by Nancy Armitage
The Gilded Age time-period is about 1870’s to the early 1900’s. There is so much good information about the Huntington’s for that time period; that we can gather from old newspapers & magazines. In the Gilded Age, they often wrote about the whole Huntington family – CPH- Collis P. Huntington, ADH – Arabella or “Belle” D. Huntington, HEH – H. E. Huntington & AMH – Archer M. Huntington.
Some newspaper columns were gossipy, some were travel news, & cruises that the Huntington’s went on. Some articles were titled: “Society Abroad”, “Some Tea Table Confidences” or “Society Travel News”, “What is doing in Society?” & Society Page. This blog is just a very small snippet example of the newspaper columns written about the Huntington’s.
Often, the Huntington family were front page news in the Gilded Age. Some clips were about charity & Mrs. Collis P. Huntington’s (1884-1913) & as Mrs. H.E. Huntington (1913-1924) donating very large and generous checks. Those checks were for Mrs. Arabella Huntington’s favorites schools, kindergartens, art museums, clubs, & churches. The Huntington family’s news like Travel News, City Directories, Huntington Weddings, & Family Celebrations. Some sources were church bulletins & medical books gossiping about Mrs. Arabella Huntington’s charity checks & her travels abroad & across the country. The medical journals was such a weird place to write gossip, that cracked me up. So as follows, some snippets of Mrs. Collis P. Huntington (Arabella)’s, Mrs. Arabella D. Huntington & Mrs. Henry E. Huntington (Arabella) her life, through Society pages in newspapers & magazines.
1886
A very exciting art auction of the Morgan Collection – Collis Huntington buys paintings
“The Art sale finished; Sharp bidding for the Morgan Collection. Obtaining $885,300.00 for 240 pictures- The greatest art sale ever held in this country, that of the paintings belonging to the collection of the late Mrs. Mary J. Morgan, was concluded at Chickering Hall last evening……
[3 paintings Mr. Collis P. Huntington secured were “An Arab Scout by A. Schreyer for $3,500, “Going to Pasture” by E. Van Marche for $8,600.00 & “The Missionary’s Story by J.G. Vibert for $25,500.00] which was met by loud applause, leaped $5,000.00 at a time up from $15,000.00. “Mr. Huntington pushed his silk skull cap further down over his head & leaned over toward his wife, who looked anxious but determined. Both breathed a sigh of relief when they found that bid captured the prize”. Document: The New York Times March 6, 1886
Historical Note: I knew that Collis enjoyed a good contest of bidding for paintings. What I thought was interesting in this 1886 newspaper article was during this auction of Morgan paintings was that he was sitting next to his wife, Mrs. Arabella D. Huntington.
1889
The C. P. Huntingtons bi-coastal SF & NYC
Address book in San Francisco “California Colony in New York 1841 ? (date is odd). So this San Francisco, California Blue Book : Lists: Huntington, Mr. & Mrs. Collis P. [Arabella] 65 Park Ave. & Throg’s Neck, Ct.” [Westchester Co. NY] Document: San Francisco Blue Book Page 203 – date 1889
Historical Note: The Huntingtons didn’t start building their Huntington Mansion at No. 2 E. 57th Street (and 5th Ave.) St. NYC until 1891; they finished it in 1895, while living in 2 other locations. Belle would describe the house in NYC as “Gloomy old 65” & their lovely seaside large Huntington “Homestead” (1,000 acres) at Throgg’s Neck on the Long Island Sound & the East River in New York. It was not located in Connecticut like they list, it was in NY. 1,000 acres comes from Aralbella D. Huntington last will and testament Huntington Library San Marino, CA
1900
Collis Huntington & H. E. “Edwards” Huntington are guests at the Pacific Union Club SF, Calif.
Newspaper Column called “What is doing in Society”: San Francisco, CA “Mr. & Mrs. Whitelaw Reid will remain in California about 10 days longer. Joseph D. Grant gave a luncheon in honor of Mr. Reid and D. O. Mills at the Pacific Union Club last Wednesday. Among the guests were Collis P. Huntington, H.E. Huntington [Edwards], Claus Spreckels, & Irving M. Scott.” Written in New York Times April 20, 1900
Princess Hatzfeldt gives a brilliant spring garden party in London
“The Princess Hatzfeldt [Clara Huntington Hatzfeldt] will give a brilliant garden party at her London residence in June & she will make it a charitable entertainment, the proceeds to go to the Maine Fund” New York Times Newspaper April 20, 1900
How many paintings are in the Huntington Mansion(s)?
” The Huntington Pictures” [Paintings]: No accurate Estimate of the Value Yet formed. Art Lovers much interested in the Collection, which will go to the Metropolitan Museum: The announcement that , by the will of Collis P. Huntington, all his pictures will eventually go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art is being discussed with much interest by art lovers of this city. It is said that no pictures [paintings] has been taken”.
“No catalogue of them was prepared in Mr. Huntington’s lifetime, and he himself would probably have been unable to describe his art collection completely. He bought a picture when he took a fancy to it, and had it sent either to his house in this city [No. 2 NYC], his place at Throgg’s Neck, or to his home [mansion] in San Francisco.”
