The Elbridge T. Gerry Mansion was a lavish mansion built in 1895 and located at 2 East 61st Street, near the intersection of

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...

, in the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It was built for Commodore

Elbridge Thomas Gerry Elbridge Thomas Gerry (December 25, 1837 – February 18, 1927), usually called "Commodore" Gerry due to the office he held with the New York Yacht Club from 1886 to 1892, was an American lawyer and reformer who was the grandson of U.S. Vice P ...

, a grandson of statesman

Elbridge Gerry Elbridge Gerry (; July 17, 1744 – November 23, 1814) was an American Founding Father, merchant, politician, and diplomat who served as the fifth vice president of the United States under President James Madison from 1813 until his death in 18 ...

History

Elbridge Thomas Gerry (1837–1927) hired architect

Richard Morris Hunt Richard Morris Hunt (October 31, 1827 – July 31, 1895) was an American architect of the nineteenth century and an eminent figure in the history of American architecture. He helped shape New York City with his designs for the 1902 entrance fa� ...

to design a

French Renaissance The French Renaissance was the cultural and artistic movement in France between the 15th and early 17th centuries. The period is associated with the pan-European Renaissance, a word first used by the French historian Jules Michelet to define th ...

chateau. Gerry specifically told Hunt that he needed space to house his collection of 30,000 law books. Plans for the house were formally announced in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' on May 15, 1892. Construction began by 1895, and after a reported $3,000,000 in construction costs, the residence was opened officially in 1897. The entrance of the structure, via an iron

porte-cochère A porte-cochère (; , late 17th century, literally 'coach gateway'; plural: porte-cochères, portes-cochères) is a doorway to a building or courtyard, "often very grand," through which vehicles can enter from the street or a covered porch-like ...

, was based on the

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

wing of the

Château de Blois A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions. Nowaday ...

. The Gerry mansion became a center of cultivated and fashionable life, even as it came to be surrounded by skyscrapers. Gerry owned sculptural

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...

figures ''Night'' and ''Day'' by

Isidore Konti Isidore Konti (July 9, 1862 – January 11, 1938) was a Vienna-born (of Hungarian parents) sculptor. He began formal art studies at the age of 16 when he entered the Imperial Academy in Vienna, where he studied under Edmund von Hellmer.''Colle ...

. In his home, he displayed his extensive international art collection, which included such works as

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The ran ...

's "Plaza de Toros," a

Jean-Jacques Henner Jean-Jacques Henner (5 March 1829 – 23 July 1905) was a French painter, noted for his use of sfumato and chiaroscuro in painting nudes, religious subjects and portraits. Biography Henner was born at Bernwiller (Alsace). He began his studies ...

bust portrait,

Mihály Munkácsy Mihály Munkácsy (20 February 1844 – 1 May 1900) was a Hungarians, Hungarian Painting, painter. He earned international reputation with his Genre works, genre pictures and large-scale Christian art, biblical paintings. Early years Munk� ...

's "Lac Chambre du Nourrisson" from 1884,

Adolph Tidemand Adolph Tidemand (14 August 18148 August 1876) was a noted Norwegian romantic nationalism painter. Among his best known paintings are ''Haugianerne'' (''The Haugeans''; 1852) and '' Brudeferd i Hardanger'' (''The Bridal Procession in Hardanger''; ...

's "Sunday Morning in Norway," James Edward Freeman's "The Cave of Gasparoni" and "Study of a Young Girl,"

Jehan Georges Vibert Jehan Georges Vibert or Jean Georges Vibert (30 September 1840 – 28 July 1902) was a French academic painter. Biography He was born in Paris, the son of engraver and publisher Théodore Vibert, and grandson of the influential rose-breeder Je ...

's "The Cardinal's Nephew,"

Adolf Schreyer Adolf Schreyer (9 July 1828, Frankfurt-am-Main29 July 1899, Kronberg im Taunus) was a German painter, associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. Biography He studied art first at the Städel Institute in his native town, and then at ...

's "The Advance Guard," Achillo Guerra's "Absolution of Beatrice Cenci,"

Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant (also known as Benjamin-Constant), born Jean-Joseph Constant (10 June 1845 – 26 May 1902), was a French painter and etcher best known for his Oriental subjects and portraits. Biography Benjamin-Constant was bor ...

's "Venice: The Return of the Envoy,"

John Henry Dolph John Henry Dolph (April 18, 1835 – September 28, 1903) was an American painter. Eventually based in New York City, he became notable for his depictions of pets such as dogs and kittens. Life John Henry Dolph was born on April 18, 1835, in Fort ...

's "A Happy Family," Blackman's "Italian Kitchen,"

Edwin Lord Weeks Edwin Lord Weeks (18491903) was an American artist, noted for his Orientalist works. Life Weeks was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1849. His parents were affluent spice and tea merchants from Newton, a suburb of Boston, and as such they wer ...

' "Woodcarver's Shop: Delhi,"

Paul Jean Clays Paul Jean Clays (27 November 1819 – 10 February 1900) was a Belgian artist known for his marine paintings. Biography In 1851 he made his debut at the Paris Salon and, while he tried to stay in the mainstream, his art was heralded by those ...

's "Port of Ostend," Mauritz de Haas' "Moonrise and Sunset," and

Salvator Rosa Salvator Rosa (1615 –1673) is best known today as an Italian Baroque painter, whose romanticized landscapes and history paintings, often set in dark and untamed nature, exerted considerable influence from the 17th century into the early 19th ...

's "The Revolt of the Tribe". He also owned works by Italian painter Camillo Gioja Barbera, Belgian painter Cornelius Van Leemputten, Polish painter

Alfred Kowalski Alfred Jan Maksymilian Kowalski (Alfred ''Wierusz''-Kowalski; 11 October 184916 February 1915) was a Polish painter and representative of the Munich School. Life He was born on 11 October 1849 in Suwałki to father Teofil Kowalski of the Wieruszo ...

, Austro-French painter

Rudolf Ernst Rudolf Ernst (14 February 1854, Vienna – 1932, Fontenay-aux-Roses) was an Austro-French painter, printmaker and ceramics painter who is best known for his orientalist motifs. He exhibited in Paris under the name "Rodolphe Ernst". Life He w ...

, French painter

Claude Joseph Vernet Claude-Joseph Vernet (14 August 17143 December 1789) was a French painter. His son, Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, was also a painter. Life and work Vernet was born in Avignon. When only fourteen years of age he aided his father, Antoine Vernet ...

, Norwegian painter Vincent Stoltenberg Lerche, and Dutch painter

Jan de Baen Jan de Baen (20 February 1633 – 1702) was a Dutch portrait painter who lived during the Dutch Golden Age. He was a pupil of the painter Jacob Adriaensz Backer in Amsterdam from 1645 to 1648. He worked for Charles II of England in his Dutch exil ...

Demolition

After Gerry's death in 1927, the mansion was sold and in 1929 it was demolished to make way for

The Pierre The Pierre is a luxury hotel located at 2 East 61st Street, at the intersection of that street with Fifth Avenue, in Manhattan, New York City, facing Central Park. Designed by Schultze & Weaver, the hotel opened in 1930 with 100+ employees, n ...

hotel. The mansion survived just 32 years.

References

{{authority control Residential buildings completed in the 19th century Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan Fifth Avenue Upper East Side Buildings and structures demolished in 1929 Houses completed in 1895

History

Demolition

See also

References