SELF-GUIDED NYC GILDED AGE TOUR Part 2
Our self-guided NYC Gilded Age Tour continues..
Make your way to 65th Street and Fifth Avenue.
On the west side of Fifth Avenue you will see Temple Emanu-El.
ASTOR MANSION
Before 65th Street and Fifth Avenue was home to Temple Emanu-El, this block held a mansion belonging to the Astor family. Specifically Caroline Astor and her son John Jacob Astor IV.
In 1865 this land was gifted to Caroline Astor. In true NYC Gilded Age fashion, Richard Morris Hunt, who also designed the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty, was commissioned to design the mansion. This mansion was large enough to be divided into TWO living spaces, one for Caroline and one for her son John Jacon Astor IV, who would eventually take over the entire mansion. However, tragically, he boarded a ship in 1912, which was of course, the ill-fated and infamous RMS Titanic. He never again returned to NYC. His passing caused the family to have to give up the mansion. The splendid residence was demolished in 1926. The beautiful temple Emanuel-el took its place, and has become its own NYC treasure.
Walk North to 70th and Fifth Avenue
Richard Morris Hunt
Central Park is home to hundreds of statues. It feels extremely fitting that celebrity NYC architect Richard Morris Hunt be memorialized at the park along Fifth Avenue as well. After all, he designed NYC Gilded Age homes along Fifth Avenue for Cornelius Vanderbilt II, John Jacon Astor IV, William K Vanderbilt, and Elbridge Gerry. He also designed the Met Steps and the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty. His architecture set the bar for the other mansions of the Gilded Age. Ironically, this memorial was strategically placed to be facing one of Hunt’s Gilded Age masterpieces, the Lenox Library. The library was demolished in 1912, to make way for the mansion of Henry Clay Frick, now the Frick Museum.
FRICK MANSION
Henry Clay Frick was a prominent figure of the Gilded Age, though he was not particularly beloved. He was chairman of Carnegie Steel. He was extremely anti-union, often implementing excessive, if not draconian, negotiation tactics against union leaders.
This is where we get a glimpse of the exploitation, corruption, poverty, and unrest of the Gilded Age. Frick was a millionaire who made his fortune off of the labor of steel workers. To maintain the best bottom line possible, he slashed the workers wages, evicted workers from company housing, and refused to speak with union leaders. This led to the Homestead Labor Strike of 1892, a strike during which one person tried to assassinate Frick!
Frick survived, and eventually moved to NYC. He built his mansion here on Fifth Avenue, and brought his impressive art collection. After his passing, the requested that this home be turned into an art museum. Today we know it as The Frick Collection.
Walk North to 75th Street and Fifth Avenue
Harkness Mansion
The second largest stockholder in Rockefeller, Andrews, & Flagler, a company that would become Standard Oil, was a silent partner known as Steven Harkness. His early investments built up a substantial fortune, making the family one of the wealthiest in the United States.
Harkness’s son built a resplendent mansion at the corner of 75th Street and Fifth Avenue. The house was completed in 1909, and has truly stood the test of time. While other Fifth Avenue mansions were torn down, the Harkness Mansion remained. See its elegant façade at 1 East 75th St.
Walk North to 77th St.
William Clark House (AKA Clark’s Folly)
At the corner of 77th Street and Fifth Avenue, you’ll find a co-op building where you can buy a four-bedroom unit for the low low price of $30 million.This used to be the site of a building known as Clark’s Folly! William Clark made a giant fortune in copper. This fortune allowed him to literally live like a king. He commissioned a mansion here to the tune of $200 Million in today’s money. It featured 121 rooms, one of which was imported from France and reassembled here in NYC. The most impressive feature, at least to New Yorkers, was that he also commissioned a private underground railroad to deliver coal to this house for heating. Despite its lavishness, critics called the mansion an architectural aberration and nicknamed it Clark’s Folly. After Clark’s passing, the family sold the mansion for half of its building cost, and it was demolished, and thus made way for the apartment building which still stands today.
Walk to 78th and Fifth Avenue
James B. Duke House
Located at 1 E. 78th Street, today this building is most recognizable as home to NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts. Its origins, however, were the elaborate French Classical style mansion of Benjamin Duke’s kid brother, James B. Duke. The Duke family lived here until 1958 when they donated it to NYU.
When walking along NYC’s Fifth Avenue, you will pass two mansions that were formerly owned by the Duke family.
After the Civil War, Washington Duke started what would become as the American Tobacco Company, and it became the largest tobacco manufacturer in the world! Washington Duke sold his shares, but his son Benjamin Newton Duke served at the vice-president at American Tobacco Company.
Benjamin was also an entrepreneur in his own right and founded Duke Energy, which provided electricity to more than 300 cotton mills throughout the Carolinas. As you can imagine, the family had quite a comfortable income.