As the city inched upward in the first decades following the Revolution, in 1816 Elizabeth Street was extended north to Bleecker Street. Testifying to the increased development in the recently rural area, Houston Street was extended east, intersecting Elizabeth Street in 1833. A year later, two three-story brick houses appeared at 263 and 265 Elizabeth Street. The pair was advertised for sale on July 27, 1834 at $7,600 each, or about $140,000 in 2024 terms.
No. 265 seems to have been operated as a boarding house from the beginning. Among the residents in 1842 was Mrs. Willis, who advertised in the New-York Daily Tribune on September 5, "A Lady, learned in Astrology, will give Ladies private conversations on this science at her Rooms, at No. 265 Elizabeth-st." The following year, on July 18, 1843, she advertised:
Mrs. Willis, lady of information of future events and what has passed, learned in astrology and astronomy, gives ladies private lectures on this science at her rooms, 265 Elizabeth st...and has constantly on hand corn and cancer salve and a sure cure for the agues, and if any of her medicines is purchased gives information gratis.
Malvina Harris lived here from 1845 through 1847. The unmarried woman taught in the Girls Department of School No. 14 on Houston Street near Essex.
As was common, in the rear yard of 265 Elizabeth Street was a smaller house. The Rickets family occupied it in 1851 when a horrific accident occurred. On Sunday morning, November 9, daughter Henrietta was preparing to attend Sunday school when her clothes "caught fire from a red hot stove," as reported by The New York Times. Before anyone could reach her, she was horrifyingly burned. The article said, "Death speedily released the unfortunate child from her sufferings."
The ground floor of the house was remodeled around 1852. It was almost assuredly at this time that an Italianate cornice and handsome pressed metal lintels were introduced. A carriage bay was installed and the residential entrance moved to the southern end. In 1853, Matthias M. Danser operated his wheelwright business here, building and repairing carriage wheels, while his family lived upstairs. Sharing the upper portion was the family of William Lewers, an undertaker.
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image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services
Danser lived and ran his business here through 1873, his family continuing to take in one or two working class boarders. In 1856, for instance, they were Francis Egbert, a painter; and James A Hopper, a "brassfinisher."
The property was purchased by Jacob Weeks around 1875. It was one of several Manhattan properties he owned. Weeks leased the building, the upper floors of which continued to house boarders. Living here in 1876 was the Campbell family. Both John H. and William Campbell were blacksmiths. Interestingly, they did not work in the ground floor shop, but at 311 Mulberry Street. Also living in the house were two widows, Alice McAvoy and Catherine O'Melia.
John Tuorney was a "stock cutter," a job which either entailed cutting wooden molding strips to size, or cutting fabric in an apparel shop. The 30-year-old lived here in 1882 when he purchased a new hat on July 3 and went to what The New York Times called, "'Tommy' Stanton's groggery, No. 27 Spring-street, which has a side entrance in Mott street." Several young men drinking at the bar made "pleasantries at his expense" over the hat. Tuorney became angry, invited the men to step outside, and they all left by the Mott Street entrance.
A fight followed, during which Tuorney either fell or was knocked down, hitting his head on the curbstone. He was taken unconscious to the Mulberry Street police station. Since his wound did not appear to be serious, the sergeant was preparing to lock him up on a charge of intoxication, when Tuorney's brother interceded. He convinced the sergeant to have John taken to St. Vincent's Hospital. He died there the following morning. The bartender, Thomas Sullivan, was arrested after he admitted "that he threw Tuorney down in a scuffle."
Jacob Weeks died in 1881. His estate continued to manage the property and George W. Weeks moved into 265 Elizabeth that year, supervising several of the Weeks estate holdings from the address.
In 1887, John and George J. Stier purchased the building and installed their Central Wagon Works in the ground floor. The operation was reflected in the help-wanted ads they placed. One, in November 1897, for instance, read, "Wagon Painter Wanted to sandpaper & prime." In June 1899, an advertisement read, "Helper wanted in smith and wagon shop," and two months later an ad sought a "Good smith helper."
By 1901, George J. Stier ran the business alone. He employed nine men that year, who worked 59 hours a week. In the meantime, the upper floors were now occupied by Italian immigrants. Living here in 1903 were the families of Prilijo Emanuel, Marco Micali, Salvatore Nuccio, and Rizzo Salvatore.
In 1903, Stier converted the basement level to a social hall. It doubled as the headquarters of the Rockmen and Excavators' Union and was the scene of lively meetings that year when the union went on strike during the excavation of the subway. The overwhelming percentage of the workers were Italian. On May 24, 1903, The New York Times commented, "It was stated that over 8,000 Italian laborers are engaged in picket duty."
Perhaps the first hint that not all the residents of 265 Elizabeth Street were law-abiding came on August 29, 1909. The New York Times reported that detectives had arrested "three young Italians upon the charge of having robbed the loft of S. Berkowitz." Among them was 19-year-old Frank Lovello, who lived here.
