the 1910 Brogan Building - 251 Park Avenue South

 

photo by Feil Organization

On December 11, 1909, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that Charles Brogan, Inc. had hired Neville & Bagge to design a "16-story brick and stone loft" at the northeast corner of Fourth Avenue and 20th Street.  The cost, said the article, would be $350,000, or about $12.4 million in 2026 terms.  

The architects' Renaissance Revival design included a three-story, stone-clad base.  Retail spaces sat behind double-height elliptical arches that flooded the interiors with natural light.  Stone faux balconies dotted the brick faced ten-story midsection.  Above an intermediate cornice, a dramatic, triple-height arcade was distinguished by Scamozzi pilasters.  A bracketed cornice completed the design.

A relic from the neighborhood's residential past, the All Souls' Unitarian Church can be seen at the right corner.  The Architectural Record, December 1910 (copyright expired)

The Brogan Building filled with a variety of tenants.  Among the early apparel-related firms were the Regal Art Embroidery Company, which leased the 15th floor in November 1912; the Castle Braid Company; and M. C. Migel & Co., makers of corsets and underwear.  

The Vulcanized Rubber Co., maker of "rubber combs and sundries," was here by 1913.  The United States Rubber Company took two floors in 1918, and the Carlisle Tire Corporation's general offices were in the building by 1920.

Importantly, magazine publishers comprised an important part of the tenant list.  Among them were The Ladies' World, publishers of The Ladies' World and Housekeeper; Harpers' Weekly; and McClure's.  (In fact, 251 Fourth Avenue was popularly called the McClure's Building shortly after its opening in 1910.)

Among the executives of the Castle Braid Company in 1915 was Augustus Latz.  He was the proud father of two Cornell University seniors, Robert C., who was an engineering student, and J. M. Latz, who attended the school's College of Agriculture.  The School of Engineering's graduation ceremonies took place on June 16.  The previous day Latz, his wife, and two friends drove to Ithaca to attend the exercises.  Unfortunately, Augustus Latz would not see either of his sons receive their diplomas.  Fifteen minutes after he and his wife checked into their hotel room, Latz suffered a fatal stroke.  He died without regaining consciousness.

An interesting tenant in the post-World War I years was The Better America Picture-Lectures.  It offered pre-packaged lectures to church groups (ten in a set) with "colored lantern slides."  Its ad in The Expositor in 1919 guaranteed, "You...will need only a brief preparation--and the first one will so advertise the others that you need have no empty seats in your audience."

The Aircraft Syndicate and its related concern, the Aircraft Construction-Transportation Corporation, moved into offices on the 11th floor in 1921.  Its advertisement, printed in German, in the Staats-Zeitung on May 19 was headlined: "$20 for $1!  This is a Fact!"  The ad began, "Every German ought to invest his savings in this wonderful safe undertaking, New York-Chicago in giant Zeppelins in eight hours."  It guaranteed, "Money cannot be lost.  The future belongs to aerial navigation," and concluded, "Every millionaire started that way."  It was signed, "Mr. Goognair, 251 4th av."

Suspicious, a reporter from the New York Herald visited the office.  Mr. Goognair was not in, but the firm's president, Jean D. De Deltrand, granted an interview.  Shown the ad, he said, "I'm glad you showed it to me.  We're not responsible of course, inasmuch as our name is not signed thereto...Must speak to him about it."  De Deltrand called Goognair, "a nice, energetic chap, but probably a bit too enthusiastic in his use of words."

Nevertheless, he assured the reporter that the firm was preparing to build "three airships of the Zeppelin type, 1,000 feet long."  He explained that the trip from New York and Chicago would take ten hours and the "rate for a passenger will be $75, including berth and meals."  (The fare would translate to about $1,300 today.)   Additionally, to accommodate Chicago-to-New York passengers, the firm proposed to build a "great hotel in West Forty-second street, say about Tenth avenue" outfitted with a zeppelin landing platform on the roof.

from the collection of the New York Public Library

Among Jean De Detrand's office staff at the time was bookkeeper Catherine C. Conlon.  On July 11, 1921, De Detrand asked her to stay after hours "so that he could instruct her in the method he wanted followed in opening a new set of books," explained the New York Herald.  Instead, De Detrand made "unmanly advances, and finally made an attack upon her," as described by The New Orleans States.  Catherine fought him off, but, according to her, she "suffered greatly in mind and body."  The Evening World reported that the incident caused her to suffer "a nervous breakdown."

In a desperate attempt to quell a potential catastrophic scandal, "Mr. de Detrand telephoned the girl's home next day, apologized and offered to defray the expenses of the girl, her father and her aunt, with whom she lived, on a vacation trip," reported The New Orleans States.  Instead, Catherine filed a $50,000 suit against her employer.  De Detrand denied the charges, saying he "was with her alone for the first time" that night, "and then for not more than ten minutes."

In the meantime, the Freed-Eisemann Radio Corporation, "manufacturers of high and low radio apparatus," occupied space here; as did the offices of the Reinhardt Manufacturing Company, which manufactured silk ribbons in Paterson, New Jersey; the Catoir Silk Company; and the publishers of Success Magazine.  The Parents Publishing Company moved onto the 16th floor in January 1929.

The Depression brought a new tenant, the local Works Progress Administration offices.  And political and social upheaval in Europe in the late 1930s and early 1940s prompted another type of renter.  As early as 1941, the offices of the Jewish National Workers' Alliance were here.  Among its operations was the administration of the Unser Camp and Kinderwelt, the organizations "summer home" at Highland Mills, New York.  

