The Joseph Raphael De Lamar House is a mansion

Mansion

A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...

 located on 233 Madison Avenue and the corner of 37th Street in New York City

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...

.

History

It was designed by C. P. H. Gilbert and built in 1902-05. It is a Beaux-Arts Second Empire mansion, the largest in Murray Hill, New York

Murray Hill, Manhattan

Murray Hill is a Midtown Manhattan neighborhood in New York City, USA. Around 1987 many real estate promoters of the neighborhood and newer residents described the boundaries as within East 34th Street, East 42nd Street, Madison Avenue, and the East River; in 1999, Frank P...

 and one of the grandest in all of New York. The building houses the Consulate General of Poland in New York today.

Captain De Lamar built this house as a family residence for him, but this magnificent and lavish building had never been used according to the initial intentions. Joseph De Lamar soon divorced and his daughter Alice never found happiness in that home. After the death of De Lamar in 1918 at the age of 75, the mansion was sold to the American Bible Society

American Bible Society

The American Bible Society is an interconfessional, non-denominational, nonprofit organization, founded in 1816 in New York City, which publishes, distributes and translates the Bible and provides study aids and other tools to help people engage with the Bible.It is probably best known for its...

, and in 1923 the National Democratic Club purchased it for its headquarters. In 1973, Republic of Poland bought the mansion.

The De Lamar Mansion was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The Commission was created in April 1965 by Mayor Robert F. Wagner following the destruction of Pennsylvania Station the previous year to make way for...

in 1975.