A Severe Transformation - 1 West 103rd Street

 

photograph by Anthony Bellov

In 1892, developer J. C. Barth completed an ambitious project -- the erection of nine "five-story brick and stone flats" on Central Park West.  Designed by Edward Wenz in the Romanesque Revival style, the buildings stretched from 103rd to 104th Street.  Seven of them faced the avenue and two opened onto the side streets.  Wenz faced the buildings in yellow Roman brick atop a striated brownstone base.  Each of the entrances sat below layered arches upheld by clustered columns.  Here, the architect used historic license by adding Renaissance inspired decorations.

Brutalized today, the former entrance originally had a glass transom.  The intricate carvings on either side once continued into the now blank upper panels.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

The southern building, 1 West 103rd Street, attracted a variety of tenants, including several theatrical figures.  Among the first was actor and manager Harry Hine, who, with his wife, were original tenants.

Two years prior to moving into 1 West 103rd Street, Hine received a windfall.  On June 6, 1890, The Times-Democrat said he "left Hallen & Hall's 'Later On' in St. Paul as soon as he heard of his good fortune and came straight to New York."  That "good fortune" was his inheriting $50,000 from Horace S. Lanfair.  The amount would translate to about $1.8 million in 2026.

The Indianapolis News called Hine, "one of the best known of the younger generation of American theatrical managers."  He would not enjoy newly found wealth, however, for long.  At the time of his inheritance, he was already showing symptoms of consumption, known today as tuberculosis.  He became ill in the fall of 1892 and died in his apartment on February 12, 1893. 

Alfred W. Barthelmess married actress Caroline Harris on September 2, 1893.  The newlyweds moved into 1 West 103rd Street where their only son, Richard Semler Barthelmess, was born on May 9, 1895.  Alfred died at the age of 34 on May 5, 1896.  Caroline not only continued her stage career, she tutored her son in the dramatic arts.  

Actress Caroline Harris and her actor son, Richard Barthelmess.  (original source unknown)

Both would go into silent films, and Richard would become a well-known silent film actor, starring opposite Lillian Gish in D. W. Griffith's Broken Blossoms and Way Down East.  He would go on to co-found the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and be nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Celebrated actress Alice Fischer and her Shakespearean actor husband William Harcourt King lived here as early as 1902.  Alice was born in January 1869 and debuted on the stage in 1887.  The following year she first appeared on Broadway in the role of Minna in Little Lord Fauntleroy.

Born in 1866, King was known to audiences as William Harcourt.  He and Alice were married on May 7, 1893.

Alice Fischer suffered a frighting incident on the night of October 16, 1902.  After her performance that night, she was heading home in a carriage on Fifth Avenue when, at around midnight, a man in evening dress walked directly in front of the vehicle and was nearly run down.  The man "grabbed the bridle and began to abuse" the cabman, reported The New York Times.  When the driver "whipped up his horse to go on," the angry pedestrian pried a brick from the pavement and hurled it at the cab, breaking the side window and striking Alice's face.  He then dashed into the University Club.

The New York Times reported that Alice "drove up to the West Forty-seventh Street Station...bleeding from a severe cut on her cheek."  After reporting the incident and giving police a description of the attacker, said the article, "Miss Fischer drove away, saying she was going to a doctor to have her wound dressed."

Alice Fischer, from the collection of the Library of Congress.

Alice's personal maid was Sally Pate, and their relationship had an unexpected start.  On March 29, 1899, Sally arrived from Atlanta, Georgia to audition for Williams & Walker, a minstrel company "that made a specialty of good singing and dancing," according to the New York Herald.  But her train was delayed by three hours and when she arrived at the theater, the role had already been cast.

The dejected would-be entertainer "looked about for some other theatrical engagement," said the newspaper.  Finding a position for a female Black entertainer was difficult, at the time.  Alice Fischer, who heard of her plight, realized that as much as did Sally.  The next day Sally was working for Alice Fischer as her "lady in waiting," as worded by the New York Herald. 

Now, eight years later on April 16, 1907, Sally was still living  and working for Alice and William.  That night she was married in the drawing room here to William Henry Bunn.    

The entrance to 1 West 103rd Street is at the left, on the side street.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The next morning, Alice left for Chicago on tour and, apparently, William accompanied her.  Bunn worked at the ice cream counter of a West 103rd Street pharmacy and the newlyweds had no money for a honeymoon.  The New York Herald said that Alice had given them the use of "the entire flat while the actress is in Windtown."

