8. Robb House, 23 Park Avenue
This current co-op building was once the private residence of James Hampden Robb, a former New York Senator and Commissioner of the Parks Department. The Robb house is one of the earliest Renaissance Revival styled townhouses White designed. The facade boasts Roman iron-spot brick and a base of brownstone with tan
brick and terra-cotta ornaments. Architectural critic Russell Sturgis described the now landmarked the house as “the most dignified structure in all that quarter of the town, not a palace, but the fit dwelling house for a first-rate citizen.”
After serving as the Robbs’ residence, the Murray Hill building was acquired in 1923 by the Advertising Club which used is as its headquarters until 1977.