The 1903 Victoria - 250 Riverside Drive

 

photo by Deansfa

On March 29, 1902, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide described Jacob Axelrod as being, "well-known as a successful builder of apartment houses in this city."  He had recently organized the West Side Construction Co. and broken ground for its first project, "a 9-story and basement fireproof apartment house from the plans by George F. Pelham."  Located at the northwest corner of Riverside Drive and 97th Street, the Record & Guide said it "will be an appropriate ornament to the beautiful bend of the Drive that winds around this point."

Pelham had established a solid reputation as an apartment designer.  Called The Victoria, the building was completed in 1903 at a cost of $275,000 (just over $10 million in 2026).  Pelham designed the footprint of the Renaissance Revival-style structure as an H, thereby providing light and ventilation to every room.  Faced in beige iron-spot brick and trimmed in limestone, its turret-like, rounded corners on the drive not only provided exterior dimension, but increased airflow inside.  Renaissance-inspired stone balconies clung to the facade.  The bracketed terminal cornice was crowned with anthemions.  Although Pelham placed the entrance on the side street within the two-story striated base, the building took the more impressive address of 250 Riverside Drive.

The sloping terrain that confronted George Pelham can be seen in the stone water table, at sidewalk level at the right (at the entrance) and nearly a half-story above grade at the corner.  The World's New York Apartment House Album, 1910 (copyright expired)

Potential residents could select among apartments of five, six or seven rooms with a bath.  The Record & Guide reported that they provided "every modern improvement, including electric elevators...and long-distance 'phones for each apartment."  Occupants would enjoy, "gas ranges, sanitary exposed plumbing, and all the other appliances now demanded by tenants for the promotion of health and comfort."  The journal described the entrance hall as being a "splendor of marble and decorative effects."  

The Victoria filled with affluent, professional families.  The 1907 Dau's Greater New York Blue Book, considered the directory of fashionable society, listed 13 residents of the building, by then known as the Robert Fulton Apartments.

Every room had natural ventilation and light.  The World's New York Apartment House Album, 1910 (copyright expired)

The name change was initiated by architect and builder Robert T. Lyons, who purchased the property from the builder.  At the time of the 1907 Blue Book's release, he was living in his newly-built Rhineland Court, on the opposite corner of 97th Street.  

Among his tenants here in 1908 was a very disgruntled John M. Williams.  In April, the janitor, William Huneke, notified Williams about a plumbing problem and asked permission to enter his apartment to disconnect the steam and water pipes.  Williams refused.  And so Huneke spoke to Robert T. Lyons, who instructed him to use a passkey to enter the apartment.

On April 12, Williams discovered Huneke in his apartment and attempted to prevent him from doing the repairs.  According to Williams, the janitor assaulted him.  He promptly had Huneke arrested for disorderly conduct.  The New York Times reported, "The cell door had hardly closed on the janitor when in walked Robert Lyons, the owner of the house, who lost no time in informing the desk Lieutenant that he wanted to bail Huneke out."  Lyons, instead, got "a big surprise."

Lyons was also arrested on charges by Williams for allowing Huneke to enter his apartment.  The New-York Tribune reported, "Lyons was bailed out by his wife.  Then he bailed out the janitor."

On February 11, 1909, The New York Times reported, "Residents of Riverside Drive in the neighborhood of Ninety-Sixth Street are in a state of dire perturbation over the number of hold-ups, robberies, and assaults which have taken place in that region recently."  After nearly a month of attacks, apartment building tenants, said the article, had asked permission from the police department "to arm the elevator conductors."  

Among the victims of the crime spree was resident Mrs. C. E. Carpenter.  At around 7:30 on the night of February 9, she turned the corner of 95th Street onto Riverside Drive when "a man jumped from the shadow of an apartment house and struck her sharply in the face."  Mrs. Carpenter fell to the sidewalk and the thug grabbed her handbag and fled.

Mrs. Carpenter's screams alerted several nearby men, including Henry Danker, a grocery clerk who had just delivered goods to the Robert Fulton.  The intrepid youth chased the robber onto the New York Central railroad tracks along the river.  The New York Times reported that Danker, "closed in on him as he dodged in and out among the freight cars."  The crook flung Mrs. Carpenter's bag at his pursuer and escaped.  Danker returned it to Mrs. Carpenter, "who found that nothing had been taken from it."

Living here at the time was the family of cotton dealer Benjamin H. Ettelson.  Born in 1869, he married Rose Sanger on April 28, 1897.  The couple had two children, Lehman Sanger, born in 1898, and Dorothy, born in 1905.  

On January 25, 1909, Rose and two female friends embarked on a road trip to Connecticut.  The New-York Tribune reported, "The party reached 156th street and St. Nicholas avenue just as the children were coming out of Public School 46 and swarming through the streets."  Nine-year-old Charles Osborne "became confused when the automobile was within a few feet of him," said the article.  The Ettelson car struck the boy.