An interesting tenant here as early as 1905 was Ottoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish, described by the New York Herald as "the Public Instructor of Mazdaznan Philosophy in America."  Ha'nish was not only its instructor, but he was the founder of the neo-Zoroastrian religious movement.  Among its tenets were a vegetarian diet, "intestinal hygiene," and fasting.  

One of his students, Mrs. Brownie Rathbone Weaverson, took the practice too far, according to police, who arrested her on March 18, 1905 "for practising [sic] medicine and attempting to cure a gangrene leg."  In reporting the incident, the New York Herald called Ha'nish, "the head of Mrs. Weaverson's cult."

Terra cotta panels depict fearsome chimeras.  photograph by Anthony Bellov.

An advertisement in The New York Times in 1907 offered a seven-room corner apartment with bath at $75, or about $2,700 per month today.  The ad mentioned that the apartment had a "fine view."

The building was updated in July 1919.  The owner, H. S. Proctor, hired architects DeRosa & Pereira to do "improvements" that cost him the equivalent of more than $1.8 million today.  Presumably, the renovations included electricity and improved plumbing.

Tenants continued to be professional and upper-middle-class.  Among them in the 1920s was journalist Edward E. Marriott.  Born in England in 1862, he came to America as a boy.  In the 1890s, he was hired as a reporter for The New York World.  In 1918, he joined the editorial staff of the New York American.

On January 6, 1944, The New York Times reported that the nine buildings, including 1 West 103rd Street, had been purchased by Herbert H. Bachrach and Ira Rosenstock.  The article said they were "modernized into 110 apartments of small units."

The 1971 project resulted in staggering contrast in material and architectural styles. photograph by Anthony Bellov

That renovation could not compare with the changes that were completed in 1971.  Almost all of the 1892 facade was stripped away.  (By conserving sections of the exterior, the developers did not have to conform to "new building" conditions.)  The original entrances on 103rd and 104th Street were preserved--more or less--and bricked up.  Although described as a remodeling because of the various surviving elements on the side street elevations, the  term "facadism" would be more accurately applied to the project, but even then only by the most generous definition.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post

The Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary (Russian Church of the Holy Trinity) - 345 E. 4th Street

 

On December 8, 1891 the Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary took title to the three-story brick tenement on the north side of East 4th Street, between Avenues C and D.  The fledgling congregation paid $7,500 for the property--about $220,000 today.  Only three months earlier, Archbishop Michael Corrigan had sent to Neutra, Hungary for a priest to "take charge of the spiritual welfare of his fellow-countrymen, who, ignorant of any other language than their own, found no congenial place of worship."

The parish boundaries of the new Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary stretched from East 6th Street at the north to East Houston Street, and from Avenue A on the west to the East River.  The World remarked, "It is situated in the heart of the Hungarian district."

At the time of the purchase, the recently arrived Fr. Francis Januschek was holding services in the basement of St. Brigid's Church, near Tompkins Square.  German-born architect Edward Wenz was hired to design the new structure.  It would cost the congregation another $16,200 to construct, bringing the total outlay to just under $700,000 by today's standards.

It would seem, perhaps, that the former brick-faced house-turned-tenement was not demolished, but massively renovated.  Wenz retained the English basement and high, stone stoop, and the overall domestic configuration of the openings.  The windows were given Victorian Gothic arches.  Those on the top floor were blind--the windows of that level (where the priest would reside) were actually rectangular.  Behind the peaked gable of the flat roof rose a charming cupola that served as a steeple.

from the collection of the New York Public Library

The church was consecrated on November 1, 1892.  The World said, "This church was made necessary by the increasing number of the Roman Catholic population speaking the Slavonian language here, and is the first of its kind in the city."  Apparently not overwhelmed by Wenz's architectural efforts, the journalist said, "It is an unpretentious structure of red brick, but is well adapted to its purposes."

There were already 500 members in the congregation and the church was designed to hold another 300.  The World reported, "All the services are to be conducted in the Slavonian language.  The singing will also be in Slavonian, under the direction of Ladislus Oncai, the organist of the church."  The article pointed out, "There are in this country only six Hungarian Catholic priests, including Father Januschek, three of whom have parishes in the Pennsylvania mining regions."

