Henry Villard Houses (26 East 51st Street)

History and architecture

Nowhere in New York City does there exist another unified group of brownstone residences of such magnitude as this cluster standing on Madison Avenue. This great complex of Italian Renaissance town-houses is skillfully welded into one U-shaped unit; surrounding a courtyard originally planned as a turn-around for carriages.

Designed in the manner of a Sixteenth Century palace, these buildings represent the epitome of brownstone architecture of their day. Stately and dignified in appearance they express-in their formality-a fine architectural design* This 'House of Mansions" represented an early break with the picturesque tradition of the Romantic Stylos. It inaugurated the new formalism of the Renaissance, introduced here for the first time by the architects, McKim, Mead & White.

The street fronts are all unified by the bole stonework of the basement and first floor, with smooth wall surfaces for the floors above. A stone band course signalizes each floor at window sill level, while a projecting cornice effectively crowns the entire composition. The third floor windows, handsomely enframed, are reminiscent of those of the Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome, while some of the second floor windows display striking individual balconies carried en console brackets.

An addition designed by Babb, Cook & Willard was made in 1886 involving 24 East 51st Street in the Northeast corner of the property. Using the same brownstone building material as was employed in the earlier construction, they also continued the second floor band course molding into the new extension. An imposing two-arched porch dominates the raised first floor entrance. An L-shaped stone stairway is contained within a low wall, capped by a florid iron railing. The handsome wood paneled doors, with side lights and the arched transom above, contain some very attractive grille work.

Henry Villard , who built this group of Houses and occupied one of them, was a journalist, railway promoter and financier. He was born in Rhenish Bavaria and emigrated to America in 1853. As a correspondent, he covered the Lincoln-Douglas debates, the Pike's Peak gold discovery and the Civil War. In 1881, with his love for journalism and as a man of wealth, he acquired a controlling interest in the New York Evening Post.