The Lemuel C. Mygatt House - 257 West 97th Street

 

In 1891, prolific developer Edward Kilpatrick began a project that would wrap the northwest corner of West End Avenue and 97th Street with a group of upscale homes.  Designed by the architectural firm of Boring, Tilton & Mellen and completed in 1892, the seven Renaissance Revival style residences created a charming enclave of various heights and roof shapes.  The easternmost houses, 257 and 259 West 97th Street, were separated from the West End Avenue row by the two-story extension of the corner showplace.  Mirror images, they were nearly duplicated by a another pair on the avenue.

The second and third houses from the corner were near matches to 257 and 259 West 97th Street, seen at the right.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The basement and stoop of 257 West 97th Street were faced in rough cut brownstone.  The planar parlor level featured a recessed, faceted bay.  A gentle, wave crest band introduced the upper floors, which were clad in beige brick and trimmed in limestone.  The architects gave the second floor windows Queen Anne style panes, and fully arched the third floor openings.

Kilpatrick sold the house to Lemuel Carrington Mygatt and his wife, the former Sophia H. Weidemeyer, on March 28, 1892 for $19,000--equal to about $656,000 in 2024.  Born in 1849 in Chazy, New York, Mygatt graduated from Williams College in 1870.  He taught at the Collegiate School on West 77th Street.  Lemuel and Sophia (who was known as Sophie) had seven children, Lambert, Jessie C., Kenneth, Gerald, Francis S., Anna Hubbell, and Isabella Carrington.  

Three years after they moved into the 97th Street house, Lambert was the victim of what the New York Herald called, "highwaymen of tender years."  In September 1895, "a band of juvenile highwaymen," the oldest of whom was 13 years old, began holding up school boys, threatening them with clubs.  Two weeks into their crime spree, on November 9, they targeted 11-year-old Lambert and his school friend, Thomas Crane.

The New York Herald reported, "Both boys made an effort to escape, but the young rascals made them surrender their money, amounting to a little over $2."  Lemuel Mygatt, along with other victims' parents, demanded action.  The gang was apprehended on November 12 and remanded to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children awaiting their hearings.

Lemuel Carrington Mygatt, via collegiateschool.org

In 1897, Lemuel Mygatt was appointed headmaster of Collegiate School.  The oldest school in the United States, it had operated since 1633.

The Mygatt family had two live-in servants.  Their cook did double-duty as the laundress (a situation that would not have been found in more affluent households).  She earned the equivalent of $700 per month.  

The family's summer home was in Essex, New York on Lake Champlain.  The five-bedroom house sat on five acres.  Interestingly, the family did not take the servants with them to their summer home in 1903.  Instead, Sophie placed an ad that read, "Good wages to two girls; cook and laundress and the other chambermaid and waitress; to go with family to country, near New York, for the summer."  

The family was at the summer house on July 23, 1910, when Lemuel Carrington Mygatt died.  In reporting his death, George William Knox of the Century Association wrote, "Mr. Mygatt for years fought the bravest of fights against death.  Smitten with a fatal disease which gave him great pain, he showed no sign and uttered no complaint to his friends." 

Sophie never returned to the Essex house.  She leased it every summer after her husband's death.

Still living in the 97th Street house with her were Jessie (who was a member of the American Physical Education Association), Kenneth, Gerald, Francis and Isabella.  The population would increase by one in 1913.  Maximillian Langdon Van Norden was the son of Anna Hubbell Mygatt and her husband, Rev. Dr. Charles Van Norden.  Anna had died in 1896 and Rev. Van Norden died in 1913.  The young man now moved into his grandmother's house.

Jessie was married to Alton S. Keeler in the parlor on June 1, 1915.  The Sun noted, "The wedding will be a small one, only relatives and a few intimate friends being invited to the ceremony."

Three months later, on September 1, the New-York Tribune reported that Gerald would be married to Ruth Lapham on September 11.  The wedding took place in the Congregational Church of New Canaan, Connecticut.  Kenneth Mygatt and Max Van Norden were members of the wedding party.

Van Norden had graduated from Stanford University in 1905 with a degree in geology and mining.  He changed focus, however, and in 1915 was a partner in the real estate firm of Van Norden & Wilson.  When America entered World War I, he went off to fight in Europe.

Sophia Mygatt leased 257 West 97th Street to Mrs. May Corey in 1917 for three years.  At the end of the lease, the house became home to the Thomas A. Williams Democratic Club.

Among the first events the club hosted was the June Walk on June 26, 1920.  The Evening World predicted it would be "the greatest public June Walk in the history of the city," and said, "more than 5,000 mothers and children of the neighborhood are expected to participate."  June Walks were popular events for children, ending with picnics, games and prizes.  This one included a large parade with six bands.  The Evening World reported, "The features of the parade include a float of 'Old Mother Hubbard,' and the various nursery rhymes, prizes being offered for the best dressed king and queen, the best decorated baby carriage, the prettiest babies and a baseball game by the boys."