Midcentury saw additional publishers in the building.  Fur & Leather Worker magazine was here as early as 1948, as was the N. P. D. Corporation, which published periodicals like Modern Photography and National Photo Dealer.  Exposition Press, which occupied space by 1950, created illustrated booklets like "How to Select a Publisher." 

Abraham Liberman, head of Book Sales, Inc., narrowly escaped arrest in the summer of 1955.  Another publisher, Samuel Roth, was indicted on August 20 "for sending obscene articles and publications through the mails."  The New York Times reported that Abraham Liberman was "listed in the indictment" as a co-conspirator, but was not indicted.

The neighborhood was known as "Camera Row" in the 1950s, and among the related firms in 251 Fourth Avenue were Intercontinental Marketing Corporation, which distributed camera accessories; Nikon Incorporated; and Fuji Photo Optical Products.

Fourth Avenue was renamed Park Avenue South in 1959.  By then, a different type of tenant had already started changing the personality of No. 251.  The Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies moved into the building in 1957, and The International Rescue Committee and its Medico Division were here by the following year.  By 1968, the American Occupational Therapy Association and the Jess Ward Foundation occupied space.

The Crestwick-Hummelwert stood alone among the publishing, camera, and welfare organizations.  The firm was described by The New York Times in 1965 as "distributor of Hummel figurines and other novelties."

Among the tenants in the 1980s were the architectural offices of Conklin & Rossant; the Young Adult Institute; and The Hinson Collections, manufacturers of high-end wall coverings.

image via marketplce.vts.com

Significant interior renovations to the building began in the late 1990s, and some exterior restoration was initiated.  It was possibly during this work that the cornice was removed, leaving an unfortunate scar and an uncompleted look.

many thanks to reader Peter Alsen for prompting this post.

Boak & Paris's 1930 45 Christopher Street

 

In 1929 Cobham Realty hired the architectural firm of Murgatroyd & Ogden to design a 16-story-and-penthouse "brick hotel" on the site of five vintage structures at 41 through 49 Christopher Street.  Something derailed that project and the following year Boak & Paris filed plans for a 16-story apartment building with stores on the site.  The architects projected the construction costs at $500,000--about $9.3 million in 2026.

The firm's Art Deco design included a two-story rusticated stone base.  The entrance, centered between stores, was flanked by shallow pilasters decorated with stylized palm trunks.  Verticality of the brick-faced upper portion was emphasized by thin ribs that rose to romantic stone balconies.  Terraced penthouse apartments shared the roof with a creatively designed water tower.

image via homes.com

Despite the ongoing Depression, 45 Christopher Street filled with financially-comfortable residents.  Among the first were the family of George E. Heidt, who leased a penthouse in August 1931; newspaper columnist Louis Sobal, who rented "a duplex apartment in the penthouse," as reported by The New York Times; and attorney John Langley Ridley.

Ridley was the nephew of multimillionaire Edward Albert Ridley.  In 1932, Edward hired his personal secretary, Lee Weinstein.  Less than a year later, on May 10, 1933, the 88-year-old Ridley and Weinstein were discovered murdered.  The younger Ridley's suspicions were raised when his uncle's will was read.  For one thing, the recently written document was not drawn up by the elderly man's trusted attorney, and his bankers knew "nothing about it."   The new will bequeathed $200,000 to Weinstein and completely ignored Ridley's relatives (including John L. Ridley).  The New York Times estimated the estate at about $7 million (nearly $170 million today).

John L. Ridley filed a caveat against the probate of the will in May 1933.  An investigation revealed that Weinstein "had been the head of a conspiracy" to drain Edward Ridley's fortune.  He slipped the fake will into a stack of papers for the elderly man to sign.  Unfortunately for Weinstein, his conspirators' greed ended not only his employer's life, but his own.  In November the estate was distributed among the millionaire's relatives.  John Langley Ridley received "one-third of his uncle's large real estate holdings," reported The New York Times.  

from the collection of the New York Public Library

Among Ridley's neighbors in the building at the time was Navy Lieutenant Eric Hoag, who lived on the fifth floor.  He was attached to the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  Early in November 1933, a friend, Lieutenant John Dyer Foley, was married in Seattle, Washington.  A naval surgeon, he and his bride would be relocating to the Civilian Conservation Camp at Montpelier, Vermont.  Two weeks after their wedding, the newlyweds visited Eric Hoag.

At 2:00 on the morning of November 13, Mrs. Foley awoke and found "my husband was gone," she later explained.  "I aroused the household.  We looked out a kitchen window and saw my husband lying three stories below on a balcony."

The 31-year-old was conscious when his wife and Hoag reached him.  At St. Vincent's Hospital he said, "I didn't know anything until I struck [the balcony].  I must have been walking in my sleep."  Newspapers across the country reported on the sailor's nocturnal plunge.  Mrs. Foley telegraphed her parents in Seattle, assuring them, "The newspaper accounts made the injuries appear more serious than they were."

Jeanette Bair, who worked for Feer Realty Corp., was the agent for 45 Christopher Street at the time.  A representative of the firm later testified, "Her instructions included the refraining from entering an apartment...unless she had a prospective tenant."  But around noon on August 8, 1934, she violated that rule and entered Penthouse E, the home of Zara Reigga, who was on vacation.

Four months earlier, Bair's husband had obtained a divorce.  He told officials, "on several occasions she attempted to effect a reconciliation," but he refused.  The despondent Jeanette Bair opened the gas jets of Zara Reigga's stove and oven.  It appears that she intended to kill herself by inhaling gas, but the plan went horribly wrong.

