Rosario Candela's 1926 607 West End Avenue

 

image via streeteasy.com

Real estate developer Bernard Wilson commissioned the architectural firm of Thom & Wilson in 1887 to design a row of ten upscale houses at 601 through 619 West End Avenue between 89th and 90th Street.  The handsome, Renaissance Revival-style dwellings would become home to well-to-do families for decades.  But the post-World War I years saw nearly all the opulent private residences that lined the thoroughfare being replaced by apartment buildings.  

In 1925, the newly-formed 607 West End Avenue Corporation purchased and demolished the houses at 607 through 613 West End Avenue and hired architect Rosario Candela, known for his high-end apartment buildings, to design a replacement structure.  Plans were filed on August 12, 1925 and construction was completed in 1926.

The 16-story edifice cost $500,000 (about $8.9 million in 2026 terms) to construct.  Candela's subdued neo-Renaissance design included a two-story stone base.  Its centered entrance was flanked with highly unusual, double-height rusticated Corinthian pilasters that upheld a broken pediment that interrupted the second floor cornice.  An intricately carved,  Renaissance-inspired spandrel panel sat above the doorway.  The nearly unadorned Flemish bond brick midsection included stone balconies at the fourth floor.

The rusticated pilasters are highly unusual, if not unique.

The building opened in May 1926.  Describing an 11th floor suite as "an ideal apartment in a just completed house," an advertisement in the New York Evening Post on September 4 that year touted:

6 rooms, 2 baths, built-in shower, electric refrigeration, kitchen and pantry walls tiled, floor covered in inlaid rubber tiling, cedar and numerous other closets; other attractive features.

Society columns reported on the residents' marriages, births, engagements, travels and entertainments.  Such was the case on December 12, 1926 when the engagement of Harry Halbren to Eleanor Finn was announced.  Harry was the son of Jacob Halbren and the two were partners in the fixture company Jacob Halbren & Son.  Harry and Eleanor were married in her parents' home at 838 West End Avenue on January 11, 1927.

Jacob Halbren had six children with his late wife, Rosie.  When the family moved into 607 West End Avenue, he and his second wife, Pauline, had recently married.  Also living with them was at least one of Jacob's unmarried daughters, Gertrude.

On January 7, 1928, Jacob Halbren died in the Post-Graduate Hospital at the age of 63.  He left an estate of $250,000 (about $4.5 million today).  His will vividly disclosed tensions within the household.  On February 7, The New York Times titled an article, "Disappointed Husband Cut Off Wife In Will," and reported, "Because his recent marriage to her had not been 'productive of the happiness' he had 'anticipated,' Jacob Halbren, a retired businessman...cut off his second wife, Pauline Halbren."  The estate was divided among his six children with Pauline receiving nothing.

Gertrude Halbren remained in the apartment, presumably with her step-mother, for another year.  On June 9, 1929, The New York Times reported on her engagement to James Deyong "of London, England."

In the meantime, the William H. Rankin family were conspicuous initial residents.  Born in New Albany, Indiana in 1878, William brought his family to New York City in 1921 and opened an advertising agency, William H. Rankin Company.  It would eventually have offices in Chicago and London.

Rankin and his wife, the former Roberta Risk, had two daughters, Frances and Mary, and three sons, William Jr., Robert and Charles.

On October 1, 1927, the New York Evening Post reported that Frances H. Rankin had sailed for Europe that morning on the Homeric.  "She will go to Versailles, France, where she will attend the Finch School during the coming year," it said.  Young unmarried women did not travel unescorted and the article noted, "Miss Rankin will make the trip with Mrs. Horace Stilwell and Mr. and Mrs. Earl Stewart."

Interestingly, Frances remained abroad for the holidays.  On December 20, 1927, The New York Sun reported, "Mr. and Mrs. William H. Rankin and their three sons of 607 West End avenue sailed on Saturday on the Iroquois to pass the Christmas and New Year holidays in Miami, Palm Beach and Hollywood."

On July 26, 1929, The Christian Science Monitor ran a full-page article on "skyscape gardening."  It revealed to non-New Yorkers that "flowers and shrubs abound atop Manhattan apartments."  The article noted, "One of the finest terrace gardens in New York is the home of William L. Goodwin, head of Goodwin, Morton & Bradian, marketing counselors."