From the beginning, not all was not tranquil within the congregation.  Father Januschek was soon replaced, as was his successor, neither of which could satisfy both factions of the congregation--the Hungarians and the Slovaks.  In 1895 the third priest, Father John Polyakovits was removed by Archbishop Corrigan, sparking a schism.  On September 2, The World reported, "The row between the Hungarian and Slavonic factions of St. Elizabeth's Roman Catholic Church...has resulted in the withdrawal of the Slavonians from the congregation."

The New York Times attempted to explain, saying that "The Slovaks are a devout people...As many of the Slovaks come from Hungary, they established the Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary in East Fourth Street.  They were joined by a large number of the Magyar Hungarians, who later became the majority in the church, and gradually assumed the control, and managed to have the Slovak priest removed and a German priest appointed in his stead."  The Slovak faction received the consent of the Archbishop to splinter off and build their own church.

The move did not settle all the problems between Slovakians and Hungarians, however.  In September 1896, the new rector, Rev. Francis Denes, sued Gustave Marschall, the editor of Slavak-Amerike, for libel.  Denes told the Essex Market Police Court, "This person and his friends, who are very adversarious, did call me an ox and an ass and a gypsy and a foolish man.  They defame me.  They would put me out from the church."

He accused the newspaper of attacking even his surname.  "The persons whom he calls 'adversarious' have expressed the opinion that 'Denes' is not a plain Slav name, as it should be, but that is is another name, 'Magyarized,'" said The World.   (The reporter did not seem especially sympathetic, saying, "The rev. Mr. Denes is short of breath and of a fat habit and of placid mentality.")  

Marschall defended himself, saying the comments were "merely humorous," however an associate who spoke to The World reporter hinted there was more to it.  "The trouble was, he said, that the Rev. Mr. Denes thought himself no longer a plain Slav, but imagined that he was high and mighty, which, said this genial spokesman for the agile editor, might be all very well in Hungary, but wouldn't do in Avenue C., 'not by a jugful.'"

In January 1905, Mgr. Count Vay de Vaya, the Hungarian Consul-General, arrived in New York "in the interests of Hungarians," according to The Sun.  He met with Rev. Denes with the idea of forming a Hungarian Catholic Club.  Two months later, it was in the planning stages, with the first official meeting being held in Rev. Denes's apartment on the top floor of the church.  Mgr. de Vaya explained to The Sun, "the club will have an information bureau and an employment agency which will see that Hungarian servant girls obtain employment in good families which will treat them honestly.  The club will furnish information pertaining to Government lands and grants to farmers."

The first decades of the 20th century saw the German, Polish and Hungarian population moving from the Lower East Side to the Yorkville area.  In June 1917, the congregation of St. Elizabeth of Hungary purchased the "old Yorkville landmark," as described by The New York Times--the German Evangelical Immanuel Church on East 83rd Street.

The following year in April the East 4th Street church was sold to the Russian Greek Orthodox National Association for the equivalent of $318,000 today.   It became home to the Russian Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity.  

The congregation's presence reflected the changing demographics of the area, as more and more Russians and Ukranians settled here.  The November 1921 issue of Foreign-Born, A Bulletin of International Service, noted, "A Russian school for Russian children has been opened at the Russian Greek Orthodox Church, 345 East Fourth Street, New York City...Russian language and music will be taught."

The Church of the Holy Trinity remained in the little building until it was sold by the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in 1975.  Once again, the sale reflected the changes in the neighborhood.  The building became home to San Isidoro y San Leandro Western Orthodox Catholic Church of the Hispanic Mozarabic Rite.

The sanctuary, lined with icons, in 2021. photo by Andrew Kiracofe/Compass.com

In 2021 the building was placed on the market for $5 million.   The listing stressed that it would be "delivered vacant and [sits] outside a historic district."  Writing in TimeOut on March 30, 2021, Anna Rahmanan remarked, "Surprisingly, the space actually isn't landmarked although a local preservation group did submit a request for it back in 2017."  The realtor's listing suggested that the property "offers the opportunity to create a large community facility or a residential single family home."

In the meantime, concerned preservationists and locals wait to see the fate of the charming little structure.

photographs by the author

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Edward Wenz's 1881 169 West 78th Street

The apartment building, originally one of four, melded almost seamlessly into the row of earlier houses.