As with its June Walk, the Democratic Club worked for the neighborhood residents.  In 1923, the New York Morning Telegraph reported that the Thomas A. Williams Democratic Club intended to present a petition to the Transit Commission "for extra downtown Broadway-Seventh avenue subway express trains" on the Upper West Side.  The petition said that during rush hours

...it is impossible for large numbers of persons to board express trains arriving at Ninety-sixth street; that women and older persons are subjected to indignities by reason of the mob-like crowds; that often they are forced to listen to objectionable language.

In 1924, Dr. Edward Miller moved into 257 West 97th Street and would remain until 1956, when he sold it to Fred H. Hill, who immediately resold it to Leon Hecht.  Hecht converted the house to two duplex apartments.

Only 257 and 259 West 97th Street survive from the 1892 complex.  Unlike its fraternal twin, 259 retains its stoop and much of its original appearance.

photograph by the author

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The Lost Baylies Mansion -- No. 1 East 71st Street

A coach drives past the newly completed house.  The entrance doors are not yet installed.  To the east on 71st Street is the home of Henry Augustus Colt Taylor.  The trouble-causing vacant 5th Avenue lot is to the rear.  photo by Byron Company, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UAYWHI6I6I&SMLS=1&RW=1280&RH=915

Not to be overlooked among the arbiters of Manhattan society in the 19^th century was Nathalie Elizabeth Ray Baylies.  While some women—Caroline Astor, Mamie Fish and Alice Vanderbilt, for example—were more apparent in the press; only a few claimed the pedigree of Mrs. N. E. Baylies.

On November 27, 1856 she had married Edmund Lincoln Baylies, a graduate of Harvard University and wealthy merchant.  The New York Times later wrote “With her marriage to Mr. Baylies two of the oldest families in America were united, the Baylies family having come from Worcestershire, England and settled in Massachusetts in 1737.”  On Nathalie’s side, the Ray family included Cornelius Ray, President of the first United States bank in New York City.

Among the couple’s ancestors were Colonel Hodijay Baylies, aide de camp to George Washington, and his wife Elizabeth Lincoln.  “One branch produced President Abraham Lincoln and the other Levi Lincoln, the Massachusetts Revolutionary patriot, and his equally illustrious son, Governor Levi Lincoln of Massachusetts,” said The Times.

Edmund Lincoln Baylies died in Geneva, Switzerland on November 28, 1869.  The 32-year old widow pressed on, rearing the children and passing the summers more often at the Baylies estate, Kippanwoods, in Taunton, Massachusetts, than in Newport or other expected resorts. 

Like all moneyed families before and just following the Revolutionary War, the Rays had maintained a country estate north of the city.  The 40-acre Ray Farm was near the village of Chelsea and its mansion sat approximately where Ninth Avenue and West 28^th Street would be laid out.  When the great house burned in the 1840s, Nathalie’s father rebuilt it; even though by now the city had closed in.

Robert Ray died in 1879 and Nathalie not only inherited the Gothic Revival mansion, but moved in.  Although the original house was a summer escape; this one was “built on the old-fashioned ideas of comfort,” according to The Sun.  But despite the ballroom, the Gothic library with “room on the shelves for several thousand volumes" and its stained glass window, and the doorways that “rise to a point at the centre like cathedral arches,” Nathalie joined the northward movement of millionaires as the last decade of the century arrived.

On Christmas Eve 1893 The Sun reported that the house was to be demolished.  “Mrs. Baylies occupied the house until May last, when she decided to move up town, and she is now building a house at Fifth avenue and Seventy-first street,” reported the newspaper.

The neighborhood was a hive of development.  James Lenox had built his fabulous Lenox Library on his family’s “farm” in 1877 encompassing the entire block between 70^th and 71^st Streets on the Avenue.  Following his death in 1880 the Lenox Hill land was sold off and mansions began lining the blocks.

In February 1892 Nathalie Baylies purchased her large building plot from John N. Golding.  She chose the newly-founded architectural firm of Boring, Tilton & Mellen to design the mansion.  Edward Tilton and William A. Boring had formed their firm the previous year and by now Nathan C. Mellen had joined them.  The Baylies residence would be among the firm’s few New York City commissions.

In May 1892 plans were filed for a “five-story brick and stone dwelling.”  The dwelling was originally estimated to cost $80,000—or about $2 million in today’s dollars.  It would end up costing Nathalie Baylies much more not only in money and time, but in fury.

