The Lost Thomas Shields Clarke House - 50 Riverside Drive

photo by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York 

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1860, Thomas Shields Clarke pursued a career far afield of the railroad industry in which his father was an executive.  After graduating from Princeton University he studied at the Art Students League in New York, the Académie Julian in Paris, and ultimately the esteemed École des Beaux-Arts.

Clarke's first real recognition came in 1885 when one of his paintings was exhibited at the Paris Salon.  The following year he married Adelaide Knox in Switzerland.  The couple would have three children, Alma Adelaide, Beatrice, and Charles John.  Having lived abroad for eleven years, in 1894 Clarke brought his family to New York and soon turned his focus to creating a permanent home.

Architect C. P. H. Gilbert was busy designing a number of upscale residences along Riverside Drive and its side blocks.  On April 5, 1896 he filed plans for a four-story brick residence on the northeast corner of Riverside Drive and 77th Street for Clarke.  The commodious mansion would be 28-feet wide on 77th Street and stretch 83 feet along the Drive.  Construction costs were projected at $40,000, or approximately $1.23 million today.

Completed within a year, the red brick structure followed the angle of Riverside Drive with a succession of angles and setbacks.  Gilbert drew freely from historic styles.  Romanesque Revival appeared in the first floor openings and the medieval corbel table that girded the house above the third floor.  An Italian Renaissance hood capped the main entrance above a cascading staircase, and a deeply overhanging Tuscan roof completed the design.

The family had barely moved in before the idyllic quietude of the location with its beautiful vistas of the Hudson River was shattered by dynamite explosions on the opposite side.  At a meeting of the West End Association on November 19, 1897, Clarke asked a committee "to report whether property-owners have any remedy for damages due to heavy blasting on the New Jersey shore of the Hudson River."

The Clarkes were visible in high society, summering among the wealthy at the best resorts.  On June 30, 1899, for instance, The Evening Telegram reported "Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Shields Clarke, of No. 50 Riverside Drive, leave this week for Lenox, where they have taken a cottage."

At the time Clarke had just completed his portion of the Admiral Dewey Memorial--an elaborate triumphal arch and colonnade which would would sit at Madison Square to welcome the admiral to New York.  A compliment of well-known sculptors had been hired to create models of the figures that would adorn the arch.  Workers then translated them into plaster for the temporary monument.  A month after the Clarkes arrived at Lenox The Sun reported on August 27 "The designs for the statue of Commodore Hull, the work of H. K. Bush-Brown, and that of Commodore McDonough, by Thomas Shields Clarke, have not been completed, but work on them will be hurried."

Among the statues of military figures lining the top of the arch was Clarke's Commodore McDonough.  King's Views of New York, 1899 (copyright expired)

Rather than continuing to lease, in 1901 the Clarkes took steps to establish a permanent summer home in Lenox.  On August 4 the New-York Tribune reported "Thomas Shields Clarke, the New-York sculptor, has bought the Mattoon estate of two hundred acres...The farm will be developed, and Mr. Clarke will build a summer home on his purchase."

And indeed he did.  Designed by Wilson Wyre, Fernbrook would be completed in 1904.  Although it was a sprawling manor, because Clarke wanted a "rustic" home, it took the form of an overblown English cottage.

A vintage postcard depicts Fernbrook's charm.

In the meantime the Riverside Drive house was the scene of the Clarke's winter season entertainments.  On December 14, 1901, for instance, they hosted a reception for American illustrator and muralist Edwin A. Abbey.  He was in town for the exhibition of his mural decorations for the Boston Public Library at the American Art Galleries.  The guest list included figures from the publishing and art communities, like Charles Scribner, Walter Appleton, Louis C. Tiffany, and art collector Henry Marquand and his wife.

Thomas Shields Clarke, Brush & Pencil, August 1900 (copyright expired)

Life at Fernbrook was normally bucolic; but it was the scene of near violence in the summer of 1908.  On the afternoon of June 5 Adelaide "had words," as described by the New-York Tribune, with the estate's superintendent, Thomas Pelle.  She complained to Clarke who fired Pelle and ordered him and his family off the now 300-acre estate.  Pelle responded by finding a club and threatening to kill the artist.  "The police made a quick run in an automobile to the Clarke place and arrested Pelle."

