The 1851 Ann Gillett House - 314 East 19th Street

 

photograph by Carole Teller

In 1851, construction of a long row of brick-faced townhouses was completed on East 19th Street between First and Second Avenues.  Three stories tall above brownstone basements, the 20-foot-wide residences were designed as mirror-image pairs.  The earred, double entrance frames of each pair shared a molded cornice and their side-to-side stoops were separated by an Italianate-style railing.  The floor-to-ceiling parlor windows were most likely fronted by cast iron balconies.

Horatio Gillett was born in Connecticut around 1793.  By the time of his death on December 18, 1837, he had amassed a comfortable fortune.  He left several Manhattan properties to his widow, the former Ann Dominick (born in 1794).  Ann purchased one of the new houses--168 East 19th Street--and moved into it.  (The address would be renumbered 314 in 1865.)  

Sharing the house as early as 1859 were Ann's nephew, Francis Jacob Dominick, and his wife, the former Almira Hoffman Vosburgh.  The couple were married in 1856 and had a daughter, Edith Lorensberg, who was two years old in 1859.

The properties that Ann inherited provided her with rental income.  She was highly involved in charitable causes.  She was, for instance, a member of the Relief of Respectable Aged Indigent Females and sat on the Board of Managers of the Magdalen Benevolent Society.  The latter organization, according to New York and Its Institutions, promoted "moral purity, by affording an asylum to erring females."  Ann attended its 20th anniversary ceremony on May 6, 1853, after which the New-York Tribune reminded readers of the facility's outreach.  "Many of the inmates of that institution were abandoned females, and had been arrested as vagrants or disturbers of the peace."

In 1860, Ann took in two boarders, Jabez Burns and his wife.  Burns was one of the organizers of The Rail Splitters' Glee Club that year.  Born in Scotland, he started out selling coffee door-to-door.  His familiarity with coffee would spark his success soon after boarding with Ann.  He invented a coffee roaster--the drum-shaped concept still used today.  In 1864 he was granted a patent and Scientific American wrote a glowing article about the invention.  He founded Jabez Burns & Sons that year.

The couple would be Ann's only boarders.  That may have been because of increasing population among the Dominicks.  In 1866, Mary Alice Dominick was born, followed by Henry Blanchard Dominick in 1869.  (Sadly, Henry would contract diphtheria and succumb on March 19, 1874 at the age of five.)

Ann Dominick Gillett died in the house on March 20, 1878 at the age of 84.  Her funeral was held in the parlor on the 22nd.  Just two months later, on May 27, The New York Times reported that Francis J. Dominick, as Ann's executor, had sold 214 East 19th Street to Bridget C. Duffy for $10,000 (about $325,000 in 2026).

Bridget was the widow of Felix Duffy.  She owned at least one other house in the area, that one located on the corner of Second Avenue and 19th Street, and used the properties as rental income.

By the last quarter of the century, several families lived in 314 East 19th Street.  Among the occupants in 1898 was 21-year-old George Ross.  On July 26 that year, he and 17-year-old James Manning were arrested for pickpocketing.  The New York Press described Manning as "a boy pickpocket with the daring of a hardened criminal."  As the two were being interrogated at Police Headquarters, they made a run for the doors.  Ross was captured before he could escape the building, but Manning dashed onto Mott Street and into a building fronting Crosby Street.  Henry Baumann, an employee of the cigarette factory there, locked the door, trapping him.  The New York Press reported that Baumann, "rushed into a room where eighty women were stripping tobacco.  Baumann caught Manning and held him until the police came."

The East 19th Street house was about to become home to a much more respectable family.  On July 9, 1901, Daniel F. Martin notified the City Clerk, "I have appointed Mr. James Foley, of No. 314 East Nineteenth street...as Assistant Clerk of the Municipal Court."

James Foley was already a well-known figure within Tammany Hall politics and since 1879 had been chairman of the General Committee of the Twelfth Assembly District.  He and his wife, the former Anne Moran, had eleven children. 

Son James A. Foley, born on June 21, 1882, was enrolled in the City University of New York when the family moved in.  He, too, would be involved in politics.  In 1908, he was elected to the New York State Assembly and in 1913 would be elected to the New York State Senate.  In the meantime, his brother Frank was a broker with C. I. Hudson & Co. and held the rank of major in the Twelfth Regiment of Infantry.  

The Foleys remained here until 1910 when they moved exactly one block away.  On February 25 that year, the New-York Tribune reported, "Otto Maier sold to a Mr. Foley for occupancy No. 316 East 18th Street." 

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

No. 314 East 19th Street returned to a multi-family dwelling.  Living here in 1915 and '16 was James P. Moffitt, a process server.  Also rooming here in 1916 were Nicholai Turziki, former Russian cow herder, and Joseph Korpuzlenski.  On March 16 that year, they and a friend, Ignatz Jaroszek, invited Louis Markowicz to Turkziki's room.  (Markowicz and Turziki had known one another before leaving Russia.)  The trio offered Markowisc a share in "a wonder machine" they had invented.  The Sun reported:

They showed him a machine that buzzed mysteriously.  When a button was touched, out came a two dollar bill.  Markowicz worked it himself and was so impressed he offered his $800 for an interest in the contraption.  But to make sure, he took one of the bills to a store downstairs to be changed, leaving his wealth behind.

