E. Hayward and Amelia Parsons Ferry House

History and architecture

Remodeled in 1907-08 by the noted architect Harry Allan Jacobs for investment banker Isaac Seligman and long occupied by banker E. Hayward Ferry and his wife Amelia Parsons Ferry, this highly intact former townhouse is an exceptionally fine example of the restrained Neo-French Classic variant of the Beaux Arts style and forms part of “Bankers Row,” a group of five residences built for bankers on West 56 Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Originally constructed in 1871 by the well-known New York architects D.

& J. Jardine, this house was occupied from 1880 to 1907 by the family of George Spencer Hart, a leading wholesaler of dairy products and president of three streetcar lines, who also served as the director of several banks. In 1907-08, Jacobs extended the house at the front and rear and relocated the entrance to the ground story in response to the then current fashion for American basement plans. Reflecting a growing mode for individuated rowhouses, he created a new limestone façade and copper roof.

E. Hayward Ferry was a prominent businessman, who served as first vice president of Hanover Bank from 1910 to 1929. He and his wife occupied this house from 1908 to 1935. In 1935, it became the headquarters of the distinguished publishing firm of Albert & Charles Boni. It was here that Albert Boni founded the Readex Corporation and began his first experiments with microform technology. After the Boni firm left the building in 1945, it served various uses.

From May 1959 to early 1964, it was the salon, workshop, and home of the noted fashion designer Arnold Scaasi. In 1965, it became the headquarters of the Martin Foundation, a charitable trust established by textile magnate Lester Martin, and was dedicated to Eleanor Roosevelt. In addition to the offices of the Martin Foundation, the building housed the Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial Foundation and Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial Cancer Fund as well as other non-profit cultural organizations such as the newly established American Film Institute (c.1967-72).

In 1972 the building was conveyed to the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities. It subsequently served as the offices of an importing firm and in 1988 became the New York City headquarters and studios of the Spanish Broadcasting System. In an area today characterized by tall office buildings, this five-story townhouse forms part of a unique small-scale streetscape that was once typical of the neighborhood and is now rare in Midtown.