Lucy Drexel Dahlgren House
Lucy Drexel Dahlgren House | |
New York City Landmark No. 1267
| |
Ogden Codman, Jr. | |
Architectural style | French Renaissance[2] |
---|---|
NRHP reference No. | 89000946[1] |
NYCL No. | 1267 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | July 20, 1989 |
Designated NYCL | June 19, 1984[3] |
The Lucy Drexel Dahlgren House is a historic home located at 15
Site
The Lucy Drexel Dahlgren House is at 15 East 96th Street in the Carnegie Hill and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, abutting East Harlem.[2][4] It is on the northern side of 96th Street between Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue.[5] The rectangular land lot covers 3,784 sq ft (351.5 m2), with a frontage of 37.5 ft (11.4 m) on 96th Street and a depth of 100.92 ft (30.76 m).[4][5]
The Dahlgren House is one of three structures on the same city block designed by
Architecture
The house was designed by Ogden Codman Jr. in the
Facade
The facade along 96th Street is 3+1⁄2 stories tall and is divided vertically into three
The lowest part of the facade includes a 2-foot-high (0.61 m) smooth-granite
The second floor is treated as a
The windows on the third story are shorter than those on the second story.
Vehicular entrance
Unlike in other American residences (but similarly to some French residences), the house's main entrance did not lead directly into the house.[9] Instead, the western side of the house's ground floor includes a porte-cochère, outdoor courtyard, and garage. The double doors on the main facade connect with the porte-cochère, a long, narrow space that measures 35.08 feet (10.69 m) long. Its pavement is composed of pale orange bricks in a herringbone pattern, flanked by granite steps on both sides. The porte-cochère's walls are composed of a smooth granite base, above which is a limestone surface with alternating recessed panels and rusticated strips; a granite band; and limestone crown moldings. On the right wall is a granite step leading up to the house's main entrance, which is through a set of glass double doors. The porte-cochère has a painted plaster ceiling. At the end of the porte-cochère are two bollards under a segmental arch,[22] which in turn leads to the interior courtyard.[10][16]
The courtyard measures 45 feet (14 m) long and has a pale-orange brick pavement, similar to the porte-cochère. On the eastern side of the courtyard is a brick facade with limestone trim. Protruding from the courtyard's facade is a pavilion shaped similarly to three of an octagon's sides. This pavilion contains
Interior
There are 37 rooms.[10][26] The interior has eleven bathrooms and seven fireplaces.[26] The upper stories could be reached either by an elevator, a servant's stair at the rear of the house, or the stair at the front of the house.[27]
First and second floors
The entry from the porte-cochère leads to a rectangular vestibule with floors made of
To the south of the first-floor hall are paneled double doors leading to a rectangular reception room,
On the second floor, or piano nobile, is a double-height north-south hall that is similar in design to that on the first floor. The hallway's west wall includes a balcony that overlooks the courtyard.[30] At the south end of the hallway is a double-height drawing room/library with English oak floors, a paneled dado, wall panels, and a plaster cornice and coved ceiling. The drawing room has a fireplace, and French doors on the south wall. The console of a player organ manufactured by Estey was originally against the north wall of this room.[31] The organ was installed in 1916 and later expanded to three manuals. It was restored in the late 1990s, when it was believed to be the last player organ in New York City, and placed in storage in the 2000s.[11] The northern end of the hallway includes an elevator vestibule with a barrel vault, which is decorated similarly to the vestibule on the first floor.[31] This vestibule leads to a polygonal dining room with a double-height ceiling[19][32] and two fountains.[10][26] The dining room has terrazzo floors with marble borders, in addition to niches with wine coolers.[19] The dining room's east wall contains an English oak buffet, while the north wall has doors leading to a pantry and kitchen. There is a mezzanine above the pantry and kitchen area, which includes three servants' bedrooms, a bathroom, and a closet.[32]
Upper stories
There are bedrooms on the third and fourth floors, On the third floor, there is an octagonal sitting room in the center; two large master bedrooms at the front; and two smaller bedrooms and a bathroom to the north.[19][27] The larger of the two master bedrooms (at the southeast corner) has white oak floors, a dado, plaster walls, a cornice, and a painted plaster ceiling. This master bedroom has a bathroom and dressing areas with mirrored walls. The sitting room also has a white oak floor, dado, and plaster walls and ceiling; there is a marble fireplace mantel on the room's north wall.[27]
The fourth floor or attic originally had two master bedrooms at the front, an octagonal bedroom in the middle, and three rear bedrooms.
