The Lost Julius W. Tiemann House - 2648 Broadway

 

When Herman Newell Tiemann (son of Julius) took this photograph in 1901, the end of venerable house was near.  from the collection of the New York Public Library.

Sprawling summer estates dotted the upper portion of Manhattan Island in the 18th century.  Others were established following the Revolution, like that of Archibald Gracie on the East Side, begun in 1798.  Around the same time, a dignified, two-story frame country house was erected on the Bloomingdale Road far north of the city.  Its Federal style architecture included a raised basement, columned veranda, and an octagonal cupula atop the slightly hipped roof.

An advertisement in the New York Herald on September 19, 1854 read:

To Let--A large house and four acres of land, on Bloomingdale road, between 100th and 101st streets, and possession given immediately.

The tenant filled the house with elegant furnishings.  When the family moved out in April 1868, an auction was held of "all the magnificent household furniture in the mansion," as worded by the announcement.  Among the items were "rich rosewood and walnut Chamber [i.e. bedroom] and Parlor suits; Velvet and Brussels Carpets, Pier Mirrors, rosewood Piano," and such.

At the time of the ad, Julius William Tiemann was a partner in in D. F. Tiemann & Co., founded by his father Johan Anton (known as Anthony) Tiemann in 1807.  The firm operated the Manhattan Paint & Color Works near the Hudson River around 120th Street.  Born in 1817, Tiemann grew up in the family's town house at 40 East 23rd Street and in their summer home in Manhattanville, which was not far from the plant.

The Illustrated American Biograph, 1852 (copyright expired)

Julius W. Tiemann married Marie Antoinette Megie on March 28, 1860.  The couple would have 12 children.  Tiemann purchased the Bloomingdale Road estate while retaining their town home at 125 West 43rd Street.

Outside of the paint business, Tiemann was highly involved in civic affairs.  He was, for instance, the president of the Twenty-second Ward Council of Political Reform in 1871.  In August 1881, he co-founded The Drug, Paint and Chemical Exchange, described by New Remedies as "a new organization in this city to facilitate the business of these allied industries."

By the mid-1890s, the Tiemann's residence that once sat upon four acres was surrounded by business and residential buildings.  Around 1896, Tiemann sold the property to N. Reynal, who lived in White Plains, New York.  He converted the house to The Arbor, an inn and meeting place. 

The Arbor was the gathering spot for political dinners and meetings.  On October 30, 1899, for instance, the New-York Tribune reported that the Independent Club of the 21st District would hold a dinner that night.  The New York Times noted, "The Rev. Dr. John P. Peters, pastor of St. Michael's Episcopal Church, and Acting President of the Club, presided."  The location was highly convenient to Reverend Peters, since he listed his address here, apparently renting rooms upstairs.  (The same year that that dinner was held, the former Bloomingdale Road was renamed Broadway and The Arbor received the address of 2648 Broadway.)

Decades after the Tiemann house was demolished, filmmaker Stanley Kubrick painted a romanticized conception.  This black-and-white depiction was published in Look magazine's article "Art by Celebrities."  via the Museum of the City of New York.

Other organizations that used The Arbor as their headquarters were The Speakers' Club and The Citizens' Union.  When the latter held its convention on October 1, 1901, The New York Times remarked that it "was held at 'The Arbor,' 2,648 Broadway.  There were about sixty delegates present, and reporters were barred."

The end of the line for the venerable house came in 1907.  On January 9, The New York Times reported that the Franklin Building Company had leased the blockfront on the "east side of Broadway, between 100th and 101st Streets" for 21 years.  The newly formed company "will erect stores and offices on the Broadway front and a garage on the remainder of the plot" on the site, said the article.

Those resultant structures were apparently what were known as "taxpayers"--most often low rise, temporary buildings erected to garner enough rental income to pay the property taxes.  They were demolished in 1925 and replaced with a 15-story and penthouse apartment building.

The Altered Maximilian and Sarah Raefle House - 112 East 10th Street

 

The house originally matched that of 114 East 10th Street, to the left.  image via streeteasy.com

The far-sighted Commissioners Plan that laid out the future grid of streets and avenues of Manhattan was superimposed on the farms and country estates north of the city in 1811.  The proposed Tenth Street created an acutely triangular parcel with the existing diagonally-running Stuyvesant Street within the former Peter Stuyvesant farms (Bouwerij #1 and #2).  Elizabeth Stuyvesant, the widow of Petrus Stuyvesant, Peter's great-grandson, used the point of the triangle as her garden.  Four years after her death in 1854, Mathias Banta purchased the property.  He erected a row of handsome brick-and-stone houses that lined the V portion of the plot on Stuyvesant and Tenth Streets.

Completed in 1861, the Anglo-Italianate-style homes were five-stories tall above basements.  Josiah Burton purchased 182 East 10th Street (which would later be renumbered 112) for $6,500.  The price would translate to about $239,000 in 2026.  Generally attributed to James Renwick, Jr., like the others, it featured a rusticated brownstone basement and first floor.  They supported four stories of red brick trimmed in brownstone.  The tall, fully-arched windows of the second floor held hands by means of a stone bandcourse.  Each of the architrave frames of the upper openings were treated slightly differently.

