The Lost 1812 Washington Hall - 282 Broadway

Lithographer George Hayward produced this lithograph in 1853.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

On Independence Day 1809, the Washington Benevolent Society laid the cornerstone of Washington Hall on the southeast corner of Broadway and Reade Street.  (The 1876 Centennial, Illustrated commented, "in earlier times the Negro Burying Ground was located here.")  John McComb Jr., whose City Hall was rising a block to the south, was responsible for the design.

Edwin C. Hill explained in the 1922 The Historical Register, "Although intended to be used as a public hall for meetings and assemblies, it was also kept as a hotel."  Washington Hall would be considered one of the finest structures in the city. 

Construction would take four years to complete.  On July 3, 1812, the Building Committee was disbanded, "except so far as respects a settlement of claims," reported The Evening Post.  The "claims" were the workers' salaries, materials and such necessary to complete the building.  Those, said the article, would be "presented to Mr. John McComb, Junr."

Five months later, an announcement in The Evening Post on December 29 read:

This elegant and spacious Building, situated in Broadway, corner of Reed-Street [sic], is now nearly completed; and will be Let or Leased from the first of May next, or sooner if required.  It is well calculated for a splendid Hotel, having forty one Rooms, thirty-two of which are supplied with fire places.

The article deemed by large 35-by-56 foot meeting room as "the largest and most elegantly finished in the city; and has a large orchestra finished in superior style."  (The "orchestra" was the balcony for musicians.)  There were also six "elegantly finished" rooms for "dining or supper parties."  Two of them were connected by folding doors for larger affairs.  

Americana Illustrated, January 1912 (copyright expired)

Daniel W. Crocker had answered that ad.  He leased the building and on October 18, 1813 announced in The New-York Evening Post that Washington Hall, "is now opened for the accommodation of the public as a Hotel."  He described it as being, "replete with every convenience."  Somewhat oddly, guests would not be sleeping in Washington Hall proper.  Crocker wrote, "The rooms are spacious and airy, and the bed-rooms (in a building separate from the Hotel) are neat, convenient and retired, with one bed in each room."

On the ground floor was the Coffee Room, "in which the daily papers will be kept and which will be open to the public," said Crocker.  He noted that it and the public dining room opened onto Broadway.  On the Reade Street side was the Porter Room, which Crocker described as "not excelled for convenience and cosiness [sic]," adding, "Here refreshments (of every sort) may be had at the shortest notice."  Crocker described the main Assembly Room on the second floor as "the most elegant and spacious" in New York City or, "perhaps in the United States."

Edwin C. Hill explained that the Washington Benevolent Society "was not organized as a political association, its members were mostly of the Federal Party."  Because of that, Washington Hall would become the headquarters of the Federal Party.  

Five months before the hotel was opened for business, the Assembly Hall saw its first grand event.  The United States and Great Britain were engaged in the War of 1812.  On February 22, 1812, Captain James Lawrence's USS Hornet sank the HMS Peacock, an 18-gun Royal Navy warship.  Lawrence and his crew visited New York City in May 1813 and the City Council hosted a lavish banquet in his honor.  (One month later, during the battle in which he famously ordered "Don't give up the ship!", Lawrence was fatally wounded.)

Another lavish affair linked to the war was held in the Assembly Room the following year.  Valentine's Manuel of Old New York would recall in 1921:

One of the most notable events of its history was when in 1814 a magnificent ball was given to celebrate the longed-for restoration of peace between England and America.  The superb ballroom was magnificent decorated and was crowded with a brilliant company of the elite of old New York.  The newspapers of the day described the scene as "a picture of feminine loveliness, beauty, fashion and elegant not to be surpassed in America.

Among the groups that rented rooms here was the Bread and Cheese Club, a literary group founded by Fenimore Cooper in 1824.  In its February 16, 1920 issue, The Mentor noted that the club "took its name from the fact that candidates were balloted for by bread and cheese."  Among its members were William Cullen Bryant, Henry Halleck and Gulian Verplanck.

The hotel portion hosted notable figures, none more so than President Martin Van Buren who stayed here in 1839.  On July 7, he was visited by Hannah Gouge.  The 104-year-old, according to The Morning Herald, "retains the possession of all her faculties, and has a most perfect and vivid recollection of her visit to General Washington."  Hannah, who lost three sons in the Revolution, had been presented to every President except Andrew Jackson.

Washington Hall continued to be the venue of glittering balls, prestigious banquets, meetings and entertainments.  On January 26, 1844, for instance, separate articles in the New-York Daily Tribune announced the "special meeting of the Third Ward Clay Club;" an upcoming concert by Sophie Gjertz, "pianist to the Royal Family of Denmark;" and a lecture "of Mr. Shea" that would "possess the deepest interest to lovers of Ireland."

At the time of the articles, the building had recently been "repaired and fitted up at considerable expense," according to the New York Herald, which added it was "decorated in a most superb manner."

