tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75023120000875957012024-03-19T01:52:57.789-07:00Daytonian in ManhattanThe stories behind the buildings, statues and other points of interest that make Manhattan fascinating.Tom Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13542224816886418433noreply@blogger.comBlogger436213tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502312000087595701.post-4223861702568748732024-03-19T01:00:00.000-07:002024-03-19T01:00:00.124-07:00Boak & Paris's 1937 5 West 86th Street<div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMMSugzwnWxhZDLcD134kIjjJrVLw3iXmlJ4guc3ZhJLRHpl_8m0_GBsVmh7eI6FuA_kds4Xwab4avgCjhOpfoYh_HTpj_Flxwazv9bntGL5yNsKLFMq23q4lzDD_wTH7t3eLHG3JnwFxy5XeLS8MdyoSGLwd4elFgvQDZUnsqxpZ8GytFUywRdRE7idE/s4032/IMG_4205.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMMSugzwnWxhZDLcD134kIjjJrVLw3iXmlJ4guc3ZhJLRHpl_8m0_GBsVmh7eI6FuA_kds4Xwab4avgCjhOpfoYh_HTpj_Flxwazv9bntGL5yNsKLFMq23q4lzDD_wTH7t3eLHG3JnwFxy5XeLS8MdyoSGLwd4elFgvQDZUnsqxpZ8GytFUywRdRE7idE/w480-h640/IMG_4205.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">On October 1, 1937, two years before the official end of the Great Depression, the West 86th Street Corp. opened the doors to its 20-story apartment house at 5 West 86th Street. Replacing five high-stooped rowhouses (including the former home of James Buchanan Brady--"Diamond Jim" Brady--at 11 West 86th Street), it was designed by the architectural firm of Boak & Paris.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">A 1930s take on Imperial Roman architecture, the entrance featured engaged, fasces-like reeded columns that sprouted hefty anthemia. Crossed Roman spears decorated the door. Panels of burly reeding separated the openings of the second floor. The upper floors were clad in variegated beige brick, divided into three vertical sections by full-height piers that flanked and separated the two central bays.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdVlHUA-sKg3ocUmEYx08I6-ci6OxaS4Qq7Sy8-68cMA2FgaJg-_1GDwUNGPyG_w_leNbGyYEPIZf8Im8KAvNZzsrL-HlVjDArn6S4vldfg0gS1GYm5kkfhRF2HBT_iQxtkrUiAuWZ_pGpUY09OYBTX3Qw_c3fBzUhyphenhyphenbtoCFeKRF9RtS0e07QqaILppsc/s3163/IMG_4207.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3163" data-original-width="2648" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdVlHUA-sKg3ocUmEYx08I6-ci6OxaS4Qq7Sy8-68cMA2FgaJg-_1GDwUNGPyG_w_leNbGyYEPIZf8Im8KAvNZzsrL-HlVjDArn6S4vldfg0gS1GYm5kkfhRF2HBT_iQxtkrUiAuWZ_pGpUY09OYBTX3Qw_c3fBzUhyphenhyphenbtoCFeKRF9RtS0e07QqaILppsc/w536-h640/IMG_4207.jpg" width="536" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Horizontal relief was achieved with terra cotta wave crest bandcourses above the seventh floor that flowed in opposite directions, and incised bandcourses above the fifteenth. Casement windows, so important in the style, provided the apartments with natural light and wrapped the corners above the seventh floor.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">An advertisement listed "gracious urban apartments at Central Park" ranging from three to five rooms, and noted "some with terraces." Rents ran from $1,250 to $1,900 per year (equal to about $2,150 to $2,600 per month in 2024). The listing for the terraced penthouse with nine rooms and four baths touted "superb layout" and "unexcelled view, four exposures." No rent was revealed for that unit.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The building filled quickly with professional like Mrs. John Iraci, "officer of the International Broadcasting Company," as described by <i>The Sun</i> when she signed the lease. Her husband, radio executive John Iraci, had died the previous November. Two other of the initial residents were Rev. Judah Kahn, associate rabbi of the Free Synagogue; and illustrator Frederic Varady. When Varady signed his lease in December 1938, <i>The New York Sun</i> mentioned that renting in the building was now "complete."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The 30-year-old Frederic Varady did illustrations for books, magazines and advertisements. His style showed influences of J. C. Leyendecker and Norman Rockwell.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgunSezWTOBkbxDFiusVpB3okxrVkIeKm9g_ry1d3xWWb32_RFTDf2Chxl_2yUNqUnOavcG-FvCt_PaLDntkM8ybV8HVztWZ07hvH7niqzi5jEGw9IY_JPW2WjAkH6LpxSqOwprXFiqrkZ9BbB9tcHcW0ZbJJv7LjLrCu3AT0AfOkJOkQIcHHcdohjx0h0/s2016/varady%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1539" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgunSezWTOBkbxDFiusVpB3okxrVkIeKm9g_ry1d3xWWb32_RFTDf2Chxl_2yUNqUnOavcG-FvCt_PaLDntkM8ybV8HVztWZ07hvH7niqzi5jEGw9IY_JPW2WjAkH6LpxSqOwprXFiqrkZ9BbB9tcHcW0ZbJJv7LjLrCu3AT0AfOkJOkQIcHHcdohjx0h0/w488-h640/varady%20cover.jpg" width="488" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;">Varady's July 1953 cover of <i>Collier's</i> magazine showed Rockwell-esque humor. </div></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">On October 4, 1939, <i>The New York Times </i>reported Lawrence Germain and "Dr. Joseph Fried, eye specialist who recently arrived in this country from Budapest, Hungary," had taken apartments. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Germain was a partner in Germain-Hegeman Company, Inc., co-founded in 1910 by his father Max Germain. The development firm erected housing in New Jersey. On July 21, 1951, <i>The Record</i> of Hackensack, New Jersey recalled that Max Germain and his partner Norbert T. Hegeman were pioneers in Bergen County residential development. The newspaper said they erected "several hundred homes in the North Hackensack-River Edge area."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Dr. Fried quickly beca</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">me active in matters outside his profession and would become a vice-president of the The United Hungarian Jews of America, Inc. by 1945. Three years after moving into 5 West 86th Street, the family suffered tragedy.