4 37 anb 39 West 37th Street pcU) }}ov ft Bctroit CatitUac fflatov Car Company llll • • ^ • • • • III mil 1 L*5> TRADEl I MARK REGISTERED 8-Cpltntier jWotor Cars I88t 1883 Broatitoap Cclcpljonc, 7700 Columbug ^3rancl)cii: -Brooblpn, Jtltujarfc, ^artlicrruort AliCH/lEL ^Jai((Q ur pour Dames I am showing a charming collection of IiilllvrCo/Tw/ X4ILLEVR Drej/ej* AND have also opened a special Laboratorium which will be directly under my own supervision 10 facilitate the execution of "rush orders' . This will enable me to make deliveries within twenty-four hours to satisfy the needs]and requirements of my customers 754 FIFTH AVENVE AT 57™ ST NEW YORK THE FIFTH AVENUE BANK OF NEW YORK "FORTY YEARS ON FIFTH AVENUE" THE SHERWOOD HOUSE. 1889 Northeast corner 44th Street and Fifth Avenue. offices of The Fifth Avenue Bank are shown in the basement The first A T the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 44th Street is The Fifth Avenue Bank of /\ New York, an institution intimately associated with the development of Fifth Avenue / \ during the past twoscore years. JL Its quaint, distinctive building — once the home of a prominent citizen — is forcibly suggestive of the Fifth Avenue of a by-gone day. Dating back to 1866, it is today one of the few structures on Fifth Avenue typical of the fine "uptown" homes which, until a generation ago, caused the Avenue to be noted as an exclusive residential thoroughfare. During the twenty-five years that have elapsed since the Bank moved into its present quarters, Fifth Avenue has changed from a quiet avenue of homes to one of the world's most prominent business streets. It was at No. 531 Fifth Avenue, in the base- ment of the old Sherwood House, a family hotel which stood on Delmonico's present site, that the Fifth Avenue Bank of New York first opened for business. Until October 7, 1875, when the men who subsequently comprised its first board of direc- tors met in the Sherwood House to organize the Bank, there was no bank of deposit and discount in the 42nd Street section of the City. Financial business was generally conducted, with scant con- venience, through downtown institutions. Assured of the active support and important busi- ness of a large number of neighboring residents and business people, many of whom became original sub- scribers to its stock, the Bank opened its doors to the public on October 13, 1875, within a week after its organization. Philip Van Volkenburgh was president, John H. Sherwood, vice-president, and A. S. Frissell, cashier; comprising the board of directors were the officers and James Buell, John B. Cornell, Jonathan Thome, Gardner Wetherbee, William H. Lee, Russell Sage, Webster Wagner, Joseph S. Lowrey, Charles S. Smith and Joseph Thompson. A steady increase in the Bank's business soon caused it to seek new and larger quarters, and in April, 1890, it moved to the remodelled residence of John B. Cornell, at the northwest corner of 44th Street and Fifth Avenue, opposite its former location. Later it bought the adjoining home of Manton Marble, former editor of The World. In these quarters it has been ever since. Favored with an admirable location — amid surroundings that imparted a distinctive, home-like atmosphere — the Bank, from the beginning, attracted the "uptown" residents it was primarily intended to serve. To this day many of its original depositors, their families and descendents, have continued relations that betoken years of satisfaction and enduring confidence. Exceptional accommodations, notably its facilities for women clients, have commended the Bank to an ever-widening circle of individual depositors. Apart from its many personal accounts, the Bank's enviable record for uninterrupted service and strict ad- herence to sound banking principles has gained the good- will and patronage of the business community which, in later years, has surrounded it. Its substantial clientele of corporations, firms and business people, may be justly ascribed to a well-merited reputation for fair dealing, business-like methods and unquestioned stability. The increasing volume of the Bank's business has in- volved no sacrifice of safety, nor of efficient service, but, on the contrary, is the result of a policy that has won the approval of depositors and the respect of the community. The record of the Fifth Avenue Bank during the past forty years, its ample resources and strong directorate, the fifth avenue