The 1904 City Club of New York - 55-57 West 44th Street

In 1892, two years after fledgling architects Austin W. Lord and James Monroe Hewlett were hired by McKim, Mead & White, the City Club of New York was organized.  In a succinct capsulation of the club's goals, President Wheeler H. Peckham later said, "we will insist upon simple honesty in administration."

Operating from rented quarters at 19 West 34th Street, the club's first thrust was the cleaning up of Tammany Hall.  Following the election of Seth Low (the group's mayoral nominee) in 1901, the City Club of New York sought a site for a permanent clubhouse.  On New Year's Day 1902, the New-York Tribune reported that the club purchased the two vintage buildings at 55 and 57 West 44th Street "in the neighborhood of $100,000."  

An open competition for designs--with a budget of $150,000 and a deadline of January 29--was responded to by seven architectural firms.  On February 1, the Record & Guide said the two-man committee, Henry Rutgers Marshall and Walter Cook, president and former-president of the American Institute of Architects, respectively, were considering the submissions.  

Among them was that of Lord & Hewlett.  The former McKim, Mead & White co-workers had partnered in 1894.  On February 15, 1902, the Record & Guide reported that Lord & Hewlett "have been awarded" and described, "The building will be 7 stories high.  The three lower stories are to be used for club purposes, the upper floors being laid out in apartments for the use of club members."

Lord & Hewlett's winning design.  The Brickbuilder, December 12, 1903 (copyright expired)

The cost increased by September 1902 when Building Trades Association Bulletin reported the "seven and one-half story building of steel, granite, terra-cotta and brick [was] to cost about $175,000."  (The total of property and construction costs would translate to about $10 million in 2025.)  The article said, 

The design and arrangement indicate that the club is to have an attractive home and one well adapted for its needs.  The chief features are a large reception hall and billiard room on the first floor, private dining-rooms, a women's dining-room and a library of works on civics...on the second floor; a large dining-room, the full size of the building, 100x42 feet, with a seating capacity of three hundred persons, on the third floor; bed-rooms, forty-four in number, on the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh floors, and a roof garden, etc., on the top of the structure.

The New-York Tribune reported on August 8, 1902, "the building will be finished, it is expected, by May 1."  That deadline would prove to be optimistic.  As 1903 drew to an end, on December 17, the newspaper revised the target.  "The City Club...expects to open its new clubhouse at Nos. 55 and 57 West Forty-fourth-st. on New Year's Day."  The article said, "The interior finish and arrangement are admirable, and new furniture harmonizing with the decorations is being installed in all the larger and more important rooms."

The Brickbuilder, December 12, 1903 (copyright expired)

Lord & Hewlett's Beaux Arts design was splashed with neo-Colonial details, like the striking arched windows faced with a full-width stone balcony at the third floor, and the monumental carved eagles that supported the cornice.  A prominent pergola that sheltered the roof garden was visible from the street level.

The clubhouse was opened formally on January 1, 1904 in the third-floor banquet hall.  The New York Times remarked on the color-themed main spaces.  The article said the second-floor library was, "in green; the trustee's room, in purple; the women's lunchroom, in dull yellow; the butler's pantry or serving room, and a private dining-room in red."

The New-York Tribune captioned this photograph, "A corner of the lounging and reading room in the new home of the City Club."  December 27, 1903 (copyright expired)

The City Club addressed various issues.  On January 9, 1905, for instance, an article in the New-York Tribune began, "Up in arms because, as it declares, the proposed route of the Rapid Transit Commission for an extension of the elevated railroad through Bronx Park would destroy the most beautiful park scenes in the city, practically spoiling Bronx Park, the City Club is planning a war to the death against the scheme."   And on April 4, 1905, the newspaper reported the club framed a bill that would change the mayoral terms from two to four years.