Burton leased the house.  An advertisement in the New York Herald on May 8, 1867 read:

To Let--Handsomely furnished four story attic and English basement House; rent $325 per month, 112 East Tenth street, a few doors from Third avenue.

The rent would translate to $7,000 in 2026 terms.

Dr. Maximilian Gustav Raefle answered the ad.  Having served as a surgeon in the Navy during the Civil War, he was currently living at 34 St. Mark's Place at the time.  He, no doubt, rented 112 East 10th Street in anticipation of his upcoming wedding to Sarah Olmsted Bunce on November 13 that year.  Raefle was born in September 1836 in Germany and Sarah was born in May 1844 in Galesburg, Illinois.  The German doctor and his Midwestern bride almost assuredly met and fell in love when he was attending Humboldt Medical College in St. Louis.  (He graduated in 1861).  Sarah's father, James, was a doctor in Galesburg.

Moving into the house with the Raefles were Sarah's older sisters, Frances M. and Caroline Elizabeth Bunce.  A year later, on August 8, 1868, Frances (the eldest of the sisters) died.  Her funeral was held in the parlor two days later.

The couple rented unused space in their home.  An advertisement in the New York Herald on September 20, 1870, described:

To Let--An elegant frescoed front parlor with Bedroom.  Also other Rooms, double and single, at 112 East Tenth street, between Second and Third avenues; references.

Among their tenants in 1870 was dentist Rynear O. Moses and his wife.

The parlor was the scene of a heart wrenching ceremony that year.  The Raefles' first child, Maximilian Bunce, was born on January 13.  The baby died five months later, on July 17.  His tiny casket sat in the parlor until his funeral on July 20.

After renting 112 East 10th Street for five years, Maximilian and Sarah Raefle purchased it from Josiah H. Burton on November 6, 1872 for $18,000 (about $477,000 today).

The couple continued to take in roomers.  Living here in 1873 was an erudite and multi-talented young man whose ad in the New-York Tribune on September 22, 1873 read: "A Harvard Graduate, experienced and highly recommended, will instruct a private pupil two or three hours daily in Classics, French, Mathematics, &c.; city references.  Address C. K. No. 112 East Tenth-st."  Two months later, "C. K." advertised, "An experienced tenor desires a position in quartet or as precentor; Protestant church in or near city preferred."

For a second time, Sarah Raefle had to arrange a sister's funeral.  Caroline Elizabeth Bunce died on February 1, 1876 and her funeral was held in the house at 1:00 on the afternoon of February 5.

A daughter, Verona Beatrice, was born to Maximilian and Sarah Raefle on October 18, 1878.  In the meantime, Dr. Raefle's prestige in the medical community grew.  

On December 16, 1879, The Evening Telegram reported on the appointments of deputy coroners.  "Dr. Maximilian Raefle, of No. 112 East Tenth street, was appointed Mr. Brady's deputy," said the article.  Raefle held the position for 11 years, and on October 14, 1890, The New York Times reported that he had been nominated for coroner.  Noting that he voted Republican, the article went on to say:

He lives at 112 East Tenth Street, is a German by birth, and is a physician of first-class reputation.  He is about fifty years of age, and is a Grand Army man, and has already seen service in the Coroners' office, having been Deputy Coroner under John H. Brady some years ago.

Michael Springer, Jr. lived with his parents in "the German quarter of Fifth street in the neighborhood of Second avenue," as described by the New York Herald.  Michael Springer, Sr. ran a butcher shop at 242 Fifth Street and Michael Jr., who was 22, worked as a butcher's boy in the Tompkins Market.

On June 26, 1890, Michael Jr., described by the newspaper as "stoutly built and fair haired," began to complain of the heat.  The article said that he "was suddenly seized with violent spasms and began barking like a dog, rolling about on the floor, snapping and snarling and acting as though he were stark mad."  Police were called to control the young man.  Michael "attempted to fight the policeman, conducting himself in such a violent manner and making such frantic attempts to bite him that [Officer] McEvoy at length thrust his club into Michael's mouth."

Someone ran to 112 East 10th Street and requested Dr. Raefle to assist.  He, however, responded rather coldly (considering his Hippocratic Oath).  The New York Herald recounted, "but he did not respond, saying, it is reported, that the sufferer was a fit subject for an asylum."  Michael Springer, Jr. was taken to Bellevue Hospital where he was later discharged after "recovering from the effects of excessive drink."

Maximilian and Sarah Raefle sold 112 East 10th Street on April 11, 1893 to Franz Kahlenberg for $17,300 (about $622,000 today).  Because the couple had been taking in several roomers, the house was described by the New York Herald as a "five story brick tenement."  

Franz Kahlenberg ran a drugstore at the corner of Essex and East Houston Street.  He had been in business there since 1854.  He and his family continued to take in roomers.  Among them in 1898 was 46-year-old John Williamson.  He was described by The New York Times as "small of stature, and with an unappeased appetite for religious lore," adding, "He is said to be a man of strong religious views, and a devout student of the Bible."  Unfortunately for Williamson, one edict within the Scriptures he ignored was "Thou shalt not steal."

On December 17, 1898, The New York Times reported that he was arrested in the American Baptist Publishing Company's bookstore, "attempting to steal a book."  The bookstore's manager, Theodore E. Schulte, had become suspicious of Williamson because he repeatedly visited the store, reading a page or two from a book, then moving to another, but never buying anything.  That afternoon, Schulte watched him and "was not surprised, so he says, to see him slip a book in his pocket."  At the stationhouse, Williamson tearfully insisted, "They must be mistaken."

