An Unlikely Holdout - 770 West End Avenue

 

In 1890, developer Edward Kilpatrick filled the eastern blockfront of West End Avenue between West 97th and 98th Street with eleven upscale rowhouses.  Designed by Boring & Tilton, they were three stories tall above English basements.

The house at the middle of the row, 770 West End Avenue, became home to George Eugene Poole and his wife, the former Florence Britton Ballou.  Eugene was born in January 1848 and Florence in November 1856.  Both came from colonial Connecticut families.  Eugene was the great-grandson of John Poole, a corporal in the Connecticut militia; and three of Florence's ancestors played prominent roles in the Revolution.

The affluence of the Pooles was evidenced in 1895 when they commissioned George F. Pelham to design a six-story brick stable on West 87th Street.  The cost of the commodious carriage house was $40,000, or about $1.5 million in 2024.

On February 24, 1898, as "the Spanish crisis" intensified, reporters from The World were sent throughout the city to interview women "as to whether or not they regarded war with Spain as probable and, if should hostilities occur, they would or would not be willing to let their male relatives and friends go to the front."  Florence Poole rendered a split decision:

Should war come I would be willing myself to make any sacrifice, to nurse the wounded and work as I could for my country's good, but to yield my husband--No!  He is all I have in the world.

In June 1900, Frank Lugar and his wife Harriet purchased the Poole house for $17,400 (about $641,000 today).  He leased it to Rev. Henry Van Arsdale Parsell, Jr. and his wife, the former Maud Collins.  The couple was married on January 31, 1893. 

In addition to his clerical work, Reverend Parsell was an electrical genius.  In 1899, he partnered with Arthur J. Weed to form Parsell & Weed, which manufactured inventors' and experimenters' models.  The firm designed and built the Franklyn Model Dynamo, which received a diploma at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition.  Parsell was, additionally, president of the Baldwin Calculating Machine Co., treasurer of the New Amsterdam Eye and Ear Hospital, and a director in the Taylor House Association and the photolithographic firm Norris-Peters Co.  

Reverend Parsell had grown up in his parent's "old-fashioned brownstone house at 31 East Twenty-first street," as described by The Sun.  His father, Henry Sr., had been adopted as a boy by his uncle, John Van Arsdale, a shipping magnate.  Upon Van Arsdale's death, Henry Sr. received his fortune.  Henry Sr. never worked, instead he "spent most of his lifetime looking after his property holdings," said the newspaper, and giving away money to assist young men in achieving success.  Henry Van Arsdale Parsell Sr. died in 1901.

Henry's mother, Hannah Parsell, raised eyebrows across the city on June 21, 1905, when the 70-year-old married John M. Hardy.  She had met her 35-year-old groom in Plainfield, New Jersey, where her summer home was located.  The Sun reported, "At first the gossips thought Hardy was a relative, but it was not long before they agreed that he was courting the elderly woman."  Reverand Parsell did not comment on his mother's unexpected marriage.

Parsell would be consecrated a bishop in the Anglican University Church on September 19, 1920.  But by then, he and Maud had been gone from West End Avenue for a decade.  In 1910, the Lugars leased 770 West End Avenue to Dr. Henry E. Hale, Jr. and his wife.  He had graduated from the Columbia School of Medicine in 1896.  Like the previous occupants of the house, the couple was listed Dau's Bluebook of New York Society.

The Lugar estate sold 770 West End Avenue in July 1920.  It was briefly operated as a rooming house.  The tenants, ironically, worked for families like those who had previously lived here.  In 1920 and '21, three occupants sought work as a chauffeur, a butler, and a masseur.

In 1923, Solomon and Elizabeth Riley purchased 770 West End Avenue for $35,000 (about $625,000 today).  Controversy  soon ensued.  The couple hired architect Rudolf Ludwig to renovate the interiors for a club--an idea that did not sit well with their well-to-do neighbors.  On June 12, 1926, The New York Age reported:

Solomon Riley, said to be one of the wealthiest Negroes in New York City, has stirred the white people of the exclusive West End avenue section...by announcing that he plans to form a cultural club for Negro youth, devoted to Negro music and dances for philanthropic and religious purposes, using his three-story and basement brownstone residence at 770 West End avenue as the club house.

Neighbors were tipped off when the Rileys put up a large sign on the front of the house.  They filed "a protest against the proposed club house" with the Board of Estimate.  The New York Age reported that the Board, "has declared that a Zoning law will prevent Riley from turning his private home into a dancing school, club or any other enterprise."

The Rileys were involved in another battle at the time.  The same year they purchased 770 West End Avenue, the couple bought seven acres of land on the east shore of Hart's Island as the site of a resort.  The New York Evening Post reported they, "erected ten buildings and a dance hall.  They acquired three motorboats to give access to the mainland and intended to establish a bungalow colony and summer resort for negroes."

It would never open.  The city seized the land "by condemnation" on April 1, 1926.  The New York Evening Post explained, "the authorities feared that the project might facilitate the escape of prisoners" from the nearby New York City Reformatory.  (The Rileys, no doubt, suspected other, more discriminatory reasons.)  The couple sued and on November 25, 1927, were awarded $144,015 for the lost property.

