The Lost Randolph Guggenheimer Mansion - No. 923 5th Avenue photograph - Architecture, January 15, 1900 (copyright expired) A young Randolph Guggenheimer arrived in New York City to attend college; but financial problems got in the way. Decades later the New-York Tribune would remember “Compelled by force of circumstances to give up his coveted college course, he did not abandon his ambition for a professional career.” Once he obtained employment as a clerk in a woolen house, he enrolled in the New York University law school. After graduating and starting with a $1 a week salary as a law clerk, Guggenheimer rose quickly. He established his own practice, then in 1883 brought his two half-brothers, Isaac and Samuel Untermeyer, into the firm, now known as Guggenheimer & Untermyer. The young man from Virginia had more than overcome his financial difficulties—he was quickly becoming one of Manhattan’s wealthiest citizens. In 1876 Guggenheimer had married Eliza Katzenberg and the couple had two sons and a daughter. The Guggenheimer family lived at No. 8 East 81st Street and maintained a country estate, Drexel Cottage, in Elberon, New Jersey and a mansion in Newport. Randolph was highly involved in civic affairs, as well. He was chairman of the committee on legislation of the School Board, was School Commissioner for three terms, and served as Acting Mayor during the absence of Mayor Robert Anderson Van Wyck.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 19:51:03 +0000
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