George F. Pelham's 1904 Mon Bijou -- 210 East 17th Street

 

Among the several husband-and-wife teams in the real estate business at the turn of the last century were Charles and Wilhelmina Bohland.  Charles was a builder and Wilhelmina seems to have handled the administrative end of the business.  In 1903, they purchased the former refined residences at 210 and 212 East 17th Street, a block west of elegant Stuyvesant Square.  Architect George F. Pelham was hired to design a modern apartment building on the site.

Completed in 1904, the Mon Bijou ("My Jewel") was a blend of Renaissance Revival and Beaux Arts styles.  Sitting behind tall, iron fencing, the building's entrance sat within a portico with polished granite Ionic columns.  The rustication of the limestone base emanated like sunrays from the oval windows on either side of the entrance.  Pelham divided the upper portion, clad in beige Roman brick, into three vertical sections by slightly recessing the central, two-bay portion.  The windows of the end bays were paired by limestone frames, the center of which were carved with Renaissance carvings.  Their ornate, foliate keystones were flanked by swirling volutes.  Terra cotta bandcourses relieved the verticality of the building, which terminated with a prominent, bracketed cornice.

The tenants of the Mon Bijou were professionals.  Among the first was journalist Arthur S. Hoffman, an 1897 graduate of Ohio State University.  In 1903, he started at The Smart Set as an assistant editor.  Just before moving into the Mon Bijou, he was hired at Tom Watson's magazine as assistant editor.

Also initial residents were Congressman William Bourke Cockran and Magistrate Joseph Edward Corrigan, who shared an apartment.  The Tammany Times later said, "they lived [here] for a year and a half until both married."

William Bourke Cockran, from the collection of the Library of Congress.

The colorful Congressman Cockran was a close friend to the Churchill family in England, and was reportedly a one-time lover of Jennie Churchill.  When Jennie's 29-year-0ld son, Winston Churchill, first visited America, it was Cockran who introduced him to Manhattan society.  He gave up his roommate status with Magistrate Corrigan when he married Anne Ide in 1906.  His two previous wives had both died.

Other initial residents were G. H. Bernstein and his wife (who was corresponding secretary of The New York Equal Suffrage League); and Francis Le Roy Satterlee, Jr.  

Satterley was the son of Dr. Francis Le Roy Satterlee, a well-respected physician and professor, and the former Laura Suydam.  A 1903 graduate of Columbia University, the younger Satterlee worked as a radiologist.  

Francis Le Roy Satterlee, Jr.   from The Odontologist, February 1909 (copyright expired)

By 1909, Satterlee had an impressive resume.  In introducing himself in his article "What Radiology Means to You" in the February issue of The Odontologist that year, he listed: "Assistant to the Professor of Physics, Chemistry and Metallurgy; Lecturer on Physics and Radiology; Director of practical physics laboratory; Director of X-Ray laboratory."

Born in 1843 in Currituck County, North Carolina, Jerome Baxter had operated a tobacco business in Norfolk, Virginia until retiring in 1897.  Upon the death of his wife, Mary Ellen Hill, in 1906, he and his 26-year-old daughter, Florence, moved to New York City and into the Mon Bijou.  Florence taught mathematics in Washington Irving High School.

On October 6, 1912, Florence Baxter returned after an evening with friends to find her father was not home.  She inquired about him among the neighbors, who said he was seen leaving the building around 3:00 that afternoon.  When Jerome had not returned by 11:30 the next night, Florence "drove down in a taxicab to Police Headquarters," reported The New York Times, to report him missing.  According to the article, he "was given to long walks, and his daughter fears that he met with an accident."  Florence gave the police an astoundingly detailed description.  The Evening World said he was "five feet five inches tall, weight 125 pounds, brown left eye and blind right eye, with gray hair, beard and mustache.  He wore a gray suit, gray soft hat and tan shoes."

Somewhat surprisingly, newspapers did not follow up with Baxter's case.  He was, however, found and was still living with Florence (who never married) when he died on August 9, 1920.

At the time of Baxter's disappearance, a four-room apartment rented for $408 per year, and a five-room unit for $480.  The more expensive rent would translate to about $1,250 per month in 2025.

By 1917, artist John H. Alger lived and worked here.  Born in Boston in 1879, he studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Dowell School of Design in Boston.  He was a member of the Society of Independent Artists and had exhibited in the famous 1913 Armory Show.  Alger would remain in the Mon Bijou at least through 1923.

In the meantime, Florence Baxter remained here following her father's death, and took in a roommate, Jeanette Allen.  A spectacular drama that unfolded on November 23, 1921 began inside the women's apartment.  A resident in the St. George Memorial House directly behind the Mon Bijou at 207 East 16th Street telephoned to the East 22nd Street Station that, "he could see two men robbing the apartment occupied by Jeanette Allen and Florence Baxter," as reported by The New York Times.

