Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1915-03-05
WITH S80,000,OOO
SISTERS LIVE
They Are Absolute Mis-
trasses of Second Lar
gest Estate In
New York.
SISTERS VITA MILLIONS
LACK L.UEURiES OF POOR.

= Here are some details about the .
Z, four Wvnde sisters, the mistresses
: one of Now York's greatest for !,
. tunes. i,
& They have never ridden in An j.
& $40 =
= They have never been on a yacht 8
+ a,s5 Z, nave never -''S'.'s' '"s +
y in twenty years.
4, They never wear jewelry. =
Z, They have never used a telephone 4,
4 They have never used an elevator q
z They never receive callers nor =
x have they. so far as known. any
Z, really close personal friends. =
g So far as known they have never I,
z given money to charity. y
s.sss.as.s<s#s.s.ssas%s.sss-<s.s.s,'sss.s.t
I'm the heart Of Manhattan Island. Oh
Fifth avenue itself, and within
three blocks Of Forty second street.
live three women who. with their
one sister who lives on Central Park
West, are absolute mistresses of for
tune variously estimated ut from 500
00O.0OO to SSU.GOOUOO. And all are as
remote from and alien to the life of
the great city around them US they
would he ON desert island in the
south seas.
These four women ure the sisters
and the heiresses of John Gottlieb Wen.
del. who died Dec. IL. 1914. at Santa
Monica. Cal. and whose fortune. con-
sisting almost entirely VI real estate
holdings In New York city. is second
only to the Aston estate among landed
properties in the United States. The
Wendell estate. incidentally. antedates
that of the AstOrs, as the first John
Gottiieb Wendell, turned from the fur
trade to the acquisition Of New York
real estate several years before the
FIRST John Jacob Aston made a similar
transition.
John G. Wendell died more than two
months ago. but the personalities OF the
inheritors Of this colossal fortune have
hitherto remained practically unknown.
One Of Four Il Married.
OF the seven members Of the last
generation In the direct line Of the
Wendell family but four remain. OF
the seven only one. the eldest living
daughter. married She has no chill
dren. She Is Mrs. Luther A. Rebecca
A. G. WendeD Swope Of 249 Central
PARK West, where she lives alone with
her husband. The exact ages Of the
four sisters are unknown even to their
few intimate friends. but Mra Swope
= certainly past seventy.
She Is the only one of the family
4 who ever ventures abroad among her
kind. Accompanied by her husband.
who Is past eighty. twice week she
leaves their home to make the terrify.
Ing IL" journey to the little old fash
toned Office at IT'S Broadway, where
all the complicated business affairs Of
the Wendell estate are transacted
To the other three sisters. shrinking
from the responsibilities Of the wealth
and position thrust upon them by their
brothers death. Mrs. Swope has al
ways seemed the acme Of daring and
self reliance. and all affairs Of bust
ness are left by them in her hands.
Mrs. Swope Is slender but square
shouldered woman. whose features
bear striking resemblance to those
of her brother. She is Of medium
height and is always dressed In deep
black and in the style of thirty odd
years ago. Her clothes usually are
worn almost to the point OF shabbi-
ness. Yet. while she would seem to a
modern New Yorker figure out Of a
past generation, she is modernity It.
self compared with her sisters.
House Never Changed.
The other sisters-Mary e. A., Ella
e. Won e. and Georgiana G. K. Wen
del-still cling to the old house on the
northwest corner Of Thirty-ninth street
and Fifth avenue, directly opposite the
Union League club. John Wendell in.
cidentally, though a member Of this
club, did not, so far as known, cross
its threshold In twenty years before
his death.
The Wendell house is three story
brownstone front. red brick structure.
1t was built in 1856 and looks every
year Of its age. Its original cost was
about $1,000, and, though it stands on
a lot now assessed at a value Of ST.
$4,000. 1t has never been altered or
renovated in the slightest degree
The library is the only room revealed
b visitors. but 1t is probably typical of
all. The floor, like that Of the hall. is
of cOlored tiles, with one small rug
under the massive mahogany table. of
colonial style, in the center Of the big
room. The baroness of the tiled floor
is accumulated by the scantiness and
simplicity Of the furniture. Four old
fashioned and massive high backed
chairs surround the table, and high
old secretary with glass doors stands
in the corner.
On the paneed walls hang pictures.
but every one. like every other picture
In the house, j. carefully covered with
white n1rSln