The Randolph and Everett Jacobs House - 24 East 78th Street

In 1871 speculative developer Silas M. Styles erected three Italianate-style rowhouses at Nos. 22 through 26 East 78th Street.  Although only 15-feet and two bays wide, they were intended for upper middle class families.  

High brownstone stoops with stone newels and railings rose to the entrances, nestled within columned porticos with classical pediments.  Matching triangular pediments crowned the parlors windows.  The openings of the upper stories wore architrave frames and molded cornices.  The bracketed cornices stopped just short of touching one another.

No. 24 is to the left in this April 1919 photograph (the stoop of No. 26 has already been removed).  photo by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

The center residence, No. 24, became home to the Martin Delaney family.  Delaney and his wife, Carrie suffered the death of their son, Charles on December 30, 1875.  The little boy would have turned five years old in January.  His funeral was held in the house on New Year's Day, 1876.

By 1892 William Augustus Boyd owned No. 24.  A Columbia University educated attorney, he held the post of Corporation Attorney of New York City until 1889.  He and his wife, the former Adeline Todd Speaight, had six daughters--Adeline Virginia, Beatrice Speaight, Addie Storm, Natalie Graham, Leontine Augusta and Constance Chauncey.  On May 9, 1894 a son, Gansevoort Melville, was born.  The family's summer estate was in Larchmont, New York.  

On February 3, 1899 Adeline placed an advertisement in The New York Times looking for a new cook for the 78th Street house that included a specific detail:  "Competent cook; city reference required; Swede preferred."

By now Virginia and Beatrice had been introduced to society.  Adeline's entertainments therefore became a cooperative effort.  On February 5, 1899 The New York Times announced "Mrs. William A. Boyd and her daughters, Miss Virginia and Miss Beatrice Boyd. 24 East Seventy-eighth Street, have issued cards for a reception on Saturday, Feb. 11, from 4 until 7."

About a week following that event, Adeline contracted a cold.  It developed into pneumonia and she died suddenly on February 25.  Her funeral was held in the drawing room where socialites had so recently gathered.  She was 49-years old.

The family continued its mourning in their country home.  On July 22, 1899 a small newspaper, City of New Rochelle, reported "William A. Boyd and the Misses Boyd of No. 24 East Seventy-eighth street, are spending the season at Larchmont Manor."  Two months earlier Boyd had placed an advertisement in the New-York Daily Tribune seeking a cook for Larchmont.  Like Adeline had been, he was specific about the servant's ethnicity.  "Cook--Japanese as first-class cook on yacht...wages $45 up."

With the help of a competent staff, William A. Boyd admirably managed on the duties of a single father of seven.  And he seems to have given his older daughters monitored independence.  On July 4, 1903 the New York Herald reported that he and "the Misses Boyd" had gone "to their country place at Larchmont," however "Miss Beatrice Boyd will pass the summer in Europe."

The 78th Street house was the scene of the wedding of Adeline Virginia Boyd to William West Shaw on April 30, 1904.  Beatrice was her sister's maid of honor.  In reporting on the event the New-York Tribune mentioned that Adeline "comes from an old Knickerbocker family and is a great-granddaughter of Dr. Thomas Boyd, who...was one of the founders of the New-York Academy of Medicine."

In April 1906 William announced the engagement of Addie to George Homey Tower, of Boston.  The ceremony was held not in the 78th Street house, but in St Thomas's Church, quite likely because of the elevated status of many of the guests.

The groom's father was Charlemagne Tower, Jr., a renowned historian and archaeologist who had served as the United States Ambassador to Austria-Hungary and to Russia.  Among the wedding guests were the Secretary of State, Elihu Root and his wife.  A reception was held at No. 24 East 78th Street after the ceremony.

The next to marry was Beatrice.  William announced her engagement to William J. Peters on July 15, 1908.  The couple was married on September 2 at the Larchmont estate.  The groom was an explorer and scientist who would spent much time in the Arctic and tropics.  His research helped establish the scientific upstanding of the Earth's magnetism.  

While the aging Boyd did not appear in society pages for his entertainments, his name kept reappearing for the weddings of his daughters.  On November 3, 1914 Leontine Augusta was married in the house to Harold Lusk Flint.  Addie's little daughter, Audrey Kneeland Tower, was the flower girl.

William A. Boyd died in the 78th Street house on January 24, 1918 at the age of 77.  After having been the setting of so many happy events, the drawing room was the scene of his funeral two days later.

