The Puzzling Anomaly at 41 Bank Street

 

photo by Jason Kessler

On April 30, 1890, James W. Ketcham purchased the house-and-store at the northeast corner of West 4th and Bank Street from Mary E. Faitoute, paying $24,000 for it and the "two-story frame (brick front) stable on rear," as reported by the Record & Guide.  The price would translate to about $829,000 in 2024.

The West 4th Street house had been erected in 1836.  Ketcham raised its peaked attic to a third floor before selling the property a year later, on April 4, 1891, to John S. Mortimer.  Mortimer renovated the store to a saloon, demolished the stable, and erected a one-story extension at 41 Bank Street.  It served as the residential entrance to the upper floors.

On August 29, 1895, The New York Times reported, "Patrick McIntyre...who was found unconscious Sunday morning at the side entrance to the saloon of John Mortimer, 41 Bank Street, died yesterday."  McIntyre was the well-to-do owner of the Tally-Ho Stables on West 15th Street.  Although McIntyre had left his home that night with "considerable money," according to his son, and his wallet was missing when he was found, police "could find no evidence of foul play," according to the article.

The building caught fire on December 6, 1905.  As Engine No. 72 responded, chaos ensued.  The Evening Post reported that the tender smashed into a runabout in which Henry Cherry and James McGuire were riding at 12th Street and Fifth Avenue, and the battalion chief's wagon "knocked down and bruised" an aged woman at Bleecker and Bank Streets.  The fire damage to 41 Bank Street was minimal, but Cherry and McGuire both suffered broken bones and contusions.

The Mortimer family sold 301 West 4th Street and 41 Bank Street to Stuyvesant Wainwright in 1922.  Around the same time he acquired 303 and 305 West 4th Street and 39 Bank Street.  Six years later, The New York Times said he "remodeled them in an artistic manner and named the group Rosebank."  It was most likely at this time that the distinctive Federal style doorway was installed at 41 Bank Street.  

The entrance is nearly identical to those at 327 and 329 West 4th Street, erected in 1829, and was most likely salvaged from a neighborhood house.  The original, eight-paneled door is flanked by fluted Ionic columns and two half-columns.  They front narrow sidelights and wood carved to resemble stone blocks.  Delicate egg-and-dart carving embellishes the cornice below the transom.

photo by Jason Kessler

The surprising little building at 41 Bank Street prompts a double-take from passersby.  It continues to serve as the residential entrance to the West 4th Street structure.

many thanks to reader Jason Kessler for suggesting this post

Schwartz & Gross's 1917 300 West End Avenue

 

On New Year's Day 1916, the Record & Guide reported that the Paterno Construction Company had commissioned Gaetan Ajello to design an apartment house at the northeast corner of West End Avenue and 74th Street.  "The structure will be equipped throughout with every modern appliance, containing quarters for thirteen families," said the article.  But something went awry.  Ten months later, on October 14, the journal noted that Schwartz & Gross was now working on the plans.

The 13-story building was completed in 1917 at a cost of $250,000, or about $5.9 million by 2024 conversion.  Faced in Flemish bond brick and trimmed in limestone, granite and terra cotta, its Colonial Revival design included a dignified entrance with engaged Scamozzi pilasters and a sweeping arched pediment filled with intricate carvings.  Stone bandcourses relieved the visual bulk of the building, and a parapet with stone roundels took the place of a cornice.

An advertisement in The Sun on September 30, 1917 offered a "high class corner apartment" of 12 rooms and five baths, noting, "building just completed."

The sprawling apartments became home to well-to-do families, like Robert Edison Fulton, a vice-president of the International Motor Company, and his family; Horace M. Kilborn, vice-president of the National City Bank; and Ezra Johnson Travis.

Travis's life story was fascinating.  Born in Greenville, Pennsylvania in 1844, Travis served in the Civil War as a scout before going into cattle ranching in Montana.  Known as "Jot," he was a partner in the pioneering firm of Gilner & Salisbury, which became one of the largest stage coach companies in the West.  It led to his landing Government contracts to carry mail via stage throughout the West.  He later held contracts for transporting mail in Chicago, Philadelphia and New York.  The wealthy widower died at the age of 75 on July 12, 1919.

Ezra "Jot" Johnson Travis in his earlier years.  (original source unknown)

The Spregelberg family were also initial tenants.  The country entered World War I months after 300 West End Avenue opened, and Sidney L. Spregelberg went off to fight in Europe.  Tragically, on August 3, 1918, his name appeared on a list of casualties published by the New-York Tribune.  The young lieutenant had died of disease.

Horace M. Kilborn's apartment faced southwest, overlooking the massive Charles M. Schwab mansion and the Hudson River.  On the evening of May 14, 1920, he was watching the sunset when something caught his eye on the Schwab grounds.  The Sun reported, "He saw a man walk in through the main gate, run to the door and ring several times.  On getting no response the stranger took off his hat and waved it several times, shouting."

The caretaker did not seem to be around, so Kilborn took matters into his own hands.  He went into sleuth mode, going downstairs and following the interloper around for about half an hour.  Eventually, the man went into the watchman's house on West End Avenue and asked Fred Forms for 50 cents.  He told Forms he needed a place to sleep.  Kilborn had heard enough and found a policeman who arrested Frederick Grant Gresham.

