We might think of celebrities as having perfect lives, but what goes on behind closed doors?
Hi everyone, Ken here
Today we exploring the home of renowned Gilded Age Architect Stanford White, a beautiful
setting for unspeakable crime.
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In 1853, Stanford White was born into a poor, but well respected family in New York City.
His father, Richard, was a Shakespearean Scholar, and even though he made very little money,
he often found himself in the company of high society, entertaining them with his vast knowledge
on the English Playwright.
The young Stanford would accompany his father to dinners, banquets, and balls where he was
able to forge connections with the emerging generation of New York’s wealthy elite.
Often times, he would find himself in the company of notable contemporary artists and
designers at these event, such as Louis Comfort Tiffany and John LaFarge.
The impressionable Stanford was inspired to no end by the creative genius of these artists
and began sketching from a young age, quickly developing a taste for highly stylized architecture.
By the age of 18, his hobby had turned into a passion.
Without any formal education nor training in architecture, he was referred to the office
of the most prominent architect of the time, Henry Hobson Richardson, where he apprenticed
directly under the architect as his principal assistant.
The more he learned from Richardson, the more questions he had.
When he was 25 years old, he left for Europe to study ancient architecture.
After a year and half of site seeing, sketching, and studying he returned to New York City,
ready to take the world by storm.
He joined forces with two other rising architects, Charles McKim and William Rutherford to create
the highly celebrated architecture firm of McKim, Mead, and White.
Together, this trio became an unstoppable force as they climbed their way to the top,
designing palaces and mansions for the country’s most influential and wealthy barons of industry.
Suddenly, anyone who was anyone wanted their mansion, institution, church, or hotel to
be designed by the trio.
The demand for their work was so high that if they accepted you as a client, it became
instant bragging rights.
By the late 1880s, Stanford White had designed the backdrop for life in the upper echelons
to take place.
If you were attending a ball at one of the country’s most expensive estates, there
was a good chance the house had been designed by Stanford White.
But as time went on, Stanford wanted his own palace, a home where he could cherish his
own work.
In the 1890s, while he was working on Henry Taylor’s Manhattan mansion, it came up in
conversations that Mr. Taylor had a brownstone coming up for rent right next door to Stanford’s
apartment.
It had been converted into a boarding house, but held a prime location on a corner lot
facing Gramercy Park.
One thing lead to another and Stanford was able to negotiate a fair lease with the condition
that he would be allowed to make any changes to the building as he saw fit.
Taylor, being a huge fan of his work and a current client, gleefully agreed.
In 1898, Stanford began reworking the interior, borrowing huge sums of money to renovate and
decorate the interior.
While he made very few changes to the exterior, he did move the entrance of the house below
street level so that guests would arrive in the basement level entrance hall.
You would then be directed to the reception room to wait for the White’s to welcome
you to their home.
After being welcomed, you would make your way upstairs to arrive in the first floor
stair hall where Stanford had incorporated antique Spanish columns and centuries old
Italian and Flemish tapestries to decorate the walls.
Facing the stairs, a floor to ceiling stone fireplace rises 12 feet with stone cherubs
framing intricate relief work on the upper mantel.
To the right of the fireplace, towards the front of the house, the drawing room would
be the first to dazzle you with its velvet walls rising below a gilded frieze.
On the opposite wall, we will find the fireplace pronounced by Solomonic columns supporting
a broken pediment.
Stepping back, we can see the fireplace from the stair hall beyond the opening as we make
our way towards the other end of the house.
To get to the dining room, we will cut back across the stair hall, passing over antique
Persian rugs.
Just as Stanford had retrofitted old European rooms for his clients, he imported and reassembled
a 16th century ceiling from a chapel in Florence.
He went on to incorporate and repurpose several other 16th century Italian pieces such as
the fireplace, tapestries, and statues.
In the corner of the room, he created an alcove using rounded widows in which he placed a
16th century Italian renaissance fountain.
In 1904, his wife, Bessie, hosted a midnight musicale where dinner guests dined at midnight
while listening to live music from a Hungarian Orchestra pouring in between the 16th century
wood columns separating the adjoining music room.
