Existing comment:
Cultural Services of The French Embassy
Formerly the Payne Whitney House
This mansion was designed in the style of the high Italian Renaissance by McKim, Mead & White. It was erected in 1902-1906 for financier, philanthropist, and sportsman Payne Whitney and his wife Helen, a poet and patron of the arts who lived in the house until her death in 1944. Whitney had been given the land by his uncle Oliver Payne, who was an officer in the Civil War and the benefactor instrumental in establishing the Cornell University Medical College. Since 1952, the building has served as a division of the French Embassy. It was restored in 1987, uncovering a stained-glass window especially designed for the house by John La Farge.
New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation
1989 |