Stuyvesant Fish
Encyclopedia
Stuyvesant Fish was president of the Illinois Central Railroad
.
Fish was born in New York City
, the son of Hamilton Fish
and his wife Julia Ursin Niemcewicz, née Kean. A graduate of Columbia College
, he was later an executive of the Illinois Central Railroad
, and as its president from 1887 to 1906 oversaw its period of greatest expansion. In 1906, he was removed from his position by E. H. Harriman
, probably because of Fish's cooperation and participation with the state government in investigating the Mutual Life Insurance Company
. Stuyvesant Fish also served on the board of directors of the National Park Bank
.
He married Marion Graves Anthon on 1 June 1896. Marion, known as "Mamie", was a leader in New York and Newport
society. When in Newport she lived in a grand Colonial Revival house named "Crossways", where her Harvest Festival Ball in August signaled the end of the Newport social season.
Stuyvesant Fish was a vestryman at Trinity Church, New York
. He and his wife maintained his grandmother's Federal-style house at 21 Stuyvesant Street, but after 1898 their New York house was a brick and limestone Italianate structure at 25 East 78th Street at Madison Avenue. The house, which was designed by Stanford White
, is still standing.
politician, which had the address 86 Irving Place. Johnson sold the property to Horace Brooks, who added a fifth story and constructed a stable on the unused southern part of the property. The census of 1880 shows a number of different people living at the address, suggesting that it had been converted into apartments by that time.
In 1887, this modest property was expanded and altered by noted architect Stanford White
at the cost of $130,000 into a mansion with an interior marble staircase and a ballroom on the top floor where Mamie Fish gave elaborate parties for New York society. The building was also re-numbered to be 19 Gramercy Park, an address which had not existed prior to that time.
The Fish family left for their new 78th Street home in 1898, and the building was broken up into small apartments; actor John Barrymore
was a resident while he was in New York working on Broadway. Occupants at other times included playwright Edward Sheldon
and William C. Bullitt, the diplomat, journalist and novelist. In 1909, a six-story apartment building was constructed on the southern part of the lot.
The building was rescued from decay in 1931 by noted publicist
Benjamin Sonnenberg
when he and his wife rented the first two floors, gradually expanding and taking over other apartments. In 1945, Sonneberg bought the entire building from Fish's son, Stuyvesant Fish Jr., for $85,000, and combined it with the apartment building to the south to create a massive residence which noted architecture critic Brendan Gill
called "the greatest private house remaining in private hands in New York." The mansion was extensively furnished with Sonnenberg's collection of English and Irish furniture, drawings by Old Master
s and sculptures. Like the Fishes, Sonnenberg gave notable parties which brought old-money New York together with show business luminaries.
Sonnenberg died in 1978, and the house was auctioned to Baron Walter Langer von Langendorff, the owner of Evyan Perfumes, although Dr. Henry Jarecki
also bid on it. Von Langendorff sold it to fashion designer Richard Tyler
and his wife, Lisa Trafficante, in 1995 for $3.5 million. After sprucing up the property, it was put on the market in January 2000 and sold to Jarecki in December 2000 for $16.5 million. Jarecki, a psychologist
and entrepreneur
was reported to plan to use the mansion as both a home and the headquarters for his family foundation.
The mansion in its current incarnation has 37 rooms, 18000 square feet (1,672.3 m²) of space, a separate caretaker's apartment, numerous bedrooms, bathrooms, guest suites, and sitting rooms, a drawing room, a library, two kitchens, a wine cellar and the ballroom on the top floor, which had been renovated by Tyler.
Illinois Central Railroad
The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois with New Orleans, Louisiana and Birmingham, Alabama. A line also connected Chicago with Sioux City, Iowa...
.
Fish was born 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...