Six detectives sped to the building, four surrounding it and two, Detectives August Gilman and David Lambert, went to the roof through the adjoining building.  "On the roof they discovered two men, one of them carrying a satchel," said The Times.  The New-York Tribune reported that Herman Fishman and Jack Klein, "had in their possession clothing and valuables stolen from the apartment of Miss Florence Baxter."

A heart-pounding battle ensued, "witnessed by hundreds of tenants in the opposite apartment building...and an excited crowd congregated in the street," said the New-York Tribune.  Fishman, described by the newspaper as "six feet tall and powerful," engaged with Lambert on the fire escape.  The article said, "in their struggles they rolled down another flight.  The combatants narrowly escaped plunging through a railing sixty feet to the ground."  

In the meantime, Gilman engaged Klein on the roof.  The New York Times said, "Gilman and Kline [sic] in wrestling about the roof at one time came perilously near the edge."  The New-York Tribune added that Klein attempted to jump to the roof of an adjoining building, but was "at last brought to a halt by repeated shots."  The article said, "Gilman handcuffed Klein and compelled him to descend the fire escape with the muzzle of a pistol pressed between his shoulder blades."  The writer said the two burglars had been subdued "after fierce clubbing and the firing of several shots."

The sensational arrest rescued the women's valuable articles.  The New York Times said that the bundle left on the roof by the burglars contained eight furs valued at $30,000--more than half a million dollars today.

Dr. Jacob Lanes occupied the medical office on the ground floor in 1925.  That year, on September 1, three armed men barged into the office as Lanes was treating a patient.  The New York Times reported, "They took $160, a watch and chain and a diamond ring, the physician said, and then bound and gagged him and took him into another room."

After hearing the gunmen leave, Lanes freed himself and unsuccessfully tried to chase them.  Upon returning, he discovered a wounded patient, Benjamin Siciliano, lying on the floor of the waiting room.  The 22-year-old was seriously injured, "a bullet having passed through the upper part of his chest," according to The New York Times.  When police arrived, Siciliano told police that the doctor had shot him, and Dr. Lanes was arrested.

As it turned out, Siciliano was not one of Lanes's patients, but was part of what the newspapers called the "Cowboy Gang," and had been shot in the confusion.  Happily for Lanes, the facts came to light, the doctor was freed, and on November 4, 1925, the entire gang was arrested.

Frederick Allen King lived here during the Depression years.  Born in 1865, he earned his Bachelors and Masters degrees from Wesleyan University.  Beginning in 1909, he was literary editor for the Literary Digest, a literary, humorous and cultural magazine.  He retired in 1934 as head of the arts and letters department.  King was still living in the Mon Bijou when he died of heart disease in 1939.

By the second half of the century, the Mon Bijou had declined to what the NY Amsterdam News described as a "24-family tenement."  But a turn-around came in 1976 when the building was converted to 24 cooperative apartments.  Prominently carved into its entablature, the portico still announces "Mon Bijou."

photographs by the author

The Transformed 1847 684 Sixth Avenue

 

In the mid-1840s, as sumptuous Greek Revival and Italianate-style mansions crept up Fifth Avenue, a block to the west much humbler residences were being erected.  In 1847, a three-story house at 350 Sixth Avenue (renumbered 684 in 1925) was completed.  Although they were separated by just a block, the proletarian inhabitants of the house--like the building itself--were a world away from Fifth Avenue's high society.

It seems that the house always had a store at street level.  The working-class residents in 1850 were almost all in the construction business.  They included Michael Dowling, a mason; carpenter William Custis; and John Alexander, a plasterer.  The one tenant not involved in building was Philip Kenney, a bootmaker.  It is possible he also occupied the store.

Around 1853, 33-year-old Michael Ronan installed his tailor shop in the store and lived with his family upstairs.   They shared the space that year with Denis Broderick, a stonecutter.

In February 1861, the Ronans welcomed a baby boy, Augustus M.  Sadly, the toddler died on July 24, 1863.  His funeral was held in the second floor of 350 Sixth Avenue the next day.

The couple shared the upper floors with George and Mary Le Caitel and John McCreery in 1867.  Le Caitel was a hairdresser and McCreery was in the shoe business.  The following year, Michael Rowan (whose name was confusingly similar to Michael Ronan) and Richard New opened their M. Rowan & Co. "ice cream depot" (i.e., ice cream parlor) in the store space.  It is unclear to where Michael Ronan temporarily moved his tailoring shop.

