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               <p align="center"><font face="Arial" size="6">
               <a name="top of page">P</a>ayne Whitney NYC townhouse<br>
               </font><font face="Arial" size="5">972 Fifth Avenue near 79th 
               Street</font><p align="center"><font face="Arial" size="4">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
               &#9668;J<a href="#duke">ames B Duke house </a>&#9658;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
               &#9668; <a href="#Jean">St. Jean Baptiste Church</a> &#9658;<br>
               &#9668;<a href="#Thomas Fortune Ryan">Thomas Fortune Ryan</a> &#9658;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
               &#9668;<a href="#Stanford White">Stanford White</a> &#9658;<br>
               </font><font face="Arial">Click on any photo to see enlargement.</font></td>
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          <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in" align="left">
          <font face="Arial" size="2">Many persons incorrectly associate the name &quot;Payne Whitney&quot; 
          with the Esopus estate, which was willed to Harry Payne Bingham.&nbsp; 
          But it is correct&nbsp; that William 
          Payne Whitney was another favorite nephew of Oliver Payne.&nbsp; This 
          section is a short biography of&nbsp; Payne Whitney.</font></p>
          <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in" align="left">
          <font face="Arial">PAYNE WHITNEY, B.A., LL.B., of New York City, 
          capitalist, philanthropist, was born in New York City 20 March 1876, 
          the son of&nbsp; William Collins and Flora (Payne) Whitney, and died at&nbsp;Greetree,&nbsp; his country place at Manhasset, Long Island, N. Y., 25 
          May 1927.</font></p>
          <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in" align="left">
          <font face="Arial">His mother, Flora (Payne) Whitney, was born in 1848 
          and died 5 February 1893, the daughter of&nbsp; Henry B. Payne, 
          1810-1896, of Cleveland, Ohio,&nbsp;&nbsp; (Hamilton College, 1832), lawyer, 
          prominent Democrat, member of the United States House of 
          Representatives, 1875-1877, United States Senator from Ohio, 
          1885-1891. Through this grandfather,&nbsp; Payne traced an ancestral 
          line to William Bradford of the Mayflower, Governor of the Plymouth 
          Colony.</font></p>
          <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in" align="left">
          <font face="Arial">Payne Whitney entered Yale University and received&nbsp; 
          his Bachelor of Arts in 1898. He then studied law for three years at 
          the Harvard Law School, receiving his Bachelor of Laws in 
          1901. His share in his father's large estate was increased by his own 
          business ability; and several millions came to him from the estate of 
          his uncle, Col. Oliver Hazard Payne, including Payne's estate in 
          Thomasville, Georgia.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Payne Whitney soon became 
          influential in New York financial circles and a director or executive 
          officer of several large corporations, including the Great Northern 
          Paper Company, the First National Bank of New York, the Whitney Realty 
          Company, and the Northern Finance Corporation.</font></p>
          <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in" align="left">
          <font face="Arial"><a href="blowups/blowup_972%20plaque.htm">
          <img border="0" src="images/petite/nyc-10feb-972-plaque_717.jpg" width="300" height="242" align="right" hspace="10"></a>In 1902, Payne Whitney married&nbsp; Helen Hay, 
          daughter of the distinguished man of letters and statesman, John Hay, 
          Lincoln's personal secretary and first biographer, who was United 
          States Ambassador to Great Britain, 1897-98, and Secretary of State, 
          1898-1905, and his wife, Clara (Stone) Hay.&nbsp;&nbsp; Helen Hay Whitney lived at 
          972 Fifth Avenue until her death in 1944.&nbsp; The couple had two 
          children, Mrs. Charles Shipman Payson (Joan Whitney)(5 Feb 1903 - Oct 
          1975) of New York City and Manhasset, well known as the co-founder of 
          the New York Mets in 1962,&nbsp; and John Hay Whitney (17 Aug 1904 - 
          Feb 1982) of New York City. </font></p>
          <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in" align="left">
          <font face="Arial">While in college, Mr. Whitney rowed for two years 
          on the Yale&nbsp; crew, of which he was captain in 1898, thus 
          following in the footsteps of his father and uncle, both of whom had 
          been college oarsmen. He never lost his interest in the rowing 
          achievements of his alma mater, gave liberally to their support, and 
          was the donor of a dormitory for the&nbsp; crew at Gales Ferry.&nbsp; 
          Interested in horse racing, he had a racing stable of his own and 
          engaged in the raising of thoroughbred horses. </font></p>
          <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in" align="left">
          <font face="Arial">He was a constant and oftentimes anonymous 
          benefactor of educational and charitable institutions, making large 
          gifts to Yale, to the New York Hospital, of which he was a trustee and 
          vice president, to the New York Public Library, of which also he was a 
          trustee for many years and to which he gave in 1923 $12,000,000, and 
          to many other foundations that serve the public.</font></p>
          <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in" align="left">
          <font face="Arial">After his death in 1927, the family contributed 
          sufficient funds to Yale University to enable construction of the 
          Payne Whitney athletic complex .&nbsp; This facility was completely 
          renovated in 1997. The newly renovated Payne Whitney Gymnasium was 
          originally constructed in 1932 under the direction of John Russell Pope. The gym 
          is one of the most complete units of indoor facilities in the world. 
