Mary Ellison Lacour occupied the recently-built two-and-a-half story house at 247 East Houston Street in 1834. She was the widow of Peter Lacour, who was one of the incorporators in 1801 of the French Church Du St. Esprit. The couple had at least one child, Mary, born on December 26, 1786.
Eighteen-feet wide, Mary's Federal-style house was faced in Flemish bond brick. The openings wore paneled brownstone lintels and the peaked attic featured two dormers. In the rear yard was a secondary house, used as rental income. Among Mary's tenants in 1834 included Elisha Hebbard, who ran a stables; glasscutter Philip McCready; Christian Clink, a carter; and butcher Henry Cornell.
By 1844, both houses had multiple residents. Living in the main house were John Brown and Michael Lander, who had similar professions. They listed themselves as "mariner" and "boatman," respectively. Also in the front house were Henry Snyder, who ran a porterhouse; and shoemaker Abraham Willis. The rear house was occupied by two widows, Maria Beal and Eliza Jones; Dennis Needham, a "pedler;" and James Valleau, "segarmaker."
Change came to the main house when Morton Hildebrandt converted the basement level for his candy store. He and his family lived above the shop and were the only occupants in the building. The Hildebrandt family was replaced by that of Xavier Vallet, who also took over the confectionery store. Following Xavier's death in 1858, his widow, listed as "F. Vallet," lived here and ran the store at least through 1860.
For years after Mrs. Vallet left, the house was shared with two families at a time. In 1863, for instance, Isaac Durlach, a glue manufacturer; and Joseph N. Oettinger (apparently retired) occupied it. The former candy store became home to Meier Katz's plumbing shop, which would remain through 1877.
The main house became a single-family home again when John Roesch leased it around 1879 and opened his barbershop here. It was possibly at this time that the attic was raised to a full floor. Interestingly, the builder took care to mimic the Federal style lintels. Brick dentils ran below the new cornice.
In the fall of 1882, Roesch and his wife wrote to England and invited Philomena Grainal (or Grainel) to live with them. The 15-year-old was John Roesch's niece. Described by the New-York Tribune as, "very pretty," she arrived in October and found work as a domestic in "a respectable family at $8 a month," according to the newspaper. (Her pay would translate to about $253 per month in 2025.)
On Sunday morning, April 29, 1883, Philomena left home and "took along with her an extra dress," according to the family. She never returned. Four days later, the New York Herald reported, "An alarm was sent out last night directing the police to look for Philopena [sic] Grainel, fifteen years old, who has been missing since Sunday morning." The Roesch family suspected foul play, since, as reported by the New-York Tribune, she "is considered to be a respectable girl."
Police found Philomena on May 4, but they withheld her location. Police Superintendent Walling said, "she does not wish her relatives to know where she is, because she says she was ill-treated by them." Walling investigated the circumstances and concluded, "As there is no evidence that her aunt has any lawful authority over her, I have concluded to respect the girl's wishes."
Around the time of the incident, John Roesch purchased 247 East Houston Street.
Charles Wesself lived at the address in 1892, most likely in the rear house. On July 22, 1892, The Evening World reported that the 37-year-old, "fell down stairs at his residence at 10.30 o'clock this morning and was instantly killed."
In 1896 Roesch leased the barbershop to the Archer Mfg. Co. It appears that, although retaining possession of the property, John Roesch and his family moved out in 1897. That year he rented the property to Dr. Moritz Schwartz for "3 years with 2 years' privilege."
Dr. Schwartz converted the former barbershop space to his dental office. He seems to have had trouble keeping an assistant, and repeatedly placed ads for a replacement. On May 2, 1899, for instance, he advertised, "Dentist; good all-around man; short hours," and on August 6, 1901 sought, "Dentist--All-around dentist; short hours, well paid."
A tenant in the upper portion of the building gave a glimpse into the neighborhood in her letter to the editor of the New York Evening Journal in January 1898:
There is a family residing at No. 168 Ridge street that are in dire distress--a father, mother and seven children, and an old grandmother. I did, and do, all I can for them, but I have my own people to look after. Knowing what you do for the poor, I thought I would ask you to help them a little.Mary De Gamo, No. 247 East Houston street, New York
The Goodwin family rented rooms here in 1902. The Evening World described their 12-year-old son, Henry, as a "venturesome youth." Henry was celebrating New Year's Eve when he saw an automobile with well-dressed partiers break down at Houston and Essex Streets. Despite the crowd on the sidewalks, while repairs were being made to the car, Henry "snatched a chatelaine bag Miss [May] Lewis wore and slashed at Miss Lewis's hand with a long knife." The Sun explained, "Miss Lewis wore diamond rings. Apparently the boy tried to cut off the ring finger on her hand."
May Lewis's finger was deeply slashed. "The boy gave the hand a yank and then, when he failed to get the rings, ran off." A policeman quickly caught and arrested Henry. The Sun reported, "The whole automobile party went to the station." The article said that while she was making the complaint, "Miss Lewis's hand was bleeding so profusely that she became faint."
In 1906, John Roesch updated the house. He hired architect O. Reissmann to install plumbing (including toilets) and to replace windows. The renovations cost him $500, or about $18,000 today.
With Morris Schwartz's dental office gone, the basement level became the Fly Leaf Social Club. On December 1, 1913, The New York Call reported on illegal Manhattan gambling houses. "Dollar John" Langer ran an operation at 248 East Houston Street and was implicated in the murder case of bookmaker Herman Rosenthal in 1912. The article said, "Last week Deputy Commissioner Newburger raided a place across the street, at 247 East Houston street, just to convince Dollar John that the police were not joking with him."
Gangster Abraham "Little Doggie" Ginsberg lived here in the early 1920's. In May 1923, his brother Henry, was arrested for stabbing Abraham Aadbaum. Abe Ginsberg appeared at the courthouse for his arraignment on May 21 and got into a fistfight with Aadbaum supporters on the sidewalk. After the arraignment, according to The New York Times, "Court had been hardly cleared...when there came sounds of another scuffle outside the building. When the combatants, Abraham Ginsberg and Albert Aaronson, once more had been separated it was found that one of Ginsberg's eyes was badly injured." Ginsberg was jailed for three days.
In May 1926, the Fly Leaf Social Club was raided and 18 men were arrested for illegal gambling. Surprisingly, Magistrate Weil condemned the police officers rather than the patrons. He said, "This is outrageous. What right have the police to invade an old-established club and harass law abiding men?" The patrons were released.
Among the groups that used the Fly Leaf Social Club space for their meetings during the early Depression years was the Downtown Local of the Alteration Painters Union. They would soon have to find new accommodations. In 1936 an alteration merged 247 East Houston Street with the corner building. The ground floor became the showroom and office of Steinberg & Dubin monuments.
Steinberg & Dubin installed a massive blade sign on the facade and removed the cornices of both buildings. via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
While the monument showroom remained at street level, a renovation in 1964 resulted in apartments on the upper floors.
The Steinberg & Dubin showroom had its few moments of fame in 2007. A chase scene within the episode "There's No 'We' Anymore" of The Naked City television series took place among the headstones.
photograph by Carole Teller
The scene could not have been filmed a few months later. A large sign attached to the facade that September read, "Coming Soon. Remedy Diner." After decades of displaying tombstones, the space was renovated with a pseudo-Art Deco storefront. Remedy Diner remains in the space.
non-credited photographs by the author
many thanks to Carole Teller for suggesting this post
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