George Blumenthal (1858-1941)
 
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George Blumenthal Residence

50 East 70th Street at Park Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10021










George Blumenthal (1858-1941)  
George Blumenthal  
   
   
George Blumenthal (1858-1941) was a financier, philanthropist, and art collector. He was born in Frankfort-am-Main, Germany in 1858, and came to the United States in his youth. His great wealth came from foreign exchange, and for twenty-one years he was a senior partner of Lazard Frères where he was known as one of the ablest financiers of Wall Street. He retired from active banking in 1925 to devote his life to art and medicine. Apart from finance and art, his predominant interest was Mount Sinai Hospital, where he served as President from 1910-1938. In 1928 he gave $1 million to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and was its President from 1934 until his death in 1941. He also contributed heavily to the New York Public Library and the Sorbonne, in Paris.

Blumenthal built several mansions, including two in New York City, a townhouse in Paris, and a château in Grasse, near Cannes, France. The château included Salle Gothique, a separate hall that contained a III/38 Casavant Frères organ (1921, Op. 976). In 1903, he had a mansion built at 23 West 53rd Street, as designed by Hunt & Hunt, and described by Christopher Gray as "one of the best midblock mansions ever erected in New York." For many years, this mansion was used as the bookstore of the Museum of Modern Art.

Patio looking northeast. George Blumenthal residence - New York City  
Patio looking northeast  
Blumenthal built another showplace mansion at 50 East 70th Street on the southwest corner of Park Avenue, which had been the site of Union Theological Seminary from 1884-1910. The four-story limestone building, designed by Trowbridge & Livingston, fronted 125 feet on Seventieth Street and 100.5 feet on Park Avenue. The oppulent residence was filled with Blumenthal's collection of art, and featured a large interior patio complex that was originally in the abandoned castle of Vélex Blanco in Spain. Many of his art masterpieces were bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the famous patio is now on prominent exhibit next to the grand staircase at the Metropolitan Museum. It was Blumenthal's intention to leave the mansion and its furnishings to the Metropolitan Museum of Art—with sufficient money to maintain them—to be used as a branch museum, but he became concerned that it would be impossible to forsee the amount required to produce income to maintain the branch museum in perpetuity. He then devised a plan where the museum would have the house dismantled, with various structural parts installed in the present museum building, after which the mansion would be torn down and the proceeds from sale of the land would go to the museum. The mansion was demolished after World War II, making way for a 20-story apartment building completed in 1949.

George Blumenthal was married twice: In 1898, he married Florence Meyer, whose brother Eugene Meyer, Jr. was the father of Katharine Meyer Graham, Editor of the Washington Post. Florence Meyer died in Paris in 1930. In December, 1935, he married Mrs. Mary (Marion) Clews, the former Miss Mary Ann Payne of New York, and widow of James Clews, banker. George Blumenthal died in 1941 in New York City.
           
  Patio looking southwest. George Blumenthal residence - New York City
  West mezzanine of the Patio
Aeolian Company
New York City – Opus 1348 (1916)
Electro-pneumatic action
3 manuals, 50 stops, 45 ranks



The contract (Jan. 7, 1916) between the Aeolian Company and George Blumenthal states that this organ cost $27,000 and did not include casework. Aeolian shipped the organ on July 2, 1916, and the Harp was shipped later, on August 20, 1917. Aeolian installed the console in a niche on the west mezzanine of the Patio. Archer Gibson wrote a letter (July 10, 1919) suggesting mechanical rearrangements, additional couplers, and switches to make the Harp and Chimes playable on all keyboards and pedal. The cost for these changes was $1,500.

Celebrated organist Marcel Dupré of Paris played this organ four times, and Blumenthal's regular organists included Archer Gibson and Harry Rowe Shelley.

Lynnwood Farnam, the celbrated concert organist, played the organ between February and June 1923, noting the stoplist in one of his "Organ Notebooks" along with the following comment:
A pleasant organ. Echo, a floating organ, as are harp and chimes. No way of coupling Echo to Pedal—stupid! Pedal 8 ft. flute, bad speech. Organ hidden behind tapestries in an exquisite galleried room. Console in mezzanine gallery.
               
Great Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes, enclosed
8
  Diapason F *
61
4
  Diapason (high)
61
8
  Diapason P
61
4
  Flute (high)
61
8
  String F
61
2
   Piccolo
61
8
   String P
61
8
   Trumpet
61
8
   Flute F
61
8
   Clarinet
61
8
   Flute P
61
     Tremolo  
8
   Quintadena Flute
61
    
* unenclosed
               
Choir Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes (duplexed from Great)
8
   Diapason F
GT
8
   Quintadena Flute
GT
8
   Diapason P
GT
4
   Diapason (high)
GT
8
   String F
GT
4
   Flute (high)
GT
8
   String P
GT
2
   Piccolo
GT
8
   Flute F
GT
8
   Trumpet
GT
8
   Flute P
GT
8
   Clarinet
GT
               
Swell Organ (Manual III) – 61 notes, enclosed
16
  Flute (deep)
61
8
  Flute
61
8
  Diapason
61
4
  Flute (high)
61
8
  String F
61
     String (mixture, 5 ranks)
305
8
  String F (vibrato) [TC]
49
8
   Trumpet
61
8
   String P
61
8
   Oboe
61
8
   String P (vibrato) [TC]
49
8
   Vox Humana
61
8
   String PP
61
     Tremolo  
               
Echo Organ (playable by couplers to any manual) – 61 notes, enclosed
8
  Diapason
61
4
  Flute (high)
61
8
  String PP
61
     String (mixture, 5 ranks)
305
8
   String (vibrato)
61
8
   Vox Humana
61
8
   Flute
61
     Tremolo  

     

     
Pedal Organ – 30 notes
16
  Diapason [wood]
30
16
   Flute P (deep)
SW
16
   Violone
30
8
   Flute
30
16
   Flute F (deep) [stopped]
30
16
   Bassoon
30
               
Percussions
    Harp – 49 bars, playable from any manual (Loud and Soft)  
    Chimes – 20 tubes, playable from any manual (Loud and Soft)  
           
Sources:
     "Blumenthal Home Under Demolition," The New York Times (Aug. 16, 1945).
     Farnam, Lynnwood. "Organ Notebook," p.1541. Specification of Aeolian Company organ, Op. 1348 (1916). John de Lancie Library, The Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia; Sally Branca, Archivist. Courtesy Jonathan Bowen.
     "George Blumenthal, Museum Head, Dies," The New York Times (June 27, 1941).
     Gray, Christopher. "Streetscapes / West 53d Street Between Fifth and Sixth Avenues; Commerce, and Art, Eclipse a Town House Block," The New York Times (Feb. 14, 1999).
     Hoffman, Mary Ann. "Brokaw Mansion: An age of elegance," Proceedings of the IEEE, Nov. 2005, IEEE Power Engineering Society.
     Horsley, Carter B. The Upper East Side Book. www.thecityreview.com.
     "Paris, France – La Maison Blumenthal." Casavant Frères Archives.
     Smith, Rollin. The Aeolian Pipe Organ and its Music. Richmond: The Organ Historical Society, 1998.

Illustrations:
     George Blumenthal portrait. Bain News Service, New York (Dec. 13, 1926). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
     Exterior, George Blumenthal Residence. Wurts Bros., New York, N.Y. (1917). Collection of the Museum of the City of New York.
     Patio (active fountain), George Blumenthal Residence. Courtesy James Lewis.
     Patio (inactive fountain), George Blumenthal Residence. Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art.