Five months later, Solomon and Elizabeth Riley sold 770 West End Avenue to Dr. Max Soletsky.  On March 14, 1928, The New York Times reported that he intend to replace the vintage house with "a twelve story building containing bachelor apartments."  He had already hired architects Goldner & Goldner to prepare the plans, "which call for an unusual building owing to the fact that [the] plot is only 18 feet wide," said the article.  "The two lower floors will be used by Dr. Soletsky for his offices."

The doctor soon scaled back his plans.  Instead of a new, 12-story building, he had the architects remodel the existing building.  The stoop and brownstone facade were removed, and another floor added.  

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The renovations resulted in a 1920s take on Italian Renaissance architecture.  Face in brown-red brick, its details--like the square-headed drip molding above the grouped windows of the second floor--were executed in brick.  A brick parapet rose above a trio of fully arched windows at the fourth floor.

By now, the ten other brownstone houses of the 1890 row had been replaced with tall apartment buildings, the 15-story structure to the south completed in 1925, and the 12-story building on the other side completed in 1912.

There are still two apartments per floor through the fourth, and one on the fifth floor.

photographs by the author

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The Lost 1921 290 Park Avenue Apartments

 

photo by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

On July 19, 1920, architects Warren & Wetmore filed plans "for the great $2,500,000 cooperative apartment house to be erected in the west side of Park av., between Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth sts," as reported by The Sun.  Projecting that it would be the "world's biggest apartment," the article noted that while Warren & Wetmore had been hired by the 290 Park Avenue Company, "the New York Central and Harlem River Railroad Company are the owners of record."

It was a complicated arrangement.  About 30 wealthy families had formed a co-op in order to erect a building with apartments to their specifications.  On November 20, 1921, the New-York Tribune explained they, "own the structure from the ground floor up, and own it outright."  But the New York Central owned the land and the railroad tracks over which the building would be erected.  The builder of 290 Park Avenue, Fred T. Ley, paid the $450,000 necessary for the construction of the steel structure over the railroad tracks in exchange for rent on an apartment.  "The cost represented about five years' rent, which was assigned to Mr. Ley by the New York Central," said the New-York Tribune.

Describing the planned building on July 20, 1920 as, "one of the finest apartment houses in the world," the New-York Tribune said, "It will be built to meet the special requirements of a number of folks who have been unable to find what they wanted in tother houses and decided to build an apartment, part of which they would occupy."

The original 30 families were joined by "some of the wealthiest people in the country," according to the New-York Tribune.  The New York Times explained on November 14, 1920, "About 70 per cent of the structure will be sold to individuals and 50 per cent rented."  The article said, "Many of the new owners are already having plans drawn for the apartments they have purchased."  

Three months before Warren & Wetmore filed plans, an advertisement in The New York Times promised:

It is to be the last word in apartment house construction.  Ultra modern in every detail.  More than a city residence--more than a hotel--where the hourly or double service system of domestic employment is to be inaugurated.  This service solves the servant problem and includes a hotel service of the highest, but strictly private order, when desired.

As construction neared completion on March 9, 1921, the New-York Tribune reported, "Seven million dollars is involved in the operation."  That figure, equal to about $119 million in 2024, was free of any mortgage.  Warren & Wetmore's staid neo-Italian Renaissance design included a four-story stone base.  The decorations--stone balconies and Renaissance-inspired pediments--were minimal.  A distinctive corbel table ran below the cornice.

The large ground commercial space was leased "to Pierre, the restaurateur" in March 1921.  Few New Yorkers knew that Pierre had a first or last name.  Charles Pierre Casolasco was already well known among Manhattan's upper crust for his high-end cuisine and service.  Pierre not only opened his first-class French restaurant in the building, but he and his wife, the former Adeline Harbord purchased an apartment here.  

On October 7, 1922, Hotel Operation described Pierre's as, "the place where New York's 400 lunch and dine and dance."  The restaurant's status among high society was reflected in the New-York Tribune's mentioning on October 21, 1921, "Among those who entertained at luncheon yesterday at Pierre's Restaurant, 290 Park Avenue, were Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt 2d, Mrs. Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Mrs. August Belmont jr., Mrs. Lyttleton Fox and Foxhall P. Keene."

Saying, "All of the apartments are luxurious and designed especially for people of untold wealth," Hotel Operation said, "One floor which has a ten-room apartment on it cost to buy $100,000 and the new owner is spending another $50,000 in rebuilding it to suit himself...Another room has a paneled ceiling with hand-painted work done in each panel."

Among the earliest owners was one of its designers, Whitney Warren.  Like their neighbors, he and his wife, the former Charlotte Augusta Tooker, would appear in society columns routinely.  On February 10, 1922, for instance, the New York Herald announced, "Mr. and Mrs. Whitney Warren will give the second of a series of receptions with music next Tuesday night," and on September 14 that year, the New-York Tribune reported, "Mr. Whitney Warren gave a dinner at his home, 290 Park avenue, last night for Mr. and Mrs. Robert Goelet."

Whitney Warren from the collection of the Library of Congress

Paul D. Cravath and his wife, opera singer Agnes Huntington, were also early residents.  A prominent corporate lawyer, Cravath was a director of the New York Symphony Society and the Juilliard School of Music.  He would become chairman of the Metropolitan Opera in 1931.  The couple's summer estate, Veraton, was in Locust Valley, Long Island.

