Otto Hermann Kahn
Encyclopedia
Otto Hermann Kahn was an investment banker, collector
, philanthropist
, and patron of the arts.
, to Jewish parents. His father had been among the refugees to the United States after the revolution of 1848 and had become an American citizen, but later returned to Germany. Otto Kahn was educated in a gymnasium
in Mannheim.
Kahn's ambition was to be a musician, and he learned to play several instruments before he graduated from the gymnasium. But he was one of eight children, and his father had set plans for the career of each one. Kahn he destined to be a banker. At 17, Kahn was placed in a bank at Karlsruhe
as a junior clerk, where he remained for three years, advancing until he was thoroughly grounded in the intricacies of finance. He then served for a year in the Kaiser's hussar
s.
On leaving the army he went to the London
agency of Deutsche Bank
, where he remained five years. He displayed such unusual talents that he became second in command when he had been there but a comparatively short time. The English mode of life, both political and social, appealed to him, and eventually he became a naturalized British citizen.
In 1893, he accepted an offer from Speyer and Company
of New York
and went to the United States
, where he spent the rest of his life. On January 8, 1896, Kahn married Adelaide "Addie" Wolff and following the couple's year-long tour of Europe
, Kahn joined Kuhn, Loeb & Co.
in New York City
, where his father-in-law, Abraham Wolff, was a partner. In 1917, Kahn gave up his British citizenship and became a United States citizen.
Besides his father-in-law, Kahn's other partners included Jacob Schiff
, himself the son-in-law of Solomon Loeb
, who co-founded the firm, and Paul
and Felix Warburg. Almost immediately, Kahn was thrown into contact with railroad builder E. H. Harriman
. In spite of sharply defined differences in temperament and method, they became as brothers. In opposition to Harriman's gruff, domineering, aggressive manner in business, was Kahn's calm, good-humored, almost gentle deportment. Kahn, although only 30 years old, took an almost equal part with Harriman in the gigantic task of reorganizing the Union Pacific Railroad
, a work which in its early stages had been handled by Schiff. Kahn proved his ability to analyze mathematically and scientifically the problems that were constantly presented.
Kahn was soon to be acknowledged as the ablest reorganizer of railroads in the United States. He applied himself to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
, the Missouri Pacific Railroad
, the Wabash Railroad
, the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad
, the Texas and Pacific Railroad, and other systems. More than once, his prompt and vigorous action averted an imminent financial panic. A notable instance was his rescuing from collapse the Pearson-Farquhar syndicate when it found itself in deep water in an attempt to combine several existing lines of railroad into a transcontinental system.
When American International Corporation was forming, Kahn took an active part in the negotiations, and brought them to a successful issue. Kahn conducted negotiations which led to the opening of the doors of the Paris Bourse
to American securities and the listing there of $50,000,000 Pennsylvania bonds, in 1906, the first official listing of American securities in Paris
. Also he had a large share later in the negotiations which resulted in the issue by Kuhn, Loeb and Company of $50,000,000 of City of Paris bonds and $60,000,000 Bordeaux-Lyons and Marseilles bonds.
In 1933, the smooth and affable Kahn successfully disarmed antagonism against members of the banking community during four days of testimony before the United States Senate
's Pecora Commission
hearings into the Wall Street Crash of 1929
. The Senate's lead counsel Ferdinand Pecora
wrote on page 293 in his 1939 memoir Wall Street Under Oath about Otto Kahn: "No suaver, more fluent, and more diplomatic advocate could be conceived. If anyone could succeed in presenting the customs and functions of the private bankers in a favorable and prepossessing light, it was he."
Kahn was a trustee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and of Rutgers College. He was a director in numerous corporations, including the Equitable Trust Co. of New York and the Union Pacific railway.
During the last years of Kahn's life he became increasingly frail and suffered from arteriosclerosis
, high blood pressure and attacks of angina pectoria. On March 29, 1934, following lunch in the private dining room of Kuhn, Loeb, Kahn suffered a massive heart attack
and died, aged 67. Funeral services were held in the music room of his Long Island estate, followed by a burial in nearby St. John's Memorial Cemetery.
