The Lost Thomas Fortune Ryan Art Gallery - 3 East 67th Street

 

Architecture magazine, August 1915 (copyright expired)

On May 2, 1909 the New York Times reported on Thomas Fortune Ryan's purchase of the former Isaac Stern mansion at 858 Fifth Avenue, just north of 67th Street.  "The house, generally speaking, comes within the class of 'million-dollar' mansions...Sitting between Sixty-seventh and Sixty-eighth Streets, Mr. Ryan's new home will be in the heart of the fashionable upper Fifth Avenue colony," said the article.

Ryan had made his massive fortune in tobacco, insurance and surface railroads.  He and his wife, the former Ida Mary Barry, had seven children.  Like Charles T. Yerkes, Henry Marquand, and Henry Clay Frick, Ryan was an art patron and notable collector.  His impressive collection ranged from Renaissance period statuary to modern artwork, Chinese cloisonne, tapestries, and rare books.

Thomas Fortune Ryan, from the collection of the Library of Congress

On September 14, 1912, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that Henry C. Frick planned to erect "a fine residence" nearby on Fifth Avenue at 70th Street.  In the same sentence, the writer noted that Thomas F. Ryan would be enlarging his mansion.  "The extension will face on 67th street and will have a marble facade with Ionic columns and a mansard roof."  Ryan had purchased and demolished the townhouse of Mrs. Edward R. Ladew at 6 East 67th Street as the site.  "His own residence at 858 Fifth Avenue had become too small for his collection," explained The New York Times.  Like J. Pierpont Morgan, Jr.'s 1906 extension to his Madison Avenue mansion, Ryan's was "intended principally as an art gallery, but will also contain a private office and a conservatory," said the article. 

The Ryan mansion, with its walled garden, sits to the left of the George J. Gould mansion on the corner.  The Ryan art gallery can be seen on 67th Street, behind the Gould residence.  Photograph by Bryon Company, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

Designed by the architectural firm of Carrere & Hastings, whose magnificent New York Public Library building had been completed a year earlier, the gallery's construction cost would be $100,000--nearly $2.9 million in 2022.

Thomas Hastings was the head architect on the project.  The two-story structure featured a Palladian balcony with allegorical spandrel carvings by A. Stirling Calder--Imagination (on the left) and Beauty. 

Writing in the December 1919 issue of Art & Life, Marie Danforth described both the collection and the gallery.  She said that in "a long panelled [sic] room with vaulted ceiling frescoed in soft polychrome decoration supported by fluted columns, each object is given the setting that its distinction merits.  On the dark-toned side walls between the pillars the very important marble reliefs, in which art object the collection is especially rich, have place."  The marbles were Renaissance pieces, including Mino da Fiesole's Madonna and Child, originally in the Chapel of the Villa Gonfienti, and Giovanni Dalmata's 1475 Madonna and Child.  Of the latter, Danford said, "This is placed against a background of gold mosaic."

On the wall of the "alcove" was a 16th century bronze crucifix, under which sat a marble Pieta from the 15th to 16th century.  The intricate ceiling was strikingly polychromed.  photo from Art & Life, December 1919 (copyright expired)

The critic gave a detailed description of the Renaissance sculpture and tapestries, his "remarkably fine" collection of Limoges enamels, his "important collection" of Chinese enamels and bronzes, Greek and Etruscan bronzes, early Italian faience, and more.  But she noted that more recent artists were represented, as well.  "One of the most treasured later marbles in the Ryan collection is a Child's Head by Houdon, while Mr. Ryan's examples of Rodin's sculpture, exceeding in number those in other private collections in America, denote his appreciation of that great French master."

The marble staircase.  photo from Art & Life, December 1919 (copyright expired)

Indeed, Ryan so appreciated the work of Auguste Rodin that in the spring of 1910, he gave $25,000 to the Metropolitan Museum of Art specifically for the purchase of Rodin works.  (On May 2, 1912 the Museum opened its Rodin gallery.)  The artist and patron had met in 1907, introduced by Rodin's mistress, Clarie de Choiseul (it is unclear how Ryan knew Choiseul).  Ryan sat for a bust, then went on to purchase nine works, one of which he donated to the Metropolitan Museum.

The French stained glass window was created in the 16th century by Valentin Bouch.  Above the mantle is a Flemish tapestry from the same period. photo from Art & Life, December 1919 (copyright expired)

The Ryans' other homes were Oak Ridge, in Virginia, a country estate in Suffern, New York, and a residence in Washington D.C.  Ida Ryan suffered a fatal heart attack on his 66th birthday, October 17, 1917.  Society was understandably shocked when Thomas Ryan married Mary Townsend Lord Cuyler 12 days later. 

Thomas Fortune Ryan died on November 23, 1928, the tenth wealthiest man in America at the time.  Mary Ryan sold his collection at the American Art Association Anderson Galleries five years later, The New York Times reporting that the Depression Era sale totaled $409,354 (more than $8.5 million in 2022).  The gallery building would sit empty and unused for years.  

A portion of a ceiling fresco.  photo from Art & Life, December 1919 (copyright expired)

Mary Ryan died on July 3, 1937.  The Fifth Avenue mansion became home to Ferdinand M. Linsler and his wife, Elizabeth Doring.  And on December 6, 1937, The New York Times reported, "The Italian Renaissance art Gallery which the late Thomas Fortune Ryan built to house his art treasures, and which has stood dark at 3 East Sixty-seventh Street for a number of years, has been turned over to the Municipal Art Committee."  The newspaper noted, "In this building Mr. Ryan assembled one of the most notable one-man museums in the world," adding that it had been "known by some as the American Louvre."

