The 1890 Elmhurst Apartments - 212 West 105th Street

 

photo by Anthony Bellov

In 1889, Diedrich Tragman hired architect John C. Burne to design two identical apartment buildings at 210 and 212 West 105th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and The Boulevard (renamed Broadway in 1899).  

Each of the buildings cost Tragman $20,000 (or about $631,000 in 2026) to erect.  Unfortunately, he overextended himself and on May 10, 1890 he was forced to sell the "two five-story unfinished double flats in process of erection, requiring for the purpose of their completion an expenditure of about six thousand dollars," according to court papers later.  The buyer, Frederick M. Littlefield, completed the buildings.  (The term "double flat" referred to the configuration of two apartments per floor, east and west.)

The western building, 212 West 105th Street, was called the Elmhurst Apartments.  Like its architectural sibling, it was a happy marriage of Romanesque Revival and neo-Grec styles (the former appearing at the first and fifth floors). Paired windows on the first floor were engulfed by vast arches.  They flanked the brownstone-framed entrance above a short stoop.  Intricate swirling carvings filled its spandrels.

Faced in red brick and trimmed in brownstone and terra cotta, the three-story midsection featured neo-Grec-style stone lintels, foliate terra cotta bandcourses and decorative panels.  The elements of the top floor included a dramatic brick arch above two fully arched openings.  It was supported by paired brick pilasters with terra cotta capitals.  A highly unusual pressed cornice with geometric horizontal and vertical lines completed the design.

photograph by Anthony Bellov

Each apartment held "six large, light rooms," according to an advertisement.  They rented for $25 a month, or about $1,000 today.  Among the initial tenants were builder and contractor Ernest Wetterer, and New York Life Insurance Company agent Silas E. Pearsall.

The middle-class residents were affluent enough to afford domestic help.  An advertisement in the New York Herald on January 18, 1893, read: "Housework--a girl, 16 to 17, to help with housework and washing; wages $5 or $6.  Mrs. Garrison, 212 West 105th st."  The higher figure would translate to about $215 today.  

Mary and H. D. Hubener purchased 212 West 105th Street in August 1906.  Two months later, "a heap of kerosene-soaked rags was found in the cellar," reported The New York Times, which said the "attempt to burn the building was reported to the police, but they were unable to get a clew to the firebug."  Mary Hubener had her suspicions, though.  She and her husband had previously owned an apartment house where they were harassed by a "woman firebug."  

The vengeful arsonist had only started, however.  A few months later, The Brooklyn Citizen reported, "The tenants of the house...had about forgotten this fire when on Dec. 1 another blaze was discovered among some furniture in the cellar.  Three days later this was discovered ablaze again, and the terror began to seize upon the tenants."

At 8:45 on the night of December 6, 1906, another rubbish fire was discovered in the cellar of the building and four nights later another was set in the hallway.  On January 7, 1907, the New York Herald reported on yet another fire, saying, "This was the fifth fire of undoubted incendiary origin that had been discovered in the house within two weeks."  On the same day, The Brooklyn Citizen reported that police "got information to-day that a woman firebug" was bent on destroying "the handsome ten-family apartment house."  Mary Hubener told the police the woman's name.  

The New York Herald added, "the place has a reputation of being a hoodoo house."  (The term meant it was cursed.)  Mary Hubener told a reporter from The Brooklyn Citizen, "These fires have about ruined me.  Nobody will live in the house."  The New York Herald reported that the repeated attempts to burn the building resulted in its being "almost deserted by its tenants.  Three of ten families were left and these had given notice of their intention to take an early departure."

The Hubeners apparently gave up.  On April 30, 1907, The New York Times reported that they had sold the building.  The fires ceased.

212 West 105th Street (right) is identical to its neighbor at 210.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Somewhat shockingly for the times, 26-year-old Florence Sohmer lived here on her own in 1911.  On the evening of August 6 that year, three teenaged males knocked on her door "with a letter purporting to come from a friend," as reported by The Evening World.  While she started reading the letter, one of them pulled out a revolver, "while another hit her over the head with a blackjack," said the article.  Florence Sohmer screamed, frightening her assailants and causing them to flee.  Florence's shrieks had alerted passersby.  The Evening World said the men "ran, with a crowd following into Morningside Park."  The trio, whose ages ranged from 17 to 19, were later captured.

Living here around the time was French-born Marie Escande and her daughter, Charlotte.  Marie worked as the companion of wealthy widow Dorcas Knox Braisted, who lived in the Hotel Gotham on Fifth Avenue.  Mrs. Braisted died at her summer home in White Plains on March 24, 1925.  The New York Times reported, "Mme. Marie Escande of 212 West 105th Street...will receive an annuity of $1,800."  The annual windfall would equal more than $32,000 today.

A tenant named Thylstrup also worked for himself.  Moving in around 1915, he remained here into the 1920s.  His advertisements over the years never changed: "Painter, paperhanger, kalsominer, first class; has tools; reasonable."  (A skilled craftsman, a kalsominer applied kalsomine to ceilings, resulting in a matte finish.)

A replacement door sits within the carved brownstone frame.  photo by Anthony Bellov

There are still just two apartments per floor in the building that lost its name decades ago.  Other than a shocking coat of bright turquoise paint on the cornice, little has changed externally to the 135 year old building.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post

The Lost James B. Finnen House - 147 East 126th Street

 

Charles Von Urban photographed the vintage structure in 1932.  from the collection of the New York Public Library.

