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Isaac L. Rice Mansion
The Isaac L. Rice Mansion (also the Isaac L. Rice House, Villa Julia, and the Solomon Schinasi House) is a mansion on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Located at 346 West 89th Street, at the corner of Riverside Drive, it was designed by Herts & Tallant. The house was built between 1901 and 1903 for the family of the businessman Isaac Rice and his wife Julia. Several further expansions in the 20th century, designed by C. P. H. Gilbert, Bloch & Hesse, and William Lazinsk, are similar in style to the original building. The Rice Mansion has served as a yeshiva since 1954 and is one of only two free-standing mansions extant on Riverside Drive. The house is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The mansion was designed in a mixture of the Colonial Revival, Italianate, Georgian, and Beaux-Arts architectural styles. The brick and marble facade is four stories high, with an attic and basement; the house is surrounded by a marble perimeter wall. There is a double-height entrance arch along Riverside Drive. On 89th Street, the first two stories are curved outward and contain a porte-cochère and a carved bas relief panel. The building is topped by a hip roof, clad with Spanish tiles. The mansion's interior was decorated in classical architectural styles, and was designed to be soundproof. It was built with spaces such as a main hall, library, and dining room on the main floor; a chess room in the basement; and bedrooms on the upper stories. Although subsequent tenants have modified the interior spaces over the years, the house largely retains its original interior layout.
At the end of the 19th century, Isaac Rice and his wife Julia sought to erect a residence in a quiet part of New York City. The Rices bought the site at Riverside Drive and 89th Street in 1900 and hired Herts and Tallant as the house's architects. When the Rice family moved to the Ansonia Hotel in 1907, they sold it to the tobacconist Solomon Schinasi, whose family modified the house in 1908, 1912, and 1927. The Schinasi family lived there until around 1945, after which the Heckscher Foundation for Children leased it. Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim acquired the house in 1954. The yeshiva attempted to sell and demolish the mansion in the late 1970s, prompting a heated dispute with local preservationists. The house was taken over in 1988 by another Jewish day school, Yeshiva Ketana, which restored the house in the 1990s. There has been positive architectural commentary of the house over the years.
The Isaac L. Rice Mansion is at 346 West 89th Street, at the southeast corner of Riverside Drive and 89th Street, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. The house occupies an irregular plot with frontage of 148 feet (45 m) wide on 89th Street to the north and 116 feet (35 m) on Riverside Drive to the west; the plot extends 100 feet (30 m) back from 89th Street. The house itself is rectangular, measuring roughly 62 by 38 feet (19 by 12 m), with a semicircular annex to the south and a rectangular annex to the southeast. It is aligned with the rest of the Manhattan street grid (parallel to 89th Street and neighboring buildings), toward the eastern portion of the site. When the house was finished in the early 1900s, it was surrounded by terraced gardens.
The house was originally surrounded by a brick wall designed by Herts & Tallant, the mansion's overall architect. The wall was a solid masonry structure measuring 7 feet (2.1 m) high, interspersed with six pillars measuring 15 feet (4.6 m) high. The brick perimeter wall was demolished in 1912 because it protruded past the lot line, and it was replaced by a marble wall designed by C. P. H. Gilbert. The house is across from the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument within Riverside Park to the west. Rice had specifically selected the site of his house because it faced the monument, and the mansion's marble perimeter wall is designed similarly to the monument's balustrades. The Rice Mansion is also near the Normandy apartment building, which is two blocks to the south.
The house was one of several freestanding mansions that were built along Riverside Drive and Park in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, at a time when developers envisioned Riverside Drive as a rival to the millionaires' row on Fifth Avenue. The plot immediately to the south was owned by the brewer George Ehret and the department store retailer Benjamin Altman in the late 19th century, neither of whom built their houses there. Immediately to the north was a house belonging to Elizabeth Clark (whose family owned the Dakota apartment building). As part of an agreement that Altman made with William W. Hall in 1898, the Rice Mansion site was restricted to single-family residential use and had to be at least four stories high. By the early 21st century, the Rice Mansion was one of two remaining freestanding mansions on Riverside Drive, along with the Schinasi Mansion. The Rice Mansion was also the only mansion on the avenue that retained some of its original gardens; the other mansions had mostly been replaced with apartment buildings.
The Isaac L. Rice Mansion was designed for the businessman and lawyer Isaac L. Rice by Herts & Tallant, who were known for designing Broadway theaters such as the New Amsterdam, Liberty, and Lyceum. The mansion was designed in a mix of the Colonial Revival, Italianate, and Georgian styles, and it also incorporates Beaux-Arts architectural elements. Local news sources in the early 20th century compared the house to an Italian villa or a Swiss chalet. C. P. H. Gilbert designed an annex in 1908 and a marble perimeter wall in 1912, while Bloch & Hesse and William Lazinsk were responsible for additional annexes in 1927. All of these additions were designed in a similar style to Herts & Tallant's original mansion. The building is four stories high with an attic and a basement.
The facade is made of brick and marble. The use of brick in the facade was common among neo-Georgian buildings, whereas the marble details were intended to be reminiscent of the Beaux-Arts style. Marble was used for the stairs, gardens, terraces, and archway.