The Goodwins' 16-floor apartment had "a broad terrace on two sides of the building."  Comparing their garden as a "Babylonian King's terraces," the article said in part:

Along the outside edge of the setback a row of leafy shrubs and dwarf evergreen trees forms a pleasing border, the fresh green of which serves as a background for a generous sprinkling of Privet and Vincas, or red geraniums and purple and white petunias, of yellow and purple and pink hollyhocks.  On the inside--against the building--are many more varieties of green plants and flowers, morning glories, phlox, clematis and even sunflowers.

Living here at the time was the Simon Liebovitz family.  Born in Russia in 1854, Simon came to America as a boy "landing at the Battery virtually penniless," according to The New York Times.  He and his wife, Fannie, founded the Liebovitz Shirt Manufacturing Company in 1877.  The couple had six sons and a daughter.

The couple's small shirt company grew and by the time they moved into 607 West End Avenue it employed "several thousand persons and had factories in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee and Maryland," according to The New York Times on October 25, 1930.  

After the concern became self-sufficient, Fannie stepped away from the active operation and devoted herself to charitable and civic works.  She joined the Ladies Fuel and Aid Society and for years was president of the Reda Liebovitz Welfare League and the Regina Rose Aid Society.  The Liebovitz family were among the founders of the Society for the Advancement of Judaism.

Simon Liebovitz died in the apartment on October 24, 1930.  At the time of his death, three of his sons, Abraham, Harry and Ephraim were associated with the family business.  Fannie continued as its treasurer and a director.  Meyer Liebovitz still lived in the 607 West End Avenue apartment with his mother.  He was president of The John Forsythe Company, Inc., a men's and women's apparel firm.

Dr. Joseph Edwin Conroy and his wife, the former Ethel Palardy, were initial residents.  The couple had two children and living with them was Joseph's widowed mother, Winifred N. Moylan Conroy.

Conroy graduated from Fordham University in 1918 and served in the Navy in World War I.  He opened his medical office in 1920 specializing in cardiology, and was additionally on the staffs of Fordham and St. Elizabeth Hospitals.

Conroy's father, Edward, died around 1913.  Winifred Conroy was highly involved in civic affairs.  The honorary president of the Model Civic Club, she was active in the Federation of Women's Clubs and was chairman of that group's motion picture committee.  On June 19, 1933, Winifred Conroy visited her daughter and son-in-law in Brooklyn.  While there, she suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 62 years old.  Her funeral was held in the apartment here on June 13.

On March 9, 1939, The Sun reported that Attorney-General John J. Bennett Jr. was "making arrangements for his first real vacation since the world war."  The article said he would sail on the Transylvania for a 12-day cruise in the West Indies.  Among the close friends accompanying him, said the article were Dr. Joseph E. Conroy and his daughter, Joan.

At the time of the Conroys' vacation, a six-room apartment rented for $1,750 a year, and an eight-room suite for $2,400.  The more expensive rent would translate to about $3,250 per month today.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Among the Conroys' neighbors in the building was Ira S. Atkins, vice president of the Sterling National Bank and Trust Company; and real estate dealer and developer Isidor Williams and his wife, Lillian.

Born in 1896, Williams was president of the Sconat Realty Corporation and Williams Homes.  His firm erected several apartment buildings in Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx.  Among those was Queensbury Hall on Queens Boulevard.

Williams was driving along Grand Central Parkway in Queens on the night of October 28, 1948 with Lillian in the passenger seat when he suffered a heart attack.  The New York Times reported that Lillian "took the wheel and drove to City Hospital, where Mr. Williams was pronounced dead."

Harry Colton, a lingerie salesman, lived here at midcentury.  On the night of February 26, 1952, his body was found in a washroom on the sixth floor of the Empire State Building.  The New York Post reported, "There was a gunshot wound in his right temple.  A gun was on the floor near the body."  Police listed his death as suicide.

The Conroys were still living here at the time.  In December 1953, Dr. Joseph Edwin Conroy became ill and he died in St. Clare's Hospital on March 23, 1954.  

image via streeteasy.com

Rosario Candela's dignified design remains as stylish as it was 100 years ago when the first residents moved in.

many thanks to Dr. Sarah Stemp for requesting this post