The 1931 Union League Club - 38 East 37th Street

photograph by ajay_suresh

A membership to an exclusive social club was obligatory for high society gentlemen in the 19th century.  In 1863, 70 well-to-do New Yorkers added another, forming the Union League Club.  The New York Times, reported, "The only requisite for membership, besides unblemished reputation, should be an uncompromising and unconditional loyalty to Nation and a complete subordination thereto of all other political ideas."

The new venture was successful, with the Union League Club equaling or surpassing the Union Club as New York City's most distinguished gentlemen's social club.  In March 1881, it opened the doors to its sumptuous new clubhouse on Fifth Avenue at 39th Street.

The neighborhood around the clubhouse gradually changed over the decades.  On February 10, 1929, The New York Times remarked, 'The removal of the Union League Club has been rumored for several years, because of the northward trend of trade and towering business establishments."  President of the club, Alfred E. Maring added that, "some of the members have expressed a desire for newer quarters, maintaining that the present clubhouse lacks some modern conveniences."

At a meeting on February 25, 1929, the members voted to sell the leasehold of the current clubhouse.  A $3 million budget was authorized to purchase property and erect a new structure.  The proposed site, at the southwest corner of Park Avenue and 37th Street, was currently occupied with the former mansions of Robert Winthrop, John Crosby Gage, and the current home of Annie Burr Jennings.

On September 12, 1929, architect Benjamin W. Morris "submitted plans to the membership for the first time," reported The New York Times.  The article noted the building would cost "about $1,000,000."  

Benjamin Wistar Morris's rendering was published in The New York Times on December 29, 1929.

Ground was broken in December 1929.  The New York Times said that edifice would be "constructed of red brick with generous use of limestone trim.  The general character of the architecture is that of the eighteenth century, English and Colonial."  Morris's interiors, said the article, "have been developed to preserve the atmosphere which time has lent to the old clubhouse" and would "reproduce as far as possible the arrangements with which the members are familiar."

The cornerstone was laid on June 4, 1930 and construction was completed in November 1931.  The eight-story building's neo-Classical design was greatly influenced by Georgian prototypes.  In the end, the project went far above budget.  On February 24, 1931, The New York Times had reported, "Its cost was put at well above $4,000,000 yesterday."  

The two-story entrance on 37th Street sat within a bowed pavilion dignified by Corinthian pilasters.  Above it was a stately Palladian window crowned with a beefy limestone voussoir.  

photograph by M. M. Dwyer

Along with offices and a visitors' room on the ground floor was an art gallery.  The first floor consisted of a "club lounge," billiard room and cafe.  On the second floor were the "club hall" and library.  The main dining room and private dining rooms occupied the third floor.

Wives and other female guests entered on Park Avenue.  They would take a "special elevator," as described by The Times, to the fourth floor, the front of which, said the article, "is given up to the ladies' dining room and the ladies' lounge."  The remainder of the floor held squash courts and the gymnasium.

The women's entrance can be seen on Park Avenue in this 1931 photo by Wurts Bros.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

The upper floors held 63 bedrooms, each with a private bath, described by the newspaper as "better than the ordinary hotel rooms."  The article commented, "A feature of the new building will be a golf practice room.  Adjacent to this is a room devoted to all sorts of Turkish baths, &c., for the use of the members."

A surprising detail that Benjamin W. Morris included in the plans was a bar.  On February 24, 1931, The New York Times explained, "In the expectation that prohibition will end soon, provision has been made at the new clubhouse of the Union League Club...for the operation of a large, sumptuous bar, when and if the land goes wet, to attend to the tastes of the members who have shown themselves in recent tests to be preponderantly wet."

The Union League Club held a farewell dinner in the old clubhouse on January 19, 1931.  The new building was formally opened with a private dinner on February 12.  In reporting the event, The New York Times remarked, "President Hoover, who like all Republican Presidents since Lincoln, is an honorary member, was unable to be present."

Eight years later, the Federal Writers' Project's New York City Guide commented, "Of the many professional, political, and social clubs in this section, the most famous is the Union League Club, which occupies spacious quarters in a modern building at 38 East Thirty-seventh Street."  Calling the club a "stronghold of Republican conservatism," it recalled, "During Theodore Roosevelt's Bull Moose insurgency the club signified its displeasure by banishing his portrait from the library, but after his defeat restored it to its original place."

The first exhibition in the art gallery in new building opened on November 12, 1931.  Consisting of only American artists, the exhibition included works by Karl Anderson, Hobart Nichols, F. Louis Mora, Chauncey F. Ryder and others.  

Art exhibitions became regular events.  On November 14, 1935, for instance, The New York Times reported, "The Metropolitan Museum of Art has lent twenty-seven paintings by American artists for a special exhibition at the Union League Club, to be opened today to card holders."

The affluent members of the Union League Club were not greatly affected by the Great Depression.  Nevertheless, they were not oblivious of the struggles of others.  On December 25, 1935, The New York Times reported, "The assembly room of the Union League Club on Park Avenue rang with the joyfulness of several hundred underprivileged children from the congested areas of lower Manhattan who were guests of the club yesterday at its annual Christmas party."

The following year, newspapers announced the upcoming preparations for the Christmas party.  Star baseball player Lou Gehrig would be here to hand out the Christmas presents, and the WPA Federal Theatre Circus was scheduled to provide a two-hour show for 200 "crippled and needy children."  After that, the young guests would enjoy a turkey dinner.  