Both Sides of Broadway, From Bowling Green to Central Park, New York City, 1910 (copyright expired)

The Assembly Room was booked for a ball on July 5, 1844.  At 7:00 that morning, a small fire was discovered in "one of the chimneys at the back of the building," as reported by the New York Herald.  It was quickly put out and forgotten.  Then, about three hours later, "it was found that the roof at the back immediately over the upper bedrooms was in flames."  The fire spread rapidly and several fire engines were on the scene within minutes.  The newspaper said the firefighters were "followed by a great mob whose evident object was plunder, for they kept running about from room to room making 'confusion worse confounded,' breaking the furniture and pilfering little articles that were lying about."  The New York Herald said that firefighters warned the intruders that they would be trapped by flames if they did not leave "and in a very short time the building was comparatively cleared of these blackguards."

In the meantime, employees rushed to salvage valuable items, like the large portrait of George Washington, some mirrors and furniture.  The New York Herald said in part:

The ball-room was kept locked until the roof began to fall in, and the flames to make their appearance...It was found impossible to save the splendid chandeliers with which this room was adorned, in consequence of the burning fragments which was [sic] continually falling, and the beams from which they were suspended having become ignited.  In a short time afterwards the chandeliers fell, and were utterly destroyed.

On October 16, 1844, The Evening Post reported, "Washington Hall (or rather the ruins of Washington Hall) was sold yesterday for $62,500 to Mr. Stewart, dry goods merchant, of Broadway, who will convert it into handsome stores."  (Department store mogul Alexander Turney Stewart was among the nation's wealthiest merchants.)

On the night of April 7, 1845, Mayor Philip Hone wrote in his journal that Stewart "is preparing to erect on the ground a dry goods store, spacious and magnificent beyond anything of the kind in New York."  He noted, "In removing the rubbish after the hall was burned the corner stone was brought to light and exhumed this morning."

On the site of Washington Hall, Stewart erected his "Marble Palace," which, enlarged, survives.

from the collection of the New York Public Library

The Howard and Frances Poillon Mansion - 174 East 80th Street

 

In 1873, Mary Barter, a widow, lived with her adult daughter, Ellen, in the newly-completed "double flat" at 174 West 80th Street just west of Third Avenue.  Ellen C. Barter was a teacher in the primary department of School No. 33 on East 66th Street.  There were two apartments per floor in the building and the Barters' neighbors were respectable and working class, like Peter Dunigan, who worked as a carpenter.

The Edward Haas family lived here in 1877.  Haas was a policeman and his daughter was a music teacher.  For some reason, the young woman left New York headed to Ocean Grove, New Jersey on January 31 that year in what the New-York Tribune described as a "furious northeast gale."  She boarded a New-Jersey Central Railroad train that left New York  at 5:15.  Because of the dangerous weather conditions, the conductor and engineer were told  to run the train "carefully as far as South Amboy."  

When they arrived at Red Bank, "the conductor of the train received orders to go to Long Branch, and stop the train there," reported the New-York Tribune.  Miss Haas and the other four passengers were enraged and "insisted on being taken to Ocean Grove."  After an hour's delay, the train continued.  At Deal Beach, the conductor and head brakeman got off and walked the track for 300 yards.  They returned and reported that the track seemed safe as far as they had gone.  The New-York Tribune reported, "The train had scarcely moved a hundred yards when the track gave way and the engine toppled over into the Great Pond, carrying the head brakeman, the engineer, and fireman."

The engine plunged into the water, pulling the baggage car behind it.  The baggage master "jumped for his life."  Tragically, one passenger, 24-year-old Dr. Laird, had moved forward into the baggage car and was killed.  The sole passenger car remained on the tracks.  The three male passengers helped rescue the engineer and fireman and the baggage master "plunged into the pond and dived under the wreck of the engine," looking for the brakeman.  He was finally found alive, trapped under the fire-box of the engine.  The New-York Tribune explained, "This was two hours or more after the accident."

The article said, "The passengers, one of whom was Miss Haas...then walked back to Deal Beach.  The lady was taken care of there, and a conveyance was obtained to convey the other passengers to Ocean Grove."

On April 15, 1920, The New York Times reported that Harriet A. Reinig had sold "the four-story flat" to Eugene Klapp, who "will make substantial alterations."  Instead, a year later on June 27, 1921, the New-York Tribune noted, "Howard Poillen [sic] is the new owner of the flat at 174 East Eightieth Street."

Born in 1879, engineer Howard Andrews Poillon graduated from Columbia University School of Mines in 1901.  He married Frances Wright in 1914 and the couple had three children, Cornelius III, Jeanne, and Peter.  The family's country home was in Westhampton Beach, Long Island.

Howard Andrews Poillon (original source unknown)

Poillon had prospected for gold in Alaska for ten years before co-founding Poillon & Poirier in 1913.  He was a vice president of Research Corporation, Consolidated Asbestos, Ltd., Federal Asbestos Co., D. M. Steindler Holding Co., and president of Crescent Lorraine Mining Co.  He was also a director in several other corporations.