At the 68th Street station house, the 38-year-old insisted he was a stock broker with Smith & Co. on Wall Street.  His excuse for being on the Schwab estate was inventive.  "He said he wanted to get advice from Mr. Schwab on how to prevent annoyance of his mother and sister, living in Chicago, by certain persons," reported The Sun.

Among the Kilborns' neighbors were Claude W. Kress and his wife, the former Agatha F. Sheehan.  Kress came from a colonial family, his first American descendant arriving from Germany in 1752.  He was the president of S. H. Kress & Co., a nationwide chain of 5, 10 and 25 cent stores.  

In January 1921, police were dealing with what The Evening World described as "the anarchist bomb plot scare."  Tensions rose after a telephoned tip on January 12 sent Secret Service men on a hunt for a bomb in the Customs House.  The following day a servant in the Kress apartment read the story.  When a package was delivered late that afternoon, she panicked.  The Evening World reported, "C. W. Kress was in the library of his home at No. 300 West End Avenue when his housekeeper brought in what she called a 'suspicious package' which had come by express from Anatol, N. J."  Kress agreed that it was suspect and called the Bureau of Combustibles.

The Bomb Squad removed the package to "a lonely spot at 74th Street and the North [i.e. Hudson] River and opened it," said the article.  Inside were 14 pieces of Dresden china.  The Evening World reported, "'Goodness me,' said the housekeeper, 'I ordered that and forgot all about it.'"

Marcus and Carrie Loew lived here at the time.  Their country estate was in Glen Cove, New York.  Born in 1870 to a poor Jewish family on the Lower East Side, Loew saved money he earned from small jobs and invested it in the penny arcade business.  Eventually he established the Loew Theatres, a leading chain of vaudeville and motion picture theaters.  In 1920, he purchased Metro Pictures Corporation, and later acquired the controlling interest in Goldwyn Picture Corporation.  In 1924 the two would merge into Metro-Goldwyn Pictures.

Marcus Loew lived in the building when this photographs was taken in 1922.  from the collection of the Library of Congress.

Marcus Loew was the recipient of what The Evening World on May 29, 1922 called "a curious bequest."  The will of millionaire attorney Charles Reinhardt directed his executors "to purchase a 'suitable diamond stud' for him," said the article.

In 1958, actor and singer Harry Belafonte had achieved stardom.  His 1956 album Calypso was the first million-selling LP by a single artist, and he had a starring role in the 1954 motion picture Carmen Jones.  He married Julie Robinson, his second wife, on March 8, 1957.  In his autobiography My Song: A Memoir of Art, Race and Defiance, Belafonte writes, "Julie and I fell in love with a four-bedroom rental at 300 West End Avenue, one of those great old drafty Upper West Side apartments with not only a living room but a library and pantry."  The problem was, when they arrived to tour the apartment, it was suddenly rented.

Belefonte's publicist, Mike Merrick, who was white, went to see the apartment.  "Now the lease was readily conferred," Belefonte wrote.  The singer signed the lease with his own name and it was countersigned by the building manager.  He continues:

Apparently the building manager didn't know who I was.  Julie and I moved our furniture in first, then showed up to take occupancy.  Within hours, the building manager became aware he had a Negro as a tenant.  He passed on the word to the building's owner, who didn't like this at all.

The owner was Ramfis Trujillo, described by Belafonte as the "illegitimate son of the dictator of the Dominican Republic."  He writes, "His own skin color was high-yellow Spanish, but he clearly saw himself as white, and in his building he'd maintained the neighborhood's unwritten covenant against blacks."  With a binding one-year lease in hand, Belafonte had no intention of being forced out.  But he was also clearly aware that his lease would not be renewed.

And so, he set up a dummy real estate company, then worked with other friendly tenants to set up two others.  The dummy companies then began a bidding war to buy the building.  Belafonte put up the $2 million to back the project.  He explains in My Song, "Rental properties were growing less profitable for their owners.  The whole concept of co-ops was just starting to take hold."  And, just as the Belafontes' lease was about to expire, the owner accepted the highest bid.  "As most of the other tenants stepped up to buy their apartments, too, the money I'd invested came flowing back," writes Belafonte.

Harry Belafonte in 1954.  from the collection of the Library of Congress

A hold-out was the couple's next door neighbor, a widow.  A compromise was achieved when Belafonte found her a rental in another building, and then paid her the going price for her apartment (even though she did not own it).  The Belafontes then combined the two--creating a 21-room, 7,000-square-foot residence.

Now that the building was resident-owned, Harry Belafonte explains, "our goal was integration, not reverse segregation."  Among the first new owners was singer Lena Horne and her husband, composer Lennie Hayton, who purchased a penthouse.  Bass player Ron Carter purchased an apartment around the same time.

Belafonte writes, 

Julie and I would live in that cavernous apartment for nearly half a century, raising our children and entertaining a glittering array of guests.  Among our first were Martin and Coretta King...Martin would come to think of it as his home away from home, staying with us on many of his New York trips...Soon, Senator John F. Kennedy would come to visit, seeking my endorsement in his race for president.  Eleanor Roosevelt would come to visit, too, though more often we went to see her, driving north to the family compound in Hyde Park, New York, for some of the most rewarding evenings of my life.

Adding to the list of entertainment royalty like Horne and Belafonte at 300 West End Avenue at the turn of the century were Tina Fey and her husband Jeff Richmond.  On January 7, 2016, 6sqft reported that the couple had purchased a second, ten-room apartment directly above theirs.  The article said they "will likely be taking down some floors and walls to create one large duplex."