The planned festivities piqued the attention of "a score of boys from the East River waterfront," reported by The New York Times.  They lurked around the neighborhood of the Union League Club on Christmas Eve.  When the busloads of children arrived, the boys moved in.  "Old hands at the art of 'gate-crashing' and the 'Tiny Tim racket,' they tagged onto the end of the first busload of afflicted youngsters and limped past the doorman," reported The Times.  Once inside, they dispersed among the crowd, donned paper hats and mixed within the joyful throng.

Lloyd Taylor, who was in charge of the affair, quickly noticed the uninvited guests.  He later told a reporter, "Well, it's Christmas."  

A major change to the venerable club came in 1937 when, on January 15, The New York Times reported, "The Union League Club, whose membership has been closed to all but Republicans since it was organized in 1863, voted last night to lift this restriction."

It would take decades for another restriction to be removed.  On February 20, 1953, a meeting of bankers "interested in auditing" was held at the Union League Club.  Bertie G. Hale, a vice-president of the Bank of Georgia, traveled from Atlanta to participate.  Unfortunately, as reported by The New York Times, "when Mrs. Hale presented herself she was turned away, informed that women were not permitted in the quarters where the meeting had been scheduled."

Three decades later, in July 1987, the New York City Human Rights Commission formally accused the Union League Club of discriminating against women.  A month before the trial was scheduled in November 1988, the club passed a resolution to admit women.  Perhaps sarcastically, Mayor Ed Koch commented, "They now accept [the law] fully, with a certain amount of joy."

While social changes affected the racial and gender mix within the Union League Club, one steadfast rule remained--the dress code.  While the outside world turned to sneakers, jeans and open collars, the necktie and jacket ruled within the clubhouse.  It was a rule that became stingingly evident to internationally known sculptor Mark di Suyero in 1989.

Di Suyero was scheduled to receive an award here from the Sculpture Center, an art school and gallery, on the evening of December 7 that year.  Newsday reported, "some 240 people were waiting to honor him," but the the guest of honor never made it to the venue.  He arrived wearing, according to his nephew, Enrico Martignoni, "a pair of white, high-top basketball shoes, a pair of pants and a couple of shirts and a sweater."  The doorman loaned him a jacket and tie, but the sculptor, in protest, put the jacket on backwards.  Neither the doorman nor the artist was willing to back down.  Di Suvero was not admitted and he left.  Newsday said, "Neither the Sculpture Center nor the Union League Club would comment."

photograph by Jim Henderson

Today, amid the trappings of paneled walls, chandeliers, and leather club chairs; and surrounded by oil portraits of distinguished former members, a visitor to the Union League Club experiences the civilized, hushed environment Benjamin Wistar Morris created nearly a century ago.

many thanks to Paul McNamara for hosting me and touring the club.

The Lost Charles Lanier House - 30 East 37th Street

 

photograph by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

James Franklin Doughty Lanier was born in North Carolina on November 22, 1800.  His earliest ancestor in America was Thomas Lanier, who arrived with his friend, John Washington, in Virginia in 1655.  (Washington's great-grandson, George, would become America's first President.)  

In 1849, James Franklin Doughty Lanier moved his family to New York City.  His first wife, Elizabeth Gardner, had died in 1846 and he married Mary McClure in 1848.  Lanier, who started out practicing law, turned to banking in the 1830s and became president of the Bank of Indiana in 1833.  The year he moved his family to New York, he co-founded the banking firm of Winslow, Lanier & Co. with Richard H. Winslow.

The Laniers moved into a fine residence at 16 West 10th Street.  Charles Lanier was 12 years old at the time.  Two years after he married Sarah E. Egleston on October 7, 1857, he was taken into his father's banking firm.  The newlyweds remained in the West 10th Street house, increasing the population with a son, James Frederick Doughty Lanier III, born in 1858; two daughters, Sarah Egleston, born in 1862; and Fannie who arrived two years later.

Sarah Egleston Lanier was pregnant again in 1870 when she and Charles left West 10th Street for their own opulent, double-wide mansion at 28-30 East 37th Street.  Elizabeth Gardner Lanier would be born there on October 29, 1870.

Charles Lanier later in life.  from the collection of the Library of Congress

The family's brownstone fronted, Italianate house rose four stories above an English basement.  The arched entrance sat within a Corinthian columned portico.  In a highly unusual move, the architect chamfered the western corner.  His doing so strongly suggests the Laniers' property extended a few feet into a narrow garden between the mansion and the carriage house of the former Isaac Newton Phelps mansion which was erected on the Madison Avenue corner in 1854.

The drawing room of the mansion was the scene of Sarah's marriage to Francis Cooper Lawrance, Jr. on the afternoon of December 14, 1881.  The choice of a house wedding rather than a more socially visible ceremony was, no doubt, because of James F. D. Lanier's death three months earlier.  The New York Times said, "The wedding was private, owing to recent deaths in the bride's family, and the guests were limited, therefore, to near relatives and most intimate friends."

The family's summer estate, Allen Winden, was in Lenox, Massachusetts.  Fannie married Francis R. Appleton in Trinity Church there on October 7, 1884.

The residence at Allen Winden was designed by Peabody & Stearns in 1882.  from Lenox, 1886 (copyright expired)

James F. D. Lanier III was the next to marry.  His wedding to Harriet Bishop in the West Presbyterian Church on West 42nd Street was a socially prominent affair.  On November 25, 1885, The New York Times reported, "In the rear of the church was a grouping of luxuriant tropical plants, palms and ferns stretching above the organ loft.  The pulpit was buried under a mass of roses."  Among the long list of socially elite guests at the wedding and reception were Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish, Mrs. Oliver Belmont, Mrs. Seward Webb, Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt, Mr. and Mrs. D. O. Mills and Ogden Mills.

As his father had done, James brought his bride to his parents' home.  Two sons would be born in the East 37th Street house--Charles Day in 1886, and Reginald Bishop in 1888.

Four months before James's and Harriet's wedding, Charles had hired builder G. Mulligan to install a bay window on the parlor floor.  The handsome alteration cost him the equivalent of $19,600 in 2024 terms.

The social spotlight finally landed on Elizabeth (known within the family as Lizzie) in 1889.  On December 13, the New-York Tribune reported, "Mrs. Charles Lanier, No. 30 East Thirty-seventh-st., gave a reception yesterday afternoon for her daughter, Miss Lizzie Lanier."  Among those assisting in receiving were Lizzie's sisters.  The article noted, "About 1,000 people were present."

Two years later, Lizzie married George Evans Turnure in  Trinity Church in Lenox.  The Springfield Daily Republican reported, "a large and fashionable company of guests were present," adding, "The wedding breakfast at the country house of Mr. and Mrs. Lanier was the scene of a delightful gathering immediately after the ceremony."  Astoundingly, the article said, "More than 1000 varieties of roses were used in decorating the entire lower level of the house."

James and Harriet still lived in the townhouse with Charles and Sarah.  In October 1891, they were looking for a governess for their eldest son.  Their ad read, "Wanted--German governess, able to give English lessons to a boy until he goes to school, and take entire charge of him; must have best references."  (The mention of taking "entire charge" of the boy before entering school suggests Charles Day Lanier would be going away to a high-end boarding school.)

Charles had the house updated in 1896, apparently modernizing the interiors.  On March 22, The New York Times reported that his alterations would cost $15,000.  The significant expense would translate to half a million in 2024 dollars.

Up-to-date décor was necessary for the Laniers' extensive entertaining.  The 1895 America's Successful Men of Affairs mentioned, "His wife and he are hospitable entertainers and welcome in the most cultivated circles."  The article listed his exclusive club memberships, including the Union League, the Union, the Metropolitan, Knickerbocker, Century, Tuxedo, and Players' Clubs among others.

In February 1898, Sarah caught the flu and never recovered.  She died in the East 37th Street mansion on April 18 at the age of 61.  Somewhat surprisingly, her funeral was not held in the house, but at the Church of the Incarnation on Madison Avenue and 35th Street.

Equally surprising, ten months later James and Harriet left Charles, still in mourning, for an extended period.  On December 1, The Sun reported they, "will go abroad this month, to remain until the summer at least."  The article noted that earlier they had leased their country house, Sunridge Hall, at Westbury, Long Island, to Clarence H. Mackay and his wife for three years."

In April 1901, James and Harriet began construction of a sumptuous townhouse nearby at 123 East 35th Street.  Two months earlier, Charles had given the family a scare when he was injured in a serious accident.  On the evening of February 14, he and the housekeeper, Miss Bigelow, were being driven in the Lanier coupé by coachman Christopher Hayer to visit Louisa Minturn at 22 Washington Square.  At the corner of Madison Avenue and 29th Street, the hose wagon of Engine Company No. 1 collided with the carriage.  The New-York Tribune reported, "Hayer attempted to get out of the way, but before he succeeded the pole of the hose wagon had pierced the side of the coupé."

The speeding wagon pushed the carriage to the curb and both teams of horses fell to the pavement.  The two drivers were thrown from their seats.  The New-York Tribune reported, "Mr. Lanier was injured on the side and chest and Miss Bigelow suffered considerably from shock."  After being taken to the home of Vernon H. Brown at 95 Madison Avenue, the pair was brought home in a cab.  The newspaper noted, "The coupé was badly wrecked, but none of the horses were injured."

James and Harriet moved into their new home in 1903.  The following year, Charles's grandchildren, Charles Lanier Lawrance and Katherine "Kitty" Lanier Lawrance moved into 30 East 37th Street.  They were 22 and 11 years old respectively.  Their mother, Sarah Lanier Lawrance, died in 1893, the year Kitty was born.  Their father married Susan Ridgway Willing the following year.  After his death in 1904, Susan surrendered the custody of her step-children to their grandfather and moved to Paris with the daughter she had with Francis Lawrance.

On September 21, 1915, Kitty was married to William Averell Harriman in Trinity Church in Lenox.  The reception was held at Allen Winden.  The New York Times said, "breakfast will be served on the porches and at small tables on the terraces...The villa and the grounds are most inviting."  Harriman would go on to become Governor of New York and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

The younger Charles Lanier had moved to a ranch in Omaha, Nebraska by the time of his sister's wedding.  He died there at the age of 32 on December 4, 1918.

On January 19, 1926, Charles gave "an informal reception" to celebrate his 89th birthday.  Less than two months later, on March 8, The Springfield Daily Republican reported, "News was received here this afternoon of the death at his home in New York city of Charles Lanier, 89, who has made Lenox his summer home for the past 60 years."  The newspaper mentioned that he was "a close friend of the late [J.] Pierpont Morgan and was a member of the little group, informally called the Corsair club, which met on Mr. Morgan's yacht."

The Lanier house became the Harvard Business Club.  While the club occupied the lower floors as its clubhouse, certain unmarried members lived in the upper floors.  It remained here until 1938 when the Dartmouth Club moved in.  In its March 1938 issue, the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine reported, "By the time this appears the ritzy Dartmouth Clubhouse at 30 East Thirty-seventh Street should be in use."  The article mentioned that the "extensive refurbishing was almost completed."

The Dartmouth Club was replaced by the Andrew Furuseth Club in 1942.  The Seafarers Log reported on October 1, "The most sumptuous quarters ever set aside for the exclusive use of the merchant seaman was dedicated today in a ceremony which included prominent speakers from all walks of American life."  The article said, "This entire structure is for the exclusive use of the merchant seamen.  They have only to show their discharges at the door and all facilities are at their disposal."

A postcard depicted activities in the Andrew Furuseth Club--a stark contrast from entertainments during the Lanier years.

The Andrew Furuseth Club would have to find new quarters in 1949.  The former Lanier mansion was demolished to make way for the Emery Roth & Sons designed Morgan Park apartment building, which survives.

no permission to reuse the content of this blog has been granted to LaptrinhX.com

The 1869 Oswin O'Brien House - 128 East 37th Street

 

Prolific architect John G. Prague, who would design hundreds of Manhattan rowhouses before the 1890s, was hired in 1868 by speculative developer and carpenter John Coar to design four upscale homes at 124 to 130 East 37th Street.  Faced in brownstone, they rose four stories above English basements.  Prague's Second Empire design included slate-shingled mansards, nearly obligatory to the style.

The row was completed in 1869.  Oswin J. and Elizabeth G. O'Brien purchased 128 East 37th Street.  The couple had a son, Oswin Jr.  Born in 1826, Oswin Sr. was a stockbroker and member of the New York Stock Exchange.  Additionally, around 1864 he opened "The Palace" department store at the corner of 14th Street and Sixth Avenue.  Elizabeth was the eldest daughter of General Frederick Ellsworth Mather and a descendant of Rev. Richard Mather, who arrived in Boston in 1635.  Elizabeth was also related to Founding Father Oliver Ellsworth, third Chief Justice of the United States.

Elizabeth G. O'Brien.  photograph courtesy of Michael O'Brien Weber

The O'Brien family sold 128 East 37th Street in 1873 to William Adams Walker Stewart and his wife, the former Frances Loring Gray.  Stewart was a wealthy lawyer.  He would be lost at sea when his yacht, Cythera, disappeared during a  voyage to the West Indies in March 1888.  Eight years before that tragedy, he and Frances sold 128 East 37th Street to his massively wealthy father, John Aikman Stewart, for $17,000 (about $523,000 in 2024).

Born on Fulton Street on August 26, 1822, John A. Stewart was married to Sarah Youle Johnson.  He had served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during the Civil War.  Now he was president of the United States Trust Company and a director in several banks and insurance companies.  He and Sarah, who lived almost directly across the street at 125 East 37th Street, apparently purchased the house for their daughter, Emily, and son-in-law, Robert Waller, Jr.

In June 1882, John Aikman Stewart hired architect James Brown Lord to enlarge the Waller's house by adding a two-story extension to the rear.  It is unclear exactly how long Emily and Robert Waller remained here, but the house was occupied by the aristocratic Van Vleck family by 1889.

Walter Van Vleck was described by the New York Herald as "the dashing sergeant major of the Ninth regiment."  At the Regiment Ball in 1889, 17-year-old Minnie Ahearn caught Van Vleck's eye.  The New York Herald described her as being,

...tall for one of her years, with a fine, well developed figure and might easily pass for a maiden of twenty-five.  Her dark, heavy eyebrows and rich brown hair could attract attention anywhere, while her beautiful eyes and well rounded face have caused many a gallant masculine heart to flutter on the West side since she has been living on Twenty-sixty street with her aunt and guardian, Mrs. Margaret Higgins.

Margaret Higgins kept a close rein on her ward.  But the 40-year-old bachelor and his new sweetheart managed to communicate by love letters sneaked back-and-forth via a young girl.  The romance came to a climax on January 13, 1890, when Minnie Ahearn and Walter Van Vleck both disappeared.  

A week later, with the couple still missing, The Press pointed out the social differences between them.  "Love laughs at locksmiths and scorns all the artificial distinctions of rank, wealth, birth and breeding.  It is, however a long time since Love, the leveler, has shown himself so thoroughly democratic as in the probable elopement of Walter Van Vleck of 128 East thirty-seventh street with Minnie Ahearn of 204 West Twenty-sixth street."  The New York Herald wrote, 

At the residence of the Van Vleck family all was excitement yesterday.  Walter had been telegraphing to his two sisters and mother nearly every day during the week to make excuses for various engagements to dinner parties, &c., for him.  Members of the family are greatly shocked over the affair, because the young lady in the case does not move in the same fashionable set nor in society at all for that matter.

It was later confirmed that the two unlikely lovers had married.

By 1900, John Aikman Stewart was leasing 128 East 37th Street to the John Jay White family.  White and his wife, the former Virginia Grace Hoffman, had a teenaged daughter, Louise Lawrence White.

Interestingly, when the house was leased for winter social season of 1900-1901, the New-York Tribune did not mention Louise's parents.  The article on December 9, 1900 read, "Mr. and Mrs. Lester del Garcia have taken No. 128 East Thirty-seventh-st. for the winter.  It is the home of Miss White."

On May 10, 1903, The New York Times reported on the engagement of Louise to Walter Lispenard Suydam, Jr., saying, "The extreme youth of the couple neither being over eighteen years of age, gives it a touch of the romantic."  The article noted, "The attendants selected are related to nearly all the old Knickerbocker representative branches, including the Suydams, the Lispenards, the Delafields, the Lydigs, the Mesiers, the Hoffmans, the Jays, and a score of others."

Walter Lispenard Suydam.  Portraits of the Presidents of the [Saint Nicholas] Society, 1835-1914 (copyright expired)

Indeed, the couple was so young that on January 28, 1904, in reporting that Louise "gave one of a series of days at home," The New York Times mentioned that she "was Miss White, and she and Mr. Suydam were married last Summer.  Mr. Suydam was then still at college, and his wife had not made her debut in society."

The Suydams appeared in the society columns repeatedly over the next few years.  The couple welcomed a baby girl, Louise Lispenard, in June 1905.  Tragically, she died on January 24, 1906, at the age of six months.

Two years later, Louise had a brush with death.  On February 15, 1907, The New York Times reported, "Mrs. Walter L. Suydam, Jr., who is in town for the Winter at her home, 128 East Thirty-seventh Street, is seriously ill with typhoid fever."

The Suydams remained here until 1909 when the 11-room, two-bath house was sold.  The couple's marriage would end tragically two years later.  In 1911, Louise left Walter for the 22-year-old son of a Brooklyn plumber, Frederick Noble.  They were married in January 1912.  A month later, on February 5, The New York Times ran the headline, "Dies With Youth She Eloped With / Suicide by Gas Ends Romance of Young Noble and the Former Mrs. Suydam."  The article said that their short marriage was troubled, and surmised that Louise discovered she was still in love with Walter.  The two committed suicide together.

In the meantime, the 37th Street house was purchased jointly by Alexander Stewart Walker and Leon Narcisse Gillette, partners in the architectural firm of Walker & Gillette.  They converted the upper floors to apartments and installed their offices in the lower floors.  An advertisement in The New York Times on April 23, 1911 offered, "Two Apartments, 128 East 37th Street, 3 and 4 rooms and bath."

Walker & Gillette was a highly respected firm which, at the time, was mostly responsible for lavish country homes and New York City townhouses.  Among the residences they designed from 128 East 37th Street were the 1914 Warren M. Salisbury estate in Pittsfield, Massachusetts; the 1917 Henry P. Davison mansion at 690 Park Avenue; and Coe Hall in Oyster Bay, Long Island, erected between 1918 and 1921. 

Walker & Gillette occupied 128 East 37th Street through 1926.  In the 1930s, the house was owned and occupied by well-known stage designer, Norman Bel Geddes and his partner, George Howe.  Bel Geddes was described by The New York Times as "a brilliant craftsman and draftsman, a master of style, the 20th century's Leonardo da Vinci."

In 1936, Bel Geddes designed the "Metropolis City of 1960."  It, perhaps, landed him the job that year of assisting production designer William Cameron Menzies in fabricating the sets for the H. G. Wells science fiction film, Things to Come.

Not everything was so positive for Bel Geddes in 1936.  That year on August 21, the Elmhurst, New York Daily Register reported that Edna Buckler had filed a $2 million lawsuit claiming that the play Dead End was "a plagiarism from her play entitled 'Money.'"  The article said she was suing the play's author, Sidney Kingsley; its producer, Norman Bel Geddes; Random House, which published the drama; and Samuel Goldwyn, who bought the film rights.

A scalloped, arched entranceway was created after the removal of the stoop.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In 1940, following Bel Geddes's sale of the house, it was converted to apartments.  The stoop was removed and a rather dramatic entrance created at the former English basement level.  Otherwise, the exterior was little changed.

At some point the entrance framing was removed.  There are four apartments in the house today, including three duplexes (two of which share the third and fourth floors).

photograph by the author

no permission to reuse the content of this blog has been granted to LaptrinhX.com

The William Gale, Jr. House - 118 East 37th Street

Around 1859 developers Arnold & Mowbray completed a row of five 20-foot wide homes on East 37th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues.  Faced in brownstone, they rose four stories above a rusticated English basement level.  The latest word in domestic architectural taste, the Italianate-style homes featured arched pediments over the double-doored entrances, molded enframements around the elliptically arched openings, and complex cornices.

William Gale, Jr. purchased No. 118.  In 1850 he had become a partner in the renamed William Gale & Son, the silverware manufacturing firm founded by his father, William Gale, Sr.  Around 1821 his father was perhaps the largest silverware manufacturer in the country.  His 1826 invention of roller dies that impressed full designs on flatware put him at the front of the industry.

This chased silver tea service from 1866 is stamped William Gale Jr. on the bottom; indicating it was produced after Wm. Sr.'s retirement.  photograph via Heritage Auctions

Born in 1825, Gale was a young man, about 34 years old, when he purchased No. 118.  Upon the retirement of William Gale, Sr. in 1866 the running of the firm was passed to him.  That same year he left East 37th Street.  On March 3 he placed an advertisement in The New York Herald reading:

For Sale on Murray Hill--A four story and basement high stoop brown stone House, in thorough order, on south side of Thirty-seventh street, between Park and Lexington avenues.  Inquire of William Gale, Jr., 487 Broadway

The house was offered for sale again in April 1888.  Two months earlier the 88-year old widow living here had died.  It was purchased by Gardner Greene Howland, Jr.  His father Gardner G. Howland, Sr. and uncle, Samuel Shaw Howland, had formed G. G. & S. S. Howland in 1816, which became one of New York's most prominent shipping firms.  The brothers could boast that their family had arrived in America on the Mayflower.

Gardner, Jr. was an attorney and member of Howland & Aspinwall, the successor of G. G. & S. S. Howland.  He was apparently able to balance his legal practice with the shipping company demands.  When publisher James Gordon Bennett negotiated repairs on his country house in 1887, Howland was listed as his attorney.

His family's social importance was evidenced in the 1885 edition of What To See and Where To Buy in New York City.  Howland's name and the 37th Street house were listed under "Select List of Prominent People."

No. 118 was sold on August 1, 1895 to Bayard Tuckerman, who paid $38,000 (about $1.17 million today).  He and his wife, the former Annie Osgood Smith, had four children, May, Elizabeth, Bayard, Jr., and Joan.  Their country home, Sunswick, was in Ipswich, Massachusetts. 

Born on July 2, 1855, Tuckerman was schooled in Switzerland at the Pension Roulet, graduated from Harvard University in 1878, and then studied in Paris.  An author and historian, by the time he purchased No. 118 he had written the History of English Prose Fiction, the Life of General Lafayette, The Diary of Philip Hone and William Jay and the Constitutional Movement for the Abolition of Slavery.  His memberships in the Century, the Sons of the Revolution and the Society of Colonial Wars reflected his academic interests and family heritage.  

In 1898 he accepted the position of lecturer on English Literature at Princeton University.  He would retain the post through 1907.

Social columnists reported on the movements of the family.  On December 16, 1901, for instance, The New York Herald reported "Mrs. Bayard Tuckerman and Miss Elizabeth W. Tuckerman, of No. 118 East Thirty-seventh street, have cards out for Wednesdays in December."  The announcement informed socialites that the women would be "at home" on those days and available to receive.

On June 10, 1905 the New-York Tribune reported "Two prominent families of New-York and Philadelphia were united to-day by the marriage...of Miss Elizabeth Wolcott Tuckerman to George McIntyre Elkins."  The wedding took place in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and the article noted "Among the guests were many from Philadelphia, New-York, Washington, Newport, Boston, Albany and summer residents from many other places who are now at the North Shore."

The Tuckermans announced the engagement of Joan to Evans R. Dick, Jr. on August 14, 1910.  The New York Times reported "The engagement was announced at Ipswich, where the Tuckermans are spending the Summer."  This would be another socially-important match.  The article added "Mr. Dick's sister, Miss Mildred Dick, lately married Stuyvesant Fish, Jr., of New York."  

The wedding took place in Sunswich on July 22, 1911, "in the presence of a large gathering of relatives and friends," according to The Times.   "The couple left after the ceremony on a wedding tour."  As with many wealthy newlyweds, it was a long honeymoon.  On July 17, 1912 the New-York Tribune reported "A daughter was born a few days ago to Mr. and Mrs. Evans R. Dick, jr., at their place in Cheshire, England."

In 1914 the Tuckermans began spending the winter seasons elsewhere.  That year and the following season they leased the furnished house to Col. F. N. Lawrence.  The winter season of 1916-1917 saw Winthrop Burr taking the residence.

Bayard, Jr. had graduated from Harvard in 1911.  On June 20, 1916 he married Phyllis Sears, whom The New York Times rather brashly called "one of the richest heiresses on the North Shore" at Beverly, Massachusetts.   The article said that she was "daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert M. Sears, with millions in her own right and heiress to many more."

Bayard Tuckerman published his latest book that year, A Sketch of the Cotton Smith Family of Sharon Connecticut."  It would be his last work from the 37th Street house.

On February 2, 1917 The Sun reported that Tuckerman had sold the house to Eugene Hale, Jr., "who will occupy."  The announcement noted "The property is subject to the Murray Hill restriction," which prohibited commercial use of the house.

Born in 1877, Hale was an 1898 graduate of Yale University.  He was by now a member of the stock brokerage firm of Pendergast, Hale & Co.  He had married Eunice Terry on November 15, 1906.  Hale came from a political family--his father was a former senator from Maine and his brother, Fred Hale, was currently a senator from that state.

The Hales moved into the Murray Hill house at a time of worldwide conflict.   Two months later, on April 6, the United States entered World War I and a month after that the 41-year old Eugene Hale shocked society and Wall Street when he joined the Army.

It was not a rash decision.  On May 4, 1918 The Sun explained "More than a year ago he went to France at his own expense and in the interest of making things more comfortable for the fighting men he established and conducted right under the German guns a canteen for the soldiers in the trenches."  Hale had taken over the "one remaining room of a the only remaining house" in a destroyed French village as a "free restaurant."  He brought in two Frenchmen as cooks, and served coffee and cocoa, hot soup and sandwiches to the soldiers.  He stayed there five months before turning the operation over to the two Frenchmen.