, George Gershwin
and Arturo Toscanini
. He was also smitten with Hollywood, to which Kuhn Loeb provided much commercial support and Kahn, personal support. In her second full-length film, Be Yourself
, Fanny Brice
sang a song which mentioned Kahn: "Is something the matter with Otto Kahn, or is something wrong with me? I wrote a note and told him what a star I would make. He sent it back and marked it "Opened by mistake."
Kahn was chairman of the New York committee of the Shakespeare Tercentenary (1916). He was elected to honorary membership in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
music fraternity by the Fraternity's Alpha Chapter at the New England Conservatory in 1917. He was chairman of the board of directors of the Metropolitan Opera
Co. of New York and of the French Theatre of New York, and a founder and later treasurer of the New Theatre Co.
His own son Roger Wolfe Kahn
was a popular jazz musician and band leader of the late 1920s and early 1930s. His daughter Margaret Kahn married John Barry Ryan II, and was a New York society doyenne and benefactor of the Metropolitan Opera
.
As was typical for men of his stature, Kahn maintained both a New York City residence and a home in the country. Kahn's original country home, a gift from his father-in-law, was in Morristown, New Jersey
. Although a resident there for a number of years and a business associate of many of his neighbors, anti-semitism
was still prevalent and Kahn was never accepted by Morristown society. Social rejection led him to move to Long Island and his New Jersey estate ultimately became home to Honeywell
.
By 1919, Kahn had assembled a 443 acre (1.79 km²) estate on Long Island
, and had Oheka Castle
(from Otto Hermann Kahn) built as its centerpiece. At 109000 square feet (10,126.4 m²), the 127 room structure was designed as the second largest private residence in the United States (after George Vanderbilt's 175000 square feet (16,258 m²) Biltmore Estate
in Asheville, North Carolina) by Delano
& Aldrich of New York City; its landscaping was designed by Olmstead Brothers, sons of Frederick Law Olmsted
of Brookline, Massachusetts
. The property featured a golf course, a working farm, a private airstrip and numerous outbuildings.
Following Kahn's death in 1934, the property was sold to the City of New York City for use as a retreat for sanitation workers and then a government training school for merchant marine radio operators. In the late 1940s, an upscale housing development was constructed and in 1948, the Eastern Military Academy
(EMA) purchased the mansion and 23 acres (93,077.8 m²) around it. One of the former EMA cadets has written his memories going to school there. By the time the school went bankrupt 30 years later, the gardens had been bulldozed, rooms subdivided and paneled walls painted over. Following the departure of EMA, vandals repeatedly set fire to the building, however, because Kahn had insisted on fireproofing the building through a concrete, brick and steel structure, the building survived. In 1984 a local developer, Gary Melius, purchased the estate for $1.5 million and began the largest private renovation project in the United States. Today, Oheka is used as a catering facility, hotel and conference center.
In New York City, following his acquisition of the property at 1 East 91st Street from Andrew Carnegie
in 1913, Kahn commissioned J. Armstrong Stenhouse and Charles P. H. Gilbert to design his Carnegie Hill mansion
. The home, an 80-room Italian Renaissance-palazzo style mansion, was modeled after the Cancelleria
in Rome
. Completed in 1918, it served as Kahn's New York City residence until his death. Shortly thereafter, the house was sold to the Convent of the Sacred Heart
, an independent Catholic girls school. In 1974 the house was designated a landmark
by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
.
In Palm Beach, Kahn built a summer home on Sunset Avenue, naming it Oheka. When this house proved too small, he built another Oheka, at 691 North County Road. Following his death, the house was used by the Graham-Eckes School. In the 2000s, it was acquired by businessman Robert Cohen and returned to private use.
to build a high-speed motor yacht for use on the River Rhine and in the North Sea
. Designed using a classical round bottomed hull, she had a composite wooden plank over alloy metal frame structure. But innovative hull design meant that her hull flattened towards the rear third, and with her three 500 hp Maybach
engines positioned forward in her 22.5 metres (73.8 ft) hull, the resultant counter balance and high power gave her a 34 knot top speed, the highest in her class for the day. Oheka II
came to the notice of the German Navy, resulting in their development of the Schnellboot high speed torpedo craft within the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles
.