Not everyone showered praise on the City Club's dogged agenda.  During the 15th anniversary dinner on April 13, 1907, Robert Fulton Cutting remarked, 

The work of the City Club has been in the "via media."  Its work has been damned by the radicals and the reactionaries.  Now the club is not only molding public opinion in this city, but also over the whole country. 

The third-floor dining room was decorated by a heavy plastering ceiling and a carved woodwork.  New-York Tribune, December 27, 1903 (copyright expired)

Non-members were admitted into the clubhouse during occasional art exhibitions.  On May 23, 1918, for instance, The Evening World reported, "The City Club of New York, No. 55 West 44th Street, is showing until the end of this month, a collection of thirty-three navy posters, both in originals and reproductions."  Among those participating in the exhibition were illustrators J. C. Leyendecker, James Montgomery Flagg, and Frank Brangwyn.  

J. C. Leyendecker's U.S. Navy recruitment poster was exhibited in the City Club showing.

An article in The New York Times on September 17, 1939, hinted that the Depression was affecting the club.  It reported, "New clubrooms were opened yesterday for the New York League of Girls Clubs at 55 West Forty-fourth Street."  The article noted, "In its new location, comprising the entire seventh floor of the building maintained by the City Club, the organization will occupy six rooms, including a reception room, office, ballroom, and two classrooms."  Another drastic move was made the following year.  A renovation resulted in a restaurant on the ground floor in 1940.  The City Club sold its building later that year.

In 1945, the United States Plywood Association purchased the property and hired architects Vernon Sears and Harper Richards to gut much of Lord & Hewlett's interiors and design office spaces throughout.  Then, on April 14, 1964, The New York Times reported that the United States Plywood Corporation had sold the building to the Institute of Public Administration for $375,000.  Organized in 1901, the Institute of Public Administration was a non-profit education and research organization.  (The former ground floor restaurant space would be occupied by Feron's tennis store by 1974.)

In 2001, the former City Club of New York building was acquired and remodeled by the City Club Hotel.  The 65-room "small luxury hotel," as described by partner Jeff Klein, opened in August 2001.  According to The New York Times on July 29, the renovations spent "$10 million on the gut renovation."  Amenities, said the article, included, "couches built into walls, with traditional upholstered chairs with wooden arms.  Televisions are hidden behind artwork and, in at least one room, behind a mirror."

Despite Lord & Hewlett's ground floor having been obliterated, their City Club of New York design is greatly intact.

many thanks for reader Doug Wheeler for suggesting this post

photographs by the author

The 1826 David Baldwin House - 31 Charlton Street

 

In 1826, David Baldwin--quite literally--built a new home for his family on land leased from Trinity Church.  A mason by trade, his two-and-a-half story house at 31 Charlton Street was faced in Flemish bond brick above a brownstone basement level.  The attic floor under the peaked roof held two prim dormers.  While some of the more upscale houses in the neighborhood boasted elaborate entrances with fluted columns and sidelights, the humbler single-doored entrance of the Baldwin residence was trimmed in simple rope carving.  The large and handsome leaded transom was an added expense.

The Baldwin family remained at 31 Charlton Street through about 1840, taking in one boarder at a time.  In 1827, John J. V. Westervelt, a grocer, lived with the family, for instance, and in 1836 the Baldwins' boarder was Richard H. Tittle, a shipmaster.

The late 1840s saw the family of William J. Ryckman occupying the house.  They had a serious scare around midnight on March 6, 1850.  The New York Morning Courier reported, "A black fellow who says his name is Dan Tucker, was found on Wednesday night by Mr. Wm. J. Ryckman, of No. 31 Charlton street, in his cellar, which he had broken into for the purpose of gaining admission to the house."  The Evening Post explained that Ryckman, "was disturbed by the noise.  He arose from his bed and went into the room where the thief was, when he was dangerously wounded by a dirk, by the rascal."

