152 East 38th Street

Murray Hill | built 1858

Open on the map4 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1858

    Patrick McCafferty finishes a house set far back from East 38th Street

    Contractor Patrick McCafferty bought the vacant lot in 1855 and completed this three-story brick house in 1858, placing it at the rear of the lot almost 60 feet from the street behind a forecourt and garden. A plaque says it was a gatehouse for an estate of President Van Buren's family, but historians doubt this, since Murray Hill's estate era had ended by then. The city landmarked it on May 25, 1967.

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 1888

    Mary Van Buren buys the house, spurring a myth about a presidential gatehouse

    Mary Lyman Van Buren, widow of James Van Buren, buys 152 East 38th Street in 1888 and, that fall, brings in architect J.D. Powell to redesign the inside. A plaque later calls the house a former Van Buren family gatehouse, but the claim is dubious: Murray Hill's era of grand estates had ended decades before the current house went up in 1858, and the property didn't pass to the Van Burens until the 1880s.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1934

    Robertson Ward remakes the Italianate house in the Regency Revival style

    In 1934 engineer Russell Pettengill leased 152 and 150 East 38th Street and hired architect Robertson Ward to turn them into his home and office, changing the house from Italianate to Regency Revival. Later owners included publisher Cass Canfield of Harper & Brothers, who lived here until 1970, and investment banker Richard Jenrette.

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 1970

    Investment banker Richard Jenrette buys the historic house

    Investment banker and preservationist Richard Jenrette buys 152 East 38th Street in 1970 for $250,000, adding it to his collection of historic American homes. He buys it from publisher Cass Canfield, president of Harper & Row, who purchased the property in 1935 after engineer Russell Pettengill's lease ended, and lived there for more than three decades.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 26 buildings with stories in Murray Hill