C. P. H. Gilbert

Not to be confused with another American architectCass Gilbert.

Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert(August 29, 1861 – October 25, 1952) was an American architect of the late-19th and early-20th centuries best known for designingtownhousesandmansions.

C. P. H. Gilbert
Gilbertc. 1900
Born	Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert (1861-08-29)August 29, 1861 New York City,U.S.
Died	November 25, 1952(1952-11-25)(aged 91) Pelham Manor, New York,U.S.
Occupation	Architect
Buildings	Harry F. Sinclair House Joseph Raphael De Lamar House Morton F. Plant House Felix M. Warburg House Otto H. Kahn House

Ancestry and early life

Born in New York City,Gilbert was a descendant of English and New England ancestors. One of these was SirHumphrey Gilbert,to whom QueenElizabeth I of Englandgranted a patent for the colonization of North America. Sir Humphrey's ambitious plans ended when he was lost at sea with most of his company on their return voyage from the exploration ofNewfoundland.Other members of the family, however, soon planted the name in North America.

C. P. H. Gilbert's father was Loring Gilbert, a direct descendant of John Gilbert, the second son of Giles Gilbert ofBridgwater,Somerset,England, who came to America early in the 17th century and settled atDorchester,nearBoston,and died atTaunton, Massachusetts,in 1654. Loring Gilbert was a leading commission merchant who had a successful career. He married Caroline C. Etchebery, and they had one son, Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert. Loring Gilbert died in 1893.

C. P. H. Gilbert received a careful education, studying both in America and in Europe, including at theÉcole des Beaux-Artsin Paris. After being prepared for college he took courses in civil engineering and architecture, and later studied painting, sculpture, and the fine arts in general. After college, he began practical work as an assistant in the office of a prominent firm of architects, where he received the training necessary to prepare him for engaging in his own business.As a young man he designed buildings in the mining towns ofColoradoandArizonabefore returning to New York around 1885.

Career

In 1886, at the age of twenty-five, Gilbert began practicing as an architect in New York City, and received commission to design buildings of all kinds. One of his first projects was the design of fourteen brownstone rowhouses that now form a part of theManhattan AvenueHistoric District. Gilbert designed the block for Hoboken developer John Brown in 1886.

Another noteworthy building was the 1888Richardsonian Romanesquemansion at Eighth Avenue and Carroll Street inPark Slope, Brooklynfor Thomas Adams Jr., a chewing gum magnate. From 1893 on, Gilbert had a very large business, which grew steadily. In addition, he was a director or a stockholder in a number of large manufacturing companies outside of New York.

He saw action during theSpanish–American Warof 1898.After the war he returned to New York.

By 1900 Gilbert had acquired a reputation as a specialist in designing opulent townhouses and mansions. Among hisFifth Avenuepalazziis the 1905Neo-Renaissancemansion of Morton Freeman Plant,son of railroad tycoonHenry B. Plant.Through the 1920s he designed more than 100 New York City mansions in various styles; several of them along Fifth Avenue have now been re-purposed for institutional use. In education, client list and architectural style, Gilbert largely followed in the footsteps ofRichard Morris Hunt,whose petit château on Fifth Avenue forWilliam Kissam Vanderbiltset a model for French Late Gothic limestonechâteauxto house the elite of theGilded Age.Amongst Gilbert's clients were wealthy and influential industrialists and bankers such asHarry F. Sinclair,Joseph Raphael De Lamar,Felix M. Warburg,Otto H. Kahn,Adolph Lewisohn,Augustus G. Paine Jr.and families such as the Baches, Reids, Wertheims, Sloanes and other.Gilbert also designed a number of mansions and buildings on Long Island and in upstate New York in the 1920s.

Gilbert retreated from public life, and by the late 1920s stopped designing new houses. He retired toPelham Manor, New YorkinWestchester County,where he died on October 25, 1952, at his home on 216 Townsend Avenue, at the age of 92.He is interred atWoodlawn CemeteryinThe Bronx,New York City.

Memberships

Gilbert was a member of numerous professional and social organizations, amongst them theChamber of Commerce of the State of New York,theArchitectural League,theSociety of Colonial Wars,theGeneral Society of the Sons of the Revolution,theNew England Society,and the Fine Arts,Metropolitan,Union League,Lawyers', Riding, Racquet, Ardsley, Colonial, Country, and Nassau Country clubs of New York. He also was a Fellow of theAmerican Institute of Architects,and a veteran ofSquadron A,the cavalry organization of the New YorkNational Guard.

Family

Gilbert was married to Florence Cecil Moss, daughter ofTheodore Mossof New York City, and had two children: Dudley Pierrepont Gilbert and Vera Pierrepont Gilbert.He lived at 33 Riverside Drive and had a villa inNewport, Rhode Islandat Ochre Point.

