Two girls posed in front of the houses in 1913. Colonial Architecture in New York City, 1913 (copyright expired)
James Russell erected two near-mirror image houses at 69 and 71 Charlton Street in 1828. His architect, whose name is regrettably lost, was likely British born. The two-and-a-half story, brick-faced residences sat apart from the other Federal-style homes rising along the block--and, in fact, throughout the city.
While the homes reflected predictable Federal-style elements--entrances flanked by fluted columns, and pedimented dormers at the attic level, for instance--they exhibited elegant details influenced by Regency townhouses in Britain. Most notably were the parlor floor openings, recessed within blind arches; the unique pilasters at the second floor; and intricately paneled fascia boards. The architect's cultivated attention to detail extended to the dormers, where the wooden frames imitated stone blocks, and the classical pediments sat upon unusually involved bracketed entablatures.
James Russell's two houses (toward the left) contrasted to the much simpler homes along the row. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York
In the rear yards were two structures--a workshop behind 69 Charlton Street, and a small house behind 71. The horsewalk, or passageway to the rear, was wide enough to accommodate wagons for the shop. The architect treated the utilitarian horsewalk (most often understated) with pilasters. And to conform with the visual height of the other openings, he placed a modish oval window over the door.
Russell retained possession of the houses, moving his family into 69 Charlton and renting 71. He listed his occupation as builder and carpenter, and it appears that he originally used the shop for his carpentry business. He and his wife had two sons, William and John.
James Russell died at the age of 63 on June 27, 1837. In 1845, Henry Tolle, a "chairmaker," occupied the rear shop, and by 1850, William Russell operated his marble polishing business there. He shared it with cabinetmakers Frederick Schwartz and John Doll.
In the meantime, the Russells' tenants next door came and went. In 1828, Joseph Perkins, a carpenter, and his family lived in 71 Charlton Street. In 1830, the families of shipmaster William Napier and accountant Robert S. Goff shared the house. On October 5 that year, the New-York Evening Post reported, "Last evening, in the 15th year of her age, Amelia K. Napier, daughter of Capt. Wm. Napier, [died]." Her funeral in the parlor on October 6 would be the first of many held in both homes.
In 1851, the Russell family had moved from 69 Charlton Street. They leased part of the home to Thomas Hadden, a deputy fire inspector, and his wife, who would remain through 1858. Sharing it in 1853 were John M. and Sarah Jane Emmet and their two children, five-year-old John Madison and two-year-old Emma Adelaide. Emmet was a member of the 13th Militia Regiment, known as the "National Grays."
On the first week of December 1852, The New York Times announced that 50 cases of cholera had been reported in the city. It may have arrived at 69 Charlton Street three months later. The funeral of little John Madison Emmet was held in the parlor on March 13. Two weeks later, on March 27, it was the scene of Emma Adelaide's funeral.
from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York
Frederick Schwartz continued to operate his cabinetmaking shop in the rear through at least 1854. By 1857, it was run by William Elliott. On November 22, 1861, The New York Times reported, "A fire occurred between 1 and 2 o'clock yesterday morning, in the cabinet-markers' shop of Wm. Elliott, rear of 69 Charlton-street. About $2,000 worth of stock was destroyed." The loss would translate to nearly $71,500 in 2025. The article said, "The building, which is owned by John Russell, was damaged to $1,000. No insurance."
In repairing the damage, Russell converted it from a shop to a residence. Living in it in 1864 were Mark Bishop, a corsetmaker, and Charles B. Wilson, a clerk.
The Russells routinely leased the houses to several tenants at a time. An advertisement in the New York Herald in 1859 offered, "To Let--To a genteel family the second floor of the House 69 Charlton street, consisting of five Rooms, with two Rooms in the attic, the front Basement and a cellar." And in 1862, an ad for space next door said, "To Let--The first floor, two rooms in the attic, Basement, Kitchen, and a cellar, of the House No. 71 Charlton street."
The families of William H. Lippincott, a commission merchant in the Washington Market, and William Bishop, a porter, shared 71 Charlton Street in 1850. Lippincott was also an investor and the treasurer of the Tompkins Lodge No. 9 of the Old Fellows. He was a part time inventor, as well. In 1850, he was awarded a diploma at the American Institute Exhibition for his "safe padlock."
Elizabeth A. Smith rented space here beginning around 1853. As other tenants came and went, she would remain at least through 1858. A teacher in Ward School No. 38 on Clarke Street near Broome, she earned $275 a year in 1853. In 1855 she received a significant raise to $300--about $10,900 today.
