Springsteen & Goldhammer's 1929 140 East 95th Street

 

In 1928, a year before the Stock Market Crash, the newly formed 1470 Lexington Avenue Corporation purchased the four-story apartment building at the southwest corner of Lexington Avenue and 95th Street.  The vintage structure was demolished to be replaced by a six-story apartment and store building.  Designed by Springsteen & Goldhammer, the romantic Mediterranean Revival-style structure was completed in 1929.

Storefronts lined the avenue and the residential entrance opened onto 95th Street.  The building's midsection was faced in beige textured brick and trimmed in cast stone.  Other than the corner, which rose to a charming tower, the top floor was clad in stucco.

Springsteen & Goldhammer's picturesque details included cast stone Renaissance-inspired frames at the second floor, with heraldic shields and pyramidal crockets.  

The upper portion was drawn from the historic buildings of Siena, with round-arched corbel tables, red tiled roofs, and romantic tower windows.

An advertisement offered apartments of two, three, or four rooms.  It described, "Charming rooms.  New electric refrigerators.  24-hour elevator service.  Well maintained building."  

The apartments filled with middle- and upper-middle class residents.  Among the first was Joseph W. Steinberg, a politically active Republican.  On April 18, 1931, The New York Times reported on the inaugural meeting of the Fifteenth Assembly District Republican Club.  The speeches lambasted the Democratic Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt, one speaker saying that the city had suffered his "dodging and double-crossing tactics."  The newly-elected president, Walter S. Mack, Jr. accused Tammany Hall as having become a "racket."  Joseph W. Steinberg was elected a vice-president that night.

Another early resident was Geoffrey V. Thomas, who managed the properties owned by the Central Savings Bank.  His responsibilities ballooned in the 1930s, as the Depression forced the bank to foreclose on more and more real estate.

James D. Covington and his wife were initial tenants.  Covington's complaint in 1932 was, interestingly, not the economic conditions so much as the poor quail hunting in the Northeast.  On November 26, The New York Sun ran a lengthy article that called the tri-state hunting conditions "almost ideal."  Covington, a native of Georgia, refuted that and complained about quail hunting on Long Island.

"First off, the scarcity of game here makes it doubly hard to satisfy a Southern hunter," he told the reporter.  Back home, he said, "It was no trick to bag the limit of twenty-five birds per person per day." 

In the 19th century, beer breweries made fortunes for German immigrants like George Ehret, Peter Doelger and Jacob Ruppert.  Prohibition closed down those businesses and their sprawling brewery buildings sat shuttered.  But four years after 140 East 95th Street was opened, Prohibition was repealed and several of those facilities stirred back to life.

Among them was the Ruppert Brewery, the traffic and field manager of which was Charles Reichert, who lived here with his second wife, Delores.  In the spring of 1949, the delivery truck drivers walked off the job and the sidewalks outside the brewery at Third Avenue and 92nd Street became a sea of picketing strikers.

Late on the afternoon of May 13, Dolores went to the brewery and threaded her way through the 500 pickets and into the building.  At around 6:00 the couple left.  As they made their way through the mob, the drivers "exchanged words" with Reichert.  His replies were not well received by the out-of-work union members.  Two drivers "punched him in the face," as reported by The New York Times.  Reichert had Patrick Skully and Mortimer J. Monohan arrested for simple assault.

Living here in the 1950s was Nathan B. and Ethel Gurock.  Born in 1901, Nathan was a graduate of the New York University Law School.  He served as a secretary to State Supreme Court Justice Irving L. Levey for 14 years before becoming a general law assistant to the court justices.  In 1959 he was appointed a special referee of the State Supreme Court.

An interesting resident was Herman Davidowitz, who lived here with his wife, the former Rebecca Blank in the 1960s.  Born in Szeget, Hungary in 1897, Davidowitz arrived in America in 1921.  He founded Cravats by Dee, Ltd, a tie manufacturing firm.  He and Rebecca had two adult sons, Rabbi Moshe L. Davidowitz and psychologist Dr. Jacob Davidowitz.

Herman started collecting Judaica as a hobby.  The New York Times reported that it, "soon took him to many countries as he gathered menorahs of silver, bronze, brass, gold and clay; coins; embroideries; illustrated manuscripts; marriage contracts; scrolls; paintings, and other objects of Jewish religious and secular life."  

