The C. Ledyard Blair House was a

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property l ...

on 2 East 70th Street, at the corner with

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

, on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It was constructed for banker

C. Ledyard Blair Clinton Ledyard Blair (July 16, 1867 – February 7, 1949) was an American Investment banking, investment banker and Yachting, yachtsman. Early years Blair was born in Belvidere, New Jersey, on July 16, 1867. He was the son of DeWitt Clinton Bl ...

and designed by

Carrère & Hastings Carrère (; ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France. See also *Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department The following is a list of the 545 Communes of France, communes of the Pyrénées-Atlan ...

. The house was constructed from 1914 to 1917 and contained almost . It was sold and demolished in 1927 to make way for an apartment house.

Architecture

The Beaux-Arts mansion, designed by

, was at 2 East 70th Street, at the southeastern corner with

. The house overlooked the gardens of the

Henry Clay Frick House The Henry Clay Frick House (also known as the Frick Collection building or 1 East 70th Street) is a mansion and museum building on Fifth Avenue, between 70th and 71st streets, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by T ...

at 1 East 70th Street, which had also been designed by Carrère & Hastings. It was built by

Norcross Brothers Norcross Brothers, Contractors and Builders was a nineteenth-century American construction company, especially noted for its work, mostly in stone, for the architectural firms of H.H. Richardson and McKim, Mead & White. The company was founded in 1 ...

at a projected cost of between $150,000 and $200,000. The Lord Electric Company received the electric contract, Norcross Brothers furnished most of the rooms, and C. Brainard was consulting engineer. The 66-room mansion contained nearly and measured . The facade was made of limestone. The second-story windows had iron balconies. When the house was completed, it had a grass planting strip on Fifth Avenue, with two plane trees. ''The New York Times'' described it in 1915 as "an excellent example of good architectural taste combined with the luxuries and comforts of a Fifth Avenue home."

History

The stretch of 70th Street between

and

Third Avenue Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, as well as in the center portion of the Bronx. Its southern end is at Astor Place and St. Mark's Place. It transitions into Cooper Square ...

, part of

Lenox Hill Lenox Hill () is a neighborhood on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It forms the lower (southern) section of the Upper East Side, east of Park Avenue in the 60s and 70s. A significant portion of the neighborhood lies withi ...

, was relatively undeveloped until World War I.

Henry Clay Frick Henry Clay Frick (December 19, 1849 – December 2, 1919) was an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. He founded the H. C. Frick & Company coke manufacturing company, was chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company and played a major ...

's mansion at the northeast corner of 70th Street and Fifth Avenue spurred the development of similarly grand mansions on 70th Street. Before the Blair House was constructed, the site contained the Josiah M. Fiske mansion, which occupied a site measuring . An anonymous buyer acquired the Fiske mansion from Fiske's widow in May 1912 for $750,000. In September 1914, the buyer was reported as

, a banker and Governor of the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

. The design and general contracts were awarded in February 1915. The house was completed in 1917. During the mansion's short existence, the Blairs hosted a luncheon in 1919 to celebrate the marriage of C. Ledyard Blair's daughter, as well as another social event in 1920. By 1925, Blair was meeting with real estate developer

Anthony Campagna Anthony (born Antonio) Campagna, Count of Castelmezzano (December 31, 1884 – May 8, 1969) was a prominent real estate developer and member of the Board of Education in New York City. Today, he is best known for the destruction of architectural ...

to sell his mansion. At the time, Fifth Avenue was quickly being developed with apartments. In January 1926, after just nine years, Blair sold the property to Campagna for $1.25 million. The sale, at , was reported in ''The New York Times'' as the "highest ever paid per square foot for property to be used for this class of building". He tore down the house in late 1926 and early 1927, redeveloping the site with a new 11-story apartment building designed by

Rosario Candela Rosario Candela (March 7, 1890 – October 3, 1953) was an Italian American architect who achieved renown through his apartment building designs in New York City, primarily during the boom years of the 1920s. He is credited with defining the cit ...

. The new apartment was completed in 1928. The building featured a

maisonette Maisonette (also maisonnette) or Maisonettes may refer to: * A type of apartment * The Maisonette, a former restaurant in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States * The Maisonettes, an English band * Maisonnette, New Brunswick * Pointe de Maisonnette (N ...

with its own private entrance and address, 888 Fifth Avenue, later owned by Theodore J. Forstmann.

Architecture

History

References

Further reading