The original Rhinelander Mansion, No. 14, on the west corner of Fifth Avenue, was built in 1839-1840 for Mary (Rogers) Rhinelander as her family’s residence and continued to serve the family until the death of her daughter in 1914. The house, and adjoining No. 15, were a pair of splendid Greek Revival town houses, each 42 feet wide and three and one-half stories high, with attic windows in the fascia. At each, a stoop led to the entrance portico, framed by Corinthian columns, and an iron balcony graced the parlor floor. No. 15 was built as the residence of Gardiner Greene Howland, who had previously lived with his brother Samuel at No. 12 Washington Square North on the block east of Fifth Avenue. They were important shipping merchants.