The Mori Restaurant Building - 144-146 Bleecker Street

 

In 1830, Thomas E. Davis began erecting what would be fashionable homes on both sides of Bleecker Street between Thompson and Laurens Street (later West Broadway and then LaGuardia Place).  As they neared completion in 1831, he began a similar project, lining both sides of East 8th Street between Second and Third Avenues with upscale residences.  A consummate marketer, he lobbied the city to rename the two blocks, hoping to enhance their sense of exclusivity.  In 1833 his Bleecker Street block was renamed Carroll Place, and in 1835 the East 8th Street block became St. Mark's Place.

Each of the Carroll Place homes was 25-feet wide and three-and-a-half stories tall.  In February 1833, just before 146 Bleecker Street was renumbered 7 Carroll Place, an advertisement in The Evening Post offered the house for rent:

The house was erected in 1830, in the most elegant and substantial manner, and is three stories high, of brick and slated roof.  There is a building in the rear containing a tea room and library, and a well and cistern in the yard.  The house is every way calculated for a large and fashionable private family.

That house saw a relatively rapid turnover in well-to-do tenants until it was sold for $10,000 to Dr. William R. Power in January 1845.  The price, equal to about $430,000 in 2026, reflected the exclusivity of the block.

Power was born in Ireland in 1798 and was described as a "distinguished practitioner."  His wife, the former Mercy Hepburn, died in 1817 and his purchasing of 7 Carroll Place might have had much do to with his marital plans.  He married Aliana Diane Worthington in 1846.

Although William had no children with either of his wives, in 1857 lawyer John T. Power was listed at the address.  He was presumably a relative.

William R. Power died "after a short but severe illness," according to the New-York Daily Tribune, on September 14, 1858.  His funeral was held in the parlor on the 16th.

Aliana Power left Carroll Place shortly afterward.  An auction of the furnishings held on March 8, 1859, hinted at the high-end lifestyles of the Carroll Place residents.  Included were "rosewood parlor suits, covered in rich silk brocatel and plush...Chinese china vases, chandeliers, sideboard, morocco arm chairs," and such.

In the meantime, the house next door at 5 Carroll Street was originally home to the Henry Floyd Tallmage family.  Born in Connecticut on June 11, 1787, he and his wife, Maria Canfield Adams, had five children.   The family sold the house to Dr. John Augustine Smith on April 15, 1841.

Born in 1782, Smith had served as president of the College of William & Mary from 1814 to 1826.  (He resigned when his proposal to move the college from Richmond to Williamsburg was refused.)  Now back in New York City, he became president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1831.

Dr. John Augustine Smith, from the collection of the New York Society Library

Smith married Lettice Lee in 1809 and they had five children, at least one of whom, Richard Augustine (who went by his middle name), lived with his parents.  Augustine was in the paper business on Nassau Street.

In addition to his practice and his lecturing on anatomy at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Dr. Smith edited the Medical and Physiological Journal.  Among his works were the 1840 Select Discourse on the Functions of the Nervous System, his 1846 The Mutations of the Earth, and Moral and Physical Science, published in 1853.  Notably, he was an outspoken supporter of scientific racism, that used phrenology (the "science" of reading bumps on one's skull) to rationalize white supremacy.  He was a vocal exponent of repatriating Blacks to Africa. 

By the outbreak of the Civil War, things had changed in the neighborhood.  No longer ultra-fashionable, affluent residents left Carroll Place and in 1860 the block reverted to Bleecker Street (although both addresses would be used for some time).  In 1861, rented rooms were being offered in both 144 and 146 Bleecker Street.

In 1870, Thomas N. and William B. Doutney established an "eatinghouse," The St. Lawrence, in the basement of 144 Bleecker Street.   Unfortunately, as Thomas recalls in his 1893 autobiography Thomas N. Doutney: His Life-Struggle and Triumphs:

I listened to the bad advice of a dissolute companion, and introduced liquor on my premises, first secretly, then openly, as an article of traffic.  In short, my restaurant became, what too many restaurants already are, a drinking-saloon, a cursed rum-shop.

Thomas and his "dear, good brother William," lost the business.  The saloon was taken over by Korne & Bere.  

In the meantime, the conditions within the rented rooms of the once-luxurious mansions were ghastly.  An article in the New York Herald on February 7, 1871 described the plight of a "woman and five little children at No. 144 Bleecker street."  The journalist said, "No food or fuel has been seen in the little room which these miserable ones occupy for several days, and yesterday the mother, rendered desperate, attempted suicide."

On July 20, 1896, the New York Journal reported, "Women, some of them wives and mothers, who had been caught in the raid on the pool room [an illegal race betting den] at No. 146 Bleecker street, Saturday night, were prisoners in the Jefferson Market Court yesterday."  Prior to the time of the article, the parlor windows of the house had been replaced by bay windows, as noted in a sketch in the article.

