"Sarsaparilla" Townsend's pride and folly was tumbled to the ground, carted away, and in its place there went up the Italian palace that is still a familiar memory to most New Yorkers.

It cost two million dollars.

Stewart did not live long to enjoy it.

But after his death in 1876, his widow occupied the palace until her death in 1886, when the property was leased to the Manhattan Club.

There was a story to the effect that during the club's occupancy it was found necessary to make certain interior alterations.