Just Off Fifth: 4 East 79th Street, The Nichols-Harriman Mansion
Perhaps the most opulent house on the Cook Block not actually fronting Fifth Avenue, 4 East 79th Street was originally designed by C.P.H. Gilbert in a Beaux Arts style for James E. Nichols that contrasted with the Chateauesque Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion next door. After its purchase in 1916 by the Harriman Family, architect Herbert Lucas was… Continue reading
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