A Mansion of the Gilded Age

351 Riverside Drive (between 107th & 108th Street) is home to the Schinasi Mansion. This has been described as the “last remaining detached single family home in Manhattan” that continues to be a residence (Gothamtogo.com). The 12,000 square foot mansion was commissioned in 1907 by the Turkish tobacco businessman Morris Schinasi, and built in 1909. Designed in the neo-French Renaissance style by William Tuthill, the architect responsible for Carnegie Hall, the lavish interior is opulent throughout, and reportedly contains twelve bedrooms, eleven bathrooms, a marble hall, a sea-green tiled roof, and magnificent moldings. The stately quarters are even rumored to have a Prohibition-era trap door and a twenty foot tunnel, that once-upon-a-time reached all the way to the Hudson River. Naturally, this has invited a certain amount of speculation as to its purpose!

In 1974, the Landmarks Preservation Commission found “that the Schinasi Residence has a special character, special historical and aesthetic interest and value as part of the development, heritage and cultural characteristics of New York City….. and that is representative of the development of Riverside Drive as one of the most attractive locations in the city”. The building was named as a New York City Landmark, and subsequently included in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. In addition to serving as a private home, it has had a variety of other purposes, ranging from a daycare center, to a finishing school, to a location for law school gatherings. Since 2013 it is owned by a Goldman Sachs executive, who purchased it by all accounts for $14.0 million.