The 1892 Max D. Neuberger House - 115 East 95th Street

 

Between 1890 and 1892, developer Francis Joseph Schnugg nearly filled the northern blockfront of East 95th Street from Lexington to Park Avenues.  His 17 rowhouses were constructed in two phases and designed by two architects.  The second phase, which included No. 115, was designed by Louis Entzer, Jr.  His hybrid Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival residences harmoniously complimented the earlier homes, designed by Frank Wennemer.

Faced in brownstone, the three-story-and-basement house was just 16-feet-wide.  Simple, square-headed stone drip moldings sat above the parlor floor openings, while continuous arched eyebrows crowned the top floor windows.  Entzer's design was dominated by a sheet metal oriel at the second floor.  It was decorated with fluted pilasters, neo-Classical swags, and a triangular pediment.

The house was initially home to commission merchant Max Seligmann, a partner in Seligmann Brothers.  The family's residency would be short-lived and by the turn of the century, the Max Neuberger family owned and lived in 115 East 95th Street.  Neuberger was the head of the importing firm Neuberger & Co.

Max Neuberger's father, David, died at Stuggart, Germany on April 3, 1900.  A memorial service was held in the parlor here on April 5.

On December 5, 1907, The Warrensburgh News, of Warrensburgh, New York, reported that the Neubergers had announced "the engagement of their daughter, Miss Henrietta, to Walter K. P. Baumann, of Warrensburgh."  The article noted that a "reception will take place at the Neuberger residence, 115 East 95th street, on Sunday, December 22."  The wedding took place in Delmonico's on October 12, 1908. 

On September 24, 1913, The New York Times reported, "The Rev. Dr. Moses Hyamson, for years one of the best-known rabbis in England, who was called to New York to take the place of the rabbi of the Congregation Orach Chaim...arrived from England on the North German Lloyd liner Kronpriz Wilhelm yesterday morning.  He was accompanied by Mrs. Hyamson."  

Born in Suvalk, Russia (today part of Poland), Rabbi Hyamson had been serving as acting Chief Rabbi of the British Empire when he left London.  He and Sarah Gordon were married at the Great Synagogue in London in 1892.  His contract as Rabbi of Congregation Orach Chaim was for life.

Within four months, the couple had a long-term home.  The Neubergers moved out of the East 95th Street home for the Hyamsons' use.  On January 25, 1914, The New York Times reported, "The Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Hyamson are now occupying their house at 115 East Ninety-fifth Street, and will be glad to receive their friends."

Rabbi Moses Hyamson, from the collection of the Library of Congress

Rabbi Hyamson's busy schedule, it would appear, did not allow time for relaxation.  The entry about Hyamson in Who's Who 1915 noted: "Recreations: none."  Sarah Hyamson filled her time with religious and civic service.  She was president of the Sisterhood Path of Life, a women's group that offered spiritual study and support.

Dr. Solomon Schechter, a life-long friend of Hyamson, died in November 1915.  Moses Hyamson visited Schechter's bier in the drawing room of his Riverside Drive home on the evening of November 20.  Upon leaving, Hyamson walked down Riverside Drive to 116th Street to catch a crosstown bus home.  He saw a bus approaching and stepped into the street to hail it.  The New York Times reported, "Seeing that it was the wrong one he stepped back, and directly into the path of a taxicab."

Rabbi Hyamson was knocked to the pavement.  The cabbie, Martin Joseph, stopped the automobile and his passengers fled.  Joseph and a policeman carried Hyamson to a park bench and waited for an ambulance.  At Knickerbocker Hospital, the rabbi was treated for a fractured left ankle.  He refused to make a complaint against Joseph and was later taken to 115 East 95th Street.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The Hyamsons left the house in 1921 and on June 14 The New York Times reported that Max D. Neuberger had sold the property to William Poshik, who resold it in March 1922.

It became home to newlyweds Louis Butler McCagg, Jr. and his bride, the former Katherine G. Winslow.  The couple was married on June 27 that year.  Born in 1897, McCagg was a graduate of Harvard College where he was captain of the rowing crew.  He had just graduated, his college education interrupted by World War I, during which he served as a naval officer.

McCagg had a sterling pedigree.  His father, attorney Louis Butler McCagg, Sr., was, as described by The New York Times, "connected with several of the most prominent and older Newport families."  His mother was the former Edith Edgar King, the daughter of Edward and Mary Augusta LeRoy King, prominent in Newport and Manhattan high society.