The city's Municipal Art Committee had previously used a converted brownstone house off Sixth Avenue, but that structure was condemned for the extension of the Sixth Avenue subway.  The trustees of the Ryan estate were "now in a position to offer a magnificent stone gallery off Fifth Avenue," said the article.  The first exhibition of the Municipal Art Committee was scheduled for December 15.  The New York Times said, "it will be a group affair in which four self-organized groups will show their work at no cost to themselves."  The magnificent Ryan gallery building was a sorely-needed venue.  "The committee has on file applications from almost 1,000 artists who want to exhibit in the new gallery," said the article.

photo from Art & Life, December 1919 (copyright expired)

Typical of the exhibitions held here was the 31st exhibition "by resident artists," according to The New York Times, which opened on June 19, 1938.  The newspaper said, "As in previous exhibitions, it will consist of the work of four groups of artists.  One of the groups is made up of Japanese-Americans...another group is made up of sculptors."

The works of promising artists continued to be shown here for over a decade.  Then, on January 14, 1949, The New York Times reported that plans for a $3 million apartment house to occupy the corner of Fifth Avenue and 67th Street had been filed.  The Sylvan Bien designed building, which survives, replaced the former Thomas Ryan and George J. Gould mansions, and the Ryan art gallery.

image via Cityrealty.com

many thanks to reader Doug Wheeler for prompting this post

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The 1914 Church of St. Jean Baptiste - Lexington Avenue and 76th Street

An early postcard of the magnificent new building could have been set in Italy.

The parish of Saint Jean Baptiste was founded in 1882 to serve the Yorkville ndistrict's growing French-speaking population.  The congregation soon built what The New York Times later called "the little red brick French Church of St. Jean Baptiste" on 76th Street.   In 1900 the church was chosen to house a relic of Saint Anne, formerly located in Canada.   But the modest structure was hardly proper, prompting Archbishop Michael Corrigan to comment at the inauguration of the Solemn Exposition in December that year "Evidently this church is too small and not imposing enough for the requirements of perpetual adoration."

Despite its elaborate interiors the 76th Street church (seen here in 1908) was deemed "not imposing enough."  photo by Byron Company, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

Thomas Fortune Ryan was among New York's wealthiest and most philanthropic citizens.   According to church legend, he often attended mass at St. Jean Baptiste, preferring it to the more pretentious society churches.   The story goes that he arrived late for mass and was disgruntled to find standing room only.  During the announcements a plea for donations for a new structure was made.

Afterwards, unaccustomed to standing and having no intentions to do so again, he approached Father Letellier, asking how much a new church would cost.   The priest threw out a figure from the top of his head.  "$300,000.00," he said.  Ryan told him to proceed with the plans.

Land was acquired at the southeast corner of Lexington Avenue and 76th Street.   Construction began in 1911 and about a year later, on April 28, 1912, the cornerstone was laid  An orchestra played as the choir sang before a crowd of 8,000 onlookers.  Cardinal John Murphy Farley smoothed the mortar with a silver trowel and the stone was set in place.  Inside was a copper box containing a medal from Pope Pius, a copy of that morning's newspaper, and a parchment bearing the names of the Fathers of the Blessed Sacrament connected with the church. 

While some might have expected such an important architectural commission to go to one of Manhattan's more famous architectural firms, it had been awarded to Nicholas Seirracino.  Primarily a designer of ecclesiastical structures, he had just completed the Roman Catholic St. Clare's Church on West 36th Street a year earlier.

His monumental design drew inspiration from several Italian Renaissance churches.  A classical portico upheld by free-standing Corinthian columns sat above a wide staircase.  Just below and on either side of the twin bell towers stood trumpeting angels.  Completing the Renaissance design was the 172-foot tall dome.

Serracino's rendering won the Gold Medal at the International Exposition at Turin.  Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide, February 18, 1911 (copyright expired)

As construction continued, The New York Times reported on November 3, 1912, that Ryan's gift had significantly increased from the original $300,000 estimate.  "It will be one of the largest and most imposing Roman Catholic churches in America," it said, "accommodating 7,500 persons.  The cost will be about $1,000,000."  The newspaper noted that Ryan had "determined to build for the fathers a church of cathedral-like proportions and of the highest artistic beauty."  The completed Church of St. Jean Baptiste was dedicated on January 6, 1914.


The quiet devotions of worshipers were dramatically upset on the evening of November 30, 1918.   There were a few women in the church that night when two blocks away a gun-wielding man named Charles Georges ordered Dr. Richard Kovacs out of his automobile and then drove off with it.  The doctor hailed police who joined him in chasing the car.

When Georges ditched the car near the subway entrance at Lexington Avenue and 76th Street, the police began firing.  The thief shot back then rushed up the stone steps of the Church of St. Jean Baptiste.  The New York Times reported "The chase continued up the central isle and shooting went on as Georges climbed the stairs leading to the choir."  When Georges ran out of ammunition, he was subdued and arrested.

The newspaper added "After he had left with the police some of the women who had not become hysterical continued their prayers.  No one was injured."

Almost a year to the day later another disturbing incident took plate.  French-born Cecilia Simon was 33 years and worked as a maid in the home of William Geenough on East 56th Street.   She was said to be devout and attended mass every morning.

On Sunday November 23, 1919 Cecilia dropped her envelope into the collection plate.  Later when the envelopes were opened, hers did not contain cash, but a note saying she objected to certain items being placed on the altar.   She apparently kept watch, but none of her perceived offenses were corrected.

The following Saturday she left the Greenough house, telling another maid that she was "going out to do some good work; to smash some statuary."   A funeral service had just completed when Cecilia walked into the church and approached the altar.  Before anyone could stop her she "swept several costly pieces of statuary and candelabra from the altar to the floor," according to newspaper reports.  The damage amounted to about $3,000 (nearly $42,000 today).  She was arrested and taken to Bellevue Hospital for observation.


