In March 1881, developer John Graham & Sons commissioned prolific architect John G. Prague to design four upscale homes on the south side of East 72nd Street between Lexington and Park Avenues. Prague was taking a step away from his familiar turf. He is best remembered today for the hundreds of homes he designed on Manhattan's West Side.
Each of the 20-foot wide, four-story homes cost $20,000 to construct (about $615,000 in 2024). Atop the high stoops were prominent porticos supported by square, paneled columns. The fascia panels between the scrolled brackets of the cornices were elaborately carved.
In March 1883, John Graham sold 130 East 72nd Street to Charles Stern and his wife, the former Amelia Metzler. Born in Germany in 1831, Stern came to New York as a young man and opened a wine business. By now he was one of the largest wine importers in the country. He and Amelia had four children, Alfred, Louise, Emily and Josephine.
In 1896, the Sterns moved to Los Angeles, California. They sold 130 East 72nd Street to Gustave Maas for $30,500 on April 29. (The price would translate to about $1.14 million today.) Maas was born in Frankfurt, Germany in May 1850. He had married Caroline (known as Carrie) Heimerdinger in Vienna Hall on Lexington Avenue and 54th Street on November 27, 1884. Shortly after moving in, Gustave transferred title to the property to Carrie.
The couple had three daughters, Manuela F., who was eight years old in 1896; and twins Edith Helen and Catherine, who were five. Also living in the house was Gustave's widowed mother, Rachel Regina Ochs Maas. (In 1899, another daughter, Agnes C. would arrive.)
Gustave and Carrie immediately hired architect Hugo Koehler to make improvements to the house. His plans, filed in June 1896, called for new plumbing and increasing the height of the rear extension by one story. The extensive renovations cost the owners the equivalent of $374,000 today.
Rachel Regina Maas died on February 12, 1900 at the age of 79. Her funeral was held in the drawing room three days later.
Like many well-to-do New Yorkers, the Maas family had made the switch from carriages to motorcars by 1907. That year, on March 31, their chauffeur, Eugene Bugnet, was "caught by Policeman Cunningham at 136th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue," according to The New York Times. Bugnet was arrested for speeding the touring car at 18 miles per hour.
On August 20, 1911, the New York Herald reported on Manuela's engagement to Edward Necarsulmer. The article noted, "Mr. and Mrs. Maas have a villa in West End, and their home in New York is at No. 130 East Seventy-second street." (West End was an upscale community of Long Branch, New Jersey.) A graduate of the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, Manuela's fiancé was an architect. Among his works was the Hebrew Infant Asylum of New York. The couple was married on November 20.
Having an architect in the family had its advantages. On July 25, 1913, Necarsulmer filed plans for a massive renovation to the Maas house. Inside, an elevator was installed. Outside, John G. Prague's Victorian design was transformed into a modern, American basement dwelling.
Taking a page from the book of Frederick Junius Stern, well-known for remodeling outdated brownstones to up-to-date, often fanciful residences, Necarsulmer removed the stoop and lowered the entrance to street level. As Stern often did, he slathered the façade with stucco and gave the openings jagged brick surrounds. At the second floor he installed charming leaded and stained-glass windows, and gave the third floor a romantic hooded oriel with faux balconies.
The original appearance of 130 East 72nd Street can be seen in the as-yet unaltered house to the right in 1941. image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
The Maas family remained here until March 1922, when they sold the house to attorney Mortimer Henry Hess and his wife, the former Marion Newman. The couple had one son, Mortimer, Jr.
Born in July, 1889, Hess was an expert in tax, estate and trust laws. He earned his law degree from Columbia University in 1911 and began practicing law in 1913. A co-founder of the law firm of Hess, Segall, Popkin & Guterman, he was, as well, the chairman of the law committee of Temple Emanu-El.
Like many other socialites, Marion Hess turned her focus from teas and receptions to public service during World War II. Hers, however, was a bit surprising.
On December 7, 1943, The New York Sun began an article saying, "If there is a particle of waste fat floating around in any household in Greater New York Mrs. Mortimer H. Hess means to have it." She had discovered that common cooking fats could be used to make glycerin, which went into the manufacturing of munitions. The article said,
And so that no New York housewife can live in her ivory tower, remote from needs of the hour and forgetting that our fighting forces must have that used fat to keep them supplied with war materials, Mrs. Hess has enlisted a special committee which will pound home the message that every drop of fat is worth salvaging.
The Sun called Marion "a pretty unusual person." Among the traits that set her apart, said the article, was her ability to keep the same live-in maid for 29 years.
At the time of the article, the four 1882 houses still retained the restrictive covenants in the deeds that demanded they be used only as private dwellings. A judge, on April 27, 1940, had ruled, "The court has considered the fact that this restriction might be removed by the consent of all four owners."
By the second half of the century, that consent had been reached. In 1964, 130 East 72nd Street was converted to apartments. A duplex in the basement and first floor shared part of the lower section with a doctor's office, and each upper story held one apartment.
Unfortunately, the once-contrasting brick has been painted the same white as the stucco, seriously detracting from Edward Necarsulmer's picturesque design.
photographs by the author
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