Schwartz & Gross's 1930 44 Gramercy Park North

photograph by Lowell Cochran

Clement E. Merowit was just 26 years old in 1929, yet he was president of the Merowit Construction Corporation and had erected several significant apartment buildings, including the 1926 Windsor Arms on West 9th Street.  On November 23, 1929, The New York Evening Post reported the Merowit had broken ground for a "16-story and penthouse rental apartment house" at 44 Gramercy Park North.

The article said architects Schwartz & Gross, "have designed a distinctive building with gables and battlemented towers reminiscent of an English manor house."  The romantic mood of the design was achieved partly by asymmetry--the east portion rising 10 stories and the west being 16 stories.  Schwartz & Gross turned to Tudor England for inspiration, lavishing the red brick facade with multi-paned and leaded windows, faux limestone balconies with quatrefoil panels, and square-headed drip moldings.

photograph by Eden, Janine and Jim

The New York Evening Post said, "There will be three penthouse floors and several tower apartments with terraces," and explained that during construction potential tenants "may incorporate their own ideas, whether in a duplex or other type of apartment."  The typical apartment would range from 2 through 5 rooms, with "dining galleries equivalent in size to an extra room," said the article.  Schwartz & Gross carried the Tudor motif inside, and most apartments had log-burning fireplaces.

The upper floor apartments were spacious.  At the time of The New York Evening Post's article, bachelor Aldo R. Balsam had already leased the entire 11th floor based on the floorplans.  Two months later, on January 9, 1930, The New York Sun reported that Helen M. Holsclaw had leased "a special duplex apartment on the twelfth and thirteenth floors."  Like Balsam, she was unmarried and (in what might be seen as a slight to Schwartz & Gross) hired the esteemed architectural firm Warren & Wetmore to design her suite.  And on May 23, 1930, The New York Sun reported that publishers' attorney John Hanrahan had "leased the eight-room penthouse, with four large terraces."

The historic motif was carried into the design of the apartments.  photo via brownstoner.com

An advertisement in The New Yorker on February 15, 1930 promised that there would be "Numerous structural and decorative refinements seldom found even in the finest cooperatives."  Another advertisement skirted the cost by saying merely, "you get it at a fair rental."  By the time the building opened on October 1, 1930, it had been fully rented.

Aldo R. Balsam would not occupy his sprawling apartment alone for long.  On August 5, 1931, The New York Evening Post reported that he had married Geneva White Webster at the Savoy-Plaza the previous day.  The relatively subdued ceremony was possibly explained by the mention, "The bride secured a divorce in Reno recently."  The Balsams would patronize the upscale winter and summer resorts.  On February 13, 1932, for instance, The Pinehurst [North Carolina] Outlook mentioned, "Aldo R. Balsam, an outstanding player in last season's polo, came back to town this week and showed his old form."

Occupying less lavish apartments at the time were white collar residents like Dr. Arthur L. Linden, who specialized in "X-ray work;" surgeon Dr. Harrison I. Cook, who graduated from Bellevue Medical College in 1911; and artist and cartoonist Clive Weed.

Weed was born in 1884 and graduated from the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts in 1903.  He then studied under Thomas P. Anshutz at the Summer Art School in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, and in Paris.  Weed turned from fine art to cartoons when he joined the Philadelphia Record in 1910.  By the time the bachelor moved into 44 Gramercy Park North his work regularly appeared in Judge magazine.  He also contributed to publications like The Nation, The New Republic, Leslie's Weekly, Life and The New Yorker.

Fascinating residents were the Rev. Dr. John W. Chapman and wife, May Seely.  Born in 1858 in Pikesville, Maryland, Chapman served in the Charity Hospital on Blackwells Island early in his career.  In 1887, he and May traveled to Alaska, founding the Christ Church Mission at Anvik.  

The couple's close relationship with the native population--which lasted for four decades--resulted in important ethnological advances.  The Chapmans translated native dialects to compile and publish a collection of folk tales.  The New York Sun said, "He also made many phonograph records of native songs and stories."  (These would eventually become part of the American Museum of Natural History's collection.")  Rev. Chapman built a wireless station that he operated for six years.

Chapman retired in 1930 and he and May were initial residents of 44 Gramercy Park North.  John W. Chapman died in their apartment at the age of 81 on November 27, 1939.

