New York Society Library

THE JOHN S. ROGERS HOUSE
A Brief Literature Search

NYSL: Entrance Hall, looking west, 1919. The Architectural Review

Given here are the results of a limited literature search on the John S. and Catherine Rogers house at 53 East 79th Street, designed in 1916 by Trowbridge & Livingston and purchased and remodeled in 1936-1937 as the fourth home of the New York Society Library.

The Rogers family lived at 29 West 57th Street and Tuxedo Park in 1916 when Mrs. Rogers, the former Catherine Dodge, took title to two old brownstones at 53 and 55 East 79th Street, which they demolished. The Rogers house was completed in 1918.

This survey, although not exhaustive, is designed to capture most articles in major architectural and decorating journals of the period. Bard Rogers Hamlen (10 Maxfield Street, West Roxbury, MA, 02132), a grandchild of John and Catherine Rogers, kindly checked her holdings of family material, and reports that she has family photographs, plus family diaries, a wedding service booklet, some correspondance and a silver nursery tea set.

What is keenly missed in this report is an account from an architectural or library journal about the scope, concept and assumptions of the 1936-1937 renovation, but that may turn up in a more dedicated search.

Christopher Gray
October 9, 1998

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • The Architectural Review, February 1919: plates (no text)
      XXII: facade
      XXIII: entry hall (intact) and 2nd floor stairhall landing (intact - outside member's room - note leaded glass ceiling)
      XXXIV: entry hall, looking west (intact)
      XXV: drawing room (demolished - read of 2nd floor)
      XXVI: reception room (intact - reference room)
      XXVII: library (intact - members' room)
      XXVIII: dining room (demolished - rear of 1st floor)

  • Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920: 17 residents (10 staff)
  • Augusta Owen Patterson, American Homes of To-Day (1924) [excerpt: pages 172, 173; 2 plates]
  • New York State Census, 1925: 2 residents (both staff)
  • The New York Times, December 13, 1926: charity event at the house
  • The New York Times, October 19, 1935: obituary of John S. Rogers
  • The New York Times, April 6, 1935: Library buys 79th Street house
  • The New York Herald-Tribune, undated clippings at Museum of the City of New York, circa 1936
  • The New York Times, June 20, 1937: Library moves to 79th Street
  • The New York Times, July 2, 1937: Library opens 79th Street building
  • The New York Times, January 21, 1958: obituary of Catherine Rogers Loew

APPENDICIES:

  1. The Rogers House, 1918 (Museum of the City of New York)
  2. New York Society Library, 1940 (Municipal Archives)
  3. Photograph, John & Catherine Rogers on their honeymoon, about 1906 (Rogers family archives - courtesy of Bard Rogers Hamlen)

THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW
February 1919: plates (no text)

    XXII: facade
    XXIII: entry hall (intact) and 2nd floor stairhall landing
    (intact - outside member's room - note leaded glass ceiling)
    XXXIV: entry hall, looking west (intact)
    XXV: drawing room (demolished - read of 2nd floor)
    XXVI: reception room (intact - reference room)
    XXVII: library (intact - members' room)
    XXVIII: dining room (demolished - rear of 1st floor)

THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW
VOL. VII, No. 2
PLATE XXII

NYSL: Exterior

GENERAL VIEW OF EXTERIOR

RESIDENCE FOR JOHN S. ROGERS, ESQ.,
53 EAST 79TH STREET, NEW YORK

TROWBRIDGE & LIVINGSTON, ARCHITECTS

THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW
VOL. VIII, No. 2
PLATE XXIII

NYSL: Entrance Hall, Stairway

ENTRANCE HALL, STAIRWAY

RESIDENCE FOR JOHN S. ROGERS, ESQ.,
53 EAST 79TH STREET, NEW YORK

TROWBRIDGE & LIVINGSTON, ARCHITECTS

  NYSL: Stairway Landing

STAIRWAY LANDING

RESIDENCE FOR JOHN S. ROGERS, ESQ.,
53 EAST 79TH STREET, NEW YORK

TROWBRIDGE & LIVINGSTON, ARCHITECTS

THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW
VOL. VIII, No. 2
PLATE XXIV

