History and architecture
The handsome house at 11 East 70th Street was built in 1909-10 and designed in the French Classical manner, one of the prominent styles during this period. The architect, John H. Duncan is best known for his design of Grant's Tomb on Riverside Drive and the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch in Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn.
The properties on this block were held by the Estate of James Lenox until 1907 when they were transferred to the New York Public Library-Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. The Lenox Library building which stood on this block was completed in 1875; in 1911 the collections were removed from the location on Fifth Avenue and 70th Street to the new New York Public Library building on Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, and the Lenox building was subsequently replaced by the Henry Clay Frick mansion.
The Library began selling the properties on the north side of East 70th Street in 1909, and this new residence was among the first to be built on the block. Fifth Avenue and its side streets, above 59th Street, had already been well developed in the 1880s and 1890s, so for this land to remain open until 1909 was quite unusual.
The wealthy New Yorkers who bought these lots usually commissioned houses for themselves, thus continuing the well-established residential trend in the development of the area. In this case, Cornelius W. Luyster, Jr., a builder-developer, purclvisclthe lot for No. 11 in 1909 as well as several others in the block. He sold the property with the completed house to Ruth A. Bruce-Brown in May 1910.
Sources and further reading
This history comes from the Landmarks app’s historical catalog. Names and building uses may reflect the period described.