Sunday, December 25, 2011

The Straight Residence

The Willard D. Straight and Dorothy Whitney Straight residence designed by Delano & Aldrich c. 1915 at 1130 Fifth Avenue at the corner of East 94th Street in New York City. Straight died in 1918 shortly after the house was finished and in 1928 the home was sold to Harrison Williams. After subsequently being the headquarters for the Audubon Society and then the International Center of Photography, the residence has since returned to function as a single family house. Click HERE for Christopher Gray's Streetscapes article on the Straight residence. Click HERE to see the house on google street view.





Photos from Architecture, 1920.

3 comments:

floorplan_king said...

I once saw this house in an article in Architectural Digest on the architects Delano&Aldrich. I had been searching ever since for floorplans. Thank you so much!

archibuff said...

Unless I am reading the floor plans incorrectly, it seems very unique to have a few of the major public rooms like the dining room and reception room located on the ground floor/entry level. I always thought it was much more common to enter into a grand entry hall and walk up one level to the main rooms if the homes entrance was at street level. That being the case, this is still an elegant home, finely detailed and kudos to the current owners to converting it back into a single family residence.

The Down East Dilettante said...

Archibuff, the simple answer to your question is 'No'. Though there are no hard and fast rules, one can definitely break town house floor plans into half a dozen types, and most of the larger ones had a full array of reception rooms at street level.

And good golly, how I've always loved this house. I understand the interiors were completely gutted. I hope my understanding is wrong.