After more than a century, Schwartz & Gross's dignified brick building maintains a patrician presence on the 74th Street corner.

photographs by the author

The Lost Astor Building - 10-12 Wall Street

 

from King's Photographic Views of New York, 1895 (copyright expired)

On January 15, 1881, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide commented that John Jacob Astor's recent purchase of 10 and 12 Wall Street showed "what heavy blocks of money are going in that direction [i.e., downtown]."  Astor had paid half a million dollars for the old buildings (about $15.4 million in 2024).  In a separate article, the Record & Guide noted, "The buildings will be torn down in May, when present leases expire and a grand office structure, 44x120, having probably eight or nine stories, will replace the present buildings."

But Astor temporarily put his plans on hold.  Perhaps reacting to his new tenants' entreaties, just over a week later the Record & Guide reported that he told them, "if they will remain on a four years' lease, he will not pull down the structures on the 1st of May."  The deal came with a price.  "Two tenants who now pay $4,500 each per annum have been raised to $10,000 each," said the article.

There would be no more reprieves.  In 1885, Astor demolished the vintage structures and hired Henry Jayneway Hardenbergh to design a replacement office building.  (Hardenbergh would work with Astor's son, William Waldorf Astor, in designing the Waldorf Hotel in 1893, and with William's cousin, John Jacob Astor IV, in 1897 in designing the Astoria Hotel next door.)

Hardenbergh blended Romanesque Revival and German Renaissance Revival styles.  The ground floor was faced in undressed "Scotch stone" with two polished gray granite pillars flanking the entrance.  The upper floors were clad in red brick and trimmed in terra cotta.  The midsection of Hardenbergh's tripartite design included four-story arches that embraced metal bays.  The top section took the form of a steep mansard fronted by a terra cotta encrusted gable flanked by dormers.

Although publications like Ernest Ingersoll's A Week in New York (a sort of guidebook), called the Astor Building "splendid," some architectural critics were less enthusiastic.  On February 5, 1887, the Record & Guide applauded Hardenbergh's merging of the first and second floors.  "The device is clever and effective, uniting the basement [i.e., ground floor] and marking it off from the superstructure, as could not have been done if it had consisted of two entirely separate stories."  But the critic felt that placing the central piers upon "dwarf columns" was "clearly a mistake."  He brutally opined, "The carving of the basement is feeble and ineffectual, and the bead and reel moulding at the intrados of the arches in the second story is really childish."  Overall, however, the article said the defects "are very pardonable, for they are defects in a generally successful and satisfactory piece of work."

Among the initial tenants was the banking and brokerage house of John H. Davis & Co., which moved into the Astor Building in November 1886.  The firm was founded in 1866 and for 17 years had operated from 17 Wall Street.  Bankers' Magazine noted, "This house has a wide reputation for honorable dealing...and both old friends and new will be pleased with the improved facilities now offered."  The firm would remain here for decades.

The Financial Review, 1888 (copyright expired)

Millionaire Calvin S. Brice ran his empire of railroads from his office here.  He owned ten railroads by the time he moved into the Astor Building.  He was, as well, involved in the National Telegraph Company and the Chase National Bank of New York.

Brice's office was the meeting place of the sub-Committee of the World's Fair Committee on Finance on October 17, 1889.  The other members were William Steinway, S. D. Babcock and Morris K. Jesup.  After the meeting, Brice told reporters the members would reconvene at his Fifth Avenue mansion that evening to finalize a complete report.  New York was competing with Chicago, St. Louis and Washington D.C. as the site of the proposed 1893 World's Fair.  No doubt very disappointing to Brice and his committee members, Chicago was awarded the honor.

Hardenbergh's rendering of the Astor Building.  Real Estate Record & Guide Office Building Supplement, June 25, 1898 (copyright expired)

William H. Roberts and Neil McCullum organized the Finance Trading Company in 1892 "and opened carpeted quarters in the Astor Building," as reported by The Sun.  At the time, "confidential clerks" were highly valued employees, today's equivalent of executive assistants.  The role was almost exclusively held by men.  The Finance Trading Company, however, "were extremely fortunate in selecting a confidential clerk.  They secured for that place a willowy woman, fair and young," said The Sun on August 26, 1892.

The newspaper reported that the previous day, the young woman "sat at the President's fine new roll-top desk, in the President's fine new swinging chair, and complacently told the stream of callers who asked for Mr. Roberts that the gentleman would not be in until to-morrow."  The reason that neither William Roberts nor Neil McCullum were in the office was because they had been arrested.  The previous day, The Evening World reported they were accused of running a "bogus bank" and having swindled their clients.

Along with the many bankers and brokers in the building, there were law firms.  Among them was Woodward & Mayer.  Partner J. M. Mayer graduated from Columbia Law School in 1886.  The Scroll commented on Mayer's dashing good looks in its December 1892 issue.  "He is the same man whose face every lady looking at the Atlanta and Burlington convention picks out and asks, 'Who's this?'"

J. M. Mayer was considered a heart-throb.  The Scroll, December 1892 (copyright expired)

Attorneys Thomas F. Gilroy, Jr. and Robert L. Wensley operated from the Astor Building in 1894 when Gilroy's engagement to socialite Natalie Hale was announced on November 22.  The engagement was notable not only because of Natalie's social position (The Evening World said she "comes from a family that has been prominent in society for two hundred years"), but because Gilroy's father was the Mayor of New York City.  The Evening World remarked, "The Mayor seemed pleased at his son's engagement."

