James B. Duke House
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The James B. Duke House is a mansion at 1 East 78th Street, on the northeast corner 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 ...
, on 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 ...
of
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 ...
in
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 ...
. The building was designed by
Horace Trumbauer Horace Trumbauer (December 28, 1868 – September 18, 1938) was a prominent American architect of the Gilded Age, known for designing residential manors for the wealthy. Later in his career he also designed hotels, office buildings, and much of ...
, who drew heavily upon the design of in
Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
. Constructed between 1909 and 1912 as a private residence for businessman
James Buchanan Duke James Buchanan Duke (December 23, 1856 – October 10, 1925) was an American tobacco and electric power industrialist best known for the introduction of modern cigarette manufacture and marketing, and his involvement with Duke University. ...
and his family, the building has housed the
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...
(NYU)'s
Institute of Fine Arts The Institute of Fine Arts (IFA) of New York University is dedicated to graduate teaching and advanced research in the history of art, archaeology and the conservation and technology of works of art. It offers Master of Arts and Doctor of Philoso ...
since 1959. The house has a limestone facade and was designed to look like a two-story structure from the street. An attic story is placed behind the
balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...
on roof level. The house generally contains long windows and high ceilings and has a
portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
in the middle of the 78th Street facade. The interior of the first floor is designed in the French Classical style and consists of four large corner rooms, used as classrooms, which surround a main entrance hall. The second floor originally contained eight bedrooms while the third floor had servants' quarters; these later served respectively as a library and offices. The basement had service rooms, later converted into laboratories. The James B. Duke House replaced the 1880s-era Henry H. Cook mansion. When Duke died in 1925, his wife Nanaline and daughter Doris continued to live in the house until 1958, when they donated the house to NYU. The
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
designated 1 East 78th Street as an official landmark in 1970, and it was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1977.


Site

The James B. Duke House is at 1 East 78th Street 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 ...
neighborhood of
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 ...
in
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 is on the northeast corner of 78th Street to the south and
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 ...
to the west, directly across Fifth Avenue from
Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
. The
land lot In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner(s). A plot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property (meaning practically the same thing) in ...
covers with a
frontage Frontage is the boundary between a plot of land or a building and the road onto which the plot or building fronts. Frontage may also refer to the full length of this boundary. This length is considered especially important for certain types of ...
of on Fifth Avenue and on 78th Street. The house is largely rectangular in plan, except at the northeast corner, where the house protrudes slightly on the north side. Nearby sites include the
Payne Whitney House The Payne Whitney House is a historic building at 972 Fifth Avenue, south of 79th Street, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was designed in the High Italian Renaissance style by architect Stanford White of the firm McKi ...
and the
Harry F. Sinclair House The Harry F. Sinclair House is a mansion at the southeast corner of East 79th Street and Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. The house was built between 1897 and 1899. Over the first half of the 20th century, th ...
to the north, the Stuyvesant Fish House to the east, and
960 Fifth Avenue 960 Fifth Avenue, also known as 3 East 77th Street, is a luxury apartment building on Fifth Avenue on the northeast corner of East 77th Street in Manhattan, New York. History 960 Fifth Avenue was built on the former site of the William A. Cla ...
to the south. In the late 19th century, the site was owned by railroad magnate Henry H. Cook, who had acquired all lots on the
city block A city block, residential block, urban block, or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest group of buildings that is surrounded by streets, not counting any type of thoroughfare within t ...
between Fifth Avenue,
Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stre ...
, and 78th and 79th Streets. Cook had acquired the site for $500,000 and built a house on the southwest corner of the block in 1883. Cook intended the block to house first-class residences, not high-rises, and only sold lots for the construction of private dwellings. By the early 1910s, the value of the land had increased to $6 million. Through the early 2000s, the block of Fifth Avenue remained largely intact, compared to other parts of Fifth Avenue's " Millionaire's Row".