Another religiously-inclined tenant was Frank W. Smith, a grand knight of the Knights of Columbus.  He was appointed a commissioner of deeds in 1899, a civil service position similar to a notary public today.  

In the fall of 1900, the attention of Frank W. Smith was directed to another of the 1861 houses, 27 Stuyvesant Street.  He filed a complaint with the police department "of disorderly house, women soliciting."  Smith was accusing the owner of running a brothel in his neighborhood.

Smith was still occupying his rooms here in 1902.  He was highly involved in the organizing of "the annual field day games of the Knights of Columbus," as reported by The New York Times on May 11 that year.  The event, which took place on June 21 at Celtic Park was a huge success.  Smith told the newspaper "that already more than 3,000 tickets of admission have been sold," and projected that "more than 10,000 will be sold before the day of the games."

By that time, Frank W. Smith had a new landlord.  Elias Stone had purchased 112 East 10th Street in August 1901 for $20,000, according to the New-York Tribune.  (The price would translate to about $761,000 today.)

Stone made improvements to the property.  In July 1904, he hired architect David Stone to rearrange the floor plans, install plumbing and new windows.

Elias Stone continued to operated 112 East 10th Street as a rooming house until 1927.  A renovation completed the following year resulted in "non-housekeeping apartments" on the first floor (meaning they had no kitchens), and one apartment each on the upper floors.  The apartments were intended for artists.  The windows on each floor (even the first) were replaced with vast, multi-paned studio windows that flooded the interiors with natural light.  The attic floor was raised to full height and a full-width skylight added.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Among the initial residents was painter, lithographer, and etcher Anne Goldthwaite.  Born in Montgomery, Alabama, she had studied at the National Academy of Design in New York and the Academie Moderne in Paris.  By the time she moved into her apartment here, she had received the McMillin landscape prize of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors in 1915; and a medal for etching at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco the same year.  The 1929 One Hundred Important Paintings By Living American Artists noted that she was "represented in the Library of Congress, Metropolitan Museum and several other museums here and abroad."

Anne Goldthwaite, from Encyclopedia of Alabama

A journalist from the New York Evening Post visited Goldthwaite's studio in September 1933.  She asked the artist if she were "a bit thrilled" to be the only woman whose work would be included in the 56th exhibition of the Art Students' League.

"And, pray, why should I be?" Goldthwaite replied. "The time surely is past when there was some distinction in being the 'only girl' or the 'only woman' among a lot of men who were doing things.  Thank goodness, there are plenty of us today."

In reporting on Anne Goldthwaite's death on January 30, 1944, The New York Times noted that she had been an instructor at the Art Students' League "for the last twenty-three years," and that her works "are hung in prominent galleries" throughout America and Europe.  The article said, "In France, she numbered among her friends Picasso, Matisse and other prominent contemporary painters."

Among Goldthwaite's neighbors in the building in 1932 had been mining engineer Pomeroy C. Merrill.  He had just returned to America from the Soviet Union.  The Soviet Government hired him in 1930 to direct iron mining operations in the Ural Mountains.  Following World War II, he would go to Japan to help the occupation forces rebuild the Japanese iron ore industry.

After mid-century, art expert David Rosen lived here.  From 1934 to 1954, he headed the conservation and technical research department of the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore.  He had also been a technical adviser to the Art Institute of Chicago, the Morgan Library, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Winterthur Museum in Delaware, and the Worcester Art Museum.  Born in Russia, he was a sculptor and painter before coming to America in 1913.  An expert in authenticating art works and detecting frauds, among his finds was a Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington which he found in a museum basement in 1941.  Rosen was still living here when he died at the age of 80 in 1960.

image via greatjonesrealty.com

The remodeling of 122 East 10th Street greatly altered the original design.  And yet, the handsome and compatible melding of the 1861 and 1928 compositions is extremely successful, resulting in an eye catching hybrid.

many thanks to reader Richard Gombar for suggesting this post

The Michael J. and Annie Mahony House - 126 West 87th Street

John G. Prague's profession was both architect and developer.  In the late 19th century he designed and built scores of rowhouses on Manhattan's Upper West Side, prompting the Real Estate Record & Guide to comment in 1890 that he "created a neighborhood."  In 1886, he designed and erected four rowhouses at 110 through 116 West 87th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues.  The following year he enlarged the row, designing 17 more.  This time he shared the project with two other developers.  Prague would erect four, Charles B. Milliken would build five, and D. Willis James eight.  With the new houses completed in 1888, the 21 residences--designed as a harmonious composition--nearly filled the southern blockfront.

Among James's group was 126 West 87th Street.  A medley of styles, Prague gave the undressed brownstone-clad basement and parlor floors a Romanesque Revival flair.  The arched entrance was crowned with a menacing, medieval inspired mask.  Prague strayed from Romanesque Revival by giving the panels below the parlor windows Renaissance Revival carvings.   