When the McCaggs (who would have five children) moved in, Louis was working in the banking firm of Lee, Higginson & Co.  His career would take a decisive turn, however, becoming an architect with the firm of Rogers & Butler.

In October 1953, The New York Times reported that Fred H. Hill, president of the Melfra Realty Corporation, intended to buy 115 East 95th Street.  The article said he "plans to convert the structure to seven apartments of one and one-half and two and one-half rooms."

Instead, actress June Havoc stepped in.  Decades later, The New York Times would describe her as "the actress who buys and refurbishes houses in the city and in the country as a hobby."  She purchased the house and converted to three apartments--a duplex in the basement and parlor level (for herself and husband, William Spier), and one unit each on the upper floors.

June Havoc was born Ellen Evangeline Hovick in British Columbia, Canada on November 8, 1912.  She began her theatrical career as a child, "Baby June."  Her sister, Rose Louise Hovick, would also become famous as Gypsy Rose Lee.  Their mother, in order to circumvent child labor laws, forged birth certificates for both girls. 

June Havoc and Van Johnson in the 1940 Broadway production of Pal Joey (publicity photograph)

Havoc had starred in the 1944 Broadway play Mexican Hayride, and left that show to take on the title role of Sadie Thompson (written for Ethel Merman, who withdrew from the production before its opening).  Throughout the 1940s and '50s, she appeared in musical films with stars like Alice Faye, Betty Grable, and George Raft.  Now back in New York City, she returned to the stage.

Producer, director and writer William Spier was Havoc's third husband.  The couple was married in 1948 and remain together until Spier's death in 1973.  He was born in New York City on October 16, 1906.  Starting his career at the age of 19 with Musical America magazine, he would eventually become its chief critic.  In 1929 he began producing and directing radio shows for Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborn.  

William Spier, from the collection of the New York Public Library

Spier hired Orson Welles in 1936 for The March of Time program, Welles's first radio job.  In 1952, shortly after he and Havoc moved into 115 East 95th Street, he launched the 90-minute television show, Omnibus.  In 1954, he produced, directed and wrote the CBS situation comedy Willy, starring June Havoc.  That year he co-directed the film Lady Possessed, starring June and James Mason.

In January 1967, Havoc sold 115 East 95th Street to Robert Piccus and his wife.  Piccus was manager of telecommunications-market planning for the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation.  It is unclear how long the Piccus family remained here.  The house was reconverted to a single family home in 2000.

photographs by the author

The 1853 David Read House - 343 West 47th Street

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

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

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

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

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

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

image via Melamed Architect PC

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

The Peter K. Wilson House - 56 West 87th Street

 

An unfortunate coat of white paint covers the beige brick of the upper floors, seen in the neighboring house to the right.

On December 20, 1890, the Real Estate Record & Guide opined, "It would not be unjust to others to state that no firm of builders in New York City is better known than that of Chas. Buek & Co."  The article added, "Messrs. Buek & Co. always draw the plans for their own buildings, the firm being architects as well as builders."  Two months later, on February 21, 1891, the journal reported on the firm's next project, saying that Charles Buek & Co. "will shortly commence the erection of six four-story brick and limestone front dwellings on the south side of 87th street, 100 feet east of Columbus Avenue."

Charles Buek & Co. designed the row, which stretched from 48 to 58 West 87th Street, as three mirror-image pairs.  Nos. 56 and 58 shared a split stoop, the steps of which branched off to the east and west half way down.  Like its architectural sibling, the Romanesque Revival design of 56 West 87th Street featured rough-cut stone at the basement and parlor levels and beige brick at the upper floors.  A blustraded oriel dominated the second floor and a triple arcade at the third wore a continuous stone eyebrow.  A full-width, brick-faced gable fronted the slate shingled mansard.

The 20-foot-wide residence became home to the family of Peter K. Wilson.  A widower, Wilson was born in Scotland on August 27, 1825 and came to New York City at the age of 15.  By the time he was 21, he had started his own business, and in 1867 went into partnership, creating J. B. McBurnie & Co.  (It was described by the Dry Goods Reporter as "manufacturers and importers of laces, embroideries and white goods.") Upon his partner's retirement, Wilson renamed the firm P. K. Wilson.  He established the first American-owned lace factory in France, and was awarded the grand cross of the Legion of Honor from the French Government for promoting trade between the two countries.

