A century of wear had worn down the brownstone steps when H. Shobbrook Collins took this photograph in March 1921 (cropped). from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.
Reverend Rowan Desbrosses and his family rented the newly built house at 59 Carmine Street as early as 1827. As was common in the early 19th century, when they moved out, they sold much of their furnishings to start over in their new home. An announcement of the auction to be held here on August 30, 1828 listed:
...part of the furniture of a family breaking up housekeeping, consisting of carpets, chairs, settees, bureaus, bedsteads, looking glasses, &c., with a general assortment of kitchen furniture. Also 1 superb mantle clock.
The house which the Desbrosses family left was typical of the scores brick-faced, Federal-style homes that exploded in Greenwich Village following the yellow fever epidemic that broke out in New York City to the south in 1822. Twenty-five-feet wide and two-and-a-half stories tall, its Flemish bond brickwork was trimmed in brownstone. Two dormers would have pierced the peaked roof in the front and, likely, just one in the rear.
The Desbrosses family was, most likely, the first of a series of tenants who rarely remained more than a year or two. Over the subsequent decades, a variety of renters occupied the house, including Joseph Spencer, who lived here in 1830. He worked as a "city scaler," or a street sweeper.
Around 1842, the Hiram Youngs family moved in. Born in 1795, Youngs worked as a clerk (a nebulous term that ranged from a low level shop worker to an highly responsible position in an office or bank). Early in their residency, on July 29, 1843, he and his wife, the former Sophia Perrine, had a son, Theophilus. Their other children were Henry, Sophia, Elizabeth and Francis.
Hiram Youngs died in 1851. The family remained in the Carmine Street house until about 1856, when Sophia took her sons (Sophia and Francis were apparently married) to live on West 26th Street.
In 1857, the house was operated as a boarding house. Among the residents were Arabella Willard, the widow of Dr. Moses Willard; Daniel R. Butts, who listed his profession as "merchant;" and John N. Edwards, "cider." Edwards's cider factory was on South Street.
Arabella's residency would be short-lived. She died in the house on December 30, 1858 at the age of 90. Her funeral was held in the parlor on January 3.
The Civil War personally affected several boarders here. On August 19, 1863, the names of William Seers and J. M. Andrews were pulled in the Union Army's draft lottery, and on March 15, 1865, W. A. Cussad suffered the same fate. (Happily for Cussad, the Confederate Army surrendered a month later.)
In 1867, brothers Joseph and Richard Lamb moved their decorating firm into the lower portion of the house. They had established the firm in 1857, specializing on ecclesiastic work.
Trow's New York City Director, 1870-71 (copyright expired)
Joseph George and Richard Lamb were born in 1833 and 1836 respectively. Richard, who was unmarried, moved into the upper portion of the Carmine Street house with his brother's family. Joseph had married Eliza Rollinson on April 19, 1855. When they moved in, they had five children: Salom, Osborn Rennie, Charles Rollinson, Frederick Stymetz and Richard. (Salom was ten years old and Richard was one.)
Richard married around 1870. Tragically his wife soon died, likely in childbirth. And on February 9, 1871, The New York Times reported that William Cokelet Lamb, "infant son of Richard Lamb," had died, too. His funeral was held in the house that day. (Richard would not remarry until 1904.)
By then, the Lamb brothers had established a nation-wide reputation and garnered comfortable personal incomes. In 1872, they moved into side-by-side houses across the street--Joseph and his family into 84 Carmine Street and Richard into 86.
In May 1876, the Lambs hired the architectural firm of Jeans & Taylor to raise the attic of 59 Carmine Street to a full floor. At the same time, they remodeled the facade to reflect J. & R. Lamb's ecclesiastical work. The two parlor windows were replaced with a single, tripartite opening with Gothic-arches under a projecting hood topped with a crocket. A steep, shingled hood with exposed struts protected the doorway. Two of the second-floor openings were combined, its grouped windows separated by engaged Gothic-inspired columns. Similar colonnettes, which sat upon foliate brackets, flanked both openings. They supported overhanging shingled roofs. Interestingly, Janes & Taylor gave the top floor windows paneled lintels, expected in the original Federal examples. A neo-Grec cornice completed the renovations, which cost the Lambs the equivalent of $36,200 in 2026.
The house was flanked by horsewalks, or passages to the rear, making 59 Carmine Street free-standing. photo by H. Shobbrook Collins from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.
J. & R. Lamb created complete church interiors--pews, altars, murals and stained-glass windows, for instance.
President James A. Garfield was assassinated in 1881. His summer home was in Long Branch, New Jersey and on February 4, 1882, the New-York Tribune reported, "The Garfield Memorial Window that is to be placed in St. James's Protestant Episcopal Church, at Long Branch, by the parishioners of that church, was exhibited yesterday at the rooms of the designers and makers, J. & R. Lamb, No. 59 Carmine-st." The Lambs designed the window to capture "the last act of public worship by the late President, for he attended the services at St. James's on Sunday, June 26."
The J. & R. Lamb business was such that in 1887, the brothers enlarged 59 Carmine Street with an addition to the rear. Even that would not be sufficient, and in 1893 they expanded into a second location at 325 Sixth Avenue.
By that time, Joseph's children were actively involved in the firm. Charles was an architect, chiefly designing church buildings; his wife, Ella Condie Lamb, was an artist and stained-glass designer; Frederick was an artist and designer; and Osborn worked in the "furniture" department.
Charles Rollinson Lamb's architectural talents are reflected in this reredos. Year Book of the Architectural league of New York, 1904 (copyright expired)
A bizarre incident occurred in the winter of 1899. A package was delivered to 59 Carmine Street addressed "to Richard Lamb, of the firm of J. & R. Lamb, church furnishers and decorators," as reported by the New York Journal and Advertiser. Inside were cough drops. An identical package was received by Max Stark, the proprietor of the Cosmopolitan Cafe on Second Avenue.
Both men were suspicious and on March 22, the New York Journal and Advertiser reported that Captain McClusky of the Detective Bureau, "had forwarded the cough drops...to Professor Witthaus to be analyzed." The New York Herald reported on April 2, "The candy on examination proved to have been sprinkled with yellow prussiate of potash."
The perpetrator was not difficult to find. Charles Freeman, a 39-year-old peddler, "notified a newspaper that the candy was poisoned and gave the addresses...to whom he had sent the stuff," said the New York Herald. Freeman was arrested "charged with being a suspicious person, and seems to be insane."
This Kansas City church window was designed by Frederick Stymetz Lamb in 1903. Year Book of the Architectural league of New York, 1904 (copyright expired)
Joseph George Lamb died in 1898 at the age of 64, and Richard died on March 24, 1909 at the age of 74. That year the firm moved exclusively into the Sixth Avenue building and leased 59 Carmine Street to builder Edward Jeans. It was rented by several subsequent firms, including Pasqualla Lobasso & Co. in 1919, and the Western Parquet Flooring Company the following year.
The Lamb family sold 59 Carmine Street to Anthony Ferdano in February 1921. It and the house next door at 61 Carmine were demolished to make way for a six-story apartment building completed in 1926.
image via loopnet.com
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