By 1873, both of the Charlton Street houses were operated as boarding houses. Living in No. 69 that year was Ann Reynolds, whose argument with another woman on April 27 got out of hand. The New York Herald reported, "During the progress of a lively 'scrimmage' yesterday afternoon between Ann Reynolds of 69 Charlton street, and Elizabeth Kelly, of 207 Mercer street, Ann had the upper portion of her cranium seriously disfigured by being hammered with an old teapot, which the infuriated Elizabeth wielded with wonderful vigor."
This drawing in 1918 reveals that the two buildings were noticed for their unusual design. from the collection of the New York Public Library
A boarder next door also received a head injury the following year. On September 3, 1874, the New York Herald reported, "John Quinn, of No. 71 Charlton street, while near his own home, about eight o'clock Tuesday evening, was suddenly and without any warning attacked by Dennis Harrington, of No. 75 Charlton street, with a loaded cane." Quinn's violent neighbor was arrested, and when Quinn appeared to make a charge of assault and battery, his "head showed unmistakable signs of having received a severe beating," said the article.
The Russell family sold 71 Charlton Street to James Mullaney, a shoe manufacturer, around 1876. Both Mullaney and his wife, the former Ann Hart, were born in Ireland. Living with them were their three adult daughters and only son, Dominick, who was 22. A year before moving into the Charlton Street house, Dominick joined his father's business, which became Mullaney & Son. After James's death in 1887, Dominick took over the operation under the same name.
Dominick F. Mullaney changed course in 1883 when he was elected to the State Assembly. The Assemblymen and Senators from the City of the City of New York in the Legislature of 1886 said, "He attended the sittings of the assembly regularly, and showed an understanding of the drift of business, and the character of legislation. He was not the promoter of any corrupt schemes."
Dominick F. Mullaney, from New York State Men: Biographic Studies and Character Portraits, 1910 (copyright expired)
Mullaney's Irish, middle-class background was reflected in his senate focus. The article said he, "voted with the strikers and his party leaders" and "voted against all restrictive excise [i.e., liquor] bills." Among the bills he introduced in 1886 were the establishment of "an additional free public bath in the Hudson River, between Canal and Houston Streets," and "forbidding the placing of steam boilers in the cellars of any building occupied or used by human beings."
One smudge on Mullaney's record came on December 11, 1890, when The Sun reported he, "was indicted by the Grand Jury yesterday for electioneering within 150 feet of the polls on election day." Nonetheless, he served in the assembly through 1898 and again in 1903. The following year he was appointed a clerk of the Municipal Court, and in 1906 elected to the State Senate.
On February 2, 1918, Ann Hart Mullaney died here. A solemn requiem mass was held in St. Joseph's Church on Sixth Avenue. At the time, all four of her children, never married, still lived at 71 Charlton Street.
The American Architect, March 24, 1913 (copyright expired)
In the meantime, Michael Drinane and his wife, Kate, had owned 69 Charlton Street since around 1909. The couple had one son, Michael J., who was a clerk for the city at the time. Following his marriage to Alice McDonald, the couple moved into the Charlton Street house, where they would have one son, John.
The elder Michael died in 1920. That year, Michael J. was appointed a commissioner of deeds with the city. Unlike his father, however, John Drinane went down a darker path.
On April 11, 1922, The New York Times reported that the frequent hold-ups in the neighborhood of Tony Renali's saloon on West Street had prompted him to place a pistol next to his register. On the previous afternoon, John Drinane and two confederates barged into the saloon with firearms. They robbed the bartender and customers and took $90 from the cash register. As they started to leave, they warned, "That they would shoot to kill if anybody followed them," recounted the article.
Tony Renali picked up his gun and fired two shots, both of them hitting Michael Swift, known to the police as "Mike the Burglar." On the street a few minutes later, two detectives "saw two men start to carry what appeared to be a well filled potato sack into the tenement house at 6 Renwick Street" near the saloon. Suspecting that they had just stolen a bag from a peddler's wagon, the officers investigated.
When they poked into the bag, they "found it contained a man suffering from two bullet wounds in the body." An ambulance was called for Swift who, before he died at the hospital, identified the other perpetrators as John Drinane and Angelo Sposato. They were held in a staggering $10,000 bail (more than a quarter of a million today).
The American Architect, March 24, 1913 (copyright expired)
In the meantime, at a time when appreciation for vintage architecture was uncommon, these two outstanding examples were noted. On March 24, 1913, The American Architect said, "The houses at Numbers 69 and 71 Charlton Street are particularly fortunate in their preservation, and if one could imagine their trim and doorways painted white and the brickwork restored, they would rank with the best masterpieces of our old city homes."
Unfortunately, that appreciation was not enough to save the architectural treasures. Three years after James Drinane's arrest, they were razed for a 10-story loft building designed by Victor Mayper, which survives.
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