The Joseph Sibbel Studio - 214 East 26th Street

 

Around 1852, Harned & Rothery, housesmiths, moved its operation into the three-story, brick-faced factory at 180 East 26th Street (later renumbered 214).  Originally, a window sat between two bay doors on the ground floor.  In the rear yard was a stable. 

Housesmiths forged the ironwork used in construction.  By 1857, the firm dropped the term, now listing itself as Harned & Rothery Foundry.  By then it had expanded into the buildings at 126 through 132 East 26th Street.  It remained until January 1860, when an auction was held that included, "a large quantity of Pig Iron, Wrought Iron, Cast and Wrought Scrap Iron, Wooden and Iron Patterns, Wooden and Iron Flasks, and various other articles of value to housesmiths and iron-founders."

The building became home to Alexander Stewart's and Edward M. Corbett's carriage factory.  Theirs were not the usual vehicles turned out in carriage shops.  Stewart & Corbett manufactured miniature, "children's carriages," as well as hobby horses and perambulators.  On February 11, 1869, Stewart & Corbett advertised for additional help: "Wanted--At 214 East 26th st., between 2d and 3d ave, men and women trimmers for children's carriages; also a few handy boys."

On Christmas Eve that year, a fire broke out in the factory.  The Philadelphia Age reported it damaged "the building, stock, and tools largely.  The amount of loss cannot yet be ascertained, but it is heavy and is well covered by insurance."

The former stable building in the rear yard was occupied by Edward Crockett, "bone manufacturer."  (The term referred to makers of bone buttons.)  Less than two months after the Stewart & Corbett fire, on February 5, 1870, the New York Herald reported that a fire had damaged Crockett's building.  The damage was slight, and police suspected the fire was "of incendiary origin."

By 1872, Edward M. Corbett had a new partner and the company was renamed Corbett & Coe.  At 1:00 on the morning of April 27 that year, Police Officer Byrne noticed "something wrong with the grating in front of Corbett & Coe's children's perambulator manufactory," according to the New York Herald.  A century before hand-held radios, police summoned help from nearby officers by rapping their nightsticks on the pavement.  Officer McDonald responded to the alarm.  Byrne's sharp eye upset the plans of two notorious burglars.  The article said the two policemen searched the building and discovered William Davis, "better known as 'Billy Doherty,'" and James S. Smith, "alias Jimmy Mundo," hiding inside.

Corbett & Coe left East 26th Street around 1877.  When Pierrot Julien purchased the property from the bank on December 31, 1879 for $6,000, it was described as a "three-story brick shop and three-story brick stable in rear."  The price would translate to $189,000 in 2025.

Within a decade, the property was transformed to an artistic center.  German-born sculptor Joseph Sibbel established his studio here by 1888.  Born on June 7, 1850, Sibbel worked exclusively in ecclesiastical work, creating statues and carved decorations for churches.

Joseph Sibbel at work in his studio on Our Lady Comforter of the Afflicted for St. Francis Xavier College Church.  from the collection of the Saint Louis University Archives.

By 1893, Anton Kloster was listed here (possibly operating from the rear building).  He designed and sculpted or carved church furnishings, like altars.  Anton would increasingly focus on designing church buildings, and by 1901 had turned his business over to Charles B. Kloster and devoted himself solely to designing architecture.  (The 1918 Byzantine Revival-style Church of St. Anselm and St. Roch in the Bronx is attributed to Anton Kloster.)

The Lithuanian Weekly, March 11, 1901 (copyright expired)

Working with Joseph Sibbel was Joseph Lohmüller, who exhibited his sketch for the grouping Holy Family on the Way to Egypt in the Architectural League of New York's annual exhibition in 1906.  In his 1916 German Achievements in America, Rudolf Cronau explained that Sibbel and Lohmüller,

...were very prolific during the latter part of the 19th and the beginning of the present century in beautifying the cathedrals and churches of America with reliefs and Biblical scenes and the statues of Madonnas, Martyrs, Saints and Apostles.

Christian Art, December 1908 (copyright expired)

Also listed here in 1906 and working cooperatively with Sibbel was Munich-born artist Gustav Kinkelin.  The two worked together in the decorations of St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Lowell, Massachusetts, for instance.  Joseph Sibbel designed and executed the marble altar, and Kinkelin did the mural work.

One of the murals executed by Kinkelin in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Lowell.  image via johncanningco.com

Sibbel's main altar for the same church.  image via st.patricklowell.org.

Joseph Sibbel died on July 10, 1907.  The Joseph Sibbel Studio continued here under Lohmüller and Armin Sibbel as late as the mid-1920s.  

At mid-century, the occupant of the venerable building was much less artistic.  It was home to the Johnson Electrical Corporation, a wiring contractor.  

The two entrances and central window survived in 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In 1964, Country Floors, Inc. occupied the ground floor.  The shop imported floor and wall tiles from Italy, France, Spain and Portugal.  Change came when a renovation completed in 2019 resulted in two apartments within the venerable building.

photograph by the author