Thomas F. Gilroy, Jr. The Evening World, November 23, 1894 (copyright expired)

Having the mayor as his father proved lucrative and eventually humiliating for Gilroy.  He was appointed City Chamberlain with an annual salary of $5,000 (about $165,000 today) and his firm received plum city commissions.

But on May 7, 1895, The Evening World reported that a meeting of the aldermen the previous day had resulted in "an attack upon Thomas F. Gilroy, Jr."  It was revealed that in January 1888 Gilroy and Wensley were commissioned by the Mayor's Office to compile city ordinances.  The firm received $5,100 and Gilroy was paid an additional $5,000 as counsel.  After seven years "during which the firm named was evidently hard at work," according to The Evening World, the report was submitted on May 6, 1895.

The Law Committee "finds that the compilation is practically worthless," reported the article, and stressed that the work could have been handled "by a subordinate in the offices of the counsel or under clerk of this Board."

John Jacob Astor III died in 1890.  The Astor Building was inherited by William Waldorf Astor.  After a vicious feud with his aunt Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, William relocated his family to England.  He continued, nevertheless, to manage his vast Manhattan properties.

On July 2, 1915, The New York Times reported that he had given his son, John Jacob Astor V, $7 million in Manhattan real estate, including the Astor Building.  The newspaper described the Astor Building as, "an old one...but it has always been kept in modern condition and is a popular office structure."

In February 1919, John Jacob Astor V hired architect Charles E. Birge to design a replacement structure.  He filed plans in February 1919 "for the erection of a thirty-two story structure on the site of the old building," according to the Record & Guide.  The cost was projected at $1.5 million (about $26.4 million today).

Instead, however, Astor sold the property to The Bankers' Trust Co.  "On the site of the newly acquired property the trust company will erect a thirty-two story addition to its present structure," said the Record & Guide.  Designed by Trowbridge & Livingston, the Bankers Trust Company Building survives.

photograph by ChrisRuvolo

The James Webb House - 43 Charlton Street

 

Before being updated in 1892, the lintels originally matched those of the house to the right.

John Jacob Astor I began a flurry of construction on the former Richmond Hill estate--leased from Trinity Church--in the 1820s.  By paying the land leases decades forward, he made the new homes more marketable.  Among the earliest was 43 Charlton Street, one of a row of homes completed between 1824 and 1828.

Two-and-a-half-stories tall above a stone basement, its openings wore stepped and molded lintels.  A marble stoop and the delicate ironwork of the areaway and stoop were expensive touches.  Two dormers originally pierced the peaked roof.

By the early 1830s, 43 Charlton Street was home to James and Rebecca Montgomery.  Living with the family at least from 1836 through 1841 was George Lent, a clerk.  He was most likely a boarder.  

The Montgomerys' teenaged son became ill in 1837.  On March 27 that year, The Evening Post announced in Victorian prose that Charles R. Montgomery had died, "early this morning, after a lingering illness, which he bore with Christian fortitude and resignation in the hope of a blessed immortality."  Charles was 17 years old.  His funeral was held in the parlor the following afternoon.

Around 1845, James Webb purchased 43 Charlton Street.  He was listed in city directories as "mason," but was much more.  Born in 1800, The American Architect and Building News would later call him one of the "best-known building contractors in New York," noting, "Mr. Webb was for many years employed by the great New York families of the Astors and Van Cortlandts."  He was, as well, a trustee of the Hudson River Building and Mutual Loan Association.

Webb and his wife, the former Catherine Fawpell, had a son, Edward Dodge Webb, who was born in 1844.  Living with the family was Catherine's widowed mother, Mary Elizabeth Fawpell.  

The parlor was once again the scene of a funeral in 1847.  Mary Fawpell died at the age of 76 on April 23, and her funeral was held two days later.

It was likely Webb's prominence in the construction community that led to his being placed on the Coroner's Jury on November 22, 1851 to investigate what newspapers called "The Ninth Ward Calamity."  A day earlier, a false alarm of fire panicked the students in the Ninth Ward School on Greenwich Street.  The staircase, unable to handle the weight of the throng of children, collapsed.  The New York Times reported that scores of children plummeted to the stone floor.  "In this way, the area was instantly filled, and there they lay, one upon another, to the depth of ten or twelve feet."  The newspaper reported that 43 children were killed and many more severely injured.

The following year, Webb's firm began construction of the mansion of John Jacob Astor III on the northwest corner of 33rd Street.  He would be hired by Astor's brother, William B. Astor, in 1855 to construct his mansion next door at the corner of 34th Street.  

By then, Webb had moved his family to Morton Street.  On February 8, 1853, 43 Charlton Street was sold at auction.  The announcement described the 23-foot-wide house as being "built with all modern improvements" and noted "gas introduced into the house."  Perhaps because special lighting fixtures were installed when the gas lines were brought in--replacing whale oil fixtures--the announcement noted, "Chandeliers go with the house."

It appears the house was leased for a number of years.  The turnover of occupants included I. G. Klinck in 1855; John W. Buchanan, a dealer in gas fixtures in 1860-61; and real estate operator David Coleman in 1862.  Coleman died at the age of 54 in the house "of heart disease" on February 10, 1863.

