Academy’s Past – Moving on Up(town)
The Academy would spend more than half a century in its next home, which was located on the city’s Upper East Side.
Published August 28, 2025
By Nick Fetty
Ziegler-Woolworth Mansion | 2 E. 63rd Street | 1949-2005
When the Academy moved into the Ziegler-Woolworth Mansion on East 63rd Street it once again had its own standalone facility. The mansion served as the Academy’s home into the 21st century.
The Academy’s procurement of this space can be directly attributed to Eunice Miner, the Academy’s leader as Executive Director for three decades, from 1939 to 1967. Among her many accomplishments, Miner played a significant role in growing the Academy’s membership through the middle of the 20th century. She also directly inspired Norman Woolworth to gift his mansion to the Academy after hearing a talk she gave about the need for a permanent home.
The 32-room mansion, designed by Frederick Sterners and constructed in 1921, first served as a home for William Ziegler, Jr., the Iowa-born, adopted nephew of William Ziegler, Sr., who made his fortune as a co-founder of the Royal Baking Powder Company. Junior, and his first wife, lived in the mansion for barely a year before their marriage ended in divorce. Though plans were initially discussed to convert the building into an actors’ hospital, the mansion was instead purchased by Norman Woolworth in 1929, where he would reside with his family before giving it to the Academy.
Essentially in its Native State Today
The massive neo-Italian Renaissance style house is roughly 75-feet wide and extends to the back of the property line. The building features a courtyard reminiscent of “a Roman villa.” The New York Times reported that several of the architectural highlights were imported from Europe, including a mantel from Florence and marble flooring from Tuscany, as well as wood paneling from London. At the time the Academy moved in, the house was full of spike-studded oak and bronze doors while the first-floor ceilings were adorned with intricate plaster reliefs.
Because of its elegant architecture, the building was often rented out for weddings and other events, providing the Academy a source of revenue. To move its headquarters to 7 World Trade Center, the Academy sold the mansion in 2005. While it has since undergone renovation and a name change to the Academy Mansion, it retains many of its original features.
The Academy was now ready to return to its roots with its move back to lower Manhattan.
This is the ninth piece in an eleven-part series exploring the Academy’s past homes. Read:
