The Andrew W. Bogert House - 222 East 32nd Street

 

image via douglaselliman.com

In the 17th century, the farm of Dutch settler Jacobus Hendrickson de Kype stretched northward along the East River from what today is East 30th to about 37th Street, and west beyond First Avenue.  In 1655, De Kype erected his large brick and stone house on the property.  The family let its surname, anglicized to Kip, to the river's bay and to his property, which was known as the Kip's Bay Farm.

By the decade prior to the outbreak of civil war, the Kip's Bay neighborhood had seen the opening of streets and avenues and the erection of rowhouses and shops.  Around 1855, a trio of Anglo-Italianate rowhouses was erected on East 32nd Street between Second and Third Avenues.  Faced in brownstone, the 16-foot-wide homes featured rusticated bases with fully arched openings.  Graceful molded lintels sat upon the elliptically arched upper floor windows.  A cast iron balcony ran the width of the second floor.

Andrew W. Bogert, a cabinetmaker and furniture dealer, moved his family into the westernmost of the three homes, 128 East 32nd Street.  The address would be changed to 222 in 1864.  The Bogerts remained through 1858.  The following year, Sara Gough began operating a boarding house here.

Her advertisement in the New-York Tribune on March 9, 1859, read:

Board for One Family, with the whole parlor floor, or the third floor, in the English basement house, with all the improvements, No. 128 East 32d st.  Few if any other boarders in the house.  Sarah Gough

Sarah's mention of "few if any other boarders" was important.  The higher class boarding houses took in only a few select tenants.  In 1860, living in the house with Sara were her son, Adna H. Gough; and Jonathan Dickinson and Henry R. Cooper, who were both clerks.

In 1863, Adna H. Gough traveled to Michigan, presumably with his mother, where he purchased land on August 5.  He is listed as among "the first land purchasers of Saginaw County, Michigan," by the Saginaw Genealogical Society.

The East 32nd Street house became home to the John Turnbull family.  On April 18, 1863, Turnbull wrote a testimonial letter for a Dr. Lighthill, who treated "diseases of the Eye, Ear, and Air-Passages," according to his ad.  Turnbull's letter appeared in The New York Times:

A member of my family had had a troublesome affection of the ears since infancy.  I was recommended to place her under the treatment of Dr. Lighthill, and I am happy to state that he has been completely successful in her case.  Those who desire to know the particulars may apply at my residence.

                                        John Turnbull, No. 128 East 32d-st.

That family member was, most likely, daughter Agnes Turnbull.  Beginning in 1864, she taught in the primary department of School No. 53 on West 13th Street near Sixth Avenue.

Also living in the house was Agnes's brother, George R. Turnbull.  On March 9, 1865, he was summoned to testify in the alleged corruption in the election of William E. Dodge to Congress.  His testimony revealed the general confusion being created by the city's comprehensive address renumbering program.  When asked where he lived, he answered, "128 East 32nd Street, old number; the new number is 222."

The house appears to have been operated as a boarding house again in the 1870s.  Then, in 1879, it was purchased by 24-year-old Dr. Robert John Heinmuller.  Born in New York City in 1855, he received his medical degree from the University of the City of New-York in 1875.  The bachelor was an attending physician at the Bellevue Hospital Dispensary, and in 1877 was appointed an Assistant Sanitary Inspector in the Bureau of Contagious Diseases within the Department of Sanitation.

In 1941, the house next door retained its second-floor balcony.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In 1881, Heinmuller married Amalie Neuman.  The groom was now 26 and the bride 21.  They soon had a daughter, Ilsa Georgina.  Living with the family in 1883 was Albert Heinmuller, obviously a relative, who was attending the Free Academy of New York.

Heinmuller's position with the Department of Sanitation brought him into contact with dangerous communicable diseases like cholera and yellow fever.  Other times, he was tasked with tracking down the cause of what appeared to be the beginnings of a mysterious outbreak.  In February 1883, the family of Gustav Stepbach fell ill with trichiniasis--a parasitic disease caused by roundworms found in undercooked meat.

The New York Herald reported, "It was learned that the three had eaten freely of raw ham about a month previously."  Now, said the article, Dr. Heinmuller, "began an investigation with a view of fixing the responsibility for the sale of the diseased meat which communicated the malady."

Later that year, according to the New-York Tribune, Heinmuller, "began to suffer from brain trouble."  The article did not specify what the disorder was, however it may have been a slight stroke.  Then, in August 1884, while working in the laboratory, he spilled acid onto his foot.  Because of the injury, he "was obliged to stay in doors," said the New-York Tribune.  On August 29, Robert John Heinmuller suffered a fatal stroke at the age of 29.

To make ends meet, Amalie Heinmuller took in boarders.  One of the earliest was 33-year-old Annie Bennett, who took a room in May 1885.  She told Amalie that she came from Baltimore and had left her husband, a restaurant owner.  The New York Herald explained, "She left home, accusing him of infidelity."  Annie said she would need a room only until her divorce was finalized, after which she would have the means to settle somewhere permanently.  

The newspaper said, "During her stay at the Heinmillers' [sic] Mrs. Bennett worked hard all the time, working for the family and taking in sewing from outside; a good deal of it from the wife of a baker living at 485 Third avenue."  According to Amalie, said the article, "After she had been there a short time her husband came to see her, and repeated the visit once or twice.  The interviews were evidently not pleasant ones, and each left the young woman nervous and excited."

Annie Bennett's sewing jobs were not earning enough money.  By the end of summer, she told Amalie, "she did not know what she should do.  She had scarcely anything left."  Finally, acknowledging that she owned Amalie back rent, in September Annie packed her trunks, asked Amalie to hold them for her, and left, without saying where she would go.  The New York Herald said, "Mrs. Heinmiller [sic] supposed that she was going to visit her husband or her relatives to get assistance, and kept her room waiting for her; but days and then weeks slipped away until it was decided that she would not return."