Architecture

The James B. Duke House was designed in the French Classical/Louis XV style by
Horace Trumbauer Horace Trumbauer (December 28, 1868 – September 18, 1938) was a prominent American architect of the Gilded Age, known for designing residential manors for the wealthy. Later in his career he also designed hotels, office buildings, and much of ...
. Built for the family of
James Buchanan Duke James Buchanan Duke (December 23, 1856 – October 10, 1925) was an American tobacco and electric power industrialist best known for the introduction of modern cigarette manufacture and marketing, and his involvement with Duke University. ...
, it has served as a building for the
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...
(NYU)'s
Institute of Fine Arts The Institute of Fine Arts (IFA) of New York University is dedicated to graduate teaching and advanced research in the history of art, archaeology and the conservation and technology of works of art. It offers Master of Arts and Doctor of Philoso ...
since around 1959. Trumbauer drew heavily upon the design of French architect Etienne Laclotte's , built in 1773 in
Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
. Because Trumbauer did not have a formal architectural education, he delegated the details of his designs to other architects working for him. In particular, the Duke mansion was one of the early works of African American architect
Julian Abele Julian Francis Abele (April 30, 1881April 23, 1950) was a prominent Black American architect, and chief designer in the offices of Horace Trumbauer. He contributed to the design of more than 400 buildings, including the Widener Memorial Library at ...
. Comparing the house to the
Edward S. Harkness House The Edward S. Harkness House, located at 1 East 75th Street and Fifth Avenue, is a mansion in the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was constructed between 1907 and 1908 for Edward Harkness by James Gamble Rogers, a principal of ...
at 1 East 75th Street,
Paul Goldberger Paul Goldberger (born in 1950) is an American author, architecture critic and lecturer. He is known for his "Sky Line" column in ''The New Yorker''. Biography Shortly after starting as a reporter at ''The New York Times'' in 1972, he was assign ...
wrote that the Duke House seemed "overwhelming". Conversely,
Henry Hope Reed Jr. Henry Hope Reed Jr. (September 25, 1915 – May 1, 2013) was an American architecture critic known for his advocacy of classical architecture and his outspoken criticism of modernist architecture. Life Born in Manhattan, Reed earned a degre ...
praised the house's "monumentality in what is, for New York, a low building".


Facade

The facade is made of limestone, which is designed in a fine quality that looks like marble. From the street, the house was designed to look like a two-story structure. An attic story is placed behind the
balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...
on roof level. To make the Duke mansion appear as an overscaled version of the Château Labottière, Trumbauer hid the service rooms in the basement and the servants' bedrooms in the attic. The Duke House occupies nearly its entire land lot. On Fifth Avenue, the house is slightly recessed behind an areaway. A stone balustrade separates the areaway from the sidewalk. There is a yard on the north side of the house, separating it from the Payne Whitney House at 972 Fifth Avenue directly to the north. Another alley on the east side, measuring wide, separates the Duke House from a neighboring building at 3 East 78th Street. The Duke House's facade contains seven vertical
bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...
of openings on the south, facing 78th Street, and four bays of openings on the west, facing Fifth Avenue. The house generally contains long windows and high ceilings to give it the impression of a large mansion. The main entrance is in the center bay on 78th Street. It contains a double-story
portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
flanked by vertical
pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...
s with
quoin Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...
s. The entrance is recessed within the portico and is flanked by
Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...
-style columns on the ground floor. It is accessed by a short flight of steps with a balustrade that contains low relief panels. Inside the opening is a set of double doors in a round-arched opening, with stone
bas-reliefs Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
in the
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 ...
s at the top corners. The keystone above the door has a
console bracket In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...
with a relief depicting a woman's head. At the second story is a balcony with an iron railing and Ionic-style columns. There is a
French window A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security by ...
behind the balcony, topped by a carved swag and a panel with a swag and ribbons. The top of the portico contains a triangular
pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...
supported by
corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...
s, within which is a tympanum containing carved figures. The remainder of the facade is similarly ornate. Each corner of the facade contains pilasters with quoins, similar to those surrounding the portico. The windows at the ground floor are surrounded by banded moldings and have balustrades at the bottom. The balustrades of each ground-story window are visually connected by
band course A course is a layer of the same unit running horizontally in a wall. It can also be defined as a continuous row of any masonry unit such as bricks, concrete masonry units (CMU), stone, shingles, tiles, etc. Coursed masonry construction arranges ...
s within the spaces between each window. On the second story, each window is surrounded by a banded molding and has a wrought-iron window guard at the bottom, as well as a carved swag atop the window. The spaces between the windows on both stories are made of stone panels in low relief, while a band course separates the floors horizontally. The facade is topped by a large
entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...
and a
cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
supported by
modillion A modillion is an ornate bracket, more horizontal in shape and less imposing than a corbel. They are often seen underneath a cornice which it helps to support. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally translated as small teeth). All ...
s. The entablature has talon and
egg-and-dart Egg-and-dart, also known as egg-and-tongue, egg-and-anchor, or egg-and-star, is an Ornament (architecture), ornamental device adorning the fundamental quarter-round, convex ovolo profile of molding (decorative), moulding, consisting of alternating ...
moldings as well as a blank frieze; at the portico, the entablature projects slightly from the facade.