By 1890 apartment living was not only accepted, but popular.  That year alone architect Edward Wenz received commissions to design more than 40 "flat houses," many of them on the Upper West Side.  Among them were four five-story buildings at Nos. 169 through 175 West 78th Street, ending at the northeast corner of Amsterdam Avenue.

Wenz designed the handsome Renaissance Revival style structures for developer Theodore Cordler.  Completed in 1891 their prim design included rusticated brownstone bases that teetered on the edge of Romanesque Revival.  The upper floors, faced in brick and trimmed in stone featured Renaissance-inspired pediments above the openings.  At No. 169 a crowned face adorned the typanum of single arched opening.  Wenz dipped into the Queen Anne style with the pressed metal cornice.

The apartments of eight or nine rooms were intended for well-to-do residents.  They boasted steam heat, hot water, "and all improvements."

Cordler and his wife, Annie, apparently had no interest in being landlords.  Immediately upon the completion of the buildings, on May 27, 1891, they sold them to Louisa Schwegler for $159,000--around $4.4 million today.

By 1894 Nos. 169 and 171 were owned by Robert S. Drysdale and his wife, Jessie.  Drysdale was brought to New York from Scotland by the linen importing company O. Jaffe & Pinkus in 1880 and he continued to be a "valued employee" of that firm, according to The Evening World in 1895.  He and Jessie had four children--R. Alfred, May, Thomas Ireland and Winifred Margaret.  All but Winifred shared an apartment in No. 169 with their parents.

Winifred was the eldest, and had shown a marked singing ability.  Her father engaged a vocal coach to teach her music, but, according to The Evening World, "she became enamored of the stage."  The newspaper added "It was not until her father became convinced that she would go on the conic-opera stage, with or without his consent, that he finally, in 1890, visited the Aronsons and secured a place for her in the chorus at the Casino."  (Composer and producer Rudolph Aronson managed the Casino Theatre, a leading venue at the time.)

By now Winifred was known to theater audiences as Madge Yorke.  She was often on the road, but as her father told the press in 1895, "Madge was accustomed to coming to see us unexpectedly, for she was an affectionate girl, and never was in the vicinity of New-York without paying her home a visit."

Another frequent visitor was actor James B. Gentry who first came to the Drysdale home with Madge in 1893.  According to Robert Drysdale, he and Jessie were pleased that Gentry seemed to take "a kindly interest" in Madge.  "We were glad that he should be in the same [acting] company, for his presence seemed in a measure a safeguard against the dangers and affronts that beset an unprotected woman on the stage."

Unfortunately, Gentry's 'kindly interest" developed into unbridled jealousy.  Drysdale said "Gentry called frequently at our house when Madge was not traveling.  I think the presence of many gentlemen, who called to see her aroused his jealously.  We entertain largely, and my daughter had many admirers."

On the afternoon of February 17, 1895 Robert and Jessie waited for Madge to arrive.  She was appearing in Philadelphia in Baggage Check and promised to make a quick visit.  Around 2:00 it was not Madge who appeared at the door, but Gentry.  When told she had not arrived yet, he insisted she had telegraphed him saying she would meet him in Jersey City on the 12:50 train.  He further said he waited but she never showed up.

He stayed at the apartment for about 20 minutes, then left.  Gentry had traveled overnight from Boston to meet Madge.  He went back to the ferry from New Jersey, but she never arrived.  All the while he "had been drinking from disappointment," according to his later testimony.  He bought a train ticket to Philadelphia, incensed that he had been stood up and certain there was another man involved.

In Philadelphia he checked at various hotels until he found where Madge was staying.  In his pocket was a borrowed pistol.  He told investigators later "I said in my mind, 'I may have to shoot some Romeo in the foot.'  I fully expected to find a man in her room."

Madge Yorke, The Journal, June 25, 1896

There was no man.  Completely upset, in his words, he greeted Madge saying "Are you glad to see me?"  She looked surprised, saying "Oh, my.  What are you doing here?"  He tried to kiss her but she turned away.  The rebuff was too much for Gentry.

"I was insanely jealous and had no intention of shooting her when I left Boston, but I was so enraged, as I loved the woman."  When he fled from the room Madge lay dead on the floor.

The following morning Robert and Thomas Drysdale headed to Philadelphia to retrieve Madge's body.  The New York Times reported on February 19 "There was much grief yesterday at the home in this city of Madge Yorke 169 West Seventy-eighth Street...Mrs. Drysdale was completely prostrated."  Later The Evening World said "R. Alfred Drysdale and his sister May were preparing the house for the reception of the funeral party when a reporter called at 169 West Seventy-eighth street, this noon."