The couple had nine children of whom Otto was the fifth child and third son. His siblings included:
is not autocracy
but liberty
frenzied. Liberty is not foolproof. For its beneficent working it demands self-restraint, a sane and clear recognition of the practical and attainable, and of the fact that there are laws of nature which are beyond our
power to change." (from a speech given at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
)
On business
"It has long been our policy and our effort to get our clients, not by chasing after them, not by praising our own wares, but by an attempt to establish a reputation. . . . We have no show window; our only attractiveness is our good name and our reputation for sound advice and integrity. . . . If we do not live up to what they [our clients] believe is our capacity, and to what they believe is the value of our sponsorship, of our trade-mark, they will quit us. And we have no means to prevent them."
}}
Collecting
The hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector. Some collectors are generalists, accumulating merchandise, or stamps from all countries of the world...
, philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
, and patron of the arts.
Life and career
He was born on February 21, 1867, and raised in the city of Mannheim, GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, to Jewish parents. His father had been among the refugees to the United States after the revolution of 1848 and had become an American citizen, but later returned to Germany. Otto Kahn was educated in a gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
in Mannheim.
Kahn's ambition was to be a musician, and he learned to play several instruments before he graduated from the gymnasium. But he was one of eight children, and his father had set plans for the career of each one. Kahn he destined to be a banker. At 17, Kahn was placed in a bank at Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
as a junior clerk, where he remained for three years, advancing until he was thoroughly grounded in the intricacies of finance. He then served for a year in the Kaiser's hussar
Hussar
Hussar refers to a number of types of light cavalry which originated in Hungary in the 14th century, tracing its roots from Serbian medieval cavalry tradition, brought to Hungary in the course of the Serb migrations, which began in the late 14th century....
s.
On leaving the army he went to the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
agency of Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG is a global financial service company with its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. It employs more than 100,000 people in over 70 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the emerging markets...
, where he remained five years. He displayed such unusual talents that he became second in command when he had been there but a comparatively short time. The English mode of life, both political and social, appealed to him, and eventually he became a naturalized British citizen.
In 1893, he accepted an offer from Speyer and Company
Edgar Speyer
Sir Edgar Speyer, 1st Baronet was an American-born financier and philanthropist. He became a British subject in 1892 and was chairman of Speyer Brothers, the British branch of his family's international finance house, and a partner in the German and American branches...
of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and went to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where he spent the rest of his life. On January 8, 1896, Kahn married Adelaide "Addie" Wolff and following the couple's year-long tour of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Kahn joined Kuhn, Loeb & Co.
Kuhn, Loeb & Co.
Kuhn, Loeb & Co. was a bulge bracket, investment bank founded in 1867 by Abraham Kuhn and Solomon Loeb. Under the leadership of Jacob H. Schiff, it grew to be one of the most influential investment banks in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, financing America's expanding railways and growth...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where his father-in-law, Abraham Wolff, was a partner. In 1917, Kahn gave up his British citizenship and became a United States citizen.
Besides his father-in-law, Kahn's other partners included Jacob Schiff
Jacob Schiff
Jacob Henry Schiff, born Jakob Heinrich Schiff was a German-born Jewish American banker and philanthropist, who helped finance, among many other things, the Japanese military efforts against Tsarist Russia in the Russo-Japanese War.From his base on Wall Street, he was the foremost Jewish leader...
, himself the son-in-law of Solomon Loeb
Solomon Loeb
Solomon Loeb was a German American merchant in textiles and later a banker with Kuhn, Loeb & Co.. His father, a devout Jew, had been a small corn- and wine-dealer in Worms, which belonged to the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine. S. Loeb emigrated to the United States in 1849. He settled in...
, who co-founded the firm, and Paul
Paul Warburg
Paul Moritz Warburg was a German-born American banker and early advocate of the U.S. Federal Reserve system.- Early life :...
and Felix Warburg. Almost immediately, Kahn was thrown into contact with railroad builder E. H. Harriman
E. H. Harriman
Edward Henry Harriman was an American railroad executive.-Early years:Harriman was born in Hempstead, New York, the son of Orlando Harriman, an Episcopal clergyman, and Cornelia Neilson...