“In the last named of his residences [S.F.] alone Mr. [Collis & Arabella] Huntington had over 300 pictures [paintings], among them being many fine examples of the Barbizon school & a number of works by modern American artists….In spite of the fact that Mr. Huntington never made any secret of his purchases at sales, and that he was always glad to show his pictures [original paintings] to any stranger who expressed a desire to see them”….In the opinion of many experts the gem of the collection is the exquisite little Sir Thomas Lawrence “Nature”…..”Another picture which will be a decided acquisition to the Metropolitan Museum is an excellent example of Vermeer of Delft. Works by this master are rarer then those of any other of the Dutch painters… he bought it in Paris for 2,000F’s he liked & bought.” New York Times August 26, 1900 [ Collis P. Huntington has died – & they our closing his estate]
Where are all the Huntington Art Collection of paintings now?? Many are not accounted for…
Nancy Note: So lets calculate some numbers of the paintings of the C. P. Huntingtons (Collis & Belle) as of 1900, they owned over 300 paintings (SF, CA Huntington Mansion), 219 paintings were listed in the (No. 2 NYC) Huntington Mansion & a guess of 200 paintings at the Throggs Neck Estate Huntington Mansion (possibly)
So with some of the information we have read, a guess is that in 1900 -the Huntingtons owned about 719 paintings (No. 2, Throggs Neck, & SF, CA) but probably more. I personally think because their mansions were so large, and they traveled so much. That there was even more Huntington owned paintings. I’m sure it was another couple hundred paintings they owned. I can’t find any information on the paintings housed at the “Huntington Homestead” at Throggs Neck mansion once owned by Havermeyer.
Here is my theory on the paintings at Huntington’s Throgg’s Neck. In 1884 Collis and Arabella Huntington bought Throggs Neck “Huntington Homestead” from bankrupted Havermeyer “the Sugar King”. Because their seems to be no paper trail on any of the paintings, maybe the Huntingtons bought the whole art collection. Mrs. Havermeyer loved Mary Cassett paintings and she was close friends with Mary Cassett and they loved the Impressionists paintings, too. As long as the Huntington’s lived at Throggs Neck they could enjoy the paintings, but once the property was sold — the entire art collection would be donated to Metropolitan Museum of Art under the Havermeyer name. (Just a theory)
So the Huntingtons owned about 700+ original paintings; remember in 1906 they lost 300 original paintings – lost in the EQ/fire in their San Francisco Mansion on Nob Hill. So after the EQ there about 400 Huntington paintings existed at one time in 1906. There is a lot of unaccounted paintings, there are only a handful of paintings in large museums across America – Smithsonian Wash. DC, Legion of Honor SF, the Lourve Paris, Yale University, Metropolitan Mus of Art NYC. I didn’t even including San Marino Ranch or Chateau Beauregard by Paris.
Huntington Paintings at the Metropolitan Bequest of Collis P. Huntington
n 2026, if you dig around the Metropolitan Museum of Art website – it shows in Bequest of Collis P. Huntington about 20-25 paintings. At the San Marino Ranch, Mrs. Arabella Huntington brought the “Primitive Paintings” to that SMR mansion from No. 2 57th St. NYC Huntington Mansion – there were about 15-20 of these Madonna & Child paintings. She also brought a sprinkling of French paintings also to San Marino Ranch. There were 4 paintings that survived (of 300 paintings) from Huntington’s San Francisco Mansion, that were lovingly saved by their servants from the EQ-Fired of 1906. Let’s round it up to 50 paintings in museums or private collections, where are all the other Huntington paintings from No. 2 57th Street?? ?
So in 1900, the painting list of Mrs. Collis P. Huntington’s paintings was typed up for insurance purposes. The list totaled about 219 Huntington paintings (originally owned by Arabella Huntington & Collis Huntington at their No.2 57th St mansion in NYC). It looks to me, that it does not include the paintings at the Huntington “Homestead” at Throgg’s Neck estate, Westchester Co., NYC – question where are all those paintings from the Huntington’s mansion??? Archer Huntington Anderson galleries NYC sold/ auction lots of Huntington items in 1924 & 1925 – from No. 2 & from The Huntington Homestead in black & white catalogs.
In Huntington’s San Francisco Mansion, I thought it was interesting that that the C. P. Huntingtons owned a number of “American paintings”. I thought that was a missing cluster in the Huntington Art Collection(s) that I was surprised. Considering how much the Huntington loved America & how much traveling they did across America. From the Huntington Library, we know of a Whistler, & a Zorn that were sold from the Huntington’s San Marino Ranch surprisingly; it was 1940 from a Pasadena CA gallery called Taylor Gallery. We know that H. E. Huntington & Arabella owned 3 Cassett pastel paintings, which are still at the Huntington Library, thank goodness!!. They loved Keith & Daniel Huntington paintings & many others.
