Fort Tryon Hall: The Residence of C.K.G. Billings, Esq. A Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue Issued Privately by the Owner
Washington Heights, New York, 1911. This volume describes and illustrates in detail the house, its contents, and artwork. Billings, one of the more flamboyant of New York’s Gilded Age millionaires, arranged the infamous horseback dinner for 36 of his friends, who dined astride horses in the ballroom of the Sherry’s restaurant on Fifth Avenue with waiters dressed as grooms, and dirt carted in to absorb the substance (if not the smells) of the horses’ natural functions. Additional material laid in, including an illustration of the later stable building (architecturally finer than the main house), newspaper and book articles and a 1996 Streetscapes column describing the extant double-S- curved, galleried entrance driveway (the house burned down decades ago). Descriptions by Barr Ferree. Folio, partially paginated, full gilt-embossed red Morocco leather, t.e.g., with watered silk endpapers. Very good. $350.00. Item #012680
Price: $350.00