. In spite of sharply defined differences in temperament and method, they became as brothers. In opposition to Harriman's gruff, domineering, aggressive manner in business, was Kahn's calm, good-humored, almost gentle deportment. Kahn, although only 30 years old, took an almost equal part with Harriman in the gigantic task of reorganizing the Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
, a work which in its early stages had been handled by Schiff. Kahn proved his ability to analyze mathematically and scientifically the problems that were constantly presented.
Kahn was soon to be acknowledged as the ablest reorganizer of railroads in the United States. He applied himself to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...
, the Missouri Pacific Railroad
Missouri Pacific Railroad
The Missouri Pacific Railroad , also known as the MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers, including the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway , Texas and Pacific...
, the Wabash Railroad
Wabash Railroad
The Wabash Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. It served a large area, including trackage in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri and Ontario. Its primary connections included Chicago, Illinois, Kansas City, Missouri, Detroit,...
, the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad
Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad
The Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad was a Class I railroad that linked Chicago to southern Illinois, St. Louis, and Evansville. Founded in 1877, it grew aggressively and stayed relatively strong throughout the Great Depression and two World Wars before being purchased by the Missouri Pacific...
, the Texas and Pacific Railroad, and other systems. More than once, his prompt and vigorous action averted an imminent financial panic. A notable instance was his rescuing from collapse the Pearson-Farquhar syndicate when it found itself in deep water in an attempt to combine several existing lines of railroad into a transcontinental system.
When American International Corporation was forming, Kahn took an active part in the negotiations, and brought them to a successful issue. Kahn conducted negotiations which led to the opening of the doors of the Paris Bourse
Paris Bourse
The Paris Bourse is the historical Paris stock exchange, known as Euronext Paris from 2000 onwards.-History and functioning:...
to American securities and the listing there of $50,000,000 Pennsylvania bonds, in 1906, the first official listing of American securities in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Also he had a large share later in the negotiations which resulted in the issue by Kuhn, Loeb and Company of $50,000,000 of City of Paris bonds and $60,000,000 Bordeaux-Lyons and Marseilles bonds.
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
's Pecora Commission
Pecora Commission
The Pecora Investigation was an inquiry begun on March 4, 1932 by the United States Senate Committee on Banking and Currency to investigate the causes of the Wall Street Crash of 1929...
hearings into the Wall Street Crash of 1929
Wall Street Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout...
. The Senate's lead counsel Ferdinand Pecora
Ferdinand Pecora
Ferdinand Pecora was an American lawyer and judge who became famous in the 1930s as Chief Counsel to the United States Senate Committee on Banking and Currency during its investigation of Wall Street banking and stock brokerage practices.-Early career:Ferdinand Pecora was born in Nicosia, Sicily,...
wrote on page 293 in his 1939 memoir Wall Street Under Oath about Otto Kahn: "No suaver, more fluent, and more diplomatic advocate could be conceived. If anyone could succeed in presenting the customs and functions of the private bankers in a favorable and prepossessing light, it was he."
Kahn was a trustee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
and of Rutgers College. He was a director in numerous corporations, including the Equitable Trust Co. of New York and the Union Pacific railway.
During the last years of Kahn's life he became increasingly frail and suffered from arteriosclerosis
Atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis is a condition in which an artery wall thickens as a result of the accumulation of fatty materials such as cholesterol...
, high blood pressure and attacks of angina pectoria. On March 29, 1934, following lunch in the private dining room of Kuhn, Loeb, Kahn suffered a massive heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
and died, aged 67. Funeral services were held in the music room of his Long Island estate, followed by a burial in nearby St. John's Memorial Cemetery.
Patron of the arts
An extremely wealthy financier, Kahn supported artists such as Hart CraneHart Crane
-Career:Throughout the early 1920s, small but well-respected literary magazines published some of Crane’s lyrics, gaining him, among the avant-garde, a respect that White Buildings , his first volume, ratified and strengthened...
, George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
and Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
. He was also smitten with Hollywood, to which Kuhn Loeb provided much commercial support and Kahn, personal support. In her second full-length film, Be Yourself
Be Yourself (film)
Be Yourself is a 1930 musical comedy film starring Fanny Brice, produced by Joseph Schenck and distributed by United Artists. The director was the little remembered Thornton Freeland. This film is available on DVD from the Kino company. -Cast:...
