Once located on the northeast corner of fifth avenue and 77th street, the William A Clark House,
also known as Clark’s Folly, was a magnificent beaux arts style mansion with a tower visible
from nearly every corner of central park, but what happened to it. Hi everyone, ken here,
welcome to this house. Today we are exploring the history of one the Upper East Side of Manhattans
most extravagant lost mansions. Make sure to hit that subscribe button so you never
miss an exciting episode of this house as we uncover america’s history and architecture.
William A. Clark was a wealthy entrepreneur and politician who made his fortune as a miner in the
montana gold rush. With his new found fortune, he commissioned a lavish beaux arts style mansion to
be built by the firm Lord, Hewlett & Hull in 1897. After 14 years, it was completed in 1911 at a cost
of $7 million (or the modern day equivalent of over 200 million dollars). The mansion contained
121 rooms, 31 bathrooms, it boasted 4 art galleries, and even featured a private underground
rail line to bring in coal for heat which was a major undertaking that to say the least.
It was reported that Clark bought a quarry in New Hampshire to source the stones for his house.
He also purchased foundry and employed 200 men to manufacture the bronze fittings that would
be used in the finishing of his house. But not everything he wanted could be sourced locally,
he imported marble from Italy, old growth oak from Sherwood Forest in England, and purchased rooms
from a French chateaux to be deconstructed, shipped, and reconstructed at his mansion.
The house spanned 250 feet on 77th Street and 77 feet on Fifth Avenue,
more than any other mansion on Fifth along central park,
with the exception of Andrew Carnegie's mansion which we can see in this photo.
Going inside the house, it soared through nine lavish stories, with Turkish baths
steaming below the ground level and capped off by laundry rooms on the upper most level.
In the banquet room, dominating the wall, was a numidian marble fireplace that measured 15
feet across flanked with life sized figures of Neptune and Diana from Roman mythology
Continuing through the house, you would have encounted medieval tapestries, medieval artwork,
and European artifacts decorating most of the rooms. Arriving at the breakfast room,
you would have seen 170 carved wooden panels, each one being unique in it’s depictions and motifs.
Going up to the second floor, there was a rotunda, 36 feet high, made of Maryland marble with eight
marble columns said to have purple striations, this space was used as the statuary room. The
statuary opened to a conservatory with ceilings that soared 30 feet above constructed of brass
and glass. Opposite the rotunda was 95 foot long, 2 story high marble-paneled
main picture gallery which was said to contain works of art by some of the finest artists.
The Murray M Harris Organ, which was designed by Arthur Scott Brook,
was housed in an organ loft. This organ was the largest in the United States at the time
with four manuals and a pedalboard complete with 74 ranks and 71 speaking stops.
One of the rooms that Clark imported, The Salon Doré, was brought in from the 18th century
L’Hotel de Clermont in Paris, was reassembled in the house to be used as the receiving room.
Of course, Clark did not build all of this in vein as he loved to entertain.
The mansion included 25 guest suites, each with their own private bathrooms.
And for entertaining so many guests and upkeeping the house, Clark had 35 rooms included for the
servants to live in with men’s rooms in the east wing and womens rooms in the west wing.
Clark passed away in 1925, only enjoying his completed mansion for 14 years.
Williams widowed wife and daughter moved out of the house almost immediately to a an apartment
located at 907 fifth avenue paying the modern day equivalent of 450,000 dollars annually for rent.
They sold the mansion for 3 million dollars, or the modern day equivalent
of 46 million dollars. The new owner demolished the mansion in 1927 and
constructed the current luxury apartment building that stands at 960 fifth avenue.
Speaking of luxury, you can now feel luxurious in this house branded apparel now available
in our new merch shop. From tee shirts to hoodies, we’ve got you covered! As always,
thank you all for watching, I really hope that you enjoyed this video. Hit that like
button if you enjoyed the video! I would love to hear if you have any recommendations for
other lost houses we should cover, if you know of any let me know down below in the
comments. And as always a very special thank you to the This House Supporters
whose name you can see on screen now, I’ll see you next time on this house.