The Clarkes spent that winter season in Paris.  The Riverside Drive house was in charge of a caretaker, but he did not live in the mansion.   He arrived one morning to find the house ransacked by thieves who, according to The New York Times, "carried off nearly $10,000 worth of art treasures, jewelry, valuable antique bronzes, ornaments, silverware, and wearing apparel."  While the value on paper was about a quarter of a million in today's dollars, Clarke knew well that some of the items were invaluable.  His collection of ancient Greek and Roman bronzes was considered one of the finest in New York.

Notified of the theft by a cable from the caretaker, Clarke sailed home.  His great fear was for the bronzes, knowing that uneducated crooks might very well sell them for scrap metal.  Detectives spread across the city, scouring pawn shops, art galleries and such.  Thankfully, all of the bronze antiquities were found in a junk shop where the dealer said he had purchased the lot for $20.

The break-in prompted Clarke to burglar-proof his Riverside Drive home.  Not only did he move the caretaker into the house, he installed "sliding steel blinds and burglar alarms on doors and windows," according to The Times, as well as interior alarms.  "If any safe breaker succeeds in getting through the steel blinds he will set going half a dozen burglar alarms, which will arouse the whole block."

The Clarke's entertainments most often took place during the summer, at Fernbrook, than in the Riverside Drive house.  Even Beatrice's coming-out dance was held in her father's studio there.   And while house guests at Fernbrook always held social significance, none were more impressive than the President and First Lady in 1913.  On August 3 The Sun explained "Mr. Clarke was a classmate of President Wilson at Princeton."

A month later the Clarkes sold No. 50 Riverside Drive to Albert E. Smith, the head of the Vitagraph Company.  Born in England in 1874, the son of a gardener, Smith had come a long way.  The Sun later recalled that he and J. Stuart Blackton "were entertainers in the Lyceum when they first became interested in motion pictures; that was in 1898.  Mr. Smith invented a device to eliminate the objectionable flickering, and Mr. Blackton devoted his ability to perfecting the methods of expressing thought through action."  By now Vitagraph Company was one of the largest motion picture studios in the nation.

Smith's purchase of the Riverside Drive residence came just months after his marriage to silent film actress Hazel Neason (he had divorced his first wife, Mary May, in 1912).  

The service entrance was tucked around the corner, on the West 77th Street side.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

The Sun called Smith one of the six men responsible for making moving pictures not only popular, but an art form of sorts.  His large scale productions were costly and elaborate.  On May 23, 1915 The Sun reported "for one single thrill in 'The Juggernaut' $25,000 was spent on a scene in which an entire passenger train and a railroad bridge were wrecked."  (That one-time take would cost the equivalent of $645,000 today.)

As tensions rose overseas Smith used film as a means toward public awareness.  Fearful that America was unprepared for war, he produced The Battle Cry of Peace, mixing entertainment with political statement.  

The silent film industry was centered on the west side of Manhattan, in Brooklyn, and in New Jersey at the time.  The sprawling Vitagraph studios were in Brooklyn.  So elated was Smith when World War I came to an end, that he rewarded his entire staff.  On November 17, 1918 the New-York Tribune reported "Everybody in the Vitagraph studio, from office boy to star, was presented with a $5 bill by Albert E. Smith last Monday in honor of the signing of the armistice.  And then he gave them a half holiday to go and spent it.  And if they stayed in Brooklyn $5 was enough to last them, money goes so much further on the other side of the bridge."

Albert E. Smith The Sun, May 23, 1915 (copyright expired)

Two months later he collaborated with Sergeant Arthur Guy Empey who had served eighteen months in the trenches, was wounded three times, and who earned his rank "for bravery in action."  Sent home "invalided," he had taken up the pen "with the purpose of arousing the American people to their highest fighting pitch by actually showing them what the war means to this country," according to the New-York Tribune.

With the war now over, Smith purchased the rights to Empey's book, Over the Top, and cast Empey to play himself in the film version.  The resultant work was as much thrilling entertainment as documentary.

New-York Tribune, March 31, 1918 (copyright expired)

Smith's use of the film medium as an important documentary tool continued.  On December 8, 1918 The Sun reported "At the request of several prominent anthropologists Albert E. Smith, president of the Vitagraph Company, will begin recording by motion pictures the dances, games, sports and all things possible to a complete pictorial history of the American Indian early this spring."  Smith was intent on memorializing the disappearing culture authentically.  "Accuracy will predominate in the picturization, and the spectacular, while not neglected, will be sacrificed for historical values."

