In 1839 a group of masons, smiths and builders worked cooperatively to erect a row of Greek Revival style homes at 48 through 56 Charles Street. They were separately owned, yet built on the same plans. The easternmost of the row, 48 Charles Street, was owned by smiths Samuel Cyphers and Edward Duvall.
Like its neighbors, the house was faced in red brick and trimmed in brownstone. Three stories tall above an English basement, it was 20-feet wide. Cyphers and Duvall apparently erected the house for rental income. No. 48 Charles Street was initially leased to the family of merchant Nathaniel Low.
The Lows did not renew their lease and on April 6, 1841 an auction of their furnishings was held. The announcement explained they were "giving up housekeeping." Among the "very choice assortment of good furniture mostly made to order last year" were a "superior piano forte, pier tables, mirrors, centre tables, carpets, mantel lamps, sofas, mahogany chairs, etc. etc."
The family of importer Benaiah G. Stokes occupied the house in the mid-1840s. By 1851, it was home to Henry A. and Jane A. Dingee. Henry was in the coach making and "equipments" businesses at two separate locations.
The "equipments" firm which he operated with his brother, Robert Dingee, Jr., made military accessories for the United States Army. Following Robert's death in 1851, Henry took over the business. On August 31, 1852, he billed the government for $1,554.25 in "ordnance, ordnance stores, and supplies." (The amount would translate to about $63,200 in 2024.)
Henry and Jane had a daughter, Elizabeth H., when they moved in; and in December 1854, Helen Dingee was born. Sadly, she died six months later, on May 4, 1855. Her funeral was held in the Charles Street house the next afternoon.
In 1863, during the Civil War, Dingee partnered with George T. Lorigan to form Dingee & Lorigan. The firm would continue to outfit the U. S. Army--providing 18,550 carbine boxes and 20,000 carbine slings among other items that year.
By then, however, the family had been gone from 48 Charles Street for four years. In 1859, Dingee listed it for sale for $9,000 (about $340,000 today), noting it was "3 rooms deep" and contained "two kitchens, two bathrooms," with "hot and cold water, and all other modern improvements."
The house seems to have been next operated as a boarding house. Living here in 1860 were William H. Haskell, who operated a grocery store at 274 Bleecker; Charles F. Haskell (presumably a son) who was in the safe business; and Samuel L. Hall, an employee of William Haskell. Isaac Homan, a carpenter; and George W. Lewis, a boot merchant, also boarded here.
By 1861 Charles C. Curtis and his wife, Charlotte A. Williston, lived here. The house was the scene of another infant's funeral in July. Charles and Charlotte's baby daughter Sarah Esther died on July 24. In reporting her death, The New York Times mentioned that she was "granddaughter of O. H. Williston, Esq." Othniel H. Williston was familiar to well-heeled New Yorkers as the proprietor of The Mansion House hotel in Syracuse, New York.
In 1863, Othniel H. Williston, presumably Charlotte's brother, also boarded here. He had been appointed to the police department on March 27, 1858.
The Degroot and Coe families shared 48 Charles Street in 1871. James Degroot was the superintendent of the building at 71 Broadway, and William E. Degroot made his living as a clerk. Joseph B. Coe, who was also a clerk, worked in the County Courthouse. In February 1874, Coe was on the ticket committee of the "Grand Dramatic Entertainment in the Aid of The Poor of the Ninth Ward" held at the Academy of Music.
The Degroot and Coe families remained through 1877. By the mid-1880s, the house was owned by Charles Henry and Sarah Searing Bancker Macy. Born in Nantucket, Massachusetts on May 30, 1836, Macy came to New York "at an early age," according to the New York Herald. He went into the ice business and would be an executive with the New York City Ice Company for decades.
The couple had a daughter, Ella L. Macy. Ella was active in society, as reflected on November 26, 1886 when The New York Times reported, "The Oxford Social Club, gave a masquerade party Wednesday evening at the house of Miss Ella Macy, No. 48 Charles-street. Many guests were present to enjoy the dancing and a fine supper."
Ella married Robert Edgar Milligan around 1890. The newlyweds moved into 48 Charles Street. Born in Canada in November 1867, Milligan graduated from the New York College of Pharmacy in 1889. He would become a director in the New York Continental Jewell Filtration Company and a member of the Down-Town Business Men's Association.
On May 25, 1891, Ella gave birth to Archibald Stewart Milligan. Tragically, Ella died in childbirth at the age of 21.
