The Paul Rudolph House - 23 Beekman Place

 

The two-block long Beekman Place was opened in 1860.  Running from 49th to 51st Street, it sat on land that had formerly been the Beekman family's country estate.  On December 18, 1865, former Methodist minister Samuel W. Dunscomb purchased the land from James W. Beekman for $127,500, or just over $2.5 million in 2026 terms.  (Beekman retained possession of the narrow strip of land along the river.)  Dunscombe erected a stone retaining wall and began erecting 20-foot-wide rowhouses on both sides of Beekman Place.  The high-stooped residences were four-stories tall and shared a continuous cornice.

Dr. John Jay Higgins and his wife, the former Maria Briggs, moved into 23 Beekman Place.  The second house north of East 50th Street, its rear garden sloped to the riverfront.  Moving in with the couple, who were married on April 24, 1850, were Maria's parents, William D. and Mary Major Briggs.

Born in 1827, Higgins graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1850.  When he first moved into 23 Beekman Place, he operated a pharmacy.  His advertisement on November 22, 1870 in the New York Herald offered, "A drug store, the largest, most extensive and finest on First avenue, for sale, to a cash customer; an unexampled opportunity."

Mary Major Briggs died at the age of 81 on May 7, 1870.  Her funeral was held in the parlor two days later.  

Despite the breezes and views that had first prompted wealthy New Yorkers to build lavish country estates above the river, Beekman Place residents in the last quarter of the 19th century dealt with the abattoirs across the river.  On February 24, 1881, The New York Times reported on complaints "against the bone-boiling and other nuisances of Hunter's Point and vicinity."  The article mentioned, "Dr. J. J. Higgins, of No. 23 Beekman-place, reported that the stenches were most powerful in the Summer, but were by no means limited to that season."  And on the same day, the New York Herald quoted him saying, "Frequently I have had to leave my house and drive to another portion of the city."

In the meantime, Higgins regularly contributed articles and papers to medical journals.  By the last decade of the 19th century, he and Maria maintained a summer estate in Connecticut where he practiced his avocation of photography.  In its May 1892 issue, Scientific American, Architects and Builders Edition remarked, "In addition to his rare accomplishments as a physician and surgeon, the doctor is an amateur photographer of rare skill."

23 Beekman Place, the second house from the right, originally resembled the high-stooped brownstones at the north of the block, seen here on September 20, 1927.  from the collection of the New York Public Library.

John Jay Higgins died at the age of 79 on August 28, 1906.  His funeral was held in the house two days later.  Maria L. Higgins almost immediately left the residence.  One month to the day after Higgins's funeral, she sold the house to Charles Philip Schmid.  (Schmid's middle name was sometimes reported as "Pin.")

Born in Ulm, Germany around 1855, Schmid came to America at the age of 13.  He married Marie Louis Weisendanger in April 1877.  The couple had six surviving children when they moved in: Charles Philip, Ernest Emmel, Robert Major, Agnes Henrietta, Emeline Elise and Walter Arnsdale.

Schmid was secretary of the Schaefer Brewing Company, having joined the firm in 1884.  He would not enjoy his new home for especially long.  On December 30, 1911, the New York Herald reported that he had died in the residence after a short illness.

Still living in the house with Maria were Robert, Walter, and Emeline.  Walter became a hero in the spring of 1915.  On May 24, The New York Herald reported, "The cry of 'Man overboard!' was heard by Walter A. Schmid in his home, at No. 23 Beekman place, yesterday."  He ran down the slope to the pier at East 49th Street and leaped into the East River to rescue William Grist.  The man had fallen asleep on the pier and rolled off.

Schmid reached him as he "was sinking."  He kept Grist's head above water and treaded until a boat from the Life Savings Corps reached him.  Although Grist's lungs were filled with water, he was revived at Blackwell's Island.  The article said, "In a similar circumstance, Schmid saved another man in the same place last August."

Emeline Elise was married to William Claxton Dooris in March 1920.  It is unclear how the two met, since Dooris worked for the British Government in India.  The Sun said, "After an extended honeymoon, which will include a trip through Egypt, Mr. Dooris and his bride will live in Nasik and Bombay."

It was likely the Schmids who removed the stoop of their house.  By the time of Emeline's wedding, 23 Beekman Place was a two-family home--what today we would call a duplex and a triplex apartment.

Maria Louise Schmid advertised the house for sale in 1921.  Her advertisement in the New York Herald on April 10 read:

Four story and basement brownstone front two family house, 14 rooms, 2 baths; electric light, steam heat; quiet neighborhood in restricted section.  Rear overlooks East River, with unobstructed view; $32,000.  Schmid, 23 Beekman place (East 50th st.).

