The Charles J. C. Schrader House - 214 West 137th Street

 

In 1897 Charles E. Picken began construction of a row of seven upscale homes on West 137th Street, between Seventh  and Eighth Avenues (today's Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, respectively).  Simultaneously, his brother James started work on three additional homes.  Both men contracted architect John Hauser to design the residences, resulting in a contiguous, harmonious row.  Each of the 18-foot-wide residences would cost the developers the equivalent of about $554,000 in 2023.

Hauser designed the row in the Renaissance Revival style.  Like its neighbors, 214 West 137th Street rose three stories above an English basement.  Completed in 1898, its imperious design belied its relatively narrow proportions.  Intricate Renaissance-inspired carvings decorated the spandrel panels, entrance framing, and two-story oriel--its base elaborately carved with vines and grapes.

Advertisements for the homes noted a "restricted neighborhood," meaning that none of the properties could be used for commercial reasons.  Charles Picken sold 214 West 137th Street to Emma Taylor on April 12, 1899.  She and her husband lived here only until April 1904, when she resold it to Charles J. C. Schrader and his wife Jennie H.

As had been the case with Emma Taylor the title was held in Jennie's name.  She and Charles had three children, Harry, Millie and Pauline.

Charles was a partner in Hartwig, Schrader & Co., dealers in "European delicacies and fancy groceries."  The large firm had two locations--on Washington Street and on Franklin Street--and shipped throughout the country.  The company had been founded in 1844 by W. E. Hartwig and was reorganized with its current partners in 1879.  

Although Hartwig, Schrader & Co. handled "the finest table luxuries," according to the New York Stock Exchange Historical Review in 1886, it was best known for "Holland Herrings."  They were in such demand that a shipment arrived in New York every week, and in 1885 the firm had imported 200,000 kegs of herrings--about 50 percent of all herrings imported to the United States.

It was common for even well-to-do families to rent a room in their homes, and in 1912 Mary Wollit lived with the Schraders.  On February 18 that year, Mary accompanied her aunt, Rose Nelson, who lived nearby on West 136th Street, to visit a friend in the Bronx.  Afterward they headed to Rose's home.  As they reached the Manhattan side of the Harlem Bridge, four men jumped from the shadows and ordered them to remain quiet.

The New York Press reported, "Two of the miscreants, Mrs. Nelson said, pointed revolvers at their heads and the other two searched their clothing."  The women had little money on them, and the frustrated robbers "then used their fists until Mrs. Nelson and her niece fell to the ground in a half-conscious state."  The thugs then fled.

A few minutes later a passerby later found the women and helped them to the East 136th Street police station.  Descriptions were sent out and a few hours later Charles Russo, John Trinato, Tony Marino and Tony Golorumo were found lurking near the Harlem Bridge entrance.  They were captured after a foot chase and shots fired by the officers into the air.  The following day Rose and Mary appeared in court to testify against their assaulters-- the eldest of whom was 23.  When the prisoners were brought in, The New York Press reported that the women "shrank from them as if in great fear."

Charles J. C. Schrader died on April 26, 1915 at the age of 63.  His funeral was held in the parlor of 214 West 137th Street on the evening of April 28.  It is unclear how long Jennie remained in the house, but by the 1920s it was being operated as a rooming house.  The demographics of the Harlem neighborhood had changed, as Manhattan's Black population migrated northward.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Renting a room here in 1924 was William Wiggins, who was down on his luck.  On December 18, the frustrated man hurled a brick through a shop window on Seventh Avenue.  The New York Age reported, "When Sergeant Fisher questioned Wiggins, the later informed the office: 'I just can't get work nor food.'"  The article added, "As a result of his misconduct, Wiggins was given free accommodation for thirty days on Blackwell's Island."

Mary Lou Hall lived here in the mid-1930s.  The unmarried woman had been a girl scout and she now served as leader of the 24-member Girl Scout Troop 91--the same troop she had been a member of as a girl.  In June 1935 two of her scouts were highly honored.  The New York Age reported, "the first colored girl scouts in Harlem to be awarded the Golden Eagle badge, highest ranking in the organization, is the distinction now held by Vera Holder and Marjorie Dodd."

