Lucy Drexel Dahlgren House | |
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| Location | 15 East 96th Street Manhattan,New York City |
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| Coordinates | 40°47′16″N73°57′16″W / 40.78778°N 73.95444°W /40.78778; -73.95444 |
| Built | 1915–1916; 109 years ago (1916) |
| Architect | 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] |
TheLucy Drexel Dahlgren House is a historic home located at 15East 96th Street betweenFifth andMadison Avenues inManhattan,New York City. It is on the border between theCarnegie Hill,Upper East Side, andEast Harlem neighborhoods on theUpper East Side, within theUpper East Side Historic District. A private house used at one time as a convent, it was built in 1915–16 forLucy Wharton Drexel Dahlgren. It is aNew York City Landmark and is on theNational Register of Historic Places.
The Lucy Drexel Dahlgren House is at 15 East 96th Street in theCarnegie Hill andUpper East Side neighborhoods ofManhattan inNew York City, abuttingEast Harlem.[2][4] It is on the northern side of96th Street betweenFifth Avenue andMadison Avenue.[5] The rectangularland 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 byOgden Codman Jr.[4][6] The others includeCodman's own residence at 7 East 96th Street, which he had built in 1912–13,[6][7] as well as the Carnegie Hill School building at 12 East 96th Street.[8] Codman also designed plans for houses at 9 and 11 East 96th Street,[6] which were not constructed.[8][9] The remaining buildings on the adjacent city block of 96th Street are mostly apartment buildings.[4] Other nearby structures include theMrs. Amory S. Carhart House andErnesto and Edith Fabbri House to the south, as well as theSt. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral to the north.[2][5]
The house was designed by Ogden Codman Jr. in theFrench Renaissance Revival[2][4] orBeaux Arts styles,[10][11] emulating a 19th-century French townhouse.[2][12] It has a rectangularmassing and is5+1⁄2 stories high.[4] TheAIA Guide to New York City describes it as "magisterial" and "disciplined",[2] while the author Michael C. Kathrens describes the house as "suave and sophisticated, with details crisply expressed".[9]
The facade along 96th Street is3+1⁄2 stories tall and is divided vertically into threebays.[8] The facade is largely symmetrical and contains classical ornamentation.[4] It is roughly divided horizontally into three parts: the ground story, the next two stories, and the attic.[13] It is faced withrusticated limestone blocks decorated withbas-relief swags of vegetation.[10][12] On the second and third stories, the rusticated blocks are interspersed with windows surrounded by recessed limestone panels, which give the appearance ofpilasters rising to the attic.[14]
The lowest part of the facade includes a 2-foot-high (0.61 m) smooth-granitewater table, with granite posts flanking each bay.[15] At the first floor are threesegmental arches; the central and eastern arches contain inset ashlar blocks surrounding a set ofcasement windows topped bytransom panes. Both of these windows have wooden frames and wrought-iron grilles,[16] in addition to protrudingwindow sills made of limestone.[15] The westernmost segmental arch contains a set of double wooden doors with moldings and panels.[9][16] Among the motifs on the doors areswags andtoruses with berries andbay leaves.[15] On the main facade above the first floor is aband course withfascia, which protrudes slightly from the center bay.[16]
The second floor is treated as apiano nobile with tall windows.[15] At the second floor is a central balcony supported byvolutes in the Louis XIV style;[10][17] the balcony is made of limestone and has an elaborate wrought-iron railing.[18] The central second-floor window is aFrench door.[12] The French door is surrounded by a limestone surround with fascia and is flanked byconsole brackets, which support a segmentally archedpediment.[17][19] The outer windows on the second story have wrought-iron railings and recessed limestone panels on each side.[12][17] All three second-story openings are casement windows with transoms and wrought-iron guards.[20] Above each of these windows is a recessedspandrel panel made of limestone, with bas-reliefs of various motifs.[18]
The windows on the third story are shorter than those on the second story.[15] Each third-story opening is flat[20] and contains a casement window with transoms. The sills beneath each third-story window have "feet" and a carved swag.[21] The attic is set off by protruding limestonecornice[15] and a limestoneband course right above it.[20] On the attic are threedormer windows set within amansard roof made of slate; the dormer windows were intended to mirror the arrangement of the lower stories' bays.[19][21] Within each dormer window is a casement, a transom window, and a limestone surround.[20] Above the left and right walls of the house are rectangular chimneys that adjoin the apartment buildings on either side of the house.[18]