Tucker did not get far.  Ryckman's cries alerted the policeman on the block, Officer Sturges, who quickly arrested the would-be burglar.  As it turned out, Ryckman was fortunate in having sustained only a single stab wound, despite its seriousness.  What no one realized at the time, was that Tucker was not alone.  The New York Morning Courier said, "There were two accomplices with him, who succeeded in making their escape." 

Twelve days after the break-in, an auction advertisement appeared in the newspapers.  Among the properties being sold was, "The two story and attic brick house, and lease of lot known as No. 31 Charlton street."

The house was purchased by James Fowler.  The 65-year-old did not list a profession in city directories, suggesting he was retired.  Like the Baldwins, Fowler took in boarders.  Living with him from 1850 through 1855 were Mary Bogert, a widow, and her son, Henry, who was a bookkeeper.  The Bogerts moved to West 26th Street by 1856 when John Langdon moved into the house.

James Fowler was no doubt unaware that he had opened his home to a 21-year-old psychopath.  Langdon worked in the shoemaking shop of a Mr. McCoombs on Sixth Avenue.  A customer entered the shop on the evening of December 27, 1856 while McCoombs and Langdon were at work in the rear room.  After McCoombs responded to the front area, Langdon slipped his employer's pocketbook, which was laying on the work counter, into his pocket.  It contained $26 (about $1,000 in 2025 terms).  It was not, he later confessed, his first robbery.

That night, Langdon went to Brooklyn and bought a pistol for $6.  He explained later, "He determined to kill somebody and get some money."  Just after dawn the next morning, Peter Keegan, who ran a restaurant, the Railroad House near 36th Street in Brooklyn, left his residence.  Langdon considered murdering him, then, "after looking at him awhile thought he had but little money, and moreover thought it not a safe place."  Keegan unknowingly had narrowly escaped a violent death.

Langdon continued walking until he encountered Cornelius Cannon, a gardener, in front of a church on Third Avenue around 11:30 a.m.  Without speaking a word, Langdon shot him dead and took his wallet.  He was quickly arrested.

At the stationhouse, a reporter asked his motive.  The Albany, New York Morning Times reported, "he replied promptly, 'I never saw the man before, but I felt as though I could not stand much longer, and wanted money.  I shot the man for his money, and nothing else.'"  He added that he, "bought the pistol for the very purpose I used it for."  The reporter said, "These statements were made in such as manner as to lead me to suppose that he was the one least affected by the transaction."  

Fowler's subsequent boarders were, expectedly, more upstanding.  They included Thomas C. Pollard, a strawgoods merchant in 1856 and 1857; and Dr. Thomas Sinclaire in 1863.

James Fowler died in the Charlton Street house on March 18, 1863 at the age of 78.  The house had several occupants through the 1860s, and then was purchased by builder Nicholas Connor and his wife, Elizabeth, around 1870. 

Elizabeth Connor died on January 4, 1874 at the age of 35.  Her funeral was held in the parlor two days later.

On July 4 that year, the Real Estate Record & Guide reported that Nicholas Connor had filed plans to raise the attic to a full floor.  Listing him as "owner, architect and builder," the journal said the renovations would cost $700, or about $19,300 today.

Connor's upper floor addition was faced in running bond brick which remarkably matched the original color.  In updating the house, he installed pressed metal cornices over all the brownstone lintels and extended the parlor floor windows.  Somewhat surprisingly, he did not add an up-to-date Italianate cornice with prominent brackets.  The simple, dentiled fascia board, more expected in an earlier structure, suggests he may have repurposed the original cornice.

Once again, boarders were taken in.  Sharing the house with Nicholas Connor in 1876 and 1877, for instance, were the Donohue family and Albert How.  Both Patrick and Francis Donohue were clerks, and Albert How was a "driver."

By the turn of the century, 31 Charlton Street was operated as a boarding house.  In 1917, when Trinity Church began liquidating much of its property in Greenwich Village, William Sloane Coffin purchased numerous properties in the neighborhood, including 31 Charlton Street.  