The upper floors were a happy marriage of Queen Anne and Renaissance Revival.  Faced in yellow Roman brick and trimmed in brownstone, the design's asymmetry was Queen Anne but the detailing purely Renaissance Revival.  Foliate carvings decorated the window frames.  Above the cornice, a brick parapet featured a stone panel above the single windows, and a triangular pediment above the paired openings.  The pediment sprouted a stocky, chimney-looking finial.

Brothers Daniel F. and Michael J. Mahony were partners in the real estate development firm Mahony Brothers, founded in 1873.  Michael was the construction side of the business and Daniel the architect.  In 1889, Michael and and his wife, the former Annie Campbell, purchased 126 West 87th Street.

Michael J. Mahony (the newspapers routinely misspelled the family's surname "Mahoney") was born in Cork, Ireland in 1841.  He and Annie had no children, but they took in their orphaned niece, Nonie L. Mahony, the daughter of Michael's brother, Patrick and his wife Mary Powers.  Annie's brother, Henry Campbell, also lived with the family.

Nonie died on December 14, 1902.  There would be another funeral in the Mahonys' parlor four years later.  On September 5, 1908, Henry Campbell died at Lake Mahopac, New York.  The funeral was held here on September 9 followed by a requiem mass at the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus on 96th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.

Annie and Henry had been made godparents of Lois Ann Campbell, the daughter of Annie's cousin, James Campbell, and his wife, Florence Adele.  She was christened in St. Patrick's Cathedral on March 27, 1893.  James had done well in his career as a banker and public utilities owner.  When he died in 1914, he left what The New York Times said on November 26 was a "16,000,000 estate."  (The staggering figure would translate to about $518 million in 2025.) 

Campbell's will divided the estate in halves--to his wife and daughter.  Annie Mahony was pulled into an ugly, days-long court battle in November 1914, when her cousin and only sister of James Campbell sued to upturn the will, charging that "Campbell died without leaving a child or children."  Annie Mahony testified on November 25 that she had been present two hours after Lois's birth.

Michael J. Mahony died in the house on March 12, 1918 at the age of 78.  As had been the case with Henry Campbell, his funeral was held in the parlor followed by a requiem mass at the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus.  He divided his estate in equal shares to Annie and his sister, Elizabeth Mahony Walsh.  It was estimated at "more than $250,000 in real and $10,000 in personal property."  (The nebulous figure would equal not less than $5.5 million today.)

Just two months after Mahony's death, real estate agent Nicholas Francis Walsh offered the house for sale.  (Nicholas was Michael Mahony's nephew, the son of John J. and Elizabeth Mahony Walsh).  The ad described it as having 11 rooms and one bath.  

As it turned out, 126 West 87th Street became home to Nicholas Francis Walsh's future in-laws, the Hammill family.  On January 9, 1920, The New York Times reported, "The wedding of Miss Marguerite Fay Hammill, daughter of Thomas Hammill of 126 East Eighty-seventh Street, and Nicholas Francis Walsh...was celebrated at 10 o'clock yesterday morning at St. Patrick's Cathedral."  The importance of the two families within the Roman Catholic and Irish communities was reflected in the ceremony's being celebrated by Archbishop Patrick Joseph Hayes personally.  The Sun noted, "Mr. Walsh and his bride will live at 126 West Eighty-seventh street after their honeymoon."

Nicholas Walsh had graduated from the New York Law School and became a member of the bar in 1915.  Rather than law, he went into real estate and insurance.  Like his uncles, Michael and Daniel Mahony, he was closely tied to his Irish roots.  He was a member of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick and the American-Irish Historical Society.

According to The New York Times, Walsh was "close friends for years" with Alfred E. Smith, who was New York State Governor at the time of his and Marguerite's marriage.  The couple would have eight children--four daughters and four sons.  In 1924, they modernized the parlor level by replacing the two openings with a Palladio-inspired window.

The original configuration of the parlor windows can be seen on either side of No. 126.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Nicholas Francis Walsh died in the West 87th Street house at the age of 72 on August 17, 1949.  

The last of the Walsh family to occupy the house was Nicholas and Marguerite's unmarried daughter, Elizabeth.  She was approached by married actors Peter Maloney and Kristin Griffin in 1981.  Griffin later told The New York Times journalist Robin Finn that she had been renting down the block and "was enraptured by its haunted aura."  She said, "At first, Elizabeth F. Walsh...wasn't interested in their overtures."  But when told that they had no intention of converting the house into apartments, Walsh agreed to a $450,000 price.  Robin Finn reported, "a harrowing $2 million renovation commenced."

The two-year long project greatly remodeled the interior spaces, including the creation of a soaring 18-foot studio space with a vast skylight and two terraces.  During their residency, the house appeared in several episodes of "Law & Order."

In 2013, with their children grown, the couple offered the house for sale for $8.75 million.  Other than replacement windows, the exterior of the Mahony house is little changed since Marguerite and Nicholas Walsh remodeled the parlor window.

photographs by the author

The Michael H. Norton House - 42 Charlton Street

 

Thomas B. Ridder was a successful tobacco merchant and a councilman.  In 1851 he was leasing the newly-built, three-story house at 42 Charlton Street, erected by E. Young.  Above the brownstone basement, the house was faced in warm red brick.  The paneled piers flanking the entrance were a handsome and unusual detail.  The building's simple wooden cornice was typical of the style.