On August 3, 1921, the New-York Tribune reported that James Brown "of the international banking house of Brown Bros. & Co." had purchased an apartment.  Like most residents, the Browns traveled extensively.  On February 2, 1923, for instance, the Chicago Daily Tribune reported, "Mr. and Mrs. James Brown of 290 Park avenue sailed for a cruise in the Mediterranean today.  They will be away until May;" and on July 29, 1925, the newspaper announced, "Mr. and Mrs. James Brown...who have been spending the early part of the summer at the Bungalow, one of the Piping Rock Club cottages at Locust Valley, are planning to join the American contingent abroad and will set sail on Aug. 5."

Potential residents who chose to rent rather than buy could expect to pay up to $14,000 a year for a nine-room apartment (about $19,800 per month in 2024 terms).  An advertisement noted, "A competent staff of servants under the direction of a housekeeper is available for those who desire to eliminate unnecessary burdens.  An added attraction is Pierre's restaurant on the main floor from which meals may be served in the apartments."

Two views inside of the I. E. Verrando apartment.  from the collection of the Library of Congress

Bessie Douglas Dearborn purchased a 15-room apartment with five baths in December 1921.  Her husband, George S. Dearborn, president of the America-Hawaiian Steamship Company had died on May 29, 1920.  The New York Times had described their yacht, the Colonia, as "one of the most beautiful of its class afloat."

Dr. Percival Martin Barker and his wife Alice Hearn were early residents.  The couple was married on December 20, 1917.  Alice's grandfather had founded the dry goods firm of James A. Hearn & Son.  Tragically, just months after moving in, Alice died of pneumonia in their apartment on December 20, 1921.  Her estate was formally estimated at "more than $1,000,000," according to the New-York Tribune.

Barker's grief was still fresh when he had to deal with a burglar less than three months later.  The thief made off with $12,000 of Alice's jewelry (closer to $218,000 today).  Miles Boucher, who was captured on March 22, 1922, was "alleged to have committed at least forty burglaries in order to finance a burlesque show," reported the New York Evening World.

Resident Caroline Graham Slaughter was the divorced wife of E. Dick Slaughter.  The Texas native drew society's attention when she married William Robertson Coe in her apartment on December 5, 1926.  The New York Evening Post said on December 11,  "It was impossible for Mr. William Robertson Coe to marry again, without creating a flutter of interest."  Coe's first wife, Mai Rogers (daughter of Standard Oil magnate Henry H. Rogers) died in 1926.  The New York Times remarked, "No previous announcement of an engagement had been made, and news of the marriage came as a surprise."

Coe's estate, Planting Fields, was one of the showplaces on Long Island.  The New York Times said, "On their return from the West Mr. and Mrs. Coe will live at Planting Fields, Oyster Bay.  They plan to leave in January to spend four months on a Mediterranean cruise and a trip in Egypt."

A celebrated couple at 290 Park Avenue were Edward H. Sothern and his wife Julia Marlowe.  The two had met in 1904 when the played opposite one another in Romeo and Juliet.   The on-stage chemistry led to a long-term partnership in Shakespearean roles and, finally, to marriage.  Julia Marlowe retired from the stage in 1924 due to failing health (although she survived until 1950).

Marlowe and Sothern in their roles as Romeo and Juliet (original source unknown)

In 1930 Charles Pierre Casalasco opened the 41-story, 714-room Pierre Hotel at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 61st Street and moved his famous restaurant into the building.  "Helen Worden's 1932 The Real New York recalled, "Famous parties have been staged here.  Debutante affairs that sometimes cost fifty thousand dollars had this spot for a background."

Now, the book noted, Pierre's former space was home to Therese Worthington Grant's.  Worden called it "a nice place to take out-of-town relatives."  Therese Worthington Grant's cuisine could not have been more different from Pierre's.  Explaining that Grant was "born and reared in Kentucky," Worden said, "The cooking is the sort you hope to find south of the Mason and Dixon line."

Steel tycoon Charles M. Schwab and his wife, Eurana, built one of Manhattan's largest and most opulent mansions, Riverside House, in 1906.  Then the Depression hit and Schwab's fortune was greatly reduced.  On Christmas day 1938, Eurana suffered a heart attack and died on the morning of January 12, 1939.  Early in March, Schwab closed Riverside House, sold his two country estates, and moved into 290 Park Avenue.  His residency would be short-lived.  The 77-year-old died of a heart attack in his apartment on September 18.  About 2,000 people attended his funeral in St. Patrick's Cathedral.

from the collection of the New York Public Library

The fact that the co-op owners did not own the land under the building was their undoing.  No doubt to the surprise of many New Yorkers, on December 13, 1957, The New York Times reported, "The New York Central Railroad is about to lease to builders the land at 290 Park Avenue...The builders will replace the apartment house on the site with an office building."  The Bankers Trust Building designed by Emery Roth & Son was erected on the site.

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The August R. Zicha House - 516 East 87th Street

 

In 1874, real estate developer John Hillenbrand erected a long row of identical, Italianate style rowhouses on the south side of East 87th Street between East End and York Avenues.  Faced in brownstone, the 20-foot-wide homes were three stories tall above high English basements.  Robust stone stoop railings with urn-shaped balusters terminated in finial-capped newels.  The arched double-doored entrances sat below impressive pediments on scrolled brackets, and the floor-to-ceiling parlor windows most likely had cast iron balconies.

