New York City’s official chronicler on Fifth Avenue and 103rd Street was originally designed in 1929 as a grand mansion suitable for its subject matter.
The city’s wealthiest residents funded the construction of the five-story Museum of the City of New York in Georgian Revival style, with a grand entrance facing the world’s most famous city park. Mayor James Walker laid the cornerstone for the new building, thus creating, with the Metropolitan Museum of Art at the other end, what became known as Museum Mile.