William Jose's 1873 Re-do of 167 Rivington Street

 

photograph by Carole Teller

United States Customs inspector William H. Randall and his family lived at 167 Rivington Street as early as 1836.  They suffered grief on the morning of December 27, 1837 when four-month-old Ann Rebecca Randall died.  The Randall home was, likely, a recently-built Federal-style structure.  

Just before the outbreak of Civil War, the house was replaced with Benedict Kraus's three-story hotel.  The enterprising Kraus also operated a meat business in the Essex Market.  The war affected at least one of Kraus's tenants.  On August 28, 1863, S. Adler was drafted into the Union Army.

Edward Gottlieb took over the hotel by 1865.  Like Kraus, he had a second job and operated his real estate business from the building.  The barroom here was the venue of political meetings, and on November 21, 1865 an announcement in the New York Herald reported that the 13th Ward Gunther Club "will hold regular meetings every Wednesday and Saturday night at Gottlieb's Hotel, 167 Rivington street."

On December 14, 1866, the New-York Tribune reported, "Shortly after 4 o'clock yesterday morning a fire was discovered in the premises No. 167 Rivington-st., occupied as a German hotel."  The article said, "the building and furniture were considerably damaged by fire and water."

Following repairs, 167 Rivington Street emerged as Urania Hall, a combination "concert saloon" and hotel.  (Concert saloons were the American version of English music halls and provided live entertainment.)  On January 4, 1867, an advertisement read, "Wanted--Some young waiter girls, for a concern saloon.  Apply at Urania Hall, 167 Rivington street."  And an announcement in the New York Herald on January 13 touted: "Concert every night; handsome girls attending, with choice wines, beer, &c."

The venture did not survive.  Only six months later, on June 28, 1867, an auction was held of "the entire Furniture of Urania Hotel," as well as the remaining three years' lease on the property.

The lease was taken by David Gans and Henry Schwartz, who opened the Schwartz & Gans beer saloon in the ground floor.  It, too, was a meeting spot for German political groups.  On June 26, 1872, The New York Times reported, "The German Republican Organization of the Thirteenth Ward held a meeting at No. 167 Rivington-street last night, indorsing the nomination of Gen. Grant and Senator Wilson for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency."

Change came the following year when owner Paul Hoffman hired architect William Jose to remodel and enlarge the building.  The renovations, which included an additional story, cost Hoffman the equivalent of $208,000 in 2026.

William Jose was best known for designing tenement buildings in the Bowery neighborhood.  He transformed 167 Rivington Street to a four-story-and-basement, store-and-tenement building faced in red brick above the storefronts.  A centered stoop lead to the first floor where two shops flanked the residential entrance.  Jose's neo-Grec design included molded cast metal sills supported by decorated brackets, and paneled lintels topped by molded cornices with a decorative ornament.

photograph by Carole Teller

The complex cornice was comprised of a paneled and dentiled fascia, ornate paired corbels and matching smaller brackets.

The new apartments filled with middle class tenants.  Among those living here in 1879 were two real estate agents, a lithographer, a tailor, one "merchant," and a porter.  That year Jacob Grossmann's shirt business occupied one of the stores.

By the turn of the century, the residents were more working class.  Caroline Rosenthal lived here by the early 1890s with her two grandsons.  George W. and Ernest Schultze were two of the three sons of Dr. Reinbold Schultze who died in 1890.  The boys were eight and six years old at the time.  Their mother "soon afterward went to live with one Courtney, alias Harrison," reported the New York Herald.  Courtney had a wife and three children in Brooklyn.  The couple disappeared, taking the four-year-old Reinbold with them and leaving George and Ernest with their grandmother.

Unfortunately, the care of two young boys was too much for Caroline Rosenthal, and around 1892 she placed them in St. John's Home for Boys in Brooklyn.  Then, a remarkable turn of events occurred.  A Frau Krummhauer died in Magdeburg, Prussia in 1892.  She was the aunt of the three Schultze boys and left them a fortune of $375,000, equal to about $13.7 million today.  William Schwickardi began looking for the three young heirs in December 1892.  He was unable track down the boys' mother, young Reinbold, or Courtney.  (Mrs. Courtney told him she had not heard from her husband and had no idea where he was.)  

He was more successful in finding George and Ernest.  Caroline Rosenthal appeared in Brooklyn Supreme Court with her grandsons on April 11, 1893.  The boys--who one day earlier were living as orphans in a less-than-comfortable institution--were suddenly wealthy.  Selflessly, Caroline Rosenthal requested the court to appoint Julia Schwickardi, William's wife, the boys' legal guardian.

Living in the building at the time of the boys' windfall were junk dealer Saul Deutsch and Dr. Simon Rappaport.  Max Marks ran a dry goods business in one of the stores.

In April 1893, a large quantity of cloth began disappearing from the clothing manufacturer Marks & Co. on Broadway.  On May 5, police officers witnessed two employees, Nathan Schnapper and Solomon Tischler, lowering a bag of rags to Saul Deutsch.  Suspicious, they investigated the bundle.  "Among the rags the detectives found a roll of cloth valued at $27," reported The Evening Post.  Deutsch was arrested and held at $1,000 bail.