The title to 516 East 87th Street was held by Hillenbrand's wife, Elizabeth.  The couple initially leased the house.  Their first tenant, John Hunt, was here only a few months before his death at 73 on March 14, 1875.  The house was next leased to the Burns family, whose son Charles Henry was attending New York City College in 1878.

The Hillenbrands sold 516 East 87th Street on April 15, 1880 to William Arnold for $9,000 (about $266,000 in 2024).  He continued to lease it to the Burns family.

Annie M. Burns went shopping downtown on Broadway on May 12, 1881.  While making some purchases in a drygoods store, she laid her pocketbook on the counter, and it disappeared.  The New York Times reported, "It was found in Mrs. Conterno's pocket and returned after having been demanded twice."  Annie Conterno (who had wrapped a handkerchief around the pocketbook) proclaimed her innocence.

Annie Burns appeared in court on May 24 to face Annie Conterno and Pauline Vibert, who had been arrested as an accomplice.  Conterno took the stand in her own behalf after Mrs. Burns testified.  The New York Times reported,  

She said that the had forgotten her pocket  book previously in another store.  When Mrs. Vibert, therefore, gave her the pocket-book belonging to Mrs. Burns, saying. "That's twice you've for gotten your pocket-book,” she put it into her pocket without looking at it.  She denied that she had wrapped her handkerchief around it. 

Annie Burns told the court she did not want to press charges, "as she had reason to believe that the accused were respectable persons."  Justice Wandell was less charitable.  Grumbling, "I am instructed by my colleagues to discharge the accused," he did so with a formal dissent.

In September 1906, the house was purchased by August R. Zicha, a partner in the Cork & Zicha Marble Company and an officer in the Home Alliance Realty Company.  He was, as well, the secretary of the Czecho-Slavonian Fraternal Benefit Union.

By 1920, the name of the firm had been changed to the August R. Zicha Marble Company, Inc.  On December 11, the New-York Tribune ran the headline, "29 Stone Men Indicted as Anti-Trust Violators" and reported on the smashing of a price fixing "ring" that had rocked the industry.  Among those indicted were Henry Hanlein, "whose $2,372,000 limestone contract for the proposed new courthouse would have mulcted the city of close to $1,000,000;" Wright D. Goss, known as the "brick king;" and August R. Zicha.

Of the 29 company heads indicted, 19 were found guilty, including Zicha.  On December 24, 1921, the Record & Guide reported, "The prison terms were for six months to three years in the penitentiary, but will not be enforced at this time.  Each of the defendants will be released on a suspended sentence on payment of a fine."  Zicha got off with a $250 fine--equal to about $4,000 today.

Living with the family at the time was August Zicha's nephew, Joseph.  The 24-year-old was the victim of an ambush in the winter of 1921.  He had known Beatrice Dorsey "for some time."  She lived in Long Island City where the Zicha marble works were located.  On the evening of February 10, according to Zicha, Dorsey telephoned "and made an appointment to meet him."  Later that night, he walked her home and as they approached a secluded spot, Zicha was set upon by two teens.  The New-York Tribune reported, "the youths beat him when he refused to hold up his hands, and robbed him of his watch and $11."

As it turned out, Beatrice Dorsey had set up the ambush.  She and two 18-year-olds, Joseph Mascio and John Penno, were arrested on a charge of highway robbery.  (Beatrice was unable to make her $10,000 bail and was jailed.)  The newspaper reported, "The boys in court accused the girl of planning the holdup.  This she denied, and said she merely asked them to assist her in getting rid of the attentions of Zickla [sic]."

In 1930, Sibyl A. Scott, who also owned 514 East 87th Street next door, purchased the former Zicha house.  She removed the stoop and lowered the entrance to the basement level.  It appears she converted the interior to unofficial apartments.

516 East 87th Street originally matched its neighbor to the left.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Living here in 1951 were Marjorie and Edward O. Salant, along with Marjorie's adult twin children by her late husband Dr. Joseph J. Asch--Thane, who had served in the Air Force during the war, and Meadra.

In 1941, "when my job as a mother seemed to be nearing its end," as Marjorie worded it, she started taking courses at Columbia University.  Meadra began her music studies at Columbia in 1945, and the following year Thane enrolled in the university's pre-medical courses.  It all came together in 1951.

On February 8, the Columbia Daily Spectator reported, "A mother and her 23-year-old twins discovered last week while registering at Columbia's School of General Studies that they were classmates in the Senior Class."  The article said, "to their surprise" they found that "in adding their credits that they would all bring a diploma to their home at 516 East 87th street in June."

Living here in the mid-1970s were Jane S. and Charles Clay Dahlberg.  Married in 1959, the couple had four sons.  Charles Dahlberg was a psychoanalyst, described by Dr. Mark Blechner in Contemporary Psychoanalysis as "a maverick, known for tackling difficult and cutting-edge subjects."  Jane received her Ph.D. from New York University in 1964 and was the author of the 1966 The New York Bureau of Municipal Research.

