The Marshall Orme Wilson House is a

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

at 3 East 64th Street 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 ...

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 is part of the

Upper East Side Historic District The Upper East Side Historic District is a landmarked historic district on the Upper East Side of New York City's borough of Manhattan, first designated by the city in 1981. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Its b ...

, designated by 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 ...

in 1981.

History

In 1900,

Marshall Orme Wilson Marshall Orme Wilson (June 20, 1860 – April 1, 1926) was an American banker and prominent member of New York Society during the Gilded Age. Early life Wilson was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 20, 1860. He was the eldest surviving son ...

hired the architectural firm of

Warren and Wetmore Warren and Wetmore was an architecture firm in New York City which was a partnership between Whitney Warren (1864–1943) and Charles Delevan Wetmore (June 10, 1866 – May 8, 1941), that had one of the most extensive practices of its time and w ...

to design a private residence for his himself and his wife,

Carrie Astor Wilson Caroline Schermerhorn Astor Wilson (October 10, 1861 – September 13, 1948) was an American heiress, social leader, and prominent member of New York society. Early life Caroline Schermerhorn Astor was born in New York City on October 10, 1861, a ...

, the youngest daughter of William Backhouse Astor Jr. and

Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor Caroline may refer to: People *Caroline (given name), a feminine given name * J. C. Caroline (born 1933), American college and National Football League player * Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American (men's) basketball player Places Antarctica * ...

, "The

Mrs. Astor Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn Astor (September 22, 1830 – October 30, 1908) was a prominent American socialite of the second half of the 19th century who led the The Four Hundred (1892), Four Hundred. Famous for being referred to later ...

of the

400 __NOTOC__ Year 400 ( CD) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Stilicho and Aurelianus (or, less frequently, year 11 ...

". Construction of the Wilson house was completed in 1903. The house was in close proximity to the other

Astor family The Astor family achieved prominence in business, society, and politics in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries. With ancestral roots in the Italian Alps region of Italy by way of Germany, the Astors settle ...

residences, including the twin home of Carrie's mother Mrs. Astor and Carrie's brother,

John Jacob Astor IV John Jacob Astor IV (July 13, 1864 – April 15, 1912) was an American business magnate, real estate developer, investor, writer, lieutenant colonel in the Spanish–American War, and a prominent member of the Astor family. He died in the sinki ...

(and his wife, the former

Ava Lowle Willing Ava Lowle Willing (September 15, 1868 – June 9, 1958) was an American socialite. She was the first wife of Colonel John Jacob Astor IV and later married Thomas Lister, 4th Baron Ribblesdale. Early life Ava Lowle Willing was born on September ...

), which was around the corner on the northeast corner of Fifth and 65th (at 841 and 840 Fifth Avenue) in a mansion designed by

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� ...

. The Wilson's son, Orme Wilson Jr., lived down the street at 11 East 64th Street. Carrie died on September 13, 1948, at the age of 87. Three months later, on December 12, 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 d ...

'' reported that "The big town house of the late Mrs. Orme Wilson at 3 East 64th Street has been purchased by the Government of India as headquarters for its diplomatic representatives in New York." After it was bought by the Government of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, it came to be known as New India House and, in 1952, interior alterations occurred, designed by

William Lescaze William Edmond Lescaze, FAIA (March 27, 1896 – February 9, 1969), was a Swiss-born American architect, city planner and industrial designer. He is ranked among the pioneers of modernism in American architecture. Biography William Lescaze w ...

. The building is currently the seat of the Consulate General of India.

Architecture

The Beaux-Arts street facade is constructed of

Indiana Limestone Indiana limestone — also known as Bedford limestone in the building trade — has long been an economically important building material, particularly for monumental public structures. Indiana limestone is a more common term for Salem Limestone, ...

with a

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...

of blue slate. The design is in the manner of

Percier and Fontaine Percier and Fontaine was a noted partnership between French architects Charles Percier and Pierre François Léonard Fontaine. History Together, Percier and Fontaine were inventors and major proponents of the rich and grand, consciously archaeol ...

, who revived the

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 ...

style of

Hardouin Mansart Jules Hardouin-Mansart (; 16 April 1646 – 11 May 1708) was a French Baroque architect and builder whose major work included the Place des Victoires (1684–1690); Place Vendôme (1690); the domed chapel of Les Invalides (1690), and the Grand T ...

. The structure is five stories tall, sixty-five feet wide consisting of five bays. One of the most engaging features of the house is the circular atrium. Rustication, carving and a balcony emphasize the central segmental-arch entrance. The first floor has square-headed windows with splayed keystones;

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 ...

between first and second floors; stone

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony is ...

on monumental brackets in front of central window of second floor; round-arched second floor windows set within concave round-arched recesses with unusual foliate keystones; square-headed windows of third floor have keystones with smooth enframement and stylized sill

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; stone band at impost level; modillioned roof cornice with handsome

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 ...

s; two-story slate mansard roof pierced by segmental

dormers A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...

above which are bulls-eye dormers.

References

External links

* http://www.indiacgny.org/php/showContent.php?linkid=89 * https://web.archive.org/web/20170225174746/http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/UpperEastSide_Vol1.pdf Houses in Manhattan Upper East Side

History

Architecture

References

Further reading

External links