| Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo House | |
|---|---|
.jpg) The main elevation of the façade on Madison Avenue | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Mansion |
| Architectural style | French Renaissance[1][2] |
| Address | 867 Madison Avenue |
| Town or city | New York, NY 10021 |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 40°46′17″N 73°57′55″W / 40.7715°N 73.9654°W |
| Current tenants | Ralph Lauren Corporation |
| Construction started | 1894 |
| Completed | 1898 |
| Cost | $1,000,000 (equivalent to $36,624,000 in 2023) |
| Client | Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo |
| Owner | 867 Madison, LLC |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 4 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Kimball & Thompson[1] |
Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo House | |
New York City Landmark No. 0927
| |
| Part of | Upper East Side Historic District (ID84002803) |
| MPS | September 7, 1984 |
| NRHP reference No. | 80002727 |
| NYSRHP No. | 06101.001788 |
| NYCL No. | 0927 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | May 6, 1980[4] |
| Designated CP | September 7, 1984 |
| Designated NYSRHP | June 23, 1980[3] |
| Designated NYCL | July 13, 1976 |
| References | |
| [1][2] | |
The Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo House (also 867 Madison Avenue and the Rhinelander Mansion) is a French Renaissance Revival mansion at the southeastern corner of Madison Avenue and 72nd Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. Built between 1894 and 1898, it was designed by Alexander Mackintosh of the architectural firm of Kimball & Thompson. Though the house was constructed for the heiress Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo, she never moved in. The mansion was converted to a commercial building in the 20th century, becoming the New York City flagship store of the Ralph Lauren accessory and clothing company in the 1980s. The mansion is a New York City designated landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo House is four and a half stories tall and has a limestone façade modeled on a French château. Although storefront windows have been installed on the ground story over the years, the upper stories retain decorative details such as ornamental carvings and round-arched windows. The red roof contains various stone and copper dormers as well. The original interiors of the building are very poorly documented, as it was abandoned upon completion; the second story had various communal rooms, while the third and fourth stories originally had bedrooms. The interior layout has been significantly altered over the years, and few of the original interior plans and decorations survive.
Waldo bought the site in 1882 but did not develop it for more than a decade. Waldo refused to move into the house for unknown reasons, and she also refused to maintain, rent out, or sell the building. The Dime Savings Bank of New York took ownership in 1912, and two developers attempted to build apartments on the site in the 1910s. The building was partially converted to commercial use in 1920, when the antique dealer Olivotti & Company moved into the lower stories. Through the early 1980s, the building was sold several more times and hosted various commercial and residential tenants. In 1984, the designer Ralph Lauren leased the building and had it renovated to serve as the flagship store of his company, which opened in 1986. Ralph Lauren has been the mansion's sole tenant since then, though the house was sold several more times after Ralph Lauren moved in. The building became a Ralph Lauren menswear store in 2010.
- ^ a b c New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission; Dolkart, Andrew S.; Postal, Matthew A. (2009). Postal, Matthew A. (ed.). Guide to New York City Landmarks (4th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 163–64. ISBN 978-0-470-28963-1.
- ^ a b White, Norval; Willensky, Elliot; Leadon, Fran (2010). AIA Guide to New York City (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 441. ISBN 978-0-19538-386-7.
- ^ "Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS)". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. November 7, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
- ^ "Federal Register: 46 Fed. Reg. 10451 (Feb. 3, 1981)" (PDF). Library of Congress. February 3, 1981. p. 10650 (PDF p. 180). Archived (PDF) from the original on February 1, 2021. Retrieved March 8, 2020.