bank of new york furnish a significant recommendation tO those desiring tO Northwest corner of 44th Street and Fifth Avenue i i- I • -i 1 "111 ohowing the remodelled Cornell and Marble establish Connections With a SOUnd Commercial bank. residences now occupied by the bank S. WYLER NEW YORK 6 EAST 46TH STREET "The Dutch Silver Shop" SPEC IALISTS IN PURCHASING FAMILY JEWELS AND SILVER BOTH MODERN AND ANTIQUE SAPPHIRES, PEARLS, EMERALDS DIAMONDS, RUBIES AND PEARL NECKLACES 3fr> \aNDE1%BILT 2>of ef QjJwrtyr Jburth Street east at(^irh Q/Uenwz NEW YORK CITY WALTON H.MARSHALL, Manager- THE most con- * veniently located hotel in New York. Ideally situated on the crest of Murray Hill at Park Avenue and 34th Street presents the most at- tractive residence in New York. A limited number of suites are reserved for permanent residents. The service and cuisine have made the Delia Robbia Room and Garden New York's most satis- factory restaurants. The private suite consisting of Foyer, entresol Reception Room, Dining Room, Library and Salon for private entertainment as in one's own house is at all times available. 600 rooms, each with bath. Subway at main entrance. The Infants' Shop (OPPOSITE THE RITZ CARLTON) ROSE (SODS AND TOROf 1-MtNOlS SILK KIBUONS 8 K«st 46th Street NEW YORK "Josef" Bassinette $3 7= 50 POINT D 1SPWI1 SllK RlttBON ftlj* Willi UASP EXCLUSIVELY SOLD BY US LAYETTES NURSERY FURNITURE AND FURNISH- INGS ROSE BUDS AND FORGE1 - ME ■ MOTS LARCE SILK KI&HON BoWl dou&u Support of WOOD »\NO ELASTIC DUTCH WHttl5 W/ITH HVB&fcR STRIPS Reversible Hood, Detachable Basket White Enamel Reed or Other Colors /^ V . ~_ 1MP0H I t p "'Vv'i K ' IN1 u" fcbPRn W^T <> "- K R'ftOOM BOW with clasp Silk ri bbun s close, woven fued SILK. Ri&iJO'M BOW ill* RIBBON OVurses (£)utfibtmci Association 450-5&&XI. CWi*Lr 40tb Sil-ect Gurnet Uniforms for \trsos cm/lftaids for J/ottsc and Street Gofrfs < Aprons Sonnets oibs Qresses Caps Cottars f/o\4ns f^eady to Wear %.ade io Order Portraits of Individuality and Character also Direct Color Photography by the Lumiere Process Instantaneous Portraits of Children By Appointment Only ++ Mary Dale Clarke 665 Fifth Avenue Phone, Plaza 1492 New York Cottrelly Gowns Hats Newest Paris Models to order for all the occasions of afternoon and evening Dancing Frocks Special facilities for immediate deliveries during the visitor s stay in New York Telephone Bryant 2376 69 West 46th Street, New York ESTABLISHED 1900 Cartel) <^aHmc0 Dealers in "Old Masters" Exclusively 707 FIFTH AVENUE at 55th Street NEW YORK THE EHRICH GALLERIES deal exclu- sively in "Old Masters" and are in possession of many world-famous masterpieces. At all times one may find in the Galleries, not only examples of the greatest "Old Masters" but Paintings of Merit by the lesser-known "Old Masters". All Paintings sold in our Galleries are ever exchangeable at full purchase price. Visitors welcome. PHOTOGRAPHS OF PAINTINGS IN THE GALLERIES FORWARDED ON REQUEST Br MME. VIGEE LE BRUN LONDON 26-27 Conduit St. PARIS 242 Rue De Rivoli Tailor Suits Wraps Riding Habits New York 3 East Forty-eighth Street ESTABLISHED OVER 50 YEARS H. JAECKEL & SONS 16 WEST 32nd STREET, NEW YORK The Leading Fur House of America For fifty years we have steadily progressed in the manufacture of fine furs Our importations of models and those of our own creation have a deserved reputation throughout America Scientific Dry Cold Air Storage on the Premises 16 West 32nd Street Our Only Address p § 4 Is V §: i c^cif a (Bteat (thoroughfare 9 ftto facts concerning jftftij atoenue anti tt's atyacent streets Cl)c £l)ovougl)farc publt^ljtng Co. 389 fifty atcnuc ■r,Z Unas i m % a f Inviting your approving word of the Seasons importations — Original Foreign Models East 55* St. New York 1 STEIN WAY FAME HAS ENCIRCLED THE WORLD Wherever love of music prevails — in the palace of Old World royalty, in the mansion of aristoc- racy, in the home of the true music lover every- where — the STEINWAY is known and preferred above all other pianos. Supremacy of tone and workmanship has achieved this International renown, and four succeeding generations have faithfully upheld the art ideal which produced the first Steinway. When you buy a Steinway you buy the Standard Piano of the World. STEINWAY HALL O 1 LliN WAY CX oUlNo 107-109 East 14th Street, New York M MWAY EXPRI->s STATION AT THE DOOR Gowns Tailored Suits Furs Hats Fashions new and cleverly individual; free