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Sonnenberg Mansion interior photographs, 19 Gramercy Park South

Call Number

PR 465

Date

circa 1978, inclusive

Creator

Tucker, Steven (Role: Photographer)

Extent

1 Linear feet
(in 1 flat box).

Language of Materials

This collection is primarily visual. Any text is likely to be in English.

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.]

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

This collection is stored offsite. To arrange to consult it, please go to www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchase, James Cummins, Bookseller, 2014.

Collection processed by

Joseph Ditta (October 2023)

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-04-26 08:58:27 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Finding aid written in English

Processing Information

Archivist Joseph Ditta created this finding aid in October 2023.

Repository

New-York Historical Society

View Inventory

Sonnenberg Mansion interior photographs, circa 1978, inclusive

Offsite-Box: 1 (Material Type: Graphic Materials)
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024