Henry Gurdon Marquand

American financier, philanthropist and art collector

Henry Gurdon Marquand (April 11, 1819 – February 26, 1902) was an American financier, philanthropist and art collector known for his extensive collection.

Marquand was born in New York City on April 11, 1819, not long after the death of his eldest brother Henry Marquand in Havana, Cuba in October 1818. He was the second youngest of the eleven children of Mehitable "Mabel" ( Perry) Marquand (1778–1855) and silversmith Isaac Marquand (1766–1838), whose family immigrated from Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands. Among his other siblings were Frederick Marquand, Cornelius Paulding Marquand, Josiah Penfield Marquand, Sarah Elizabeth ( Marquand) Trask, and Julia Perry Marquand. At the age of fifteen, Henry began working for his family's prestigious jewelry business, Marquand & Co. At the time, the business was headed by his older brother Frederick, a liberal benefactor of Yale College, Union Theological Seminary, and founder of Pequot Library.

Following the death of their father in 1838, Frederick sold the business, which was then renamed Ball, Tompkins & Black, and took up real estate investment and other financial ventures, and Henry was his brother's agent. After selling the company, Frederick later became instrumental in the establishment of Southport's Pequot Library, a special collections institution. Henry established himself as a banker on Wall Street, became Director of the Equitable Life Insurance Company, and eventually made a fortune speculating on foreign currency exchange and railroads. In 1867, Henry and his brother in law, Thomas Allen, bought a chief interest in the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway which ran from St. Louis to southeast Missouri and to Arkansas and Texas. The two were ultimately pushed out of their investment by Jay Gould, whose monopoly on the southwestern railroad system forced them to sell. With a profit of one million dollars, Marquand effectively retired from the business world in 1880 and focused his energies on the acquisition of art and the management of the fledgling Metropolitan Museum of Art. he witnessed the physical growth of the Metropolitan Museum of Art from various temporary quarters to its permanent home on the eastern edge of Central Park. Marquand, a personal friend and client of museum architect Richard Morris Hunt, This donation included, among other old master works, Johannes Vermeer's Woman with a Water Jug, the first Vermeer to enter a United States collection and which scholars now agree is one of only thirty seven known works by the artist. and Princeton University, donating funds for the creation of the Bonner Marquand Gymnasium and the Marquand Chapel (the latter designed by Richard Morris Hunt).

On May 20, 1851, Marquand was married to Elizabeth Love Allen. Linda Marquand (1852–1931), who married the Rev. Dr. Roderick Terry, son of banker John T. Terry. Allan Marquand (1853–1924), who graduated from Princeton in 1874 and became professor of archaeology and art in 1883; he married Eleanor Cross, daughter of Richard James Cross, in 1896. Frederic Alexander Marquand (1855–1885), After his death, she married Graeme Harrison. Henry Marquand (1857–1921), a banker who married Katherine Cowdin, a daughter of New York State Assemblyman Elliot Cowdin. Mabel Marquand (1860–1896), who married Justice Henry Galbraith Ward, in 1891. Elizabeth Love Marquand (1862–1951), who married Harold Godwin, a son of journalist Parke Godwin; she founded the Roslyn District Nursing Association. Marquand died on February 26, 1902, in New York City at the age of 82. His varied, and valuable art collection and rare books were sold in 1903. He was a significant financial benefactor of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Princeton University, and other institutions. His son, Allan Marquand (b. 1853), graduated from Princeton in 1874, and in 1883 became professor of archaeology and art.

In the early 1870s, Marquand hired Richard Morris Hunt to design and build a home for him in Newport, Rhode Island, which became known as Linden Gate, on the corner of Rhode Island Avenue and Old Beach Road. The elaborate stone, brick and wooden house that featured five red brick fireplaces was built by C. H. Burdick for Marquand between 1872 and 1873 and is representative of Hunt's earlier work. He had bought the property, a parcel that was originally a part of the 'Perry Farm", from Mary Gibbs, widow of George Gibbs for $32,165 in July 1871. After his death, the estate was purchased by the Rev. Dr. Roderick Terry, husband of his eldest daughter Linda, for $100,000 in December 1914. Both Linda and Roderick died at Linden Gate, and the house was inherited by their son and Marquand's grandson, lawyer Roderick, who owned the home until his death in 1951. It was later divided into an apartment house before being destroyed by a fire in 1973.

Marquand again hired architect Richard Morris Hunt to design his home, and two smaller homes, on the northwest corner of Madison Avenue and 68th Street in New York City. His residence occupying a large plot 42 1/2 feet on the Avenue and 120 feet on the Street, faced 68th Street with the two smaller houses opening on to Madison Avenue with the three residences blending into a unified whole with balconies, gables, and multi level mansard roofs. The large red brick with limestone trim home was designed in the "French transitional" style, melding elements of Renaissance and Gothic Revival, took three years to build and was completed in 1884 to accommodate his extensive art collection. The mansion was decorated in the Victorian fashion and was heavily influenced by Aestheticism. Marquand hired Sir Frederick Leighton (president of the Royal Academy), Louis Comfort Tiffany, John La Farge, Ellin & Kitson, Sir Edward Poynter, and Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema to design the lush themed rooms and furniture. He filled the hallways and galleries of the home his renowned collection of antiquities and artworks, including works by the old masters including Anthony van Dyck, Frans Hals, Rembrandt, and Johannes Vermeer. In May 1912, a syndicate led by architect Herbert Lucas acquired 814 and 816 Madison Avenue from Marquand's daughters, which were also torn down. All three were replaced by one large 12 story apartment building at 11 East 68th Street, today owned by HFZ Capital Group and known as The Marquand,