Hazel Neason Smith, original source unknown

Hazel died on January 24, 1920.  It may have been the emotional shock of her loss that prompted Smith not only to sell the Riverside Drive house, but everything within it.  On December 16 the New-York Tribune reported "The house furnishings and embellishments contained in the residence of Albert E. Smith will be sold on the premises, 50 Riverside Drive, this morning and to-morrow."

The auction listing revealed the sumptuous interiors, saying that the "handsome furnishings and embellishments" were "by the Tiffany Studios, W. & J. Sloane and other First Class Establishments."  The oil paintings were sold separately in the grand ballroom of the Plaza Hotel later.

Smith's sale of the unusual brick mansion came at a time when the opulent homes of Riverside Drive were being bulldozed for modern apartment buildings.  No. 50 survived only nine more years.  On December 3, 1929 The New York Times reported that the 50 Riverside Drive, Inc., Isaac Polstein, Inc. planned at fifteen-story apartment building on the site.  That structure, designed by Gronenberg & Leuchtag, survives.

photo by Irving Underhill from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

The 1832 Club Stables - 15 Downing Street

James Votey was born in 1805 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Having relocated to New York City, he married the former Martha Coe in 1831.  By now he was now a vice-president in the New-York and Schuylkill Coal Company .

Votey had owned the plot of late at No. 15 Downing Street in Greenwich Village singe 1825, possibly with the intentions of someday erecting his home there.  Instead, around the time of his marriage, he erected a brick-faced three-story stable on the lot.  The location was inconvenient to both his office, which was far downtown at No. 48 Wall Street, and his home on Grove Street.  Votey sold the newly-completed structure in 1832.

Many of the stables erected later in the decade would feature a central bay door flanked by openings.  But at just 19-feet wide the modest building made do with one bay door to the left with a pedestrian doorway next to it.  Storage on the second floor would have held tack, hay and other supplies, while rooms for at least one stable employee were on the top floor.  Behind the building were the necessary manure pits.

No. 15 became a boarding stables, known as the Club Stables, operated by a man named Sawyer.  Here neighborhood residents kept their vehicles and horses.  At least one of Sawyer's clients was financially comfortable enough to travel abroad.  An advertisement in The New York Herald on April 12 1854 sought a buyer for "Two superior light wagons, built to order."  It noted "will be sold cheap, as the owner is about leaving for Europe.  Apply at the club stables."

Similar ads appeared throughout the coming years.  George Carpenter, whose offices were at No. 13 Chambers Street, advertised a "light trotting wagon, and one top wagon" for sale in 1855.  He made special note that the latter was "nearly new, with a shifting top, and fit for city use."  And the following year a "fine bay horse" was offered for sale.  It "would make a lady's saddle horse."

In 1861 the Club Stables got a new next door neighbor.  William Martin and George Kinnier had run John Harrison's Brewery on Sullivan Street for seven years.  Now they acquired the New York Steam Brewery and renamed it the United States Brewery.  The operation ran through the block from Nos. 38 and 40 Carmine Street to No. 17 Downing Street.  The partners' announcement of the take-over in December 1861 noted "they will manufacture the choicest brands of Pale and Amber Ales, X. and XX Porter."

It was not long before Sawyer's Club Stables was absorbed into the brewery complex, which at least by 1868 was owned by John Boyd and William Kirk.  It appears that the former stable building continued to be used to house trucks and horses, as well as the offices of the firm.  Boyd and Kirk ran saloons throughout the city as well.

The partners leased the buildings from the widowed Ellen Wilson who lived in Brooklyn.  In January 1887 she transferred title to Joseph Wilson, presumably a relative, for $4,582.00, or about a quarter of a million in today's dollars.  

By the time William Kirk died in 1889 he had purchased No. 15, title to which was now transferred to his children, John L. Kirk, Emma Kirk, Margaret J. Ruth and Mary E. Clelland.  In March the following year they sublet the building to Rudolph Kraft and Adolf Lucker, owners of the Champion Brewing Company.  

John L. Kirk hired architect J. B. Franklin to make alterations for the new tenants in July that year.  His plans included "interior alterations and walls altered."  But the Kirks apparently changed their minds.  Just a year later, on January 24, 1891, the Record & Guide announced the Kirks had cancelled the lease.  Seven days later an advertisement in The New York Herald offered "Ale Brewery In This City" for sale with "immediate possession."


In July 1892 Kirk hired architect A. T. Norris to convert the building back to a stable.  The renovations, which cost about $57,000 in today's dollars, were mostly on the inside, although they included widening the truck bay.  