In the years just following the end of the Civil War, two-story frame houses began dotting East 126th Street.  Their addresses were listed in directories through 1869 simply as "East 126th Street" since actual numbers would not be assigned until the following year.

James B. Finnen, a builder, occupied 147 East 126th Street that year, and it is likely he constructed it.  The clapboard, vernacular style building sat upon a stone basement.  Its naive design was not the product of a professional architect, but was the work of the builder.  Three bays wide, its single-doored entrance harkened to Greek Revival prototypes of a generation earlier.  The projecting wooden cornice below the peaked roof was supported by three utilitarian brackets.

In the rear yard was a second, smaller house.  Both buildings would see a regular turnover of occupants.  In 1873, Walter L. Thompson and his wife, Maria, occupied one building and Alexander Rogers and his family lived in the other.  Thompson worked as a clerk and Rogers was in the stone business.

Walter and Maria Thompson's baby girl, Loretta, was born on August 18, 1872.  Sadly, she died one month after her first birthday, on September 24, 1873.  Her funeral was held in the parlor two days later.

As early as 1876, William Ellis, a laborer, and his family occupied the rear house.  He and his wife had four children, Nellie, Mamie, Harry, and Edward (known as Eddie).  At the time, the Pabor family lived in the rear house next door at 145 East 126th Street.  

Around 1881, Pabors moved into the front house at No. 147.  Born in 1848, David Simon Pabor was a clerk.  He and his wife, Eliza Boazman, who was born in 1855, had four children, Catherine (known as Katie), Harry Munson, Lucy E., and David Jr.  

David Pabor died here on October 18, 1883 at the age of 36.  His funeral was held in the house on October 20.

Eliza Pabor and her children remained here.  The Ellis and Pabor children had been playmates for years.  In 1889, The Evening World initiated its "Sick Babies Fund" that solicited donations of clothing and money for "the babes of the poor."  The Ellis and Pabor children were moved and they organized an "entertainment" with several of the neighborhood children.

On August 19, 1889, the newspaper reprinted their letter: 

Please find inclosed [sic] $8.50, the proceeds of our second entertainment, held at 147 East One Hundred and Twenty-sixth street, on Thursday evening, Aug. 15, 1889, for the benefit of your Sick Babies' Fund held by the undersigned.

The children, the oldest of whom was Catherine at age 15, had raised the equivalent of $300 in 2026.  Their efforts did not stop with that event.  

The following year, on August 12, 1890, The Evening World reported, "Among the many Harlemites who became interested in The Evening World's efforts to raise a fund to send doctors among the sick babies was Miss Mamie Ellis, a pretty dark-eyed girl, of 147 East One Hundred and Twenty-sixth street."  The article explained that Mamie had "enlisted a corps of playmates and made arrangements for a rousing benefit."

The Harlem Democratic Club donated the use of its hall.  This year, Mamie Ellis convinced her teacher, Miss McKee, to help.  The children practiced for weeks before the event, which was held on August 8, 1890.  The article said, "the hall was crowded."  Among the extensive list of participants were familiar names.  Mamie Ellis recited "Asleep at the Switch" and sang, "Anchored."  Nellie Ellis recited "Singen on the Rhine," and Eddie Ellis recited "Pat and the Pig."  Harry Pabor was involved as well, reciting "Barbara Frietchie."  The benefit garnered $59.45--equal to more than $2,000 today.

Around this time, Captain Harry Munson Sr. and Jr., moved in with the Pabors.  The elder man appears to have been Eliza's maternal uncle.  Born in South Amboy, New Jersey in 1808, The Daily Argus described him as, "one of the oldest and best known oysterman of Long Island Sound."  Munson started in the oyster business in 1821.  According to the New York Herald, "He was among the first to learn the secret of replanting oyster beds with the small oysters which before this had been thrown overboard as worthless."

After his retirement in 1861, Munson opened a saloon on Park Row called "The Old Reliable."  Before moving into the East 126th Street house, he lived on City Island.  Remarkably fit for his age, in 1890, "he rowed from Harlem Bridge to City Island in a substantial rowboat, in which he spent many days at fishing and rowing about the Harlem River and the Sound," said the New York Herald.

Harry Munson Sr. died here on January 4, 1893 at the age of 85.  The Daily Argus attributed his death to "a stroke of paralysis."

Now grown, on August 5, 1895 Harry Munson Pabor signed a petition requesting the Board of Aldermen to consider "the necessity for the bicycle path between the upper and lower parts of the city."  By now, Catherine was listed as a dressmaker, running her business from the house.

Harry Munson by no means followed his father's career in oysters.  He founded the New York Bill Posting Company and in 1897 described himself in the Trow's Directory as a "bill poster and display advertising contractor."  

Trow's City Directory, 1897 (copyright expired)

Following his marriage, Harry Munson and his wife appeared in the society pages.  The couple maintained a country home in Munson, New York.  (The town was named for his father.)  On December 2, 1897, for instance, The Queens County Sentinel reported, "Mr. and Mrs. Harry Munson have returned to New York, at 147 East 126th Street.  Mr. Munson expects to spend a portion of the Winter in the South."