The Poillons hired the architectural firm of Ford, Butler & Soliver to convert the vintage apartment building into a private home.  Although designated by the Department of Buildings as a single family dwelling, the Poillons rented out the upper two floors.  On September 17, 1922, they advertised in The New York Times:

An unusual duplex apartment.  174 East 80th St.--10 rooms, three baths, automatic elevator, two open fireplaces, living room 16x23.6, dining room 14.6x19; use of laundry in basement; occupancy Oct. 1.  Howard Poillon 42 Broadway.

The building likely looked similar to the one on the right in this 1940 tax photograph.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The ad was answered by three siblings: Catherine, Margaret and Henry Stanton Leverich.  They were the children of the late Edward Leverich and the former Annie Frederica Schuchardt, who died in 1886 and 1918, respectively.  Henry was a real estate operator.  The New York Times described the siblings as descendants "of Colonial families identified with Rhode Island and New York."  They traced their paternal roots to the Rev. William Leverich, a Puritan clergyman who arrived in Rhode Island in 1634, and on their mother's side, according to The New York Times, from "the Remsen, Rutgers and de Peyster families of New Amsterdam."

The Leverich sisters moved within polite society.  On November 18, 1923, for instance, The New York Times reported, "Miss Margaret D. Leverich, of 174 East Eightieth Street will give a large luncheon on Wednesday, Dec. 5, at the Colony Club for Miss Margarette S. Delafield."

Calling him the "well known club man of New York city," on February 22, 1924 the Otsego Farmer reported that Henry Stanton Leverich would be married in Cooperstown, New York the next day to Jessie Reid Birdsall.  The New York Evening Telegram remarked, "Mr. Leverich was graduated from Yale in 1901 and is a member of the Union and Turf and Field clubs."  Following their honeymoon "through Italy, France, Belgium and England," according to the Otsego Farmer, "they will make their home at No. 174 East 80th Street."

Also moving into the upper floors was Jessie Reid Birdsall's daughter from her previous marriage, Gertrude Carlton Reid Birdsall.  On August 1, 1926, Town & Country reported on her engagement to William Richard Galt Duane.  The article noted that she "is a graduate of St. Agnes School, Albany, and has been studying in New York and Paris."

In 1927, Howard Andrews Poillon was promoted to president of Research Corporation in 1927.  The firm was described by The New York Times as, "an engineering foundation organized to transact business for the advancement of science."

Frances, in the meantime, kept herself busy within society.  On June 27, 1929, for instance, the Standard Union reported on the happenings at the Westhampton Country Club.  "The women's golf tournament for the Tombstone Competition was held yesterday," said the article.  "Mrs. Howard Poilon [sic] of 174 East Eightieth street, Manhattan, is chairman of the women's golf committee."

Jeanne Poillon attended the private Brearley School and graduated from Rosemary Hall in Greenwich, Connecticut in June 1938.  In March 1939, her parents hosted a tea to announce her engagement to Wellington Vandeveer.

When America entered World War II, Cornelius and Peter Poilln joined the U.S. Army and were deployed to Europe.  Jeanne's husband also enlisted.  Vandeveer joined the United States Naval Reserves.  With her husband fighting abroad, Jeanne and her two young daughters, Pamela and Judith, moved back into 174 East 80th Street with her parents.  The family was at the Westhampton Beach house on September 5, 1944, when Jeanne, who was 25 years old, died "presumably of Rocky Mountain fever," according to The New York Times.

In 1944, Howard Poillon suffered a debilitating stroke.  It necessitated his stepping down from the presidency of Research Corporation.  In 1948, he was admitted to the Westchester branch of New York Hospital in White Plains.  He remained there until his death on January 20, 1954.  

No. 174 East 80th Street next became home to the Morton Fearey family.   Born in New York City in 1913, Fearey was a graduate of Yale University and the Yale Law School.  Now a partner in the law firm of Davis, Polk, Wardwell, he had served as a naval aviator in World War II.  He and his wife, the former Mary Senior, had two sons, Morton Jr. and John, and a daughter, Mary.  The family's country home was in Edgartown, Massachusetts.

Mary's dizzying debut to society included a dinner dance in the Colony Club on December 26, 1956.  The New York Times remarked that she "attended the Grosvenor Ball in the Plaza last month and the Debutante Cotillion and Christmas Ball in the Waldorf-Astoria last Friday.  She also will attend the Mayfair Assembly in the Pierre New Year's Eve."

The social spotlight turned to Morton Jr. in 1964 when he was married to Beverly Ann McMonagle on February 8.  The ceremony as performed by the Right Rev. William Appleton, "retired Bishop of Western Massachusetts and granduncle of the bridegroom," as reported by The New York Times.

Two years before Morton Fearey's death in 1988, the couple sold 174 East 80th.  Their former residence was converted to offices.