On May 29, 1921 the New-York Tribune reported stunning news.   Archbishop Patrick J. Hayes had returned from Rome, where he had petitioned the Holy See with an unlikely request--one which was granted.  At 4:00 that afternoon, said the article, St. Jean Baptiste would become a Major Basilica--the first in the United States.  As a matter of fact, it went on, only "three other churches, all of them in Rome, have been raised to the dignity of Major Basilica."

When the annual Novena to St. Ann opened on July 17, 1921 more than 5,000 persons were in attendance.  The New York Times reported that they "had the supposed relic, a bone of St. Ann, applied to their afflicted parts.  Some had only a headache, but others suffered from cancer, lameness, blindness and epilepsy."

The faithful related their miraculous stories of a year earlier.  "A boy of 8 appeared walking naturally before Father Pauzet and told him that he had been lame in one knee and had come to the shrine on crutches.  He had been instantly cured, he said.  A woman said that last year she had been cured of a growth; that all signs of this had since disappeared and now she had com again to give thanks.  Another woman said she had been instantly relieve a year ago of a bad sore throat."

With the new honor came a new altar--the costliest and second largest in the United States.  On October 30, 1921 the New-York Tribune reported that the $100,000 altar ($1.34 million in today's dollars) was set to be installed.

"The altar will be forty-seven feet high, twenty-eight feet wide, and twenty-six feet deep.  It is of Italian Renaissance design, the altar proper being approached by a flight of five steps of marble."   It was constructed in the United States by Gorham & Co., although the carvings were executed in Italy.   The central panel depicted a marble depiction of Di Vinci's "The Lord's Supper."  On either side were panels of St. Matthew and St. John. 

The massive altar was the most expensive in the U.S.  photo by James Primosh, via https://jamesprimosch.com/tag/church-of-st-jean-baptiste/

"Another base course is of Botticino marble, ornamented with mosaic panels containing ecclesiastic symbols, and the door of the Tabernacle is of bronze studded with precious and semi-precious stones.  The throne for the Monstrance is of bronze and is surmounted by adoring angels."  Above the altar rose the baldachino, supported by 12 red marble columns.  Mosaics of saints decorated the interior, and the canopy over the altar was made of velvet and ermine.

Over the years the magnificent church was the scene of elaborate funerals and fashionable weddings, but one of the most memorable and subdued was that of Thomas Fortune Ryan on November 26, 1928.  The tycoon had left an estate estimated at around $300 million, but he requested the simplest service that the church could perform.  The Times reported "A single priest officiated.  There was no eulogy, no honorary pallbearers, no flowers, except for a handful of red roses on the candlelit altar."

Millionaires and commoners crowded the church for Thomas Ryan's funeral.  photo from the collection of the Library of Congress

The church was packed--from titans of industry to servants from the Ryan household.  Among the mourners were J. P. Morgan, Otto H. Kahn, Charles M. Schwab, Elihu Root, Bernard Baruch, and Clarence H. Mackay.  There were politicians, like Senator Royal S. Copeland and James W. Gerard, former Ambassador to Germany.  Yet the entire service lasted only 25 minutes.

The congregation that had been formed to serve French speaking immigrants, most from Canada, had changed.   By the time of Ryan's funeral the membership included society leaders like Helena Woolworth McCann, the wife of millionaire attorney Charles E. F. McCann and daughter of Frank W. Woolworth.  Her funeral on March 18, 1938, was much less muted than Ryan's had been.  A solemn high mass of requiem was celebrated and floral tributes included two 8-foot crosses composed of lilies.

Cardinal Francis Joseph Spellman presided at the pontifical mass to celebrate the Church of St. Jean Baptiste's 75th anniversary on October 27, 1957.  The service included several monsignors and two auxiliary bishops.   The New York Times reminded its readers of the stark differences that had occurred since the church's beginnings.  "The parish's first mass was said above a still-existing stable at 202 East Seventy-seventh Street on Washington's Birthday in 1882."

It was not only the parish, but the neighborhood which had changed.  Following Vatican II masses in French were discontinued.  By now the rowhouses of Lexington Avenue had been replaced by the sprawling Lenox Hill Hospital complex or converted to shops and apartments.  It remained, nonetheless, an upscale neighborhood.  So it was surprising when a worshiper was attacked within the church on October 28, 1970.

Anna King, a 63-year old widow, attended mass every morning.   That day she visited the St. Anne Shrine in the lower chapel just after 8:30.  As she made her way back up the spiral staircase to the church proper, she was attacked by three teens who tried to wrest her purse from her.   She steadfastly refused to let go of the purse and the youths fled, but not before stabbing her four times in the back.

In 1989, after limestone chunks fell to the Lexington Avenue sidewalk, a $6 million restoration was initiated headed by the architectural firm of Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates.  The magnificent building was designated a landmark in 1969 by the recently-formed Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The Lost Minturn Mansion -- 60 Fifth Avenue

photo from "Old Buildings of New York" 1912, copyright expired

Robert Bowne Minturn was born into a life of privilege in 1805.  His father, William, was a wealthy merchant shipper and one of the founders of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company of New York.  But the War of 1812 changed the family’s circumstances.

Within a few years of the outbreak of the conflict Minturn and Champlin failed and Minturn’s fortune was wiped out.  Desolate, William Minturn became ill and died in 1818.  His 13-year old son Robert was determined to rise to the top again.

Within the year he found work as a clerk in the counting house of Charles Green; and became a partner six years later in 1825.  Robert’s sister, Sarah, had married Henry Grinnell in 1822 and in 1830 he entered the firm of Fish and Grinnell, a transatlantic shipping firm.  Two years later the firm was renamed Grinnell, Minturn & Co.