The fifth floor originally had seven additional servants' bedrooms, in addition to a laundry room and an echo chamber for the second-floor organ.[19] As part of a 1988 renovation, a chapel at the front of the fifth floor became a solarium, the formerly separate rooms were combined into a single exhibition gallery space, and two bathrooms were added. The fifth floor retains some original details, but the original concrete floors have since been clad with oak.[34] The sixth floor was initially a laundry room and has unglazed ceramic tiles.[34]
History
1900s to 1930s
The Dahlgren House was built as part of a development boom in Carnegie Hill at the beginning of the 20th century, spurred by the development of business magnate
Lucy Wharton Drexel Dahlgren, the daughter of financier Joseph William Drexel and his wife Lucy Wharton Drexel, had inherited $22 million from her father after his death in 1888[9] and another $5 million following her mother's death in 1912.[37] She originally lived ar 812 Madison Avenue in New York City.[9] When Dahlgren filed for divorce from her husband, Eric Bernard Dahlgren Sr., in 1912,[11][37] she moved to Paris with their eight children.[37] While in Paris, Lucy Dahlgren met the architect Ogden Codman Jr., who persuaded her to buy a site at 15 West 96th Street near to his own house.[38] Dahlgren purchased the site in February 1915[39] from Edward Shearson.[36][40] That June, Codman filed plans for "a high-class residence" on the site, which was to cost $75,000 and rise six stories.[41] The structure was constructed between 1915 and 1916,[42][38] and it was reported as almost finished by July 1916.[43]
Dahlgren spent little time in the house.[38][44] She split her time between the 96th Street house, Newport in Rhode Island, Florence, and Paris. Dahlgren is last recorded as having lived there in 1922.[45] The house was next occupied by Pierre Cartier.[2][45][44] As early as 1921, he is recorded as having leased the house from Dahlgren;[46][47] Cartier ultimately bought it from Dahlgren in 1927.[45][46] He mainly lived in a 35-room mansion on 19 acres (7.7 ha) of land that he owned in Roslyn Harbor, New York, and used the 96th Street house as an urban pied-à-terre.[48] Cartier hired Francis Verpillerux c. 1931 to renovate the house's interiors;[49] these renovations included modifications to the fourth-floor bedrooms.[33]
1940s to present
In 1945, on his retirement, Cartier sold the house to the St. Francis de Sales Roman Catholic Church.[11][48] Cartier, who had sold off his Roslyn Harbor mansion the previous year, relocated to Geneva in upstate New York with his wife.[48] The church used the house as a convent for the nuns who taught at its parochial school.[11][48]
In 1981, the church sold the house to the businessman Barry Trupin for $3 million. Trupin refurbished its mechanical systems.[26] The businessman Paul Singer bought the house circa 1987 for $5.7 million.[26] Singer began restoring the house with the intention of creating a museum of late 19th- and early 20th-century furniture and objets d'art.[26][50] Thompson/Robinson/Toraby Architects restored the facade between 1988 and 1989.[51] The three rear bedrooms on the fourth floor were combined as part of this renovation, while the fifth floor was converted into a gallery and offices.[52] After a resale, it was comprehensively restored in 2004.[10] The house remained a private residence in the early 21st century.[19]
The house was designated a
See also
- List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 59th to 110th Streets
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan from 59th to 110th Streets
References
Citations
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19538-386-7. p. 462
- ^ a b Landmarks Preservation Commission 1984, p. 1.
- ^ a b c d e f g National Park Service 1989, p. 2.
- ^ a b c "1009 Fifth Avenue, 10028". New York City Department of City Planning. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
- ^ from the original on October 9, 2023. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ISBN 978-0-470-28963-1.
- ^ a b c Landmarks Preservation Commission 1984, p. 10.
- ^ a b c d e f g Kathrens 2013, p. 179.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4384-3769-9.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Mrs. Lucy Drexel Dahlgren Residence / Pierre Cartier Residence". The New York City Organ Project. American Guild of Organists, New York City Chapter. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ a b c d Kathrens 2013, pp. 179–181.