Louis Sobol was on the sofa in his penthouse next door at 12:38 when a massive explosion blew out the wall between the two apartments and threw him to the ground.  The New York Times said it "shook buildings within a half-mile radius...For several minutes after the blast, plate and window glass, fragments of Venetian blinds, and bits of brick and mortar rained down on Sheridan Square."  About an hour after the explosion, "a piece of roof coping weighing between twenty and thirty pounds plunged through the sidewalk canopy and was shattered," said the newspaper.

Terrified residents attempted to flee, but police stopped them in the lobby.  "You can't leave," once policeman said.  "Some one has blown the roof off this place with a bomb and everyone must be questioned."  It would be a while before investigators realized the source of the explosion.

Jeanette Bair, of course, was killed.  Amazingly, 37-year-old Louis Sobol suffered only cuts, and his maid, Anna Filsingeo was "cut and bruised."  Other residents were injured by being hit by glass or falling items, or from being thrown from their feet.  Ethel Jackson, a maid in one of the other penthouses, was "hurled through the bathroom door" and suffered painful bruises.

Fred C. Kuehnle, chief inspector for the Building Department, estimated the damages to Zara Reigga's furnishings and artwork at $5,000 (about $117,000 today).  Understandably, she did not return to 45 Christopher Street.  Following the major repairs to the building, an advertisement in The New York Sun on October 6, 1934 offered the vacant penthouse.  It touted a "sunken living room over 20 ft. sq.; wood-burning fireplace, spacious dining foyer, extensive terrace."

Perhaps the first artist to move into 45 Christopher Street was Russian-born illustrator Boris Mikhailovich Artzybasheff and his wife.  Born in 1899, his father, Mikhail Artsybashev, was a noted author.  Mikhailovich came to America in 1919 and quickly began earning a reputation for his book and magazine illustrations.  His work appeared in magazines like Time, Fortune and Life, and he would ultimately create 219 Time covers.

Artzyhasheff created Steel in 1934.

In reporting on the arrival of the steamship Washington on June 25, 1936, the New York Post commented, "Also on the liner was Mrs. Boris Artzybasheff, wife of the artist and daughter-in-law of the famous Russian novelist."  The article mentioned that she worked as a broker.

Another resident artist was sculptor Walter Rotan, here as early as 1944.  Born in 1912, he has been described as "an Impressionist and Modern artist."  He was living here in March 1944 when his bronze head Henry received the Ellen P. Speyer Memorial Prize in the 188th Annual Exhibition of the National Academy of Design.

A colorful resident was James J. McCormick, a widower who lived here with his widowed daughter, Hazel Jacobs.  McCormick had been a Tammany leader for 22 years and "a power in the Hall," according to The New York Times.  

His career had come to an abrupt halt in 1931 when the Seabury Investigation, which delved into city government corruption, discovered his graft and extortion.  The investigators discovered that he held 30 bank accounts containing "more than $257,900," according to The New York Times.  Almost all of that had been obtained from couples whom "he had married as chief of the Marriage License Bureau."  Other money came from "gratuities given him by 'friends' whom he aided when they became involved in difficulties over violations of building regulations."  He had, additionally, failed to file income tax returns for 1929 and 1930, during which time he received $69,000 "in gratuities."

In January 1939, McCormick suffered a cerebral hemorrhage.  He died in St. Elizabeth's Hospital a week later, on January 22.

As Jeanette Bair had been, in 1939 Adelaide Tate was the building's renting agent.  She, too, was a divorcee and, she too, was troubled.  Among the tenants she placed here was Standard Oil Company chemical engineer Age Skiolvig, who moved into one of the penthouses.  According to Skiolvig, "he had taken her to several parties."  The eligible bachelor, however, had a much different take on their casual relationship than did Tate.

On November 22, 1939, Skiolvig flew to Cleveland, Chicago and St. Louis on business.  Adelaide accompanied him to the airport.  In each city, he received telephone calls and telegrams from the smitten Adelaide.  At some point, Skiolvig "became suspicious that the calls and telegrams were originating from his apartment," reported The New York Times.  He telephoned the building's superintendent, who entered the Skiolvig apartment and found Adelaide there.  Skiolvig insisted "he did not know how she got into his apartment."  Apparently, as the renting agent, she had kept a copy of the key.

Adelaide gave the superintendent the key and promised to leave.  Then, according to The New York Sun, "Skiolvig became "annoyed and a bit alarmed at the tone of a telegram Mrs. Tate had sent him" and he hurried back to New York, arriving in New York at 7 a.m. on the morning of November 29.

He walked into his apartment to find Adelaide was asleep in a chair, still wearing a hat and coat.  When he wakened her, "she asked for a glass of tomato juice, which he gave her," according to The New York Times.  He then "reprimanded her" for the $100 bill of "telephone and telegraph tolls" she had run up.  Twenty minutes later, she walked into the bathroom and jumped from the window to her death 17 floors below.

Snow falling on the day this 1940 photograph was taken gave it a polka-dot effect.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Among the shops in the 1940s was the National Flower Decorating Company florist shop and Irving Weiss's liquor store.  Victor Emanual was the cashier of the flower shop in 1940 when a man who "appeared to be carrying a pistol in his pocket," according to The New York Times, walked in and demanded money.  The 26-year-old cashier handed over $1,281 and the robber fled.

Irving Weiss was not so lucky four years later.  At 12:15 on the afternoon of January 15, Maxine Golberg walked into the liquor store to find Weiss dead on the floor with two gunshot wounds in his head.  This was not a robbery, however.  Detectives said that Weiss was found "in a sitting position behind his swivel chair" and no cash appeared to be missing.