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBkyyC3D_AhT3GAhkz4-O2zEQo-_Covz4mstLB871sMfkLHvySeXfBAwCNE5WzxfPzGfWLAwdYGZM02gisRZRV_dCDYxjJfNMlK1CRXM7JYmbmrjDNi7zotDQelBC5KYDfVH5UByDR2Yyk1L6WH1-VBj6IWva6WjHZoYu97WfIf71qfTuzgIhaOMXG4qA/s1852/IMG_4205a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1389" data-original-width="1852" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBkyyC3D_AhT3GAhkz4-O2zEQo-_Covz4mstLB871sMfkLHvySeXfBAwCNE5WzxfPzGfWLAwdYGZM02gisRZRV_dCDYxjJfNMlK1CRXM7JYmbmrjDNi7zotDQelBC5KYDfVH5UByDR2Yyk1L6WH1-VBj6IWva6WjHZoYu97WfIf71qfTuzgIhaOMXG4qA/w640-h480/IMG_4205a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Paul Fried was 14 years old when the family moved to America in 1939. He was enrolled in Stuyvesant High School for academically advanced boys. Its location on East 15th Street necessitated his taking the subway to school. Fried was "subject to fainting spells," according to school officials. It was a condition that ended in calamity.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Paul, now 17 years old, stood on the 91st Street platform of the I.R.T. subway on the morning of November 22, 1942. Just as the train pulled into the station, the teen fainted and fell onto the tracks. Although, according to <i>The New York Sun, </i>the train operator "tried vainly to stop the train </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">before it struck the boy," Fried was killed instantly.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Another couple suffered a tragic loss four years later. Lt. Melvin Cohen had been in the Army for several years, according to<i> The Larchmont Times. </i>In November 1945, he and his wife had a baby boy.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">On July 11, 1946, the newspaper said, "The Cohens, who make their home at 5 West 86th street, New York, arrived in Larchmont about a week ago to spend the Summer." At around 9:00 on the morning of July 7, Mrs. Cohen placed the baby in his carriage for a nap outdoors. Twenty minutes later she checked on him and found him "at the foot of the carriage under the covers."</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">She rushed the infant across the street to Dr. S. W. Pearlman, who called the inhalator squad of the fire department. "In spite of the vigorous attempts of the town firemen to revive the child," said the article, "he was pronounced dead about 20 minutes after the squad's arrival." </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Dr. Joseph Fried was still living at 5 West 86th Street as late as 1960. Among his neighbors were William Mason Lichtenstein and his wife Annette. A consultant and former vice president of Wullscyhleger & Co., Inc. textile manufacturers, Lichtenstein was best known for his bridge playing expertise. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">He had won the Reisinger Knockout Team Championship, the top ranking New York bridge event, in 1945. Three years later </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">he won the Vanderbilt Knockout Team Championship, "one of the two most important national titles," according to <i>The New York Times,</i> and came in second in that event in 1956.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLeoCPVv69UMVfk1xdvjbZ53aru2aERJdQP1EDNhaFQg-K8xmk8cNwHTk3EWmK5GsPYncmhCwrXUHcFz6rkob-LTfXy-hqkH6yW02WMk5-oDBlw7b8MBvF7VVtRneQk2wGns5GxDBLVVqi2r0y_KvLlrS-gvP63AISB39DQi4aqip7gsCSYeLfVenk3XY/s4032/IMG_4245.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLeoCPVv69UMVfk1xdvjbZ53aru2aERJdQP1EDNhaFQg-K8xmk8cNwHTk3EWmK5GsPYncmhCwrXUHcFz6rkob-LTfXy-hqkH6yW02WMk5-oDBlw7b8MBvF7VVtRneQk2wGns5GxDBLVVqi2r0y_KvLlrS-gvP63AISB39DQi4aqip7gsCSYeLfVenk3XY/w480-h640/IMG_4245.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The Frieds and the Lichtensteins were well-acquainted with Alfred De Silva, not as a neighbor, but as their beloved doorman. A native of Trinidad, "Freddy" was hired at 5 West 86th Street in 1940. His service to the residents went beyond professional to personal. One resident, Sabrina Weinberger said in May 1975, "If someone was sick, he would call them every day. He would watch out for children, seeing that they got safely on their school buses or keep an eye on them while they played in front of the building."</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">After 35 years of service, the 72-year-old retired on May 18, 1975 with plans of a trip to Trinidad before moving with his wife to Philadelphia. The next day, <i>The Daily Press </i>reported, "Alfred De Silva has whistled up his last cab and gotten his last tip--a hefty one of $1,000." The residents of 5 West 86th Street gave him the going-away thank-you that would equal about $5,500 today.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4OSlS65p4WKLDZMu6dFMbtCghdUNhNLlumugEk4RpI95FeKDz6YLRkclxXZ7kVFwVRod_DUicWkkrXGaXQrpIcytNCKe1LYSrzebxvKFFx7HOGytRT9TeRXXOVFIohVm-xyZ9Qh0qWswY4WL9wUqrbFte5rYe4IidEx0UOmXmjr9BfsXqEbRJeVryIOc/s3873/IMG_4203.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3873" data-original-width="2905" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4OSlS65p4WKLDZMu6dFMbtCghdUNhNLlumugEk4RpI95FeKDz6YLRkclxXZ7kVFwVRod_DUicWkkrXGaXQrpIcytNCKe1LYSrzebxvKFFx7HOGytRT9TeRXXOVFIohVm-xyZ9Qh0qWswY4WL9wUqrbFte5rYe4IidEx0UOmXmjr9BfsXqEbRJeVryIOc/w480-h640/IMG_4203.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Boak & Paris's Depression era building--including its all-important casement windows--survives virtually intact.