In October Kirk advertised "New Stable, 15 Downing St. To Lease" and touted "three stories high, 17 stalls, carriage hoist and wash stand, ample rein storage and new floors."

Kirk continued to make updates to the building and on August 18, 1912 he advertised in the New York Herald: "To Let--Stable, 20 large stalls, newly refitted, wagon elevator, immediate possession."  A nearly identical advertisement appeared in the newspaper four years later.

It may have been the phasing out of horses in favor of motorcars following World War I that ended the operation of No. 15 Downing Street as a stable.  By the 1920's it was being operated as a junk shop operated by the De Vito family. 

A sign reads "Junk Shop in this 1927 photograph.  Second-hand clothes are displayed in front of the old carriage bay doors.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

Michael De Vito found himself in serious trouble on September 19, 1939.  Calling him a "junk dealer," The New York Sun explained "De Vito, who has been running the business during his father's illness, was arrested yesterday at the junkyard at 15 Downing street, where detectives found about 700 pounds of brass fittings and ball bearings."  The problem was that the brass had been stolen from the Jersey Central Railroad.  "He admitted having bought the brass," said the article, "but said he didn't know it had been stolen."

He had even larger problems to deal with, however.  "De Vito is wanted by Baltimore authorities for breaking parole in connection with a homicide case.  He has been sentenced to from six years to life imprisonment."

As mid-century approached, the upper floors were painted.  Little else, including the sign, had changed.  photo via the NYC Department of Records & Information Services.

As little Downing Street was discovered by a new (and moneyed) generation in the last quarter of the 20th century, No. 15 was unofficially converted to a two-family residence with a garage on the ground floor.  It was not until 1985 that it received its blessing in the form of a Certificate of Occupancy from the Building's Department.

Now nearly 190 years old, the little stable-turned brewery-turned junk shop is disguised by a cumbersome fire escape and a coat of blue paint that prompts a "what were they thinking?" moment.  That and its location on the quiet side street make it easily overlooked.

photographs by the author

The Albert Horn House - 911 Broadway

When Albert Horn built his brick-faced house at No. 911 Broadway between 20th and 21st Streets around 1830 development had just begun in the area.  Three blocks to the south Union Square, which would become one of the city's most elegant residential enclaves, was not even in the planning stages yet.

Horn's modest three-story house would have had a short stoop of perhaps two or three steps.  Simple stone sills and an understated cornice reflected the middle-class stature of the residents.

In 1836 Horn sold the property to William Fairman, who owned the property next door at No. 909.  He erected a near-matching house on that lot within a few years.

William Fairman erected the near twin house next door in the early 1840's.

No. 911 was home to merchant James Marcher by 1850.  New York City directories listed Augustus B. Gregory, a painter, here two years later.

By 1856 the house was owned by Thomas A. Hunter and his wife, Eliza.  They had a boarder that year, Ebenezer M. Lincoln, a carpenter.  Hunter listed his occupation as cabinet maker, but he changed directions by 1858.  Businesses had already begun appearing along Broadway and Hunter and his wife did not miss out on the opportunity.

By 1858 the ground floor had been converted to Thomas A. Hunter's fancy goods store which shared the space with Eliza A. Hunter's dress making shop.

The Mitchell & Seixas bookstore was in the space by 1865.  That year the American Phrenological Journal advertised that Dr. H. J. Philips's new book, Diseases of the Throat and Lungs was available at Mitchell & Seixas, 911 Broadway.  And when John MacMullen's School for Boys reopened at No. 900 Broadway in October 1869, it advertised that circulars could be obtained at Mitchell & Seixas.

Mitchell & Seixas remained in the space into the 1870's.  And although it continued to sell books, it is best remembered today for its branching into photography, most notably it portraits of Civil War figures.

Mitchell & Seixas produced this portrait of General Edwin Sumner

In 1882 L. H. Goldsmith established what today would be called a gourmet shop here.  In December 1886 that year he advertised:

Mrs. McElrath's

Home-Made Mince Meat,

For Christmas and the Holidays; also

Preserved, Brandied, Canned and

Spiced Fruits.

Red currant and other Jellies, James and Pickles

George Henry Warren owned Nos. 903 through 911 Broadway at the time, as well as  Nos. 663 and 665 Broadway.   He and other property owners and businessmen along the street revolted against the New York District Railway Company's proposal to erect an elevated train line that year.  The railroad was ready to pay the property owners handsomely for possibly inconvenience.  But when it offered Warren a total of $295,000--a tempting $7.5 million today--he "sent word by his clerk that he refused," according to court a hearing later.