In 1896, an illegal betting den occupied the basement of 146 Bleecker.  The elegant Federal doorway was intact, and bay windows had been added, most likely prior to 1861.  New York Journal, July 20, 1896 (copyright expired)

In 1884, a year after arriving in New York City from Florence, Italy, Placido Mori opened his "eating place" in the former Korne & Bere saloon space in 144 Bleecker Street.  The Journal described Mori & Lorenzi's cafe in 1896 as "a cheap restaurant and drinking place much frequented by the Italians of the district."

It became a meeting place for labor and political groups.  On November 24, 1891, for instance, The Evening World remarked, "The Columbus Labor Club, cloak makers...has its headquarters at present at 144 Bleecker street."  On October 27, 1898, the Third Assembly District Republicans held an "Italian parade through the Italian colony and a meeting at 144 Bleecker street," as reported by The Sun.

In November 1900, authorities refused to allow the play Senza Patria (or Without a Country), written by anarchist Pietro Gori, to open.  Throngs of angry native Italians, many of them anarchists, rebelled.  The New York Times reported, "The Anarchists then held an impromptu indignation meeting on the sidewalk, and then several hundred went to Mori & Lorenzi's café, 144 Bleecker Street, which was by common consent designated as a meeting place."

No. 144 was sold several times before Mori purchased the building in 1910.  The Italian immigrant had done well for himself.  On April 23, 1920, the New York Herald reported, "Placido Mori is the buyer of the residence at 21 Washington Square North."  It was one of the most fashionable addresses in New York City.

Among Mori's regular patrons at the time was architect Raymond Hood.  Their close owner-patron relationship would soon become owner-client.  On December 12, 1920, The New York Times reported that Placido Mori "recently bought the adjoining parcel at 146 to add to his establishment.  The article mulled, "The supporters of prohibition may discern in this fact that the prevention of serving red wine, without which no Italian restaurant meal was supposed to be complete...has not yet driven the habitués of these eating places to other resorts."

Mori hired Raymond Hood to combine the houses and remodel the exterior.  He placed a row of Doric columns along the sidewalk level and added a setback penthouse.

Famed photographer Berenice Abbott took this photograph in November 1935.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

The observation made by The New York Times that Prohibition had not affected the Italian restaurant was premature.  As it turned out, Mori went on dispensing alcoholic beverages.  On September 16, 1922, the newspaper reported that Prohibition Chief John D. Appleby "sent seven general dry agents yesterday afternoon to Mori's Restaurant."

In the room in the rear of the second floor the agents seized a large quantity of liquors, wines and beer.  The agents said they never saw a more sorrowful staff of waiters than they passed in the dining room as the seized goods were carried out.  The sight of good wines leaving the restaurant, famous in the days gone by for its wine, was more than some of the waiters could stand.

Only four months later, on January 15, 1923, The New York Times reported on another raid.  After seizing 58 bottles of wine and ten bottles of whisky, Placido Mori was arrested.  The article said that police "then went upstairs to the apartment of Louis Funai...from which they took away 18 bottles of champagne, 247 bottles of wine, 15 bottles of gin, 4 bottles of kimmel [sic] and one gallon of wine."

Placido Mori died on July 18, 1927.  In reporting his death, The New York Times remarked that his restaurant "had become noted as a picturesque resort."

Living upstairs at the time was sculptor Thomas Hudson Jones.  He and architect Lorimer Rich were cooperatively working on designs for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington.  Jones was still living here in December 1928 when Secretary of War Dwight F. Davis announced that their design had been accepted.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Albert Mori operated the restaurant until January 1938, when he filed for bankruptcy.  The New York Times remarked, "The restaurant started as a small bar and eating place.  It expanded until it finally occupied the entire building, a rambling, old-fashioned structure."

The space became Free World House as early as 1944, operated by the International Free World Association.  On June 4, 1944, the group announced that a program of "democratic principles for Europe" would be put into effect "as soon as the Allied armies invade the continent."  A less political event had taken place a month earlier when, on May 28, The New York Times reported, "The second open show of the Village Art Center is current[ly] at Free World House...with more than a hundred oils, water-colors and drawings, by almost as many artists."

It was possibly during the occupancy of the anti-Fascist International Free World Association that five murals by Louis Quintanilla were installed.  Quintanilla arrived in New York in 1938 to create his grouping, called Love Peace Hate War.  (Somewhat ironically, he was the house guest of war correspondent Jay Allen in Placido Mori's former home on Washington Square.)  The paintings were commissioned by the Spanish Government for the Spanish Pavilion of the 1939 Worlds Fair.  The individual panels were Flight, Pain, Hunger, Soldiers and Destruction.

But the artwork would never be exhibited at the fair.  The Spanish Republic fell and the Fascist Francisco Franco regime demanded that the paintings be returned to Spain.  Reportedly, Quintanilla told officials that a flood in his studio had destroyed the panels.  It appears that he sold or donated the works to the Free World House.

Quintanilla's Hunger (top) and Soldiers, were two of the panels installed at Free World House.  images from The Art and World of Louis Quintanilla

The Free World House remained here until 1956, when the building was converted to the Renata Theatre in the lower two floors and apartments and offices on the top two.  As construction neared completion on November 14, 1956, The New York Times explained that the venue would present "contemporary European plays."  The auditorium would hold an audience of 250.