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>many thanks to reader Lowell Cochrane for suggesting this post</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>photographs by the author</i></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #f6f6f6;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>no permission to reuse the content of this blog has been granted to LaptrinhX.com</i></span></span></div></div>Tom Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13542224816886418433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502312000087595701.post-1812416133274366172024-03-18T01:00:00.000-07:002024-03-18T05:32:32.868-07:00The Lost Hotel Dauphin - Broadway and 67th Street<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMMs5VkgrcfxE9BiuayNgrVAFcfVhuv57g4lJo4hEfQ-wIGP25Ncx8cB2kxpv-KDg_LAa92yGxEsD8iRhC5Hz-IwPyt2AQNJvtBOji83uBKItYmg9m2wWiAxlQwjQrsAD02x8zA2QKhJVXG1TH6tsEdUea3xBstZE-y89o8I3yTpcnluJW7WuSVGnSNn4/s1128/hotel%20dauphin.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="883" data-original-width="1128" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMMs5VkgrcfxE9BiuayNgrVAFcfVhuv57g4lJo4hEfQ-wIGP25Ncx8cB2kxpv-KDg_LAa92yGxEsD8iRhC5Hz-IwPyt2AQNJvtBOji83uBKItYmg9m2wWiAxlQwjQrsAD02x8zA2QKhJVXG1TH6tsEdUea3xBstZE-y89o8I3yTpcnluJW7WuSVGnSNn4/w640-h500/hotel%20dauphin.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;">To the left, at 66th Street, is the Hotel Marie Antoinette. <i>from the collection of the New-York Historical Society.</i></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In 1894, William F. Flanagan opened his elegant new Hotel Marie Antoinette at the northwest corner of Broadway and 66th Street, designed by J. Munkowitz. Four years later Franklin Pettit sold the abutting vacant plot to the north to August M. Bruggeman for around $190,000--around $6.8 million in 2024. The <i>Record & Guide</i> commented, "The buyer will erect a 10-sty apartment hotel on the site."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Bruggeman's plan never came to pass. On February 22, 1902, the <i>Record & Guide</i> reported that the Broadway Realty Co. had hired architect C. P. H. Gilbert to design a 12-story apartment hotel on the site. Before ground was broken, the developer had leased the building to Albert R. Keen, the proprietor of the Hotel Marie Antoinette.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Charles Pierpont Henry Gilbert had firmly established his position as a leading architect of the period. But he was known for designing opulent mansions and townhouses, and so the Hotel Dauphin would be a step away from his specialty.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">At the time, William Earl Dodge Stokes's magnificent <a href="https://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2010/06/wedding-cake-of-west-side-ansonia.html">Ansonia</a> apartment hotel, designed by Paul E. M. Duboy, was rising six blocks to the north on Broadway. The Hotel Dauphin would echo its French Beaux Arts architecture--its brick-and-limestone facade rising to a massive mansard with elaborate dormers and copper cresting.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivjSbElwGCjDwpi26EAG2ff007GI5Lm6WoMspPX25QneMMkjlstnzEGclJ89uoeYpwCJZSP_bTceIa4s1YSKojcY_V42Ud4upurNY2igS7YmtqTC5fZM6LZzzg4HixQ1mCYR8rIsfWWjmhFiLaLcBNbaZ7ZbhC9aK5qjLfagEa8di7FRNe-CQTj2pppcU/s800/dauphin%201902.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="507" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivjSbElwGCjDwpi26EAG2ff007GI5Lm6WoMspPX25QneMMkjlstnzEGclJ89uoeYpwCJZSP_bTceIa4s1YSKojcY_V42Ud4upurNY2igS7YmtqTC5fZM6LZzzg4HixQ1mCYR8rIsfWWjmhFiLaLcBNbaZ7ZbhC9aK5qjLfagEa8di7FRNe-CQTj2pppcU/w406-h640/dauphin%201902.jpg" width="406" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;">An advertising postcard from post-World War I depicted Broadway with no traffic. </div></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The hotel--which offered both permanent and transient accommodations--opened on April 15, 1903. The<i> New-York Tribune</i> reported, "about four hundred guests inspected the handsome new dining rooms, offices, parlors, reception rooms, suites, etc...Several dinners were given, in gayly decorated dining rooms, in honor of the occasion." </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Among the visitors were some of New York City's wealthiest citizens, including John D. Crimmins and his wife, William D. Sloane, and William Crittenden Adams. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Those residents who gave dinner parties included renowned soprano Emma Eames and her husband, artist Julian Russell Story. Eames made her professional debut in</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i> </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><i>Roméo et Juliette </i>with the Paris Opera. She debuted with the Metropolitan Opera in November 1891, quickly becoming a favorite of New York audiences. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_sayiwXqFnmOXozOVVeydBz3o42XAgAv6-5d-O9jTJcbXNZpoBCs-XTogsXUJg6a2r1yRxNXDLu0BN6yAuk9lUW96SGQBfBESGv_qgTbpwgCtz1mlX71vws26Iq8AVCHv-ddHT2e4td0TUlUDd-ZJ1lc7XS_3eFxTzDzuRuqK5itY8JMH-BUv0JT3uwo/s574/Emma_Eames_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="432" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_sayiwXqFnmOXozOVVeydBz3o42XAgAv6-5d-O9jTJcbXNZpoBCs-XTogsXUJg6a2r1yRxNXDLu0BN6yAuk9lUW96SGQBfBESGv_qgTbpwgCtz1mlX71vws26Iq8AVCHv-ddHT2e4td0TUlUDd-ZJ1lc7XS_3eFxTzDzuRuqK5itY8JMH-BUv0JT3uwo/w301-h400/Emma_Eames_1.jpg" width="301" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Madame Emma Eames, <i>from the collection of the Library of Congress</i></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Born in England in 1857, Story came from an artistic family. His father was sculptor William Wetmore Story and his brother was a well-known sculptor, as well. He was best known for his portraits of well-heeled sitters.