The bill was genuine.  But when Markowicz returned to Turziki's room, his $800 and his "friends" were gone.  Several months later, Markowicz received a letter from Turziki, who was in Philadelphia, "inviting him to become a partner in a second money making machine."  Markowicz would not be duped twice.  He wrote back, telling the three to meet him in Turziki's old rooms at 314 East 19th Street.  When they arrived on September 21, Detectives Franklin and Pflaster were waiting there with Markowicz.  

In 1958, a group of men classified by the Selective Service as 1-W, or conscientious objectors, converted 314 East 19th Street to a voluntary service center.  The renovations resulted in 15 furnished rooms.

photograph by Carole Teller

Eighteen years later, the house was leased by the Manhattan Mennonite Fellowship as a Mennonite student center.  Called Menno House, it was purchased by the group in 1997.  According to its website, it "has served many live-in residents and greeted many hundreds of temporary guests."

many thanks to artist Carole Teller for suggesting this post

The Altered Maximilian and Sarah Raefle House - 112 East 10th Street

 

The house originally matched that of 114 East 10th Street, to the left.  image via streeteasy.com

The far-sighted Commissioners Plan that laid out the future grid of streets and avenues of Manhattan was superimposed on the farms and country estates north of the city in 1811.  The proposed Tenth Street created an acutely triangular parcel with the existing diagonally-running Stuyvesant Street within the former Peter Stuyvesant farms (Bouwerij #1 and #2).  Elizabeth Stuyvesant, the widow of Petrus Stuyvesant, Peter's great-grandson, used the point of the triangle as her garden.  Four years after her death in 1854, Mathias Banta purchased the property.  He erected a row of handsome brick-and-stone houses that lined the V portion of the plot on Stuyvesant and Tenth Streets.

Completed in 1861, the Anglo-Italianate-style homes were five-stories tall above basements.  Josiah Burton purchased 182 East 10th Street (which would later be renumbered 112) for $6,500.  The price would translate to about $239,000 in 2026.  Generally attributed to James Renwick, Jr., like the others, it featured a rusticated brownstone basement and first floor.  They supported four stories of red brick trimmed in brownstone.  The tall, fully-arched windows of the second floor held hands by means of a stone bandcourse.  Each of the architrave frames of the upper openings were treated slightly differently.

Burton leased the house.  An advertisement in the New York Herald on May 8, 1867 read:

To Let--Handsomely furnished four story attic and English basement House; rent $325 per month, 112 East Tenth street, a few doors from Third avenue.

The rent would translate to $7,000 in 2026 terms.

Dr. Maximilian Gustav Raefle answered the ad.  Having served as a surgeon in the Navy during the Civil War, he was currently living at 34 St. Mark's Place at the time.  He, no doubt, rented 112 East 10th Street in anticipation of his upcoming wedding to Sarah Olmsted Bunce on November 13 that year.  Raefle was born in September 1836 in Germany and Sarah was born in May 1844 in Galesburg, Illinois.  The German doctor and his Midwestern bride almost assuredly met and fell in love when he was attending Humboldt Medical College in St. Louis.  (He graduated in 1861).  Sarah's father, James, was a doctor in Galesburg.

Moving into the house with the Raefles was Sarah's older sisters, Frances M. and Caroline Elizabeth Bunce.  A year later, on August 8, 1868, Frances (the eldest of the sisters) died.  Her funeral was held in the parlor two days later.

The couple rented unused space in their home.  An advertisement in the New York Herald on September 20, 1870, described:

To Let--An elegant frescoed front parlor with Bedroom.  Also other Rooms, double and single, at 112 East Tenth street, between Second and Third avenues; references.

Among their tenants in 1870 was dentist Rynear O. Moses and his wife.

The parlor was the scene of a heart wrenching ceremony that year.  The Raefles' first child, Maximilian Bunce, was born on January 13.  The baby died five months later, on July 17.  His tiny casket sat in the parlor until his funeral on July 20.

After renting 112 East 10th Street for five years, Maximilian and Sarah Raefle purchased it from Josiah H. Burton on November 6, 1872 for $18,000 (about $477,000 today).

The couple continued to take in roomers.  Living here in 1873 was an erudite and multi-talented young man whose ad in the New-York Tribune on September 22, 1873 read: "A Harvard Graduate, experienced and highly recommended, will instruct a private pupil two or three hours daily in Classics, French, Mathematics, &c.; city references.  Address C. K. No. 112 East Tenth-st."  Two months later, "C. K." advertised, "An experienced tenor desires a position in quartet or as precentor; Protestant church in or near city preferred."

For a second time, Sarah Raefle had to arrange a sister's funeral.  Caroline Elizabeth Bunce died on February 1, 1876 and her funeral was held in the house at 1:00 on the afternoon of February 5.

A daughter, Verona Beatrice, was born to Maximilian and Sarah Raefle on October 18, 1878.  In the meantime, Dr. Raefle's prestige in the medical community grew.  