, the son of Hamilton Fish
Hamilton Fish
Hamilton Fish was an American statesman and politician who served as the 16th Governor of New York, United States Senator and United States Secretary of State. Fish has been considered one of the best Secretary of States in the United States history; known for his judiciousness and reform efforts...
and his wife Julia Ursin Niemcewicz, née Kean. A graduate of Columbia College
Columbia College of Columbia University
Columbia College is the oldest undergraduate college at Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus in Morningside Heights in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1754 by the Church of England as King's College, receiving a Royal Charter from King George II...
, he was later an executive of the Illinois Central Railroad
Illinois Central Railroad
The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois with New Orleans, Louisiana and Birmingham, Alabama. A line also connected Chicago with Sioux City, Iowa...
, and as its president from 1887 to 1906 oversaw its period of greatest expansion. In 1906, he was removed from his position by E. H. Harriman
E. H. Harriman
Edward Henry Harriman was an American railroad executive.-Early years:Harriman was born in Hempstead, New York, the son of Orlando Harriman, an Episcopal clergyman, and Cornelia Neilson...
, probably because of Fish's cooperation and participation with the state government in investigating the Mutual Life Insurance Company
Mutual Life Insurance Company
Mutual Life Insurance Company may refer to:* Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company* Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company* The Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Company* Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co...
. Stuyvesant Fish also served on the board of directors of the National Park Bank
National Park Bank
The National Park Bank was founded in 1856 in New York City, and by the late 19th century, it did more commercial business than any other bank in the country. In 1911, it acquired the Wells Fargo Company...
.
He married Marion Graves Anthon on 1 June 1896. Marion, known as "Mamie", was a leader in New York and Newport
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
society. When in Newport she lived in a grand Colonial Revival house named "Crossways", where her Harvest Festival Ball in August signaled the end of the Newport social season.
When Grand Duke BorisGrand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of RussiaGrand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia was a son of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, a grandson of Czar Alexander II of Russia and a first cousin of Czar Nicholas II. He followed a military career and was a Major General in the Russian Army. He took part in the Russo-Japanese War and...
of Russia visited Newport, Mrs. Fish issued invitations for a dinner and ball in his honor; the night of the ball the Duke was detained by Mrs. Ogden Goelet, Mrs. Fish's rival as social leader, at whose home he was staying. About 200 guests had assembled in the hall at Crossways, and when the hour for dinner approached and there was no sign of the Duke, Mrs. Fish announced that the Duke was unable to come, but the Czar of Russia had agreed to be her guest. Suddenly the doors of the room were flung open and in walked His Imperial Majesty, dressed in his royal robes, wearing the Imperial Crown and carrying a scepter. The guests, including Senator Chauncey DepewChauncey DepewChauncey Mitchell Depew was an attorney for Cornelius Vanderbilt's railroad interests, president of the New York Central Railroad System, and a United States Senator from New York from 1899 to 1911.- Biography:...
, Pierpont Morgan, and Lord Charles BeresfordLord Charles BeresfordCharles William de la Poer Beresford, 1st Baron Beresford GCB GCVO , styled Lord Charles Beresford between 1859 and 1916, was a British Admiral and Member of Parliament....
, sank in a court curtsy, only to recover themselves with shrieks of laughter when they realized they were paying homage to Harry LehrHenry Symes LehrHenry Symes Lehr was a socialite and the husband of Elizabeth Wharton Drexel. He was the son of Robert Oliver Lehr, a tobacco and snuff importer who became the German consul in Baltimore. He was the fourth child in a family of seven. He had a sister Alice Lehr Morton; and a brother Louis Lehr,...
.
Stuyvesant Fish was a vestryman at Trinity Church, New York
Trinity Church, New York
Trinity Church at 79 Broadway, Lower Manhattan, is a historic, active parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of New York...
. He and his wife maintained his grandmother's Federal-style house at 21 Stuyvesant Street, but after 1898 their New York house was a brick and limestone Italianate structure at 25 East 78th Street at Madison Avenue. The house, which was designed by Stanford White
Stanford White
Stanford White was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. He designed a long series of houses for the rich and the very rich, and various public, institutional, and religious buildings, some of which can be found...
