Real estate developer and architect William J. Merritt was prolific in the Upper West Side and Harlem neighborhoods in the 1880s and 1890s. His rowhouses were almost always intended for middle-class families and were often designed as charming Queen Anne ensembles. In 1884, he completed a row of four 20-foot wide homes at 164-170 West 130th Street, just east of Seventh Avenue (later Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd.).
Among them was 166 West 130th Street, a three-story and basement house the design of which was a successful marriage of Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival. A dog-legged box stoop fronted the English basement which, like the lower three-fourths of the parlor floor, was clad in undressed brownstone blocks. Chunky voussoirs crowned the arched openings at this level. The two-sided brick oriel that dominated the second floor was decorated with terra cotta Queen Anne tiles, while rough-cut brownstone bandcourses ran above and below the openings of the second and third floors.
The house became home to the James and Eleanor (known familiarly as Ella) Davidson family. Married on April 22, 1861, the couple had nine children. Living with the family was James's widowed mother, Eliza. (Eliza died at the age of 76 two years after the Davidsons moved in.)
Despite what must have been snug conditions, Andrew Anderson lived here by 1888. Possibly a relative of the Davidsons, he was a native of Berwick-on-Tweed, England and arrived in New York City in 1834. The American Art Journal said, "One of the piano manufacturers then was John Pithie, in Bleecker Street. Mr. Anderson went into business with Mr. Pithie, and at length gained entire control of the business."
The London & Provincial Music Trades Review described Anderson as, "one of the first to establish the piano manufacturing industry in New York." Anderson sold both his own pianos and those of other makers. On October 15, 1888, The London & Provincial Music Trades Review reported, "He was seized with paralysis some months ago, and never recovered from it." Andrew Anderson had died in the 130th Street house on September 5, 1888 at the age of 81. His funeral was held in the parlor two days later.
In 1891, Charles Edward Knowles graduated from Brown University. His brother, William Wells Knowles, was attending the Free Academy of the City of New York at the time. William would enter the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1896, becoming an architect. Among his works would be the Harlem Y.M.C.A. and the Queens County Courthouse (the latter co-designed with Alfred H. Eccles).
A tragic accident occurred on October 31, 1903. The Buffalo [New York] Courier reported that Cosimo Cilinerto, "a young Italian...went to the house at No. 166 West 130th Street at about 4 o'clock to deliver some meat. While he was in the house, according to witnesses, a gasoline automobile came through the street, and when it got opposite the horse let out an extra loud puff." The horse was frightened and galloped west towards Eighth (today's Frederick Douglass Boulevard) Avenue. Standing on the corner were two women who were "knocked flat."
The article said, "The older woman's back was broken and her ribs crushed in. The younger woman's skull was fractured and several of her ribs broken, and the horses' hoofs made several deep wounds on her body." Both women died minutes after being taken to a hospital without being able to identify themselves. Cosimo Cilinerto was arrested.
On April 25, 1903, James Knowles sold 166 West 130th Street to Charles Napier Brenan and his wife, the former Mary A. Byrne. Mary's widowed mother, Ann Byrne, lived with the couple by the post-World War I years. The house was the scene of Mary's funeral on February 23, 1920.
The Brenans sold the house in April the following year. By then, the Harlem neighborhood had become the center of Manhattan's black community. The house became home to the family of Leander Mendis Miles. Miles's brother-in-law, Dr. Percy Vaughan, lived with the family.
On October 4, 1930, the Richmond [Virginia] Planet, reported, "Mrs. Minnie Mundin Stows, has returned from a three weeks' visit to New York where she visited her sister, Mrs. Leander Mendis Miles and her brother, Dr. Percy Vaughan. Mrs. Stows accompanied her nephew, William Mundin Miles to New York."
Young William Mundin Miles would remain in New York with his aunt and uncle, and eventually his parents would move in as well. William entered Columbia Law School where he was editor of the Columbia Law Review. His burgeoning legal career was interrupted by World War II. On January 29, 1943, the New York Age reported, "Staff Sgt. William Mundin Miles was appointed warrant officer at Ft. Dix, N. J. Warrant Officer Miles, who is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Miles, of 166 West 130th street, has made an outstanding record since his induction last April."
image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
By 1955, 166 West 130th Street was operated as a rooming house. Among those living here that year were Carrie Lindsay and John W. Gilbert.
Although it has never officially been converted to apartments, there are four rental units in the building today.
photo by the author
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