When Captain Thomas Barclay of the British Navy moved into
the new house at No. 21 Bond Street around 1830, the neighborhood was the most
exclusive in Manhattan. Along the block
between Broadway and the Bowery handsome mansions boasted luxurious amenities—some
of them faced in marble.
But in 1892 much had changed. Many of the once-grand mansions had been
razed to make way for commercial structures; and the others had been converted
for business. Young’s Portrait Studio
used the former Barclay house as its storeroom.
Disaster occurred early in the morning of March 18 that year. A headline in The Evening World announced “Pictures
in Fiery Frames” and reported that fire had erupted in the basement of the
building, causing $2,000 damage (about $54,000 in 2016).
It was most likely that unfortunate incident that prompted
the owners to sell. Real estate operator
Leon Tannenbaum purchased No. 21 Bond Street for $40,400. Tanenbaum was highly active in the changing
neighborhood and owned a staggering number of properties. In 1894 court documents related “Mr.
Tanenbaum, who has been peculiarly well acquainted with property in the
vicinity of Bond street for a number of years…rents over 1,000 buildings in the
vicinity.”
Tanenbaum commissioned the architectural firm of Buchman
& Deisler to design a modern loft and store building for the site. The six-story structure, completed in 1893,
was a remarkable interpretation of commercial Renaissance Revival style. An attractive cast iron storefront, embraced
by brownstone piers, joined the second story Palladian-inspired openings. Prim rosettes marched around the framing and
a cast iron triangular pediment was filled with delicate floral ornament.
Grouped openings on the third and fourth floors (with
interesting terra cotta fleurs-de-lies within the spandrel) visually joined
with the large fanlight-like window at the fifth to create a dramatic
arch. Below the iron cornice was a row
of arched windows, diminished by the drama of the multi-floor elements below,
but nonetheless handsome.
When the building opened on February 1, 1893, it was fully
rented. Tanenbaum’s yearly rental income
on the 10-year leases was $6,750 for the first five years and $7,250 afterward. As the city debated the extension of Elm
Street through to Lafayette Place in 1894, Tanenbaum testified that the “most
marked changes have taken place in the last two or three years north of Houston
street—the erection of enormous fireproof structures. I should say probably ten or twelve of the
finest store buildings in the City of New York have been erected there within
the last two years.” He was including,
of course, his own buildings like No. 21 Bond Street.
Among the first tenants was Jules Stein's casket company. In 1896 he employed 16 men, six women, and three boys under 18 years old. The employees worked an average of 53 hours a week. Stein would be in the building at least through 1900.
At the time attitudes regarding working conditions were changing in New York. Socialistic ideas had been arriving from
Europe for decades and the concepts of labor unions and improved work conditions
were by now taking hold. At the turn of
the century A. Hahn & Co. was doing business at No. 472 Broadway; but as
early as 1904 it leased space at No. 21 Bond Street for its leather works
factory.
The manufacturer of high-end leather luggage was not
sympathetic to the union movement. It
was a clash of interests that would erupt into a Bond Street riot. When workers walked out on strike during the
first week of January 1904, the management of A. Hahn & Co. filled their
positions with non-union workers. As the
picketers stood on the frigid sidewalk for three weeks, the factory went on as
usual. But when the 15 workers left at
6:00 on the night of January 29, chaos broke out.
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| Trunks, Leather Goods and Umbrellas, September 1906 (copyright expired) |
The 12 strikers attacked the men. But, according to The Evening World the next
day, “The workmen were as ready for the fight as were the pickets.
“They went at each other with clubs and fists, and fully a
thousand people passing along the Bowery gathered and cheered the fighters
until some one in the crowd fired a revolver into the air.”
Not only was the firearm produced, but so were knives. Someone sent a call to the Mulberry Street
Police Station. The Evening World
reported “six policemen with service sticks broke heads among the fighters
until they dispersed.”
By the time order was restored one man, Samuel Hartman, had
been stabbed three times in the back, Samuel Cohen “was so severely beaten that
he couldn’t walk,” and Max Dubler had head injuries, “whether from police clubs
or pickets he couldn’t say.”
