Perhaps the most prolific architect working in the Upper West Side in the late 19th century was Clarence Fagan True. Known for his often lighthearted take on historic styles, in 1891 he was hired by developers T. A. Squier and William E. Lanchantin to design ten upscale homes on West 104th Street--numbers 304 through 322--West End Avenue and Riverside Drive.
Construction was completed in 1892. True created an architecturally harmonious row. Sitting atop high English basements, each house was three stories tall with an attic. Designed in a contemporary take on Romanesque, True visually connected them with stone railings that protected sleeping porches at the attic level. The carved scrolls of the railing's identical panels were, in fact, back-to-back serpents.
The basement of the easternmost residence, 304 West 104th Street, was faced in rough cut stone. A wing-walled stoop led to the arched entrance that sat beside a full-height, two-bay wide projecting section. The strikingly spartan parlor level was faced in planar brownstone. The second and third floors were clad in variegated beige Roman brick accented by brownstone quoins. A shallow mansard was pierced with a single brick dormer.
The house initially saw a rapid turnover in owners. In May 1893, William Lanchantin sold it to F. Milton Welch, who resold it the next month to Sarah J. Lozier. Sarah sold the residence seven months later, in January 1894, to Moritz Arthur Gottlieb for $27,250. The price would translate to about $1 million in 2026.
Moritz (who sometimes anglicized his name to Maurice) would share his new house with his brother, Dr. J. Adelphi Gottlieb. Both were fascinating figures.
Moritz and J. Adelphi Gottlieb were born in Vienna, Austria in 1856 and 1870 respectively. Moritz was described by Herringshaw's Library of American Biography as, "artist, founder, antiquarian, author." Around 1880 he became manager of the art department of Puck magazine. A Masonic master, he wrote The History of the Rite of Memphis. Herringshaw's recorded, "He is a noted collector of antiquities; a member of the Geographical Society; was treasurer of the Medico-Legal Laboratory; is a life member of the Society of Science, Letters and Art of London, England; and vice-president of its American branch."
Moritz Arthur Gottlieb Herringhaw's Library of American Biography, (copyright expired)
His brother was a physician, scientist and author. Educated in the German-American Institute and the State University of New York, after receiving his medical degree J. Adelphi Gottlieb became director and professor of micro-medicine in the New York Medico-Legal Institute. There he oversaw the "laboratory of scientific technology," where work known today as criminal forensics was done. The American Public Health Association's listing of members gave his title as "professor [of] forensic medicine."
In 1900 the brothers established the National Volunteer Emergency-Service Medical Corps. In its December issue that year, The Druggists Circular and Chemical Gazette reported, "This unwieldy title is the name of an organization with headquarters at 304 West One-Hundred-and-Fourth street...of which Surgeon-Major-General J. Adelphi Gottlieb, M. A., M. D., LL.D, is commandant director general."
In forming the organization, the Gottliebs were preparing for the worst. The article explained, "The object of the corps is to render prompt aid in time of pestilence, catastrophe, war, etc." They were actively recruiting, "civilians, physicians, pharmacist, nurses and medical students," particularly in areas that would be prone to attack: "railroad centers, factory districts, mining regions, etc."
The medical corps was not the only organization headquartered in the brothers' home. Like Moritz, J. Adelphi was highly involved in the Masons. The World's 1903 Almanac and Encyclopedia included the Sovereign Sanctuary of Ancient and Primitive Freemasonry. It listed J. Adelphi Gottlieb, as "legate of the M. I. Grand Master-General and Sovereign Sanctuary to Foreign Countries," and Moritz as "Deputy Grand Representative and Assistant Grand Examiner Mystic Temple." The entry noted that the offices were at 304 West 104th Street.
A succinct announcement in The New York Times on February 24, 1904 said simply that 304 West 104th Street had been sold. "The buyer will occupy the house," it said.