The ice cream parlor moved a block south to 334 Sixth Avenue the following year, and Ronan regained his shop.  Before long, Michael Ronan's health began to decline.  By the spring of 1872, he was no longer able to operate his business.  On April 19, an auction was held of: 

...the selected Stock of the long established Tailor Store 350 Sixth avenue, between Twenty-first and Twenty-second streets: Cloths, Cassimeres, Vestings, &c.; also custom made Pants, Coats and Vests, together with Counters, Fixtures and large size Singer Sewing Machine.  The attention of the trade invited.

Michael Ronan died on August 16, 1872 at the age of 50, "after a long illness," according to the New York Herald.  Unlike his son's funeral, Michael's was held in St. Francis Xavier's Church the following day.

Ronan may have held out hope that he would recover.  Not everything had been sold at the auction.  On September 8, an advertisement in the New York Herald offered, "For Sale, Cheap--A lot of new French Cloths and a Singer's Sewing Machine; almost new.  Apply at hall door 350 Sixth avenue, New York."

Mary and George Le Caitel still lived here.  George died "after a long and painful illness," as reported by the New York Herald, on December 17, 1873.  He was 42 years old.

Stephen E. England installed his "variety store" in the shop in 1875.  Among those living upstairs were Mary Maccarran, who made caps; William Powell, a stove dealer; Jacob W. Aeppli, whose barber shop was on Fourth Avenue; and tailor Christopher Postera.  (Mary Maccarran and William Powell would remain at least through 1880.)

Sisters Elizabeth M. Ritter and Agnes J. Ritter each owned 50 percent of the property in 1888.  When Agnes married Edward T. McCoy, she divided her portion with her new husband.

A Mrs. Bacon ran a domestic employment agency here in the early 1890s.  She and other agencies faced a crisis when the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition opened in 1893.  On April 29, The Evening World began an article saying, "Housekeepers and the proprietors of New York employment agencies are becoming not a little alarmed at the unusual scarcity of servant girls just now prevalent in the metropolis."  In anticipation of the throngs of visitors to the fair, Chicago hotel managers were depleting Manhattan's workforce with seductive offers.  The article said, "Mrs. Bacon, of 350 Sixth avenue, has many applications for Chicago situations, but has sent no servants there and invariably discouraged such applicants."

Robert T. Dowling occupied the store by 1899.  The following year, architect David P. Miller remodeled the storefront.  On February 4, 1902, Edward T. McCoy and Elizabeth M. Ritter renewed Dowling's lease for 10 years at $6,000.  (The rent would translate to about $1,675 per month in 2025.)

Dowling's residency would not last through the term of the lease.  In 1905, the architectural firm of Buchman & Fox was hired to convert the building to commercial use and remodel the facade.  Any trace of the 1847 house was eliminated in the architects' vaguely commercial take on neo-Classical architecture.  

Above the cast iron storefront, two-story paneled brick piers flanked the metal infill.  Double-height fluted Ionic pilasters created three bays, the floors separated by paneled spandrels.  Vast show windows flooded the interior with natural light.  A molded cornice and low parapet finished the design.

via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The new tenants were Daniel J. Healy, maker of skirts and patterns; the Singer Sewing Machine Company; and a branch of J. Ehrlich & Sons.  

A 1905 advertisement announced the store's opening.  The World, June 12, 1905 (copyright expired)

J. Ehrlich & Sons' optical business was founded in 1862.  The firm operated its own glasses factory.  In the summer of 1908, an advertisement cautioned New Yorkers, "Don't risk your vacation pleasure without extra glasses."  The ad promised, "Bring your glasses to us NOW.  We can duplicate them EXACTLY without the original prescription and at a very moderate cost."

J. Ehrlich & Sons remained here until 1912, when McCoy and Ritter made interior renovations.  Architects Schwartz & Gross designed the reconfiguration of walls.  At the same time, toilets were installed.  In 1914, S. Miller & Sons, a women's apparel store, moved into the ground floor shop.

In the 1940s, L. Radin's occupied the space, offering female shoppers "corsets, brassieres, and blouses."

Today there are apartments on the third floor of the venerable building.  Buchman & Fox's 1905 storefront was obliterated in the second half of the 20th century, but, overall, the building's appearance has not changed.

photographs by the author

The Joseph Sibbel Studio - 214 East 26th Street

 

Around 1852, Harned & Rothery, housesmiths, moved its operation into the three-story, brick-faced factory at 180 East 26th Street (later renumbered 214).  Originally, a window sat between two bay doors on the ground floor.  In the rear yard was a stable. 

Housesmiths forged the ironwork used in construction.  By 1857, the firm dropped the term, now listing itself as Harned & Rothery Foundry.  By then it had expanded into the buildings at 126 through 132 East 26th Street.  It remained until January 1860, when an auction was held that included, "a large quantity of Pig Iron, Wrought Iron, Cast and Wrought Scrap Iron, Wooden and Iron Patterns, Wooden and Iron Flasks, and various other articles of value to housesmiths and iron-founders."

