Payne Whitney NYC townhouse
972 Fifth Avenue near 79th Street
◄J
ames
B Duke house
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St. Jean BaP-tiste Church
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Thomas
Fortune Ryan
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Stanford White
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Click on any photo to see enlargement.
Many persons incorrectly associate the name
"Payne
Whitney" with the Esopus estate, which was
willed to Harry Payne Bingham
.
But it is correct that William Payne Whitney was another favorite nephew of
Oliver Payne. This section is a short biography of Payne Whitney
.
PAYNE WHITNEY, B.A., LLB., of New York City, capitalist, philanthropist, was born
in New York City 20 March 1876, the son of William Collins and Flora (Payne) Whitney,
and died at Greetree, his country place at Manhasset, Long Island, N.
Y.,
25 May 1927.
His mother, Flora (Payne) Whitney, was born in 1848 and died 5 February 1893, the
daughter of Henry B. Payne, 1810-1896, of Cleveland, Ohio, (Hamilton College, 1832),
lawyer, prominent Democrat, member of the United States House of Representatives,
1875-1877, United States Senator from Ohio, 1885-1891. Through this grandfather, Payne
traced an ancestral line to William Bradford of the Mayflower, Governor of the Plymouth
Colony.
Payne Whitney entered Yale University and received his Bachelor of Arts in 1898.
He then studied law for three years at the Harvard Law School, receiving his Bachelor of
Laws in 1901. His share in his father's large estate was increased by his own business
ability; and several millions came to him from the estate of his uncle, Col. Oliver Hazard
Payne, including Payne's estate in Thomasville, Georgia.
Payne Whitney soon became
influential in New York financial circles and a director or executive officer of several large
corporations, including the Great Northern Paper Company, the First National Bank of New
York, the Whitney Realty Company, and the Northern Finance Corporation.
In 1902, Payne Whitney married
Helen Hay, daughter of the distinguished man
of letters and statesman, John Hay, Lincoln's
personal secretary and first biographer, who
was United States Ambassador to Great
Britain, 1897-98, and Secretary of State,
1898-1905, and his wife, Clara (Stone) Hay.
Helen Hay Whitney lived at 972 Fifth Avenue
until her death in 1944. The couple had two
children, Mrs. Charles Shipman Payson (Joan
Whitney)(5 Feb 1903 - Oct 1975) of New York
City and Manhasset, well known as the co-
founder of the New York Mets in 1962, and
John Hay Whitney (17 Aug 1904 - Feb 1982)
of New York City.
While in college, Mr. Whitney rowed for two years on the Yale crew, of which he
was captain in 1898, thus following in the footsteps of his father and uncle, both of whom
had been college oarsmen. He never lost his interest in the rowing achievements of his
alma mater, gave liberally to their support, and was the donor of a dormitory for the crew at
Gales Ferry. Interested in horse racing, he had a racing stable of his own and engaged in
the raising of thoroughbred horses.




He was a constant and oftentimes anonymous benefactor of educational and
charitable institutions, making large gifts to Yale, to the New York Hospital, of which he was
a trustee and vice president, to the New York Public Library, of which also he was a trustee
for many years and to which he gave in 1923 $12,000,000, and to many other foundations
that serve the public.
After his death in 1927, the family contributed sufficient funds to Yale University to
enable construction of the Payne Whitney athletic complex . This facility was completely
renovated in 1997. The newly renovated Payne Whitney Gymnasium was originally
constructed in 1932 under the direction of John Russell Pope. The gym is one of the most
complete units of indoor facilities in the world. The building was given to the University by
the Whitney family in memory of their son Payne Whitney, class of 1898. The nine and one
half story structure contains training centers for crew, gymnastics, swimming, general
exercise, recreational and varsity strength and conditioning and a state of the art fencing
salon.
The family also contributed sufficient funds to establish the Payne Whitney
Psychiatric Clinic at New York Presbyterian Hospital in 1932. The Payne Whitney Clinic is
a 60-bed, voluntary facility that provides state-of-the-art mental health services and related
research and education programs within one of the world's major medical centers. The
Central Evaluation Service offers comprehensive evaluation and diagnostic services for
patients in need of hospitalization or ambulatory treatment. The Inpatient Service provides
diagnostic services and care for acutely ill adolescents, adults, and the elderly. Specialty
clinical programs have been developed to meet the needs of patients and families.
