The 1853 David Read House - 343 West 47th Street

 

Prior to 2023, the altered mansion appeared like this.  image via loopnet.com

Born in 1830, Henry Astor was the youngest son of William Backhouse and Margaret Armstrong Astor.  He incurred the wrath of his family at the age of 20 when he married Malvina Dinehart--the daughter of a farmer and gardener who lived near the Astor family's summer residence at Red Hook, New York and who had done gardening on the estate.

Henry and Malvina moved to West Copake, New York.  Most New Yorkers assumed that his disobedience resulted in his ruin.  Decades later The New York Times remarked, "It was thought for years that he was a pauper, disinherited for marrying the gardener's daughter."  Instead, he and his wife lived well on "the rents from property in the heart of New York City, valued at many millions."  It was held in trust, however, and Henry was kept at arm's length from his holdings.  The newspaper added, "The trust established for Henry Astor was recommitted in 1869 to his brothers, John Jacob Astor and William Astor."

Among Henry Astor's holdings was a 25-f00t-wide, four-story Italianate style residence at 223 West 47th Street (renumbered 343 in 1863.)  The arched entrance above a short stoop sat off-center.  It was flanked by carved foliate brackets that upheld an arched pediment.  Beside the stoop was a narrow horsewalk, or passageway, that tunneled through the structure and accessed the rear yard.  In the rear was a three-story wooden building.

Astor's first tenants in the house appear to have been the families of Thomas Allen, a carpenter, and William Murfit, a carman, here in 1853.  Almost assuredly, Allen used the rear building for his carpentry business. 

At the time, David Read and his family lived at 107 West 29th Street.  Like Thomas Allen, he was a carpenter.  He specialized in the making of sashes and blinds.  In 1856, he signed a lease on the West 47th Street property, moving his family into the house and his business into the rear building.

Read was apparently highly successful.  While most families with substantial homes like this one took in at least one boarder or roomer, the Reads lived alone.  It suggests that the family was comfortably affluent.  Additionally, the social columns noted the Reads' arrival at Newport each season.

After leasing the house for two decades, on January 17, 1874 the Real Estate Record & Guide reported that "John Jacob Astor, Jr., William, and Henry Astor" had sold 343 West 47th Street to David Read.  

The Reads' daughter, Emma, was a young woman in 1876 and taught girls in Grammar School No. 17 on West 47th Street near Ninth Avenue.  She still held that position in 1879 when her parents sold 343 West 47th Street to Charlotte A. Morris for $15,000 (about $487,000 in 2026).

While David Read continued to operate his business from the rear building (apparently renting it), his former refined home was now operated as a boarding house.  The tenants, nevertheless, were middle-class.  Among them in 1880 were Henry Upton, a real estate agent; Henry Sherman, who listed his profession as "superintendent;" and John Green, who did not list a title, suggesting he was retired.

Among the boarders in 1890 were Charles N. Moulton, who worked as a driver for the Mutual Benefit Ice Company; and Louis Curtis, an auctioneer.  On June 1, Moulton left New York "rather suddenly," according to the New York Herald, for East Charleston, Vermont, where he became a contractor.  Before leaving, he handed his bank book from the New York Savings Bank on 14th Street to Curtis for safe keeping.  

The following year, Moulton became engaged and the wedding was set for the first week of October 1891.  The ceremony would have to be postponed, however.  Moulton wrote to Curtis, asking for the $160 in his bank account.  The New York Herald reported, "This money Curtis drew out, but failed to send any of it to the owner."  The two faced off in court on October 13, 1891.  Moulton was awarded $110 of the original $160.  Curtis was allowed to keep $50 "for expenses" involved in "undertaking business for the plaintiff."

The block was on the border of the more degraded areas of Hell's Kitchen.  In 1893 the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church purchased 343 West 47th Street for its newly-formed mission called The Armitage House.  On April 8, The Christian Union reported that it "is being prepared for mission work of a very practical kind.  We are informed that on the first floor there will be a Sunday-school and general assembly room, on the second floor a kindergarten, and on the third floor a day-nursery."  The article noted, "The locality in which this mission is situated swarms with children, and the need is great."

The Armitage House was an early product of the Settlement House movement.  Reformers hoped that by providing slum children a safe place to play, by teaching impoverished women about nutrition and health, and by giving them skills to earn a living, their miserable lives could be improved.  The day nurseries and kindergartens provided women freedom to work during the day and add to their families' incomes.

On March 31, 1894, the Board of Aldermen approved "two additional lamps in front of the Armitage Mission Church."  The Directory of Social Agencies in 1895 described it as "a centre of philanthropic endeavor" and explained:

It includes a Day Nursery and Kindergarten, Sewing-School, Cooking-School, Reading-Room, a Company of the Boys' Brigade, Branch of the Penny Provident Fund, and a course of Lectures for the people, etc.

A reception by the patronesses (who had society names like Rockefeller, Gould and Flagler) on November 19, 1895 reflected the need and the work that was being done here.  The New-York Tribune reported, "during the last year they have taken care of 4,489 little children and enrolled in the kindergarten 215."

The mission's report two years later reflected a staggering jump in numbers.  In 1896 The Armitage House nursery tended to 6,000 "healthy children under 7 years of age, whose parents are at work away from home during the day."  A larger facility was necessary.

John D. Rockefeller, Sr. donated half of the blockfront on Tenth Avenue at West 50th Street for a new mission house and chapel.  The complex was completed in 1901 and in July 1902 the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church sold 343 West 47th Street to John E. and Annie Dordan. 

Dordan was a builder, having started his career in 1882.  He was now president of John T. Brady & Co., contractors.  Dordan was also highly involved in Tammany politics and in 1905 ran for leadership of the Fifteenth Assembly District.  