Antonio Polvino and his wife were residents in 1911. The 26-year-old opened a grocery store at 248 Elizabeth Street. The property was described by Fire Marshall Baera as a "crowded tenement" housing 160 persons. Polvino stocked the store with $500 worth of merchandise, then took out a $2,500 fire insurance policy. At 11:40 on the night of October 8, 1911, fire broke out in the grocery.
Inspectors later discovered the floor and counters of the store were soaked in kerosene. The New York Evening World reported, "A fire had been started by a timed candle in a pile of excelsior, over which had been suspended two beef bladders filled with kerosene." By the time firefighters responded, the blaze had cut off the stairway and the residents were crowded onto the fire escapes. Thankfully, all 0f them were rescued.
The fire marshal went to 265 Elizabeth Street, where Mrs. Polvino said her husband was not at home, "he had gone to a ball." Police looked for Antonio Polvino for four days before finding him attempting to sneak into his father's home by a back door.
George Stier leased the social hall to Corregio Emma around this time. He opened a billiard parlor, but soon ran into serious trouble. He later told officials he was "building up a good trade" when members of the notorious and dangerous Black Hand began congregating there. On October 13, 1913, The Daily Argus reported, "The paying patrons left. Members of the gang began to borrow money from Emma, he says, and he was afraid to refuse them or to keep them out of the place."
When Emma's finances suffered, the gang "suggested to him that they put a bomb in front of the rival billiard room to terrorize the owner." The bomb exploded on September 28, 1913. Emma was "drawn into another job" at 108th Street and Third Avenue. He found himself trapped. "Fear impelled him to join them, he says, and he went with them and picked out likely spots to place the bomb." Corregio Emma's predicament was soon ended. On October 13, The New York Times reported that seven gang members had been arrested, including Emma. They were accused of setting 68 "bomb jobs."
At some point after the end of World War I, Sebastiano Nuccio, whose family had lived here since 1903, purchased the building. His sons would become well known to police in the succeeding decades.
Perhaps the first time New Yorkers read John Nuccio's name was on April 2, 1932 when the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that he, Mario Nuccio and Frank Fatteriso were charged with the abduction of Betty Encke. The article said she was discovered in a "thug lair" and noted, "John Nuccio was also charged with receiving stolen goods and violation of the Sullivan law." (The Sullivan Act required gun owners to have licenses.)
On the night of August 16, 1945, John Nuccio and his cousin, Peter Simonetti, went to Club 78 on Broadway. (Simonetti had been questioned by police three times about the murder of Vincent Zaccaro a year earlier.) The men met Evelyn Delany, a nightclub hostess, there. The Evening Post said Evelyn "was on the scene when Alvin Karpis, gangster, shot his way out of an Atlantic City hotel in 1938." The three "were parked in the deserted quiet of Elizabeth St.," according to the newspaper. (The license plates on the car, police later learned, were stolen.)
Suddenly, a man appeared at the driver's side window. The Evening Post reported he, "slipped the muzzle of a double-barreled shot gun through the left front window and fired both barrels through the driver's head." Simonetti was killed instantly. Evelyn was slightly injured, while John Nuccio was unharmed.
On November 17, 1948, the Peekskill, New York Evening Star reported that five men, "two of them brothers" were arrested "in a raid on a 500-gallon whiskey still." The article said, "Vincent Nuccio, thirty-six, and his brother, Frank, twenty-six, both of 265 Elizabeth Street, New York...had leased the farm" on which the still was discovered. If police thought the arrests would end the operation, they were mistaken.
Two years later, on November 7, 1950, The Daily Freeman of Kingston, New York reported that Frank and Vincent Nuccio were among six indicted for "operating an alleged illegal still" on the Josephine Galente property, "Villa Galente," in New Paltz, New York. Federal officials said they, "found 18,000 gallons of mash, 600 gallons of alcohol, a large quantity of sugar, two automobiles and a truck" on the property.
The brothers' names continued to appear in newspapers for their illegal activities. On January 8, 1966, the Nassau, New York newspaper Newsday reported that John S. Nuccio, "a reputed Cosa Nostra member," was arrested "at a rural hideout near Newburgh, New York." State police said he "had been wanted on a Federal warrant for conspiracy to smuggle heroin since Dec. 1 when an international smuggling ring was smashed in New York and New Jersey." It was John Nuccio's last arrest. He died in prison while serving a 15-year sentence.
The Nuccio family was still living at 265 Elizabeth Street in 1982 when Vincent Peter Nuccio, now 71, was listed by Congress as a member of the Luchese Organized Crime Network. At the time, the facade of 265 Elizabeth Street was painted white and the cornice was gone.
A fuzzy tax photo from 1983 shows a painted facade and missing cornice. image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
Change came in 1998 when the ground floor was converted to a restaurant, Rialto. Inside New York commented in 2008, "First time visitors are consistently wowed by the understated ambience and first-rate Italian/Continental food at this gastrono9mically ambitious NoLIta eatery." Rialto made way for Elizabeth in 2008. That restaurant was replaced by The Musket Room in 2013.
A renovation completed sometime after 2008 removed the paint from the brick and added a period-appropriate cornice. Today there are two apartments per floor in the building.
photograph by the author
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