The building became home to Alexander Stewart's and Edward M. Corbett's carriage factory.  Theirs were not the usual vehicles turned out in carriage shops.  Stewart & Corbett manufactured miniature, "children's carriages," as well as hobby horses and perambulators.  On February 11, 1869, Stewart & Corbett advertised for additional help: "Wanted--At 214 East 26th st., between 2d and 3d ave, men and women trimmers for children's carriages; also a few handy boys."

On Christmas Eve that year, a fire broke out in the factory.  The Philadelphia Age reported it damaged "the building, stock, and tools largely.  The amount of loss cannot yet be ascertained, but it is heavy and is well covered by insurance."

The former stable building in the rear yard was occupied by Edward Crockett, "bone manufacturer."  (The term referred to makers of bone buttons.)  Less than two months after the Stewart & Corbett fire, on February 5, 1870, the New York Herald reported that a fire had damaged Crockett's building.  The damage was slight, and police suspected the fire was "of incendiary origin."

By 1872, Edward M. Corbett had a new partner and the company was renamed Corbett & Coe.  At 1:00 on the morning of April 27 that year, Police Officer Byrne noticed "something wrong with the grating in front of Corbett & Coe's children's perambulator manufactory," according to the New York Herald.  A century before hand-held radios, police summoned help from nearby officers by rapping their nightsticks on the pavement.  Officer McDonald responded to the alarm.  Byrne's sharp eye upset the plans of two notorious burglars.  The article said the two policemen searched the building and discovered William Davis, "better known as 'Billy Doherty,'" and James S. Smith, "alias Jimmy Mundo," hiding inside.

Corbett & Coe left East 26th Street around 1877.  When Pierrot Julien purchased the property from the bank on December 31, 1879 for $6,000, it was described as a "three-story brick shop and three-story brick stable in rear."  The price would translate to $189,000 in 2025.

Within a decade, the property was transformed to an artistic center.  German-born sculptor Joseph Sibbel established his studio here by 1888.  Born on June 7, 1850, Sibbel worked exclusively in ecclesiastical work, creating statues and carved decorations for churches.

Joseph Sibbel at work in his studio on Our Lady Comforter of the Afflicted for St. Francis Xavier College Church.  from the collection of the Saint Louis University Archives.

By 1893, Anton Kloster was listed here (possibly operating from the rear building).  He designed and sculpted or carved church furnishings, like altars.  Anton would increasingly focus on designing church buildings, and by 1901 had turned his business over to Charles B. Kloster and devoted himself solely to designing architecture.  (The 1918 Byzantine Revival-style Church of St. Anselm and St. Roch in the Bronx is attributed to Anton Kloster.)

The Lithuanian Weekly, March 11, 1901 (copyright expired)

Working with Joseph Sibbel was Joseph Lohmüller, who exhibited his sketch for the grouping Holy Family on the Way to Egypt in the Architectural League of New York's annual exhibition in 1906.  In his 1916 German Achievements in America, Rudolf Cronau explained that Sibbel and Lohmüller,

...were very prolific during the latter part of the 19th and the beginning of the present century in beautifying the cathedrals and churches of America with reliefs and Biblical scenes and the statues of Madonnas, Martyrs, Saints and Apostles.

Christian Art, December 1908 (copyright expired)

Also listed here in 1906 and working cooperatively with Sibbel was Munich-born artist Gustav Kinkelin.  The two worked together in the decorations of St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Lowell, Massachusetts, for instance.  Joseph Sibbel designed and executed the marble altar, and Kinkelin did the mural work.

One of the murals executed by Kinkelin in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Lowell.  image via johncanningco.com

Sibbel's main altar for the same church.  image via st.patricklowell.org.

Joseph Sibbel died on July 10, 1907.  The Joseph Sibbel Studio continued here under Lohmüller and Armin Sibbel as late as the mid-1920s.  

At mid-century, the occupant of the venerable building was much less artistic.  It was home to the Johnson Electrical Corporation, a wiring contractor.  

The two entrances and central window survived in 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In 1964, Country Floors, Inc. occupied the ground floor.  The shop imported floor and wall tiles from Italy, France, Spain and Portugal.  Change came when a renovation completed in 2019 resulted in two apartments within the venerable building.

photograph by the author

The 1824 William and Mary Bogart Clark House - 51 Market Street

 

The Catherine Market was established in 1786, giving its name to Market and Catherine Streets.  In 1824, wholesale grocer William Clark began construction on his two-and-a-half story, brick faced house at 43 Market Street (renumbered 51 in 1850).  Completed the following year, its Federal-style details reflected Clark's affluence, like the handsome Gibbs surrounds of the basement level openings.  The paneled lintels of the upper floor windows were embellished with carved, foliate end blocks.  The elegant entrance with paneled door and fluted, Ionic columns sat below a delicate leaded fanlight.  The attic floor was originally fronted by two dormers.

