image via streeteasy.com
Alonzo B. Kight began his career in 1891, acting as both real estate developer and architect. The 1898 A History of Real Estate, Building and Architecture in New York City said that, perhaps, no other architect had "accomplished so much for the general appearance" of the Upper West Side. The article noted that he worked "generally west of West End avenue."
In 1896, Kight filed plans for a trio of limestone-faced dwellings on West 102nd Street between Riverside and West End Avenues. Like his other projects, the speculative homes would be targeted at wealthy owners. The cost to construct each was projected at $25,000, or just under $990,000 in 2026.
The homes were completed in 1897. Kight designed the 20-foot-wide American basement residences in the Renaissance Revival style. (American basement plans forewent the high stoops of the waning English basement plan.) Like its architectural siblings, the westernmost house, 320 West 102nd Street, was five stories tall. A faceted, three-story bay provided a balcony to the fourth floor. Balustraded faux balconies clung to the corners of the second floor and another fronted the center windows of the third. The grouped and paired windows of the top two floors sat within molded surrounds.
When the Real Estate Record & Guide published this rendering on April 10, 1897, it noted that 320 West 102nd Street was "recently sold." (copyright expired)
Attorney and financier Theodore B. Sutro and his wife, the former Florence Edith Clinton, purchased 320 West 102nd Street in March 1897. The price, according to The New York Times, was "about $40,000." (The figure would translate to about $1.6 million today.) Born in Germany, Sutro was brought to America by his parents at the age of five. He graduated from Harvard College in 1871 and from the Columbia Law School in 1873.
Theodore Sutro, Schlegel's German-American Families in the United States, 1917 (copyright expired)
Florence Clinton Sutro, born in England in 1865, was (astonishingly for the period) also a lawyer, as well as an artist and accomplished musician. A prodigy, she had won the $1,000 first prize for her piano playing of Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 at the age of 12, and was the first woman to graduate with a doctorate of music from the Grand Conservatory of New York. Her paintings were regularly exhibited at the National Academy of Design. She graduated valedictorian of the 1891 class of the City College of New York where she received her law degree. Two years prior to the Sutros' purchasing 320 West 102nd Street, she wrote Women in Music and Law.
Florence Clinton Sutro, Schlegel's German-American Families in the United States, 1917 (copyright expired)
Florence Sutro's involvement with art and music interfered with her decorating of the new mansion. On June 20, 1897, the New-York Tribune reported that the Music Teachers' National Association had established its first woman's department. The association's president, Herbert Wilber Greene, asked Florence "to take charge of the new department." The article said:
Mrs. Sutro, who was preparing to move into her beautiful new house at No. 320 West One-hundred-and-second-st., at first thought it would be impossible for her to undertake the work; but the request was repeated with such urgency that she consented, and is putting off the furnishing of her house as much as possible until afterward.
Of course, Florence did get around to furnishing the home. It was soon filled costly furniture and an impressive collection of art, including historic marine paintings by Edward Moran.
Two views of the foyer with its marble floor and groined ceiling. images via Byron Company from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.
Entertainments in the Sutro residence were frequent. One early gathering was especially important for the couple. On October 3, 1899, The New York Times reported, "Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Sutro celebrated their crystal wedding Sunday by giving an afternoon and evening reception." The article said, "The gifts were numerous, and several hundred friends called to pay their respects to the couple."
An article in The New York Times on April 22, 1900 announced that Florence had given her last "at home" for the winter season. It gave a hint of the couple's recurrent entertaining. "For the past seven months Mr. and Mrs. Sutro have been entertaining on Wednesdays. Mrs. Sutro has given several small dances, and the young people of the upper west side have enjoyed these occasions."
The dining room (top) and breakfast room. images via Byron Company from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.
Florence's last at home (the days on which a socialite was available for receiving calls) that was mentioned in The New York Times article had everything to do with the end of the winter social season. Like all wealthy New Yorkers, the Sutros left the city in the warm months. At the end of the summer social season of 1901, for instance, The New York Press announced:
Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Sutro, after a sojourn in the maritime provinces of Canada, Bar Harbor, Rangeley Lakes, Poland Springs, Maine and Lenox, have returned to their city residence, No. 320 West 102d street, for the winter.