The house was sold to real estate operator James H. Cruikshank, in December that year.  He quickly resold it the following April brothers Randolph and Everett Jacobs.  The bachelors commissioned architect Randolph H. Almiroty to completely transform the brownstone's appearance.

The stoop was removed and the facade extended forward to the property line.  Almiroty's design was a modern take on the Italian Renaissance style.  Faced in limestone, its understated ground floor was overshadowed by the triple windows of the second and third floor, which visually performed as a unit--the stone facade becoming little more than their frame.  A carved swag finished the architectural ensemble.

Corinthian pilasters separated the fourth floor openings, and behind a stone balustrade the fifth floor took the form of a mansard with two prominent dormers.

The Randolph brothers were engaged in real estate development.  Their most noteworthy project was the development of the Fox Meadow estates in Scarsdale, designed as a modern residential community.   In 1927 they jointly donated 14,500 square feet of land in White Plains to the Westchester County Parkway Commission for use as part of the county center.

Bachelorhood did not necessarily get in the way of entertaining, at least for Everett.  On May 17, 1933 The New York Times reported that he "gave a roller-skating dinner party last night in the Black and Gold Room of the Central Park Casino.  The dance floor was transformed into a miniature skating rink and an impromptu entertainment was given."  

The fashionable Central Park Casino was demolished two years after Everett's skating party.  photo nycparksgov.org

Randolph Jacobs died of a heart attack on August 18, 1935 while practicing golf at the Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale.  The 56-year-old left a gross estate of $1,505,486, according to the New York Sun--in the neighborhood of $27.5 million today.  He bequeathed 55.5 percent of the total estate to Everett.  His brothers Edward and William and sister Gertrude received substantially smaller portions.

Everett lived on in the 78th Street house.  On the way to his office at No. 542 Fifth Avenue on May 20, 1942 he stopped into the Savoy-Plaza Hotel for a haircut.  While in the barber's chair he suddenly slumped forward.  Like his brother, he had suffered a heart attack.  The 60-year-old was taken to a bedroom upstairs, where he died three hours later.

In 1943 No. 24 was sold to the Baron de Hirsch Fund, a philanthropic organization founded in the 19th century by Baron Maurice de Hirsch for the relief of Eastern European Jews.  The Fund apparently rethought its plans for the house, reselling it in February the following year to Marcelle Boesel.  He, too, quickly flipped the house, selling it exactly one year later, in February 1945, to John J. and Rose A. Dordan.

They family moved in just in time for daughter Lillian Mary's wedding.  She was married to John Raymond Gray in the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in October that year.  

The Dordan's residency was short lived.  With their children married, John and Rose moved to the Riverdale section of the Bronx in 1947.    No. 24 was now home to Sol A. Rosenblatt and his wife, the former Edith Higgins.  Rosenblatt was Edith's second husband.  Her marriage to John Magee Boissevain had ended in divorce.  Moving into the 78th Street house with them were her daughters, Cynthian Anne and Natasha.

Like the Dordans, they moved in just in time for a wedding.  On April 19, 1947 Cynthia Anne Boissevain was married to Thomas Francis Madigan in the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer.  Natasha was a bridesmaid and a reception was held at No. 24 following the ceremony.

The Rosenblatts left 78th Street in 1951.  The following year a doctor's office and connected apartment were installed in the basement.  The upper floors continued to serve as a single family residence.

The doctor's office was converted to the Gerald Peter Gallery in 1998 where it remains.  The absence of signage gives no hint of its presence.  Instead, the house retains the dignified appearance created for two bachelor brothers in 1920.

photographs by the author

Cloaks, Underwear and Smuggled Liquor -- Nos. 30-32 West 24th Street

In 1910 the block of 24^th Street just west of Madison Square had seen three major transformations.  A fashionable residential neighborhood in the first decades of the 19^th century, it had declined by the 1880s as part of the notorious, crime-ridden Tenderloin District.  And now its old low-rise buildings were being replaced with modern loft structures as the block was engulfed by the Mercantile District.

The five-story brownstone-fronted house at No. 32 West 24^th Street was once the home of George Washington Kip (whose family name survives in the Kips Bay neighborhood).  Its neighbor at No. 30 had been converted in 1894 for The Pen and Brush club; a group of professional women writers and artists.  The end of the line for both vintage houses was near.

On New Year’s Day 1910 the Real Estate Record & Builders’ Guide reported that architects Frederick C. Browne and Randolph H. Almiroty had formed a partnership, Browne & Almiroty.  It noted “Mr. Browne has had a large practice in loft and office buildings…Mr. Almiroty has been for many years with John H. Duncan, the architect of Grant’s Tomb, and has been identified with many of New York’s finest private residence and business buildings.”