The foliate blocks on below the entrance arch were echoed in the window lintels.  

The entrance is a superb example of the early 19th century woodcarvers' craftsmanship.

Born in 1785, Clark had started his career at the age of 19 in a notions store.  In 1809, he married Charlotte Mandeville, who died on February 24, 1811.  Two years later, on April 7, 1813, he married Mary Bogart.

While the Clark family was relatively newcomers to America (William's father, Samuel, was born in England), Mary was "of Knickerbocker stock," according to the 1895 Biographical Review.  She descended from Everadus Bogardus, who arrived in New Netherland in 1633.  William and Mary had four children when they moved into the Market Street house.

The interior entrance mirrors the exterior configuration.

William Clark died at the age of 51 on November 30, 1836.  His funeral was held in the parlor the following afternoon.  Still living with Mary at the time were Sarah and William, Jr.  William married Rosamond Michael on June 16, 1842, and Sarah was married to Rev. Talmon C. Perry in the Market Street Church on October 1, 1851.  Mary remained here until her death around 1854.

The house next became home to Reverend Ira R. Steward and his family, listed here as early as 1855.  Born in 1795, Steward began his career as a sailor and a soldier.  But he turned to religious work by his mid-40s.  In 1841, the New York Domestic Missionary Society instituted a "ministry for seamen."  The Mariners' Temple was formed, with Steward as its first pastor.  (In 1859, the congregation purchased the Oliver Street Baptist Church at 12 Oliver Street, conveniently close to 51 Market Street.)

Reverend Ira R. Steward (original source unknown)

With the outbreak of Civil War, the Stewards' son, Ira W., joined the Union Army.  He was still active as late as 1865.

On December 28, 1867, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, "Rev. Ira R. Steward, an eminent Baptist minister of New York, died this week from paralysis.  For nearly half a century he has been connected with the cause of seamen in the city and is known in all quarters of the globe."  ("Paralysis" most likely referred to a stroke.)

The house was purchased by Thomas Maher, who listed his profession as "boardinghouse" in 1867.  By now, the once refined residential neighborhood had changed.  Waves of Irish and German immigrants filled the district and private homes were being razed to make way for tenement buildings.  In October 1870, Maher hired builder Thomas Hanlon to enlarge the house to four floors with a rear extension.  The plans explained that the remodeled building would be used "for tenants or boarders to let to families...two on each floor."

Exquisite plasterwork survives throughout the parlor and second floors.

Surprisingly, Hanlon carefully mimicked the carved lintels of the 1824 design for the windows of the new floors.  Only the slight difference in brick color and the change from Flemish bond to running bond brickwork testify to the addition.  A fashionable Italianate-style bracketed cornice finished the renovations.

The resulting boarding house was operated by a "Miss French" in 1876.  Her respectable boarders were middle-class, like Michael Farley, a driver; and Charles Infield, who ran a clothing store on Lispenard Street.

Matching black marble mantels are in the parlor and dining room.

At the first years of the 20th century, W. H. Hemingway owned the property.  In 1905 he instituted another renovation that would raise the three-story rear extension to four floors.  His choice of architects is surprising.  Henry Janeway Hardenbergh was nationally recognized.  He had designed famous Manhattan structures like the 1880 Dakota Apartments, the Waldorf and Astoria Hotels for the Astor families, and was currently working on plans for the Plaza Hotel.  

Hardenbergh's plans laid out a "toilet room" and a kitchen, noting that the building will be used as a "tenement house, as at present."

Edmund V. Gillan photographed the stoop in 1970.  It may have been the basis for the 21st century reconstruction.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

As the Great Depression cast its pall over the nation, Columbia University owned the “four story tenement building.”  When the institution sold the property at auction on December 13, 1945, it was assessed at $515,000—about $8.7 million in 2025 terms.

By the third quarter of the 20th century, Chinatown had engulfed the neighborhood around 51 Market Street.  At some point the front stoop was removed, but before 2015 it was refabricated.  Despite decades of having been used as a rooming house and make-shift apartments, the venerable building survived astonishingly intact.  

