James B. Duke House
James B. Duke House | |
New York City Landmark No. 0668
| |
Location | 1 E. 78th St., Manhattan, New York City |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°46′35″N 73°57′50″W / 40.77639°N 73.96389°W |
Area | 13,325 sq ft (1,237.9 m2) |
Built | 1909–1912 |
Architect | Horace Trumbauer |
Architectural style | French Classical/Louis XV |
NRHP reference No. | 77000956[1] |
NYSRHP No. | 06101.001688 |
NYCL No. | 0668 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | November 10, 1977 |
Designated NYSRHP | June 23, 1980 |
Designated NYCL | September 15, 1970 |
The James B. Duke House is a mansion at 1 East 78th Street, on the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. The building was designed by Horace Trumbauer, who drew heavily upon the design of Château Labottière in Bordeaux. Constructed between 1909 and 1912 as a private residence for businessman James Buchanan Duke and his family, the building has housed the New York University (NYU)'s Institute of Fine Arts since 1959.
The house has a limestone
The James B. Duke House replaced the 1880s-era Henry H. Cook mansion. When Duke died in 1925, his wife Nanaline and daughter Doris continued to live in the house until 1958, when they donated the house to NYU. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated 1 East 78th Street as an official landmark in 1970, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
Site
The James B. Duke House is at 1 East 78th Street in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is on the northeast corner of 78th Street to the south and Fifth Avenue to the west, directly across Fifth Avenue from Central Park.[2][3] The land lot covers 13,325 square feet (1,237.9 m2) with a frontage of 82.17 feet (25.05 m) on Fifth Avenue and 150 feet (46 m) on 78th Street.[2] The house is largely rectangular in plan, except at the northeast corner, where the house protrudes slightly on the north side.[4] Nearby sites include the Payne Whitney House and the Isaac D. Fletcher (now Harry F. Sinclair) House to the north, the Stuyvesant Fish House to the east, and 960 Fifth Avenue to the south.[2]
The
Architecture
The James B. Duke House was designed in the
Comparing the house to the Edward S. Harkness House at 1 East 75th Street, Paul Goldberger wrote that the Duke House seemed "overwhelming".[19] Conversely, Henry Hope Reed Jr. praised the house's "monumentality in what is, for New York, a low building".[20] The historian Mosette Broderick wrote that the Duke House was reminiscent of the Fletcher House on the same block.[21]
Facade
The
The main entrance is in the center bay on 78th Street. It contains a double-story
The remainder of the facade is similarly ornate. Each corner of the facade contains pilasters with quoins, similar to those surrounding the portico. The windows at the ground floor are surrounded by banded moldings and have balustrades at the bottom. The balustrades of each ground-story window are visually connected by
Interior
The house has 30
First floor
The former public rooms, including the dining, drawing, and music rooms, were arranged at the four corners of the ground floor. They retain many of the original furnishings and decorations.[4][16] The library was in the southwest corner, the dining room in the northwest, the music room in the northeast, and the drawing room in the southeast.[4][29] Because of the shape of the house, the music room was slightly larger than the other corner rooms. The former music room has arched openings with swags, fluted pilasters with capitals, relief panels, and an architrave with festoons and a cornice; many of the decorations are gilded.[4] The music room has an arched opening with a small performers' balcony that contains an iron railing.[14] As of 2020[update], the Loeb Room, Marble Room, Lecture Hall, and Seminar Room respectively occupy the southwest, northwest, northeast, and southeast rooms.[30]
Other stories
The second floor had eight large bedrooms.[13][16][29][b] Also on the second floor was a linen room, dress closet, clothes rooms, a pantry, and bathrooms.[29] Some of the rooms were dedicated almost exclusively to clothing when the house was used as a residence.[18] The attic had twelve suites for servants,[16][29] in addition to another linen room and a sewing room.[18] The Institute of Fine Arts has a library in the second-floor bedrooms and faculty offices in the attic.[14][33] Two stairs connect the second and third floors, one on either side of a skylight on the north side of the house.[33]
Service rooms such as the laundry, kitchen, and servants' dining room were placed in the basement.[13][14] The kitchen and servants' dining room was placed in the western side of the basement, while the laundry was in the northeast corner.[29] Other rooms such as a pantry, storerooms, and linen rooms were arranged around a corridor connecting the kitchen and dining room with the laundry.[18][29] Servants' suites were placed on smaller corridors leading off the main basement corridor.[29] When the Institute of Fine Arts took over the building, these rooms were converted to laboratories.[14] As of 2020[update], the basement has several offices.[30] A fire stair replaced a dumbwaiter to the kitchen, but the basement furnishings remain largely intact.[34] From the basement, another staircase and the elevator lead to the sub-basement, which has a multi-purpose room and more offices.[35]