That buyer was Joseph Berndt. Born in Austria in 1843, he arrived in New York with his family at the age of 10 on the ship Beethoven. He married the 22-year-old Mary Ann Hattemer on June 21, 1877. The couple had ten children, nine of whom moved into the West 104th Street house with their parents. They ranged from Frederick, who was 9 years old, to Joseph Jr., who was 26.
Oscar was in the middle, age-wise. He was 17 years old in 1904 and in October 3, 1908 was looking for a job. He described himself in an ad in the New-York Tribune: "Young Man, 21, business school graduate, with office experience. O. B. 304 West 104th st."
The parlor of 304 West 104th Street was the scene of Mary A. Berndt's low-key wedding to William Buryan on November 9, 1912. The New York Herald reported, "Only relatives and a few intimate friends were asked to the ceremony." Mary's sister, Julia, was her sole attendant. The best man, Herman Linder, traveled from Germany for the occasion.
The following year, on December 28, 1913, the Berndts announced Julia's engagement to Frederick Walter Lohr. The wedding took place in the house on the evening of March 26, 1914. Eleanor was Julia's only attendant. The New York Herald noted, "A reception and dancing followed the ceremony after which Mr. and Mrs. Lohr started for the South. They will live in Boston."
Julia V. Berndt's engagement photograph. The New York Times, January 25, 1914 (copyright expired)
Real estate operator Leon Sobel purchased 304 West 104th Street in September 1916. President of the Cathedral Realty Company and the Leon Sobel Company, Leon would eventually be responsible for the erection of more than 400 buildings in New York City. He filed plans for renovating the "private dwelling" in 1917. The remodeling focused on updating the interiors, likely the installation of electricity and improved plumbing.
The house briefly became home to Herbert R. Snyder, who was likely closely acquainted with Leon Sobel. Since 1902 he had been a real estate appraiser and operator.
John McCaffery moved into the house in 1918. From 1909 to 1912 he had worked as a traveling representative of the New York Journal. He now worked for the Hearst organization.
The 42-year-old McCaffery found himself before a judge on September 2, 1918. The next day The Daily Argus ran the headline, "Hearst Agent Is Accused By A Former Newsboy" and said that McCaffery was charged with threatening Benjamin Handler. According to Handler, "Mr. McCaffery approached him and said something about 'I'll throw you downstairs; I'll beat your head off and murder you,' and a few other things," said the article.
As early as 1921, Everett Louis Hackes occupied 304 West 104th Street. A 1914 graduate of Harvard, he initially used the house only for the summer. The educator listed his winter address as "University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan." That position had ended by 1923, when the Harvard Alumni Bulletin nebulously announced that he "is doing literary work."
The ambiguous wording most likely was because Hackes was temporarily unemployed. An advertisement in the May 17, 1924 issue of The Publishers' Weekly read:
Harvard Graduate--Ten years in teaching profession, specialist in French and German, knowledge of Spanish and Italian, desires connection with publishing house in New York. Editorial work. Hackes, 304 West 104th St., New York City.
And on November 13 that year, an advertisement in The Christian Science Monitor read: "Tutoring--Modern languages; Latin, history, literature; literary reading; classes or individual; university instructor. Hackes, 304 West 104th St., New York City."
Two decades earlier, in 1912, the houses at 300 and 302 West 104th Street were demolished for a Gaetan Ajello-designed apartment house. The three houses on the opposite side of No. 304 were razed in 1926 for an apartment building designed by Schwartz & Gross. The slice of Clarence F. True's row was now squashed between the two 20th century structures.
image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services
The Depression years saw unofficial apartments in the house. Among the residents in 1930 was Lincoln Jose, a union carpenter; and in 1940 musician George Robert was listed here.
When the house was sold in April 1950, The New York Times described it as a "five-story building altered into nine small apartments." That configuration lasted until a 1999 renovation resulted in two apartments per floor in the basement through third floors, and one in the attic level.
Looking somewhat lonely today, the 1892 survivor is little changed on the exterior.
photographs by the author
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