In 2000, plans were filed for structural work described as being "for expansion of town house."  Once again a single-family home, a fourth floor was added and the 1874 details enhanced with architrave window frames.  The entrance was returned to the parlor level and given a sharply angled pediment.  The house received period-appropriate cornice and a coat of pink paint.  

photographs by the author

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The George Paulding House - 24 Charlton Street

 

In 1817 John Jacob Astor I took over the land lease of Aaron Burr's country estate, Richmond Hill, from Trinity Church.  Within a decade, he had leveled the land, laid out streets, and begun construction of scores of two-and-a-half story brick-faced homes.  Among them was 24 Charlton Street.  Similar to most of its neighbors, it featured a stone stoop and two dormers at the attic level.  The narrow doorway, devoid of extras like leaded sidelights, marked the house as a middle-class dwelling.

In 1827 the house was shared by two families.  William G. Burk was a carpenter, and Matthew Carter did not list a profession, suggesting he may have been retired.  Burk was most likely what we would call a contractor today.  

On March 31, 1830, an auction was held of "all the household & kitchen furniture of a family breaking up housekeeping."  Despite the modest appearance of the house, it contained items like a mahogany sideboard and chairs, "china tea sets, cut glass," and "pillar & claw feet breakfast tables."

William G. Burk may have been acquainted with the new owner of 24 Charlton Street.  George Paulding was also listed as a carpenter, with an office at 30 Gold Street, and was a well-known builder, or contractor.  Paulding was born in Peekskill, New York in 1792, the son of Revolutionary War hero John Paulding.  John was one of three militiamen who captured Major John André, who was associated in the treason of Benedict Arnold.

George and his wife, the former Eleanor Van Mater, had ten children.  In addition to his building business, George was highly involved in politics.  When he was appointed its candidate for assemblyman in 1848, the Free Soil Democracy of the Empire Ward called him, "a man whose feelings and principles are identified with the advancement of the best interests of our city."  In 1863, Biographical Sketches would remember him as, "a leading man in the Metropolitan city."

On September 13, 1855, George Paulding died at the age of 60.  His funeral was held in the parlor two days later.  

Two years later, Eleanor had a horrifying experience.  At about 6:30 on November 18, 1857, she was walking along Grand Street near Christie Street.  She carried a net handbag known as a reticule which, according to The Evening Post, "was of considerable value, containing, among other articles of value, a $50 check on the Pacific Bank."  (The amount would translate to about $1,800 in 2024.)

The newspaper said, "a ruffian, who gave his name as Rob Laton, came behind her, seizing the reticule...Her cries drew the attention of persons passing by, who made chase after the rascal."  The would-be purse snatcher found himself trapped.  The article continued, "others headed him off, and he was seized and given over of Officer Holmes."  During the chase, Laton had tossed Eleanor's purse, but it was later found and returned to her.  

One of the Pauldings' sons was John, who was born in 1819.  Like his father, he was involved in politics.  Biographical Sketches said, "He has always maintained a leading position in the Democratic party."  An attorney, John was elected to the State Assembly.  He and his wife, the former Jane Cosgrove, had four children.  Jane died in 1862 at about 35 years old, and John died in 1871.  

Following her father's death, Abbie Paulding moved into the Charlton Street house with her grandmother.  Sadly, she died within weeks--on June 8, 1871--and her funeral was held here two days later.

In the meantime, another son, E. E. Paulding, had distinguished himself during the Civil War, meriting the rank of lieutenant colonel.  After the war he relocated to St. Paul, Minnesota where he was editor of the Pioneer Printing Company.  In 1872, he returned to New York to visit his mother.  While here he contracted bronchitis, and died at the age of 41.

The following year Joseph Paulding, a broker at 24 New Street, moved in with his mother.  He may have convinced her to moved, and on April 9, 1875, two years before her death, the "genteel household furniture" of 24 Charlton Street was sold at auction.

The house Eleanor Paulding had called home for 45 years was purchased by Hugh Gallagher, who was in the "waters" business.  Living with the family was Gallagher's widowed mother-in-law, Eleanor Cassidy.  She died at the age of 77 on November 12, 1875 (the year they moved in).  Following her funeral in the house, a requiem mass was celebrated in St. Patrick's Cathedral.  

The Gallaghers would not remain long at 24 Charlton Street.  In 1878 it was home to Adolph Ode and his family.  He was associated with his father, Casimir, in the confectionery business Battais & Ode.  (Interestingly, Casimir lived across the street at 19 Charlton Street.)  The Odes had at least three children, Randolph T., Lottie and Clara.

Boarding with the Odes in 1878 was the Redden family.  John Redden, who was 17 years old, "works with his father sewing grain-bags on Pier 38," according to the New York Evening Express.  He was arrested on November 28 that year for a serious offense.

The New York Evening Express explained that each year on every national holiday, a group of young men known as the Original Hound Rangers "turn out in costume and parade the streets with the accompaniment of fifes and drums."  John Redden and several friends walked along the sidewalk, following the parade.  Suddenly, at Greenwich Street and Battery Place, Redden "was surrounded by a number of boys living in the neighborhood, who began to plague and assault him."  Finally, Redden, "exasperated at his tormentors," drew a knife from his pocket and plunged into the stomach of James Kenney, fatally wounding him.

