In 1897 real estate operators and builders Perez M. Stewart and H. Ives Smith, partners in Smith & Stewart, commissioned one of the Upper West Side's most prolific architects, Clarence F. True, to design a row of nine upscale houses along the north side of West 107th Street between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive. True's plans, filed in June, said the four-story homes would be "of various sizes."
The row was completed in 1898. Typical of True, No. 307 was a blend of historic styles. Romanesque Revival appeared in the bowed facade's rough cut limestone, notably in the thickset blocks that created the voussoir over the arched ground floor window. The carved frames of the second floor openings were Renaissance Revival, and True splashed the doorway with neo-Classical swags. Completing the design was a Flemish Renaissance Revival gable at the fifth floor.
Department store mogul Benjamin Stern purchased four of the houses from Smith & Stewart, including No. 307, on May 31, 1899 as investments. Stern leased the 20-foot wide house for four years before selling it to Julian Harriman Meyer and his wife, the former Clara Dempsey Bentley, in 1903.
Born in 1860, Meyer was a graduate of City College. He founded the wholesale grocery firm of Meyer & Lange. He and Clara had one son, George Bentley, born on January 6, 1895.
Soon after settling into their new home, Clara began entertaining. On January 28, 1904, The Evening Telegram reported, "At the home of Mrs. Julian Meyer, No. 307 West 107th street, during the last week, handsome prizes were hotly contested for at the meeting of the Monday Afternoon Whist Club." The extent of the preparations necessary to receive guests was evident in The New York Times' reporting of Clara's "pretty reception" in April 1908. It said,
Mrs. Meyer received in a gown of rose point and Duchesse lace in her drawing room, which was fragrant with pink roses and Southern smilax. In the music room American Beauties were used, and Spring flowers and ferns made the dining room particularly attractive.
The social gatherings here often involved Clara's favorite philanthropy, the Stony Wold Sanatorium. On April 15, 1907, for instance, the New-York Tribune reported on the regular meeting of the facility's Auxiliary No. 4, during which "Mrs. James E. Newcomb made an address."
In December 1907, Meyer contracted an electrical firm headed by Henry Rheinwold to address a problem in Clara's bedroom. John S. Moltzen arrived on December 23 and began work. Clara went downtown, leaving the worker with the servants. While she was gone, a second electrician, Raymond C. Brainard, arrived. He had been recently fired by Henry Rheinwold. When Clara returned home, the workers were gone and so was $3,500 worth of Clara's jewelry. (The figure would translate to about $121,000 in 2025.)
John S. Moltzen was the obvious suspect. He deflected the investigators' attention to Raymond Brainard. At 5:00 on the morning of December 24, Detective Daly broke into Brainard's Bronx apartment. He "found Brainard and a young woman--Dorothy Wiebel--examining the jewelry, which was spread on a table in the kitchen," as reported by The New York Times. The article said, "Brainard showed fight, but Daly quieted him by a display of his revolver."
Brainard and Wiebel were arrested and the next morning were taken to the Jefferson Market Court. Dorothy, an unemployed servant, was discharged. She told the magistrate, "He promised me a ring. I had no idea where he got the jewelry." Also in the courtroom was Clara Meyer. "She identified as hers the jewelry that Daly found in Brainard's flat," said the article.
The Meyers did not own a summer home, instead they patronized fashionable resorts. Julian was a member of the New York Athletic Club and as such, the facilities of the club's Travers Island were available to the couple. On October 23, 1910, The New York Times reported, "A small party motored out to Travers Island one day last week and took luncheon as the guests of Mrs. Julian H. Meyer, 307 West 107th Street."
In addition to his membership in the NYAC, Meyer was a member of the Automobile Club of America and the Metropolitan Opera Club. Clara was a member of the Daughters of the Revolution.
George enjoyed a privileged youth. He prepared at the Horace Mann School and at Phillips-Andover before enrolling in Yale. He graduated in 1916 with a law degree.
George Bentley Meyer, History of the Class of Nineteen Hundred And Sixteen Yale College (copyright expired)
On September 6, 1917, Julian suffered "a sudden attack of apoplexy," according to the New York Produce Review and American Creamery. (Apoplexy referred to a stroke or cerebral hemorrhage.) The 57-year-old's funeral was held in the West 107th Street house the following day.
Clara Meyer remained in the house for three years, selling it in August 1920 to the Estere Realty Company. When the firm offered it for sale in May 1921, it noted that the former residence had been "remodelled [sic] in small apartments." The property changed hands twice before Walter R. Manning purchased it in December 1928 "for investment," according to the Record & Guide.
image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
The house was briefly home to the Nilsson Institute. An advertisement in the May 15, 1928 issue of Vogue read:
Slenderize--Medical supervision. Splendid results. Also Facial rejuvenation. Treatments at your home or at Nilsson Institute, 307 West 107th St., N.Y.
It appears that Walter R. Manning died in 1929. On December 4, 1930, The New York Times reported that Ella Hamblen Manning had given a "release of her dower rights in 307 West 107th Street" to the Michael E. Paterno Corporation.
The house was remodeled again in 1965, resulting in seven apartments. Among the initial residents was librarian and educator Wendell Wray. Born on January 30, 1926, he was passionate in preserving Black history. He received his Bachelor's degree in psychology from Bates College in 1950 and a Master of Library Science from the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1952. (He was the first African-American man to graduate from the library school.)
Wendall L. Wray, School of Information Science Faculty photo, University of Library Science, Pittsburgh
While living here, he was acting director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Shortly after moving in, he was invited to preview a documentary, William Faulkner's Mississippi. On May 8, 1965, the New York Amsterdam News printed his letter to the editor regarding the piece. He said in part, "I came away shocked and nauseated by what I saw. Every broken-down cliche about negroes was used. I was told that this was not what we wanted to see of Mississippi, but what Faulkner saw."
In 1981, Wray was named chief of the Schomburg Center. He resigned in March 1983 and retired to Oakland, California.
There are still seven apartments in the former house. Its exterior appearance is little changed.
photographs by the author
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