Living here by the late 1940s was newspaper man and playwright James Gow and his wife, the former Olga Alexander.  The couple married in 1941.  With Arnaud d'Usseau, he wrote the 1943 Tomorrow the World and Deep are the Roots, which premiered in 1945.  The former dealt with how post-World War II German children could be reassimilated into normal life after their indoctrination by the Nazis.  The latter play dealt with Blacks within the South.  He wrote screenplays for motion pictures including Ballerina and Paramount on Parade.

Another resident in the theater field was Carroll McComas.  Born in 1886, she made her stage debut in 1907.  While she was a dancer and singer in vaudeville, she was best known for whistling.  She went on to Broadway, where she would play in more than 24 roles, and made her first silent movie in 1916 in When Love is King.  

Carroll McComas with Frank Craven in the 1916 Seven Chances.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

While living here, she appeared on Broadway in Design for a Stained Glass Window, Arms and the Man, The Glass Menagerie and The Innocents; and in the 1953 film Jamaica Run and The Miracle Worker, released in 1962.  She died of a heart attack in her apartment here on November 9, 1962 at the age of 76.

Other residents in the 1960s were artist Ben Bishop; fashion consultant Gastona Marie Rossilli; and labor historian and economist Dr. Lewis L. Lorwin.

Bishop was born in the Bronx in 1923 and held a BFA in art history from the University of Nebraska and did graduate work at Columbia University, the New York University's Institute of Fine Arts, and the University of California at Berkeley where he received his Masters in painting in 1954.  His paintings hang in the collections of the Syracuse Museum, the Russell Sage Museum, the Brandeis University Museum, the Jewett Art Center and several other institutions.

Gastona Marie Rossilli attended the Traphagen School of Fashion and held a degree from Seton Hall University.  A "fashion-behavioral consultant," she had made field studies in the West of "the relation between clothing and behavior of American Indians," as explained by The New York Times.  She also conducted research in Europe and other parts of the U.S.   While living here, she consulted for department stores and the Fashion Institute.

In 1987, 45 Christopher Street was converted from a rental building to condominiums.  

In 1997, management of the Stonewall Inn attempted to circumvent the zoning rule that "prohibits cabaret licenses for places with entrances within 100 feet of a residential district."  The intention was to install a dance floor on the second floor of the bar  On August 6, The Villager reported, "But residential neighbors at 45 Christopher St., are opposing the permit.  Their lawyer, Stewart O'Brien, explained, "We have no problem with an eating and drinking establishment on the second floor, but a disco makes a lot of noise."

The imposing building that soars high above its neighbors, has become an architectural landmark within the Greenwich Village neighborhood.  

photographs by the author

The 1892 John Stich House - 117 East 95th Street

 

In 1891, developer Francis J. Schnugg hired Louis Entzer, Jr. to design nine abutting houses on the northern side East 95th Street between Park and Madison Avenues.  Along with the eight homes the pair created a year earlier, they would nearly fill the blockfront.

Completed in 1892, Entzer's row would compliment the earlier houses.  The four designs were configured in an A-B-C-C-D-D-B-A pattern.  Among the B models was 117 East 95th Street and, like its architectural siblings, was three stories high above a basement.  The undressed stone blocks and the heavy voussoirs over the arched parlor windows were Romanesque Revival in style.  Above the double-doored entrance, a stained-glass transom incorporated the address.

Entzer gave the planar sandstone of the upper two floors interest by striating it with bands of rough cut stone.  A sheet metal oriel dominated the second floor--its whimsical bosses along its base and the artistic panes of the upper sashes were Queen Anne in design.  The architect continued to blend styles by placing Gothic Revival, square-headed drip moldings above the top floor windows.  An elaborate and highly unusual pressed metal cornice completed the design.

The house became home to the John Stich family.  Born in 1856, Stich was the head of the John Stich Building Company.  He and his wife, the former Rose Herrmann, had two daughters: Mildred, born in 1882, and Nellie, born in 1886.

John Stich (original source unknown)

The 1899-1900 winter social season saw 18-year-old Mildred's debut.  Debutante entertainments often stretched for weeks, and on January 7, 1900, the New York Herald reported, "Mr. and Mrs. John Stich, of 117 East Ninety-fifth street, gave a musical and dance on New Year's night in honor of their daughter Mildred."

Two years later, on October 1, 1902, the New York Herald reported that John and Rose had announced Mildred's engagement to Saul Manovitch.  It may have been that article that provided Mary Smith the alternative identity she needed.

Shortly afterward, Mary Smith, described by The New York Times as "stylish and twenty-five years old," went on a shopping spree in the Stern Brothers' dry goods store on West 23rd Street.  She was arrested on October 25, 1902 "charged with obtaining goods under false pretenses."  The article said she confessed "to having obtained a large quantity of goods by representing herself to be the daughter of Mrs. John Stitch [sic] of 117 East Ninety-fifth Street."

John Stich sold the 18-foot-wide residence in April 1903 to Hyman (who often angelized his name to Herman) Adelstein.  He was born in Russia (in an area that would later become part of Poland) on December 7, 1868 and came to America in 1887.  He was a partner with Herman Avrutine in an iron foundry.

Hyman and his wife, the former Rosa Solvey, had six children--the eldest, Michael, was 13 years old when the family moved into 117 East 95th Street and the youngest, Sidney, was three.  Also living with the family was Ida Ksofsky, a niece.  Ida's time here was relatively short.  On February 4, 1906, Hyman and Rosa announced her engagement to Ezekiel Yachnowitz.

