Hammond House (New York, New York)

The John Henry Hammond House is a mansion located on 9 East 91st Street on the Upper East Side in New York City. Since 1994, the Consulate-General of Russia in New York City has been located there.

The purchase of land between 90th and 91st Streets fronting on Fifth Avenue by Andrew Carnegie, and the 1901 building of his mansion (which now houses the Cooper-Hewitt Museum), saw Carnegie purchasing neighbouring building lots in order to protect his investment. The entire north side of 91st Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues was purchased by Carnegie.

Carnegie sold off lots to individuals who agreed to build substantial dwellings, and in 1903 a home was built at 9 East 91st Street by John H. Hammond, a New York City banker. The land, and possibly the house, was a wedding gift to Hammond and his wife, Emily Vanderbilt Sloane, from Sloane's father, William J. Sloane of W. & J. Sloane.

The five-story Renaissance style limestone town house was designed by Carrère and Hastings, who were also responsible for the design of the New York Public Library, and is regarded as one of their finest residences. The design of the limestone-clad building, which unusually for a Manhattan town house offers a finished side elevation as well as its street front, is strongly influenced by 16th- and 18th-century Italian palazzo details. The ground floor has pronounced banded rustication, a motif which is taken through the three floors above in the pilaster-like quoining at each corner of the building. The first floor piano nobile is evident by its large casement windows proportionately taller than those below or above. On the principal facade these aedicular windows have segmental pediments supported on the flanking Ionic columns; they are given extra prominence by the small wrought iron balconies supported by limestone corbels. The windows of the second floor clearly denote it as containing secondary accommodation, while the windows of the third and top floor are smaller still, clearly indicating a lower status than those below. The upper floor contains masonry panels and is intended to complement the enriched entablature, frieze and boldly projecting cornice immediately above it.

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