934 Fifth Avenue, the French Consulate General

A lavish Italian Renaissance Revival mansion, 934 Fifth Avenue was built in 1926 to designs by Walker & Gillette, a firm better known for their Art Deco skyscrapers.  Completed for Charles and Elizabeth Mitchell, the house was famed for recitals given by Mrs. Mitchell’s many musical friends, who included George Gershwin and Ignay Padrewski. Acquired… Continue reading

925 & 926 Fifth Avenue

A pair of handsome survivors designed by C.P.H. Gilbert in the 1890s, 925 & 926 Fifth Avenue remind us that not every house on the avenue was either a folly or a masterpiece – some, like this pair, were sensible and relatively restrained dwellings in keeping with educated middle-class taste. Considering that the houses were… Continue reading

Just Off Fifth: 7 East 72nd Street

In complete contrast to its white brick neighbor at 912 Fifth Avenue, the Jennings Mansion at 7 East 72nd Street is an eye-popping catalogue of Beaux Arts architecture at its most unconstrained.  Built in 1898 for Oliver Jennings, 7 East 72nd Street was designed by Ernest Flagg, whose best-known remaining New York building is the… Continue reading

651 Fifth Avenue, Cartier’s, The Morton Plant Mansion

The largest mansions left intact on Fifth Avenue south of Central Park and one of the grandest of its type ever constructed, the Morton Plant Mansion at 651 Fifth Avenue was designed by the British-born Robert W. Gibson, best known as an ecclesiastical architect whose other major New York City work  is the astonishing Church… Continue reading

647 Fifth Avenue

The survivor of a pair of double houses erected by the Vanderbilt Family as investment properties, 647 Fifth Avenue was designed in 1905 by Hunt & Hunt, the sons of Richard Morris Hunt, the celebrated Gilded Age architect.  A Louis VI mansion distinguished by high-relief Corinthian pilasters and vermiculated ground-floor stonework, it is imposing even… Continue reading