{"nrhp_refnum":"77000956","name":"Duke, James B., Mansion","other_names":["New York University Institute of Fine Arts"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1 E. 78th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.77649787300004,"lon":-73.96377262099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1977-11-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story limestone townhouse at 1 East 78th Street, on the corner of Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, designed in 1909 by Horace Trumbauer and built 1909-1912 for tobacco magnate James B. Duke. It now houses New York University's Institute of Fine Arts.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as a significant example of the elaborate turn-of-the-century townhouses built by wealthy New Yorkers along Fifth Avenue at Central Park. It is also cited as a significant case of adaptive reuse, since its original fabric was preserved when it was converted to educational use in 1958. It is further tied to James B. Duke, who built a tobacco fortune and founded the trust behind Duke University.","narrative":"Standing on the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 78th Street, this limestone mansion was designed in 1909 by Horace Trumbauer for tobacco executive James B. Duke. Modeled on an eighteenth-century mansion in Bordeaux, it follows the French Classical style of Louis XV. From the street it appears to have two stories, but a third is hidden behind the stone balustrade. The seven-bay south facade has a two-story portico with Doric and Ionic columns. Inside, a marble main hall with a wide staircase leads to a library, dining room, drawing room and gilded music room. The basement held laundry, kitchen and servants' dining facilities, and the third floor had twelve servants' rooms. Duke, who rose from a North Carolina farm to lead the American Tobacco Company, lived here until his death in 1925. In 1958 the building was converted for the Institute of Fine Arts by Robert Venturi, Cope and Lippencott without altering the original walls, floors or ceilings. It is valued as a Fifth Avenue townhouse and as an example of adaptive reuse.","period_of_significance":"1909-1912","architect_builder":"Horace Trumbauer","architectural_style":"French Classical style of Louis XV","criteria":[],"status_note":"In use as the New York University Institute of Fine Arts; condition marked excellent and unaltered, with the interior adapted for educational use in 1958.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:38.720972-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/77000956.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000956/4967a197db-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000956/4967a197db-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Gryffindor","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_B_Duke_House_001.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Gryffindor</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_B_Duke_House_001.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319453","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_B._Duke_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14706613"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/duke-james-b-mansion-77000956/"}