The Hotel Taft

The Hotel Taft designed by F.M. Andrews & Co. c. 1912 in New Haven, Connecticut. The Taft was the fifth hotel built by the New Haven Hotel Company and was named after one of the investors, Horace Taft, who was headmaster of the Taft School in Watertown, CT. President William Howard Taft resided in the hotel for almost a decade following his presidency while he was teaching constitutional law at Yale. In the early 1980s the building was converted to apartments. Click HERE for more on the Hotel Taft and HERE to see the building on google street view.

Photos from Architecture and Building, 1912.

'Westomere'

'Westomere', the George S. Palmer estate designed by Charles A. Platt c. 1908 in New London, Connecticut. Palmer was a principal in Palmer Brothers, manufacturers of bed linens and cotton goods and a well known antiques collector who donated many pieces to the American Wing of the MET (along with his cousin Eugene Bolles). The home was based on Westover Plantation in Charles City County, Virginia. 'Westomere' was listed number 9 on Country Life in America's 1916 'Best Twelve Country Houses in America' list. Click HERE for the Country Life in America article on 'Westomere' (includes many more pictures). The home is no longer extant.

Photos from Architecture, 1912.

The Otis Elevator Company Building

The Otis Elevator Company Building designed by Clinton & Russell c. 1912 at 260 Eleventh Avenue in New York City. Otis occupied the building from 1912 to 1973 housing offices on the top floors and machine shops and stock rooms on the lower floors. Click HERE to see the Otis Elevator Company Building on google earth.

Photos from The American Architect, 1912.

'Beacon Hill House'

'Beacon Hill House', the Arthur Curtiss James estate designed by Howells & Stokes c. 1909 in Newport, Rhode Island, with landscaping by the Olmsted Brothers. James, a railroad tycoon, intended to remodel a c. 1890s Stanford White designed house on the site but built 'Beacon Hill House' after discovering structural defects within the foundation of the original home. The estate included a farm complex designed by Grosvenor Atterbury c. 1916. James and his wife died in 1941, the contents of the house were auctioned in 1944 and the residence sat empty while vandals and finally a fire destroyed the house in 1967.

Photos from Architecture and Building, 1913.

Ebbets Field

Ebbets Field, the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers designed by Clarence Randall Van Buskirk c. 1912 at 55 Sullivan Place in Brooklyn, New York. Ebbets Field opened on April 9, 1913 and was home to the Dodgers until their move to Los Angeles after the 1957 season. The stadium was demolished in 1960. Click HERE for more on Ebbets Field. Click HERE to see where Ebbets Field once stood on bing.

Click below for a 1954 aerial of Brooklyn with Ebbets Field still standing. Photos from Architecture and Building, 1913.

The Waldorf Astoria Hotel

The Waldorf Astoria Hotel, designed in two parts in 1893 and 1897 by Henry J. Hardenbergh on 5th Avenue between West 33rd and 34th Streets in New York City. Originally commissioned by William Waldorf Astor as the Waldorf Hotel in 1893 on half the block, the hotel was joined with his cousin John Jacob Astor IV's half block Astoria Hotel in 1897. The two buildings combined for 1,300 guest rooms and 40 public rooms. The hotel was demolished in 1929 to make way for the Empire State Building. Click HERE for more on the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

Photos from Architecture and Building, 1898.

The Straight Residence

The Willard D. Straight and Dorothy Whitney Straight residence designed by Delano & Aldrich c. 1915 at 1130 Fifth Avenue at the corner of East 94th Street in New York City. Straight died in 1918 shortly after the house was finished and in 1928 the home was sold to Harrison Williams. After subsequently being the headquarters for the Audubon Society and then the International Center of Photography, the residence has since returned to function as a single family house. Click HERE for Christopher Gray's Streetscapes article on the Straight residence. Click HERE to see the house on google street view.

Photos from Architecture, 1920.

The International Mercantile Marine Company Building

The International Mercantile Marine Company Building originally designed by Edward H. Kendall between 1882-1884 as the Washington Building and refaced in limestone with alterations by Walter B. Chambers between 1919-1921 after it was purchased by the IMMC at No. 1 Broadway in New York City. Click HERE to read Christopher Gray's Streetscapes article on No. 1 Broadway. Click HERE to see the building on google street view.

Photos from Architecture, 1922.

'Rosecliff'

'Rosecliff', the Mr. & Mrs. Hermann Oelrichs estate designed by McKim, Mead & White between 1897-1902 in Newport, Rhode Island. Oelrichs was the American representative of the North German Lloyd Steamship Company and his wife, Theresa Fair Oelrichs, was a daughter of James Graham Fair, mining engineer and Comstock Lode beneficiary. Theresa's sister, Virginia Graham Fair, was married to William K. Vanderbilt Jr. Hermann Oelrichs died in 1906 following the San Francisco earthquake (not from injuries sustained during the event) and following a period of mourning Theresa continued to use the house for social functions until her death in 1926. Following a slew of subsequent owners (and some serious interior damage from burst pipes) the house was donated to the Preservation Society of Newport in 1971 and has been open to the public since. Click HERE to see 'Rosecliff' on google earth and HERE on bing.

Photos from Architectural Review, 1908.