Sharing the house was the Samuel Cohen family.  Samuel and Dinah Cohen had a daughter, Mary.  Samuel was a fur merchant on Water Street.  Sadly, Mary died after a short illness on September 29, 1852 at the age of 13.

On February 8, 1853, 42 Charlton Street was sold at auction.  The announcement described the 23-foot-wide home as "built with the modern improvements.  Gas introduced into the house."  It added, "Chandeliers go with the house."

The purchaser paid $8,400 (about $342,000 in 2025 terms) for the house, which he continued to lease.  The Riddles and Cohens remained through 1855, after which Moses Souza, an importer, and Rev. Morgan Dix moved in.

Born on November 1, 1827, Dix was the son of Major General John Adams Dix, a U.S. Senator from 1845 to 1849, Secretary of the Treasury in 1861, Governor of New York from 1873 to 1874, and a notable figure during the Civil War.  Rev. Morgan was assistant minister of Trinity Church.

Rev. Dix and the Souza family remained until the spring of 1863.  In April the house was offered "for sale or to let."  By now, according to the ad, running water had been introduced.

It was purchased by Dr. Edward Fields.  Living with him and his wife, Iodema, were their daughter Jennie and her husband John D. Slayback.  In April 1865, the population of the house increased by one with the birth of the Slaybacks' daughter, also named Jennie.  Four months later, on August 17, the infant died.  Her funeral was held in the parlor.

It was most likely the Fields who modernized the house.  Italianate stoop railings and hefty newels were installed and the parlor windows were extended nearly to the floor.

Dr. Fields was drawn into a scandalous case in 1865.  On the night of September 25, Dr. Grindle, who ran a lying-in hospital brought a patient, Lucy Sagendorf, to the boarding house of Mary Julia Rolf.  According to Mary, he had told her that Lucy "had inflammation of the bowels."  The doctor's wife stayed with Lucy overnight.  The next evening, Mrs. Grindle brought a young man, James J. Hicks, and after about ten minutes, according to Mary Rolf, Mrs. Grindle came down in great haste and inquired of me whether she could find a minister."  Before long, Rev. Dr. J. K. Wardle arrived and performed a marriage at the bedside.

Mary Rolf became concerned around midnight, and sent for Dr. Fields.  He later told investigators, "she was very pale and...she complained of intense pain in the intestines."  He noted, "she had been leeched."  When he asked Mary if Lucy had been treated by another physician, she said no, apparently protecting Dr. Grindle.  Fields visited Lucy that afternoon, and she died later that night.  He issued a death certificate citing the cause of death as peritonitis.

Dr. Grindle's lying-in hospital (a facility for pregnant women) doubled as an illegal abortion clinic, as it turned out.  And Mary Julia Rolf's boarding house was often used for the recuperating women.  Rolf testified on September 27, "I have recently had two cases of confinement and about twenty cases of miscarriage in my house."  In the trial that followed, Fields had to defend himself against suspicion of collaborating in the fatal abortion by having falsely listed the cause of death.

Dr. Edward Fields died in 1866.  Iodema sold the house to Michael H. and Marietta L. Norton in June 1870 for $30,000 (about $723,000 today).  Born in Ireland in 1838, Michael H. Norton was brought to New York as a child.  He "developed into an athlete and acquired considerable science as a sparrer," said The Sun.  He gave up boxing for politics and was elected an alderman in 1864 and to the State Senate in 1868.  Also elected to the Senate that year was William M. Tweed, later known as "Boss" Tweed, and the two became close friends.

Living with Michael and Marietta were Michael's brothers Peter and Edward.  (Another brother, John, and his family lived nearby at 50 King Street.)  

The Charlton Street house was again the scene of a funeral on May 21, 1871.  Edward H. Norton died at the age of 25.  The Sun reported that the parlor was filled members of several political groups, who followed the procession to the Church of St. Anthony of Padua afterward for a solemn requiem mass.

Michael Norton's generosity kept him from amassing wealth.  His financial condition was hinted at in an article on December 4, 1872 in The Evening Telegram, which said,

Yesterday Senator Michael Norton left his house, 42 Charlton street, with a large diamond stud fastening his shirt collar.  He got into a Bleecker street car and rode down to the Court of Special Sessions.  Soon afterward he discovered that while the gold setting remained attached to his collar the diamond was missing.  The Senator is a poor man, and can illy afford to lose so large a diamond.  He will pay a liberal reward for its return.

Peter Norton and his wife had a son, John M., in 1866.  The little boy died at the age of 7 on June 7, 1873.  The New York Herald reported on June 9, "The funeral will take place from the residence of his uncle, Michael Norton, No. 42 Charlton street, at twelve o'clock to-day."

Michael H. Norton, The Sun, April 24, 1889 (copyright expired)

In 1885 Michael H. Norton was appointed a justice in the District Court with a salary of $6,000 (about $196,000 today).

On April 23, 1889, The New York Sun reported, "Civil Justice Michael Norton is lying dangerously ill at his residence, 42 Charlton street."  The 55-year-old judge had slipped and fallen a week earlier resulting, according to the newspaper, "as he is a heavy man, in serious internal injuries."   The New York Evening World remarked, "Justice Norton is one of the most widely known and popular public men in New York.  He has earned a good deal of money in his lifetime, but has been so generous and charitable that he has remained poor."

