The Lost Home Club - 11-15 East 45th Street

 

The Home Club sat within a landscape of upscale, private houses.  photo by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

Philip G. Hubert arrived in New York City in 1865.  Formerly a French teacher and author of textbooks, he opened an architectural office here.  On February 18, 1888, The Record & Guide said, "it was he who may be called the father of the 'home clubs' in this city, and who thought out and designed the duplex system of giving two stories to an apartment."  Home clubs were early cooperatives, with investors purchasing their apartments.  

In 1905, six men headed by Pliny Fisk formed the Home Club Co. to erect a nine-story apartment building at 11 to 15 East 45th Street.  They commissioned Gordon, Tracy & Swartwout to design the structure.  On September 2, the Record & Guide reported, "Excavating has just been started, and the structure will be pushed as rapidly as possible."  The journal noted, "The exterior will be of Indiana limestone, brick and terra cotta."

The architects drew their inspiration from Renaissance period structures in Florence, Italy.  Above a rusticated base, the double-height second floor was dominated by soaring windows.  Paired openings at the fifth floor carried on the arched motif, as did the seventh through ninth floors.  Their paired windows created triple-height arches.  A dramatic, overhanging cornice capped the design.  A carriage drive to the rear made possible light and ventilation on all four sides above the third floor.

On October 28, the Record & Guide explained, "it is intended to be occupied by several families who wish to live independently and yet have hotel facilities without the necessity of leaving the building."  The first floor was essentially a working level.  It held the kitchen, service room, serving pantry and an apartment for the concierge.  For the male residents, there was also a billiard room on this level.

The double-height windows of the second floor translated to soaring, 25-foot ceilings inside.  Here were the communal dining room, a drawing room (or ballroom), a reception and a serving room.

The Record & Guide explained, "It will be observed that there are no separate kitchens, and the dining rooms of the various apartments are served from the general kitchen in the first story."  Five of the owners' apartments engulfed a full floor and ranged from 12 to 14 rooms.  Rock Products noted on December 5, 1906, "Each of the tenants will have an available floor space equal to that in a five story residence."  The apartment of Pliny Fisk, who conceived the project, was double that--taking up the eighth and ninth floors.  (There were also a few smaller apartments, without dining rooms, for rental income.)

Fisk was the head of the banking firm Harvey Fisk & Sons, well-known for financing railroads.  Living with him and his wife were four children from his previous marriage.

Pliny Fisk, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, January 1901 (copyright expired)

Among the other owners were Wilbur C. Fisk, Thomas Thacher, William A. Barnum and John A. Keppelman.

Attorney Thomas Thacher was born in 1850 and married Sarah McCullough Green in 1880.  The couple had four children, Thomas Day, Louise Green, Sarah, and Elizabeth.  Thacher was a partner in the firm of Simpson, Thacher & Barnum (his partner William A. Barnum was now his neighbor within the Home Club).  

Thomas Thacher, from A History of the University Club of New York, 1915 (copyright expired)

On October 12, 1907, Louise Thacher was married to Theodore Ives Driggs in the Home Club ballroom.  

Writer and publisher Caresse Crosby temporarily moved in with the Barnums following the death of her husband, Harry Crosby.  Life for Home Club residents can be glimpsed from an entry in her journal, reproduced by Linda Hamalian in her biography The Cramoisy Queen: A Life of Caresse Crosby:

I danced at from one to three balls every night that season and my usual hours in bed were from four in the morning to noon.  Marie's hours were four to ten. [Marie was Caresse's personal maid.]  At twelve I was called and got ready for the customary debutante luncheon, and then again to and from Sherry's or Delmonico's...Marie walking eight paces behind up or down the Avenue.  We always stopped at Huyler's for ice cream soda.

Anna Woerishoffer and her daughter, Emma Carola, occupied an apartment here as early as 1909.  The widow of banker Charles Woerishoffer, who died in 1886, Anna had one other daughter, Antoinette, Countess Charles Seilern.  

Anna was described by The New York Times as being "well known for her generous gifts to charity."  It was that attribute that possibly pulled her into a disturbing incident on April 19, 1909 when an unidentified man jumped from the 11th floor of a downtown building.  The New-York Tribune reported, "In the pocket of the man's coat was found an empty envelope with the name 'Anna Woerishoffer, of No. 11 East 45th street,' written on it in ink."  The dowager said she "had no idea who the dead man was, unless it was somebody she had aided at some time."

Anna Woerishoffer's portrait was painted by Adolfo Muller-Ury around 1912.  image from Stephen Conrad, and the Stiftung Adolfo Muller-Ury.

Emma Woerishoffer was a settlement worker and reformer, going so far as to work in 16 different laundries "for the purpose of studying the condition of workers," according to The Sun.  The newspaper explained, "She said that she found the girls were working too hard and too long and that no one could appreciate their condition unless they worked among them as she had done."

In September 1911, Emma was upstate when her chauffeur became ill in Walton, New York.  She attempted to drive the car to Deposit, New York herself to catch a train.  The car ran into a ditch and Emma Woerishoffer died at Cannonsville, New York the following day.  The 26-year-old left an estate valued at $3,210,904, according to The New York Times--about $107 million in 2025 terms.

The ballroom here was the scene of the "Four Dances" in 1913.  On January 12, The New York Times said, "These dances were organized this year by members of the Home Club, and the list of subscribers is limited."

Even when the Home Club opened, commerce was moving northward into the district.  On January 24, 1914, the Record & Guide reported, "Changes are about to be made to the Home Club building,"  The article said that Pliny Fisk, "has had plans prepared by Freeman & Tismay for installing stores on the two lower floors and converting the upper floors into bachelor apartments."  An advertisement in the New-York Tribune four months later said, "11 East 45th Street, formerly 'Home Club' is being remodelled [sic] and will be ready for occupancy July 1st 1914."

Nevertheless, the tenants remained well-to-do.  On January 16, 1915, for instance, the New-York Tribune reported, "Mr. and Mrs. Frank Wiborg and the Misses Wiborg are at 11 East 45th st. for the remainder of the winter."  Later that year, on September 19, The New York Times reported on the wedding of Olga Wiborg to Sidney Webster Fish, the son of Stuyvesant and Marion ("Mamie") Fish.

An advertisement in September 16 described the apartments as having "Fireplaces in every suite.  Apartments for people who want things at their best and are willing to pay a reasonable rental."

In July 1918, restaurateurs Pierre & Borgo leased 11 East 45th Street.  The Record & Guide reported, "It is planned to change the first and second floors to restaurant and banquet rooms."  The apartments, said the article, would remain unchanged.  The building was renamed the Maison Pierre.

Once surrounded by mansions, in 1941 the former Home Club was wedged among office buildings.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Renovations came rapidly.  In 1921, the upper floors were converted to offices.  Among the first tenants, perhaps not unexpectedly, were the uptown offices of Harvey Fisk & Sons.  Other tenants over the coming decades were publishing firms Minton Blach & Co. and Howell, Soskin & Co.

On February 6, 2000, The New York Times journalist Christopher Gray reported, "Now shrouded in black demolition netting for a new office building, Fisk's remarkable structure will soon disappear."