Interior

The house has 32 rooms in total. According to the
New York City Department of City Planning The Department of City Planning (DCP) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for setting the framework of city's physical and socioeconomic planning. The department is responsible for land use and environmental review, p ...
, the Duke House has a
gross floor area In architecture, construction, and real estate, floor area, floor space, or floorspace is the area (measured as square feet or square metres) taken up by a building or part of it. The ways of defining "floor area" depend on what factors of the buil ...
of . However, media sources have described the house as having . Originally, numerous artworks were displayed throughout the house. These included ''Portrait of Raphael Franco'' (
Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of ...
, 1780), ''Portrait of Lord Peter Burrell, Lord Gwydyr'' (Gainsborough, 1787), and ''Gentleman in a Red Coat'' (
Henry Raeburn Sir Henry Raeburn (; 4 March 1756 – 8 July 1823) was a Scottish portrait painter. He served as Portrait Painter to King George IV in Scotland. Biography Raeburn was born the son of a manufacturer in Stockbridge, on the Water of Leith: a fo ...
, 1800). Many of the house's original architectural records are in the collection of
Duke University Libraries Duke University Libraries is the library system of Duke University, serving the university's students and faculty. The Libraries collectively hold some 6 million volumes. The collection contains 17.7 million manuscripts, 1.2 million public documen ...
.


First floor

The communal interiors on the first floor, which guests could visit, were designed in the French Classical style. On each side of the main entrance were reception rooms for guests. These were converted respectively to a development office to the west and a directors' office to the east. On the ground floor, the Duke mansion was designed around a grand entrance hall, officially known as the Marica Vilcek Great Hall. This main hall contains stone reliefs, which are carved to resemble classical figures such as
putti A putto (; plural putti ) is a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and sometimes winged. Originally limited to profane passions in symbolism,Dempsey, Charles. ''Inventing the Renaissance Putto''. University of ...
. The floor is made of polychrome tile. On the northern wall is a U-shaped marble staircase leading to the second floor. North of the staircase is a kitchen. East of the main staircase, an additional stair leads up to the second floor and down to the basement, while an elevator leads to all stories. The elevator was originally outfitted in rose and gold decoration. The former public rooms, including the dining, drawing, and music rooms, were arranged at the four corners of the ground floor. They retain many of the original furnishings and decorations. The library was in the southwest corner, the dining room in the northwest, the music room in the northeast, and the drawing room in the southeast. Because of the shape of the house, the music room was slightly larger than the other corner rooms. The former music room has arched openings with swags, fluted pilasters with capitals, relief panels, and an
architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can ...
with festoons and a cornice; many of the decorations are gilded. The music room has an arched opening with a small performers' balcony that contains an iron railing. , the Loeb Room, Marble Room, Lecture Hall, and Seminar Room respectively occupy the southwest, northwest, northeast, and southeast rooms.


Other stories

The second floor had eight large bedrooms. Also on the second floor was a linen room, dress closet, clothes rooms, a pantry, and bathrooms. The attic had twelve suites for servants. The Institute of Fine Arts has a library in the second-floor bedrooms and faculty offices in the attic. Two stairs connect the second and third floors, one on either side of a skylight on the north side of the house. Service rooms such as the laundry, kitchen, and servants' dining room were placed in the basement. The kitchen and servants' dining room was placed in the western side of the basement, while the laundry was in the northeast corner. Other rooms such as a pantry, storerooms, and linen rooms were arranged around a corridor connecting the kitchen and dining room with the laundry. Servants' suites were placed on smaller corridors leading off the main basement corridor. When the Institute of Fine Arts took over the building, these rooms were converted to laboratories. , the basement has several offices. A fire stair replaced a dumbwaiter to the kitchen, but the basement furnishings remain largely intact. From the basement, another staircase and the elevator lead to the sub-basement, which has a multi-purpose room and more offices.


History

James Buchanan Duke James Buchanan Duke (December 23, 1856 – October 10, 1925) was an American tobacco and electric power industrialist best known for the introduction of modern cigarette manufacture and marketing, and his involvement with Duke University. ...
was a wealthy businessman from North Carolina. In 1890, he became president of the
American Tobacco Company The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members of ...
, formed by the merger of several U.S. tobacco companies. James moved to 4 East 52nd Street in what is now
Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
in 1907, shortly before he married Nanaline Inman. At the time, Duke was already considering buying Cook's 78th Street mansion "as a present for his bride", according to ''The New York Times''. Even after the American Tobacco Company was dissolved by antitrust action in 1911, Duke remained a wealthy businessman, organizing competing companies and founding the Southern Power Company (later
Duke Power Duke Energy Corporation is an American electric power and natural gas holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Overview Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Duke Energy owns 58,200 megawatts of base-load and peak generation in ...
) and
Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
.