          The building was given to the University by the Whitney family in 
          memory of their son Payne Whitney, class of 1898. The nine and one 
          half story structure contains training centers for crew, gymnastics, 
          swimming, general exercise, recreational and varsity strength and 
          conditioning and a state of the art fencing salon.</font></p>
          <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in" align="left">
          <font face="Arial">The family also contributed sufficient funds to 
          establish the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic at&nbsp; New York 
          Presbyterian Hospital&nbsp; in l932. The Payne Whitney Clinic is a 
          60-bed, voluntary facility that provides state-of-the-art mental 
          health services and related research and education programs within one 
          of the world�s major medical centers. The Central Evaluation Service 
          offers comprehensive evaluation and diagnostic services for patients 
          in need of hospitalization or ambulatory treatment. The Inpatient 
          Service provides diagnostic services and care for acutely ill 
          adolescents, adults, and the elderly. Specialty clinical programs have 
          been developed to meet the needs of patients and families. Services 
          are offered for a wide range of diagnostic categories, including 
          affective disorders, psychotic disorders and dual diagnosis. </font></p>
          </td>
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          <a href="blowups/blowup_972_front_view.htm">
          <img border="0" src="images/petite/nyc-10feb-972_facade_717.jpg" align="center" width="280" height="373"></a></td>
          <td width="63%" bgcolor="#66FF99" colspan="2">
          <font face="Arial">&lt;&lt;=== The Payne Whitney house at 972 Fifth Avenue, 
          just below 79th Street.&nbsp; The house is only at the right (three 
          windows on the upper floors, but the adjoining house has been given 
          almost the same treatment, so that the viewer might suspect they were 
          the same house.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp; &#9660; The plaque below indicates that Oliver Hazard Payne donated the 
          land.&nbsp; He also contributed over $600,000 to the construction, a 
          considerable sum in 1904.&nbsp; &#9660;</font></td>
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          <td width="63%" bgcolor="#66FF99" colspan="2">
          <a href="blowups/blowup_972%20plaque.htm">
          <img border="0" src="images/petite/nyc-10feb-972-plaque_717.jpg" width="280" height="226"></a></td>
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          <font face="Arial">The view of 972 Fifth Avenue at right shows that 
          the row up to 79th Street has been kept intact with the architecture 
          of the Gilded Age.&nbsp; In fact, the James Duke house just below 972 
          Fifth Avenue with 1 East 78th Street address&nbsp; looks like a 
          Carr�re &amp; Hastings special, resembling the Frick Museum and the Esopus 
          Mansion.&nbsp; So the entire block reminds one of what much of Fifth 
          Avenue looked like during the late 1890s and 1900s.&nbsp; Nowadays, 
          this block is unique, as most of Fifth Avenue is covered with high 
          rise apartments.</font><p><font face="Arial" size="2">Photos of 972 
          Fifth Avenue and<br>
          James Duke house<br>
          by Richard Foy<br>
          10 February 2002&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
          nyc_10feb_972_angleview ==&gt;&gt;<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