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHnEFFWByd0Rf8e12Yy7sjgw13dcH8K7QkNNW9jOIdogiPfVerwur8WGJbS_lobNaCA7HTghp3pjvhjXJ-eoYtr-wlbidnFMEpFHRwMXaCB7pUK42SXFV20fv5ZSMv3Y0W3iloF_4mVOwTfm6JcYBT8kZmzABGJKgyh7_cPf5NutAAmVpy-HFVDv-agy8/s990/Julian_Russell_Story.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="990" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHnEFFWByd0Rf8e12Yy7sjgw13dcH8K7QkNNW9jOIdogiPfVerwur8WGJbS_lobNaCA7HTghp3pjvhjXJ-eoYtr-wlbidnFMEpFHRwMXaCB7pUK42SXFV20fv5ZSMv3Y0W3iloF_4mVOwTfm6JcYBT8kZmzABGJKgyh7_cPf5NutAAmVpy-HFVDv-agy8/w259-h400/Julian_Russell_Story.png" width="259" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;">Julian Russell Story, <i>Hartford Daily Courant, February 25, 1919 (copyright expired)</i></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The <i>New-York Tribune </i>noted, "F. J. Middlebrook and Miss Middlebrook, too, gave a dinner, at which Mr. and Mrs. Henry S. Thompson, Dr. Russell Bellamy and Mrs. Bellamy, Robert E. Dowling, Miss Potter and Mr. and Mrs. William H. McIntyre were guests." It added, "Dr. Bellamy, who is the house physician of the Cliffs, at Newport, will be the physician of the new hotel."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Although the new hotel dwarfed its predecessor, Albert R. Keen (who now managed both hotels) touted it as "an annex" to the Hotel Marie Antoinette and marketed both under that name. It caused understandable confusion and newspapers sometimes differentiated between the structures by referring to the "Hotel Marie Antoinette on 66th Street" and the "Hotel Marie Antoinette on 67th Street." </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4EtrEN8XvCRao_VQ8iApKGLOeyDm18TYaMbHQ1TixnFDnxzsajQKKOaRswTiRCYZ2H5wS1jym54Q-SsbjWbg0H_EGI8NTNHv3W5wu5f3ILGMrZUL_M5wrvN9zdCzVrpN2ZXYWVQoh8UW-tzC4_okUOK6H6NEjziBwfPLkqkBjZ1CJhP2wvDOENcKLxGQ/s1600/marie%20antoinette.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1386" data-original-width="1600" height="554" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4EtrEN8XvCRao_VQ8iApKGLOeyDm18TYaMbHQ1TixnFDnxzsajQKKOaRswTiRCYZ2H5wS1jym54Q-SsbjWbg0H_EGI8NTNHv3W5wu5f3ILGMrZUL_M5wrvN9zdCzVrpN2ZXYWVQoh8UW-tzC4_okUOK6H6NEjziBwfPLkqkBjZ1CJhP2wvDOENcKLxGQ/w640-h554/marie%20antoinette.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;">A 1916 advertisement grouped both hotels under a single name. The $2.50 per day starting rate would equal about $69 in 2024.<i> (copyright expired)</i></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">On December 12, 1913, Michigan attorney Devere Hall checked into a ninth floor suite in the northern hostelry. The 60-year-old was a leading corporation lawyer in his home state, and was once considered for a seat on the State's Supreme Court. <i>The Evening World</i> said, "Overwork caused a nervous breakdown a year ago." Hall came to New York to be treated by nerve specialist Dr. Spitzka, who happened to be a boyhood friend. Hall's adult son, Ray, came with him, taking a furnished room near the hotel.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">At 8:30 on the morning of December 14, Ray went to his father's room. To his surprise, Hall was not there and the bed had not been slept in. <i> The Evening World </i>reported, "The shoe and sock underneath the open window prompted the son to look out and discover his father's body." Suicide was ruled out. The body, which landed on the roof of the hotel's engine room, was clad in underclothing and the other shoe and sock. Investigators surmised Hall had sat on the sill to remove his shoes and socks and fell backwards out of the window.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In 1929, the hotel regained its individual identity. After a court battle over which facility could use the name Hotel Marie Antoinette (which the 66th Street owners won), it became the Hotel Dauphin. On January 11, 1930, the Atlanta, Georgia newspaper <i>The Constitution,</i> noted, "Mr. and Mrs. Guy Mark Mankin, who were the recent guests of their mother, Mrs. Hamilton Douglas, are making their home for the present at the Dauphin Hotel, New York city."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Mrs. H. Magen lived here in 1934 when she read of Gimbel Brothers new policy of "telling the whole truth, good or bad about every article." In an announcement, the department store offered a $10 reward "to the person who first reports to it any misleading or untrue statement about or claim for qualities of any article of merchandise advertised."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_jbi5YcnfdLsotlQZJLIgEO24ue323tIEdReBk0aa6qUFvjwnNG9OV99ysZqhIfB4GZKxoXeKllGC7d34LNqxXpiS4DtfRel4shcHqc0hrjuw4gfPI1PfFsthEJEAeSiyvJRQz4-ThsvMVkO86Lt2MzkgFQFsHZQgVCT9GleO1urBSnMBHxm4JQ68jt8/s760/index.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="501" data-original-width="760" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_jbi5YcnfdLsotlQZJLIgEO24ue323tIEdReBk0aa6qUFvjwnNG9OV99ysZqhIfB4GZKxoXeKllGC7d34LNqxXpiS4DtfRel4shcHqc0hrjuw4gfPI1PfFsthEJEAeSiyvJRQz4-ThsvMVkO86Lt2MzkgFQFsHZQgVCT9GleO1urBSnMBHxm4JQ68jt8/w640-h422/index.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;">The period of marketing both buildings as the Hotel Marie Antoinette, as in this 1911 postcard, still causes confusion.</div></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Mrs. Magen wasted no time in reporting her disgruntlement with the heating pad she had purchased for 50 cents. It was advertised to "retain heat 10 to 15 hours." <i> The New York Sun</i> reported on February 5 that Mrs. Magen was the first customer to receive the $10 award. "The Gimbel people tested the pad and felt it succumb to the weather after seven hours." Mrs. Magen's $9.50 profit from the falsely advertised item would equal a satisfying $208 today.