Real estate was one of the few businesses in which women would thrive in the 19th century. In 1888, Mary J. Coar hired architect Edward L. Angell to design five upscale rowhouses at West 74th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues (renamed Columbus and Amsterdam, respectively, in 1890). Mary Coar was not only the owner and developer of the project, but she was listed as the contractor as well.
Angell's plans, filed in March, described five four-story "brick, brown stone trimmed" dwellings. Each would cost $25,000 to construct, or about $902,000 in 2026. Designed in the popular Queen Anne Style, they were completed in 1889. Like the other four houses, the basement and parlor levels of 146 West 74th Street were clad in rough-cut brownstone and the upper floors in red brick. A dog-legged box stoop rose to the double-doored entrance, protected by a stone hood decorated with foliate designs and turret-like finials.
A charming three-sided bay above the entrance supported a small balcony to the third floor. The transoms at the first through third floors were filled with colorful stained glass, while the upper sashes of the top floor were divided into multiple panes, typical of the Queen Anne style.
This photograph of the row in 1940 shows the stained glass transoms and upper Queen Anne-style sashes intact. via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
The house was purchased by John and Catharine Brosnan. The couple had five children, John Jr., Loretto G., Mary T., Angela M., and Francis Xavier.
Born in Ireland, John Brosnan came to New York City at around 15 or 16 years old. He listed his profession as "grocer," however his business at 157 Fulton Street was more accurately described as a saloon and wine importer.
An ardent Roman Catholic, he did not operate a rowdy, disreputable establishment. The New York Times would later say that he was "well known among wine traders throughout the United States" and that he "made a specialty of importing Spanish, Portuguese, and other wines not only into this country...but also to various countries of Europe." He also suppled altar wine to many Roman Catholic churches.
Opened in 1850, Brosnan's operation was not opulent. The New York Herald would later say, "The fittings were crude in their simplicity but they lent a distinctive atmosphere to the place. They consisted chiefly of plain sawed oak with heavy cage wire to protect the bottle shelves. A cash register never found its way into the establishment." The New York Sun would add, "The old ale pumps, bright like those of venerable English inns, shine benevolently out of the dim background."
Nearly revered was a table in a rear room. Called the Garibaldi Table, it was there in 1850, according to The Sun, that "Garibaldi planned the liberation of Italy." On February 2, 1919, the newspaper would recall:
The room where Garibaldi assembled his junta is just as it was in his day. In the middle of it is a ponderous table with massive curlycue legs and topped with an octagonal slab of red marble.
The "Garibaldi Table" could be admired, but no one was permitted to sit at it. The Sun, February 2, 1919 (copyright expired)
Francis Xavier Brosnan was enrolled in Columbia University's School of Mines when the family moved in. He would graduate with a civil engineering degree. Upon his marriage to Mathilda Claire Jones, the population of 146 West 74th Street increased by one. Sadly, Mathilda died on September 9, 1896. Her funeral was held in the parlor on September 12 followed by a solemn requiem mass at Francis Xavier's Church on West 10th Street.
During a severe snow storm on the evening of February 13, 1899, the three Brosnan daughters entertained friends. At 9:00 John, Catherine and Francis went to bed. Two hours later, the sisters' guests left. The New York Herald reported, "They had just put out the lights and gone to bed when one of them smelled smoke coming from the basement and awakened their parents."
The New York Times reported, "A citizen turned in an alarm," but the fire engines were severely hampered by the snowdrifts. The New York Herald said that at Columbus Avenue and 74th Street, "Both got stuck in the snow. The firemen had to drag the lines of hose up to the house, which was in the middle of the block, and by that time the flames had gained a good headway." The family (except John) hurriedly dressed and ran to the Burke house across the street. "Instead of making his escape or attempting to dress, Mr. Brosnan, who is about seventy years old, devoted his efforts to save a grand piano that was in the parlor where the floor was burning."
When firefighters arrived, they found Brosnan "dressed in a nightgown and an overcoat, trying to push the piano from the parlor into the hall," according to the New York Herald. He was "in imminent danger of going with the instrument through the burning floor into the flames below," said The New York Times. Despite his protest, the firefighters carried Brosnan through the waist-high snowdrifts to the Burke house.