At the time of the article, Eliza Pabor and her unmarried children had left East 126th Street.  (Eliza would live until 1939, dying at the age of 84.)  The Munsons lived on the upper floor of 147 East 126th Street and Harry installed a "branch office" of the New York Bill Posting Company in the parlor floor.  In doing so, he made no alterations to the exterior of the house.

One original two-over-two window survived on the first floor in 1941.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

By 1912, Munson had divested himself from the New York Billposting Company.  C. H. Taylor now managed the firm, a branch of which still occupied the first floor.  When Vincenzo Celenza purchased the property in May 1920, it was still described as a "dwelling."

By the late Depression years, the Bronx Pattern & Model Works occupied the basement and first floor.  It advertised, "wood and metal patterns, machinery, automobile ornamental work."

The second floor continued to be residential.  An advertisement in the New York Amsterdam News on May 23, 1964 offered, "Large and small front room."  Against all odds, the wooden relic survived unaltered until its demolition in 1990, replaced by a six-floor apartment building.

The Sun-Ray Yarn Building - 349 Grand Street

 

photo by Carole Teller

In reporting on the "inventions and improvements" exhibited in the Annual Fair of the American Institute of New-York, the October 1833 issue of Mechanics' Magazine noted, "Mr. F. Murphy's exhibition of blacking will, if properly appreciated, make him a shining character...He makes it at 349 Grand street, and let it be remembered that it is American."  Francis Murphy would soon have to find another spot to make his improved shoe polish.  Within a few years, his vintage structure was replaced with a three-story house and store.

Faced in running bond red brick, its design most likely drew from the current Greek Revival or Italianate style.  In 1840, Benjamin Stimpson, Jr., a hatter, and his family lived upstairs while he ran his store downstairs.  Sharing the upper portion in 1847 were Gertrude Pearsall, the widow of Abijah Pearsall; and "segarmaker" William Fick.  The commercial space was now home to the Tice & Abbott bakery, run by Peter Tice and Samuel P. Abbott.

Drastic change soon came when Joseph Ochs and his family moved in.  He opened his "dining saloon" in the former bakery space.  Ochs also operated another dining saloon at 3 Cedar Street.  His venture here, however, was short-lived.  In March 1853, he advertised:

A public house for sale--A barroom, with restaurant and club room attached for sale low to a cash purchaser.  The house is doing a good business, and is in one of the best locations in the city.  For particulars, apply at No. 349 Grand street.

Marcus Nehab converted the space for his ribbons store.  In the meantime, William Seaman lived upstairs.  He was irate in 1854 when unflattering rumors about him were circulated.  In August he placed an announcement in the New York Herald saying,

$50 Reward--Whereas some person unknown to the subscriber [i.e., Seaman], has been circulating false and scandalous reports concerning him, the above reward will be cheerfully paid to any one who will furnish such information as may lead to the conviction of the one who circulated the slander.

Seaman's reward would equal about $1,950 in 2026.

Aaron Phillips took over the store around 1857.  He would operate his dry goods store for years while he and his family occupied the upper floors.  

In 1861, the Union Home and School was established to care for the children of soldiers killed in battle.  Following the conflict, the facility continued and on February 1, 1867, a lottery for its benefit was held.  The following day The New York Times reported on the winners, among whom was G. A. Phillips, who won $100 (the windfall would translate to $2,000 today).  Presumably, G. A. Phillips was Aaron Phillips's son.

The dry goods store was taken over by brothers Jacob and Leopold Diamond in 1867.  Change came again in 1871 when the store became a branch of the M. H. Moses & Co. tea shops.  It was one of 15 tea shops the firm operated throughout the city.

It may have been Moses H. Moses who updated the facade.  Impressive Renaissance Revival-style cast metal architraves were applied to the upper openings and an ornate cornice that included the street number was installed.

photograph by Carole Teller

Mary Morris was the widow of shoemaker Matthew Morris.  Upon his death, she took the reins of the company and in 1879 leased 349 Grand Street, installing her shoe store here and moving her family into the upper floors.  Mary had at least two sons and two daughters.  

One of the daughters, who signed her name "Miss L. Morris," thought that a joke that she invented in 1888 was so clever that she should share it with the world.  She wrote to the editor of The Evening World on July 31:

The other day I remarked to a group of friends in talking about a child that happened to be standing near by: "I think that child will be a teacher some day because he has a pupil in his eye."

By 1890, Mary's sons had joined the business, which was renamed Morris Bros.  At the time, clerks throughout the city had mobilized to promote the "half holiday" concept.  It proposed that during the hot summer months, shops would be closed on Saturday afternoons.  On August 6, 1890, a reporter from The World interviewed Max Morris about the movement.  He compassionately said, "If the others close we shall cheerfully follow suit," adding, "We are only employing two clerks now, and they get off whenever they ask the privilege.  The clerks ought to have the half day, by all means."

After having leased the property for 12 years, on April 3, 1891 Mary Morris purchased 349 Grand Street.  Following her death, on February 26, 1904 her children sold the building to Louis Minsky.  On March 30, the Shoe Retailer and Boots and Shoes Weekly reported:

Morris, the Grand street shoeman, who has conducted a store at 349 Grand street, under the style of Morris Bros. for several years, will open a new store on 8th avenue, between 37th and 38th street, about May 1st.