          &#8595; nyc_10feb_972_and_duke<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
          nyc_10feb_nyu_duke_plaque &#8595;<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
          nyc_10feb_<a name="duke">duke</a>_house&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &#8594;&#8595;</font></td>
          <td width="63%" bgcolor="#66FF99" colspan="2">
          <a href="blowups/blowup_972_angle_view.htm">
          <img border="0" src="images/petite/nyc-10feb-972-angle-view_717.jpg" width="280" height="373"></a></td>
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          <font face="Arial">Although many people today first associate James 
          Duke with Duke University, he attained his financial wealth via the 
          American Tobacco Company.&nbsp; He was helped in this by Oliver Hazard 
          Payne, who put together a group of financiers to enable Duke to buy 
          out&nbsp; his competitors in the Carolinas.&nbsp; Duke himself, or his 
          father, invented the pre-rolled cigarette and worked to wean smokers 
          from roll-your-own.&nbsp;&nbsp; There may be a reason why Duke and 
          Payne built their townhouses so close together. However, it may be 
          only coincidence;&nbsp; all affluent Gilded Age families fought for 
          space along upper Fifth Avenue.</font></td>
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          <a href="images/nyc-10feb-972-and-duke.jpg">
          <img border="0" src="images/petite/nyc-10feb-972-and-duke_717.jpg" width="280" height="210"></a></td>
          <td width="63%" bgcolor="#66FF99" colspan="2">
          <img border="0" src="images/petite/nyc-10feb-nyu_duke-plaque_717.jpg" width="240" height="150" align="center"></td>
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          <td width="63%" bgcolor="#66FF99" colspan="2">
          <a href="images/nyc-10feb-nyu_duke_house.jpg">
          <img border="0" src="images/petite/nyc-10feb-nyu_duke_house_717.jpg" width="280" height="210"></a></td>
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          <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
          <font face="Arial"><a name="Stanford White">Stanford White</a>, often considered the most 
          decoratively minded of the partnership of McKim, Mead &amp; White, 
          designed many of the most impressive and influential interiors of the 
          era, particularly in the domestic realm. &quot;One of his finest mature 
          works was the residence of Payne and Helen Hay Whitney at 972 Fifth 
          Avenue in New York City, now the building of the Cultural Services of 
          the French Embassy.&nbsp; White designed and oversaw the execution of all 
          the interiors in the house, which was still being built at the time of 
          his death in 1906. These interiors exemplified the prevailing taste of 
          wealthy New Yorkers and reflected a uniquely American expression of 
          European styles.&quot;</font><p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
          <font face="Arial">&quot;By the 1880s, McKim, Mead and White had become the 
          architectural firm of choice for the elite of New York society and 
          White was able to secure clients with large amounts of money to spend 
          on new residences and extensive remodeling. Among his many commissions 
          were houses for such clients as Whitelaw Reid (1837-1912), Henry 
          William Poor (1844-1915), and Ogden Mills (1825-1910). At the same 
          time that he worked on the Payne Whitney house, White was busy 
          building other mansions in New York City, including ones for Mrs. 