The Baylies mansion would face the Lenox Library, taking the address No. 1 East 71^st Street.  Generally Renaissance Revival in style, the architects designed a 113-foot long structure, despite the building plot being just 100 feet long.  The extra length resulted from their adding dimension to the otherwise flat-faced palazzo in the form of three bulging bays—two on East 71^st Street and one on the Avenue elevation.  The bays extended beyond the actual property line.

Stepping over the property line seemed to be no major problem.  The New York Times explained “In order to make the construction permissible, it was necessary that consents should be obtained from the Department of Parks and from the owners of adjacent property.”

The Department of Parks voted in favor and the property owner on the 71^st Street side “cheerfully” gave his consent.  “Plans for the avenue bay window were accordingly made,” said The Times on July 3, 1892, since “They never dreamed of trouble in getting the consent of the adjoining avenue owner.”

The “adjoining avenue owner” was Mrs Thomas E. Sattherthwaite.  And, indeed, she did give trouble.  In fact, she obstinately refused; despite the fact that her property was a vacant lot.  The problem for Nathalie Baylies was that construction of her mansion was already well under way.

The New York Times told its readers about the “ill feeling” welling up.  “When Mrs. N. A. Baylies moves into her new house at the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and Seventy-first Street, opposite the Lenox Library, she will not entertain the kindliest feelings toward Mrs. Thomas E. Satterthwaite, the owner of the adjacent avenue lot.  The house will have cost Mrs. Baylies several thousand dollars above the estimates, and it will probably be hard to convince her that any one was at fault for the extra cost except Mrs. Satterthwaite.”

Construction of the first story of the mansion was nearly completed when “the architects found they had counted without their host.”  Isabella Satterthwaite, for whatever reason, refused to budge. The Times reported “Argument and pleading could not move her.  The fact that the majority of houses along the Park front swell out beyond the building line and that adjacent owners have for years consented to it as a matter of course had no effect upon her.  She was proof alike against persuasion and entreaty.”

Now, because of her objections, the Park Commissioners were forced to withdraw the permit for the Avenue bay.  One can only imagine the infuriated pearl-swagged Nathalie Baylies as the drama played out. 

“The removal of the swell front would necessitate some change of plans,” noted The Times, “the destruction of some costly work, and rebuilding.”  And that is exactly what finally happened.  Although the bowed three-story limestone base remained, it had to be pulled back from the sidewalk; significantly reducing the interior square footage.

The Baylies house as seen from Fifth Avenue.  To the right is the magnificent Lenox Library.  Behind the wooden fence is Isabella Satterthwaite's vacant property.  photo from the collection of the New York Public Library

The dowager socialite moved into her massive home and began the routine of winter entertainments and summer seasons away.  Nevertheless, it appears she did not feel constricted by the regimented schedule of society.  The New-York Tribune made mention on September 30, 1902 that “Mrs. N. E. Baylies is at her country place, Kippanwoods, at Taunton, Mass., and will not return to town and open her house at Fifth-ave. and Seventy-first-st. until quite late in the fall.”

Despite her advancing age, Nathalie’s home was the scene of repeated entertainments.  On February 17, 1903 The Times reported “Mrs. N. E. Baylies will give a musicale this evening in her residence, at 1 East Seventy-first Street” and added “Mrs. Baylies has been entertaining a great deal this Winter.  She gave a large reception last week.”

Nathalie Baylies anticipated a new neighbor in February 1912 when Cornelius Vanderbilt announced his plans to build a new mansion on Fifth Avenue between 71^st and 72^nd Street.  His would adjoin the sumptuous James A. Burden residence at the opposite corner from the Baylies mansion.  That would leave only the lot next door--the one which had caused Nathalie so much trouble--still undeveloped.

By now steel tycoon Henry C. Frick had purchased the entire blockfront where the Lenox Library stood, anticipating the erection of a gargantuan mansion.  Nathalie Baylies, however, would not see the completion of either Vanderbilt’s nor Frick’s new homes.

The Baylies house sits just past the rising Frick mansion on the site of the Library in 1913.  photo by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UAYWHI6351&SMLS=1&RW=1280&RH=915&PN=3#/SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UAYWHI6351&SMLS=1&RW=1280&RH=915&PN=5

On December 9, 1912 the 75-year old socialite died of heart disease.  The grand home she had built less than two decades earlier would not stand many years longer.  It was replaced in 1928 by the equally-impressive mansion of Florence Vanderbilt Twombly, granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt and the widow of Hamilton McKown Twombly. 

Like the Baylies mansion, the Twombly house would survive only a few decades.  photo by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UAYWHI6351&SMLS=1&RW=1280&RH=915&PN=3#/SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UAYWHI6351&SMLS=1&RW=1280&RH=915&PN=5

Following Mrs. Twombly’s death in that house in April, 1952, a modern apartment building was constructed on the site.

photo http://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/park-fifth-ave-79th-st/900-fifth-avenue/4223