The Lost Alfred J. Kobler Mansion - 820 Park Avenue

photograph by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

Merrill Edward Gates was born in Warsaw, New York in 1848.  He and his wife, Elizabeth Head, had one son, Merrill, Jr.  An erudite scholar, Gates served as president of Rutgers College from 1882 to 1890, and as president of Amherst College from 1890 to 1899.  He served as secretary of the board of Amherst until 1912.  Merrill and Elizabeth Gates lived predominately in Washington, DC and maintained a summer home in Littleton, New Hampshire.

In 1920, Gates tried his hand at Manhattan real estate investment.  On August 20, the New-York Tribune reported on his intention to build a speculative, "$175,000 residence of brick and limestone construction, to be erected at 820 Park Avenue, corner of Seventy-fifth Street, from the designs of J. M. Howells."  The cost would translate to just under $2.75 million in 2025.

The high-stooped brownstones on the site were demolished.  In their stead, Jonathan Mead Howell produced an austere, neo-Regency-style mansion faced in limestone.  His decoration went no further than a columned entrance; shallow, blind arches at the second floor; and a balustrade atop the third.  It prompted architectural historian Andrew Alpern to call the design, "bloodless."

photograph by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

Inside were 18 rooms and six baths.  Should that be insufficient for a potential buyer, Howells designed the mansion for possible enlargement.  The New York Times reported, "the foundation has been constructed to carry six stories."

As construction proceeded, title to the property was transferred to Elizabeth Milbank Anderson.  Born in 1850, she was the daughter of millionaire Jeremiah Milbank and wife of artist Abram A. Anderson.  The couple would never move in, however.  Elizabeth died on February 22, 1921.  

photograph by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

The Anderson estate leased 820 Park Avenue.  Its first occupants were Henry Fletcher Godfrey, Jr. and his wife, Marie Ida Pauline Havemeyer.  Henry was Marie's second husband.  She was formerly married to Perry Tiffany.  On June 17, 1921, The New York Times reported that the Godfreys were to join Marion and Martin Brown Saportas later that summer in Saranac, New York.  That couple was on their honeymoon and the article mentioned, "Mrs. Saportas was Miss Marion Tiffany."

The following year, siblings Pamela and Roger M. Poor occupied 820 Park Avenue.  They were among the five children of the late banker and stockbroker Henry William Poor and Constance Evelyn Brandon.  The last tenants for the Anderson estate were Henry E. Tidemann and his family.  The mansion was the scene of daughter Dorothy's coming-out entertainments.

On May 20, 1923, The New York Times reported that the Elizabeth Milbank Anderson estate would sell the house on June 5 at auction.  It was purchased by Albert J. Kobler and his wife, the former Mignon Sommers.  The couple was married in 1907 and had two sons, John and Jason.

Born in Vienna, Austria in 1886, Kobler arrived in New York City in 1906.  He joined the New York Globe selling advertising space.  In 1917, William Randolph Hearst appointed him in charge of the American Weekly Magazine.  By the time he purchased 820 Park Avenue, he was president of that periodical.  In 1928 he would become head of The Daily Mirror, as well.

The Koblers' living (top) and dining rooms.  photograph by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

Albert and Mignon Kobler brought back Jonathan Mead Howells to renovate and redecorate the interiors.  In his 1992 Luxury Apartment Houses of Manhattan, Andrew Alpert writes, "Kobler was too successful personally to be overly concerned with rising property taxes, and presumably got from his architect the sort of interior fitments he had wanted."  

The breakfast room (top) and ground floor hall.  photograph by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

The Koblers filled the rooms with valuable antiques and artwork, including Renaissance period paintings and sculptures.  

Then, somewhat shockingly--just two years after the Koblers moved into 820 Park Avenue--on September 10, 1925, The Sun reported, "A. J. Kobler will erect a fourteen-story apartment at 820 Park avenue...from plans by Harry Allen Jacobs, architect."  The mansion was demolished after having stood only five years.