Among Coffin's tenants in 1918 was Italian-born John Donodero.  The 31-year-old had just obtained his American citizenship on March 23, 1918, when he got into a serious argument with a German immigrant in Greeley Square.

The newspaper firms on Greeley Square published breaking news on bulletin boards.  With America involved in World War I, the boards attracted throngs when new articles were posted.  That afternoon, Ewald Rempke "made a remark that indicated total disbelief in the ability of the allies to win the war," reported The Sun.  The German's opinion did not sit well with the newly minted citizen.  "Right there Donodero started in," said the article.  He was backed up by "about 100 persons" in the square.

"Donodero had affixed himself to Rempke's ear and claimed credit for Rempke's black eye when the police finally managed to clear a way through the crowd," said the article, which added, "Rempke was saved by being arrested."  Both parties were taken to the West 13th Street police station.  Donodero was released, while Rempke was "locked up for investigation."

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

William S. Coffin sold 31 Charlton Street to Alice P. Todd in 1919.  Never converted to apartments, it was home to builder and civic reformer I. D. Robbins and his wife, the former Carolyn Marx, by the 1950s.  On March 10, 1960, The Villager reported that Robbins, "a Village resident for 27 years, tossed his hat in the ring for Congress here last week."  His bid was unsuccessful.

Born in Pittsburgh on December 1, 1910, Robbins had moved to New York City in 1933.  With his cousin, Lester Robbins, he built major projects like the Big Six Towers in Woodside, Queens, which provided housing for 1,000 families and a shopping center.  While living here he was president of the City Club and also sought nomination for Mayor.

The nearly 200-year-old house is still a single family home.  

photograph by the author

C. P. H. Gilbert's 1890 Romantic Trio at 456-460 West 152nd Street

 

Gilbert cleverly designed the three entrances without upsetting symmetry.  photo by Mark Satlof.

On September 6, 1890, the Record & Guide reported, "On the south side of 152d street...east of 10th avenue, the three-story and basement dwellings are nearing completion, from plans of C. P. H. Gilbert.  They are ready for the trimwork, and are being built by J. H. McKenney."  The esteemed architect had filed the plans six months earlier, projecting the construction costs of each house at $9,834 (about $340,000 in 2024).

Gilbert disguised the three residences as a single structure.  The homogenous design was a surprising and successful blending of Romanesque Revival and Colonial Revival styles.  Faced in yellow brick and trimmed in brownstone, the former style exhibited in the rough cut voussoirs of the five-part arcade at the parlor level, the faceted bay and rounded tower on the end homes, and the romantic third floor's arched openings, charming dormers and conical cap.  The Colonial was most evident in the second floor with the delicate fanlight over the central grouping and spider web leading of the oval windows.

The project was personal for real estate developer James H. McKenney.  He had purchased the vacant property on November 28, 1881 and immediately transferred the title to his wife, Sarah A. McKenney.  The couple's plan was to occupy the easternmost house, No. 456, with their daughter, Susan, and to lease the others as rental income.  

Construction was completed before the end of 1890.  Each of the residences had 10 rooms and "1 bath and 2 toilets," according to an advertisement.  The still somewhat rural district was reflected in an advertisement for 460 West 152nd Street in 1891:  

The handsome three-story and basement brick residence; hardwood finish; sanitary plumbing; fruit trees.

As the neighborhood developed, the city struggled to keep pace with services.  On March 31, 1891, for instance, the New York Herald reported, "Residents of Washington Heights and Carmansville wish to have transportation facilities accorded them throughout the night," adding, "They do not look upon the running of the cable cars on Amsterdam avenue all night in the light of a luxury, but as a necessity."  Among the residents interviewed was James H. McKenney.  He said, "houses were standing vacant on account of the poor night service given by the cable road."  The article noted, "Night after night he had been compelled to walk from 125th and 145th streets, having missed the last car."