NYSL: Entrance Hall

ENTRANCE HALL

RESIDENCE FOR JOHN S. ROGERS, ESQ.,
53 EAST 79TH STREET, NEW YORK

TROWBRIDGE & LIVINGSTON, ARCHITECTS

THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW
VOL. VIII, No. 2
PLATE XXV

DRAWING ROOM

RESIDENCE FOR JOHN S. ROGERS, ESQ.,
53 EAST 79TH STREET, NEW YORK

TROWBRIDGE & LIVINGSTON, ARCHITECTS

THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW
VOL. VIII, No. 2
PLATE XXVI

NYSL: Reception Room, 1919. The Architectural Review

RECEPTION ROOM

RESIDENCE FOR JOHN S. ROGERS, ESQ.,
53 EAST 79TH STREET, NEW YORK

TROWBRIDGE & LIVINGSTON, ARCHITECTS

THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW
VOL. VIII, No. 2
PLATE XXVII

NYSL: Library, 1919. The Architectural Review

LIBRARY

RESIDENCE FOR JOHN S. ROGERS, ESQ.,
53 EAST 79TH STREET, NEW YORK

TROWBRIDGE & LIVINGSTON, ARCHITECTS

THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW
VOL. VIII, No. 2
PLATE XXVIII

NYSL: Dining-Room Fireplace, 1919. The Architectural Review

DINING-ROOM FIREPLACE

RESIDENCE FOR JOHN S. ROGERS, ESQ.,
53 EAST 79TH STREET, NEW YORK

TROWBRIDGE & LIVINGSTON, ARCHITECTS

THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW
VOL. VIII, No. 2
PLATE XXVIII

NYSL: Dining-Room, 1919. The Architectural Review

DINING-ROOM

RESIDENCE FOR JOHN S. ROGERS, ESQ.,
53 EAST 79TH STREET, NEW YORK

TROWBRIDGE & LIVINGSTON, ARCHITECTS

Fourteenth Census of the United States
1920: 17 residents (10 staff)

Name Relation to head Sex/Race/Age Nativity Arrival year
(if not USA)		 Occupation
John S. Rogers head M W 43 New York
Catherine wife F W 41 New York
John S. Jr. son M W 12 New York
Frederick (?) son M W 10 New York
Catherine daughter F W 9/12 New York
Alfred Golley servant M W 28 England 1911 private servant
Mathilda Clark servant F W 43 Ireland 1894 service
Frances Lipp servant F W 23 Germany 1905 kitchen maid
Henriette Balscu servant F W 38 Switzerland 1906 governess
Bella Davidson servant F W 34 Scotland 1909 maid
Mary A. Jones servant F W 34 England 1907 nurse
Mary Judge servant F W 33 Ireland 1902 domestic
Nora Murphy servant F W 23 Ireland 1914 laundress
Aurora Mickelson servant F W 34 Finland 1915 cook
Fred Johnson servant M W 25 New York houseman

Augusta Owen Patterson
American Homes of To-Day (1924)
[excerpt: pages 172, 173; 2 plates]

The town house of Mr. and Mrs. John S. Rogers at 53 East 79th Street has another very fine library. This, as has been observed, is in the period of the Regency. It is very large, very graceful, very comfortable, with a grate fire to give that fitful light on the color of the books on a winter afternoon. The house has, according to the architects' own statement, been built around the furniture and tapestries, which are confined mainly to the drawing room which is not illustrated. The library is on the second floor, facing on Seventy-ninth Street. The walls here are in walnut, as in the Burden residence. A special feature is the rounded corner, shown in the illustration. The books are flush with the wall, the openings for them utilized for the introduction of delicate curves and light decoration. The dark wood of the walls is connected quite beautifully with the light cream of the ceiling by a cove, colored a deep ivory, with delicate beadings and corner ornamentation. The room is filled comfortably with furniture, all good, all suitable. Several of the chairs are of the Louis XV type in walnut, with needle point and tapestry seats and backs, the wood here and there revealing a glint of gold. The hangings are old blue and gold damask. The rugs are richly oriental, deepen ing in color and tone as they near the stone fireplace. Admirable as the details'of the furnishings are, it is, however, the room itself which represents the real, achievement. It is at once domestic, spacious, elegant, entirely right. It is a room well worth doing.