Norton died just before midnight in the Charlton Street house on April 23, 1889.  Two days later, The Evening World reported, "The modest, old-fashioned house No. 42 Charlton street, in which Civil Justice Michael Norton passed the latter years of his life, was this morning visited by throngs of friends and admirers of the dead leader, who came to take a last look at his face and to condole with his family."

Amazingly, the day after Norton's death, his brother John died.  The Evening World remarked, "When he died he did not know that Michael had passed away twenty-three hours previously."

On April 26, The Evening World reported on Michael Norton's funeral.

A sweet, languorous perfume from a room full of flowers drifted through the open doors of the old-fashioned mansion at 42 Charlton street this morning.

In the centre of the room, in the midst of the perfume-giving flowers, stood a crape-covered casket containing the earthly remains of Civil Justice Michael Norton, who in life was called "The Thunderbolt."

Among the mourners were prominent politicians like Mayor Hugh J. Grant, Tammany bigwig Richard Croker, aldermen and a senator.  The Evening World remarked, "In the street in front of the house there were hundreds of people who had known and loved Mike Norton."

Marietta L. Norton sold the house to John C. and Catherine McGinn in July 1891 for $20,000 (about $691,000 in 2025).  Living with the couple were their adult children: Edward F., who was in the bottle business; Mary T. Sinnott and her husband; and Julia L. Bishop, her husband, and their young son, James.  Another son, Jonathan J. Bishop, lived elsewhere.

Despite what must have been snug conditions, they took in a boarder.  In 1892, Norman J. Osborne, a clerk, lived here; and in 1894 and 1895 Elizabeth Schaefer, a widow, lived with the family.

On August 21, 1904, James Bishop, now a teenager, placed an advertisement in the New York Herald looking for a job.  He obviously had not yet settled on a career path.  "Young man (17) wishes a position at anything.  James Bishop, 42 Charlton st."  Seven years later, however, he seems to have charted a course for himself, and applied to the city for a job as a police patrolman.

By March 20, 1915, the McGinn siblings had inherited the house in equal shares.  It was sold in November 1920 to their tenants, Lucy and Joseph Tomasullo.  Like Michael Norton, Tomasullo was a former boxer, known in the ring as Kid Thomas.  He now was a part owner of the White Poodle cabaret at 216 Bleecker Street.

While the Tomasullos were still renting 42 Charlton Street, the White Poodle was the scene of violence.  The New York Morning Telegraph reported that when members of the Hudson Dusters Gang attempted to rob the restaurant, it became "the scene of a battle" with police.  One patrolman, Michael Batto, was stabbed in the face.

On the morning of December 26, 1923, Joseph Tomasullo left an apartment at 216 Hancock Street where The New York Times said, "several men had been playing cards."  An assailant who was lying in wait in the hall shot him twice.  The New York Morning Telegraph said one of the bullets, "entered the chest and ploughed its way to the heart, and the other lodged in the left side."  

Tomasullo's brother Anthony heard the shots "and found his brother on the floor of the hallway," reported The New York Times.  He took him in a taxi to St. Vincent's Hospital where he was pronounced dead.  Police surmised that Tomasullo was "the victim of a Greenwich Village gamblers' feud."

It is unclear how long Lucy Tomasullo remained at 42 Charlton Street.  By the last decades of the century, the house received a coat of blue paint.

The house in 1983 retained the stone stoop railings and flat lintels, and was painted blue.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In 2009, The Little Red School House, which owned the former Elisabeth Irwin High School next door, purchased the house and hired the architectural firm ABA Studio to connect the structures internally.  Included in the extensive renovations was the removal of the blue paint, and the addition of molded window cornices.  Writing in Curbed on February 22, 2010, Peter Davies reported, "From the street it all looks perfectly historical...But behind the landmarked facade there's all sorts of new stuff."

photographs by the author

The Transformed 1847 684 Sixth Avenue

 

In the mid-1840s, as sumptuous Greek Revival and Italianate-style mansions crept up Fifth Avenue, a block to the west much humbler residences were being erected.  In 1847, a three-story house at 350 Sixth Avenue (renumbered 684 in 1925) was completed.  Although they were separated by just a block, the proletarian inhabitants of the house--like the building itself--were a world away from Fifth Avenue's high society.

It seems that the house always had a store at street level.  The working-class residents in 1850 were almost all in the construction business.  They included Michael Dowling, a mason; carpenter William Custis; and John Alexander, a plasterer.  The one tenant not involved in building was Philip Kenney, a bootmaker.  It is possible he also occupied the store.

Around 1853, 33-year-old Michael Ronan installed his tailor shop in the store and lived with his family upstairs.   They shared the space that year with Denis Broderick, a stonecutter.

In February 1861, the Ronans welcomed a baby boy, Augustus M.  Sadly, the toddler died on July 24, 1863.  His funeral was held in the second floor of 350 Sixth Avenue the next day.

The couple shared the upper floors with George and Mary Le Caitel and John McCreery in 1867.  Le Caitel was a hairdresser and McCreery was in the shoe business.  The following year, Michael Rowan (whose name was confusingly similar to Michael Ronan) and Richard New opened their M. Rowan & Co. "ice cream depot" (i.e., ice cream parlor) in the store space.  It is unclear to where Michael Ronan temporarily moved his tailoring shop.