The following day that newspaper announced that the funeral would take place in the apartment on February 21.  With unnecessary detail and some disregard for the family the article said, "Notwithstanding the efforts of the undertaker, he has been unable to hid the bullet wounds which mar the beauty of the dead actress's face."

Gentry's trial began on February 22, 1896 in Philadelphia.  It was covered nation-wide; and the Aspen Daily Times reminded readers that day "He was madly in love with her and when she refused his advances he killed her.  Insanity will be the plea."

The six-month trial ended on June 26 with Gentry being found guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to death.  The San Francisco Call said "Gentry looked a physical wreck as he heard the pronouncing of his doom.  His appearance was pitiable."

James B. Gentry - The Journal, June 25, 1896 (copyright expired)

Gentry was scheduled to be hanged on April 29, 1897.  A little more than a week before, on April 29, the Governor of Pennsylvania commuted his sentence to life imprisonment.  Most galling, no doubt, to the Drysdale family were reports that circulated in newspapers towards the end of the year.  The Philadelphia Bulletin, for instance, reported on December 26 that Gentry "has not only recovered a vigorous degree of health, but has become the center of admiring attentions at [the Cherry Hill Penitentiary].  His cell is made a sort of Mecca by theatrical people visiting this city, and the memory of his atrocious crime is already growing faint.  Thus we make heroes of our villains."

The Drysdales sold the two buildings that year, to Louis Schulz.  He transferred title to Benjamin Schulz in November, giving him a sizable mortgage of $47,000.  In September 1898 Schulz advertised rents in the "large, light and airy single apartments" from $50 to $55--about $1,680 per month for the most expensive today.

Although the Schulzes were most likely relatives, business trumped family relations in 1902 when Louis Schulz foreclosed.  He purchased the buildings back at auction for $54,303.

In an interesting and somewhat shocking side note, James B. Gentry was pardoned by Pennsylvania Governor Edward Sydney Stuart in 1909 and was released at 1:00 on the morning of June 23.  Ironically, the following year he was locked up again, this time in an asylum.

The Illinois newspaper the Urbana Daily Courier reported that he "is an inmate of the Long Island Home, a sanitarium.  He was taken there at the instigation of friends who have noticed his queer actions recently."  The sub-headline read "Mind of Actor, Who Killed Madge Yorke, Fifteen Years Ago, Is Affected."

One 20th century luxury, the single-room air conditioner, was often responsible for architectural vandalism.  Two of the triangular window pediments here were victims.

No. 169 continued to be home to successful businessmen and their families.  By 1914 Francis L. Plummer lived here.  Well-known in the advertising community, he was secretary of the committee formed to discuss "the relation of the dealer to pending anti-trust legislation at Washington including the proposed one price to all plan of merchandising," according to The Taking Machine World that year.  He was the author of several professional articles, like the 1921 "Duplex Sales Plan" and "Want of Sympathy."

In 1928 all of Edward Wenz's row except for No. 169 were demolished for an apartment building.  It and other modern apartment buildings little by little lured well-to-do families from Victorian flats.  In 1947 No. 169 was converted to eight single room occupancy rooms on each floor.  Among the working class tenants that year was city bus driver Lawrence Robertson.

Robertson, who was 25-years-old pulled his bus from Central Park onto Fifth Avenue on the afternoon of July 16, 1947.  He failed to see an emergency truck speeding south on Fifth Avenue despite its siren sounding and red lights flashing .  The resulting crash injured 24 passengers, 16 badly enough to be hospitalized.  Robertson was arrested and charged with third-degree assault for failing to give the right of way to and emergency vehicle.

A renovation to No. 169 in 1971 resulted in just one apartment per floor.  In the basement was the 78th Street Pottery, a craft school.  When it looked as though the school would close, its students came to the rescue.  On June 2, 1977 The New York Times reported "Twenty crafts students who didn't want to see their school shut its doors recently took over the 78th Street Pottery and will run it as a cooperative."

The following year the school took out an advertisement in New York Magazine announcing: "Spring Classes: Wheel, hand-building, raku.  Beginners, Advanced, Children, Adults."

The brick and stone have been regrettably painted pink and white; but overall the building retains its strait-laced 1881 appearance.

photographs by the author