from the usual inexpressive similarity in dress Uncommon facilities for filling hurried requirements of out-of-town visitors 471 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK OPPOSITE PUBLIC LIBRARY ^^^■■^HKRE is nothing so typical of New a York, its greatness, its wealth, its t^JS progressiveness and its ever-chang- ing variety, as its most splendid thoroughfare. Fifth Avenue. Taking it in a stretch of a little over three miles, from Madison Square to the home of Mr. Andrew Carnegie, it is to-day the most magnificent street in the world. In its first mile, starting at Washington Square northward, it is partially reminiscent and partially a nightmare, but it is neither poor nor dial). It represents capital in its ugly loft buildings covering the sites of stately brown- stone houses of the founders of fortunes. These utilitarian structures may not appeal to one's sense of beauty, but there is a certain majesty about them and they rise over the graves of many architectural blunders of an inartistic period. From Madison Square to Central Park, it is the Via Appia of opulence. Beyond, it is Arcady. It is in this mile and a half, where the changes are most apparent. A writer in the Sun once said that in New York "memories like rats are chased away by the ever rising Hood of progress. There is no room for ghosts." W. I). Howells in his amusing sequel to his delightful book "Their Wedding Journey" gives the impressions of a middle aged couple revisiting the scenes of their honeymoon, after a lapse of thirty years. Place these people in Madison Square, in this year and let them Old Chiekering Hall, which formerly stood on the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Eighteenth Street, famous in its day as the social and musical center of the metropolis. The former quiet, exclusive, strictly residen- tial character of this portion of the Avenue has now entirely departed. Cfje | i t o r p of a 43 r c a t €fjorougf)fare look about them. Nearly all the familiar landmarks of 1886 have disappeared. They are in another city. Their New York has vanished. The Square is the same, perhaps a little less conservative — but the loiterers are of a different class. The children of the wealthy residents and their nurses are gone. It is no longer a residential neighborhood. All up the Avenue, there has been a com- plete transformation. Thirty years is really a short period. In this summary of what has taken place, no attempt will be made to allude to the older history of the street. It will be confined to the period between 1886 and 1916. AT TWENTY-THIRD STREET AND BROADWAY Where the Avenue and Broadway joined in a V, there was in the old days a one-storied building with shops, one among them famous for the sale of foreign photographs, and what was then considered a tall structure — the Cumberland, where there were bachelor apart- ments and offices. The huge Flatiron build- ing, like a giant plow, occupies the site now and even it has long ceased to be a wonder and is fast settling down into middle age. The Fifth Avenue Hotel, built in 1858 and opened by Paran Stevens, is replaced by the Fifth Avenue Building. This house was the home of the famous lights of the Republican party, and its Amen Corner, where the late Senator Thomas Piatt and his political friends held out, was one of the sights of the city. The hotel itself was considered the very last cry in magnificence and luxury and modern appointments. On the plot where it was built, was formerly a Hippodrome with many wooden towers — the circus has always been faithful to Madison Square — and be- fore that the cottage tavern of Corporal Thompson. The former visitor to New York, especially if he came from another part of the United States, never was satisfied until he could have a peep at the maker of Presidents — the senior € \y c t) t s t o r }} of a 43 r c a t Z \\ o r o it g I) f a r c United States Senator from New York. Ii was not difficult. There was hardly an even- ing when Congress was not in session that the Senator and his cronies and a nunil er of news- paper men would not lie found in the famous seals in the vestibule. In 01 her days, i lie late James G. Blaine was a frequent visitor to the Filth Avenue. General Sherman was also another familiar figure there as were President Harrison and President McKinley. The brownstone shaft which marks the last resting place of General Worth, a hero of the Mexican War, is