Not everyone who rented a room in the house was a long-term tenant.  On May 30, 1936, The New York Age reported, "Miss Alma Boulware of Greensville, S.C. has been passing several days visiting New York...While here Miss Boulware is residing at 214 West 137th street.  She comes from one of the well known families of South Carolina."

After being operated as a rooming house for decades, 214 West 137th Street underwent a renovation, completed in 2011.  While there is now an apartment in the basement level, the upper floors have been returned to a single family home.

 photographs by the author

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Henry Anderson's 1902 247 West 137th Street

 

On May 3, 1902, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that Geraldine Broadbelt had purchased a 275-foot long parcel along the northern side of 137th Street, east of Eighth Avenue (today's Frederick Douglass Boulevard).  The article noted, "Fifteen 5-story American basement dwellings will be erected on the plot."  The Harlem neighborhood had begun developing from farmland and summer estates into a high-end suburb a decade earlier.

Broadbelt hired architect Henry Andersen to design the ambitious row.  In a separate article, the Record & Guide said, "The specifications call for hot air heating, open plumbing, electric lighting, tile roofing, hardwood cabinet work, etc."  Andersen's regimented line of Renaissance Revival  style homes was configured in a repeating A-B-C-D pattern, giving the impression of the English "terrace."  Designed as mirror-image pairs, the slight differences were the treatments of the doorways and the tympani of the second floor windows--the A and C models receiving base relief portrait rondels, the Bs and Ds given carved ribbon-swagged wreaths.

Among the C models was 247 West 137th Street.  It's low, five-step stoop rose to a rusticated stone base.  The framed, double-doored entrance was crowned by an entablature decorated with a carved wreath and a prominent lintel supported on high scrolled brackets.  Stone bandcourses at the second floor provided a striped effect against the background of red brick.  The fifth floor was sandwiched between two modillioned cornices.

The two cornices were intact when this photo was taken in 1941.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Gloria Broadbelt sold 247 West 137th Street in April 1903 to Charlotte J. Hurley for $15,000 (approximately $477,000 in 2023 dollars).  It was the beginning of a dizzyingly rapid series of turnovers in ownership.

The house would be sold two more times before Alice G. Opper purchased it in September 1906.  She leased it to a proprietor for use as a high-end boarding house.

Among the residents in 1908 were Samuel and Hattie H. Brownold.   That October, just as the weather was becoming cool enough to need a warm coat, Hattie advertised her Persian lamb coat for sale.  It was possibly a subtle hint of domestic troubles.

The landlord did not renew his lease the following September, and Alice Opper advertised 247 West 137th Street for a new tenant:

Beautiful private street and rear; convenient subway, elevated; 17 rooms; tiled baths; water all bedrooms; open plumbing; hardwood; completely redecorated; immediate possession; board, rooming; $1,600

The asking monthly rent would translate to about $4,100 today.  Elias Isaacs answered the ad, taking on the existing boarders, including the Brownolds.  Moving in at the same time was Douglass Isaacs, possibly Elias's son, who operated a billiard room on West 59th Street at Columbus Circle.

Samuel and Hattie H. Brownold had been married since February 22, 1897.  They had a son, Melvin, who was 12-years old when Isaacs took over as landlord.  Samuel Brownold's temper and controlling personality made even dinner gatherings in the boardinghouse uncomfortable for the residents. 

Court papers would later reveal that Brownold had an "entirely ungovernable temper," and would repeatedly berate his wife and son in public, using "vile and abusive language."  At dinner, Brownold's abuse of his son could even become physical.  

In one instance, Brownold threw open the windows of their rooms and hollered out, "I want the neighbors to know what kind of a wife I have.  I want the neighbors to know how my wife treats me."  Hattie would later complain in court that she was "scandalized among fellow boarders and neighbors and suffered humiliation in their presence."