Peter K. Wilson, Dry Goods Economist, December 20, 1913 (copyright expired)

Living with Peter Wilson in the West 87th Street house were his two single children, Samuel M. and Agnes Elizabeth, and his married son, William B. and his wife.  When Samuel joined his father's firm, the name was again changed--now to P. K. Wilson & Son.  Later William entered the business as general manger.

The Wilsons maintained a small domestic staff.  In April 1893, they were searching for two replacements.  Their advertisement in the New York Herald read, "Wanted--A cook, who is a good laundress, in a small family; also a girl to do chamberwork and waiting; German or Swede preferred."

The drawing room was the scene of Agnes Elizabeth's marriage to William Sanford Boyden on December 21, 1898.  

Around Thanksgiving 1913, Peter Wilson retired at the age of 89.  Two weeks later, on December 9, he died in the West 87th Street house of pneumonia.  In reporting his death, the Dry Goods Reporter remarked, "Mr. Wilson had long been regarded as an expert on laces and embroideries."  Somewhat surprisingly, his funeral was not held in the drawing room, but at the West Park Presbyterian Church.  

William B. Wilson and his wife continued to occupy 56 West 87th Street.  By 1914 they had changed from horse-drawn vehicles to an automobile and that year William owned a Renault.

Wilson sold the house in March 1924 to Baron Gennaro Mario Curci.  Born in Rome on September 19, 1888, he relocated to New York City in the mid-1910s.  Trained in voice at the Royal Academy of Rome, Curci ran his operatic vocal coaching studio in the house.

The New York Courier, March 1925 (copyright expired)

In its September 1924 issue, the Musical Advance announced, "Maestro G. M. Curci, the well-known vocal teacher and operatic coach, has removed to 56 West 87th Street, where he has resumed his individual teaching and classes, and is prepared to receive applications from those wishing to study with him."

Gennaro Mario Curci, Musical Courier, October 31, 1918 (copyright expired)

Curci branched into playwriting and in 1928 his play Barbara was produced in Naples and Havana.  It earned him first prize in a competition arranged by Le Cronache Letterarie e Teatrioli, a theatrical review of Naples.  On June 17, 1929, The New York Times reported, "Mme. Annie Mork, Finnish actress, who has been visiting in this country, was the guest of honor Saturday at a reception and supper given by Baron Gennaro M. Curci at his home, 56 West Eighty-seventh Street...She will appear [at the Abo Theatre in Abo, Finland] in September in the title role of 'Barbara,' by Baron Curci."

It had not taken long for Broadway producers to take notice.  A week before that article, The New York Times reported that William H. Leahy had announced that Barbara would be staged on Broadway "early next October."

Before long, it was Curci himself who was before audiences.  Motion picture director David Burton met him at a social function and was impressed with his voice and stature.  He cast him in a leading role in the 1935 film The Melody Lingers On.  It changed the vocal coach's life.  Curci went on to be a character actor in more than 30 feature films.  His new career took him from West 87th Street to Hollywood and by 1941 No. 56 was home to wine dealer Emil Marak.  

The natural brick can be seen in this 1941 image.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In the 1960s, the house was operated as unofficial apartments.  In the summer of 1967, a two-and-a-half-room apartment was rented to Gary Spring, who was only 19 years old.  Spring's actual home was in Bayside, Queens.  The Long Island Star-Journal explained that the teen did not intend to live here, but rented it "because the 'heat on dope parties in Queens" was getting too intense.  

Spring was the leader of eight youths who were involved in the selling and using of marijuana, LSD and other drugs.  Spring's plan of hiding his operation in a Manhattan apartment did not work.  The Long Island Star-Journal said that two Narcotics Squad detectives infiltrated the ring by one of them "posing as a beatnik and another by posing as a Queens College student."

A 2:00 on the morning of June 21, 1967, detectives raided the apartment and arrested eight youths, including Gary Spring.  Seven were charged with possession of marijuana and loitering "for the purpose to buy or use narcotics."  Spring was charged with additional charges of "possession of LSD and maintenance of a place for the purpose of using narcotics."

An official conversion completed in 1969 resulted in 2 apartments each on the lower three floors, and four furnished rooms on the top floor.  A renovation in 1992 returned 56 West 87th Street to a single family home above a basement apartment.

photographs by the author

The Lost Jesse Crawford Whyte House and Store - 78 West 126th Street

 

To the left of the house, a wooden fence protects the horsewalk, or passage, that accessed the smaller residence in the rear.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Born in 1818, Jessie Crawford married James Whyte in Scotland around 1840.  The couple, who would have five sons and four daughters, arrived in America around 1850.  

