Inside an Abandoned NYC Gilded-Age Mansion | Landmarked Ep 1

Everything's been kept original here. And with that, it is a fixer-upper. It's an interesting story. So I first got the idea for this brand new series Landmarked last October. I was in Normandy, France, and I was filming a chateau that was built in 1651. And upon arriving to the chateau, it was a feeling deep down in my soul where I looked at the chateau and I looked at the craftsmanship and the detail and the pure planning that went into building this place. Mind you, back in 1651, and I thought to myself, I don't think people could build like this anymore. And if they can, why don't we build like this anymore? And I understand that architectural styles, they come and go with the times. But upon returning back to New York City from France, I couldn't help but notice what appears to have been such a sharp, dramatic shift from buildings like this that uplift and inspire yet are functional, buildings that make you stop and stare, to buildings like this, which are what I can only describe as being brutalist and frankly soul-sucking. It was the seemingly uncalled-for demolition of the stunning old New York City Penn Station that began the conservation and landmarking of these old-world structures. And that's exactly what this series is, a raw walkthrough of old-world buildings that I enjoy and hopefully you enjoy as well. So the architects who designed the house were about to tour design this behind me. This is called University Club, and essentially it's like a private members club of some sort. And that's technically what could happen to the mansion we're about to tour. More than likely than not, it will because it's really large to be a private residence. So this townhouse was built in 1896 for James J. Goodwin, who was the cousin of J.P. Morgan, Mr. Federal Reserve. That's his house here. It's located, again, just right off of Fifth Avenue. Unique fact is it's 100 feet deep, the house, and it's 50 feet wide. So it is a double width. Traditionally, this would have been two townhouses, but because it was built in 1896, they have two lots here, one massive townhouse. The home was designed by McKim, Mead, and White, who are like the rock star architects from back in the gilded era. As far as the exterior architecture, we have Neo-Georgian limestone and New York City red brick. These columns have never been treated, and you can tell. Look at the erosion here on the columns, just showing the age of the house. And this is what I was talking about. One sec. There we go. I want to also point out this house, nothing has been done to it. Typically, whenever I see an old world building that has been renovated, it's like that millennial gray, the millennial marble, and everything's been kept original here. And with that, it is a fixer-upper. So here you have the New York landmark stamp of approval right here. And here's a bit more of the facts about the history of exactly when it was landmarked, which was in 1981. You don't find these homes in New York very often. This is, I would imagine, one of the remaining ones that hasn't been fully renovated and redone. Shall we? Even you walk into the lobby, and there's marble everywhere. And the thing about this house that I saw from the pictures, which I'm seeing now for the first time, is all of the millwork. Look at the paneling on the walls, look at the crown molding with those grooves. And again, you even have more of those ionic columns built in with the wood here. And this, oh my gosh, look at this staircase. Dude, look at this. Look how beautiful. There's a skylight at the top of this open staircase to let in light. And just look at the proportions of the staircase here. The reason why I wanted to tour this as well, so this house isn't staged, but the finishes and the details alone are so well done. So this right here is what they would call a reception room. The mansion has 12 fireplaces. And just look at the details of the fireplace. Again, more of the columns here, even on the fireplace. This is all marble. And just even look at the details. Like, look at the crown molding around the light here. These are all the original floor plans, hand-drawn of when this house was built in 1896. And these are actually quite expensive. Because McKim, Mead & White, they are like the premier architect firm from what would be the Gilded Age, or even the, it was called the City Beautiful Movement, when American cities really wanted to emulate European cities. So it was very much Beaux Arts, which is extravagant design and combining all the classical architectural styles into this one soup of what we're about to see now. And these are original plans. This is actually pretty cool. So this is the front door we came in. Basically, this is two townhouses, like I mentioned, combined into one. So this is the second door here. And this would be another greeting room. Again, you have another fireplace on the other side. The reason why these kinds of homes speak to me so much is because of how ornate they are. The rooms really speak to the soul, where nowadays it's all bland and kind of monotone. And one has to wonder why that is. Why don't we build like this anymore? And if you are