Finally on September 30, Annie returned only to find her room was rented.  She sat in the parlor and wept, telling Amalie that her friends and family had not answered her letters and she was desperate for money.  The following day Annie Bennett's body was discovered in the Morton House, where she committed suicide by inhaling lighting gas.

Edward Bessinger rented a room here in 1902.  On July 29 that year, he was walking along Fifth Avenue with James Pardee, the sexton of St. Stephen's Church, when someone cried, "Fire!" and another person yelled, "There's a watchman in there!"  The vacant brownstone house at 304 Fifth Avenue had caught fire.  Bessinger "darted into the building, through the smoke which was coming from the cellar in suffocating volumes," as reported by The New York Times.  Policeman Barbour had been holding back the crowd of spectators.  He and Edward Costello ran into the building.  The newspaper said, "Groping their way down the cellar stairs, they came across Bessinger unconscious at the foot of the stairway."  He was carried out and transported to the New York Hospital.  Bessinger survived, but, unfortunately, the body of the aged watchman whom he had hoped to rescue was discovered later.

  

By the mid-1920s, 222 East 32nd Street was operated as a rooming house.  On September 20, 1927, "Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan" took a room.  In fact, the couple were Alfred and Helen Morin.  Alfred was arrested for burglary and jailed in The Tombs shortly after they moved in.  On September 23, Helen went to The Tombs to visit him, but was quickly intercepted by detectives.

Since his arrest, Morin had been subject to questioning concerning the murder of Patrolman Henry E. A. Meyer.  Getting nowhere with him, the authorities turned their attention to Helen (who initially told them her name was Helen Moroney).  Perhaps fearing that she, too, would end up behind bars, she told officials where to find Edward J. "Red" Reilly, an accomplice in the shooting.  He was picked up that afternoon.

photograph by Anthony Bellov

The house was renovated in 1961, resulting in a duplex apartment in the basement and first floor, and one apartment each on the upper floors.  

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post

The Edgar and Sarah Lasak House - 224 East 32nd Street

photograph by Anthony Bellov

In the 1850s New York City had expanded northward into the Kips Bay district.  Around 1855, a trio of Anglo-Italianate-style rowhouses was completed on East 32nd Street between Second and Third Avenues.  The 16-foot wide homes were faced in brownstone and their rusticated bases featured fully arched openings.  Cast iron balconies ran the width of the second floors, and graceful molded lintels sat upon the elliptically arched upper floor windows.

Born in 1827, Edgar F. Lasak was a partner with his father in the fur business F. W. Lasak & Son.  He lived with his parents, Francis W. and Harriett D. Lasak, in their mansion at 292 Fifth Avenue until his marriage to Sarah Wright Seaman on April 24, 1855.  Edgar took his bride to 130 East 32nd Street--the middle house of the newly built trio.  (The address would be changed to 224 in 1865.)

The couple's only daughter, Margaret Seaman, was born in February 1856.  The three did not fill the house, and an advertisement that year offered rooms to let in the "new English basement" residence.  Their tenants in 1859, Francis M. and Kate S. Randell, suffered a painful loss.  Their daughter, Mariana, died at the age of one-and-a-half on April 29.

The Lasaks left East 32nd Street in 1862, after which the residence was operated as a boarding house.  Living here in 1863 were William Elmer and Catharine E. Poole, W. Cavener, and Benjamin B. Dewitt.  Dewitt did not list a profession, suggesting he was retired.

Sadly, as had been the case with the Randells, on February 6, 1863 William and Catharine Poole's one-a-half-year-old son, William Elmer Poole, Jr., died here.  His funeral was held in the parlor on February 8.

Six months later, W. Cavener's name was drawn in the Union Army's draft lottery.  

The house became a private home when it was purchased by Joseph Seaich and his wife, the former Maria Griffith, in 1864.  The couple had three children, Joseph Jr., Williams, and M. Adelaide, who was born in 1861.  (Williams would later join his father's business.)

Born in 1811 in London, Joseph Seaich worked as a boy in the United States Hotel.  Then, in 1836, he started a carriage line taking freight and passengers from the railway stations and boat landings to hotels.  In 1857, Seaich opened a "large carriage stable," as described by The New York Times, on East 32nd Street.  The newspaper would later said, "While the Prince of Wales, the Duke Alexis, and other notables were in this country, Mr. Seaich supplied them with coaches."  By the time he moved his family into the East 32nd Street house, he had moved his business to East 82nd Street.  

In 1869, the Seaich family moved to 47 East 31st Street.  As was common at the time, rather than moving their things, they sold all the furnishings at auction.  The announcement on April 13, 1869, listed expensive items like a Decker pianoforte, "rich rosewood Parlor Suits, in silk reps," a marble top etagere, and marble top tables.

The house was purchased by Augustus L. Rapp, a dealer "in fancy woods and veneers."  He leased it to Mrs. Mary A. Howell, a widow, who operated it as a rooming house.  An advertisement in the New York Herald on December 8, 1870 offered, "Furnished Rooms to let, to gentlemen; also a suit for a quiet couple, with breakfast for gentlemen if desired; house neatly furnished and convenient to [street] cars."  (Why females were not offered breakfast is unclear.)

Mary A. Howell's roomers in 1872 were Merwin Deveau, Dr. J. Fitzgerald O'Connor, and George H. and Anna Bond Healy.  

