29 1/2 50th St., 24--26 E. 51st St., and 451, 453, 455, and 457 Madison Ave., New York, New York. County/parish: New York.
Added to the National Register of Historic Places September 02, 1975. NRIS 75001210.
5 contributing buildings.
The Villard Houses are a set of former residences on Madison Avenue, between 50th and 51st streets, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, United States. Designed by the architect Joseph Morrill Wells of McKim, Mead & White in the Renaissance Revival style, the residences were erected in 1884 for Henry Villard, the president of the Northern Pacific Railway. Since 1980, the houses have been part of the Lotte New York Palace Hotel (formerly Helmsley Palace Hotel), the main tower of which is to the east.
The building comprises six residences in a U-shaped plan, located at 29+1⁄2 50th Street, 24–26 East 51st Street, and 451–457 Madison Avenue. Wings to the north, east, and south surround a courtyard facing the avenue. The facade is made of brownstone, and each house consists of a raised basement, three stories, and an attic. Among the artists who worked on the interiors were art-glass manufacturer John La Farge, sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and painter Maitland Armstrong. Some of the more elaborate spaces, such as the Gold Room, the dining room, and the reception area in the south wing of the complex, still exist.
Villard bought the land in 1881 and commissioned the houses shortly before he went bankrupt. The residences were resold multiple times through the mid-20th century; the Fahnestock and Reid families owned five of the houses by the 1920s. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York acquired much of the complex in the late 1940s, and it bought the northernmost residence at 457 Madison Avenue from Random House in 1971. The houses were restored when the Helmsley Palace Hotel was built from 1978 to 1980. The north wing was converted into an office for the Municipal Art Society, a preservation group, which occupied that space until 2010. Other parts of the interior were converted into event spaces for the hotel.
When the houses were completed, wealthy New Yorkers considered the buildings' design to be restrained compared with other mansions. The houses continued to receive architectural commentary through the 20th century, with observers such as Ada Louise Huxtable praising their design. The residences are New York City designated landmarks and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
(read more...)National Park Service documentation: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320035