In 1872, Edward M. Plum purchased 43 Charlton Street.  He was a clerk of records in the County Courthouse, earning $2,500 per year (equal to about $78,800 in 2024).  A staunch Democrat, he was a member of the Tammany General Committee of the Fifth Assembly District in 1875.  Also on the committee and boarding with the Plum family was William Cleary.

The Plums moved to MacDougal Street in 1880, and 43 Charlton Street became a boarding house run by Maria Joyce, the widow of James Joyce.  Also living here was her son, John J. Joyce, who worked as a clerk.

On March 26, 1886, James W. Merritt rented a room in the house.  The Sun explained he was a "butter maker of Flackville, St. Lawrence county, N.Y." and had come to New York on business.  On St. Patrick's Day, Merritt went uptown to Central Park "to look at the animals" in the menagerie.  "He met there a heavy, red-bearded man, with a businesslike air, who was accompanied by a young woman," said the article.  George L. Morgan made small talk about the "curiosities in the Park," and asked Merritt if he were connected with the builders.

When told that the visitor came from Flackville, Morgan was delighted, saying he lived nearby the town.  He then introduced Merritt to his wife and suggested they walk to his hotel, where he needed to take care of some business, after which they would "view the curiosities together."  The two headed off, leaving Mrs. Morgan in the park.

At 65th Street, a man rushed up to Morgan "in hot haste," according to The Sun, asking why Morgan had not paid freight on certain goods that were shipped,  Morgan had a check for $250, but the man did not have change.  The article said, "Mr. Merritt had $35, which he advanced on the check, and Morgan asked him to go back and wait with his wife while he went to his hotel and finished his business."  When Merritt arrived at the spot, the woman was gone.  

Merritt reported the theft to the police, and resolved not to return to Flackville until he had his money (equal to more than $1,000 today) back.  The Sun said he vowed, "he would wait in New York until the thieves were caught."  Whether they were apprehended is unclear.

Michael Cohen and his wife Tillie purchased 43 Charlton Street in 1890, taking a $9,000 mortgage from William W. Astor.  Cohen was a well-heeled "merchant tailor" whose shop was at 338 Hudson Street.  

In May 1892, the Cohens hired architect L. F. Heinecke to enlarge and modernize the house.  The attic was raised to a full third floor, interior walls were altered, and modern, pressed metal lintels were applied over the openings.  The renovations cost the couple the equivalent of about $62,000 today.

Michael Cohen was involved in Jewish charities, and was president of the Darech Amuno Free Burial Fund Society.  Its stated purpose in 1898 was to provide "the ground for burials of Hebrews dying in destitution."

In 1901, the Cohens sold 43 Charlton Street to Joseph and Angelina Personeni for $16,000 (about $592,000 today).  Joseph Personeni was in the medicine business at 496-498 West Broadway.  The couple would remain here until December 1919, when they sold the house to Joseph Veshi.

For several years, Veshi leased the house to William J. Duffy and his wife, the former Frances O. Welsh.  Born on the Lower West Side of Manhattan in 1880, Duffy became a clerk in the County Clerk's office in 1906, where he eventually became associated with John F. Curry of Tammany Hall.  The two became close friends and in 1913 Curry made Duffy Tammany's secretary.  William J. Duffy died on October 5, 1930.

Around 1940, the house was unofficially converted to three apartments.  An advertisement in 1942 offered apartments of "4 or 5 rooms" at $55 to $60 with "all modern improvements" including "refrigeration."  Rent for the most expensive apartment would translate to about $1,120 per month today.

The configuration lasted until 2004 when a renovation resulted in a two-family residence.

photographs by the author

no permission to reuse the content of this blog has been granted to LaptrinhX.com

The William Jay House -- 22 East 72nd Street

 

Although he was an attorney and partner in the law firm Jay & Candler, William Jay was most often referred to by his military title, Colonel.  During the Civil War, he had served on the staff of General George Meade and saw action in the Battles of Gettysburg, Chancellorsville, Mine Run and Appomattox.  He was born on February 12, 1841 into a socially prominent, old New York family.  A great-grandson of Founding Father and first Chief Justice of the United States, John Jay; his grandfather was Judge William Jay; and his father, John Jay, was a lawyer and Minster to Austria.

Jay married Lucie Oelrichs in 1878.  While her American pedigree was not as deep as her husband's (her father, Henry Ferdinand Oelrichs, immigrated to America from Bremen, Germany around 1830), her family was no less wealthy.  Her brother, Hermann Oelrichs and his wife Theresa Fair were major players in New York and Newport high society.  The Jays had three daughters: Julia, born in 1879; Eleanor, born in 1882; and Dorothy, who died at the age of two in 1889.  The family's country estate was Bedford House, in Westchester County.

Colonel William Jay, from Portraits of the Presidents of the [Saint Nicholas] Society, 1914 (copyright expired)

On May 3, 1890, the Record & Guide reported that construction of the Jays' new townhouse on Fifth Avenue between 65th and 66th Streets was nearly completed.  At the time, the family of Alfred Nathan lived in the high-stooped brownstone at 22 East 72nd Street, just east of Madison Avenue. 

If the Jay family ever occupied the Fifth Avenue house, it was for a very short time.  Less than three years later, on March 18, 1893, the Record & Guide reported that Rose & Stone was designing a 25-foot wide, five story residence for William Jay on the site of the Alfred Nathan home.  Completed in 1894, the limestone faced structure was designed in the neo-Renaissance style.  A commanding portico with Scamozzi columns provided a stone-railed balcony at the second floor.   A four-story bowed bay was crowned with a stone balustrade that matched another atop the understated cornice.  A carved frieze of garlands ran below the roofline.

