to another physician, gynecologist William S. Stone and his wife, Katherine.  They lived here until the summer of 1931, when they leased the house to newlyweds August Perry Belmont and his bride Elizabeth Lee Saltonstall.  The couple was married on June 15 that year.  In reporting on the socially important wedding, the Buffalo, New York Courier Express commented, "Young Belmont has just finished his courses at Harvard and his marriage to Elizabeth will deprive Boston of one of its fairest daughters, for after the honeymoon the young Belmonts will live at 162 East 63d street."

August Perry Belmont, from the National Cyclopedia of American Biography 1967

On the evening of May 4, 1933, Elizabeth Belmont was dressing when she discovered what police suspected was an "inside job."  The Daily Review of Freeport, New York (while inserting August's august pedigree), reported, "Mrs. August Belmont, 4th, whose husband is a grandson of the late August Belmont, noted sportsman and banker, reported to the police yesterday that two flexible diamond bracelets worth $30,000 had been stolen some time within the last week from a dresser drawer in a room on the second floor of her three-story home at 162 East 63rd street."  Suspicion focused on the servants, since "other pieces of jewelry in the same drawer of the vanity dresser had not been taken," said the article.  The value of the stolen bracelets would translate to about $76,200 today.

William and Katharine P. Stone sold 162 East 63rd Street to A. Glen and Marion Becker Acheson in the spring of 1939.  On March 2, The New York Times mentioned that they would occupy the house after altering it.  Their renovations resulted in the removal of the stoop and lowering the entrance to below grade, and balancing the parlor openings--now two (one of which took the place of the former entryway).

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Born in 1895, A. Glen Acheson graduated from Cornell University in 1917 and served in World War I with the American Field Service.  A broker, he was a partner in the New York Stock Exchange firm of Bache Co.  His wife, the former Marion Becker, was the widow of Harry Randall Wilson, who died in an automobile accident in 1922.  Their son, Harry Wilson, was 21-years-old and attending Yale University when the family moved into 162 East 63rd Street.

Harry Wilson was described by the Daily News as "prominent in New York social circles."  It was most likely while here during Christmas 1940 that he told his mother and step-father than he would be leaving Yale to join the Army Air Corps.  He entered the Corps on January 4, 1941 and was sent to Maxwell Field near Montgomery, Alabama for training.

In what had to have been a horrifying case of déjà vu for Marion, considering her former husband's death, she received notification on February 10, 1941 that Harry had been killed in an automobile accident 18 miles south of Montgomery.

Two years later, on August 14, 1943, the Army and Navy Journal reported, "Lt. Comdr. A. Glen Acheson, USNR, has reported for duty as commanding officer of Colgate University's Naval Flight Preparatory School."  He served in that capacity throughout World War II.

On October 13, 1954, the Smithtown [New York] Star reported that the Achesons had purchased the 1703 Roe Tavern, a "16-room early American residence" in East Setauket.  Acheson retired the following year and the couple moved permanently to the Long Island house.

A renovation in 1959 resulted in a doctor's office in the basement and an additional floor.  The physician's office became the Piero Corsini, Inc. art gallery in the early 1990s.

Then, in 1998, the house was purchased by John Adams Morgan and his wife, the former Sonja Tremont, for $9.1 million.  Born in 1930 to Henry Sturgis Morgan and the former Catherine Lovering Adams, Morgan was the great-grandson of financier J. P. Morgan, and a descendant of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, and of U.S. Secretary of the Navy Charles Francis Adams III.  Like his great-grandfather, Morgan was a banker and co-founded the firm Morgan Lewis Githens & Ahn, Inc.

John and Sonja were married in 1998, just prior to buying 162 East 63rd Street.  The groom was 68 and the bride was 35.  They hired designers Harry Schnaper and John Pierre Borg to remodel and decorate the home.  The result was a 4,650-square-foot residence with five bedrooms and five-and-a-half baths.

image via 6sqft.com

Sonja had studied fashion at the Fashion Institute of Technology.  The couple had a daughter, Quincy Adams Morgan.  They divorced in 2006 with Sonja receiving the house in the settlement.

The divorce devastated Sonja's finances and in 2009 she filed for bankruptcy and listed the East 63rd Street house for $12 million.  In 2010. Sonja Morgan joined the cast of the Bravo reality television series The Real Housewives of New York City.  The house was featured in several of the episodes.  

Sonja Morgan (center) with child actress Devon Haas and Julie Klausner at a charity event for Dogs for the Deaf on April 13, 2013.  photograph by Andrea Arden

After years of relisting and repricing the property, in April 2024, Sonja place the property at auction.  She told Concierge Auctions in April that year, "In addition to raising my daughter here, we entertained heads of state, royalty, luminaries, and Fortune 500 CEOs.  In addition, memories were made over the years, including hosting my daughter’s friends from boarding school and university, and so many noteworthy moments were filmed by NBC for Bravo and Peacock TV."

image via dwell.com

The oft-remodeled townhouse, easily ignored by passersby, gives little hint that it has been home to a succession of renowned figures over the decades.

many thanks to ready Joe Crowley for requestion this post