William Murray Residences | |
New York City Landmark No. 1104, 1105
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 The houses as seen in March 2021 (number 15 at left and number 13 at right) | |
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| Location | 13–15 West 54th Street, Manhattan, New York |
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| Coordinates | 40°45′42″N 73°58′35″W / 40.76167°N 73.97639°W |
| Architect | Henry Janeway Hardenbergh |
| Architectural style | Renaissance inspired |
| Part of | Residences at 5-15 West 54th Street (ID89002260[1]) |
| NYCL No. | 1104, 1105 |
| Significant dates | |
| Designated CP | January 4, 1990 |
| Designated NYCL | February 3, 1981 |
13 and 15 West 54th Street (also the William Murray Residences) are two commercial buildings in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. They are along 54th Street's northern sidewalk between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. The four-and-a-half-story houses were designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh in the Renaissance-inspired style and were constructed between 1896 and 1897 as private residences. They are the two westernmost of five consecutive townhouses erected along the same city block during the 1890s, the others being 5, 7, and 9–11 West 54th Street.
The buildings were designed as a nearly identical pair of houses. The facade is made of limestone with rusticated blocks on the first story and smooth blocks on the upper stories. The houses contain a rounded oriel facing 54th Street and a central pair of entrances above the raised basement. The houses are nearly identical except for their roofs; the eastern house at number 13 has a mansard roof while the western house at number 15 has a balustrade.
The houses were commissioned for businessman William Murray, who respectively sold 13 and 15 West 54th to Jessie Neilson and James B. Dickson. Number 13 was purchased by John D. Rockefeller Sr. in 1906 and served as the home of his son and daughter-in-law, John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, until 1913, after which it was leased by various families through the 1950s. Ownership of number 15 was much more stable, as the Dicksons occupied the site until 1953. Nelson Rockefeller used number 13 as an office from the 1940s until his death in 1979, and he bought number 15 and operated it as the Museum of Primitive Art from 1957 to 1979. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the house as an official landmark in 1981, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990 as part of the 5–15 West 54th Street Residences historic district.