As it turns out, Warren had big plans for his properties.  On February 15, 1890 The Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that McKim, Mead and White were preparing plans for a 7-story office building for Warren.  "The site comprises Nos. 903 to 911 Broadway...The present buildings will be torn down in May."  

But for some reason Warren scaled back his ambitious project, stopping short of razing Nos. 909 and 911.  The decision was no doubt a happy one for L. H. Goldsmith, who was still operating in the building.

The Epoch magazine, August 22, 1890 (copyright expired)

In 1891 A. Simonson's hair salon moved into the building.  An advertisement in the New-York Tribune on May 21 that year boasted "The Hairdressing Parlor has been trebled its former size to accommodate the constantly increasing patronage.  All the modern improvements and luxurious accommodations, as well as an expert corps of artists, will be found here to attend to hairdressing, shampooing, haircutting, singeing, or hair coloring in any shade."

A. Simonson's catered as well to women who were losing their hair.  An advertisement in The Evening World on May 21, 1892 boasted:

Simonson's Human Hair goods must be examined to realize its immense variety of styles, matchless quality and superb workmanship.  Every possible color in abundance.  Superior accommodations for Hair Dressing.

The lady who wanted "the petite 'Titus' front coiffure, a dainty stylish hair dress, guaranteed natural curly hair" in 1892 would pay "$3 and upward" for the new hair style; about $85.50 today.

The New-York Tribune fashion editor diplomatically side-stepped the issue of thinning hair by calling Simonson "a connoisseur in the art that sometimes rivals, and always remedies, the mistakes and omissions of Dame Nature."  She gave him credit for coming up with what today is known as the hair weave or hair extension.  "Mr. Simonson enjoys the distinction of having invented and patented the Newport coil, an ingenious arrangement for the most perfectly combining the natural hair with an additional braid."

Following George Henry Warren's death, his estate continued to own and manage the building.  In May 1899 the estate joined other business owners in the neighborhood to petition the Board of Aldermen to pave Broadway from 14th Street to 42nd Street.  Calling the street "the most important thoroughfare of this city," they were firm.  "Moreover, your petitions ask that the work shall be begun immediately and completed without unnecessary delay."

By the time of the petition A. Simonson had moved to No. 933 Broadway and the fashionable leather glove store of P. Centemeri & Co. was here.   As was the case with all wearing apparel and accessories, different gloves were necessary for different times or day or various events.  An ad in the New-York Daily Tribune on April 2, 1899 described P. Centemeri & Co.'s gloves as "Distinguished for superb quality, for artistic making, for delicate coloring and for perfect fit."  It offered gloves "for Promenade, Reception and Evening Wear."

P. Centemeri & Co. trade card was adorned with flowers, not gloves.

In 1906 the Warren estate gave P. Centemeri & Co. what was essentially a new store.  Architect Robert W. Gardner was commissioned to replace the ground floor show windows and install a bay window at the second floor.  At the same time he introduced a simple, galvanized iron replacement cornice.

P. Centemeri & Co. remained in the space until the fall of 1911 when it moved to No. 296 Fifth Avenue.  In 1917 the store was leased to M. Lhowe, dealer in upholstery goods and supplies.

The second half of the 20th century was a bleak time for this section of Broadway and Union Square.  At some point the second floor bay was removed, replaced by flush show windows.  But in the 1990's a renaissance in the district began as buildings around the Square and north along Broadway were renovated.  Most recently No. 911 received an updated storefront in 2013.

photographs by the author

James Ware & Son's 1909 29 West 21st Street

In March 1853 an advertisement offered a "small house" at No. 29 West 21st Street to let.  The block, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, was just seeing the arrival of substantial homes, triggered by the upward tide of mansions along Fifth Avenue.  That the block was changing was evidenced two years later when a similar advertisement described it as a "cottage house," clearly indicating it was not a rowhouse and, instead, sat within a small yard.

But fashion outweighed charm and after the little house was sold in 1859 it was demolished to be replaced by a 25-foot wide, four-story brownstone.  The increasing property values were reflected in the price Abraham Lawrence paid for the house in 1876.  The $30,475 price tag would be about $720,000 today.

By the time Agnes H. Poirier took title to the house around the turn of the century, the block was becoming increasingly commercial.  The elevated train ran up the middle of Sixth Avenue which was now lined with massive retail emporiums.  But Agnes had no intention of living at No. 29 West 21st Street.