The following year, Andrew Crawford (presumably Jessie's father) erected a two-story wooden house-and-store at 78 West 126th Street just east of Eighth Avenue (later renamed Frederick Douglass Boulevard).  The Harlem neighborhood in which the property sat was sparsely developed and was still mostly filled with farms and summer estates.  Crawford's humble building drew on the Italianate style.  That was especially apparent in the carpenter-made scrolled brackets below the eave line.  A second house sat in the rear yard.  

Jessie Whyte inherited the property in 1874.  It does not appear that the Whyte family occupied the property, but rented the two buildings.  Work-wanted advertisements often hinted at the social-economic status of the applicants.  One, on July 22, 1889, for instance, read: "Nurse or Chambermaid--By a young girl; willing and obliging; first-class references.  78 West 120th-st., rear."

The occupant of the rear house in 1896 placed an advertisement in the New York Journal that suggested she had made a heart-rending decision.  "A woman wishes to board her child where it will get mother's care.  McEvoy, 78 West 126th st., rear house."

Jessie Crawford Whyte bequeathed the property to her two eldest sons, David C. and James Richardson Whyte.  David transferred his portion on December 6, 1895 to James.  James was born on April 27, 1846 and married Emma Elizabeth Shafer in 1868.  The couple had nine children and, like David, they lived in New Jersey.

It appears that a physician occupied the ground floor at the time of the transfer.  He and his family would have lived behind the office.  Late in 1897, the front building was vacant and an advertisement on December 12 offered:

Back parlor, suitable for physician, newly furnished, hot, cold water; also second-story front and back rooms; fine location; references.  78 West 126th-st.

Instead, Louis Muliero signed a five-year lease for the ground floor on May 1, 1898 and moved his shoe store into the front space.  It would be the first of several shoe stores at the address.

The upper floor tenants at the turn of the century sought a cushy job, placing an ad in the New-York Tribune on June 8, 1900:

Caretakers--American couple; for vacant house; summer months or permanent; excellent reference and bond, no family; temperance.  Mr. Marion.  78 West 126th-st.

At the time of the Marions' ad, the Harlem neighborhood had greatly changed.  In 1879, elevated trains were extended into the area, making it a vibrant suburb.  In 1889, a dance school and hall was erected at 80 West 126th Street and in 1898 the Builders' League of New York erected a meeting hall at 74 West 126th Street.  The Whytes' little frame house was now a charming anachronism on the block.

The picturesque building, dwarfed by its neighbors, was captured by Charles Von Urban in 1932. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

Raphael Maresco was born in Italy in 1882 and came to New York in 1889.  He saved up $200 and purchased Louis Muliero's shoe store.  Maresco did well and by 1904 he had accumulated $900 that he planned "to send over to Italy for the sweetheart he left there," according to The New York Times.

In July, Gregoric Delavere approached the 22-year-old and asked him if he would sell the store.  According to The Times, "they agreed upon a price, and Delavere said he would like to sit around the store for a day or two and get an idea of the character and amount of business Maresco was doing."

On the second day, Delavere went out and brought back cheese and crackers and a pitcher of beer.  Maresco recalled later that Delavere did not drink the beer.  That was because he had spiked it with what police called "knock-out drops."  According to Maresco, the next thing he knew, "he was lying on the bed in the rear of the store."  He had been passed out for 24 hours.  His $900 life savings and Delavere were both gone.

Six weeks later, on August 28, Maresco was walking along West 111th Street when he saw Delavere sitting on the stoop of No. 303.  "He called Policeman Nelson of the East One Hundred and Fourth Street Station, and Delavere was locked up."  It is unlikely that Maresco recovered his money.

The ground floor of 78 West 126th Street continued to house a shoe shop.  In September 1912, the Hanover Shoe Company signed a lease.

James Richardson Whyte died on November 2, 1928.  The West 126th Street property was inherited by his four adult children, Jessie Whyte, Elsie W. Noyes, Ida K. Walker and Howard Whyte.

At least one of their tenants during the Depression years was a bit shady.  On March 1, 1934, The New York Sun reported that 34-year-old Joseph Antico and a friend, Dominick Coppa, had been arrested for operating a policy racket.  (Policy games were illegal lotteries, later known as the numbers racket.  The games preyed on low-income persons who dreamed of quick riches.)