, Fanny Brice
Fanny Brice
Fanny Brice was a popular and influential American illustrated song "model," comedienne, singer, theatre and film actress, who made many stage, radio and film appearances and is known as the creator and star of the top-rated radio comedy series, The Baby Snooks Show...
sang a song which mentioned Kahn: "Is something the matter with Otto Kahn, or is something wrong with me? I wrote a note and told him what a star I would make. He sent it back and marked it "Opened by mistake."
Kahn was chairman of the New York committee of the Shakespeare Tercentenary (1916). He was elected to honorary membership in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia is an American collegiate social fraternity for men with a special interest in music...
music fraternity by the Fraternity's Alpha Chapter at the New England Conservatory in 1917. He was chairman of the board of directors of the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
Co. of New York and of the French Theatre of New York, and a founder and later treasurer of the New Theatre Co.
His own son Roger Wolfe Kahn
Roger Wolfe Kahn
Roger Wolfe Kahn was an American jazz and popular musician, composer, and bandleader ....
was a popular jazz musician and band leader of the late 1920s and early 1930s. His daughter Margaret Kahn married John Barry Ryan II, and was a New York society doyenne and benefactor of the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
.
Builder
Morristown, New Jersey
Morristown is a town in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 18,411. It is the county seat of Morris County. Morristown became characterized as "the military capital of the American Revolution" because of its strategic role in the...
. Although a resident there for a number of years and a business associate of many of his neighbors, anti-semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
was still prevalent and Kahn was never accepted by Morristown society. Social rejection led him to move to Long Island and his New Jersey estate ultimately became home to Honeywell
Honeywell
Honeywell International, Inc. is a major conglomerate company that produces a variety of consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments....
.
By 1919, Kahn had assembled a 443 acre (1.79 km²) estate on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, and had Oheka Castle
Oheka Castle
Oheka Castle, also known as the Otto Kahn Estate, is located on the Gold Coast of Long Island, in Huntington, New York. It was the country home of financier and philanthropist Otto Kahn. Built by Kahn between 1914 and 1919, it was and remains the second largest private home in the United States,...
(from Otto Hermann Kahn) built as its centerpiece. At 109000 square feet (10,126.4 m²), the 127 room structure was designed as the second largest private residence in the United States (after George Vanderbilt's 175000 square feet (16,258 m²) Biltmore Estate
Biltmore Estate
Biltmore House is a Châteauesque-styled mansion near Asheville, North Carolina, built by George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895. It is the largest privately-owned home in the United States, at and featuring 250 rooms...
in Asheville, North Carolina) by Delano
William Adams Delano
William Adams Delano , an American architect, was a partner with Chester Holmes Aldrich in the firm of Delano & Aldrich. The firm worked in the Beaux-Arts tradition for elite clients in New York City, Long Island and elsewhere, building townhouses, country houses, clubs, banks and buildings for...
& Aldrich of New York City; its landscaping was designed by Olmstead Brothers, sons of Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted was an American journalist, social critic, public administrator, and landscape designer. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture, although many scholars have bestowed that title upon Andrew Jackson Downing...
of Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, which borders on the cities of Boston and Newton. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 58,732.-Etymology:...
. The property featured a golf course, a working farm, a private airstrip and numerous outbuildings.
Following Kahn's death in 1934, the property was sold to the City of New York City for use as a retreat for sanitation workers and then a government training school for merchant marine radio operators. In the late 1940s, an upscale housing development was constructed and in 1948, the Eastern Military Academy
Eastern Military Academy
Eastern Military Academy is a defunct academy founded in 1944 in Connecticut by Roland R. Robinson, a former mathematics teacher at Peekskill Military Academy , and his brother-in-law, Carleton Witham...
(EMA) purchased the mansion and 23 acres (93,077.8 m²) around it. One of the former EMA cadets has written his memories going to school there. By the time the school went bankrupt 30 years later, the gardens had been bulldozed, rooms subdivided and paneled walls painted over. Following the departure of EMA, vandals repeatedly set fire to the building, however, because Kahn had insisted on fireproofing the building through a concrete, brick and steel structure, the building survived. In 1984 a local developer, Gary Melius, purchased the estate for $1.5 million and began the largest private renovation project in the United States. Today, Oheka is used as a catering facility, hotel and conference center.