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The dining room and ballroom were favorites for large groups. On April 27, 1938, for instance, the <i>Columbia Daily Spectator</i> reported, "The banquet given annually in honor of the basketball squad at the College of Pharmacy will be held tonight at the Dauphin Hotel."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLcUtx2OVPtyP6uSORLjKYDpO5s8Qe4t8rf-b0SFE6LQTz4ihJcm9l8DehGCrBVqfvjTbnLkjMpIAUF9xBCV9QcTnNMp54CbBBwOukoX60aZfnF817P1UrFcycxZZtNQxH97ZkOITkgeKfYCTeFj1zqoNeM9rm8cJ16Xw24nYD2wFCTPJO2UzKaOzFdTk/s335/Screenshot%202024-03-05%20at%2005-50-16%20New%20York%20Columbia%20Spectator%20Mar%2018%201947%20p.%205.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="179" data-original-width="335" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLcUtx2OVPtyP6uSORLjKYDpO5s8Qe4t8rf-b0SFE6LQTz4ihJcm9l8DehGCrBVqfvjTbnLkjMpIAUF9xBCV9QcTnNMp54CbBBwOukoX60aZfnF817P1UrFcycxZZtNQxH97ZkOITkgeKfYCTeFj1zqoNeM9rm8cJ16Xw24nYD2wFCTPJO2UzKaOzFdTk/w400-h214/Screenshot%202024-03-05%20at%2005-50-16%20New%20York%20Columbia%20Spectator%20Mar%2018%201947%20p.%205.png" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Columbia Daily Spectator, March 18, 1947.</i></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">After mid-century, the Hotel Dauphin was the frequent meeting spot for Irish-American groups. On May 16, 1953, for instance, the<i> New York Irish American Advocate </i>reported on the final meeting of the I.R.A. Pettigo 1922 Memorial Committee. The group was formed to honor the soldiers of the Irish Republican Army who died in the summer of 1922. The article said, </span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="outline: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>A very satisfactory financial report was submitted. Letters were read from the Memorial Committee in Ireland thanking all who helped to make the drive for funds a financial success. The amount was much larger than it was expected. Receipts were received from Ireland for the full amount already sent. A vote of thanks was passed to all who gave donations. </i></span></div></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: arial; outline: none;" /></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">One of the last of Irish-American events was held here in May 1960. <i> </i>T</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">he<i> New York Irish American Advocate </i>reported o</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">n March 27, "The Williamstown Social Club, N.Y. at a meeting held in the Dauphin Hotel...voted to hold a dance on May 7 at the Dauphin Hotel, 67th St. & Bway, N.Y.," adding, "Persons from the Williamstown Co. Galway area, interested in joining the organization can do so at a meeting on Sunday, April 24, at the Dauphin Hotel at 4 P.M."</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The various groups that rented the dining room and ballroom would soon have to find other venues. In 1963 the block was demolished as part of the vast Lincoln Square urban renewal project. A 32-floor mixed use structure occupies the site today.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: georgia; font-style: italic;">no permission to reuse the content of this blog has been granted to LaptrinhX.com</span></div>Tom Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13542224816886418433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502312000087595701.post-36917122187717330292024-03-16T01:00:00.000-07:002024-03-16T08:41:48.924-07:00The Rev. John Leighton Wilson House - 47 East 30th Street<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNW-HWOhwo-lwTg-phoR0MWOPjyr72ifDxVVpIEdwGJEy5vaNsB1U5xX0wtgz-LNYg-85uZ4iWN8kMgKtaSgL1ncoewPZQfwLi93nOHYAysbHz3DJMYUhG8deiM8VLysYPuSy5GlKssfHE-6Khd10PQkPMWtSDmanH1iRHe54uO97Hk6uhbiiK5sJpl6Y/s3671/IMG_4044.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3671" data-original-width="2418" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNW-HWOhwo-lwTg-phoR0MWOPjyr72ifDxVVpIEdwGJEy5vaNsB1U5xX0wtgz-LNYg-85uZ4iWN8kMgKtaSgL1ncoewPZQfwLi93nOHYAysbHz3DJMYUhG8deiM8VLysYPuSy5GlKssfHE-6Khd10PQkPMWtSDmanH1iRHe54uO97Hk6uhbiiK5sJpl6Y/w422-h640/IMG_4044.jpg" width="422" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Born in Sumter, South Carolina on March 25, 1809, John Leighton Wilson graduated from Columbia Theological Seminary in 1833, sailing almost immediately to West Africa for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUolfit2H7zLDMS-s29Zam29xsUeHyWrEootA4eo6KXWZ0fueS-TZ-_ukk_xoS_L5Yq26gOGCXnDH4MP31lHmC8FU2DJdSDE0wdwlLWOaJhSoXaFsC7bNfWxnN0ISNud1dVOqYJ2WeNKmfSXo6GFmtoHfm_VN00qAvrfRN17K8UGG7HrWtTRhqKalv2WI/s347/John%20Leighton%20Wilson.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="347" data-original-width="250" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUolfit2H7zLDMS-s29Zam29xsUeHyWrEootA4eo6KXWZ0fueS-TZ-_ukk_xoS_L5Yq26gOGCXnDH4MP31lHmC8FU2DJdSDE0wdwlLWOaJhSoXaFsC7bNfWxnN0ISNud1dVOqYJ2WeNKmfSXo6GFmtoHfm_VN00qAvrfRN17K8UGG7HrWtTRhqKalv2WI/w289-h400/John%20Leighton%20Wilson.jpg" width="289" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;">Rev. John Leighton Wilson<i> (original source unknown).</i></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">After helping establish a mission in Cape Palmas, Liberia, he worked with the people there until 1834, when he returned to America to marry Mary Elizabeth Bayard, the daughter of a prominent Savannah, Georgia family. The newlyweds sailed back to Cape Palmas that year to work with the Grebo people. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">Over the years, the Wilsons created schools, translated school books, hymns, and parts of the Bible into Grebo, and helped establish other missions.