Schinasi Mansion facts for kids
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Schinasi House
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The Schinasi House in 2009.
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 Location in New York City
Location in New York
Location in the United States
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| Location | 351 Riverside Drive, New York, New York |
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| Built | 1907 |
| Architect | William Burnett Tuthill |
| NRHP reference No. | 80002714 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | April 23, 1980 |
The Schinasi House is a huge, beautiful mansion in New York City. It has 35 rooms and is made of marble. You can find it on Riverside Drive in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It was built in 1907 for a rich tobacco businessman named Morris Schinasi.
The mansion was designed by William Tuthill, who also designed Carnegie Hall. Many of its original details are still there. It even had a secret tunnel that went all the way to the Hudson River!
The Schinasi House was named a New York City Landmark on March 19, 1974. It was also added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 23, 1980. People say it's the last single-family house left in Manhattan that stands by itself. Since 2013, it has been owned by Mark Schwartz, a business executive.
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Mansion History: Who Lived Here?
This amazing mansion was finished in 1909. It has three floors and is about 12,000 square feet. The design is called neo-French-Renaissance style. William Tuthill, the same person who designed Carnegie Hall, created the plans.
Morris Schinasi, an immigrant from the Ottoman Empire, became very wealthy from selling cigarettes. He asked for this mansion to be built. He owned the 35-room house until he passed away in 1928.
After Morris Schinasi, the house had a few different owners. In 1979, a Columbia University law professor named Hans Smit bought it. He started a big project to fix up the inside. The house was officially named a New York City landmark in 1974.
The Schinasi House is truly special. It has many fancy details everywhere. For example, you can see pineapple shapes carved into the decorations. Pineapples are a symbol of being welcoming. There was once a tunnel from the house that went underground to the Hudson River, but it's now closed.
Morris Schinasi: The Man Behind the Mansion
Morris Schinasi was an immigrant from the Ottoman Empire. He came to the United States in 1890. He didn't have much money at first. He borrowed $25,000 to come to America.
He brought something with him that changed his life: a cigarette-rolling machine. He designed it himself! He showed it at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Before this, every cigarette was rolled by hand. So, his machine was a big deal!
Soon after, his brother joined him in New York City. They started the Schinasi Brothers Company. Their most famous cigarettes were "Egyptian Prettiest," made with Turkish tobacco. Their product became very popular, and they built a huge business.
After Morris Schinasi became rich and married his wife in 1903, he decided to build his dream mansion. Most big houses at that time were built on Park Avenue or Fifth Avenue. But some thought people would want quieter homes on Riverside Drive. This idea didn't quite happen, so the Schinasi mansion is still the biggest single-family home on Riverside Drive.
Morris Schinasi lived in the mansion with his wife, Laurette, and their three daughters. They lived there for almost 20 years. In 1928, Morris Schinasi passed away. Two years later, his family sold the house for $200,000.
What the Mansion Became
Since 1930, the mansion has been used for many different things.
- First, it was a school called the Semple School for Girls. It was a "finishing school" for young ladies.
- In 1960, Columbia University bought the building. They turned it into a daycare center called "The Children’s Mansion."
- From 1970 to 1971, it was a college dorm for students from Columbia and Barnard.
- In 1979, Columbia University sold the mansion to Hans Smit, a law professor. He spent 20 years restoring the inside of the house.
Hans Smit never actually lived in the house himself. But his brother's family did live there for several years. Smit also used the mansion for parties and events for Columbia Law School. In 2006, after the restoration was done, he tried to sell the house.
In 2013, Mark Schwartz, a vice chairman at Goldman Sachs, bought the Schinasi House.
The house has even been used on TV shows!
- It was the home of a character named June in the popular show White Collar.
- It was also used as 'The Bleecker Friends Quaker School for Toddlers' in the show The Mindy Project.
Building Details: Inside and Out
Location and Surroundings
The Schinasi mansion is on the west side of Manhattan. It's in the Upper West Side neighborhood, right across from Riverside Park. When the mansion was built, there weren't many buildings on Riverside Drive. People thought more big houses would be built there, but it didn't happen much.
The area around the mansion has many townhouses and apartment buildings. Columbia University is a few blocks away. The Schinasi House is special because it stands alone. It's not attached to any other buildings on any side. This means it gets light and air from all directions.
Design and Rooms
The Schinasi mansion is unique because it's completely freestanding. It's currently the only privately owned single-family home in Manhattan that stands by itself. This huge building is 12,000 square feet!
It has many rooms for fun and daily life:
- The basement and first floor have entertainment rooms, a gym, and rooms for staff. There's also a dining room, a gallery, and two parlor rooms.
- The second and third floors have many bedrooms and bathrooms. They also have sitting areas and kitchens.
- The top floor has a studio apartment.
In total, there are 12 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, and 5 kitchens! When it was built, there was a tunnel from the basement that went under Riverside Drive to the Hudson River. This tunnel is now sealed off.
Building Materials
The Schinasi mansion is made of beautiful, carved materials. Inside, you'll find a mix of:
- Egyptian carved marble
- Hand-carved wood
- Hand-painted frescos (wall paintings)
The wood carvings have detailed symbols and decorations. The pineapple, a symbol of being welcoming, is carved many times throughout the house.
The outside of the house is made completely of white Vermont marble. The roof is made of terra cotta and green tiles. It also has steel beams and copper decorations. The house was finished in 1909, just one year after construction began.