Rebecca died in 1964.  A few days later, when asked by The Jewish Press where he got the money to purchase his collection, Herman replied, "What others spent for pleasures, to go to the mountains or to Florida, my late wife and I invested in our collection."  In March 1967, he sold 190 items at the Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., realizing $60,840 (about $571,000 in 2026).

Shortly afterward, Davidowitz began plans to establish a tie business in Haifa, Israel and relocate there.  In January 1969, he embarked on a trip to Israel relating to those plans.  He made a stop-off in Florence, Italy on the way "looking for additions to his large collection of Judaica," according to The New York Times.  While there, on January 16, he suffered a fatal heart attack.  His funeral service and burial were held in Haifa.

Other than the remodeled avenue storefronts, Springsteen & Goldhammer's charismatic structure is little changed since it opened during the first year of the Great Depression.

photographs by the author

The 1892 Francis J. Schnugg House - 127 East 95th Street

 

In 1890, real estate operator Francis Joseph Schnugg completed construction of eight rowhouses on East 95th Street.  Designed by Frank Wennemer, they started near Lexington Avenue and stretched westward toward midblock.  The following year, Schnugg hired architect Louis Entzer, Jr. to design nine abutting houses that would fill the block to Park Avenue.

Completed in 1892, Entzer's row would compliment the earlier houses, while slightly exceeding them in visual interest.  Like its architectural siblings, the easternmost, 127 East 95th Street, was three stories high above a basement.  The undressed stone blocks and the heavy voussoirs over the arched parlor windows were Romanesque Revival in style.  Above the double-doored entrance, a stained-glass transom incorporated the address.

Entzer gave the planar sandstone of the upper two floors interest by striating it with bands of rough cut stone.  A sheet metal oriel dominated the second floor--its whimsical bosses along its base and the artistic panes of the upper sashes were Queen Anne in design.  The architect continued to blend styles by placing Gothic Revival, square-headed drip moldings above the top floor windows.  An elaborate and highly unusual pressed metal cornice completed the design.

Francis Joseph Schnugg and his family occupied 129 East 95th Street while this house was being constructed.  Upon its completion, they moved in.  Schnugg was born in 1859 and graduated from St. Francis Zavier College in 1882 and from Columbia Law School in 1883.  While matriculating in the latter, he delved into real estate.  It proved lucrative and he never used his law degree.  Schnugg and his wife, Carrie H., had three children, Joseph F., Elsie and Marion.

Towards the turn of the century, Schnugg sold the 18-foot-wide house to Julius Doernberg and his wife, the former Ida Stern.  Julius was born in Thüringen (today's Thuringia) Germany on May 7, 1848.  He and Ida, who was 20 years younger than he, had five sons: Milton, Dudley, Edmund, Walter, and Arthur.  The youngest, Arthur, was a toddler when the family moved in.

Julius Doernberg, The new York Lumber Trade Journal, November 1, 1908 (copyright expired)

Doernberg was the senior partner in the lumber and box manufacturing firm of Doernberg & Goodman.  He came to America in 1866 and after working in the men's apparel business for years, organized Doernberg & Company in the 1880s.  Henry D. Goodman partnered with him a few years later.

Like all well-to-do New Yorkers, the Doernbergs summered at fashionable resorts.  On July 11, 1908, The New York Times remarked, "The Hotel Kaaterskill, always the centre of interest in the Catskills, is attracting more interest than ever because it is having the most brilliant social season in the history of the house."  The article went on to list some of the distinguished guests that season, including Julius and Ida Doernberg and Arthur, who was now 15 years old.

It would be the last summer season Julius Doernberg would enjoy with his family.  He died in the East 95th Street house at the age of 60 on October 24, 1908.  His funeral, which was held in the parlor two days later, "was attended by a host of friends," according to The New York Lumber Trade Journal.

Six months later, on April 2, 1909, The New York Times reported that Doernberg's estate had sold 127 East 95th Street.  It was purchased by William Pabst, the assistant cashier of the Second National Bank.  He and his wife, Grace R., had two daughters, Elise and Grace.

