Robert Goelet

Robert Goelet (September 29, 1841 – April 27, 1899)[1] was an American heir, businessman and yachtsman from New York City during the Gilded Age.

For the 20th-century financier and philanthropist, see Robert Guestier Goelet.
Robert Goelet
BornSeptember 29, 1841
New York, New York
DiedApril 27, 1899
Naples, Italy
EducationColumbia College
Board member ofChemical National Bank
Spouse(s)
Harriette Louise Warren
​
(
m. 1879; his death 1899)
ChildrenRobert Walton Goelet
Beatrice Goelet
Parent(s)Robert Goelet Sr.
Sarah Ogden Goelet
RelativesSee Goelet family

Early life

Robert Goelet was born on September 29, 1841 in Manhattan, New York City, to Sarah Ogden (1809–1888) and Robert Goelet (1809–1879).[2] He had a younger brother, Ogden Goelet, who married society leader Mary Wilson Goelet and built Ochre Court in Newport, Rhode Island.[1] Through his brother, he was the uncle of Mary Goelet,[3] who married Henry Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe[4][5] and real estate developer Robert Wilson Goelet.[6]

His parents resided at 5 State Street, overlooking the Battery in Manhattan. His father was a prominent landlord in New York, as was his uncle, Peter Goelet, who was named after his great-grandfather, Peter Goelet.[2]

Career
Goelet's residence in Newport

He graduated from Columbia College in 1860[7] and was subsequently admitted to the bar. Goelet practiced law in the C.J & E. DeWitt (later DeWitt, Lockman and Kip) law firm that also counted his cousin George Goelet Kip and George Gosman DeWitt among its partners,[8] before retiring in 1879 to manage the real estate of his father and his unmarried uncle. After their deaths, he inherited half their fortune. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Union Trust Company, the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company, the Guaranty Trust Company, the Bank of New Amsterdam, the Chemical National Bank, which his father and uncle were instrumental in founding.[1] In his obituary in The New York Times, he was described as:

"He was clear-headed and keen-witted, and his judgment in financial and real estate matters invariably commanded the respect of other business men. A loyal New Yorker, Robert Goelet took particular pride in promoting the growth and development of the city with which his family had long so long identified. He was a man of progressive ideas, and throughout his business career pursued a policy of improving his properties in a manner which would beautify the city."[1]

Social and sporting life

Goelet was a member of the exclusive Philadelphia Club, the New York Yacht Club, the Knickerbocker Club, the Metropolitan Club, the Tuxedo Club, the Union Club of the City of New York and was one of the original stockholders of the Metropolitan Opera House, both before it burned in 1892 and after it was rebuilt.[1] He was also a member of the Jekyll Island Club on Jekyll Island, Georgia.[1]

His yacht Nahma was designed by George L. Watson and built for him on the River Clyde in 1897.[1] After his death, it was used extensively for summer cruising in European waters by his son, Robert Walton Goelet, who lent the yacht at no cost to the United States Navy. The Navy operated it as USS Nahma (SP-771) from 1917 to 1919, after which it was returned.[9]

Marriages and children
Goelet's daughter, Beatrice, by John Singer Sargent, 1890

On April 17, 1879, Goelet married Harriette Louise Warren (1854-1912)[2] in New York City. Harriette was a daughter of George Henry Warren I, a prominent lawyer, and Mary (née Phoenix) Warren (herself the daughter of U.S. Representative Jonas P. Phoenix and granddaughter of Stephen Whitney).[10] Harriet was the sister of stockbroker George Henry Warren II[11][12] and prominent architects Whitney Warren[13] and Lloyd Warren.[14]

The Goelets resided in a townhouse located at 591 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan (designed by Edward H. Kendall in 1880), as well as at seasonal residences in Tuxedo Park, New York, and Newport, Rhode Island (designed by McKim, Mead & White, c. 1882-1883).[15] Together, Harriette and Robert Goelet had two children:

He died of heart disease on April 27, 1899, in Naples, Italy.[1] After his body was transported from Italy by his yacht Nahma, his funeral was held at Trinity Church in Newport.[18] After the funeral, his body was again transported "by special train over the New Haven Road", and was buried in the Goelet Mausoleum, which had been completed only days before, at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.[18] His widow lived for another 13 years until her death in December 1912 at her home in Paris, 46 Avenue d'Iéna.[19]

