15. Harry F. Sinclair House, 2 East 79th Street
Completed in 1899, The Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion is a French Gothic stunner on the south side of 79th Street and 5th Avenue. C.P.H. Gilbert was commissioned to design the home for banker Isaac D. Fletcher. When Fletcher died, he bequeathed the home and all of his art inside to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1918, it was purchased by oil tycoon Harry F. Sinclair.
In 1930, the home switched hands again. This time, it was sold to August Van Horne Stuyvesant Jr., a descendant of Peter Stuyvesant. After Stuyvesant Jr.’s death, the mansion was converted for the purpose its serves today, as the Ukrainian Institute of America. This non-profit organization, founded in 1948 by inventor, industrialist, and philanthropist William Dzus, is “dedicated to promoting the art, music and literature of Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora.” You can visit the mansion to see an art exhibition, and while you’re there, see the stunningly restored 19th-century rooms.