History
Construction
After the Dukes married, they sought to move to Fifth Avenue, where many of the city's wealthiest lived.[44] Duke considered buying Cook's 78th Street mansion as a wedding present.[45][46] Duke began negotiations for the Cook house in 1907, and discussions continued for two years.[45] In January 1909, Duke purchased the Henry H. Cook mansion for $1.25 million.[17][18] He initially planned to alter the house, with C. P. H. Gilbert designing the alterations,[47][48] and borrowed $700,000 to fund the renovation.[49] By August 1909, Duke planned to construct an entirely new residence and was already demolishing the Cook house.[50][49] That house, barely 25 years old, was one of the avenue's most prominent residences, even though its interior design details had become outdated.[51] The New York Times wrote, "Is it possible that twenty-five years hence people will be talking about the 'old' Duke house?"[52] Many of the furnishings in the Cook mansion were sold at deep discounts: for instance, a $15,000 fireplace was sold for $300, and individual panels worth $55 were sold for $3.[18] The demolition contractor called it "the best-built house ever torn down in New York City".[17]
Trumbauer was hired to design a new residence there, and John T. Brady & Co. was hired as the general contractor.[50][53] It is unknown why Duke selected Trumbauer specifically. Many of Duke's peers had hired McKim, Mead & White to design their own houses, and, at the time of the Duke House's construction, Trumbauer had completed few other buildings in Manhattan.[54] In September, Duke sold a small parcel on the north side of the site, measuring 20 by 100 feet (6.1 by 30.5 m), to his neighbor William Payne Whitney.[55] The next month, Trumbauer filed plans for a three-story Renaissance-style residence on the site, to cost $365,000.[18][56] The 1910 United States census records James and Nanaline Duke as living in Benjamin's house at 1009 Fifth Avenue.[57]
By mid-1910, the masonry at the ground story had been laid.
Duke residence
Early years
During 1912, Duke and his pregnant wife Nanaline moved into the house with their fourteen servants;[60] the house had ultimately cost $1 million.[61] Their only child, Doris Duke, was born the same November.[62] Among the events the Dukes hosted in their new house was a dinner dance in March 1913.[63] The New York Times dedicated a page in an illustrated supplement to photographs of the house, which it dubbed the "costliest home opened on Fifth Avenue within a year".[64][65] According to New York state census records from 1915, the three Dukes lived with two relatives and thirteen servants.[66][c] The 1920 United States census showed that all of the servants working at the house at that point had been hired after 1915, except for their 50-year-old cook Mathilda Andrews.[16]
The 78th Street house, while spacious, was the Dukes' secondary residence; their primary residence was Duke Farms in New Jersey.[17][67] Nanaline did spend significant amounts of time at the 78th Street house, but James preferred to live in his other homes after World War I.[67] At the end of World War I, the Duke family obtained the Rough Point estate on Newport, Rhode Island, in an attempt to ingratiate themselves with New York City's high society.[68] James Duke also obtained the Lynnwood house in Charlotte, North Carolina, and lived there in the 1920s, just before his death.[67]
After James Duke's death
James B. Duke died at his 78th Street home on October 10, 1925, having suffered from pneumonia for several weeks.[36][37] In James's will, Doris received $50 million from her father's $150 million estate[18] (which she could access when she attained the age of majority), while Nanaline received the 78th Street house, the Rough Point estate, and the Charlotte house.[69][70] Due to an unusual clause in the will, James had stipulated that these properties be sold immediately, but Doris was to be given sufficient funds to purchase the properties back.[71][72] In addition, Nanaline wanted to sell the houses, while Doris objected to the sales.[73]
Doris successfully sued her mother for control of the house in early 1927 as part of a "friendly" lawsuit.[71][72] Doris wished to avoid the formality of placing the residence through an auction, which would entail having guests enter the home to assess the furnishings, potentially damaging it. The then-14-year-old Doris received both the house itself, valued at $1.6 million, and its furnishings, valued at $600,000. Doris was placed in charge of paying off the $615,000 mortgage and Nanaline in charge of interest payments on the mortgage.[72] As a teenager, Doris continued to reside in the family house on 78th Street, referring to it as "the rock pile" in her adulthood.[74] By the late 1920s, apartment buildings were being constructed on the adjacent blocks. This prompted Nanaline Duke to ask the New York Supreme Court in 1929 to reduce the house's valuation from $1.6 million to $970,000, citing the apartment construction.[75][76]