- ^ Landmarks Preservation Commission 1984, p. 10; National Park Service 1989, p. 2.
- ^ Landmarks Preservation Commission 1984, p. 11; National Park Service 1989, pp. 2–3.
- ^ a b c d e f National Park Service 1989, p. 3.
- ^ a b c d Landmarks Preservation Commission 1984, p. 10; National Park Service 1989, p. 3.
- ^ a b c Landmarks Preservation Commission 1984, p. 11; National Park Service 1989, pp. 3–4.
- ^ a b c National Park Service 1989, p. 4.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kathrens 2013, p. 181.
- ^ a b c d Landmarks Preservation Commission 1984, p. 11.
- ^ a b Landmarks Preservation Commission 1984, p. 11; National Park Service 1989, p. 4.
- ^ National Park Service 1989, p. 5.
- ^ National Park Service 1989, pp. 5–6.
- ^ from the original on December 9, 2023. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ National Park Service 1989, pp. 6–7.
- ^ from the original on December 9, 2023. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ a b c d National Park Service 1989, pp. 12–13.
- ^ National Park Service 1989, pp. 7–8.
- ^ a b c d National Park Service 1989, pp. 8–9.
- ^ National Park Service 1989, pp. 9–10.
- ^ a b National Park Service 1989, pp. 10–11.
- ^ a b National Park Service 1989, pp. 11–12.
- ^ a b c National Park Service 1989, pp. 14–15.
- ^ a b National Park Service 1989, pp. 15–16.
- ^ Landmarks Preservation Commission 1984, p. 3; National Park Service 1989, p. 21.
- ^ a b Landmarks Preservation Commission 1984, p. 4; National Park Service 1989, p. 22.
- ^ a b c Landmarks Preservation Commission 1984, pp. 4–5; National Park Service 1989, pp. 22–23.
- ^ a b c Landmarks Preservation Commission 1984, p. 5; National Park Service 1989, p. 23.
- ^ "The Real Estate Field" (PDF). The New York Times. February 19, 1915.
- ^ "Mrs. Dahlgren May Buy". The Real Estate Record: Real estate record and builders' guide. Vol. 95, no. 2449. February 20, 1915. p. 294. Archived from the original on December 11, 2023. Retrieved December 28, 2023 – via columbia.edu.
- ^ "Ogden Codman Plans Residence". The Real Estate Record: Real estate record and builders' guide. Vol. 95, no. 2464. June 5, 1915. p. 978. Archived from the original on December 11, 2023. Retrieved December 28, 2023 – via columbia.edu.
- ^ LaFrank, Kathleen (January 1989). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Lucy Drexel Dahlgren House". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Archived from the original on October 19, 2012. Retrieved March 25, 2011. See also: "Accompanying 31 photos". Archived from the original on October 19, 2012. Retrieved March 28, 2011.
- ^ "Private Homes on Carnegie Hill; Northern Boundary of Fifth Avenue's Desirable Section Showing Genuine Activity". The New York Times. July 23, 1916. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-470-28963-1.
- ^ a b c Landmarks Preservation Commission 1984, p. 5.
- ^ from the original on December 9, 2023. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ "Society Notes". New-York Tribune. December 3, 1921. p. 11. Archived from the original on December 10, 2023. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ a b c d Landmarks Preservation Commission 1984, p. 6.
- ^ National Park Service 1989, p. 19.
- ^ Reif, Rita (September 27, 1991). "Auctions: La Belle Epoque". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 9, 2023. Retrieved December 28, 2023.
- ^ "15 East 96th Street". Darius Toraby Architects P.C. Archived from the original on December 10, 2023. Retrieved December 10, 2023.
- ^ National Park Service 1989, p. 15.
Sources
- Historic Structures Report: Lucy Drexel Dahlgren House (PDF) (Report). National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service. June 19, 1989.
- Kathrens, Michael C. (2013). Great Houses of New York, 1880–1940. Great Houses of New York. Acanthus Press. ISBN 978-0-926494-80-0.
- Mohylowski, Edward T. (June 19, 1984). Lucy D. Dahlgren House Designation Report (PDF) (Report). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.