It became home to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Association of Art Museum Curators & AAMC Foundation, and The New York Preservation Archives Project.  

photographs by the author

The Bush Terminal Sales Building - 130 West 42nd Street

 

photograph by Epicgenius

In 1895, Irving T. Bush conceived a solution to shipping, storage and distribution costs.  His Bush Company organized a complex of six warehouses and a steamship pier on the South Brooklyn waterfront as a freight-handling terminal.  The firm's name was changed to the Bush Terminal Company in 1902.  By then, the complex included a railroad, factory lofts and warehouses.  The Bush Terminal Company moved into its newly-built headquarters at 100 Broad Street in 1905.

In 1916, at the age of 47, Irving T. Bush envisioned another ground-breaking project: a centralized market in which wholesalers world-wide could display their goods.  The architectural firm of Helmle & Corbett, composed of Frank J. Helmle and Harvey Wiley Corbett, was commissioned to design a 30-story structure on the narrow, 50-foot-wide plot at 130-132 West 42nd Street.  Corbett took the reins of the project, designing the skyscraper in the neo-Gothic style.

Irving Bush's original name for the building--The Bush Terminal International Exhibit Building and Buyers' Club--did not easily roll off the tongue.  It was quickly abbreviated to the Bush Terminal Sales Building.  In its July 1917 issue, Dry Goods described it as "a World's Fair in a skyscraper."  The article said, "The Bush Terminal Company is constructing the building at a cost of $2,000,000, and, war or no war, is going to have it open by October 1st."  (The construction cost would translate to $50.2 million in 2026.)  Dry Goods noted that it would be "the tallest building in Times Square."

Corbett's streamlined Gothic elements emphasized the building's narrow verticality, carrying certain vertical lines from the base to the crown.  Corbett explained to The American Architect years later, "The whole mass of the building [was], of course, vertical, and everything possible in designing was done to accentuate this verticality."

The American Architect, October 17, 1917 (copyright expired)

The soaring tower dwarfed the neighboring low-rise buildings.  However, Corbett realized that  the situation might not last forever.  In order to avoid blank side walls, he created full-height, trompe l'oeil piers by the use of colored brick.  Although the Bush Terminal Sales Building is often touted as the first example of the newly enacted New York Zoning Law, Corbet corrected that idea in The American Architect in 1926, saying, "Plans for the building were drawn before the law went into effect.  The set-backs were conceived purely for architectural and aesthetic reasons."

The American Architect, October 17, 1917 (copyright expired)

Dry Goods explained the "double purpose of the new skyscraper."  The Buyers' Club occupied the first floor and mezzanine and included a men's lounge, "reading rooms with library reference books, catalogs, out of town and foreign newspapers and magazines, bar, buffet lunch, etc."  The article laid out the various services available to visiting buyers in the Buyer's Club:

There will be 'information about plays and the sailing of steamships, telephone booths, theatre tickets, retail shopping news, a stenographic department, ticker tape service, trade and credit information and a register of doctors, dentists, nurses.

The typical upper floors held display units of 10 by 10 feet.  On the highest floors were offices, including those of Irving T. Bush (on the topmost floor) and Helmle & Corbett.

The lobby carried on the Gothic motif.  The Bush Magazine 1921 (copyright expired)

In its October 1919 issue, The American Magazine noted, "at present over one thousand manufacturers have engaged space and service for their products.  Elene Foster, writing in the New-York Tribune on February 2 that year, lauded the convenience of one-stop shopping for the out-of-town buyers.  "Before the erection of the Bush Terminal Sales Building, which by the by, is the first of its kind in the world, the woman buyer...who makes a semi-annual pilgrimage for the purpose of replenishing her stock was obliged to trudge from one dingy downtown building to another."  

Dry Goods, July 1917 (copyright expired)

Now, she said, "she wends her way toward the great Gothic building on Forty-second Street."  Buyers would find manufacturers were arranged by floors--toys, childrenswear, or housewares, for instance, on their own dedicated floor.

The Notions and Fancy Goods division (top) and the Perfumery and Toilet Articles floor.  The Bush Magazine, 1921 (copyright expired)

There was an exhibition space in the building, as well.  On February 6, 1919, the New-York Tribune reported, "The first children's fashion show took place last night at the Bush Terminal Building under auspices of the International Buyers' Club," and nine months later, on November 24, The New York Times announced, "Four thousand examples of Persian art will be placed on exhibition and sale today at the Bush Terminal, 130 West Forty-second Street."  Among the "miniatures, lacquers, potteries, brocades" and other items was a 16-foot-square tapestry, "representing the work of 100 women for ten years," said the article.  It was valued at $100,000

About two weeks later, that exhibition escaped what could have been a disaster.  On December 13, The New York Times reported, "Candles used for lighting when electric lights were turned off in accordance with the fuel conservation order were said to have been the cause of a fire on the eighth floor of the Bush Terminal Sales building."  The fire was confined to that floor and the article said, "The fire and water proof construction of the building prevented any damage being caused by water to the collection of Persian art exhibited on the third floor."  The article noted that the 4,000 specimens were the property "of the Persian throne" and included "illuminated manuscripts, rugs, jewelry, and lacquer work which date back as far as the twelfth century."