Lucie Oelrichs Jay was firm friends with Alva Erskine Smith Vanderbilt.  Their close relationship survived Alva's shocking divorce from William Kissam Vanderbilt in March 1895, when some socialites backed away.  On November 4, 1895, the rehearsal for Consuelo Vanderbilt's wedding to the Duke of Marlborough was held in St. Thomas's Church.  The New-York Tribune reported, "Only those persons directly interested and connected with the rehearsal were admitted."  Among those select few was Lucie Jay.  The article said she "suggested changes" to the procession of the bridesmaids.

Lucie Oelrichs Jay, from the collection of the Library of Congress

On November 5, the New-York Tribune noted, "Mrs. William Jay will give a dinner party in honor of Miss Vanderbilt and the Duke this evening at her home, No. 22 East Seventy-second-st."  Just over a week later, on November 16, The World reported, "Col. and Mrs. William Jay...gave a dinner on Thursday evening, when their guests included Mrs. William Kissam Vanderbilt and Mr. Oliver H. P. Belmont."  Alva Vanderbilt and Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont would be married two months later.

The family was in Hempstead, Long Island in October 1896 when 17-year-old Julia fell ill.  Back in the 72nd Street house, her condition did not improve.  On November 1, the New-York Tribune reported, "It was stated by authority of Colonel Jay, at the family home...that Miss Jay was doing well, and that the published statement that she was dying was without foundation."  But despite the denial, Julia had contracted typhoid fever and was seriously ill.  She died on November 10.

In December 1903, the Jays leased their home furnished to newlyweds Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt and his bride, Cathleen Neilson.  The Jay family moved to an apartment in the Essex Apartment Hotel.  

On October 30, 1904, The Sun reported that another pair of newlyweds, Robert and Elsie Goelet, "have taken the house of Mr. and Mrs. William Jay at 22 East Seventy-second street, furnished, for the season, and it is now being put in readiness for them."  The article mentioned that the Vanderbilts, who were at the St. Louis World's Fair, had "occupied the Jay house the winter after their marriage and their infant daughter was born there."

The Goelets moved in on November 2, 1904, but they would have to make themselves scarce before the month was over.  On November 27, The Sun reported that the couple, "will leave the Jay house...which they rented furnished, tomorrow, and decorators will be in possession to ornament it with white blossoms for the reception to be given by Col. and Mrs. Jay."  The wedding of the couple's only surviving daughter, Eleanor, to millionaire Arthur Iselin, was scheduled for November 29 at St. Agnes's Chapel on West 91st Street.  The socially prominent families who attended the reception had names like Vanderbilt, Sloane, Mackay, Belmont, Fish, Schieffelin, Twombley, Burden, Schermerhorn, Astor, Harriman and Morgan.

The national spotlight focused on 22 East 72nd Street in 1906 because of the Goelets' celebrated houseguest.  Alice Roosevelt was the daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt.  She arrived in New York on January 29 with her fiancé, Representative Nicholas Longworth of Ohio.  The New York Times said, "Miss Roosevelt will be the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Goelet at 22 East Seventy-second Street, until Wednesday night or Thursday morning." 

On December 7, 1907, The New York Times reported, "Mr. and Mrs. William Crocker are to move to-day into the Col. Jay house, 22 East Seventy-second Street, which Mr. and Mrs. Robert Goelet have been occupying since their marriage."

The Jays returned to East 72nd Street by 1914.  On November 25 that year, The Sun announced that William and Lucie "have returned from their country place, Bedford House, in Katonah, New York, and are at the Plaza before opening their house at 22 East Seventy-second Street.

Five months after that article, the Jays were at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.  William Jay died there on March 28.  On April 7, The New York Times reported the estate of the 74-year-old was estimated at "between $2,000,000 and $10,000,000." (The higher amount would translate to about $313 million in 2024.)  It was bequeathed entirely to Lucie and Eleanor.

Lucie left 22 East 72nd Street, continuing to lease it to socially-prominent tenants.  In 1916, William Sloane signed a lease, and Robert Goelet was back, alone, in 1918.  (Elsie had left him in 1914, accusing him of “misbehavior and wickedness repugnant to and in violation of his marriage covenant.")  In September 1919, Rufus Lenoir Patterson and his family moved in.

The Pattersons took possession just in time for the Grace Church wedding of their only daughter, Lucy Lathrop Patterson, to Casimir de Rham.  The reception was held in the 72nd Street house.

In August 1921, Henry Wainwright Howe purchased 22 East 72nd Street.  The price of $150,000 would equal about $2.5 million today.  His wife, the former Ethel Gardner, had died two years earlier.  Howe's purchase of the mansion was no doubt directly related to his recent marriage.  Four months earlier, on April 20, 1921, society had been shocked by an article in The New York Times, which began:

The fact that Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Fuller Potter of this city and Southampton had been divorced became known yesterday following the announcement that Mrs. Potter was married last Saturday to Henry Wainwright Howe...The report of the divorce and the marriage of Mrs. Potter came as a surprise to society.

Henry Wainwright Howe died in 1931.  Ten years later the mansion that had been home to so many of Manhattan's socially elite families was converted to apartments, two per floor.  

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

When the first and second floors of the house were converted to offices in 1967, the stoop was removed and the entrance lowered to sidewalk level.

