Anthony Campagna

In 1909, he moved to New York to work for the Paterno Brothers construction firm.[5] Campagna later formed the company Campagna Construction Company, and was responsible for building several of the most prominent luxury apartments in the City following World War I, including 960 Fifth Avenue, 35 Park Avenue and 530 Park Avenue.[2][6] He also developed 173-175 Riverside Drive which occupied the entire blockfront between 89th Street and 90th Street on the Upper West Side.[5]

In 1927, he purchased 962 Fifth Avenue for $3 million (equivalent to $50,061,000 in 2022).[7] The building, which was the residence of the late Senator Clark and cost $7 million to build, was sold by Clark's widow and daughter, Huguette Clark, who moved to 907 Fifth Avenue.[8] Campagana had the mansion torn down just 19 years after it was built in 1911.[9][10] Campagna hired Warren & Wetmore and architect Rosario Candela to design the new building, along with Dorothy Draper, the prominent interior decorator.[11][12] The building was completed in 1928[13][14] and the original apartments were priced from $130,000 to $325,000.[15] More than 75 percent of the apartments were sold before the frame of the building was enclosed.[15] The largest initial stockholder in the building was Dr. Preston Pope Satterwhite who reportedly paid $450,000 for his 20-room apartment,[15] which was considered the most expensive cooperative sale ever paid at the time.[11]

In 1935, as the executive head of Rialto Times Square Inc., he was responsible for tearing down the old Rialto Theatre, developed by Paramount Pictures and located at 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue.[16] After Campagna demolished the theatre, he rebuilt it on a smaller scale and dedicated the rest of the building to shops and office space.[17]

In addition, he was the founder of the Casa Italiana at Columbia University, which was originally opened as an outreach of the Italian government of Benito Mussolini.[18][19] In 1926-27, he hired William M. Kendall of McKim, Mead & White to design the building in the Renaissance style, modeled after a 15th-century Roman palazzo,[20] which was built by his firm.[5]

He traveled back to Italy and helped restore Virgil's tomb in Naples and a Roman tower in Minturno.[2]

In 1929, he was conferred the order of Grand Officer of the Crown of Italy by Dr. Emanuele Grazzi, Consul General of Italy.[21]

In 1930, he was bestowed with the title Count of Castelmezzano by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy.[5] Reportedly, he did not use the title, stating: "Builder is title enough."[1]

In 1943, Campagna was appointed by New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia to replace Dr. Bonaschi and serve as a Bronx member of the New York City Board of Education.[22] He served as chairman on the Committee of Building and Sites in the 1940s,[23] and directed a $100 million program to construct schools.[2][24][25] He retired from the Board in 1949.[1]

Campagna and his wife lived in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, where Campagna purchased land from Percy Rivington Pyne and built the now landmark palatial residence at 640 West 249th Street,[34][35] across the street from Wave Hill, the "oldest Riverdale mansion" and the former residence of Arturo Toscanini, Mark Twain, Theodore Roosevelt,[3] and George Walbridge Perkins.[36][5] The home, modeled after an Italian villa, was built in 1929 to 1930 and was designed by architect Dwight James Baum and landscape architect Ferruccio Vitale and his partner, Alfred Geiffert, Jr., who won the 1934 gold medal in landscape architecture from the Architectural League of New York for the property.[36] As of 2011, the building was owned by Yeshiva of Telshe Alumni.[37]

Through his son John, he was the grandfather of David Winslow Campagna (b. 1939),[31] who married Jered A. McAllister in 1963.[38][39]