The dining room in the Rogers residence is composed of panels painted by the famous Jansen of Paris, the architects having supervised the moldings and other architectural details. Jansen also designed and painted much of the furniture. The tone of the room is the green which Corot brought to such a point of appreciation, the floral and landscape decoration introducing soft natural colors which do not interfere with its abstract beauty. The silk hangings keep the scale of the panels, touching a note a little higher on the keyboard of color, yet still a gentle, subdued note that is neither dull nor dead. The one tone rug more definitely touches on the gray in the Corot green. A small and compactly modeled marble mantel with rounded corners, in a very original design of dwarfed pillars, is an attractive decoration for a particularly charming room. The residence throughout represents this quality of charm and tone.


Photo. by Tebbs / TROWBRIDGE & LIVINGSTON , Architects

DINING ROOM IN THE TOWN HOUSE OF MR. AND MRS. ROGERS
This is composed of panels painted by Jansen of Paris, the architects having supervised the moldings and architectural details. Jansen also designed and painted much of the furniture. It is all cool and essentially polite. The theme is Corot green, with the sense of gray noted in the rug.

LIBRARY IN THE TOWN HOUSE OF MR. AND MRS. ROGERS
A very perfect redering of the French feeling in a New York house. This room is very large, very graceful, very comfortable. It derives from the Regency. The walls are in walnut, the rounded corners a special and delightful feature. The books are flush with the wall, the openings utilized for the introduction of delicate curves and light ornament. Note the fine corner decoration of the cove connecting the dark wood and the ceiling.

New York State Census
1925, 2 residents (both staff)
[transcribed, excerpted]

NAME Relation to head Sex/Race/Age Nativity Arrival year
(if not USA) 		Occupation
Owen Butter head W M 42 Ireland 1895 manager
Mary Butter wife W F 42 Ireland 1900 caretaker

The New York Times
December 13, 1926: charity event at the house

WEALTHY CHILDREN AID EAST SIDE POOR
Young Helpers' League Brings Christmas Gifts to be Distributed in Tenements.

The New York Times
October 19, 1935: obituary of John S. Rogers

JOHN S. ROGERS, 58, LAWYER HERE, DIES
Victim of Heart Attack After Long Illness - Ancestor Was Hamilton's Law Partner

The New York Times
April 6, 1935: Library buys 79th Street house

Old Library Purchases New Home in 79th St.

The New York Herald-Tribune
undated clipping at Museum of the City of New York, circa 1936

Rogers' House in 79th Street Sold to Library
New York Society to Make Alterations to Building to Fit New Purposes

The New York Times
June 20, 1937: Library moves to 79th Street

SOCIETY LIBRARY IN NEW QUARTERS
Institution Has Grown With City Since 1754, When It Had 650 Books - Now 150,000

The New York Times
July 2, 1937: Library opens 79th Street building

SOCIETY LIBRARY IN NEW HOME

The New York Times
January 21, 1958: obituary of Catherine Rogers Loew

MRS. E. VICTOR LOEW, LEADER IN CHARITIES...

APPENDICES:

  1. The Rogers House, 1918 (Museum of the City of New York)
  2. New York Society Library, 1940 (Municipal Archives)
  3. Photograph, John & Catherine Rogers on their honeymoon, about 1906
    (Rogers family archives - courtesy of Bard Rogers Hamlen)

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