William Pabst retired in 1923.  In the meantime, the Pabst daughters had grown to young women.  Lillian, for instance, attended the Barnard School for Girls and Columbia University.  The New York Times would later say that she, "has traveled extensively in this country and abroad."

Two decades after moving in, William Pabst died "after a short illness," according to The New York Times, on March 1, 1929.  Interestingly, his funeral was not held in the house, but at the Church of Our Lady of Esperanza, far north at 157th Street and Broadway.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Rather shockingly, three months later--in the midst of the family's expected mourning period--on June 2 The New York Times reported, "Announcement has been made of the engagement of Miss Lillian Pabst, youngest daughter of Mrs. William Pabst, of 127 East Ninety-fifth Street, to William Paul Wilson."

The wedding took place in the drawing room on July 11, 1929.  Frederick Pabst, William's brother, gave Lillian away.  The New York Times noted, "Only relatives and a few intimate friends had been invited to the ceremony, owing to the recent death of the bride's father."

Grace R. Pabst remained at 127 East 95th Street through 1942.  The following year artist and printmaker Karl Schrag occupied the house.  Born in 1912 in Karlsruhe, Germany, he studied art in Germany, Switzerland and Paris.  He arrived in New York City in 1938, entering the Art Students League.  Among his fellow students there were artists Joan Miró, Jackson Pollock and Marc Chagall.

Karl Schrag, from the collection of the Dixie Art Colony Foundation.

While living here, in 1947 Schrag had a solo show at the Krauschaar Galleries.  He would remain at 127 East 95th Street at least through 1959.  Deemed by the National Gallery of Art as "among the most important printmakers in America during the 1950s," his works are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Brooklyn Museum and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

The Schnugg house remains a single-family house today.  When it was placed on the market in 1999, the realtor touted the five-bedroom, three-bath home as having "original mahogany woodwork and detail."

photographs by the author

1890 Twins -- 112 and 114 East 95th Street

On June 29, 1889 the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that architects Flemer & Koehler were working on "eight three-story and basement stone front dwellings" for developer Edward T. Smith.  The announcement explained that six of the houses would be on Park Avenue and two around the corner on 94th Street.

Whether the publication simply got the facts wrong, or if Smith modified his project is unclear.  But the completed row on Park Avenue consisted of only five, and the other two were on 95th Street (on the block with the quaint nickname "Goat Hill").  The mirror image houses at Nos. 112 and 114 East 95th Street  stood distinctly apart from their Renaissance Revival siblings.

Although Flemer & Koehler started out with a Renaissance Revival canvas--rigid symmetry, rough cut stone at the basement and parlor levels, and paneled pilasters, for instance--they lavished it with extraordinary Queen Anne decorations; notably at the upper floors.  Here the openings were framed with cream-colored terra cotta tiles.  Each exhibiting a single leaf, their alternating large and small sizes mimicked quoins.  The three bays of the second and third floors were unified by a single terra cotta cornice.  The homes were crowned by pressed metal cornices with interesting friezes of regimented rows of protruding bosses.

The construction cost of each house was $14,000--in the neighborhood of $377,000 today.   They were both purchased by Peter Wilkens as investment properties.  It was most likely scandal and subsequent business problems which forced Wilkens to relinquish title.

He was the owner of the Hotel Princess on Lexington Avenue at 25th Street.  In April 1895 the hotel was raided and, according to The Evening World, "men and women were found there and arrested."  The Parkhurst Society, led by reformer clergyman Charles Henry Parkhurst, battled Wilkens in the State Supreme Court, claiming he was running a disorderly house (the polite term for a brothel).   On April 17 the newspaper announced "Parkhurst Men Win" and reported that Wilkens's excise license had been revoked.

Charming details appear in the stylized capitals of the entrance pilasters.  A detailed basket of fruit is flanked by two impish creature faces.

Wilkens sold No, 112 to Charlotte Lambrecht on May 5, 1896, taking an apparent loss.  The $14,000 price equaled Edward Smith's original outlay; making it most likely about half of what Wilkens had paid.  The following year, in October, he transferred title to No. 114 to his daughter, Meta Wilkens.

