The 1824 William and Mary Bogart Clark House - 51 Market Street

 

The Catherine Market was established in 1786, giving its name to Market and Catherine Streets.  In 1824, wholesale grocer William Clark began construction on his two-and-a-half story, brick faced house at 43 Market Street (renumbered 51 in 1850).  Completed the following year, its Federal-style details reflected Clark's affluence, like the handsome Gibbs surrounds of the basement level openings.  The paneled lintels of the upper floor windows were embellished with carved, foliate end blocks.  The elegant entrance with paneled door and fluted, Ionic columns sat below a delicate leaded fanlight.  The attic floor was originally fronted by two dormers.

The foliate blocks on below the entrance arch were echoed in the window lintels.  

The entrance is a superb example of the early 19th century woodcarvers' craftsmanship.

Born in 1785, Clark had started his career at the age of 19 in a notions store.  In 1809, he married Charlotte Mandeville, who died on February 24, 1811.  Two years later, on April 7, 1813, he married Mary Bogart.

While the Clark family was relatively newcomers to America (William's father, Samuel, was born in England), Mary was "of Knickerbocker stock," according to the 1895 Biographical Review.  She descended from Everadus Bogardus, who arrived in New Netherland in 1633.  William and Mary had four children when they moved into the Market Street house.

The interior entrance mirrors the exterior configuration.

William Clark died at the age of 51 on November 30, 1836.  His funeral was held in the parlor the following afternoon.  Still living with Mary at the time were Sarah and William, Jr.  William married Rosamond Michael on June 16, 1842, and Sarah was married to Rev. Talmon C. Perry in the Market Street Church on October 1, 1851.  Mary remained here until her death around 1854.

The house next became home to Reverend Ira R. Steward and his family, listed here as early as 1855.  Born in 1795, Steward began his career as a sailor and a soldier.  But he turned to religious work by his mid-40s.  In 1841, the New York Domestic Missionary Society instituted a "ministry for seamen."  The Mariners' Temple was formed, with Steward as its first pastor.  (In 1859, the congregation purchased the Oliver Street Baptist Church at 12 Oliver Street, conveniently close to 51 Market Street.)

Reverend Ira R. Steward (original source unknown)

With the outbreak of Civil War, the Stewards' son, Ira W., joined the Union Army.  He was still active as late as 1865.

On December 28, 1867, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, "Rev. Ira R. Steward, an eminent Baptist minister of New York, died this week from paralysis.  For nearly half a century he has been connected with the cause of seamen in the city and is known in all quarters of the globe."  ("Paralysis" most likely referred to a stroke.)

The house was purchased by Thomas Maher, who listed his profession as "boardinghouse" in 1867.  By now, the once refined residential neighborhood had changed.  Waves of Irish and German immigrants filled the district and private homes were being razed to make way for tenement buildings.  In October 1870, Maher hired builder Thomas Hanlon to enlarge the house to four floors with a rear extension.  The plans explained that the remodeled building would be used "for tenants or boarders to let to families...two on each floor."

Exquisite plasterwork survives throughout the parlor and second floors.

Surprisingly, Hanlon carefully mimicked the carved lintels of the 1824 design for the windows of the new floors.  Only the slight difference in brick color and the change from Flemish bond to running bond brickwork testify to the addition.  A fashionable Italianate-style bracketed cornice finished the renovations.

The resulting boarding house was operated by a "Miss French" in 1876.  Her respectable boarders were middle-class, like Michael Farley, a driver; and Charles Infield, who ran a clothing store on Lispenard Street.

Matching black marble mantels are in the parlor and dining room.

At the first years of the 20th century, W. H. Hemingway owned the property.  In 1905 he instituted another renovation that would raise the three-story rear extension to four floors.  His choice of architects is surprising.  Henry Janeway Hardenbergh was nationally recognized.  He had designed famous Manhattan structures like the 1880 Dakota Apartments, the Waldorf and Astoria Hotels for the Astor families, and was currently working on plans for the Plaza Hotel.  

Hardenbergh's plans laid out a "toilet room" and a kitchen, noting that the building will be used as a "tenement house, as at present."

Edmund V. Gillan photographed the stoop in 1970.  It may have been the basis for the 21st century reconstruction.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

As the Great Depression cast its pall over the nation, Columbia University owned the “four story tenement building.”  When the institution sold the property at auction on December 13, 1945, it was assessed at $515,000—about $8.7 million in 2025 terms.

By the third quarter of the 20th century, Chinatown had engulfed the neighborhood around 51 Market Street.  At some point the front stoop was removed, but before 2015 it was refabricated.  Despite decades of having been used as a rooming house and make-shift apartments, the venerable building survived astonishingly intact.  

The paneled 1824 entrance door remains in place.  Inside, the original marble mantels, elaborate plaster ceiling medallions, and carved details have withstood two centuries.  The Clark house is on the market as of this writing.  And while the exterior was designated an individual New York City landmark in 1965, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, the interiors are not protected.  They will be at the mercy of the next owner.

photographs by the author