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Henry H. Cook Mansion
973 Fifth Avenue
Posts & Stories
(2)
2 East 79th Street
Post
Ukrainian Institute of America, ca. 1975. The Fletcher-Sinclair mansion (now the Ukrainian Institute of America) was built in 1897 and designed by the well-known architect Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert. The French Gothic mansion was constructed as a single family home for Isaac D. Fletcher, a banker and railroad investor. The building is elaborately designed with drip moldings, gargoyles, and a high mansard slate roof, though the narrow side (5th Avenue) facade is a bit plainer to blend in better with the neighboring buildings. The home, along with Fletcher's extensive art collection, was donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art after his death in 1917. The museum turned around and sold the home to endow the prints and drawing collections. The buyer of the home was Harry Ford Sinclair, founder of the country's largest independent oil company. He would end up in jail for jury tampering related to the Teapot Dome scandal and sold the home in 1930. After one more private owner (supposed descendants of Peter Stuyvesant), the house was purchased in 1955 by The Ukrainian Institute of America, a new non-profit (started as a small organization on Long Island in 1948). The Institute is dedicated to promoting the art, music and literature of Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora. Since 1955, they have thoughtfully and professionally maintained and preserved both the interior and exterior of the building
Payne Whitney House
Post
This mansion at 972 Fifth Avenue was designed by Stanford White in 1902 and was completed in 1906 shortly after White's murder. The house was built for the Payne Whitney family as a wedding gift from Payne Whitney's uncle, Oliver H. Payne. White drew inspiration from High Renaissance Italian palaces when designing the interior and exterior of this opulent home, which featured a Venetian themed reception, and a marble-clad rotunda with a Renaissance statue in the middle. In the 1990s, it was discovered that the statue was in fact a Michelangelo, unknowingly purchased by White in Italy. In 1952, the building was acquired by the French Embassy to host their cultural services.
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Henry H. Cook Mansion
Henry H. Cook; Fifth Ave. 1901 South from 78th Street. The residence of Henry H. Cook at 78th St. and Fifth Ave.; in the background there is a construction site and a church.
2 East 79th Street
79th Street and 5th Avenue. Fletcher residence, entrance.
2 East 79th Street
2 East 79th Street. Isaac Fletcher residence entrance.
2 East 79th Street
\[Ukrainian Institute of America, 2 East 79th Street.] Originally Isaac D. and Mary Fletcher house. Onetime Harry F. Sinclair house, then Augustus and Ann van Horn Stuyvesant house.
2 East 79th Street
\[Ukrainian Institute of America, 2 East 79th Street.] Originally Isaac D. and Mary Fletcher house. Onetime Harry F. Sinclair house, then Augustus and Ann van Horn Stuyvesant house.
Payne Whitney House
\[972-973 Fifth Avenue.] Originally Payne and Helen Hay Whitney House/Henry Cook House, now Cultural Services, Embassy of France.
2 East 79th Street
\[Ukrainian Institute of America, 2 East 79th Street.] Originally Isaac D. and Mary Fletcher house. Onetime Harry F. Sinclair house, then Augustus and Ann van Horn Stuyvesant house.
2 E 79th Street
972 Fifth Ave
2 E 79th Street
972 Fifth Ave
972 Fifth Ave
972 Fifth Ave
2 E 79th Street
2 E 79th Street
972 Fifth Ave
2 E 79th Street
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