A banner promoting John E. Dordan stretches across West 44th Street in 1905. from the collection of the New-York Historical Society.

The Dordans had at least one son.  Well-to-do, they maintained a summer home in Pelham, New York, and in 1910 John would register his new Pierce-Arrow automobile.  Nevertheless, they initially leased the lower portion of the house to the New York School of Industrial Art.  

They, additionally, took in one renter at a time.  Living here in 1904 was 24-year-old William Smith, a chauffeur.  On the afternoon of May 11, he took his friend, William Thaw, on a joy ride.  (Thaw was the son of Pittsburgh millionaire Harry Kendall Thaw who would murder Stanford White two years later.)  The New York Times reported that Smith, while "driving a big forty-horse power automobile," alarmed pedestrians in midtown "by dashing up and down the street for several blocks either way at top speed."  Smith was jailed for reckless driving.  "A young man with him was not held," said that article.

The Dordans continued to take in a roomer.  In 1912 it was John Eberhardt, a truck driver for the Kelly Springfield Tire Company; and the following year, R. Voelckel, a theatrical manager, was here.

Annie Dordan died in the house on January 3, 1916.  Her funeral was held in St. Malachy's church on West 49th Street.  John E. Dordan remained in the house for years.  

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Involvement in Tammany Hall often involved interaction with shady dealings and characters.  On December 20, 1922, Richard R. Manden was arrested for running a "place for gambling" on West 44th Street near Broadway, according to The New York Times.  The article said, "John E. Dordan of 343 West Forty-seventh Street appeared promptly to pledge a $35,000 house as security for the bond and Manden was released at once."

Two years later, in April 1924, a grand jury investigated "charges of graft in the letting of Nassau County bridge and road contracts."  The jury's investigation ground to a halt when important witnesses and the "books of construction companies" went missing.  The New York Times reported on April 22, "John E. Dordan, President of John T. Brady & Co., of New York, which had the contract for the $1,000,000 Long Beach bridge has been sought in vain for the last four weeks."  Also missing was the firm's bookkeeper, Anna Fitzgerald.  (Anna's mother told investigators that she "had gone South.")

The article said, "John E. Dordan was not at his home at 343 West Forty-seventh Street last night.  His son, J. J. Dordan, said he had gone to Philadelphia for the day and would return to New York today."  When told that process servers had been unable to find his father, Dordan said flippantly, "I guess they haven't been looking very hard.  He's in his office every day."

Dordan sold 343 West 47th Street in 1928.  Architect Philip Bardes converted it to accommodate "one family and furnished rooms."  The configuration lasted until 1989 when a renovation resulted in one apartment per floor.

After the property was sold for back taxes in 2014, Melamed Architect filed plans for a partial demolition and renovation.  The renderings, released the following year, obliterates any historic fabric.  

image via Melamed Architect PC

In 2026, partial demolition was underway for a six-story, six unit residential building.  In reporting on the plans on October 7, 2015, Nikolai Fedak of New York YIMBY scoffed, "the existing building at 343 West 47th Street was nothing to write home about."  (I didn't get that memo.)

The 1874 Bloomingdale Turnverein - 341 West 47th Street

 

photograph by Carole Teller

Substantial German immigration into New York City began in the 1830s and continued to grow.  In the 1850s, around 800,000 Germans arrived, and while many dispersed to rural areas like Pennsylvania or Ohio, thousands settled in Manhattan's Lower East Side, creating Kleindeutschland, or Little Germany.  A smaller group, however, established a community further north in Hell's Kitchen, just below Bloomingdale Square.

In 1850, a group of German men organized the Bloomingdale Turnverein, or Bloomingdale Gymnastics Club.  They established the club in a vintage building at 341 West 47th Street.  In addition to being an athletic venue, the Bloomingdale Turnverein was (perhaps more importantly) a social club.  It routinely hosted outings and picnics in the summer months, and receptions and balls in the winter.

On June 28, 1869, the New-York Tribune reported that the gymnasium at 341 West 47th Street had been deemed unsafe, noting "Bloomingdale Turnverein, owner."  Apparently, adequate repairs were made to the structure, but two years later, on September 20, 1871, The New York Times reported, "The Bloomingdale Turnverein has recently established a boys' Turn school, and contemplates the erection of a new Turn hall."  (A Turn school-and-hall was a place where German youths could learn and play sports, similar to The Y today.)

The old structure was demolished and a four-story-and-basement, brick-faced edifice erected.  Looking much more like a rowhouse than a clubhouse, its transitional design straddled the Greek Revival and Italianate styles.  Above the stoop, Doric pilasters flanked the arched entrance and upheld an entablature and molded cornice that hailed visitors in German.

The openings originally wore molded lintels, and miniature brackets upheld the sills.  The fascia of the foliate-bracketed cornice announced "BL. Turnverein" and a parapet reflected the date of the ground-breaking: 1873.

In 1940, the window details had been shaved off, but most of the 1874 elements survived.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In January 1873, as construction progressed, the Bloomingdale Turnverein released its annual report.  Although having only 150 members, its capital was $12,000, or about three-quarters of a million in 2026 dollars.  "The Turn school, established by the society, is attended by 175 boys and 38 girls," reported the New-York Tribune.

The building was designed to generate rental income, as well.  In addition to the Bloomingdale Turnverein's clubrooms and gymnasium, the structure held several meeting rooms.  They would be rented by a variety of organizations over the coming years--political, social and ethnic groups, for instance--that used them as their clubrooms on specific weeknights, or for one-time meetings.

On March 29, 1874, an advertisement in the New York Dispatch offered:

To Let--An Elegantly Furnished Lodge-Room (with parlors attached), in the New Hall of the Bloomingdale Turnverein, No. 341 West Forty-seventh street.  Inspection invited.