In New York City, following his acquisition of the property at 1 East 91st Street from Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
in 1913, Kahn commissioned J. Armstrong Stenhouse and Charles P. H. Gilbert to design his Carnegie Hill mansion
Carnegie Hill mansion
The Otto H. Kahn House was the New York City residence of German Jewish financier and philanthropist, Otto H. Kahn. The mansion is located at 1 East 91st Street, in the Carnegie Hill section of the Upper East Side.- History :...
. The home, an 80-room Italian Renaissance-palazzo style mansion, was modeled after the Cancelleria
Palazzo della Cancelleria
The Palazzo della Cancelleria is a Renaissance palace in Rome, Italy, situated between the present Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and the Campo de' Fiori, in the rione of Parione...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. Completed in 1918, it served as Kahn's New York City residence until his death. Shortly thereafter, the house was sold to the Convent of the Sacred Heart
Convent of the Sacred Heart (New York)
The Convent of the Sacred Heart is a Roman Catholic all-girl school in the Manhattan borough of New York City. Teaching grades from pre-kindergarten through twelve, it is located on Manhattan's Upper East Side at East 91st Street and Fifth Avenue....
, an independent Catholic girls school. In 1974 the house was designated a landmark
Landmark
This is a list of landmarks around the world.Landmarks may be split into two categories - natural phenomena and man-made features, like buildings, bridges, statues, public squares and so forth...
by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The Commission was created in April 1965 by Mayor Robert F. Wagner following the destruction of Pennsylvania Station the previous year to make way for...
.
In Palm Beach, Kahn built a summer home on Sunset Avenue, naming it Oheka. When this house proved too small, he built another Oheka, at 691 North County Road. Following his death, the house was used by the Graham-Eckes School. In the 2000s, it was acquired by businessman Robert Cohen and returned to private use.
Boat owner
In 1927, Kahn commissioned German boat builder LürssenLürssen
Lürssen is a German shipbuilding company based in Bremen-Vegesack.Lürssen designs and constructs yachts, naval ships and special vessels...
to build a high-speed motor yacht for use on the River Rhine and in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. Designed using a classical round bottomed hull, she had a composite wooden plank over alloy metal frame structure. But innovative hull design meant that her hull flattened towards the rear third, and with her three 500 hp Maybach
Maybach
Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH is a German luxury car manufacturer. It was founded in 1909 by Wilhelm Maybach and his son. The company was originally a subsidiary of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH and was itself known as Luftfahrzeug-Motorenbau GmbH until 1912.Today, the ultra-luxury car brand is owned by...
engines positioned forward in her 22.5 metres (73.8 ft) hull, the resultant counter balance and high power gave her a 34 knot top speed, the highest in her class for the day. Oheka II
Oheka II
Oheka II was a private motor yacht built for German investment banker Otto Hermann Kahn by Lürssen in 1927. Capable of 34 knots top speed, she became the blueprint for the German Navy's Schnellboot....
came to the notice of the German Navy, resulting in their development of the Schnellboot high speed torpedo craft within the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
.
Parents
- Bernhard Kahn (b. May 23, 1827, Stebbach - d. March 8, 1905, HeidelbergHeidelberg-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
)- A son of Michael Kahn and Franziska Baer, a German-Jewish industrialist and banker who participated in the 1848 Revolt, and was condemned to death. He escaped to the United States, was naturalized an American citizen, and then returned to Germany ten years later to court and on October 17, 1860 marry Emma Stephanie Eberstadt, whom he married on the condition that he not return to the United States.
- Emma Stephanie Eberstadt (b. October 29, 1840, WormsWorms, GermanyWorms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
- d. June 26, 1906, BerlinBerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
) Emma Kahn- First daughter and third child of the WormsWorms, GermanyWorms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
merchant and Burgermeister Ferdinand Eberstadt and his wife, Sara Zelie Seligmann.