On December 16, 1879, The Evening Telegram reported on the appointments of deputy coroners.  "Dr. Maximilian Raefle, of No. 112 East Tenth street, was appointed Mr. Brady's deputy," said the article.  Raefle held the position for 11 years, and on October 14, 1890, The New York Times reported that he had been nominated for coroner.  Noting that he voted Republican, the article went on to say:

He lives at 112 East Tenth Street, is a German by birth, and is a physician of first-class reputation.  He is about fifty years of age, and is a Grand Army man, and has already seen service in the Coroners' office, having been Deputy Coroner under John H. Brady some years ago.

Michael Springer, Jr. lived with his parents in "the German quarter of Fifth street in the neighborhood of Second avenue," as described by the New York Herald.  Michael Springer, Sr. ran a butcher shop at 242 Fifth Street and Michael Jr., who was 22, worked as a butcher's boy in the Tompkins Market.

On June 26, 1890, Michael Jr., described by the newspaper as "stoutly built and fair haired," began to complain of the heat.  The article said that he "was suddenly seized with violent spasms and began barking like a dog, rolling about on the floor, snapping and snarling and acting as though he were stark mad."  Police were called to control the young man.  Michael "attempted to fight the policeman, conducting himself in such a violent manner and making such frantic attempts to bite him that [Officer] McEvoy at length thrust his club into Michael's mouth."

Someone ran to 112 East 10th Street and requested Dr. Raefle to assist.  He, however, responded rather coldly (considering his Hippocratic Oath).  The New York Herald recounted, "but he did not respond, saying, it is reported, that the sufferer was a fit subject for an asylum."  Michael Springer, Jr. was taken to Bellevue Hospital where he was later discharged after "recovering from the effects of excessive drink."

Maximilian and Sarah Raefle sold 112 East 10th Street on April 11, 1893 to Franz Kahlenberg for $17,300 (about $622,000 today).  Because the couple had been taking in several roomers, the house was described by the New York Herald as a "five story brick tenement."  

Franz Kahlenberg ran a drugstore at the corner of Essex and East Houston Street.  He had been in business there since 1854.  He and his family continued to take in roomers.  Among them in 1898 was 46-year-old John Williamson.  He was described by The New York Times as "small of stature, and with an unappeased appetite for religious lore," adding, "He is said to be a man of strong religious views, and a devout student of the Bible."  Unfortunately for Williamson, one edict within the Scriptures he ignored was "Thou shalt not steal."

On December 17, 1898, The New York Times reported that he was arrested in the American Baptist Publishing Company's bookstore, "attempting to steal a book."  The bookstore's manager, Theodore E. Schulte, had become suspicious of Williamson because he repeatedly visited the store, reading a page or two from a book, then moving to another, but never buying anything.  That afternoon, Schulte watched him and "was not surprised, so he says, to see him slip a book in his pocket."  At the stationhouse, Williamson tearfully insisted, "They must be mistaken."

Another religiously-inclined tenant was Frank W. Smith, a grand knight of the Knights of Columbus.  He was appointed a commissioner of deeds in 1899, a civil service position similar to a notary public today.  

In the fall of 1900, the attention of Frank W. Smith was directed to another of the 1861 houses, 27 Stuyvesant Street.  He filed a complaint with the police department "of disorderly house, women soliciting."  Smith was accusing the owner of running a brothel in his neighborhood.

Smith was still occupying his rooms here in 1902.  He was highly involved in the organizing of "the annual field day games of the Knights of Columbus," as reported by The New York Times on May 11 that year.  The event, which took place on June 21 at Celtic Park was a huge success.  Smith told the newspaper "that already more than 3,000 tickets of admission have been sold," and projected that "more than 10,000 will be sold before the day of the games."

By that time, Frank W. Smith had a new landlord.  Elias Stone had purchased 112 East 10th Street in August 1901 for $20,000, according to the New-York Tribune.  (The price would translate to about $761,000 today.)

Stone made improvements to the property.  In July 1904, he hired architect David Stone to rearrange the floor plans, install plumbing and new windows.

Elias Stone continued to operated 112 East 10th Street as a rooming house until 1927.  A renovation completed the following year resulted in "non-housekeeping apartments" on the first floor (meaning they had no kitchens), and one apartment each on the upper floors.  The apartments were intended for artists.  The windows on each floor (even the first) were replaced with vast, multi-paned studio windows that flooded the interiors with natural light.  The attic floor was raised to full height and a full-width skylight added.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Among the initial residents was painter, lithographer, and etcher Anne Goldthwaite.  Born in Montgomery, Alabama, she had studied at the National Academy of Design in New York and the Academie Moderne in Paris.  By the time she moved into her apartment here, she had received the McMillin landscape prize of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors in 1915; and a medal for etching at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco the same year.  The 1929 One Hundred Important Paintings By Living American Artists noted that she was "represented in the Library of Congress, Metropolitan Museum and several other museums here and abroad."

Anne Goldthwaite, from Encyclopedia of Alabama

A journalist from the New York Evening Post visited Goldthwaite's studio in September 1933.  She asked the artist if she were "a bit thrilled" to be the only woman whose work would be included in the 56th exhibition of the Art Students' League.