Services are offered for a wide range of diagnostic categories, including affective disorders,
psychotic disorders and dual diagnosis.
<<=== The Payne Whitney house at 972 Fifth Avenue, just
below 79th Street. The house is only at the right (three
windows on the upper floors, but the adjoining house has
been given almost the same treatment, so that the viewer
might suspect they were the same house.
T
The plaque below indicates that Oliver Hazard Payne
donated the land. He also contributed over $600,000 to the
construction, a considerable sum in 1904.
T



The view of 972 Fifth Avenue at right
shows that the row up to 79th Street
has been kept intact with the
architecture of the Gilded Age. In fact,
the James Duke house just below 972
Fifth Avenue with 1 East 78th Street
address looks like a Carrere &
Hastings special, resembling the Frick
Museum and the Esopus Mansion. So
the entire block reminds one of what
much of Fifth Avenue looked like during
the late 1890s and 1900s. Nowadays,
this block is unique, as most of Fifth
Avenue is covered with high rise
apartments.
Photos of 972 Fifth Avenue and
James Duke house
by Richard Foy
10 February 2002
nyc_ 1 0feb_972_angleview ==>>
!
nyc_ 1 0feb_972_and_duke
nyc_ 1 0feb_nyu_duke_plaque
!
nyc_ 10feb_duke_house
-!
Although many people today first associate James Duke with Duke University, he attained his financial
wealth via the American Tobacco Company. He was helped in this by Oliver Hazard Payne, who put
together a group of financiers to enable Duke to buy out his competitors in the Carolinas. Duke himself,
or his father, invented the pre-rolled cigarette and worked to wean smokers from roll-your-own. There
may be a reason why Duke and Payne built their townhouses so close together. However, it may be only
coincidence; all affluent Gilded Age families fought for space along upper Fifth Avenue.





Stanford White, often considered the most decoratively minded of the partnership of
McKim, Mead & White, designed many of the most impressive and influential interiors of
the era, particularly in the domestic realm. "One of his finest mature works was the
residence of Payne and Helen Hay Whitney at 972 Fifth Avenue in New York City, now the
building of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy. White designed and oversaw the
execution of all the interiors in the house, which was still being built at the time of his death
in 1906. These interiors exemplified the prevailing taste of wealthy New Yorkers and
reflected a uniquely American expression of European styles."
"By the 1880s, McKim, Mead and White had become the architectural firm of choice
for the elite of New York society and White was able to secure clients with large amounts of
money to spend on new residences and extensive remodeling. Among his many
commissions were houses for such clients as Whitelaw Reid (1837-1912), Henry William
Poor (1844-1915), and Ogden Mills (1825-1910). At the same time that he worked on the
Payne Whitney house, White was busy building other mansions in New York City, including
ones for Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt Jr. (nee Virginia Fair, d. 1935), and Joseph Pulitzer
(1847-1911)."
"At the Payne Whitney house, White worked under very favorable circumstances
indeed: his clients were members of a well-established wealthy New York family who had
few fixed ideas about what the building and interiors should look like. The residence at 972
Fifth Avenue was commissioned in late 1902 as a wedding present from Colonel Oliver
Hazard Payne (1839-1917) for his nephew Payne Whitney upon his marriage to Helen
Hay. Colonel Payne contributed more than $625,000 to the cost of the fashionable Fifth
Avenue house, but he left the design choices in White's able hands. The foundation of the
five-story house was laid in 1902, and work on the architectural shell progressed through
1903. By January 1904, the house was still not roofed in, but White was already planning
the interiors."
"The public spaces on the ground floor were unusual, both architecturally and
decoratively The dome over the entrance hall and the main staircase was constructed by
the New York firm of Raphael Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company which used a
laminated vaulting system. The layered tile vaults, ... allowed for extremely thin, shallow
vaults of great strength. The technology dated back to ancient times and had been used in
many large-scale public buildings, such as Grand Central Terminal in New York City but it
was relatively unusual in a domestic setting. White utilized a half-arch support for the main
stair; and, more notably a broad shallow dome for the entrance hail. Supported by a circle
of paired marble columns, the tile courses of the dome were ornamented with a trompe-
l'oeil trellis painted by James Wall Finn ... a muralist of note in the first years of the
century."