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Wilsons returned to America in 1852 due to John's health issues. He was elected Secretary for the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions in New York located at 23 Centre Street, and shortly afterward purchased the newly built house at 47 East 30th Street.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Their 19-foot-wide home was four stories tall above a low English basement. Anglo-Italianate in design, it was faced in brick and trimmed in brownstone. Ornate Italianate ironwork protected the areaway and stoop. The first floor openings were fully arched and set within deeply molded frames. A stone bandcourse introduced the upper floors, and a wooden cornice with a latticework frieze capped the design.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzgRUR85WzeyxiStYL2csCYKdRemAwdGRPy2My0O30fsKJ3bAF93M9-5QQ18jzTC_ubKh30uYkVkuZSezp9HO4tfr6ttDUd1Z5NtcBVDk7_TgmEQraj8ym6y9r58dmjwnIuztyDUzTTZ5JRSFi900mUZUvDYbr7vpZbDcTkBTFruLOqkAMW-F8C7CeT3U/s1325/IMG_4044a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="689" data-original-width="1325" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzgRUR85WzeyxiStYL2csCYKdRemAwdGRPy2My0O30fsKJ3bAF93M9-5QQ18jzTC_ubKh30uYkVkuZSezp9HO4tfr6ttDUd1Z5NtcBVDk7_TgmEQraj8ym6y9r58dmjwnIuztyDUzTTZ5JRSFi900mUZUvDYbr7vpZbDcTkBTFruLOqkAMW-F8C7CeT3U/w640-h332/IMG_4044a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;">The wooden latticework below the cornice is unusual.</div></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Although the Wilsons were ardent abolitionists, in 1861 (either just before or after the first shot in the Civil War), they returned to the South.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">While the Wilsons occupied 47 East 30th Street, Harriet Hunter ran an upscale boarding house on Union Square. On November 1, 1861, she announced in the <i>New York Herald</i>, "Mrs. Hunter has removed from No. 30 Union square, to No. 47 East thirtieth street, where she can accommodate a few persons for the winter."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Among her first boarders were the unmarried Sayre sisters, Ophelia, Emily A. and Elizabeth H. The women may have been newcomers to New York City, since they joined the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church that same year.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">An ad placed in the <i>New York Herald</i> on February 12, 1862 caught the eye of Ebenezer Storer. "Mrs. Hunter, 47 East Thirtieth Street, has two pleasant Rooms for rent; one suitable for a physician's office. Possession immediately." Dr. Storer took the room and lived and practiced there at least through 1880.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Among the boarders in 1864 through 1866 were John H. Anthon and his wife. Highly involved in civic and charitable causes, Anthon was an inspector of public schools, and his wife was the First Directress of the <a href="https://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2011/12/lost-1840-orphan-asylum-society.html">Orphan Asylum Society of the City of New-York</a> in Bloomingdale (today's Upper West Side). </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">By 1867, Elizabeth J. Hunter (presumably Harriet's daughter) was operating the boarding house. Either she or one of her boarders lost a valuable pet in 1870. An announcement in the New York Herald on April 28 read: </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Lost--April 27, a small green parrot, with red bead </i>[sic]<i> and red feathers in tail; he is a little larger than a canary; $20 reward will be given to anyone who will return him to 47 East Thirtieth street. He is the gift of a friend, therefore particularly valuable to the owner. </i></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The sizable reward would translate to more than $450 in 2024.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Dr. Ebenezer Storer was an ardent proponent of temperance. In 1874 he joined a long list of physicians who signed a "medical declaration" to the State and Federal Governments that said in part, "</span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">We are of [</span><i style="font-family: georgia;">the</i><span style="font-family: georgia;">] opinion that the use of alcoholic liquor as a beverage is productive of a large amount of physical disease; that it entails diseased appetites upon offspring; and that it is the cause of a large percentage of the crime and pauperism of our cities and country." The declaration proposed state and federal laws that would "confine the traffic in alcohol to the legitimate purposes of medical and other sciences, art, and mechanism."</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Laura M. Thorpe, who "belongs to one of the most fashionable families of Philadelphia," according to <i>The National Police Gazette,</i> took rooms in the house in 1878. The newspaper described her as "a handsome blonde of about twenty-five years." Her husband, Gould H. Thorpe, a "wealthy produce merchant" had sued her for divorce earlier that year "on the ground of infidelity to her marriage vows." The indiscretion had been carried out with one of New York's wealthiest young men, Lloyd Phoenix, the son of Philip Phoenix and the grandson of Stephen Whitney.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Both Laura Thorpe and Lloyd Phoenix were "well known among New York 'society' people," said <i>The National Police Gazette.</i> Their illicit relationship had caused what the journal on January 11, 1879 called "a social scandal which for months has been the talk of the up-town clubs and of 'fashionable' society circles." On December 26, 1878, the scandal became even more public. Laura Thorpe sued Phoenix for a physical attack in her rooms here.