The home was designed in the French
Beaux-Arts style by architect
Horace Trumbauer of Philadelphia and constructed in 1906 for financier
George Jay Gould, the eldest son of railroad magnate
Jay Gould. It replaced the
Neo-Gothic style
Jay Gould House, which was demolished. The new house was designed both to complement and outshine the
Isaac Stern House next door, at 858 Fifth Avenue. In 1923, the house was bought by
Harry Payne Whitney, and in late 1925, it became the residence of his mother-in-law,
Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt. After her death in 1934, it was inherited by her youngest child
Gladys, Countess Széchenyi. The site is now occupied by a white brick building completed in 1963, which contains 17 apartments. == References ==