In 1890, real estate operator Francis Joseph Schnugg completed construction of eight rowhouses on East 95th Street. Designed by Frank Wennemer, they started near Lexington Avenue and stretched westward toward midblock. The following year, Schnugg hired architect Louis Entzer, Jr. to design nine abutting houses that would fill the block to Park Avenue.
Completed in 1892, Entzer's row would compliment the earlier houses, while slightly exceeding them in visual interest. Like its architectural siblings, the easternmost, 127 East 95th Street, was three stories high above a basement. The undressed stone blocks and the heavy voussoirs over the arched parlor windows were Romanesque Revival in style. Above the double-doored entrance, a stained-glass transom incorporated the address.
Entzer gave the planar sandstone of the upper two floors interest by striating it with bands of rough cut stone. A sheet metal oriel dominated the second floor--its whimsical bosses along its base and the artistic panes of the upper sashes were Queen Anne in design. The architect continued to blend styles by placing Gothic Revival, square-headed drip moldings above the top floor windows. An elaborate and highly unusual pressed metal cornice completed the design.
Francis Joseph Schnugg and his family occupied 129 East 95th Street while this house was being constructed. Upon its completion, they moved in. Schnugg was born in 1859 and graduated from St. Francis Zavier College in 1882 and from Columbia Law School in 1883. While matriculating in the latter, he delved into real estate. It proved lucrative and he never used his law degree. Schnugg and his wife, Carrie H., had three children, Joseph F., Elsie and Marion.
Towards the turn of the century, Schnugg sold the 18-foot-wide house to Julius Doernberg and his wife, the former Ida Stern. Julius was born in Thüringen (today's Thuringia) Germany on May 7, 1848. He and Ida, who was 20 years younger than he, had five sons: Milton, Dudley, Edmund, Walter, and Arthur. The youngest, Arthur, was a toddler when the family moved in.
Julius Doernberg, The new York Lumber Trade Journal, November 1, 1908 (copyright expired)
Doernberg was the senior partner in the lumber and box manufacturing firm of Doernberg & Goodman. He came to America in 1866 and after working in the men's apparel business for years, organized Doernberg & Company in the 1880s. Henry D. Goodman partnered with him a few years later.
Like all well-to-do New Yorkers, the Doernbergs summered at fashionable resorts. On July 11, 1908, The New York Times remarked, "The Hotel Kaaterskill, always the centre of interest in the Catskills, is attracting more interest than ever because it is having the most brilliant social season in the history of the house." The article went on to list some of the distinguished guests that season, including Julius and Ida Doernberg and Arthur, who was now 15 years old.
It would be the last summer season Julius Doernberg would enjoy with his family. He died in the East 95th Street house at the age of 60 on October 24, 1908. His funeral, which was held in the parlor two days later, "was attended by a host of friends," according to The New York Lumber Trade Journal.
Six months later, on April 2, 1909, The New York Times reported that Doernberg's estate had sold 127 East 95th Street. It was purchased by William Pabst, the assistant cashier of the Second National Bank. He and his wife, Grace R., had two daughters, Elise and Grace.
William Pabst retired in 1923. In the meantime, the Pabst daughters had grown to young women. Lillian, for instance, attended the Barnard School for Girls and Columbia University. The New York Times would later say that she, "has traveled extensively in this country and abroad."
Two decades after moving in, William Pabst died "after a short illness," according to The New York Times, on March 1, 1929. Interestingly, his funeral was not held in the house, but at the Church of Our Lady of Esperanza, far north at 157th Street and Broadway.
image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
Rather shockingly, three months later--in the midst of the family's expected mourning period--on June 2 The New York Times reported, "Announcement has been made of the engagement of Miss Lillian Pabst, youngest daughter of Mrs. William Pabst, of 127 East Ninety-fifth Street, to William Paul Wilson."
The wedding took place in the drawing room on July 11, 1929. Frederick Pabst, William's brother, gave Lillian away. The New York Times noted, "Only relatives and a few intimate friends had been invited to the ceremony, owing to the recent death of the bride's father."
Grace R. Pabst remained at 127 East 95th Street through 1942. The following year artist and printmaker Karl Schrag occupied the house. Born in 1912 in Karlsruhe, Germany, he studied art in Germany, Switzerland and Paris. He arrived in New York City in 1938, entering the Art Students League. Among his fellow students there were artists Joan Miró, Jackson Pollock and Marc Chagall.
Karl Schrag, from the collection of the Dixie Art Colony Foundation.
While living here, in 1947 Schrag had a solo show at the Krauschaar Galleries. He would remain at 127 East 95th Street at least through 1959. Deemed by the National Gallery of Art as "among the most important printmakers in America during the 1950s," his works are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Brooklyn Museum and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
The Schnugg house remains a single-family house today. When it was placed on the market in 1999, the realtor touted the five-bedroom, three-bath home as having "original mahogany woodwork and detail."
photographs by the author
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