George W. Vanderbilt Residence
647 5th Avenue | Midtown | built 1905
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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.
- 1902
The Vanderbilts' realty company buys an excavated site to head off an apartment hotel
In October 1901 a syndicate led by Stewart H. Chisholm filed plans for an 18-story apartment hotel at Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street. After the corner had been excavated, Chisholm sold the site in March 1902 to the New York Realty Corporation, which was acting for the Vanderbilt family. The family did not want a high-rise hotel opposite its houses, and the Real Estate Record and Guide described the deal as hardly a sale at all. By September George W. Vanderbilt had announced marble townhouses for the southern part of the plot, at 645 and 647 Fifth Avenue.
“The corporation was acting on behalf of the Vanderbilt family, which did not want to see a high-rise hotel development opposite their houses.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1905
George W. Vanderbilt builds a Louis XV-style mansion as one of a matching pair
Architects Hunt & Hunt designed a white marble mansion in the Louis XV style for George W. Vanderbilt at 647 Fifth Avenue, completed in 1905. It was one of two matching houses, with 645 next door. The facade has arched openings on the first floor, two-story pilasters above and vermiculated stonework at the base.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1907
Robert and Elsie Goelet move into the mansion, its only residential occupants
Robert Wilson Goelet and his wife Elsie Whelen rented the new house from the Vanderbilt family and moved in at the end of 1907. They lived there with their son Ogden and fourteen servants. They were the only family ever to live in the house.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1910
Elsie Goelet serves a 60-guest dinner and stages a Shaw play in her drawing room
On January 26, 1910, Elsie Goelet gave a dinner for more than 60 guests at 647 Fifth Avenue, seated at several flower-decorated tables while an orchestra played. The guests then went to a drawing room holding a stage from the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, which made a small theater for staging How He Lied to Her Husband, a play by George Bernard Shaw. Ten couples were asked to stay on for a small supper.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1914
Elsie Goelet leaves for Florida and files for divorce, and her husband shuts the house
Elsie Goelet left 647 Fifth Avenue in January 1914, taking her servants to Daytona, Florida, and filed for divorce from Robert Goelet on grounds of "extreme cruelty," a move that shocked New York society. Within a month Goelet, then worth about $25 million, shut the Fifth Avenue house for a time and sent his remaining staff to one of his country places.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1917
Gimpel & Wildenstein open an art gallery in the former mansion
Art dealers Rene Gimpel and Nathan Wildenstein leased the house in November 1916. Their galleries opened in May 1917, after the firm added a floor to the building. The change came barely a decade after the house was built.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1939
American Express remodels the mansion for offices and opens there in October 1939
The renovation redesigned the floors as column-free spaces and added elevators, air-conditioning, sprinklers and a rear shipping dock reaching to 52nd Street. American Express took space in June 1939 and began operating there that October, filling the basement through the second story. Mary Lewis opened a dress shop on the third floor in April 1940.
“…the American Express Company leased space in June 1939 and opened its offices that October, taking up the basement through the second story.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1974
Olympic Tower rises next door while the mansion's original facade survives critics' protests
Olympic Airways, which subleased 647 Fifth Avenue from American Express in 1965, first planned to give the house a glass facade like that of the Olympic Tower rising beside it. Architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable called the change undesirable, and after she, Paul Goldberger and others objected, the tower's architects at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill decided to keep Hunt & Hunt's original facade. The tower was completed and dedicated in 1974.
“SOM decided to retain Hunt & Hunt's original facade on 647 Fifth Avenue.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1977
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the Vanderbilt residence a landmark
The Commission held a hearing on March 8, 1977, where eight witnesses spoke for designation and none against. On March 22 it designated the house, calling it a surviving reminder of the Beaux-Arts splendor and residential character that this stretch of Fifth Avenue had around 1900. The report treats it as half of the Marble Twins, built with 645 Fifth Avenue for George W. Vanderbilt in 1902-1905.
“Eight witnesses spoke In favor of designation. There were no speakers in opposition to designation.”
- 1996
Gianni Versace opens a flagship boutique in the former mansion
Fashion designer Gianni Versace signed a 20-year lease on the building in February 1995, and the architecture firm Laboratorio Associati renovated it. The flagship store opened in October 1996 with a party attended by celebrities. After another renovation in late 2005, the store reopened in March 2006.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- 647 Fifth AvenueWikipedia
- The Last of the Vanderbilt Row - 647 Fifth AvenueDaytonian in Manhattan
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