          William K. Vanderbilt Jr. (nee Virginia Fair, d. 1935), and Joseph 
          Pulitzer (1847-1911).&quot;</font><p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
          <font face="Arial">&quot;At the Payne Whitney house, White worked under 
          very favorable circumstances indeed: his clients were members of a 
          well-established wealthy New York family who had few fixed ideas about 
          what the building and interiors should look like. The residence at 972 
          Fifth Avenue was commissioned in late 1902 as a wedding present from 
          Colonel Oliver Hazard Payne (1839-1917) for his nephew Payne Whitney 
          upon his marriage to Helen Hay.&nbsp; Colonel Payne contributed more 
          than $625,000 to the cost of the fashionable Fifth Avenue house, but 
          he left the design choices in White's able hands.&nbsp; The foundation 
          of the five-story house was laid in 1902, and work on the 
          architectural shell progressed through 1903.&nbsp;&nbsp; By January 
          1904, the house was still not roofed in, but White was already 
          planning the interiors.&quot;</font></p>
          <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
          <font face="Arial">&quot;The public spaces on the ground floor were 
          unusual, both architecturally and decoratively The dome over the 
          entrance hall and the main staircase&nbsp; was constructed by the New 
          York firm of Raphael Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company which used a laminated vaulting 
          system.&nbsp; The layered tile vaults, � allowed for extremely thin, 
          shallow vaults of great strength. The technology dated back to ancient 
          times and had been used in many large-scale public buildings, such as 
          Grand Central Terminal in New York City but it was relatively unusual 
          in a domestic setting.&nbsp; White utilized a half-arch support for 
          the main stair; and, more notably a broad shallow dome for the 
          entrance hail. Supported by a circle of paired marble columns, the 
          tile courses of the dome were ornamented with a trompe-l'oeil trellis 
          painted by James Wall Finn � a muralist of note in the first years of 
          the century.&quot; </font></p>
          <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
          <font face="Arial" size="2">&#9650;&nbsp; Quoted material taken from Jenil 
          Sandberg article in Magazine Antiques, October 2002</font></p>
          <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in" align="center">
          <b><font face="Arial">The Venetian Room</font></b></p>
          <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
          &nbsp;</p>
          <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
          <font face="Arial"><a href="blowups/blowup_venetian_room.htm">
          <img border="0" src="images/petite/venitian_room_717.jpg" align="left" width="200" height="193" hspace="10" vspace="3"></a>Resplendent with mirrors and gilt, the Venetian 
          room is one of architect Stanford White's masterpieces and one of his 
          very last creations. Now returned to its original location and 
          meticulously restored, it once again magnificently conveys the 
          ambiance of the Gilded Age.</font></p>
          <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
          <font face="Arial">The Venetian room was created as the reception room 
          in the townhouse at 972 Fifth Avenue that was a wedding gift from 
          Oliver Payne, a financier and industrialist, for his nephew Payne 
          Whitney and Helen Hay. Visitors entered the shallow-domed hall through 
          massive wrought-iron doors. The Whitneys' guests were then ushered 
          into the reception room, which had an adjoining powder room, before 
          proceeding upstairs.</font></p>
          <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
          <font face="Arial">Oliver Payne commissioned America's best known 
          architect, Stanford White, to design the house. With five stories 
          above ground plus two under,&nbsp; it would have 22,000 square feet 
          of living and service space. White began work on the plans in 1902. 
          Construction took another five years, and during that time White 
          repeatedly refined his ideas for the reception room. White's final 
          drawings show the room almost exactly as it appears today, with 
          neoclassical ornaments surrounding large mirrored panels, picture 
          frames with putti, a lattice cove with porcelain flowers, and a 
          parquet floor. Construction of the reception room began in April 1906 
          and was completed in December. White had approved the final details 
          shortly before his death in June 1906. The only known alteration 
          occurred in 1941, when the damaged figurative ceiling painting was 
          replaced.</font></p>
          <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
          <font face="Arial">Helen Hay Whitney called this space the Venetian 
          room. After she died in 1944, her son, John Hay Whitney, followed her 
          wishes to have the room preserved, so it was removed before the house 
          was sold in 1949. The French government acquired the building in 1952. 
