Samuel Paul Haas was president of Haas Brothers Ladies Tailoring Co. On October 30, 1898, he and his wife, Isabella, purchased the 21-foot wide, four-story brownstone at 13 East 80th Street from the estate of Anne Bishop for "about $36,000," according to the New York Herald. (The address would be renumbered 15 East 80th Street in March 1907.) The price, equal to nearly $1.5 million in 2025 terms, reflected the rising real estate values in the neighborhood as Manhattan's millionaires crept this far north.
At the time, new homeowners were either drastically remodeling the outdated high-stooped brownstones or replacing them with modern, American basement residences. Haas contracted the newly formed firm of Brun & Hauser to replace the Bishop house with a fashionable Beaux Arts-style mansion.
Completed in 1900, the five-story residence was faced in limestone. Its elliptically arched entrance was centered within a rusticated base. French windows at the second and third floors were fronted with faux balconies with French-style railings. Below the third floor balcony and flanking it were carved cartouches, the former backed with palm fronds and the latter draped with elaborate swags of roses and bows. The fifth floor sat atop a stone cornice and was capped with a carved parapet.
Haas was born in Reckendorf, Germany in June 1837. Isabella (known as Bella) was notably younger, born in March 1856. The couple had one daughter, Florine, who was 18 years old and a recent debutante when they moved into the East 80th Street mansion. Like their neighbors, they were attended to by a significant domestic staff, as reflected in an advertisement in The New York Times:
Waitress and Parlor Maid--Only first-class need apply; family of three; five in help; good wages, fine position; personal city references required.
The "waitress and parlor maid" would be one of the more polished of the staff members. She would serve in the dining room and in the drawing room and would need to have impeccable finesse. The mention of "five in help" suggests that the other staff members were the butler, lady's maid, cook, and chambermaid.
Florine married Dudley David Sicher in 1904. The newlyweds moved into the mansion with Samuel and Bella, where little Richard Dudley Sicher was born the following year. A second child, Jane E., would come along on September 17, 1911.
Like his father-in-law, Dudley D. Sicher was in the garment industry. He was president of D. E. Sicher & Co., underwear manufacturer, and president of the Cotton Garment Manufacturers' Association of New York. His firm employed 500 men and women, according to The New York Times.
Sicher's approach to employer-employee relations at a time of worker dissatisfaction and tense labor problems was the polar opposite of many other garment makers. He supported the concept of minimum wages, and in 1913 organized a factory-supported school for his poorly educated, mostly immigrant female workers.
He told The New York Times on April 20, 1913:
We want [the factory girls] to get a broader education that will help them to be more intelligent workers. We will give them the skill if the teachers will help to give them the intelligence.
The article said that the workers would be taught "business arithmetic, commercial geography, and writing."
Dudley David Sicher The New York Times April 20, 1913 (copyright expired)
Tragically, two months prior to that article, Richard Dudley Sicher died at the age of five. The little boy's funeral was held privately.
It is unclear when Bella Haas died, but she was already deceased when Samuel Paul Haas died in the East 80th Street mansion on May 19, 1920 at the age of 63. After bequeaths of $5,000 to Mount Sinai Hospital and $2,500 to the Montefiore Home, he left his entire estate to Florine. (He had transferred title to 15 East 80th Street to her in 1907.)
In 1922, the Sichers hired architects Taylor & Levi to remodel the second floor, or piano nobile. While other homeowners were embracing modern 1920s trends, the Sichers turned to the past. Taylor & Levi gave the interiors a Tudor and Gothic make-over and replaced the French windows with leaded, Gothic-style versions. The New York Times reported that the redecorated interiors included "paneling and ornaments from the collection of William Randolph Hearst."
Year Book of the Architectural League of New York and Catalogue, 1922 (copyright expired)
David D. Sicher was elected president of the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies in 1929, and two years later was nominated as Borough President of Manhattan. In reporting the nomination, The New York Times remarked that he, "has a fine reputation for philanthropy." (By now, in fact, he had retired to devote his time to charitable causes.)
Florine was equally involved in philanthropy. She was a founder of the Women's Division of the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies and sat on its board. She died "after a lingering illness," according to The New York Times, on June 28, 1938. Her funeral was held in the mansion the following day.
Dudley David Sicher died the following year, on December 29, 1939 at the age of 63. The New York Times remarked on his "notable business career" in which he "pioneered in industrial relations and became a leader in the cotton garment manufacturing industry." The article continued, "Then, in his prime, he left the world of business to devote himself to work for the welfare of his fellow humans."
On June 3, 1941, The Sun reported, "Dr. Lester Carson Spier has purchased the five-story dwelling with elevator at 15 East 80th street...from the estate of Florine H. Sicher." The article noted, "The house contains thirty rooms and eight baths."
Dr. Spier began his medical practice in June 1930 and specialized in surgery and "traumatic surgery" (i.e., cases of victims involved in automobile crashes, industrial accidents and such). He had two children from a previous marriage, Marcia Ann, who was eight, and Carol Payne, who was six.
In 1949, Spier married Frances Johnson Stillman, just days after her divorce from Charles Latimer Stillman, the executive vice-president and treasurer of Time, Inc. Moving into the mansion with his bride were her three children, Charles, Stanley and Louise.
The Spiers routinely appeared in the society columns. On January 25, 1964, for instance, The New York Times reported, "Many cocktail parties were given in private homes last evening before the annual Yorkville dinner dance in the Grand Ballroom of the Plaza." The article noted, "Among those who entertained at parties were...Dr. and Mrs. Lester C. Spier and Miss Virginia Dodge, jointly, at the Spier home at 15 East 80th Street."
Taylor & Levi's Gothic-style second floor windows can be glimpsed in this 1941 photograph. via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
On April 13, 1967, The New York Times reported that the Spiers had sold 15 East 80th Street to "Eliot Janeway, the economist and columnist, and his wife, Elizabeth, the novelist" for $350,000. (The price would translate to about $3.29 million today.) The article mentioned, "The house is believed to be one of the first in New York to be centrally air-conditioned."
Eliot Janeway was born on New Year's Day 1913. He and Elizabeth Hall were married in 1938 and had two sons, Michael and William. Eliot was an influential economist, writing for Time and Fortune magazines until 1944. He advised President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson.
At the time of their marriage, Elizabeth was working on her first novel, The Walsh Girls. Eventually she would write six more, including the 1945 Daisy Kenyon that was made into a film of the same name starring Joan Crawford.
In 1998, 15 East 80th Street was converted to a doctor's office on the ground floor and two duplexes above. It was possibly during this renovation that the Gothic-style leaded second floor windows were removed.
The mansion was purchased in 2000 by Wall Street mogul Jeffrey Urwin and his wife, Ailsa, for $6.6 million. They re-converted it to a single family home with five bedrooms, six and a half bathrooms, a private gym, and 35-foot music-reception room. The couple sold it in January 2013 for $24.75 million.
photographs by the author
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