Possibly their first commission involved replacing the old brownstone houses at Nos. 30 and 32 West 24^th Street. On March 29 the Marmac Construction Co. purchased the buildings from Mrs. Ruth Livingston and announced intentions to erect “a 12-story mercantile building on the site.”

Construction was completed in January 1911.  The neo-Gothic style had grown in favor for commercial buildings within the past few years and would culminate in 1913 with Cass Gilbert’s Woolworth Building.  Browne & Almiroty turned to the style for Nos. 30-32 West 24^th Street, using limestone, brick and terra cotta to create an impressive yet utilitarian structure.

The two-story stone base featured Gothic elements like quatrefoils, protruding gargoyles and crockets.  The uppermost floors were flanked by hefty faceted piers containing blind Gothic arches. 

Two winged creatures stare defiantly at one another below the heavy tone band where a terrifying spread-winged creature holds a shield.

Marmac Construction immediately leased the store to the Mosaic Tile Company, while the upper floors filled with apparel manufacturers.  Marmac was not interested in being a landlord, however, and in January 1912 sold the new building to Chicago investor Jacques L. Boisse.

Among the tenants in the building in 1913 were Schutzer, Dessau & Luchs, manufacturers of “cloaks and suits.”  The firm employed 20 men and two women.  Also here was Gill & Renther, which made dresses.  Its employees included 10 men, 10 women, and two “children” between 14 and 16 years old.

The firms shared the building with large “costumes and lingerie” manufacturer George, Henry & Rosenbaum Co.  The company employed a workforce of 95—12 men and 83 women.

The building served both as factory space and wholesale showrooms for some tenants.  Such was the case when A. & S. Cohen moved in in 1915.  American Cloak and Suit Review the “firm makes a line of ‘fine suits.’  Their price range is from $10.00 to $20.00.”  The suits were indeed “fine.”  The $20 wholesale price would translate to nearly $500 in 2016 dollars.

The Review added “They are showing their Spring and Summer models in their new quarters, which are very splendidly appointed, both as to factory facilities and equipment, and the well arranged showroom.”

Another new tenant that year was The Victoria Undergarment Company, Inc.  In reporting the move, The Corset and Underwear Review said the “manufacturers of nightgowns and envelope chemises, have joined the uptown movement.”

The Perfect Patent Folding Box Company took over the store and basement in 1916; while the upper floors continued to house apparel firms like the Wear Well Ladies Apparel Co., Hopewell Dress Co., and S. Freiman Bros, Inc., “manufacturing furriers.”

Although garment manufacturers like the Kirschner-Hendler underwear company continued to sign leases into the 1920s; the apparel district was moving northward.  A new type of tenant was emerging, like Albert Guggenheim, importer of olive oil.   Guggenheim was embarrassed when his name appeared in local newspapers upon his return from Europe in May 1928.

Guggenheim had traveled home in a first class cabinet on the Cunard liner Aquitania.  While liquor flowed freely in Paris, London and Rome, such was not the case in Prohibition Era New York.  And when Customs agents searched Guggenheim’s baggage at the New York pier they found three quarts of liquor concealed there.  Certainly to Guggenheim’s dismay, the officials smashed the bottles.  He was fined $15.

In 1933 Morris & Bendien, Inc. was in the building selling wholesale novelties.  That year it offered 60 assorted jigsaw puzzles for $3.00; “each picture a masterpiece.” 

As 1933 drew to an end so did Prohibition.  Albert Guggenheim saw more potential profits in liquor than in olive oil and formed the Kienzler Distilling Corporation on December 17, with himself as president.   Even before the corporation was official, Guggenheim was wasted no time.  On December 4, the day before Prohibition was abolished, the Government auctioned “Scotch, rye, champagne, and cordials now resting in cases, bags and demijohns at the army base in South Brooklyn,” according to The New York Times.  The liquor had been “seized by the government during the last few months of prohibition” from steamers arriving in New York Harbor.

While United States Marshal Raymond J. Mulligan received “half a dozen bids for the liquor,” he dismissed all but two.  One of those came from Kienzler & Co., which bid $19 a case and $7.50 per gallon.

The following year Kienzler & Co. applied for a trademark for its own whiskey and gin.   Perhaps Albert Guggenheim should have stayed in the olive oil importing business.  Not quite four years after he started Kienzler & Co., the firm declared bankruptcy on October 25, 1937.

