Developers George J. Hamilton and Thomas Kilpatrick began construction of a trio of stylish, brownstone fronted houses at 130-134 East 36th Street in 1863. Just 17.2-feet wide, 134 East 36th Street had the advantage of a corner site, giving it three exposures of light and ventilation. The home's cutting edge Second Empire style included the nearly obligatory slate-shingled mansard. The molded, architrave surrounds of the windows sat on bracketed sills.
Completed in 1864, the house was purchased as an investment by wealthy merchant Robert W. Milbank. He leased the house until 1867 when it was purchased by Isaac L. Devoe.
Born in Westchester, New York in 1813, Devoe was the principal of the glass firm Isaac L. Devoe & Co. at White and Centre Streets. He married Mary Ann Harsen in 1841. The couple had three sons, born every two years like clockwork--Henry I., born in 1842; Theodore, born in 1844; and Frank who arrived in 1846.
The Financial Panic of 1873 was a devastating economic catastrophe--called the Great Depression by some until 1929. It would last until 1879 and may have been the reason that Devoe drastically changed his business--from glass to wool. For whatever reason, the switch was unsuccessful. On September 1, 1878, The New York Times reported that Devoe had filed a voluntary petition for bankruptcy. Reporting that his liabilities were $25,000 (about $788,000 in 2024), the article said, "He has no assets."
Isaac and Mary Devoe lost their home to foreclosure. It was acquired by Dr. Edwin M. Kellogg and his second wife, the former Frances (known as Fanny) Anne Bowen.
Dr. Kellogg was born in Reading, Pennsylvania on September 20, 1826. He married Louise H. Chur on April 16, 1867. His bride died 11 months later at the age of 27. He and Fanny were married on October 11, 1869.
Kellogg served on the staff of the New York Homoeopathic Medical College as Professor of the Diseases of Women. He was also the treasurer of the American Institute of Homoeopathy. Fanny kept busy with charitable organizations. She was, for instance, secretary of the St. Barnabas Employment Society, which found work for destitute women.
In 1886, Kellogg hired the esteemed mansion architect C. P. H. Gilbert to design a replacement townhouse on the site of 134 and 132 East 36th Street. For whatever reason, the plans were scrapped and the Kelloggs, instead, moved out and leased the two houses to well-to-do tenants. Occupying 134 East 36th Street were Henry D. Steers, president of the Eleventh Bank, and his family, here in the 1890s; and Francis G. Gorham, an agent of the Bethlehem Iron Co., who lived here in 1900. Gorham's social position was evidenced in his memberships to the Union League and Harvard Clubs, the Down Town Association and the New England Society.
Frances Bowen Kellogg died at the age of 64 on June 5, 1900. Her death greatly affected Dr. Kellogg and in June 1905 Dr. Thomas Franklin Smith remarked, "Since the death of his wife...he has kept very much to himself; for the last two or three years he has kept himself confined to the house to a considerable extent." Smith's remarks were made at Kellogg's memorial service. He died on June 29, 1905.
Two years earlier, in February 1903, Kellogg had sold 132 and 134 East 36th Street to attorney Arthur Hoffman Van Brunt and his wife, the former Ethel Townsend Edson. The Record & Guide reported, "The properties will be remodelled [sic] into American basement dwellings." The term meant that the stoops would be removed and the entrances lowered to the former basement level. In 1905, Van Bruner enlarged 134 East 36th Street with a two-story, three-sided bay at the rear.
Born in 1865, Van Brunt's choice of a law career came naturally. His father, Charles H. Van Brunt, was presiding justice of the Appellate Division of the First Department. Arthur graduated from Columbia in 1886 and became a partner in the law firm of Joline, Larkin & Rathbone.
The year they purchased 134 East 36th Street, the Van Brunt's first child, Caroline, was born. There would be three more: Edson, born in 1906; Arthur, Jr., in 1910; and David Chesterman, who arrived in 1917.
It may have been the growing population of the narrow house that prompted the Van Brunts to move out. In March 1916, they leased 134 East 36th Street to the family of Willis and Caroline Charlotte Benner.
The Benners would have to find another home the following year. In 1917, 134 East 36th Street was converted to offices of the Electro-Medical Scientists, headed by Dr. Francis R. Ward. On May 20, 1917, the Brooklyn Standard Union reported the offices, "comprise the entire building at 134 East 36th street, corner of Lexington avenue." As a sort of grand opening discount, the article said, "Consultation, advice and examination, including where required, the X-ray, chemical Analysis and Blood Pressure Test for one dollar." The offer was good for ten days.
The facility offered what were deemed electric cures. "Here the fact is proved that science has so modified and tamed electricity that the weakest child or invalid can stand its force without fear or pain," said the article. "At the offices of the Electro-Medical Scientists the current that lights the homes and runs street cars is used and is harnessed to the wonderful machines by which every jar and jerk is removed and it is then sent through the body as softly, smoothly, and pleasantly as a ray of sunshine."
Ward had started his clinic in Chicago, but relocated to New York after "his advertised claims were attacked by the newspapers," according to the New York Evening World on April 20, 1919. (In fact, newspapers there flatly called him "a quack.") When asked by a New York Evening World reporter why he was not a member of the Academy of Medicine, Dr. Ward replied, "they won't let me."
Nevertheless, he and his clinic were doing quite well. The article said, "He treated last year an average of 125 patients daily at $2.40 a treatment, giving him a gross income of $300 a day, or about $9,000 a month." The gross monthly figure would translate to about $159,000 in 2024. The Electro-Medical Scientists remained in the house until 1921. That year Van Brunt leased it to Isabel Smith and Eldred Johnstone, who presumably rented rooms.
The stoop and entrance were originally identical to those at 132 East 36th Street, seen here in 1941. image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
The Van Brunts sold 134 East 36th Street to architect William A. Delano of Delano & Aldrich in 1924. He converted the house to studio apartments. Among his tenants were Dr. St. Clair Smith, here around 1927, and operatic soprano Wilma Miller in the 1930s. Miller played the role of Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto at the Hippodrome on October 26, 1934.
Delano lost the building in foreclosure in 1941. It continued to house studio apartments until a renovation completed in 2018 returned it to a single family home.
photographs by the author
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