As things worsened, in September 1910 Brownold wrote a letter to Hattie's parents telling them to take her in, as "she was not wanted."  Simultaneously, he told Melvin to go with his mother and "get out of the house."

Hattie endured the derision.  Brownold's continual loud, verbal abuse prompted Elias Isaacs to intervene, warning Brownold to be quiet.  A textbook case of an abusive spouse, his increasing control over Hattie included his refusing to allow her to communicate with her parents, and disallowing her to use the telephone unless he were present.  On November 16, 1910, he found her on the phone and "tore the receiver from her hands and refused to permit her to speak."

Finally, with herself and her son on the verge of breakdowns, Hattie filed for divorce in December 1910.  Among those testifying at the hearing was Elias Isaacs who said Brownold "always acted in a very dictatorial and domineering fashion towards his family, and seemed to regard his wife more like a child than as a wife."  He recounted, "Hardly a meal passed without a quarrel of some kind."  When Hattie would ask him not to should at Melvin during dinner, "he would then turn on her often causing her such humiliation that it was necessary for her to leave the dining room."

The anonymous bas-relief profiles with early 20th century hairstyles may have represented friends or relatives of of the stone carver.

With the uncomfortable drama ended, the house returned to peace.  There were two artistic residents in the subsequent years.  One advertised on April 6, 1915 saying, "Experienced tenor seeks position, church, chorus or quartet."  And another, Harry P. Kuhn who lived here in 1917, was a member of the Society of Independent Artists.

As the demographics of Harlem changed, by the end of World War I all of the boarders in 247 West 137th Street were Black.  Among them was the family of W. H. Matthews.  On October 28, 1920 Mrs. Matthews gave a Halloween party in their rooms for her Sunday school class of the Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.

Anna Warner hoped to find domestic work in June 1923.  Indicative of the times, she noted her race when placing her advertisement:  "Houseworker--Light colored; city or country."

Things became too much for 32-year-old resident Jane Allen to bear on June 22, 1925.  The New York Age reported that early that morning she "was treated by Dr. Goldberg for swallowing iodine.  The cause of her act was unknown at the time the ambulance took her away."  Jane's attempt at suicide was unsuccessful.

Isabelle Younge's life seems to have been more pleasant.  She was secretary of the Mystery Girls, a female social group, in 1934.  On December 1 that year The New York Age reported, "The Tea sponsored by the...group, November 4th, proved to be so enjoyable that the girls have been deluged with requests to repeat it."  The article gave the details of the upcoming encore, advising that any questions to be sent to Isabelle Younge.

By the early 1940s 247 West 137th Street became the Monarch Lodge Home.  The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was Harlem's largest fraternal order.  On September 9, 1944, The New York Age reported, "The Manhattan School of Lecture No. 1, held its meeting recently at the Monarch Lodge Home, 247 West 137th street."

The Monarch Lodge counted among its members Casper Holstein, who was born in the Virgin Island.  Generous with his significant wealth, he was a supporter of Marcus Garvey's United Negro Improvement Association and a patron of the Harlem Renaissance.  Poet Langston Hughes said that Holstein was "a great help to poor poets."  Holstein, as well, loaned money to start-up Harlem businesses.  His wealth, however, came from a dubious source.

Considered by some to have invented the illegal gambling game known as numbers, he amassed a fortune.  He owned Harlem apartment buildings, a country home on Long Island, and land in his native Virgin Islands.  He was an influential member of the Monarch Lodge, running at one point for the position of national head.

It is unclear how long the lodge remained in the house.  At some point the cornices were removed, and the building converted to apartments.  There are ten apartments in the house today.

photographs by the author

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The 1900 Paul Chopak House - 250 West 137th Street

 

In May 1897 architect John Hauser filed plans for seven rowhouses on West 137th Street, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues (today's Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, respectively) for developer Charles E. Picken.  Simultaneously he filed plans for three others, for James C. Picken (presumably a relative) on the same block.  Charles E. Picken was apparently well pleased with the outcome.  In February 1900 Hauser filed plans for six abutting houses for the developer.