"And, pray, why should I be?" Goldthwaite replied. "The time surely is past when there was some distinction in being the 'only girl' or the 'only woman' among a lot of men who were doing things.  Thank goodness, there are plenty of us today."

In reporting on Anne Goldthwaite's death on January 30, 1944, The New York Times noted that she had been an instructor at the Art Students' League "for the last twenty-three years," and that her works "are hung in prominent galleries" throughout America and Europe.  The article said, "In France, she numbered among her friends Picasso, Matisse and other prominent contemporary painters."

Among Goldthwaite's neighbors in the building in 1932 had been mining engineer Pomeroy C. Merrill.  He had just returned to America from the Soviet Union.  The Soviet Government hired him in 1930 to direct iron mining operations in the Ural Mountains.  Following World War II, he would go to Japan to help the occupation forces rebuild the Japanese iron ore industry.

After mid-century, art expert David Rosen lived here.  From 1934 to 1954, he headed the conservation and technical research department of the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore.  He had also been a technical adviser to the Art Institute of Chicago, the Morgan Library, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Winterthur Museum in Delaware, and the Worcester Art Museum.  Born in Russia, he was a sculptor and painter before coming to America in 1913.  An expert in authenticating art works and detecting frauds, among his finds was a Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington which he found in a museum basement in 1941.  Rosen was still living here when he died at the age of 80 in 1960.

image via greatjonesrealty.com

The remodeling of 122 East 10th Street greatly altered the original design.  And yet, the handsome and compatible melding of the 1861 and 1928 compositions is extremely successful, resulting in an eye catching hybrid.

many thanks to reader Richard Gombar for suggesting this post

The Abused 1841 Cornelius Read House - 328 East 4th Street

 

photograph by Carole Teller

New York City's shipbuilding industry along the East River in the early 19th century stretched from about Grand Street to East 12th and earned the district the nickname Dry Dock.  It attracted thousands of workers in the related businesses that arose in the surrounding blocks, all of whom needed housing.  In 1837, construction began on a row of seven brick-faced houses along East Fourth Street between Avenues C and D.

Completed in 1841, the identical, 22-foot-wide Greek Revival-style homes were three stories tall above brownstone English basements.  Sturdy Doric stone pilasters flanked the doorway and upheld paneled entablatures.  The molded lintels and bracketed sills of the openings reflected the rising Italianate style.  The sumptuous wrought iron stoop railings that terminated in drum-based newels testified that they were not intended for working-class occupants.

The sinuous hand-wrought railings swept down to wrap the newels.

Merchant Cornelius Read and his family moved into 557 Fourth Street (renumbered 328 East 4th Street in 1863).  His lumber business at 42 Mangin Street was typical of the Dry Dock district firms.  Cornelius was born in 1798, and he and his wife, Eunice, had three adult children: Mary Elizabeth, Catharine, and Junius (known as John).  John was involved in his father's company.  All of the siblings were married by 1847.

When Catharine married Joseph Bishop, they moved into the house next door at 555.  Like his father-in-law, Bishop was affluent and involved in the Dry Dock industry.  He operated a shipyard at 193 Lewis Street, just a block away from Read's business.

Cornelius Read died at the age of 51 on Monday evening, April 30, 1849, "after a short illness," according to The Evening Post.  His funeral was held in the parlor on May 2.

Eunice left the East 4th Street house the following year.  Interestingly, city directories now listed her as operating the Mangin Street lumberyard.  She moved into the home of Junius Read at 267 Fifth Street.  

Her move necessitated a scramble to find new employment on the part of her servants.  An advertisement in the New-York Tribune on October 10, 1850 read:

Wanted--Situations by two respectable Protestant women--one as good cook, washer and ironer, (none for entire housework need apply); the other as chambermaid and seamstress or to do the fine washing and ironing--is willing to make herself generally useful in a good family.

Eunice's leaving initiated a stark change in the formerly refined household.  Briefly operated as a rooming house, in 1851 its tenant list included four tailors, a bootmaker, two laborers and a locksmith.

The house returned to a single-family home in 1853 when David L. Youngs and his family moved in.  Like Cornelius Read, he was involved in the Dry Dock industry and ran a ship joinery business on East 9th Street, Youngs, Cutter & Co.  (The firm constructed and installed the interior wooden components and furnishings in vessels.)  Additionally, Youngs owned a stagecoach business and was a director in The Pacific Bank.  Like many wealthy citizens, he was concerned about the less fortunate and was a member of the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor.

David and his wife, Caroline A., had at least three sons, William F., Joshua and Roscius.  William and Joshua were married and lived elsewhere.  Both were ship joiners in their father's shop.  Roscius was just 16 years old when his parents moved in and was most likely still in school.  Tragically, Roscius died on September 29, 1860 at the age of 23.  His funeral was held in the parlor on October 2.

The following year, David and Caroline Youngs sold the house to Bernard Kelly.  A contractor and builder, he was also a candidate for Aldermen in 1861.  His campaign was unsuccessful.

