Hapsburg House

“The Leisurely Atmosphere of a Bygone Age.”

Hapsburg House Restaurant
c. 1933–1970
Austrian

Ownership:

Alex Chiesi (February 1950–1970)

Ludwig Bemelmans (c. 1934–1935)

Frank Dougherty, Chester “Chet” Laroche, and Edwin “Ted” Patrick (c. 1933–?)

[Walter Chrysler, Jr., Anton Bruehl, Collier Young, Merrall MacNeille, Jr., and Vaughn Flannery have also been listed as original owners. (1)]

Executive Chef:

Erich Matthes (1953)

[A chef known as Dominique, previously at “the so-costly Brook,” is referenced in 1939 and 1940. (2) In 1942, reference is made to a chef called Nagy, who had served as chef at the Hungarian Pavilion during the 1939 World’s Fair. (3)]

Location:

1540 Second Avenue at 80th Street (c. 1968–1970)
[Combined with French restaurant Ida de France.]

313 East 55th Street (c. 1933–1968)

Literature:

Ludwig Bemelmans, “On Innkeeping” in La Bonne Table (1964) [originally published in Holiday, February 1953]:

“Some years ago, together with some friends of like persuasion, I decorated an old house in Manhattan. We bought chairs and tables and a stove, we installed a wine cellar and we called the place ‘The Hapsburg House.’ It was an exercise in transplanting Austrian cooking, zither music and the candlelit Mozart mood of old Vienna to New York. That done, I went back to the easel and the typewriter” (David R. Godine, 2016: 135).

Jack Sher, “All the Golden Things” in Good Housekeeping, February 1947:

“He gave himself twenty minutes to think, twenty minutes before he would rise and dress and, today, lunch with columnist Bart Trapper at the Hapsburg House” (p. 35).

Film:

The Scoundrel. Directed by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. Hollywood, California: Paramount Pictures, 1935.

Publications:

Propst, Andy. They Made Us Happy: Betty Comden & Adolph Green’s Musicals and Movies. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 2019: 15.

Blake, Quentin, and Laurie Britton Newell. Ludwig Bemelmans. London: Thames & Hudson, 2019: 38-39 (illustrated), 80. [Illustration of a section of Bemelmans’s murals for the restaurant.]

Batterberry, Michael and Ariane. On the Town in New York: The Landmark History of Eating, Drinking, and Entertainments from the American Revolution to the Food Revolution. New York: Routledge, 1999: 274.

Tobias, Doris. “At Table: Hapsburg House.” Women’s Wear Daily, August 3, 1971: 12. [Reviews the “combined Ida de France and Hapsburg House at 80th Street and Second Avenue.”]

Callvert, R. S. “New York Restaurants.” Town & Country 123, 4563 (October 1969): 53.

“News of Food: Veal, Now in Excellent Supply, Makes a Tasty Dish When Prepared Properly.” New York Times, March 24, 1953: 35. [Features recipes for two Hapsburg House veal dishes: ‘Veal Cutlet Hapsburg’ and ‘Esterhazy Tokany.’]

Kilgallen, Dorothy. “On Broadway.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 15, 1952: 31.

“May Wine Starred at Gourmet Feast: 70 Start with Seafood, Then on to Soup, Chicken Paprika, Salad and 3 Desserts.” New York Times, March 27, 1950: 13. [Regarding a dinner of the Gourmet Society, which formed at Hapsburg House in 1932.]

Nickerson, Jane. “News of Food: Alex Chiesi, Calm Young Chef, Becomes New Owner of Hapsburg House.” New York Times, February 23, 1950: 31. [Features a recipe for Hapsburg House’s ‘Shrimp Viennoise.’]

Sylvester, Robert. “A Dither over the Zither.” Daily News, January 15, 1950: 22. [Mentions and includes photo of Hapsburg House zither player Karl Schmidt.]

Dana, Robert W. “Dining and Dancing: Gourmet’s Paradise.” New York Herald Tribune, November 19, 1942: 24.

Beebe, Lucius. “This New York.” New York Herald Tribune, July 6, 1940: 14.

Goodman, Eckert. “On the Night Shift.” Town & Country 95, 4211 (April 1940): 12, 14. [Hapsburg House explains their decision not to change their name despite Austria’s position in World War II.]

Mabon, Mary Frost. “Fare Thee Well: Restaurant Jottings.” Town & Country 94, 4200 (May 1939): 90, 102.

