Villard Houses

Villard Houses
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Exterior of the Villard Houses
Location:	29 1/2 50th Street, 24--26 East 51st Street, and 451, 453, 455, and 457 Madison Avevenue, New York, New York
Coordinates:	40°45′29.22″N 73°58′30.91″W / 40.7581167°N 73.9752528°W / 40.7581167; -73.9752528
Built/Founded:	1882
Architect:	McKim, Mead & White
Architectural style(s):	Renaissance, Other
Governing body:	Private
Added to NRHP:	September 02, 1975
NRHP Reference#:	75001210 [1]

Houses in 2008

Villard Houses at night.

The Villard Houses are located at 455 Madison Avenue in the Manhattan Borough of New York City between 50th and 51st Street. The building was constructed in 1884, designed by the architecture firm McKim, Mead and White three years after they started their company. The houses were commissioned by Henry Villard, then president of the Northern Pacific Railway, shortly before his railroad empire began to crumble. Ownership of the building changed through many hands throughout the century.

In 1968, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the complex an historical landmark. Restoration and construction for a new hotel complex was proposed by real estate developer Harry B. Helmsley who constructed the 51-story The New York Palace Hotel tower directly behind the original building. The project was designed by architects Emery Roth & Sons and Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer in 1977 and completed in 1980.[1]

The original building was restored in 2003 and office space was furnished for city preservation group The Municipal Art Society, as part of an agreement to save the building from demolition. Exterior shots are used on the TV series Gossip Girl as the hotel where the van der Woodsen family lives.

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Villard Houses

• Villard Houses Wired New York - December 21, 2003
• [1] The New York Times - December 21, 2003

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