Redden ran to the Staten Island ferryboat Middleville, but did not escape.  He was arrested on board by Officer Edward Scanlon.  The knife was found in his pocket.  The teen was held for trial in the Tombs.

The Odes' boarder in 1896 was Lawrence Bauerschmidt, who lived in the attic level.  He was described by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle as "an old man."  Bauerschmidt nearly lost his life on May 28 that year, when an overheated range caused a fire.  The family escaped, but Bauerschmidt was found in his room by Fireman Biorman "partially overcome by smoke."  Biorman carried him through the skylight "and down into an adjoining building.  He soon revived," said the article.

A touching episode involving Randolph T. Ode that played out in 1905 was reported as far away as Australia.  The young man, who was a civil engineer, was afflicted with "incipient tuberculosis" and traveled to Colorado Springs in hopes of a cure.  Describing him as "the son of Adolph Ode, a wealthy wholesale confectioner," the Oshkosh Northwestern related that he "wrote home that he thought he would feel better if he could see Miss Harris."  Miss Harris was May Amanda Harris.  

The newspaper reported, "Mrs. Ode and Miss Harris hastened to Colorado, where, under the shadow of Pike's peak, and largely through the young woman's nursing, Mr. Ode rapidly regained his health.  Colorado Springs will be the objective point of the honeymoon tour."

At the time of the heartwarming wedding, the Odes had been gone from 24 Charlton Street for several years.  In 1897, the year after the fire, it was home to Jeremiah and Elizabeth (known as Lizzie) McCarthy.  Jeremiah ran a saloon on West Street.  As had been the case twice before, only months after moving into the house, Jeremiah died on November 30, 1897.

Apparently a self-reliant woman, Lizzie McCarty took over running the saloon, and she took in a boarder.  In 1897 it was William A. Virtue, a clerk; and in 1898 Thomas Reagan lived here.  He died at the age of 30 on March 18, that year.

Following Lizzie McCarty's death on May 29, 1899 (her funeral was held in the house on May 31), 24 Charlton Street became home to Irish immigrant George H. Brennan and his wife.  The 26-year-old was looking for a job in August 1900, describing himself in his ad as, "Barkeeper, experienced, understands the business."  

Brennan's luck did not improve.  On February 27, 1903, the New-York Tribune reported he had filed for bankruptcy, listing liabilities of $3,658.67 and assets of $100.  It appears that Brennan's actual income came from less than honest enterprises.

On February 14, 1904, The Sun reported that the police had raided the "poolroom" at 15 West Houston Street.  (The term did not refer to billiards, but to horse betting.)  The article said, "Three hundred men were caught in the place, but only six of them were held...Capt. Brennan lined up the 300 men in the room and picked out those he wanted.  The first man he spotted was George Brennan of 24 Charlton street.  The captain knew him from past experience."  Previously, Captain Brennan (who was by no means related to George) had tried to gather evidence at the place, "but his namesake threw him out."

In 1919, William Sloane Coffin and his wife Catherine purchased 14 vintage houses in the neighborhood, including 24 Charlton Street.  They gently renovated the house, connecting the dormers in the process.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Interestingly, only a year after the renovations were completed, the Coffins sold 24 Charlton Street to Margaret F. Clarke.  It initiated a series of turnovers in owners throughout the next two decades.

A relic of Manhattan life when America was just 50 years old, today the venerable Paulding house is a two-family residence. 

photographs by the author
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Sylvan Bien's 1940 737 Park Avenue

 

photo by Godsfriendchuck

Born in Austria, architect Sylvan Bien emigrated to San Francisco to work on the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition.  He relocated to New York City in 1919.  By the 1930s he was designing mostly apartment buildings and hotels.

In 1939, the 737 Park Avenue Corp. demolished seven rowhouses at the northeast corner of Park Avenue and 71st Street.  Bien was commissioned to design an apartment building on the site.  He blended traditional French neo-Classical motifs into his Art Moderne design.  Completed in 1940, the building's five-story limestone base upheld 14 stories of red brick.  At the upper floors, Greek key bands and classical pediments harkened to French Empire prototypes.

This rendering graced the cover of the 1940 brochure which touted the "architectural standards of the general Empire style."  from the Avery Library collection of Columbia University

The lobby was designed to impress.  The real estate brochure said, "The floor is terrazzo with matched marble wainscot.  Several large wall paintings by a well known mural artist are used to bring warmth and interest to the entire entrance and elevator lobby."

Two views of the lobby in 1941.  from the collection of the Library of Congress.

Potential tenants could select apartments ranging from three to eight rooms.  "Some suites have terraces, and there are several 3 and 6 room duplex arrangements," said the brochure, which noted, "All have large galleries, with powder and dressing rooms in most, while many have maids' rooms.  Additional maids' rooms are available on the first floor."

The "special apartments" were on the 18th and 19th floors.  The "C" model included seven rooms, four baths, a dressing room, powder room, library and dining room, plus three terraces.  The brochure promised the apartments would "satisfy the most rigorous demands for prestige and distinction."

