Merchant Joseph Peabody and his family moved into the newly completed house at 77 East 26th Street in 1859. (The address would be changed to 125 in 1865.) One of a row of identical brownstone-faced homes, each was just 14-feet-wide and rose three stories above a high English basement. Their Italianate design included understated molded entrance frames and handsome cast metal cornices. Early photographs reveal fashionable Italianate-style iron balconies at the parlor level.
In the rear yard was a small house which the Peabodys rented to the William D. Robinson family. Robinson was a clerk in the Custom House and his son, Edmund R., was an attorney. The Robinsons' pet strayed off shortly after moving in. An advertisement in the New York Daily Herald on November 12, 1859 read, "$5 Reward--Lost, a small white Scotch Terrier. Whoever will return him to No. 77 East Twenty-sixth street, or to the cashier's office Custom House, will receive the above reward." (The reward would equal $195 in 2025.)
Although the Peabodys' home was not grand, they sometimes moved within fashionable circles. When the 19-year-old Prince of Wales visited New York City in 1860, a "Grand Ball" was held in the Academy of Music. Among those invited were Joseph Peabody and his wife.
It appears that William D. Robinson purchased the property in 1866. Edmund now occupied the main house and William the rear. When Edmund moved to 258 Fourth Avenue in 1868, William and his wife moved into the primary house. That same year Charles E. Strong, an attorney, listed his address here, occupying the rear building.
The Robinsons, like their neighbors, maintained a small domestic staff. On September 17, 1878, they advertised, "Wanted--An excellent cook; Must do the washing for a small private family. 125 East 26th st." That their cook did double-duty as a laundress reflected the Robinsons' social and financial status. Cooks in the mansions closer to Fifth Avenue were often the most highly paid among the staff and asking them to do anything other than prepare meals would be insulting.
William D. Robinson died in 1880. Shortly afterward, the Collector of the Port of New York, Chester A. Arthur (later President of the United States), discovered $5,000 in gold coin missing from the office of the cashier of the Custom House. In March 3, the Congressional Record noted that the missing funds were "without the default or negligence of the collector or of the late William D. Robinson, cashier."
Following the Robinson family, the house was occupied by Marco Leon Stevens y Voisin, "or plain Stevens Voisin," as described by The New York Times. An exporter, importer and commission merchant, Voison arrived in New York in 1877. The newspaper said, "Mr. Voisin was chiefly engaged in the export trade with Mexico," and noted:
Mr. Voisin's residence at No. 125 East Twenty-sixth-street is a stone-front, three-story dwelling. As a bachelor he would have no need for so extensive an establishment were it not that it was his habit when the Mexican trade was booming to entertain his customers there, frequently having half a dozen of them at his house at a time.
The 45-year-old began experiencing business difficulties in 1885. The New York Times explained that because of the "high rate of exchange, his Mexican customers [were] displaying not only no inclination to purchase American goods, but a very decided repugnance to paying the $25,000 or $30,000 which they owed him on old accounts." The past due amounts that his Mexican customers owed him would top $1 million today.
Voisin's diminished cash flow crippled his ability to pay his creditors. Then, in the fall of 1886 he gave Brown, Wood & Co. two checks amounting to $5,634.57. When the firm deposited them on October 6, they bounced. The bank notified Detective C. B. McDougal and the next day he visited Voisin's office at 45 Leonard Street. He was told that Voisin had left for lunch. McDougal waited, but Voisin did not return. A week later, on October 12, The New York Times reported, "although a watch has been kept since then on his warehouse and his residence at No. 125 East Twenty-sixth-street, he has not been seen."
Detectives entered the house only to find that the former "richly furnished" rooms had been stripped bare. Also missing was "a French actress" who had been living with Voisin. The New York Times reported, "several of his creditors still have faith that he is only suffering from 'panic' and will turn up and straighten out his affairs in a day or two." That did not happen.
(Interestingly, lawyer Charles E. Strong was still occupying the rear house at the time.)
Anna P. O'Connor lived here in 1890 when she was shopping in the White, Stokes & Allen store at 185 Fifth Avenue on October 16. She suddenly felt a hand in her pocket and turned to see a "shabbily dressed man at her side," as reported by The Sun. Bernard St. John Gisbey was arrested as a pickpocket and he, Anna O'Connor, and the salesman who had been waiting on her appeared in court on October 29.
The Sun described Gisbey as being "of slight figure, with an intelligent face. His curling hair and moustache are brown." Under questioning, the 35-year-old explained he was English and had had a good education. He was ordained as a minister of the Congregational Church, but after a few years, "I resigned my charged because my religious views had undergone a change."
Gisbey thought that he could start anew in the United States, "believing that a man of my education could readily find employment." That proved illusive and after a while, Gisbey was moneyless and homeless. He tearfully told the court, "I did steal this purse, and I am overcome with sorry and shame. I was driven to theft by actual hunger...I was not always as I am." Gisbey was convicted and The Sun said he, "may be sentenced to State prison for five years."
As late as 1941, the original two-over-two windows survived. image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
The house was sold in July 1893 and it became home to Augustus Porter Barnard. An engineer, he graduated from the School of Mines of Columbia University in 1868. He remained here until the turn of the century, at which time the neighborhood was seeing an incursion of commerce.
That change first came to 125 East 26th Street in the spring of 1905. On March 19, an announcement appeared in the New York Herald:
Mrs. Hudson, formerly 1 West 100th st., is now located at 125 East 26th st., and is prepared to give her personal attention and thorough instruction in manicuring, hairdressing. Marcel wave, facial, scalp, neck and general massage; anatomy taught; diplomas; addresses furnished of my graduates, who average $35 weekly; their success proves their ability; start now, start right and YOU will be successful. Mrs. Hudson, 125 East 26th.
The post-World War I years saw several offices within the house. In 1921, the architectural offices of Maynicke & Frank were here, and the following year the headquarters of the engineering firm Dwight P. Robinson & Co., occupied space.
photographs by the author