That year Augustus L. Rapp made renovations to the house.  He explained to a judge later, "a cellar was built under the front part of my house; we dug out and built it."  Among the workmen on the project was George Rose, a mason.  On June 3, he left his wheelbarrow on the sidewalk.  The New York Times reported, "A number of mischievous boys rolled away the barrow several times."  Rose lost patience with the urchins and when he finally caught them moving his wheelbarrow, he "seized an ax and flung it at the nearest group of boys."  

The ax struck Henry Burke, who was five-and-a-half years old.  The little boy was not part of the gang, but was merely in the path of the flying weapon.  Henry fell to the pavement with a fractured skull.  Realizing what he had done, George Rose tried to leave, but the large group of adult witnesses stopped him.  He "was compelled by the witnesses...to carry the boy into the nearest drug store," said The New York Times.  Rose later took him to Bellevue Hospital where Henry Burke died.

Rose was arrested for manslaughter.  In court on December 18, he swore that he "threw up his arms in order to frighten the boys from the wheelbarrow, when the ax slipped from his grasp accidentally, and struck [the] deceased."  The testimonies of the numerous witnesses refuted his story.  Rose was convicted and sent to prison for a year.

Mary A. Howell leased the house from Rapp until 1880.  It continued to be operated as a rooming house by its new proprietor, Kate Howard.  

Among her roomers in 1887 was the Krause family.  On August 12, 1887, 16-year-old George W. Krause was run over by a furniture van driven by Alfred Dorche.  The New York Times reported that Dorche, "injured him so badly that he died shortly afterward."  Dorche was arrested for manslaughter.  

An inquest was held on August 19.  Former alderman Charles B. Waite had witnessed the accident.  The New York Herald reported, "Mr. Waite said that he came 300 miles from Essex to testify that he saw the accident, and that in his opinion the driver, Alfred Dorche...was not to blame."  The article concluded, "The jury exonerated the driver."

via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The house continued as a rooming house into the Depression years.  Andrew T. Hoffman lived here in 1936 when he suffered a gruesome death.  He was in New Jersey on March 29 when he was "struck by a Pennsylvania Railroad train in Hamilton Township," according to The New York Times.  The article said, "A briefcase near the body contained religious tracts.  He was about 35 years old."

Carol Drosdick, who lived here in 1938, was described by The New York Sun as "an attractive brunette."  The 24-year-old worked as a waitress and was dealing with a stalker--a former boyfriend.  On July 18, Carol and her sister, Helen, were on their way to Brooklyn to visit another sister.  On the 34th Street subway platform, Carol's stalker approached.  He insisted that she go with him instead of accompanying Helen.  "Angrily she ordered him to go away," reported The Sun.

The former boyfriend pulled out a knife and began stabbing her.  He slashed her on the hand, the left shoulder and the lower part of her back.  "As she fell to the platform, her assailant fled up the stairs into the street and disappeared," said the article.  Carol was treated at St. Vincent's Hospital.  Whether her attacker (whose name was withheld) faced justice is unclear.

A renovation completed in 1961 resulted in two duplex apartments.  One of them was home to film maker and photographer Ralph Steiner and his wife, Caroline.  Steiner was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1899.  While living here, he created eight films under the grouping "The Joy of Seeing."  

Ralph Steiner created this self-portrait (what today would be called a selfie) around 1930.  from the collection of MoMA

On September 16, 1962, The New York Times reported that Steiner had announced the establishment of "The Photographs' Centre," described as "a nonprofit organization for teaching, lectures, print exhibits and services for photographers."  Steiner headed the new organization.

Following Steiner's death in 1986, Ann Hoy of the International Center of Photography called him "a key figure in winning vanguard status for photography comparable to such painting movements as Cubism, Futurism and Constructivism and the last of the American Modernist photographers."

photograph by Anthony Bellov

A renovation completed in 2005 returned 244 East 32nd Street to a single family home.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post

The Moses M. Bradley House - 212 East 32nd Street

 

An apartment door was installed in the basement in 1990 and the parlor windows shortened.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

It appears that in 1855 Mary Edmonds, the widow of William Edmonds, was leasing the newly built house at 118 East 32nd Street (renumbered 212 in 1865).  Three stories tall above a high brownstone basement, it was one of a row of identical, brick-faced homes.  The architect straddled the Greek Revival and emerging Italianate styles in his design.  The double-doored entrance, for instance, sat within a purely Greek Revival frame of paneled pilasters upholding a cornice-topped entablature.  The full-height third floor, the delicate cast iron stoop and areaway railings, and the bracketed cornice, however, were Italianate.  Floor-to-ceiling French windows at the parlor may have had a cast iron balcony.

Mary Edmonds was followed in the house by John Coughtry in 1857.  He listed his profession as "cards."  Then, in 1859, Moses M. Bradley purchased the house.  Bradley was in the fancygoods business at 5 Barclay Street.  He was, as well, secretary of the Star Fire Insurance Co.  Born in 1820, he and his wife, Mary S., had a son and a daughter.

Like many families, the Bradleys took in a boarder.  In 1859 it was George F. Coachman, a "measurer."  Starting about 1863, Daniel S. Briant, who worked as a clerk, lived with the family.  He would remain until 1866.

On December 13, 1865, U.S. Representative William E. Dodge filed papers in Congress challenging the election of Representative James Brooks for the Eighth Congressional District of New York.  Both Moses M. Bradley and Daniel S. Briant were subpoenaed to Washington D.C. to testify about the procedures that surrounded their voting that previous November.

A contemporary photo reveals the transitional styles inside.  The marble mantle is purely Italianate, while the earred woodwork is Greek Revival.  (The doorway has been narrowed from what originally would have been about twice as wide.)  image via compass.com

In 1866, the Bradley family moved to Brooklyn.  The East 32nd Street house became home to the Lambert family.  George F. Lambert, who listed no profession, was most likely retired.  Benjamin H. and Frederic Lambert were in the fruits and produce business at 239 Washington Street.  They would remain here until 1870 when George Asmus moved in.

