The 1887 James B. Gillie House (St. John's Baptist Church) - 448 West 152nd Street

 

Born on June 23, 1854, James Bruce Gillie was a prominent builder and real estate developer by the last quarter of the 19^th century.  Early in 1887, he commissioned architect Martin V. B. Ferdon to design a freestanding residence for him and his wife at 448 West 152^nd Street between St. Nicolas and Amsterdam Avenues.  Ferdon’s plans, filed on February 11, laid out a “two-story brick and basement brown stone dwelling” that would cost Gillie $12,000 to construct—just under $40,000 in 2024.  (His costs were drastically reduced since he would be erecting the house himself.)
 
The 33-foot-wide residence would sit within a 50-foot-wide parcel.  Ferdon blended two popular styles—Queen Anne and neo-Grec.  Completed within the year, the basement level was faced in undressed brownstone.  Iron, winged griffins stood in for the areaway posts, and larger examples perched upon the stoop newels.  An imposing portico with Corinthian columns upheld a substantial entablature and cornice.  The entrance sat within a projecting, single bay.  A triangular pediment above the bracketed cornice over that center bay was filled with a Queen Anne sunburst.

 
James B. Gillie and Sarah Elizabeth McWhinney had married on May 8, 1878.   They were 24 and 23 years old respectively.   The couple had three sons, George Ross, Robert Bruce and Leslie Beach.  Just four years after the family moved into 448 West 152^nd Street, Sarah Elizabeth died on August 15, 1891, at the age of 36.  Her funeral was held in the parlor on August 17.

Almost immediately Gillie sold the house to Philip Schaeffer, another contractor.  (Interestingly, James B. Gillie would marry Sarah's sister, Agnes May McWhinney, and they would have a son, Benjamin Austin.)

Schaeffer lost the property in foreclosure on April 15, 1897.  John A. Northwood, of the Northwood Malting Company, paid $32,000 (about $1.2 million today).  Just a month later, on May 28, Northwood sold 448 West 152nd Street to another beer dealer, Rudolph (sometimes spelled Rodoph) Oelsner.

Oelsner was born in Germany on New Year's Day in 1849.  He arrived in America at the age of 17 and found a job in a linen company.  Eventually, however, he introduced the Buergerliches Brauhaus Pilsener and other beers from Austria and Germany.  His operation grew to distribution branches in St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Cincinnati, Boston and was one of the largest importers of beers in the county.

He was, as well, a restauranteur.  His Kaiserhof Restaurant was on the corner 0f 39th Street and Broadway where theater goers would stop before and after the performances.

Rudolph Oelsner's wife was the former Dorothea Ringer, known by friends as Dora.  When they moved into 448 West 152nd Street, their daughter, Martha, was 11.  The family's affluence was reflected in Oelsner's two yachts in 1905, the Dora and the Penelva.

In December 1905, Rudolph Oelsner purchased the high-stoop brownstone house at 135 West 72nd Street.  He sold 448 West 152nd Street to Alex Mackenzie, who quickly resold it to Isabella Wallace.  On September 1, 1906, the Record & Guide remarked, "The building will be altered and used as a dancing academy."  Only a month later, an advertisement for the George W. Wallace's Schools in The New York Times offered, "Class & private lessons.  Children.  Adults."

The dance academy's ballroom doubled as an event venue, The Wallace.  On February 7, 1907, for instance, Maida Peirce was married to Maurice Harrison Stearns here.  And in 1909, the Washington Heights School occupied space in the house.  An announcement in The New York Times on September 14 read, "Opens Oct. 1st.  Kindergarten, Primary, Intermediate, Academic Classes."

Wallace leased the property to Ernestine and Anton Fuerst around 1912, when they sublet the "two lower floors," according to the Record & Guide on September 14, "to the Mount Neboh Congregation."  The synagogue occupied the space for two years, when the congregation erected a building on West 150th Street.

The space resumed as The Wallace by 1917.  The Fuersts purchased the property, retaining the name.  It was a highly successful and popular spot for gatherings.  In its April 1917 issue, The Practical Druggist reported that at the last meeting of the Alumni Association of the Fordham College of Pharmacy Alumni Association, "The much-discussed topic was the annual affair which will be held at 'The Wallace', 448 West 152nd Street, on April 17th."

The Hebrew Standard, September 8, 1922 (copyright expired)

And on June 29, 1922, The New York Times reported, "The marriage of three young women, partners in business, took place in this city last Sunday."  Mildred Harris, Eve Lippman, and Ethel Westheimer were partners in a hat shop on Broadway.  They and their grooms were all married in The Wallace that day.

The Wallace (sometimes called the Wallace Mansion) operated until 1932, when the former house was purchased by the St. John's Baptist Church.  The congregation was founded in 1917 by the Rev. Wilson Major Morris.

In 1936, an interesting program was initiated here by the auspices of the Works Progress Administrations.  The New York Age reported on December 26, "A Major Bowes' gong, bells, blocks, drums, symbals [sic], and other such instruments, which are easily mastered, make up the equipment used in children rhythm bands at the St. Johns Music Center, 448 West 152nd street."  The article explained that children from 8 to 14 years old could participate.

"The rhythm bands provide a means for the youngsters to learn to listen to music intelligently and to think and do in terms of music."  If the children desire to progress further, they could partake in "classes in piano, violin, harmony, theory, or other musical classes available at these W. P. A. centers."

 

In 1941, the unpainted masonry shows Ferdon's contrast of brick and stone.  The wonderful griffin posts and newels survived.  from the NYC Records & Information Services.

By the third quarter of the century, the church furthered its outreach within the community with the St. John's Baptist Church  Credit Union.   In her article on June 2, 1973 in the New York Amsterdam News, Sara Slack noted, "The Credit Union members "range from beauticians to school teachers to building superintendents to government workers to domestics to those in the medical profession."  The Credit Union members took a long weekend to Nassau that year.  Slack said, "Anyone who thinks devout, church-going people are squares and have little fun have never spent a Memorial Day weekend here in the sun."

After more than 90 years in the former Gillie house, St. John's Baptist Church continues to serve for the Harlem neighborhood.  Although the masonry has been painted red and white, Martin V. B. Ferdon's striking Queen Anne structure is remarkably intact.

thanks for Mark Satlof for requesting this post

photographs by Mark Satlof