an architect, which I'm not, I'm just a fan. I want you to comment down below why that is. Why don't we build like this anymore? Look at the woodwork here. Just take a moment and actually look at the details of these carvings. So this is the secondary staircase. I would argue just as impressive as the first one, not as wide for sure. Look at the wallpaper. I'm guessing this would be another, like they said, a greeting room. There's three greeting rooms on the first floor, which is kind of interesting. Whereas the whole first floor of the mansion is just for greeting your guests when they arrive. All right, we do have an elevator. I'm actually curious if this works. I don't think it does. No. And I don't even want to, would you want to even get in there if it wouldn't work? Check this out. Look at the stained glass here. That is, I believe, actually we have to go on the other side cause we're on the back. This is the original crest of New York. Actually, no, were we on the right side? No, this is actually, ah, okay. It's funny. We could actually see it better on the other side cause the light was shining through, but this is one of the original seals of New York city. Stained in this glass here. And I wonder, this is most likely someone's family crest. We've got three lions on there. And then behind Alex, there's, there's another crest, but it actually looks like it's been faded out totally. I can't even see what that is. In older buildings, especially landmark buildings, we find lots of symbolism in the sculptures, in the stained glass. There's lots of references to Greek gods, Roman gods. Hermes is typically everywhere. He's the big statue above grand central station. So I wanted to take a second and thank the sponsor of this episode, Airlo. I have a bit of a cold right now, so don't mind the voice, but filming these home tours has taken me around the world. A local just invited us into their home. Whoa. And if you're a traveler like me, then you know the importance of needing a working phone while on the go. Airlo is a convenient eSIM technology provider that allows you to have data in over 200 countries and regions. They're trusted by more than 10 million travelers worldwide. Airlo is the world's first eSIM store that gives you access to digital SIM cards. I used it on my recent trip to Greenland and it has been super helpful to stay connected in places like Greenland where a cell phone service is basically non-existent. If you click the link down below and use my code ERICVAN3, you'll get $3 off your next eSIM purchase. It just takes a few minutes to set up and activate. And there you go. No more having to worry about roaming costs or getting local SIM cards like back in the day. And by using Airlo, I can easily keep up with work, find great restaurants and new places. Most importantly, stay in touch with my family and loved ones. And the best part is you get to keep your original phone number. So go ahead and click the link down below and use my code ERICVAN3 for $3 off your first eSIM purchase. With that, let's get back to this mansion tour. All right, shall we head up to the second floor? I love in the older houses how the staircases were very much... I mean, it's the first thing you see when you come in the home and it is the statement piece of this house. Like look at this wood, mahogany, the creaks in the stairs. This is velvet wallpaper. And again, I'm pretty certain almost everything we're about to see has never been touched. Referencing the columns, these are now Corinthian columns and you can see they are the most ornate out of all the columns. On the pure backs of the house, like the proportions, the ceiling heights are at least I'd say 14 to 15 feet in here. This I'm guessing is the formal dining room. Got two crystal chandeliers overhead. Look at this built-in fireplace. The gilded age is so interesting because it's all about the details. It's all about the craftsmanship, like the person who carved this wood, the person who made this mirror. And even look at the ceilings, at the crown molding and the plaster on the ceilings. They say it for a very good reason. It's cliche, but they don't build like they used to back in the day. And even here, I don't think these open up, but these are Juliet balconies. I'm definitely not going to open them up because I feel like they might break. I'm just going to keep on exploring. What is this room? We can't get the lights on in this room for some reason, but can you see it on the camera clear enough? This is all gold leafing by hand. Look at the design on the ceiling. It's almost like the flower of life. And again, the house is 24,000 square feet, which is big for a mansion, like a California mansion. But in New York, this is pretty close to one of the largest living spaces that you would have in the city. Just another room with gigantic proportions, fireplaces in every single room here. And I want to also mention every fireplace in the main rooms has a mirror above the fireplace, which is kind of unique. All right, so now we're just back to that. So this is the crazy part. This is like the secondary stairwell. This is like what would probably be the staff stairwell, the hidden stairwell. And it's still