There, Catharine exclaimed that she had laid her diamond earrings on the dresser. George Patterson, an underwriter who had arrived along with the firefighters, overheard this. He ran into the burning house, found the jewelry, and brought it to Catharine. When the blaze was extinguished, the New York Herald said, "The two upper floors of the house were badly damaged." The New York Times reported the damages at $8,000 to the structure and $10,000 in furnishings. (The total loss would translate to about $721,000 today.)
There was more significant collateral damage unknown at the time. On March 7, 1899, the New York Herald wrote, "John Brosnan, an importer of wines and groceries who was widely known throughout the country, died on Saturday at his home, 146 West Seventy-fourth street, after an illness of two weeks." His death was attributed to "shock and exposure to the cold on the night of February 13, when Mr. Brosnan's house was partially wrecked by fire." Because of the fire damage to the house, Brosnan's funeral was held at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament on 71st Street and Broadway.
Francis X. Brosnan never remarried, nor did his sisters marry. The women were active in society, however. On February 3, 1907, for instance, the New York Herald reported, "Miss Angela Brosnan recently entertained the members of the Thursday Matinee Whist Club at her home, No. 146 West Seventy-fourth Street. Miss Nora Costello won the prize for the best playing."
Like Mary J. Coar, who erected the Brosnan house, Mary and Angela Brosnan engaged in real estate operations. They bought and rented properties singly or together throughout the first decades of the 20th century. (Their sister, Loretto G. Brosnan, died on March 1, 1909.)
On April 18, 1910, the New-York Tribune reported that Mary T. Brosnan leased her father's saloon from the estate. She and Angela continued to wheel and deal in real estate. On June 20, 1911, The New York Times reported that Mary had purchased a Christopher Street property for $6,500, and on April 24, 1912, the Board of Aldermen reported that the sisters had leased 22 Vandam Street "for the use of the Department of Health as a Tuberculosis Clinic."
A view of Brosnan's just before Prohibition closed it forever. The Sun, February 2, 1919 (copyright expired)
In October 1919, Congress passed the Volstead Act, which would usher in Prohibition. It meant the end of the venerable Brosnan's on Fulton Street. The Brosnan siblings sold their lease on the property and newspapers throughout the city lamented the barroom's closing. On March 7, 1920, The Sun remarked that Prohibition:
...wiped out Brosnan's saloon at 157 Fulton street. Here, however, the heirs of old John Brosnan, who founded the business, were only too glad to accept the handsome price offered them by the bank for their lease on the property, for the Brosnan establishment was renowned for good whiskey and its mellow and potent old ale on draught.
Angela M. Brosnan died in the house on April 19, 1920. Her funeral was held in the Church of the Blessed Sacrament on the 21st.
Five years later, on November 7, 1925, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that 146 West 74th Street had been sold. "It is the first sale of the parcel in 35 years," said the article. The purchaser was another Irish native, John Carway.
Carway was the proprietor of two restaurants--the Dublin Club on the second floor of 149 East 42nd Street and The Dublin on 82nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Only months after he purchased the former Brosnan house, on March 13, 1926, the Irish-American newspaper The Advocate reported, "A branch of the Dublin restaurant...has been opened at 146 West 74th street, under the name of the 'Dublin House." The article said, "Both are under the management of Mr. Caraway [sic], a well-known Dublin man and caterer." Carway's opening advertisement called the restaurant, "A rendezvous for gourmets; discriminating people appreciate exclusiveness."
On May 7, 1926, The New York Times said the Dublin House "occupies a dwelling. Its patronage consists largely of the sporting element and theatrical people. It is known as one of the 'high-class' eating places of Manhattan and has a large bar." It was that large bar that got Carway into trouble. A week before The Times' article, Government agents "seized $3,000 worth of liquor there," said the article.
The incident seems to have rehabilitated John Carway's operation. At least for a time. On April 1, 1932, The New York Times reported, "Another raid was made on the Dublin House, 146 West Seventy-fourth Street, a restaurant occupying three floors." The Prohibition agents seized 75 bottles and arrested Carway and three waiters.
By 1943, 146 West 74th Street was operated as a rooming house. When it was sold in September that year, The New York Times described it as a "remodeled rooming house." It was purchased by Mary Mackay in May 1950. She was the president of the newly formed 146 West 74th Street, Inc.
A renovation in 1972 resulted in duplex and triplex apartments. Another remodeling, completed in 1988, added a penthouse level, unseen from the sidewalk. Despite the unfortunate loss of the stained glass transoms and the Queen Anne upper floor sashes, the Brosnan house survives remarkably intact.
photographs by the author
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