photograph by the author
Squier sold the completed, 19-foot-wide house to Henry Grossmayer on February 25, 1871 for $28,000 (about $742,000 in 2025 terms). Four stories tall above a high English basement, its Italianate design included an arched, double-doored entrance with a foliate keystone and brackets that upheld a triangular pediment. The architrave frames of the openings wore prominent molded cornices. A complex pressed metal cornice with foliate brackets crowned the design.
Henry Grossmayer was a cotton merchant. The recent war had greatly disrupted his business. To keep the Confederate government from seizing his bales of cotton, he had warehoused it in Savannah under the name of a Southerner, Abraham Einstein. A later court order explained, "It remained in store in this manner until the capture of Savannah, in December, 1864, when it was reported to our military forces as Grossmayer's cotton, and taken by them and sent to New York and sold."
On December 1, 1879, Grossmayer sold 109 East 61st Street to Jacob Shire and his wife, the former Mina Milius, for $20,000. A partner in the shirt manufacturing firm Miller, Shire & Co., Jacob Shire was born in Germany in 1834 and his wife was born in Ohio in 1844. The couple were the parents of eight children: Leo, Albert, Tillie, Simeon (known as Sidney), Helen, Lawrence Crawford, Harold and Edward Isaac. The children ranged from 5 to 14 years old when the family moved in.
Twelve years later, tragedy rocked the Shire family. As Sidney got older, he became, "rather wild, and as he had plenty of money to spend, he...associated with undesirable companions," according to Annie E. Griffin. She was the mother of 20-year-old Minnie Griffin, who moved into Annie's apartment on West 59th Street from Chicago in 1890. Shortly afterward, Minnie and Sidney Shire met and, according to Annie, "I think the girl had a good influence over him."
Within months, 22-year-old Sidney became engaged to Minnie Griffin. His family, however, was opposed to the relationship. Jacob Shire later said, "We all talked to him in turn--that is, the different members of the family, but it seemed to have no effect upon him. He was probably infatuated with her."
The last of those talks came on the afternoon of July 7, 1891 when Sidney, "had a stormy interview with his father," as worded by The Evening World. Jacob demanded that he give up Minnie. If not, "he must leave his house." Jacob threatened that he would "have nothing more to do with him unless he obeyed his wishes." The Evening World said, "The young man...was very much cut up over his father's treatment of him, and said he would never desert the girl he loved."
That evening Sidney visited the Griffin apartment. He told Minnie of the conversation and vowed to leave his family. Minnie, however, told him "he ought to regard his father's wishes, and that at least he ought not to give up his home."
At around midnight, Sidney got up and put his hat on. He kissed Minnie good night, then asked if he could step into the bedroom to check himself in the mirror. As Minnie waited by the door, she suddenly heard a gunshot and "a heavy fall."
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle indiscreetly reported that Sidney, "blew his brains out." The New York Press said, "Just before 1 a.m. a fierce ringing of the bell at No. 109 East Sixty-first street led to the announcement to Jacob Shire and his wife and to Simeon's brothers and sister the news that the boy had killed himself in his distraction between love and duty to his parents and his infatuation for Miss Minnie."
Jacob Shire, accompanied with two sons, including Albert (who was in the jewelry business), drove to the Griffin apartment. "The father was so prostrated by the news of his son's shocking death that he would not go inside to look at his body but remained in the carriage while the brothers entered the house and learned the details of the shooting," recounted The Evening World. Simon's body was brought to the East 61st Street house around 6 a.m.
At the time of the tragedy, the youngest child, Edward Isaac, was 17 years old. Two years later he was enrolled in both Columbia College's School of Arts and in The School of Mines. He graduated from the latter in 1896 with a Ph.B. degree.
After living here for nearly a quarter of a century, Jacob and Mina Shire sold 109 East 61st Street on June 2, 1902 to Josephine Van Boskerck for $35,000 (about $1.3 million today). The widow of John W. Van Boskerck, Josephine's residency would be relatively short. She died here on February 5, 1908. Her funeral was held in the parlor three days later.
The house was leased by Josephine's daughter, Lizzie, to Charles Cashman. The unmarried 77-year-old died in the house on March 12, 1909. As had been the case with Josephine Van Boskerck, his funeral was held in the house. Later that year, on November 23, 1909, The New York Times reported that "Miss L. Boskirck" [sic] had leased the house. Her new tenants were the De Witt Davidson family.
De Witt Davidson was a jeweler. In 1913, his wife hired a polished maid named Marie despite the 24-year-old's having no references. On October 13, Mrs. Davidson told a reporter from the New York Herald that she "was somewhat uneasy at having taken her into the household without proper recommendations, [but] she had never had so fine a servant before."
