by Mariah Fredericks
Mariah Fredericks’s new novel, The Wharton Plot, follows renowned novelist Edith Wharton through the twilight years of the Gilded Age in New York as she tracks a killer. Many of the Gilded Age landmarks mentioned in the book are still standing today—although some are more recognizable than others. Below, Mariah Fredericks compiles her research for the book into Edith Wharton’s Guide to New York.
Gramercy Park
The two acres of greenspace stands at the center of what Elsie de Wolfe called “a spot hallowed in history, closed in from the outside world and where the oldest and most interesting American families had their houses.” (De Wolfe and her partner Elisabeth Marbury lived at 49 Irving Place until 1911.) To this day, only those who live in the buildings that face the park are granted the key to the park. It’s an expensive key. Studios can go for half a million, while larger apartments sell for twenty million. The statue of Edwin Booth as Hamlet was placed at the center of the park in 1918 in recognition of his founding of the Players Club on Gramercy Park South.
American Art Galleries
Long before Sotheby’s or Christie’s opened their New York offices, New Yorkers could view art and objects up for auction at the American Art Galleries, run by the American Art Association. Founded in 1883, the gallery was located at 6 East 23rd Street and was the first auction house in the United States. If the Association’s press is to be believed, it managed the “highly important collections of Art and Literary Property” of the Gilded Age. In 1938, the firm was taken over by Parke-Bernet Galleries, which was then purchased in 1964…by Sotheby’s.
The Princeton Club
In its early years, the hallowed watering hole for Princeton graduates followed the money. In 1900, the Princeton Club opened its doors on 34th and Park in an old home of the Vanderbilts. In 1908, the club moved, taking over the home of murdered Gilded Age architect Stanford White at Gramercy Park North and Lexington Avenue. White’s studio, with Flemish oak and a vast fireplace, was converted into a grill room, but the structure was kept largely intact, so much so that when the property was sold again in 1918, it still had twenty bedrooms. Tragically, Stamford White’s home no longer exists. In 1925, it was demolished and the Gramercy Park Hotel was built in its place. The Princeton Club moved again, but as of 2022, closed its doors due to COVID and lack of financial support.
Natural History Museum
In 1861, Dr. Alfred Bickmore envisioned a museum for natural history and felt New York should be its home. But it wasn’t until Barnum’s American Museum burned down in 1868 that efforts began in earnest. The founding collection of insects, fossils, mammals, and reptiles was originally housed in the Central Park Arsenal, which still stands at 64th Street off Fifth Avenue, while the museum we know today was constructed at 81st and Central Park West. Theodore Roosevelt’s father, Theodore Sr., was one of the museum’s founders; the president and Edith Wharton were long-term friends; he was four years older and born just three blocks from her birthplace.
Calvary Episcopal Church
Located near Gramercy Park since 1846, Calvary Church was the place of worship for many of New York’s finest families, including the George Frederick Joneses and their daughter, Edith. Wharton uses the church as a setting in The Age of Innocence, and Dr. Ashmore, a character in the novel, was modeled after the Rev. Washburn, on whom Edith had an intense crush. The funeral service for David Graham Phillips was held there in 1911. Located at Park Avenue South on the corner of 21st Street, the brownstone church was not widely admired for its aesthetics, but it looks gorgeous in an 1893 painting by Childe Hassam.
Appleton Offices
In 1825, D. Appleton and Company began life as a bookstore on the Bowery near Exchange Place. The business would move several times, evolving into a highly successful publishing house and home to writers such as Stephen Crane, Henry James, and Edith Wharton, as well as Charles Darwin, Lewis Carroll, and Kipling. Its handsome 1868 headquarters can be found on 90-94 Grand Street. But in 1900, the company went broke and was obliged to move again. In September of 1902, they built new offices on 39th and Fifth Avenue, a few short blocks from Grand Central.
Met Opera House
Anyone watching The Gilded Age is familiar with the origins of New York’s hallowed opera center. And any Wharton fan knows that The Age of Innocence opens at the Academy of Music, in order to perfectly orient the reader to the novel’s setting and sensibility. Located on Broadway between 39th and 40th Street, the original Metropolitan opened on October 22, 1883. The New York Tribune reported “The appearance of the auditorium will be light and sunny. The proscenium is nearly square and will have the effect of a gigantic picture frame.” The curtains were deep red and gold, the chairs mahogany and black rattan. While the Italian Renaissance style light brick exterior might have been simple, the interior boasted the “Golden Horseshoe,” spaces taken by the original stockholders—the Vanderbilts, Morgans, and Rockefellers who had been shut out of the old Academy. The opera house lasted longer than the New York homes of many of its founders. By 1966, Lincoln Center beckoned. Luminaries such as Marian Anderson and Leonard Bernstein joined in fundraising efforts to renovate the old building. But in January of 1967, the Old Met succumbed to the wrecking ball.
Palm Garden of the Belmont Hotel
When it opened in 1906 on the corner of Park Avenue and 42nd Street, the Belmont was not widely admired. The Architectural Record called it a “monster hotel,” likening to a large department store. Palms seem to have been a popular motif for tea rooms. The Waldorf had its Palm Garden, the Plaza its Palm Court. The Belmont’s Palm Garden displayed the architects’ preference for vast over cozy, with high frescoed ceilings, marble columns, crystal chandeliers, and of course, the palms that towered over diners. Millionaire August Belmont, who inspired several Wharton characters, made sure the hotel had an entry for his private subway car. The hotel was demolished in 1934.
If you would like to know more about the architecture and institutions of New York City, I highly recommend visiting Daytonian in Manhattan and Ephemeral New York.
Jonathan Elderfield
Mariah Fredericks was born, raised, and still lives in New York City. She graduated from Vassar College with a degree in history. She is the author of the Jane Prescott mystery series, which has twice been nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award, as well as several YA novels. She can be reached through her website.