The halls immediately became popular.  On February 25, 1876, for instance, the New-York Tribune reported, "The XVIIth Assembly District Republican Association held their regular monthly meeting last evening at No. 341 West Forty-seventh-st."  A resolution that night reflected the substantial German presence in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood.  It said in part:

It would be wise to admit the President of the German Republican Central Committee, and the Chairman of the German Republican Central Committee, as ex-officio members of the Central Committee of the Regular Republican Association.

And on June 29, 1884, the New York Dispatch announced that the Masonic Park Lodge No. 516 "meets first and third Tuesdays, at Turn Hall, No. 341 West Forty-seventh st."

A major holiday for German immigrants was Pfingst-Montag, or Whit Monday.  On May 22, 1877, the New-York Tribune reported, "The celebration of Pfingster began Saturday at noon, when all German workmen stopped work and prepared to take part in the religious observance of Sunday.  Monday and Tuesday are given entirely to holiday amusements, such as picnics, parades, festivals, balls, and athletic exhibitions."  The article said, "The Bloomingdale Turnverein paraded through the streets in the upper part of the city in the morning, and then enjoyed a picnic at Lion Park."

The annual Pfingst-Montag celebrations were always covered by the press.  Five years later, on May 30, 1882, the New-York Tribune reported on the festivities held at Jones's Woods.  "There were athletic contests and exhibitions of all kinds by members of the New-York and the Bloomingdale Turn-Vereins," said the article.  "A band of wind instruments played continually while the games and contests were going on, and in the dancing pavilion an orchestra furnished music to the crowds of young people who danced all the afternoon and until late at night."

Rooms for socials like this one by the Victoria Coterie were rented on a one-time basis.  The New York Globe, January 27, 1883 (copyright expired)

On November 29, 1887, the New York Herald announced that the West 47th Street building had "become inadequate" for the Bloomingdale Turnverein, "owing to the increase in members and scholars."  The club had raised funds to obtain a "larger and more suitable building."  

Another German organization, the New York Central Schuetzen Corps (or shooting club), took over 341 West 47th Street.  The group embarked on a major trip in the spring of 1890.  Forest and Stream reported on May 22, "The New York Central Schuetzen Corps, which will start for the great international shooting festival on June 3, held a farewell meeting and banquet at its rooms, 341 West Forty-seventh street, on the evening of May 14."  That international event was being held in Berlin.  "Their departure will be celebrated by a big all-day German picnic in Hoboken," said the article.

Like the Turnverein, the Schuetzen Corps leased lodge rooms.  Among those renting space in the early 1890s were the Ornamental Plasters' and Shop Hands' Society, the Colored Republican Club, and the West Side Athletic Club.  The latter group held "a stag" on November 11, 1893.  The event included boxing, including "a special bout of six rounds between Harry Martin and Jack Russell."

The changing demographics of Hell's Kitchen was reflected in Irish groups taking space here in the early years of the 20th century.  The New York Philo-Celtic Society began leasing space beginning around 1906.  That year, on April 24, The New York Times reported that it "will produce, in Gaelic...'An Posadh' at the Lexington Avenue Opera House."  The play (the English title of which is The Marriage) "shows the Irish people in their everyday life," said the article.

The date of the ground breaking and "BL. TURNVEREIN" were announced atop the building. via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The Society's staging of the play in Gaelic was notable.  Determined that Irish roots and culture were not diluted in their new country, it held language classes here.  On October 30, 1909, The Gaelic American reported, "The classes for the study of Irish, which are under very competent teachers, will be held all during the winter on Sundays from 3 to 6 P.M. and on Thursdays from 8 to 10 P.M. at 341 West Forty-seventh street."

Also renting a lodge room at the time were the County Mayo Men's Association and the Irish Counties Athletic Union.  There was a bit of scandal within the former in the spring of 1907.  The group had held a ball the previous St. Patrick's Day.  A review of the books showed that $300 of ticket sales, which were received by the secretary, John T. McIntyre, was not accounted for.  Now, treasurer Peter J. Delaney, discovered that McIntire had collected $30 in dues from members, but never turned it in.  (The total embezzlement would equal nearly $11,500 in 2026 terms.)  On April 9, 1907, McIntire was arrested and jailed.

When Theodore Stucky purchased the building, he renamed it Unity Hall.  While groups continued to lease space as their clubrooms, Stucky gradually wooed theatrical concerns as the nearby Times Square increasingly became the center of Manhattan's theater district.

Stucky suggested that lodge rooms could be used as rehearsal halls.  Masonic Standard, June 3, 1916 (copyright expired)

While Irish groups continued to gather here (in 1919, for instance, The Loyal Orange Order of Protestantism held its meetings here), increasingly theatrical groups rented space.

On June 14, 1919, for instance, The Moving Picture World reported, "The Film Social Club, the membership of which is made up of the operating forces of the various film exchanges, gave its first dance and vaudeville entertainment at Unity Hall, 341 West Forty-seventh street, New York on Thursday evening, May 29."  

Meetings held here two months later were more serious.  Actors nationwide went on strike.  On August 19, 1919, a meeting of the Actors Equity Association was held here that "may result in the mediation of the actors' strike," said the New York Herald.  

Theodore William Stucky was described by the New York Herald as being "identified with the activities of the French colony in this city for many years."  The newspaper said he "owned considerable property on the West Side, among his holdings being Unity Hall...the scene of rehearsals for many big Broadway productions."

Stucky was not merely taking advantage of the building's proximity to the entertainment district, he was fully entrenched in the theater.  He organized the Cercle d'Art Francaise (French Art Circle) and was a major financial supporter of the Operetta Francaise.  (The New York Herald clarified, "Mr. Stucky, despite his associations here, was not a Frenchman.  He was born in Switzerland.")  