The house was assessed at $1.5 million in 1931, prompting Nanaline to sue again to reduce the value to $975,000.[77][78] When Doris Duke turned twenty-one years old in 1933, she received a substantial part of the bequest that had been held in trust for her.[79][80] A little more than a year later, in February 1935, Doris married James H. R. Cromwell at the 78th Street house.[81][82] Even when Doris Duke remarried to Porfirio Rubirosa in 1947, she retained ownership of the 78th Street house and several other properties.[83] The house was mostly used by Nanaline by the 1950s,[73][84] and Nanaline stayed there until 1957.[18]
Institute of Fine Arts
1950s to 1990s
In January 1958, Nanaline and Doris Duke donated the building to the NYU Institute of Fine Arts.[27] The building was valued at the time at $1.6 million,[18][25] while its furnishings were worth $600,000.[18] The donation allowed the institute to more than double its space from 19,000 square feet (1,800 m2), at their old location on 17 East 80th Street, to 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2) at the Duke House.[27] Most of the art in the mansion was moved to Rough Point.[73] The architecture firm of Robert Venturi, Cope & Lippincott renovated the building for academic use.[85] The renovation, Venturi's first project,[86] involved preserving most of the interior spaces.[26][86] NYU's occupancy of the Duke House preserved it for the time being, especially when other mansions on Fifth Avenue's "Millionaires' Row" were being demolished.[87]
NYU dedicated the institute's new quarters in the Duke House in February 1959.[26][88] The dedication party was reportedly the first time the house had hosted a party in twenty years.[88] The New York Landmarks Conservancy praised the Duke House's "superb adaptive reuse" when the NYU renovation was completed.[20][66] As early as 1966, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) was considering designating the Duke House as part of a city historic district.[89] The LPC designated the house as an individual landmark on September 15, 1970, calling it "one of the adornments of Fifth Avenue and one of the last reminders of the Age of Elegance".[22] The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 10, 1977.[1] The same year, the LPC designated the house as part of the Metropolitan Museum Historic District, a collection of 19th- and early 20th-century mansions around Fifth Avenue between 78th and 86th Streets.[90][91]
1990s to present
By the 1990s, the house was visibly deteriorating, and sidewalk sheds had to be erected to protect visitors.[16] Next door at 3 East 78th Street, former institute chairman Sheldon Solow acquired a ground-floor condominium in 1999.[86] Solow ultimately bought two floors in the adjacent building and donated them to NYU in 2007. The space was to contain a library named after him; the library would include several thousand art and architecture books that were being stored in the James B. Duke House and other locations.[95]
The James B. Duke House was renovated starting in 2012. The facade, roof, and basement were preserved, and the existing materials were retained as much as possible.[96] Also in 2012, NYU started negotiating with the condominium board of the neighboring 3 East 78th Street to expand into that building.[86] In 2014, NYU proposed creating an enclosed breezeway slightly above the alley separating the Duke House and 3 East 78th Street. The move received opposition from residential condominium owners at 3 East 78th Street, who feared the move would damage their properties.[86][97] The dispute was based on the fact that, while NYU owned the ground-floor condominium in the neighboring building, it did not own the exterior wall.[23] After a 2016 lawsuit where NYU sued 3 East 78th Street's condominium board over delays to the renovation,[98] NYU renovated the neighboring condominium unit in 2020.[99]
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
Notes
- ^ Marica Vilcek, the hall's namesake, was a former chairwoman of the Institute of Fine Arts' board and also the cofounder of the Vilcek Foundation.[31]
- ^ Seven of these bedrooms are documented by the National Park Service: three each to the east and west of the main hall, as well as one in the center of the main hall. Various service rooms such as closets and bathrooms are also scattered around the second floor.[14] An eighth room is just east of the center bedroom.[29]
- ^ The New York Times quoted fourteen servants as living with the Dukes.[16]
Citations
- ^ a b "Federal Register: 44 Fed. Reg. 7107 (Feb. 6, 1979)" (PDF). Library of Congress. February 6, 1979. p. 7538 (PDF p. 338). Archived (PDF) from the original on December 30, 2016. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
- ^ a b c d "970 Fifth Avenue, 10075". New York City Department of City Planning. Archived from the original on July 29, 2021. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19538-386-7.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m National Park Service 1977, p. 2.