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Isaac L. Rice Mansion
The Isaac L. Rice Mansion (also the Isaac L. Rice House, Villa Julia, and the Solomon Schinasi House) is a mansion on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Located at 346 West 89th Street, at the corner of Riverside Drive, it was designed by Herts & Tallant. The house was built between 1901 and 1903 for the family of the businessman Isaac Rice and his wife Julia. Several further expansions in the 20th century, designed by C. P. H. Gilbert, Bloch & Hesse, and William Lazinsk, are similar in style to the original building. The Rice Mansion has served as a yeshiva since 1954 and is one of only two free-standing mansions extant on Riverside Drive. The house is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The mansion was designed in a mixture of the Colonial Revival, Italianate, Georgian, and Beaux-Arts architectural styles. The brick and marble facade is four stories high, with an attic and basement; the house is surrounded by a marble perimeter wall. There is a double-height entrance arch along Riverside Drive. On 89th Street, the first two stories are curved outward and contain a porte-cochère and a carved bas relief panel. The building is topped by a hip roof, clad with Spanish tiles. The mansion's interior was decorated in classical architectural styles, and was designed to be soundproof. It was built with spaces such as a main hall, library, and dining room on the main floor; a chess room in the basement; and bedrooms on the upper stories. Although subsequent tenants have modified the interior spaces over the years, the house largely retains its original interior layout.
At the end of the 19th century, Isaac Rice and his wife Julia sought to erect a residence in a quiet part of New York City. The Rices bought the site at Riverside Drive and 89th Street in 1900 and hired Herts and Tallant as the house's architects. When the Rice family moved to the Ansonia Hotel in 1907, they sold it to the tobacconist Solomon Schinasi, whose family modified the house in 1908, 1912, and 1927. The Schinasi family lived there until around 1945, after which the Heckscher Foundation for Children leased it. Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim acquired the house in 1954. The yeshiva attempted to sell and demolish the mansion in the late 1970s, prompting a heated dispute with local preservationists. The house was taken over in 1988 by another Jewish day school, Yeshiva Ketana, which restored the house in the 1990s. There has been positive architectural commentary of the house over the years.
The Isaac L. Rice Mansion is at 346 West 89th Street, at the southeast corner of Riverside Drive and 89th Street, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. The house occupies an irregular plot with frontage of 148 feet (45 m) wide on 89th Street to the north and 116 feet (35 m) on Riverside Drive to the west; the plot extends 100 feet (30 m) back from 89th Street. The house itself is rectangular, measuring roughly 62 by 38 feet (19 by 12 m), with a semicircular annex to the south and a rectangular annex to the southeast. It is aligned with the rest of the Manhattan street grid (parallel to 89th Street and neighboring buildings), toward the eastern portion of the site. When the house was finished in the early 1900s, it was surrounded by terraced gardens.
The house was originally surrounded by a brick wall designed by Herts & Tallant, the mansion's overall architect. The wall was a solid masonry structure measuring 7 feet (2.1 m) high, interspersed with six pillars measuring 15 feet (4.6 m) high. The brick perimeter wall was demolished in 1912 because it protruded past the lot line, and it was replaced by a marble wall designed by C. P. H. Gilbert. The house is across from the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument within Riverside Park to the west. Rice had specifically selected the site of his house because it faced the monument, and the mansion's marble perimeter wall is designed similarly to the monument's balustrades. The Rice Mansion is also near the Normandy apartment building, which is two blocks to the south.
The house was one of several freestanding mansions that were built along Riverside Drive and Park in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, at a time when developers envisioned Riverside Drive as a rival to the millionaires' row on Fifth Avenue. The plot immediately to the south was owned by the brewer George Ehret and the department store retailer Benjamin Altman in the late 19th century, neither of whom built their houses there. Immediately to the north was a house belonging to Elizabeth Clark (whose family owned the Dakota apartment building). As part of an agreement that Altman made with William W. Hall in 1898, the Rice Mansion site was restricted to single-family residential use and had to be at least four stories high. By the early 21st century, the Rice Mansion was one of two remaining freestanding mansions on Riverside Drive, along with the Schinasi Mansion. The Rice Mansion was also the only mansion on the avenue that retained some of its original gardens; the other mansions had mostly been replaced with apartment buildings.
The Isaac L. Rice Mansion was designed for the businessman and lawyer Isaac L. Rice by Herts & Tallant, who were known for designing Broadway theaters such as the New Amsterdam, Liberty, and Lyceum. The mansion was designed in a mix of the Colonial Revival, Italianate, and Georgian styles, and it also incorporates Beaux-Arts architectural elements. Local news sources in the early 20th century compared the house to an Italian villa or a Swiss chalet. C. P. H. Gilbert designed an annex in 1908 and a marble perimeter wall in 1912, while Bloch & Hesse and William Lazinsk were responsible for additional annexes in 1927. All of these additions were designed in a similar style to Herts & Tallant's original mansion. The building is four stories high with an attic and a basement.
The facade is made of brick and marble. The use of brick in the facade was common among neo-Georgian buildings, whereas the marble details were intended to be reminiscent of the Beaux-Arts style. Marble was used for the stairs, gardens, terraces, and archway.
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