Rose Ettelson ordered the chauffeur, Munson J. Palmer, to stop.  The New York Herald said, "picking up the boy, [she] held him in her arms during the drive to the Washington Heights Hospital."  Osborne was diagnosed with a fractured skull.  Rose Ettelson was overwrought.  The Evening World said, "She refused to leave his bedside until midnight, and then would not ride again in the automobile which had hurt the boy, but went to her home in a livery cab."  In the meantime, Munson J. Palmer was arrested.

The Evening World, January 26, 1909 (copyright expired)

With dramatic prose, the following day The Evening World began an article saying, "Mrs. Charles Osborn lies inconsolate in her grief at her home...Beside her on the bed are her boy Charley's little cap, one of his rubber shoes and his school books, held together by a strap."  The article continued, "In her home, at No. 250 Riverside Drive, Mrs. Benjamin H. Ettelson is under a pall of grief only a little less poignant than that of the boy's mother."

Among the Ettelsons' neighbors in the Robert Fulton were author Maximilian Foster and his wife, the former Elizabeth Dickson.  The couple was married in 1904.  Born in San Francisco on February 27, 1872, Foster began his career as a newspaper writer for the New York Recorder in 1891.  By now, he had written In the Forest, published in 1902; Corrie Who?, in 1908; The Silent Partner the same year; and in 1909 he completed his play The Whirlpool.  He contributed articles to publications like Everybody's, Harper's, Collier's, the Saturday Evening Post and Atlantic Monthly.

Foster's I Want to Be a Lady was published in 1926. (copyright expired)

Foster would go on to write the screenplays for the 1918 Rich Man, Poor Man, and Something to Do, released in 1919.

An advertisement on August 13, 1916 listed annual rents for seven-room corner apartments at $1,300 to $1,400, and non-corner apartments at $1,000 to $1,500.  The most expensive rent would translate to $3,450 per month today.

On March 8, 1917, the Musical Courier announced, "The prima donna role of 'Gypsy Love' is being sung on tour this season by Finita De Soria, the Spanish soprano."  The Richmond, Indiana Item noted, "She has a truly remarkable voice, which she knows how to use in an adorably bewitching manner."

Finita De Soria, from the collection of the New York Public Library

On May 3, 1921, The New York Times related that Finita De Soria had reported the theft of $12,000 of jewels from her apartment.  The article said they included, "jewelry given the singer's father by the Queen of Spain."  She explained to police that she had gone to the theater and returned about 10:00.  "She said she found the door of her apartment wide open and the jewel box open on a dresser."  The value of the stolen items would translate to $210,000 today.

The police surmised that the burglar had come through the kitchen window and "made his escape boldly, going down in the elevator and coolly walking out the front door," said the article.  

Five months after the crime, Finita De Soria was losing patience.  On October 23 she wrote to Police Commissioner Richard Enright:

Dear Mr. Commissioner:

Is there an way you can help me to get some action from the 100th Street Police Station in the recovery of $12,000 worth of jewelry stolen from my apartment, at No. 250 Riverside Drive, on Sunday night, May 1?

I do not hope to get all the jewels, but I am particularly anxious to try to trace a set of earrings and a brooch of gold and blue enamel, both presented to my mother by the Queen of Spain.

Anything you can do to help me will be very greatly appreciated.

Four days later, a letter to the editor of The Evening World complained about the lack of headway in solving the crime.  The writer, who signed the letter "L.D.L.," said in part, "It seems to me a peculiar brand of 'efficiency' that neither protects the home from robbery nor cares enough to report what progress, if any, has been made in bringing the criminals to justice."

In the meantime, the "destruction of her new fall bonnet was the straw which broke the back of Mrs. Murgurdick J. Tashjian's married life," reported The Sun on September 23, 1920.  Murgurdick J. Tashjian was a dealer of antique rugs at 2605 Broadway.  His mother-in-law shared their apartment.  

When his wife came home with a new hat, he flew into a rage and smashed it.  Mrs. Tashjian sued for separation and the New York Herald said that since the incident she and her mother had "lived apart from her husband."  In court, Tashjian denied "his wife's charges of cruelty."

The romance of another resident in the building dissolved a decade later.  Stanley Vulgaris owned what was described by The New York Times as a "prosperous restaurant and cigar stand business."  He was romantically involved with a well-to-do widow, Olive Spencer.  Vulgaris proposed in July 1930 and the wedding date was set for New Year's Day 1931.  But, eight months after the date passed, according to Vulgaris, his beloved "refused to carry out her promise."

In response, in August 1931 Vulgaris sued his former fiancée for $25,000 for the "loss of his business," which he said he had lost "through devoting his time and attention to her;" another $25,000 for the money he spent "in an endeavor to entertain her and minister to her pleasure;" and $200,000 for her treatment that caused him "intense mental agony, pain, suffering and nervous affliction."  The total damages suffered by the wounded suitor would equal more than $5 million today.

