2 East 79th Street, The Ukrainian Institute of America

The Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion at 2 East 79th Street was designed by C.P.H. Gilbert, whose nearby 3 East 78th Street helped set the tone for the Cook Block overall. An exemplary work in the Chateauesque style, the house is an inventive mixture of French Gothic and early Renaissance elements reinterpreted for a New York townhouse; invented… Continue reading

972 Fifth Avenue, The French Cultural Attaché

The last remaining and arguably the best townhouse design on Fifth Avenue by McKim, Mead & White, the Payne Whitney House at 972 Fifth Avenue was designed by Stanford White as a wedding gift from Colonel Oliver H. Payne for his nephew Payne Whitney as a wedding gift.  Built in 1902-1906 on the garden plot… Continue reading

Just Off Fifth: 3 East 78th Street, The Cogswell Mansion

The first building to join the original Cook Mansion on its block, the Cogswell Mansion at 3 East 78th Street was designed by C.P.H. Gilbert, whose Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion stands nearby at Fifth Avenue and East 79th Street.  One of the city’s great Chateauesque style houses, it was constructed in 1889 for Edmund Converse Cogswell who… Continue reading

1 East 78th Street, The New York University Institute of Fine Arts

The Duke Mansion at 1 East 78th Street replaced the gloomy chateau of Henry Cook, the original developer of the block between East 78th and East 79th Streets on Fifth Avenue.  Designed for the tobacco baron James B. Duke, the house is one of the masterpieces of Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer, who was also the… Continue reading

The Cook Block

A unique micro-district within the greater Upper East Side Historic District, the Cook Block was originally part of the Lenox Family farm; it is the last block facing Fifth Avenue with all its original houses intact – save for the house of the man it is named after. As commerce moved further and further up… Continue reading