She and her husband, Alfred E. Poirier, ran the firm of A. Barnes.  In July 1908 Agnes leased the property to Nathan Houtman "for a long term of years."  The total rent amounted to $60,000, or about $1.65 million today.  Houtman announced his plans to convert the old house into "a store and loft structure."

Before that came to pass something seems to have gone awry.  Houtman dropped out of the picture and the following year, on May 26, 1909, The Sun reported that "Plans have been filed for a six story loft and store building to be erected for Mrs. Agnes H. Poirier from designs by James E. Ware & Son."  The cost of the proposed structure was estimated at about $834,000 in today's money.

Construction was completed within only six months, in November.  The architects had produced an industrial building heavily influenced by the recently popular Arts & Crafts style.  It was faced in variegated rough-faced brick laid in Flemish bond.  The otherwise no-nonsense storefront included large transoms of multiple amber-tinted panes of textured glass.  The top lintel took the form of an Arts & Crafts style iron strap.

Like a massive strap hinge, the massive iron storefront lintel is eye-catching.

The identical upper floors featured sets of three windows, each floor separated by a hefty spandrel panel containing two decorative brackets.  Substantial consoles upheld the deeply-overhanging cornice.

The building filled with apparel-related firms.  The upper floors became home to David Fraitag, manufacturer of cloaks and suits; Loveman, Golemb & Cohen, dress manufacturers; and the Louis Walther Mfg. Co.  The Sterling Button Co. moved into the street level store.

David Fraitag was overly-optimistic about things when he signed the lease.   Only four months after the  building opened he filed for bankruptcy, no longer having enough funds to pay his workers.  When the staff heard that he was shutting the doors, they revolted.  On March 26, 1910 The New York Times ran a headline "Unpaid Workmen In A Riot."  If they could not get paid, the men at least wanted to obtain salable goods.

The article explained "at 9 o'clock yesterday morning the place was crowded with workmen and creditors struggling for possession of some of the goods.  The twenty-five workmen had not been paid, and they were attempting to remove goods, but were prevented by the creditors, about fifteen in number."

By 1915 Golemb & Cohen had lost the "Loveman" portion of the business.  The company, located on the top floor, employed 15 men and eight women.  Manufacturing came to an abrupt halt following a significant fire on February 25 that year.

The fire broke out around 11:00 that night on the third floor of a cloak and suit manufacturer.  Fire fighters who responded to the alarm of fire scoured the block trying to find it.  Meanwhile the heat of the smoldering fabrics built up within the enclosed space.  The Evening World reported "Policemen and firemen had been searching for the fire for an hour when it burst from the front of the building."

The sudden influx of oxygen fed the flames, which traveled up the elevator shaft to the fourth floor.  Fire fighters from Engine No. 72 went inside the inferno.  At around 1:00 a.m. a section of the floor collapsed, hurling John Middlestadt down to the second floor.  The injured man was taken to New York Hospital.  Ironically, he had just been released from the hospital after spending several weeks there recuperating from injuries in an earlier blaze.  Damages estimates were placed at $25,000, or around $629,000 today.

Golemb & Cohen moved on, replaced in 1916 by the National Garment Co.  Arnold Kamps, trimmings, took the renovated third floor.  Otherwise, Agnes Poirier seems to have had trouble filling the building.  In September 1917 she hired architect Edward L. Angell, perhaps best known for his whimsical Queen Anne houses on the Upper West Side, to make additional interior renovations.  They included new doors, reconfigured floor plans, and new windows.

The scheme worked.  A flurry of leases were signed by the beginning of 1918.  When Kopp Dress Co. took the fifth floor and Paul Puttman the fourth on the same day, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide commented on February 9, 1918 "the two leases complete the renting of the building."

Only one of the many-paned transoms survives.  Note the different textures of the glass panels.

Agnes H. Poirier retained ownership of the building for decades, leasing floors to similar tenants well into the Depression years.  The Rainbow Children's Dress Co. and the Goodyear Knitting Co. were here in the early 1920's, for instance, and in February 1932 she leased the second floor to the State Button Company; while the cotton textile firm of Alvin John Schafer was an upper floor.

But as the garment district moved north of 34th Street around the same time, a new type of tenant arrived.  Sharing the building in the 1940's and early '50's was J. Sweet & G. Leving, Inc. general contractors.  And in October 1957 Placematters signed a lease.  The firm produced children's place mats decorated with popular television and cartoon characters.

Placematters created colorful plastic place mats for kids.