The paneled 1824 entrance door remains in place.  Inside, the original marble mantels, elaborate plaster ceiling medallions, and carved details have withstood two centuries.  The Clark house is on the market as of this writing.  And while the exterior was designated an individual New York City landmark in 1965, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, the interiors are not protected.  They will be at the mercy of the next owner.

photographs by the author

The Edward and Marianne Faulkner House - 305 West 74th Street

 

Although architect C. P. H. Gilbert is best remembered for the sumptuous palaces he designed in the first years of the 20th century--like the of magnificent Joseph R. De Lamar and Felix M. Warburg mansions--he was responsible for designing scores of upscale rowhouses on the Upper West Side in the 1890s.  Among them was 305 West 74th Street, one of a row of seven residences designed in 1893 for developer Thomas McIntyre.

Although each had its own personality, the Renaissance Revival-style homes created a harmonious group.  Four-and-a-half stories tall, the basement and first floor of 305 West 74th Street were clad in limestone.  A short stoop led to the double-doored entrance.  The relatively stoic decorations of this level relied mostly on the handsome row of scallop shells carved into the entrance entablature.

The second through fourth floors were clad in gray Roman brick.  Gilbert created a Palladian effect for the windows at the second floor with fluted terra cotta Scamozzi pilasters that upheld a molded cornice topped with an ornate tympanum filled with flowers and a shield.  The projecting portion of the second and third floors provided a balcony or sleeping porch at the fourth floor protected by a solid stone railing.  Atop the copper cornice, a wide dormer fronted the Spanish tile mansard.

The row was completed in 1894 and 305 West 74th Street was purchased by Edward Daniels Faulkner and his wife, the former Marianne Gaillard, on December 14.  Faulkner was born in New York City in 1853, and Marianne was born in Mobile, Alabama in 1859.  Faulkner attended the College of the City of New York.  He was the co-owner of the upholstery firm of Johnson & Faulkner and his financial and social status was reflected in his memberships in the Union League, the Players' and the Ardsley Clubs.

Edward Daniel Faulkner (original source unknown) 

In 1898, the Faulkners acquired their summer home near Woodstock, Vermont.  On October 13, the Vermont Standard reported that they had purchased "the Woodward Mansion property, so called," and that contractors and decorators had been hired "to put the property in first-class repair, with several modernizing changes, at a cost of something like $10,000."  The following year, on December 30, 1899, the Woodstock, Vermont newspaper Spirit of the Age reported that the mansion had been "remodeled and the grounds about it graded and improved--all making a beautiful residence of the fine old mansion."

Edward Faulkner's profession required him to travel to France annually.  It may have been during one of these trips that he became enamored with the French Bulldog breed, and at least one of the creatures lived in the couple's West 74th Street house.  On March 19, 1898, the Idaho Ketchum Keystone reported, "The French bulldog, after waiting for years for the social recognition in this country that it has long enjoyed abroad, is at last to be taken up by New York society."  The article explained that an exhibition of wealthy owners had "formally introduced these ugly little canines into the most exclusive society" at the Waldorf-Astoria.  Among the millionaires strutting their pups were Richard Howland Hunt, James L. Kernochan, Whitney Warren and Edward D. Faulkner.

Faulkner was, additionally, an inventor.  He invented "a loom for the weaving of tapestry--which it was said could not be done," according to the Vermont Standard later.  The invention resulted in his being made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by the Government of France in January 1902.

On November 12, 1913, The Evening Post reported that the Faulkners had sold the house for $70,000, or about $2.2 million in 2025.  At the time, Edward Faulkner suffered from arthritis and he and Marianne spent more and more time in Vermont.  He died there on August 28, 1926 at the age of 75, the Vermont Standard noting, "He had long been partially crippled."

Faulkner's will left Marianne $3 million (about $51.6 million today), and $2 million to be "distributed among fourteen officers, directors and employes [sic]" of his firm, as reported by The New York Times.  He additionally left $1 million to establish a fund "for the study, treating, alleviation and cure of arthritis;" two $50,000 funds for the benefit of the Police and Fire Departments; and several other large charitable requests.

Marianne Faulkner almost immediately began putting her fortune to beneficial causes.  She was instrumental in establishing the first arthritis clinic in the country, at New York City Presbyterian Hospital and later would construct a $1 million wing to the Mary Hitchcock Hospital in Hanover, New Hampshire in her husband's name.

In the meantime, the Faulkner's had sold 305 West 74th Street to Louis E. Kleban.  Born in Russia in 1873, he was the president of the real estate and development firm of Louis E. Kleban & Sons, Inc.  The firm would construct impressive buildings like 275 Central Park West.  He and his wife, Matilda, had six children.

The Klebans' residency would be short-lived.  After they sold the house to Edward M. Gardner in August 1925 it became unofficial apartments.

