Old Millionaire’s Row Makes Way for Billionaire’s Row as Mansion Trades for $42M

Even a renewed interest in New York City’s Gilded Age through an HBO drama or a civic effort to prevent development can’t stop a mansion built by the Vanderbilt family from being razed.

The wheels kept turning in the saga of the Schieffelin-Bowne House, a historic mansion at 35 West 57th Street that dates back to 1891. The Soloviev Group filed a deed transfer of the building for $42 million, according to property records made public Monday.

Sedesco will take part ownership in the residential and hospitality property being built in its place near 9 West 57th Street, where Soloviev was able to land an undisclosed office tenant paying a record $327.50 per square foot in April.

Soloviev Group and Sedesco did not immediately respond to  requests for comment.

Soloviev Group and Sedesco are building a supertall condominium and hotel structure at the West 57th Street site, complete with 119 units, a 158-room hotel and a 10,212-square-foot restaurant across 63 floors, according to New York YIMBY.

William H. Vanderbilt gifted the Beaux Arts mansion at 35 West 57th Street to his granddaughter, Maria Louise Vanderbilt Shepard, when she was married to William Jay Schieffelin. The pair had other wedding gifts provided by President Benjamin Harrison. 

The couple lived in the five-story home from 1891 to 1899, when it was sold to well-known businessman Samuel W. Bowne. Bowne rose to prominence in his own right in the pharmaceutical industry and as a philanthropist. His family has landmarks dedicated in his honor elsewhere in the city, as his forebears were some of the earliest settlers in Flushing, Queens, going back to the 17th century.

Bowne died in the home in 1910, and his wife Nettie lived there until 1930.

But at some point in the 20th century, as New York’s wealthiest families migrated north, the first two floors of the mansion were converted into retail space. Thanks to that conversion, the building may have lost some of its original historical value in the eyes of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC).

If the Hotel Pennsylvania’s demolition to make way for Vornado Realty Trust’s stalled Penn 15 plan can stand as precedent, the previous renovations may have modernized it beyond what the city agency would deem worthy of salvation.

The LPC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Local preservation groups have tried to save the mansion for several years as part of an assemblage for a mixed-use development encompassing the site. The recent sale seems to perhaps be the final nail in the coffin, as demolition plans for 35 West 57th Street have already been approved by the New York City Department of Buildings.

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.