The last quarter of the 20th century saw the formerly industrial neighborhood taken over by trendy shops and restaurants.  By the mid-1970's the sixth floor, where workers once sewed dresses, was home to Rima Sculptures, a combination art gallery and shop for one-of-a-kind pieces like jewelry.

By 1983 Video D Studios, a performance arts and video studio space, was on the top floor.  It remained here into the 21st century.

In 1988 J. P. Lofland's New York Grill opened in the ground floor.  A renovation completed in 1992 resulted in offices on the second, an artist studio on the third, one apartment each on the fourth and fifth, and the video-dance studio on the top floor. 

J. P. Lofland's New York Grill was a familiar spot in the neighborhood, lasting until 2006 when the space was taken over by the Lonesome Dove Western Bistro.  It was the New York version of chef Tim Love's Fort Worth restaurant and featured items like "roast garlic-stuffed beef tenderloin and New Zealand red deer with macaroni and cheese," according to the opening announcement.

The restaurant, which opened in September that year, featured much more exotic fare than New Zealand deer.  On the menu at various times were kangaroo, antelope ribs, buffalo, and quesadillas stuffed with quail.  It prompted New York Times food critic Frank Bruni on November 15, 2006 to refer to the menu as "a Noah's ark of birdies and beasties."

But even the most adventurous of Manhattan foodies did not rush for a table.  On August 8 the following year The New York Times announced "After the quick exit of the Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, Jay Shaffer, who owns Shaffer City Oyster Bar and Grill down the block, bought the lease and is turning it into a casual restaurant."  Named Flatiron Joe's there was no kangaroo on its menu.  Instead the eatery offered bar food like nachos, sliders and pizza.

Another renovation, completed in 2010, did away with the restaurant space altogether   Above were now one apartment per floor below a duplex on the sixth and new seventh floor, invisible from street level.  Today the store is home to a dry cleaner.   James Ware & Son's handsome turn-of-the-century design survives undiminished by the larger loft buildings that crowd in around it.

photographs by the author

The 1847 Gouverneur Morris, Jr. House - 9 Gramercy Park South

In 1847 a flurry of construction was taking place along the southern border of Gramercy Park.  The elegant new park would soon be ringed by opulent brick or brownstone faced homes of wealthy citizens.  Two matching speculative houses were finished that year at Nos. 9 and 10.  Completed in 1848 they were four stories tall above English basements and an ample 26-feet wide.  Their Greek Revival design was, on the most part, understated.  The parlor levels, however, hinted at the upscale nature of the homes and their owners.  The entrances were flanked by fluted pilasters with foliate capitals, the leafy carvings of which were highly influenced by Egyptian Revival.  The two floor-to-ceiling windows almost assuredly were fronted by cast iron balconies.

Converted to a window today, the entrance featured capitals which reflected two current architectural trends--a sort of Greece meets Egypt.

No. 9 became home to the Gouveneur Morris, Jr. family.  Born on his family's estate, Old Morrisania, in the Bronx in 1813, he was the son of Gouverneur Morris, who not only signed the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation, but wrote the Preamble to the United States Constitution.

Morris was a vice-president of the New York and Harlem River Railroad.  He and his wife (who happened to be his first cousin), the former Martha Jefferson Cary, had five children, including Gouverneur Morris III, Anne Carrie Morris, Mary Fairfax Morris, Peter Randolph Morris, and another daughter.

Morris's father had died in 1816 and Old Morrisania passed to him.  The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record later said "Inheriting a large and beautiful estate in West Chester County from his father, Mr. Morris' early years were passed in the occupations of a gentleman farmer, inheriting with his estates a strong interest in nature and all her marvellous processes."

Known familiarly as "Gouverno," much of his professional focus now involved the district around the estate.  He had donated St. Ann's Church there as a memorial to his family; helped develop Port Morris as a commercial port, and gave land in 1848 for the development of a workingman's village to be called Morrisania.

Gouverneur Morris, Jr. from the collection of the Walters Art Museum

So attached to the family homestead was he that when Mary was married to John Alfred Davenport in the chapel of Rose Castle in Carlisle, England on August 15, 1874, The New York Herald described her as the "daughter of Gouverneur Morris, of Old Morrisania, N.Y.," ignoring the town house completely.