Minsky quickly resold the building to Frederick Siegler and his wife, Paulina.  (Confusingly, Siegler's name would also be spelled Zeigler and Siegel in documents.)  The couple moved into the upper floors and opened their fancy goods store downstairs.

On April 23, 1906, The Evening World reported on ten young women who were "shop girls on a weekday, but turned sleuth of a Sunday here of late."  They intended to gather evidence against "shopkeepers, dealers in dry goods, notions and the like," said the article, who kept their businesses open on Sundays.

The previous day, a "good-looking young woman" named "Miss Marcus," according to The Evening World, had entered Siegel's store and asked for three yards of blue ribbon.  "The clerk wasn't certain about selling the ribbon, and he called the boss."  Miss Marcus later alleged that Siegler directed, "Sure, sell her.  Only because it is Sunday she must pay ten cents a yard instead of seven and a half."

Later, Katie Burns entered the store.  The New York Herald reported, "Morris Lieberman, a clerk, sold her a pair of hose with the knowledge and consent of Ziegler."

In court the next day, the magistrate asked Siegler if he kept his store closed on the sabbath.  The Jewish shop owner replied that, "his store was always closed until 4 o'clock on Saturday," according to the New York Herald, which concluded, "'Discharged,' said the magistrate."

In February 1910, Siegel hired architect O. Reissmann to make interior alterations, including the reconfiguration of walls.  The changes cost the equivalent of $51,000 today.

In 1922, the children of Frederick and Pauline Seigler leased 349 Grand Street to Samuel Keiser "for women's wearing apparel," according to the New-York Tribune.  The lease was renewed in March 1930 for another five years.

At the end of the lease, Samuel and Abraham Friedman rented the building for their Sun-Ray Yarn Company.  The following year, in January 1936, they purchased the property.

In 1941, Sun-Ray occupied the ground floor of 351, as well.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Called Sun-Ray House, the three-story shop became a destination for its broad array of yarns.  But in February 1943, the Federal Trade Commission had a problem with S. Friedman & Sons.  The New York Times explained that the complaint charged "that they had misrepresented the fiber, material, or place or origin of some of the yarn they sell."  The Feds said, for instance, that they called "rainbow type yard" "rainbow tweed;" and instead of describing one item "mystic yarn," they marketed it as "mystic crepe."  

By then the dash had been dropped from Sunray and the store had extended into 351 Grand Street.  By 1975, it included the ground floor of 347, as well.

In 1975, Sunray Yarn had extended into 347 Grand Street.  No. 349 is at the far left.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

Sunray Yarns remained at least into the 1980s.  In the early 2000s, a restaurant supply firm occupied the building.  It was replaced in 2012 by a pharmacy.  Somewhat beleaguered today, the vintage building still draws attention for its unusual window treatments.

many thanks to reader Carole Teller for prompting this post.

The 1887 Michael Hughes House - 365 West 123rd Street

 

The blocks just east of Morningside Park saw a flurry of construction in the 1880s.  In 1886, real estate developer Samuel H. Bailey purchased "the lots on the northeast corner of Ninth avenue and One Hundred and Twenty-third street," as reported by the Record & Guide and hired architect Charles E. Baxter to design a row of brownstone-faced houses on the site.  Completed on April 30, 1887, the neo-Grec-style homes were three stories tall above high English basements.  Baxter blended touches of Queen Anne into his design.  Instead of the striking copper oriels seen at the second floor of the other houses, the end homes, including 365 West 123rd Street, featured full-height angled bays.

That house became home to the Michael Hughes family.  He and his wife, the former Mary A. O'Grady, had four children, three sons and a daughter.  

The two rows of stylized acanthus leaves that decorate the cornice enhanced the Greek motif.

Hughes joined dozens of men who were "engaged in business in the northern part of the city of New York" in signing a petition to the Common Council on November 27, 1895.  Pointing out that the district "lying north of One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street and fronting the Harlem river is a rapidly growing locality," they complained that the riverfront was not keeping up.  The businessmen asked for "wharves and dock facilities" which would make merchandise more easily received.

Mary was looking for a servant in September 1897.  The wording of her ad suggested the girl would not have an easy workday.  "Strong girl for general housework."

Nearly a half century after moving into the house, Michael Hughes died on March 26, 1921.  His funeral was held in Annunciation Church three days later.  

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Mary A. Hughes advertised 365 West 123rd Street for sale the following summer.  Her ad in the New York Herald read, "House, brownstone, 10 rooms, fine condition; could be used by two families."  It was purchased by Michael T. Reilly and his wife Catherine.  

In the fall of 1940, the Daily News challenged housewives to be a "pigskin clairvoyant" by picking the weekend's football game winners.  Of the 117,263 entries who guessed the outcome of the November 30 games, Catherine Reilly received the third prize of $25.

Michael T. Reilly sold 365 West 123rd Street in September 1941 to Thelma York for $5,500 (about $117,000 in 2026 terms).  She and her family lived here nine years, selling the house to Jacob Goodman & Co. in April 1950.

When Daisy Hatcher purchased it two years later, The New York Times described the property as a "four-story rooming house."  Among the roomers living here that year was musician and band leader Rudolph "Rudy" King.

Born in Trinidad, Rudy King introduced the steel pan to the United States in 1949.  The evolution of the steel pan began in Trinidad when empty cans were struck with bamboo shoots, according to King in an interview later.  He organized a band called the Tropican.  