Kelly was involved in an affray shortly after moving in.  On Saturday night, December 7, 1861, he and two friends went into the lager beer saloon of Valentin Schack at 186 East Second Street.  Apparently the trio had already been drinking elsewhere.  The New York Times reported, "They soon became very disorderly, and proceeded to break tumblers, chairs, tables, &c."  Schack, "thinking there was imminent danger of his establishment being destroyed," pulled out a pistol and told them to leave.

Kelly and his friends asked him to put the firearm down, which he did.  Then one of Kelly's drunken friends picked up the gun and accidentally fired it, hitting Kelly in the stomach.  Seriously wounded, he was brought back to 328 East 4th Street and "surgical aid procured," according to the article.  Happily, he survived the ordeal.

It appears that 328 East 4th Street was rented in the ensuing years.  Between 1867 and 1869, William W. Vanderbilt, a consulting engineer, lived here.  From 1870 through 1874, the families of Henry Blach and Edward Straus, both dry goods merchants, shared the house.

Physician Charles A. T. Krog lived here as early as 1879.  He was a graduate of the University Medical College of New York.  As was common at the time, Krog was sometimes called to the rooms of young women who were dying from botched abortions.  On February 9 and 10, 1879 he was called to the home of a Madame Berger to attend to Cora Sammis.  (He was told her name was Maggie Steele.)  The patient's attempt to hide her identity was typical.  Having an abortion was as illegal as performing one.  Krog was told that she was suffering with diarrhea.  She died the following day.

Around 1886, the Saulpaugh family moved into the house.  Moses James Saulpaugh ran a lumber business.  Born in 1835 in Kingston, New York, he started in the lumber industry "when but a boy of fourteen," according to The New York Times.  He married Maria Jane Love on August 27, 1856 and the couple had 12 children.  They maintained a country home  along the Hudson River in Kingston.

At least one son, James Montgomery (a twin of Egbert), lived with his parents and worked in his father's business.  He married Sarah Ann Whatley on October 13, 1880 and the couple moved into the East 4th Street house.

Moses Saulpaugh died of stomach cancer at the age of 54 on October 17, 1889.  In reporting his death, The New York Times called him, "a well-known lumber merchant" and "an old volunteer fireman."  Once again, a funeral was held in the parlor, this one on October 20.

At the time of Moses's death, James and Sarah had three children, William Pray, George J., and James Jr.  A fourth child, Sarah, would be born two months later.

The family suffered a severe scare on May 5, 1894.  Louis Eckhard was driving a soda-water wagon that afternoon when "he ran over seven-year-old James Saulpaugh," according to The Evening World.  The article said, "After the accident Eckhardt whipped up his horse and disappeared."  A witness, however, wrote down the number of the wagon and reported the incident to police.  The Evening World said, "Detective Farrell make Eckhardt a prisoner."  Charged with reckless driving, he insisted he did not know he had run over the boy.  The article said, "The little fellow is at home, suffering from bruises."

Within two years of the incident, the Fried family occupied 328 East 4th Street.  Eugene H Fried was a physician, and Samuel Fried was a real estate agent.  

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

While most of the similar houses in the Dry Dock district were converted to boarding or rooming houses by the turn of the century, this one continued to be leased as a private home.  On August 21, 1904, The New York Times began an article saying, 

To most people, even to New Yorkers who know the region well, 'the east side' means a district of tenements, where bedclothes adorn the fire escapes and children vie with one another in annexing grime to their persons.  But scattered among the monotonous blocks of tenements are a few homes as comfortable and luxurious as money can make them.

The article mentioned, "Herman Stieffel, who used to be connected with the Corporation Counsel's office, has a big house at 328 East Fourth Street."

Stieffel was followed in the house by attorney Abraham Bimbaum.  Change came around 1928 when the house became a synagogue.  It remained until 1974 when 328 East 4th Street and the house next door at 326 were purchased by the Uranian Phalanstery.

The group was begun by artist Richard Ovlet Tyler in 1959 in the basement of the tenement house next door at 330 East 4th Street.  At the time of purchasing the house, he and Dorothea Baer Tyler incorporated the Uranian Phalanstery with 20 other artists to create "a shrine devoted to art," according to its website.

Despite the sympathetic treatment of the addition, the new entrance and lamps could only be described as grim.  photograph by Carole Teller

Faced with financial problems, in 2010 the Phalanstery sold both houses to a developer.  Its plans for enlarging the astonishingly intact 1841 properties was challenged by preservationists.  But, without landmark designation, the new owners had no legal opposition.  Two floors were added and the entrances gruesomely altered.  To the architect's credit, he copied the original openings in the addition and designed a sympathetic cornice.

many thanks to artist Carole Teller for suggesting this post

The Altered 1880 186 East 75th Street

 

image via serphant.com

In 1880, prolific real estate developer Anthony McQuade completed construction of four four-story brownstone-fronted rowhouses at 180 through 186 East 75th Street between Third and Lexington Avenues.  Each 18-feet-wide, their Anglo-Italianate design included short stoops and corbeled cornices.

McQuade sold the four homes in June 12, 1880 to Stephen Barker for $54,000 (about $427,000 each in 2026 terms).  He resold them to real estate operator Sarah Talman, who owned numerous properties throughout the city.  She converted the buildings to "single flats," meaning that there was one apartment per floor.

