John Henry Hammond House, ca. 1910.

When Andrew Carnegie built his Fifth Avenue residence at 91st Street, he also purchased several adjoining lots in order to ensure that new neighbors would meet his standards. Hammond, a banker, and his wife Emily Vanderbilt Sloane, received the 91st Street plot as a wedding gift, and enlisted the firm Carrère & Hastings to build a Renaissance Revival palazzo.

The Italian palazzo style was very popular in the opening decade of the 20th century. Indeed, several Carnegie libraries in Upper Manhattan were built in a similar style by McKim, Mead & White. (Perhaps the philanthropist next door was an admirer of the Hammond residence? Within the decade, Carrère & Hastings would be enlisted to build the New York Public Library’s main branch).

In 1975, the Soviet Union purchased the Hammond mansion and renovated the building for use as its sole American consulate. The consulate opened in 1978, but closed abruptly in 1980 after President Carter ordered the expulsion of Soviet diplomats in response to the invasion of Afghanistan. Thereafter, the consulate fell into disrepair. Between 1992-1994, the Russian Federation restored the building, officially reopening it as the Consulate-General of New York City in January 1995.