          The Venetian room remained in storage until 1997, when Mrs. John Hay 
          Whitney donated the room to the French-American Foundation and 
          provided the financial support for its restoration.</font></p>
          <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
          <font face="Arial" size="2">&#9650;&nbsp; Preceding text developed by Diana 
          S Waite.&nbsp; Photo from&nbsp; frenchculture.org/art/972/venetian/</font></td>
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        <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
        <font face="Arial">Payne and Helen Whitney and their children John and 
        Joan are listed in the 1920 census as living at 972 Fifth Avenue.&nbsp; 
        Also listed with them are thirteen servants.&nbsp; However, these 
        servants may also have serviced the Thomasville estate in Georgia and 
        more probably the Greentree estate in Manhasset NY.&nbsp;&nbsp; The 1930 
        census omits 972 Fifth Avenue, but lists Helen Whitney and her son John 
        living at the Manhasset site together with 21 servants.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
        The 1920 census listing for Payne Whitney is preceded directly by a 
        listing for James D Duke, his wife Natalie and daughter Doris living 
        around the corner at 78th Street.&nbsp; While I know of no connection 
        between Payne and Duke, it is common knowledge that Oliver Hazard Payne 
        arranged the financing for James Duke to buy out his North Carolina 
        competitors and organize the American Tobacco Company.&nbsp; Fifth 
        Avenue between the 60s and 70s streets became the place to be for those 
        of the gilded age.&nbsp; </font></td>
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     	<font face="Arial" colspan="4">
        <p align="center"><font face="Arial"><b>Saint <a name="Jean">Jean</a> 
        Baptist R. C. Church<br>
        </b>76th Street and Lexington<br>
        click on any picture to see enlargement</font></td>
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     	<td width="34%" bgcolor = "#66FFFF" face="Arial">
        <a href="blowups/blowup_sjb_front_view.htm">
        <img border="0" src="images/petite/nyc-10feb-sjb_church_exterior_717.jpg" width="280" height="210"></a></td>
     	<td width="66%" bgcolor = "#66FFFF" face="Arial" colspan="3">
        <font face="Arial">The church of St. Jean Baptist is connected to Esopus 
        in at least three ways:&nbsp; the vaulting work was done by Guastavino 
        Fireproof Construction Company, we we believe was the subcontractor for 
        the grand staircase ceilings of the large rooms in the Esopus Mansion;&nbsp; 
        the principal donor was Thomas Fortune Ryan, who partnered in several 
        ventures with William Clifford Whitney and August Belmont;&nbsp; and&nbsp; 
        the Marist Brothers taught from 1892 until 1956 at Saint Jean's and 
        later at Saint Ann's Academy, 
        directly across the street from this church.</font><p align="center">
        <font face="Arial" size="2">photo at left and both photos below by 
        Richard&nbsp; Foy&nbsp; 10 February 2004</font></td>
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     	<td width="37%" bgcolor = "#66FFFF" face="Arial" colspan="2">
        <a href="blowups/blowup_sjb_interior.htm">
        <img border="0" src="images/petite/nyc-10feb-sjb_dome_interior_717.jpg" width="260" height="345"></a></td>
     	<td width="34%" bgcolor = "#66FFFF" face="Arial">
        <p align="left"><font face="Arial">&lt;&lt;===&nbsp; The interior of St. 
        Jean's is a fine example of the work done by Guastavino Construction, 
        who specialized in vaulting and domes.</font></p>
        <p align="right"><font face="Arial">The twin towers rise one hundred and 
        fifty feet from the facade.&nbsp; The central dome soars one hundred and 
        seventy feet above the floor level of the church. ===&gt;&gt;</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial" size="2">&lt;&lt;=nyc-10feb sjb_dome </font></p>
        <p align="right"><font face="Arial" size="2">nyc_10feb_sjb_towers==&gt;&gt;</font></td>
     	<td width="29%" bgcolor = "#66FFFF" face="Arial">
        <a href="blowups/blowup_sjb_towers.htm">
        <img border="0" src="images/petite/nyc-10feb-sjb_towers_717.jpg" width="260" height="379"></a></td>
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        <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
        <font face="Arial">�glise Saint Jean Baptiste was founded in 1882 as a 
        national parish for the French Canadian population of New York City's 