In the fall of 1920, Cercle d'Art Francaise produced the opera La Mascotte.  The 16-member cast played in New England and in Washington D.C., but when they opened in Worcester, Massachusetts, it failed and the entire cast and crew were stranded.

Resultantly, Stucky was greatly concerned about finances.  A bachelor, he lived on Riverside Drive, but his office and that of the Cercle d'Art Francaise were at 341 West 47th Street.  The building's superintendent, Frederick Carter, and his family lived in an apartment, most likely in the basement.  On February 5, 1921, Stucky saw Carter's five-year-old daughter in the hallway.  The New York Times reported, "Mr. Stucky picked up the child and, after kissing her several times, began to weep.  'My darling,' he said to the child, 'I am glad you haven't the worries I have.'"

He had told Carter that he had been threatened by creditors and "feared for his life."  At around 4:00 on the afternoon of February 5, Catherine Valo noticed a man pacing back and forth near a bench on which she was sitting at the foot of the Queensboro Bridge.  Shortly afterward, she saw the man climb the railing and jump.

Valo ran to a policeman.  At the point when the man jumped, he found a coat containing "several papers," according to The New York Times.  One was a card printed, "Theodore W. Stucky" on the front.  On the other side, in French, was written, "My Dear Friends: I am sick and am going to end my life."

Irish groups continued to rent spaces in Unity Hall.  An announcement in The Advocate on October 25, 1924 read: "Reception and Dance of the Cork, Kerry and Limerick Boys at Unity Hall, 341 West 47th St., near 9th Ave.  Every Saturday Night.  American and Irish dancing."  And nearly three decades later, on May 30, 1953, the newspaper reported on the "largely attended meeting of the Cork Ladies in the Irish Counties Athletic Union Hall, 341 West 47th St."

In 1942, the Theatre Showcase opened here in one of the former lodge rooms that had previously been converted to a wedding chapel.  On March 20, 1942, Saroyan's one-act play Across the Board on Tomorrow Morning opened.  Four months later, on July 14, The Goldfish Bowl premiered.

In the late 1960s, composer Harvey Schmidt and his partner and lyricist Tom Jones converted the Theatre Showcase to Portfolio Studio.  Schmidt and Jones, best known perhaps for The Fantasticks, were also the creators of musicals like I Do, I Do; 110 in the Shade; and Celebration.  On June 7, 1970, The New York Times said, "they have set up their own theater, Elizabethan stage, dressing rooms and offices."

On December 6, 1974, the newspaper reported that Schmidt and Jones "will present 'Portfolio Revue,' the first of their four original musicals making the team's workshop theater, a converted brownstone, a public showcase."  Four months later, on April 10, 1975, the newspaper announced, "The new Tom Jones-Harvey Schmidt musical, 'Philemon,' reopens tonight...for a six-week run at the team's Portfolio Studio."

Portfolio Studio made way for The 47th Street Playhouse the following year.  On July 15, 1976, In Dublin's Fair City, a revue, opened in the remodeled venue.

The end of theatrical performances here came in 1982 when the building was purchased and emptied in anticipation of conversion to residential purposes.  At the time, police were dealing with a rash of pipe bombings.  In 1981, there were 12 non-terrorist and 11 terrorists explosions.  The next spring, on May 13, 1982, The New York Times reported, "So far this year, the police said, there have been six bomb explosions attributed to 'non-terrorist' actions and six explosions attributed to terrorist groups."  One of the most recent was "in a vacant building at 341 West 47th Street," said the article.

photograph by Carole Teller

The renovation was completed in 1985, resulting in two condominium apartments per floor.  All remnants of the Bloomingdale Turnverein were erased, including the parapet and frieze, and the German inscription above the doorway.

many thanks to artist Carole Teller for suggesting this post

The 1926 Springs Building - 15 West 47th Street

 

Even before Eli Baxter Springs arrived in New York City from the Deep South, he had had a fascinating life and career.  He was born at his grandfather's Georgia home, Cornucopia Plantation, on February 1, 1852, to Colonel Andrew Baxter Springs, who served in the Confederate Army.  As a young man, Springs founded a small grocery in Charlotte, North Carolina that grew to be one of the largest retail grocery firms in the state.  He turned to railroads, eventually becoming president of the Atlantic, Tennessee & Ohio Railroad and director in the Southern Railway Company.

Eli Baxter Springs, from The Lineage and Tradition of the Family of John Springs III (copyright expired)

He went on to be a substantial cotton grower and trader, a director of the Charlotte Construction Company, and Mayor of Charlotte from 1897 to 1899.  Never married, he relocated to New York in 1903 and became a partner in the cotton brokerage firm of J. H. Parker & Co., later named Springs & Co.  

In 1925, Springs acquired the vintage structures at 13 through 19 West 47th Street and commissioned architect Walter M. Mason to design an 18-story brick and stone office building on the site.  Called the Springs Building, it was completed in 1927 at a cost of $1 million--about 18 times that much in 2025 terms.  Mason's Renaissance Revival-style structure looked as much as a luxury hotel as a business building.  A glorious succession of setbacks combined with stone balustrades, balconies and octagonal towers flanking a three-story gable created an imposing whole.

The original tenants were varied.  Among the initial occupants were the headquarters of the Leather Vita Corporation which manufactured a leather cleaning and preservation compound; and Schanz, Inc. a men's tailoring firm.

New York Evening Post, December 1, 1927 

Perhaps the first of the jewelers in the building was L. Heller & Son, Inc.  The gem dealer had a branch in Paris and advertised  to jewelry makers on March 2, 1927, "Large stones of fine quality, series of matched sizes for bracelets and other jewelry."

