The Henry and Felicia Ressmeyer House - 348 West 122nd Street

 

J. A. Webster designed eleven brownstone-fronted rowhouses along the north side of West 122nd Street between Morningside and Manhattan Avenues for developers Joseph W. and A. Alonzo Teets in 1888.  Upon their completion in 1889, the brothers brought Webster back to design ten houses on the opposite side of the street.  This time E. H. Hammond was listed as working with Webster on the designs.  

Filed in May 1889, the plans listed the construction cost of the three-story, 16-foot wide homes at $11,000 each, or about $397,000 in 2026.  The neo-Grec design of 348 West 122nd Street included beefy cast iron stoop newels and balustraded railings.  Echoing the entrance enframement, the windows sat within architraves decorated with incised "fluting" on the lower portion and stylized flowers above.  The brackets of the parlor window cornice mimicked those of the entranceway.

The Teets originally rented the house, with the leases of some occupants being cut short by their demise.  Barbara Rimick was one of 75 New Yorkers who succumbed to a brutal late season heat wave on November 24, 1891.  She was 73 years old. On August 18, 1899, resident Margaret Johnson died in the house at the age of 43.  

Shortly afterward, the house was purchased by Fannie Mayer, the widow of Robert Mayer.  Living here with her and her unmarried daughters, Fanny, Annie, and Caroline, was at least one maid.  Tragically, Fannie would live here only a matter of weeks.  She died "after a lingering illness," as reported by the New York Herald, on April 11, 1900.  She was 61 years old.

The sisters experienced a shocking and distressing incident two years later.  The Brooklyn Standard Union ran a one-line article on June 3, 1902 that read: "Annie Dahn, employed by Miss Annie Meyer [sic], of 348 West 122d street, Manhattan, took her life this morning by swallowing carbolic acid."

After Annie's marriage to Joseph A. Kapp, Caroline and Fanny continued to live at 348 West 122nd Street.  Then, on July 29, 1908, Fanny died "after long suffering," according the notice in The New York Times.  Her funeral was held in the parlor on the 31st.

Caroline Mayer sold 348 West 122nd Street in August 1910 to Henry Frederick Ressmeyer and his wife, the former Felicitas Stang.  (Felicitas was known familiarly as Felicia.)  Born in Germany in January 1854, Henry was the president of the Lutheran Education Society.  He and Felicia were married in 1888 and they had three children, Felicia C., Rudolph S., and Gertrude Henrietta.  

Rudolph, who was a Lutheran minister, lived elsewhere.  But moving into the house with the family was Felicia's widowed mother, Anna C. Stang.

Both Gertrude and Felicia attended Barnard College.  (Felicia would eventually move to Maryland where she was associated with the Society for Preservation of Maryland Antiquities at midcentury.)

Henry F. Ressmeyer died in the house on September 19, 1921.  Most likely because of his involvement with the Lutheran Church, the parlor would not accommodate the anticipated mourners at his funeral.  It was held two days later at St. Matthews Lutheran Church on 145th Street and Convent Avenue. 

As late as 1940, there was not a single tree on the block.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Another funeral would be held in the parlor four years later.  Anna C. Stang died at the age of 79 on May 29, 1925.  Her funeral was held here on the 31st.  The following month, The New York Times reported that her estate would be distributed among her "children and grandchildren."

At the time of Anna Stang's death, the Harlem neighborhood was changing.  Private homes were being converted to rooming houses.  Felicia sold 348 West 122nd Street to Jeanette Glassman in February 1928 for $20,000 (about $321,000 today).  In reporting the sale, The New York Times inaccurately commented, "This is the first sale of the property in twenty-five years."

Jeanette Glassman resold the house to Louise Chaudruc three months later.  He rented rooms to respectable tenants, among the first of whom was Robert W. Frary.  On August 30, 1928, the Alfred, New York newspaper The Alfred reported that Frary, "who has been doing graduate work at Columbia and Texas," had been named to fill the temporary professorship of Columbia Professor Joseph Sidlin.

The building received a "multiple dwelling violation" in 1938, most likely for the lack of sprinklers.  Their installation was completed in 1940.

Although never officially converted to apartments, there are eight rental units in the former Ressmeyer house.  From the outside, it survives remarkably intact.

photographs by the author