Architect Breaks Down 200 Years of NYC Mansions | Walking Tour | Architectural Digest

Everybody knows about the Gilded Age mansions on Fifth Avenue in New York City. But what came before them and how have New York City mansions evolved since they fell out of fashion? I'm Michael Weitzner. I've been an architect in New York City for over 35 years and today we're going to be doing a walking tour of 250 years of Manhattan mansions. So before European colonizers arrived here in the 1500s, the Lenape tribe called this island home for 12,000 years and they named it Manhattan, which means hilly island, and that's exactly what it is. Where we're standing now is called Coogan's Buff, one of the highest elevations in Manhattan. The views here were fantastic before tall buildings were common and they're still pretty great. And that's why some of the wealthiest early European settlers chose to build their homes right here, including some people you might have heard of like Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. Not only rivals, but neighbors as it turns out. This Belgian block street we're walking on is Sylvan Terrace and these actually are the original wooden townhouses built in 1882. As we walk along this street, we're walking back in time 260 years to the oldest existing mansion in Manhattan. This is the Morris Jumel Mansion. This house was built for Roger Morris, a colonel in the British army in 1765. It was built as his country estate and it was actually 11 miles north of New York City, which at the time ended at Wall Street. Stylistically, it's a Greek revival building and one of the most interesting things about it is that it appears to be made out of stone, but it's actually made out of wood. Some of the elements clearly mimicking stone are the coins at the corners, the Doric columns, the pediment, and the water line. Coins are large stones used to reinforce the corners in masonry buildings, but these are built out of wood and are purely decorative. What they were trying to achieve here in wood was an imitation of the architectural expression of wealth back in Europe, which would have been made in stone. And those buildings were referencing ancient Greek architecture to project longevity and transgenerational wealth. But ironically, those ancient Greek buildings, which have lasted thousands of years because they were made of stone, were actually imitating wood buildings in the first place. In fact, ancient Greek architecture has been called a carpentry in marble. So this is a wood building imitating a stone building, which were originally imitating wood buildings. So above the columns on a Greek temple, you would typically see what's called a triglyph. Those are actually imitations of the ends of wood rafters and joists, which were used in earlier wooden temples to support the roof. So this building is also interesting historically. It was actually George Washington's headquarters during the Battle of Harlem Heights in the Revolutionary War. Strategically, this was an ideal location because it's the second highest point in Manhattan, and you could actually get a view from river to river. It would be purchased years later by a French wine merchant named Jumel in 1810. And soon after his death, his widow Eliza would marry Aaron Burr right here in the parlor of this house. And Aaron Burr coincidentally killed the owner of the next mansion we're going to look at. Behind me is The Grains, built for Alexander Hamilton in 1802. Sadly, he would only live here for two years before he was tragically killed in a duel with Aaron Burr. It was built in the Federalist style by John McComb, who also designed the lighthouse at Montauk Point, Gracie Mansion, where the mayor of New York still lives while in office, and New York City Hall. The Federalist style is interesting because it sort of became the unofficial style of the early United States. The Federalist style is sort of a stripped down version of the Georgian style, which was developed by Robert Adams in England. Georgian buildings also imitated classical architecture. The Georgian style was, of course, named for all the kings named George. And so the fact that the Federalist style diverges from that has a nice parallel to the history of the United States. This is also a wood building, but an honest expression of wood, not imitating stone. And you can also see the form of the townhouse starting to emerge here, with the very rectilinear shape, the appearance of a flat roof, a deep stairway or stoop, and even these protruding octagonal bays that are somewhat hidden under these deep porches, like you might see on a residential Brooklyn street. There are some interesting things going on with the roof as well, which appears flat, but it's actually a sort of shallow version of a mansard roof. There are four chimneys, two of which are actually fake, placed there just for symmetry's sake. This is not its original location. In fact, it's its third location, having moved twice. Originally, this building was built on a 32-acre estate, just one mile south of the Morris Jumel Mansion, and had to be moved when the city grid of 1811 expanded northward. And like the Morris Jumel Mansion, this was built on a high bluff, which afforded it these beautiful views all the way out to Long Island Sound. Over my shoulder, you can see the Bailey Mansion. This was built for the Bailey half of the famous Barnum and Bailey Circus, James Bailey. It has an engraving on the side of the year 1887, but it was actually completed a year late in 1888. It was designed by the architect Samuel B. Reed, and it's considered Romanesque revival, but really it's an amalgamation of a number of different styles. It has these Romanesque arches, a Gothic spire, a Flemish gable, a French chateau-style turret, a Victorian roof replete with widow's walk, medieval crenellations, and a bay window with a Renaissance-style pediment. And the end result is a magnificent mansion in limestone that somehow really works. Inside, the house is possibly even more impressive. Remember, this is 1888, but inside there was steam heat, electric and gas lights, and unlike the first two homes we saw, it was built with indoor plumbing. Louis Comfort Tiffany's cousin, Joseph Burr Tiffany, designed the interiors, which are incredibly ornate, with extremely intricate woodwork in the screens and an inglenook by the fireplace. It has stained-glass windows by Henry Belcher, who was an inventor that actually held two patents for different types of glass. This house was built in the Gilded Age, but instead of being down on Fifth Avenue, it was built out here in the suburbs of Manhattan. When James Bailey moved here, he thought this would become the next fashionable neighborhood in Manhattan, but that never materialized, and just over a decade later, he moved north to Mount Vernon in Westchester County. But the next great neighborhood wasn't further north, it was actually further south. So far, we've seen two Manhattan country estates and a Gilded Age mansion on a suburban Manhattan block, but now let's jump into this 20th century