Arts & Interiors
New York City's 1920s Gilded Age Mansions and Art Buildings
photo courtesy Habitually Chic®
01
The Benjamin N. Duke House
The Benjamin N. Duke House is one of the few remnants of the similarly luxurious mansions along Fifth Avenue. Designated a NYC Landmark in 1974, it underwent a restoration in 1985 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. The 10,000 sq. ft Beaux Arts townhouse across the street from The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Central Park address is 1009 Fifth Avenue, but the entrance is on East 82nd Street. The limestone and red-brick mansion boasts 27 feet along Fifth Avenue and 100 feet of frontage facing 82nd Street with an abundance of light and interior trompe l’oeil accents, gold-leaf trimmed fixtures and intricate plaster friezes, but the original French furnishings and interior designs by Swiss-German New York decorator, Karl Bach are no longer. The house was listed by Sotheby’s for $80 million, becoming one of the most expensive public listings in New York.
02
The Frick Collection Mansion
The Frick Collection art museum on the Upper East Side of NYC was established in 1935 to preserve the collection of the industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The collection consists of 14th to 19th century European paintings, as well as other European fine and decorative art. For the interiors, Frick assigned the grand, soaring rooms of the first floor to Sir Charles Allom, British architect and decorator who had been knighted by King George V for his redecoration work at Buckingham Palace and the other 14 rooms were delegated to the first lady of American design - Elsie de Wolfe, known for her fresh, anti-Victorian decorating style.
photo courtesy Frick Collection
photo courtesy Salmagundi Club
03
The Salmagundi Club
The Salmagundi Club was founded in 1871 and is one of the oldest art organizations in the United States. Housed in an historic brownstone mansion in Greenwich Village, the Club offers programs including art classes, exhibitions, painting demonstrations and art auctions throughout the year for its members and the general public. The Salmagundi facilities include three galleries, a library, an elegant period parlor and restaurant. The Club owns a collection of over 1,500 works of art spanning its 140 year history and has a membership of nearly 850 artists and patrons.
04
The Harry F. Sinclair House is a mansion at the corner of East 79th Street and Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side built between 1897 and 1899. The Ukrainian Institute of America acquired the home in 1955 and renovated the building in the 1990s. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places and was named a National Historic Landmark in 1978. The mansion was designed in French Renaissance style by C. P. H. Gilbert and built by foreman Harvey Murdock and largely retains its original design.