Among the last performances in the Renata Theatre was a one-person production, An Evening With Ethel Waters, described by The New York Times on April 9, 1959 as a "musical memory."

from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

Within a year, the space had been converted to a movie theater, the Bleecker Street Cinema.  It was a neighborhood fixture for decades, finally closing in August 1989.  On November 4 the following year, The New York Times columnist Christopher Gray mentioned, "It is now a gay porno house."

It was during that rather seedy period that the Quintanilla murals were "rediscovered."  On one of the panels, a black arrow reading "Exit" had been scrawled.  According to the artist's son, Paul, "In the early nineties an attempt was made to retrieve them, but the amount of money offered didn't satisfy the owner of the pornographic movie house."  The paintings, therefore, remained in abused condition until February 2, 2007 when the University of Cantabria in Santander, Spain purchased them.  They were restored and now hang at the university. 

The ground floor space became the Elbow Room around 1997.  Offering live music, it remained into the 2000s.  A renovation to the storied building in 2011 resulted in retail space on the ground floor and apartments above.

photographs by the author

The Arthur and Anna Eisemann House - 212 East 31st Street

 

photograph by the author

A long row of modest houses on the south side of East 31st Street between Second and Third Avenues was completed around 1867.  Above rusticated brownstone basements, their upper three stories were faced in red brick.  At 20-feet wide, their stripped-down take on the popular Italianate style included a surprising vermiculated band below the parlor level (an unnecessary cost to the builder), floor-to-ceiling parlor windows, and individual bracketed cornices.

No. 212 East 31st Street was apparently leased, initially.  Adolphus Sinsheimer, an "agent," and his family lived here from 1868 to 1869, followed by Abraham Levy.  The clothier had two shops on the Bowery.  He and his family remained through 1874.

The residence next became a boarding house.  The small number of tenants reflected its high-end status.  Living here in 1876 were Edward S. Dex, Bartholomew and Felix Smith, and Catharine A. McLean, none of whom listed professions.  Catharine was the widow of Laughlin McLean, and it was possibly she who placed an advertisement in the New York Herald in March that year:

A young lady will give instruction on piano for $10 per quarter, with privilege of practice daily.  212 East 31st st.

The advertisements appeared routinely through 1879.  Bartholomew and Felix Smith were listed at the address through 1880.

Alice J. Bolmer, a widow, purchased 212 East 31st Street in August 1882, but she did not retain possession for long.  She placed an advertisement in the New York Herald on July 8, 1885:

A great sacrifice will be made if sold at once; must be sold, as the owner is going West; three story high stoop, all improvements, 20x45x100, 212 East 31st st.; this house is the most perfect home in the city; do not fail to examine at once.

Alice Bolmer sold the house to Jacob and Margaret Sauter for $13,000--about $438,000 in 2026.  It appears that the couple operated it again as a boarding house.  Among their boarders in 1886 was Mary Leonard, who abruptly moved out in September.  Soon afterward, men arrived at 212 East 31st Street to repossess a large amount of furniture.

Calling her "quite a business woman," the New York Herald explained on November 22, 1886 that Mary Leonard "at various times called herself Fanny Walsh, Duane, Stanley, Kelly and Lee, and that a large number of furniture dealers have made her acquaintance at considerable loss to themselves."

Mary Leonard had gone to several furniture dealers, telling them "she was honest, and had to have furniture because she was trying to support her four fatherless children by starting a boarding house."  She managed to purchase $190 worth of furniture from Thoesen & Uhl, a piano worth the same amount from Samuel Parsons, and $200 worth of furniture from George Reubel.  She had placed small amounts of money on credit and had the goods shipped to 212 East 31st Street.  She then waited on the sidewalk and when the deliverymen arrived, redirected them to an alternate address.  She was long gone before the dealers began looking for the unpaid goods.

Jacob Sauter died in 1887 and Margaret tried to hold on to the property, taking out a second mortgage in 1888.  She was not successful and the house was sold at auction on June 20, 1890 for $12,650.  It was sold again in 1892 to Lisette and Adolph Starke, who resold it in 1897 to Mary J. Mitchell.

The house finally returned to a single-family home in May 1903 when Martin L. Campbell purchased it from Mary Mitchell.  Campbell was a civil servant, working as a "tapper" in the Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity.  

In the spring of 1909, a proposal was bandied about to change the title of "assistant tapper" to simply "tapper."  Campbell was not entirely on board with the move, and in April he and Thomas F. McCormick sent a letter to the department.  It pointed out that they were "the only persons registered as Tappers in the Boroughs of Manhattan and The Bronx," and, while they did not oppose the change, "they would like to be protected in their higher position by a title such as Superintendent, Supervising or Foreman Topper, etc."  (It is unclear whether the proposal was accepted.)

