Vanderbilt Mansion In Carnegie Hill Seeks Return To Gilded Age Status

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A new-ish owner of a former Vanderbilt home is looking to return the sprawling Carnegie Hill 1930's mansion back to its birthright as one of Manhattan's largest single-family homes, according to new filings with the city.

The mystery buyer purchased 60 East 93rd St. in 2022 for $52.5 million, according to city records, and is now looking to have each of the mansion's 18,000 square feet to themselves.

Recently, the building has served as an antiques gallery, a school and the Romanian embassy.

In 1930, the five-story tall 57-foot-wide building was originally built for the family and servants of Virginia Graham Fair Vanderbilt, the daughter of a 49'er who made millions and wife of William Kissam Vanderbilt II, president of the New York Central Railroad Company.

The building is called in its Landmarks Designation as “a very dignified house," and "a fine example of the last of that great series of houses," before the Great Depression "paralyzed building construction and virtually brought an end to the era of the New York City town house.”

Virginia Graham Fair Vanderbilt, who lived at 2 East 69th St. prior, died just a few years after construction was completed.

The mansion, designed by architect John Russell Pope, known for his work at the American Museum of Natural History and the Jefferson Memorial, in the classic French style of Louis XV, remained a private home until 1957, when it then served as the Romanian Permanent Mission to the United Nations.

In the 1970's, it was purchased by the Lycée Français de New York until they sold it in 2002 for $10.6 million to famous top antiques dealer, Carlton Hobbs.

Hobbs used most of the space as a showroom and lived on the top floor. In 2022, he sold the mansion to an anonymous buyer — who forced the agent involved with the sale to sign a non-disclosure agreement — for $52.5 million.

Because the building is both a landmark and is located in both the Carnegie Hill and Park Avenue Historic districts, the mysterious owner must seek special permission from the city to overlook a non-compliant rear-yard, according to the special permit application and Crain's New York Business, who first reported the story.

In February 2023, an application for exterior renovation work, including window cleaning, modifying window openings, repairing and replacing masonry and removing vegetation from the brickwork was approved by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commision.