Charlotte Lambrecht quickly resold the No. 112 to Rachel Geiger, who, in turn, sold it to Max J. Ullman and his wife Sarah.   The couple had two daughters, Ruth Elizabeth and Leonora May.  Unlike the wives of many well-do-to businessmen, Sarah had her own career.  She was a graduate of Normal College (later Hunter College) and taught school for years.

Born on November 27, 1854, Max had started out in business with his father, Jacob, as a member of J. Ullman & Son at No. 17 Park Place.  In 1901 he and his brothers Nathan and Louis formed the Ullman Mfg, Co.   The firm manufactured and sold "pictures, frames, art novelties, &c. &c."  Its offices were in Manhattan and the factory was in West Virginia factory.   Max was also a founder of the Ullman Company, a Brooklyn-based printing firm.

Both Max and Sarah were active within the Jewish community.  He had been secretary of the Young Men's Hebrew Association as early as 1892; and Sarah was a long-time member of the New York Council of Jewish Women.

Max died at the age of 62 on August 28, 1917.   Although she retained possession of the 95th Street house, Sarah almost immediately left it.  On October 31 The Sun reported that she had leased it to Cyril Crimmins, the son of millionaire John D. Crimmins.

Of the ten children of the devoutly Roman Catholic tycoon, Cyril was perhaps the most colorful.  A member of the Fencers' Club and an avid yachtsman, his name routinely appeared in the newspapers for his sporting activities.  But a month before he signed the lease on the 95th Street house, it was more shocking news that drew society's attention.

On September 1 The Evening World reported "Cyril Crimmins, son of John D. Crimmins, has married Miss Kathryn Daly, one of the original attractions of the Ziegeld Midnight Frolic."  The wedding had been kept secret for a week.  Dalliances with showgirls, while not infrequent among society's young men, were disapproved of; but marriages with them were scandalous.  John D. Crimmins's opinion of the match was evidenced in The Evening World's mention "A member of the Crimmins household admitted that Mr. Crimmins did not attend the wedding."

The newspaper described the new Mrs. Crimmins as "a popular favorite on account of her looks and her dancing" and noted that she "has been one of the 'sweeties' in the present Frolic and took part in several of the more important episodes."

It appears that Cyril and his bride hoped to mend relations with his father.  The following day The Sun reported that the couple was "spending their honeymoon in the White Mountains, and according to an announcement from Boston last night they intend later to visit Mr. Crimmins's father at his country home, Firewood-on-the-Sound, at Noroton, Conn."

Just two months later John D. Crimmins was dead.  Cyril, along with six of his siblings, was at his bedside on November 9 when the 73-year old died of pneumonia.

Despite John D. Crimmins's misgivings, the marriage of Cyril and Kathryn was a successful one and they continued to play a significant part in society both in Manhattan and at their summer estate, Glenbreekin Farm, near Firewood-on-the-Sound in Noroton.

While the striking stone newels appear to be vintage, they are actually meticulous reproductions.

In the meantime, Meta Wilkens had originally leased No. 114, finally selling it on February 13, 1901 to Charles Wanninger.  A member of the New York Zoological Society, the well-to-do Wanninger and his wife, Sophie, had two daughters, Rita and Vera, and a son, Curt.

The family remained in the house until shortly after Rita's marriage to Kurt Richard Berger in St. James Lutheran Church in 1918.  Like Sarah Ullman had done, her parents retained possession of the house, but began leasing it the following year.

John F. O'Brien moved in in 1919 and would remain until 1922.  A corporate attorney, he was best known for his politics.  On May 21, 1918 the New-York Tribune had noted that he "is one of the veteran political leaders of the state."  He had served for four years as Secretary of State.

In October 1922 Charles Wanninger leased No. 114 to Dr. Henry Beller.  By now Sarah Ullman had sold the house next door to another physician, Dr. Eugene F. Du Bois.  As the Du Bois children grew up, the doctor began leasing the house in 1931.

His first tenants were George C. Barclay and his wife, the former Elizabeth Weed Moore.  In 1936 he leased it to Arthur B. Borden, and by 1942 to Dr. James R. Lincoln.  That year Lincoln's widowed mother died in the house while visiting from her home in Wareham, Massachusetts.

Eugene Du Bois, Jr. was a Lieutenant in the United States Naval Reserves.  Following his wedding to Carol Johnson Mali, the couple moved into No. 112.  Their daughter Caroline was born in March 1945.