Two months earlier, The New York Times reported that 78 West 126th Street had been sold to the Northlone Realty Corporation.  The New York Sun mentioned that the property had "been owned for eighty-four years" by the Whyte family.

Tillie Epps leased the building from Northlone Realty Corporation.  She encountered a difficult tenant in Robert Johnson in 1938.  On May 14 that year, The New York Age reported sarcastically:

When your landlady has the audacity to insult your integrity and demean your pride by demanding that you either move from her premises or pay her the rent, you can hardly be blamed for making some sort of righteous indignation.

Tillie Epps had Johnson arrested when, according to her, he "threatened her with bodily harm when she demanded that he either pay his board or move out of the house."  Johnson was charged with disorderly conduct and evicted.

A demolition permit was issued for the property in 1943.  Somewhat astoundingly, the lot remains vacant.

The 1880 St. Nicholas - 10 St. Mark's Place

 

photograph by Anthony Bellov

Beginning in 1831, the three-block section of East 8th Street known as St. Mark's Place, saw the rise of refined Federal-style mansions.  Within two decades, the tenor of the neighborhood would change as over a million and a half German immigrants poured into the district.  By 1879, the vintage house at 10 St. Mark's Place between Second and Third Avenues sat within what was known as Kleindeutchland, or “Little Germany.”  One-by-one, private homes were replaced with tenement buildings.

On November 14, 1879, developer Michael Schultz hired German-born architect Jobst Hoffman to design a "five-story Nova Scotia stone tenement" on the 25-foot-wide lot.  Overall Queen Anne in style, Hoffman added neo-Grec touches to his design--particularly in the incised foliate decorations in the side piers and the lintels.  The complex pressed metal cornice included miniature columns at the sides, full-relief flowers along the top and the building's name, "St. Nicholas," within the fascia.  Construction cost Schultz $22,000, or about $714,000 in 2026 terms.

Close inspection reveals the monogram SN within the incised carvings within the tympanum of central arch.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

There were two spacious apartments per floor.  One of the second floor tenants in 1883 rented unused space, offering: "Handsomely furnished parlor and bedroom for one or two gentlemen, with gas and bath.  Second flat east side of 10 St. Mark's place."

Among the initial residents was Gottlieb Schmidt, a wine merchant whose shop was on Pearl Street.  He was already acquainted with another resident, Jane H. Lewis, when they moved in.  Jane explained that she was the widow of multi-millionaire Joseph L. Lewis, who died on March 5, 1877.  He left the bulk of his massive estate "to be applied toward the payment of the national debt," as reported by the New York Herald.  Jane Lewis almost immediately started proceedings to overturn the will.

Gottlieb Schmidt would be called into court to testify about what he knew about Jane Lewis who was, in fact, Jennie Holbrook, an "adventuress," as described by the New York Herald.  Calling her a "tall, lady-like person," on April 18, 1880 the newspaper explained that she had successfully passed herself off as Mrs. Lewis and assembled a "score of persons" to help her obtain part of the estate.  As Holbrook's hearing played out, the newspaper said, "it is at once an illustration of what mischief an unscrupulous and intelligent woman can work."

The Bauer family lived here in 1892 when The Evening World initiated the Sick Babies' Fund to help care for children of indigent families.  In reaction, a letter to the editor appeared on May 31 that read:

We are two little girls, Elsie and Margaret Bauer.  We have heard that there are a great many babies that are sick, and, as we love babies, especially the poor and sick ones, we saved 25 cents, and we will try to send double next time.

                Elsie and Margaret Bauer, 10 St. Mark's place.

Two years later, more children of the St. Nicholas helped the cause.  On September 7, 1894, The Evening World reported, "A sidewalk fair held by Doretta, Lillie and Abraham Freeman and Emma Myerhoff and Vira Squigle, at 10 St. Mark's place, yielded $4., but they gave $2 to a family that was in urgent need."

In the meantime, a respected resident was Dr. Frederick Louis Fuchs.  Well-known in the neighborhood, he was summoned to a wide variety of cases over the years.  In July 1892, for instance, he was called to the home of Robert Elder who lived across the street at 9 St. Mark's Place.  A bachelor, Elder went to a manicurist early that month who removed a corn from his toe.  A few days later, a "massage operator" noticed that the toe was swollen and Dr. Fuchs was called in.  "He said the swelling was gangrenous," said the New York Herald.  