At the time of that ad, L. Heller & Son, Inc. was in the midst of major negotiations with the Soviet Union.  Czarist Russia had mined some of the largest and best emeralds in the world from the Ural mountains.  The mines sat idle following the Russian Revolution.  On October 22, 1927, The New York Times reported, "The Russian Soviet Government, having disposed of the crown jewels and other treasures of the Czar's regime, is now seeking to raise money from capitalist countries."  The article said that L. Heller & Son, Inc. had purchased "a concession on the famous Ural emerald mines" and "has already put the best part of $1,000,000 worth of Russian emeralds on the American market as a result of the deal."  L. Heller & Son, Inc. agreed to supply cash and managing personnel to operate the mines jointly with the Soviet Government.

The building's tenant list continued to be varied.  In 1929, Katherine M. H. Marshall, a sales agent for women's wear makers took part of the eighth floor; while Johnson Matthey & Co., Inc. a London-based precious metals firm, took the remainder of the floor.  Also in the building were the construction and development firm Pentaboro Realty Corporation, and Janet Lewis's "book doctor" shop.  Lewis started her business in 1908 when the wife of Richard Morris Hunt asked her "what to do about old French bindings she inherited," according to The New Yorker on March 29, 1930.  The portrait painter began restoring antique bindings, including those in the libraries of J. P. Morgan.

Stone balustrades and decorative urns flank a panel announcing "Springs Building."

A interesting tenant at the time was Mortimer Montgomery Lee, head of the silk importing firm bearing his name, and the owner of the Hadley Silk Mills in Paterson, New Jersey.  Born on May 24, 1846 in Farmington, Pennsylvania, he came to New York City in 1880 and joined the silk importing firm that would eventually become Mortimer M. Lee.  A resident of Norwalk, Connecticut, Lee served as Mayor there from 1892 to 1895 and again in 1901 and '02.  Despite the commute, he never missed a day at work in 45 years.  On the afternoon of July 9, 1931, a coworker walked into Lee's office to find the 85-year-old dead at his desk.  

Handling precious gems came with intrinsic danger.  On November 5, 1931, 36-year-old Paul Krakowsky, a diamond dealer in the Springs Building, stumbled into the Williamsbridge Road police station in the Bronx with his hands tied with picture wire.  He told officers that he was walking along Sixth Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Street with a satchel (called a "wallet") at 6:00 when "two or three men approached him, thrust him into a limousine and, after tying his hands, took the wallet containing the gems," as reported by The New York Times.  He said they forced him onto the floor of the car and warned him against making any noise.  They pushed him out of the automobile at Schurz and East Tremont Avenues in the Bronx.  The kidnappers got away with $60,000 worth of unset diamonds--about $1.24 million today.

Paul Krakowsky was a partner in the diamond firm of Krakowsky Freres, which also had offices in Belgium, Antwerp and Paris.  The firm owned its own diamond mine in British Guiana.  Krakowsky's success in business was not equaled in his domestic life.  In 1933 he and his wife, Ruth, separated "because of differences in temperament," as explained by Krakowsky's lawyer, Matthew M. Levy.  Krakowsky moved into a suite in the Hotel St. Moritz while Ruth and the two children remained in the family's suburban home.

On the morning of March 8, 1934, Matthew M. Levy and a friend of Krakowsky, Jack Silberfeld (whose offices were in the same building as Levy's) received letters from the 39-year-old that said he "couldn't stand it any longer."  Jack Silberfeld rushed to the St. Moritz.  The New York Times reported, "His friend was found on the floor beside his bed with a pistol beside him."  Krakowsky had fired two bullets into his head.  The wounded man was taken to the Manhattan State Hospital on Ward's Island where he lingered for three months, finally dying on June 12.

Despite the numerous gems and jewelry firms on the tenant list, 15 West 47th Street continued to attract other types of businesses.  Among them in the 1940s were the Medo Photo Supply Company, the Lockwood Trade Journal Company, the International Electronics Laboratories, and the New York State Commission for the Blind.

Fascinating tenants at the time were Eugene Shawl and his son, Alfred.  Born in Poland in 1868, Eugene Shawl took his family to Germany in 1904.  Alfred showed no interest in his father's jewelry business and pursued law.  He graduated from the law school at Koenigsberg in 1922 and later was appointed an assistant district attorney for Koenigsberg and Marienwerer in East Prussia.

In 1932, the younger Shawl was assigned to prosecute several Nazis who killed two Communists who had infiltrated a Nazi meeting.  The New York Times later recounted, "Several of the Nazis were sent to prison...On leaving the courtroom, [Baldur] von Schirach turned to Mr. Shawl and said: "I'll never forget you.  You'll think of me, Mr. Attorney."

When Hitler took power, he disbarred all Jewish lawyers.  The father and son fled to France where they established a small jewelry shop.  They "made lapel watch cases--unusual pieces of new and functional design," said The Times.  "And it wasn't long before [their] concern was shipping to all parts of the world."

When the Nazis entered France, and with Alfred "high on Hitler's extermination list," the Shawls fled to New York City.  Their Norma Jewelry Corporation created what the younger Shawl called "heirloom pieces."  The firm "revived the wearing of fob watches by women," according to The New York Times, which said on June 9, 1950 that Alfred, "believes that by making articles that can be disassembled, the same ornament may be adapted to six or eight difference uses."  Norma Jewelry Corporation was still in the building on November 17, 1953 when Eugene Shawl died at the age of 85.

By 1957, the Springs Building was known as the West Side Jewelers Exchange.  That year the building was the target of multiple robberies.  When Marcus Schwartz, a partner in  the diamond cutting firm Weisbrot & Schwartz, was robbed on August 22, The New York Times remarked, "It was the third incident of its kind in the exchange in less than a month."