• Quoted material taken from Jenil Sandberg article in Magazine Antiques, October 2002
The Venetian Room
Resplendent with mirrors and gilt, the Venetian room is one of architect Stanford
White's masterpieces and one of his very last creations. Now returned to its original
location and meticulously restored, it once again magnificently conveys the ambiance of
the Gilded Age.
The Venetian room was created as the reception room in the townhouse at 972 Fifth
Avenue that was a wedding gift from Oliver Payne, a financier and industrialist, for his
nephew Payne Whitney and Helen Hay. Visitors entered the shallow-domed hall through
massive wrought-iron doors. The Whitneys' guests were then ushered into the reception
room, which had an adjoining powder room, before proceeding upstairs.





Oliver Payne commissioned America's best known
architect, Stanford White, to design the house. With five
stories above ground plus two under, it would have 22,000
square feet of living and service space. White began work
on the plans in 1902. Construction took another five years,
and during that time White repeatedly refined his ideas for
the reception room. White's final drawings show the room
almost exactly as it appears today, with neoclassical
ornaments surrounding large mirrored panels, picture
frames with putti, a lattice cove with porcelain flowers, and a
parquet floor. Construction of the reception room began in
April 1906 and was completed in December. White had
approved the final details shortly before his death in June 1906. The only known alteration
occurred in 1941, when the damaged figurative ceiling painting was replaced.
Helen Hay Whitney called this space the Venetian room. After she died in 1944, her
son, John Hay Whitney, followed her wishes to have the room preserved, so it was
removed before the house was sold in 1949. The French government acquired the building
in 1952. The Venetian room remained in storage until 1997, when Mrs. John Hay Whitney
donated the room to the French-American Foundation and provided the financial support
for its restoration.
• Preceding text developed by Diana S Waite
.
Photo from frenchculture
.
org/art/972/venetian/
Payne and Helen Whitney and their children John and Joan are listed in the 1920
census as living at 972 Fifth Avenue. Also listed with them are thirteen servants. However,
these servants may also have serviced the Thomasville estate in Georgia and more
probably the Greentree estate in Manhasset NY. The 1930 census omits 972 Fifth
Avenue, but lists Helen Whitney and her son John living at the Manhasset site together
with 21 servants. The 1920 census listing for Payne Whitney is preceded directly by a
listing for James D Duke, his wife Natalie and daughter Doris living around the corner at
78th Street. While I know of no connection between Payne and Duke, it is common
knowledge that Oliver Hazard Payne arranged the financing for James Duke to buy out his
North Carolina competitors and organize the American Tobacco Company. Fifth Avenue
between the 60s and 70s streets became the place to be for those of the gilded age.
Saint Jean Baptist R. C. Church
76th Street and Lexington
click on any picture to see enlargement
The church of St. Jean Baptist is connected to Esopus in at
least three ways
:
the vaulting work was done by Guastavino
Fireproof Construction Company, we we believe was the
subcontractor for the grand staircase ceilings of the large
rooms in the Esopus Mansion; the principal donor was
Thomas Fortune Ryan, who partnered in several ventures
with William Clifford Whitney and August Belmont; and the
Marist Brothers taught from 1892 until 1956 at Saint Jean's
and later at Saint Ann's Academy, directly across the street
from this church.
photo at left and both photos below by Richard Foy 10 February 2004





<<=== The interior of
St. Jean's is a fine
example of the work
done by Guastavino
Construction, who
specialized in vaulting
and domes.
The twin towers rise
one hundred and fifty
feet from the facade.
The central dome
soars one hundred
and seventy feet
above the floor level
of the church. ===>>
«=nyc-10feb sjb_dome
nyc_ 1 Ofeb_sjb_towers==>>
Eglise Saint Jean Baptiste was founded in 1882 as a national parish for the French
Canadian population of New York City's Yorkville area. (Usually Catholic parishes are
assigned by geographic territory; a national parish accepts persons of that nationality -
in
this case French-Canadian or French-speaking -
regardless of location within the city.)
It quickly became a spiritual center embracing many nationalities, as it does today. The
area was serviced by the second avenue and third avenue elevated trains, and immigrants
from many nations located there.
Since 1900, the church has been under the care of the
Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, an international religious order dedicated to the
Eucharist, the central sacrament of Catholic life and worship.