Robert further enhanced his ties with the company’s partners when he married Anna Mary Wendell in June 1835.  She was the daughter of John Lansing Wendell, also a partner.  By the mid 1840s the men had created a shipping empire whose fleet of 50 clippers sailed to every continent.  In little over 20 years the indomitable Robert Minturn had become one of New York’s richest citizens and one of its most influential businessmen.

Robert and Anna lived in one of the city’s most elegant neighborhoods—St. John’s Park.  But by the 1840s commerce was moving unsettlingly close.  In the meantime, in 1834, Henry Brevoort had started a new trend when he built the first mansion on what was still an unpaved Fifth Avenue.  Quickly the blocks north of Washington Square sprouted brownstone or brick mansions that rivaled one another for opulence.  The Minturns and the Grinnells would soon join the Fifth Avenue enclave.

In 1847 the Minturn mansion was completed.  It was a solemn brownstone cube that encompassed two building lots on the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 12^th Street.  A heavy cast iron fence guarded the mansion, behind which was an ample yard and a stone carriage house.  As was the case with even the most lavish mansions in 1847, there was no ostentation—the outward decoration being reserved for simple carved window framing and a slightly-projecting portico that supported a stone-balustraded balcony.

The house was completed just in time for debutante ball for granddaughter Edith.  That same year Robert bankrolled the construction of the $1.6 million clipper ship Flying Cloud.  It was the largest, most glorious vessel of its kind in the country.  The New-York Daily Tribune reported “she is expected to make the voyage to San Francisco in less than ninety days, and her appearance seems to justify these anticipations.”  A California newspaper proclaimed “Just think of eating butter in San Francisco on the heel of summer that was made in New York in May.”

 

Robert Bowne Minturn -- Booth's History of New York (copyright expired)

Soon after moving into the Fifth Avenue house, Robert Minturn initiated his male-only get-togethers on Thursday nights.  Wealthy businessmen, thinkers and politicians gathered to discuss current events and concerns.  Throughout the next decade the topic would often center round the shaky conditions of the Union; as well as the problem of the poor, and Anna Minturn’s passionate dream.

Mid-century Victorians enjoyed the promenade.  More than a casual stroll, the promenade was regulated by a strict protocol.  Small books and pamphlets were poured over by ladies and gentlemen alike to ensure no breach of promenade etiquette.   The Minturns and their wealthy neighbors promenaded in Washington Square and sometimes along the top of the massive Croton Reservoir at 42^nd Street.  But Anna Minturn had a grander idea.

In May 1848 the entire Minturn family (there were seven children) embarked on an 18-month tour abroad.  They visited England, Italy, Egypt, Jerusalem, Germany, Switzerland and France.   While in Europe Anna marveled at the sprawling manicured parks outfitted with decorative benches and ponds and handsome statuary. 

Upon the family’s return, Robert’s Thursday night meetings revolved around the idea of a central park modeled after the Bois de Boulogne or Hyde Park.  Uncharacteristically, Anna was allowed to add her voice to the male-only group.  She stressed that not only would a grand park provide a lovely space for the wealthy to stroll and drive; but it would provide a healthful environment for poor children and provide employment during its building.   The decision to create the Central Park was hastened by the Minturns’ donating the land.

Robert Minturn’s ancestors were Quakers and he was staunchly against slavery.  He reportedly traveled to the South to purchase slaves, simply to set them free.  According to Jean Zimmerman in her “Love, Fiercely: A Gilded Age Romance, “ Minturn also built a model apartment house for one hundred poor African-American families in what is now New York’s Chinatown.”  He and Anna were outspoken regarding the treatment of immigrants.  He donated generously to the Freedmen’s Association and helped found the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor.

On the 9^th of January, 1866 Robert Minturn “was seized with apoplexy, and expired in a few hours,” as recorded by historian Anne Ayres in 1880.  She wrote “Mr. Minturn, though actively engaged in commercial business, never wearied in works of practical benevolence.  His thoughtful head and large heart were given to such, with the greatest earnestness and sincerity, even in his hours of relaxation from the counting-house, and he was extensively occupied in helping forward or governing a vast variety of agencies for the benefit of the poor and afflicted.”

Dr. William Augustus Muhlenberg, the esteemed Episcopal minister, lamented “The loss seems irreparable.  Who can repair it?  Who now will be our foremost man in enterprises of good?  To whom now shall we go first in any new project of humanity?...Who will be his successor, with his adamantine integrity, in places where, alas, such virtue is rare?”

Anna Mary Minturn lived on in the mansion with her unmarried daughter.  Robert, the eldest son, and John took over their father’s business as partners.  John was described by The New York Times later as “a man of large wealth” who owned “a magnificent residence at Hastings-on-the-Hudson.”  But John’s health was not good.  He suffered constant headaches and “nervous prostration.”

In October 1880 John W. Minturn took his family to Europe “in the hope that rest and change of scene would restore his health,” according to The New York Times.  Although he returned to New York occasionally, he and his wife and children lived principally in Paris.

In April 1881 John returned to New York to conduct some business and stayed in the Fifth Avenue mansion.  He told his mother and sister “that his vacation had done him very little good thus far, but he had hopes of deriving benefit from a continuation of his residence abroad.”  Several times after his arrival he complained about his headaches.

Then, on the morning of April 30, 1881 John went to the offices of Grinnell, Minturn & Co. at 78 South Street.  He carried a large bundle under his arm.  The following day The New York Times reported “This is believed to have contained the revolver with which he afterward took his life—a weapon of the navy pattern, too large to be carried in the pocket.”

John Minturn had placed the muzzle of the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger at around 10:00 in the morning.  Mahlon D. Sands, who had been on the Gallia from France with Minturn told reporters “He has suffered indescribably, and while physical disorder was undoubtedly the primary cause of his troubles, mental disquietude resulted…He has been positively mad; there can be no question about that.”

Although Anna Minturn did not sell the mansion, before not too much longer she would no longer live there. 

