Marshall Orme Wilson House

New India House

The Marshall Orme Wilson House is a mansion located on 3 East 64th Street in the Upper East Side in New York City and is part of the Upper East Side Historic District, as designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1981.

History

Circa 1900, William Backhouse Astor, Jr. hired the architectural firm, Warren and Wetmore to design a private residence for his daughter for Caroline Schermerhorn Astor (aka Mrs. Marshall Orme Wilson). Construction was completed in 1903.

The house was in close proximity of other family residences. Mrs. Wilson’s mother Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor, “The Mrs. Astor of the 400” lived around the corner on the northeast corner of Fifth and 65th in a mansion designed by Richard Morris Hunt and their son, Orme Wilson, Jr. lived at 11 East 64th Street.

In 1950, it was bought by the Government of India and came to be known as New India House and in 1952 interior alterations occurred, designed by William Lescaze. The building is currently the seat of the Consulate General of India.

Carrie died on September 13, 1948, at the age of 87. Three months later, on December 12, the NY Times reported “The big town house of the late Mrs. Orme Wilson at 3 East 64th Street has been purchased by the Government of India as headquarters for its diplomatic representatives in New York.”

Architecture

The Beaux Arts street facade is constructed of Indiana Limestone with a mansard roof of blue slate. The design is in the manner of Percier and Fontaine, who revived the French Renaissance style of Hardouin Mansart. The structure is five-stories tall, sixty-five feet wide consisting of five bays. One of the most engaging features of the house is the circular atrium. Rustication, carving and a balcony emphasize the central segmental-arch entrance.

The first floor has square-headed windows with splayed keystones; cornice between first and second floors; stone balcony on monumental brackets in front of central window of second floor; round-arched second floor windows set within concave round-arched recesses with unusual foliate keystones; square-headed windows of third floor have keystones with smooth enframement and stylized sill corbels; stone band at impost level; modillioned roof cornice with handsome balustrades; two-story slate mansard roof pierced by segmental dormers above which are bulls-eye dormers.

Further reading

Coordinates: 40°46′02″N 73°58′12″W / 40.76722°N 73.97000°W / 40.76722; -73.97000

External links


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