Dr. Simon Rappaport faced an even more serious charge two years later.  On December 3, 1895, the New York Herald reported that he and Joseph Stern had been arrested for an "operation performed upon Mrs. Jennie Fourgang, who is very ill in Bellevue Hospital."  The newspaper delicately danced around naming the offense--an abortion.

The charges were elevated three weeks later.  On December 24, The Evening Post reported that Rappaport and Stern had been charged "in connection with the death of Mrs. Jennie Fortgang, of No. 5 Norfolk Street."  The article said she had died "from malpractice," and had named the two men from her deathbed.

Paul Hoffman made improvements to the building again in 1898.  He hired the architectural firm of Kurtzer & Rohl to install a "new fireproof vent shaft [and] new skylight," as described in the plans.  The alterations cost Hoffman the equivalent of $48,000 today.

Austrian-born Leon Stand (known familiarly as Leo) and his family lived here as early as 1901.  He operated his real estate office from one of the commercial spaces.  In 1901 he rallied other businessmen on the block to protest about the garbage and resultant odors that littered the street.  On August 8, The New York Times reported that he had initiated a petition to the Commissioner of Street Cleaning.  "Unable to endure the stench from the streets, they have [been] buying snuff-snuff by the half-pound which the women as well as the men have been using," said the article.  Stand and his neighbors charged that they were being discriminated against.  The petition said in part:

We...protest against the unjust discrimination and partiality shown to the lower east side in the matter of removing garbage and cleaning streets of our neighborhood.  The garbage and filth have been lying in front of the tenements for the past three days, and the drivers and employes [sic] of your department have absolutely refused to remove it.

Leon Stand told a reporter, "We simply can't stand it here any longer.  I took a walk up Fifth Avenue on purpose on Saturday.  Do you think I saw any ash cans or ill-smelling garbage cans there?  Not on your life."

A substantial renovation came in March 1904 when architect Max Muller redesigned the lower floors.  The Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide explained that he "rearranged front wall," installed new store fronts and a cast iron staircase.

Max Muller's 1904 storefronts and iron steps can be seen in this 1940 tax photograph.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Leon Stand and his family would remain here for years.  In August 1911, he arranged a testimonial dinner for Charles F. Hartman, the 71-year-old principal of Public School 106 at Rivington and Suffolk Streets.  On the night of September 12, 250 former pupils gathered at the Café Boulevard to celebrate his retirement and honor his half-century of "pedagogy," as worded by The New York Times.

The following year, Leon's son, Murray, made news on his own.  On September 19, 1912, The New York Times said he "has won prizes for oratory at the De Witt Clinton High School, and is President of the Young Boys Democratic Club."  An admirer of Mayor William Jay Gaynor, Murray Stand was offended when he read the speech delivered by Rabbi Wise at Carnegie Hall, "in which the Rabbi suggested that the Mayor had better resign."  The teen wrote to the mayor, saying in part, "Keep up your good work, dear Mr. Mayor, and when your term as Mayor shall expire, 'one good term shall then deserve another.'"

Mayor Gaynor responded to Murray Stand's letter, writing that he had no ill feelings for Rabbi Wise, however he said he "seems to be without charity or truthfulness."  He went on, "He is a mere rhetorician, and you know what rhetoricians from the beginning of time have been designated as persons 'with the crooked mouth.'"  Murray Stand declined to be interviewed, although he said that "he believed politics should be kept out of religion and the public schools" and deemed Rabbi Wise's attack "in bad taste."

Murray Stand's name was again in newsprint the following year on November 17, 1913 when The New York Times reported on the upcoming testimonial dinner for Justice Aaron J. Levy.  "Murray W. Stand, Secretary of the Neighborhood Dinner Committee, 167 Rivington Street, is in charge of the arrangements," said the article.

By 1917, Murray W. Stand was an Internal Revenue Service collector and alderman.  He would go on to serve in the Army in World War I, be elected alderman 14 successive times, and appointed New York City Commissioner to the World's Fair, and Inspector General of Defense for New York City and City Clerk in 1946.  

His brother, Bert Stand, would become secretary of the New York State Athletic Commission in 1925 and Tammany Hall's first Jewish secretary, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, on July 29, 1934.  

Leon Stand, in the meantime, founded the Lemberger Congregation, a synagogue on East Fourth Street, in 1925.

Among the tenants of 167 Rivington Street in the 1920s was Sam Kirschner.  He and his family occupied an apartment while he ran his dressmaking store downstairs.  Attorney I. Schleider's office was here at least from 1922 through 1925.

The vintage building suffered significant neglect by the third quarter of the century.  On March 7, 1973, 13 tenants lived here, but not for long.  Around 5 a.m., police rushed into the building and roused them "when the walls and roof of the brick structure began to sag," as reported by The New York Times.  Moments later, a partial collapse occurred.  

A blurry 1980 tax photograph shows the building boarded up.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The building appears to have sat vacant until a "gut rehabilitation" by Harden-Van Arnam Architects completed in 1993 resulted in stores in the basement and first floor and apartments above.

photograph by Carole Teller

many thanks to artist Carole Teller for suggesting this post