Rhinelander Mansion
Encyclopedia
The Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo Mansion is a French Renaissance revival mansion in New York City
. Completed in 1898 it was designed by the architecture firm of Kimball & Thompson
and has been more specifically credited to Alexander Mackintosh
, a British-born architect who worked for Kimball & Thompson from 1893 until 1898. The house is located at 867 Madison Avenue
, on the south-east corner of 72nd Street
, Manhattan
.
Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo
, the New York heiress who commissioned the mansion, never actually moved in.
On its appearance, architecture critic Henry Hope Reed Jr.
has observed:
The first floor was a large center hall with rooms on each side for reception and servants activities. The second floor housed the main salon, the dining room and the butler's pantry. The third floor was where the master bedroom was located while the fourth floor housed the servants quarters and guest bedrooms.
The building remained vacant until 1921, at which time the first floor was converted into stores and two apartments were carved out of the upper four floors.
In the 1950s, the entire mansion was leased as the home and studio of the photographer Edgar de Evia
, who rented offices in the building to the interior decorators Tate and Hall, among others.
The building remained in the possession of de Evia and his companion and business partner, Robert Denning
, until it was purchased by a nearby church in the late 1960s. Ralph Lauren
obtained the net lease in 1983 and started a massive overhaul of the building to create his Polo Ralph Lauren
flagship store. Naomi Leff supervised the rehabilitation of the building. It took around 18 months working in the final months around the clock. Published figures put the cost around $14-15 million. Ownership of the building has changed several times during his lease, from US$ 6.4 million in 1984, five years later in 1989 it sold for US$ 43 million and the most recent sale in 2005 being reported at a record US$80 million.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Completed in 1898 it was designed by the architecture firm of Kimball & Thompson
Francis Kimball
Francis Hatch Kimball was an American architect practicing in New York City, best known for his work on skyscrapers in lower Manhattan and terra-cotta ornamentation. He was an associate with the firm Kimball & Thompson.-Life:...
and has been more specifically credited to Alexander Mackintosh
Alexander Mackintosh
Alexander Mackintosh was an American architect and architectural designer active in New York from the 1890s until his death.-Early life:...
, a British-born architect who worked for Kimball & Thompson from 1893 until 1898. The house is located at 867 Madison Avenue
Madison Avenue (Manhattan)
Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square to the Madison Avenue Bridge at 138th Street. In doing so, it passes through Midtown, the Upper East Side , Spanish Harlem, and...
, on the south-east corner of 72nd Street
72nd Street (Manhattan)
72nd Street is one of the major bi-directional crosstown streets in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Where the west end of 72nd Street curves into the south end of Riverside Drive, the memorial to Eleanor Roosevelt stands in Riverside Park. At this end of the street is the landmarked...
, Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
.
Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo
Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo
Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo was an American heiress known for commissioning the Rhinelander Mansion located in Manhattan at 867 Madison Avenue on the south-east corner of 72nd Street, designed in the 1890s by Kimball & Thompson and completed in 1898...
, the New York heiress who commissioned the mansion, never actually moved in.
Henry Hope Reed Jr.
Henry Hope Reed Jr. is an American architecture critic known for his advocacy of classical architecture and his outspoken criticism of modernist architecture.Reed earned a degree in history from Harvard College in 1938...
has observed:
"The fortress heritage of the rural, royal residences of the Loire was not lost in the transfer to New York. The roof-line is very fine....The Gothic is found in the high-pitched roof of slate, the high, ornate dormers and the tall chimneys. The enrichment is early Renaissance, especially at the center dormers on both facades of the building, which boast colonnettes, broken entablatures, finials on high bases, finials in relief and volutes. In fact, although the dormers are ebullient, ornamentation is everywhere, even in the diamond-shaped pattern in relief on the chimneys (traceable to Chambord)."
The first floor was a large center hall with rooms on each side for reception and servants activities. The second floor housed the main salon, the dining room and the butler's pantry. The third floor was where the master bedroom was located while the fourth floor housed the servants quarters and guest bedrooms.
The building remained vacant until 1921, at which time the first floor was converted into stores and two apartments were carved out of the upper four floors.
In the 1950s, the entire mansion was leased as the home and studio of the photographer Edgar de Evia
Edgar de Evia
Edgar Domingo Evia y Joutard, known professionally as Edgar de Evia , was a Mexican-born American photographer....
, who rented offices in the building to the interior decorators Tate and Hall, among others.
The building remained in the possession of de Evia and his companion and business partner, Robert Denning
Robert Denning
Robert Denning was an American interior designer whose lush interpretations of French Victorian decor became an emblem of corporate raider tastes in the 1980s.-Early life:...
, until it was purchased by a nearby church in the late 1960s. Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren is an American fashion designer and business executive; best known for his Polo Ralph Lauren clothing brand.-Early life:...
obtained the net lease in 1983 and started a massive overhaul of the building to create his Polo Ralph Lauren
Polo Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren Corporation is a luxury clothing and goods company of the American fashion designer Ralph Lauren. Ralph Lauren specializes in high-end casual/semi-formal wear for men and women, as well as accessories, fragrances, home and housewares...
flagship store. Naomi Leff supervised the rehabilitation of the building. It took around 18 months working in the final months around the clock. Published figures put the cost around $14-15 million. Ownership of the building has changed several times during his lease, from US$ 6.4 million in 1984, five years later in 1989 it sold for US$ 43 million and the most recent sale in 2005 being reported at a record US$80 million.