        Yorkville area. (Usually Catholic parishes are assigned by geographic 
        territory; a national parish accepts persons of that nationality � in 
        this case French-Canadian or French-speaking � regardless of location 
        within the city.)&nbsp; &nbsp; It quickly became a spiritual center embracing 
        many nationalities, as it does today.&nbsp;The area was serviced by the 
        second avenue and third avenue elevated trains, and immigrants from many 
        nations located there.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Since 1900, the church has 
        been under the care of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, an 
        international religious order dedicated to the Eucharist, the central 
        sacrament of Catholic life and worship.</font></p>
        <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
        <font face="Arial">Invited by Father Tetreault, the first pastor,&nbsp; 
        the Marist Brothers opened the school for boys in 1892 with 75 boys.&nbsp; 
        &quot;Only 15 understood French; none were interested in learning it.&quot;&nbsp; 
        The Saint Ann's Academy opened in September 1894 with an unrecorded 
        enrollment of boys from the parish, plus 15 boarders.&nbsp; In addition 
        to the school, the Brothers were responsible for&nbsp; teaching CCD on 
        Sundays, the parish bazaar, the monthly novena to Saint Ann and 
        publication of the<i> Annals of Saint Ann's Shrine.&nbsp; </i>The 
        Brothers housing also serviced several elementary schools in the 
        neighborhood, as well as residence for many French Brothers&nbsp; who 
        left France starting in 1898 when the school system there was being 
        secularized.&nbsp; They stayed in New York City to learn English.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
        The overcrowding led Brother Z�phiriny, principal of Saint Ann's, to 
        seek other sites for the Brothers learning English.&nbsp; His search led 
        him to Esopus, where he viewed the property but decided to choose 
        property in Poughkeepsie instead because transportation to New York City 
        and Quebec was easier from Poughkeepsie.&nbsp;&nbsp; Another interesting 
        tidbit is that one of the teachers at Saint Ann's in the first decade of 
        the 20th century was Brother Edmond Alphonse, who became the first 
        treasurer of Marist Preparatory in 1942 and served as treasurer, 
        choirmaster, and organist there for many years.&nbsp;&nbsp; </font></p>
        <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
        <font face="Arial">The present church building opened in the spring of 
        1913.&nbsp; Its design, drawn up by Nicholas Serracino, won first prize 
        at the International Exhibition in Turin, Italy, in 1911.&nbsp; The 
        architectural style of the church is of Italian Renaissance classical 
        revival.&nbsp; A major restoration of the exterior and interior of the 
        church was completed in late November 1997.</font></p>
        <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
        <font face="Arial">Situated at the back of the church in the south wall 
        is the Shrine of Saint Anne, which evinces a devotion to the mother of 
        the Blessed Virgin Mary that began at Saint Jean's in 1892.&nbsp; &nbsp; When the present church was opened in 1913, the Brothers 
        took over the old church and converted it into a gymnasium, which served 
        the school until it relocated to Queens and took the name Archbishop 
        Molloy.&nbsp;&nbsp; Brother Z�phriny taught and lived at St. Ann's 
        Academy, and when he opened the Marist property in Poughkeepsie, New 
        York, he gave named it&nbsp; <i>Saint Anne's Hermitage</i>.&nbsp;&nbsp; I 
        received my high school diploma from Saint Anne's Hermitage.&nbsp; When 
        I taught at St. Ann's Academy in NYC (1950-1957) , my aunt Mary Foy Mullin told me 
        that she had attended services in the old church.&nbsp;&nbsp; She had 
        immigrated to New York from Ireland in 1908, and lived on the east side 
        in the 70s area.</font></p>
        <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
        <font face="Arial"><a name="Thomas Fortune Ryan">Thomas Fortune Ryan</a> 
        (1851 - 1928) born near Livingston, Virginia, the son of George Ryan, a 
        farmer, and his wife whose maiden name was Fortune.&nbsp; Orphaned at 
        14, he moved to Baltimore MD to seek work.&nbsp; He took a job as an 
        errand boy for John S. Barry, a dry good merchant, and worked for Barry 
        for four years, working hard and gaining several promotions.<br>
&nbsp;</font></p>
