Andrew Carnegie Mansion

Andrew Carnegie Mansion
Location 2 East 91st Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York[1]
Coordinates 40°47′4″N 73°57′29″W / 40.78444°N 73.95806°W / 40.78444; -73.95806Coordinates: 40°47′4″N 73°57′29″W / 40.78444°N 73.95806°W / 40.78444; -73.95806
Area 1.2 acres (0.49 ha)
Built 1899–1902[2]
Architect Babb, Cook & Willard
Architectural style Colonial Revival, Georgian Revival
NRHP Reference # 66000536[3]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP November 13, 1966
Designated NHL November 13, 1966 [4]

The Andrew Carnegie Mansion is located at 2 East 91st Street at Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City, New York. Andrew Carnegie built his mansion in 1903 and lived there until his death in 1919; his wife, Louise, lived there until her death in 1946. The building is now the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, part of the Smithsonian Institution. The surrounding neighborhood on Manhattan's Upper East Side has come to be called Carnegie Hill. The mansion was named a National Historic Landmark in 1966.[4][5][6][7]

History

The land was purchased in 1898[1] in secrecy by Carnegie, further north than most mansions, in part to ensure there was enough space for a garden.[8] He asked his architects Babb, Cook & Willard for the "most modest, plainest, and most roomy house in New York".[4] However, it was also the first American residence to have a steel frame and among the first to have a private Otis Elevator and central heating.[8] His wife, Louise, lived in the house until she died in 1946.[9]

The Carnegie Corporation gave the house and property to the Smithsonian in 1972, and the modern incarnation of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum opened there in 1976. Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates handled the renovation into a museum in 1977.[9] The interior was redesigned by the architectural firm, Polshek and Partners, headed by James Polshek, in 2001.[10]

The mansion was used in the 1973 musical film Godspell for the number Turn Back, O Man.

Description

The mansion stands on 1.2 acres (0.49 ha) of land at the northeast corner of 5th Avenue and 91st Street. It is a 3-1/2 story structure, finished in brick and stone. It is stylistically an eclectic variation of the Georgian Revival, with stone ashlar corner quoining, windows with heavy stone trim, and a dentillated cornice topped by an urned balustrade. A grassy lawn separates the house from 91st Street, and there is a small garden on its west side. Just east of the mansion proper is a townhouse that was purchased by Carnegie soon after its 1905 construction as a residence for his daughter. This building forms part of the current complex, although its interior has been modernized and converted to office and administrative uses by the Smithsonian.[5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Bill Harris, "One Thousand New York Buildings", 2002, Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers, pg 312
  2. ↑ "The Mansion". Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  3. ↑ National Park Service (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  4. 1 2 3 "Andrew Carnegie Mansion". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. 2007-09-14.
  5. 1 2 "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Andrew Carnegie Mansion" (pdf). National Park Service. 1975-05-30.
  6. ↑ "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Photos of Andrew Carnegie Mansion" (pdf). National Park Service. 1975-05-30.
  7. ↑ Dolkart, Andrew S; Postal, Matthew A. (2004). Guide to New York City Landmarks. New York City Landmarks Preservation Committee. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (Author of Forward) (Third ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 51, 175.
  8. 1 2 Cooper-Hewitt History of Mansion Archived June 24, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  9. 1 2 White, Norval & Willensky, Elliot (2000), AIA Guide to New York City (4th ed.), New York: Three Rivers Press, ISBN 978-0-8129-3107-5 pg 429
  10. ↑ Andrew S. Dolkart, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum: National Design Museum, 2006, Scala Publishers, ISBN 978-1-85759-268-9

Further reading

Media related to Andrew Carnegie Mansion at Wikimedia Commons

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