The article noted that the new private "will be sent at once to Camp Devens at Ayer, Mass., because in the opinion of the War Department officials he will have better opportunity there to associate with the New England rookies."  Left alone, Eunice spent time with her family.  On June 30, 1918 the New-York Tribune reported "Mrs. Eugene Hale, jr., whose husband is a member of the National Army, is to spend part of the summer with her parents, the Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Roderick Terry, at Linden Gate."

The end of the line for No. 118 as a private home came in 1949 when architect Ralph E. Leff designed alterations for owner Joseph Aronson.  Completed in 1950 they resulted in a triplex apartment in the basement through part of the second floor, one apartment on the remainder of that level, and one apartment each on the third and fourth floors.

photographs by the author

The J. C. Fargo House - 122 East 37th Street

Around 1856 the imposing home at No. 24 East 37th Street was completed for Patrick McCaffrey.   While it shared many of the elements of the other Italianate style residences rising along the block between Park and Lexington Avenues, its extra width--a full 25 feet--and its short stoop set it apart.  

By 1865, when East 37th Street was renumbered giving the house the new address of No. 122, McCaffrey seems to have left.  It was home to the Rev. S. A. Carey by the early 1870's.  It is unclear with which church the minister was associated; but its congregation found itself no longer able to make the payments on the house in 1873.   It would be the last year Carey lived here.

The church had taken out a chattel mortgage on the property--putting up the furnishings as collateral.  An announcement in The New York Herald on December 29, 1873 read:

Mortgage Sale--By virtue of a chattel mortgage I will expose for sale at public auction, on Tuesday, December 30, 1873, at 11 o'clock in the forenoon, at No. 122 East Thirty-seventh street, the Furniture of said premises, consisting of walnut Furniture, Carpets, Mirrors, Oil Paintings &c.; also one splendid Piano and a valuable collection of Books, and all appurtenances that go to make up a first class private residence.  Michael G. Murray, Attorney for Mortgagee

Henry Lord purchased the house in March 1885, paying $27,000, or just over $725,000 today.  Like his well-heeled neighbors, Lord haunted fashionable resorts to escape the summer heat and, occasionally, the frigid winters.  He went to Hot Springs, North Carolina for the holidays in 1889, staying at the luxurious Mountain Park Hotel.  Among its amenities, according to the New-York Tribune on December 22, was its "finely appointed and luxurious bath-house, containing large marble pools...built over some of the [hot] springs."

Lord left No. 122 that year and it was purchased by James Congdell Strong Fargo, president of the American Express Co.  Both his sons, James Francis and William Congdell, were involved in the firm.  Son James F. began construction on his own house next door at No. 120 in 1892.

Fargo was married to the former Frances Parsons Stuart, known familiarly as Fannie.  Along with their sons, they had a daughter, Annie Stuart.  The family's summer estate was at Irvington, New York, near Sunnyside.  It was there in 1882 that Annie had married William Duncan Preston.  

Tragically, Annie died giving birth to their only child, Stuart Duncan Preston, on January 1, 1884 at the age of 24.  By at least 1895 William was leasing the East 37th Street house from his father-in-law and moved in with young Stuart, along with his widowed mother, and his sister, Florence Isabelle.

Florence's engagement to Henry Graves, Jr. was announced on December 1, 1895.  The wedding took place in the fashionable St. Thomas's Church on Fifth Avenue on January 21, 1896.  William gave his sister away and The New York Times reported "Following the ceremony, there was a small reception at the residence of the bride's mother, at 122 East Fifty-seventh [sic] Street."

The following year the Prestons moved on and in September James C. Fargo leased No. 122 to T. Suffern Tailer.   Born into an aristocratic New York family, the New-York Tribune called the Washington Square home where he grew up "one of the most beautiful homes in the city as well as one of the oldest."  In 1893 Tailer had married Maude Lorrillard, the only daughter of Pierre Lorillard.  The couple's summer residence was near the Lorillard estate in Tuxedo.  It was a wedding present from the bride's father.

Maude stole the spotlight from her husband in the society papers because of her fashion sense, her unrivaled beauty and her skill as a rider.  When the couple visited the Lorillard apartment in Paris, The Evening World commented "Doubtless Mr. and Mrs. T. Suffern Tailer will add greatly to the spirit of the autumn gayeties.  Mrs. Tailer will have an opportunity to air some of her Parisian finery at the annual autumn ball."  The Evening World described her as "beautiful in a royal way, with the arched eyebrows and Cupid-bow mouth, so emblematic of generations of breeding.  Although a famous belle, a lover of horses and athletic sports, she is associated in the minds of those who  best know her with kindly charities and unselfish consideration for those who need her aid."

The Evening World poked good-natured fun at some of Manhattan's wealthy gentlemen, including Tailer, with caricatures on August 5, 1902.  (copyright expired) 

In May 1899 James C. Fargo transferred title to No. 122 to William C. Fargo.  Despite the technical change of landlords, the Tailers continued on in the house.

