The Architecture of Mott B. Schmidt

The more austere Anne Vanderbilt townhouse occupies the 57th Street corner of Sutton Place. It is entered on its long elevation, through a brick pedimented doorway inspired by the 17th century houses at King's Bench Walk, London, attributed to Wren. The house was built by G. Richard Davis & Co., for whom Schmidt designed a residence, and decorated by Elsie de Wolfe. Critics writing in 1924 in The Architectural Forum saw deliberate references to English sources, especially to the houses of Chelsea and the Battersea embankment. De Wolfe planned the interiors around Mrs. Vanderbilt's collections of antique furniture, paintings and objets d'art. Deal paneling from an old English room was used for the parlor, and a set of Dutch decorative paintings set the color scheme for the dining room. Allyn Cox, the American muralist, painted the walls in the circular stairhall as a setting for a pair of Chinoiserie pagodas from the Royal Pavilion at Brighton. After Mrs. Vanderbilt's death the house had a succession of owners.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
New York Times / Streetscapes: Sutton Place, Sutton Place South and One Sutton Place; A Prestigious Enclave With a Name in Question