In 1949 Dr. Du Bois leased the house to William J. Slocum and his wife, Ann.  They were a highly visible couple--journalist William Slocum was the writer of The New York Mirror column, "Bill Slocum Everywhere," and his wife, who went professionally by her maiden name Ann Gillis, was a radio and television producer of news and special events for the National Broadcasting Company.

Ann's "manner and competence," according to The New York Times, appealed to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and he recruited her to supervise his radio "Fireside Chats" during the Great Depression.  When Queen Elizabeth II visited the United States and Canada in 1957, Ann was in charge of the monarch's televised appearances.

In 1956 Dr. Du Bois sold No. 112.  Tragically, Ann Gillis died in the house the following year, on December 16, at the age of 44.  In reporting on her death, The New York Times mentioned "During the last two decades she had been the originator of many programs emanating from the White House and involving Cabinet members and other Government officials."

After owning the house next door for more than three decades, Charles Wanninger died on June 10, 1935 at the age of 81.  The following year the new owner was slapped with a violation from the Department of Buildings for operating an illegal "multiple dwelling."  It was sold in 1946 to Irene K. Neff as her private home.

It was possibly their narrow widths, just 15.5 feet, that prevented either house from being converted to apartments in the second half of the 20th century.  In 2009 a joint restoration of their facades was initiated by Azor Contracting.  By now both were slathered in layers of paint, which was cautiously stripped away to reveal the remarkable tiles and the contrast of materials and colors.  The meticulous restoration included the stoop newels which had become so eroded that tax photographs had to be referenced to replicate them.

The 2009 renovation included replacing the lost interior elements with elegant replacements.  photo via corcoran.com

The remarkable Queen Anne twins today appear much as they did in 1890 when Goat Hill was seeing a flurry of development.

photographs by the author

The Ernesto and Edith Fabbri Mansion -- No. 7 East 95th Street

In 1899 Edith Shepard and her husband Ernesto Fabbri moved into a grand mansion at No. 11 East 62^nd Street.  The house was a gift from Edith’s mother, Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt Shepard.

The great-granddaughter of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, Edith Shepard Fabbri was expected to entertain lavishly--and she did not disappoint.  And while Edith was busy with her social routine, Ernesto worked in the financial firm of Drexel, Morgan and served as president of the Society of Italian Immigrants in New York.  Just seven years after moving into the new house, Fabbri was transferred to Europe by Drexel, Morgan.   The couple would live overseas for several years.

The Fabbris apparently anticipated their return to American when on November 1912 the Record & Guide reported that Ernesto Fabbri had purchased a 100-foot wide plot on the north side of 95^th Street, just off Fifth Avenue.  The journal noted a trend in the sale.

Reminding readers that Andrew Carnegie had purchased the immense lot at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 91^st Street, it added other recent purchasers in this neighborhood included Judge James W. Gerard, who bought the lot at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 95^th Street; Ogden Codman whose 40-foot wide mansion was under construction on the north side of 96^th Street; and John B. Trever, John H. Hammond, I. Townsend Burden, James A. Burden, and Mrs. Frederic Branson.

The publication felt that the movement of millionaires this far north was due to “the increased use of motor cars” and predicted that “this section of 5^th av. Is about to come in for a great revival of interest.”

Less than two months later the Fabbris had chosen their architect.  The Record & Guide reported on January 11, 1913 “Mr. Fabbri has arranged with Grosvenor Atterbury to build a 50-ft house for his use.”  While Atterbury’s name appeared on the plans, he worked closely with Ernesto Fabbri’s architect and interior designer brother, Egisto Fabbri. 

The plans were not prepared until October that year; with the Fabbris still in Europe.  They called for a 40-foot wide “five-story brick and marble residence” with an estimated cost of $150,000—in the neighborhood of $3.7 million in 2016.

There seemed to be little rush to start construction; however the Fabbris’ return to New York was most likely hastened both by the outbreak of war in Europe in July 1914 and daughter Teresa's rapidly-approaching debut.  Nevertheless, the contractor was not chosen until January 1915. 

