Ralph S. Townsend's 1887 200 West 102nd Street

 

photo by Anthony Bellov

Born in 1854, Ralph Samuel Townsend listed his profession as an architect by his late 20s.  His designs for houses and apartment buildings in the 1880s and '90s routinely reflected the highly-popular and often whimsical Queen Anne style.  In 1886, Townsend received a substantial commission from Charles G. Tomlinson to design a flat-and-store building on the southwest corner of Tenth Avenue and 102nd Street.  (The avenue would be renamed Amsterdam Avenue in 1890.)

Completed at a cost of $28,000 (about $963,000 in 2026), the building was faced in red brick and trimmed in stone and terra cotta.  Townsend centered the residential entrance on the 102nd Street elevation.  His neo-Grec design included stone bandcourses that connected the sills and lintels of the windows.  At the top floor, however, Townsend expressed his penchant for Queen Anne.  On the avenue side, a sunflower rondel sat within the faux gable that fronted the parapet and terminated in fanciful volutes.  Large square panels of sunbursts decorated the chimney backs on 102nd Street.  Smaller terra cotta tiles dotted the top floor facade.

Gracefully scalloped lintels, and tiles of sunflowers and sunbursts were typical of the Queen Anne style.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

Charles G. Tomlinson was not only the building's developer and owner, he and his family were original residents.  He and his wife, Harriet A., had at least five children:  Charles H., Florence J., Arthur R., Herbert and Hattie May.  

Herbert Tomlinson was 12 years old when his family moved into the newly completed building.  The following year, he wrote to The Evening World regarding the newspaper's contest.  His command of language and composition reflected his youthful education:

Being interested in your instructive paper, I thought I would take part in the word-building contest.  As we have no lessons to study in the month of June, I made up my mind to try for the prize.  Inclosed you will find the result of my efforts, which I hope will gain for me the prize.

(The spelling of "enclosed" with an "e" did not come along until the 20th century in America.)

The Tomlinson apartment was the scene of Florence's wedding to George T. Johnson on the afternoon of February 25, 1892.  The Sun remarked, "Miss Tomlinson's gown was of dove-colored silk, with opal trimmings, and she wore diamonds and pearls."

The building can be seen across the partially developed block between 103rd and 102nd Street.  In the foreground is the Boulevard Hotel, by then owned by Julia D. Downs, daughter of the original proprietor, Hiram B. Downs. (original source unknown)

The family suffered a horrific tragedy two years later.  On July 5, 1894, the New York Herald reported, "Hattie Tomlinson, six years old, of No. 200 Wet 102d street, was discharging fire crackers about half-past three o'clock yesterday afternoon when her dress took fire."  The New York Times added that her "arms and lower part of her body [were] severely burned" and that she "was taken home."

Hattie's injuries were, indeed, severe.  The following day, the New York Herald reported her death.  Her funeral was held in the apartment on July 7.

Terra cotta plaques on the brick brackets compliment the wonderful sunflower-filled rondel.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

In the meantime, the other residents of 200 West 102nd Street were professional.  Among the early tenants was John R. Onderdonk, Jr.  An 1889 graduate of the Stevens Institute of Technology, he was granted a patent in 1890 for "a freight-car coupler of very simple construction."

Also living here at the time were George F. Bender and his wife, the former Ada M. Crawford.  Born in 1881 in Hicksville, Long Island, his first job was a fireman on the Long Island Railroad.  He changed course, working in various undertaking establishments before opening his own business in 1890.  He was, as well, the sexton of  the nearby West End Presbyterian Church at 105th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.

On October 21, 1895, The New York Evening Post reported that 20-year-old C. H. Tomlinson "was arrested yesterday for riding too rapidly on a bicycle around the circle at One Hundred and Sixth Street in Central Park."  He was fined $3 (about $115 today).

The young man appears to have been attending pharmacy school at the time.   As early as spring 1896, the C. H. Tomlinson drugstore occupied the storefront here.  An advertisement in The World on July 11, 1896 sought, "Drug Clerk, junior, must be strictly honest and sober; references.  Tomlinson, 856 Amsterdam."  Three years later, on October 14, 1899, C. H. Tomlinson advertised, "Porter--Wanted, young man as porter for drug store, 856 Amsterdam Ave., 102d st."