Construction

In January 1909, Duke purchased the Henry H. Cook mansion for $1.5 million. He initially planned to alter the house, with
C. P. H. Gilbert Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert (August 29, 1861 – October 25, 1952) was an American architect of the late-19th and early-20th centuries best known for designing townhouses and mansions. Background and early life Born in New York City, ...
designing the alterations. By August 1909, Duke planned to construct an entirely new residence on the Cook site and was already demolishing the Cook house. Trumbauer had been hired to design a new residence there, and John T. Brady & Co. had been hired as the general contractor. Referring to the Cook house's relatively young age, ''The New York Times'' wrote at the time, "Is it possible that twenty-five years hence people will be talking about the 'old' Duke house?" Many of the furnishings in the Cook mansion were sold at deep discounts: for instance, a $15,000 fireplace was sold for $300 and panels worth $55 apiece were sold for $3 each. The demolition contractor called it "the best-built house ever torn down in New York City". In September, Duke sold a small parcel on the north side of the site, measuring , to his neighbor
William Payne Whitney William Payne Whitney (March 20, 1876 – May 25, 1927) was an American businessman and member of the influential Whitney family. He inherited a fortune and enlarged it through business dealings, then devoted much of his money and efforts to ...
. The next month, Trumbauer filed plans for a three-story Renaissance-style residence on the site, to cost $365,000. By mid-1910, the masonry at the ground story had been laid. The final design elements of the James B. Duke House were being installed by June 1912.


Duke residence

During 1912, Duke and his pregnant wife Nanaline moved into the house with their fourteen servants; the house had ultimately cost $1 million. Their only child,
Doris Duke Doris Duke (November 22, 1912 – October 28, 1993) was an American billionaire tobacco heiress, philanthropist, art collector, Horticulture, horticulturalist, and socialite. She was often called "the richest girl in the world". Her great wealt ...
, was born the same November. Among the events the Dukes hosted in their new house was a dinner dance in March 1913. ''The New York Times'' dedicated a page in an illustrated supplement to photographs of the house, which it dubbed the "costliest home opened on Fifth Avenue within a year". According to New York state census records from 1915, the three Dukes lived with two relatives and thirteen servants. The 1920 United States census showed that all of the servants working at the house at that point had been hired after 1915, except for their 50-year-old cook Mathilda Andrews. The 78th Street house, while spacious, was the Dukes' secondary residence; their primary residence was
Duke Farms Duke Farms is an estate that was established by James Buchanan Duke, an American entrepreneur who founded Duke Power and the American Tobacco Company. Located in Hillsborough, New Jersey, the property is managed by the Doris Duke Foundation afte ...
in New Jersey. James B. Duke died at his 78th Street home on October 10, 1925, having suffered from pneumonia for several weeks. In James's will, Doris received a large part of her father's $150 million estate (which she could access when she attained the age of majority), while Nanaline received the 78th Street house; the
Rough Point Rough Point is one of the Gilded Age mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, now open to the public as a museum. It is an English Manorial style home designed by architectural firm Peabody & Stearns for Frederick William Vanderbilt. Construction o ...
estate on
Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...
; and the family's Charlotte, North Carolina, house. Due to an unusual clause in the will, James had stipulated that these properties be sold immediately, but Doris was to be given sufficient funds to purchase the properties back. As a result, Doris successfully sued her mother for control of the house in early 1927 as part of a "friendly" lawsuit. Doris wished to avoid the formality of placing the residence through an auction, which would entail having guests enter the home to assess the furnishings, potentially damaging it. The then-14-year-old Doris received both the house itself, valued at $1.6 million, and its furnishings, valued at $600,000. Doris was placed in charge of paying off the $615,000 mortgage and Nanaline in charge of interest payments on the mortgage. As a teenager, Doris continued to reside in the family house on 78th Street, referring to it as "the rock pile" in her adulthood. By the late 1920s, apartment buildings were being constructed on the adjacent blocks. This prompted Nanaline Duke to ask the
New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...
in 1929 to reduce the house's valuation from $1.6 million to $970,000, citing the apartment construction. The house was assessed at $1.5 million in 1931, prompting Nanaline to sue again to reduce the value to $975,000. When Doris Duke turned twenty-one years old in 1933, she received a substantial part of the bequest that had been held in trust for her. A little more than a year later, Doris married
James H. R. Cromwell James Henry Roberts Cromwell (June 4, 1896 – March 19, 1990) was an American diplomat, candidate for the United States Senate, author, and one-time husband of Doris Duke, "the richest girl in the world". He was the United States Ambassad ...
at the 78th Street house. Even when Doris Duke remarried to
Porfirio Rubirosa Porfirio Rubirosa Ariza (January 22, 1909 – July 5, 1965) was a Dominican diplomat, race car driver, soldier and polo player. He was a supporter of dictator Rafael Trujillo, and was also a political assassin under his regime. Rubirosa ma ...
in 1947, she retained ownership of the 78th Street house and several other properties. However, the house was mostly used by Nanaline in later years.