Among the tenants living here that year were Elliot Griffis, who advertised himself as "teacher of piano playing and theory;" and aspiring interior decorator Clarisse Ord Ryan.  On October 17, 1925, the Army and Navy Register reported, "Since going to New York to follow the profession of interior decorator, Miss Ryan has become well known as the manager of the unique 'Corsir Shop' of the department of interior decoration" at Macy's.  Another early resident was artist Nell Sewell Johnson.  She exhibited watercolors in the annual Pennsylvania Academy of Art while living here in 1927.

The house was officially converted to apartments, two per floor, in 1929.  It continued to attract tenants involved in artistic endeavors over the decades.  Living here in 1965 was musician Alfred Schnitzler, and in 1977 fledgling actor Patrick Swayze and his wife, Lisa, moved in.

Swayze and Lisa Miemi had married two years earlier.  Born in Houston, Texas in 1952, Swayze relocated to New York City in 1972 to study dance at the Harkness Ballet and Joffrey Ballet schools.  He and Lisa had been living in a basement apartment before he landed the role of Danny Zuko in the Broadway production of Grease (replacing John Travolta).  

Patrick Swayze and Lisa Niemi in 1990.  photograph by Alan Light

In her Patrick Swayze, One Last Dance, Wendy Leigh writes, "Now that their financial situation had improved considerably, he and Lisa moved out of the West 70th Street basement and into a more salubrious apartment at 305 West 74th Street."  The role transformed Swayze's career.  Leigh writes,  "Patrick was an overnight sensation in Grease.  'To me, he was more Danny Zuko than John Travolta was,' Zetta Alderman, who saw the show more than once enthused."

There are still two apartments per floor in the Faulkner house.  Despite decades of grime and replacement doors and windows, the building survives essentially intact.

photographs by the author

The Lost Golden Hill Inn - 122 William Street

from Colonial Architecture in New York City, 1913 (copyright expired)

The knoll north of Wall Street was called Gouwenberg by the Dutch settlers because of the profusion of yellow flowers that bloomed there.  The English later modified the name to Golden Hill.  In 1660, King Street appeared on maps, which was later renamed William Street in honor of William Beekman, who arrived from Amsterdam in 1647.

As early as 1750, George Burns operated the Horse and Cart tavern at what would be numbered 122 William Street.  In his 1915 Old Taverns of New York, William Harrison Bayles writes, "Landlords came and landlords went, but the sign of the Horse and Cart remained."  According to Bayles, the tavern was still known as the Horse and Cart as late as 1765.  

The inn-and-tavern was purchased in 1773 by Samuel Gilford.  It is unclear whether it was already known as the Golden Hill Inn or if Gilford renamed it.  A sea captain and shipping merchant, he and his wife, the former Penelope Codwise had at least four children, three sons and a daughter.

from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

As discontent with England festered, the Golden Hill Inn became the meeting spot of the Sons of Liberty, who erected a liberty pole in the rear yard.  Alice Morse Earle, in her 1915 Stage Coach and Tavern Days, writes, "within its walls gathered the committee in 1769, to protest against Lieutenant-governor Colden's dictum that the colonists must pay for supplies for the British soldiers."  Among the British response was the cutting down of the liberty pole on the night of January 17, 1770.  The melee that followed, called the Battle of Golden Hill, resulted in the first bloodshed in the cause of American independence.  Earle recalled, "the seizure of four red-coats by the patriots ended in a fight in the inn garden and the death of one patriot."  

The Revolution forced the Gilford family to flee from 122 William Street.  They returned in 1783 and shortly afterward erected another house next door at 124 William Street.  Samuel Gilford died at 122 William Street in 1821.  As late as 1827, one of the Gilfords' daughters, Elizabeth Gilford, was still listed in the house.

The Henry C. Mudge family occupied the upper floors of 122 William Street in 1829.  The former tavern space was now occupied by Lewis J. Cohen's stationery shop.  His advertisement in The Evening Post on October 25, 1836 listed items available in his "Staple and Fancy Imported Stationery" shop.  It offered:

Lead Pencils various qualities, Whitman's drawing paper, Newman's Colours, English Letter and Note Paper, Tissue Paper Wafers, Government Sealing Wax, Writing Fluid, Bone Chessmen, Fancy Cards for Baskets, China Paint, Stones and Pallets, &c.  &c.

By 1840, Samuel Mills ran his fur shop here.  It was a short-lived venture and on March 15, 1843, his stock was sold at auction in a sheriff's sale.  Included were, "fur muffs of all descriptions, tippets, capes, collars, boas, caps, buffalo robes, moccasins," and other items.  The shop was next occupied by Court & Deschaux, a "Parisian dyeing establishment depot."

The New York Times, March 10, 1895 (copyright expired)

As mid-century neared, the venerable building was noticed by historians.  A succinct, one-line article in The Evening Post on November 24, 1849 said, "The oldest house now extant in this city, it is believed, is that of 122 William street, it having been built 110 years ago."

