Riverside (house)
Encyclopedia
Riverside was an extravagant private residence on the Upper West Side
of New York City
that existed in the first half of the 20th century. It was built for steel magnate Charles M. Schwab
, and was the grandest and most ambitious house ever built on the island of Manhattan
. Considered by many to be the classic example of a "white elephant
", it was built on the "wrong" side of Central Park
from the viewpoint of the more fashionable Upper East Side
.
The 75-room mansion between 73rd and 74th Streets was designed by an architect
with only a modest reputation, Maurice Hébert (1861-1933), as an eclectic Beaux-Arts mixture of pink granite
features that made the Vanderbilt mansions
on Fifth Avenue look cramped. It combined details from three French
Renaissance
château
x: Chenonceau
, the exterior staircase from Blois
, and Azay-le-Rideau
. The total cost was six million dollars.
Schwab's former employer Andrew Carnegie
, whose own mansion
on upper Fifth Avenue later became the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, once remarked, "Have you seen that place of Charlie's? It makes mine look like a shack."
Schwab was a self-made man who became president of U.S. Steel
and later founded Bethlehem Steel Company. Schwab built "Riverside" after leaving Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
for New York. The large property was available because it formed half the site of the former New York Orphan Asylum, one of several charitable institutions in the former Bloomingdale district that gave way to large projects, such as the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine
and Columbia University
's campus on Morningside Heights. The Ansonia Hotel
now occupies the orphans' Broadway
frontage. The financier Jacob Schiff
had bought the parcel, but— ominously for the social future of the Upper West Side— Mrs. Schiff refused to move to the "wrong" side of Central Park.
Schwab was a risk-taker and later went bankrupt in the Stock market crash of 1929
. He died comparatively penniless ten years later in 1939, bequeathing the forlorn 'Riverside" to the City as a suitably ostentatious official residence for the mayors of New York. It is probable that former mayor Jimmie Walker would have moved into the residence, but, unfortunately for the mansion, Fiorello La Guardia, then the mayor, was reform-minded and turned it down, saying "What, me in that?"
La Guardia's rejection of the mansion sealed its fate, and during World War II
, a Victory garden
was planted in its once-landscaped grounds. It was razed in 1948 and replaced by a comparatively drab brick luxury apartment block, called Schwab House.
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 125th Street...
of 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...
that existed in the first half of the 20th century. It was built for steel magnate Charles M. Schwab
Charles M. Schwab
Charles Michael Schwab was an American steel magnate. Under his leadership, Bethlehem Steel became the second largest steel maker in the United States, and one of the most important heavy manufacturers in the world....
, and was the grandest and most ambitious house ever built on the island of 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...
. Considered by many to be the classic example of a "white elephant
White elephant
A white elephant is an idiom for a valuable but burdensome possession of which its owner cannot dispose and whose cost is out of proportion to its usefulness or worth...
", it was built on the "wrong" side of Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
from the viewpoint of the more fashionable Upper East Side
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River. The Upper East Side lies within an area bounded by 59th Street to 96th Street, and the East River to Fifth Avenue-Central Park...
.
The 75-room mansion between 73rd and 74th Streets was designed by an architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
with only a modest reputation, Maurice Hébert (1861-1933), as an eclectic Beaux-Arts mixture of pink granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
features that made the Vanderbilt mansions
Vanderbilt houses
From the late 1870s to the 1920s, the Vanderbilt family employed America's best Beaux-Arts architects and decorators to build an unequalled string of New York townhouses and East Coast palaces in the United States. Many of the Vanderbilt houses are now National Historic Landmarks...
on Fifth Avenue look cramped. It combined details from three French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
château
Château
A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...
x: Chenonceau
Château de Chenonceau
The Château de Chenonceau is a manor house near the small village of Chenonceaux, in the Indre-et-Loire département of the Loire Valley in France. It was built on the site of an old mill on the River Cher, sometime before its first mention in writing in the 11th century...
, the exterior staircase from Blois
Blois
Blois is the capital of Loir-et-Cher department in central France, situated on the banks of the lower river Loire between Orléans and Tours.-History:...
, and Azay-le-Rideau
Azay-le-Rideau
Azay-le-Rideau is a commune of the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.-Château:The château of Azay-le-Rideau was built from 1515 to 1527, one of the earliest French Renaissance châteaux...
. The total cost was six million dollars.
Schwab's former employer Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
, whose own 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...
on upper Fifth Avenue later became the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, once remarked, "Have you seen that place of Charlie's? It makes mine look like a shack."
Schwab was a self-made man who became president of U.S. Steel
U.S. Steel
The United States Steel Corporation , more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an integrated steel producer with major production operations in the United States, Canada, and Central Europe. The company is the world's tenth largest steel producer ranked by sales...
and later founded Bethlehem Steel Company. Schwab built "Riverside" after leaving Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem is a city in Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 74,982, making it the seventh largest city in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie,...
for New York. The large property was available because it formed half the site of the former New York Orphan Asylum, one of several charitable institutions in the former Bloomingdale district that gave way to large projects, such as the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine
Cathedral of Saint John the Divine
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, officially the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in the City and Diocese of New York, is the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York...
and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
's campus on Morningside Heights. The Ansonia Hotel
Ansonia Hotel
The Ansonia is a building on the Upper West Side of New York City, located at 2109 Broadway, between 73rd and 74th Streets. It was originally built as a hotel by William Earle Dodge Stokes, the Phelps-Dodge copper heir and share holder in the Ansonia Clock Company, and it was named for his...
now occupies the orphans' Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
frontage. The financier Jacob Schiff
Jacob Schiff
Jacob Henry Schiff, born Jakob Heinrich Schiff was a German-born Jewish American banker and philanthropist, who helped finance, among many other things, the Japanese military efforts against Tsarist Russia in the Russo-Japanese War.From his base on Wall Street, he was the foremost Jewish leader...
had bought the parcel, but— ominously for the social future of the Upper West Side— Mrs. Schiff refused to move to the "wrong" side of Central Park.
Schwab was a risk-taker and later went bankrupt in the Stock market crash of 1929
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. He died comparatively penniless ten years later in 1939, bequeathing the forlorn 'Riverside" to the City as a suitably ostentatious official residence for the mayors of New York. It is probable that former mayor Jimmie Walker would have moved into the residence, but, unfortunately for the mansion, Fiorello La Guardia, then the mayor, was reform-minded and turned it down, saying "What, me in that?"
La Guardia's rejection of the mansion sealed its fate, and during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, a Victory garden
Victory garden
Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit and herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks in United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Germany during World War I and World War II to reduce the pressure on the public food supply...
was planted in its once-landscaped grounds. It was razed in 1948 and replaced by a comparatively drab brick luxury apartment block, called Schwab House.