Inside Arthur Brisbane's Lost 30-Room Triplex at 1215 Fifth Avenue
Inside the lost 30-room triplex penthouse of Arthur Brisbane at 1215 Fifth Avenue
Three levels, two kitchens, and one 60-foot-long living room. I piece back together one of the grandest spreads in NYC history.
One of the most impressive penthouses in New York City history was found on the corner of 102nd and Fifth Avenue, though you’d never know it today.
Custom built, as so many of the prewar palaces were, for the developer—journalist, top Hearst employee, and real estate mogul Arthur Brisbane—the triplex boasted a glassed-in conservatory, seven fireplaces, 18 bathrooms, and a 60-foot-long, two-story living room with 15-foot-tall windows overlooking Central Park.
But unlike the legendary (and now lost) living room of Preston Pope Satterwhite, memorialized in the uniquely decorative arched windows of 960 Fifth Avenue, there’s no trace of Brisbane’s remarkable residence on the facade of 1215 Fifth Avenue, known as Brisbane House. Gazing up to the top three floors reveals nothing but typical sash windows, the product of midcentury alterations after the apartment failed to find a new tenant upon the untimely passing of the grand Brisbane.
For reasons that we’ll get into, no interior photos seemingly have survived, and there’s only one clipped archival photo of 1215 Fifth Avenue showing the impressive windows that once marked Brisbane’s custom residence. Even more intriguing, a full floorplan doesn’t seem to exist. Never one to back down from a challenge, I’ve decided to piece it back together.
Who was Arthur Brisbane?
By the time Arthur Brisbane died from a heart attack in 1936, he had earned the reputation as one of the most prolific, widely read, and highest paid newspaper editors in history.
A confidant of William Randolph Hearst, he was hired in 1897 to edit The New York Journal, but penned his legacy through his column “Today,” which at its peak circulated around 20,000,000 readers. He was known for his simple yet impactful prose that ushered in the punch modern headline. At his death, it was reported that his salary was $260,000, or $6.2 million today.
Aside from his journalistic pursuits, he also dabbled in real estate development, building Ritz Tower, the (original) Ziegfeld Theater, and the Warwick Hotel, amongst other projects, one of which being the apartment house at 1215 Fifth Avenue that he would call home.