A grainy tax photograph from around 1971 shows the altered first and second floors.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Then, as Ralph Lauren broke ground for its new building next door at the corner of 72nd Street and Madison Avenue in 2008, renovations to the former Jay mansion were initiated.  The stoop and portico were meticulously refabricated.  Today the house serves as part of the abutting retail establishment.

photographs by the author

The 1871 M. A. Glynn Livery Stable - 224 East 38th Street

 

Built in 1871, the livery stable at 224 East 38th Street was one of a row of similar buildings on what was known as a stable block.  Three stories tall and faced in red brick, it was a fetching commercial example of the Italianate style.  Perhaps to save costs, almost no stone was used in its decoration.  The elliptically arched lintels were executed in brick, as were the double-height piers of the upper section.  They morphed into a handsome corbel table that smacked of a row of icicles hanging from the cornice.

In 1941, the original appearance of the structure survived.  A plaque below the gable announces the date of construction.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

M. Jordan & Co. operated the livery stable in the 1890s.  By World War I, however, horses were almost completely replaced on the streets of Manhattan by motorized vehicles.  In 1918, the building was converted to a garage and repair shop for the Dearborn Truck Sales Company, Inc.  (The firm also leased the building next door at 220-224 East 38th Street, presumably as its showroom.)

New York Herald, June 16, 1918 (copyright expired)

The Dearborn Truck Sales Company, Inc. was based in Chicago.  The New York Herald, on June 16, 1918, called it, "among the pioneers in the manufacture of one and two ton truck units that convert Fords and other makes of cars into substantial one and two ton trucks."

The firm placed an advertisement in The New York Times on September 22, 1918 looking for a salesman "of ability to sell motor trucks; strictly commission; live, wide awake organization; prompt deliveries and efficient services.  Dearborn.  224 East 38th St."

The Dearborn Truck Sales Company's residency here would be extremely short-lived.  On April 6, 1919, an advertisement in The New York Times offered, 

Auto repair shop, service station, fully equipped machine shop; excellent location; satisfactory four-year lease; entire building, three floors, 6,000 square feet; quick action; immediate possession.  224 East 38th St., near 3d Av.

The building was leased by the printing and publishing firm Cameron & Bulkley.  It occupied the upper portion while sub-letting the ground floor to Eifler Brothers, "high grade automobile painting and upholstering."  That firm had a second location in Brooklyn.  Both companies would occupy the building until 1932, when the architectural firm of Bruno Berger & Sons converted the ground floor to a private garage and the upper two to factory space.

Karl P. Billner, a Swedish-born inventor and engineer, established his laboratories on one of the upper floors.  In 1935, he invented vacuum-processed concrete here.  His vacuum chamber removed a significant portion of the water from newly-mixed concrete, resulting in its setting more rapidly.  The U.S. Government tested it for bridge decks, canals and such.  At a "gathering of builders and construction men in his laboratory at 224 East Thirty-eighth Street," according to The Chemistry Leaflet in 1937, Billner suggested that the process offered "a possible solution of one phase of the low-cost housing problem."

In February 1946, Anna R. Crossin sold the former stable to "an electrical contractor [who] intends to occupy part of the premises for his business," according to The New York Sun.  The contractor was the Telephone Answering & Radio Paging Company, which did business as Telanserphone.

It was possibly at this time that the brick was painted and the roofline altered to a triangular gable that stretched end-to-end.

The new owner took one floor, and leased the others to the sales offices of the Gold Seal Company, and Experiment in International Living.  The Chicago-based Gold Seal Company manufactured "Glass Wax," advertised as a "Wartime Chemical Discovery!  Nothing like it anywhere for cleaning glass and metalware."  The Experiment in International Living described itself in 1948 as "a non-profit educational organization which has been promoting mutual understanding among the young peoples of 20 countries since 1932."

Telanserphone performed a much-needed service for professionals like physicians.  In its March 1951 issue, Popular Mechanics explained, "New York doctors who are relaxing at the beach or ball game are kept on continuous call by means of a new radio service."  The subscribers were issued a "small receiver that looks like a hearing aid."  When they were urgently needed, Telanserphone would broadcast a code which was repeated until the subscriber responded by telephone.

An operator working at the Telanserphone offices here in 1951.  Popular Mechanics, March 1951 

The firm was still operating here as late as 1971 (although it was now known as Aircall Radio Paging).  An advertisement that year sought "telephone operators for answering service."  The  round-the-clock enterprise required three shifts of operators working eight-hours.  The ad noted that they would have "alternating weekends" off.

The building as it appeared in 1983.   image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Leasing space in the building that year was Aviation Charter Corporation, a leasing agent for various charter companies.  By 1983, Guest Informant advertising agency operated from the address.

Today, the 153-year-old building is vacant.  The Fire Department has marked the façade with white X's to warn firefighters that the building is in such bad condition that they could face a safety risk upon entering.

photographs by the author

The Much-Altered Belevedere Stables - 727-729 Washington Street

 

On November 29, 1890, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that Francis C. Lawrence, Jr. had purchased "two three-story brick stores and tenements" with two two-story frame dwellings in the rear at 727 and 729 Washington Street.  He paid Robert and Annie E. Pollock $16,000 for the properties, equal to about $553,000 in 2024.  Three years later Lawrence replaced the structures with what the Record & Guide described as a "five-story brick stable."  The Romanesque Revival design featured a symmetrical ground floor with two large, arched carriage bays that flanked two smaller arched openings--a doorway and window.  The windows of the second and third floors were square-headed, while those of the two upper floors were fully arched.  

