In 1965, the Brokaw Mansion, which stood at 1 East 79th Street, was destroyed to make room for this high-rise apartment building. The mansion was built during the years of 1887 and 1890 by Rose & Stone, for Isaac Vail Brokaw, who later built more houses nearby. To the east of the Brokaw Mansion, at 7 East 79th Street, was a building he designed as a wedding gift for his daughter Elvira. Later he built twin Gothic houses at 984 and 985 5th Avenue for his sons Howard and Irving.




According to this website, “the rooms of the Brokaw Mansion were huge and unusual for a house of that period, airy and well lit. The library had a seven-foot tall safe concealed behind a panel opened by pressing a hidden catch in the moldings.” And that’s not all, early on there was even a moat! It was enclosed with stone after a horse fell into it.




In 1946 the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) purchased the Brokaw Mansion (and later acquired two other related buildings)—it had been vacant for about 8 years at that point.