        <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
        <font face="Arial">
        <img border="0" src="images/petite/thomas%20fortune%20ryan_717.jpg" align="right" width="240" height="343" hspace="10" vspace="5" alt="Thomas Fortune Ryan donated the funds for St. Jean Baptist church">In 
        1872 Barry encouraged the young man to seek his fortune in New York City 
        by trying for a position on Wall Street, a breeding ground for many 
        self-made men.&nbsp; Within a year Ryan had worked for a brokerage firm 
        as a messenger, then a broker's assistant, and in 1873. with Barry's 
        backing, Ryan opened his own brokerage firm and also married Barry's 
        daughter, Ada.&nbsp; By 1874 the new firm of Lee, Ryan and Warren purchased a 
        seat on the New York Stock Exchange.</font></p>
        <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
        <font face="Arial">The 1880 census lists Ryan living in Hempstead, 
        Queens, with his wife Ada, and four sons listed as born in Virginia: 
        John, Thomas F, William and Allen; and three servants, all born in 
        Ireland</font></p>
        <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
        <font face="Arial">When streetcars were proposed for Manhattan in 1883, 
        Ryan organized a paper entity called New York Cable Railroad and bid 
        against entrepreneurs Jacob Sharp and William C Whitney (Oliver Payne's 
        brother-in-law) to gain control of a franchise for a line running along 
        Broadway between Union Square and the Battery.&nbsp; To get the 
        franchise, all three offered bribes, but Sharp's was the biggest.&nbsp; 
        Ryan, Whitney and Peter Wiedner then combined to wrest control from 
        Sharp.&nbsp; By 1900 the Metropolitan Streetcar Company controlled 
        nearly all the streetcar lines in New York City.</font></p>
        <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
        <font face="Arial">
        <a href="blowups/blowup_belmont.htm">
        <img border="0" src="images/petite/belmont_from_sickles_717.jpg" alt="August Belmont was the principal financier behind the NYC subway system" align="left" hspace="9" width="180" height="279"></a>By 1905, the Metropolitan found itself competing for 
        ridership with the New York's popular subway system, which had been 
        organized and financed by August Belmont.&nbsp; Ryan proposed a merger, 
        which Belmont eventually accepted.&nbsp; Ryan sensed the financing was 
        shaky, and by 1906 had withdrawn from the arrangement, but only after he 
        was $35 million richer.&nbsp; He had a substantial interest in American 
        Tobacco Company, and profited handsomely when that combination was 
        broken up by the government.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; His New York townhouse at 
        858 Fifth Avenue&nbsp; was on the same block as Oliver Payne's, but it 
        extended the entire block to Madison Avenue, including extensive 
        gardens.&nbsp;&nbsp; It was designed by Carr�re &amp; Hastings.</font><p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
        <font face="Arial">Ryan always loved the Virginia area where he was 
        born.&nbsp; In 1901 he purchased Oak Ridge, a farm which had been vacant 
        for twenty years.&nbsp; Thomas Fortune Ryan became the wealthiest 
        native-born Southerner of his generation with a net worth of over $130 
        million. His business interests embraced the Manhattan transit system, 
        the American Tobacco Company, banking, the Equitable Life Assurance, the 
        Thompson Sub-Machine Gun, railroads, Mexican rubber plantations and 
        diamond mines in the Belgian Congo.&nbsp;&nbsp; </font>
        <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
        <font face="Arial">In 1905 Ryan bought the controlling interest in the 
        Equitable Life Assurance Society, a deal that put him at loggerheads 
        with the financier E. H. Harriman, who had also sought to buy the stock.&nbsp; 
        Privately, Harriman complained that Ryan was ill suited to run the 
        company, a sentiment shared by other Wall Street scions of an older 
        moneyed class who looked down on the onetime Virginia country boy as 
        unscrupulous, without honor, and decidedly not a gentleman.&nbsp; No one 
        dared criticize him too openly, however, for Ryan was a powerful man 
        with powerful friends.</font><p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
        <font face="Arial">He extensively enlarged the original Oak Ridge&nbsp; 
        house into a fifty room Colonial Revival Mansion on four floors. 