Maude and a maid left New York for Sioux Falls in February 1902 where she took a house.  Rumors were that "she had come to South Dakota for the purpose of remaining in the State for the necessary six months in order to obtain a divorce," said the New-York Tribune.  The rumors were correct.  She received a divorce on August 14 on the grounds that her husband intended to desert her.  Although the divorce was "without sensational features," it was apparently not a friendly split.  The Tribune noted that Maude had the luggage tags with her initials "M.L.T" removed and replaced with ones reading "M. L."

But it appears it was not T. Suffern who had intentions of desertion.  Just three months later, on November 10, The Evening World reported "Mrs. T. Suffern Tailer is the bride in London of the Hon. Cecil Baring."  T. Suffern Tailer was given custody of the couple's son.

John Hamilton Gourlie died on February 21, 1904.  The wealthy broker left four grown children, including an unmarried daughter Eliza.  On April 17, 1904 The New York Times reported that William C. Fargo had leased No. 122 East 37th Street to "the Misses Gourlay [sic]."  The plural reflected Eliza's guardianship of her two nieces, Nathalie and Isabelle Thacher Groulie.

The women had lived here only a year when Eliza announced Isabel's engagement to Noel Lispenard Carpender.  That winter was the season of the girls' introduction to society.  On January 27, 1906 the New-York Tribune reported on a dance she had given the evening before.  "Miss Gourlie's dance was for her two nieces, Miss Isabel and Miss Nathalie Groulie  There was no cotillion, but general dancing throughout the evening."  

Isabelle's wedding took place on April 24, 1906 at the nearby Calvary Church.  Nathalie was her sister's maid of honor.  The Sun reported that "Her aunt, Miss E. C. Gourlie, of 122 East Thirty-seventh street, with whom she makes her home, will give a reception after the ceremony."  

There would be a second wedding reception in the house two years later, almost to the day.  On April 21, 1908 Nathalie was married in St. George's Church on Stuyvesant Square to Francis Henry Appleton, Jr.   The New-York Tribune noted that the "large gathering" all "adjourned to the reception given by Miss Gourlie, the aunt of the bride, at her house in East 37th street."

James Shewan, head of the shipbuilding firm of James Shewan & Sons, died on May 7, 1914.  The Sun reported "He gave his entire estate to his wife, Ellen Shewan, and left nothing to his two sons and three daughters."   In September that year William C Fargo leased No. 122 to Ellen.  She remained only two years, and in November 1916 the house was leased to Mary Fels, the widow of Joseph Fels.

Joseph Fels had made his fortune in the soap industry.  His best selling product was the Fels-Naptha soap brand which he developed in 1894.   In 1906 he turned much of his focus on the hopes that a Jewish homeland would be founded in Israel.  Now Mary continued his work from No. 122.  It became home to The Public Publishing Company, publishers of The Public, A Journal of Democracy; and to the Zionist Society of Engineers and Agriculturalists.  

On April 5, 1919 The American Contractor announced that the group "is at present planning to send an Engineering Commission to Palestine for the purpose of making a survey of the natural resources."  The Public went further, saying that arrangements had been made "whereby young men, Zionists, technically inclined, able-bodied and anxious to go to Palestine, will get a thorough training in tractor work and in practical agricultural methods generally."  

Original detailing survives within the arched entrance.

Mary Fels left in 1919 and the house continued to be leased to wealthy tenants.  In August that year the New-York Tribune reported that "Misses Rebecca Cramp and Florence P. Gill, of Philadelphia" had leased No. 122 from Helen F. Fargo.  They were followed by C. Hammond Avery, Jr. and his new bride, Helen MacDonald in 1921, and by Frances Marion Brandon by 1925.

Brandon was an assistant corporation counsel and a force in Manhattan politics.  On June 12, 1925 The New York Times reported that she held a meeting of "some twenty leaders of Tammany Hall and about eighty other men and women well known in Democratic and social life" in the house.

But Frances's name was already better known to most New Yorkers for a scandal that had begun a few months earlier.  She had sent a notice to The Times on March 14 announcing that she was engaged to a high-powered lawyer, George J. Gillespie, Sr., of Gillespie & O'Connor.  Along with his other dealings, he was the personal counsel to Cardinal Patrick Hayes.  The announcement said the engagement had taken place on November 13, 1924, but was not announced because of the recent death of Gillespie's wife.  "It was stated that the wedding would take place early this Spring," said The New York Times.

When he read the newspaper reports of his engagement Gillespie was infuriated.  He first called the newspaper and then told a reporter in person "I have never been engaged to her and I never will be.  The idea of marrying Miss Brandon has never occurred to me."  Oddly, Frances told The Times she would marry him despite his denial.

It all ended up in the courts, with Frances bringing a series of lawsuits against Gillespie charging breach of promise, fraud, $74,000 which she says he owed her, and $500,000 in damages.  (Frances apparently was greatly damaged, her suit topping $7 million by today's standards.)  The issued dragged on for years and on February 28, 1930 The Times reported that the jury could not come up with a verdict.  The case would have to start over.

Photographed around 1940, the house had lost its Italianate detailing, once similar to those on the houses further up the block. photo via NYC Department of Records & Information Services.

By then Frances had lost her job as assistant corporation counsel and had left East 37th Street.  Afterward the house was converted to apartments and by the late 1930's the Victorian brownstone facade details had been shaved flat.

Looking somewhat spartan without its 1856 architectural elements, today there are four apartments in the building.

photographs by the author