By now the neighborhood was filling with costly mansions, including the striking Carhart residence at the corner of Fifth Avenue.  Although Ernesto sold half of his plot, abutting Marion Carhart’s property, to Goodhue Livingston, his house never came to be.  The unused lot happily provided unexpected sunlight and air to both the Carhart and Fabbri mansions.

photo The Living Church, December 18, 1949

The Fabbri house was completed late in 1916—just in time for Teresa Fabbri’s debutante entertainments.  Unlike their ornate French confection on East 62^nd Street, the new Fabbri mansion was restrained and dignified.  The red brick façade was highlighted by white marble elements.  Ernesto Fabbri’s Italian roots were reflected not only in the architecture, but in the interiors.  The Living Church reported decades later “The interior of the first and second floors came from the Ducal Palace in Urbino, Italy.”

The Fabbri crest appears within a stone mantel.  photo by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

The Fabbri coat of arms featured a raised arm holding a hammer.  It was repeated in the ironwork of the ornate entry gates and throughout the house, carved into mantels, and even in the design of the dinnerware.  It has been suggested that the L-shape of the residence reflects the bent arm of the Fabbri crest.

The crest reappears in the design of the iron carriage gates.

On January 6, 1917 the doors to the new mansion were thrown open for a lavish dinner dance for Teresa.  Among the 300 guests were “the debutantes and young dancing set, with a sprinkling of young married people and a very few of the older friends of Mr. and Mrs. Fabbri,” wrote The New York Times.

The wealthy crowd was served dinner in the dining room, and following the dancing, enjoyed a “seated supper” at 1:00 in the morning.  While they ate, “Hawaiian musicians sang and played.”

Later that year, on November 21, Ernesto and Edith announced Theresa’s engagement to James Cameron Clark.  Society page readers were reminded of Teresa’s elite pedigree.  “She is a great-granddaughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. William H. Vanderbilt, a niece of Mrs. William J. Schieffelin and Mrs. Davd H. Morris, and a grandniece of William K. Vanderbilt, Mrs. H. McK. Twombly, and Mrs. William D. Sloane,” noted The New York Times.

James Clark was a graduate of Harvard and was a lieutenant serving with the aviation section of the Signal Corps in San Antonio, Texas.

Almost a year to the day afterward, the New-York Tribune reported on November 17, 1918 that the “stork visits the Clark home.”  In 1918 wealthy women did not go to hospitals to have their babies; the doctors came to them.  And so with Lt. Clark serving in the Army Air Service, Teresa’s baby was born in the Fabbri mansion.

Entertainments in the 95^th Street house were often centered around war relief and political causes.  On February 8, 1920 The Sun reported “At a meeting to be held on next Sunday afternoon in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ernesto Fabbri at 7 East Ninety-fifth street, a scheme for international charitable effort will be unfolded and a noted priest and orator will be introduced.

The “noted priest and orator” was Padre Semeria.  He lectured on “Dante’s Ideal of Civilization” as a benefit for the war orphans of southern Italy.  Edith also arranged for a “programme of old Florentine music.”

By now Ernesto’s brother, Alessandro was living in the house, along with the Fabbris’ staff of 11.  The 43-year old had never married and The New York Herald pointed out that he “made his home with two brothers, Egisto and Ernesto.”  Alessandro’s decision not to have his own home was not based on financial difficulties or a lack of success.

The Herald described him as “a pioneer in the use of motion pictures in scientific research.”  He developed a microscopic motion picture process which he demonstrated by recording the growth of life in an egg.  During the war he built a large wireless plant in Maine at his own expense, and then offered it to the Government.  The military declined the offer, purchasing it instead, and hired Alessandro as its head with a staff of several hundred.

Edith was politically active.  On January 15, 1920 James W. Gerard, former Ambassador to Germany, spoke to about 100 women in the mansion.  He said that “the women of the country would be the deciding factor in the next Presidential election,” and added “If you ladies were Senators the League of Nations would be settled in a week and the treaty agreed on.  Women are more practical than men.”

Three months later, on April 21, Edith hosted a meeting of the Butler Women’s Committee here.  The group endorsed Nicholas Murray Butler, a name lost in popular history, for President.  Among the wealthy socialites in the group that day were Mrs. Edmund Baylies, Mrs. Goodhue Livingston, Mrs. Oliver Jennings, Mrs. William Sloane, Mrs. Eliot Shepard, and Mrs. George Post.