World War I brought a new type of tenant to the building.  In 1919, the League to Enforce Peace, the League of Free Nations Association, the Vacation War Relief Committee of the Vacation Association, and the City Government Committee of Citizens' Union signed leases.

On May 22, 1921, The New York Times reported, "Extensive alterations are being made to the lower floors of the Bush Terminal Sales Building...to accommodate a novel feature to be known as the Old Town Tavern."  The article explained that the tavern proper "will be equipped with the furniture and fittings characteristic of some of the famous old inns and taverns of New York a hundred years ago."  The motif was carried on throughout the first three floors.  Irving T. Bush, said the article,  intended to remind visitors "of the great historic interest of New York which is so often overlooked or forgotten."  

The three floors, therefore, "are furnished with the quaint old furniture and fittings of the old English manor houses."  Heavy ceiling beams, blocks of travertine imported from Italy and "Old English tile" for the floors were installed.  Irving Bush loaned antiques from his personal collection, including a 16th century banquet table.

The American Architect, October 17, 1917 (copyright expired)

Another change came the following year when the newly organized Hamilton Bank moved into the ground floor in December 1922.  Other new tenants that year were the Technical Book Co. and the Newspaper Club, composed of journalists.

The world-wide esteem of the Bush Terminal Sales Building was exemplified in July 1922 when English novelist Hugh Walpole and the Maharajah of Rajpipla visited the United States.  The New-York Tribune opined on July 10 that the two distinguished visitors had made a mistake.  "No man can see America in two weeks."  The article presumed that the Maharajah would have time only to see one landmark in each of the cities he would be visited.  The newspaper chose the Bush Terminal Sales Building as New York City's point of interest.

The offices of architects Robert P. Rodgers and Alfred E. Poor were located in the building in 1930.  That year, on February 18, Rodgers & Poor's design for the Wright Memorial at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, was selected among 35 submitted designs.

In March 1931, the Childs Restaurant chain leased the two-story space formerly occupied by the Hamilton Bank.  (The bank had recently merged with Chase National Bank.)  The New York Times reported that the space "will be extensively remodeled in old London style by the architects, Pruitt & Brown."

By the outbreak of World War II, the building that Bush Magazine of Factory and Shipping Economy had called "A Modern Temple of Trade" in 1917 was no longer a wholesale shopper's mecca.  Now filled with offices, on March 28, 1941, The New York Times reported that six new tenants had signed leases the previous day.  They included the Commercial Capital Corporation; the accounting firm of Edwin J. Fluss Company; the ABC-Mutual Cleaning Contractors; Leo J. Margolin, an attorney; Stuart Robson, a novelty company; and William Rutter, the New York representative of the Angell Manufacturing Company of Dayton, Ohio.

The headquarters of the Red Cross War Fund of Greater New York opened here in January 1943.  Its sole purpose was to raise money for the Red Cross's work in war-ravaged Europe and on the battlefronts.  By 1946, the name was tweaked to the Red Cross Fund Headquarters.  Among its fund-raising methods was an annual benefit Broadway variety show, and in March 1946 two days of tennis matches at the Seventh Regiment Armory were held.  On March 6, The New York Times announced, "Donald Budge, the king of the courts, heads a cast of professional tennis players who will appear in New York for the benefit of the American Red Cross."

The 1960s saw a wide variety of tenants.  Among them were the Doric Training Center, which promised, "If you're interested in a glamorous, high fashion, high profit cosmetics business of your own, this is it!"; the American School, which advertised, "Do you have leadership potential? Supervisory training at home in your spare time;" and attorney Hyman Abrams, who specialized in immigration law.  He was convicted in August 1969 for "obstructing justice and causing false statements to be made to the Immigration and Naturalization Service," as reported by the New York Amsterdam News.

The building was acquired by Vanke US in 2015 and the lobby was remodeled by Fogarty Finger Architects.  The sleek, white space was inspired "by art gallery spaces," according to Vanke's website.  

image via vanke.us.com

The upper floors were gutted into industrial loft-style spaces.  In May 29, 2026, Bisnow reported that the Bush Terminal Sales Building "is now in the hands of a bank."

many thanks to reader Andrew Porter for suggesting this post

Thom & Wilson's 1884 142 East 79th Street

 

James A. Frame was a prolific real estate developer in the later decades of the 19th century.  On December 1, 1883, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that he would be erecting 18 houses on East 79th Street, 13 at the southeast corner of Fourth Avenue (today's Park Avenue) and five at the southwest corner of Lexington Avenue.  The architectural firm of Thom & Wilson would be designing the two projects.

