The 1921 David Belais Building - 137 West 14th Street

 

photograph by Carole Teller

The de Peyster family acquired land above Greenwich Village around 1820.  The first de Peyster arrived in New Amsterdam in 1685 and since that time, said the New York Journal, "New York had chosen her generals, jurists and merchant princes" from the family.   Just after the end of the Civil War, James de Peyster erected a handsome mansion on the property, at 137 West 14th Street.

As the turn of the century neared, the once-elegant West 14th Street block was increasingly becoming commercial.  The de Peyster family, however, remained.  When the wedding of Emily Petit and Robert Ralson Crosby was held in the drawing room on December 12, 1898, the New York Journal and Advertiser commented, "This is the spacious old de Peyster mansion, one of the very few of the Knickerbocker homes that are still occupied in the lower part of the town."

When Wilson de Peyster died on March 7, 1911, The Press reminded readers that he "was a member of one of the oldest New York families, being in the seventh generation from Johannes de Peyster, founder of the family, and related to the Beekmans, the Winthrops and the Livingstons."

On January 6, 1917, the Record & Guide reported that Philip Aaronson intended to erect a nine-story loft building on the site of the de Peyster mansion.  Something upset those plans, but not before Aaronson demolished the vintage residence. 

When David Belais purchased the property from the de Peyster family three years later, in November 1920, the New York Herald described it as a "vacant lot."   The article mentioned, "He will erect a six story loft building for his own occupancy," and The New York Times added, "The property has been in the ownership of the de Peyster family for a hundred years."

Belais hired architect Victor C. Farrar to design the building.  The plans were quickly scaled back and a month after The Times article, Farrar filed plans for a "three-story brick and limestone loft building."

Completed the following year, the project cost Belais $30,000, or about $540,000 in 2026 terms.  Faced in limestone above the storefront,  Farrar's design was overall Renaissance Revival, but the many-paned openings, six-over-nine at the second floor and six-over-six at the third, harkened to Colonial precedents.  A dignified, balustraded parapet crowned the design.

A brownstone mansion survived next door, sans stoop, in 1940.  The 3-golden-globes of the Silberstein pawn shop hangs above the 2nd floor of No. 137.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

David Belais was a metallurgist and manufacturing jeweler.  Born in Greenwich Village, he was a graduate of City College and a descendant of an esteemed rabbinical family.  His great-grandfather, according to The New York Times, was "Chief Rabbi of England during the reign of George III."

In the late 19th century, Belais started experimenting with alloys in hopes to find a metal that could substitute platinum.  He found success in 1917 when he formulized "white gold."  The following year he filed for a patent and received it on February 10, 1920, just prior to buying the de Peyster property.

The Keystone, September 1926 (copyright expired)

David Belais was as well-known (if not more so) for being a "friend to animals," as worded by The New York Times.  He founded the Humane Society of New York in 1904 and served as its president without any compensation.

Belais died at the age of 70 "after a long illness," according to The New York Times, on June 5, 1933.  His business was closed.

Four months later, on October 30, The New York Sun reported that Solomon D. and Abraham Silberstein had purchased 137 West 14th Street.  The brothers operated D. Silberstein's Sons pawn shop.

Like all other pawn shops, D. Silberstein's Sons occasionally auctioned off unclaimed items.  Typical was the auction on September 10, 1942 that focused on "diamonds, jewelry, second-hand watches."

On August 3, 1946, The New York Times reported that D. Silberstein's Sons had sold the property.  Renovations completed the following year transformed the building to "factory" space throughout for the Norma Pencil Corporation.  

A 1950 ad termed 137 West 14th Street the "Norma Building."  The Jewelers' Circular-Keystone, August 1950.

Known for its four-color mechanical pencil, the Norma Pencil Corporation improved on the item in 1953.  On September 6, The New York Times reported it "has a new working model of its Multikolor Pencil, containing a ball-point filler instead of one of the customary four different colored leads now used."

The Norma Pencil Corporation occupied 137 West 14th Street into the mid-1960s.  

The building became the Dolphin Center in the late 1960s.  An early presence here was Alternate U, described by the N. Y. Amsterdam News on March 15, 1969 as a "'college' free of grades, credit and age restrictions created to give alienated Americans the tools to correct social injustices."  The school opened on the third floor on February 10 that year.

The article explained that its 1969 catalog included 25 courses:

...ranging in subjects from the King and Kennedys assassinations and the mimeograph as a revolutionary tool to life in Hanoi, anarchism, unidentified flying objects, institutionalized oppression, the Middle East and Marxian economics.

On June 30, 1971, the New York Militant described the Dolphin Center as "a beehive of effective organizing and nonviolent action."  Headquarters in the building, said the article, were "the Psychologists for Social Action, New York Sane Council, Vets for Peace, Medical Committee for Human Rights, Computer People for Peace and other groups."  The newly-formed Women's National Abortion Action Coalition (WONAAC) opened its headquarters here that year.

Also in the building was the Courtyard Playhouse.  In April 1970 soprano Judith Kurz "and others," according to The New York Times, performed in Performance Plus.  And the following year, on May 6, 1971, The Villager reported that the Courtyard Playhouse Foundation "is presenting a new children's show at 1:30 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday throughout the summer."  The children's shows, like Jack and the Beanstalk, produced in May 1974, were favorites for years.

The building was renovated in 2011-12.  The theater space became Theaterlab.  In 2017 the Offside Tavern occupied the ground floor and by 2019, Secret Loft was on the second floor.  During the televised Democratic Presidential Debates that year, "The comedians behind 'Pod Damn America,' a self-described gothic socialist comedy podcast, will offer commentary and riffs at Secret Loft," reported The New York Times.

The top floor was home to the Art of Our Century Gallery.  According to the Village Preservation Blog, in August 2020, "Art of Our Century Gallery was inspired by legendary art world figure Peggy Guggenheim's 1942-1947 gallery on 57th St."

Today Victor Farrar's 1921 storefront has been decimated.  But close inspection reveals that an elegant wavecrest frieze carved into the limestone survives--a relic of a time when patrons shopped for white gold-and-diamond cocktail rings and bracelets here.

many thanks to artist Carole Teller for suggesting this post