The Seton’s first home after their marriage was a property called Sloat Hall, near Tappan, New Jersey, which Seton acquired with the help of Grace Seton’s mother. It was a large, rambling home with lots of outdoor space as well. It proved to be unsatisfactory (and possibly haunted). After about a year, the Setons moved to an apartment in New York City. They rented Sloat Hall to a tenant and sold it about a year later. Shortly after the sale, the house burned to the ground.
Their first New York apartment was at 144 Fifth Avenue. This was a large apartment on an upper floor above the interior decorating and art gallery firm Cottier & Co. The Setons decorated this apartment with many pieces of furniture, books, and items from Seton’s rapidly growing collections. This building still stands.
Seton’s friend, fellow painter, and a fellow charter member of the Camp-Fire Club of America, A.A. Anderson, developed a studio-apartment building specifically designed for artists. The building was at 80 West 40th Street, directly across from Bryant Park, adjacent to the New York Public Library. The studio-apartment building became known as Bryant Park Studios (sometimes referred to as the Beaux Arts Building). Seton’s path would cross many times with Anderson. Anderson’s western home was the Palette Ranch, near Yellowstone National Park. A real bear named Wahb inhabited the Palette Ranch and inspired Seton’s book, The Biography of a Grizzly.
Many artists made Bryant Park Studios their New York home and base. The studios had high ceilings, large windows, and many had excellent views of Bryant Park. It was in this apartment that Seton’s daughter, Anya Seton, was born.
The current owners of 80 West 40th Street are preservation enthusiasts and have done a great job of keeping it an elegant building.
Although Seton began assembling Wyndygoul in 1900, the Setons maintained a city apartment until at least the mid-1920s. Originally, the homes in Greenwich were summer homes, but as they became grander, the Greenwich homes became their home base, and the New York apartments were essentially city apartments for when they had business or social functions to attend to in the city.
Sometime in the teens, the Setons moved to their last New York City apartment at 562 Fifth Avenue. That building was torn down at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 46th Street in 2016.
Their first apartment in New York was at
