The Villard Houses

"When Henry Villard built his handsome Roman Renaissance style mansion on Madison Avenue opposite the rear of St Patrick's Cathedral, he broke with architectural tradition that had exisited in New York for decades. He also spared no expense, commissioning McKim, Mead & White and their brilliant young designer, Joseph Morrill Wells, to build it for him, and Augustus Saint-Gaudens, John La Farge & Louis Comfort Tiffany to ornament it..." A slender coffee-table book, illustrated throughout with black & white photographs and plans. Includes photographs of other notable buildings- La Grange Terrace (Colonnade Row), Vanderbilt houses, etc. New York City architecture, architectural history.  More recently, it was the home to the late Urban Center book store.