The Cornelius Graham House - 218 West 20th Street

 

The door at lower right originally opened into a horsewalk.  photograph by Beyond My Ken

The families of Samuel Dearborn and John Gould shared the recently built house at 144 West 20th Street in 1847.  (The address would be renumbered 218 West 20th Street in 1865.)  The two men had much in common.  Dearborn was a shipmaster and Gould a steamboat captain.  The builder of the 25-foot-wide house straddled the Greek Revival and Italianate styles--the former was currently passing from favor and the latter quickly becoming the most popular domestic style.  

Three stories tall, its brownstone stoop with Italianate railings rose to a paneled door flanked by narrow pilasters which upheld a generous, three-paned transom.  The doorway, the simple brownstone lintels and sills, and the no-nonsense bracketed cornice were Greek Revival in style.

To the right of the stoop, a doorway opened into a horsewalk, or passage to the rear yard, where there was a secondary building.  John E. Caffrey operated his carpentry business there, specializing in making blinds and sashes.

Public pumps were dotted throughout residential districts, often in the middle of the street.  One of those sat directly in front the house.  It seems to have been an obstacle for Caffrey's wagons that brought supplies and removed finished goods.  On October 4, 1848, The Evening Post reported that he had petitioned the Board of Aldermen "to have pump removed and well filled, in front of lot No. 144 West 20th street."

As early as 1850, John E. C. G. Cooper and his wife occupied the house.  They had recently arrived in America and John worked as a steward while his wife operated her medical practice from the house.  Catering only to women patients, she advertised in the Sunday Dispatch on August 5, 1850:

Mrs. Cooper, hygeist and oculist, from Europe informs the afflicted that they may obtain her advice and pure Herb Medicines, at her office, No. 144 West Twentieth Street, N.Y., near 7th and 8th Avenues.  Mrs. C. has had 25 years practice, and has testimonies to prove that she succeeded in curing many cases which previously baffled the skill of the leading physicians of London and Dublin, and is now curing nine cases out of ten, by her superior treatment.

(It is unclear whether Mrs. Cooper invented the title "hygeist" or if it were merely a typo.)

John E. Caffrey's business flourished.  By 1855, David Flandreau was listed as working with him, and by 1859 Caffrey had expanded into construction.  On May 17, 1859, he advertised "the new finely finished four story basement and sub-cellar brick house" at 129 West 38th Street.  He boasted that it was "built in the best manner, and replete with all the modern improvements."

The main house was home to the Cornelius Graham family as early as 1864.  Cornelius worked as a clerk.  They occupied the top two floors while leasing the lower two.  Their advertisement in the New York Herald on September 19 that year offered, "To Let--First story and basement of house 144 West Twentieth street--four large rooms, five bedrooms, pantries, &c.  Rent $30 per month."

Living in the lower portion that year was Allan William, a teacher, and the following year, John Warren signed a lease.  The Civil War directly affected the household that spring.  On March 16, 1865, John Warren's name was pulled in the Union Army's draft lottery, and the next day the name of Cornelius Graham's son, listed only as P. Graham, was called.

The Grahams remained in the upper two floors and, little by little, raised the rent on the lower floors.  An advertisement in the New York Herald on May 30, 1865 listed "rent $38 per month.  Possession immediately."  Two years later, the rent had jumped to $55.  The price would translate to about $1,200 in 2026.

As early as 1868, Thomas Rusk, who lived on West 35th Street, had taken over the carpenter shop in the rear.  Around 1876, George Cavanagh and William Cameron took over the space, operating their Cameron & Cavanagh carpentry business.  And on February 1, 1880, J. E. Pearce and A. Lauzon partnered to form J. E. Pearce & Company, "to manufacture upholstered furniture," in the rear building, according to The Carpet and Upholstery Trade Review.  It noted that they made "principally lounges and couches."

In the meantime, among the tenants in the lower portion of the house in 1870 were Michael Donahue, who ran an ice business; and Samuel T. Munson, who was both a smith and a councilman.  Munson contracted "a severe illness," as described by the New York Herald, the following year, and died on June 6, 1871 at the age of 54.  His funeral was held in the house two days later.

The Grahams left West 20th Street that year and it appears that No. 218 became a rooming house throughout.  The tenant list was highly varied.  In 1876, it included James Carroll, a clerk; Michael and Thomas Cullen, an engineer and cartman respectively; Martin Maher, who ran a saloon; and Sarah Thompson, the widow of Dr. Joseph Thompson.

Starting around 1887, Philip and Mary Schmidt owned the property.  They converted the basement and parlor levels for factory purposes.  Cast iron piers were installed to support a storefront.  

In 1941, the stoop and railings were intact, as was the Greek Revival-inspired doorway.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The factory was leased by H. Y. Castner, who manufactured sodium.  In 1886, he had patented the "Castner's Process."  In his Aluminum; Its History, Occurrence, Properties, Metallurgy and Applications, Joseph William Richards quoted "one of the New York daily journals," which said, "Mr. H. Y. Castner, whose laboratory is at 218 West Twentieth Street, New York, has the first patent ever granted on this subject in the United States, and the only one taken out in the world since 1808."