Of the original row of six homes, three survive, including 365 West 123rd Street.  Greatly intact on the exterior, a renovation completed in 1989 resulted in a two-family home.''

photographs by the author

The Guy Fairfax Cary Mansion - 61 East 91st Street

 

photograph by Jim Henderson

Born in November 1879 to Clarence Cary and the former Elisabeth M. Potter, Guy Fairfax Cary was the great-grandson of the 9th Lord Fairfax (for which Fairfax County, Virginia, is named).  He was prepared for college at Groton School and received his A. B. and LL. B. degrees from Harvard in 1902 and 1904, respectively.  He was admitted to the New York bar in 1905 and became an influential attorney, the counsel to the National City Bank (later Citibank) and a trustee in the estates of William Rockefeller and Robert W. Goelet.

Shortly after the death of Arthur Scott Burden on June 15, 1921, Cary began a romance with his widow, the former Cynthia Burke Roche.  Born in April 1884 to Sir James Boothby Burke Roche, 3rd Baron Fermoy, and American heiress Frances Eleanor Work, Cynthia had married Burden on June 11, 1906.  The couple had a daughter, Eileen, who was born in 1911.  

Shortly after Cynthia's mourning period elapsed, the September 1922 issue of Harper's Bazar titled an article, "Newport Goes To An Expected Wedding At the Home of Mrs. Burke Roche."  The article reported, "Mrs. Arthur Scott Burden and Mr. Guy Fairfax Cary were married in Newport at Elm Court, the residence of the bride's mother, Mrs. Burke Roche," adding, "The wedding was Newport's happiest surprise of the season."  The first-time groom was 43 years old and his bride was 38.

The wedding party.  Harper's Bazar, September 1922 (copyright expired)

Eight months later, on May 26, 1923, The New York Times reported that H. H. Benkard had sold "the two private houses at 57 to 61 East Ninety-first Street," noting, "The buyer will rebuild and occupy the premises."  That buyer was Guy F. Cary who commissioned architect Mott B. Schmidt to design a replacement mansion on the site.

Schmidt had recently gained attention by transforming 19th century brownstones in Sutton Place to magnificent neo-Georgian mansions for the likes of Anne Tracy Morgan, Anne Vanderbilt, and Elisabeth Marbury.  He returned to the style for the Cary mansion.

Construction of the five-story, 51-foot-wide residence was complete in 1924 and cost $1.3 million (about $23.8 million in 2026 terms).  Faced in red Flemish bond brick, its entrance sat under an arched hood supported by fluted Scamozzi columns.  Brick quoins divided the two-story midsection into three bays.  The fourth floor, sitting upon a prominent cornice, was unexpectedly spartan.  Equally unfinished looking was the mansard with its five unassuming dormers.

Samuel H. Gottscho captured the mansion on film on April 25, 1930.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

The mansion contained 23 rooms, 10 bathrooms, and two elevators.  The Carys filled the mansion with English and Continental antique furniture and a significant art collection.  The family's country home, Oak Hill, in Jericho, Long Island, was built for Cynthia's late husband in 1915, designed by John Russell Pope.  (It was at Oak Hill that Burden died following a polo playing accident.)

Oak Hill in Jericho, Long Island.  The Architecture of John Russell Pope, Volume I, 1925 (copyright expired)

Eileen Burden was 11 years old when her mother married Cary.  She would soon have two half-siblings.  Guy Fairfax Cary Jr. was born in 1923, and Cynthia Cary arrived the following year.

The winter social season of 1929-1930 was Eileen's debut.  On November 28, 1929, The New York Times reported that her parents "will give a dance on Dec. 27 at their home, 61 East Ninety-first Street, to introduce to society [their] daughter, Miss Eileen Burden."  The newspaper followed up on the "supper dance" on December 28, noting, "The guests included many of the débutantes and young men who have been seen at other parties of the season."

The following spring, Cynthia and Eileen sailed to Europe.  On May 2, 1930, The Evening Post reported that they "are returning this evening on the Aquitania."  It would be one of the last travels the mother and daughter would share.

On February 9, 1932, The New York Sun reported on the "important wedding" of Eileen Burden to Walter Maynard in the Church of the Heavenly Rest.  Cynthia Cary, who was eight, was the flower girl.  "A reception follows at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Cary, 61 East Ninety-first street," said the article.

With America's entry into World War II, Guy Jr. entered the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of lieutenant before the war's end.

Upon the death of Cynthia's mother in 1947, she inherited Elm Court in Newport.  The family now spent most of their summer season there.

Elm Court (original source unknown).

The Carys were at Elm Court on August 27, 1950 when Guy Fairfax Cary suffered a fatal heart attack.  He was 70 years old.  Interestingly, the East 91st Street mansion was bequeathed to Guy Jr.  Cynthia moved permanently to Elm Court shortly after her husband's death.

On August 25, 1952, The New York Times reported that the Cary mansion had been sold.  "It will be used as a nursing and convalescence home under the name of Park Town House," said the article.

photo by Samuel H. Gottscho, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York 

The Park Town House catered to well-heeled residents.  Among them over the years was art collector Richard Goetz who assembled "a collection of both modern and classic paintings valued at an estimated third of a million dollars," according to The New York Times.  Never married, upon his death here in December 1954, he left his $300,000 collection to a cousin.  (The value of the artwork would translate to about $3.5 million today.)