The three "special" apartments on the 18th and 19th floors all had terraces.  from the Avery Library collection of Columbia University

As the building neared completion in September 1940, S. R. Firestone, vice president of Pease & Elliman, told a reporter from The New York Times that 737 Park Avenue reflected a change in Manhattan lifestyle.  He said that builders were "providing discriminating Manhattan apartment residents with the same type of accommodations they enjoyed in earlier years but with fewer rooms and on a substantially lower rental basis."  He was quick to add, "There has been, however, no sacrifice of comfort or convenience."  The article continued, "Mr. Firestone states that many of these smaller suites in the 737 Park Avenue house have been taken by tenants who are vacating twelve-room suites."

photo by "Eden, Janine and Jim"

Among the first was Dr. Roy Chapman Andrews, who signed a lease on April 19, 1940, months before construction would be completed.  He would move in with his second wife, Wilhelmina Christmas.  Born in 1884, Andrews was described by The New York Times as "naturalist, explorer and director of the American Museum of Natural History."  He traveled the globe on various expeditions, cataloging wildlife and discovering fossils.  (The Andrewsarchus was named for him.)  When he and Wilhelmina moved into 737 Park Avenue he had written ten books, including the 1921 Across Mongolian Plains and the 1929 Ends of the Earth, and would go on to write 13 more.

Andrews made the cover of Time magazine on October 29, 1923.  (copyright expired)

Most residents of 737 Park Avenue had country homes, while a few kept apartments here as their city pied-à-terre.  That was the case with Irving and Renee Weisner.  The couple was married on June 3, 1958 and moved into a 27-room, 10-bath house in Woodmere, Long Island.  They rented an apartment here for those evenings when they came into the city.  Testimony in their divorce case said the apartment, "was used...only occasionally, not exceeding approximately 20 nights during the three years of their marriage, and was used by [Renee] mainly for the purpose of changing her clothes when the parties had a social engagement."

The apartment of S. Beutsch included this clever bar with acrylic feet and Erté type decorations.  It was photographed by Gottscho-Schleisner, Inc. in a closed position...

...and opened position on March 21, 1941.  from the collection of the Library of Congress.

The family of William Olden lived here by the early 1960s.  Born in Berlin, Germany in 1909, Olden arrived in America in 1938.  He and his wife, the former Margot Cohnreich, had two children, Barbara Evelyn (known in society as Bambi), and Robert.  Olden started out with a small camera business, and by the time the family moved in to 737 Park Avenue it was "one of the most successful retail and mail-order camera concerns in the country," according to The New York Times. 

Like the daughters of other well-heeled families, Bambi Olden received an enviable education.  She attended the Calhoun School, the Russell Sage College, Le Grand Verger (a finishing school in Lausanne, Switzerland), and the Sarah Lawrence College summer session in Florence, Italy.  When her engagement to Roger H. Felberbaum was announced in April 1964, she was a senior at New York University.

A fascinating resident was Barbara Gabard, who moved in around 1968.  Born to a wealthy Jewish family in Poland in 1912, her first husband was Nathan Padowicz.  Following his suicide, she married Leon Waisbrem, an industrialist.  They lived in Warsaw where their son Julian was born in 1933.  At the outbreak of World War II, she and Julian escaped to Brazil, while Leon remained behind to fight in the Polish Army.

Her escape from Europe resulted in a book, Flight to Freedom, which was published in 1941.  Barbara's husband did not survive the war, and in 1945 she married Pierre Gabard in London.  He became Consul for France in Philadelphia where Barbara was a celebrated hostess and socialite.  Gabard died in 1967 and shortly afterward Barbara moved to New York City and 737 Park Avenue.

This portrait of Barbara Gabard was created by Francois Gilot in 1955.  private collection 

On December 9, 1973, the "Suzy Says" column of the Daily News said, 

Mrs. Pierre Gabard, author of "Flight to Freedom," and widow of the French resistance her0-diplomat, put a big dinner party together to honor Alain Chailloux, chief of press for the French Embassy.  About 60 crowded into Barbara Gabard's Auntie Mame-ish Park Ave. apartment where the Louis XV furniture, the Legers, Mary Cassatt, Pissaros and Picassos combine raffishly with the Alexander Libermans.  It's one way of doing it.

Despite the glittering parties, the antique French furniture and the museum-quality art collection, Barbara Gabard suffered from what was described as "a history of depression."  Two weeks after the party, on the night of December 30, a friend, Seward Kennedy, visited her.  Around 2:50 a.m., according to Kennedy, Barbara left the living room.  The New York Times reported, "When she didn't return, he said, he went to investigate and found she jumped from the 12th-floor window."  She was declared dead upon arrival at Metropolitan Hospital.

image via corcoran.com

In 2011 the CIM Group acquired 737 Park Avenue and began a conversion to condominiums.  The 104 rental apartments became 56 resident-owned units.  The full-floor penthouse sold in June 2015 for $32.6 million.  The New York Times noted, "The apartment was sold as a 'white box,' without interior walls or finishes, though it does include a wood-burning fireplace."

many thanks to reader Lowell Cochrane for suggesting this post

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Congregation Ezrath Israel -- The Actors' Temple -- 339 West 47th Street

 

In September 1922, architect Sidney P. Oppenheim filed plans to dramatically remodel a "four story brick tenement" for the West Side Hebrew Relief Association, Inc.  The old structure (it was built around 1869) was, in fact, a high-stooped brownstone which had been converted to a rooming house.  Oppenheim's far-reaching plans called for new floors, new interior walls, "new exterior, new front."