- ^ a b Tauranac & Little 1985, p. 181.
- ^ (PDF) from the original on August 28, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
- ^ Kathrens 2005, p. 92.
- ProQuest 1113096534– via ProQuest.
- ^ a b c Tauranac & Little 1985, p. 193.
- ^ Kathrens 2005, pp. 92–93.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ^ OCLC 9829395.
- ^ a b c d e f National Park Service 1977, p. 3.
- ^ a b c d e f Landmarks Preservation Commission 1977, p. 22.
- ^ from the original on July 29, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e Budin, Jeremiah (February 21, 2013). "James B. Duke: Less Frugal Than the Vanderbilts or Astors". Curbed NY. Archived from the original on July 29, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Tauranac & Little 1985, p. 194.
- from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ^ a b Horsley, Carter B. "The Upper East Side Book: Fifth Avenue: The New York University Institute of Fine Arts, originally the James B. Duke House". The City Review. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ^ Cohen, Berman & Ritter 2022, p. 169.
- ^ a b c d e "New York University Institute of Fine Arts (Formerly James B. Duke Mansion)" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. September 15, 1970. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 1, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
- ^ from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ^ a b c Landmarks Preservation Commission 1977, pp. 22–23.
- ^ a b c "New York Mansion (1 E. 78th Street), 1908-1975". David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. July 13, 2021. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ^ ProQuest 1324225563.
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ^ "Paintings from the Duke Collection" (PDF). Newport Restoration. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "House at Seventy-Eighth Street and Fifth Avenue, New York, Horace Trumbauer, Architect". American Architect. Vol. 107. April 7, 1915. p. 210. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ^ a b c d Institute of Fine Arts 2020, p. 16.
- ^ a b "Marica Vilcek, Philanthropist and Art Historian, Honored by NYU Institute of Fine Arts" (Press release). New York University. May 10, 2021. Archived from the original on August 1, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ^ Institute of Fine Arts 2020, pp. 16–17.
- ^ a b Institute of Fine Arts 2020, p. 17.
- ^ "Big Old Houses: A Very Big Stage". New York Social Diary. June 1, 2020. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ^ Institute of Fine Arts 2020, pp. 16, 18.
- ^ ProQuest 1114017516.
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
- ^ a b National Park Service 1977, p. 4.
- ^ a b Cohen, Berman & Ritter 2022, p. 151.
- ^ Tauranac & Little 1985, pp. 192–193.
- ISBN 978-0-8108-8888-3. Archivedfrom the original on July 29, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
- (PDF) from the original on July 17, 2021. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
- ^ Landmarks Preservation Commission 1977, p. 19.
- ^ Cohen, Berman & Ritter 2022, p. 152.
- ^ (PDF) from the original on August 28, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
- ^ Cohen, Berman & Ritter 2022, p. 154.
- (PDF) from the original on August 28, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
- ^ "Pays $1,500,000 for Home". New-York Tribune. January 10, 1909. p. 1. Archived from the original on June 28, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Tauranac & Little 1985, pp. 193–194.