An entertainment of note took place in the mansion on May 24, 1921.  The Duchesse de Richelieu gave a “song recital” that afternoon for the benefit of Madame Clemente Bologna, the widow of a recently-deceased voice teacher.  The New York Herald pointed out “Through her recitals given during the war the Duchesse raised several hundred thousand dollars for tubercular soldiers of France.”

Alessandro Fabbri died in the 95^th Street house after an illness of just three days on February 6, 1922.  The scientist was 45 year old.

Although Ernesto Fabbri was still living here in 1924, Edith was apparently still in Europe.  In February 1923 she obtained a Paris divorce and “three months later Mr. Fabbri married Miss Mary Valentine Darrah, of Overbrook, Pa.,” as noted by The New York Times.

On Christmas Day 1924 Prince Sergio Romanovsky, Duke of Leuchtenberg arrived on the Italian steamship Duilio.  The New York Times noted “The Prince has come for a visit of two months with Ernesto Fabbri, 7 East Ninety-fifth Street.”

Edith received the 95^th Street mansion in the divorce settlement and resumed the upscale entertainments here.  December 1937 was an especially busy month.   On December 18 Edith gave a ball for her debutante granddaughter Edith Fabbri Clark, deemed by The New York Times to be “one of the largest debutante parties of the season.”  Two days later she hosted a benefit recital for the Soldiers and Sailors Club of New York on December 20, 1937; and two days after that, on December 22, she hosted another ball for her debutante grandniece, Anne Louise Schieffelin.

The New York Times reported “Dancing took place in the spacious library…on the upper floor, the room having been converted into a ballroom for the event.”  The writer made special note of the Della Robbia-type garlands of real fruit which hung from the walls and shelving.  The garlands were “in harmony with the Italian furniture and paintings, which, throughout the house are mainly of the Renaissance period, although some of the decoration suggests the Tuscan school.”

The article noted “Mrs. Fabbri’s house was built a little more than two decades ago, many of the materials of construction, as well as the furbishments, having been brought from Italy.”

In 1949, at the age of 77 Edith Shepard Fabbri donated her home to the Episcopal Church of New York “to promote spiritual retreats.”  On December 18 The Living Church reported on the gift, saying “The house is one of the notable houses still standing in New York.”  Edith not only donated the mansion, but the artwork and furnishings.

“The library will remain much as it is,” said the report, “Mrs. Fabbri left many of the books in place.  The drawing room will be made into a chapel…The house has been adapted to the purpose of a retreat house, without in any way altering its architectural beauty.  The fourth floor has been made into a convent for the Sisters, quite apart from the rest of the house.”

The article explained “The name, House of the Redeemer, was chosen because a church once standing in the neighborhood and attended by Mrs. Fabbri bore that name.”

More than half a century later the House of the Redeemer continues on in the Fabbri mansion.  Its tender maintenance of the structure has preserved its original appearance.

photographs by the author

The Jacob Simmons House -- No. 130 East 95th Street

Largely forgotten today, the architectural firm of C. Abbott French & Co. was prolific in the 1880s.  The extent of their activity was evidenced on a single day, November 3, 1888, when Architecture and Building listed four projects they were designing—two rows of townhouses, a tenement building and a 5-story flat.  Two of the commissions were for developers William J. and John P. Walk.

At the time another C. Abbott French & Co. project, also for the Walks, was being completed on East 95^th Street.  A year earlier, on February 19, 1887, the Real Estate Record & Builders’ Guide had reported on the 12 “Queen Anne private residences” being designed.  The total cost was estimated at $169,000—an average of $361,000 each today. 

Stretching from No. 116 to 138 East 95^th Street, the charming row of three-story brick homes were completed in 1888.  The architects had produced string of delightful houses which had only their architectural style and charm in common.   Each flexed its individuality with oriels, arches, terra cotta plagues or medallions, and stained glass—yet the similarity of the treatment created a harmonious flow.

Among the new homes was the 18-foot wide No. 130.  Three floors of brownstone (including the English basement) supported the brick-faced uppermost story.  Above the brownstone stoop the tympanums over the entry and parlor window mimicked fanned and folded fabric behind two medallions—the one over the doorway announcing the address, and the one over the window depicting a fearsome face.