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">According to Mrs. Thorpe, on December 18 Phoenix came to her rooms and demanded his love letters, fearful that they would be used as evidence in her divorce case. When she refused, he seized an iron poker "and with this formidable domestic weapon inflicted several blows," according to <i>The National Police Gazette</i>. The article continued,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="outline: none; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Then, as she further alleges, Mr. Phoenix, by no means satisfied with the frightful havoc he had made with her beauty, seized a chair and augmented the bruises, wounds and dislocations by at least two. After that he, so she claims, took from the mantel a majolica vase, which she specifically says cost $20, and with violence threw it at her, thereby breaking it into fragments.</i></span></div></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="outline: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; outline: none;" /></span></div><div style="outline: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Hearing the crash, two servants rush into the room and Mrs. Thorpe directed one of them to find a policeman. Phoenix fled.</span></div><div style="outline: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="outline: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>The National Police Gazette</i> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">reporter asked Laura Thorpe why Phoenix would think that beating her would prompt her to relinquish the letters. He recounted the ensuing conversation:</span></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="outline: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="outline: none;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; outline: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>"Oh! It is not the first time he has done such a thing, and this time he tried to kill me," said Mrs. Thorpe.</i></span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="outline: none;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; outline: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br style="outline: none;" /></i></span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="outline: none;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; outline: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>"Do you mean that he has beaten you before this?" </i></span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="outline: none;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; outline: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br style="outline: none;" /></i></span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="outline: none;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; outline: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>"Twice before this," she replied, "On one occasion he lamed me seriously by the violence of his blows. This time he pointed a revolver at me and was fingering the trigger, when I knocked it from his hand and screamed for help." </i></span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="outline: none;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; outline: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div></div></div></blockquote></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In 1880, Dr. Augustine Arrango shared Storer's office, most likely during a transitional phase. In 1881 only Arrango was listed here. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">That year, on April 2, Virgil Lopez was sitting in Arrango's waiting room. Through the window he noticed another patient, Elvina De Molina ascending the stoop. Suddenly, 14-year-old James Goss rushed up, grabbed Elvina's pocketbook and ran. Almost before she could realize what had happened, Goss ran down the stoop in pursuit of the teenage purse snatcher. At the corner of 31st Street and Fourth Avenue (today's Park Avenue South), Goss tackled and overcame the youth. <i>The New York Times</i> said on April 3, 1881, "The lad was arraigned before Justice Flammer, at the Jefferson Market Police Court, and committed for trial in default of $500 bail."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Never married, Elizabeth J. Hunter died in 1889 and bequeathed 47 East 30th Street to Sarah F. Richards, most likely a relative. She leased it that year to Dr. John Warren, who would occupy the doctor's office and rent rooms in the upper floors. Unlike the Hunter women's fashionable boarders, most of Warren's were in the theatrical profession.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Among the earliest was Charles Franklyn Henry De Witt Chatterton, who had for years been private secretary to theatrical manager Henry E. Abbey. <i>The New York Times</i> called Chatterton "one of the best known and most highly esteemed of the theatrical people of this country." Somewhat interestingly, when Chatterton was bedridden in the spring of 1891, he did not consult his landlord doctor. On May 9, <i>The New York Clipper </i>reported, "T</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">he condition of Charles P. Chatterton, who has been ill with consumption, at his home, No. 47 West Thirtieth Street, this city, was reported last week as being somewhat improved. Dr. Curtis said the hemorrhages were practically over, and, although the sick man was in a critical condition, it was hoped he would rally."</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Chatterton's recurring condition proved fatal three years later. When he died on October 11, 1894, <i>The New York Times</i> mentioned, "He had been subject to hemorrhages for a long time, and three times within the last three years attacks of this kind have been so severe that his life has been despaired of."