Developer James Foster erected five upscale, high-stooped residences in 1850-51 on the southern blockfront of East 17th Street between Rutherford Place and Third Avenue. The Greek Revival-style homes were three stories tall above English basements. Faced in red brick and trimmed in brownstone, they originally exhibited the distinctive entrances of the style, with sturdy pilasters upholding a heavy entablature.
Foster originally leased 115 East 17th Street (renumbered 214 in 1867). The De Marcarty (sometimes spelled Demacarty) family were the first occupants. Gustave de Marcarty was a teller with the Bank of New York. The family of Ebenezer R. Duplignac, Jr., who operated a varnish business on Peck Slip, lived here in 1855 and 1856.
Henry Perry Marshall next leased the house, finally buying it from Foster in 1859. Born in Woodbury, Connecticut in 1814, he married Cornelia E. Conrad on November 28, 1840. The couple had five small children--Julia Perry, Blandina Tappan, Frederic Panet, Henry Rutgers and Cornelia Ellsworth. They ranged from 3 to 14 years old in 1859. (The couple's first child, John Henry, had died in 1850 at the age of nine.) The family's country homes were in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York and Woodbury, Vermont.
Henry P. Marshall started out in the importing business. In 1840, he was appointed American Consul in Muscat, remaining there until 1843 when he joined the Seamen's Bank for Savings. As the cashier of the bank, his highly responsible position tasked him with tracking its transactions and balancing its books.
Henry Perry Marshall. (original source unknown)
The two Marshall boys attended Columbia College. By 1879, Frederic was an attorney and Henry was an architect and author. Henry married Julia Robbins Gillman in 1881. Among his designs would be Rudyard Kipling's home, Naulakha, in Vermont, and the original Brearley School in New York City.
Frederic Panet Marshall was in Thomasville, Georgia in the winter of 1886. He died there from Bright's Disease on December 30. Marshall's body was brought back to New York for his funeral in the nearby St. George's Church on January 2, 1887. (Henry P. Marshall, incidentally, had been treasurer of the St. George Episcopal Church Society for years.)
There would be two more Marshall funerals within a short period. The family was at Hastings-on-Hudson on September 7, 1887, when Cornelia died at the age of 72 "after a lingering illness," according to The New York Times.
The following summer, Henry Marshall "suffered an attack of malaria," as reported by The New York Times on November 17, adding that he "had not been the same man since." On November 16, Marshall was busy at his office until 2:00, when he and William C. Sturges, the bank's president, went to the dining room adjacent to the two men's offices for lunch. Their food was served and, according to The New York Times, Marshall said to Sturges, "Mr. Blank called this morning," and then "his head fell forward on his breast and he was apparently dead."
In reporting his death, The New York Times said,
Perhaps no bank Cashier in this city was known to more people than Mr. Marshall...Not only did he know most of the New-York financiers of to-day, but through his long banking career had a fund of personal reminiscences of great speculators whose doings on the street are now only a memory.
Just weeks after Marshall's funeral, his sterling reputation was tarnished. On January 19, 1889, The Sun ran the headline, "Mission Moneys Missing / $20,000 That The Late Henry P. Marshall Held Vanished." In addition to the St. George's Episcopal Church Society, Marshall had been treasurer of the Protestant Episcopal Church Missionary Society for Seamen. The Sun explained, "Other church societies came to him with their money, until he cared for the funds of half a dozen of the largest and richest of Bishop Potter's societies."
After Marshall's death, the books of the Missionary Society were audited. Although they showed a balance of $20,000, there was no money in the society's account. The following day, The New York Times reported that the deficit had risen to $60,000 (about $1.9 million in 2025 terms). The article was titled, "A Great Trust Betrayed."
The two unmarried daughters, Julia and Cornelia, continued to live in the East 17th Street house at least through 1891. That year Julia was a trustee of the New York Infirmary.
At the turn of the century, Dr. David D. Jennings and his wife, who was a nurse, rented 214 East 17th Street. They remained until April 1903, when Julie Faversham and her mother, Mary Opp, purchased the house.
Julie and William Faversham were well-known to theater audiences. Born in New York City in 1873, Julie Opp began writing in 1893, focusing on theater journalism. She traveled to Paris to interview the world famous opera singer Emma Calvé and actress Sarah Bernhardt. According to Who's Who on The Stage in 1908, "Both urged her to adopt the stage as a profession, offering their advice, influence and support."