The battle between A. Hahn & Co. and the unions
continued for more than two years with neither side conceding. Finally in September 1906 Trunks, Leather
Goods and Umbrellas reported that after an 11-week strike A. Hahn & Co. “refused
to recognize the union in any way, offering to employ the men whether union or
not, individually.”
The partners, Abraham Hahn and Max Kastan, came up with a
solution to the labor problem. Kastan
announced his retirement in the fall of 1906 and the firm stated “The business
will be continued by Mr. Hahn, who is now looking around for a suitable
location and may locate in Newark.”
By April 1907 A. Hahn & Co. had removed its factory from
Bond Street, no doubt confident that it had defeated the unions.
About the time that Hahn & Co. left, Otto R. Hartman
moved in. He had previously been
President of the American Philip Morris & Co. and now headed the New York branch
of the British-based H. L. Savory & Co.
The New York division was organized in 1907 and the United States
Tobacco Journal explained its object was “to manufacture and sell in this
country the Savory cigarettes which had obtained a strong hold in England.”
Unfortunately, H. L. Savory & Co. went bankrupt in the
spring of 1909. But Otto R. Hartman
continued on heading the Ascot Tobacco Works and branching into real estate and,
later, “bag making machinery.”
The same year that H. L. Savory & Co. went under, the
first signs of the apparel and millinery trades appeared at No. 21 Bond
Street. In January Chest’s “artificial
flower and feather factory” was already operating here; and in November the top
floor was leased to Fechheimer-Fischel Company, wholesale tailors.
Among Chest’s employees were Italian immigrants, including
Mrs. Peter Chiasolo and her brothers. During their noon lunch break on January 18,
1909 the workers went outside for what The Sun described as “a playful snowball
fight.” But things quickly turned from playful
to dangerous.
When Mrs. Peter Chiasolo decided that Angelo Guastello was
being “too familiar” she began repeatedly striking him in the face. The
wronged woman’s brothers attempted to come to her defense, but Guastello bolted—heading
for what he considered his best refuge, a police station.
Not only did Mrs. Chiasolo’s brothers run after him, so did
other factory workers. When he looked
over his shoulder and saw the mob chasing him, he drew his revolver and began
firing it in the air. Giuseppe Rubino
was sure that Guastello had shot one of his comrades. Just as they reached
the police station, he overtook his frightened co-worker and the two fell into the snow, fighting.
The Sun reported “Guastello’s revolver went off and Rubino
got a slight bullet wound in the side.” It would seem that the affray was ended
with police rushed out of the station house.
It was not. Just as the officers
separated the two men, Mrs. Chiasolo appeared waving a knife and tried to stab
the man who had offended her honor.
“The policemen had to drag her away and beat off several
Italians who wanted to get at Guastello,” said the newspaper. There was little artificial flower making
back at No. 21 Bond Street that afternoon.
“Mrs. Chiasolo and Guastello were arraigned in the Tombs court with four
Italians who were charged with interfering with policemen,” said The Evening
World. Giuseppe Rubino was removed to
St. Vincent’s Hospital.
The judge showed his displeasure by setting Mrs. Chiasolo’s
bail at $1,000 and Guastello’s at $3,000.
The larger amount would amount to about $80,600 today.
Textile wholesalers occupied the building from the late
1930s until 1972 when owner William Israel’s Farm Cooperative Corporation
converted the building for theatrical purposes.
The project resulted in a theater the first floor, the Producers Showcase 21, and studios and
offices above. Six years later another
alteration retained the theatrical space at ground level, but transformed the
upper stories to one “joint living/work quarters for artists” per floor. Department of Buildings documents,
interestingly, clearly noted “theatrical studio for invited guests only. Public not to be admitted.”
In 1996 the continuing change in Bond Street’s personality
was reflected in the opening of the Daryl K. boutique at ground level.
Buchman & Deisler’s skinny eye-catching factory building
is, overall, little changed outwardly—a striking survivor of a time when Bond Street and American labor conditions were
undergoing tremendous change.
photograph by the author
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