Asmus was a metallurgist, engineer and inventor.  In 1867 he received a patent for an improved blast furnace.  As early as 1879, he was a manager of the American Institute of Mining Engineers.  Asmus and his family remained here until about 1880.

They were followed by Francis Fox Bussell and his wife, the former Virginia Alwaise.  Members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, the couple had three children, Alice Virginia, Francis Jr., and Charles Baner who were 27, 23, and 16 years old respectively in 1880.

Born in 1828, Bussell was a partner with Edward Bussell (presumably a brother) in Francis F. Bussell & Co., dealers in lumber (specializing in mahogany) at First Avenue and 80th Street.  Their parents had come from Cornwall, England shortly before Francis's birth.  Francis was involved with charity work and was a member of the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor. 

Virginia's American pedigree, on the other hand, was far-reaching.  The 1916 History of Seattle said she "traces her ancestry in America back to 1640 through English and Dutch lineage, one of the early representatives of the family being the famous Anneke Jans."

Francis F. Bussell died on September 11, 1887 at the age of 60.  His funeral was held in the parlor on the 14th.  Virginia and Charles, who was 23 years old now, moved to Seattle, Washington.  The East 32nd Street house became home to Francis's sister, Sophia Jane, and her husband Christopher Wray.

Sophia Jane Bussell was born in 1823.  She married Christopher Wray on December 9, 1846.  Wray, who was born in Derby, England on April 8, 1817, came to New York City as a boy.  The New-York Tribune would later recall, "in the course of time [he] became proprietor of a hardware store in Third-ave., near Twenty-eighth st."  Like his brother-in-law, he was altruistic and served as secretary of the New York Colored Mission.

The couple had seven children, only three of whom were alive when they moved in.  Two of them, Samuel Bussell and Anna Maria, lived with their parents.  They were 28 and 24 years old respectively in 1887.

In 1889, Christopher Wray retired at the age of 72.  Two years later, on October 23, 1891, he died in the East 32nd Street house.  The New-York Tribune reported, "His death was due to old age."  The New York Herald added, "he was a retail hardware dealer, having been engaged at that business for forty years," and said, "He was a prominent member of the Society of Friends."  His funeral was held on October 26.

In 1941, the house to the left was being converted to apartments.  The French windows of 212 East 32nd Street have been replaced by double-hung panes.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Shockingly, three weeks after the parlor had been the scene of her father's funeral, Anna Maria's wedding was held there.  The Delta Upsilon Quarterly reported, "Harry N. Hoffman, of Elmira, N. Y., was married November 19, at 212 East 32d street, N Y., the residence of Christopher Wray, Esq., the bride's father, to Miss Anna Wray."  The article mentioned, "Mr. Hoffman has built a house on Hoffman street, Elmira, where the young couple are now residing."

Samuel B. Wray was, by now, treasurer of his father's favorite charity, the New York Colored Mission.  He and his mother remained at 212 East 32nd Street until May 1892, when Sophia sold it to James M. Fitzsimons and his wife, Matilda, for $11,200, or about $398,000 in 2025 terms.  (Sophia moved into Anna Marie's Elmira house where she died on January 24, 1894 at the age of 71.)

Fitzsimons was born in New York City in 1858 and graduated from the Columbia Law School when he was just 19 years old.  Because he was too young to be admitted to the bar, he worked as a practitioner in the law officer of Nehbras & Pitshke until 1879.  Two years before buying 212 East 32nd Street, he was appointed to the City Court bench.

Fitzsimons owned several rental properties, one of which was nearby at 345 East 33rd Street.  On December 23, 1894, a reporter from The World asked him about the policy shop that was being operated there.  (A policy shop was a gambling place where lottery-type games were played.)  Having illegal activities operating from one of his properties would have been highly embarrassing for the judge.  He told the reporter that he visited his properties once a week, but had not been in that particular apartment for several months.

At 8:00 that night, the reporter and Judge Fitzsimons went to the apartment of John Simmer, with the judge posing as a potential buyer of the building.  It was clear that Simmer's apartment was doubling as a gambling den.  The following morning, the newspaper reported, "Judge James M. Fitzsimmons [sic], of the City Court...said last night that he should go to the house this morning and order John Simmer, the tenant, on the ground floor, to vacate at once."

Shortly after the humiliating episode, James and Matilda Fitzsimons moved to 12 West 121st Street where the judge died at the age of 46 on March 4, 1904.

The East 32nd Street house became home to Robert and Karoline (known at Katie) Rosenthal.  The couple had three children, Irving, Rebecca (known as Becky), and Fannie Leah.

photograph by Anthony Bellov

In January 1896, Katie purchased a goose for $1.50.  When the butcher's delivery boy brought it, according to the New York Herald, "as she does not believe in confiding such matters to her servant, she proceeded to open it."  Not only did Katie open the package, she personally plucked the goose and prepared it for roasting.

The New York Times reported on January 20, "while preparing the bird for the oven, she felt a hard substance in the interior which, upon examination, appeared to her to be very much like a diamond with a small fragment of gold attached to it, as though it had been set in a ring."  She took the stone to a friend "who is a judge of precious stones," according to the New York Herald.  "After inspecting it he declared it to be a diamond of excellent water, worth in the neighborhood of $150."  (The windfall would equal about $5,780 today.)  The New York Times remarked, "Mrs. Rosenthal has been buying geese ever since, and she always takes charge of the preparation and cooking herself.  The butcher has raised his prices."

Robert Rosenthal died at the age of 53 on June 2, 1897.  His funeral was held in the house the following morning.