- First daughter and third child of the Worms
The couple had nine children of whom Otto was the fifth child and third son. His siblings included:
- Franz Michael Kahn (b.? - d. 1904)
- Clara Maria (b. 1863 - d. 1916)
- Robert KahnRobert Kahn (composer)Robert Kahn was a German composer, pianist, and music teacher.- Life :Kahn was born in Mannheim, the second son of Bernhard Kahn and Emma Eberstadt. One of his seven siblings included financier Otto Kahn. His parents belonged to a distinguished family of bankers and merchants...
(b. July 21, 1865, Mannheim, Germany - d. May 29, 1951 , Biddenden), German composer - Elizabeth Francisca (b. 1869 - d. 1940?)
- Paul Friedrich Kahn (b. 1870 - d. 1947)
- Felix P. Kahn (b. January 25, 1873, Mannheim, Germany, d. July 25, 1950, New York City), noted violin collector.
- Hedwig Kahn (b. 1876 - d. 1950)
Children
- Maud (Momo) Emily Wolff Kahn (b. July 23, 1897, Morristown, New Jersey - d. October 24, 1960, New York City);
- Married June 15, 1920, Cold Spring Harbor, New YorkCold Spring Harbor, New YorkCold Spring Harbor is a hamlet in Suffolk County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the CDP population was 4,975.Cold Spring Harbor is in the Town of Huntington.-History:...
, John Charles Oakes MarriottJohn Charles Oakes MarriottMajor-General Sir John Charles Oakes Marriott, KCVO, CB, DSO and Bar, MC was a British Army officer during World War I and World War II.-Military career:Marriott was commissioned into the Northamptonshire Regiment in 1914....
(later Major-General Sir John Marriott), (b. 1895, StowmarketStowmarket-See also:* Stowmarket Town F.C.* Stowmarket High School-External links:* * * * *...
, Great BritainGreat BritainGreat Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
- d. September 11, 1978, Great BritainGreat BritainGreat Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
), one child
- Married June 15, 1920, Cold Spring Harbor, New York
- Margaret (Nin) Dorothy Wolff Kahn also known as Nin Ryan (b. July 4, 1901, Morristown, New Jersey - d. January 26, 1995, New York City;
- Married February 9, 1928, New York City, John Barry Ryan Jr., (b. 1901, USA - d. January 21, 1966, Cold Spring Harbor, New York), two children, John Barry Ryan III and Virginia Fortune Ryan (Countess of Airlie)
- Gilbert Wolff Kahn, (b. July 18, 1903, Morristown, New Jersey - d. December 15, 1975, Old Brookville, Long IslandLong IslandLong Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
);- Married November 19, 1924, New York City, Anne Elizabeth Whelan, one child, Claire Ann, divorced;
- Married February 1, 1933, New York City, Sara Jane Heliker, a Broadway dancer, b. 1912, Milwaukee, WisconsinWisconsinWisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
- d. 1988, LargoLargo, FloridaLargo is the third largest city in Pinellas County, Florida, USA and is part of the Tampa Bay Area. Centrally located, it is the crossroads of the county. As of the 2000 census, the City had a total population of 69,371. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau was...
, Pinellas County, FloridaFloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, one child, Gilbert W. Jr (b.? - d. 2008), divorced; - Married June 30, 1938, New York City, Polly Stover, a fashion model (died 2006)
- Roger Wolff KahnRoger Wolfe KahnRoger Wolfe Kahn was an American jazz and popular musician, composer, and bandleader ....
, (b. October 19, 1907, Morristown, New Jersey - d. July 12, 1962, New York City);- Married January 26, 1931, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, Hannah WilliamsHannah Williams (actress)Hannah Williams was an American actress, singer, and comedienne.Hannah Williams was born in Taylor, Pennsylvania and performed as a young child with her older sister Dorothy as "The Williams Sisters", a singing and dancing vaudeville act...
, a Broadway singer and dancer, divorced 1933; - Married April 7, 1933, HempsteadHempstead (village), New YorkHempstead is a village located in the town of Hempstead, Nassau County, New York, United States. The population was 53,891 at the 2010 census.Hofstra University is located on the border between Hempstead and Uniondale.-Foundation:...
, LILong IslandLong Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, Edith May Nelson, a politician's daughter (b. October 13, 1910, WatervilleWaterville, MaineWaterville is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, United States, on the west bank of the Kennebec River. The population was 15,722 at the 2010 census. Home to Colby College and Thomas College, Waterville is the regional commercial, medical and cultural center....