The Sutros were active patrons of the arts and every social gathering in their home had elaborate music. On March 23, 1902, for instance, the New-York Tribune reported on Florence's recent at home, saying she "was assisted in a delightful musical programme by Giuseppe Aldo Randegger, Miss Tilden, Miss Beatrice Eberhard, Mrs. Ernest L. Thibault, Edard J. Calthrop, F. Howard Warner, John P. Boruff, Mrs. Silas G. Pratt and Lewis Williams." The article was quick to point out, "This was not a special at home, but was one of Mrs. Sutro's regular days."
An informal sitting room. Notice the handsome arched pocket doors in the background and the interesting wicker furniture. The upright piano was one of several pianos throughout the house, including one in a guest room. image via Byron Company from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.
As early as 1905, Theodore's unmarried niece, Edyth Martyn, lived with the Sutros. In reporting on Florence's recent "delightful Washington's Birthday reception," the New-York Tribune remarked on February 26, 1905, "Mrs. Sutro was assisted in receiving by her husband and Miss Edyth Martyn."
The drawing room had a painted and stenciled ceiling. image via Byron Company from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.
In September 1905, Florence became ill. In January, Theodore took her to Hot Springs, Virginia "for the baths," according to The Evening World. On February 12, the newspaper reported that she "lies dangerously ill in the John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, to which she was taken...by Mr. Sutro yesterday to be operated upon for violent pleurisy." Astonishingly, said the newspaper, "She has been operated upon four times to relieve her lungs of the accumulation of water, and is now very nearly exhausted."
Somewhat off topic, The Evening World noted, "Mr. and Mrs. Sutro have an ideal home...where Mrs. Sutro has entertained the famous men and women of two hemispheres."
Florence was brought back to 320 West 102nd Street where she died "of pleurisy and a complication of diseases" on April 27, 1906. Newspapers filled columns with her achievements, her talents, and her numerous positions.
The funeral was held in the mansion on April 30. The details had been planned by Florence herself five years earlier prior to an operation. She had written in part, "it would be pleasant if I could contemplate a string orchestra, with an organ and a harp to play for the last obsequies, and that some living woman should sing a solo." Her body was dressed in the "the gown Mrs. Sutro had worn as a bride," said the New-York Tribune. Florence Sutro would be posthumously disappointed in one detail. The New York Times reported, "Mrs. Sutro had desired that Miss Adele Rafter and Miss Emma Thursby should sing at her funeral, but they were unable to be present."
Edyth Martyn took over the duties of the mistress of her uncle's residence. She became a heroine, as well, on the night of February 18, 1908. The Evening World reported that a fire from an overturned lamp in Theodore Sutro's bedroom quickly grew. When the flames "spread to the bedclothing, Miss Martin [sic] ran in, smothered the flaming sheets with blankets and carried water with which to completely extinguish the fire."
In 1912, Theodore Sutro was ready to walk away from his mansion and the magnificent artworks and furnishings he had accumulated with his wife. The New York Times reported on March 17 that he intended to sell the house, giving "the purchaser the privilege of buying any part or all of the furnishings."
image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
Instead, Sutro moved to 416 West 118th Street and leased the West 102nd Street mansion. Franklin Haines and his family were his first tenants. Born in 1862, Haines married Frances Way in 1885 and they had three children, Dallas Way, Marion, and Margaret Dallas. Dallas Way Haines graduated from Columbia University in 1913.
The family was still here in October 1919 when Franklin and Frances announced Marion's engagement to Hewitt White Rundle.
Theodore Sutro continued to least 320 West 102nd Street until his death at the age of 82 on August 28, 1927. In reporting his demise, The New York Times described him as "one of the leading German-born citizens of New York."
The Alpearl Realty Company purchased 320 West 102nd Street in 1928 and leased it to Ladislaus Rogasky in 1929. The house was sold a few times before Arthur Holland sold it in December 1946. The New York Times remarked, "The new owner is altering the building into small apartments."
photograph by Deansfa
The first and second floors were converted to the Barbara Smith Nursery School, and the upper floors to one apartment each. The configuration lasted until 2012 when 320 West 102nd Street was reconverted to a single family home.
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