Similar to the earlier homes, the Renaissance Revival style homes were three stories high above tall English basements.  Hauser designed them in an A-B-C-A-B-C pattern, with the imperious B models, including 250 West 137th Street, demanding the spotlight.  

Hauser gave the parlor level restrained amounts of Renaissance style carving--in the center pilaster between the windows, in the panels below the windows, and in the spandrel panels flanking the arched entrance transom.  The viewer's eye was drawn to the second floor, where the center window sat within a balcony-like framing of engaged columns upholding a sumptuous arched pediment.  A pressed metal cornice and frieze completed the design.

On October 2, 1901 Picken sold 250 West 137th Street to Paul Chopak.  He and his wife, the former Antoinette Klein, had an eight-year-old son, Herman.  Chopak was the president of the real estate firm P. Chopak & Co., Inc.  

At the end of World War I, the neighborhood was rapidly becoming the center of Manhattan's Black community.  The Chopaks had left West 137th Street by 1919, after which their former home was operated as a rooming house.

Typical of the tenants was a woman who was looking for employment in 1921.  Her advertisement in The New York Times on March 13 read: "Cook--Experienced colored; private people; sleep out.  250 West 137th."  By "private people," she meant she wanted to work in a single-family home, and "sleep out" meant that she did not want to live with her employers.

A widow, 60-year-old Susie James, lived here in 1924.  On  the morning of March 29 that year she was hit by the automobile driven of Frank Faherty and died on the scene.

In addition to providing rented rooms, around 1931 the landlord made either the parlor or basement level available for club purposes.  Living here that year was Leon Hogan, the secretary of the Nautilus Exclusive Club, which met every Sunday night in the house.

While ostensibly a men's group, the Nautilus Exclusive Club's social events most definitely included females.  On March 13, 1932 it hosted the Suenos de Amor (Dreams of Love) dance at the Witoka Club.  The response was so great that at 8:35 the venue's management closed the doors, refusing additional ticket holders entrance.  They were later promised a full refund by contacting Leon Hogan.

In June 1932 the club chartered a boat for what The New York Age had promised would be "a trip of unexcelled merriment," on July 3.  The article said, "there'll be music and dancing, dining and, oh I forgot this is a prohibition era."  The newspaper directed, "Make your reservations early, communicate with Leon Hogan, 250 West 137th street."

Perhaps not to be outdone, another resident, Doloris Lee, co-founded the Ala Mode Girls in September 1932.  On September 10, The New York Age reported, "These girls of style and fashion breezed into Clubdom on Tuesday evening at 250 West 137th street, where they held high pow wow at their installation, where words of congratulations were voiced by the elite of clubdom."  Doloris Lee was made president.  She and the other officers were installed by "the genial M.C. George Sands."  The article noted, "Numerous clubs were represented and the party lasted into the yawning."

Like their male counterparts, the Ala Mode Girls hosted social events.  On October 12, 1932, a "guest night" was held in the 137th Street house, followed by an afternoon dance four days later.  The New York Age wrote, "Just next Sunday at the Popularity Studio these fashionable lassies will endeavor to show you what a real Matinee Dansente should be like.  Take it from Miss Lee the president you'll be surprised (but pleasantly tho)."

The Ala Mode Girls was not merely about social events.  On November 26, 1932 The New York Age reported that the club would sponsor a Charity Bazaar at St. Mark's Hall on West 138th Street the following month.  "Proceeds will be used to purchase baskets of food to be distributed on Xmas morning by members," said the article.  It noted, "Among the many entertainers that have donated their services is Ethel Waters, now appearing at the Lafayette Theatre."

In 1967 the house was converted to apartments, two per floor.  An advertisement in the N.Y. Amsterdam News on June 2, 1979 described, "2 rooms, private kitchen and bath, working persons preferred."

