The Richmond - 153 East 88th Street

 

The extended Rhinelander family traced its American roots to Philip J. Rhinelander, who arrived in 1689.  William Rhinelander established a "summer seat" on the Upper East Side in 1798 and the family's holdings were augmented over the decades.  In the 1880s, individual family members began developing the properties they had inherited along East 88th and 89th Streets.  Laura V. Rhinelander owned the land at 153 East 88th Street as early as 1887.  Within three years she had replaced the stable on the site with a four-story flat building.

Called The Richmond, the Renaissance Revival structure was faced in sandy-colored brick.  The arched openings of the first floor contrasted with the flat-headed windows of the upper stories.  Brick piers at the top floor were capped with ornate terra cotta capitals.  A parapet sat atop the understated, dentiled cornice.  The heavy, ornamental railings guarded the short stoop were nearly outdone by the intricately scrolled fire escape railings.

Close inspection reveals the ornate ironwork that still survived in 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

There were two apartments per floor, each with a bathroom and steam heat.  An advertisement in The Evening Post on April 30, 1892 read:

"The Richmond," 153 East 88th St.--Cosey unfurnished apartments to rent to small families of adults; good management; rents, $31 to $33; very genteel; only eight apartments in house.

The more expensive rent would translate to about $1,140 per month in 2024.  The management was intent that the Richmond remained respectable.  Three years after the above ad intimated that no children were allowed, another in The New York Times offered apartments, "to let to clerks, salesmen, bookkeepers and genteel families."

Stockbroker William Hubbard and his wife lived here in 1899 and took in a boarder, E. Fox Leonard.  Leonard did not come home on July 1 that year and the following day The New York Morning Telegraph reported, "The young man found in a Thirty-ninth street flat, stupid from the effects of opium, died at 1:30 o'clock last night at Roosevelt Hospital."  Leonard had gone to an opium den run by two women.  The article said, "In the flat where the young man was found was an elaborate layout such as is used by opium smokers."

The residents of The Richmond were comfortably middle-class and owning a motorcar--an expensive luxury at the turn of the century--was not out of the question.  But one resident may have been operating a scam of sorts.  On November 14, 1908, an advertisement in The New York Times read:

Because I am going abroad I must sell at once my two fine 3-0 H. P. Studebaker touring cars. These are great bargains and in splendid condition.  An excellent opportunity to get a high-grade car cheap.  For further particulars address V. A. Villard, 153 East 88th Street, city.

Why Villard would have two touring cars or how he could afford such an expense is suspect.

Laura Perring lived here at the time.  Her apartment doubled as her studio where she taught voice and piano.  An ad in January 1909 offered, "The art of ballad and song singing correctly taught.  Also piano.  Special attention given to beginners.  Church singers coached.  Accompanying."

John Downing lived here and was the building's janitor by 1911 when he got himself in serious trouble with Mrs. Kate Bedingfield, who lived on Lexington Avenue.  There was a fenced lot next to 153 East 88th Street.  On April 11, 1911, The Evening World suggested, "A vacant lot, surrounded by a high fence, holds out its allurements next to the flat house.  Small boys have made bold to climb the fence and play."  Downing, described by the newspaper as "six feet tall, forty-five years of age," seems to have appointed himself custodian of the lot, as well.

Downing had caught a group of boys, including Kate Bedingfield's 11-year-old son, George, clambering over the fence.  He struck George on the back and legs with a broomstick.  George ran home and told his mother, who had John Downing arrested for disorderly conduct.

Kate and George Bedingfield faced off with Downing in Magistrate Steinert's courtroom on April 10.  It did not go well for Downing.  Steinert said to him:

You are a brute.  A man like you and as old as you are ought to know better.  You ought to know that we have to put up with a good many things from these little fellows nowadays.  They have few places to play, and when they see a vacant lot they are going to take charge of it.

Downing was fined $300.  The Evening World reported, "And now the small boy population of the upper east side is ready to make Steinert President or let him carry the bats for the Giants."

A fascinating resident was archeologist Ambrose Lansing.  Born in Cairo, Egypt in 1891, his wife was the former Caroline Cox.  Although he was just 28 years old in 1919, Lansing had made an important mark in Egyptian archeology.  On August 14 that year, the New York Herald began an article saying, "Important additions to the treasures of Egyptian art in the Metropolitan Museum will be made as soon as the material excavated by Ambrose Lansing, of the Museum's archaeological staff, reaches this country from the banks of the Nile."  During his four-year expedition, Lansing had discovered the tomb of Pedu Bost, "ruler of Thebes, then the capital of Egypt, about 700 B. C.," as well as that of a high priest in Luxor.

Ambrose Lansing, original source unknown

Lansing, who arrived home on August 13, had packed up 30 cases of artifacts for shipment to the museum.  The New York Herald noted, "An interesting feature of the work done by Mr. Lansing at Thebes was the discovery of inscriptions showing definitely that the reigning queen of upper Egypt at the time was Amenirdis."

Equally interesting was Anna L. Fisher, who lived here in 1927. In 1918, she was sent by the Red Cross Commission to Palestine, and in 1920 worked with the American Red Cross in Damascus.  Because of her work there, "Mrs. Fisher was appointed a Captain in the Arabian Cavalry, and with her rank she received a beautiful Arabian mare, the personal gift of Emir Feisal," reported The New York Times. 

In 1922, Fisher took on a new role, becoming manager of the restaurant at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Now, in the fall of 1927, she was packing up her apartment in preparation for a move to the Middle East.  On November 27, The New York Times reported she, "has been appointed by the Iraq Government to be an attaché of the Ministry of Education in that country, and to engage in social work among the Arabs."

Fisher told a reporter from The Times, "I am very much attached to King Feisal.  He is a great man, exceptionally broadminded, and he has vision.  The Arabs are very fine people and I enjoy my work with them."

In June 1933, Philip Rhinelander sold 153 East 88th Street to Louise M. Clews.  A renovation completed in 1966 resulted in a doctor's office suite on the first floor.  It may have been at this time that the ornate Victorian fire escapes and stoop railings were replaced with less interesting examples.  There are still two apartments per floor above the first floor.

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