But that same year the city annexed Morrisania.  Morris moved his family permanently out of the estate, fearing the neighborhood would become another crowded urban environment.  The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record later explained that because he "had an inherent objection to being one of a million people in a city, left Morrisania and made his home in a quaint anti-revolutionary house at Pelham, belonging to members of his family."  About the same time the family stopped returning to the Gramercy Park residence.  The Record said he was "Not sorry to be far away from the stir and weariness of life."

Morris did not sell No. 9, however.  He leased it.  In the early 1880's George Glanzer lived here.  On January 24, 1882 The Evening Telegram noted that he "will give an elegant dinner party on Saturday."  Later that year the family of Lloyd Aspinwall moved in.

Three days before Christmas in 1882 the house was nearly lost.  At 10:00 on the morning of December 22 a fire started in the basement and quickly spread to the parlor floor.  The Watertown Times reported "The occupants of the house, Mrs. Aspinwall, two children, three servant girls and a butler, were panic-stricken, and their escape by the stairways being cut off, they took refuge on a window sill, where they stood shrieking for help."  Everyone was rescued by fire fighters who raised ladders to the windows.

Gouverneur Morris died on August 20, 1888.  By the time of his death his daughter Mary and her family had moved into the Gramercy Park house.  Earlier that year the New York Evening Telegram had reported "This afternoon Miss Sarah Cowell will give the last of a series of Browning readings, at the residence of Mrs. Alfred Davenport, No. 9 Gramercy park."

J. Alfred Davenport was a corporate lawyer, the head of Davenport, Smith & Perkins.  He traveled to the Southwest  on business early in 1890 and, while returning, was "prostrated by a severe cold," according to the Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University.  He made it as far as Cincinnati, where he was taken to a hotel suffering from pneumonia.  Within about a week symptoms of typhoid appeared.  He died there on May 3 at the age of 51.

In his memory Mary donated a "mural mosaic" to the church her father had built, St. Mary's Protestant Episcopal Church.  It was unveiled on February 7, 1892.  The New-York Tribune wrote "The decorations represent angelic figures in attitudes of prayer and praise."

Mary and her two daughters, Beatrix Cary and Hettie Gouverneur, remained at No. 9.  The girls were 15- and 13-years-old respectively at the time of their father's death.

Four years later the girls were introduced to society simultaneously, although Hettie was a bit younger than most debutantes.  On December 7, 1894 the New-York Tribune reported "Mrs. J. Alfred Davenport, of No. 9 Gramercy Park, gave a dinner party last night in honor of her daughters, Miss Beatrix Cary Davenport and Miss Hetty Gouverneur Davenport."  And two weeks later on December 20 the Evening Telegram that Mary would be "among the dinner-entertainers of this evening."  The article added "Mrs. Davenport's dinner company will be the finale of the first of her series of receptions which is on this afternoon."

By 1898 Mary and the girls had moved permanently to England.  The magazine Form wrote in its October issue that year "The last members of the Gouverneur Morris branch, who occupied Old Morrisania, was Mrs. J. Alfred Davenport, née Mary Fairfax Morris, now with her daughters...residing in London, England."  But like her father, she retained possession of the Gramercy Park house, preferring to lease rather than sell.

The family of Edward Prime was living here in May 1903 when he and his wife announced that the wedding of their daughter, Charlotte Hoffman Prime, to William Massena Benjamin would take place in Grace Church on June 11.

On March 22, 1919 the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that Mary had sold No. 9 to Capt. G. W. Bond "who will probably remodel."  The journal noted "This is the former residence of Governor [sic] Morris...The old house still contains the original mahogany doors, panels and is a very good type of the old Colonial interior."

George W. Bond, Jr. was not especially impressed with the intact condition of the vintage residence.  He converted it to non-housekeeping apartments (meaning there were no kitchens).  The Certificate of Occupancy demanded "less than 16 sleeping rooms."

Although the entrance was moved to the basement level, the original framing was preserved and converted to French windows.  A rather attractive two-story metal bay replaced the parlor and second floor windows and the cornices of the other windows were shaved off.  It was, overall, a rather architecturally sympathetic conversion given the period.

Rent on a two-room and bath apartment in the renovated building ranged from $1,500 to $1,800 per year--about $2,100 a month today for the more expensive space.

A subsequent renovation completed in 1940 resulted in three apartments in the basement and two each on the upper stories.  The configuration continued until 1965 when the second floor was converted to just one apartment.

Compared to the other vintage houses along the block, the Gouverneur Morris house survived conversion in relative good shape.  It is not difficult to imagine it as it was when the Morris family climbed the brownstone stoop to the handsome entryway.

photographs by the author