The Francis Pape House-and-Store - 9 Clinton Street

 

image via loopnet.com

In 1792, following the death of Revolutionary War general and first New York State Governor George Clinton, Warren Street was renamed Clinton Street.  By the time the two-and-a-half story and basement house-and-store at 9 Clinton Street was erected around 1849, the neighborhood was filling with European immigrants.  Most likely designed in the Greek Revival style, its squat attic level would have supported a modest cornice.  In the rear yard was a four-story brick building.

Francis Pape worked as a bootmaker in the area as early as 1845.  By 1850, he owned 9 Clinton Street and ran his boot and shoemaking business here.  The family, including wife Elizabeth and son Joseph, occupied the upper floors.  Living with them was Elizabeth Theall, the widow of Elijah Theall, and James F. Pape (presumably Francis's brother).  Elizabeth would live with the Pape family through 1861.   

Francis Pape used the ground floor of the rear building as his shoemaking shop, while renters occupied the upper floors.  Living there in 1861 were the families of Frank Beck, a varnisher, and Leonard Shaefer, a carver.  

In 1861, Joseph Pape listed his profession as a carpenter, but by 1864 he had advanced to a builder.

That year, Casper Heild and his wife occupied rooms in the rear building.  On July 4, 1864, The New York Times reported that their rooms had been "feloniously entered" two days earlier.  Mrs. Heild was "robbed of a silk and a woolen dress, together valued at $40."  The heist would translate to about $825 in 2025.

The Pape family suffered unimaginable grief on June 26, 1872.  The New York Herald reported, "At about nine o'clock last night, an aged man, while attempting to jump on board an incoming ferryboat at the Houston street slip, Williamsburg, was caught between the boat and the bridge and instantly crushed to death."  The "mangled remains" were taken to the Fourth Street station house.  In the coat pocket was a German Catholic prayer book, in which was written, "James F. Pape's own.  New York, July 23, 1851; No. 9 Clinton street."

The shock may have been too much for Francis Pape to bear.  He died "suddenly" on the same day.  The dual funeral was held in the Clinton Street house on June 30.

Elizabeth Pape continued to take in roomers, most of whom were tradesmen.  In 1876, for instance, they were tailors George Luscher and Moritz Werner; Simon Witkowsky, a butcher; and Joseph Marx (who, with his brother Herman, had taken over Francis Pape's shoemaking shop in the rear and the store in front).

G. H. and Charlotte F. Barnard purchased 9 Clinton Street around 1883.  It was about this time that the attic floor was raised to a full story.  The renovation was marked with an intermediate and a terminal cornice, the latter of which was decorated with pressed metal swags.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Dr. B. Lefkowics (sometimes spelled Lefkowicz) rented space here as early as 1892.  He rushed to the tenement apartment of Michael Babtist on July 5 that year.  Unable to pay his rent, which was due that morning, he took strychnine.  When Lefkowics arrived, according to The Evening World, "Two dark curly-haired children were lying in bed, their big black eyes wide open, staring in wonder and fear; the wife and mother, a suckling babe clutched to her breast, was weeping in despair."  The article said that by the time Lefkowics arrived, "the man was past human aid."

As with Babtist, the impoverished conditions of the district's residents were the underlying causes of many of Dr. Lefkowics's cases.  On January 19, 1893, for instance, he was called to the tenement rooms at 104 Pitt Street where Jennie Hudak, a servant girl, was dying from peritonitis.  Unmarried women who discovered they were pregnant faced dire consequences.  Jennie had sought an abortion from Rachel Pottman.  Tragically for her, the botched operation killed her.

In April 1897, Dr. Lefkowics visited the rooms of William Geydes, who said he "felt queer" and then vomited after supper.  Lefkowics "examined what was left of the stew," reported The Sun, and "discovered foreign substances in it."  The doctor saved the Russian immigrant's life.  His wife, Mary, on the other hand, was arrested for attempting to poison him.  The Sun said she added "vitriol and sulphur [sic] in beef stew which she is alleged to have prepared for his dinner."

Among the others living here at the time was Adolf Tannenbaum.  He was born in Hungary in 1841 and studied theology there.  Upon arriving in New York he became minister to the Chasam Sofer Congregation on Clinton Street and the Talmud Thora Church on East Fifth Street.  He also was highly involved in the Hungarian community.

Unlike well-to-do New Yorkers who retreated to their country homes and fashionable resorts during the summer months, the less affluent were left to suffer.  On July 10, 1910, The New York Times began an article saying, "Hot as it was Friday, yesterday was still hotter, and the Weather Bureau does not promise any relief today."  Each day during heat waves, the newspapers listed those who had suffered heat strokes or had died.  Among the fatalities the previous day was 52-year-old carpenter Phillip Christian, who lived at 9 Clinton Street.

At mid-century, the commercial space here was occupied by STEIC--Israel Parcel Service and Training Co., Inc.  It was a Jewish-owned, early version of a United Parcel Service-type operation.

When this photograph was taken in 1938, the Palestine Theatre operated next door.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

A renovation in 1966 resulted in stores in the basement and first floor, and one apartment each on the upper two stories. 

One of the shops in 1977 was the A. & D. Clothing Store, run by David Azoulay.  He was alone in the store on the night of August 15 when two men entered and brandished guns.  When Azoulay resisted, he was fatally shot in the stomach.  The New York Times reported, "the two men fled empty-handed even though the victim had several hundred dollars in his pockets."

A pedestrian saw the men running from the store and provided detailed descriptions to police.  The pair was arrested within 15 minutes of the murder.

Culturefix, a self-described "funky art gallery with rotating exhibits & performances serving wine, beer & nibbles," opened here around 2010 and remained until 2014.  By then, the  building's facade was painted and the two cornices had been removed.

image via zillow.com

A recent facade restoration stripped the paint from the brick and gave the storefront a touchup.  The beleaguered building with its fascinating past survives within a much changed streetscape.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post