Katie announced the engagement of Fannie Leah to Louis B. Wasserstrom on January 8, 1899.  Louis was a leather merchant and the newlyweds moved into the East 32nd Street residence.  By then, Irving was operating a successful real estate business from the house.  On October 16, 1901, for instance, he advertised in The World, "Business Places, every description sold; city or country; capital procured.  Irving Rosenthal, 212 East 32d st."

Fannie and Louis Wasserstroms would have two sons.  Silas was born in 1900 and Robert, known as Bobby, was born in 1902.  On June 23, 1904, The New York Press reported that Louis B. Wasserstrom "was in no hurry to go to his office yesterday morning.  Instead he decided to spend another hour at home in No. 212 East Thirty-second street."  The article said he lighted his pipe and sat by the window to watch Silas and Bobby playing in a sandpile across the street.

Silas suddenly ran home, darting across the street.  "Then came Bobby, 2 years old, ambitiously trying to catch up with his older brother," said the article.  As Louis watched, a patrol wagon from the East 35th Street police station tore down the street on a call.  "All the father remembers seeing is a driver throwing his horses in the air and a child crushed beneath an iron hoof."  Louis ran into the street, but Bobby was dead.

No. 212 East 32nd Street was owned by Thomas and Mary Reid by 1910.  The couple had two daughters, Anna and Katherine.  The family remained here until 1951, when they sold the house to Jack S. and Dorothy M. Bryant.  The couple converted it to apartments, one per floor.

photograph by Anthony Bellov

In 1990, a renovation returned the upper three floors to a single family home.  A door to the basement apartment was installed, its earred frame valiantly echoing Greek Revival precedents.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post.

The Tammany Central Assoc. Clubhouse - 226 East 32nd Street

 

photo via zillow.com

Around 1855, a trio of Anglo-Italianate rowhouses was erected on East 32nd Street between Second and Third Avenues.  Just 16-feet wide, the identical homes were faced in brownstone.  Short stoops rose to the rusticated base with fully arched openings.  The elliptically arched upper floor windows wore molded lintels, and cast metal cornices with handsome scrolled brackets completed the design.

The easternmost of the three, No. 132 East 32nd Street (renumbered 226 in 1864) became home to John Straiton and his wife, Maria, who moved here from Brooklyn.  Born in 1829, Straiton was a partner in Straiton, Sandford & Company, a major importer of cigars, with two stores at 101 Park Place and 64 Stone Street.  He was, as well, a trustee of public schools.  

Childless at the time (their only son, Wallace, would be born in 1862), the couple rented a large portion of their home.  An advertisement in The New York Times on April 18, 1862, read: "To Let--The upper part of the modern dwelling-house No. 132 East 32d-st., near 3d-av., containing five rooms and bath-room; rent $17 per month."  The figure would translate to about $550 in 2025.

M. J. V. de Montueil, a teacher of French in School No. 20, and his widowed mother moved in.  They were followed in 1864 by Stiles B. Wood, who listed his name as "operator." 

An announcement in the New-York Tribune in March 1866 offered, "For Sale--the 4-story English basement house, No. 226 East Thirty-second-st., between Second and Third aves., containing all modern improvements, in good order."

photograph by Anthony Bellov

The house was purchased by William D. and Mary A. Gibson, who had two daughters, Maria L. and Emma J., and a son, Edward Forrest Gibson.  Edward was a student at New York City University when the family moved in.  William listed his profession as "carpenter."  

The Gibsons, too, took in roomers.  Ferdinand A. Benedikt, a tobacco merchant, lived with the family in 1868, for instance, and Martin Donohoe, a drygoods merchant, listed his address here in 1870.

On May 1, 1872, William and Mary Gibson purchased 126 East 27th Street.  The 32nd Street residence became a boardinghouse operated by Mary Connolly, the widow of John Connolly.  

Among her few boarders was Dr. Jose C. de Verona.  De Verona apparently maintained a country home.  He placed an advertisement in The Fanciers' Journal on March 23, 1876.  It said he had "six pairs Ferretts, three cream and three black, all imported, young, and in first class condition, to exchange for young and extra large Cochins and Brahmas, or for good Berkshire pigs from two to four months old."

De Verona was called to a disturbing scene in the summer of 1876.  Maggie McCloskey and Catherine Conklin were arrested on June 27 for operating a "baby farm" at 324 East 25th Street.  (Baby farms took newborns from single mothers and offered them for sale.)  The New York Herald reported that the infants here were found "to be starved, abused, and neglected."  On June 29, The New York Times reported that De Verona "examined the children, and said they would probably survive, provided they were properly treated."  The infants were sent to the New-York Infant Asylum.

John Hayes purchased 226 East 32nd Street in March 1894.  He was described by the New-York Tribune on February 2, 1896, as "well known as the Tammany captain of this district."  After Hayes's death 17 years later, on August 19, 1911, his estate sold the house to the Tammany Central Association.  In reporting on the sale, the Record & Guide noted, "The club is one of the oldest political organizations in the city," noting, "The building just acquired will be extensively altered and fitted up as a clubhouse."

The Tammany Central Association had operated from an impressive house at 207 East 32nd Street since 1888.  The club now leased that property to the Fourth District Municipal Court and hired architect E. B. Brun to make the renovations to 226 East 32nd Street, which included "toilets" and the rearranging of walls.

The clubhouse was ruled by Tammany leader and City Clerk Michael Cruise.  Shortly after the club moved in, he made his opinion of women's voting clear.  On the night of October 5, 1911, all the Tammany clubs throughout the city held their nominating conventions.  And representatives of the Woman Suffrage Party went to each clubhouse with handbills "telling the men not to nominate an Assemblyman who wouldn't promise to try to get their women's bill out of committee," according to The New York Times.  Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw, accompanied by journalists, knocked on the door of 226 East 32nd Street.  A club member repeated Cruise's message.