Invited by Father Tetreault, the first pastor, the Marist Brothers opened the school
for boys in 1892 with 75 boys. "Only 15 understood French; none were interested in
learning it." The Saint Ann's Academy opened in September 1894 with an unrecorded
enrollment of boys from the parish, plus 15 boarders. In addition to the school, the
Brothers were responsible for teaching CCD on Sundays, the parish bazaar, the monthly
novena to Saint Ann and publication of the Annals of Saint Ann's Shrine. The Brothers
housing also serviced several elementary schools in the neighborhood, as well as
residence for many French Brothers who left France starting in 1898 when the school
system there was being secularized. They stayed in New York City to learn English. The
overcrowding led Brother Zephiriny, principal of Saint Ann's, to seek other sites for the
Brothers learning English. His search led him to Esopus
,
where he viewed the property but
decided to choose property in Poughkeepsie instead because transportation to New York
City and Quebec was easier from Poughkeepsie
.
Another interesting tidbit is that one of
the teachers at Saint Ann's in the first decade of the 20th century was Brother Edmond
Alphonse, who became the first treasurer of Marist Preparatory in 1942 and served as
treasurer, choirmaster, and organist there for many years.
The present church building opened in the spring of 1913
.
Its design
,
drawn up by
Nicholas Serracino, won first prize at the International Exhibition in Turin, Italy, in 1911.
The architectural style of the church is of Italian Renaissance classical revival. A major
restoration of the exterior and interior of the church was completed in late November 1997.
Situated at the back of the church in the south wall is the Shrine of Saint Anne,
which evinces a devotion to the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary that began at Saint


Jean's in 1892. When the present church was opened in 1913, the Brothers took over the
old church and converted it into a gymnasium, which served the school until it relocated to
Queens and took the name Archbishop Molloy. Brother Zephriny taught and lived at St.
Ann's Academy, and when he opened the Marist property in Poughkeepsie, New York, he
gave named it Saint Anne's Hermitage. I received my high school diploma from Saint
Anne's Hermitage. When I taught at St. Ann's Academy in NYC ( 1950-1957) , my aunt
Mary Foy Mullin told me that she had attended services in the old church. She had
immigrated to New York from Ireland in 1908, and lived on the east side in the 70s area.
Thomas Fortune Ryan (1851 - 1928) born near Livingston, Virginia, the son of
George Ryan, a farmer, and his wife whose maiden name was Fortune. Orphaned at 14,
he moved to Baltimore MD to seek work. He took a job as an errand boy for John S. Barry,
a dry good merchant, and worked for Barry for four years, working hard and gaining
several promotions.
In 1872 Barry encouraged the young man to
seek his fortune in New York City by trying for a
position on Wall Street, a breeding ground for many
self-made men. Within a year Ryan had worked for a
brokerage firm as a messenger, then a broker's
assistant, and in 1873. with Barry's backing, Ryan
opened his own brokerage firm and also married
Barry's daughter, Ada. By 187 4 the new firm of Lee,
Ryan and Warren purchased a seat on the New York
Stock Exchange.
The 1880 census lists Ryan living in
Hempstead, Queens, with his wife Ada, and four sons
listed as born in Virginia: John, Thomas F, William and
Allen; and three servants, all born in Ireland
When streetcars were proposed for Manhattan
in 1883, Ryan organized a paper entity called New
York Cable Railroad and bid against entrepreneurs
Jacob Sharp and William C Whitney (Oliver Payne's
brother-in-law) to gain control of a franchise for a line running along Broadway between
Union Square and the Battery. To get the franchise, all three offered bribes, but Sharp's
was the biggest. Ryan, Whitney and Peter Wiedner then combined to wrest control from
Sharp. By 1900 the Metropolitan Streetcar Company controlled nearly all the streetcar
lines in New York City.
By 1905, the Metropolitan found itself competing for ridership with the New York's
popular subway system, which had been organized and financed by August Belmont.
Ryan proposed a merger, which Belmont eventually accepted. Ryan sensed the financing
was shaky, and by 1906 had withdrawn from the arrangement, but only after he was $35
million richer. He had a substantial interest in American Tobacco Company, and profited
handsomely when that combination was broken up by the government.
His New York
townhouse at 858 Fifth Avenue was on the same block as Oliver Payne's, but it extended
the entire block to Madison Avenue, including extensive gardens. It was designed by
Carrere & Hastings.