The price would translate to about $561,000 in 2026.  It reflected the transformation within the neighborhood that started when millionaires began remodeling nearby similar houses into mansions, creating exclusive Sutton Place.

On April 1, 1922, the New-York Tribune reported that Maria had sold the house to Guthrie McClintic.  Interestingly, a stipulation in the transaction apparently allowed Maria Louise Schmid to remain here.  She would die in the house at the age of 68 on November 27, 1927.

A theatrical producer and stage director, McClintic and his wife, actress Katharine Cornell, were both born in 1893.  He would produce every play in which Cornell starred beginning in 1925.  A leading lady, Katharine Cornell would later earn the title, "First Lady of the Theatre."  

Four months before purchasing 23 Beekman Place, The Dover Road opened at the Bijou Theatre.  It was McClintic's directorial debut and would become a smash hit.  An article about Guthrie McClintic in the November 1922 issue of National Magazine commented, "The atmosphere of his home at 23 Beekman Place is electrifying with everything that makes life worth while."

Following Maria Schmid's death, the couple returned 23 Beekman Place to a single-family home.  In 1929, they hired architect Franklin Abbott to renovate the interiors and exterior.  He remodeled the ground floor with rusticated stonework and arched openings.  Cast iron Juliette balconies were applied to the second floor and a metal mansard installed.  The ground floor was extended at the rear and the garden girded by walls.

The couple descended a few steps into the former English basement level to enter the home.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

On December 17, 1939, The New York Times reported that The Dover Road was still playing.  "The curfew will be muted at 23 Beekman Place next Saturday night, magnums will boil, dulcimers will be whanged and the welkin shivered, for Guthrie McClintic will be celebrating the eighteenth anniversary of the opening of 'The Dover Road,' first play carrying his managerial and directorial stamp to enchant this bus-strewn island."  The article noted, "One of the fruits of 'The Dover Road' is 23 Beekman Place, his handsome five-story home."

McClintic and Cornell in their Beekman Place library.  from the collection of the New York Public Library.

On May 27, 1955, The New York Times reported that 23 Beekman Place had been sold.  "It formerly was owned by Katharine Cornell, the actress," said the article.  Five years later, on January 13, 1960, the newspaper reported that the house had been resold, saying the buyer "will convert it into apartments, including a duplex suite for his own occupancy."

The owner was Antoinette Trombetta Marsicano who moved in with her daughter, Dr. Philomena R. Marsicano.  The widow of concert harpist Vincent Marsicano, Antoinette was founder and president of Antoinette of the Plaza, a hairdressing salon, and the Antoinette Beauty Salon, Inc. on West 38th Street.  Philomena was an attorney and she established the Marsicano Foundation.

Among the Marsicano's tenants was architect Paul Rudolph, who moved in in 1961.  He originally used the apartment as his New York pied-à-terre while he chaired the Department of Architecture at Yale University.  The apartment became his primary residence in 1965.

Paul Rudolph purchased 23 Beekman Place in 1976 for $300,000, according to Timothy M. Rohan's The Architecture of Paul Rudolph.  The price would equal $1.65 million today.  Rohan writes, "Work began in 1977, when Rudolph demolished his fourth-floor apartment (it was too idiosyncratic for a rental unit) and began building the rooftop addition."  The sculptural penthouse level was completed in 1982.  At the rear, he installed a series of what one critic called a "jungle gym" of metal, geometric balconies.

The complex of rear balconies can be glimpsed from East 50th Street.

Rudolph completely redesigned the interior spaces.  Writing in House & Garden in January 1988, architect and critic Michael Sorkin called the penthouse "one of the most amazing pieces of modern urban domestic architecture produced in this country."

Paul Rudolph died on August 8, 1997, having gained the esteem of architectural critics world-wide.  Nevertheless, his interior sense of design over function was sometimes problematic, at least for one person.  

On December 3, 1998, The New York Times reported, "Modernism can be dangerous.  Just ask Cremilda Conceicao, whose forehead and sweat pants bear the battle scars of 14 years of cleaning the see-through elevator, transparent sinks and 17 levels of Plexiglas walkways and mirrored I-beams that snake bewilderingly through the late architect Paul Rudolph's Beekman Place triplex, perhaps the city's most stunning apartment."

Cremilda recounted how earlier that week, she almost fell off a balcony while trying to clean a Plexiglas platform "that serves as the head-grazing ceiling for one level and the floor of the level above," said the article.  At the time of the article, the house was on the market for $5.65 million.  

The Paul Rudolph Penthouse & Apartments was designated an individual New York City Landmark on November 16, 2010.

photographs by the author