"I am very sorry," he said, "but it is a rule of the club that no woman shall cross the threshold."

And so, Mrs. Laidlaw asked a male reporter to take in the fliers.  The New York Times reported, "Mr. Cruise became really peevish then."

The Tammany Central Association was a welcomed neighbor.  Each Christmas it distributed baskets of food within the neighborhood (in 1922 they gave out 500 baskets, for instance), and hosted Christmas parties for local children.  That year, The New York Times reported that Michael J. Cruise "will act as Santa Claus" and that "more than 3,000 tickets to Keith's Colonial Theatre have been sent to the children of the Fifth Assembly District for use this week."

Only a Tammany star identifies the building as a clubhouse in 1941.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Not everything taking place inside the clubhouse was so respectable.  Former police officer Lewis Joseph Valentine writes in his autobiography Night Stick, "I knew that George McManus operated his gambling game in City Clerk Michael J. Cruise's political club at 226 East Thirty-second Street."  And in his Politics, Police and Crime in New York During Prohibition, Francesco Landolfi writes:

For instance, the City Clerk of Manhattan Michael J. Cruise owned a Democratic club at 226 East 32nd Street that basically became a horse track "racing-poolroom" and run by the "notorious gambler" George "Hump" A. McManus, indicted and then discharged for the [Arnold] Rothstein murder.

Although the clubhouse was repeatedly raided, the gambling continued.  On May 20, 1926, The New York Times reported, "The police paid another visit last night to the Tammany Central Club at 226 East Thirty-second Street...where City Clerk Michael J. Cruise is the leader.  It was the second raid on the club in three days."  The article explained that police "broke in a rear door" and discovered "racing charts, racing slips and racing literature."  Thirty-five men were arrested, but the newspaper reported, "They were promptly discharged in Night Court."

Michael J. Cruise died at the age of 79 on April 18, 1946.  In reporting his death, The New York Times ignored his sometimes shady background and focused on the "many thousands of New Yorkers" whom he had married in his office downtown.  The title to 226 East 32nd Street was transferred to George W. Thompson and his wife, Catherine.  The name of the clubhouse was changed to the George W. Thompson Democratic Club.

The 1963 renovations included an unnecessary and ill-advised coat of paint.  photograph by Anthony Bellov.

The club remained here until November 1963, when Catherine Thompson, now a widow, sold the house to Ruel Novotny Hook.  The New York Times said he, "plans to alter the building into duplex and triplex apartments."  Renovations completed the following year resulted in a duplex apartment in the basement and first floor, and one apartment each on the upper floors.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post

The United States Boarding Stables - 153-155 East 32nd Street

photograph by the author

As the 18th century ended and the 19th began, the bucolic Kips Bay area was filled with the summer estates of some of Manhattan's wealthiest citizens.  But by the end of the Civil War the city was increasingly engulfing the area.   Along the newly-opened streets rose stores and homes, and with the new residents came the need for stabling for their horses and vehicles.

As early as 1865 the Lexington Stables stood at Nos. 153-155 East 32nd Street.  Half of the wooden structure was a single story while the other had a second floor where hay and tack would have been stored.

Livery and boarding stables often helped patrons sell their horses or vehicles and on September 13 that year an advertisement in The New York Herald offered "A bright bay horse for sale--Seven years old, 16 hands high, fit for a coupe.  Apply at Lexington Stables, 153 and 155 East Thirty-second street."

The business quickly changed hands twice.  In 1867 it was known as Crossmon's Stables, and by 1869 had become the United States Stables.  Like his predecessors had done, the owner accommodated his boarders in sales.  One particularly glowing ad appeared in The New York Herald on October 23, 1869:

For Sale--A gentleman's turnout, consisting of a sorrel Mare, Top Wagon, Harness, &c.; there is not a more handsome or stylish beast in the city; young, sound and perfectly gentle, and a good saddle mare; wagon about four months old and harness same; will be sold cheap, as owner has no further use for them; a grand chance for a gentleman to purchase a stylish animal.  Inquire at U.S. Stables, 153 and 155 East Thirty-second street.

James W. Pitney took over operation of the stables around 1872, leasing the building from W. H. Hare.  It was a convenient location for him, since he lived just around the corner at No. 460 Third Avenue and also owned a carriage manufacturing establishment at No. 458 Third Avenue.

Boarding a horse at the United States Stables was not cheap.  The fee was $30 per month in 1872; or about $636 today.  Nevertheless, a horse was a significant investment and worth the outlay.  An ad promised "horses kept in the best manner; stalls all on ground floor; also superior accommodations for carriages on storage."

New York's Great Industries advised "Among the well equipped stables of the metropolis are those owned by Mr. James W. Pitney, and known as the United States Stables, which are located at Nos. 153 and 155 East 32nd street."  The article mentioned that "The stalls are large and well ventilated and have all the modern improvements. Mr. Pitney makes a specialty of boarding horses which receive the most careful attention from experienced grooms."

Because it was both a boarding and a livery stable, vehicles were available for rent, not dissimilar to a rental car business today.   In December 1876 an ad offered: "Horses and sleighs, wagons of all kinds for all purposes to let all times.  Pitney's United States Stables."  

The mention of sleighs reflected the season.  At a time when effective snow removal was impossible, carriages were of little use following a snowstorm.  Sleighs also provided recreation and in February 1879 the Pitney touted "Sleigh riding same price as carriage riding, at United States stables."

On August 23, 1884 the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that Pitney had acquired a new landlord.  Millionaire Robert Hoe, Jr., whose sumptuous townhouse was at No. 11 East 36th Street, had purchased the property.  He paid $25,250, or about $667,000 today.