The newspaper described Marie as Viennese, saying, "In appearance, Marie is more than the ordinary maid. She is prepossessing and neat, short of stature, with pleasing but not striking features, and has a wealth of beautiful hair." Mrs. Davidson noticed that "her hands were soft and white." Marie's hands, her refined manners, and her wardrobe strongly suggested that she was no run of the mill servant girl. The New York Herald reported,
With her neat trunk, which bore labels from every country, installed in her room, Marie began unpacking her belongings, only to find that she had nothing suitable to work in. She took out a handsome skating costume, but laid that aside as being inappropriate. Then a tennis costume was tried on with white buckskin tennis shoes, and as that was the nearest approach to the uniform of a well groomed servant she decided to wear the tennis outfit until she could have made some plain gingham and calico dresses, with white aprons.
There were other hints to Marie's identity in her trunk. She removed "family jewels valued at several hundred dollars, which she asked her employers to place in safe keeping for her until she could rent a box in a safety deposit vault," said the article. The other clues in the trunk were: "a dainty bridal gown with orange blossoms, a lace veil, satin slippers and all the accessories of a trousseau." Residents along East 61st Street quickly concocted rumors. "Neighbors who have heard about Marie are wondering if she is not some person of position and wealth disguising herself as an upstairs girl," said the article.
Pressed by the family, their "upstairs girl" obliquely explained how she came to work in their home. Without betraying her true name, Marie said she "fled from her home in Europe to escape being wedded to a man she did not love." The intended groom, she said, "is a man of high status," and hinted, said the New York Herald, that she "herself is far above the ordinary class to which she has assigned herself." The mysterious Marie remained with the Davidsons for some time.
On April 30, 1914, the New York Press reported that Lizzie Van Boskerck had sold 109 East 61st Street to Dr. Louis Faugeres Bishop. Born on March 14, 1864 in Brunswick, New Jersey, Bishop was a graduate of Rutgers College and the College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 1899 he married Charlotte D. Gruner. The couple had one son, Dr. Henry Bishop.
Louis was president of The Good Samaritan Dispensary and consultant in heart and blood vessel diseases at the Lincoln Hospital. The family occupied the upper floors of the house and Bishop opened his Cardiac Institute in the lower portion.
The Bishops rarely appeared in the society columns, but on November 17, 1923, The Sun reported, "Dr. and Mrs. Louis Faugeres Bishop are giving a reception this afternoon at their home, 109 East Sixty-first street, to celebrate the silver anniversary of their wedding."
In 1927, the Bishops advertised the house for rent. The ad in the Medical Journal and Record read:
Physicians House, arrangement suitable for a group, 15 rooms, 4 baths, large basement extending the length of the lot with skylight studio in the rear.
It was rented by Marion B. Herrschaft, the head of the Parkside Special School. Termed by Hershaft as a "foundation training school," her listing in Private Schools that year described it as "A day school for children who find progress difficult in regular schools. Montessori principles followed." The school accepted pupils of both genders, from 7 to 15 years old.
Child Study, October 1927 (copyright expired)
The venture within the East 61st Street house was fleeting. On June 4, 1928, the New York Evening Post reported that Bishop sold the house to The 535 Park Avenue, Inc. With Prohibition in effect, the house was converted to a nightclub called Malborough House, run by Jim Moriarty. In her 2021 Madam, The Biography of Polly Adler, Debby Applegate writes, "The Marlborough House catered to the collegians with the approval of their parents, who knew [the] establishment was strictly upper class."
It was most likely during the conversion to the Malborough House that the parlor windows were replaced a vast window with leaded and stained-glass panes. via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
In June 1931, Leonard Leaman signed a 15-year lease on the house and converted it to the Opera Club. The first problem with law enforcement came on January 19, 1932. The Norwich Sun reported, "The Opera Club, a resort at 109 East Sixty-First street, with a thirty-foot bar in the basement, was raided by agents yesterday afternoon," who seized 108 bottles of liquor. Surprisingly, the 30 customers in the space at the time were not arrested. The article said they "were ordered to depart after paying their checks." The staff, on the other hand, were not so lucky. Seven employees--the manager, bartender and waiters--were arrested.
Prohibition Director McCampbell intended that the Opera Club could not reopen. The New York Sun reported that he ordered the club to be "dismantled," while warning that the "property must not be destroyed." The Evening Star of Washington, D.C. reported that on January 21, "a half dozen laborers were stripping the Opera Club at 109 East Sixty-first street, and were trucking the furnishings away to the Federal warehouse."
The Opera Club did reopen, however, and was still in operation as late as 1935, two years after the end of Prohibition. In 1937 the house was converted to apartments. As early as 1983, the stone stoop was removed and a staircase to the side installed. Around 1986 the upper floors were returned to a single-family home and the basement converted to a commercial space.