H. I. Feldman's 1937 565 West End Avenue

 

photo via compass.com

Greatly because of the tireless work of Cyrus Clark (known as the Father of the West Side), West End Avenue never saw the incursion of commerce, like Broadway did.  Instead, by the turn of the last century, it was lined with sumptuous brick and brownstone mansions.  Those quickly, however, quickly gave way to apartment buildings as New Yorkers' taste in domestic living changed.

In 1936, the Sari Corporation, of which Mose Goodman was president, demolished five rowhouses at the northwest corner of West End Avenue and 87th Street.  Goodman hired Hyman Isaac Feldman to design a modern apartment building on the site.  Completed the following year, 565 West End Avenue was the last word in domestic architecture.  By recessing the central portions of both elevations, Feldman allowed for additional corner-wrapping windows.  Most importantly, his Art Deco design relied on color.  Bold red-orange bands contrasted with the beige brick.  The architect gave the one-story base a tiger-stripe effect with black brick against the orange.

photo via compass.com

An advertisement that offered apartments of "2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 rooms," called 565 West End Avenue a "distinctive new 20-story building.  The last word in modern planning.  Unusual layouts."  The suites featured "sunken living rooms," a popular trend.

Among the early renters was Julius Huehn, who signed a lease in 1937.  The bass-baritone had made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1935 in Lohengrin.  Born in 1904, he would become known for his Wagnerian roles before enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1944.

Julius Huehn, image via bach-cantatas.com

When the Kotzen family left town in the fall of 1939, they sublet their apartment.  Their ad provided a vivid description of the apartments.  "For Rent--Complete apartment--large living-room, foyer, kitchen, Frigidaire; beautifully furnished; radio; linen, china.  A real home."

Apartments like the Kotzens' were home to other white collar residents, like Paul M. Wald Jr., secretary of the J. S. Wald Company, Inc., a trucking firm, who signed a lease in February 1941.  

photo by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the New York Public Library

Charles Korman lived here by May 1945 when he was called to testify before the United States Congress House Committee on the Judiciary.  His testimony did not start out well.  When asked, "Now, Mr. Korman, were you ever known by any other name?", Korman replied, "No, sir."

After Special Counsel Boris Kostelanetz then asked, "Were you ever known by the name of Coleman?", Korman answered, "No, sir."

"C-o-l-e-m-a-n?"

"Yes, sir, I used to be known as Coleman."

When he was arrested two decades later on June 17, 1964, Charles Korman was still living at 565 West End Avenue.  He and Samuel (Augie) Weiss were charged with bookmaking.  The Internal Revenue Service agents responsible for the arrests said they ran "a $100,000-a-day gambling trade" from a garment center hotel.  United States Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau explained the operation, "amounted to millions each year" and that "Korman was said to have handled $35,000 a week in bets."

Astonishingly, less than a year later, on February 19, 1965, the Nassau, New York Newsday, reported that Charles Korman had been arrested again for bookmaking.  He and three cohorts ran "a thriving book making business that took in more than $5,000 a week in the city's garment district."

photo via compass.com

In the meantime, the William Pechter family lived at 565 West End Avenue in the 1940s.  Pechter was the owner of the Pechter Baking Company.  On May 14, 1943, 21-year-old Morton H. Pechter was inducted into the U.S. Army.  He obtained a medical discharge on November 9, 1944.  But his civilian life was quickly disrupted.

On May 28, 1945, military police arrested Morton Pechter at his apartment here.  He was sent to the guardhouse at Mitchel Field, Long Island, charged with "desertion, obtaining a false and fraudulent medical discharge and defrauding the Government of mustering-out pay."  (Pechter had received $210 mustering-out pay.)

Pechter fought back.  His attorney presented briefs to Judge Clarence G. Galston in United States District Court on June 21.  The New York Sun reported Pechter "claims that he received a legitimate medical discharge and that his rights as a citizen and civilian have been violated by the Military Police in arresting him, putting him back in uniform and imprisoning him."

Morton Pechter won his legal battle.  Five years later, on November 13, 1949, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on his marriage to Alese Betty Cohen.  The article noted, "Mr. Pechter was graduated from Dartmouth College with the class of 1943.  He is a member of Pi Lambda Phi, Phi Beta Kappa, and was on the varsity crew while at Dartmouth.  He is associated with the Pechter Baking Company."  No mention was made of his military service.

Vera King Kramer was a former Zeigfeld Follies showgirl.  She divorced Milton J. Kramer, part owner of the Edison Hotel, in 1955.  When she moved into 565 West End Avenue, she was seeing a married, retired NYC detective, Bradley Hammond.

On December 28, 1956, the Bridgeport Post reported, "Police tentatively listed as 'suspicious' today the death of a former Ziegfeld Follies beauty in an apartment where she had been drinking with a retired detective."  The article said the 52-year-old was "in her bed, wearing pink and blue pajamas.  Her right eye was blackened and her right cheek bruised."

Remarkably, considering his professional background, Hammond's story changed repeatedly.  The New York Times reported that he said, "he had fallen asleep in the living room of Mrs. Kramer's apartment...while watching television.  He awakened at 10 A.M. yesterday, called out to Mrs. Kramer and she replied, he said."  He said he then went to his own apartment, returning at 3 p.m. to find her body.

But then, according to the Bridgeport Post, he explained away the bruises saying they "drank excessively in her lavish split-level apartment on West End avenue," Vera "fell down two stairs into the sunken living room and that he carried her to bed."  According to Hammond's second story, he then watched television until he fell asleep.  At 2:00 the next day he walked Vera's dog and an hour later discovered she was dead.

A photo of 58-year-old Bradley Hammond shielding his face from reporters was published next to a picture of Vera King Kramer in The Taylor Daily Press on December 30, 1956.

Readers across the country read the salacious details that included infidelity, sex, and possible murder.  The Syracuse, New York newspaper The Post-Standard reported, "Neighbors said the red haired Mrs. Kramer had retained much of the beauty that won her jobs in the Follies and also in George White's Scandals."  The newspaper added that she had an income of "at least $25,000 a year through alimony and investments."  (The figure would translate to about $280,000 in 2024.)  Hammond, noted the article, "had received 15 citations for heroic police work."

Somewhat remarkably, the cause of Vera King Kramer's death was officially listed as a cerebral hemorrhage.  Hammond was cleared of any suspicion.

Living at 565 West End Avenue by the late 1990s was attorney and preservationist Lori Zabar.  Born on July 16, 1954, she was the granddaughter of Louis Zabar, founder of the well-known Zabar's grocery.  She held degrees from Barnard College, the Columbia School of Architecture Historic Preservation, and the New York University School of Law.  Zabar was the first Director of the New York City Historic Properties Fund at the New York Landmarks Conservancy, and sat on the board of Landmark West.   She was the author of Zabar's: A Family Story, with Recipes.  Lori Zabar died on February 3, 2022 at the age of 67.

Jonathan Larsen, who lived at 565 West End Avenue by 2011, was the son of former Time, Inc. president Roy Larsen.  Born in 1940, he served as a correspondent and editor of Time magazine, and from 1974 to 1979 edited New Times.  From 1989 until 1994, he edited the Village Voice.

photo via compass.com

The 2010 edition of the AIA Guide to New York City likens the striking Art Deco styling of 565 West End Avenue to the famous "architecture on the Grand Concourse" of the Bronx.

many thanks to reader Lowell Cochrane for suggesting this post

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