and the beginnings of a whole new kind of mansion right in the heart of the city. Over my shoulder is what's known simply as the Kramer House. This was only the second modernist building ever built on the entire island of Manhattan. It was designed by William Lascaze in 1935, and actually the first modernist building in Manhattan was his own house, to which this bears a striking resemblance. So the Kramers had seen his house, and they asked him to build one just like it. So what is a modernist building? Well, it doesn't mean new, and it doesn't mean contemporary. It refers to a movement that began in the 1910s, also known as the international style. In architecture, modernism is a rejection of historical ornament like you would see in a Greek revival. At the time the modernist movement began, Beaux-Arts was the prevailing aesthetic, which you would see in banks, museums, and office buildings. And the Beaux-Arts was very classical, very ornamented. Modernism, by contrast, was about simplified forms and abstraction. It prioritized functionality and hygiene, more light, more air, a rejection of the dark spaces and slums and tenements. And one of the giants of modernism was Le Corbusier. He was a Swiss-born French architect, painter, and writer. And he outlined five main points of modernism. And this house really showcases all five of those points. The first thing you can see is that the building is built up on pelote, which is Le Corbusier's term for slender columns. In this case, the party walls act as those pelote. And in between those pelote, you can see an example of the free plan with the neighbor's houses, as you can see, have stairs leading up to the entrance. But here, the stairs were put on the inside. With the free facade, the windows can be placed wherever they are needed. And in this case, you can see he did these big horizontal ribbon windows above on the building, which allow a lot of natural light to come in, compared to the buildings to the side, which have these small punched windows. And of course, you can see it has a flat roof. Of course, most townhouses do have a flat roof with just a tiny slope for rain to run off. But in this case, it also satisfies the intention of modernism to create a livable space on top of the building. And the other really modernist thing about this building is its materials. You can see the steel framed windows, glass block, curved enameled metal panels and stucco. So before, where we looked at these freestanding houses, now we're looking at a house that's part of the fabric of the city. It's part of the street wall, and it shares walls with its neighbors. While it's rejecting the historicism of the past, it still embraces the city around it. It's not a radical departure in terms of the way people live, because wealthy people had been living in townhouses for years. But it was a radical departure in the way wealth was expressed. It embraced new ideas, new materials, and new technology. So rather than trying to blend in with old money, this house chose to stand out. Behind me, you can see 23 Beekman Place, designed by Paul Rudolph. Paul Rudolph was one of the great practitioners of Brutalist architecture. He did the Tracy Towers in the Bronx, the Endo Laboratories in Garden City on Long Island, and the Yale Art and Architecture Building. This building takes standing out to a whole other level. It was described as one of the most amazing pieces of urban, modern, domestic architecture in the entire country, according to Michael Sorkin, the great architect and critic in House and Garden in 1981. Paul Rudolph himself said it was worth taking risks to create architecture that provoked strong reactions. In a way, he was trying to redefine space by maximizing natural light and openness. He made this penthouse extension on the roof made of precast concrete panels, steel, and glass. And he created wonderful outdoor spaces and rooftop gardens as part of that. It takes free plan to a whole other level. There are very few interior walls. Instead, it's a series of balconies, one looking over the other. There are actually 27 different floor levels in the penthouse triplex. And he also used mirror finishes and transparent materials throughout to break down how the space is defined and further enhance the visual aesthetic of openness and natural light. So it makes it harder to discern the limits of the space where one room begins and the other one ends, almost giving it a feeling of endlessness. He created this amazing mansion in the sky, but he actually had renters on the lower floors of the building. And this really is a unique and beautiful expression of penthouse living in New York City, which is maybe why Sorkin called him the best designer of his generation. Behind me is the Spire Mansion at 176 East 72nd Street. And this was a mansion that was built at the end of the 20th century. From what I understand, the site was chosen because two brownstones became available and now they had a double wide lot to build on. Typically in a row house, light is an issue because you have buildings on either side. You can only get light in the front or the back. But in this case, because they have a double wide lot, there's opportunities for a lot more glass to bring in a lot more natural light. But it appears the architects decided it might be too much light and added this expansive limestone for privacy. And actually what I find most interesting about this building is its use of materials in that it references the modernist movement with this metal and glass, but also harkens back to more classical architecture in its use of limestone. So the metal and glass facade is very reminiscent of a Mies van der Rohe design. But on closer inspection, you see that it's not a regular grid like Mies' favorite, but in fact more closely resembles the composition of a Mondrian painting, which is fitting because the owners of this home are actually known art enthusiasts. And the limestone harkens back to both classical architecture and the city itself. Along with brick, limestone was really the traditional building material of New York. So by adding this limestone piece, it gives it a sense of history and also a sense of warmth that feels more domestic, but in an elevated way that lets you know a rich person lives here. And even though it is this traditional material, the combination of this punched window in this slot shape is very referential to Le Corbusier. One last note about this building that I really like is this north-facing skylight at the top, which was typically used for artist brownstone throughout the city. And I feel like it's a signal that lets you know that an art enthusiast lives here. So at the end of the 20th century, with the buildings we've just looked at, you can see an evolution. So we started out with country houses north of the city, and then they became more woven into the fabric of the city and the street wall. These are just a small sample of the homes of wealthy New Yorkers, past and present. If you'd like to see more New York City mansions, let us know in the comments below.