Prolific Upper West Side real estate developers Perez M. Stewart and H. Ives Smith commissioned the equally prolific Upper West Side architect Clarence F. True in 1897 to design seven upscale residences at 305 through 317 West 107th Street between Riverside Drive and West End Avenue. Among them was 313 West 107th Street. Like its architectural siblings, it was 20-feet-wide and five stories tall. Designed in the Renaissance Revival style with splashes of Beaux Arts, it was faced in gray brick and trimmed in limestone. The arched centered entrance above a short stone stoop was flanked by engaged Scamozzi columns atop paneled pedestals. Carved swags and ribbons decorated the spandrels.
The lower three floors were bowed, providing a stone-railed balcony to the fourth floor. Stone balustrades that fronted the second-floor windows suggested Juliette balconies. The fifth floor took the form of a slate shingled mansard pierced with two arched-pedimented dormers.
The first owners of 313 West 107th Street were Henry and Mary A. Nichols. On April 2, 1904, they advertised, "A North German or Protestant nurse wanted for two little boys; references required."
The Nichols placed the house for sale in November 1908. Their realtor's ad described it as being "in fine condition, for sale at a reasonable figure." It was sold twice before newlyweds George A. Harris and his wife, the former Lillian Dorothy Samuels, purchased the residence in 1912.
Born in Titusville, Pennsylvania on November 21, 1873, George A. Harris operated an apparel business with his brother Julian. He and Lillian were married shortly before purchasing the house.
The Harris family quickly grew to three. Edward H. Harris was born in 1913. Lillian placed an advertisement in The New York Times on February 11 seeking a "Nurse, thoroughly competent and experienced, for infant."
In January 1914, George and Julian Harris took in a "special partner," Simon Ascher. Asher contributed $150,000 to the company (more than $4.6 million in 2026 money). While George remained as president, the name of the firm, which made and sold "knit goods and all other kinds of wearing apparel," as described in the partnership agreement, was renamed the Simon Ascher Company.
In September 1915, the Harrises hired architect John H. Corrigan to design a roof garden. It included a "new enclosure" and cost the equivalent of $13,000 today.
George and Lillian Harris apparently determined early on that their son would be polished and erudite. When they looked for a governess in 1918, they demanded that she be "experienced, speaking good French; boy five years."
Lillian's own cultivation was reflected in December 1928 when the Henry Street Settlement added a music school to its offerings with Lillian as its chairman. The New York Times noted that the school would be under the leadership of Paulus Pilat, former teacher at the Königliche Kunstgewerbe Academy in Budapest. The article said, "as they are sufficiently advanced, children will be taught ensemble work. Chamber music is ultimately to be an important part of the program."
image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
While the Harrises maintained a country home in Scarsdale, New York, they were often seen at what society columns referred to as "fashionable watering-holes." Such was the case in the summer of 1929, when they spent time in Saratoga Springs. On August 30, The New York Times reported that they hosted a dinner party at the Lido Venice there. Among the guests were Mrs. Graham Fair Vanderbilt, John Hay Whitney and Marquise Caigliano.
The family was absent from West 107th Street in 1930 and 1931, possibly in Europe. It was leased to Walter and Helen T. Emerich. Walter was the founder and head of Walter Emerich & Co., manufacturers of silk ribbons. In reporting on the lease, The New York Times described the property as a "five-story residence with roof garden."
The house was sold in October 1938 to Kathryn A. Gorman. The New York Times reported, she would occupy it "when alterations are completed." Gorman lived quietly in the mansion, and the address fell from the society columns for decades.
A renovation completed in 1975 resulted in two apartments.
photograph by the author
many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for prompting this post
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