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References
  1. "DEATH OF ROBERT GOELET | Heart Disease Causes the End Unexpectedly at Naples. | CAREER OF THE MILLIONAIRE | His Public Spirit and Benevolence Were of Material Benefit to New York and Newport" (PDF). The New York Times. April 28, 1899. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  2. Genealogical Record of the Saint Nicholas Society: Advanced Sheets, First Series. New York City: Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York. 1902. p. 28. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  3. Times, Wireless To The New York (27 April 1937). "DOWAGER DUCHESS OF ROXBURGHE DIES; New York Heiress Was a Close Friend of King George V and Queen Mary". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  4. "THE ROXBURGHE WEDDING; Private Rehearsal Held at St. Thomas's Church. Programme of Today's Ceremony -- Simple Reception to Follow at the Goelet Residence -- Some of the Gifts". The New York Times. 10 November 1903. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  5. "MOTHER AND SISTER OF ROXBURGHE HERE; Duchess Denies Story of Objection to American Brides. Plans for the Wedding Complete -- The Decorations at the Church and Home of the Bride". The New York Times. 8 November 1903. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  6. Foreman, John (14 November 2012). "Big Old Houses: A Better Fate Than Many". New York Social Diary. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  7. "Columbia College Commencement.; INTERESTING EXERCISES--LIST OF THE GRADUATING CLASS" (PDF). The New York Times. 27 June 1860. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  8. Yearbook. New York City: Association of the Bar of the City of New York. 1900. p. 112. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  9. "Robert W. Goelet Dies In Home At 61. Corporation Director, Owner of Large Realty Holdings Here, Succumbs to Heart Attack. He Inherited $60,000,000. Sportsman, a Leader in Social Circles in Newport and New York, Kin of Early Settlers" (PDF). New York Times. May 3, 1941. Retrieved 2010-07-26. Robert Walton Goelet of New York and Newport, R. I., a member of one of New York's oldest and wealthiest families, died of a heart attack yesterday at his ...
  10. "MISS BEATRICE GOELET DEAD. Only Daughter of the Late Robert Goelet Succumbs to Attack of Pneumonia" (PDF). The New York Times. February 12, 1902. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  11. "George H. Warren ... A Founder of Concern That Once Owned Metropolitan Opera's Home, Dies at 87. Kin Of Noted Architect. Graduate of Columbia and Its Law School, but Never Had Practiced. Formerly Broker". New York Times. June 4, 1943. Retrieved 2010-07-25. Warren's wife, Georgia ... Warren, died on Feb. 21, 1937. Surviving are a son, George Henry Warren, Jr.; a daughter, Constance Whitney Warren, ...
  12. Weeks, Lyman Horace (1898). Prominent Families of New York: Being an Account in Biographical Form of Individuals and Families Distinguished as Representatives of the Social, Professional and Civic Life of New York City. Historical Company. p. 604. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  13. "WHITNEY WARREN, ARCHITECT, 78, DIES; Designer of the Grand Central Terminal and Rebuilding of Louvain Library, Belgium HAD PRACTICAL APPROACH Specialized With His Partner, C. D. Wetrnore. in Railroad Structures, Hotels, Offices". The New York Times. January 25, 1943. p. 13. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  14. "Sleep-Walk Plunge Kills Lloyd Warren; Famous Architect Falls From His Sixth-Floor Apartment in Early Morning. Suicide Theory Discarded. Victim Had Suffered From Somnambulism. Created BeauxArts Institute". New York Times. October 26, 1922. Retrieved 2010-07-25.
  15. Miller, Tom (3 May 2011). "The Lost Robert Goelet Mansion - No. 591 5th Avenue". Daytonian in Manhattan. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  16. "Death Claims Robert Goelet Financier, 61. Outstanding Business Executive Was One of Largest Property Owners in New York City". Associated Press in the Hartford Courant. May 3, 1941. Retrieved 2010-07-26. Robert Walton Goelet, 61, of New York and Newport, R. I., a financier and one of New York's largest property owners, died today in his old brownstone house at 48th Street and Fifth Avenue, one of the few remaining private residences on the...
  17. Simpson, Marc; Sargent, John Singer; Ormond, Richard; Weinberg, Helene Barbara; Institute, Sterling and Francine Clark Art (1997). Uncanny Spectacle: The Public Career of the Young John Singer Sargent. Yale University Press. p. 27. ISBN 0300071779. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  18. "FUNERAL OF ROBERT GOELET.; Service at Trinity Church, Newport, Attended by Many Cottagers--Burial at Woodlawn Cemetery" (PDF). The New York Times. 28 May 1899. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  19. "MRS. ROBERT GOELET DIES IN PARIS HOME Prominent American Hostess's Death Follows an Operation for Cancer. | BODY TO BE BROUGHT HERE | Entertained German Emperor on Her Yacht Nahma--History of Goelet Real Estate Fortune" (PDF). The New York Times. December 5, 1912. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
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