Completed 1865 Cost 200,000 USD Construction started 1859 | Opened 1865 Owner Leonard Jerome Architect Thomas R. Jackson | |
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Location 32 East 26th Street (Manhattan) Similar New York Merchandise Mart, Metropolitan Life North Building, Madison Square Presbyter, Cornelius Vanderbilt II House, William A Clark House | ||
The Jerome Mansion was the home of financier Leonard Jerome, one of the richest and most influential men in New York City in the middle- to late-19th century, and a frequent business partner of Cornelius Vanderbilt. The mansion was located on the corner of East 26th Street and Madison Avenue, across from Madison Square Park. It was built from 1859 to 1865.
Contents
Map of Jerome Mansion, 41 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10010, USA
History
The six-story mansion featured a mansard roof, which was all the rage at the time, a six hundred-seat theatre, a breakfast room which could serve up to seventy people, a white and gold ballroom with champagne and cologne fountains, and a "splendid" view of the park. Jerome's daughter, Jennie Jerome, who grew up in the mansion, later became Lady Randolph Churchill, the mother of Winston Churchill.
When Jerome moved uptown, the mansion was sold and housed a series of private clubs including the Union League Club from 1868 to 1881, the University club, the Turf club, and from 1899, the Manhattan Club, a bastion of Democratic politicians such as Samuel J. Tilden, Grover Cleveland, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Alfred E. Smith. On November 23, 1869, the Jerome Mansion was the site of the meeting that founded the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The building was given landmark status in 1965, but when the owner was unable to find a buyer for it after two years, it was permitted to be torn down in 1967, to be replaced by the New York Merchandise Mart.