In 1889, Andrew Carnegie gave architect William B. Tuthill a significant commission--designing Carnegie Hall. But three years earlier, in September 1886, when Tuthill designed a row of 10 three-story houses along the western blockfront of Manhattan Avenue between 115th and 116th Streets for George F. Ferris, the 31-year-old was better known for his singing capabilities than for architecture.
Tuthill designed the row in a satisfying blend of Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne styles. Toward the center of the row, 367 Manhattan Avenue was faced in red brick and trimmed in brownstone. The fully arched openings of the parlor floor were capped with sturdy voussoirs of undressed stone. The second story sat between two intermediate cornices, while the third featured two arched windows with brick eyebrows and a gable with Queen Anne style stone tiles. The brick piers on either side terminated in elaborate Corinthian capitals. The house had cost Ferris $7,000 to build--about $235,000 in 2024.
An advertisement in the New York Herald on October 18, 1887 read, "Charming 20 foot residence 367 Manhattan av., for sale; price $15,000; convenient to Morningside Park and 116th street "L" station."
Instead, however, Ferris ended up leasing the house, its monthly rent equivalent to about $2,741 today. In 1895, Charles B. Poor moved his family into 367 Manhattan Avenue. Poor juggled two professions. He was a wine merchant at 44 Beaver Street while also running a real estate operation at 45 Broadway. He and his wife had a daughter.
In May 1896, Charles B. Poor's name appeared in newspapers from coast to coast. He was the first juror selected for the sensational "Chowder Trial."
Two years earlier, the Bliss family moved to 121 Manhattan Avenue, about ten blocks south of the the Poors' home. Henry H. Bliss, the deputy librarian at the College of the City of New York, had married his wife, Evelina, on July 23, 1868. Also living in the house was Evelina's daughter by a former marriage, Mary Alice Almont Livingston Fleming, and her children. It was not a tranquil arrangement, with Mary Alice constantly at odds with her mother and step-father over finances.
On the night of August 30, 1895, Evelina and Mary Alice got into another heated argument in Henry's presence. After dinner Evelina fell violently ill. A doctor was called who diagnosed "mixed poisoning."
On September 9, 1895, the Glens Falls Daily Times reported, "Nine days ago Mrs. Evelina M. Bliss ate some clam chowder. Five hours after eating it she was dead." An investigation by Dr. Henry A. Mott, an analytical chemist, discovered "a large amount of arsenic in the stomach of Mrs. Bliss," according to testimony later.
The morning after Evelina's death Mary Alice was arrested "and locked up in the Tombs charged with murdering her mother," said the Glens Falls Daily Times. An official told the newspaper, "There is not the shadow of a doubt that Mrs. Bliss was poisoned by eating clam chowder."
On May 12, 1896, The World reported that after "more than four hours of questioning," Charles B. Poor had been selected as the first juror. "He evidently didn't care to serve; but he had no valid excuse and was acceptable to both sides." The newspaper described him as "a slender, well-dressed man with a brown beard tinged with gray."
Charles B. Poor in the courtroom. The World, May 12, 1896 (copyright expired)
The reluctant Charles Poor was also selected as the jury's foreman. The group deliberated for 19 hours (and wrangled over the possibility of condemning a woman to the death penalty). On June 26, 1896, the Pike County [Pennsylvania] Press reported, "When Clerk Brophy asked foreman Charles B. Poor if the jury had agreed upon a verdict, he replied: 'We have. Not guilty.'" For the rest of his life, Poor would be remembered as having uttered those words.
Two months after the trial, Poor's wife and daughter were in the country while he remained in the city to conduct business. On August 28, he and two friends, Dr. and Mrs. William T. Alexander, took a bike ride to Yonkers. Returning late in the evening, they reached 163rd Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, "when horses attached to a light road wagon bore down upon Mr. Poor," reported the New York Herald.
In what can only be described as the perfect storm of bad luck and timing, the article said Poor attempted to avoid the team, "but was seized with a stroke of epilepsy. He fell heavily, striking the curb. He lost consciousness and blood poured from a gash in his head." Reminding its readers that Poor "was the foreman of the Fleming jury," the newspaper said he was seriously injured and "is suffering at his home, No. 367 Manhattan avenue."
Charles B. Poor's luck would not improve. At a time when it was often easier for a woman to have her husband committed to a lunatic asylum than to obtain a divorce, on November 12, 1898 the New York Journal and Advertiser reported that Poor "was committed to the insane pavilion at Bellevue yesterday morning." This, said the article, was done, "despite Poor's vehement statement that he had been examined by two reputable physicians and pronounced to be sane."
Poor apparently never got over his wife's betrayal. After being released, in 1906 he boarded with a family at 69 West 83rd Street. On January 6, 1907, he committed suicide by throwing himself into the Harlem Canal.
In the meantime, by 1900 Poor's former home on Manhattan Avenue was being operated as a boarding house. Living here that year was William Henry Glasson, who held a Ph.B. from Cornell University. Martin J. Jackson moved in at the beginning of 1901. He placed an announcement in The New York Dramatic Mirror on February 9 that read, "Martin J. Jackson, designer of costumes and at one time with the well known London costumer, is now located at 367 Manhattan Avenue, this city."
In 1912 and 1913, the house was the clubhouse of the Monongahela Democratic Club, a Tammany Hall organization. It quickly returned to a boarding house, run by John M. Walsh who also leased 363 and 365 Manhattan Avenue.
After owning the houses for nearly four decades, the Ferris family sold 361 through 367 Manhattan Avenue to Samuel Polensky in October 1925. He leased No. 367 to Cedric Whittier Root and his wife, the former Eva Bertram. The couple had two sons, Peter H. and Edward J. Born on May 21, 1903, Root was a radio enthusiast and installed an amateur radio "station" in the house. The Roots remained here until at least 1928.
In 1938, 363 to 367 Manhattan Avenue were sold as a group to Sophie Malakoff for $24,000 (about $519,000 today). They would continue to be sold together over the years, and on March 16, 1997, The New York Times reported that James Henderson had sold "the four dilapidated brownstones at 361 through 367 Manhattan Avenue" to developer Phillip H. Morrow. The article said he and his partners "have set about to create duplex apartments with about 1,600 gross square feet of space."
Today there are two condominiums in 367 Manhattan Avenue. Unfortunately, at some point the stained glass transoms of the parlor windows were removed, and the 1997 renovation included a shockingly inappropriate entrance door.
photographs by the author
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