The Adelsteins were supplanted by the Jacob Lunitz family as early as 1912.  Lunitz was president of the Laclun Realty Company.  Like Hyman Adelstein, he was born in the Russian Empire around 1865.  He arrived in the United States in 1878.  Jacob and his wife, the former Betsie Horwitz, had six surviving children.  Two others, Feige and Salie, had died in 1894 and 1900, respectively.  The family maintained a summer home in Tannersville, New York.

Jacob and Betsie announced daughter Pansy's engagement to Louis Propp on March 1, 1920.  The Lunitzes were already planning a move and on July 10, the Record & Guide reported that they had sold 117 East 95th Street to Ernest and Oscar Sondheim.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Brothers Ernest and Oscar Sondheim were partners in The Imperial Metal Manufacturing Corporation, the factory of which was located in Long Island City, and in the Perfumers & Jewelers Box Company on West 14th Street.

The bachelor brothers purchased 117 East 95th Street as a family home.  Living with them here were their widowed mother and their unmarried sisters.

Ernest Sondheim was the last of the family to occupy the house.  He died in 1954, 34 years after moving in, and his estate sold the house to George Axelrod.  He resold it eight years later, in August 1962, to designer Stephen Kyle and his wife, entertainer, lyricist, playwright, and screenwriter Betty Comden. 

The couple, who were married in 1942, had created their own names.  Stephen Kyle was born Siegfried Schutzman and Betty Comden was born in Brooklyn in 1917 as Basya Cohen.  They had two children, Susanna and Alan.  

Betty Comden, from the collection of the New York Public Library

Betty Comden formed a troupe, the Revuers, in 1938 that included Judy Holliday, Adolph Green, and Leonard Bernstein.  Comden and Adolph Green partnered to write musical plays.  Their first Broadway production was the 1944 musical On the Town.  They relocated to California and, working for MGM, wrote screenplays.  Among their output were The Barkleys of Broadway, Singin' in the Rain, and The Band Wagon.

Now, back in New York City, Betty and Stephen became close friends with Leonard Bernstein.  When his wife, Felicia Montealegre, died in 1978, Betty wrote a moving letter that ended,

You are so much, Lenny--so many qualities and gifts and inner voices not given to many human beings.  You will find your strength somehow in them--and in the beautiful elements added to them by the co-mingling of your life and Felicia's.

        Much love, always, from Steve and from me.  Betty

A year after that letter, Stephen Kyle died of pancreatitis.  

Betty Comden and Adolph Green received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1991.  She died in the New York Presbyterian Hospital on November 23, 2006 at the age of 89.

The following year, an apartment was installed in the basement level.  When the house was offered for sale in 2011, The New York Times described the main portion as having five bedrooms and three baths.  Outwardly, little has changed to the 134-year-old residence.

photographs by the author

A "Thieves' School" -62 East Third Street

 

62 East Third (right) was one of a pair erected in 1838-39.  photograph by Carole Teller

The Greek Revival style was just beginning to nudge out the Federal style in 1838, when John Hanrahan began construction of two brick-faced homes at 56 and 58 Third Street between First and Second Avenues.  (They would later renumbered 62 and 64 East Third Street) Completed the following year, they were three stories tall above brownstone-clad basements.  Cast iron stoop railings wrapped the newels, which sat upon stone drums.  Typical of the style, the entrances were flanked by sidelights and framed by stone pilasters and a heavy entablature.

The original owner of No. 56 was William H. Mott, who leased the house.  Living here in 1840 was Kendrac W. Follet, a painter, followed by Rev. Darius Eliot Jones and his wife, the former Dorcas Ann Letts.

Born on October 18, 1815 to musician Abner Cheney Jones, Darius married Dorcas around 1828.  The couple would have four children, Mary, Kate Louisa, Charles B. Hatch, and Abner Campbell.

In addition to his ministry, Jones was a hymnist.  He wrote "He that Goeth Forth With Weeping" and "Jesus, Lord of Life and Light," and compiled volumes like Songs for the New Life, Hallowed Songs, and National Church Harmony.

Sadly, the couple's first son, Charles, died in the house on August 27, 1843 at just one-and-a-half years old.  His funeral was held in the parlor two days later.

As early as 1845, David C. and Jane Buchan occupied the house.  Buchan listed his profession as "chairmaker," and advertised himself as the "manufacturer of curled, maple and fancy chairs."  

A metal David C. Buchan chair tag.  Chair tags were affixed to the bottom of a chair to identify (and advertise) the maker.

As was common, the Buchans took in a boarder.  Living with the family in 1845 was silversmith George W. Gilchrist, and in 1851 schoolteacher Peter L. Ewell was here.

Starting around 1855, Cornelius L. Everitt and his widowed mother, Mary, occupied the house.  Cornelius was born in 1808 and when he and Mary moved in he was secretary of the New-York Gaslight Company.  He would eventually rise to president of the firm, as well as president of the Mercantile Literary Library, and secretary and treasurer of the Second Company, 7th Regiment, National Guard.  Additionally, he would become vice-president of the Broadway Savings Bank and a director in the Stuyvesant Insurance Company.

The New-York Tribune would later describe Cornelius Everitt, saying:

He was very correct and methodical in all his habits, and his strong common sense and well known probity, caused him to be sought after as a trustee and executor of estates requiring prudent and skillful management.

Everitt moved from 62 East Third Street in 1859.  He was followed in the house by John Harpell, a butcher in the Washington Market.  The affluent Harpell family would remain until 1872.  Harpell and his wife had two young adult children, a son and a daughter.

The Harpells also took in a boarder, who in 1859 was Thomas Hanlon.  Because of the tight quarters, Hanlon shared a bedroom with the Harpells' son.  The bedroom of their daughter, Henrietta, adjoined it.  

