View source for Otto H. Kahn House

{{Short description|Building in Manhattan, New York}}
[[File:Otto_H_Kahn_House_(48237027662).jpg|thumb|Otto H. Kahn House]]

The '''Otto H. Kahn House''' is a [[mansion]] at 1 East 91st Street, in the [[Carnegie Hill]] section of the [[Upper East Side]] of [[Manhattan]] in [[New York City]]. The structure was built between 1914 and 1918 as the town residence of [[Otto H. Kahn]], a German-born financier and philanthropist who owned a palatial estate, [[Oheka Castle]], on [[Long Island]].

== Early history ==
[[File:Otto Kahn Mansion 014.JPG|thumb|Historical plaque]]
Kahn, a senior partner at the investment bank [[Kuhn, Loeb and Co.]],<ref>Kobler, John. Otto the Magnificent. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1988; 3</ref> commissioned the architects J. Armstrong Stenhouse and [[C. P. H. Gilbert]] to design a house in the neo-[[Italy|Italian]] [[renaissance]] style.<ref>Kobler, John. Otto the Magnificent. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1988; 112</ref> The house was modeled after the [[palazzo della Cancelleria]] of the [[Papal Chancellery]] in [[Rome]] and took four years to construct. It had up to 80 rooms in addition to living quarters for 40 servants, which made it one of the largest private homes in America.

The mansion includes an indoor courtyard, garden, and private driveway, which was guarded 24 hours a day by a doorman,<ref>Solon, Leon. “Residence of Otto H. Kahn, New York, J. Armstrong Stenhouse, architect.” Architectural record 46, (1919): 112</ref> as well as an oak-paneled library and spacious reception room.<ref>Rascoe, Burton. “Contemporary Reminiscences.” Arts & Decoration 20, (1924): 12.</ref>  Upon its completion, the [[Architectural Review]] praised the mansion as "a remarkable example of well-balanced re-adjustment in those aesthetic elements that are found in architecture of the early sixteenth century in Italy"<ref>Solon, Leon. “Residence of Otto H. Kahn, New York, J. Armstrong Stenhouse, architect.” Architectural record 46, (1919): 99</ref> and deemed J. Armstrong Stenhouse to have "achieved a work which ranks as the foremost of its kind in this country."<ref>Solon, Leon. “Residence of Otto H. Kahn, New York, J. Armstrong Stenhouse, architect.” Architectural record 46, (1919): 114</ref> Original photographs of the more formal rooms taken during the Kahns occupancy show them decorated in the 18th century French and Italian style.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thekahnsoffifthavenue.com/the-kahns-blog/the-kahn-palazzo-1100-fifth-avenue|title=The Kahn Palazzo, 1100 Fifth Avenue}}</ref>

Kahn housed an extensive art collection inside the mansion, including tapestries, glass chandeliers, and valuable paintings by [[Botticelli]]. [[Enrico Caruso]] and [[George Gershwin]] were among the Kahn's many famous friends, who were known to often give impromptu performances at the mansion.

== Later history ==
Following Kahn's death in 1934, the house was sold to the [[Convent of the Sacred Heart (New York)|Convent of the Sacred Heart]], a private Catholic school for girls.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.burdenkahnmansion.org/history.htm |title=Film and Photo |access-date=2009-10-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101030083724/http://www.burdenkahnmansion.org/history.htm |archive-date=2010-10-30 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  In 1974., the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building a [[List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan|landmark]].<ref>“In the Streetscape: the Casa and the Convent.” Oculus 58, no. 9 (1996): 6.</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 59th to 110th Streets]]

==References==
<references/>

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |title= Great Houses of New York, 1880-1930|last= Kathrens|first= Michael C.|year=2005 |publisher=Acanthus Press |location=New York |isbn= 978-0-926494-34-3|page=341 }}
* Williams, Iain Cameron. ''The KAHNS of Fifth Avenue'', iwp publishing, February 17, 2022, {{ISBN|978-1916146587}}

==External links==
*{{commonscat-inline}}
*[http://www.burdenkahnmansion.org/ Homepage of the Otto Kahn Mansion]

{{Fifth Avenue}}
{{Upper East Side|state=collapsed}}
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[[Category:1918 establishments in New York City]]
[[Category:C. P. H. Gilbert buildings]]
[[Category:Fifth Avenue]]
[[Category:Gilded Age mansions]]
[[Category:Houses completed in 1918]]
[[Category:Houses in Manhattan]]
[[Category:Jews and Judaism in Manhattan]]
[[Category:New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan]]
[[Category:Renaissance Revival architecture in New York City]]
[[Category:Upper East Side]]