When photographed on July 20, 1932, the building was essentially intact.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

In January 1894, W. H. Bennett leased 727 and 729 Washington Street, giving as collateral "horses, &c.," as reported by the Record & Guide.  He opened the Belvedere Stables, a substantial livery stable business.  

The operation required a significant staff and consistent hiring.  On August 29, 1899, an advertisement in The World read, "Harness-Cleaner and groom wanted. Stable, 727 Washington st."

Francis A. Lawrence, Jr. made significant updates to the building in 1901.  In January, he hired architect C. A. Donahue to make $3,500 in renovations.  Nine months later, Donahue filed additional plans for "new stalls."  The combined cost of the two projects would equal $196,000 today.

The day-to-day routines of the stable workers was sometimes interrupted by violence.  On March 14, 1906, for instance, The Evening World reported, "John Kock, one of the firm's drivers, was struck on the head with an iron pipe in the stables at No. 727 Washington street."

The following year a shocking incident occurred.  On the night of April 21, 1907, several workers were in the building.  One of them, Joseph Bennett, had been drinking when two men returned a rig they had hired.  The Sun reported, "Bennett and the men got into an argument over the price of the rig and Bennett drew a long butcher's cleaver and rushed on the two."  (The reporter most likely got the implement wrong.  The New-York Tribune called it a "butcher's hook."  In either case it made a formidable weapon.)

The two men fled down Washington Street, but the stable hand was now worked up.  The New-York Tribune said, "Bennett was apparently seized with a fighting mania without any particular reason."  Another employee, Thomas Brennan, heard the uproar and came to see what was happening.  Bennett, who was "wildly enraged," according to The Sun, rushed at him, cutting a long gash in his head.  He then, "proceeded to pound him until he became unconscious."

The noise now attracted a third employee, John Rogers.  The Sun reported, "Rogers came to see what was going on and Bennett also slashed him and beat him into insensibility."  Before losing consciousness, Rogers had screamed for help, drawing a number of passersby to the stable doors.  No one dared enter as Bennett attacked other workers inside, but someone ran for help.

Police soon arrived and Bennett's fury turned on them.  The Sun said, "it was not until he had been knocked out with a nightstick that he was taken."  As Bennett was taken away, the crowd tried to get to him.  "Nightsticks were again drawn, and with the help of additional policemen, Bennett was finally landed in the police station," said the article.

A search was made of the stable.  One worker, Rocco Winchell, was found hiding under a wagon on the third floor.  The New-York Tribune said, "Winchell said he did not hear or see any part of the fight."  The wounded men were taken to St. Vincent's Hospital.  In addition to his scalp wounds, Rogers suffered a broken nose and broken arm.  The most seriously injured was Thomas Brennan, whose skull was fractured.  The New-York Tribune said, "he may die."

In February 1912, the Francis Lawrence estate sold 727-729 Washington Street to Spark L. Dixon for $33,000 (just over $1 million today).  He converted the building to a storage warehouse.  It was most likely at this time that a loading dock was installed at the northern carriage bay.

In 1930, a loading dock filled part of the northern opening.  from the collection of the New York Public Library.

The New York Sun reported on September 30, 1936 that the "five-story warehouse at 727-729 Washington street," had been sold to the H. H. Bell Steel Company, Inc.  "The purchaser will occupy the premises after extensive alterations," said the article.

Indeed, the alterations were extensive.  The top three floors were chopped off, the loading dock was bricked shut, and the southern carriage bay was enlarged, its Romanesque arch replaced with a square-headed garage door.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The renovated building was used for storage until 1946, when it was remodeled as factory space for Donnelly, Blanthorn & Co., Inc., a tool and die manufacturing firm.  The building was used as a trade school beginning in 1966, and then became home to the Gothic Color Company by the early 1970s.

Gothic Color Company was owned by Irving Goldman.  His rags-to-riches story started when, according to The New York Times on December 11, 1972, he was "an errand boy for a paint-supply company."  He made deliveries to the Shubert Theater scenic department on Broadway, where sets were constructed.  J. J. Shubert "admired his industry," said the article, "and put up $5,000 to start him in the paint business."    Gothic Color Company had the contracts to supply paints for the scenery for all the Shubert theaters, as well as the Metropolitan Opera House and Radio City Music Hall.  By the time of the article, Goldman was "one of the most powerful men in the legitimate theater" and the city's Commissioner of Cultural Affairs.

But in 1974, Goldman became the target of a Federal grand jury investigation.  On December 24, The New York Times reported he was accused of using family ties "to criminally evade income taxes."

In 1989, architect Steven Mensch and his wife, Pamela Newhouse, purchased 727-729 Washington Street.  In January 1990, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a plan to alter the façade and a month later The Villager reported that Mensch "is planning to add another story to the 1893 structure."

Completed in 1992, the renovations were stark.  Mensch mimicked the original configuration of the southern openings in red brick, then chopped away portions of the beige brick facade to give the illusion of a romantic, partial ruin.  The new interior sat back from the facade, creating a courtyard or "loggia," as described by realtors.  The building held office space on the ground floor and a triplex residence above.

In 2009, a three-year project was begun to convert 727-729 Washington Street to a single family home.  While only the partial façade of the 1893 Belvedere Stables survives, it is a striking presence in its Greenwich Village neighborhood.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post.

photograph by the author