17 East 70th Street House

History and architecture

The handsome house at 17 East 70th Street was built in 1909-11 and designed in the French Classical manner, one of the prominent styles during this period. The architect, Arthur C. Jackson was with the prominent New York City architectural firm of Heins and LaFarge when he designed this building; he was later noted for his public and commercial buildings in New York City.

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 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 Library 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 the lots commissioned houses for themselves, thus continuing a well-established residential trend in the development of this area. Alvin W. Krech purchased the lot for No. 17 in June 1909, and construction began on the house in October.