Bronson Winthrop (1863-1944)

He was born in Paris, France, where his family relocated during the U.S. Civil War. He was educated in England at Eton; Trinity College, Cambridge (1889); and, Columbia University in New York (1891). Having graduated in law from both universities, he established a partnership with Henry L. Stimson (later Secretary of State and Secretary of War) and practiced in New York as Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts. Elihu Root, the former partner and close friend of Henry Stimson called Winthrop, “the finest legal mind of his generation”. During the Spanish-American War he served as a Captain of Infantry. He served as Treasurer of the New York City Bar Association; Director of the Bank of the Manhattan Company; Trustee of the American Surety Company; honorary Vice-President of the Community Service Society; and, Vice-President of the Charity Organization Society. He was a member of the most fashionable clubs and in 1892 was included with his father and several members of his mother's family in the Mrs Astor's "Four Hundred". He was a lifelong bachelor.

He inherited his father's summer home Quatrel in Newport and his townhouse in New York at 23 East 33rd Street, both in equal shares with his brother. He lived at the New York house for a few more years before buying the 5-story 39 East 72nd Street with 25-rooms and 7-bathrooms. After he died he left the house to his orphaned niece, Charlotte Fowler, who sold it in 1944 when it was valued at $82,000. In 1903, he bought 450-acres at Muttontown in Nassau County, Long Island, and in the following year commissioned Delano & Aldrich to build him Nassau Hall (see pictures). He lived there until 1914 when he transferred the property to his brother, Egerton, and asked the architects to build him "Muttontown Corners" (pictured above), another 12,000-square foot home next door.