In the first years of the 20th century the Yorkville neighborhood was second only to the Lower East Side as a German enclave. Max J. Roth, who was born in Bavaria, ran his highly-successful printing and stationery business at No. 1496 Third Avenue. But unlike his patrons, he did not live in Yorkville. His home was on Crotona Avenue in the Bronx.
The affluence Roth had attained was evidenced on the night
of August 20, 1905 when he closed his store a few minutes before midnight and
headed home on the elevated train. He
left the 174th Street Station at about 1 a.m. and headed through
Crotona Park, as he did every night. But
on this night two thugs approached from behind and hit Roth over the head with
a blackjack.
Although knocked to the ground and stunned, Roth was able to
shout “Murder!” before one of the men “chocked him into insensibility,”
according to The New York Times the following day. Neighbors came to his aid and a doctor was
called. He diagnosed Roth with a
fractured skull. The thieves had gotten
away with his wallet containing $300 (more than $8,000 in 2016 dollars). They fled before taking Roth’s $600
watch and his diamond stud.
At the time of the robbery Max J. Roth was already
contemplating a business move. Just over
three months later, on December 2 the Real Estate Record and Builders’ Guide
noted that architect Charles Stegmayer was taking bids for construction of a “four-story
mercantile building” for the printer.
The site was at No. 1495 Third Avenue, directly across the street from
Roth’s current location.
Builders Geo. Vassar’s Son & Co. won the contract and
Roth’s new building was completed in 1906.
Stegmayer had designed an eye-catching, if unusual, stone, brick and
cast iron façade dominated by a yawning arch at eye level with the passing
Third Avenue El. It hogged the attention
from other elements like the Corinthian pilasters, leafy swags and the fourth
floor arcade. Above it all a steep
mansard attic level leaned back from the cornice.
Roth advertised his business as “wholesale and retail
stationery” and operated for years with William P. Havens as his buyer. Nevertheless, he also advertised a variety of
retail items available in the store, including “sporting goods, Kodaks, toys,
Victrolas, records.”
In 1917 he leased space to C. Jaeger, who had recently
patented a novel product. Jaeger had recognized
the problem faced by restaurants, bakeries and other food purveyors in displaying
their goods. The food quickly spoiled,
wilted or otherwise looked unappetizing.
On March 3, 1917 Scientific American reported that Jaeger
was manufacturing imitation food. “This
invention relates to the art of reproducing and imitating natural objects such
as fruits, vegetables, meats or the like, or manufactured food products, such
as pastry, confects, and other articles of manufacture.”
 |
| The novelty display firm advertised artificial desserts in this in this 1918 ad. The Ice Cream Trade Journal (copyright expired) |
Jaeger’s artificial display products were a success. By 1918 the company was incorporated as the
Plastic Art Novelty & Specialty Co. and Max J. Roth was a one-third
partner. On November 23 that year
Scientific American reported that the firm had introduced a new product:
artificial cigars. “Cigars when placed
on exhibition, subjected to light and heat of the sun soon deteriorate in
value,” explained the article. The
artificial display cigars faithfully reproduced “the form, size, color, manner
of assembling or bunching, labeling and any other characteristic of the make.”
In April 1922 Max J. Roth reorganized his firm as M. J.
Roth, Inc. The American Stationer
reported “Mr. Roth has given the concern’s department heads and employees the
opportunity to acquire a permanent interest in the affairs and profits which
has been enthusiastically welcomed by them.” Among those who enthusiastically
welcomed the opportunity was Wm. P. Havens, who now stepped into the position
of vice president.
The move may have been a way for the aging Roth to begin
stepping down. And by the first years of
the Great Depression the business was closed.
Furniture dealers Willy Bolle and Emil Detzel, operating as Bolle
Detzel, Inc., leased the building beginning in 1933, the same year that Adolph
Hitzler became Chancellor of their native Germany.
Detzel had immigrated to New York in 1923. If he had an American dream, it would be a
difficult one to obtain. With World War
I still fresh on the minds of authorities, his first application for American
citizenship was denied “because of the frequency of his trips to Germany and
doubt over the validity of a Mexican divorce from his first wife.”
As early as 1931 Bolle & Detzel had aired a small
German-language radio program. They
moved the apparatus into the Third Avenue building and continued to do so,
featuring “German entertainers.” In
August 1936 an advertisement announced “Bolle & Detzel Furniture House
renewal of German musical program, half-hour daily except Saturday.”
The first that many New Yorkers learned of Willie Bolle’s
political leanings came on July 27, 1937 when Representative Samuel Dickstein
listed the names of six persons whom he described as “expert spies and
agitators.” Third on the list was Willie
Bolle, “owner of furniture store at 1,495 Third Avenue, New York City and a
notorious Nazi sympathizer,”
Despite growing political heat, in February 1941 Bolle
Detzel, Inc. purchased the building it had been leasing for eight years. By now it seems their half-hour radio program
offered more than German music. The
change in programming did not go unnoticed by Federal agents.
On July 30, 1942 both Willy Bolle and Emil Detzel were taken
into custody by the FBI. A statement had
been received by the Bureau from the Loyal Americans of German Descent, which
accused the broadcasts of “giving direct aid to the Nazis.” The New York Times reported “They will
receive a hearing before the Enemy Alien Control Board.
At mid-century the building was home to Brothers Radio
Corp., a retailer of television sets and electrical supplies. When the property was sold in 1958 it was
listed as “store, loft and four apartments.”
In 1998 the building was home to the Sevilla Art Studio, then to S. Cavallo
Mirror Fair, an antiques and reproductions store run by the building’s owners.
Today the care-worn structure appears vacant with a large
For Sale sign plastered across the façade.
The future of the quirky building with the colorful past is unclear.
photographs by the author
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