17. The James F.D. Lanier House is among the neighborhood’s famous mansions
Though the DeLamar Mansion is perhaps the most famous in the neighborhood, there are a handful of other mansions in Murray Hill that still remain in good condition. The James F.D. Lanier House at 123 East 35th Street was built from 1901 to 1903 in the Beaux-Arts style. It was designed by Hoppin & Koen, both of whom worked in the office of McKim, Mead & White. The home was built for James F. D. Lanier, a Gilded Age banker, and his wife Harriet Bishop Lanier, whose father Heber R. Bishop was a philanthropist known for his jade collection. The home features an enclosed balcony with cast-iron railing, an ornate mansard roof, Ionic pilasters, and an entryway with classical sculptures. With nine bedrooms, seven bathrooms, and three half-bathrooms, the gorgeous home was put on the market earlier this year for a whopping $33 million.
Another Beaux-Arts building is the Civic Club, also known as the Estonian House. The four-story building on East 34th Street was originally built for the Civic Club in 1898–1899, which aimed to reduce poverty in the neighborhood. The Civic Club was short-lived, only in operation until the death of its founder F. Norton Goddard in 1905. The ornate structure was sold to The New York Estonian Educational Society in 1946, still housing some Estonian organizations including the New York Estonian School and the headquarters of the country’s largest Estonian-language newspaper, Vaba Eesti Sõna.