By now the wooden stables was outdated and inefficient.  In April 1899 Hoe demolished it and hired the well-known architect firm of Charles W. Romeyn & Co. to design a modern replacement structure.  The plans called for a three-story brick stable to cost "about $40,000"--in the neighborhood of $1.25 million today.  The new structure would extend through the block to East 33rd Street.

Construction proceeded at a rapid pace and the new building was ready to receive horses and vehicles by December 1.  The architects had created a handsome tripartite Romanesque Revival structure.  Obliterated today, the ground floor would have had double bay doors, most likely centered.  The building was clad in beige brick and trimmed in brownstone.  Harsh edges along the sides of the openings were eliminated by the use of bull-nosed brick.  

Despite the decidedly utilitarian purpose of the stable, Hoe spent extra money on details like the handsome basketweave brickwork between the brownstone arches of the second floor and the stone string course of the third.  Each of the large arched openings at the second floor was echoed in paired windows at the third.  Rather than an overhanging cornice, the architect opted for an arched brick corbel table.  The top floor contained living space for managing employees and their families.

Rounded corners and creative brickwork were added expenses.

In an announcement in the New York Herald on December 1 Pitney "cordially" invited "your inspection of the new United States Stables, just completed with all the modern improvements."
Among the staff was 39-year old Hans Majinos.  Apparently disgruntled, he set fire to the building a month after it opened.    On January 31, 1900 he was held on a substantial bail of $67,000 in today's money, charged "with setting fire to Pinkney's [sic] livery stable."

After having been at the location for more than a quarter of a century, Pitney did not renew his lease (or more probable, it was not renewed).  Hoe leased the building to the Fifth Avenue Hotel for its stables.  The arrangement would not last especially long, however.  The Fifth Avenue Hotel closed its doors in April 1908.  

An announcement of an auction at the Fifth Avenue Hotel Stables on April 8 that year gives an insight into the scope of the operation.  For sale were "86 horses, 8 landaus, 13 broughams, 9 hansoms, 2 opera buses, 7 victorias, 25 sets double and single harness" as well as a "large quantity of blankets, robes, whips, liveries and appurtenances."

The building did not sit vacant.  On the day before the auction the Corporation Council prepared "a lease to the City from Robert Hoe, of premises 153 and 155 East Thirty-second street...for the use of the Police Department."  The five year lease cost the city $7,000 per month; about $197,000 today.

Later that year the Police Department upgraded the building with "electric light and power installation throughout," as recorded by the Record & Guide on December 26.

The stable was the scene of a tragic accident on May 6, 1912.  Officer William Kidney returned in a patrol wagon after having transported prisoners to the Men's Night Court.  The New York Press reported that he "was getting off the wagon, one foot on the hub of the wheel, when the horses took a step forward."  The 48-year old policeman fell backwards, his head striking the cobblestone pavement.  The newspaper said he was "perhaps fatally injured." 

The Police Department remained in the building through 1916.  Robert Hoe had died in 1909 and his estate hired architect J. B. Wallach in 1917 to convert the building to a garage.  But his plans were rejected for zoning reasons by the city.  It was not until the following year that problems were worked out and a new architect, Edward Hughes, filed plans for the conversion.  The renovations included new floors and support beams, elevator and stairs.

photo via commercialobserver.com

A garage remained in the space for decades.  When a 16-story apartment building was proposed for the site in the early 1990's, the Charles W. Romeyn's handsome stable building seemed doomed.  And it was, for the most part.  The Atrium East was completed in 1993 with the United States Stable facade preserved as its frontage.

The Lost Home For the Friendless - 32 East 30th St

print by Michelin & Shattuck, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

The American Female Guardian Society was formed in New York in the spring of 1834.  One of its members, Mrs. M. A. Hawkins, soon turned her attention to the plight of single mothers and prostitutes.  Women who became pregnant while not married suffered serious censure, branded as "fallen women."   Hawkins's deep concerns led to the formation of the New York Moral Reform Society that same year.

As the American Female Guardian Society's Our Golden Jubilee explained in 1884, "The care of homeless, friendless women involved the care of children.  If we can save the children, we shall not have so many suffering and sinning adults to provide for, was the thought that grew and strengthened."  Mrs. Hawkins lobbied for a "Home for both these destitute classes."  After a long, tireless struggle, Mrs. Hawkins got her way.

In July 1847 a house was rented to be used as The Home of the Friendless.  For two years unwed mothers and their children were taken care of there.  In the meantime, land was purchased on East 30th Street, between Fourth (now Park) and Madison Avenues, and on May 5, 1849 the cornerstone was laid.

Our Golden Jubilee remarked "The site selected was then quite up-town, in the centre of an almost vacant block, well shaded with trees and green with shrubbery.  The neighboring streets were laid out, but unpaved, and there were few buildings in the immediate vicinity."

The building was dedicated on December 13, 1849.  The architect, whose name has been lost, created a stately three story Greek Revival edifice.  Full-height pilasters divided the three bays of the front facade and visually supported the classic triangular pediment.   The New York Herald reported the construction cost at $18,577.57--in the neighborhood of $615,000 today.  Of that amount only $2,800 was still unpaid.

Annual Report of the American Female Guardian Society and Home for the Friendless, 1852 (copyright expired)

A religious tract published in 1879 described the original residents as being mostly "widows, mothers with dependent children, and adolescent girls seeking employment."

The Home was operated solely on donations and pleas for contributions routinely appeared in newspapers.  Following Thanksgiving in 1850 a notice in the New-York Daily Tribune said in part "It must take considerable, in the provision line, to feed an average family of one hundred adults and children, and we were glad to learn that our citizens remembered them so liberally the last season."