The easternmost building was 186 East 75th Street.  Its tenants were middle-class professionals.  Living here in 1886, for instance, were Richard J. Flanagan, a tax collector for the city; real estate agent Manuel Fried; and Jacob Georgia, a barber.  

All four renovated houses were nearly destroyed in the fall of 1893.  At the time, houses and apartment buildings were lit by gas.  Odorants would not be added to natural gas until 1937, so a gas leak at the time was only detectable when people became sick or lost consciousness (or, in the worst case, an explosion occurred). 

The New York Times reported on November 21, "The tenants at 180, 182, 184 and 186 East Seventy-fifth Street were greatly alarmed yesterday afternoon by an influx of illuminating gas into the houses."  The occupants of the lower apartments became nauseated and had to leave.

The 16-year-old son of the janitor of 184 East 75th Street went searching for the gas leak.  He was found unconscious in the basement and was dragged into the street.  He died in Presbyterian Hospital a few hours later.

Isaac and Hannah Cohen, who lived at 186 East 75th Street, had a newborn baby.  Isaac was a fur dealer at 99 Mercer Street and he, of course, was at his shop when the emergency began.  Hannah Cohen was "badly affected," according to The New York Times.  Despite her own condition, she managed to get her infant out and onto the sidewalk.  The article said that Hannah, "thought that the baby was dead, but after receiving medical attention the child revived."

The Consolidated and the Standard Gas Companies arrived and discovered the leak in the basement next door at 184 East 75th Street.  "The gas had forced its way through the foundation walls into the basement...and then into the other houses," said the article.  By nightfall the break was repaired and the gas turned on again.

No. 186 East 75th Street was sold and resold repeatedly until Isaac Leopold Teschner and his wife Katie, purchased it in July 1910.  They moved into one of the apartments with their two children, Rosebud Lotta and Adolph N.

Twelve years after purchasing the property, in 1922 the Teschners hired architect Edward Angell to update the vintage building.  He replaced the Italianate stoop railings with concrete wing walls, and a handsome neo-Georgian broken pediment was placed upon the entrance.  A stucco-like substance applied to the first floor was scored to mimic rusticated stone.  A full-width wrought iron railing, meant to mimic a balcony, introduced the second floor.  Angell kept the 1880 window sills and brackets of the third floor, and the lintels of the fourth.  The latter openings were now framed in simulated quoins.  Above them, blind rondels enhanced the facade.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The renovated apartments were quickly leased.  The new tenants in 1922 were Rushmore Shope and his wife, the former Margarette Kellogg; George D. Arvedson; and Georgette Folsom Fitzgibbon.

Georgette Fitzgibbon was well-known in New York Society.  Born in 1883 to George Winthrop Folsom and the former Frances Elizabeth Hastings, she grew up in New York City, Lenox and Newport.  The New York Times said that her father was "a member of the well-known Winthrop family of Massachusetts."  Georgette was recently divorced from Robert Francis Lee-Dillon Fitzgibbon.  The couple had one child, Major Constantine Robert Louis Lee-Dillon Fitzgibbon, who was three years old when Georgette signed the lease here.

At the time of the renovation, the Teschner children were young adults.  Adolph graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1924.

Adolph Teschner's graduation photograph.  Microcosm, 1924 (copyright expired)

That same year, the Teschners announced Rosebud Lotta's engagement to Dr. Myer Solls-Cohen.  The wedding was held at the Gotham Hotel on February 11, 1925.  A modern woman, Rosebud retained her maiden name and continued her education, eventually earning a Ph.D.

Nine months after the wedding, on November 9, 1925, Isaac Leopold Teschner died at the age of 63.  His funeral was held in the Teschner apartment two days later.

On August 18, 1927, the New York Evening Post entitled an article, "American Lawyer in Paris Takes Bride," and announced that Georgette Fitzgibbon was married to her second cousin, Bertram Winthrop in Calvary Church Chapel the previous day.

Georgette Fitzgibbon and Bertram Winthrop on their wedding day.  New York Evening Post, August 18, 1927.

Katie Teschner retained possession of 186 East 75th Street until March 1960, when she sold it to real estate operator John Rau, Inc.  A renovation completed in 1965 combined the apartments on the first and second floors into a duplex.  

Among the tenants in the last quarter of the century was horsewoman, championship golfer and interior designer Justine Cushing.  She lived here as early as 1988 when House Beautiful ran a multi-page layout of her apartment.  Her country home was in Southampton.

image via streeteasy.com

In 2025, 186 East 75th Street was sold.  Its owners have announced intentions to restore it to a single family home.

The Peter and Nellie Radiker House - 159 West 87th Street

The frenzy of transforming undeveloped land west of Central Park in the last quarter of the 19th century was deemed the "Great West Side Movement" by the Record & Guide.  Highly involved in the frenzy were William C. G. Wilson and James Tichborne, who formed the real estate development firm of Wilson & Tichborne.  The partners erected rows of upscale  speculative homes.  Among their projects were six three-story-and-basement homes on the north side of West 87th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues.  Engulfing Nos. 159 through 169, they were designed by Gilbert A. Schellenger in 1889.  He blended historic styles in designing the homes, perhaps most conspicuously evident in No. 159.