ornate. It's still gorgeous. And it's something that would be most likely hidden when this home was built. Actually, I'm curious what's back here. Nothing. Wow, the door's been painted shut. That's kind of weird. I wonder what's actually behind here. Damn. And that's one of the things about these older homes is the materials are, no, it's blocked off with a cord. Do you see that? We can do this side. But like I was saying, I want to feel the weight of this door and the stickiness of it. Nope, it's going to break. I'm not going to, okay. Noted, the house is very, very much never been touched. So we're not going to try to mess with the doors. It's like a labyrinth. Oh, wow. So this is the other side of the painted door room. And it's a shame because we can't get any of the lights on in here. Like that's how old this, this is the closest thing to, what's the word I'm looking for? Like is an as is original, but yeah, this is the other side. Oh, so this has been modernized. Like you can clearly tell the difference from that to the rest of the house. I guess we'll go back to the other way. I feel like in general, this side of the house, maybe a little less impressive than the main, main side. I never really understood it until really researching into why buildings were landmarked. The worst thing that would happen would be someone would come in here and rip everything out. The absolute worst thing would be someone would come in here and all of these details, someone would just rip out because there's not many craftsmen that can do work like this anymore. So what kind of people would buy this? Someone who has an appreciation for the old world, someone who is an old soul. That's who I hope would buy this because it's $50 million. That's a ton of money. So most likely they're a billionaire. I hope it's not, how do I even say this? Cause I get emotional about it. Cause I hope it's not someone who comes in here and tears it all out because it's just, it's too beautiful to be, to be tampered with. Not too much in there, but even just look at the frames of the doors with the moldings around the doors. There isn't a single inch that doesn't have ornamentation, which a lot of people think is gaudy. And it's so interesting because I used to think that as well. When I would see an old house, I'd go, that's an old house. It's gaudy. But now I see it. And again, it's like, I think we should text the agent and be like, Hey man, the lights aren't working. Half the lights in the house don't work, which I love because that even just shows how real it is. This room I'm guessing would be the study or the library. And it's a shame that the lights are off because this right here, we'll try to get as much light as we can. This is an original safe. I mean, even just the heft of this door, this is a couple of hundred pounds here, like an actual legitimate safe, which was most likely used to store silver. Because back in the day, this is actually a really fun fact. This house was built before the federal reserve was even a thing, which means there was no taxes. So the U S we basically paid for things that taxes not paid for by tariffs on other countries who wanted to trade with us. And it was very common to have safes like this in your mansions. So this is pretty incredible that this is even here. And this again is another thing like, I mean, I don't think you could even remove this. If you tried, this is a legitimate 1890 safe and just look at the fire. This is the most beautiful out of all the fireplaces we've seen so far. I mean, just look how tall it is. Like with shoes, I'm like six and a half feet tall. This is a substantial fireplace here. You see that it's a little, uh, solarium off of the library here. Look at the perspective down the certain hallways and how the columns are hit with the light over top. Even going up a staircase like this, you just, you feel a regal and elegant in it. So now we're on the third floor, which now we're seeing some of the changes that have been made in the house. Look at the light in this room and even wallpaper. I think nowadays people think of wallpaper. I mean, a lot of wallpaper can be tacky, but this wallpaper, this kind of like light baby blue wallpaper, every room again, it has the crown molding on the trims and we are facing South. So, you know, back before those last buildings were there, you would probably get sunlight the entire day. So it's summer right now. The sun's pretty high, but in the winter, I'm guessing those would block out the sun pretty, pretty heavily. But on a day like today, we're getting tons of sun. I'm guessing this would probably be maybe the owner's room. I'm not quite sure. Again, this is my first time seeing this house and below our feet, you can see they stripped whatever carpets were in here. So this is just bones. Should we try to get some of these on? There we go. There's lights. Okay. So there's lights on the third floor. So we will do a quick little look just to see, cause I'm so curious. Let me ask you something and hopefully the audio can pick you up. Do you feel any energy in the house? Like any kind of just... Like I can feel that it's been a while since someone's been here. Right? It needs to be brought