Julie Opp made her debut in 1896. At the turn of the century, she first played opposite English born William Faversham. The couple was married in 1902. Julie continued to use her maiden name on the stage.
Julie Opp, The American Stage of To-Day, 1910 (copyright expired)
William Faversham's matinee idol looks made him a favorite leading man. At the turn of the century, he was one of the highest paid actors in the country, reportedly earning as much as $5 million a year.
William Faversham in 1907. from the collection of the New York Public Library
What today would be called a power couple, the Favershams maintained a Long Island residence and a sprawling estate, The Old Manor, in Chiddingfold, England. The Jacobean-style mansion was built in 1503 and held 14 bedrooms and was surrounded by "25 acres of park land," according to The New York Times.
On May 6, 1908, The Evening Post reported that plans had been filed for adding a fourth story to the East 17th Street house "to be made for Mary Opp as owner." Designed by Hunt & Hunt, the new floor took the form of a steep mansard punctured by three dormers. The architects added sheet metal lintels to the lower floor windows, those of the parlor floor including dentils and egg-and-dart moldings.
The parlor floor cornices with their intricate details, are unusual.
Entertainments in the Faversham house included a blend of theater, musical and society figures. On February 13, 1911, for instance, The New York Times reported on a dinner party the previous evening "in honor of Mr. Faversham's birthday." Among the guests were conductor and violinist David Mannes and his wife, novelist Princess Troubetzkoy, and socialite Mrs. John Alexander.
Julie and William pose in the Rosemary Open-Air Theatre in Huntington, Long Island in 1917 with sons William and Philip. from the collection of the Library of Congress.
At some point, Julie took full ownership of the East 17th Street house. Perhaps revealing the strained relationship between William and his mother-in-law, the couple charged Mary Opp rent--$800 per year.
In 1915, Faversham first appeared in motion pictures. He continued to accept Broadway roles, and in 1921 was appearing at the Selwyn Theatre in The Prince and the Pauper.
When he and Julie arrived home on February 13 that year, after being guests of a dinner party for his birthday, "they thought burglars were in the house," according to the New York Herald. Instead, the parlors were filled with friends throwing a surprise birthday party for William.
It would be the last large entertainment in the house for the Favershams. In 1915, Julie had appeared with William in The Hawk. But illness ended her career after that. Shortly after the party, William traveled to Columbus, Ohio with The Prince and the Pauper. On April 8, 1921, he received a telegram that Julie had died that day at the Post-Graduate Hospital following an operation. The New-York Tribune called her, "one of America's stage favorites."
The following month, William advertised Julie's 1918 Cadillac landaulet for sale, saying, "the car is now as good as new; property of the late Mrs. William Faversham."
The acrimony between Faversham and Mary Opp soon became public. In August 1922, Faversham sued Opp for $100,000 "for her support [during] twenty years at the East 17th Street home," reported The Evening World. Mrs. Opp told the court "that she is in dire circumstances as a result of transactions in which the actor was concerned," said the article, explaining that she had loaned the couple $11,000 over the years. Faversham insisted that the loans, "were actually advanced to his wife, Julie Opp Faversham, and that he made no promises to repay them."
In 1924, the once sumptuous residence was converted to a rooming house by the new owner, B. Leavin. The Department of Buildings cautioned, "not more than 15 sleeping rooms" in the building. In the renovation, the stoop was removed, the entrance lowered to the English basement level, and a fire escape attached to the facade.
image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services
Leavin advertised in The New York Medical Week in September 26, 1925, "Ground floor in newly altered house. Will alter floor to suit responsible physician."
That ground floor space would remain a physician's office for decades, first occupied by Dr. Joseph S. Stovin. In the mid-1930s Dr. Max K. Silverman's office was here.
In 1959, the building was converted to apartments, two per floor except the top floor, which held one. Living here in the 1960s was well-known artist and designer Douglass Semonin. His paintings were shown at the Graham Galleries in New York and the De Young Museum in San Francisco. In 1964, the American Institute of Decorators awarded him the International Design Award for his "Town and Country" design. He died in his apartment on October 26, 1971 at the age of 45.
A renovation completed in 1999 resulted in a total of four apartments in the house. Even without its stoop, the building looks much as it did when two stars of the theater remodeled it in 1908.
photographs by the author