By the time of the article, the upper floors had been converted for commercial use.  In 1850, Charles Resch, a "law agent," had his office here.  Benjamin Lawrence, an importer, was here as well, and John B. Stanton, a "goldbeater," operated from the rear building.

The early 1860s saw a tavern return to the ground floor.  When the proprietor died in 1862, his widow liquidated the business.  On March 18, she first advertised, 

On account of death in my family, I am willing to sell an excellent horse, with carriage, &c., at a great bargain.  The horse is suitable for a doctor, and was previously not to be purchased for any amount, as the qualifications of it are remarkable.  -- A. M. Gies, widow, 122 William street.

The next month she advertised, "A large size cooking range" and "some bar fixtures" for sale.

The tavern was taken over by Francis Faivre's saloon and eatinghouse.  He ran the operation until about 1876, when John Trejan was listed as proprietor.  

By the first years of the 1890s, C. Raymond operated a French restaurant in the space.  On February 14, 1892, he hired a Swiss-born cook, August Herds.  The 3o-year-old had arrived in New York City in April 1891.  Exactly a week after he began work here, on February 21, Herds said he was ill.  He went to bed in a lodging house on the Bowery.  Two days later he was no better and was admitted to Bellevue Hospital.  The Sun reported on February 25, "He was delirious during the night, and Dr. O. O. Cooper, who saw him early yesterday, diagnosed his case as 'suspicious.'"  The diagnosis was terrifying--typhus.  Herds was transported to "the quarantined house" on North Brother Island.

On March 11, 1892, The Sun reported, "August Herds, the cook at 122 William street, who is supposed to have contracted the fever at 53 Bowery and was taken to the island two weeks ago, died early in the morning."

Within a year of the tragedy, Joseph Zeius opened the Century Coffee-House restaurant in the space.  On December 16, 1893, The Evening World reported on his Christmas party for "the little waifs who, if it were not for natures as generous as that of Restauranteur Zeius, would pass the merry Yuletide with nothing to mark the joyous season."  On Christmas Day, Zeius and his wife, Regina, opened the dining room to the newsboys who worked in the district.  They boys would be treated to "sandwiches and cake and like goods things."

The article then turned to the structure's remarkable history. 

The building occupied by the Century is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, on Manhattan Island.  It was erected soon after 1692, and is built of narrow Dutch bricks brought over from Holland as ballast, and laid in an imperishable cement as hard to-day as the bricks themselves.

The writer noted the Battle of Golden Hill, pointing out that it took place "more than two months before the Boston massacre."  During its history as a tavern and coffee house, said the article, "among its patrons [were] Gen. Washington, Marquis de Lafayette, Baron Steuben, Gen. Putnam and other such illustrious men."

This photographs was taken on Christmas Day, 1876, from the collection of the New York Public Library

Starting in 1895, the Military and Naval Order used the Century Coffee-House for its meetings.  On March 6, The Evening Post reported, "The first afternoon reception of the Military and Naval Order will be held to-day at 'The Century,' No. 122 William Street."

The event prompted The New York Times to recall, "The house, which has changed in appearance but little since it was first built, is owned by Thomas B. Gilford of Toms River, N. J., by whose ancestor, Samuel Gilford, it was purchased from its builders in 1773."  The article noted, "As in most houses that were erected during the early days of New-York, 122 William Street has in the basement two of the famous Dutch ovens which were the house anchors and pride of the Knickerbockers."  The "immense mantel" in the kitchen was inlaid with Dutch blue-and-white porcelain tiles about six inches square, "each tile containing some historic, religious, or secular event."

In the early years of the 20th century, historic structures were given little notice other than those related to Presidents and battles.  But in an article in Pearson's Magazine in January 1913, Alfred Henry Lewis puzzled, "why some historical society has not yet taken title to the property, and arranged for its preservation as a revolutionary landmark."  He suggested that if the Golden Hill Inn sat in Boston instead of New York, it would be preserved.

Alfred Henry Lewis's fears became reality six years later.  On May 13, 1919, The Sun reported, "Another of New York's historic landmarks is shortly to be demolished in order to make way for a business structure."  The New-York Tribune said, "Having stood its ground longer than any other structure now in New York, the yellow front brick building at 122 William Street must go the way many before have gone when progress demanded their space."  It and the adjoining buildings at 124 and 126, all owned by the Gilford family for generations, had been leased by the estate of Thomas Gilford to make way for a four-story structure.

photograph by William Davis Hassler, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

The new building, designed by J. D. Harrison, was completed later that year.  On the ground floor, Williams and Biscotti opened the Ye Golden Hill Inn as a nod to the site's history.  That building was demolished in 1958, replaced by a 23-story office structure.