still here. As for Madison Square itselt, that would he another story. The heroine of the native poet Butler's "Nothing to Wear,'' Miss Flora McFlimsey, was supposed to live here in the late fifties. The dignified row of chocolate colored houses with high stoops, the homes of the late Frank Work, the Townsend Burdens, the Whitneys, the Abercrombies, the Iselins, the O'Briens and others have nearly all disappeared as have also those of Miss Catherine Wolfe and S. L. M. Barlow on the Madison Avenue side. SOMF M KM OR IKS OF MADISON SQUARE In the Square itself, many will remember a tall sunburned man with white hair and beard, dressed in immaculate linen, seated on a bench .uid always surrounded by children. This was George Francis Train, the agitator and writer who made an independent race for President of the- I'nited States in 1872 and who was declared insane afterwards but who seems to have had some method in hi> mad- ness. For years, he lived at one of the Mills Hotels which he christened "Mills Palace" and he held no communication with anyone except through the medium of children. At Madison Square and over Fifth Avenue was the famous Dewey Arch, erected for the occa- sion of the triumphant entry of the hero of Manilla Bay into New York in 1899. It was of papier mache.and it was designed to be per- petuated in stone. Public sentiment cooled, however, and when it was decided that it would be a menace to traffic it passed into his- tory. C li c D t £ t o r p of a 6 r r n t € 1) o r o u g ly f a r c Fifth Avenue looking south from from an old prim wenty-nrsi Street Perhaps a word might be said <>t the ( iarden, so long the home oi the National Horse Show . In 1886, it was a veritable old barrack, which had been used at one time, as a station for the Harlem railroad trains and horse cars. On its site, in 1X90, was built the present structure designed by Stanford White, with its graceful tower crowned by St. Gaudens' gilded Diana. It was opened with a summer entertainment ot ballet and the engagement of the orchestra of Kdouard Strauss the Vienna waltz king. For another de- cade, it was the- meeting place of soci- ety and in its assembly rooms was given the ball in honor of the Infanta Kulalia on her visit in the Columbus Centennial year, 1892. Here also were held great political meetings and Bryan spoke to crowds there in 1896, in 1906 and again in 1915. Cleveland and Thurman, Roosevelt and others have made addresses in the same forum, where earlier in the season, society paid homage to the horse and fashion. It was on its roof garden, that its architect Stanford White was killed by Harry Thaw. Squeezed up now in a corner, opposite the Garden, is the villa-like home of the late Leonard Jerome, now occupied by the Man- hattan Club. It has been a home for several clubs, among them the University. In the house, there was a private theatre, where amateur theatricals were given and where Mrs. James Brown Potter hrst made her debut as an actress in "The Russian Honeymoon". The Windsor Arcade occupying the eastern side of Fifth Avenue, between Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Streets, and built upon the site of the old Windsor Hotel after its destruction by fire. This building was taken down a few years ago and upon the northern half of its site was erected W. & J. Sloane's new building. € h f I) i jj f o r )i of a <© r c a t thoroughfare Leonard Jerome, was t lu- x-cry prince of entertainers but his heyday was before Eighty-six. Winston ( hurc- hill, late First Lord of the Admiralty is his grand- son. At the northeast corner of Twenty-sixth Street was the Brunswick, a fashion- able and comfortable hotel in the fnid-Victorian style. It was here that the Coach- ing parade assembled, one of the brilliant social affairs of t he springtide. ( )n t he southwest corner was Delmonico's, sedate, sober and "elegant". It was the restaurant of the time, and had moved with each epoch in the development oi tin- town, from the Bowling Green. The late Ward McAllister established the Patriarchs here, giving several handsome balls each winter. In fact all the world dined and danced and celebrated at Delmonico's. When the more formidable rivals of its glory opened farther up town, it moved to its present abode at Fifth Avenue looking south from Thirty-first Strict, from an ol home as a wedding present to Mrs. Seward Webb, one of his daughters, but later it wa9 transferred to