In September 1886 New York society was a bit shocked when news arrived from London of the marriage of Civil War General Daniel Butterfield to Mrs. Frederick P. James.  “This was somewhat in the nature of a surprise to all but a few persons who were in the secret and who knew that during Gen. Butterfield’s administration of the estate of Mr. James, who died two years ago, he had developed a decided tendresse for the widow,” opined The New York Times on September 26.  The newspaper noted that “On their return to the city, which will be within a month or two, Gen. and Mrs. Butterfield will occupy Mrs. Minturn’s house at Fifth-avenue and Twelfth-street, which they have taken for the Winter.”

The three-month lease lasted for years.  In 1888 the Magazine of American History made note of the prominent neighbors.  Along with Thurlow Weed, who lived on the opposite side of 12^th Street, the magazine listed “General Winfield Scott, a few doors west in Twelfth Street…James Lenox, in Fifth Avenue, near by; Moses H. Grinnell, at the corner of Fourteenth Street and Fifth Avenue; and Jonathan Sturges, Richard M. Blatchford, and Robert H. Mccurdy, in Fourteenth Street, but a few doors from Fifth Avenue.”

 

While upscale carriages still travel along 5th Avenue, business buildings have already appeared.  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=24UAYWQNGW1Y&SMLS=1&RW=1280&RH=915

Two years later the Minturn mansion was put on the market.  Lower Fifth Avenue had, by now, changed.  Modern mansions of the Gilded Age were being built further up the avenue and commerce was closing in above Washington Square.  On June 15, 1890 The New York Times reported “The property at 60 Fifth Avenue, having a frontage of two full lots, was sold for $160,000.  This price would have been considered very low a few years ago, but since Fifth Avenue below Fourteenth Street is now well out of the line of travel it is quite as good a price as could be expected.”   The somewhat disappointing sale price would equate to about $4 million today.

The house became home to newlyweds Harry Le Grand Cannon and the former Elizabeth Mary Thompson of Detroit.  Their June 9, 1891 wedding was called by The New York Times “one of the important events of the kind that Summer.”  The pair would have two children—a boy and a girl.  The newspaper said that Cannon was “well known as a n artist, and especially so as a clubman.”

If entertainments in the mansion were understated while the Minturns lived here, they would be far less so now.  On January 13, 1893 225 guests filled the drawing rooms as Harry Le Grand Cannon hosted a “private salon concert” by the entire Boston Symphony Orchestra.  It was the second of a series of such events in the house.

“The large drawing rooms and adjacent halls of the mansion…proved admirably adapted to the large orchestra,” said The New York Times the following day.  The guest list included the most elite names in New York society, including “Fish, Havemeyer, Iselin, Kernochan, Sloane, Schuyler, Townsend Vanderbilt, Whitney, Oelrichs, Burden, Alexander, Clews and Mrs. John Minturn.

The beautiful young Elizabeth would shortly become a widow when Harry died on May 6, 1895.  Then in 1898 she remarried in Grace Church where “about 100 people, many of them prominent in New York society,” gathered “to witness one of the most fashionable and at the same time one of the most unostentatious church weddings of the year.”

Elizabeth married the wealthy widower, Theodore Frelinghuysen, Treasurer of the Coats Thread Company.  “The guests adjourned to the bride’s home, at 60 Fifth Avenue, where Mr. and Mrs. Frelinghuysen will probably live, and a wedding reception took place there,” said The New York Times.

Despite the changing neighborhood, millionaire Thomas Fortune Ryan purchased the old Minturn house and stable on February 13, 1901.  Ryan’s unlimited wealth was such that the following year he announced his intentions to built a cathedral in Richmond, Virginia in his wife’s name.  “In her home at 60 Fifth Avenue last evening, Mrs. Ryan said that work on the cathedral is to be begun soon,” said The New York Times on October 20, 1902.

Ryan was determined that his immediate neighborhood would not fall victim to the rising apartment buildings that were edging up Fifth Avenue.  He bought up the abutting properties, as well as the old Lenox mansion across the avenue, to protect his investment.  Ryan’s amassing of real estate around the mansion prompted The New York Times to remark on July 30, 1905, “The prospect that the lower end of Fifth Avenue will keep its present residential character has been greatly improved within the last two or three years.”

Ryan apparently leased the house to Mrs. George Lovett Kingsland that year.  The New York Times noted on January 14, 1906, “Mrs. George Lovett Kingsland…was Miss Helen S. Welles, a sister of Benjamin Wells, and a niece of Mrs Astor.  For some time she has occupied the old Minturn mansion.”

The Ryan family was back in the house by April 11, 1909 when son Joseph J. Ryan was arrested for speeding.  “Mr. Ryan was driving a racing machine on Broadway, near Dyckman Street, when arrested.  He seemed surprised when told he was going nineteen miles an hour when Policeman Echols of the West 152d Street Station arrested him.  He gave a diamond ring as security for his appearance in court to-day,” reported The New York Times the following day.  As it turned out, the millionaire’s son did not appear.  His lawyer claimed that young Ryan was “too ill to appear.” 

That same year Thomas Fortune Ryan shocked members of the Washington Square Association when he gave up on Lower Fifth Avenue.  He moved his family to 858 Fifth Avenue, far uptown.  The Ryans held onto the property until April 1915 when it was sold to the 11 West Twelfth Street Company.  Robert E. Dowling, head of the company, told reporters “the old corner house was being torn down because it was not suitable to the neighborhood and it was a waste to pay taxes on the old building.”

The Macmillan Company building survives as the Forbes building today -- from the collection of the New York Public Library

Within months the property was purchased by the Macmillan Company which built its stoic, no-nonsense headquarters building designed by Carrere & Hastings and Shreve & Lamb in 1924.  Now the Forbes Magazine Building, it survives today.