In 1940, the rustication of the basement and its vermiculated band, along with the original floor-to-ceiling parlor windows survived.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Campbell remained at 212 East 31st Street until 1912, when he sold the house that December to Anna and Arthur Eisemann.  A graduate of Cooper Union, Arthur was an architect and independent contractor.  He and Anna had two daughters, Alma and Bertha.

His work drew important clients.  On September 17, 1921, for instance, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that John D. Rockefeller, Jr. had commissioned him to make "alterations" to the four-story residence at 24 West 54th Street.  Eisemann was, as well, the president of the Society of Painting and Decorative Trades.

Anna Eisemann died on May 27, 1927.  Arthur moved permanently to Elmhurst, New York and the East 31st Street house was rented by Anna's estate.  Her will directed, "Income from the property at 212 East Thirty-first street, Manhattan, is to be divided among the children equally."

The house was converted to apartments in 1946.  A subsequent renovation completed in 1959 resulted in a duplex in the basement and parlor level, one apartment on the second floor and two on the third.  During one of those renovations, the rustication and vermiculated band of the basement were erased and the parlor windows shortened.

The Francis G. Lloyd House - 157 East 71st Street

 

The contracting firm of Breen & Mason was composed of James R. Breen and Alfred G. Mason.  In 1881, they acquired the 40-foot-wide wooden structure at 155-157 East 71st Street.  The partners acted as their own architects for this project, designing two four-story-and-basement, neo-Grec-style homes on the property.  Completed in December 1881, the high-stooped brownstones were distinguished by the windows, which sat within shallow architraves atop paneled spandrels and capped with prominent cornices.

The James R. Breene family moved into 157 East 71st Street just in time for a wedding.  On December 8, 1881, the New-York Tribune reported, "James R. Breene's daughter, Ariana A., was married yesterday at 7 p.m. in her father's house, No. 157 East Seventy-first-st., to John H. Bellamy."  

By 1890, Charles Brenneman and his family occupied the house.  He and his wife, Elizabeth, had a daughter, Emma.  On February 3, 1903, Emma's engagement to William Thomas Fritte was announced.  Four weeks earlier, on January 25, The New York Times reported that Brenneman had sold 155 and 157 East 71st Street.

The buyer, Dr. Andrew J. McCosh, resold 157 East 71st Street to Otto and Carrie Strack in the spring of 1904.  The couple's residency would be short-lived and tragic.  The family had not fully settled in when, on May 18, 1904, five-year-old Walker Strack died in the house.

A year later, on June 22, 1905, The New York Times reported that Otto Strack had sold the house to John L. Martin.  His ownership, too, would be short.  

Frank Guerin Lloyd purchased 155 and 157 East 71st Street in March 1907.  In October, he commissioned the architectural firm of Trowbridge & Livingston to update the residences.  No. 155 would be used as rental income and 157 East 71st Street would become the Lloyds' home. 

The architects' plans for 157 East 71st Street included new plumbing, windows and a "one-story partition."  The New-York Tribune said that the "making over" of the house would transform it "into an American basement dwelling house."  The plans included "remodeling the interior."  American basement houses differed from English basement houses in their lack of stoops.  While Trowbridge & Livingston left the upper floors untouched, the entrance was now slightly below grade.  Now fronting the second floor, or piano nobile, was a trio of French windows fronted by an iron railing.  The renovations, completed in April 1908, cost Lloyd $15,000, or about $517,000 in 2026.

via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Francis Guerin Lloyd was born in New Jersey in 1848.  He married Matilda Hedenberg Herbert on August 9, 1875.  The couple had two surviving children. (Two others had died in childhood.)

Lloyd was hired by Brooks Brothers, the men's clothing firm, when he was 14 years old.  He worked his way up, and in 1879 was made a partner.  Upon the death of John E. Brooks in 1896, Lloyd became senior partner.  By the time he purchased 157 East 71st Street, he was president of Brooks Brothers.  The family's country home was in Bernardsville, New Jersey.

Moving into the house with the Lloyds was their daughter-in-law, Julia A. Trowbridge Lloyd.  Daniel Herbert Lloyd died in 1907, a year after the couple's marriage.  According to the New-York Tribune, when Julia's father, who was a physician, died, he "left his daughters independent fortunes."  Additionally, said the newspaper, Daniel Lloyd, "left a large estate."  Julia maintained her own country home, Driftwood, in Noroton, Connecticut.

Near Driftwood was the summer home of Thomas Crimmins, son of millionaire John D. Crimmins.  The properties were, apparently, close enough for a romance to blossom.  On February 12, 1910, the New-York Tribune reported that the pair had been quietly married in Augusta, Georgia.

Now sharing the house with Francis and Matilda were James Henry McKinley, a "well known tenor and teacher of singing," and his wife, the former Laura Celestine Fiske.  The relationship between the two families is unclear, but they would live together in the East 71st Street house for years.

Perhaps unexpectedly, the Lloyds did not routinely entertain.  An exception came on April 3, 1915.  Matilda's niece, Emilie Mathilde Roe, was married to Duncan MacIntosh Hay in St. Thomas's Church that day.  The New York Times reported that the ceremony was "followed by a breakfast at the home of Mrs. Francis G. Lloyd, 157 East Seventy-first Street."