Frederick Vanderbilt, and a house was built for Mrs. Webb farther up town. The home of the late John ( i. Wendel on t he northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Thirty- ninth Street still stands, for the Wendels never sell. They are relatives of the Astors. In the rear is a yard worth a million dollars which was kept it is said to give exercise room for a pet dog. Old Rutgers Female College, Fifth Avenue and Forty-first Street, the first institution in New York C ity for the higher education of girls; its site, which faces the new Public Library, is now occupied by the uptown building ol Rogers, Peet & Co. C I) c i$ i $ t o r p of a 43 r c a t I I) o r o u g | f a r e THE GREAT CHANGES AT FORTY-SECOND STREET The Public Library is a most modern acquisition. It stands where was the old Croton Aqueduct , a gloomy affair fashioned like an Egyptian tomb. It was the first large aqueduct New York ever possessed, and here until nearly the sixties wastheend of Fifth Avenue proper. The rest was not h- ing but a country street with road houses and a few residences. Some of the former, notably the Willow Tree near Forty-fourth Street, re- mained until a short time ago. Our William D. Howells' couple may have wondered at the constant stream of traffic up and down the Avenue, principally motors, and experienced the difficulty of crossing. In 1886, even here at the junction of Forty-second ..egg Rutgers Institute on left, the Reservoir on right, at Fifth Avenue and Forty-second Street. Street and Fifth Avenue, it was like the main street of a village. They look for a stage, the lumbering antiquated ark drawn by decrepit horses. These have passed away with the brownstone houses and the provincial cus- toms of another day. Here are the high motor busses, with their upper decks crowded with passengers. Our old-fashioned friends The old Murray Hill Reservoir, which occupied the easterly portion of Bryant Park and faced upon Fifth Avenue extending from Fortieth to Forty-second Streets; it was demolished in 1900 to make room for the New York Publi: Library, which was built upon its site. Z 1) c D i t o v p of a O r r ,1 t C () o r o u g I) f a v c mighl be fearsome now to leave the sidewalk, and stand bewildered at the coping, lint behold the l rathe policeman, mounted on a well groomed nag, and holding up the traffic for them with a wave of his \vhite-glo\ ed hand. There was little need for him in 1886. The assessed valuation recently from Forty- second to Sixtieth Street on both sides ol the Avenue is SI 10, 727,000 an average of over six millions for each of the eighteen blocks. According to a newspaper statistician, the Value oi the hotels now on this land would more than pay the national debt. The northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Forty-second Street was bought by Peter C.oelet in 1845 for $4,850. It is now owned by Mrs. Klbridge T. deny who married his nephew. The Bristol Hotel, Forty-second Street and Fifth Avenue, has been changed and converted into an < ftice building. This corner 100 feet on the Avenue and 125 on the street— is assessed for $1,850,000. The price paid tor the entire block in 1845 was $9,200. It is now held at over $8,000,000. 1'assing at Forty-third Street by the site of the former residence ol William X. Tweed which was later owned by heirs of Richard T. Wilson, one reaches another historic point. It is the plot occupied by Windsor Arcade owned by Klbridge T. Curry and on the Madison Avenue side, by the famous Ritz- Carlton Hotel, built by Robert Goelet. This Fifth Avenue looking north from Forty-fourth Street, showing thr Hebrew Temple of Kmann-KI in the right fore- ground ; this is a very typical view of the exclusively resident ial character of upper I'ifl h \\ enue as it appeared during the last decade of the nineteenth century. C \) c iM ? t o r )i of a 03 r c a t Cljorougfjfarc entire block front was bought by Peter ( '.oelet in 1845 for $9,200. It is valued now at about $8,000,000. Here was the Windsor Hotel, a rambling old fashioned affair, but considered in its time, one of the best in New York. It was the pioneer of the uptown hostelries. On St. Patrick's day in 1899, while the procession was passing, it caught fire and it burned so quickly that before aid could reach it, a large number of lives were lost. THE GOULDS AND THE AVENUE At Forty-seventh Street and Fifth Avenue on the northeast corner is the residence of