An unfortunate coat of white paint covers the beige brick of the upper floors, seen in the neighboring house to the right.
On December 20, 1890, the Real Estate Record & Guide opined, "It would not be unjust to others to state that no firm of builders in New York City is better known than that of Chas. Buek & Co." The article added, "Messrs. Buek & Co. always draw the plans for their own buildings, the firm being architects as well as builders." Two months later, on February 21, 1891, the journal reported on the firm's next project, saying that Charles Buek & Co. "will shortly commence the erection of six four-story brick and limestone front dwellings on the south side of 87th street, 100 feet east of Columbus Avenue."
Charles Buek & Co. designed the row, which stretched from 48 to 58 West 87th Street, as three mirror-image pairs. Nos. 56 and 58 shared a split stoop, the steps of which branched off to the east and west half way down. Like its architectural sibling, the Romanesque Revival design of 56 West 87th Street featured rough-cut stone at the basement and parlor levels and beige brick at the upper floors. A blustraded oriel dominated the second floor and a triple arcade at the third wore a continuous stone eyebrow. A full-width, brick-faced gable fronted the slate singled mansard.
The 20-foot-wide residence became home to the family of Peter K. Wilson. A widower, Wilson was born in Scotland on August 27, 1825 and came to New York City at the age of 15. By the time he was 21, he had started his own business, and in 1867 went into partnership, creating J. B. McBurnie & Co. (It was described by the Dry Goods Reporter as "manufacturers and importers of laces, embroideries and white goods.") Upon his partner's retirement, Wilson renamed the firm P. K. Wilson. He established the first American-owned lace factory in France, and was awarded the grand cross of the Legion of Honor from the French Government for promoting trade between the two countries.
Peter K. Wilson, Dry Goods Economist, December 20, 1913 (copyright expired)
Living with Peter Wilson in the West 87th Street house were his two single children, Samuel M. and Agnes Elizabeth, and his married son, William B. and his wife. When Samuel joined his father's firm, the name was again changed--now to P. K. Wilson & Son. Later William entered the business as general manger.
The Wilsons maintained a small domestic staff. In April 1893, they were searching for two replacements. Their advertisement in the New York Herald read, "Wanted--A cook, who is a good laundress, in a small family; also a girl to do chamberwork and waiting; German or Swede preferred."
The drawing room was the scene of Agnes Elizabeth's marriage to William Sanford Boyden on December 21, 1898.
Around Thanksgiving 1913, Peter Wilson retired at the age of 89. Two weeks later, on December 9, he died in the West 87th Street house of pneumonia. In reporting his death, the Dry Goods Reporter remarked, "Mr. Wilson had long been regarded as an expert on laces and embroideries." Somewhat surprisingly, his funeral was not held in the drawing room, but at the West Park Presbyterian Church.
William B. Wilson and his wife continued to occupy 56 West 87th Street. By 1914 they had changed from horse-drawn vehicles to an automobile and that year William owned a Renault.
Wilson sold the house in March 1924 to Baron Gennaro Mario Curci. Born in Rome on September 19, 1888, he relocated to New York City in the mid-1910s. Trained in voice at the Royal Academy of Rome, Curci ran his operatic vocal coaching studio in the house.
The New York Courier, March 1925 (copyright expired)
In its September 1924 issue, the Musical Advance announced, "Maestro G. M. Curci, the well-known vocal teacher and operatic coach, has removed to 56 West 87th Street, where he has resumed his individual teaching and classes, and is prepared to receive applications from those wishing to study with him."
Gennaro Mario Curci, Musical Courier, October 31, 1918 (copyright expired)
Curci branched into playwriting and in 1928 his play Barbara was produced in Naples and Havana. It earned him first prize in a competition arranged by Le Cronache Letterarie e Teatrioli, a theatrical review of Naples. On June 17, 1929, The New York Times reported, "Mme. Annie Mork, Finnish actress, who has been visiting in this country, was the guest of honor Saturday at a reception and supper given by Baron Gennaro M. Curci at his home, 56 West Eighty-seventh Street...She will appear [at the Abo Theatre in Abo, Finland] in September in the title role of 'Barbara,' by Baron Curci."
It had not taken long for Broadway producers to take notice. A week before that article, The New York Times reported that William H. Leahy had announced that Barbara would be staged on Broadway "early next October."
Before long, it was Curci himself who was before audiences. Motion picture director David Burton met him at a social function and was impressed with his voice and stature. He cast him in a leading role in the 1935 film The Melody Lingers On. It changed the vocal coach's life. Curci went on to be a character actor in more than 30 feature films. His new career took him from West 87th Street to Hollywood and by 1941 No. 56 was home to wine dealer Emil Marak.
The natural brick can be seen in this 1941 image. via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
In the 1960s, the house was operated as unofficial apartments. In the summer of 1967, a two-and-a-half-room apartment was rented to Gary Spring, who was only 19 years old. Spring's actual home was in Bayside, Queens. The Long Island Star-Journal explained that the teen did not intend to live here, but rented it "because the 'heat on dope parties in Queens" was getting too intense.
Spring was the leader of eight youths who were involved in the selling and using of marijuana, LSD and other drugs. Spring's plan of hiding his operation in a Manhattan apartment did not work. The Long Island Star-Journal said that two Narcotics Squad detectives infiltrated the ring by one of them "posing as a beatnik and another by posing as a Queens College student."
A 2:00 on the morning of June 21, 1967, detectives raided the apartment and arrested eight youths, including Gary Spring. Seven were charged with possession of marijuana and loitering "for the purpose to buy or use narcotics." Spring was charged with additional charges of "possession of LSD and maintenance of a place for the purpose of using narcotics."
photographs by the author
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