Castner's "laboratory" had a decidedly industrial bent.  "The metal is reduced and distilled in large iron crucibles," said the article, "which are raised automatically through apertures in the bottom of the furnace, where they remain until the reduction is completed and the sodium distilled."

It appears that Philip Schmidt used part of the new space for his own manufacturing.  An article in The Independent Practitioner in May 1888 reported on improved "polishing wheels and points for cleansing teeth."  It said, "The manufacture of them has been placed with Philip Schmidt, 218 West Twentieth Street, New York, who is well known as a first-class repairer of dental instruments."

While the Schmidts occupied part of the upper floors, they continued to rent rooms.  William H. and Julia P. Ferre lived here in 1888 when the couple was drawn into a highly visible domestic case.  Ferre was a friend with Samuel Henry Agnew, described by The Sun as "a cloth merchant in Ireland, who is reputed to be a millionaire."  In 1883, Agnew married an American girl from Bowling Green, Virginia named Pauline and they had a son, Albert, Jr. the following year.

In May 1887, the family traveled from Ireland to Virginia to visit Pauline's family.  In August, Henry went back to Ireland on business and when he returned, 'he found that his wife had left Bowling Green with valuables belonging to him."  (The valuables were bonds worth $2,000, or about $68,000 in today's money.)  He tracked her as far as Texas, then went back to Bowling Green, Virginia and took four-year-old Alfred from his in-laws.  The Sun reported on October 4, 1888 that he "brought him to the house of a friend, William H. Fore [sic], who lives at 218 West Twentieth."

Pauline Agnew tracked her husband to New York City and filed charges against him for kidnapping.  The Evening World reported that Agnew was arrested in the restaurant of the St. Denis Hotel on October 3, 1888, but he "absolutely refused to reveal the whereabouts of little Albert."  Nevertheless, detectives had their suspicions.  The newspaper reported that they "had been on Agnew's track and had seen him enter 218 West Twentieth street, and it was supposed that the child was there at the residence of W. H. Ferre."

Pauline Agnew and her attorney took a carriage to West 20th Street.  The Evening World reported, "in passing No. 218 the mother caught a glimpse of her child in the window.  The woman screamed, leaped from the carriage and frantically demanded admission."  The boy was "snatched away from the window and the shade hastily drawn."  While Pauline banged on the door and cried loudly, a crowd gathered.  Finally, officers arrived and the boy was removed.

The Ferres were still living here when Julia suffered a fatal heart attack on the morning of October 23, 1890 at the age of 70.  By then, the tenant list of 218 West 20th Street was racially mixed.  

Living here the following year was Lewis Washington.  He attended a ball where he got into an argument with Winfield Pope White "about a colored woman," according to the New York Herald.  White threatened to kill Pope "on sight."  

On the night of January 17, White spied Washington at Macdougal and Houston Streets.  In 19th century racist terms, the New York Herald reported, "Pope armed himself, and as soon as he caught sight of his dusky rival waiting on the corner he began to shoot."  After firing off two shots, Pope fled.  When he ran into a policeman, he surrendered, saying he had shot a man, but did not know how badly he had injured him.  Amazingly, one shot had gone wild, and the other "struck a button on his coat and glanced off."  As a result of his heavy brass button, Lewis Washington was uninjured.

Philip Schmidt died around 1896 and in January 1905, Mary sold 218 West 20th Street to William Hoehn and his wife, Emma.  The Record & Guide reported that they "will occupy the premises after alterations."  

Those alterations had much to do with the factory portion, which became home to the W. Hoehn Iron Works.  William Hoehn was born in Prussia in 1840 and became a blacksmith upon his arrival in New York.  Now his foundry produced manhole covers, fire escapes, and other industrial products.

Emma Hoehn died at the age of 54 on March 12, 1908.  Her funeral was held in the upper portion of the building on the 15th.  

Architect Joseph Harding was hired in May 1912 to design a new storefront.  Rather surprisingly, throughout these several renovations, the stoop and original doorway were untouched.

As early as 1925, the John McCrossin, Sr. family lived here.  On March 3 that year, The New York Times reported that 17-year-old John McCrossin had been captured with two other teens "after an attempted hold-up at the jewelry store of Samuel Shisko" in Astoria, Queens.  When the trio pulled out a gun, Shisko yelled so loudly that a policeman half a block away heard him.  He captured the boys as they ran out of the store.

The family was still here five years later when Mrs. McCrossin's letter to the Rinso laundry soap company was used in an advertisement.  She raved, "There's no scrubbing to wear out the clothes--they last much longer now."

Following William Hoehn's death in 1921, the firm continued at 218 West 20th Street.  After operating nearly half a century at the address, it closed in 1955.  That year, in April, the property was sold to Arthur Reich.

A renovation initiated in 2018 resulted in residential units throughout.  The factory front was converted to windows, and the former entrance to the rear yard became a door.  There are three apartments in the building today.  And while its lower portion smacks of a Mondrian composition, the upper floors retain their early 19th century appearance.