The expected asymmetry of the Queen Anne style allowed for a single window that illuminated the stairway hall, and grouped openings in the front-facing rooms.  Below the heavy brick eyebrow that embraced the arched openings of the third floor was another terra cotta medallion with a watchful beast.

The home was briefly owned by Martin C. Monaghan, who sold it in April 1890 to Jacob Simmons for $16,000 (about $430,000 in today’s dollars).    Simmons was a manufacturer of furs with offices at No. 734 Broadway. 

The Financial Panic of 1893 caused mayhem across the country.  Stock prices plummeted, 500 banks closed, and 15,000 businesses failed.   Even moneyed shoppers cut back on luxuries—like furs.  The downturn in business may have prompted Simmons to try to lease the house in 1895.  An advertisement appeared in The Evening World on March 5:  “Beautiful Queen Anne style house, furnished or unfurnished; terms reasonable.  J. Simmons.”

On November 27, 1896 Jacob Simmons filed for bankruptcy.  And he quickly took steps to prevent losing his home.  The Sun reported that “Jacob Simmons and wife” transferred the title to David S. Cahn for $1.00. 

Two weeks later a sheriff arrived at the door of No. 130 East 95^th Street.  He was looking for hidden furs.  The Sun reported on December 20 that $6,000 worth of skins purchased from Joseph Ullman & Co. was missing.

“It is alleged that Mr. Simmons obtained the goods by misrepresenting his financial responsibility, and that he has turned them over to his wife.  The Sheriff visited his house and several other places, but found none of the goods,” reported the newspaper.

The personal humiliation of the once highly-respected merchant continued when the New York City Law Department’s annual report listed Jacob Simmons as being in arrears for personal taxes.

In 1898 Jacob Simmons was in default of $13,343 on his mortgage and lost his house at foreclosure.  Sold at auction, it was owned by Charles Spiegel until 1906 when he sold it to the well-known mustard manufacturer, Charles Gulden.  Gulden was active in the real estate market and the same day that he bought No. 130 he purchased No. 123 East 95^th Street, both as rental investments.

Gulden’s first tenant in No. 130 was Dr. B. Morje, who had been living at No. 1291 Madison Avenue.  The German-born internist was affiliated with the German Hospital. 

He was applauded in 1907 in the Annals of Surgery for his treatment of a 25-year old trapeze performer.  The woman was admitted to the German Hospital on September 26, 1907 suffering from chronic hemorrhages.  They had begun 14 months earlier after a trapeze accident.  On October 12, 1907 Morje performed a blood transfusion on his now-anemic patient. It was a risky and unusual procedure at the time.  Although the woman eventually died from her unknown ailment, the medical journal was impressed at Morje’s aggressive and resourceful treatment.

For decades, beginning at least in the mid-1920s, No. 130 would be home to George S. Mittendorf and his family.  The attorney had been educated at Yale, Columbia University, and the University of Leipzig.  Widely remembered as a college athlete who managed the first Yale Hockey team, he had been a member of the law firm of Mitchell, Capron, Marsh, Angulo & Cooney since 1910.  He was also a Vice President and Director of the Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital.  Mittendorf’s most visible client was the John Jacob Astor estate and he personally argued the Astor cases.

The house was the scene of daughter Matilde’s wedding to Edmund Louis Grey Zalinski in 1939.  Four years later Constantine Mittendorf, a lieutenant in the US Navy Reserves, married Marcella heron in the rectory of St. Paul’s Catholic Cathedral in Pittsburgh.   The Middendorfs were still in the 95^th Street house on November 11, 1952 when George died in Roosevelt Hospital at the age of 74.

In 1963 Otto Sander purchased the house “for occupancy;” and by 1982 it had become the Galenson-Rolphe Infant Center.  Affiliated with Mount Sinai Medical Center, the center treated children under the age of three in early childhood development.

By the time the house was reconverted to a single-family home in 2009, the dog-leg stoop had been removed and the doorway renovated to a many-paned window.  But the façade survives as an integral element of C. Abbott French & Co.’s delightful Queen Anne row.

photographs by the author