Institute of Fine Arts

In January 1958, Nanaline and Doris Duke donated the building to the NYU Institute of Fine Arts. The building was valued at the time at $1.6 million. The donation allowed the institute to more than double its space from , at their old location on 17 East 80th Street, to at the Duke House. The architecture firm of
Robert Venturi Robert Charles Venturi Jr. (June 25, 1925 – September 18, 2018) was an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major architectural figures of the twentieth century. Together with h ...
, Cope & Lippincott renovated the building for academic use. The renovation, Venturi's first project, involved preserving most of the interior spaces. NYU dedicated the institute's new quarters in the Duke House in February 1959. The dedication party was reportedly the first time the house had hosted a party in twenty years. NYU's occupancy of the Duke House preserved it for the time being, especially when other mansions on Fifth Avenue's "Millionaires' Row" were being demolished. The
New York Landmarks Conservancy The New York Landmarks Conservancy is a non-profit organization "dedicated to preserving, revitalizing, and reusing" historic structures in New York state. It provides technical assistance, project management services, grants, and loans, to owne ...
praised the Duke House's "superb adaptive reuse" when the NYU renovation was completed. As early as 1966, the
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
(LPC) was considering designating the Duke House as part of a city historic district. The LPC designated the house as an individual landmark on September 15, 1970, calling it "one of the adornments of Fifth Avenue and one of the last reminders of the Age of Elegance". The house was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
on November 10, 1977. The same year, the LPC designated the house as part of the Metropolitan Museum Historic District, a collection of 19th- and early 20th-century mansions around Fifth Avenue between 78th and 86th Streets. Richard Foster renovated the house again in the late 1970s, adding an 80,000-volume library on the second floor. John L. Loeb and the
Hagop Kevorkian Hagop Kevorkian ( hy, Յակոբ Գեւորգեան; 1872 – 1962) was an Armenian-American archeologist, connoisseur of art, and collector. Originally from Kayseri, and a graduate of the American Robert College in Istanbul, he settled in New Yo ...
Fund financed the renovation, which cost $1.2 million. For his work, Foster received an award in 1978 from the Connecticut Society of Architects, and the New York Landmarks Conservancy gave the project an award for "excellence in the redesign of a landmarks building". By the 1990s, the house was visibly deteriorating, and
sidewalk shed A sidewalk shed is a temporary structure or scaffold installed over a sidewalk. It is used to protect pedestrians from falling debris during the course of construction. As of 2022, New York City New York, often cal ...
s had to be erected to protect visitors. Next door at 3 East 78th Street, former institute chairman
Sheldon Solow Sheldon Henry Solow (July 20, 1928November 17, 2020) was an American real estate developer and art collector who lived and worked in New York City. In August 2020, he had a net worth of $4.4 billion. Early life Solow was born and raised in ...
acquired a ground-floor condominium in 1999. Solow ultimately bought two floors in the adjacent building and donated them to NYU in 2007. The space was to contain a library named after him; the library would include several thousand art and architecture books that were being stored in the James B. Duke House and other locations. The James B. Duke House was renovated starting in 2012. The facade, roof, and basement were preserved, and the existing materials were retained as much as possible. Also in 2012, NYU started negotiating with the condominium board of the neighboring 3 East 78th Street to expand into that building. In 2014, NYU proposed creating an enclosed breezeway slightly above the alley separating the Duke House and 3 East 78th Street. The move received opposition from residential condominium owners at 3 East 78th Street, who feared the move would damage their properties. The dispute was based on the fact that, while NYU owned the ground-floor condominium in the neighboring building, it did not own the exterior wall. After a 2016 lawsuit where NYU sued 3 East 78th Street's condominium board over delays to the renovation, NYU renovated the neighboring condominium unit in 2020.


See also

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List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 59th to 110th Streets The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), formed in 1965, is the New York City governmental commission that administers the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. Since its founding, it has designated over a thousand landmarks, class ...
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National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan from 59th to 110th Streets This is intended to be a complete list of properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places between 59th and 110th Streets in Manhattan. For properties and districts in other parts of Manhattan and the other islands of N ...


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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Duke, James B., House 1912 establishments in New York City D Duke family residences Fifth Avenue Houses completed in 1912 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan New York University Upper East Side