Hauser's handsome 1900 row.  250 West 137th Street is to the right, behind the white automobile.

Although the brownstone facade has been painted, 250 West 137th Street retains its commanding presence along John Hauser's dignified 1900 row.

photographs by the author

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The Rev. Frederick A. Toote House - 282 West 137th Street

 

In 1896, as the Harlem district was rapidly transforming from farmland and summer estates to one of rowhouses and stores, the development firm of Leith & Glenn planned six residences at 282 through 292 West 137th Street.  Designed by the firm of Neville & Bagge, the four-story homes were clad in beige Roman brick above a stone ground base.   

Completed in 1897, the easternmost house at 282 West 137th Street featured a low stoop with solid wing walls, one of which curved jauntily away from the steps to partial protect the basement entrance.  At the second floor a balustraded,  bowed balconette fronted the three windows, which were separated by engaged columns and crowned with splayed lintels and carved, foliate keystones.  Greek key bandcourses defined each upper story, and a pressed metal cornice and frieze crowned the design.

In 1901 282 West 137th Street was purchased by the Obermeier family.  Born in 1835, Charles Obermeier was a partner in C. Obermeier & Co. with Aaron Eichtersheimer, presumably the brother of Charles's deceased wife, Theresa Eichtersheimer.  The couple had had six children, at least three of whom, Leonard J., Maude, and Minnie, moved into the 137th Street house with Charles.  Also living with the family was Charles's sister-in-law, Marie, the widow of Imanuel Obermeier.

282 West 137th Street is at the left of the row.

The year the family moved into the house, Minnie graduated from Normal College.  She immediately began teaching Latin in the New York City public schools.  Leonard J. Obermeier was 24-years-old at the time.  He had graduated from Columbia College in 1896, and received his law degree from Columbia Law School in 1899.

Leonard would go on to great success, being appointed Deputy State Attorney General in 1916.  While in that position he hired a young Fiorella La Guardia as his assistant.  The two would become close friends and Leonard would later serve as Mayor La Guardia's personal counsel.

The house was the scene of Maude's marriage to A. M. Fechheimer at noon on November 5, 1907.   A "member of several New York clubs," according to The New York Times, the groom had until recently been Chairman of the Board of the Young Folks' League of the Montefiore Home and president of the Young Folks' League of the Mount Sinai Hospital.  

On December 16, 1909 Marie Obermeier was crossing 139th Street and Seventh Avenue (today's Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd.) when she was struck by the automobile driven by Dr. G. Harrington.  The physician placed the 74-year-old into his car and drove her to the nearest police station.  An ambulance was called and she was treated there.  Afterward, Harrington drove her home, apparently shaken but not seriously injured.

Three years later, on July 29, 1912, Marie died in the 137th Street house.  Her funeral on August 1 would not be the only one in the parlor that year.  Three months later Charles died at the age of 78, on October 31.

The Obermeiers retained possession of 282 West 137th Street , but were leasing it to a tenant who operated it as a boarding house by 1918.  Then, in 1920, as the neighborhood was becoming the center of the Manhattan's Black community, Leonard J. Obermeier sold the house to Cornelius L. Perdue.

Perdue rented rooms in the house while he worked.  His position-wanted advertisement on May 3, 1925 in The New York Times read:  "Chauffeur, colored, experienced, reliable; city, country, references.  C. Perdue, 282 West 137th St."

Irvin C. Miller, who was renting a room here in 1923, was reflective of the Harlem Renaissance taking place in the neighborhood.  The actor-author had formerly been part of the vaudeville duo Miller & Anthony.  His brother, Flournoy Miller, was one of the co-authors of the hit 1921 musical Shuffle Along, with music by Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle, both of whom lived just a block away.

Among Irvin C. Miller's productions were Liza, which was currently playing at the Bayes Theatre, Put and Take, and Chocolate Brown.

Irvin C. Miller (original source unknown)

Unfortunately, Put and Take was a financial failure and on April 5, 1923 Vaudeville titled an article "Shows Bankrupted Him" and reported that Miller was insolvent.  The Billboard noted, "The members of the cast of the 'Chocolate Brown' Company are listed as creditors for salary."