The music room was clad in painted wall panels with gold leafed accents.
While trained professionals were allowed to play the instruments, no one else was allowed
to touch them as the collection was mostly made up of rare and antique instruments from
all around the world.
Towards the rear of the house, Stanford had adjoined and renovated the carriage house
to include a skylit vestibule to double as a conservatory.
He decorated the space with delft tiles and repurposed marble balustrade.
Heading up the stairs, we will find his studio and gallery located above the old carriage
house.
We enter the gallery through a grilled opening encased in a renaissance era opening.
To allow more light in to illuminate Stanford’s collection of royal portraits, the ceiling
was raised with antique Flemish Oak trusses to reinforce skylights.
To the far end of the room, a Henry the 7th fireplace continued into the gable with knotted
relief work.
Above the fireplace, statuary had been arranged and affixed to rest on the upper mantel, its
composition loosely suggesting the offset of the ceiling’s rise.
Now that Stanford White had the house of his dreams, it was time for him to enjoy it, or
so he thought.
As we continue his story, we will see more pictures of his house.
Even though Stanford White had built a successful career, he was living far beyond his means.
He was unable to afford to live such a lavish lifestyle and had borrowed money to make his
dreams come true.
All the while, he had not made a rent payment to Mr. Taylor in years, nor had he told his
wife, Bessie about any of his debt, which came as a surprise to her when he was murdered.
On June 25th, 1906, Stanford White was dining near the theatre at the second Madison Square
Gardens which he had designed.
It was the opening night for the dinner show, Mam’zelle Champagne, and as the performers
sang “I Could Love a Million Girls” a man by the name of Harry Thaw approached Stanford
White from behind, declared, “You’ve ruined my wife!” and proceeded to fire three shots
into Stanford, killing him instantly.
When this happened, there was a lot of confusion as Stanford White had been well respected
and accepted by high society.
Why would anyone want to kill him?
In the court proceedings that followed, as Harry Thaw was put on trial, it came out that
Stanford had been grooming Harry’s fiancé, Evelyn Nesbit from a young age.
The details of Stanford’s secretive and abusive past came into the spotlight as more
underage accusers came forward.
On YouTube I can’t go into the specifics, but instead will quote Mark Twain’s reaction
to the testimony.
“On the Witness-stand, in the hearing of a court room crowded with men, the girl told
in the minutest detail the history of White’s pursuit of her, even down to the particulars
of his atrocious victory – a victory whose particulars might well be said to be unprintable..”
knowing the cynical and often times blatant approach Mark Twain penned on social issues,
for him to use the term “unprintable” when describing the crimes of Stanford White
against children- it speaks to the depths of disgust he elicited.
Harry Thaw was charged with first degree murder and held in jail without bond, where, because
of his social status, he received 3 course, catered meals, and was allowed to wear his
own tailored clothes.
Eventually the judge declared him insane and sentenced him to a very comfortable stay in
prison.
During this time, Harry became a feminist icon, being called as a protector of women
by several publications.
In 1915, he was declared mentally competent by a judge and was released back into the
public.
Meanwhile, Stanford’s widow, Bessie was left to deal with the mess her husband had
left for her.
Stanford had left over 250,000 dollars in debt for her to pay, the modern equivalent
of over 8 million dollars of debt.
She held an estate auction where antiques and architectural elements were stripped from
the house, which funded the repayment of only one tenth of Stanford’s debt.
The house was then sold by Mr. Taylor to the Princeton Club who stripped every room except
for the gallery, which they left essentially untouched.
It then went on to be used by the YWCA as the Young Women’s Christian Association’s
International Institute where several historically significant speeches and lectures were given.
While it was looking like the house would last as a landmark in the city, Alexander
Bing, a prominent developer, had been quietly buying up the block.
In 1924 he purchased the building, evicted the YWCA and had Stanford White’s Mansion
torn down to make way for the Gramercy Park Hotel.
What did you think about this video?
Did you have a favorite room?
Were you surprised to learn about the dark past of one of America’s most celebrated
architects?
Let me know down below in the comments section.
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