The ice cream parlor moved a block south to 334 Sixth Avenue the following year, and Ronan regained his shop.  Before long, Michael Ronan's health began to decline.  By the spring of 1872, he was no longer able to operate his business.  On April 19, an auction was held of: 

...the selected Stock of the long established Tailor Store 350 Sixth avenue, between Twenty-first and Twenty-second streets: Cloths, Cassimeres, Vestings, &c.; also custom made Pants, Coats and Vests, together with Counters, Fixtures and large size Singer Sewing Machine.  The attention of the trade invited.

Michael Ronan died on August 16, 1872 at the age of 50, "after a long illness," according to the New York Herald.  Unlike his son's funeral, Michael's was held in St. Francis Xavier's Church the following day.

Ronan may have held out hope that he would recover.  Not everything had been sold at the auction.  On September 8, an advertisement in the New York Herald offered, "For Sale, Cheap--A lot of new French Cloths and a Singer's Sewing Machine; almost new.  Apply at hall door 350 Sixth avenue, New York."

Mary and George Le Caitel still lived here.  George died "after a long and painful illness," as reported by the New York Herald, on December 17, 1873.  He was 42 years old.

Stephen E. England installed his "variety store" in the shop in 1875.  Among those living upstairs were Mary Maccarran, who made caps; William Powell, a stove dealer; Jacob W. Aeppli, whose barber shop was on Fourth Avenue; and tailor Christopher Postera.  (Mary Maccarran and William Powell would remain at least through 1880.)

Sisters Elizabeth M. Ritter and Agnes J. Ritter each owned 50 percent of the property in 1888.  When Agnes married Edward T. McCoy, she divided her portion with her new husband.

A Mrs. Bacon ran a domestic employment agency here in the early 1890s.  She and other agencies faced a crisis when the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition opened in 1893.  On April 29, The Evening World began an article saying, "Housekeepers and the proprietors of New York employment agencies are becoming not a little alarmed at the unusual scarcity of servant girls just now prevalent in the metropolis."  In anticipation of the throngs of visitors to the fair, Chicago hotel managers were depleting Manhattan's workforce with seductive offers.  The article said, "Mrs. Bacon, of 350 Sixth avenue, has many applications for Chicago situations, but has sent no servants there and invariably discouraged such applicants."

Robert T. Dowling occupied the store by 1899.  The following year, architect David P. Miller remodeled the storefront.  On February 4, 1902, Edward T. McCoy and Elizabeth M. Ritter renewed Dowling's lease for 10 years at $6,000.  (The rent would translate to about $1,675 per month in 2025.)

Dowling's residency would not last through the term of the lease.  In 1905, the architectural firm of Buchman & Fox was hired to convert the building to commercial use and remodel the facade.  Any trace of the 1847 house was eliminated in the architects' vaguely commercial take on neo-Classical architecture.  

Above the cast iron storefront, two-story paneled brick piers flanked the metal infill.  Double-height fluted Ionic pilasters created three bays, the floors separated by paneled spandrels.  Vast show windows flooded the interior with natural light.  A molded cornice and low parapet finished the design.

via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The new tenants were Daniel J. Healy, maker of skirts and patterns; the Singer Sewing Machine Company; and a branch of J. Ehrlich & Sons.  

A 1905 advertisement announced the store's opening.  The World, June 12, 1905 (copyright expired)

J. Ehrlich & Sons' optical business was founded in 1862.  The firm operated its own glasses factory.  In the summer of 1908, an advertisement cautioned New Yorkers, "Don't risk your vacation pleasure without extra glasses."  The ad promised, "Bring your glasses to us NOW.  We can duplicate them EXACTLY without the original prescription and at a very moderate cost."

J. Ehrlich & Sons remained here until 1912, when McCoy and Ritter made interior renovations.  Architects Schwartz & Gross designed the reconfiguration of walls.  At the same time, toilets were installed.  In 1914, S. Miller & Sons, a women's apparel store, moved into the ground floor shop.

In the 1940s, L. Radin's occupied the space, offering female shoppers "corsets, brassieres, and blouses."

Today there are apartments on the third floor of the venerable building.  Buchman & Fox's 1905 storefront was obliterated in the second half of the 20th century, but, overall, the building's appearance has not changed.

photographs by the author

The 1827 James Hart House - 261 Mulberry Street

 

Around 1827, the two-and-a-half story, brick faced house at 261 Mulberry Street was completed.  Home to printer James Evans in 1829, its Federal style design included Flemish bond brickwork and tidy dormers that pierced the peaked roof.

Like James Evans, subsequent occupants of the house continued to be working class.  John S. Houston, a stonecutter, lived here in 1832.  He was followed by Christopher Endeman, who died here at the age of 97 on April 22, 1838.

As early as 1843, James Hart and his family moved into 261 Mulberry Street.  The location directly across the street from St. Patrick's Cathedral was perfect for Hart, who was a sexton of the church.  James and his wife, Eleanor, had three daughters, Mary, Margaret, and Annie E.; and a son, William T. A. Hart.  

As was common, the Harts took in a boarder, normally one at a time.  In 1843, for example, carpenter John Dunn boarded with the family, and in 1847, Caroline Haggerty, a widow, lived here.

By 1857, William T. A. Hart was an undertaker.  Most likely through his father's influence, he became the official undertaker for the cathedral, a position he would hold for six decades.  

