French Renaissance symmetry defines the Mrs. Seymour H. Knox House, also called the Grace Millard Knox House, the 48,000-square-foot mansion facing you on Delaware Avenue. It was built between 1915 and 1918 and was designed by New York architect C. P. H. Gilbert for Grace Millard Knox, the widow of Seymour H. Knox. Seymour Knox co-founded the F. W. Woolworth Company with his cousins Charles and Frank W. Woolworth.
In 1915 Grace purchased the property on Delaware Avenue north of Summer Street; the Knoxes had previously lived at 1035 Delaware Avenue. Grace hired Gilbert to replace an older Italianate house with a new residence, an extravagant stone mansion completed in 1918. The house is executed in the French Renaissance style with a symmetrical façade and a U-shaped floor plan.
Notice how the projecting side pavilions flank a recessed central elevation, where French doors on the ground floor are topped with round arches. This building also contributes to the Delaware Avenue Historic District, designated in 1974. Picture the French doors topped with round arches on the ground floor, flanked by projecting pavilions around a recessed central façade.