21 East 70th Street House

History and architecture

The simple but elegant house at 21 East 70th Street was built in 1918-19 and was designed by William J. Rogers in a sophisticated manner based on modified classical traditions.

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. Fifth Avenue and its side streets, above 59th Street, had already been well developed in the 1880s and 1890s, so for this land to have remained 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.

Although the other houses on the north side of the street were built shortly after the Library sold the properties, No. 21 was built only after the lot had changed hands several times. Gustav Pagenstecher bought the property in 1918, and the house was completed the following year.