The 1896 Yerkes Carriage House -- No. 149 East 69th St.

In the last decade of the 19^th century grand mansions arose along Fifth Avenue across from Central Park.  Along with the marble or limestone palaces came the need for private stables to house the several vehicles of the millionaires, their horses and their grooms.

The block of East 69^th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues was close enough that the wealthy homeowners would not wait long for their carriages; but far enough away that the noise and smells would not intrude on their refined lifestyles.  Little by little the block became lined with handsome carriage houses.  Despite their utilitarian purpose, the private stables of Manhattan’s wealthiest citizens were designed to impress.

Among them was the carriage house of Charles T. Yerkes.  The Chicago financier and street railway tycoon laid plans to move to New York City in 1895.   He began construction of a mansion at No. 864 Fifth Avenue, between 67^th and 68^th Street which a Chicago newspaper called a “palace.”  Adjoining the house was a connected private art gallery.  Simultaneously his carriage house on East 69^th Street began taking form.

Architect Frank Drischler married two stories of hefty Romanesque Revival  with a third floor influenced by Flemish Renaissance to create a picturesque structure.    The no-nonsense stone base supported a stocky arched opening at the second floor.    A peaked gable protruding from the slate-tiled roof was lined with zig-zagging limestone, hinting at the stair-stepped gables of the Dutch.  Above a quaint Romanesque arcade three vents were positioned like dove cotes.  On this level was residential space for Yerkes’s grooms or coachman.  Above it all a copper ventilation tower provided an old-world charm.

The carriage house was completed in 1896, just in time for Yerkes’ relocation to Manhattan.   On December 28, 1896 a Chicago newspaper reported that “Charles T. Yerkes’s ambitious plan to shake the dust of Chicago off his shoes and go to New York to live seems about to be realized.”

Charles T. Yerkes --  Catalogue of paintings and sculpture in the collection of Charles T. Yerkes, New York, 1904 (copyright expired)

Charles Yerkes died in 1905.  His property, including the Fifth Avenue mansion and the carriage house, were the property of his widow, Mary.    She stayed on in the house for another five years, then in April 1910 offered the mansion, art gallery and carriage house at auction.   The New York Times reported on April 12, 1910 that “The Yerkes stable…was purchased by Robert E. Dowling for $29,600.”

Dowling also purchased the Yerkes art gallery.  His interest in the property was purely as an investment and within the month he resold it to Thomas Fortune Ryan.  Ryan first purchased the gallery, then on May 3, added the carriage house.

Ryan made his staggering fortune—his estate would be estimated at more than $200 million—in tobacco and transportation.   By this time the modern-thinking Ryan was more interested in motor cars than carriages and he set to work having the Yerkes stables converted to a garage.

Ryan went straight to the top of the architectural heap and hired Carrere & Hastings to do the renovations.   The firm’s masterful New York Public Library was just being completed, and within the past year or two it had designed the Alfred I. DuPont mansion, the Payne Mansion in Espous, New York, and the Administration Building of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

But for Thomas Fortune Ryan Carrere & Hastings would renovate a garage.   The remodeling cost Ryan $18,400—about $350,000 today.   No noticeable changes were done to Drischler’s exterior design.  The focus of the renovations was the installation of a new interior elevator, boiler, gasoline tanks and pumps.

In 1946, eighteen years after Ryan’s death, builders Sidney and Arthur Diamond purchased the garage.   A year earlier the pair had purchased the double-wide private garage of James A. Stillman further down the block.  The Times reported that “The building originally was the private stables and riding circle of Mr. Stillman, who converted it into a garage where he later kept a collection of automobiles.”

They followed that purchase, the same year, with the acquisition of the former stable of Ernest Iselin.  A pattern was emerging.    By March 27, 1955 with the purchase of the former private garage of Ruth Vanderbilt Twombly, the Diamonds owned the abutting former stables stretching from No. 137 to 161 East 69^th Street.

The end of the road for the charming row of former carriage houses seemed inevitable.  The New York Times remarked “The builders are not ready to announce plans for the disposition of the property.  It is quite certain, however, that any improvement planned for the parcel would involve the demolition of the present structures.”

Yet the anticipated demolition did not come about.  In 1956 Photo-Library Galleries moved into the old Yerkes carriage house, along with Pinney Beecher, a commercial photography, art and design firm.   The Photo-Library Galleries staged exhibitions, like the July 1958 “Music In Pictures” show “of more than 500 photographic record album covers;” called by The New York Times “examples of typical work being produced in this fast growing new field.”

In 1971 plans were filed to renovate the structure into a photographic studio on the ground floor and a single residence above.  By 1978 the photographic studio had been replaced with a personal garage.

The former stables lines up with carriages houses of other 19th century millionaires to form a charming row.

Today the handsome carriage house remains a single-family home.  At street level a garage, library and recreation room share the space where Charles Yerkes’s horses and landaus were once housed.

photographs taken by the author

The Emma Lazarus House -- 18 West 10th Street

In 1854 the Wall Street banking firm of Winslow, Lanier & Co. had made millionaires of its principals.   The senior member of the firm was James Winslow, whose wife, Margaret, was the niece of founding partner James F. D. Lanier.

The 10^th Street block between Fifth and Sixth Avenues was becoming more and more fashionable as the mansions of New York’s wealthiest citizens crept northward along Fifth Avenue.  Impressive residences replaced earlier modest Federal style homes as the affluent Fifth Avenue neighborhood spilled onto the side streets.

That year a pair of grand brick town house was begun at Nos. 52 and 54 (renumbered 14 and 16 West 10th in 1868).  Completed a year later, No. 54 was purchased by Lanier.  As the Lanier family moved in, a new home was begun next door at No. 56.  It would become the residence of the Winslows.

