Emery Roth's 1931 59 West 12th Street

 

photo by Anthony Bellov

Brothers Alexander and Leo Bing were prolific real estate developers in the first half of the 20th century, the name of Bing & Bing earning a reputation for building dozens of gracious apartment buildings, many of them designed by Emery Roth.  On April 2, 1929 The New York Times reported that Bing & Bing had purchased 75 old houses and buildings in Greenwich Village "as sites for a group of sixteen-story apartments."  Leo Bing told reporters that the project would transform the Village, saying it "will rival Central Park West and the fashionable east side within a few years."

Three of the apartment buildings were erected on West 12th Street.  Two of them, including 59 West 12th Street, were Roth-designed.  All were completed in 1931.

The 17-floor 59 West 12th Street was clad in beige brick above a two-story cast stone base.  Large geometric tiles flanked the double-height entrance and a full-width stylized fasces separated the base from the beige brick upper floors.  Above the tenth floor, a series of setbacks created private terraces--typical of Bing & Bing buildings.  They were protected by streamlined, ocean liner-ready railings.

photograph by Anthony Bellov

As construction neared completion on August 29, 1931, The New York Sun described, "A thirty-foot sweep from the entrance foyer to the front of the large living room, made possible by low ornamental iron railings between the two rooms, distinguished the new apartments at 59 West Twelfth street, across from the New School for Social Research."  The 104 apartments included duplexes and roof terraces "of a variety of sizes and arrangement."  Every apartment above the ground floor had a wood-burning fireplace in the living room.

The New York Sun noted:

The apartments are grouped in small suites of large rooms and a bath for every chamber, refrigeration units, equipped kitchens, dining alcoves, dressing rooms, radio outlets and dining foyers are among the features of the building.

Emery Roth released his rendering to the press in the spring of 1931. New York Evening Post, May 16, 1931.

The New Yorker added, "No. 59 West Twelfth Street has one, two, three and four-room apartments, almost all with fireplaces.  Annual rents, from $1,150 to $4,480."  The range would translate to $1,916 to $7,466 per month in 2025.

Tenants in 59 West 12th Street were professionals, like G. Vernor Rogers, vice president of the newspaper and magazine firm, McClure Syndicate; and stockbroker Clarence August Bettman and his wife, the former Marion Keyes.  The Bettmans had two daughters, Margaret and Marion.  The family was still in the building two decades later when Margaret was married to Harry Wallace Faath, Jr. in the Church of the Ascension on November 17, 1951.

Journalist John Lardner, his wife, the former Hazel Cannon, and their children Susan, Mary and John Nicholas, occupied an apartment at mid-century.  Born in 1913, Lardner was the son of sports writer and humorist Ring Lardner.  The younger Lardner joined the staff of the New-York Herald Tribune in 1929.  During World War II he served as a war correspondent for Newsweek, The New Yorker, and The North American Newspaper Alliance.  

While living here, Lardner wrote several books, often relating to sports.  They included The Yanks in the Pacific in 1943; It Beats Working in 1947; and White Hopes and Other Tigers and Strong Cigars and Lovely Women, both published in 1951.

Early in March 1960, the 47-year-old sports writer was hospitalized with a heart ailment.  He was released ten days later and suffered a fatal heart attack in the family's apartment on March 24.

Less respectable was Joseph Cataldo (alias Joe the Wop), who lived here with his wife, the former Thelma West.  Born in Italy on November 16, 1908, Cataldo had a file at the United States Treasury Department Bureau of Narcotics in 1961 that described his modus operandi as "financier for illegal activities including narcotics," and called him, "An important NYC racketeer and close associate of Mafia leader Tony Strollo."

photograph by Anthony Bellov

At the time, Sylvester W. and Beatrice Kriess Altfeld had lived at 59 West 12th Street for at least two decades.  They were born in 1893 and 1899 respectively, and Sylvester operated a handbag firm.