Eleanor Hart died here on December 18, 1859.  Her funeral was held in the parlor on December 20.  Interestingly, her body was not interred in the cathedral graveyard across the street, but in the 11th Street Catholic Cemetery between First Avenue and Avenue A.

Such would not be the case a decade later when James Hart died at the age of 86 on April 14, 1869.  His funeral was held in the cathedral and his burial was within the cathedral grounds.

Upon his father's death, William T. A. Hart added the position of sexton to his undertaking role.  He grew wealthy and influential; but his career would be marked by many legal problems.  On May 5, 1889, for instance, The New York Times reported that he was arrested for "interring in St. Michael's Cemetery in an ordinary coffin the body of a person who had died of a contagious disease."  And on May 24, 1893, the newspaper began an article saying, "William T. A. Hart, the sexton of St. Patrick's Cathedral, was the subject of a weighty opinion handed down yesterday by Surrogate Ransom."

Since 1887, Hart had been the executor of the estate of Archibald Johnson, who "died insolvent, leaving his affairs in a tangled condition."  Now, prompted by the complaints of creditors, the court's referee, Sherman W. Knevals, was "severe on Mr. Hart's management."

In the meantime, since his death, James Hart's heirs (who inherited the property equally) had been leasing their childhood home.  First, however, they raised the attic floor to a full floor.  Their architect added a handsome, cast metal Italianate cornice.  For a few years the residence was operated as a boarding house.  It was the scene of a grisly suicide on October 10, 1871.

Peter Coyle, according to the New York Herald, had "long been known in some of the best billiard saloons of the city as a 'marker.'"  (A marker was a scorekeeper.)  But for some time, the 60-year-old bachelor had been out of work and in poor health.  The newspaper reported on October 11, "not far from nine o'clock yesterday morning he raised up in bed, and, with a razor in his possession, cut his throat, and after throwing the weapon away, fell backwards on the pillow and soon died from hemorrhage."

Before the end of the year, Hugh Moore leased the house.  He assuredly knew William T. A. Hart professionally.  He was the superintendent of Calvary Cemetery and was on the Board of Trustees of St. Patrick's Cathedral.  He and his wife had one daughter.

It was not until the spring of 1873 that the city began paving the Mulberry Street block.  On April 1, Hugh Moore looked out his window to see Patrick McHugh (described by the New York Herald as a "stalwart-looking man") pull his cart to the curb and begin loading it with granite paving stones, known as "Belgian blocks."  Moore rushed off to find an officer and McHugh was arrested.  He had driven off with 300 blocks, prompting the New York Herald to call his crime "a heavy larceny."

As the Harts had done, the Moores took in boarders.  In 1874, Edward McGrath and Julia J. McGrath, possibly siblings, lived here.  Julia was a teacher in the primary department of Grammar School No. 27, and Edward was a policeman.

On the warm Saturday afternoon of August 15 that year, the 28-year-old cop took Kitty McGuire, who lived at 75 Mott Street, to the beach on Long Island.  The pair seems to have become victims of an undertow.  The following day, The New York Times reported, "It appears that McGrath and the young lady went in bathing together and got beyond their depth and were drowned before aid could reach them."  Their bodies had not been recovered at the time of the article.

In October 1884, the James Hart's children sold 261 Mulberry Street to George J. Kenny for $6,000 (about $192,000 in 2024 terms).  He continued to lease the house to Hugh Moore until 1891, when Moore and his wife moved to 157 East 51st Street.

It was George J. Kenney who hired architect B. W. Berger in January 1897 to make alterations to what was now being described as a "three-story brick tenement."  (The term meant that multiple families lived here.)  It was most likely at this time that the heavy stone enframement was placed around the delicate Federal doorway and cast metal lintels--absurdly out of proportion with the windows--were installed.

Mulberry Street was as much playground as thoroughfare in 1941 when this photo was taken.  The 1890's fire escape was demanded by the tenement laws.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The family of John A. O'Brien moved into the renovated house.  O'Brien was highly involved with Old St. Patrick's Cathedral (the new cathedral uptown was dedicated in 1879) and headed its charity department.  In its annual report for 1897, the State Department of Charities said that 62 "persons without homes [were] afforded general relief during the year" by the institution.

The O'Briens left 261 Mulberry Street in 1902 when the families of Theodore Palumbo and Robert C. McNally moved in.  Both men worked worked for the city.  Theodore and Eliza Polumbo had at least two daughters, Mary and Theresa.  Living with Robert and Mary McNally was Robert's widowed mother, Catherine.  She died here on November 30, 1903 at the age of 76.  

In 1909, Robert McNally was appointed to fill the position of attendance officer of the New York City Schools.  His promotion came with a $900 salary--about $31,000 today.

There would be two more funerals in the Mulberry Street house.  Mary T. McNally died on December 9, 1910, and Mary Polumbo's funeral was held here on March 13, 1917.  (Interestingly, Theresa Polumbo was listed as an attorney by then.)

The house was sold in April 1938.  It was operated as a rooming house for decades before being converted to apartments--one per floor--in 1960.  It was most likely at this time that the somewhat clunky enframement that attempts to mimic a Federal example was fabricated around the elegant surviving doorway.

photographs by the author

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