Like Morris & Bendien, the Elka Toy & Novelty Mfg. Corp. hawked cheap novelties here by 1951.  Among its carnival-type items were “adorable fur kittens and dogs” which it advertised as “made entirely of ‘Ball of Fluff’ genuine rabbit fur.”

By 1958 Nos. 30-32 West 24^th Street was known as “The Army Reserve Building.”  It was here on September 18 that the Interstate Commerce Commission began an inquiry as to the cause of a Jersey Central commuter train’s plunge into Newark Bay, killing 50 passengers.

The building was also used for the Federation Employment and Guidance Service’s “sheltered workshop.”  Here, under the auspices of the Vocational Rehabilitation Program, the Government provided “light factory work” for unemployed disabled job seekers.  Manufacturers were encouraged to use the workshops for simple piece work, like the assembly of costume jewelry.

The neo-Gothic tracery of the eastern entrance survives.  Winged gargoyles stare menacingly while a glimpse of the simulated vaulted foyer ceiling and the Gothic arch beyond had be seen.

Today a café occupies the ground floor where mosaic floor tiles were sold in 1911 and the upper stories continue to be home to light manufacturing and office space.  Although the service entrance at No. 32 has been butchered; the neo-Gothic detail at No. 30 survives. 

photographs by the author

The 1920 Sohmer Piano Bldg. -- No. 31 West 57th Street

photo http://www.vnony.com/portfolio/property/31-west-57th-street/28/overview

Just after the turn of the last century Jacob Rothschild lived among some of Manhattan’s most socially-prominent citizens.   The block of West 57^th Street where he lived was lined with the brownstone-fronted Italianate rowhouses of a generation earlier and exuberant Beaux Arts replacements like the mansion at No. 35--two doors away--built by Margaret Vanderbilt Shepard for her daughter Maria and new son-in-law, William Jay Schieffelin.  At the Fifth Avenue corner of the block stood the hulking, block-wide chateau of Cornelius Vanderbilt III.

The Schieffelin mansion had been home to Samuel Bowne since 1899 and in between that house and Rothschild’s lived lawyer Edward S. Rapallo in the subdued brownstone at No. 33.  Jacob Rothschild’s varied interests and abilities had made him what The New York Times deemed “one of the wealthiest merchants, real estate operators and hotel men of the city.”

On April 4, 1911 the 68-year old millionaire died in the house following a severe stroke.  His death coincided with changes that were already being noticed in the neighborhood.  It had all started a decade earlier when John Jacob Astor demolished mansions at the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 55^th Street for his high-end St. Regis Hotel.  As millionaires avoided the encroaching commerce, fleeing northward along Central Park, their mansions were altered or razed for business buildings.  The Rothschild mansion would soon join them. 

On November 20, 1913 The New York Times reported that Dunstan, Incorporated “one of the oldest dressmaking concerns in the city,” had taken a long-term lease on the house.  The firm announced it would make “extensive alterations.”

In the meantime Sohmer & Company was following the northward trend, as well.  The long-established piano firm had started on 14^th Street; then moved to No. 170 Fifth Avenue in 1898; then to No. 315 Fifth Avenue in July of 1909.  The highly-competitive piano business in New York City kept the company’s directors constantly aware of the need to change business practices—or location.

In 1919 the need to move once again was evident.  Before long the piano and organ district would be centered along West 57^th Street and Sohmer would be one of the pioneers in the movement.   On May 3 the Real Estate Record and Guide reported that “Sohmer & Co. make the announcement that negotiations have just been completed for the leasing for a long term of years, the property at 31 West 57^th Street.”  It signaled the end of the line for the Rothschild residence.  “The present building will be razed and there will be erected by Sohmer & Co. a six-story building, all of which will be occupied in the conduct of their piano business.”

On June 7, 1919 The Music Trades reported that Harry J. Sohmer and his wife were “compelled to return to New York last Monday on account of matters pertaining to the new building now being planned by Sohmer & Co. for early erection on West Fifty-seventh Street, that required his attention.  Mr. Sohmer said they were making good progress with the plans and sketches and work on the new building would be started soon.”

Indeed, work got started soon.  Two months later, on August 30, The Music Trades noted “Demolition of the building occupying the site of the new Sohmer structure was begun last week, and the work of construction will be pushed rapidly from this time on.”

Sohmer & Co. had chosen architect Randolph H. Almiroty for its $100,000 home.  “The building will have an Italian façade and will be constructed throughout with the idea of making it one of the most complete piano salons in the country,” said the Record and Guide.  “The top floor will house the executive and accounting departments, both wholesale and retail.”