, is still standing.
19 Gramercy Park
At the corner of Gramercy Park South (East 20th Street) and Irving Place stood a small four-story row house built in 1845 by William Samuel Johnson, a WhigWhig Party (United States)
The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...
politician, which had the address 86 Irving Place. Johnson sold the property to Horace Brooks, who added a fifth story and constructed a stable on the unused southern part of the property. The census of 1880 shows a number of different people living at the address, suggesting that it had been converted into apartments by that time.
In 1887, this modest property was expanded and altered by noted architect Stanford White
Stanford White
Stanford White was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. He designed a long series of houses for the rich and the very rich, and various public, institutional, and religious buildings, some of which can be found...
at the cost of $130,000 into a mansion with an interior marble staircase and a ballroom on the top floor where Mamie Fish gave elaborate parties for New York society. The building was also re-numbered to be 19 Gramercy Park, an address which had not existed prior to that time.
The Fish family left for their new 78th Street home in 1898, and the building was broken up into small apartments; actor John Barrymore
John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
was a resident while he was in New York working on Broadway. Occupants at other times included playwright Edward Sheldon
Edward Sheldon
Edward Brewster Sheldon was an American dramatist. His plays include Salvation Nell and Romance , which was made into a motion picture with Greta Garbo....
and William C. Bullitt, the diplomat, journalist and novelist. In 1909, a six-story apartment building was constructed on the southern part of the lot.
The building was rescued from decay in 1931 by noted publicist
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
Benjamin Sonnenberg
Benjamin Sonnenberg
Benjamin Sonnenberg was a Russian-born American press agent who represented celebrities and major corporations, who was best known for the lavish entertaining he did for his clients and other notables at his Manhattan townhouse located at 19 Gramercy Park South.Sonnenberg was born in...
when he and his wife rented the first two floors, gradually expanding and taking over other apartments. In 1945, Sonneberg bought the entire building from Fish's son, Stuyvesant Fish Jr., for $85,000, and combined it with the apartment building to the south to create a massive residence which noted architecture critic Brendan Gill
Brendan Gill
Brendan Gill wrote for The New Yorker for more than 60 years. He also contributed film criticism for Film Comment and wrote a popular book about his time at the New Yorker magazine.-Biography:...
called "the greatest private house remaining in private hands in New York." The mansion was extensively furnished with Sonnenberg's collection of English and Irish furniture, drawings by Old Master
Old Master
"Old Master" is a term for a European painter of skill who worked before about 1800, or a painting by such an artist. An "old master print" is an original print made by an artist in the same period...
s and sculptures. Like the Fishes, Sonnenberg gave notable parties which brought old-money New York together with show business luminaries.
Sonnenberg died in 1978, and the house was auctioned to Baron Walter Langer von Langendorff, the owner of Evyan Perfumes, although Dr. Henry Jarecki
Henry Jarecki
Henry George Jarecki, MD is an American academic, psychiatrist, entrepreneur and philanthropist.- Early life and career :...
also bid on it. Von Langendorff sold it to fashion designer Richard Tyler
Richard Tyler
Richard Tyler is a fictional character in the USA Network science fiction television series The 4400.- Character :One of the first 4400s to be shown, Richard is Lily Tyler's husband, and is the father of her second daughter, Isabelle Tyler....
and his wife, Lisa Trafficante, in 1995 for $3.5 million. After sprucing up the property, it was put on the market in January 2000 and sold to Jarecki in December 2000 for $16.5 million. Jarecki, a psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
and entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
was reported to plan to use the mansion as both a home and the headquarters for his family foundation.
The mansion in its current incarnation has 37 rooms, 18000 square feet (1,672.3 m²) of space, a separate caretaker's apartment, numerous bedrooms, bathrooms, guest suites, and sitting rooms, a drawing room, a library, two kitchens, a wine cellar and the ballroom on the top floor, which had been renovated by Tyler.