photograph by Anthony Bellov
In the 1850s New York City had expanded northward into the Kips Bay district. Around 1855, a trio of Anglo-Italianate-style rowhouses was completed on East 32nd Street between Second and Third Avenues. The 16-foot wide homes were faced in brownstone and their rusticated bases featured fully arched openings. Cast iron balconies ran the width of the second floors, and graceful molded lintels sat upon the elliptically arched upper floor windows.
Born in 1827, Edgar F. Lasak was a partner with his father in the fur business F. W. Lasak & Son. He lived with his parents, Francis W. and Harriett D. Lasak, in their mansion at 292 Fifth Avenue until his marriage to Sarah Wright Seaman on April 24, 1855. Edgar took his bride to 130 East 32nd Street--the middle house of the newly built trio. (The address would be changed to 224 in 1865.)
The couple's only daughter, Margaret Seaman, was born in February 1856. The three did not fill the house, and an advertisement that year offered rooms to let in the "new English basement" residence. Their tenants in 1859, Francis M. and Kate S. Randell, suffered a painful loss. Their daughter, Mariana, died at the age of one-and-a-half on April 29.
The Lasaks left East 32nd Street in 1862, after which the residence was operated as a boarding house. Living here in 1863 were William Elmer and Catharine E. Poole, W. Cavener, and Benjamin B. Dewitt. Dewitt did not list a profession, suggesting he was retired.
Sadly, as had been the case with the Randells, on February 6, 1863 William and Catharine Poole's one-a-half-year-old son, William Elmer Poole, Jr., died here. His funeral was held in the parlor on February 8.
Six months later, W. Cavener's name was drawn in the Union Army's draft lottery.
The house became a private home when it was purchased by Joseph Seaich and his wife, the former Maria Griffith, in 1864. The couple had three children, Joseph Jr., Williams, and M. Adelaide, who was born in 1861. (Williams would later join his father's business.)
Born in 1811 in London, Joseph Seaich worked as a boy in the United States Hotel. Then, in 1836, he started a carriage line taking freight and passengers from the railway stations and boat landings to hotels. In 1857, Seaich opened a "large carriage stable," as described by The New York Times, on East 32nd Street. The newspaper would later said, "While the Prince of Wales, the Duke Alexis, and other notables were in this country, Mr. Seaich supplied them with coaches." By the time he moved his family into the East 32nd Street house, he had moved his business to East 82nd Street.
In 1869, the Seaich family moved to 47 East 31st Street. As was common at the time, rather than moving their things, they sold all the furnishings at auction. The announcement on April 13, 1869, listed expensive items like a Decker pianoforte, "rich rosewood Parlor Suits, in silk reps," a marble top etagere, and marble top tables.
The house was purchased by Augustus L. Rapp, a dealer "in fancy woods and veneers." He leased it to Mrs. Mary A. Howell, a widow, who operated it as a rooming house. An advertisement in the New York Herald on December 8, 1870 offered, "Furnished Rooms to let, to gentlemen; also a suit for a quiet couple, with breakfast for gentlemen if desired; house neatly furnished and convenient to [street] cars." (Why females were not offered breakfast is unclear.)
Mary A. Howell's roomers in 1872 were Merwin Deveau, Dr. J. Fitzgerald O'Connor, and George H. and Anna Bond Healy.
That year Augustus L. Rapp made renovations to the house. He explained to a judge later, "a cellar was built under the front part of my house; we dug out and built it." Among the workmen on the project was George Rose, a mason. On June 3, he left his wheelbarrow on the sidewalk. The New York Times reported, "A number of mischievous boys rolled away the barrow several times." Rose lost patience with the urchins and when he finally caught them moving his wheelbarrow, he "seized an ax and flung it at the nearest group of boys."
The ax struck Henry Burke, who was five-and-a-half years old. The little boy was not part of the gang, but was merely in the path of the flying weapon. Henry fell to the pavement with a fractured skull. Realizing what he had done, George Rose tried to leave, but the large group of adult witnesses stopped him. He "was compelled by the witnesses...to carry the boy into the nearest drug store," said The New York Times. Rose later took him to Bellevue Hospital where Henry Burke died.
Rose was arrested for manslaughter. In court on December 18, he swore that he "threw up his arms in order to frighten the boys from the wheelbarrow, when the ax slipped from his grasp accidentally, and struck [the] deceased." The testimonies of the numerous witnesses refuted his story. Rose was convicted and sent to prison for a year.
Mary A. Howell leased the house from Rapp until 1880. It continued to be operated as a rooming house by its new proprietor, Kate Howard.
Among her roomers in 1887 was the Krause family. On August 12, 1887, 16-year-old George W. Krause was run over by a furniture van driven by Alfred Dorche. The New York Times reported that Dorche, "injured him so badly that he died shortly afterward." Dorche was arrested for manslaughter.
An inquest was held on August 19. Former alderman Charles B. Waite had witnessed the accident. The New York Herald reported, "Mr. Waite said that he came 300 miles from Essex to testify that he saw the accident, and that in his opinion the driver, Alfred Dorche...was not to blame." The article concluded, "The jury exonerated the driver."
via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
The house continued as a rooming house into the Depression years. Andrew T. Hoffman lived here in 1936 when he suffered a gruesome death. He was in New Jersey on March 29 when he was "struck by a Pennsylvania Railroad train in Hamilton Township," according to The New York Times. The article said, "A briefcase near the body contained religious tracts. He was about 35 years old."
Carol Drosdick, who lived here in 1938, was described by The New York Sun as "an attractive brunette." The 24-year-old worked as a waitress and was dealing with a stalker--a former boyfriend. On July 18, Carol and her sister, Helen, were on their way to Brooklyn to visit another sister. On the 34th Street subway platform, Carol's stalker approached. He insisted that she go with him instead of accompanying Helen. "Angrily she ordered him to go away," reported The Sun.
The former boyfriend pulled out a knife and began stabbing her. He slashed her on the hand, the left shoulder and the lower part of her back. "As she fell to the platform, her assailant fled up the stairs into the street and disappeared," said the article. Carol was treated at St. Vincent's Hospital. Whether her attacker (whose name was withheld) faced justice is unclear.
A renovation completed in 1961 resulted in two duplex apartments. One of them was home to film maker and photographer Ralph Steiner and his wife, Caroline. Steiner was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1899. While living here, he created eight films under the grouping "The Joy of Seeing."
Ralph Steiner created this self-portrait (what today would be called a selfie) around 1930. from the collection of MoMA
On September 16, 1962, The New York Times reported that Steiner had announced the establishment of "The Photographs' Centre," described as "a nonprofit organization for teaching, lectures, print exhibits and services for photographers." Steiner headed the new organization.
Following Steiner's death in 1986, Ann Hoy of the International Center of Photography called him "a key figure in winning vanguard status for photography comparable to such painting movements as Cubism, Futurism and Constructivism and the last of the American Modernist photographers."
photograph by Anthony Bellov
A renovation completed in 2005 returned 244 East 32nd Street to a single family home.
many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post
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