On March 4, 1964, two gunmen entered the lobby and forced the 58-year-old elevator operator, Harold Goldfinger, to take them to the 14th floor.  Apparently aware that the Altfelds had valuable items, they compelled Goldfinger to request Beatrice to open the door.  At the point of a gun, Beatrice told them where her jewelry box was.  The New York Times reported, "Then the thugs knocked the two to the floor and handcuffed them, took the jewels and ran down the stairs to the street."  Beatrice and Goldfinger were both treated at St. Vincent's Hospital with head wounds.  The crooks made off with more than $15,000 in jewelry (about $147,000 today).

The first celebrity to sign a lease was Jimi Hendrix.  Charles R. Cross, in his Room Full of Mirrors, A Biography of Jimi Hendrix, writes, "In the fall of 1969, Jimi leased an apartment at 59 West Twelfth Street in Greenwich Village.  It was the first and only place of his own in New York."  Cross explains that his friend, Colette Mimram, helped decorate it with throw pillows, a tapestry over his four-poster bed, and prayer rugs and bedspreads on the walls.  He writes,

"The place looked like a Moroccan bazaar," recalled Colette.  "You could imagine a hookah sitting in the middle of the floor. There were African textiles all over the ceiling."

Fashion model Devon Wilson shared the apartment with Hendrix.  She was "the closest Hendrix had been to having a real girlfriend," according to biographer David Henderson's 'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky: Jimi Hendrix, Voodoo Child.  The next year, according to Henderson, when Hendrix left New York for a London tour, "he did not want her in England."  (Hendrix had another girlfriend in London, Monika Dannemann.)  Wilson showed up anyway, causing tensions.

Jimi Hendrix and Devon Wilson backstage at Madison Square Garden.  photo via The Selvedge Yard

Hendrix would not return to 59 West 12th Street.  He died from an overdose in London on September 18, 1970.  The 27-year-old had no will.  His father, therefore, inherited his estate, equal to about $4 million today.

Five months later, Devon Wilson plunged to her death from the 8th floor balcony of the Chelsea Hotel.  Whether the incident was an accident, a suicide, or if she were pushed is still a mystery.

In the meantime, Clarence A. and Marion Bettmann still occupied the apartment they moved into in 1931.  On January 28, 1972, The New York Times titled an article, "Court Overrules Wife on Surgery," and reported the heart wrenching story of Marion's struggle to allow her husband to die.  Clarence, now 79, was in the late stages of dementia.  His heartbeat was maintained by a pacemaker, and in late 1971 the battery died.  Because Clarence was "factually incompetent" and unaware of his condition, he could not approve the procedure to replace the battery.  Marion refused.  She told a reporter, "What has he got to live for?  Nothing.  He knows nothing, he has no memory whatsoever.  He is turning into a vegetable.  Isn't death better?"

The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center sued and won.  The battery was implanted in January 1972.  Marion told a New York Times journalist that she "resisted as long as I could and then I gave in."

In June 1985, 29 Bing & Bing apartment buildings were sold to a partnership controlled by Martin J. Raynes and Martin J. Wygod.  The following year 59 West 12th Street was converted to a condominium.

Jimi Hendrix, as it turns out, was just the first of several celebrated residents in the building.  In 2008, actress Cameron Diaz purchased a $2.95 million, two-bedroom apartment.  "She gut renovated the place, calling in the likes of interior designer Kelly Wearstler to work her magic," according to Observer.

Already living here was fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi.  On November 23, 2010, Open House reported he had acquired a third apartment in the building, saying, "The newly purchased space connects the two apartments he already owns on the 14th floor."  (Earlier that year, Mizrahi had purchased yet another apartment on a lower floor, "which he plans to use as his home office," said the article.)

Among Mizrahi's neighbors were actress Marisa Tomei and John Waters.  Tomei's apartment was (unfortunately for Waters) directly above the famous director's.  After what was apparently an overflowed bathtub incident, on February 3, 2012, Observer reported that Tomei was being sued by "several downstairs apartments" for water damage.  The article said, "That includes $15,000 worth of damage to an apartment belonging to downstairs neighbor--and 'Hairspray' director--John Waters."

photograph by Bjeffway

Other notables who have called 59 West 12th Street home are actress and dancer Bebe Neuwirth, actor Jonathon Pryce, actress Lena Dunham, and songwriter Larry Dvoskin.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post