James H. McKenney died shortly after that interview.  Then, on February 8, 1894, Sarah A. McKenney died.  Her funeral, as her husband's had been, was held in the parlor on February 11.

After living alone for years at 456 West 152nd Street, on November 11, 1900 The New York Times reported that Susan, "daughter of the late James McKenney, long a well-known resident of Washington Heights, was quietly married on October 22."  She and Bostonian Frederick Sylvester Coburn had married in Port Jervis, New York.  The article noted, "Mr. and Mrs. Coburn will be at home at 456 West One Hundred and Fifty-second Street."

At the time of the wedding, Susan's tenants at 458 West 152nd Street were Daniel Van Wagenen, a ship chandler, and his family.  

The initial occupants of No. 460 had been Reverend E. Spruille Burford and his second wife, the former Josephine Finley Hynson.  (His first wife, Rosa Petite, died in 1873.)  The house was convenient to his work.  Burford was the rector of the Church of the Intercession at 158th Street and Broadway.  While Spruille was attending a funeral in Indianapolis in March 1894, a carbuncle developed on his neck.  Back at home, it worsened to blood poison and he died at the age of 54 on April 15.

 photo by Mark Satlof

Attorney John Baldwin Hand next occupied 460 West 152nd Street.  Born on February 28, 1856 in Canada, he married Elizabeth A. Sheppard in 1885.  The couple had two sons, Richard Bertram and John, Jr.  In addition to his law practice, Hand, Sr. was involved in the Washington Heights Savings and Loan Association. 

In May 1911, Susan McKenney sold all three properties at auction.  No. 456 became home to Angus P. Thorne, the Superintendent of Dependent Adults of the Charities Department.  In 1916, as war was raging in Europe, Angus, Jr. was deployed to the Plattsburgh Military Training Camp in Plattsburgh, New York.

George E. Hill purchased 458 West 152nd Street at the 1911 auction.  He and his wife, Margaret Marie, had a son, George F.  Like his next door neighbor, George F. Hill was inducted into the Army.  His address was still listed with his parents in 1923 when he held the rank of captain.

In July 1929, George E. Hill was promoted to the position of chief mechanical engineer of the Bronx Terminal Market.  His civil service job would bring welcome security when the stock market crashed later that year.  His raise brought his salary to $7,500--equal to about $133,000 a year today.

Less upstanding was Edith Stevens who occupied 456 West 152nd Street in 1922.  The 19-year-old, according to the Brooklyn Times Union, "is also known as Stevenson, nee Schneider, and whose true name is said to be Mrs. Hirsh."  On August 26, 1922, she was arrested as the conspirator of Anthony Cassese, "millionaire tobacco merchant of Ozone Park, owner of a fleet of alleged rum-running vessels, and Joseph Bartolin, his chauffeur, charged with conspiracy of smuggling liquor into this country."  The Long Island newspaper, The Daily Review, headlined an article, "Woman 'Pal' Of Bootlegger Under Arrest."

By the third quarter of the 20th century, the former McKenney house held the Wilson Major Morris Community Center.  The facility provided help to local residents.  On June 23, 1989, for instance, Newsday reported, "State Sen. David Patterson will speak on 'Budget Cuts/Freeze Efforts on Senior Citizens.'"  

At the turn of the century, at least one of the residences was tottering on dereliction.   In 2002, 460 West 152nd Street was vacant and shuttered.

All three were renovated within the decade.  In 2008, 460 West 152nd Street was remodeled to a duplex on the first and second floors with one apartment on the third.  Two years later, 456 West 152nd Street was converted to the identical configuration; and 458 West 152nd Street was remodeled in 2010 to a basement apartment and a single family home on the upper floors.

 photo by Mark Satlof

C. P. H. Gilbert's especially eye-catching trio of 1890 residences have happily survived greatly intact.

thanks to reader Mark Satlof for prompting this post