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Boarding at 47 East 30th Street at the time were four other theatrical professionals--the married couple Grace Sherwood and Jerome Sykes, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">22-year-old actor Ulysses Alton, and 28-year-old John Walton, also an actor. Grace Sherwood was described by the <i>New York Press</i> as "one of the most popular and charming women in her profession," and her husband was stage manager of the Bostonians. She became pregnant while living here, and had to give up her role of Chollie Kell in <i>Passing Show</i>.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Tragically, Grace died here on May 2, 1894 while giving birth to twins. In reporting her death, the <i>New York Press</i> said, "Mrs. Sykes was well known and liked in the profession."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In 1894, b</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">oth Walton and Alton would be in trouble with police. The first was </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">John Walton, who landed a role in <i>Mr. Barnes of New York</i> that year. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">On September 5, 1894, Walton and a friend, William Harvey walked up Sixth Avenue with two women, dropping them off at 30th Street. As the females walked away, Walton accused, "You made a fool of me before those women," according to the <i>New York Sun, </i>which noted, "Harvey contradicted him with an oath."</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">With that Waldon pulled out a knife and made several slashes to Harvey's clothing, but failed to wound him. <i>The New York Sun </i>reported, "Policeman McDonald, who jumped off a Sixth avenue car just then, arrested the fighters and took them to the West Thirtieth street station. Walton was bailed out by Shanly, the restaurant keeper."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Ulysses Alton was behind bars a month later. On October 13, 1894, he and another actor, John E. McGoward, stepped into the cigar store next to <a href="https://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-lost-daly-theatre-1221-broadway.html">Daly's Theatre</a>. While there, according to <i>The Press,</i> their "discussion waxed warm, and</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"> Alton grabbed an automatic slot machine and hit McGowan on the head, inflicting serious scalp wounds."</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In 1896, Sarah Richard offered the house for lease again, describing it as an "unfurnished, four-story brown-stone and brick English basement dwelling; newly painted and decorated." The new proprietor seems to have replaced the sometimes troublesome theater tenants with professionals like Benjamin Orne, a stockbroker.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Sarah Richard's son, J. Swift Richards, sold 47 East 30th Street to Sheppard K. de Forest in September 1913. He quickly remodeled it into bachelor apartments. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1CciCewwW5dtuI-u-bxQqEIHDF2kTChHxoV5qYQfFTwy0kuUh5z_0phyphenhyphenujCR-T4UZbeVg4L0GlCWJuH8NRE06BxLEguE06NRcfpZGAr5GPZuXAZdwjh4opUB3jIr6ArVwjEKWaDmQCFvN8Gb6fNMcmJTZKp6oFIZGebkz7WHE9ZXZR80Wt15RZjn6rTM/s470/47%20e%2030th.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="456" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1CciCewwW5dtuI-u-bxQqEIHDF2kTChHxoV5qYQfFTwy0kuUh5z_0phyphenhyphenujCR-T4UZbeVg4L0GlCWJuH8NRE06BxLEguE06NRcfpZGAr5GPZuXAZdwjh4opUB3jIr6ArVwjEKWaDmQCFvN8Gb6fNMcmJTZKp6oFIZGebkz7WHE9ZXZR80Wt15RZjn6rTM/w388-h400/47%20e%2030th.png" width="388" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The New York Times, September 7, 1913 (copyright expired)</i></div></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Among the initial tenants was N. Val Peavey, a pianist who used his apartment here as his New York teaching studio. (He lived in Brooklyn.) Another was stockbroker John F. Murphy, who had started in the brokerage business in 1898. He and his wife lived here until his death on September 3, 1918.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGhEgXfYxn1e8TepG8ijEkIMk6WEWCIA1fPh6Qp_qqtp538Cmlvdco-cTUbt9Uw8p2OhCRQ7z7MwaSM9Y0SLqRt4XZJeVDCFghbeaVfGKcJrAbEqy161iIoR4jT8Zv1j-g6kpc5JahHgL0slxyMDJ-tzMZcy5AQN_ecOmhJRAUsvld8uvHelK4a99HGyM/s497/47%20East%2030%20Street.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="497" data-original-width="442" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGhEgXfYxn1e8TepG8ijEkIMk6WEWCIA1fPh6Qp_qqtp538Cmlvdco-cTUbt9Uw8p2OhCRQ7z7MwaSM9Y0SLqRt4XZJeVDCFghbeaVfGKcJrAbEqy161iIoR4jT8Zv1j-g6kpc5JahHgL0slxyMDJ-tzMZcy5AQN_ecOmhJRAUsvld8uvHelK4a99HGyM/w570-h640/47%20East%2030%20Street.png" width="570" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;">In 1941, the Italianate ironwork and other Victorian details were intact. <i>image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.</i></div></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">By mid-century the once elegant neighborhood had significantly changed. A renovation completed in 1948, resulted in a veterinarian office on the ground floor, a kennel in the basement, and a triplex apartment on the second through fourth floors.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">Surprisingly, a veterinarian office still occupies the ground floor. Today there are six apartments in the former Wilson house--its former elegance lost to paint, abuse and a commercial awning.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">photographs by the author</span></i></div><div style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">no permission to reuse the content of this blog has been granted to LaptrinhX.com</span></i></div></div>Tom Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13542224816886418433noreply@blogger.com1