According to Henrietta, on the night of May 27 that year, she had left her bedroom door ajar "on account of the warmness of the weather," as reported by the New-York Daily Tribune.  At around 2:00 in the morning, Henrietta awoke to find Thomas Hanlon attacking her.  She screamed, and Hanlon dived under a bed in the corner of the room.  The article said, "he was captured shortly after by her father and brother."  He was charged with assault and battery.

After the incident, the Harpells were, apparently, more careful in choosing their boarders.  James M. MacGregor, for instance, lived with the family in 1863 through 1865.  He was superintendent of buildings for the city.

The Herman Zimmer family replaced the Harpells in 1872. He and sons Alfred F. and Emil Zimmer listed their professions as clerks.  The family occupied the house at least through 1880.

At the turn of the century, the East Third Street neighborhood had declined.  No. 62 was operated as a rooming house and its occupants were no longer respectable.  Living here in 1905, for example, was James Nixon.

On the night of October 9 that year, he and Thurston Gladheim were drinking in the Dry Dock Hotel at East Third Street and the Bowery.  President Theodore Roosevelt had just mediated the Treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the Russo-Japanese War and the two men were discussing it.  The Sun reported, "Incidentally the subject of wounds was broached."

James Nixon, who apparently had psychopathic tendencies, told Gladheim, "If you were excited enough, I could stab you with this knife and you wouldn't feel it."  In a flash, he thrust his pocket knife into his friend's chest.  The wounded man staggered out of the saloon and "almost into the arms of Policeman Muller."  Muller called an ambulance and Gladheim was transported to a hospital where his condition was deemed "very precarious."  James Nixon was held without bail awaiting "the outcome of Gladheim's injuries."

In May 1907, Henry Cohen was arrested with a boy, Jacob Stein, for stealing 500 coats from the factory of Jacob Davis.  The boy was let free as "only a tool."  Cohen, on the other hand, was found guilty.  In hopes of a lighter sentence, he told detectives about Theodore (known as Teddy) Grant, who "was not only running a fence, but a school for boy thieves," reported The Evening World.

On the night of May 17, four detectives staked out 62 East Third Street.  When 19-year-old Joseph Kist and "a driver, who lives in the house," entered the basement door, the detectives followed and attempted to arrest Kist.  "There was a struggle when he tried to escape," said the article.  The noise was heard on the floor above, and then there came a grating sound, as if something were coming down the chimney."

Theodore Grant, thinking that police were trying to get in the front door, attempted to slip into the basement through the chimney grate.  "The feet were seized and the man was drawn forth.  He fought hard but was soon in handcuffs."  In the parlor level, police discovered what The New York Times called, "a school of instruction in Crime."  The Evening World titled its article, "$50,000 Loot Found In Alleged Fence, Run, Police Say, By A Fagin."  The teenaged "pupils" were arrested and the spoils of their lessons were confiscated.  "There were many pieces of lace, jewelry of value and other goods, all of which, it is declared, had been stolen from express companies in transit," said The Evening World.

  

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Louis Sockler rented a room here in 1924.  Late on the night of November 30 that year, he walked into I. Silberforf's store at 359 East 10th Street.  He was greeted by a man who said, "Come right in the backroom.  The boss is giving a party tonight."

What Sockler could not have known was that the "clerk" was one of three gunmen who had tied Silberforf to a chair a few minutes earlier.  As the crooks tethered Sockler to a chair next to Silberforf's, a second customer entered the store.  The scenario was repeated and now three victims were tied and bound in the backroom.  The New York Times reported, "Then the thieves took $100 from the pocket of Silberforf, $30 from Sockler, and 85 cents from Levison."

While one gunman was guarding the prisoners, the others started to rifle the cash drawer.  They were interrupted by two more customers and fled.  Nevertheless, Sockler and the other two victims gave detailed descriptions of the thieves.

In June 1930, Nathan Yochnowitz purchased 62 East Third Street.  The house was converted to four apartments and that configuration survives. today.

many thanks to artist Carole Teller for suggesting this post

The 1927 Three Arts Club - 340 West 85th Street

 

photo by Greghenderson2006

In the last decades of the 19th century, a wave of independent-minded women changed New York City's workforce.  No longer restricted to nurses, school teachers and domestics, young women came to the city to take new positions like "typewriters" and stenographers.  In response, hotels for single working women began cropping up throughout the city.  They offered single women a safe environment, friendship, and affordable accommodations. 

In 1902, Jane Harris Hall, a deaconess of the Protestant Episcopal Church, took the concept a step further.  She recognized another group of women who traveled to New York City alone--those not seeking employment, but artistic education.  Based on the American Girls' Club in Paris, she founded the Three Arts Club for female students in the drama, fine arts, and musical fields.  The club opened in an old brownstone, and in its March 1905 issue, The Designer explained:

Under its roof may be had, for the nearly nominal sum of from three to five dollars a week, all the advantages of the usual club life, together with the important addition of the comforts and privileges of home; for the new club house, on the sunniest corner of Sixty-second street and Lexington Avenue, combines both club and living-rooms within its four-story brownstone walls.

On November 27, 1909, The New York Times reported that the Three Arts Club had purchased the six-story apartment house at 338-340 West 85th Street.  Seventeen years later, the renovated apartment house was no longer adequate.  On June 15, 1926, the officers announced that the building would be demolished and replaced.

Architect George B. de Gersdorff designed an eight-story Colonial Revival-style structure faced in red brick and trimmed in limestone.  Completed in 1927 at a cost of $400,000 (about $7.2 million in 2026), its tripartite design focused on utility rather than ornament.  

