John Pierce Residence

History and architecture

The residence at 11 East 51 Street was erected in 1904-06 for stone and building contractor John Peirce and was designed by noted architect John H. Duncan. At the time of its construction, Fifth Avenue just south of Central Park was the most prestigious residential area in the city and was known as Vanderbilt Row because of that family’s intimate involvement in maintaining the elite character of the neighborhood.

Peirce was born in Frankfort, Maine where his father operated a granite quarry. Peirce succeeded to the family business in 1873 and soon came to control much of the granite industry in Maine. In the early 1880s he decided to move to New York City to oversee the operations of his New York and Maine Granite Paving Block Company and to expand the market for his firm’s products. Peirce soon became one of the largest stone contractors in the country, earning the title of “Granite King.” By the 1890s Peirce had expanded the scope of his business to include general building contracting, and he later became involved in a number of large- scale civic infrastructure projects including the construction of New York City’s first subway system. Many of the city’s most iconic structures were erected with the assistance of Peirce’s firm.

At the apex of his professional and personal life at the turn of the twentieth century, Peirce decided to build a new home for his family in the city’s most prestigious residential neighborhood. He commissioned architect John H. Duncan to design a residence along the newly-popular American basement plan, an innovation in row house layout that allowed a more scientific division of space on the interior and which lent itself to a number of exterior architectural styles including the Italian Renaissance used for the Peirce Residence.

The most striking feature of the house is the full rustication of the lower three floors. The upper floors are faced with smooth ashlar stone, with projecting cornices above the third and fifth stories. While generally austere in demeanor, a number of scuptural elements—including the projecting balcony at the second floor and the ornamental stone keystones and wreaths—display a plasticity more typically associated with the lavish Beaux-Arts style.

When completed, the Peirce Residence stood in the middle of a distinguished row of houses overlooking St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Within a few years, however, the fortunes of both John Peirce and the neighborhood changed dramatically. Peirce’s company went into receivership in 1909 and failed altogether in 1915. He lost his residence to foreclosure in 1914, at a time when many wealthy families were abandoning the neighborhood to commercial and apartment house development. The building at 11 East 51st Street was subsequently occupied by the Gardner School for Girls and later by a series of businesses. In spite of the changes of use and in the character of the surrounding neighborhood, the Peirce Residence remains nearly perfectly intact and is a significant reminder of the area’s history as a prestigious residential district.