Philip Lehman House

7 West 54th Street | Midtown | built 1900

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. 1899

    March

    Philip Lehman commissions a Beaux-Arts mansion by John H. Duncan

    Banker Philip Lehman, son of Lehman Brothers co-founder Emanuel Lehman, bought this lot in March 1899 for a new family home. Architect John H. Duncan designed a four-story limestone house in French Beaux-Arts style, projected to cost $48,000 and completed the following year. Lehman moved in with his wife Carrie and children Pauline and Robert.

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 1962

    Robert Lehman opens the house to show his art collection

    Robert Lehman, who had taken over the mansion from his father Philip, opened it to the public for one week in November 1962 to display his holdings of more than 3,000 artworks, including pieces by Rembrandt, Goya, and El Greco. The $25 admission fee benefited the Institute of Fine Arts.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1969

    Robert Lehman leaves his art collection to the Metropolitan Museum

    Robert Lehman died in 1969, bequeathing his collection of more than 3,000 artworks to the Metropolitan Museum on the condition it remain together. In 1975 the museum opened the Robert Lehman Wing, incorporating several rooms removed intact from this mansion to recreate the family's interiors.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 2006

    Zimmer Lucas Partners converts the mansion into offices

    Zimmer Lucas Partners bought the former Lehman residence in 2006 and converted it into office space. Architect Belmont Freeman Architects restored the facade and recovered original architectural details that the Metropolitan Museum had kept after removing rooms for its Lehman Wing.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

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