At 8:10 that morning, Schwartz was opening his 17th-floor office when two men forced him inside and ordered him to open the safe.  They tied him to a chair and fled with the equivalent of $334,000 today in finished diamonds.  Schwartz was eventually freed by a building maintenance man who heard his shouts.

Diamond dealers in the building continued to be victims through the 1960s and '70s, but two incidents in particular shook the industry and the city.  The first involved diamond dealer Henri Teichler, a tenant here who devised a devious scheme in the spring of 1965.  He had watched and memorized the movements of another jeweler, Ben Mellen, who occupied a ground floor space across the street at 36 West 47th Street.  In April, Teichler spoke with a mobster and told him he "wanted to hire two gunmen who knew what they were doing, men who had had experience in holdups," according to The New York Times.  He told the racketeer he planned a half-million-dollar gem heist.

A few days later, the mobster introduced Teichler to two "hired gunmen."  A week of preparation beginning on April 20 included Teichler's instructing them on Mellen's habits, and a dry-run with Teichler timing them with a stopwatch.  On the night of the robbery, the gunmen were to grab Mellen's tray of diamonds, throw a smoke bomb down the stairs where guards were stationed at the vault, then shoot tear gas at Mellen and push him down the stairs.  

That night, Teichler waited in a hotel room for the thugs to return.  Six detectives, instead, walked in and arrested him.  The gunmen he hired were undercover detectives, put on the case when the mobster Teichler originally contacted went to authorities.

Diamond cutter Schlomo Tal, an Israeli citizen, had an office here on the 15th Floor.  At 5:30 on the afternoon of September 20, 1977, diamond broker Pinchos Jaroslawicz left the Diamond Dealers' Club at 30 West 47th Street for an appointment with Tal, but according to him, Jaroslawicz never arrived.

Days later, there was still no trace of the 20-year-old broker who had reportedly been carrying as much as $1 million worth of gems.  Foul play was suspected, police telling reporters that Jaroslawicz "had a good reputation in the diamond district and that it was very unlikely that he left of his own accord."

The mystery deepened when Shlomo Tal left home in Plainview, Long Island on Sunday morning September 25, telling his wife he was going to the office.  Now he, too, went missing.  Two days later, Detective Sgt. Robert Young said, "right now, we're treating this as a coincidence--a very strange coincidence."  Investigators checked the West 47th Street office and found the door unlocked and a small window broken.

Then, on September 28, police discovered Tal sleeping in his wife's car in Queens.  He told them that he had been hiding out from murderers and took them to his office at 15 West 47th Street.  There, under a desk was Jaroslawicz's body, wrapped in plastic and stuffed into an air conditioner box.  An autopsy, according to The New York Times, showed that the broker "died of head injuries and asphyxiation after a plastic bag was put over his head."

Tal recounted a incredible series of events.  He said that after Jaroslawicz arrived on September 20, two masked men barged in, struck the broker on the head and forced Tal to wrap and cram the still-living body into the box.  He said he did not notify police because he feared the murderers would harm his family.  Then, when he left home on September 25, the same criminals abducted him.  "He said the two drove him around Nassau County, Brooklyn and Queens for most of three days, spending one night at a motel.  On Tuesday night, he said, the men gave him something to drink--he thought it contained 'a drug potion,'" reported The Times.  Chief of Detectives John L. Keenan said, "We are certainly not accepting his story or any story at face value."

More than a year later, on November 9, 1978, Schlomo Tal was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the murder of Pinchos Jaroslawicz.  Tal continued to insist he was innocent.

The building still held tenants not related to jewelry or gems into the 21st century.  Included was the office of photojournalist John G. Morris.  Beginning his career in 1938, he was Life magazine's picture editor from 1938 to 1945, was photograph editor of the Ladies' Home Journal and Magnum's Photos, and the picture editor of the Washington Post and The New York Times, as well as holding other impressive positions.

Known today as The Exchange, Walter M. Mason's handsome limestone and brick building is as impressive as the history that has played out inside it.

photographs by Sean Khorsandi

The 1869 John F. Rottmann House - 437 West 47th Street

 

Although much of the 1869 architectural details have been removed, the original entrance doors survive.

John and Myer Hayes (presumably brothers) erected a row of six Italianate homes along the north side of West 47th Street Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues in 1869.  John Hayes designed the houses, as well.  Just over 18-feet-wide and three stories tall above English basements, each featured beefy, cast iron stoop railings and newels, arched entranceways with peaked pediments, and molded, architrave window frames.

The western-most house, 437 West 47th Street, became home to the John F. Rottmann family.  Born in Germany, Rottmann was a member of the New York Schutzen Corps, a German rifle club; and the Amt Hagener Club, a popular German-American social group.

He and his wife, Elizabeth, had three sons--John Jr., Henry D. and Herman H.--and a daughter, Margaret.  When they moved into the 47th Street house, Rottmann was a partner in the Rottmann & Eckhoff Brewery.  In 1873, Rottmann dissolved his partnership with Eckhoff and established a new brewery, John F. Rottmann & Sons.  It was located conveniently nearby at 315 West 47th Street. 

In 1872, one month after her 21st birthday, Margaret C. Rottman died.  Her funeral was held in the parlor on May 13.

On March 1, 1889, 437 West 47th Street was purchased by James Fitzpatrick for $14,000 (about $478,000 in 2024 terms).  It was resold in 1892 to Dr. John Martin for $15,000.

Dr. Martin lived and practiced from the house until 1905.  It was sold to the John J. Kelly family.  Living with him and his wife, Elizabeth, was their adult son, Bernard, who was head of a local ironworkers union.  The Kellys took in one boarder.  In 1906, it was 43-year-old Joseph Bobbnieth.  