Fuchs lanced the swelling, but it soon became necessary to amputate the toe.  And then the foot.  Six days after the second operation, the 57-year-old died.  Fuchs and the surgeon stressed that the corn was not the cause of his death, but diabetes.

As early as 1896, Dr. Fuchs served as assistant surgeon with the New York State National Guard with the rank of lieutenant.  He would remain in his St. Nicholas apartment at least through 1902.

A celebrated resident at the time was Andrew John Hughes, known to vaudeville audiences as Banjo Andy.  Born in Ireland in 1847, Hughes was working as a butcher's boy in Philadelphia when he learned to juggle.  He debuted on stage at the Walnut Street Theatre there.  When the Civil War broke out, he joined the Union Navy.  After the war, according to The New York Clipper, "he won fame as an Indian club swinger, and his name was known in Europe as well as America."  He married a "toe dancer," named Annie and they created a well-known song and dance team.  Following Annie Hughes's death in 1892, Andy "deserted the footlights to become a manager," according to The Sun.

Additionally, Andy Hughes became close friends with Tammany Hall bigwigs, most notably "Big Tim" Sullivan.  The relationship resulted in Hughes's being appointed a court officer in the Second Avenue Municipal Court.

On March 18, 1907, Andy Hughes "was taken with pneumonia," as reported by The Sun.  Among his visitors was District Attorney William Travers Jerome, whom the newspaper said "was an old friend."  At midnight on March 20, Hughes died at the age of 60.  His funeral was held at St. Ann's Church, which was filled with Tammany Hall and theatrical figures.

Among the residents here in 1915 was the Lesser familly.  The couple had six children, the eldest of whom was Jacob, who was 23.  Jacob Lesser worked as a "clothes presser," but lost his job in February that year.  Week after week, he unsuccessfully sought employment.  On June 5, the Evening World reported that his father "went to awaken him to go out and look for a job, as he had been doing regularly for the past five months."  He found Jacob dead.  The article said he, "hanged himself this morning from a curtain pole with a clothesline while despondent."

Also living here that year was the family of Elias Mohr, a "garment fitter."  Their 15-year-old daughter, Sophia, disappeared that year, sparking a multi-state search.  On December 6, The Evening World reported that the chief of police of Hartford, Connecticut notified New York City Police Headquarters that the teen had been found.  "Sophia's parents were notified to go for her at once."

While the article said, "Chief Farrell did not give the circumstances under which the girl was found," her brother, Dr. Frank Mohr had a theory.  He told a reporter "she might have been lured away by some one who had encouraged her love of dancing as she was anxious to go on the stage."

A renovation in 1936 divided the apartments in half, resulting in four units per floor.  By then, the German community had been mostly gone from the Lower East Side for several decades.

In 1941, Colonial Revival inspired multi-paned windows graced the first floor apartments.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Among the tenants in 1951 was 23-year-old Arthur Riccardi, a dockworker.  He was arrested on August 22 that year for "possessing heroin for the purpose of selling it," according to The New York Times.

It was not the last time Riccardi's name would appear in newsprint.  On the night of February 15, 1957, he was drinking

at the Club Chantilly on West 4th Street.  At around 1:00 a.m., he got into a "brawl over money," as reported by The New York Times, with Daniel J. Sgobbo, alias Don Terry.  The article said, "Eighteen patrons fled when the fight began."  In the clash, Riccardi suffered "severe head injuries and a fractured left wrist."  He pulled out a handgun and killed the 30-year-old Sgobbo.  The article noted, "Both men were said to have long police records."

Sculptor Jacob Lipkin and his family lived in a basement apartment by 1960.  Born in the neighborhood in 1909, he studied art at the Art Students League, the Cooper Union, Leonardo da Vinci Art School and the Educational Alliance.  He and his wife, the former Dorothy Keogan, had two children, Carl and Laura, who were 14 and 17 years old respectively in 1960.  Although his work was exhibited regularly, it was an incident that year that caught the attention of readers nationwide.

Jacob Lipkin working in his apartment-studio at 10 St. Mark's Place around 1959.  photo by Img43vr

On January 7, The New York Times reported that Lipkin was threatened with a marshal's sale "to satisfy a $153.33 debt."  Within two days, hundreds of letters including donations had arrived from strangers--totaling more than $8,300.  But Lipkin would not accept the money, instead returning all of it.  The Times said, "The family is supported by his wife's salary of $70 a week as a secretary and the sculptor's fees of $30 for two art classes a week."  Asked if he did not owe it to his family to accept the help, Lipkin replied, "No; they would lose all respect for me."