On the morning of October 6, 1920, Francis Lloyd left the house, heading to his office.  On the way, the 72-year-old suffered a fatal heart attack.  

Matilda H. Lloyd moved permanently to the Bernardsville estate where she died on October 25, 1945.  The McKinleys remained at 157 East 71st Street.  Laura's uncle, Alexander P. Fiske, moved in with the couple.  He died at the age of 89 on May 30, 1922 and his funeral was held in the parlor the following day.

On August 18, 1928, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that James and Laura McKinley had purchased a brownstone at 626 West End Avenue.  The article mentioned that they had "resided at 157 West 71st St. for the past 25 years."

When the house was sold in August 1941, The New York Times reported that the buyer, Inez C. Robb, president of the Callaway Holding Corporation, had hired architect John S. Burrell to covert "the old residence into a modern apartment building for ten families."

The renovation resulted in two apartments per floor.  Among the residents was the building's owner, Inez C. Robb.  An advertisement in The New York Sun on March 13, 1942 described the one-room, kitchen and bath apartment 2-E saying, "Decorator will lease beautifully furnished, comfortable, large living-bedroom.  Full-sized kitchen, bath, wood burning fireplace.  Fully equipped."

Robb sold the building in September 1956.  It was updated in 1982, while preserving the configuration of two apartments per floor.

Then, in September 2000, Todd Romano Antiques & Decorations opened in the ground floor.  The New York Times said it, "offers furnishings from 18th-century French to 1970's Lucite, with upholstered pieces of his design."  Romano later moved his operation to East 59th Street.

On the exterior, little has changed to 157 East 71st Street since Trowbridge & Livingston remodeled it nearly 120 years ago.

photographs by the author

The Arnet Seaman House - 51 Charles Street

 

photograph by the author

Sir Peter Warren's country estate engulfed 300 acres in the 18th century.  By the time Abraham Van Nest died in the former Warren house, known as "The Manse," in 1864, the mansion sat within just a single city block, bounded by Bleecker, Charles, Perry and West Fourth Streets.

Developers quickly swooped in.  The Van Nest block was leveled, building lots plotted, and houses erected.  Oddly, in a nod to the respected Van Nest family, the northern side of Charles Street between West Fourth and Bleecker Streets was named Van Nest Place.  (Adding to the confusion of only the northern side of the block being so named, it was routinely spelled Vannest, Vanness or Van Ness Place.)

In 1866, George Starr began construction of a brick-faced mansion at the northwest corner of West Fourth Street and Van Nest Place.  Completed in 1867, the Italianate-style home was three bays wide and three stories tall above a brownstone basement.  A stone stoop rose to the parlor floor where, most likely, a cast iron balcony fronted the floor-to-ceiling windows.  The elliptically arched openings originally wore molded eyebrows and the doorway would have been impressive--adorned with scrolled brackets and a pediment or similar treatment.

Arnet Seaman and his wife, the former Mary Anna Rhodes Riffey, purchased 1 Van Nest Place.  Arnet, who operated a brick business, was born in 1814 and Mary in 1821.  The couple had surviving children: John Henry and Ambrose.  A daughter, Jenny, had died in childhood and the eldest son, William A., had died at the age of 24 in 1866--the year before his parents bought the Van Nest Place.  The family maintained a country home in Tarrytown, New York.

Even affluent families leased unneeded space in their homes and shortly after moving in, on February 22, 1867, the Seamans advertised:

A very pleasant room and bedroom to let, separately or together, to gentlemen or gentleman and wife, with Board; house new, with every convenience.

"Every convenience" in 1867 would have included gas lighting and indoor plumbing.

By 1873, John Henry, who was now 24 years old, had joined his father's business.  It had expanded and now offered "masons' building materials" with at least two locations.

The Real Estate Record, March 13, 1880 (copyright expired)

Ambrose, most likely, would have joined them.  But on August 31, 1875, the 19-year-old died "suddenly," as worded by the New York Herald.  The term implied an accident.  Ambrose's funeral was held in the parlor, and his body interred at Tarrytown.

Arnet and Mary Seaman moved permanently to Tarrytown around 1887.  When he died there on October 23, 1893, the New-York Tribune remarked, "His estate is estimated at $500,000."  The figure would translate to about $18 million in 2026.

No. 1 Van Nest Place became home to the family of Alderman John Cavanagh.  His wife and young adult children were terrified by an incident that took place on the night of December 18, 1888 while Cavanagh was not home.

At around 8:30, a man climbed the stoop and "rang the door-bell repeatedly," as reported by The Evening Post.  Mrs. Cavanagh looked out of a window and did not recognize the stranger.  "He shouted to her to open the door, and when she ordered him to leave, he used bad language and kicked at the door," said the article.

