[1][5] Since many of the building's other occupants were bachelors or commuters, McEntee and his wife (who was known as a lively, sympathetic hostess) became the center of a spontaneous salon frequented by some of the best-known artists, writers, and actors of the era.

[1] McEntee was a particularly close friend of Hudson River School artists Sanford Robinson Gifford, Worthington Whittredge, John Ferguson Weir, as well as figurative painter Eastman Johnson.

In his writings, McEntee records a detailed account of Hudson River School artists, their day-to-day life, gossip and personal reflections, and the overall arc of the American art world in the second half of the 19th century.

The journals contain first-hand information on the inner workings of the National Academy and the Century Club, on the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, efforts to revive the American Art-Union, and on the vigorous growth of art societies and exhibitions throughout the country.

The diaries also reveal the economy of art during the period, including the prices, patterns of collecting and patronage, the artists' dependence on personal contacts through clubs, social gatherings, and influential friends.

Long passages describe McEntee's overwhelming anxieties over money and family difficulties; he is frequently lonely and depressed, and always worried about his status as an artist.