Ryan always loved the Virginia area where he was born. In 1901 he purchased Oak
Ridge, a farm which had been vacant for twenty years. Thomas Fortune Ryan became the
wealthiest native-born Southerner of his generation with a net worth of over $130 million.
His business interests embraced the Manhattan transit system, the American Tobacco





Company, banking, the Equitable Life Assurance, the
Thompson Sub-Machine Gun, railroads, Mexican rubber
plantations and diamond mines in the Belgian Congo.
In 1905 Ryan bought the controlling interest in the
Equitable Life Assurance Society, a deal that put him at
loggerheads with the financier E. H. Harriman, who had also
sought to buy the stock. Privately, Harriman complained that
Ryan was ill suited to run the company, a sentiment shared by
other Wall Street scions of an older moneyed class who looked
down on the onetime Virginia country boy as unscrupulous,
without honor, and decidedly not a gentleman. No one dared
criticize him too openly, however, for Ryan was a powerful man
with powerful friends.
He extensively enlarged the original Oak Ridge house
into a fifty room Colonial Revival Mansion on four floors. Although not definitely proven,
Ryan's architectural firm was probably the New York concern of Carrere & Hastings.
Thomas Fortune Ryan used the property both as a rural retreat and as a model farm
employing as many as 300 workers. A wide range of agricultural activities were pursued at
this time on Oak Ridge, including an elaborate dairy operation housed in one of the largest
stone dairy complexes in the United States. Saddlebred and thoroughbred horses were
maintained on the Estate and entered in competitions and races from California to
England.
Ryan's development of Oak Ridge is eerily similar to Oliver Hazard Payne's
development of the Esopus estate. Although Payne died before completion of the horse
barns west of route 9W, he clearly intended a similar use for the Esopus property, but may
not have thought of horse racing but of horse shows. One local told me that he wanted to
run horse shows in Esopus itself.
Thomas Fortune Ryan had an international viewpoint. His interest in the Belgian
Congo stemmed from a request of King Leopold of Belgium to organize a syndicate to
develop the natural resources of the Belgian Congo. Deciding that rubber production
would not be profitable, Ryan organized diamond-, gold- and copper-mining operations in
the Congo. Naturally, Ryan became the principal stockholder
...
Ryan also liked things French. He supported French and Belgian art, including an
extensive collection of Limoges enameled porcelain. Ryan was an early patron of the
French sculptor Rodin. Wall paintings by the French-Canadian artist M. Suzor-Cote adorn
the Breakfast Room of the Oak Ridge Mansion. He also tried to develop area near
Montreal called Mont Tremblant, which is now a popular ski resort area and summer
vacation spot.
His gift of St. Jean Baptist church reflects his love of things French, but also the
church was close to his townhouse on Fifth Avenue. During his lifetime and under terms
of the wills of Ryan and his first wife, the couple donated over $20 million to Roman
Catholic causes. As a generous Catholic philanthropist, Thomas Fortune Ryan endowed
Sacred Heart Cathedral in Richmond, Virginia and St. Jean Baptist in New York City, as
well as funding churches, schools, and hospitals throughout the country
References: Payne Whitney biography adapted from The New England Historical and Genealogical
Register
Jenil Sandberg, "Stanford White's house for Payne Whitney in New York City", Magazine Antigues,
.
October 2002 available on the internet at
httP-://www.findarticles.com/cf dls/m1026/4 162/92545136/P-1 /article.jhtml





Social Security Death Index on the Internet and various internet articles.
Diana S Waite, "The Venetian Room" at
httR://www.frenchculture.org/art/972/venetian/
Brochure on St. Jean Baptist church available in church entrance.
Article on Thomas Fortune Ryan in Dictionary of National Biography.
Internet site on Oak Ridge:
httR
:
//www.oakridgeestate.com/oakridgeestate/histo[Y.2.htm
Leonard A. Voegtle, fms "Go to the Land I Will Show You -The Marist Brothers in the United States",
Volume 11885-1911 New France, New England, New York, Marist Press,c1995. pp. 136-142 gives a
fuller account of the Marist Brothers at St. Jean Baptiste ( 1892-1934) and Saint Ann's Academy( 1894-
1957)
Most recent revision: 13 February 2004
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