The Former Christodora House - 310 East 9th Street

As early as 1867, Elias Koch and his family occupied 215 East 9th Street (renumbered 310 in 1868).  The recently built, Italianate-style house was the latest in domestic fashion.  Three bays wide and four stories tall, the brownstone-faced home was intended for a merchant class family.  The double-doored entrance was flanked by paneled pilasters that upheld elaborate scrolled brackets and an arched pediment.  

Elias Koch's "satchels" or bag business was located at 155 Chambers Street.  His family remained in the house until 1870 when it became a boarding house.  An unusual advertisement in the New York Herald on October 20 that year read, "A few mechanics can obtain good board at $5 per week, with a comfortable home, at 310 East 9th st., second floor; day boarders also."  (The weekly rent, including meals, would equal $125 in 2025.)

Why the ad specified mechanics is puzzling.  But the tenant list that year was much more varied.  Among the boarders were John Bunell, a clerk; Hamilton Cole and Payson Merrill, both lawyers; and Frederick Bonnele, who worked in a loft building far downtown.  On April 1, 1870, The New York Times reported, "Frederick Bonnele, of No. 310 East Ninth-street, received a severe wound yesterday by being struck on the head by a chain which fell through the hatchway from an upper floor at No. 92 Broad-street."

The proprietor of the 310 East 9th Street relinquished the lease in the spring of 1873.  By then, many of the upper rooms had been divided.  On April 28, an ad in the New York Herald read, "To Let--House 310 East Ninth Street, near Second avenue, well suited for a boarding house, having 26 rooms."  The rent was $2,400 a year, or about $5,400 per month today.

The tenants continued to be varied and increasingly their surnames were German.  Among the boarders in 1877 were John Horgan, a builder; violinmaker August Gemunder; Henry Casperfeld, a jeweler, and the Schlatter family--Charles was a clerk and John was in the trimmings business.

While living here in 1878, George W. Hammill, sexton of St. Mark's Church, became involved in a shocking abduction case.  Millionaire Alexander Turney Stewart died on April 10, 1876 and his body was interred in St. Mark's churchyard.  Hammill explained to officials,

About eight A. M. Francis Parker, who is the deputy sexton of the church of which I am the sexton, came to my house at No. 210 East Ninth street, and in an excited manner said, "The body is gone."  I asked him what body.  He said, "Stewart's."

 
Hammill followed Parker to the churchyard.  The dirt had been shoveled away from the grave and the slab over the vault had been removed.  By using a rope, said Hammill, "I then descended into the vault and noticed that the body had been carried away."  The ghoulish kidnapping of Alexander T. Stewart's body and subsequent ransom demands became national news and the crime was never fully solved.

Otto F. and Mathilda Burkhardt operated the boarding house by 1886.  In April 1889, she appeared in court against her next door neighbor, Emily S. Rollwagen, who owned and operated the boarding house at 312 East 9th Street.  She complained that Rollwagen was incapable of "properly managing this property," and its neglected condition was damaging her business.

Mathilda's husband, Otto F. Burkhardt, appeared in court two years later.  He sued broker John E. Ireland for fraud.  Rather insultingly, on January 9, 1891, The Press reported, "Burkhardt declares that Ireland has swindled him out of more than $7,000 by a series of fairy tales that reflect somewhat upon the complainant's intelligence."  

According to Burkhardt's complaint, in 1889 Ireland told him that he could get him appointed on the Board of Appraisers of Lands that was connected to the Aqueduct Commissioners.  The salary, said Ireland, was $3,500 per year.  But, he needed $1,000 "so as to entertain some big men who would recommend him."  Burkhardt handed over the cash and then, "discovered that no such office existed."

Later that year, in December, Ireland told Burkhardt "that he has raised $21,000 toward buying a patent to purify milk, for which $25,000 was asked."  He said if Burkhard provided the balance, he "could get into a good thing on the ground floor."  Burkhardt invested $3,500 then found out that there was no such company.  Five months later, in May 1890, as reported by The Press, "Burkhard says Ireland got up a story about having to take up a note on a New York city bank.  Burkhardt let him have $525 and then discovered that there was no such note."  

Before the time Burkhardt realized that his "friend" was a fraudster, he had lost nearly $7,000.

The Italianate stoop railings and newels were intact in 1903 when artist E. Pallme, who lived here according to the inscription on the back of the photo, snapped this shot.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York. 

In 1909, Christodora House acquired the residence.  One of the early settlement houses in New York City, Christodora House was founded in 1897 by Sara Carson and Christine MacColl.  At the time of the purchase, the facility was located on Avenue B.

Christodora House provided services to the immigrant community that had engulfed the district.  Dr. H. Hallarman was on staff here for years to provide medical treatment.  The group offered classes and clubs, like its Poets' Guild of the Christodora House.

Nearly two decades later, on December 18, 1927, The New York Times reported, "The old Christodora House, 310 East Ninth Street, proving inadequate, ground has been broken for a new house, Ninth Street and Avenue B, facing Tompkins Square."  The proposed 16-story structure would include "a swimming pool, gymnasium, classrooms for the music school, club and game rooms," said the article.

While construction of that edifice proceeded, Christodora House continued here.  On May 7, 1929, the Barnard Bulletin announced, "The Poets' Guild of the Christadora [sic] House at 310 East 9th Street is planning a series of national evenings to which they will very gladly welcome any American student who wish to come."  The series started with "a Roumanian Poetry Night," on May 6.

At the time of the series, Christodora House was preparing its move into the new building.  No. 310 East 9th Street was purchased by Dr. Michael Steiner and his wife, Byrdie.  Steiner established his practice in the basement level while he and his wife lived upstairs.

The Italianate areaway railing survived in 1941.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Three decades later, Steiner was still practicing here.  He experienced an unusual incident on the afternoon of April 2, 1960.  Just as he was preparing to close his office at 2:10 that afternoon, a 23-year-old man walked in complaining about a sore foot.  He told Dr. Steiner that "he had a note from his mother," according to The New York Times.  Instead of producing a note, he pulled out a revolver.

"This is a stick-up," he announced, while pulling out a pair of handcuffs.  The Times said, "The hold-up man snapped one cuff around Dr. Steiner's wrist and the other around a steel bar on an operating table."  The young man removed Steiner's $50 wristwatch and rifled the doctor's coat, taking out $90 in cash.  The article said, "Next he asked the physician where he kept his narcotics.  Dr. Steiner said he had none."  

Twenty minutes after the robber fled, Byrdie arrived to find her husband handcuffed to the table.  She called the police, which summoned the Emergency Squad.  They cut the handcuffs with a hacksaw.  In all, said The New York Times, "Dr. Steiner had been handcuffed to the table forty-five minutes."

A renovation completed in 1985 resulted in a duplex apartment in the basement and parlor level, one apartment on the second, and another duplex on the third and fourth.  Rather remarkably, other than the replaced stoop ironwork and windows, the vintage house retains much of its 1860s appearance.

photographs by the author