Possibly because of its narrow proportions (just 18-feet wide), Schellenger emphasized horizontality.  The rusticated undressed stone of the basement parlor level, the rough courses of the second floor, and the incised lines of the third gave the impression of a wider structure.   

The heavy Romanesque Revival feel of the parlor level was softened with elegant fluted Renaissance Revival pilasters on either side of the entrance.  Intricate foliate carving ran below the striking curved bay at the second floor.  Schellenger introduced the Queen Anne style with the elaborate, three-part cast cornice--a regimented corbel table below a fluted fascia with brackets decorated with fish scales and sunflowers, and a dentiled cornice with offset arched pediment.

On February 1, 1890, the Record & Guide reported that Tichborne & Wilson had sold 159 West 87th Street "to Peter J. [sic] Radiker, a 9th avenue groceryman, for $22,500.  He will occupy it as his home."  The price Radiker paid for the new residence would translate to $800,000 in 2026.

Peter and Nellie Radiker.  from the collection of the Worthington Historical Society Archive.

Born in 1865, Peter Theron Radiker married Nellie F. Pease on June 27, 1889.  Their only daughter, Marguerite "Margaret," was born in 1891.

Radiker threw himself in the Great West Side Movement.  On March 1, 1891, the New-York Tribune reported, "A large and enthusiastic meeting was held...of property owners of the West Side."  They were preemptively fighting saloons in their developing neighborhood.  Among the attendees was Peter T. Radiker.  The article explained, "An association was immediately formed," said the article, which explained, "The objects and aim of the association will be the property regulation and restraint of the liquor traffic and prevention of the erection of improper buildings in the residential part of the West Side."

Radiker changed course in 1897.  That year E. C. Smith and his partner in Smith & Hempstead parted ways.  They had operated the Cedarhurst Stables on West 83rd Street since 1890.  Radiker replaced Hempstead and the firm's name became Smith & Radiker.  New York, 1895: Illustrated called them, "both natives of this city, and young men of excellent business ability."  Calling the Cedarhurst Stables "one of the foremost establishments" in the industry, it noted, "The establishment is heated by steam, has a steam power elevator, all modern sanitary improvements, a handsome ladies' reception-room, harness-room and all conveniences."

The Cedarhurst was a dual operation--both a livery and boarding stable.  On the livery side (equivalent to a rent-a-car business today), Smith & Radiker owned "forty fine road and saddle horses, [and] fifty carriages and wagons," according to New York, 1895: Illustrated.

As had been with his former business partner, Smith parted ways with Radiker after a few years.  Peter T. Radiker bought him out and renamed the business the Cedarhurst Stable Company.  He apparently stretched his finances in doing so, and on May 22, 1901, The New York Times reported that Radiker had filed bankruptcy.

The resourceful Radiker, however, survived.  He held onto the business and in 1906 sold the livery portion and now shared the 83rd Street building with Seaman's Stables company.  Radiker realized that horses were being replaced with motor vehicles and in 1908 he organized the Cedarhurst Motor Livery Company.  The Motor World reported that his partner was Nellie F. P. Radiker.  Their major client was Frayer-Miller cabs, which operated a taxicab service from the building.

The Radiker finances were, possibly, still thin and in 1911 they rented part of their home to Francis Conrad Elgar and his sister, Eleanor L.  Born in 1862, Elgar was a builder and real estate operator, a partner with his brother Alfred in James Elgar & Sons.  Eleanor L. Elgar died here on January 27, 1913.

Late in 1921, Peter and Nellie traveled to Southern Pines, North Carolina.  Peter died there on December 11 at the age of 56.  His funeral was held in the parlor of 159 West 87th Street just two days later.

Francis C. Elgar was still living at 159 West 87th Street in 1934 when, in December, Nellie Radiker sold the house to "a physician for his residence," according to The New York Times.  The article mentioned, "This was the first sale of the property in forty-four years."

That doctor was Harry C. Saunders.  He transformed the basement level of the house to his office, sharing the practice with Dr. William Mourtrier, Jr. and Dr. Allen F. Murphy.

Shockingly, on the night of October 19, 1939, Dr. Murphy was arrested from his house in Queens, where he lived with his wife and two children.  The Long Island Star-Journal reported that he performed "an illegal operation" on 29-year-old Alice Corbett on October 13.  The purposely vague term referred to an abortion.  The article said, "Miss Corbett died later in Murray Hill Hospital."  Taken immediately to Manhattan Homicide Court for arraignment, the newspaper said Murphy "appeared bewildered."

Murphy's trial did not begin for a year, opening on November 19, 1940.  His attorney denied that he "had performed an illegal operation."  The jury did not believe him and on December 16 Murphy was sentenced to "two to ten years" in Sing Sing prison for first-degree manslaughter.