By 1931, 282 West 137th Street was a private home again, owned by Rev. Frederick Augustus Toote and his wife, the former Lillie M. Tooks.  Rev. Toote was already an important figure in the Civil Rights movement.  Born in the Bahamas in 1899, he came to America and joined the Marcus Garvey movement, early on sitting on the board of Garvey's Black Star Steamship Company.  

On June 8, 1923 The Morning Telegraph reported on the trial of Marcus Garvey, who was accused of mail fraud.  In telling of the Rev. Frederick Augustus Toote's testimony, the journalist provided readers an up-to-date resume.  "He testified that in addition to his pastoral duties he is a director in the Black Star line, a national organizer, national public speaker and a former president of the [United] Negro Improvement Association."

On November 8, 1931, Frederick and Lillie brought home a baby girl, Gloria E. A. Toote.  The infant would go on to become as (or more) influential than her noteworthy father.

On Sunday morning, September 6, 1953, Rev. Toote was "enthroned as archbishop of New York," as reported by The New York Age.  The newspaper said "More than 2,000 members and friends filled the Pro-Cathedral of the Church of the Good Shepherd that morning.  Toote's sermon reflected his continued work for racial justice.  He said in part:

So have I faith in this Negro race.  Not long removed from a wicked slavery, they still manifest a great deal of servility to their former masters.  For this I pity them, but I have hope for them still.  The time is coming when with self reliance and self determination, cultivation of race conscienceness, race pride and race cooperation they will outgrow the slavishness of centuries past and honor and follow their leaders.

Gloria was studying at Howard University and graduated the following year, the youngest-ever graduate of its School of Law at the time.  For years the Urban League had been pressuring Time Inc. to hire Black writers.  In 1955 Gloria was hired as its only Black journalist, writing for the National Affairs Section of Time magazine.  She continued her education and in 1956 earned her Ph.D. from Columbia University with a dissertation on constitutional law and civil rights.

In 1957, the head counsel for Time, Inc. arranged an interview for Gloria with Greenbaum, Woolf & Ernest.  She later recalled, "My daddy said they would never hire me...When Morris Ernst hired me, I asked to call my daddy.  I phone him and was told that he had just died."  Rev. Frederick Augustus Toote had suffered a fatal heart attack in March 1957 at the age of 58.  

Lillie and Gloria remained in the 137th Street house.  At Greenbaum, Woolf & Ernest Gloria was among the first Black entertainment attorney/agents.  In 1966 she founded Town Sound, the only independent Black-owned studio in the country that recorded major white artists.  Among the artists who recorded there were The Animals, Gloria Lynne, Lloyd Price, the Isley Brothers and the Mothers of Invention.  Additionally, Gloria Toote created a record label with James Brown.

Following her work in Richard Nixon's reelection campaign in 1971, she was made assistant director of ACTION.  In 1973 she became head of the Office of Voluntary Action Liaison, working at the White House.  And on June 24, 1983 a press release from the Reagan Administration announced that Gloria E. A. Toote had been appointed Vice Chairman to the President's Advisory Council on Private Sector Initiatives.

Gloria E. A. Toote, from the collection of Penn State University

In 1984 Gloria co-founded the National Political Congress of Black Women.  Its first chair person was Shirley Chisholm with Gloria its vice chair, a position she would hold until 1992.

Lillie Tooks Toote underwent surgery in the fall of 1987.  Complications rose afterward, and she died at the age of 79 on October 9.  Among those participating in her memorial service on November 14 at St. Philip's Episcopal Church on West 134th Street were nationally-known singer Ed Townsend, singer-actress Sally Blair, and pianist Lynn Richards.

Gloria E. A. Toote died in Palm Desert, California in 2017.  Her home for decades remains a single family house, its brick and stone painted today, but otherwise remarkably intact after a century and a quarter.

photographs by the author

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