1902
Mrs. Huntington on the Cunard “Oceanic” ship
“Mrs. Collis P. Huntington [Arabella], who arrived in New York City on February 26, on the White Star liner, “Oceanic” [ship] from Liverpool & Queenstown, declared that she had $75,000.00 [probably her yearly wardrobe especially made by House of Worth, Paris] worth of personal effects, chiefly dress goods, that she had bought abroad. She was told that the duty was $31,000.00 . [what highway robbery was that she had to pay 50% of total cost.] She paid it promptly. This is the highest amount of duty ever paid by any one individual on goods brought in personal baggage.” Document: The Free Methodist, Chicago Ill. March 4, 1902 page 143
Mrs. Arabella Huntington buys a railroad
“SOLD TO MRS. HUNTINGTON? It is announced she is recent purchaser of the Colorado & Southern Railroad. Special to the New York Times. Denver, Col. April 2, 1902 – It is announced her to-night that the recent purchaser of the Colorado & Southern Railroad is Mrs. Collis P. Huntington [Arabella], the widow of the great Southern Pacific Railroad magnate. It was stated officially some time ago that the purchase has been by private persons, but the secret of who these were has been closely guarded. Mr. Hawley, who represented Mrs. Huntington in the purchase.”
Mrs. Collis Huntington (Arabella) writes huge check to General Memorial Hospital NYC
“New York, May 23, Gift from Mrs. [Arabella] Huntington. Mrs. Huntington has offered $100,000.00 to the General Memorial Hospital for the treatment of cancer & allied diseases of pathological pursuits. The announcement of the offer is made in the annual report of the president of the hospital, Mr. John E. Parsons. Mr. Parsons said Mrs. Huntington has proposed to put the sum at the disposal of the hospital & that if her intention was carried out the gift would constitute a “Collis P. Huntington fund”. Los Angeles Herald Newspaper Volume XXIX Number 235 May 24, 1902
1903
Supporters of the Hampton School
“Hampton [School] has been fortunate in having the opportunity, during the past month, of entertaining a number of prominent guests, among whom were Mrs. Collis P. Huntington (Arabella) & Mr. & Mrs. Archer M. Huntington (Helen) & Miss Clements; Mr. & Mrs. John D. Rockefeller Jr., Dr. & Mrs. Wallace Buttrick,” They talked, preached, went to Sunday services & told short stories to the students.” Document Magazine: Southern Workman page 244
Mrs. Huntington goes abroad to London to visit her step daughter Princess Hatzfeldt, the hostest with the mostest
“Mrs. Collis P. Huntington [Arabella as a widow] has gone abroad this week, & she will visit the Princess [Clara Huntington] Hatzfeldt in London. The Princess has made a very marked success in society & has this Summer been one of the most notable hostesses in London. Her sensational appearance in rather flimsy Eastern costume, with only sandals instead of shoes, at Mrs. Adair’s ball, is still talked about. Royalty has taken much notice of the Princess, who is certainly a very striking looking young woman with wonderful sweetness of manner. Mrs. [Arabella] Huntington does not care in the least about society, & she times her visit after the social whirl is over. She has lived in strict retirement since the death of Mr. [Collis] Huntington” August 2, 1903 New York Times “Some Tea Table Confidences”
1907
Mrs. Huntington buys the Rembrandt “Aristotle with a Bust of Homer” & many others at the Rodolphe Kann auction in Paris
“”A large & late work that has been placed by experts among the top works of the master’s career. [The painting’ “Aristotle” has been compared with such a massive……The [Dutch] painting changed hands several times, coming into the possession of a succession of collectors abroad, the last of whom, Rodolphe Kann of Paris, sold it to Joseph Duveen in 1907. [& then he turned around & sold it to Mrs. Arabella Huntington].
“Sold to Mrs. [Arabella] Huntington: Duveen who played an expansive role in forming the great American collections after the turn of the century, sold “Aristotle for “6 figures” to Mrs. Collis P. Huntington, widow of the railroad millionaire.” Book: The Arts by Richard B. K. McLanathan & Gene Brown page 397
Historically Note: Full name of painting: “Aristotle with a Bust of Homer” by Dutch painter – Rembrandt Van Rijn. Duveen bought it from the estate of Mrs. Arabella D. Huntington when she died in 1924 & sold it again…..I wonder how many times Duveen did that. No wonder Archer Huntington called him a pirate!!
1910
Archer Huntington builds a Chapel/ Church Next to Hispanic Society NYC
Next to Hispanic Society of America was erected a church for the Spanish people
“Art loans, musicales, & various other forms of entertainment brought $15,000.00 , private subscriptions completed the fund. Mrs. Collis P. Huntington [Arabella] generously started the new fund with a check for $5,000.00″ Document: Academy Notes of Buffalo Fine Arts Academy by Kurtz & Quinton 1910
Historical note: Archer Huntington had a conversation with Senora de Barril & it came up that the Spanish people of NYC didn’t have a church of their own. Archer didn’t comment about it but thought about it alot. The seed of a thought became a reality – Archer started making plans to build a church- he had the property & the money & could make this request a reality. Charles P. Huntington, architect designed the chapel, Miss de Barril collection of $50,000.00, accomplished as a memorial for her mother. Nuestra Senora de la Esparanza church was erected with the help of many people, located just next to the Hispanic Society of America (founded by Archer M. Huntington).
Inside the Huntington's Story 