19 Gramercy Park South

19 Gramercy Park South, also known as 86 Irving Place or the Stuyvesant Fish House, is a four-story row house located at the corner of Gramercy Park South (East 20th Street) and Irving Place in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.

The house was built in 1845 by William Samuel Johnson, a Whig politician, and then had the address 86 Irving Place. Johnson sold the property to Horace Brooks, who added a fifth story and constructed a stable on the unused southern part of the property. The census of 1880 shows a number of different people living at the address, suggesting that it had been converted into apartments by that time.

In 1887, this modest property was expanded and altered by noted architect Stanford White at the cost of $130,000 into a mansion with an interior marble staircase and a ballroom on the top floor where Mamie Fish gave elaborate parties for New York society. The building was also re-numbered 19 Gramercy Park, an address which had not existed prior to that time.

The Fish family left for their new 78th Street home in 1898, and the building was broken up into small apartments; actor John Barrymore was a resident while he was in New York working on Broadway. Occupants at other times included playwright Edward Sheldon and William C. Bullitt, the diplomat, journalist and novelist. In 1909, a six-story apartment building was constructed on the southern part of the lot.

The building was rescued from decay in 1931 by noted publicist Benjamin Sonnenberg when he and his wife rented the first two floors, gradually expanding and taking over other apartments. In 1945, Sonnenberg bought the entire building from Fish's son, Stuyvesant Fish Jr., for $85,000, and combined it with the apartment building to the south to create a massive residence which noted architecture critic Brendan Gill called "the greatest private house remaining in private hands in New York." The mansion was extensively furnished with Sonnenberg's collection of English and Irish furniture, drawings by Old Masters and sculptures. Like the Fishes, Sonnenberg gave notable parties which brought old-money New York together with show business luminaries. The building was listed as a contributing property to the Gramercy Park Historic District in 1966.

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