He then descended the stoop and went to the basement door, kicking it so hard that one of the panels caved in.  As he was doing so, the Cavanagh's daughter hurried down the stoop to find a policeman.  She was seen, however.  The intruder ordered her to stop and chased after her.  The terrified girl ran into Policeman Nash at Perry and Greenwich Streets, who arrested Oscar Hatfield.  At the station house he asserted that he was "the United States Consul at Batavia, Java."

The next morning Hatfield told the court that he was very sorry, saying that "he drank three bottles of porter [ale] yesterday afternoon, and did not have the slightest recollection of what he did last evening."  The Cavanagh's son told the judge "that his mother was ill at home from the fright she received last night."  Hatfield was jailed for a month.  

The Cavanagh family left in 1883, and on October 16 that year, The World reported, "The new club-house of the recently organized United States Navy Club, at No. 1 Van Nest place, was thronged yesterday with blue-jackets who are on shore leave, and who are keen to appreciate the social advantage offered by the new organization."

The United States Navy Club, said the article, was the only club for enlisted men in the country.  It said, "The club-house is a four-story brick high-stoop house, and it is well furnished throughout."  Calling it "a handsome house," the New York Herald said it was "right in the heart of the 'old Greenwich village.'"  It explained that in addition to club activities, the house would be the "residence and home for enlisted men serving on board ships of the United States Navy."

It would be a short-lived venture here.  By March 1894, the club had rented and moved into a house on Sands Street in Brooklyn.  

No. 1 Van Nest Place was leased that year and again in 1897.  The latest lessee, W. D. Phillips, rented it as an income property.  His first tenant was Frank Rosevelt Starr.

Born in 1866, Starr was in the real estate brokerage business with his brother, Edward Seaman Starr.  Despite his relatively young age, Frank Starr was suffering from rheumatism and was being treated by a Dr. Ormsby.

On April 7, 1897, the doctor visited the house.  He found Starr's bedroom "full of gas and the man dead," as reported by the New York Journal and Advertiser.  The newspaper titled the article, "Gas Ends a Broker's Life."  His funeral was held in the parlor on April 9.

Starr was followed in the house by the family of Frank Williams.  The family's country home was in Richmond, Maine.  Their affluence was reflected in the wedding of their only daughter, Florence Irene, to I. Latimer Lawrence in the First Presbyterian Church on January 15, 1902.  The New York Times reported, "Over 500 guests were invited."

The property was sold at auction in November 17, 1912.  The announcement in The Sun described it as, "N.W. Cor. West 4th & Charles Sts. (Known as 1 Van Nest Place)" for sale.  It detailed it as "a 3 story and basement brick and brownstone private dwelling containing 10 rooms, 1 bath and 2 toilets."  In reporting on the sale, The New York Times commented on the confusing address, saying that the city had already given up on Van Nest Place:

The name still remains in the city directory among the list of streets, but it has been discarded by the city officials and the Tax Department, instead of recognizing the row of old-fashioned homes on the north side of Charles Street as 1 to 18 Van Nest Place, acknowledges their existence for taxable purposes as 55 to 89 Charles Street.

The owners and residents of 1 Van Nest Place, however, continued to use that address.  When Elena E. Goodale sold it to William E. Mullholland in November 21, it was still described as a "three-story dwelling."  But within two years, it had been converted to unofficial apartments.  An advertisement in The New York Times on October 5, 1923 offered three apartments.  One of them was described as "2 rooms and bath, studio, all improvements, private street entrance."  (Two entrances were carved into the West Fourth Street side.)  The two others were described: "5 rooms and bath, housekeeping and non-housekeeping; housekeeping suitable for doctor or dentist."  The term, "housekeeping," meant the apartment had a kitchen.

A subsequent alteration in 1933 removed the stoop and lowered the front entrance, now with a Greek Revival inspired frame, to below grade.  There were now four floor-through apartments in the building.

The original high stoop and entrance details of 1 Van Nest Place would have been similar to others further down the block.  The New York Times June 7, 1936

Finally, after the grumbling of local residents, letter carriers and delivery men, and the city's indifference to the name, on June 7, 1936, The New York Times reported, "The nomenclature Van Next Place will be eliminated; Charles Street incorporating same."  The corner structure was renumbered 51 Charles Street.

Among the more colorful tenants over the subsequent decades was Marion Abt Bachrach.  Starting in 1947, she was the public relations director of the Communist Party of the United States.  Like most visible Communist Party members, she was a target of the Government's campaign known commonly as the Red Scare.  In 1951, she was indicted with 20 other "second-string" Communist leaders.  However, when it was revealed that she was suffering from cancer, her trial was canceled.  

Marion Abt Bachrach's 1951 FBI mugshot.

When Marion Abt Bachrach did not die, Congress appointed a physician to examine her.  In 1955, he deemed her condition "satisfactory" to stand trial, although, according to The New York Times, "others disagreed."  She was tried in Federal Court in New York City on "charges of conspiring to teach and advocate the overthrow of the Government by force and violence."  Perhaps surprisingly, she was acquitted in 1956.  She was still living at 51 Charles Street on October 17, 1957 when she succumbed to cancer in the Manhattan General Hospital at the age of 57.