Completed in 1884, the eastern-most structure, 142 East 79th Street, was clad in brownstone.  Its stone stoop was offset to the west.  Thom & Wilson's neo-Grec design included ornate window frames on the 79th Street side.  They sat on bracketed sills and wore molded cornices supported by corbeled piers.  Below the pressed metal terminal cornice was a frieze of rosette-decorated panels.

An advertisement described:

Southwest Corner of Lexington Ave.; handsome four story high-stoop, brown-stone dwelling, two-story extension, beautifully decorated, hard-wood trimmed; all improvements; on cable road, street 100 feet wide, size of lot 20x102.

James A. Frame sold 142 East 79th Street to John W. Haaren in April 1885 for $35,000 (about $1.2 million in 2026).  Haaren was a partner in the importing firm of Haaren & Meinken, founded in 1865 with Henry Meinken.  Both men dealt in real estate, as well.  Haaren and his wife, Marie, had four children, John William, Henry F., Mamy M., and Lena W.  

On the afternoon of March 11, 1891, John and Marie went for a drive.  The New York Herald reported, "He drove a spirited team hitched to a light side-bar buggy."  At around 6:30, they stopped at the house of a friend on 57th Street near Ninth Avenue.  John ran in "to speak to his friend," while Marie waited in the buggy.  Just as he was leaving, a Ninth Avenue elevated train passed.  The New York Herald reported, "The noise of the train frightened the horses, and they started on the run through Fifty-seventh street."  John ran after them, but fell.  Getting to his feet, he continued the chase.

The panicked horses crashed into a truck at 57th Street and Third avenue.  Two policeman caught the horses and calmed them.  Inside the buggy, Marie Haaren was unconscious.  By the time John arrived (no doubt breathless from his marathon), a neighborhood doctor had diagnosed Marie with "nervous shock."  Based on that, when the ambulance arrived John asked them to take her to their home, rather than a hospital.

It was an understandable decision, but a fatal one.  Marie regained consciousness on the way home, but fainted again.  The New York Herald reported, "On reaching her home she was taken to her room, and almost immediately died."  The 56-year-old had a history of heart problems and, according to the newspaper, "it is thought the fright caused by the runaway brought on an attack of the disease."

Marie's funeral was held in the parlor of 142 East 79th Street on March 15, followed by a service at Immanuel Lutheran Church on Lexington Avenue and 88th Street.

John Haaren sold 142 East 79th Street in 1896.  John L. Jordan converted the basement to a commercial space and the upper floors into three sprawling apartments, including one duplex.  

The store, with the address of 1140 Lexington Avenue, became home to S. Blumberg's drug store while the apartments were rented to well-to-do tenants.  A mysterious woman who moved into the building in June 1903 was Jane Leroy.  The "jewel-bedecked woman" was arrested for shoplifting in a Broadway department store on August 27, caught "stealing doilies worth $23.10," as reported by The Evening Post.  (The value of the lacy heist would translate to about $868 today.)

As it turned out, Jane Leroy was, in fact, the wife of jeweler Henry R. Levi.  They originally lived in Washington D.C., but according to The Evening World, now lived in a luxurious home at 315 East 46th Street.  The couple, it appears, were having domestic problems.  Levi arrived at the stationhouse that evening and furnished his wife's staggering $19,000 bail.

The next day, a lawyer's clerk told the magistrate that "the woman was too ill to appear."  Magistrate Ommen would not have it.  "That's no good.  I'll give you until 11 o'clock to produce the defendant, otherwise her bond will be forfeited," he demanded.  The New York Herald reported, "A little later Mrs. Levi came to court in a carriage.  She persisted in saying she was Jane Leroy, a housekeeper living at 142 East Seventy-ninth."  

As early as 1913, the store space was home to Frederick Bahr's grocery store.  It would become the Planodome Market within a decade.

"St. Peter's" magazine, September 1913 (copyright expired)

In the meantime, William J. Baird occupied an apartment here as early as 1919.  The bachelor was an "athletic instructor," according to the New-York Tribune.  On March 20, he took his  fiancé, Alice Whitman of Brooklyn, to the Palace Theatre.  The night ended badly.  William briefly excused himself during intermission.  When he returned to his seat, Alice told him that Dr. Albert L. Roth, who sat nearby, "had annoyed her during his absence."  The New-York Tribune reported that Baird left his seat "and punched the face of Dr. Albert L. Roth."  He and Alice then started out of the theater.  

Dr. Roth called out to a sailor nearby to stop him.  The sailor held Baird until a policeman responded and arrested him.  In night court, Baird explained his actions, saying, "I lost my temper, but I am willing to apologize."  The New-York Tribune reported, "Dr. Roth, who had lost a tooth, would have none of his apology, and Baird was fined $10, which he paid."

In 1929, architect Lafayette A. Goldstone was hired to renovate the building.  The stoop was removed and a triangular pediment placed over the new, sidewalk-level residential entrance.  There were now offices on the second floor, one apartment each on the third and fourth floors, and two "non-housekeeping" apartments on the fifth.  (The term meant that they had no kitchens.)