As the century drew to a close, Charles S. and Katherine A. Nylander, possibly relatives of Charles and Sarah Macy, and Charles's unmarried sister, Emma L., moved into the house with the couple. The Nylanders were heavily involved in real estate and Charles was the secretary of Happy Days magazine. But bicycling was Charles's true passion. His name repeatedly appeared in sports pages and in magazine articles for his cycling. And as automobiles began appearing, he embraced that trend. In 1904 Good Roads Magazine listed him as secretary of the Century Road Club of America.
Sarah S. Macy died in the house at the age of 63 on July 29, 1901. Her estate transferred title to Charles.
There would be three more funerals here in relatively quick succession. On March 2, 1908, Katherine A. Nylander died, and on May 30, 1910, Charles Henry Macy died at the age of 73. The New York Herald attributed his death to "the infirmities due to old age." A year later, on June 21, 1911, Emma L. Nylander died at the age of 65.
Archibald S. Milligan inherited 48 Charles Street from his grandfather. On January 1, 1912, he leased it to the National Association for the Prevention of Mendicancy and Charitable Imposture, which opened Stepping Stone House here. A sort of half-way house, on May 23, 1912, the New-York Tribune explained:
This is not a refuge for tramps, nor a free lodging house for reformed beggars and ex-tramps. It is a temporary home for the exceptional man who by virtue of his own ability does not belong to the vagrant type, but who is losing his grip owing to circumstances and sliding into mendicancy for want of friendly aid at the right moment. The purpose is the same as that of the social settlements--work with the individual and not a hasty grouping of individuals into crowds, to be dealt with all alike.
Despite the group's lofty ambitions, Stepping Stone House was short-lived. Milligan, who was now living in Kansas City, Missouri, leased the house to artist Frank Tenney Johnson and H. Ledyard Towle. They converted it to apartments and remodeled the top floor to an artist's studio where the center opening was replaced with a large studio window that extended to the roof. The parlor floor windows were extended nearly to the floor.
Image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services
Greenwich Village--To lease, unfurnished studio, 3 unusually large rooms, bath and kitchenette; all modern conveniences; two open fire places; $100 monthly. H. L. Towle, 48 Charles st.
In January 1921, Archibald S. Milligan sold 48 Charles Street to Frank Tenney Johnson and his wife Vinnie F. Johnson. H. Ledyard Towle continued to live here for at least another year. An advertisement for a 3-room apartment in June 1921 listed the rent at $135, about $2,300 in today's money.
Frank T. Johnson was born in Iowa in 1874. He studied at the Milwaukee School of Art and the Art Students League of New York. Starting out as an illustrator, his work appeared in magazines like Field & Stream, Boys' Life and Harpers Weekly. A year before buying the Charles Street house, he began traveling to the Far West where he made sketches that he completed in his studio here.
On March 15, 1922, the New York Evening Post reported, "Mr. Frank Tenney Johnson, whose paintings of Western scenes and Indians on horseback are very popular, and Mrs. Johnson entertained a group of New Jersey Club women and their husbands Saturday afternoon, March 4, at his studio, 48 Charles Street, New York City."
Johnson's Western scenes, like Moonlight on the Ranch, popularized the style that became known as "The Johnson Moonlight Technique."
Artist Milton Herbert Bancroft lived here in 1921. Born in Newton, Massachusetts in 1867, he was an impressionist painter of portraits, landscapes, and murals.
Another resident artist was Florence Wilde, here by 1935. She also taught from her studio. On March 2, 1935, the New York Evening Post reported, "The Florence Wilde Studio of Illustration is offering two scholarships--one for costume sketching and the other for textile design, each a six-month course." The article added, "Many of Mrs. Wilde's students have found profitable work in costume sketching and textile design."
Eight months later, the New York Post titled an article, "What, No Bodies?" It reported, "Police wearing gas masks raced to the studio apartment of Mrs. Florence Wilde at 48 Charles Street at 1 A.M. today to rescue several persons reported overcome by gas fumes. They found no bodies. They did find several lighted sulphur [sic] candles and a pungent odor."
The following March, Florence Wilde renewed her offer of two scholarships to her commercial illustration course.
Frank Tenney Johnson died in 1939. The house was sold in 1941. It continued to be home to artists, such as German-American Hugo Asbach, who was here by 1960. That year, in February, the Lynn Kottler Galleries on East 65th Street staged a one-man show of Asbach's paintings of Captiva Island in the Gulf of Mexico.
Hugo Asbach's La Ronde
A renovation to 48 Charles Street completed in 1969 resulted in one apartment per floor. Although the stoop has been remodeled and the railings replaced, the house looks much as it did following its renovation to artists studios after World War I.
many thanks to reader Frank Regan for requesting this post
photographs by the author
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