It was about that time that the building was converted to co-ops.  Living here in 1939 was author and editor Dr. Lewis B. Chamberlain.  Born in 1865, he was the secretary of the John Milton Society for the Blind.  From 1918 to 1935 he edited the monthly Bible Society Record and from 1920 to 1935 was editor of the American Bible Society annual reports.  Among his books was Seshayya: Conversion of a Brahman.

In 1941, newlyweds John C. Wood and his wife, the former Anne Robeson Truesdale, moved in.  The couple was married on January 20 that year.  Wood was a vice-president of B. Altman & Co., having joined the firm in 1932.  The couple's affluent lifestyle was reflected in Wood's memberships to the Union League Club and the Cedar Creek Club of Locust Valley.  America's entry to World War II, however, greatly changed their lives.

On October 5, 1942, Wood joined the Army Specialist Corps.  The expertise he gained while working in the department store became valuable to the military.  Six months later, he was transferred to the Office of the United Secretary of War as Executive Officer of the War Department Price Adjustment Board.

The Cincinnati Post reported on May 19, 1944 that Anna David, "plunged to her death yesterday from her 15th-floor apartment to a courtyard below."  The article said that the 46-year-old, "had been ill and had disappeared from her bedroom while her sister and a physicians were in an adjoining room."

What had seemed to be another tragic suicide became national news when Anna David's more famous identity was divulged.  The Washington Daily News reported that David, "was revealed today to have been Anna Damon, Communist leader and national secretary of the International Labor Defense."

Anna Damon during her testimony to the House Committee on Un-American Activities on October 16, 1939.  (source unknown)

Born Anna Cohen, her married name was David, but she used the surname Damon for her political work.  She was the executive secretary of the International Labor Defense, which provided legal services to persecuted Blacks, trade unionists, and others.  She was a founding member of the U.S. Communist Party.

At mid-century, author, playwright and screenwriter Jonathan Finn and his wife, the former Sadie Borgenicht, lived here. Sadie, who went by her maiden name as vice president of Jack Borgenicht, Inc., a children's dress manufacturer, was highly involved in charity work.  The Port Chester, New York newspaper The Daily Item noted that she "sponsored a creative therapy technique at Hillside Hospital, Long Island, in which painting was used for both artistic and psychological achievement."

Jonathan Finn partnered with Sing Sing Prison's warden Lewis E. Lawes to write the non-fiction book, Twenty-Thousand Years in Sing Sing, published in 1932.  The best seller was made into a motion picture starring Bette Davis and Spencer Tracy that same year.  The experience may have prompted Finn's prison-themed play Chalked Out that premiered on Broadway in 1937.  Among his screenplays were the 1936 Jailbreak, the 1939 Smashing the Money Ring, and Invisible Stripes, released in 1939.

Sadie Borgenicht Finn died on November 20, 1962 at the age of 66.  Finn took up her position at Jack Borgenicht, Inc. in addition to his writing.  He died in the apartment on June 4, 1971 at the age of 87.

After leaving his position in the Foreign Service of the State Department as consul in Saigon in 1962, Daniel Joseph Meloy moved to New York City and into 44 Gramercy Park North.  Fluent in Japanese, he took the post as deputy executive director of the Japan Society here and served as consultant with the Mitsubishi Trust and Banking Corporation.  A graduate of Oberlin College and the Harvard Business School, he had served as vice consul in Kobe and Toyko, and consul in Sapporo, Japan before taking the South Vietnamese post in 1961.

Around 1969, Hungarian-born Janos Aranyi moved into a 2,141-square-foot, two-bedroom duplex on the 12th-floor.  A conservator of vintage picture frames, among his clients was the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  When Aranyi and his wife Theresa Llorente placed the apartment on the market in 2014, the realtor recalled that it was the scene of "countless soirees attended by such high-profile guests as Al Pacino, George Soros and Jeremy Irons."

The Aranyi dining room.  image via observer.com

Resident Mary Jo Jacobi lived in apartment 15-C and was working in the banking industry with Drexel Burnham Lambert in the early 1990s.  Born in 1951 in St. Louis, Missouri, she had previously been an aide to President Ronald Reagan, whose administration ended in 1989.  She returned to government service in 1992 when President George H. Bush appointed her Assistant Secretary of Commerce.

photograph by Lowell Cochran

Schwartz & Gross's Tudor fantasy survives beautifully intact, including the all-important casement windows, an integral piece of the historic-themed design.

many thanks to reader Lowell Cochran for suggesting this post