Lipkin's sculptures would earn him awards, including the Antoinette Scudder Prize for Sculpture and the Ceceile Award for Sculpture (awarded by the Ceceile Gallery which staged a one-man show of his work).

The first floor stone has been painted a minty green and metal security entrance doors installed.  Nevertheless, the St. Nicholas survives in remarkable condition--other than desperately needing a careful cleaning.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post.

The 1852 Charles C. Buxton Grocery - 380 Bleecker Street

 

In 1850, Charles C. Buxton and his family lived at 155 Amos Street, near his grocery store on Bleecker Street.  (Amos Street would be renamed West 10th Street in 1857.)  He was also an Inspector of the Eighth Ward Public Schools.  Buxton would have to relocate his business in 1851, when that building and four others were razed.  On the site, five four-story house-and-store buildings, which would later be numbered 372 to 380, were completed in 1852.  Arthur H. M. Haddock owned the new building that would be 380 Bleecker Street.

Almost identical to the others, it was faced in orange-red brick above the storefront.  Its design straddled the Greek Revival and Italianate styles, the former represented in the residential entrance with its sidelights, narrow pilasters and tripartite transom, and in the flat brownstone lintels and sills.  The cornice, on the other hand, was purely Italianate, with multiple scrolled corbels.

Haddock apparently had negotiated with Buxton prior to the demolition, and upon the building's completion, Buxton's grocery store moved into the ground floor.  (Haddock ran a cigar business on West Street and lived on West 11th Street with his business partner, William J. Haddock, most likely his father or brother.)

Living above the grocery store in 1853 was the family of Theron Losee, who was in the flour and produce business on Broad Street.  Born in Beekman, New York in 1813, Theron married Nancy Brown on September 5, 1842.  In 1853 their three children Celia E., Francis, and Theron Jr., were nine, seven, and three years old, respectively.  Also living with the family were Irish-born servants Margaret Sheron and Margaret Rogers.

By 1857, the upper portion of the house was occupied by three working class families.  Christian Hitzer was a shoemaker; Patrick McKenna was a smith, and John Richard worked in a stone yard.  

Charles C. Buxton operated his grocery store here at least through 1858.  As early as 1864, William T. Thompson's stationery store occupied the space.  Living upstairs that year were John Fling, who did not list a profession, suggesting he was retired; Baptiste Lamargot, a tailor; and P. J. Troy and his wife, Ann, and Ann's teenaged son, John Gilheeny.  

John Gilheeny went south to fight for the Union and, like the approximately 500,000 other soldiers who became victims of dysentery, typhoid, pneumonia, and malaria, the 19-year-old fell ill in Virginia.  On December 30, 1864, the New York Herald reported that he died "after a short but severe illness."  His body was returned to New York and his funeral was held in the Troys' rooms here.

The post-Civil War years saw a rapid turnover in commercial tenants.  In 1870, Ann M. Dolbeer ran her fancy goods store here; in 1873, Margaret and Susannah Mossman opened their "skirts" shop; and in 1876 the William Everett & Co. dairy store, was here.

That business was operated by John W. and William Everett.  At least one employee, Joel K. Schultz, who lived on Leroy Street, worked in the store.  It would remain into the early 1890s, by which time the business had been renamed Everett & Horton.

Living in rooms upstairs in 1895 was the Kay family.  Walter J. Kay, who was 17 years old that year, had been working for an embroidery factory making $3 a week (about $115 in 2026 terms), but he lost his job that spring.  At around 9:30 on the night of April 4, 1895, a policeman came across Walter sitting on the stoop of 63 Greenwich Avenue, apparently dozing.  He shook the teen by the shoulders and told him to move along.

According to Officer Gies, Walter "feebly protested, saying 'Don't,'" and told him that he had taken poison.  Walter told him that because he had lost his job, his mother had ordered him out of the house "because he didn't earn more wages," as reported by The Evening World.  Four days after leaving 380 Bleecker Street, he swallowed "a dose of oxalic acid," said the article.

Walter was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital where his stomach was pumped.  The New York Herald said on April 5, "He has a chance for his life."  A reporter visited 380 Bleecker Street where the Kays gave a much different version of the story.  They confirmed that they had not seen him since Monday, but said "they had no trouble of any kind with him, but that he was a very stubborn boy."  Mrs. Kay was even more direct, telling The Evening World, "he is a bad and wayward boy."