        Although not definitely proven, Ryan's architectural firm was probably 
        the New York concern of Carr�re &amp; Hastings. Thomas Fortune Ryan used the 
        property both as a rural retreat and as a model farm employing as many 
        as 300 workers. A wide range of agricultural activities were pursued at 
        this time on Oak Ridge, including an elaborate dairy operation housed in 
        one of the largest stone dairy complexes in the United States.&nbsp; 
        Saddlebred and thoroughbred horses were maintained on the Estate and 
        entered in competitions and races from California to England.</font><p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
        <font face="Arial">Ryan's development of Oak Ridge is eerily similar to 
        Oliver Hazard Payne's development of the Esopus estate.&nbsp; Although 
        Payne died before completion of the horse barns west of route 9W, he 
        clearly intended a similar use for the Esopus property, but may not have 
        thought of horse racing but of horse shows.&nbsp; One local told me that 
        he wanted to run horse shows in Esopus itself.</font><p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
        <font face="Arial">Thomas Fortune Ryan had an international viewpoint.&nbsp; 
        His interest in the Belgian Congo stemmed from a request of King Leopold 
        of Belgium to organize a syndicate to develop the natural resources of 
        the Belgian Congo.&nbsp; Deciding that rubber production would not be 
        profitable, Ryan organized diamond-, gold- and copper-mining operations 
        in the Congo.&nbsp;&nbsp; Naturally, Ryan became the principal 
        stockholder...</font><p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
        <font face="Arial">Ryan also liked things French.&nbsp; He supported 
        French and Belgian art, including an extensive collection of Limoges 
        enameled porcelain.&nbsp; Ryan was an early patron of the French 
        sculptor Rodin. Wall paintings by the French-Canadian artist M. Suzor-Cote 
        adorn the Breakfast Room of the Oak Ridge Mansion.&nbsp;&nbsp; He also 
        tried to develop area near Montr�al called Mont Tremblant, which is now 
        a popular ski resort area and summer vacation spot.&nbsp;&nbsp; </font>
        <p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in">
        <font face="Arial">His gift of St. Jean Baptist church reflects his love 
        of things French, but also the church&nbsp; was close to his townhouse 
        on Fifth Avenue.&nbsp;&nbsp; During his lifetime and under terms of the 
        wills of Ryan and his first wife, the couple donated over $20 million to 
        Roman Catholic causes.&nbsp; <strong style="font-weight: 400">As a 
        generous Catholic philanthropist, Thomas Fortune Ryan endowed Sacred 
        Heart Cathedral in Richmond, Virginia and St. Jean Baptist in New York 
        City, as well as funding churches, schools, and hospitals throughout the 
        country</strong></font></td>
     </tr>
     <tr>
     	<td width="100%" bgcolor = "66FF99"
     	<font face="Arial" colspan="4"><font face="Arial">References: </font> </font>&nbsp;
        <font face="Arial">Payne Whitney biography adapted from The New England 
        Historical and Genealogical Register</font><p><font face="Arial">Jenil 
        Sandberg, &quot;Stanford White's house for Payne Whitney in New York City&quot;,
        <u>Magazine Antiques,</u> October 2002 available on the internet at&nbsp;
        <a href="http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m1026/4_162/92545136/p1/article.jhtml">
        http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m1026/4_162/92545136/p1/article.jhtml</a></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial">Social Security Death Index on the Internet and 
        various internet articles.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial">Diana S Waite,&nbsp; &quot;The Venetian Room&quot;&nbsp; at 
        <a href="http://www.frenchculture.org/art/972/venetian/">http://www.frenchculture.org/art/972/venetian/</a></font><p>
        <font face="Arial">Brochure on St. Jean Baptist church available in 
        church entrance.</font><p><font face="Arial">Article on Thomas Fortune 
        Ryan in Dictionary of National Biography.</font><p><font face="Arial">
        Internet site on Oak Ridge:&nbsp; 
        <a href="http://www.oakridgeestate.com/oakridgeestate/history2.htm">http://www.oakridgeestate.com/oakridgeestate/history2.htm</a></font><p>
        <font face="Arial">Leonard A. Voegtle, fms &quot;Go to the Land I Will Show 
        You � The Marist Brothers in the United States&quot;,<br>
        Volume I 1885-1911&nbsp; New France, New England, New York,&nbsp; Marist 
        Press,c1995.&nbsp;&nbsp; pp. 136-142 gives a fuller account of the 
        Marist Brothers at St. Jean Baptiste (1892-1934) and Saint Ann's 
        Academy(1894-1957)</font></td>
     </tr>
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     	<td width="100%" bgcolor = "66FF99"
     	<font face="Arial" colspan="4"><font face="Arial">Most recent revision: &nbsp;13 
        February 2004</font></font></td>
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