Joseph Raphael De Lamar was a Dutch-born
merchant seaman who was born around 1843. After becoming the captain of his own ship in the 1860s, he made a fortune in
mining and
metallurgy in Colorado and Idaho through the late 19th century. De Lamar also served in the
Idaho Senate before ultimately deciding to move to New York City, He married Nellie Sands in 1893, and Sands gave birth to their only child, Alice, two years later. The De Lamar family was living in Paris at the time. paying $254,000 for the land. hiring
C. P. H. Gilbert to design the house that month. De Lamar bought a four-story structure at 235 Madison Avenue (just north of 37th Street) from Marion C. Grimshaw that September. In August 1902, Gilbert submitted revised plans to the
New York City Department of Buildings for a house measuring . That month, Charles T. Wills was hired as the house's
general contractor. The
Times estimated the house would be worth $600,000 to $700,000 upon its completion. The construction cost was estimated at $1 million or $1.5 million. At the time of the house's completion, the neighboring residences were occupied by figures such as
J. P. Morgan Sr. and
J. P. Morgan Jr. The house was valued at $400,000 by the mid-1910s. De Lamar died in 1918 at the age of 75. He left an estate worth $32 million, including a life trust to his daughter, De Lamar bequeathed the house itself to three medical schools: those of
Harvard,
Columbia, and
Johns Hopkins universities. The objects on sale included
Beauvais tapestries, silk rugs, and a copy of
Hiram Powers's sculpture
The Greek Slave. while his estate's executors gave a different valuation of $110,113.
Institutional use Attempted sale to American Bible Society By mid-1921, the house was on sale; at the time, the property was valued at $340,000. The proceeds of the sale would be donated to three colleges that were mentioned in De Lamar's will. The
American Bible Society signed a contract in May 1921 to buy the house for $275,000, and it made a down payment of $5,000. The society planned to use the building as a
Bible store. Although the
New-York Tribune reported in June 1921 that another colonel named Floyd Brown was negotiating for the house, to Ella M. O'Kane. The agreement between the De Lamar estate and the American Bible Society had never been rescinded, and the society requested that the executors of De Lamar's estate return their down payment. When the payment was not returned, the American Bible Society sued the estate's executors in the
New York Supreme Court in May 1922. The covenant itself was repealed less than a year later. although the De Lamar Mansion and the two residences to the north remained in place.
National Democratic Club The National Democratic Club, an affiliate of the U.S.
Democratic Party, purchased the building for use as its headquarters in January 1923, paying $287,000 for the structure. The club sold its previous headquarters at 617 Fifth Avenue to pay for the purchase, earning more than $1 million from its old clubhouse, which was demolished to make way for the
Saks Fifth Avenue flagship store. Club leaders added a presidential suite and a governor's room, Shortly after the Democratic Club moved into the mansion, it began publishing the National Democratic Magazine from the building. The club replaced some of the original decorations and artwork, obtaining other pieces back. which required the removal of an iron railing in front of the house on Madison Avenue. The Democratic Club had paid off all the mortgages on its Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue properties by 1926. The club requested in 1930 that the
New York City Board of Estimate rezone the land as a commercial site rather than a residential site, claiming that the city government had neglected to rezone the mansion when it rezoned neighboring parcels for commercial use. The board denied this request after opposition from J. P. Morgan Jr., who claimed it would violate the Murray Hill Restrictive Agreement. Another petition to rezone the area was denied the next year. The Democratic Club also added multiple portraits to the De Lamar Mansion, including those of
Tammany Hall leader
George W. Olvany in 1937 and former club president Thomas J. McMahon in 1938. Members of the club donated additional paintings, including
Charles Henry Miller's 1876 painting of the
High Bridge and
Ralph Albert Blakelock's 1883 painting of the intersection of
Seventh Avenue and
55th Street. There was a bar at ground level and an informal library. but this became unnecessary when the organization leased space elsewhere. The Democratic Club remained in the building in the 1950s. Its visitors during the mid-20th century included Democratic U.S. presidents
Harry S. Truman,
John F. Kennedy, and
Lyndon B. Johnson. The National Democratic Club's membership, which had numbered 1,000 in the 1960s, had declined by two-thirds within six years, forcing the club into debt. The club's political influence had declined; furthermore, many prospective members were deterred by high membership dues and were afraid of going out at night. To pay off debts, the Democratic Club's board of governors recommended selling the mansion to the
government of Poland that October; the club's members voted to sell the building to Poland the next month. The Jockey Club withdrew its bid for the mansion, allowing Poland's government to buy it, over the next two days, the club sold off the furnishings to raise additional money. At that point, almost none of the original furnishings remained, except for a
Steinway piano. and initially had a 75-seat screening room. The building was targeted in a bomb blast in 1976, though it sustained minimal damage. It was also used as a meeting point for demonstrations. In addition, the Polish government began using the building as a
polling station in 1989 for the country's
parliamentary and
presidential elections, Poland's first free election in several decades. The Polish consular office hired Artenova of New York, a local Polish-American restoration firm, to restore the exterior for $200,000 during the early 1990s. The De Lamar Mansion was one of a few Gilded Age–era buildings remaining in Murray Hill by the beginning of the 21st century. The Polish consulate began hosting recitals and other events at the house in 2006 as part of the De Lamar Mansion Salon of Arts & Ideas program. The Polish government installed a
statue of Jan Karski outside the building in 2007, following three years of efforts from
Polish American Congress member Chet Szarejko and Polish Consul General Krzysztof Kasprzyk. The street corner outside the building was renamed for Karski two years later. The house was an official city landmark, so the
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission had to approve the renovation, and some parts of the house were cleaned with toothbrushes. After the renovation was finished in 2010, the Consulate of Poland opened the second floor to the public for events such as concerts and lectures. == Reception and landmark designations ==