Mrs. Finley J. Shepard, more generally known as Helen Gould, the eldest daughter of the late Jay Gould. This was the house in which her father passed his last years and in which he died, a comparatively young man. The Goulds lived formerly on Union Square. Like many celebrities, Jay Gould was a little man. He always dressed in a most unassuming, rather shabby manner although more dapper than his friend, Uncle Russell Sage, who was a neighbor. The late Governor Russell F. Flower, politician and millionaire, and his brother Anson R. Flower lived between Forty- eighth and Forty-ninth Streets and owned much of the property in this vicinity. At the northwest corner of Fiftieth Street, just opposite the Cathedral, was the home of the late Benjamin Altman, the great mer- chant, philanthropist and art collector. In the rear he had built a gallery where his fa- mous collection of the old masters were hung. At his death, they were bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. On this same The Fifth Avenue Market and "Ye Olde Willow Cottage," at the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and Forty- fourth Street, now the site of the American Real Estate Company's building. The cottage named for the great willow tree which formerly stood before it, was originally known as Willow Tree Inn, and was run at one time by Tom Hyer, the famous pugilist. € I) c t) i s it o r )} of a 43 r c a t Z U o r o u g li f a r c block lived the late Russell Sage and the late D. O. Mills, two powers in the financial world and the latter the founder of the Mills I iotels. The valuation of the Cathedral and its site has been placed at $7,000,000. On the west side of the Avenue, between Fifty-first and Fifty-second Streets are tin- famous Vanderbilt twin houses. It is told that the entire plot was once owned by the late Henry Keep, president of the Lake Shore Railroad. He bought it for $250,000. Oppo- site him on the east side of the Avenue, the Roman Catholic Diocese built an Orphanage. It was a drab structure and long an eyesore to the neighborhood. Mr. Keep concluded to give his property to some institution. He held on to it however for a long period. The value increased almost 400 percent and when William H. Vanderbill w anted a Fifth Avenue site, he sold it to him for $1,000,000. Mr. Vanderbilt, like Mr. Astor, had an interest in a quarry. His was brown freestone, and although Richard Hunt the architect had specified white marble, the houses were con- structed from "home" materials. Mr. V.m- derbilt had his gallery of paintings in the Fifty-first Street house, and at one time the public w.is allowed on certain days to view them. It was in this house that he died in 1885. It was left to his youngest son Ocorge, and in default of a male heir, it was inherited by Cornelius Vanderbilt who intends to reside there. For a time, it was leased by Henry C. Frick, the steel magnate. The late W illiam H. Vanderbilt was a great lover of horses and it was he who first intro- duced the custom of fast driving teams and thirty-five years ago, he was a familiar figure on the Avenue, starting out for the afternoon behind Maud S. and Aldine, or the latter and The Old Windsor Hotel which stood on the cast side of Fifth Avenue between Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Streets; it was totally destroyed by fire on the 17th of March, 1900, while a St. Patrick's Day parade was passing and the streets were thronged with spectators. The new building of W. & J. Sloane now occupies t he upper corner of this site supplanting the W indsor Arcade. € h t | i is t o r p of a oBrcat Cliorougfofarc Early Rose. The succeeding generation of Vanderbilts cared little for horses and the love of the sport was revived by his grandson the late Alfred Vanderbilt. Col. Elliott Shepard who lived in the upper Vanderbilt house, was the owner of the Fifth Avenue stage line. He married the eldest daughter of Mr. Vanderbilt and later bought the Mail and Express and had a text from the Bible each day on its editorial page. The late William D. Sloane married Miss Leila Vanderbilt and the two families occupied the same residence for a long time. SOME OF THE VANDERBILT RESIDENCES The Orphanage was later put in the market and the shabby building was demolished. The Vanderbilts were determined that the immediate vicinity of their homes should not be invaded by business. The Union Club moving from Fifth Avenue and Twenty-first Street bought the northeast corner of Fifty- first Street, a plot of 175 feet and their beautiful club house designed for them by John Dufais was built there. The Vanderbilts immediately purchased the rest of the property for §1,000,000 and on it are two marble resi- dences, one occupied by Mr. and Mrs. W. B. O. Field. Mrs. Field was Miss Lila Sloane, whose mother was a Vanderbilt. Morton F. Plant is the owner of the large house on the southeast corner of Fifty-second Street. 