to life a little bit. And it feels like there was once a vibrant life in here, right? It feels just by how it was designed, you can tell that it was vibrant. And it is a bit sad to see it in a state like this, but again, it's a huge opportunity for someone who loves history to come in here and really make it a special home. So the original owner, again, built in 1896 for James J. Goodwin, the cousin of JP Morgan. The most recent use of this building served as the headquarters for the U.S. Trust Company. I don't even know what that is. Do you? Let me look that up really quick. You do get the feeling like it is a home, but yet there's something like a, an eighties water fountain where it's like, okay. Oh, okay. That's very strange. So I searched U.S. Trust Company and it shows up as the Bank of America Private Bank, formerly U.S. Trust founded in 1853. That's really strange, right? That's strange. So it's not even a thing anymore. It turned into a private bank and it was built by the most famous banker in American history, JP Morgan or his cousins. That's, that's why these buildings, the history and the stories. And, you know, I was asking Alex, do you feel anything? And, uh, it's almost like a mystery history because again, history is his story and it's told by those who win. So I like to look at it from an open mind and nothing in here. Should we see if this one works? Nah. Second elevator. Yeah, no go. I still want to get in there. Oh man. Okay. So now we can get a closeup look at that stained glass skylight at the top and even just look how ornate that glasswork is. The details are what gets me in these homes. Oh, see what I mean? Someone's got to buy this soon. It's it's, it needs some love for sure. It needs some love, but the bones are here. I contacted Douglas Ellman who the agents are listing this and they've really sourced me a lot of the homes that I tour on my channel. And I specifically said old world landmark. They sent me this and I'm pleasantly surprised at how original this is. Like, look at this room. Again, more wallpaper, but not the kind of wallpaper from the sixties ornate wallpaper, some kind of pink marble on the fireplace there. Millwork everywhere. The, the millwork is in my opinion, what sticks out the most in this place. And then again, even on the lights, just look at the details here. Oh man. Wow. Pretty crazy to see. Then this is where I said, like, I kind of get emotional, not kind of, I do. I get emotional when I see buildings like this that are, you know, like you mentioned, they need some love. Okay. I didn't expect to see this. I mentioned, I got this idea after filming that Chateau and I really didn't. I didn't really appreciate maybe how it was even built. And then going back afterward and seeing it even here, finding that it was a US trust company, that's not even a company anymore. Like that just, my mind is open. Like, okay, what's, I would love to go back in time. I think that's what I think of when I see these old buildings. I would love to just go back in time and take a peek. Just another bedroom here. And again, you can see, so it was not a house in its last use. You know, you wouldn't have an exit sign in your house. So it was for a company, which is strange. Why would a bank have a, you know, why would their headquarters be an old building like this? Like, here's another example of like, that's clearly from the eighties and that's clearly from 1890s. Wow. Even look at this, look at this arch here, just for no reason, having a beautiful archway on the door. And I really don't think there's much, no, this is all flashlight mode again, another water fountain. So this was clearly someone's office. You kind of get that corporate feeling back here. Not too much back here. Just an alleyway, pretty typical. Yeah. Let's head up to the roof now and see if we can actually get up there. Closet. Oh, wait, wait, wait. There's still, what is this for? Is this the same building? No, this feels like when we walked into it. I mean, yeah, I'm pretty sure we're in a different building, which is kind of wild. Hello? Wow. We're truly in that. Well, didn't the agent say someone broke in? Comment below if you think there's someone in here right now. Cause I wouldn't be surprised. Hello? Wow. We're definitely still in the building. This is a prime example of, you can tell that it's the original building, but just even these like this, this is all new. I would love to see what this would have looked like. Should we go out there? Suits look great, but not too much for being a limber. All right, here we go. This is a part of the building. It didn't look like it. We're now on the roof and you can even see here, this is copper, which has been oxidized and has turned green. So back in the day, this would have been a beautiful shimmer in copper. We've got a limestone railing. You have a view of all those buildings I talked about that I don't really like. Not that I don't like, but the brutalist modern buildings. That's 111 West 57th. And that building is the most viewed home tour I ever had. And I'll say this of all the modern ones, that one was built over the original Steinway hall. And I really think they, they tried their best to keep it