Stage and silent film actor Jack Devereaux was also a resident.  The son-in-law of famous actor John Drew, he died here in January 1958 at the age of 76.

Irish-American actor Jack Devereaux, Motography magazine, 1917 (copyright expired)

In 1964, the former Cary mansion was acquired by the Dalton School to house its First Program (kindergarten and first grade levels).  The facility's main location was on East 89th Street.  Founded by Helen Parkhust in 1919 as the Children's University School, it was renamed in 1924.  

On August 26, 1990, The New York Times reported, "The Dalton School has added another town house to its diverse holdings on the Upper East Side."  The school acquired the former Martha Rusk Stuphen mansion next door at 63 East 91st Street.  It enlarged the capacity of the "lower school" housed in the Cary mansion, which currently had about 400 students.

photograph by Jim Henderson

The Samuel C. Paxson House - 137 East 15th Street

 

Samuel Canby Paxson married Elizabeth Drinker on July 5, 1827.  The couple had eight children, only four of whom had survived when they moved into the newly built house at 187 East 15th Street (later renumbered 137) around 1851.  Four stories tall and three bays wide, the design of the brick-faced residence transitioned from Greek Revival to Italianate.  The arched entrance was flanked by ornately carved foliate brackets that upheld a dentiled cornice.  Its style was purely Italianate.  The short attic and the understated terminal cornice, however, smacked of the earlier style.

Paxson was a prominent commission merchant, a partner in the flour and grain trading firm Allen & Paxson.  He had become the first president of the Corn Exchange in 1832, and was also a director in the Security Fire Insurance Company.

The Paxsons were members of the Society of Friends, known commonly as the Quakers.  They took in a few boarders at a time.  In 1851, Hanna Barnes, a widow, and broker George M. Barnes, presumably her son, lived here; as did Thomas B. Dutcher, a commission merchant; and William Hagadorn.  (Hanna Barnes would remain with the family at least through 1858.)

On May 9, 1855, Mary Drinker Paxson married William H. Cooper.  The union caused problems, since the groom was not a Quaker.  Mary was disowned by the Orthodox congregation in January 1856.  (It appears that the family had already begun moving away from the Society of Friends at the time.  In 1854, the family owned a pew in a New York City church.)

Samuel Canby Paxson died at the age of 56 on July 26, 1860.  The New-York Tribune reported, "He had just taken a warm bath, when he was seized with paralysis, and died in a few minutes."  (The description most likely referred to a stroke.)  The article said, "there is not a clerk or laborer who had ever been employed in his service but remembered him affectionately and loved him."  The funeral was held in the house on July 28, attended by the board members of the New-York Produce Exchange.

Still living with Elizabeth were her unmarried children William, Frances, known as Fannie, and Elizabeth Drinker Paxson.  William was already involved in Allen & Paxson, and in 1858 its name was changed to Samuel C. Paxson, Son & Co. in his father's honor.  Fannie was highly involved in the Colored Orphan Asylum and by the time of her father's death was a manager of the institution.

The Paxson family remained here until 1865.  It became an upscale boarding house, operated by Hannah Ketcham.  A widow and a Quaker, she may have had known Elizabeth Paxson for some time.  Some of Hannah's well respected boarders would stay for years.  Living here that year were Thomas G. Hunt, a merchant in "oil," and his wife.  Hunt graduated from Harvard University in 1860.  His wife was assistant secretary of the St. Barnabas' Industrial Association, which worked within the tenement district.

William Ransom was the principal of William A. Ransom & Co., wholesale dealers in boots and shoes.  Like Mrs. Hunt, his wife was involved in charitable causes.  That year she helped in fund-raising for "Mrs. Pruyn's Japan Home."

Ransom died at the age of 45 on December 5, 1875.  The New-York Tribune remarked that he "was well known in the boot and shoe trade throughout the country."  Hannah Ketcham's parlor was the scene of his funeral on December 7.

Hannah Ketcham died at the age of 84 on November 11, 1886.  Her funeral was held in the Friends' Meeting House on Rutherford Place three days later.  The East 15th Street house was inherited by Phebe S. and Doreas S. Ketcham, presumably Hannah's daughters.

On April 13, 1894, the house was purchased by David Schwartz for $18,950 (about $713,000 in 2025 terms).  Born in New York City of German parents, Schwartz was the proprietor of a trunk store.  Like Hannah Ketcham, he took in boarders and, perhaps not coincidentally, they were members of the Society of Friends.

New-York Tribune, October 29, 1895 (copyright expired)

Among them in 1894 were teacher S. Elizabeth Stover, who was highly involved in the Society of Friends; and Edward B. Rawson, also an educator, and his wife.  Both Elizabeth and Edward Rawson would sit on the Executive Committee of the 20th Session of the Friends General Conference in 1896.

In 1895, Alexander S. Williams was nominated as the Republican candidate for State Senate.  Known popularly as "Clubber Williams" and the "Czar of the Tenderloin," his career within the New York Police Department ended with the state's investigation of corruption.  The New-York Tribune editorialized that his "election would be a disgrace to the city."

