St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-29

to New York, armed morally with
an undaunted determination and the
sanguine hopes of young man,
and armed physically with the mill
ions of a Monte Cristo and a beauti-
full, clear-headed wife.
Now, the first thing the social
struggler in New York must do is
to build house on Fifth avenue.
So Mr.. Yerkes has built a house. No,
not house, but a palace-a palace
that would be credit to any prince
This house is about ready to re-
celVe its owner, and the day he
enters its portals it will have cost
him two fortunes of $1,000, 900 each,
$1,0O0,000 for the house itself and al
most another S1,0O0,00O for the fur
mSh1ng and decorating. Thus Mr..
Yerkes has already taken the first
step in the upward path to the four
hundred-that is to say, he has pro-
vided himself with a place wherein
he and his wife may open their doors
to society and spend their money in
lavish entertainment, while society,
not the newcomers shall be admitted
to the sacred fold
When you look at the Yerkes man
sion, you receive the impression that
the house itself is verify built of
money. It's walls seem to be a
mass of golden dollars, and you re-
gard it as a colossal golden strong
box for the holding Of precious gems
and all things that money will buy.
For instance, as you enter the house,
it seems almost as if the steps you
mount were themselves made Of
money, for each brownstone block
in the high, wide stoop leading up to
the massive doors cost exactly $1,000,
and as you press the electric button
at the top you mentally calculate
you have counted off $4,000 in cash.
1t must not be supposed, however,
that the impression of money re-
ceived from the first glimpse of the
house prevents it from being beauti-
full, even artistic, for really the i'm
preston of money is soon dispersed,
and you next regard it as a thing
| Of beauty. However, before putting
the cost of the house entirely aside,
it is interesting to know that the
real estate upon which the house
stands cost $500, 200, the building $780,
900 and the furnishings 100000 more.
Add to this the 100000 worth of
! paintings with which Mr.. Yerkes has
filled his art gallery, and you have
| a mansion complete costing $1,000
| 600.
The mansion is four-story brown
stone, with a frontage of 81 feet on
| Fifth avenue and 165 feet on Sixty
| eighth street, thus affording some
10000 feet Of floor space, and making
| 1T a building equal in size to fully
five ordinary city dwellings. The
exterior walls are richly carved to
the third story, and if the effect is
| elaborate it is by no means osten-
! tatious. Z.
The Yerkes mansion has the larg-
est private conservatory in the city.
1t is $50 feet long by so feet wide,
and has in its center fountain con
stantly playing.
The picture gallery is the largesti in
this country, its dimensions being
| 101 feet by 25 feet, built upon an L
extending back of the Immediately
adjacent houses. Into this gallery
Mr.. Yerkes will hang pictures which
he and his wife have selected with
| taste and judgment, and which are
| said to rank in value second only to
| the collections owned by the Wander
bilts and Astors.
Let US consider Mr.. Yerkes' career.
| At the age Of twenty we find him
| clerk in brokers' Office in Phil
| adelphia, which I think was his
native city. At twenty-five he be-
came junior member and at twenty
eight senior member of the firm.
AT thirty he was one of the foremost
brokers of the Quaker City. Later
he turned up in Chicago, and went
into speculation, bought stock in
the Chicago street railway, and now
in the end is the leading spirit in
the street railway management, is
| one of Chicago's foremost public men
and is rich beyond the dreams of
| avarice. But it is not alone his
wealth that makes him prominent,
for he has more than once received
public tribute and honors fop his