The centered, arched entrance was flanked by engaged columns with palm leaf capitals that upheld an entablature that announced "The Three Arts Club."  A stone architrave around the window directly above it and a wrought iron, colonial-style railing created a faux balcony.  The upper two sections were unadorned other than stone keystones at the second and eighth floors.

photograph by Greghenderson2006

Inside were accommodations for 153 students.  Wealthy benefactors had generously donated to the structure.  Frederick W. Vanderbilt donated the Louise Anthony Vanderbilt Library in memory of his wife, and the club's president, Mrs. John Henry Hammond (the former Emily Vanderbilt Sloane), gave the club "the little theatre and assembly room with lounge and balcony," according to The New York Times.  Marcia Tucker, wife of millionaire Carll Tucker, "gave the studio or aerial work shop, reached from the eighth floor, where the elevator stops, by a stairway," said the newspaper.  "There is also sufficient room on the roof for a garden and sleeping porch."

As construction drew to an end, on March 19, 1927, The New York Evening Post reported that the Three Arts Club, "expects to formally open its large new building June 1."  The article praised, "The splendid work which the club has accomplished in giving a comfortable and inexpensive home to the young art students who come to New York is well known throughout the country."

The targeted completion date was optimistic and the understated, formal opening took place on November 17.  Among the six speakers who gave "five-minute addresses," according to The New York Times, was the club's founder, Jane Harris Hall; the building's architect, George B. de Gersdorff; and conductor and composer Walter Damrosch.  The guest of honor was operatic diva Emma Calvé.  Following the dedication, tea was served in the large dining room in the basement.

Maria Tucker's "aerial work shop" on the roof can be seen this 1940 photograph.  photographer unknown, via www.nyc.gov

In addition to being a place to live, the Three Arts Club was a venue in which to exhibit the work of its residents.  The theater, for instance, was where members staged a Christmas play, The Nativity of the Manger, in 1929.  And every year an art exhibition was held.   

The club also held events for the residents.  On December 31, 1934, for instance, The New York Sun reported that teacher and author Harriet Ayer Seymour "will give a course of four free lectures on adult education in music at the Three Arts Club."  And on April 13, 1937 the newspaper reported on the "bridge party and fashion show to be held in the ballroom of the club."

Residents (one shockingly smoking a cigarette) enjoy the "roof garden" in 1940.  photographer unknown, via www.nyc.gov

When the Three Arts Club opened in 1927, The New York Times had remarked that it had a "long waiting list."  Nothing had changed on August 13, 1946, when the newspaper reported that it was completely filled and, "The director...estimates that she has turned away 1,000 girls in the last three months."

The changing mores in the post-World War II years was reflected in a notice in the Columbia Spectator on October 28, 1949.  "The 'Three Arts Club' has extended an invitation to Columbia men to come to an informal dance to be held Saturday night at 340 West 85th Street."  The thought of men milling about in the clubhouse would, no doubt, have prostrated Jane Harris Hall in 1902.  (She would have been even more disturbed to know that the event lasted until 1 a.m.)

Three years later, on July 8, 1952, The New York Times reported that the Three Arts Club, "which for nearly half a century has served as a nonprofit residence for women students of the drama, music and fine arts, will close as of Sept. 1."  The article said the board of managers "will try to sell the eight-story clubhouse."

Their attempts were successful and in November 1952 the building was sold.  The new owners converted the building to the Brandon Residence for Women, catering to students and working women.  But, as had been the case with the Three Arts Clubs, women-only residences were becoming passé and the venture was short lived.

Within a year, 340 West 85th Street was the national headquarters of the Volunteers of America.  Founded in 1896 by Ballington Booth and his wife, Maud, the organization was in the building in time for its busiest time--Christmas.  On November 27, 1953, The New York Times remarked, "The army of Santa Clauses from the Volunteers of America will take over their traditional posts today alongside red chimneys on strategic sites in New York."

The donations went to good use.  On March 7, 1958, for instance, The New York Times reported that the Volunteers of America "provided aid last year for more than 79,000 persons in New York City and Westchester County."  The organization also staged used clothing drives for the needy and hired "many homeless and unemployed people to work in repairing these articles and making them available to the more unfortunate," as worded by National Field Secretary Oliver P. Strickland in March 1959.

The Volunteers of America continued to operate here until 2017, when it sold the building to the West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing.  It accommodated 125 formerly homeless seniors in single-room-occupancy units.

The institution initiated a renovation in May 2026.  The conversion will result in about half of the units.  The 61 affordable studio apartments will continue to house persons over 55 years old with low income.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post

The Lost Gerard W. Morris Mansion - 25 Fifth Avenue

The Morris house is in the center of the frame.  photograph from the collection of the New York Public Library.

Born on July 11, 1799, Gerard Walton Morris had a sterling American pedigree.  His grandfather was Lewis Morris, a United States Senator, a Founding Father, and the last Lord of Morrisania Manor.  His grandmother was Mary Beekman Walton, who came from two distinguished Colonial families. Gerard's father, Richard Valentine Morris, was Commodore of the U.S. Navy and a member of the New York Assembly.

Gerard W. Morris married Martha Pyne on October 8, 1827.  Within the subsequent decade, mansions began appearing along lower Fifth Avenue, sparked by the construction of the Henry and Laura Brevoort house on the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and West 9th Street in 1834.  Six years later, the Morris family were living in their new brownstone mansion at 25 Fifth Avenue, across from the Brevoorts.