On October 29, the New-York Tribune reported, "To remedy this state of affairs the Good Government Club dedicated to put up a man fit to be voted for, and selected as their standard-bearer David Schwartz, of No. 137 East Fifteenth-st."  The article said that, in addition to his many qualifications, Schwartz was staunchly against Prohibition.  "His friends feel confident that on this platform he will win the German vote from Tammany," said the article.  (Nevertheless, he was defeated by another candidate, Richard Higbie.)

In March 1900, Frederick Wrage purchased 137 East 15th Street.  Among his boarders was Thomas C. Copeland.  He was the secretary of the National Exposition of Children's Work, scheduled to open on February 18, 1901.  On December 30, 1900, The New York Times reported that the first meeting of the Executive Committee of the exposition was held here.  The article said, "The exposition has the patronage of Governors of many States, the Governors General of Canada and Cuba, as well as many other prominent men."

Also living here at the time were Frederick Figge, his wife, Helene, and their son Frank.  (Interestingly, Helene Figge was Frederick Wrage's attorney and had represented him in the purchase of the house.)  

In 1903, Frederick Figge was called to testify against the Webster Hotel, across the street at 140 East 15th Street.  In imperfect English he swore in part:

I seen woman go down there and try to catch men there and brought them in there; I saw women speak to men--try to take them into the house; they did take them in; not the same women, different women; I saw it several times; I couldn't say every night; I saw I saw it two or three times in a night.

Among the Figges' neighbors in the house at the time were George and William Campbell, "professional jugglers;" and bookkeeper James M. Howarth.

Howarth experienced a horrifying incident on November 30 that year.  That night the 55-year-old was on his way home, "when a man stepped out from the shadow of a building, grabbed him by the throat, and tried to throw him over an iron fence," reported The Evening Post.  Howarth's cries alerted two pedestrians, Alexander L. M. Backus and Paul Sheldon, who ran to his aid.  Thomas Tully (who, surprisingly, was visiting from Toledo), fled, but he was captured after a chase of a few blocks.  Tully was held in $5,000 bail awaiting trial on charges of attempted robbery.

The prominent window cornices were intact as late as 1941.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Frederick Wrage sold 137 East 15th Street in January 1906 to the Figges.  The change of ownership did not lessen the boarders' colorful stories.

At around 1:00 on the morning of July 19, 1910, for instance, Stella Shaw was walking with her sister, Bella Kilday at 14th Street and Avenue B.  According to Stella, a uniformed officer knocked her to the pavement and kicked and clubbed her, while two other officers stood by.  She complained at the Union Market Street Police Station, displaying her bruised arm.  Bella was unable to pick out her assailant in a lineup of the men who had been on post at the time.  

On the same day of Stella Shaw's incident, Louis Mandelbaum was arrested at First Street and Second Avenue.  Mandelbaum had recently arrived in New York from Belgium.  The apparently mild-mannered tailor went by the aliases of Brjiski Leibus and Louis Cohen.  He had been tracked "by means of finger prints from Liege, Belgium," according to The New York Times on July 20.  He was wanted there for bank robbery.  The article said, "Mandelbaum protested that he knew nothing of the robbery in Belgium."

Perhaps none of the occupants of 137 East 15th Street was more notorious than Antone Karasincki.  The 34-year-old rented a room in August 1917.  He was captured on November 2 as what newspapers called "the Wall Street Ripper."  The Sun began its article saying, "The sex lunatic, the type of degenerate who flares on rare occasions into a slash and run maniac of a Jack the Ripper, appeared on Broadway in the Wall Street district during the lunch hour yesterday and slashed four women in the course of an hour with a small kitchen knife."

In the police station, Karasincki confessed that he had been under the spell of "mystic influences urging him to murder which had driven him for fourteen years."  Two of the women he had slashed that day received injuries "that may result in the permanent disfiguration," said the article.

Alexander Leoff occupied a room here in 1926.  He conceived of a plan to elevate his financial status that year: marrying a woman with money.  His advertisement in The Wide World Magazine in November read:  "Jewish young man aged 26 desires correspondence with Jewish Girl with means or farm.  Object matrimony.  Alex. Leoff, 137 East 15th Street, New York, N.Y."

A renovation completed in 1970 resulted in three apartments.

photographs by the author

The H. Ray Paige House - 304 West 107th Street

 

The advertisement for 304 West 107th Street in the New York Herald on October 19, 1909 called the residence, "well planned and attractive" with "4 bathrooms, needle bath, billiard room, &c."  It was one of a row of four upscale homes built by William J. Casey and designed by Neville & Bagge.  Five stories tall and 18-feet-wide, its neo-Georgian design included a dignified Ionic portico centered within the limestone base.  The upper floors were clad in red brick; the windows of each level being treated differently.  The fifth floor sat between two stone cornices, and a brick parapet finished the design.

Casey's advertisement was not immediately successful.  It would not be until a year later, on October 29, 1910, that the Real Estate Record & Guide reported that he sold 307 West 107th Street to Horace Ray Paige, whose wedding was just three weeks away.

Paige (who went by his first initial and middle name) had graduated from Yale University two years earlier.  His marriage to Maud Emily Louisa Steinway took place in All Angels' Church on West End Avenue and 81st Street on November 22, 1910.  Born on April 6, 1889, Maud was the daughter of William and Elizabeth Ranft Steinway and the granddaughter of Henry Steinway, founder of the piano making firm Steinway & Sons.  Orphaned in 1896, she was reared by her half-sister, Paula Steinway von Bermuth.  

