In the early 1900s, Riverside Drive almost eclipsed Fifth Avenue as New York City’s most opulent millionaire’s row. Many free-standing mansions were built along this breezy, leafy road for Gilded Age business barons and titans of industry, with unspoiled views of Riverside Park and the Hudson River.
More than a century later, only two of those free-standing mansions still stand. One is at West 107th Street. Stand might not be the right word; its pristine white marble facade glistens like a jewel.
This is the Schinasi mansion at 351 Riverside Drive. A French Renaissance mini-palace, it was built in 1909 for Morris Schinasi, an immigrant from Turkey who made a fortune importing Turkish cigarettes with his brother, Solomon.
(Solomon also moved into a palatial mansion on Riverside Drive and 89th Street, which was originally built for the Rice family. Coincidentally, Solomon’s house is the second surviving free-standing mansion on Riverside.)
The exterior of the Morris Schinasi mansion was and is stunning. Designed by William B. Tuthill, the architect behind Carnegie Hall, the house features fancy dormer windows, a green tiled roof, and bronze balcony grills, according to Landmarks of New York, Fifth Edition.
But there’s one feature inside the house that’s truly unique, even for a Gilded Age millionaire’s mansion: a tunnel from the basement that supposedly leads to the Hudson River.
The tunnel isn’t mentioned in newspaper articles or in the Landmark Preservation Commission report designating the mansion as a historic landmark. But apparently, it really does exist.
In 2007, the New York Times mentioned the tunnel in a writeup about the mansion, which at the time was put on the market for $20 million by a Columbia University professor. (The professor bought it for an astounding $325K in 1979.)
“Its three floors included an Egyptian marble hall inlaid with Turkish glass, a Louis XVI drawing room, a library, a smoking room and a reception hall,” wrote Lily Koppel in the Times piece. “The pineapple, a traditional symbol of hospitality, is found throughout the house, set into the moldings in gold and bronze. Among the house’s unusual features is an underground passage to the Hudson River, now sealed.”
A second Times story in 2012 by Constance Rosenblum even featured a photo of what might be the tunnel or perhaps a basement passageway leading to it.
When the tunnel was built, however is puzzling—as is the tunnel’s purpose. The Times wondered as well.
“The mansion’s most beguiling feature is a tunnel in the basement that was thought to have extended west to the Hudson River,” wrote Rosenblum. “But exactly what had the tunnel been used for? To smuggle in Turkish tobacco, or perhaps alcohol or hashish? Or as a conduit for ladies of the evening?”
Every house in New York has its mysteries.
Curious about the Gilded Age mansions that once lined Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side? Join Ephemeral New York on a walking tour Sunday, August 29 that explores the history of Riverside Drive and the short period of time when Riverside rivaled Fifth Avenue as New York City’s millionaire colony. Click the link for more details.
[Third image: MCNY, 1909; x2010.28.118; fourth image: Wikipedia; fifth image: NYPL]
Tags: 351 Riverside Drive Mansion, Gilded Age Mansions NYC, Gilded Age Mansions Riverside Drive, Gilded Age New York City Mansion, Mansion With Tunnel on Riverside Drive, Photos of Gilded Age Mansions NYC, Schinasi Mansion Riverside Drive
Ephemeral New York 
August 9, 2021 at 1:11 am |
Cool houses! Grateful that this is still standing as a single-family dwelling. Long may it do so.
August 9, 2021 at 10:38 am |
Very interesting. Here is the 2012 Times story in full if anyone is interested https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/realestate/where-the-secrets-were-kept.html?_r=1
August 9, 2021 at 11:30 am |
An article written by the architect in The New York Architect, V.3, No.7, July 1909, “Residence of Morris Schinasi, Esq.” and the accompanying ads, gives a fairly full account of the exterior and interior and includes many photos and drawings of the building, but no mention of the tunnel.
August 9, 2021 at 11:38 am |
I live on the block. The current owners, a retired Goldman Sachs partner and his wife, have done a spectacular job of restoring the exterior with all new Vermont marble, copper for the roof and gorgeous plantings in the yard. Since it’s an LPC-designated landmark, every ornamental detail of the original 1909 structure has been faithfully duplicated. As to the legend about the tunnel from the house to the Hudson, the fact that the site is about 120 feet above sea level makes the story quite doubtful.
August 9, 2021 at 2:05 pm |
Big kudos to the current residents, because they have done an impressive job, as you wrote; the house is like a jewel box. I do wish they could investigate the tunnel and report back!
August 9, 2021 at 1:23 pm |
Conjecture is a little inflated. How did (wealthy) folks travel in bygone days; land -and sea. The tunnel is an obvious pro forma structure as an intended convenience jetty for direct nautical perigrination access. I’d certainly build something akin in in a coastal property.
August 9, 2021 at 11:11 pm |
Aside from the possible illicit uses mentioned for a tunnel in the article, the tunnel might have simply been a way for the family to inconspicuously access a docked boat that they used for recreational purposes. Glenn in Brooklyn, NY.
August 9, 2021 at 11:38 pm |
That would be one long, deep tunnel….
August 11, 2021 at 11:11 am |
Quite the mystery! The earliest (1924) aerial photo I can find of the area does show a rather small dock on the Hudson at 107th St, seemingly to unload freight to the nearby NY Central railroad tracks. On the other hand, besides a very steep drop to the riverfront, the tracks would (and still do) block any direct access to the Hudson River, not to mention the sewer and gas mains on Riverside Drive, and Riverside Park itself. I have to ask myself for what purpose would a tunnel exist? A wealthy person would have no problem taking a carriage or motorcar down to the nearest boat basin or dock, and no doubt the Preservation Commission report would have made even a casual mention of such an interesting feature if it actually existed. Ephemerites, it may be time to start digging!
August 11, 2021 at 11:36 am |
Just a thought – RR grade crossings were more casually regarded 100 years ago than they are now; there could have been a private grade crossing. Of course, I have no proof. Has anyone found a western portal, or tried to trace the tunnel from inside the house?
August 11, 2021 at 9:29 pm
To my knowledge, no one has. There’s no mention of it in any of the research I’ve found.
August 11, 2021 at 11:22 am |
In the book Upper West Side Story, it mentions that the tunnel was built to facilitate access to the family’s boat dock.
August 22, 2021 at 3:01 pm |
Any chance the house has an indoor pool? The Paterno Castle at 182 Northern Avenue (now Cabrini Blvd) had an indoor pool that was reportedly filled with filtered water from the Hudson River.
September 16, 2021 at 3:13 am |
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February 19, 2023 at 4:05 pm |
Disgusting. So long as we have millions of homeless then there is nobody that should have that much. I do not care how hard one has worked. As long as there are families out in the cold hungry then this disgusts me