The imposing house erected by Joshua Isaacs in 1799-1800 at 77 Bedford Street on the corner of Commerce Street stood alone for more than three decades. In 1836, a flurry of construction began that would fill the block from Commerce to Morton Street with similar two-and-a-half story, brick-faced homes.
Although Charles Oakley was educated as an attorney, he listed his occupation as "merchant" in 1810 when he married Margaret Roome. But it was his real estate dealings for which he would be remembered. By now, Oakley had become perhaps the most prolific developer in Greenwich Village. In 1836, he erected two identical homes at 73 and 75 Bedford Street. No. 75 was separated from the Isaacs house by an alleyway, or "horsewalk," to the rear yards. (It would be later be filled in with the city's narrowest house.)
The 20-foot-wide houses were an early example of Greek Revival architecture. Low stoops led to the entrances flanked by narrow sidelights. The paneled brownstone lintels with carved, modified Greek key designs were an unusual extra.
Luke Gage, a distiller at 182 Christopher Street, moved into the newly-finished house with his wife, Charity Ama. Only months later, on June 6, 1837, Charity Ama died at the age of 29. Her funeral was held in the house on June 8. Luke Gage left Bedford Street by 1840, when the house was home to Samuel D. Vandenbergh.
Vandenbergh listed his profession as a turner, a person who made spindles and similar wooden items. He would live here through 1853, after which he moved to New Jersey.
In the meantime, beginning around 1845, Vandenbergh shared the house with the family of Daniel Whitney, a builder. (At some point during this period, Whitney purchased the house.) Previously, the Whitney family lived across the street at 80 Bedford Street. Daniel was the son of Brigadier-General Josiah Whitney and his wife Sarah Farr. Born in Massachusetts in 1786, he married Hannah Shedd on March 10, 1808. The couple, who would eventually have 16 children, had moved to New York in 1825.
The Whitney's eldest son, Daniel J., went to San Francisco in 1849, most likely having caught the "gold fever." On April 11, 1850, the New York Daily Herald reported that he had died in San Francisco two months earlier. He was 41 years old.
In the meantime, Benjamin Shurtleff Whitney had headed west as well. He contracted cholera and died in Vincennes, Indiana six months after his brother, on August 6, 1850 at the age of 27.
William M. Whitney was an enterprising young man. In 1854 he owned a bakery on Bleecker Street and a dry goods store on Cedar Street. That year his sister Susanna was teaching in the primary department of School No. 41 on Greenwich Avenue.
When William married, he and his wife, Amelia, moved into what must have been snug quarters in 75 Bedford Street. They had a baby named William Jr. in 1858, but, tragically, the infant died on December 21 that year. His funeral was held in the parlor the next day. (William and Amelia later moved into a fashionable home on St. Luke's Place.)
The string of Whitney funerals at 75 Bedford Street continued. Never married, Hannah Maria, the eldest daughter, died on Christmas Day 1859 at the age of 48. The following year, on October 27, Hannah Shedd Whitney died at the age of 71; and three months later, on January 11, 1861, daughter Lucy Jane died. She was the wife of George B. Revere and was 43.
Living with their father in 1867 were Warren Webster, who worked for the city as an assessor, and Susanna and Caroline Josephine (who went by her middle name). Josephine would teach in the same school as Susanna in 1870.
Daniel Whitney died at the age of 81 on April 15, 1869. Perhaps expecting a large turnout to the funeral of the esteemed builder, the family held it in William's commodious home at 5 St. Luke's Place.
Warren, Susanna and Josephine, none of whom married, lived on in the family home. They took in boarders, advertising in May 1877, "Two large furnished rooms, second floor; also, attic Room, with or without Board."
The Whitneys sold 75 Bedford Street to Frederick Miner, a merchant, in 1878. Two sons, Lynes O. and Edwin David, were enrolled in the introductory class of the Commercial Course of New York City College that year. Another son, Charles L., was a produce merchant in the Washington Market by 1886.
George Pepper and his wife boarded with the Miners in 1891. Pepper was a guard on the Sixth Avenue Elevated. On the night of May 10, he and his wife was stopped at the corner of Franklin and Varick Streets by Roundsman Londigran. The New York Press reported, "The policeman asked him what business he had bringing that woman there, to which he replied that she was his wife and they were going to take the [street] car on Hudson street." (The officer's implication was that he was with a prostitute.)
According to Pepper, Londigran, "then caught him by the throat and prodded him in the ribs with his club, shouting to take his wife and get home." Pepper attempted to get the policemen's badge number. It resulted in another prodding with the club and his arrest. Pepper made a complaint at Police Headquarters. The New York Press reported, "Londigran says the complaint is a lie, and that he only did his duty." Pepper was told the case would be investigated.
The affluence of the Miner family was evidenced in Owen's inclusion in the 1901 Club Men of New York. He was a member of the New York Country Club. The family would remain here at least through the first decades of the 20th century.
In October 1923, Spaulding Hall and Cyrus Brown purchased 73 through 77 Bedford Street. The New York Times noted, "the recently acquired property is being remodeled into studios and apartments." Architect Ferdinand Savignano added a glass-fronted fourth floor, and flooded the apartments with natural light through vast studio windows installed at the rear.
Vast expanses of glass at the rear of the house filled it with natural light. from the collection of the New York Public Library.
Among the initial residents were Frank K. Gardner and his wife, the former Camilla Winslow Hoff. Gardner was the general manager of the Cornstalk Products Co. M. Brooks was a tenant in 1926, when he advertised in The Publishers Weekly hoping to acquire two books, Human Science on Phrenology and Sexual Science, both by Professor O. S. Fowler.
The widening of Bedford Street in the 1930s necessitated the removal of the stoops. The doorway to 75 Bedford Street was converted to a window and the entrance moved to the rear, accessed on Commerce Street.
All of the houses along the block had lost their stoops in this 1936 photograph. The doorway of 75 Bedford is now a window. from the collection of the New York Public Library.
The house was renovated again in 1939. There was now a duplex in the lower floors, and one apartment each on the top two.
A woman sits in front of the house in 1941. image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
A striking renovation completed in 1998 returned 75 Bedford Street to a single family home. The stoop was restored and the entrance refabricated.
It was purchased in 2012 by filmmaker James Oakley (who, interestingly, shared his surname with the house's builder) for $5.8 million. He resold it in 2017 for $7.8 million and the new owner commissioned architect M. N. Ahari to gut renovate the interiors--creating striking modern spaces while eliminating all hint of surviving historic details.
photograph by the author
The narrowest house in Manhattan is right next door.
ReplyDelete