In reporting on the planned structure, the Real Estate Record and Guide noted the changes on West 57^th.  “Real estate experts and those competent to know are all agreed that 57^th street is destined to become one of the famous streets of the world—the ‘Bond Street’ of America.”

Construction was completed within the year and Sohmer & Co. opened its doors for business in October 1920.  Almiroty’s handsome Italian-inspired façade retained the proportions of the surviving former residences that surrounded it, creating a harmonious flow.

The double-height, rusticated ground floor base supported four floors of understated and dignified design that demanded little attention.  An 32-foot arched opening at ground floor however presented a dramatic introduction to the showrooms.

In 1922 the two houses on either side of the Sohmer Building had been converted to businesses -- photo by Wurtz Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UAYW5T4L1N&SMLS=1&RW=1366&RH=579

The firm's opening announcement on October 9 said "The building was especially designed and erected" for the display of  "Sohmer Pianos--Grands, Uprights, Player-Pianos--and Victor Victrolas."  "Every detail has been planned to afford a perfect environment in which to display the exquisite beauties of the Sohmer Piano."

Before long other piano dealers would follow the lead to West 57^th Street.  Further west was the handsome Steinway Building which included Steinway Hall, and in 1924 the Chickering Piano firm opened its 13-story Chickering Hall next door to Sohmer & Co. at No. 29.  Then in 1934 Hardman, Peck & Co. moved into the old Edward Rapallo house on the other side at No. 33 West 57^th Street.  Following Almiroty’s example, the street level was renovated to a similar double-height glass-paned arch.

A clever marketing scheme devised by Sohmer in 1933 was its annual National Piano Playing Tournament.  School-aged pianists from New York and the vicinity entered the three-day contest, vying for national, state or district certificates of honor.  The children were graded according to their excellence as compared to their age and length of time they had studied.

The stark difference in the youthful attire of the 1930s and today is evident in The New York Times report on the competition on June 9, 1939.  “Immaculate in starched white frocks and natty blue coats, the girls and boys, respectively--with the former outnumbering the latter by three to one--were nervous at first, but soon lost themselves in the spirit of the occasion.  Although both judges and parents were forced by the rules of the tournament to sit behind screens, the players knew they were there and did their best to prove their knowledge of the piano and its part in music.”

After manufacturing pianos in New York for 110 years, Sohmer & Co. moved its factory to Connecticut in 1982.  The company was making at the time about 3,000 instruments per year.  In announcing the move, the Sohmer management promised that the 57^th Street showroom would remain.

But only two years later it was gone.

In December 1984 the Rizzoli International Bookstore announced its plan to move into the former Sohmer Piano Building.  Like Sohmer, Rizzoli intended to use the entire building—the lower three stories being used as the main bookstore while the upper floors were reserved for imported books, stationery items and related products.

Three months later the Rizzoli bookstore was opened with a grand champagne reception.  Along with the facade, the firm’s architects sensitively preserved the original elegant Italian interiors.  The delicate, carved-in-place plaster ceiling ornamentation was gently updated by adding a Italian fresco glaze.  A few vintage fixtures from Rizzoli’s old Fifth Avenue location were integrated; including four hand-crafted chandeliers, cherry woodwork, and the hand-carved marble doorframe.

Within a generation New Yorkers had forgotten that the beautiful building at No. 31 West 57^th Street had not always been the Rizzoli Building.  The vaulted ceilings, the old world atmosphere and the warm racks of books were as familiar to some Manhattanites as their own living room.

As the 20^th century came to a close, the Schieffelin mansion had lost its lower floors to be replaced by a flat-faced commercial façade; the Rapallo mansion held on to its 1930s storefront and Victorian upper floors; but the Sohmer Building was virtually intact, inside and out.  By now the West 57^th Street block had drastically changed and the three survivors were essentially the last relics of a far more elegant era.

Then as 2013 drew to a close the LeFrak real estate family and Vornado Realty Trust, owners of the three structures, announced plans to demolish the buildings for an unspecified project.  The Landmarks Preservation Commission considered the Sohmer & Co. Building and decided it “lacks the architectural significance necessary to meet the criteria for designation as an individual landmark.”

The hearts of preservationists, historians, and lovers of Manhattan in general dropped.  Interestingly, the three picturesque structures represent the three rapid-fire developments of the block:  The Rapallo house is a surviving example of the first period of rowhouse construction; the Schieffelin mansion represents the second, fashionable period; and the Sohmer Building the commercial period.

Look fast, though.  It appears fairly certain that the charming buildings will not last much longer.