The Winslow mansion was completed in 1856, an exceptionally handsome Italianate-style residence that rose four floors above an English basement.  The architect distinguished the structure with a basement and parlor level base of brownstone that supported the brick upper stories.

The most striking feature was the three arched openings of the parlor level.  The two floor-to-ceiling windows shared identical proportions with the entranceway—creating unusual symmetry and appeal.  Rather surprisingly, instead of the expected Italianate scrolled brackets below the cornice, the architect reverted to the more outdated dentiled cornice and fascia found on Greek Revival homes.  Nearly a century later, the AIA Guide to New York City would dub the mansion, "serene."

The parlor level featured windows that matched the proportions of the entrance.

The Winslows lived in the house for only three years.  In 1859 it was purchased by Dr. George H. Humphreys and his wife, May.  As had been the case with the Winslows, the deed was put in the wife’s name, a common practice to ensure the financial stability of the widow should the income-earner die.

Although the Humphreys held on to the property until 1880, it appears they rented it for at least one year.  In 1879, George and Harriet Hammond were living here when their son was born in the house on November 6.

The following year the Humphreys sold the house to John E. Devlin.  The importer was president of John E. Devlin & Co. and a director of the Houston, West Street and Pavonia Ferry Company; and of the Guardian Fire Insurance Company.  Devlin sold the house in the fashionable neighborhood just three years later, in 1883, to wealthy sugar merchant Moses Lazarus, a member of the firm Johnson & Lazarus.

Lazarus had retired in 1865 with what The New York Times deemed, “a very large fortune.”  Now 67 years old, his health was not good.

Lazarus’ daughter, Emma who was already established as a poet, was no doubt pleased with the location.  The block was filled with artists, sculptors, writers and poets.  Two doors away lived painter John La Farge, and at No. 51 was the renowned Tenth Street Studio Building where artists like Albert Bierstadt, Winslow Homer and William Merritt Chase worked.

The treatment of the cornice, while handsome, was unexpectedly outdated.

Emma sailed for Europe just weeks after the family moved in.   At the time, Richard Morris Hunt’s pedestal for the Statue of Liberty was already half completed and in Paris the statue was ready to ship.  In order to erect it, all that was needed now was the raising of the necessary funds.

In May, while Emma was still abroad, J. Carroll Beckwith and William Merritt Chase, both instructors at the Art Students League, agreed to organize a fund-raising art exhibition for the statue.  In conjunction, writer Constance Cary Harrison asked two poets—one of them Emma Lazarus—to pen short verses for its opening.

Harrison would later recall, “I begged Miss Lazarus to give me some verses appropriate to the occasion.  She was at first inclined to rebel against writing anything ‘To order’ as it were.”  Nevertheless, she completed, “The New Colossus,” a sonnet to Liberty Enlightening the World, in time for the exhibition’s opening on December 3, 1883.  After that night, Emma Lazarus’s stirring poem was largely forgotten.

On March 9, 1885, Moses Lazarus died in the house on West 10^th Street from “a complication of diseases,” according to The New York Times.  The esteemed Jewish businessman had obtained memberships in some of the most exclusive clubs in town, a highly unusual achievement at the time.

That year Emma set off on another visit to Europe.  When she returned to New York in September 1887, she was seriously ill.  On November 20, The Sun reported, “Miss Emma Lazarus, the well-known poet, translator, and general writer for the magazines, died yesterday at 18 West Tenth street, in this city, which was the home of her parents who are both dead.”

Emma Lazarus was 36-years old.  Although newspapers reported that she “had been ill for about a year, though death was due to a recent development of congestion of the lungs,” it is now believed she died of Hodgkin’s lymphoma.  The funeral took place in the house the following morning.

The Sun noted, “Miss Lazarus was one of the leading woman writers of the age, a great and strong writer, and despite the fact that death came to her just as she had reached her prime, she had gained a place and made a mark in literature far above the achievements of many eminent lives well rounded by age.”

Ironically, Lazarus’s longest-lasting achievement would be her overlooked sonnet “The New Colossus.”  When the Statue of Liberty was opened the year after her death, the poem played no part in the ceremony.  Not until 1903, when the text was mounted in bronze on the pedestal, would the poem become forever linked with the monument.

The monument, intended as an embodiment of personal freedom and democracy, transformed Emma Lazarus’s poem to a symbol of immigration and welcome.

The Lazarus family sold the house in May 1889 to stock broker Henry B. Livingston, a member of one of New York’s oldest and most respected families.  Livingston was a partner in the firm of Lee, Livingston & Co., a member of the New York Stock Exchange.  Like Moses Lazarus, he was a member of the Knickerbocker and Union Clubs.

The Livingston house was the scene of expected social entertainments.  On December 7, 1895, The New York Times reported, “Among the social incidents to-day will be [a reception by] Mrs. Henry R. Livingston, 18 West Tenth Street.”

That event was a tea given for Angelica Livingston who was making her debut and was it was deemed by the newspaper to be one “of the largest” of the season.

The original, exquisite Victorian window grills survive at the basement openings.

In 1900, the Livingstons leased the house to banker Edwin M. Post, a member of the firm Thomas & Post.  Born in Cincinnati, the wealthy financier was also President and director of the Express Coal Line and Georgia Car Co.; vice-president and director of the Southern Iron Car Line; and secretary-treasurer and director of the Manhattan Car Trust Co.; among other positions.

Post was in the house only a year, and in 1901 it was rented by Mrs. Charles Lea.  The widowed Mrs. Lea used the mansion not only for meetings of her favorite social group, the Junior Thursday Evening Club, but for debutante events for daughter Marjorie that year.

On January 11 Angelica Schuyler Church gave a luncheon “of twelve covers” in Marjorie’s honor.  It was quickly followed by two coming-out receptions in the 10^th Street house, the second being held on January 25.

