First Presbyterian Church, Fifth Avenue
This church, representing the oldest Presbyterian organization in the city, was formed in 1716. The building was erected in 1845.
An Old Fifth Avenue House — Former Residence of the Late James Lenox
James Lenox was born in New York in 1800, and was the son of Robert Lenox, a wealthy Scotch merchant. He graduated from Columbia College in 1820 and entered upon a business life, but on the death of his father in 1839 he retired and devoted the rest of his life to study and works of benevolence. The collection of books and works of art became his absorbing passion, and eventually he gathered about him the largest and most valuable private collection of books and paintings in America. In 1870 he built the present Lenox Library. The collection of bibles is believed to be unequaled even by those in the British Museum, and that of Americana and Shakespeareana greater than that of any other American library, in some respects surpassing those in Europe. He conveyed the whole property to the City of New York. He was the founder and the benefactor of the Presbyterian Hospital.