Lucy Drexel Dahlgren House

The Lucy Drexel Dahlgren House is at 15 East 96th Street in the Carnegie Hill and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, abutting East Harlem. It is on the northern side of 96th Street between Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue. The rectangular land lot covers , with a frontage of on 96th Street and a depth of . The others include Codman's own residence at 7 East 96th Street, which he had built in 1912–13, as well as the Carnegie Hill School building at 12 East 96th Street. Codman also designed plans for houses at 9 and 11 East 96th Street, The remaining buildings on the adjacent city block of 96th Street are mostly apartment buildings. Other nearby structures include the Mrs. Amory S. Carhart House and Ernesto and Edith Fabbri House to the south, as well as the St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral to the north. == Architecture ==

The house was designed by Ogden Codman Jr. in the French Renaissance Revival emulating a 19th-century French townhouse. It has a rectangular massing and is stories high. It is faced with rusticated limestone blocks decorated with bas-relief swags of vegetation. The lowest part of the facade includes a smooth-granite water table, with granite posts flanking each bay. At the first floor are three segmental arches; the central and eastern arches contain inset ashlar blocks surrounding a set of casement windows topped by transom panes. Both of these windows have wooden frames and wrought-iron grilles, in addition to protruding window sills made of limestone. the balcony is made of limestone and has an elaborate wrought-iron railing. The central second-floor window is a French door. The outer windows on the second story have wrought-iron railings and recessed limestone panels on each side. Above each of these windows is a recessed spandrel panel made of limestone, with bas-reliefs of various motifs. The attic is set off by protruding limestone cornice which in turn leads to the interior courtyard. The house is one of a relative few in Manhattan with a garage. The garage contains an automobile turntable, Interior There are 37 rooms. The interior has eleven bathrooms and seven fireplaces. First and second floors The entry from the porte-cochère leads to a rectangular vestibule with floors made of Botticino marble and Belgian black marble; a baseboard and wall shelves made of Botticino marble; and walls and ceiling cornices made of plaster. Steel gates with sidelights and French hardware lead from the vestibule to the main hall. The main hall is oriented from south to north and is made of similar materials as the rectangular vestibule, although the ceiling has an inset panel. On the eastern wall of the main hall is a stairway with Botticino marble steps, which leads up to the second-floor hall and has wrought-iron banisters. A door on the eastern wall of the main hall leads to a restroom under the staircase. To the south of the first-floor hall are paneled double doors leading to a rectangular reception room, At the south end of the hallway is a double-height drawing room/library with English oak floors, a paneled dado, wall panels, and a plaster cornice and coved ceiling. The drawing room has a fireplace, and French doors on the south wall. The console of a player organ manufactured by Estey was originally against the north wall of this room. The organ was installed in 1916 and later expanded to three manuals. It was restored in the late 1990s, when it was believed to be the last player organ in New York City, and placed in storage in the 2000s. and two fountains. The octagonal library has concrete floors; bookcases with windows on the west and southwest walls; an entrance with Corinthian columns to the south; a fireplace mantel with sculptured ornament to the north; and a niche to the east. The three rear bedrooms are accessed by a barrel-vaulted door; Cartier modified these rooms with mirrors and Corinthian columns when he lived there, and these rooms have since been further combined. The sixth floor was initially a laundry room and has unglazed ceramic tiles. == History ==

1900s to 1930s The Dahlgren House was built as part of a development boom in Carnegie Hill at the beginning of the 20th century, spurred by the development of business magnate Andrew Carnegie's mansion at 91st Street and Fifth Avenue. The house's site was part of a larger lot that James C. Parrish had sold to Morris J. Leonhardt in 1901; the sale stipulated that only single-family dwellings of at least three stories were allowed on the site for 25 years. The Dahlgren House's site eventually passed to Edward Shearson in 1913. Lucy Wharton Drexel Dahlgren, the daughter of financier Joseph William Drexel and his wife Lucy Wharton Drexel, had inherited $22 million from her father after his death in 1888 She originally lived ar 812 Madison Avenue in New York City. Dahlgren purchased the site in February 1915 from Edward Shearson. That June, Codman filed plans for "a high-class residence" on the site, which was to cost $75,000 and rise six stories. The structure was constructed between 1915 and 1916, Dahlgren spent little time in the house. She split her time between the 96th Street house, Newport in Rhode Island, Florence, and Paris. Dahlgren is last recorded as having lived there in 1922. The house was next occupied by Pierre Cartier. Cartier ultimately bought it from Dahlgren in 1927. Cartier hired Francis Verpillerux to renovate the house's interiors; these renovations included modifications to the fourth-floor bedrooms. Thompson/Robinson/Toraby Architects restored the facade between 1988 and 1989. The three rear bedrooms on the fourth floor were combined as part of this renovation, while the fifth floor was converted into a gallery and offices. After a resale, it was comprehensively restored in 2004. and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. It is located within the Upper East Side Historic District, and has received an award from the Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts. ==See also==