On August 7, 1906, the New-York Tribune began an article saying, "The heat wave which began Saturday increased in intensity yesterday until the record for the hottest day of the year was broken...The intense heat and the enervating humidity caused seventeen deaths in the metropolitan district and over fifty prostrations in Manhattan alone."  Among the latter was Joseph Bobbnieth, "found in front of No. 508 West 34th street."  He was taken to Bellevue Hospital to recover.

In 1919, the Kellys sold 437 West 47th Street to the Missionary Canonesses of St. Augustine, known as the Belgian Missionary Sisters, who converted it to their convent.  While officially the St. John Berchman's Convent, it was familiarly known as the Belgian Sisters Convent.

The dedication was performed by a most auspicious figure--Cardinal Désiré-Joseph Mercier, who was also the Archbishop of Mechelen in Belgium,  On September 14, 1919, the New York Herald reported he "will visit St. Albert's Church, 431 West Forty-seventh street, call upon the parish clergy and then proceed to the new convent of the Belgian Sisters...which he will dedicate."

The cast iron stoop railings and other details were intact in 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Interestingly, the convent drew the support of the highest level of Manhattan society.  On March 9, 1921, the New York Herald reported, "For the Belgian Missionary Sisters of 437 West Forty-seventh street, there will be a concert this afternoon at Mrs. John Sanford's."  Among those in attendance were millionaires like Cornelius Vanderbilt, Thomas Fortune Ryan, Hamilton Fish Armstrong, De Lancey Astor Kane, and Countess de Laugier-Villars.

On October 28, 1973, The New York Times reported, "The Fountain House Foundation, a nonprofit organization involved in psychiatric rehabilitation, has purchased five brownstones at 429-437 West 47th Street from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York."  In 2014, the foundation converted 437 West 47th Street to Fountain House College Re-Entry, "to help students that have discontinued their college plans due to mental health obstacles," according to its website.

photographs by the author

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The 1870 William P. and Annie Brown House - 435 West 47th Street

 

The well-rounded John Hayes was an architect, developer, builder, and real estate agent.  Partnering with Myers Hayes (presumably his brother) in 1869, he designed six "three-story brick and brown stone first class dwellings" on the north side of West 47th Street east of Tenth Avenue.  Similar to other Italianate style residences appearing throughout the city, the identical 18-foot-wide rowhouses were completed in 1870.  Stoops with beefy stone railings and newels rose to the arched entrances, which were capped with impressive pediments upon scrolled brackets.  The windows were fully framed, and handsome bracketed cornices completed the design.

William P. and Annie R. Brown purchased 435 West 47th Street.  Interestingly, when he bought the house in 1870, he listed his business as "stone" at 456 West 46th Street.  Six years later, he described himself as a "silk and ribbon manufacturer" at the same address.  Brown invested heavily in real estate and owned scores of Manhattan properties, including several tenements as well as his 46th Street factory.

In 1881, William P. Brown's business failed and he began selling off his real estate.  The factory building was purchased by one of his creditors, Adam Nickel.  The Browns managed to hold on to 435 West 47th Street until March 10, 1884, when they sold it to Nickel for $16,000 (about $513,000 in 2024).

It is unclear whether Nickel and his family ever occupied the house.  In 1894, James O'Grady lived here, but he was most likely a boarder.  A conductor on the Third Avenue cable car line, he would not have had the income to afford a house like this, even in the Hell's Kitchen district.

On July 19, 1894, Hugo Schueler, who worked as a cook in Brooklyn, attempted to board O'Grady's street car.  He fell and fractured his skull.  Surprisingly today, O'Grady and his gripman, Frank C. Wieger, were arrested.  The Evening World reported, "Justice [Frank C.] Feitner paroled them for further examination."

By the turn of the century, the Ehrenberg family lived here.  Mrs. M. Ehrenberg was apparently a widow.  She had three daughters, Leonora, Emily and Frances.  Leonora taught in the primary department of Public School No. 28 at 257 West 40th Street, earning $680 per year.  She got a raise of $36.63 in 1903, bringing her annual income to the equivalent of $25,600 today.

Leonora Ehrenberg was a talented musician, as well.  In 1917 she attended the Eastern Music Supervisors' Conference.

In 1941, the stoop railings and newels, the entrance pediment, and the window enframements all survived.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Emily worked for the Christian Herald in 1923. On August 9 that year, the newspaper chartered a bus to take sixty employees on a summer outing.  On the way home, just outside of Nyack, New York, "they were discussing the celebration just over and singing songs," according to the New York Evening Telegram, when tragedy occurred.  The article said the "sightseeing car carrying sixty persons skidded into a concrete mixer and smashed the steam boiler."  The scalding steam killed one young woman instantly and five others died within 24 hours.  "Hospital authorities fear three of the remaining six patients may not live."  Among those three was Emily Ehrenberg whose recovery was listed as "doubtful."  

Happily, however, she did recover.  Three years later, on June 24, 1926, the Sullivan County Record reported that among the guests at A. Heidt's Valley View House at Kenoza Lake were "Mrs. M. Erenberg [and] the Misses Frances and Emily Ehrenberg."

The house received its moment of cinematic fame when it served as the exterior of the apartment of the character Babe in the 1976 film Marathon Man.

In 1978, 435 West 47th Street was converted to 28 "class B furnished rooms" with a common dining room and kitchen in the basement.  (Class B rooms or apartments do not require a lease.)  It was possibly at this time that the stone stoop railings, the entrance pediment, and the window enframements were removed.  