“Restaurants: Town and Country.” New Yorker, July 11, 1936: 28.

“That’s what’s nice about this place: it retains its charming Viennese flavor, and yet from time to time appropriates a fine French wine, or a Russian dish, and now our own julep—just as the Bristol, or any Viennese restaurant, might do.”

Reston, James B. “Seen by a New Yorker at Large.” Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), November 3, 1935: 14A.

“Tables for Two: The Post-Repeal Hurly-Burly.” New Yorker, January 27, 1934: 42.

“Your Girl Friday.” The Post-Star (Glens Falls, New York), January 20, 1934: 4.

Notable Guests:

Lucius Beebe (Writer)

William Christian Bullitt, Jr. (Diplomat & Journalist)

Betty Comden (Lyricist & Playwright): Comden had her wedding luncheon at the Hapsburg House and described it as “the most romantic setting in the world.” (4)

Melvyn Douglas (Actor)

Clifton Fadiman (Writer)

Geraldine Farrar (Singer)

J. George Frederick (Writer): Founded the Gourmet Society of New York at Hapsburg House in 1932 and held several monthly meetings there. (5)

Sir Cedric Hardwicke (Actor)

Helen Hayes (Actress)

Ben Hecht (Screenwriter & Director)

Miriam Hopkins (Actress)

Arthur Krock (Journalist)

Roy Larsen (Publisher)

Gertrude Lawrence (Actress & Singer)

Charles MacArthur (Playwright & Screenwriter)

Ruth Schachter Morgenthau (Professor & Political Advisor)

Eleanor Roosevelt (Former First Lady of the United States)

Rosalind Russell (Actress & Model)

Deems Taylor (Composer)

Alexander Woollcott (Critic & Commentator for New Yorker)

Notes:

The original owners of Hapsburg House – Frank Dougherty, Chet Laroche, and Ted Patrick – created the restaurant as a private lunch club for their friends. They commissioned Ludwig Bemelmans to paint the black and white murals, before taking him up as a partner.

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At the encouragement of critic Alexander Woollcott, directors Ben Hecht and Charlie MacArthur filmed a portion of The Scoundrel (1935) in the restaurant.

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In 1952, owner Alex Chiesi painted over portions of the Bemelmans murals. Bemelmans in turn chose to hold his art exhibition at Lüchow’s instead of Hapsburg House. (6)

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Sometime between the late 1960s and 1970, the Hapsburg House building was demolished. By 1974, the old house and several of its neighbors had been replaced by a half-block-spanning Glenwood apartment complex, ironically called The Bristol (a nod to the Hapsburg House’s evocation of old Vienna?). Staff transferred to owner Alex Chiesi’s Ida de France at 80th and Second Avenue, described by Women’s Wear Daily in 1971 as “the combined Ida de France and Hapsburg House” and reviewed under the name of Hapsburg House. (7) As of 1968, advertisements in the New York Times declared the two restaurants were “Now… under one roof!” at 1540 Second Avenue. (8) However, after 1970, the name “Hapsburg House” otherwise disappears from the publications, and the restaurant appears to have effectually closed around this time. (A review of Ida de France appears in the New York Times in 1970, describing the restaurant as “linked with the now defunct Hapsburg House.”) (9)

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On March 9, 2017, portions of the murals were put up for auction by Bonhams in the Fine Books and Manuscripts sale, estimated price $40,000 – $60,000. [Images of Lot 119 can be viewed here.]

Menu:

Dinner menu (Culinary Institute of America)

Sunday, September 30, 1934:

Lizzyoung Bookseller, Accessed May 12, 2017.

(1) Goodman, 1940.
(2) Mabon, 1939; Beebe, 1940: 14.
(3) “Restaurants: A Nod Toward Nature.” New Yorker, July 25, 1942: 47.
(4) Propst, 2019.
(5) New York Times, March 27, 1950.
(6) Kilgallen, 1952.
(7) Tobias, 1971: 12.
(8) “Now… under one roof! Alex and his Hapsburg House staff have added their famous Viennese Küche to the superb French cuisine of Ida de France.” Advertisement. New York Times, October 1, 1968: 51.
(9) Claiborne, Craig. “When You Want Chinese Food at Home.” New York Times, December 25, 1970: 41.

Cover photo: Menu. (1934). Lizzyoung Bookseller. Accessed May 12, 2017.