- ^ (PDF) from the original on August 28, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
- ^ Cohen, Berman & Ritter 2022, p. 156.
- (PDF) from the original on August 28, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
- ^ a b "New Palaces on Fifth Avenue". The Real Estate Record: Real estate record and builders' guide. Vol. 85, no. 2203. June 4, 1910. pp. 1194–1195. Archived from the original on July 29, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2021 – via columbia.edu.
- ^ Cohen, Berman & Ritter 2022, p. 157.
- ^ "Conveyances". The Real Estate Record: Real estate record and builders' guide. Vol. 84, no. 2166. September 18, 1909. p. 538. Archived from the original on July 29, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2021 – via columbia.edu.
- ^ "The Duke House". The Real Estate Record: Real estate record and builders' guide. Vol. 84, no. 2170. October 16, 1909. p. 686. Archived from the original on July 29, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2021 – via columbia.edu.
- from the original on March 6, 2023. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
- ^ Cohen, Berman & Ritter 2022, p. 153.
- ^ Cohen, Berman & Ritter 2022, p. 162.
- ^ Tifft, Susan E. (January 1, 2005). "Out of the Shadows". Smithsonian Magazine. Archived from the original on June 30, 2020. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
- from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
- ^ "Heiress for Duke Millions". Oxford Public Ledger. December 4, 1912. p. 2. Archived from the original on July 29, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ProQuest 496686734.
- ProQuest 496802089.
- from the original on July 29, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ OCLC 33327707.
- ^ a b c Cohen, Berman & Ritter 2022, pp. 157–158.
- ^ Cohen, Berman & Ritter 2022, p. 159.
- ProQuest 1112847566.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ^ ProQuest 1113516751.
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
- ^ a b c Cohen, Berman & Ritter 2022, p. 161.
- from the original on August 26, 2012. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ProQuest 1111693354.
- ProQuest 1114180463.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ProQuest 1125467999.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ProQuest 1237364021.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ProQuest 1319866473.
- ^ Hellman, Geoffrey T. (January 24, 1958). "Duke House". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ^ Ketchum, Morris Jr. (September 1975). "Recycling and Restoring Landmarks: An Architectural Challenge and Opportunity" (PDF). AIA Journal. Vol. 64, no. 3. p. 31. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 28, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ^ from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- from the original on July 29, 2021. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
- ^ Miele, Al (September 21, 1977). "Art Museum Area Named as Historic". New York Daily News. p. 290. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ^ "Greenwich Architect Honored". The Herald Statesman. February 13, 1979. p. 10. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Briefs" (PDF). AIA Journal. Vol. 68, no. 1. January 1979. p. 80. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- from the original on August 16, 2021. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
- ^ "James B. Duke House". The Cooper Union. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ^ Rosenberg, Zoe (June 3, 2014). "NYU Is In an Alley Fight With An Upper East Side Condo". Curbed NY. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ^ Carrano, Gina (April 18, 2016). "Upper East Side Headache Sends NYU to Court". Courthouse News. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ^ "3 East 78th Street". New York University. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
Sources
- Cohen, Jean-Louis; Berman, Daniella; Ritter, Jonathan (2022). Duke House and the Making of Modern New York: Lives and Afterlives of a Fifth Avenue Mansion. Brill Studies in Architectural and Urban History. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-52112-4.
- James B. Duke Mansion (PDF) (Report). National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service. November 10, 1977.
- Kathrens, Michael C. (2005). Great Houses of New York, 1880–1930. Acanthus Press. ISBN 978-0-926494-34-3.
- Metropolitan Museum Historic District (PDF) (Report). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. 1977.
- Student Handbook, 2020–2021 (PDF) (Report). New York University Institute of Fine Arts. 2020.
- Tauranac, John; Little, Christopher (1985). Elegant New York. Abbeville Press. ISBN 978-0-89659-458-6.
External links
- "Residence, J. B. Duke, 1 East 78th St, New York, Horace Trumbauer, Architect". Architecture. Vol. 27. April 1913. pp. 268–269.