Tenth Street, as laid out on the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, ran through the 86-acre estate of Henry Brevoort. It was not until after his death in 1841 that elegant homes began rising along the quiet thoroughfare. By the late 1850s, real estate agent John Rogers lived in the newly built brick house at 75 Tenth Street (renumbered 228 East 10th Street in 1868).
Rogers's Greek Revival home was 25-feet-wide and three-and-a-half stories tall above an English basement. It would originally have had a sturdy brownstone frame around the entrance, simple stone lintels atop the openings, and an unassuming cornice above the squat attic windows. Rogers ran his business from the house, possibly in the basement level, as reflected in a panicked announcement in the New York Herald on October 31, 1861:
Lost--A rent book, showing the payments of rents; is of no use to no one but the owner. By leaving it at the office of John Rogers, house agent, 75 Tenth avenue, a reward will be given.
At the time, another real estate agent named Robert Laird lived further east on Tenth Street. The two most likely knew one another. By 1868 Laird's family occupied the former Rogers home.
The Lairds' summer home was in Irvington-on-Hudson. They were there in July 1881 before their neighbors, the family of Police Captain McCullagh (who were also from New York City), had arrived. On July 19, an enormous fire broke out "in what is called the horticultural building of Messrs. Lord & Burnhan," according to The Sun. The fire spread rapidly, causing the newspaper to say, "If the wind had not changed suddenly yesterday morning it is probable that a good part of Irvington would have been burned."
As the flames threatened the McCullagh home, Laird jumped into action. When the captain arrived from New York, "He found all his furniture in the street, and his friends, Mr. Robert Laird of Tenth street and Mr. John F. Dinkle of Irvington, exhausted by their labors in sweeping and sousing his roof."
Robert Laird died around 1881, and on February 23, 1884, The Record & Guide reported that his son, John, had sold 228 East 10th Street to Christian Hummel for $16,250 (about $521,000 in 2024 terms). The following year, on March 21, 1885, the journal reported that Hummel had hired architect Frederick Jenth to "raise attic to full story." Part of the renovation was the addition of sheet metal cornices over the windows and an up-to-date neo-Grec terminal cornice.
In 1887, Hummel provided bond for an 18-year-old delinquent, William Kurz. On March 2, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that Kurz, "who distinguished himself by jumping from the Brooklyn Bridge some months since, was rearraigned before Justice O'Reilly to-day, at Essex Market Court, New York. He was arrested yesterday...for discharging three barrels of a revolver at Frances Rignacht, his mother."
When Mrs. Rignacht was told that her son faced a prison term, she refused to press charges. "Christian Hummel, of 228 East Tenth street, who became bondsman for Kurz, surrendered the lad to Justice O'Reilly," said the article. "Kurz is again in the Tombs."
In 1891, Charles Ruff and his wife, Maria, moved into the house. Ruff was "a wealthy retired builder," according to The Sun. Maria was his second wife. His first wife (her sister) had died and the couple was married on on January 30, 1889. Maria had been previously married, as well, and both had a child from their first marriages. (Which, interestingly, now made the children both cousins and siblings.)
On July 16, 1895, The New York Times explained, "Their married life was full of trouble from the start." Charles Ruff was extremely jealous, controlling, and both physically and mentally abusive. His jealousy grew to obsession. Constantly accusing Maria of flirting with men or, worse, being unfaithful, The New York Times reported, "Her husband said she might signal to other men if she was permitted to go near the windows, and to make assurance doubly sure on this score, he had all the window glass painted."
Maria told the courts he "would sprinkle flour all over the rooms and hallways of the house" at night. He told her it would allow him "to detect any person who might enter [Maria's] room." Charles imprisoned her in her bedroom at night. The New York Times wrote, "he would keep a guard at night in her bedroom to watch her. He would also bolt and double lock all the doors and windows of the room."
Finally, in August 1895, Maria had had enough. She sued for separation. The New York Times sarcastically reported that Ruff, "has an amiable habit, his wife says, of shooting at her, striking her on the head when the fancy seizes him, and indulging in other pleasant practices just to show that he is the head of the house."
The Sun reported, "she charges him with cruelty and abandonment. She says that he has $125,000 in realty and $50,000 in personalty [i.e.,assets], from which he derives an income of $10,000 a year." If Maria were correct, her husband's worth would equal just over 5 million in 2024 dollars.
But, as is often the case with domestic abuse victims, Maria returned to Charles. Following his death in 1901, she inherited his estate, including 228 East 10th Street.
The East 10th Street neighborhood had noticeably changed by then. Once a refined residential enclave, it had filled with tenements and commercial buildings. Within a few years of Maria Ruff's inheriting the property, the house was converted to apartments. Additionally, the stoop was removed and a shop installed in the basement level.
Among the tenants in 1906 was Mrs. S. Schlomowitz. Early on the morning of March 19, she woke to discover a thief in her room. The feisty woman, "grappled with him, but he escaped through an open window, taking a $60 watch and chain." Mrs. Schlomowitz reported the theft and it led to the discovery of a den of thieves next door. Two days later, The New York Sun reported, "Three Italians named Giuseppe Rossi, Christopher Scimone and Joseph Clementi, all of 226 East Tenth street, were arrested yesterday." In their rooms, "a quantity of jewelry, including three watches and a silver smelling salts bottle" were found.
By 1913, Italian businessmen were terrorized by the Black Hand, an Italian-American extortion group also known as La Mano Nera. On October 19 that year, The New York Times titled a first-page article, "Police Strike a Telling Blow At Organized Bomb Gang," and noted that since the first of the year there had been 125 "bomb outrages" that resulted in two fatalities and 19 injuries. The list included, "July 25--228 East Tenth Street bomb explosion in basement occupied by Dominick Quattrone as a confectionery store. Paole Gerace caught running away."
Living upstairs at the time was Otto Mertel, a 30-year-old waiter. Two months after the bombing, early in the morning of Christmas Eve, Mertel got into a fight with John Wood "on the sidewalk in front of Lena Hoberg's restaurant, No. 119 Third avenue," as reported by the Evening World. Wood, who was 35 and a plumber, landed a knock-out blow to Mertel, sending him to the pavement and fracturing his skull. Wood was arrested "about a block from the scene of the fight, deliberately walking away," and was charged with felonious assault. Otto Mertel never returned to his room here. He died at Bellevue Hospital.
image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
Some time before mid-century, the building was painted white. The East Village neighborhood experience change again as the 20th century drew to a close. On July 3, 2013, The New York Times reported that a "local family investor" had purchased the building, noting that it had two commercial spaces and nine apartments--"1 studio, 7 one-bedrooms and 1 three-bedroom." At the time, Dieci, an Asian fusion restaurant was in the ground floor and the second floor office space was vacant. In 2019, Tsukimi, a Japanese restaurant, opened in the lower level.
photographs by the author
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