James Byrne (1857-1942)
LL.D., Lawyer & Educator, of 1043 Fifth Ave. New York City & "Planting Fields," L.I.
He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. Having been a private tutor in Philadelphia, he entered Harvard Law School before coming to New York where he became a leading corporate lawyer with Hornblower, Byrne, Taylor & Miller. He was President of the New York City Bar Association, a founding member of the American Law Institute, and as one the state's most important Catholic laymen he became the first Roman Catholic to be elected to the Harvard Corporation - its seven-man governing body - and a leading advocate of higher education for women. He was Chancellor of the Board of Regents of the State University of New York, instrumental in establishing Rice University in Houston, and a member of the Jekyll Island Club.
His wife was well-known as a patroness of the arts, and was in correspondence with the famous Irish poet W.B. Yeats. In 1925, they built 1043 Fifth Avenue (see images) and in the following year (1926) he commissioned Guy Lowell to remodel "Guy's Cliff" at Bar Harbor into a Tuscan Villa, using Beatrix Farrand to design its terraced gardens. In 1913, he sold "Planting Fields," his 353-acre country estate near Oyster Bay on Long Island, to W.R. Coe who replaced their mansion with the house seen there today. He had 5-children.
His wife was well-known as a patroness of the arts, and was in correspondence with the famous Irish poet W.B. Yeats. In 1925, they built 1043 Fifth Avenue (see images) and in the following year (1926) he commissioned Guy Lowell to remodel "Guy's Cliff" at Bar Harbor into a Tuscan Villa, using Beatrix Farrand to design its terraced gardens. In 1913, he sold "Planting Fields," his 353-acre country estate near Oyster Bay on Long Island, to W.R. Coe who replaced their mansion with the house seen there today. He had 5-children.