It appears that the young druggist was married around that time.  His ad in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle on January 23, 1900 sought, "Wanted--Flat--Small family want 5 or 6 room flat in Brooklyn."

David and Sarah Olive Cogswell Mitchell lived in the building at the time.  Married in 1867, the couple had seven children.  David Mitchell was born in Dumbarton, Scotland in 1846, and was brought to America at the age of three-and-a-half.  He graduated from Brown University and attended the University of Bonn.  Back home, he opened a law office with his brother, Peter.  David Mitchell would become Chief Assistant District Attorney in 1897.

The C. H Tomlinson drugstore was supplanted by a Larimer A. Cushman bakery as early as 1904.  It was one of five bakeries operated throughout the city by the firm.

Cascading fish scales decorate the elongated brackets that flank the entrance.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

The Alfred Nickel family occupied an apartment here in 1908 when their daughters, Vera and Bertha, underwent tonsillectomies at the Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital on March 17.  The operations went horribly wrong.

The New York Times titled an article, "Girl's Death Remarkable," and reported, "The death of Bertha Nickel, four years old...is said by the physicians of the institution to be one of the most unusual in its history."  The surgeon, Dr. Frank Van Fleet, insisted, "It is one case in ten thousand.  Immediately after the tonsils had been cut there was a gush of blood and every effort to stop it was unsuccessful.  The little girl died in a few minutes."  Van Fleet noted, "The little girl went to the hospital with her older sister Vera, who went through a similar operation successfully."  The Evening World contradicted that report, saying on March 23, that Vera "was in a very critical condition in the hospital."

Former City Councilman Stewart M. Brice suffered a nervous breakdown in the summer of 1900.  On September 12, The Evening World reported that his wife said she would not commit him to an insane asylum, "notwithstanding the physicians had declared his mental breakdown incurable."  Brice's brother, W. Kilpatrick Brice, was a lawyer.  Mrs. Brice said that the two of them would manage her husband's financial affairs.  "He has no idea of the value of money, or the obligations connected with it," she said.  "Meanwhile, he will remain with me and my son, and I will take care of him."

Wilburt Weingarth and his bride, the former Florence Stewart, moved into the building shortly after their wedding on January 7, 1928.  On Friday night, March 29, 1929, police officers knocked on their door and arrested the 29-year-old Weingarth.  Another Mrs. Weingarth, this one with the first name of Mabel, accused him of bigamy.  She told the court on March 30 that she and Wilburt were married on April 18, 1922 "and he disappeared some time later."

The parapet detailing was intact in as late as 1940 when Moran's Restaurant occupied the store space.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The building underwent significant alterations in 1947 and it was possibly at this time that the chimney tops and peaks of the gables were shorn off.

A colorful tenant beginning in the early 1960s was artist Louis Abolafia.  In 1964, the 23-year-old smuggled one of his paintings into the Metropolitan Museum of Art and hung it on a wall.  The New York Times reported, "It was taken down almost immediately."  Abolafia told a reporter, "The Met told me my work is too modern for them."

On December 15, 1965, Abolafia began a hunger strike.  Five days into his protest, The New York Times explained that he, "believes that he is being discriminated against by museums because he is not internationally famous."  The abstract-expressionist painter told The Times reporter, "They keep telling me 'You don't have a name.'"  He called his hunger strike "a symbol of my attitude; I must call attention to it," adding, "speaking out does more for the cause of young artists than remaining silent."

Louis Abolafia was still living in 200 West 102nd Street in 1968 when he ran for President on the Love ticket.  Then, days after the election, on November 15, he and three young women were arrested at Chase Manhattan Plaza, "after one of the women had partially disrobed," explained The New York Times.

The female had dropped her fur coat to reveal her bare breasts.  The article said that police "suspected the other women were also about to go topless, which in Mr. Abolafia's lexicon is called a 'bust out.'"  The three women were charged with public lewdness and Abolafia with "prompting the exposure of a female."

Today there are nine apartments in the building.  Most of the red brick facade has been painted brick red, and the stone and terra cotta painted the color of bread mold.  But most of Ralph S. Townsend's 1887 design survives.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post