with the, the Art Deco heritage. Definitely worth going out there. Not too much in here. I'm walking so precariously because I feel like the floor is, uh, you know, it might kind of, so this, again, this is the staff stairwell again, gorgeous, definitely a little smaller and not a double width here. And I would, I would guess that these bedrooms are for the staff that would run this place. Cause that's the thing about these old homes. And that is one of the reasons why, you know, to kind of play devil's advocate to my argument of why don't they build like this? And I think it's because of the maintenance and it took a lot of people to run a place like this because of how big they were. Nothing over there. This is strange though, huh? It felt like we were leaving the building. It felt like we, uh, I'm not even going there. I'm going to go in there. Another elevator. I don't think there's much else to really, uh, this is so bizarre. That looks like an exit door or something. Yeah. What do we look? Why not? Yo. Yeah. Who's that? John, you're calling me. That's the top of the skylight. We're coming down. Didn't we just say, I hope there's no one in here, John. We hear you now. What's up? We're filming a video. Are the lights not working? No, it's working. Is he with you guys? It's just the two of us. There shouldn't be anyone else in here. Just the two of us and the agent Raul. He left. There's no point in him sitting around while we do this. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Although I'll have a downstairs on the, Oh, sweet. You know what? You know what's funny, Raul was saying someone broke in here. We hear the voice and we're like, okay. Okay. Okay. Good to know. Ah, is there anything else up there? That's it. How long have you been in the super here? Yeah. Just a few years. Two years. My owners own this. Today it's a mechanical room. If you want to go see it. Is it worth seeing? I'm not sure. We were here when I checked it. Oh, wow. Holy crap. This is actually pretty sweet. So we were just out there on the terrace and this is inside of the roof. All right. Yeah. We're all set. Yeah. No, we were up on the top floor filming and he kind of just snuck up on us. We didn't know who he was. It's going well. It's a beautiful building. I know. I can't wait for you guys to get us some press. Thank you for the opportunity. All right. Thank you. Bye-bye. So that's a little behind the scenes of making these tours is another thing in this video. I could be as long as we want just because I like it being a bit more raw. There's so many people involved in these tours, right? You have myself, Cameron crew, the agent, the marketing person at the brokerage. So there's like five people that make this one thing happen. And you just saw a little bit of that. There's the super involved. There's the owners. So sometimes there's like six or seven people involved. I, I, I'll see. I was like, I wasn't sure. Cause he literally said, Oh, did you get that on camera too? Where he's like, someone had broken here. After the whole super situation, the lights are now on. He had to turn on the one switch, but even now we can see how it looks lit up and look at this. This is another one of what I'm guessing is a replication of the torch on the statue of Liberty here. Most definitely. That's what that is from the same time period. And now we can really just kind of get a better look at it with the lights on, but we're actually going to go down now and show some of the rooms, just taking some B roll shots of what it looks like with the lights on that kind of wave design. That's sweet. Wow. With the lights on, it definitely makes a difference at the other end of this gallery for yay off of the stairwell. Okay. Now we can actually properly see this with the lights on. Look at this room. So freaking beautiful. And now you can see this. Look at that. It has four cross bars to lock it. Like when I see this, I just think one, someone did this by hand to how much time did it take three? How many years did they practice their craft of gold leafing to get to this level where it looks like this? It's stunning. Oh, I won't even lie. I was so excited to see the house that we didn't even wait for them to turn the lights up before we go down. I will know that back when these homes were built, the kitchen was not something you showed off. The kitchen was typically down out of sight, out of mind. So I'm guessing it would be down here. And typically it would be like an English kitchen where there would be some kind of a light well to come in. This I'm guessing was the kitchen just because there's a dumbwaiter here. Dumbwaiter. And you can see all the hookups. Like there's the gas line there. When I come in a place like this, I think I look up and I see a skyscraper going up there. Like what did this look like back in the day when the buildings didn't go up, you know, 50 stories? So that is the tour of the house. And I'm very curious. I want to know, what do you think of this series? And do you want to see more episodes like this? If so, comment down below which buildings specifically in New York you want me to tour. With that, I hope you're well watching this and I'll see you in the next one.