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Carnegie Hill Historic Walking Tour, Manhattan's Upper East Side
Item 3 of 10

Harry Ford Sinclair Mansion (now the Ukrainian Institute of America)

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

While many of the 19th-century mansions of New York's storied Fifth Avenue were demolished over the years, the Harry Sinclair Mansion was preserved and now houses the Ukrainian Institute of America. The home was built in 1899 by Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert, an architect known for his opulent designs. Originally built for Isaac and Mary Fletcher, the property was sold to controversial oil magnate Harry Sinclair in 1918. The following decade, Sinclair went to prison for tampering with a jury during the government's efforts to investigate the actions of his company in leasing federal lands in the West. The event was known as the Teapot Dome Scandal and was one of the most newsworthy events of the early 20th century. The building is unique in that it remains largely unchanged from the time of its construction. The mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Images

Sinclair Mansion

Sinclair Mansion

Detail of the building

Detail of the building

Harry Sinclair

Harry Sinclair

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Fifth Avenue was rapidly becoming one of the most desirable addresses in Manhattan for well-heeled New Yorkers. Architect Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert made a name for himself by designing some of the most palatial and opulent homes for the city's upper crust. In 1897, he was commissioned by banker and railroad tycoon Isaac Fletcher to build a grand residence.Though many homes were constructed of brownstone at the time, Gilbert's charge was to build the Fletcher mansion of limestone. The white limestone mansion of the Vanderbilts, also on Fifth, caused a sensation, prompting other wealthy Manhattanites to follow suit.

Gilbert designed over one hundred homes in New York, many of them among the largest in the city. His creation for Fletcher was a French Gothic chateau with a mansard roof, turrets, and a wealth of elaborately carved creatures, including monsters and dolphins, adorning the home's facade. The home was completed in 1899.

Fletcher lived in the home until his death in 1917. He bequeathed the home and his art collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which sold the home. The proceeds from the sale led to the creation of the Fletcher Fund for the purchase of prints and drawings.

The home's new owner was Harry Ford Sinclair, the founder of Sinclair Oil Corporation. Sinclair would gain notoriety for his role in the Teapot Dome Scandal in 1922. While the Fletchers lived sedate, respectable lives in the mansion, Sinclair and his wife Elizabeth were known for reportedly throwing lavish parties. They kept the home largely intact, the only significant change being the installation of a large pipe organ in 1922.

The Teapot Dome Scandal put an end to Sinclair's indulgent lifestyle. In 1930, he sold the home to Augustus Van Horn Stuyvesant, one of the last descendants of Peter Stuyvesant. Augustus moved into the home with his sister, Anne, and the two of them lived a largely cloistered existence, preferring a quiet life at home to one of socializing. Anne died in 1938, and Augustus continued to live in the home alone until his own death in 1953. At that point, the home sat empty for a couple of years.

In 1955, the Ukrainian Institute of America purchased the home. Over the years, the Institute has refurbished many of the building's opulent details to their original glory. The Institute is still headquartered in the mansion, and it is open to the public.

Sources

Miller , Tom . The Isaac D. Fletcher--2 East 79th Street and 5th Avenue, Daytonian in Manhattan . April 8th 2010. Accessed August 22nd 2020. http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2010/04/isaac-d-fletcher-mansion.html.

Schulz, Dana. How the Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion Went from Private Home to Ukrainian Institute of America , 6sqft. January 16th 2015. Accessed August 22nd 2020. https://www.6sqft.com/how-the-fletcher-sinclair-mansion-went-from-private-home-to-the-ukrainian-institute-of-america/.

Gannon, Devin. Inside the Ukrainian Institute of America, One of NYC's Best Hidden Architectural Gems, 6sqft. May 10th 2018. Accessed August 22nd 2020. https://www.6sqft.com/inside-the-ukrainian-institute-of-america-one-of-nycs-best-hidden-architectural-gems/.

Additional Information