On March 21, the Junior Thursday Evening Club had a symposium in the house “where several members of the Comedy Club gave a little play,” reported The New York Times the following day. 

Mrs. Lea and her daughter moved on when, in August of that year, Henry B. Livingston sold the house to John Barry Ryan and his wife, Nina.  Fortune was the son of the immensely wealthy Thomas Fortune Ryan, a prominent financier.

John Ryan had grown up in the family mansion at the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 12^th Street.  His mother, the former Ida M. Barry of Baltimore, died on October 17, 1917 and, much to the surprise and shock of the family, his father married Mrs. Cornelius C. Cuyler, “a prominent society woman of New York,” according to The New York Times, just twelve days later.

The newspaper said “John Barry Ryan, who lives at 18 West Tenth Street, would make no comment on his father’s marriage.”  It added, “As far as could be learned last night, none of their families or friends even knew that they contemplated marriage.”

The Ryans would rear four sons and a daughter in the house, not all of whom would bring welcomed publicity to the family.  John Barry Ryan’s personal fortune was greatly increased upon the death of his father on November 23, 1928.  Thomas Fortune Ryan left an estate of over $200 million, about one-fifth of which went to John.

That same year daughter Adele met nightclub entertainer Robert Johnston and his wife in Cape Antibes, France.  There was an immediate attraction and when Johnstons traveled to London the following winter, Adele decided to visit her sister there.  Johnston was entertaining at the Night Life Club, of which the Prince of Wales was a member. 

Adele visited the Johnstons during the day at their Pall Mall house and would come to the club in the evenings.  The constant attention got on the nerves of the entertainer’s wife who complained that Adele wrote frequently to her husband and “willfully” tried to break up their marriage by sending him gifts.

When the Johnstons returned to the their New York home nearby at 41 West 11^th Street, Adele continued her pursuit of Johnson and “induced Mr. Johnston to accompany her on trips to Boston and on Oct. 3 [1929] persuaded him to escort her to the Park Chambers Hotel…and to register with her as ‘Robert Johnston and wife,’” as reported in The New York Times.

Johnston left his wife and moved into the house next door to the Ryans, at No. 16 West 10^th.   The family’s name was scandalously in the headlines when Muriel Johnston filed a $500,000 suit “for the loss of her husband’s affections.”

In June that same year, Adele’s brother, Thomas Fortune Ryan 2^nd, was arrested in France as he prepared to sail to New York.  He was charged with issuing checks for $2,600 without having the funds to back them.  Then he upset the family further by marrying the divorcee, Mrs. Margaret Moorehead Rea in Sheridan, Wyoming.   The marriage was kept generally quiet, but young Ryan displayed an uncanny ability to appear in the newspapers.

In March 1930, he drove his automobile into a truck, resulting in a slight skull fracture.  Seven months later, in October he obtained a divorce “on the ground of desertion.”  On June 27, 1931 the 32-year old was in love again and secretly married the 23-year old divorcee Mrs. Mayme Cook Masters.

John Barry Ryan had had his fill.  On August 12, The New York Times reported that “News of the ceremony leaked out and rumors had been current since that Ryan’s parents planned to have the marriage annulled.”

The newspaper said on August 11 “Forced to choose…between his father’s millions and his bride of six weeks, Thomas Fortune Ryan 2d today declared that he had refused to give up his wife and therefore had been disinherited by his father, John Barry Ryan of New York.”

In the meantime, perhaps to ensure the quality of the block around his residence, John Barry Ryan purchased the three adjoining houses at Nos. 18, 20 and 22 that year.

Before long it would be John Barry Ryan rather than his children who were bringing unwanted publicity to West 10^th Street.  The Ryans left the house in 1930, apparently in an effort to evade warrant servers and collection agents.

In 1932, Ryan was accused of “hiding or evading service of a suit in the Plaza Hotel” and by April 1933 his property was being seized to satisfy judgments against him.

Amazingly, the man who had inherited millions was now skirting servers.  Two of his automobiles had been seized and on April 23 The New York Times reported that “representatives of Milton Eisenberg, attorney for W. Rossiter Redmond, who was appointed receiver for Mr. Ryan’s property on Thursday, failed in their second attempt to station custodians in the Ryan home at 18 West Tenth Street here, where there are paintings and objects of art valued at about $1,000,000.”

Indeed Ryan had filled the house (which was sitting unoccupied and guarded by the Holmes Electric Protective Company) with an impressive collection, including busts by Houdon.  His financial problems plagued him for years to come.  The Government filed an income tax lien against him for $210,916.74 in 1937 and another in 1938.

John Barry Ryan died in 1942 and three years later Nina sold the house.  In reporting the sale, The New York Times said, “This is one of the picturesque old brick dwellings for which that neighborhood long was known, and is one of the few remaining in its original appearance, without remodeling.  It dates back about a century.”  The newspaper noted, “It was acquired by the Ryan family in 1901 and occupied as their home until 1930, but has been vacant since then.”

The amazingly-unaltered house was purchased by attorney Charles Abrams and his wife, artist Ruth Abrams.  The visionary urban planner and housing expert created the New York Housing Authority and was one of the first to use the expression “Socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor.”

At some point the carved moldings framing the upper story windows were shaved flat, but no other significant changes were made to the house.  While Charles worked on housing projects, Ruth pursued her artistic career.  She was Art Director at the Research Association of The New School between 1965 and 1966.

 Abrams died of cancer in the house in 1970.  Ruth lived on in the house until her death in March 1986, after which a New York Times critic called her, “a woman unfairly neglected in a macho era.”

In 1996, the basement level was converted to a separate apartment, however today the upper floors remain a single-family house.  The 28-foot wide residence is an elegant remnant of old West 10^th Street, and the place where the author of one of America’s most moving poems once lived.

photos by the author