Sonnenberg Mansion interior photographs, 19 Gramercy Park South
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Abstract
A photograph album containing one exterior and twenty-seven interior photographs of the Sonnenberg Mansion at 19 Gramercy Park South, Manhattan.
Historical note
The house at 19 Gramercy Park South (originally known by the address 86 Irving Place) was built in 1845 by Whig politician William Samuel Johnson. In 1887 the house, then owned by Stuyvesant Fish (1851-1923), the president of the Illinois Central Railroad, was altered and expanded by the architect Stanford White. Among White's luxurious additions was a ballroom on the top floor, where Fish's wife, Mamie (1853-1915), hosted elaborate parties for New York's elite. By the turn of the 20th century, when the Fishes had moved uptown to a new house, the Gramercy Park building was cut up into apartments. Publicist Benjamin Sonnenberg (1901-1978) and his wife, Hilda (1902-1979), rented the first two floors in 1931. In 1945 they bought the entire five-story house from Stuyvesant Fish Jr., and combined it with an adjoining apartment building, thereby creating a lavish thirty-seven room mansion which the writer Brendan Gill called "the greatest private house left in New York."
Arrangement
The photographs remain in the order in which they were placed inside their album.
Scope and Contents
This album contains color photographs of various rooms in the Sonnenberg Mansion at 19 Gramercy Park South, as it was furnished with the opulent collections of china, glass, silver, brass, antiques, and drawings acquired during the occupancy of publicist Benjamin Sonnenberg (1901-1978) and his wife, Hilda (1902-1979). By the terms of Mr. Sonnenberg's will, at his death the house was put up for sale, and the contents auctioned, both of which happened in 1979. It is likely that Steven Tucker, a grandson of the Sonnenbergs and the photographer of these images, took them around 1978, and that he did so at the request of television personality Alistair Cooke (1908-2004), who was a close friend of the Sonnenbergs. Cooke (or, perhaps, Tucker) placed the photographs inside their green morocco album stamped on the cover "NO. 19," for 19 Gramercy Park South. A bookplate identifies the album as having come from the library of Alistair Cooke. [For more on the house, its owners, and their treasures, see Paul Goldberger, "First Visit to a Grand New York House," New York Times, December 21, 1978.]
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Access Restrictions
This collection is stored offsite. To arrange to consult it, please go to www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
Use Restrictions
Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org.
Preferred Citation
This collection should be cited as the "Sonnenberg Mansion interior photographs, 19 Gramercy Park South, PR-465, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society."
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchase, James Cummins, Bookseller, 2014.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Archivist Joseph Ditta created this finding aid in October 2023.