In 1881, architect William E. Waring designed two identical tenement-and-store buildings on the northeast corner of West Houston and Thompson Streets for separate owners. Five stories tall, they were clad in brownstone above cast iron storefronts. A blend of Italianate and neo-Grec styles, their segmentally arched openings most likely wore molded lintels, typical of the Italianate style. The crisp geometric lines of the cast metal cornices, however, were neo-Grec. Waring embellished the cornices with triangular pediments topped with anthemions and classical urns.
No. 104 West Houston Street was built by Louis P. Dexheimer and his wife, Julia. Louis established his "eatinghouse," or restaurant, in the ground floor and there were eight apartments, two per floor, in the upper portion. An advertisement touted "latest improvements, rent $25." (The monthly rent would equal $900 in 2026.)
Dexheimer's venture was short lived. In January 1882, he offered his "neat oyster and dining room cheap." When he had not sold the restaurant by April 15, he advertised again, saying it was doing "good business" and adding, "$75 will buy to-day; must close by Monday on account of sickness." (The term "cheap" was accurate. The figure would translate to only $2,440 today.)
The former restaurant space became home to Charles Reichert's butcher shop in 1888. He and his wife moved into an apartment upstairs. They were affluent enough to afford a live-in servant.
In June 1890, 17-year-old Caroline Henneman arrived in America from Germany. She found employment as a servant in the Prospect Hotel in Newark, New Jersey. The World said, "becoming dissatisfied with her situation, [she] wrote to her lover, William Burgess, of No. 410 East Fifth street, asking him to procure her a situation." Burgess talked to Reichert and Caroline moved into their apartment on September 19.
The New York Herald reported, "When she went to bed she was instructed in the management of the gas, with she said she was already familiar." (Illuminating gas was among the "latest improvements" boasted in the Dexheimers' ad, and its use was unfamiliar to the less urbane.) On September 22, 1890, The World reported, "Caroline Henneman...a domestic in the family of Charles Reichert, at No. 104 West Houston street, was found dead in her bed yesterday morning with the gas partially turned on." The article mentioned, "She was to have been married to Burgess next month."
Charles Reichert kept up with technology within his butcher shop and on December 1, 1897, The Butchers' Advocate reported on the "successful gas engine operated refrigerating plant" he had installed in the cellar. Its engine also operated "a meat chopper and a number of fans and pumps." The article said the equipment "has proved in every way an economical and paying investment, and Mr. Reichert expresses himself as much pleased with his acquisition."
Two of the cornice-top urns survived as late as 1940. via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
Harry Neid and his family occupied an apartment here as early as 1905. He spent time at the Delmonico Club on Broome Street near the Bowery. Early in the morning of March 26, Neid was playing cards there when police terrorized him and the other patrons with a violent raid. The New York Times said, "The raid was made with drawn revolvers, after the doors had been battered down with axes." Neid and 31 other patrons were arrested.
Otto Rosalsky was hired to defend all of them. He told reporters he would "show that the raid was a political outrage, the place being a social club where some little games were carried on for fun." Authorities countered his assertion. "The police say that craps and stuss were going on, with some money on the tables," reported The New York Times.
Charles Reichert's butcher business was highly successful. Although he continued to rent the store and his apartment upstairs, he owned at three-story tenement at 166 Thompson Street by 1908.
Although the apartments within 104 West Houston Street were decidedly dated by World War II, the tenants remained middle-class. Mario Gennaro and his family lived here in 1945, for instance. They maintained a "one-story bungalow" on South Beach, Staten Island.
By the early 1960s, a cafe operated by Arthur Giunta, La Casa Di Arthuro, occupied the ground floor space next door. The name eventually was honed down to Arturo's, a famous Greenwich Village spot for Italian food and pizza. As Arturo's success burgeoned, it spread into the space that was home for decades Charles Reichert's butcher shop.
At some point, the masonry of 104 West Houston Street was painted, the lintels shaved, and the urns atop the cornice removed.
photographs by the author
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