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 aporte-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 aherringbone 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 twobollards 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 containsFrench doors at the first and second stories, while the upper floors have casement with transom windows. In addition, there is a glass and wrought-iron door on the eastern wall to the left of the protruding pavilion, while there is a protruding bay with a French door to the right of that pavilion. A brick wall measuring about 7 feet (2.1 m) tall runs along the west or left side of the courtyard. On the north or rear side are sliding oak doors which measure 7.83 feet (2.39 m) wide and lead to the garage in the rear.[23] The house is one of a relative few in Manhattan with a garage.[24] The garage contains an automobile turntable,[9][11][24] which measures about 26 feet (7.9 m) wide and could turn a car 90 degrees onto acar elevator leading to the basement.[25]
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]
The entry from the porte-cochère leads to a rectangular vestibule with floors made ofBotticino marble and Belgian black marble; abaseboard and wall shelves made of Botticino marble; and walls and ceiling cornices made of plaster. Steel gates with sidelights and French hardware lead from the vestibule to the main hall. The main hall is oriented from south to north and is made of similar materials as the rectangular vestibule, although the ceiling has an inset panel. On the eastern wall of the main hall is a stairway with Botticino marble steps, which leads up to the second-floor hall and has wrought-iron banisters.[28] A door on the eastern wall of the main hall leads to a restroom under the staircase.[29]
To the south of the first-floor hall are paneled double doors leading to a rectangular reception room,[29] which faces 96th Street.[19] This space has white-oak floors; a paneleddado; three mirrors, multicoloredsconces, andbas-reliefs on the walls; a fireplace mantel flanked by built-in closets; windows on the south wall; and a crystal chandelier. The main hall's northern end is an elevator lobby with a window facing west, an elevator door facing east, and a double door leading to an octagonal study with similar decorations to the reception room.[29] The rear of the first floor was devoted to servants;[19] the study was formerly divided into the servants' dining room and the kitchen, and behind it is a vestibule that doubles as a private entrance.[29]
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 andcoved ceiling. The drawing room has a fireplace, and French doors on the south wall. The console of aplayer organ manufactured byEstey was originally against the north wall of this room.[31] The organ was installed in 1916 and later expanded to threemanuals. 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 abarrel 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 oakbuffet, 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]
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.[27] Originally, there were three bedrooms for the Dahlgren family, a trunk room, and three bedrooms for servants.[19] WhenPierre Cartier (the founder of theCartier's jewelry store) lived in the house, he combined the two front bedrooms, added a niche flanked byCorinthian columns, and added closets hidden behind a paneled wall. The master bedroom also has a concrete slab floor; a wall with a dado, flutedpilasters, and panels; concealed lighting; and two chandeliers. On the east wall was a similarly designed sitting room. During Cartier's time at the house, the octagonal bedroom became a library with glazed bookcases, and one of the rear bedrooms became a niche.[33] The octagonal library has concrete floors; bookcases with windows on the west and southwest walls; an entrance with Corinthian columns to the south; a fireplace mantel with sculptured ornament to the north; and a niche to the east. The three rear bedrooms are accessed by a barrel-vaulted door; Cartier modified these rooms with mirrors and Corinthian columns when he lived there, and these rooms have since been further combined.[33]
The fifth floor originally had seven additional servants' bedrooms, in addition to a laundry room and anecho chamber for the second-floor organ.[19] As part of a 1988 renovation, a chapel at the front of the fifth floor became asolarium, 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]
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 magnateAndrew Carnegie'smansion at91st Street andFifth Avenue.[35] The house's site was part of a larger lot that James C. Parrish had sold to Morris J. Leonhardt in 1901; the sale stipulated that only single-family dwellings of at least three stories were allowed on the site for 25 years. The Dahlgren House's site eventually passed toEdward Shearson in 1913.[36]
Lucy Wharton Drexel Dahlgren, the daughter of financierJoseph 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, andParis. 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 inRoslyn Harbor, New York, and used the 96th Street house as an urbanpied-à-terre.[48] Cartier hired Francis Verpilleruxc. 1931 to renovate the house's interiors;[49] these renovations included modifications to the fourth-floor bedrooms.[33]
In 1945, on his retirement, Cartier sold the house to theSt. Francis de Sales Roman Catholic Church.[11][48] Cartier, who had sold off his Roslyn Harbor mansion the previous year, relocated toGeneva inupstate New York with his wife.[48] The church used the house as aconvent for the nuns who taught at itsparochial 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 andobjets 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 aNew York City Landmark in 1984,[3] and was added to theNational Register of Historic Places in 1989.[1] It is located within theUpper East Side Historic District, and has received an award from the Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts.[11]