1 — S ~ a Fifth Avenue looking north from Forty-eighth Street in the early nineties, after the lofty twin spires were added to St. Patrick's Cathedral, but before the construction of the Knickerbocker and University Club buildings and the St. Regis and Gotham Hotels a few blocks above. € h c 1$ i £ t o r p of a 43 r r a t (Thoroughfare Columbia College, at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Forty-ninth Street, from an old prim. The new Union Club has not many reminis- cences. It passed through the most interest- ing part of its history in the old building at Fifth Avenue and Twenty-first Street. When James Gordon Bennett, the proprietor of the Herald comes to New York, he can usually be seen walking on Fifth Avenue to the club. Formerly he kept his New York apartment on Twenty-first Street. Now he has had it moved in i he vicinity of the club in one of i he Fifties. Mr. Bennett's visits to New York are much less frequent than in former years. The present president, Mr. Augustus Schermer- horn, is a bachelor and a member of an historic family. He lives on University Place in ,i great red brickdu elling, the last of theresidences in that part of town. John Pierpont Morgan is a governor of the Union Club and is seen there frequently. His father who was also a member preferred the Metropolitan which he was largely instru- mental in organizing. Neither of the Morgans, however, has ever been a familiar figure on the Avenue. Club life has changed in the last decade. There are a few new clubs and the older or- Old Fifth Avenue looking north from Fifty-third Street, showing the old St. Luke's Hospital which formerly occupied the block on the west side of the Avenue between Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Streets, and beyond it, on the northwest corner of Fifty-fifth Street, the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, whose pulpit was long occupied by Dr. John Hall. € f) e | i 8 t o r |i of a 6 r e a t I I) o r o u g I) f a r f ganizations with the exception of the Knic kerbocker have preferred to take site^ in the quieter side streets. The University on the site of the old hospital at Fifty- fourth Street moved from Madison Square fifteen years ago. The Lotos, where din- ners were given to all the great literary celebrities and visiting lions, was at 556 Fifth Avenue but is now in a building of its own on West Fifty-seventh Street. The late Ambassador to England, Whitelaw Reid, was one of its first presidents and his memory is also intimately connected with the Union League. The newer Fifth Avenue has never been associated with the theatrical world for the reason that it is the one great street in New York on which there has never been a theatre. The old Fifth Avenue theatre is on Broadway. Now and then such great stars as the late Henry Irving or ("oquelin would be seen coming from the Lotos or the Union, at which they were put up as guests. The late Edwin Booth kept close to the more literary atmosphere of Gramercy Park where the Players is located. John Drew is probably the only Thespian whom one "Marble Row," residence built in 1871 by Mrs. Mary- Mason Jones on northeast corner of Fifty-seventh Street, later a part of the Paran Stevens estate. associates with the Avenue, but he does not belong to the Union or the University. THE BUSINESS INVASION At the white marble chateau of W illiam K. Vanderbilt on the northwest corner of Fifty- Old St. Luke's Hospital, on the west side of Fifth Avenue between Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Streets. In the "nineties" a new St. Luke's Hospital was built on Morningside Heights, opposite the Protestant-Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and the old hospital was demolished, the new building of the Graduates' Club being erected upon its site. C I) c 1[> i £ t o r )i of a 43 r c a t £ I) o r o u rj 1) f a r c second Street the famous fancy ball was given in the spring of 1883. At