, MaineMaineMaine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
-d. September 1994, Glen Cove, NassauNassau County, New YorkNassau County is a suburban county on Long Island, east of New York City in the U.S. state of New York, within the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,339,532...
, New York), two children
- Married January 26, 1931, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, Hannah Williams
Burial place
Kahn was buried in the St. John's Memorial Cemetery, in Laurel Hollow, Cold Spring Harbor, New YorkSelected books and speeches by Kahn
- Of Many Things; Being Reflections and Impressions on International Affairs, Domestic Topics and the Arts (1926) (a compilation of speeches and writings)
- The Value of Art to the People (1924)
- The Myth of American Imperialism (1924)
- Reflections of a Financier - A Study of Economic and Other Problems (1921)
- Two Years of Faulty Taxation (1920)
- Our Economic and Other Problems: A Financier's Point of View (1920)
- Let Us Reason Together (1919)
- Taxation: A Letter (1918)
- Right Above Race (1918)
- Poison Growth of Prussianism (1918)
- The Menace of Paternalism (1918)
- When the Tide Turned (1918)
- Frenzied Liberty (1918)
- The Common Cause: Britain's Part in the Great War (1918)
- Some Comments on War Taxation (1918)
- The War and Business (1917)
- Prussianized Germany. Americans of Foreign Descent and America's Cause (1917)
- Art and the People (1916)
- Suggestions Concerning the Railroad Problem
Quotes
"The deadliest foe of democracyDemocracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
is not autocracy
Autocracy
An autocracy is a form of government in which one person is the supreme power within the state. It is derived from the Greek : and , and may be translated as "one who rules by himself". It is distinct from oligarchy and democracy...
but liberty
Liberty
Liberty is a moral and political principle, or Right, that identifies the condition in which human beings are able to govern themselves, to behave according to their own free will, and take responsibility for their actions...
frenzied. Liberty is not foolproof. For its beneficent working it demands self-restraint, a sane and clear recognition of the practical and attainable, and of the fact that there are laws of nature which are beyond our
power to change." (from a speech given at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
)
On business
"It has long been our policy and our effort to get our clients, not by chasing after them, not by praising our own wares, but by an attempt to establish a reputation. . . . We have no show window; our only attractiveness is our good name and our reputation for sound advice and integrity. . . . If we do not live up to what they [our clients] believe is our capacity, and to what they believe is the value of our sponsorship, of our trade-mark, they will quit us. And we have no means to prevent them."
Further reading
- Collins, Theresa M. Otto Kahn - Art, Money & Modern Time. The University of North Carolina Press, 2002
- Collins, Theresa M. Introducing Otto H. Kahn
- King, Robert B. Raising a Fallen Treasure: The Otto H. Kahn Home, Huntington, Long Island. The Mad Printers of Mattituck, 1985
- Kobler, John. Otto the Magnificent: The Life of Otto Kahn. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988
- Matz, Mary Jane. The Many Lives of Otto Kahn. Macmillan Publishing Company, 1963
Otto Kahn
- Otto Kahn: Art, Money, and Modern Time, Introduction Discusses Kahn in the context of the arts, financial history, anti-semitism, Citizen Kane and locates him among the lives of Sergei Eisenstein, Groucho Marx, Enrico Caruso and Anna Pavlova, Paul Robeson, James Joyce, Eugene O'Neill, etc.
- On the Cover of Time Mag (Nov. 2, 1925), and "Mr. Kahn & Mr. Gatti" in same issue
- Otto H. Kahn Papers at Princeton University includes a short biography and a photograph of the financier.
- St. John's Memorial Cemetery, Laurel Hollow, Cold Spring Harbor, New York
- Books by Kahn at Project Gutenberg.
Kahn's ancestry and family
- Otto Kahn's maternal genealogy Information on his relatives, and some of his descendants.
- Otto Kahn's parents This page is in German, but provides an alternate date and place of birth for his father.
Long Island estate
New York City home
- Otto and Addie Kahn Home - New York City
- Otto and Addie Kahn Home - New York City
- Convent of the Sacred Heart's website
Sister projects
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