One donor that fall was not a citizen, but a foreign celebrity--singer Jenny Lind.  On September 14, 1850 attorneys Jay & Field sent a letter to the Home that read:

We are instructed by Miss Lind to request your acceptance of the enclosed donation of five hundred dollars to the funds of your Association as a mark of the warm interest which she feels in so excellent a Charity belonging to a City where she has been received so kindly.  We beg leave to add our own best wishes, to those of Miss Lind, for the continued prosperity and usefulness of your Institution.

The Home for the Friendless (or the Home of the Friendless as it was also called) was never intended to be a permanent home.  Women and their children were welcome only until they could procure employment and a respectable place to stay.  The New York Times explained "Those friendless females...are surrounded by strong temptations, and such as are the mark for the designing, are afforded a home till employment can be found in the country, where they may be safe."

A journalist from that newspaper visited on Thanksgiving Day, 1853.  The description he painted may have been a bit rosy.  "Entering from the front it does not seem so much like a public as a private house," said the article.  "Wonderfully pretty ladies, with petted children accompanying them, are moving through the halls, into and out of the various parlors."  The writer was shown "the pleasant places, the snug store-room, the clean and tidy kitchen, and school-room hung round with slates and maps, where the urchins under the charge of another lass scarcely older than themselves, are singing some pleasant childish thing to the tune of 'Lilly Dale'; the well-ventilated dormitories all fitted with iron bedsteads; the nursery where the several little ones are frolicking on the floor; the sick-room which seldom--it is a matter of heartfelt thanksgiving with them to-day--has an occupant, and the dining-room."

In 1856 the property directly behind the Home, on 29th Street, was secured and another building erected for school rooms, a chapel, and a publishing office.

The 29th Street building.  Our Golden Jubilee, 1881 (copyright expired)

The following year the Home's charter was amended to accept orphans.  The children were trained in the facility's Industrial School where boys learned a trade and girls were taught domestic skills.  In what today is often seen as cruel, the Home For the Friendless partnered with the Children's Aid Society to send young boys to "the country" to live and work.

Farmers and small businessmen, like hardware store owners, petitioned for a boy who would be sent on what became known as an "Orphan Train."  The plan was to get the boys out of the corrupt city and give them a new life.  In fact, the orphans were indentured servants--in other words, slaves.  While some were treated well, others suffered.

In 1861 there were 208 women and 372 children in the Home.  The Home School gave instruction to 610 pupils.  But the bloody Civil War was about to swell those numbers.  In May 1865 the Female Guardian Society reported "A large number of the friendless ones received into the home were the children of soldiers."

The report was pleased with the well-behaved orphans, noting "Accounts of a specially favorable nature had been received of five hundred of the Home boys, and only thirty-nine the reverse."

Another institution which sheltered war orphans was the Union Home School.  The two groups faced off in court on February 8, 1865.  The Union Home School demanded that the Home for the Friendless return "certain children alleged to have been spirited away from the Union establishment," according to The New York Herald.  The newspaper said "the court room was crowded by a large number of ladies and gentlemen, who were eager to learn the result, and came in their carriages for miles around to be present at the tilt between the opposing counsel."

The Union Home School asserted that the Home for the Friendless had, essentially, kidnapped orphans "simply to defeat the appropriation donated by the Legislature and turn if over to the Home of the Friendless."  The Home of the Friendless countered, saying the Union Home School had no right to act as guardians and attempted to produce affidavits "to show how badly things were conducted in that establishment."  The judge was not interested, saying he "desired to hear the legal argument of the case."

Little was changed to the building in 1868.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

Institutions like the Home for the Friendless were pet projects of wealthy socialites.  On August 28, 1867 the New-York Tribune reported "The children of the Home of the Friendless spent yesterday quite pleasantly at the mansion of Mrs. D. C. Hays, at Inwood."

From its inception the Home for the Friendless was a Christian organization.  And the charity of the women who ran it did not extend to Jews.   The religious bigotry was exemplified in 1880 when a young boy, James Smith, was taken in by an actress, Mrs. David Fuller.

The Home apparently did not mind that she "used him in child's parts on the stage," as reported by the New-York Tribune on October 31 that year.  But when she found herself unable to support him and asked pawnbroker Robert J. Rosenthal to take him.

Rosenthal and the boy grew close.  The Tribune reported "He conceived a fancy for the child, although he was a Hebrew and the child was born of Christian parents."   When the actress changed her mind and demanded the boy back, Rosenthal refused.  So she went back to the Home for the Friendless for help.

On October 30 the boy was turned over to the Home.  "This was done on representations that Mr. Rosenthal was not a proper person to bring up the child, and that in his home the child would not be surrounded by proper influences," said the Tribune.  "The Surrogate yesterday decided that the society had the right to the custody of the child, and he sharply criticised the method by which Mr. Rosenthal obtained the letters of guardianship."

On May 8, 1889 the Home celebrated its 55th anniversary.  Visitors were invited to stroll through the buildings and witness evidence of the organization's good work.   They "came by the score and found awaiting them companies of little girls with white aprons and spick and span from crown to toe, and boys done up in neat clothing, with faces scrubbed, hair brushed, and boots blacked," reported The New York Times.  The visitors saw an exhibition of the children's work, including sewing, knitting, writing, drawing and cookery by the girls, and carpentry and printing by the boys.

The previous year the Home had sheltered 118 women and 361 children.  Of those 59 children had been adopted.

As the turn of the century neared, the Murray Hill neighborhood was fully developed.  On February 23, 1901 The Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that the Home had purchased land in The Bronx and had "recently sold the 29th street property to the Women's Hotel Company.

Months later the Home for the Friendless and the Home Chapel building were demolished, to be replaced by the Martha Washington Hotel, designed by Robert W. Gibson.  It survives.

photo by Beyond My Ken