The Paul Taylor House - 27 Vandam Street

 

In 1834, builder Daniel Turner erected a row of four Greek Revival homes on the north side of Vandam Street between Sixth Avenue and Varick Streets.  The land, originally part of Aaron's Burr's Richmond Hill estate, was owned by Trinity Church.  When John Jacob Astor I first acquired the estate, he paid the land lease to Trinity until May 1, 1864.

Similar to its neighbors, 27 Vandam Street was two-and-a-half stories tall and clad in brick above a brownstone basement.  Two prim dormers pierced the slightly peaked roof.

Margaret Brooks and her son, James, were the first occupants of the house.  Margaret was the widow of James Brooks and her son ran a china store at 86 Canal Street.  Tragically, soon after moving in, James died at the age of 37 on the morning of October 26, 1834.  His funeral was held in the parlor the following afternoon.

The house saw a succession of occupants (apparently renters) over the next few years.  Charles M. Saxton, a partner in the book selling business Gould, Newman & Saxton, was here in 1840 and '41; and carpenter Nathaniel Wilson lived here in 1843 and 1844.

Charles Starr, who moved in the following year, may have known Charles M. Saxton.  Starr owned a bookbinding firm at 115 Nassau Street.  After he moved nearby to 59 Vandam Street, his son Charles Starr, Jr. remained in the house.  He was in the "liquid gas" business on Fulton Street.

With his parents gone, Charles Jr. had extra space in the house.  He advertised on February 19, 1848, "To Let--to a small family only, half of the neat 2-story house, 27 Vandam st., possession 1st of May."

By 1850, Starr's business had grown.  Charles Starr Jr. & Co., now listed as "lamps," had added a branch store at 68 Duane Street.

Joseph D. Bedford, a printer, lived here from 1851 through 1857.  Like Starr, he and his wife leased space in the house.  An elderly couple, Abraham and Sarah Bogart, were living with the Bedfords in August 1854 when 75-year-old Sarah died "of dropsy."  The Bedford family moved to West 38th Street in 1858, and on February 22, 1859, an advertisement appeared in the New York Herald:

For Sale--The two story brick basement and attic house No. 27 Vandam street, replete with all the modern improvements.

A series of residents came and went over the next years.  William P. and Carrie Ross moved in around 1873.  Ross was a provisions merchant at 100 Hudson Street.  On May 31, 1878, the couple had a baby girl named Carrie Mabel.  Sadly, the infant died on September 25 and her funeral was held in the house two days later.

In the decades before air conditioning, the New York City heat was brutal for those not affluent enough to escape to summer resorts.  Newspapers published lists of  heat-related "prostrations" and deaths each day.  Among those who died of the heat on July 27, 1885 was 43-year-old Winifred Furgerson, who lived at 27 Vandam Street.  

A family named Kushman lived here in 1889.  Their 18-year-old son Charles was arrested on July 15 that year.  That afternoon a five-year-old boy named Raffaele Savarise was playing ball on the sidewalk in front of a warehouse on Crosby Street.  The New-York Tribune reported he "was suddenly buried under a heavy wooden case.  Some say that Raffaele accidently jostled against the case, which fell over him, while others say that they saw Kushman shove the box over the little Italian boy."

Charles Kushman was detained while the investigation determined whether the boy's injuries were accidental or intentional.  Either way, little Raffaele Savarise, who suffered a fractured skull and broken leg, was not expected to survive.

Cornelius McMonagle and his wife, the former Margaret Brundage, purchased the house around 1896.  The couple had a daughter Nell and son Edgar J.  Margaret's sister, Catherine T. Brundage, lived with the family.  

Cornelius McMonagle had been employed by the wholesale and retail coal and wood firm Youmans Coal Company since around 1877.  Well respected in the community, he was appointed an Inspector of Common Schools on January 1, 1896.  

Catherine Brundage died at the age of 53 on July 12, 1896.  The family rented rooms afterward.  In May 1898, for instance, an ad in the New York Herald read, "In house with owner--A floor consisting of three light, airy rooms, with bath, hot and cold water, stationary range; plenty of closet room."

In the meantime, after having worked for Youmans Coal Company for two decades, in December 1897 Cornelius McMonagle took over the business from its founder, E. W. Youmans.  The extensive business had four locations.  

Just six months later, on June 25, 1898, Cornelius McMonagle died at the age of 53.  Following his funeral in the parlor on June 28, a solemn requiem mass was held in the Church of St. Anthony of Padua on Sullivan Street.  

Margaret took over the operation of Youmans Coal Company.  On September 17, 1900, she was sued by the creditors of the company who charged that she "committed an act of bankruptcy by selling to her son, Edgar J. McMonagle, for $1, all her interest in the stock, fixtures, horses, wagons, &c."

Following Margaret's death, Nell M. McMonagle (who never married) remained in the house.  She died here on May 23, 1913.

William S. Coffin and his wife purchased multiple dwellings in the neighborhood in 1920, including 27 Vandam Street.  The couple converted it to a two-family house.  In doing so, they connected the dormers, affording additional space in the attic level.  In 1923 the Coffins sold the house to Evans Clark and his wife, Freda Kirchwey.

Born in Orange, New Jersey in 1888, Clark was educated at the Hill School, Amherst College, Harvard University and Columbia University.  He and Freda (who kept her maiden name) were married in 1915 and had two surviving sons (one died in infancy).  Clark was on the staff of The New York Times.

Freda Kirchwey was a graduate of Barnard College and was managing editor of The Nation.  Committed to progressive causes, in 1925 she published Our Changing Morality.  

Sharing the other half of the house were retired U.S. Army Colonel Samuel Reber, his wife and son Miles.  Following in his father's professional footsteps, on June 12, 1923 Miles was graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point.  He was commissioned by John J. Pershing, General of the Armies.

A renovation completed in 1961 resulted in one apartment in the basement, a doctor's apartment and office on the first floor, and one apartment each on the upper floors.  Beginning around 1970, the house was owned by dancer and choreographer Paul Taylor, head of the Paul Taylor Dance Company.

A student of the American Dance Festival at the University of Connecticut, Black Mountain College in North Carolina, and the Julliard School, he worked with the likes of Martha Graham, Jerome Robbins and Charles Weidman.  He established his dance company in 1958, eventually creating scores for 147 pieces.

Paul Taylor, from the collection of the Library of Congress

Living with Taylor was George Wilson.  The couple had initially been romantically involved, but remained life-long friends until Wilson's death in 2004.  Five years later, Taylor sold 27 Vandam Street for $3.3 million, putting the money into his dance company.

The buyers, Cory Carlesimo and his wife, Carrie Shumway, initiated a three-year gut renovation by Matthew Baird Architects to return the house to a single-family home.  While the exterior was preserved, little historic fabric remains inside.  The striking, five-bedroom house was purchased in 2022 for $14.8 million by La Ligne CEO Molly Howard.

photographs by the author

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