Bachrach's landlord had been Norma Starobin.  After owning and living in 51 Charles Street "for many years," according to The New York Times, she sold it in August 1967 for $90,000--about $845,000 today.

Although the stoop was gone, the window lintels survived in 1940.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

As some point after 1940, the details of the windows were shaved off.  Otherwise, little has changed outwardly to 51 Charles Street since the 1938 conversion.

The Juan and Emilia Sala House - 13 West 74th Street

 

In 1889, construction of five rowhouses began on West 74th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue.  David T. Kennedy was the contractor and his wife, Carrie S. Kennedy, handled the business end of the project.  Designed by Daniel Burgess, the four-story-and-basement homes were completed in 1890.  A blend of neo-Grec and Queen Anne styles, they were clad in red brick and trimmed in brownstone.

The basement and parlor levels of No. 13 were faced in rough-cut brownstone.  An especially sumptuous, colorful stained-glass arched transom decorated the parlor window and an equally elegant fan of wrought and cast iron filled the tympanum of the entranceway.

A bowed oriel dominated the second floor and the stone-framed, elliptically arched third-floor windows were crowned with voussoirs.  Scrolled volutes introduced the stone gable that fronted the slate-shingled mansard level.  Its triangular pediment was filled with complex foliate carving.

The completed house quickly passed through several hands.  On October 13, 1890, The World reported that Carrie S. Kennedy had sold it to "A. V. Goodfellow for $44,500."   On November 1, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that the house was sold to Thomas K. Egbert.  And two months later, on February 3, 1891, an advertisement appeared in the New York Herald:

The elegantly decorated four story extension house, No. 13 West 74th st.; parlors hung in tapestry; will be sold at a bargain, including handsome gas and grate fixtures if desired.  Apply on premises.

The buyers were Juan Sala and his wife, the former Emilia Chadric.  Born in Barcelona, Spain in 1834, Sala was taken to the West Indies as a boy.  There, according to The New York Times, "he established a large business both at St. Thomas and Puerto Rico."

Emilia was born in Curacao in 1854.  She and Juan had one child, Aurora, born in 1881.  The family moved to New York City in 1887, four years before buying 13 West 74th Street.

Upon arriving in New York, Juan Sala co-founded Sala, Hoheb & Co., export and commission merchants.  Upon Hoheb's retirement, the firm was renamed J. Sala & Co.  

Juan Sala (original source unknown)

Emilia quickly became part of Upper West Side society.  On January 29, 1893, for instance, The World reported, "Mrs. J. Sala, of No. 13 West Seventy-fourth street, gave a small dance on Friday evening."

Aurora's wedding to William Eadie Kotman was held in the parlor at 8:00 on the evening of November 17, 1893.  The World called the bride, "a very lovely girl of sixteen," while the New-York Tribune said she, "is only fifteen years old."  Her parents were, apparently, fudging on the facts.  Aurora Sala was just 12 years old.  Her husband was 21.  The World said, "The newly married couple will live in Mexico."

Emilia was the victim of a horrifying incident on April 10, 1895.  At around 8:45 that night, she and her niece, Anita Font, intended to visit Emilia's nephew at 89th Street near Columbus Avenue.  They hailed a cable car at 74th Street.  Emilia had just stepped onto the lower step when the conductor lunged ahead.  Anita, who had only one foot on the step, was left behind.

Emilia Chadric Sala (original source unknown)

Emilia ordered the conductor to stop and, according to her, "He shoved me gently inside the door, saying, 'Oh, she'll get the next car, and be right up after you.  I am behind time now, and can't be stopping and starting every second."  At 89th Street, Emilia rose to leave the car.  She later explained:

I am somewhat stout, as you can see, and may have been rather slow in my movements.  At any rate, the conductor bawled out at me, 'Come, hurry up!'...I took care in stepping from the platform to the step, and had just placed one foot on the ground, when I heard the signal bell ring.

Before Emilia could completely disembark, the cable car jerked forward and left her lying upon the avenue pavement.  A crowd assembled around her and two men "half led and half carried me to my nephew's home," she said later.  Two doctors arrived.  "They found that my left arm had been broken in two places.  I was also cut and bruised about the head and face," she said.  The angry socialite added, "Of course, I intend to sue the company, if only to teach them a lesson."

It appears that around the time of the unfortunate incident Aurora's marriage had failed.  She was back in the West 74th Street house and in the Salas' Long Island summer estate by 1896.  An ardent horsewoman, she exhibited in the annual National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden.  That year her trainer showed Fanny Fern and American Fashion.  (The New York Herald explained, "Unfortunately, it is not considered good form for ladies to appear in the ring of the Madison Square Garden.")

It seemed that the Sala family would be returning permanently to the West Indies in 1898.  When the United States declared war on Spain following the sinking of the USS. Maine in Havana Harbor in February that year, "Sala took the matter very much to heart," according to The New York Times.  However, said the newspaper, "his friends remonstrated with him, and finally induced him to remain."