The Drake Mills mansion next door at 23 Fifth Avenue sat upon two building plots, affording a capacious side garden.  Although less sumptuous than the homes of the Brevoort and the Mills families, the Morris house held its own in fashion and luxury.  Four stories tall above an English basement, its cast iron stoop railings sat atop stepped wing walls.  Typical of the Greek Revival style, the entrance was flanked by stone pilasters that upheld a layered entablature.  Also typical was the squat fourth floor that supplanted the dormered, peaked attic of the Federal style, which was quickly becoming passé.  

When the couple moved into their new home, they had eight children.  A ninth, Arthur Rutherford, would arrive in 1846.  The family's country estate was in Morristown, New Jersey.

Gerard Walton Morris (original source unknown)

Tragically, two of the Morris children died in 1850--Anne Walton died on February 22 at the age of 20, and Richard Valentine died the following month, on the 24th, at the age of 11.  The next year, on August 28, Isabella died at the age of 23.

Honora S. Morris was 21 years old in 1852.  Her wedding to wealthy stockbroker Francis Julius Baretto was held in the Church of the Ascension on May 5 that year.  The newlyweds lived in the Fifth Avenue house and at their summer estate, West Farms, in Westchester County.

Honora Morris Barretto (original source unknown)

The church was the scene of another, more somber Morris ceremony the following month.  On June 9, the New York Evening Express reported that Mary Pyne Morris, "wife of Gerard W. Morris of this city, and daughter of the late John Pyne of South Carolina," had died at the age of 46.  Her funeral was held in the Church of the Ascension on the 10th.

The population of the Fifth Avenue mansion quickly grew.  Gerard Morris Barretto, Annie Barretto and Frances Baretto were born in 1853, 1854 and 1857 respectively.  Sadly, little Annie would die two months before her second birthday on September 28, 1856.

(Unusual for the time, none of the many Morris family's funerals were held in the Fifth Avenue parlor, but at the Church of the Ascension.)

The parlors were the scene of a joyous occasion on December 19, 1854 when Mary Morris (known as Minnie) was married to Jonathan Edwards.  (Gerard W. Morris would attend yet another funeral of one of his children three years later when Minnie died at the age of 22.)

In August 1865, Gerard Walton Morris was at West Farms, the summer home of the Barrettos, when he died on July 19 at the age of 67.  His funeral was held in St. Ann's Church in Morrisania, once the familial estate of his ancestors.

Honora Barretto died at the age of 35 in 1866 and Francis Barretto and his children left 25 Fifth Avenue shortly after.  Still living here were bachelor brothers Gerard Walton Morris Jr., who was a lawyer; Henry Walton Morris, and John Pyne Morris.  Their only other surviving sibling was Reverend Arthur Rutherford Morris.  John Pyne Morris had served in the Civil War, attaining the rank of captain.  He would die in 1868.

from the collection of the New York Public Library

The Morris brothers leased their childhood home to Sophia Dye, the widow of George Dye, in 1871.  She operated it as a high-class boarding house, taking in only a handful of boarders at a time.  Among them that first year was merchant James S. Chappel, who would remain at least through 1874.

Sophia Dye continued to lease the mansion until 1881, when it was rented by attorney Henry C. Bowers and his wife, the former Estelle Durant.  In September 1884, Estelle's parents, Charles C. and Margaret L. Durant, moved into the mansion with the couple.  Now retired, Charles had been a banker and the president of the Rock Island Railway.  The New York Times said he had "accumulated a large fortune" and was "now estimated to be worth far more than a million dollars."

The Durants, most likely, moved in with their daughter and son-in-law because Charles was exhibiting an "unsound mind," or what today we would recognize as the symptoms of dementia.  Four months after moving in, in December 1884, Margaret L. Durant died in the residence.

In the spring of 1885, a court deemed Durant incompetent to handle his financial affairs.  Two weeks later, on March 24, Estelle's brother, Howard M. Durant, visited.  He told her that he would like to take their father on a drive.  In fact, he essentially kidnapped him.  Charles Durant never returned to 25 Fifth Avenue and he died the following month.  A bitter court battle among the siblings erupted, each word followed closely by the newspapers.

Around 1895, General Daniel Edgar Sickles purchased and moved into the former Drake Mills house with his wife, Carmina.  At the same time, he purchased 25 Fifth Avenue and rented it to Charles Runyon and his wife, the former Isabel Mercein Fitz Randolph.  

from the collection of the New York Public Library

Born on March 4, 1837, Charles Runyon had a long career in the coal business.  He had been secretary and treasurer of the Superior Mountain Coal Company and was instrumental in organizing the Hoboken Coal Company.  He then founded and was president of the Communipaw Coal Company.  He and Isabel were married in 1864 and they had a daughter and three sons, one of whom, Carmen Randolph, moved into the mansion with his wife, Helen O. Wiley.

Charles Runyon died in the house on October 13, 1903.  Isabel remained in the house with her son and daughter-in-law at least through 1908.  

By 1910, the mansion was once again operated as a high-end boarding house.  The names of the select residents, like the O. Webers, here in 1911, appeared in Dau's New York Blue Book of high society.

By then, Daniel E. Sickles was experiencing money problems.  On October 11, 1912, The New York Times said he had "become involved in further financial difficulties," and reported that he was was far behind in his mortgage payments on the two properties and "owed $11,000 for three years' taxes."  Finally, on August 1, 1914, the newspaper reported that both properties had been sold at auction.  The article disclosed that the corner property "brought $104,850," and 25 Fifth Avenue "went for $37,400."  (The price paid for the former Morris mansion would translate to about $1.2 million in 2026.)

In October 1916, Oak Point Corporation purchased the two properties along with 1 East 9th Street and 27 Fifth Avenue.  They were demolished for a 13-story apartment house completed in 1921, which survives.

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