|
 |
|
Click on images to enlarge |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
Joseph Pulitzer Residence
11 East 73rd Street
New York, N.Y. 10021
 |
|
Portrait by John Singer Sargent (1909) |
|
Joseph Pulitzer, who was instrumental in raising monies for the base of the Statue
of Liberty and whose newspaper empire led to the founding of the School of Journalism
at Columbia University and the Pulitzer Fountain in front of the Plaza Hotel
on Fifth Avenue, had previously lived in a 33-foot-wide mansion originally built
for Charles Tracy Barney at 10 East 55th Street. That mansion had been designed
by McKim, Mead & White, and burned in 1900, leading Pulitzer to commission
architect Stanford White to design a new mansion for him on a 98-foot-wide plot
he purchased at 11 East 73rd Street.
White's design was based in large part on the Palazzo Pesaro and the Palazzo Rezzonico in Venice, both designed in the 17th Century by Baldassare Longhena. The limestone-clad, 4-story structure has a rusticated base with a step-up entrance with a pair of rusticated columns that leads to a step-up lobby that opens onto a very large and impressive entrance hall with a quite grand staircase.
The large second and third floors are colonnaded and have large arched windows. The top three floors have balustraded balconies. Those on the second floor are not continuous. There is relatively little façade decoration apart from a large bandcourse beneath the third floor balconies. In his excellent book, "Luxury Apartment Houses of Manhattan" (Dover Publications, Inc., 1992), Andrew Alpern noted that Pulitzer's eyesight had greatly deteriorated by the time he had commissioned the design and that White had prepared plaster models for him to handle.
"While the design of the outside of the house had been developed in a way that took Pulitzer's blindness into account, the interior made no such concessions. Completed in 1903, it was the sort of lavishly grand pastiche of period styles that had made Stanford White the architect and interior designer most sought out by the socially secure and the arrivistes alike. It was a visual feast that Pulitzer could hear described to him but could not enjoy himself."
Pulitzer died after living in the mansion for only eight years. The family moved
out, but could not find a buyer and kept it vacant for a few years. In 1930,
his sons leased it to some investors who planned to replace it with a new apartment
building but the Depression made them abandon those plans and in 1934 the house
was leased for 20 years to Henry Mandel, a leading residential real estate
developer who hired James E. Casale to design a conversion of the building into
apartments that would retain the façade and many of the lavish interiors.
Some duplex units were created as was a street entrance into the garden at the
west end of the building that led to Pulitzer's bedroom and study. Alpern wrote
that the major loss of this plan was the salon, which measured 24 by 48 feet
with a 19-foot ceiling, and that the former squash court and basement swimming
pool were converted into apartments. Mandel, however, did not proceed with Casale's
plans and returned the property to Pulitzer's sons who did. Three years later,
Alpern continued, "the completed venture was sold to the Astor family estate
as an investment property." The estate's trustees sold the building in 1952 to
a company that planned to replace it with a 13-story apartment building but that
plan was also abandoned the building was converted to a cooperative.
Carter B. Horsley |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Aeolian Company
New York City – Opus 924 (1902)
Electro-pneumatic action
2 manuals, 13 stops, 13 ranks
The Contract (signed March 11, 1902) states that the Aeolian
Company would build a new organ for a consideration of $7,500,
that would be "set up complete and ready for use on or before
October 1st, 1902." The organ was "to be located in the main
hall, bracketed out from the wall and resting upon a substantial
floor, or platform, which shall be provided, together with an
ornamental screen to encase the instrument, by the purchaser."
The console was located on the main floor and had casework in
harmony with the surrounding woodwork. The organ was voiced on
3" wind pressure. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Great Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes, enclosed
|
8 |
|
Principale Grande |
61 |
8 |
|
Corno di Caccia, bass |
21 |
8 |
|
Baritono |
61 |
4 |
|
Violetta |
61 |
8 |
|
Viol Pomposa |
61 |
8 |
|
Clarinetto, treble |
40 |
8 |
|
Corno di Caccia, treble |
40 |
8 |
|
Clarinetto, bass |
21 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Swell Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes, enclosed
|
8 |
|
Cello |
61 |
4 |
|
Flauto Ottava, treble |
40 |
8 |
|
Viola |
61 |
4 |
|
Flauto Ottave, bass |
21 |
8 |
|
Viol Sourdine |
61 |
8 |
|
Voce Umana, treble |
40 |
8 |
|
Flauto |
61 |
8 |
|
Voce Umana, bass |
21 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pedal Organ – 30 notes
|
16 |
|
Contra Basso |
30 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Accessories
|
|
|
Aeolian Tempo |
|
|
Pedal Organ to Aeolian |
|
|
Aeolian Reroll |
|
|
Swell Tremulant |
|
|
Great Organ to Aeolian |
|
|
Motor Starter |
|
|
Swell Organ to Aeolian |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Combination Pistons
|
|
|
Great Organ Piano Comb. Piston |
|
Swell Organ Piano Comb. Piston |
|
|
Great Organ Mezzo Comb. Piston |
|
Swell Organ Mezzo Comb. Piston |
|
|
Great Organ Forte Comb. Piston |
|
Swell Organ Forte Comb. Piston |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pedal Movements
|
|
|
Balanced Crescendo Pedal |
|
Great to Pedal Reversing Pedal |
|
|
Balanced Swell Pedal |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sources:
Dolkart, Andrew S. and Matthew A. Postal. Guide to New York City Landmarks (Third Edition). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2004.
"Joseph Pulitzer's New
Home." The New York Times (Apr. 13, 1900).
Pulitzer Prizes website: http://www.pulitzer.org
Smith, Rollin. The Aeolian Pipe Organ and its Music. Richmond: The Organ Historical Society, 1998.
Stern, Robert A.M., Gregory Gilmartin and John Massengale. New York 1900: Metropolitan Architecture and Urbanism 1890–1915. New York City: Rizzoli International Publications, 1983.
Trupiano, Larry. Contract (Mar. 11, 1902) and Factory
Specification
of
Aeolian
Organ, Op. 924 (1902).
Illustrations:
Lewis, James. Color photos
of organ and staircase.
Sargent, John Singer. Portrait (1909) of Joseph Pulitzer.
Unknown photographer. B&W exterior. Columbia University.
Wurts Bros. (New York, N.Y.). Photo (1950) of exterior. Collection of the Museum of the City of New York. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|