Thomas F. Himmelman lived here as early as 1901.  He was treasurer of The American Association of Isaac Pitman Shorthand Writers, established in 1895 "by a number of enthusiastic followers of Isaac Pitman," according to Pitman's Journal in 1912.  Himmelman was, as well, an avid reader.  He routinely wrote to The New York Times seeking hard-to-find works.  On November 30, 1901, for instance, he wrote, "I wish to obtain a copy of a recitation entitled 'The Dandy Fifth.'  It is a recitation pertaining to labor."  Another letter printed in The Times on February 7, 1903 read, "Will some kind reader inform me where I can obtain a copy of a very comical recitation entitled 'Sweet Kate Paoir,' and another, entitled 'The Continental Ghost'?"  The next year, in October, he asked, "Who is the author of a poem entitled 'Uncle,' and where can I obtain a copy of it?"

As early as 1909, the Crist & Herrick real estate office occupied the ground floor.  Interestingly, the partners became temporary custodians of a Revolutionary relic in 1911.  On January 13, The New York Times reported on the demolition of an old house at 102 Christopher Street.  Workers dismantling the foundation discovered "an old milestone inscribed in the large letters of the type used a century or more ago," said the article.  The milestone puzzled historians as well as the owners of the property, the Buxton estate.  (Whether this Buxton family was related to Charles C. Buxton is unclear, but tantalizing.)

The librarian of the New-York Historical Society was perplexed by the inscription, saying:

What camp is meant?  Was it one of the camps of the Revolutionary War of the Continental or British troops, or does it refer to some popular roadhouse frequented by the downtown residents on their drives up the old Bloomingdale and Kings Bridge roads?

The New York Times remarked, "The stone is in the real estate office of Crist & Herrick, 380 Bleecker Street, agents for the Buxton estate.

Thomas L. Himmelman was still writing to The New York Times in 1915, but one letter had nothing to do with books, poems or recitations.  It had to do with bicycling.  He wrote in part:

In this huge city of ours there are hundreds of men, like myself, chained to an office all day, who have little incentive to take proper physical exercise.  We have no funds for an auto, cannot keep a horse, and even walking alone becomes insipid.  Consequently, we hang around the house in the evenings and on Sundays or visit the theaters or "movies" or amuse ourselves in other sedentary ways.

He suggested the formation of a bicycle group.  "The object is merely to enable decent fellows to get together for a pleasant spin around the suburbs.  It may save them from infesting street corners, saloons, or poolrooms," he said.

Paul A. Soran lived here in 1919 when he went to Coney Island on July 4.  He went into the surf and did not return.  Three days later, The New York Times reported that his body had been recovered.

At 2:30 on the morning of September 3, 1922, a patrolman noticed resident William Shea enter a building at 312 Spring Street.  The New York Times reported, "He looked through an opening in the doorway and saw Shea standing near a bag.  The man talking with Shea ran upstairs when the patrolman approached."  When the policeman opened the bag, he found four quarts of whisky.  Shea was dumbfounded, said he did not own the bag, and knew nothing about it.  His plea worked.  When he faced Magistrate W. Bruce Cobb the next morning, he was discharged.

A plumbing firm occupied the ground floor space in the early 1940s.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In addition to handling the Buxton estate, Crist & Herrick was the realtors for the Arthur H. M. Haddock estate.  When the firm sold 380 Bleecker Street for Haddock's descendants Dorothy Hand, L. Estelle Clark and Florence Nickerson in February 1946, The New York Times remarked, "The property was held by the one family for ninety-five years."

For years in the mid-1950s throughout the 1960s, the storefront was home to Reubert Piano Co.  Its advertisements offered, "Reconditioned pianos for sale, tuning and expert repairing."

Reubert Piano Co. was supplanted around 1976 by odd bedfellows--the 380 Gallery and 380 Xerox Copy Center.  The gallery staged exhibitions, like the portrait sculptures of motion picture stars by Ron Kron in August 1977.  The copy center half of the space advertised, "color copies & slide enlargements" that year.  The unexpected, symbiotic coexistence continued throughout the 1980s.

Kitschen opened in the space in July 1995.  In reporting the opening, The Villager explained, "They sell kitchen accessories from the 1950s."  The vintage appliance shop remained for years.  By the early 2000s, a Ralph Lauren boutique occupied the space, and in 2014 a Robert Graham store moved in.  A Leset boutique currently occupies the shop.

photographs by the author