the southwest corner of Fifty-third Street was the Frederic ( iallal in mansion which to the surprise of many, was given over to trade about eight years ago and was leased by an automobile concern. It eventually made way for a commercial build- ing. Above St. Thomas' Church which has recently been completed after the original structure was burned down and which a half century since was at the corner of Houston and Broadway, are two more Yandcrbill houses, gifts of W illiam H. to his daughters, Mrs. H. McK. Twombly and Mrs. W. Seward Webb. The Webbs have capitulated. Like the Gallatins, their children are all married, and the house is too large for them. Thus has the Vanderbilt stronghold been attacked from both the north and the south. Business is to the right and to the left of them. Almost until the beginning of this century, the entire block on the west side of the Avenue, between Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Streets was a relreshing green oasis in the midst of brick and mortar. Here was St. Luke's Hospital, a plain, comtortable building not without a certain homely charm, set in a garden of shrubs and venerable trees. The lawn was always well kept and in the spring time, there were lilacs and (lowering bushes and later roses. TI.e convalescent patients would be camped out in the garden on fine days and although there was a note ol pathos of pain about the old place, it was a grateful bit of rus in urbe. The University Club and the Gotham Hotel, two huge strikingly ornate buildings, now occupy the site. Former Vice President Levi P. Morton has given up his home on the east side of the Avenue and where it stood is a tall white marble skyscraper. On the east side from Fifty-fourth to Fifty- seventh Streets, bounded by Fifth and Park Avenues, is the John Mason tract, which has furnished so much litigation during the past fifty years. Mr. Mason, a founder of the Chemical Bank, bought it and some adjacent land farther north from the City about a century ago. Three of the plots, each 200 by 950 feet, were obtained for 82,500. This The first Pkiza Hotel at Fifth Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street, was not exactly an old New York hotel for it was not built until 1890, its site having been earlier occupied as a private skating rink. The present Plaza Hotel, which occu- pies the same site, is said to have cost nearly t welve million dollars to build, furnish and equip. € I) c ip ijS t o r p of a oBrcat C|oroug|fare averages $10 a city lot. Today the assessed land value of these eight blocks is over $55,000,000 while the Fifth Avenue frontage is on the tax books for $20,000,000. Mr. Mason died in 1839 cutting off in his will a son who married a popular actress and a daughter the wife of a Mr. Alston. Another daughter was Mrs. A. Gordon Hamersley and three others had married into the Jones family. The will was broken in 1854, and the property divided. The Colfords, Masons and Isaac Jones and some of their relatives have had their resi- dences there. Louis C. Hamersley, a grand- son, had a good portion of the first block between Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Streets, and he sold the upper corner plot to the late Col. John Jacob Astor who built there the splendid St. Regis Hotel. This was the Hamersley who married Miss Jane Lillian Price of Troy. She afterwards became Duchess of Marlborough and finally the wife of Lord William Beresford. Louis Hamersley also left a curious will which has been in litiga- tion for many years and is a cause as celebrated as the familiar Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce. SOME FAMOUS SOCIETY FUNCTIONS On the northeast corner of Fifty-seventh Street and the Avenue, opposite the grim castle of Mrs. Henry Huntington and the French chateau of Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt, is the home of Mrs: Hermann Oelrichs, who was Miss Theresa Fair, the daughter of James G. Fair, one of the bonanza kings. It was here that her sister. Miss Virginia Fair, was married to William K. Vanderbilt, Jr., in 1898. The historic interest of the house centres in its first owner and its subsequent occupants, Mrs. Mary Mason Jones and Mrs. Paran Stevens. Mrs. Jones was one of the Mason heirs and she built the house and the row of white marble residences adjoining, most of which have been owned l,y her descendants. She was the first woman in New York to have a salon and she w