Whether the stress of the Spanish-American War affected Sala's health is unknown.  But he died in the house on June 17, 1898 at the age of 61.  His funeral was held in the parlor on June 19.

By then, Aurora Sala Kortman was divorced from her husband.  Interestingly, Aurora, rather than her mother, inherited the West 74th Street house.

Aurora married Thomas Joseph Regan in January 1905.  The groom was the secretary and treasurer of the Whitney Realty Company.  On the 22nd, the New-York Tribune reported that they were "among the bridal couples staying at the Lakewood Hotel this week."  

Aurora Sala Kortman Regan (original source unknown)

The following month, on February 20, Emilia Chadric Sala died at the age of 50.  Aurora and Thomas remained in the West 74th Street house.  Their summer home was in Old Westbury, Long Island.  Still an ardent horsewoman, Aurora annually exhibited her thoroughbreds in the New York Horse Show.  She later acquired a horse farm in Lexington, Kentucky where her thoroughbreds "achieved wide recognition," according to The New York Times.

The couple quickly filled their homes with children.  Tragically, their first, Thomas Jr., who was born in 1905, died in infancy.  But the next year, Constance was born, followed by Jean in 1908 and Gordon in 1913.

The Regans, of course, maintained a small domestic staff.  And in 1920, Aurora seems to have been having problems retaining a maid.  On December 22, she advertised, "Maid, French; must be pleasant, willing and obliging.  Mrs. Regan, 13 West 74th."  Seven months later, on June 25, 1921, she advertised again.  "Chambermaid, French, speaking no English preferred; must be willing, careful, and obliging."

In December 1924, the Regans applied with an employment agency for a butler.  Jack Archer came with sterling references, including one from Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt II.  Archer had been a footman for the Vanderbilts "and had given satisfaction there," according to The New York Times.

Regan, whom The Times described as "a tall, dapper Englishman who appeared to be a well-trained and trustworthy servant," started work in the Regan house at mid-December.  On Christmas Eve, a week after Regan moved in, the family returned home to find him gone.  They told police that the house "had been ransacked and everything of value that the thief could lay his hands on had been taken."

On December 27, The New York Times reported, "Mr. Regan and his family are most anxious to find the butler and they are even more eager to know the whereabouts of a collection of jewelry, including a pearl necklace and several pieces set with diamonds, some of which are valued as antiques and others for their sentimental as well as intrinsic value."  Also missing from the house were "fine linens and some choice pieces of porcelain."  The value was estimated by Regan as about $10,000--about $183,000 in 2026.

In attempting to find Jack Archer, the police went to extremes.  On the day of the article, the sailing of the White Star liner Cedric was delayed by 90 minutes as detectives searched the vessel.

Just over two weeks after the crime, on January 8, 1925, The Sun reported that Jack Archer, "the suave, efficient butler," had been arrested in Montreal after he attempted to sell some of Aurora Sala's jewelry.

Archer's crime slightly tarnished Constance Regan's debutante season.  Nevertheless, her entertainments continued and on January 30, 1925, her parents hosted a dinner party in her honor.

Jean Regan's photograph was published in The Spur on March 1, 1927.  The caption said that she was introduced to society "this winter."   (copyright expired)

The following winter season was Jean Regan's debut.  Like her mother, she was an accomplished horsewoman.  On October 10, 1931 before the first of her debutante entertainments, the New York Evening Post reported that she had won second prize in the jumping event at the Piping Rock Club's horse show.  

A marquee had been added over the doorway as early as 1940.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Several years before then, Aurora had sold the Kentucky farm and acquired another, Pilot Knob, near Nashville, Tennessee where she turned to breeding race horses.  Calling her an "internationally known horse breeder," The New York Times remarked, "In 1928, one of her yearlings brought the world record top price for a horse of that age, $75,000."  Her Pilot Knob farm stabled more than 100 thoroughbreds.

Aurora was at Pilot Knob on July 19, 1940 when she died at the age of 58.  Three years later, in January 1943, Thomas J. Regan sold 13 West 74th Street.

After having been home to one wealthy family for half a century, 13 West 74th Street became a rooming house, repeatedly sold and resold.  When Leon Schiffer and Sora Jalowsky purchased it from Sol Grobman in April 1952 and then resold it within the month, The New York Times described it as a "fourteen-family house."

A renovation completed in 1973 resulted in two apartments per floor in the basement through fourth floors, and one in the fifth.  The configuration lasted until 1982 when the basement and parlor were combined as a duplex.  Six years later, that apartment was expanded into a triplex.

Living here by 1990 was Tonne Goodman, vice president of advertising for Calvin Klein.  Starting out as a model, she had formerly worked with Diana Vreeland at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute, worked at The New York Times and as a stylist for LIFE magazine.  She would go on to join Anna Wintour at Vogue in 1999 as the magazine's fashion director.

Another renovation in 2010 resulted in two triplex apartments.  Although the brownstone has been painted, overall the exterior of 13 West 74th Street is remarkably intact.

photographs by the author