Charles Schwab's Riverside

[pianoman11686]

Has anyone ever heard of this before?

http://www.salwenpr.com/images/uwssschwabb.jpg

It was built by Charles Schwab in the early 20th century, and was the largest private house ever erected in Manhattan. Eventually it was torn down and replaced by an apartment building. If anyone has any more info or images, I'd appreciate to see it. Thanks.

[lofter1]

I have friends who used to live in the building ("Schwab House") that went up on the site of Schwab's little home after it was torn down in 1948 ...

Before ( More images + floorplans: www.nyc-architecture.com (http://www.nyc-architecture.com) ) :

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GON/img012.jpg

Now ( www.cityrealty.com/ (http://www.cityrealty.com/) )

http://www.cityrealty.com/graphics/photos/r/rsd11.01b.photo.jpg

[lofter1]

Some good info in this NY TIMES (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE0DE143DF930A15751C0A9659C8B 63) Article.

The entrance to Schwab House co-op (http://corcoran.com/property/listing.aspx?Region=NYC&ListingID=876607) on West End Ave:

http://corcoran.com/images/media/BldgPhotos/4236.1.jpg

Some more info (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B00E4D71F3AF930A35751C0A9649C8B 63) on Schwab :

THE block of West 74th Street from West End Avenue to Riverside Drive has an architectural split personality. On the south side is the bare-brick expanse of the boxy Schwab House, a full-block apartment house built in 1948. Facing it on the north side is a row of individually built, ambitiously designed town houses created by one architect, C. P. H. Gilbert. Two recent renovations have tuned up what is still an impressive streetscape.

In the last decades of the 19th century, the two blocks from 73rd to 75th Street were owned by the New York Orphan Asylum, whose building was on the southerly block. In 1893 the asylum sold the north side of 74th, which the Real Estate Record & Guide said was bought ''by a syndicate of eight gentlemen who will build homes for themselves.''

... The 74th Street householders were probably pleased in 1901 when the orphan asylum sold its building and the entire block from 73rd to 74th Street to Charles Schwab, the president of United States Steel. Over the next five years Schwab supervised construction of the most magnificent house ever built on the West Side, a chateau at the center of a parklike setting that offered the West 74th Street houses an attractive view. For several years during construction, Schwab rented 323 West 74th Street to supervise the work.

The NYC Orphans' Asylum (from NYPL (http://catnyp.nypl.org/search/.b4217759/.b4217759/1%2C1%2C1%2CB/l856~b4217759&FF=&1%2C0%2C%2C3%2C0) ) formerly on this site :

http://www.nypl.org/research/hudson/images/981r/403394f.jpg

Orphan Asylum

More on the New York Orphan Asylum (from www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/ (http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Professional/Institutions.1859.html) ) :

The New York Orphan Asylum between 73d and 74th streets, from
Bloomingdale road to the banks of the Hudson.

This noble institution designed for the care and culture of the tender
plants of misfortune riven from the parent stem by death, is
delightfully situated on the brow of a gentle slope, on the banks of the
Hudson, between Seventy-third and Seventy-fourth streets. The grounds
cover an area of 15 acres, extending from the Bloomingdale road to the
river. The building is of stone, in Gothic style, and is 120 feet in
length and 50 in width. This institution is the offspring of the
"Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children," which was
organized in 1806 by several benevolent ladies, among whom were Mrs.
Isabella Graham, Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton (the widow of General Alexander
Hamilton), and Mrs. Joanna Bethune. It is supported by private bequests
and annual subscriptions. These contributions are daily working out
blessings of inestimable value.

[lofter1]

Somewhere inside Mr. Schwab's Riverside Dr. chateau ...

http://www.nycago.org/Organs/NYC/img/ResSchwabCExt.jpg


was an Aeolian Organ (http://www.nycago.org/Organs Aeolian Organ) ...Aeolian Company
New York City – Opus 1032 (1919)
Electro-pneumatic action
4 manuals, 66 ranks

http://www.nycago.org/Organs/NYC/img/ResSchwabCCon1032.jpg

***

[pianoman11686]

Such a shame that this was destroyed, not to mention how subpar its replacement is. Could have been a big attraction in New York, a la Hearst Castle.