The ground-floor entrance to the apartments can be seen in this 1940 tax photo.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The tenants continued to be well-to-do.  The widow of Dwight Morgan Platt and her daughter, Miriam Dwight, lived here in 1929 when Miriam was married to John Merrill Congdon in Sherry's on October 21 that year.  The engagement and the wedding were heavily covered in society pages for weeks.

Wealthy widow Eila Haggin McKee, daughter of millionaire James B. Haggin, moved into an apartment building next door in 1928.  The structures were owned by the same firm.  The New York Times reported, "she missed the flowers that were her hobby on her Summer estate, Blue Blinds, at Smithtown Branch, L. I., so she rented the roof space on the adjoining building at 142 East Seventy-ninth...at a cost of $800 annually."  The article said, "The roof was only a step down from her apartment next door, and she sealed the stairway in the apartment at No. 142 which led to the roof."

The last remnant of James A. Frame's ambitious row, 142 East 79th Street is dwarfed by its neighbors today.

Problems came in 1936 when Eila McKee died.  The New York Times explained that the executors canceled the lease on the apartment, "presuming that the cancellation agreement also covered the garden space."  It did not.  By then, the buildings were separately owned.  The estate was in court for at least three years trying to untangle the complicated issue, which not only dealt with the rent, but the restoration of the internal staircase and access to the roof in 142 East 79th Street.

As early as 1940, Ruth Forster's florist shop occupied the ground floor.  In 1955, it was known as Betty Forster, Inc., the name presumably that of Ruth's daughter.  In the late 1980s, a florist shop, now the Strakes Florists, still occupied the space.

During a renovation in 1974, the residential entrance was moved to the Lexington Avenue side (although retaining the East 79th Street address).  The 79th Street entrance now accessed the store.  The remodeling resulted in offices on the second floor and one apartment each on the upper stories.

photographs by the author

The Skinny 144 First Avenue

 

photograph by Anthony Bellov

In the 1830s, the eastern blockfront of First Avenue between Eighth and Ninth Streets was lined with low Federal-style store-and-house buildings.  Change would soon come as throngs of immigrants inundated the neighborhood.  Private homes were converted to rooming houses and vintage buildings on the avenues were replaced with tenements and stores.  Around 1851, a row of Greek Revival store-and-flat buildings was erected at 142 through 148 First Avenue.

The buildings were faced in red running bond brick above the storefronts.  Their Greek Revival design included featureless brownstone lintels and wooden corbeled cornices.  No. 144 First Avenue was just 16-feet wide.  As early as 1852, Mary McGuinness, a widow, lived here, working as a seamstress.  She may have operated the upper floors as a boarding house.  Living here at the same time were Edward McGorren, a real estate agent, and carpenter James Robinson.

At the same time, Gaius H. Nash operated his pharmacy in the store.  He had a short commute to work, since he lived in the new building next door at 146 First Avenue.  (He and his family would move above the store around 1857.)  After working for Nash for several years, an employee became disgruntled by his lack of advancement in 1854.  In June he advertised:

To Druggists--The Advertiser having had eight years experience in the compounding of medicine, is anxious to obtain a clerk's situation.  Best city Reference.  Apply at Dr. Nash's store, 144 First avenue, for two days.

Calling the proprietor "Dr. Nash" was a stretch.  It would not be until around 1859 the he closed his drugstore here and enrolled in the New York University School of Medicine.  He would earn his title "doctor" in 1864.

Sharing the upper floors with the Nash family in 1856 were  a young Irish-born couple, John J. and Margaret Ahern (John worked as a clerk); the extended Ramsey family; and policeman Charles McMillen.  

Margaret Ahern, "formerly of the city of Cork, Ireland," as reported by The New York Sun, died in her rooms here on November 28, 1856 at the age of 18.  Her funeral was held in the couple's rooms.

There would be another funeral in the building within a few months.  The Samuel Ramsey family, who would remain at least through 1865, crowded into an apartment.  They included adult sons James (an engineer) and Robert, and the latter's wife, Margaret, and their three-year-old son, John.  On May 1, 1857, little John succumbed to "congestion of the brain," as described by the New York Herald.  His funeral was held here on June 2.

Joanna Regiersky opened a jewelry store in the former pharmacy space in 1859.  On January 31, 1860, she took two $1,000 St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad Company bonds to Jacob Little & Co. on Wall Street to have them cashed.  The New York Times reported, "but as it was after banking hours, she was requested to call the next day."  In fact, the astute clerk was stalling.  He recognized the bonds as having been stolen from the home of Alexander H. Nones two months earlier.  When Joanna returned, an officer was waiting for her.

As it turned out, the burglar (who also took $400 worth of jewelry) was Joanna Regiersky's brother-in-law, Julius Werner.  She told the officer that he had promised her $100 if she successfully cashed the bonds.  Joanna was ordered to send him a message saying that he was needed to "attend the business."  When he arrived, he and Joanna were arrested.  

