Henry T. Sloane Residence

History and architecture

The prominent architectural firm of Carrere & Hastings was commissioned In the early 1890s to design this large townhouse for the merchant prince, Henry T. Sloane. This elegant house is an especially fine example of the French Beaux-Arts style, a Parisian mode of design which reached its zenith of popularity In this country at the turn of the century. By 1900 East 72nd Street, like much of the Upper East Side near Central Park, was lined with mansions and townhouses.

Rich New Yorkers vied with each other in building increasingly opulent and distinctive residences. At the time the Sloane house was under construction, In 1894-96, the great Rhinelander Waldo mansion at the corner of Madison Avenue and 72nd Street was being completed and in 1896 the Jennings townhouse was begun on the property adjacent to the Sloane House. These houses still stand, but gone are the great mansions of the Tiffanys, Vanderbilts, and other prominent New York families who once lived on East 72nd Street.

Only n handful of these grand houses survive in New York, and thus, the few that remain, among them the Sloane house, serve as important reminders of the architectural splendor of late 19th-century America.

The firm of W. & J. Sloane, today the well known New York furniture store, was founded in 1843 by Henry T. Sloane's father. Under the management of the second generation of the family, the business continued to flourish, dealing exclusively in carpets, rugs, and upholstery material. Known for its vast and varied stock, W. & J. Sloane sold everything from machine-made carpeting to the finest Aubusson and antique oriental rugs.

The famous maroon and gold Interior of the old Metropolitan Opera House was the generous gift of Henry T. Sloane, and no doubt served as a gentle reminder to opera patrons of the fine merchandise to be found at W, & J. Sloane.

Henry T. Sloane (1846-1937) graduated from Yale University and in later years, as a loyal alumnus of his school, presented the University with a recitation hall and the Sloane Physics Laboratory. In the early 1880s, he married Jessie Robbins of Brooklyn, the daughter of Daniel Robbins, a founder of the drug firm McKesson & Robbins. Jessie, known for her beauty and listed among the best dressed women of New York society, moved with her husband and children into the new 72nd Street house in 1897. Two years later, however, Mrs. Sloane was divorced from her husband on April 28, and she was remarried on the very same day to Perry Belmont, a diplomat and member of one of New York's most distinguished families. The divorce and remarriage caused a sensation in New York society with front page coverage of the "scandal" appearing in the New York Times.

In 1898 Sloane had deeded the new house to his wife. At the time of the divorce, the Times called the house "one of the handsomest of the newer uptown residences" and noted the beauty and costliness of the furnishings. Soon after the divorce, Mrs. Belmont signed the house and its contents over to the State Trust Company, with the understanding that if they were not claimed by her former husband, the house was to be sold and the proceeds divided equally between her two children.

Sloane, probably due to unhappy associations with it, never again lived in his 72nd Street house. It was very briefly occupied by the famous newspaper publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, who at that time was building his own imposing townhouse at 11 East 73rd Street. The Sloane house was purchased in 1901 by James Stillman.