Fountain House, a self-help organization, purchased four of the 1870 rowhouses, including 435 West 47th Street, in 1985 and converted them into the "Van Ameringen Center, providing increased space for the group's charitable efforts," according to its website.

photographs by the author

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Congregation Ezrath Israel -- The Actors' Temple -- 339 West 47th Street

 

In September 1922, architect Sidney P. Oppenheim filed plans to dramatically remodel a "four story brick tenement" for the West Side Hebrew Relief Association, Inc.  The old structure (it was built around 1869) was, in fact, a high-stooped brownstone which had been converted to a rooming house.  Oppenheim's far-reaching plans called for new floors, new interior walls, "new exterior, new front."

The house was transformed into a synagogue faced in sandy-colored brick.  It was home to Congregation Ezrath Israel (Help of Israel), founded in 1917.  Vaguely neo-Georgian in style, the building's focal point was the large, centered arch that embraced the stained glass rose window.

In the post-World War I years, the most conservative of churches and synagogues still considered the theater to be sinful.  People involved in the theater were not welcomed by those institutions.  This synagogue was conveniently near the entertainment district, however, and when actor-comedian Red Baxter began worshiping at Ezrath Israel, Rabbi Bernard Birstein welcomed him.

Birstein was born in 1892 in Poland and had come to America in 1912.  Word of his warm reception to actors and entertainers spread.  Before long, the congregation was a mix of long-time neighborhood residents and stage celebrities.  

Rabbi Birstein discovered that having well-known members in his congregation had its advantages.  He instituted what would become an annual benefit.  According to Birstein's daughter, Ann, in her 1982 book The Rabbi on 47th Street, the events featured performances by the likes of Sophie Tucker; Jimmy Durante and his vaudeville team Clayton, Jackson and Durante; Red Buttons; Eddie Cantor; Jack Benny; Edward G. Robinson; and Milton Berle.  Within a few years, Congregation Ezrath Israel had earned the nickname, The Actors' Temple.  

The benefit would be staged every February for years.  On January 28, 1933, the Greenpoint Daily Star reported, 

With Eddie Cantor and George Jessel as honorary chairmen, Broadway stage stars are rallying to the support of the charity show to be given in aid of Temple Ezrath Israel at the Casino Theater on Sunday evening, February 5.  This annual theatrical affair helps considerably to maintain the synagogue, located at 339 West Forty-seventh street, where the actors come to pray and mourn for the dead.

More somber, of course, were those many funerals and memorial services which were routinely held here.  On April 16, 1927, for instance, The Vaudeville News reported, "N.V.A. [National Vaudeville Artists] members are respectfully invited to attend a Memorial Service on Sunday, April 24, 1927, at 11 A. M. at the Ezrath Israel Synagogue, 339 West 47th St., New York City."

On July 12, 1941, The New York Times reported on the memorial service for theatrical producer Sam H. Harris.  The article said 200 friends and former associates were present.  "George M. Cohan, former partner of Mr. Harris, had been asked to speak...but had declined, saying, 'I was too close to Sam Harris.  I couldn't go through with it.'"

Rabbi Bernard Birstein died in 1959 at the age of 67.  On November 15, The New York Times reported that "Congregation Ezrath Israel, more familiarly known as the Actors Temple," had hired Rabbi Moshay P. Mann.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Things were changing in the neighborhood and within the congregation.  Following World War II the motion picture industry drew celebrities to the West Coast.  And the neighborhood generally declined.  The 16th Precinct police stationhouse, just steps away, was demolished in 1972 and the station moved to a new building on West 54th Street.  Within weeks, on October 9, the shul was broken into and $500 worth of silver breastplates, used to adorn the Torah, were stolen.  (The items were later discovered in a pawnshop.)

On November 18, 1978, Leslie Maitland, writing in The New York Times, began an article saying,

Edward G. Robinson conducted services.  Toots Shor, Tony Martin and Red Buttons came to pray.  And when the rabbi had trouble gathering a minyan of 10 Jewish men at the Actors' Temple, the old 16th Precinct station a few doors down on 47th Street could be counted on to provide it.

But times have changed.

Edward G. Robinson is dead.  Red Buttons lives in California.  The police station has been torn down.  The police officers who visit now do not come to pray.

Those police officers were, instead, were coming to investigate vandalism.  Teens threw rocks through the windows, spray painted swastikas on the walls, and "shout[ed] obscenities at its leaders," according to Maitland.

Label Malamud had been cantor here for three decades.  Pointing to the school next door to the synagogue, he asked Maitland, "You think they go to school with pencils?  These days they carry knives.  They could make me a head shorter than I already am.  Frankly, I am afraid."  A month before the article, the synagogue's outdoor Succoth decorations had been destroyed.

In response, the congregation had installed a $2,000 burglar alarm system and covered the stained glass windows with plywood--among them memorial windows to Joe E. Lewis, Sophie Tucker and theatrical agent Joe Glaser.

On November 29, 2006, Campbell Robertson of The New York Times wrote, "Recently--say, oh, during the last half-century--this temple, with a declining membership and a vanishing budget, has not been doing so well."  In a desperate attempt to buoy its finances, the members of Congregation Ezrath Israel had decided to offer its auditorium as an Off Broadway venue.  The first play, The Big Voice: God or Merman?, opened on November 30, 2006.

It had not been an easy decision.  Congregation members discussed--and fought--it for more than a year.  Member Rich Schussel explained, "There was, first of all, the fundamental question of whether it was appropriate to open an active temple to show business.  And then the practical matters: if a show has a big, immovable set, what do you do for Friday and Saturday services?"

Vice president of the board, Mike Libien, said, "Not everyone was happy about it."  But, given the financial situation, "we really had no choice."

Nearly two decades later, the unlikely bedfellows continue to coexist as Congregation Ezrath Israel and the Actors' Temple Theater.

photograph by the author

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