"Architecture is a visual art and the buildings speak for themselves." - Julia Morgan, architect for William Randolph Hearst A PERFECT LOCATION Since the late 1880s, the criteria for a major Manhattan mansion have typically been: 1) a location between Fifth and Madison, as close to Fifth Avenue as possible; 2) exceptional width; 3) a limestone facade in a style characterized as Beaux-Arts; 4) a quiet, tree-lined residential block. All three are exquisitely achieved here, as well as a rare and lovely entrance to Central Park less than 200 feet away. THE BLOCK This 24.5-foot-wide limestone mansion was erected in 1898 as a pair with the 20-foot-wide townhouse 5 East 76th Street by Catherine T. Schiefflin, whose family had founded a highly successful wholesale drug firm. Designed by Parish and Schroeder, these two houses reflect their passion for Italian renaissance styles imaginatively blended with other details of the period. The north side of this street offers elegant intact facades just as they have appeared for the past 80 years. Just opposite on the south side, 6 and 8 East 76 Street were also built by Parish and Schroeder, this time as a pair for Mrs. Edward Ludlow. Together they provide a lovely light filled view from the windows of Number 7 of an Italian Renaissance Palazzo. THE CORRIDOR OF ARTBy the 1960s, The New York Times reported that an estimated 20 art dealers controlled a major portion of the international market from locations in New York from East 57 to East 79 Street. They chose magnificent mansions between Fifth and Madison Avenues with imposing limestone facades commissioned by the finest architects as their place of business and in some cases as their residence. Since 1931, The Wildenstein Gallery worked from an extraordinary mansion at 19 East 64th Street, commissioned by the family and designed by Horace Trumbauer. Since 1967, the Acquavella Galleries has operated from 18 East 79 Street, a neo-classical limestone mansion which appears on their current website as the home page image. (Joseph Duveen was there before Acquavella.) But a most extraordinary art dealer of the time was Sam Salz, a "one-man operation" housed in the magnificent residence at 7 East 76th Street from the 1950s to the early 1980s. SAM SALZ Acquired by art dealer, Sam Salz, in 1953, some of the largest art sales in impressionist and postimpressionist paintings for a 30-year period took place in this exquisite building. While his reputation was "impeccable" as noted in The New York Times in 1964 and his transactions were in the millions of dollars, he was so exclusive that there were many art dealers who did not even know his name. There was no sign on the door, just a magnificent Neo Renaissance limestone facade to intrigue his clients as well as his guests. As a personal friend of major impressionist artists, he acquired their best work and his home contained numerous paintings by Renoir, Degas, Monet, Cezanne, Pissarro, Braque, as well as Chinese bronzes from 1200 BC and extensive sculpture. His clients included Paul Mellon, Henry Ford II, David Rockefeller III, and William S. Paley. "I believe in paintings like I believe in God" he said, and then added, "When I see the possibility for a purchase I go after it." About one of his paintings The Road to Saint Germain by Pissarro he said. "This one I won't sell. You are never alone with a painting like this." THE MANSIONRarely is this degree of original interior architecture intact. The massive rectangular staircase ascends five levels and is capped by a huge skylight. The sixth level is a unique penthouse arrangement with windows on all four sides and a solarium opening a terrace to the south and a bedroom opening to a 27-foot terrace to the north. There are 7 original fireplaces on both the east and the west walls of the mansion - not just one side. Exceptional ceiling heights include 12 feet o