Dr. Saunders sold 159 West 87th Street in May 1945 to "an investor," according to The New York Times.  It was operated as unofficial apartments until a renovation completed in 1991 restored it to a single family home with the owner's dentist office in the basement.

photographs by the author

The Lost Manhattan Academy Building - 213 West 32nd Street

 

from the Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York, 1870 (copyright expired)

An announcement in the New York Herald on September 29, 1864 informed New Yorkers about the newly opened Manhattan Academy, a branch of Manhattan College.  It said:

This new academy is now ready for the reception of students.  Its object is to afford the important advantages of commercial, scientific, classical and moral education.  Terms: Classical department, $12 per quarter; Commercial department, $12 per quarter; Intermediate department, $8 per quarter; Primary department, $5 per quarter.

The more expensive tuition would translate to about $250 per quarter in 2026.  That initial ad, however, did not mention  the non-educational costs.  There were also an entrance fee, board, a "washing" fee, and a physician's fee.  The total yearly cost would equal $5,700 today.  

Operated by the Brothers of Christian Schools, the Manhattan Academy was organized in 1864 and chartered the following year.  An ad in King's Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York commented, "The location is healthy, and a few minutes' walk distant from Central Park."  (The 27-block stroll might not be described as "a few minutes' walk" today.)

The academy's newly built structure at 127 West 32nd Street (later 213 West 32nd Street) was four stories tall above a high English basement.  Shallow buttresses divided its symmetrical, Gothic Revival-style facade into five vertical sections.  The large Gothic-pointed arch that held the double-doored entrance was echoed in the windows of the first through third floors.  The exception were the centered openings, which, like the fourth floor, were square-headed and wore Gothic drip moldings.  A regimented corbel table ran below the minimal cornice, and a mansard-capped cupola or bell tower sat atop the roof.

Each year, the students underwent a three-day "annual examination," or what today might be called finals.  The tests culminated with an awards and honors ceremony.  The New-York Tribune reported on the 1868 ceremony on July 1.  "The exercises were held at the Everett Rooms, where a very large audience was assembled, among whom were a number of clergymen," said the article.  "The Manhattan College band furnished the music on the occasion, discoursing some very fine airs."

The newspaper reported on the academy's "rapid progress" on July 2, 1869, saying it, "now presents the combined advantages

of classical, scientific, and commercial course of instruction."  In also noted, "An excellent musical corps has been organized from among the 250 students of this institution."

A rare instance of criminality within the confines of the Manhattan Academy came in the summer of 1888.  On August 22, The Evening World reported, "George Burns was held in $300 bail, at Jefferson Market, this morning, for stealing a picture of Pope Pius IX, from the wall at the Manhattan Academy."

By 1891, the formerly bucolic neighborhood around Seventh Avenue and 32nd Street had changed.  Now part of the often notorious Tenderloin District, its demographics had severely changed as the Black community moved here from Greenwich Village.  

On January 31, 1891, The New York Times reported that the Christian Brothers had erected a new academy building at 50 Second Street.  "The new academy will be opened Monday," said the article.  On the same day, the Record & Guide reported that the "property known as the 'Manhattan Academy,' a five-story school building, Nos. 209 to 213 West 32d street," had been sold to Benedict Fischer for $90,000 (about $3.2 million today).

Fischer made substantial renovations and on February 14, 1892 advertised in the New York Herald, "For Sale on Favorable terms, the five story Building...formerly Manhattan College, suitable for manufacturing or business purposes."

The buyer defaulted, and in September 1898, Benedict Fischer foreclosed on the building.  On November 6, the New York Herald reported that he hired architect Joseph Wolf to make additional renovations.  The changes, including converting part of the building to a stable for the New York Fire-Proof Stabling Company, cost Fischer the equivalent of $195,000 today.

Fischer preserved the school's auditorium.  It became home to St. James's Presbyterian Church with its all-Black congregation.  Its pastor, Rev. P. Butler Thompkins, explained in the New York Observer on October 13, 1898, "Instead of the old 'Tenderloin,' we now have 'Little Africa,' for this has become the great centre of our colored population."  The article said, "This entire district is without a church of any denomination for these people, except St. James's Church, which was organized by the Presbytery of New York, April 26, 1895."  It noted, "The hall, 213 West Thirty-second-st., in which the congregation is now holding services, is in the same building with a stable.  The ventilation is poor, the odor is bad, and the rent is high."

Three years later, St. James's Presbyterian Church was still struggling to raise funds for a permanent structure.  On December 28, 1901, The Evening Post reported,

St. James Presbyterian Church, at No. 213 West Thirty-second Street, the only church of any denomination in "Little Africa" that ministers solely to the colored people, is still without a church edifice.  Thirty-four thousand dollars in cash and subscriptions has been raised.  Sixteen thousand dollars must be secured within the next five days, that is, by January 1, or a very large part of the $34,000 already secured will be lost to the work.

The deadline mentioned in the article was very real.  The church was about to be evicted at the end of its lease.  A month earlier, on November 26, The New York Times reported that Benedict Fischer's son, William H., had sold the building, calling it a "five-story stable."

The property sat within land that Alexander Cassatt was quietly amassing.  On December 11, 1901, he announced the "New York Terminal and Tunnel Extension Project."  The greatly abused Manhattan Academy building was erased as part of the massive venture that would bring trains directly into Manhattan from New Jersey and would include the masterful McKim, Mead & White-designed Pennsylvania Station.