The incident apparently ended Joanna Regiersky's jewelry shop.  The space became the barbershop of Franz Haberstroh.  (He would alternatively spell his first name Frank and Francis.)

John Wille, a tailor, not only occupied an apartment here by 1868, he owned the building.  Also living here that year was Charles A. Cappa, a musician.  In June 1868, Wille sold the structure to Franz Haberstroh.

Haberstroh did not retain ownership for very long.  By 1872, he closed his barbershop and sold 144 First Avenue to Michael Klopf and his wife, Anna M. H. Klopf.  The couple had three children, Henry, Katie and Lizzie.  Michael opened his "stoves" store in the ground floor space.  It may have been Klopf who slightly updated the appearance of the building by having cast metal cornices added to the lintels.

Michael Klopf died in 1900.  The store space became home to Paul Limbach's "butter and egg" store.  The entrepreneur struggled in business.  On November 9, 1904, the New York Produce Review and American Creamery reported that Paul Limbach's business had failed.  He, nevertheless, rallied and on March 28, 1906, The City Record reported that he had been given a license "to sell milk at No. 144 First avenue."  Only four months later, on July 31, The New York Times reported that he had declared bankruptcy.

While the simple blocks and wooden fascia board were typical of the Greek Revival style, the full-height of the top floor and the slightly-molded cornice showed the emerging Italianate style.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

Rutilio Colorosso, a coal dealer, his wife and six children arrived from Italy in 1892 and moved into 144 First Avenue in 1900.  In the summer of 1911, he opened a second coal store at 406 East 9th Street.  The Italian community was plagued by a terroristic group called La Mano Nera, or the Black Hand, at the time.  The Italian-American group used violence, including assassinations and bombings, to extort money from well-to-do Italians.  On September 11, 1911, The Evening World reported, "Outward evidence of prosperity, manifested by the opening of a new place of business for the sale of coal, wood, ice and cheap wine has brought upon Rutilio Colorosso the unwelcome attention of Black Hand extortioners."

Within four weeks of opening the new store, Colorosso received two Black Hand letters, each demanding $1,000.  They warned him that "he and his family would be blown to pieces in their home unless he paid the money," reported The New York Times.  Colorosso dismissed the letters until the night of September 4.

At 10:30, janitor David Leper locked the street door.  About an hour later, residents of the top floor heard someone walking on the roof.  Minutes later, a massive explosion shattered the doors "of every flat in the four stories of the building," reported The New York Times.  Plaster from the ceilings fell upon sleeping tenants.  The bomb had been placed directly in front of the Colorossos' door.  Where the door had been there was now a four-foot wide hole in the floor.  The article said, "In every room in the house debris crumbled from the ceilings to a depth of several inches."  The Colorossos' 15-year-old son, Joseph, "was thrown out of his bed against the opposite wall."  Happily, he was not hurt.

Two days later, The New York Times reported on the arrest of Giuseppe Costabile, "a shrewd, narrow-eyed Italian," for the bombing.  The article said, "the police believe they have caught the chief and master-mind of a gang of blackmailers who have set most of the thirteen bomb explosions reported in the last month."  If Costabile was, indeed, the bomber, his arrest did not deter the determined extortionists.

That same day, Colorosso received another letter and the following week, on the morning of September 11, a second bomb was discovered in the building.  The Evening World said, "The explosive was dynamite, properly equipped with a detonating cap.  Only two inches of the twelve-inch fuse was burned.  Doubtless the fuse went out while the man who placed the bomb was running way."

The New-York Tribune reported, "The bomb, the police said, was unmistakably designed for Frank [sic] Colarusso [sic]."  The Evening World added, "The bomb found at Colorosso's floor this morning was of sufficient strength to have blown in the front of the building."

In 1940, the sheet metal cornices over the windows were deteriorating.  One of top floor examples had already fallen off.  via the NYC Dept of Records Information Services.

Most of the residents of 144 First Avenue continued to be Italian in the succeeding decades.  Salvatore Rezze and Charles Carnesi lived here in 1929.  On June 1 that year, the Daily Star reported that they had been arrested as part of a "counterfeiting gang."  Rezze, Carnesi, and Anthony Scarpello were arrested after a sharp-eyed taxi driver recognized the $5 bill they paid him was a fake.  Their capture led to "the seizure of the 'plant' where, it is believed, several hundred thousand dollars in bogus bills have been manufactured since the first of the year," said a Secret Service spokesperson.

By the Depression years, the store was home to the Italian American Grocery & Delicatessen.  At the end of Prohibition, Fortunato Liberto obtained a liquor license for the business.

The contemporary building next door, one-third wider than No. 144, received a replacement cornice at some point.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

Today a laundromat occupies the ground floor where a modern storefront and replacement entrance doors can be seen.  The Victorian window cornices are gone, but the vintage wooden terminal cornice survives.

many thanks to Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post.