Somewhat surprisingly, Maud joined her husband in a business venture.  On July 2, 1912, they and a partner incorporated the Russian Tyre Sales Co., "to deal in rubber, tires, etc." according to The India Rubber World.

The Paiges' country home, Basket Neck Farms, was in Remsenburg, Long Island.  The couple would have two children, Audrey Helen, born on December 24, 1913, and Shirley Maude, who arrived on June 23, 1917.  But neither would see the inside of 304 West 107th Street.

On January 5, 1913, The New York Times reported that the Paiges had leased the furnished house to James Joyce (not to be confused with the Irish poet), and on October 11 that year they leased it to Foster Crampton and his wife, the former Lorraine March.

The couple was married in London on August 6, 1912.  Born in 1877, like his landlord, Crampton was a graduate of Yale.  In the first half of the 20th century, physicians attended to most well-to-do patients in their homes rather than hospitals.  On November 27, 1914, The Yale Alumni Weekly reported, "A son, Foster, Jr., was born to Mr. and Mrs. Foster Crampton at 304 West One Hundred and Seventh Street, New York City."

On January 6, 1917, the Record & Guide reported that the Paiges had sold 304 West 107th Street for $45,000--equal to about $1.1 million in 2026.  (Unfortunately, the Paiges' marriage would not last, and they were divorced in Paris in February 1926.)

The buyer was Dr. William Sargent Ladd and his wife, the former Mary Richardson Babbott.  Born in Portland, Oregon on August 16, 1887, Ladd earned his medical degree at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1915.  When he purchased 304 West 107th Street, he had just been appointed a professor at Columbia.  He and Mary were married in 1913.  (An ardent mountain climber, Ladd took his bride to the Alps for their honeymoon.)  The couple would have three sons and a daughter.

Mary was the daughter of Frank Lusk Babbott and the former Mary Richardson Ladd Pratt.  Her maternal grandfather was the multi-millionaire Charles Pratt.  Upon the death of her mother in 1919, Mary inherited $576,960--around $10.5 million today.

It was possibly the financial windfall that prompted the Babbotts to built a new house in the Bronx.  In January 1920, they sold the 107th Street house and The American Architect reported that they had hired architect Frederick L. Ackerman to design a "3 story residence to be built on Independence Ave."  

The Babbotts' leaving ended the residence as a single-family home.  It was converted to "bachelor apartments" with the Department of Buildings noting, "not more than 10 rooms to be used for sleeping purposes" and "cooking in more than two of the apartments will render this building liable to immediate vacation."  The conversion was completed within months and an advertisement in The Sun on April 4, 1920 offered, "High class apartments" of "1-2-3- rooms and bath."  Rents ranged from $1,200 to $2,800 a year, or about $3,650 per month for the most expensive in today's terms.

Despite the renovation, the cornices were intact as late as 1941.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The apartments attracted several artistic tenants.  An early resident was Mikhail Press, also known as Michael Press.  Born in Vilnius, Lithuania in August 1871, the violin prodigy first appeared in public at the age of 10 and at 13 years old he was concert master in the Vilna Opera House.  After escaping execution during the Russian Revolution, he fled to Germany, then Sweden, and finally to the United States in 1922.

Mikhail Press (original source unknown).

In its January 1926 issue, The Musical Observer reported,

Michael Press, since his return from Europe late in the Fall, has been busy arranging his work for the season.  In addition to his activities in Philadelphia and his chamber music work, he has been enlarging his New York studio, at 304 West 107th street, where he is giving musical receptions, pupils' recitals, and informal recitals of his own.

Stage and motion picture actress Cecilia des Roches lived here at the same time.  On Christmas Eve 1928, her maid was unable to get into the apartment.  The superintendent opened the door and they found the actress dead in the bathroom.  The New York Times said she was "clad in a kimono and lying half under the bathtub.  It is thought she became ill suddenly while preparing to take a bath."  The article added, "Her position under the tub seemed to have been due to her kimono's catching on a faucet, tightening about her as she fell and causing her to roll partly under the tub."

Des Roches's mysterious death prompted an autopsy.  It revealed that she was a victim of what the Brooklyn Eagle described as "Christmas rum."  Prohibition had forced  Americans to resort to bootleg alcohol in celebrating the holidays.  Cecilia des Roches was among the six deaths attributed to bootleg alcohol on that day alone.

Artist Vera Bock occupied an apartment here as early as 1930.  Born in Russia in 1905, she was known for book illustrations and her posters for the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression.

Vera Bock illustrated A Ring and a Riddle in 1944.

Tim Nagai and Larry Tajai lived here in 1945.  On the night of May 11 that year, Tajai discovered his 23-year-old friend dead.  The New York Sun reported, "Gas was issuing from four burners of a small stove, according to Tajai, and the death was listed as an apparent suicide."

Today there are nine apartments in the building.  At some point the fourth- and fifth-story cornices were removed, and while the several renovations have erased much of Neville & Bagge's interior details, some survive to hint at the mansion's former grandeur.

The former dining room retains its ceiling beams, high wainscoting and "Dutch stein shelving," now painted, and fireplace, all original to the 1907-08 design.  image via zillow.com

photographs by the author