Attorney Wilmer J. McAllister and his wife, the former Bessie Sterry, lived here around the same time.  Born in 1873, Bessie had a sterling American pedigree.  The New York Times explained that four maternal and four paternal ancestors "came to this country on the Mayflower."  Understandably, she was a member of the Daughters of the Founders and Patriots of America, the Daughters of the American Revoluti0n and the Colonial Descendants of America."  Bessie McAllister died here "after a long illness" at the age of 63 on October 31, 1936.

The building was renovated in 1937.  As part of the remodeling, the anthemion cresting on the cornice was removed.

 Two years before this photo was taken in 1939, the cornice had lost its decorative anthemions.   photo by Byron Company, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

Attorney George A. Timone and his family lived here as early as 1942.  Born on November 10, 1903, he was a graduate of Fordham and Columbia Universities and became a member of the law firm of Latson & Tamblyn in 1937.  He and his wife, the former Virginia Mary Fletcher, had two sons, Richard and Donald, and a daughter, Virginia.  A devout Catholic, George would become the chairman of the New York Chapter of the Knights of Columbus, and counsel of the Cathedral Canteen, the National Catholic Community Service, United Service  Organization. 

George A. Timone, The New York Times, December 15, 1971

Perhaps the first time Timone's name appeared in print was on December 2, 1942, when he appeared as a State witness in the trial of the three producers of Wine, Woman and Song, a play accused of being "indecent."  On October 15 that year, George and Virginia sat in the fifth row of the orchestra.  On the stand, he described a girl named Scarlet Kelly who "gyrated and pranced and danced around the stage in a purple and green ensemble that did not cover her."  He also told about a fan dancer who, after dropping her fans, wore only "her shoes and a groin cloth about two or three inches wide."

On March 8, 1946, The New York Times reported that Timone had been appointed by Mayor O'Dwyer as a member of the Board of Education.  In responding to the appointment, Timone said, "I am sure it will be a very fascinating life."

Eight years later, on October 5, 1954, Mayor Robert F. Wagner appointed Timone a justice of the Court of Domestic Relations (renamed Family Court in 1962).  The post came with a salary equal to $228,000 today.

Additionally, Judge Timone rose to be vice president of the Board of Education.  In 1969, he suffered a stroke, but continued to work "long hours in court," according to The New York Times.  He suffered a fatal heart attack on December 13, 1971 at the age of 68.  By then, his two sons were Roman Catholic priests.

The turbulence of the 1960s was reflected in the lives of some residents of 250 Riverside Drive.  Shirley Blackwell Cummings had a long career in newspaper and public relations work.  Then, on June 30, 1962, the New York Amsterdam News reported that she had been appointed "executive assistant to Dr. Samuel D. Proctor, Peace Corps Representative in Nigeria."  The article said she was "one of two Negro women who were named to key Peace Corps staff positions overseas."

Jonah Raskin and his wife, the former Eleanor Stein, lived here in 1969 when they were two of 65 demonstrators who were arrested at an anti-Vietnam protest.  The 27-year-old Jonah was an assistant professor at State University at Stony Brook, Long Island, and Eleanor, who was 23, was a law student at Columbia.  The pair was charged "with felonious assault, rioting and incitement to riot," according to The New York Times.

Eleanor Raskin's mug shot.  Hearings Before the Committee on International Security House of Representatives, August 7 1969.

But Jonah Raskin and Robert Reilly, a lecturer at the Baldwin School on West 74th Street, seem to have been singled out.  In a press conference in the Raskins' apartment here, the men said they were taken to a basement room in the East 51st Street precinct house, handcuffed, and beaten for 45 minutes.  The two said "policemen took turns beating them with nightsticks and blackjacks, and one policeman repeatedly kicked them."

The building was altered again in 1974.  This time the entire cornice was removed, leaving an unsightly scar and unfinished appearance.

Singer Beverly Donna Hodge, who was known professionally as Donna Wood, and her husband, composer and arranger George Howard Hodge, lived in an apartment near Lincoln Center.  Early on the morning of October 13, 1973, according to Beverly, the couple came home from a party and surprised "two armed and masked burglars."  The crooks struck George behind the ear with a blunt object, and bound and gagged the couple.  George Hodge died from his injuries.

Beverly sued the Lincoln Towers management for negligence in security.  But by August 1974, her well-planned scheme unraveled.  Former bartender John Hemmers, who lived here, was arrested as one of the two "burglars" hired by Beverly to murder her husband.   The 35-year-old Hemmers was found guilty of first degree murder on November 10, 1975.

photograph by Deansfa

Sadly shorn of its architecturally important cornice, 250 Riverside Drive has never lost its panache.  

many thanks to reader Aaron Fedor for suggesting this post