Works

Gilbert's works include:

• 1881–Jules S. Bacheresidence, 10 East 67th Street,remodeled in 1889.
• 1886– Fourteen brownstowne rowhouses in theManhattan AvenueHistoric District: 120-40 Manhattan Avenue, 39–43 West 105th Street, 38–44 West 106th Street
• 1888–1904– at least eight of the Montgomery Place mansions (#11, 14, 16–19, 21, 25, 36–50, 54–60), between 8th Avenue andProspect Park,Brooklyn
• c. 1889– 313 and 315 Garfield Place, Brooklyn. Contrasting speculative houses.
• c. 1890– Joseph Hanan residence, Carroll Street and 8th Avenue,Park Slope, Brooklyn;demolished in the 1930s
• c. 1895– three adjoining mansions at the foot ofRiverside Drive:311 West 72nd Street, 1 Riverside Drive and 3 Riverside Drive for Philip Kleeberg
• 1898–Harry F. Sinclair House,79th Street and Fifth Avenue, now housing the Ukrainian Institute
• 1898– Cushman Building, Broadway and Maiden Lane, 1898 (previously the site of theHoward Hotel)
• 1900– "Meudon", the massive 80-room Louis XVI-style revivalGold Coastestate ofWilliam Dameron GuthrieinLattingtown
• c. 1900–Franklin Winfield Woolworthmansion, 80th Street and Fifth Avenue; demolished
• c. 1900–Edmund C. Converseresidence, 3 East 78th Street, in a "suaveneo-Gothic",according to Christopher Gray;Converse was the first president of theBankers Trust Company;his Greenwich, Connecticut estate is now known asConyers Farm
• 1901– Henry Seligman residence,30 West 56th Street,now Aeffe USA
• 1903– 57Stone Street,built in theDutch Colonial Revivalstyle for Amos F. Eno, a son ofAmos R. Eno
• 1904– TheKnabeBuilding, 437 Fifth Avenue
• 1905–Joseph Raphael De Lamar House,Madison Avenue and 37th Street, now thePolish Consulate General
• 1905– Edward Holbrook House, 4 East 52nd Street, now theCartier Building
• 1906–1908–Felix M. Warburg House,92nd Street and Fifth Avenue, now theJewish Museum
• 1913–1914–CharlcôteHouse inFlat Rock Camp,constructed for Charlotte M. Bedell Paine; demolished 1980s
• 1914–1916– Weckesser Hall,Wilkes University,Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
• 1915–1918–Mrs. Seymour H. Knox House,800 Delaware Avenue (formerly 806), Buffalo, New York, now the offices ofCellino Law
• 1916–1918–Otto H. Kahn House,91st Street and Fifth Avenue, with architect J. Armstrong Stenhouse, now theConvent of the Sacred Heart
• 1917–Adolph Lewisohnresidence, 9 West 57th Street, demolished
• 1917–1067 Fifth Avenue,near 87th Street, apartment design in the French Gothic style
• 1917–1918– Augustus G. Paine Jr. residence, 31 East 69th Street, now Austrian Consulate General
• 1919–1921– Arthur and Alice Sachs residence, 42 East 69th Street, nowJewish National Fund
• 1921– Essex County National Bank, Willsboro (founded in 1923 by Augustus G. Paine Jr., today part of Champlain National Bank)
• 1924–1925–Seymour H. Knox IIHouse,Buffalo, New York
• 1929–1930– Paine Memorial Library,Willsboro

• 
  Harry F. Sinclair Houseon Fifth Avenue, as seen from 79th Street, now the Ukrainian Institute (1898)
• 
  57Stone Street,constructed for Amos F. Eno (1903)
• 
  Edward Holbrook House,4 East 52nd Street, nowCartier(1905)
• 
  Joseph Raphael De Lamar House,Madison Avenue and 37th Street, now the Polish Consulate General (1905)
• 
  Felix M. Warburg House,92nd Street and Fifth Avenue, now theJewish Museum(1906–08)
• 
  Otto H. Kahn House,91st Street and Fifth Avenue, now theConvent of the Sacred Heart(1916–1918)
• 
  Residence of Augustus G. Paine Jr., 31 East 69th Street, now the Austrian Consulate General (1917–18)
• 
  Residence of Arthur and Alice Sachs, 42 East 69th Street, now the Jewish National Fund (1919–21)

External links

• Pictures and Information on C.P.H. Gilbert's Historic Long Island Commissions
• Emporis page with list of commissions^[usurped]
• Gilbert, C. P. H. (1861-1952)// North Carolina Architects & Builders. A Biographical Dictionary (The NC State University Libraries).