The house was transformed into a synagogue faced in sandy-colored brick.  It was home to Congregation Ezrath Israel (Help of Israel), founded in 1917.  Vaguely neo-Georgian in style, the building's focal point was the large, centered arch that embraced the stained glass rose window.

In the post-World War I years, the most conservative of churches and synagogues still considered the theater to be sinful.  People involved in the theater were not welcomed by those institutions.  This synagogue was conveniently near the entertainment district, however, and when actor-comedian Red Baxter began worshiping at Ezrath Israel, Rabbi Bernard Birstein welcomed him.

Birstein was born in 1892 in Poland and had come to America in 1912.  Word of his warm reception to actors and entertainers spread.  Before long, the congregation was a mix of long-time neighborhood residents and stage celebrities.  

Rabbi Birstein discovered that having well-known members in his congregation had its advantages.  He instituted what would become an annual benefit.  According to Birstein's daughter, Ann, in her 1982 book The Rabbi on 47th Street, the events featured performances by the likes of Sophie Tucker; Jimmy Durante and his vaudeville team Clayton, Jackson and Durante; Red Buttons; Eddie Cantor; Jack Benny; Edward G. Robinson; and Milton Berle.  Within a few years, Congregation Ezrath Israel had earned the nickname, The Actors' Temple.  

The benefit would be staged every February for years.  On January 28, 1933, the Greenpoint Daily Star reported, 

With Eddie Cantor and George Jessel as honorary chairmen, Broadway stage stars are rallying to the support of the charity show to be given in aid of Temple Ezrath Israel at the Casino Theater on Sunday evening, February 5.  This annual theatrical affair helps considerably to maintain the synagogue, located at 339 West Forty-seventh street, where the actors come to pray and mourn for the dead.

More somber, of course, were those many funerals and memorial services which were routinely held here.  On April 16, 1927, for instance, The Vaudeville News reported, "N.V.A. [National Vaudeville Artists] members are respectfully invited to attend a Memorial Service on Sunday, April 24, 1927, at 11 A. M. at the Ezrath Israel Synagogue, 339 West 47th St., New York City."

On July 12, 1941, The New York Times reported on the memorial service for theatrical producer Sam H. Harris.  The article said 200 friends and former associates were present.  "George M. Cohan, former partner of Mr. Harris, had been asked to speak...but had declined, saying, 'I was too close to Sam Harris.  I couldn't go through with it.'"

Rabbi Bernard Birstein died in 1959 at the age of 67.  On November 15, The New York Times reported that "Congregation Ezrath Israel, more familiarly known as the Actors Temple," had hired Rabbi Moshay P. Mann.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Things were changing in the neighborhood and within the congregation.  Following World War II the motion picture industry drew celebrities to the West Coast.  And the neighborhood generally declined.  The 16th Precinct police stationhouse, just steps away, was demolished in 1972 and the station moved to a new building on West 54th Street.  Within weeks, on October 9, the shul was broken into and $500 worth of silver breastplates, used to adorn the Torah, were stolen.  (The items were later discovered in a pawnshop.)

On November 18, 1978, Leslie Maitland, writing in The New York Times, began an article saying,

Edward G. Robinson conducted services.  Toots Shor, Tony Martin and Red Buttons came to pray.  And when the rabbi had trouble gathering a minyan of 10 Jewish men at the Actors' Temple, the old 16th Precinct station a few doors down on 47th Street could be counted on to provide it.

But times have changed.

Edward G. Robinson is dead.  Red Buttons lives in California.  The police station has been torn down.  The police officers who visit now do not come to pray.

Those police officers were, instead, were coming to investigate vandalism.  Teens threw rocks through the windows, spray painted swastikas on the walls, and "shout[ed] obscenities at its leaders," according to Maitland.

Label Malamud had been cantor here for three decades.  Pointing to the school next door to the synagogue, he asked Maitland, "You think they go to school with pencils?  These days they carry knives.  They could make me a head shorter than I already am.  Frankly, I am afraid."  A month before the article, the synagogue's outdoor Succoth decorations had been destroyed.

In response, the congregation had installed a $2,000 burglar alarm system and covered the stained glass windows with plywood--among them memorial windows to Joe E. Lewis, Sophie Tucker and theatrical agent Joe Glaser.

On November 29, 2006, Campbell Robertson of The New York Times wrote, "Recently--say, oh, during the last half-century--this temple, with a declining membership and a vanishing budget, has not been doing so well."  In a desperate attempt to buoy its finances, the members of Congregation Ezrath Israel had decided to offer its auditorium as an Off Broadway venue.  The first play, The Big Voice: God or Merman?, opened on November 30, 2006.

It had not been an easy decision.  Congregation members discussed--and fought--it for more than a year.  Member Rich Schussel explained, "There was, first of all, the fundamental question of whether it was appropriate to open an active temple to show business.  And then the practical matters: if a show has a big, immovable set, what do you do for Friday and Saturday services?"

Vice president of the board, Mike Libien, said, "Not everyone was happy about it."  But, given the financial situation, "we really had no choice."

Nearly two decades later, the unlikely bedfellows continue to coexist as Congregation Ezrath Israel and the Actors' Temple Theater.

photograph by the author

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