The Ideal Hosiery Building - 339 Grand Street

 

photograph by Carole Teller

John Jacob Astor I amassed $250,000 in the fur trade by 1800 (nearly $6.5 million in 2026).  He turned to real estate and by the late 182os was erecting scores of Federal style dwellings.  Among them were five three-and-a-half-story houses on Grand Street at the southwest corner of Ludlow Street, completed around 1830.

Like the others, the corner building, 339 Grand Street, was clad in brick and trimmed in brownstone.  The peaked attic was punctured by a single, centered dormer.  A store occupied the ground floor.

James Nelson and his family occupied the house in 1830.  An umbrella maker, he operated his shop here, as well.  In 1837, Mrs. M. D. Hodge, who recently arrived from London, moved in.  On November 17 that year, the Morning Herald said "the beautiful Mrs. Hodge" created "the most elegant Chenille hats in New York."  The article continued:

This lady's store is sought for by all fashionable families in want of such an article.  Mrs. H. is attentive, polite, pretty, and excellent in her business.

Articles continuously mentioned Mrs. Hodge's appearance.  In reporting on her "splendid Victoria Gipsey Hats" on April 4, 1838, the Morning Herald noted, "I am told that both Mrs. H. and her hats are uncommonly beautiful."  The quality of her headwear was certified that year when the American Institute awarded her a "diploma" (an ornate printed award) for "a fine specimen of chenille hats, made without a stitch."

It does not appear that Mrs. Hodge lived above her store.  The Gordon family occupied the upper floors as early as 1840.  Harriet Gordon died here on January 31, 1841 at the age of 40 "after a very long illness," according to the New York Morning Courier.  Her funeral was held in the house the following morning.

Astor continued to have a relatively quick turnover in commercial tenants.  In 1841, Arthur H. Sherman ran his stationery store here.  On December 9, the New-York Tribune reported, "A boy named James Murphy was arrested to-day and committed for stealing a pack of blank cards worth 25 cents from Arthur H. Sherman, No. 339 Grand-street."  And as early as 1847, James Cunningham's stove business occupied the store.  A long-term tenant moved in around 1850.  Jeremiah L. Sackett installed his drygoods business in the store and moved his family into the upper floors.  

By 1854, Jeremiah L. Sackett moved his family to University Place, but he continued to operated his drygoods store here.  In 1855, title to 339 Grand Street was transferred to Astor's granddaughter, Cecilia Langdon de Nottbeck.  By then, a three-story structure had been erected in the rear yard at 57 Ludlow Street.  

Replacing the Sacketts in the upper floors was the Crosson family, while the family of William H. Anderson, a joiner, lived in the upper floors of 57 Ludlow by 1855.  (A joiner was a skilled carpenter.)

Another funeral was held in the Grand Street house in 1855.  Robert N. Crosson died on January 27 at the age of 24.

When 57 Ludlow was erected, a wrought iron fence protected the areaway in front of the basement.  The Anderson family still occupied the upper floors on August 8, 1857 when William Jr., who was six years old, fell from a second floor window.  The New-York Tribune reported that he suffered, "a severe flesh wound on the back part of the head, about three inches in length and half an inches in depth."  The New York Times added, "his left leg was dreadfully lacerated by being caught in one of the iron spikes of the railing in front of the house."

William E. Vanhorn and his family lived in 57 Ludlow Street as early as 1864.  It was a highly convenient location, since he worked as a clerk in Jeremiah L. Sackett's store around the corner.  The Vanhorns would remain here until 1872, when Sackett closed his store after more than two decades.

The store became home to Joseph Freund & Co., dealers of beddings and feathers.  Run by Jacob, Lazarus and Moses Freund (presumably the sons of Joseph Freund), they had two other stores--one at 365 Eighth Avenue and the other at 359 East Houston.  None of the brothers lived in the Grand Street or Ludlow Street buildings.

Joseph Freund & Co. diversified into "linengoods" in 1886.  Their business and the building were threatened by fire on September 2, 1893.  The New York Herald reported, "Fire caused a panic at half-past seven o'clock last evening in the fancy dry goods store of Saul Brothers, at 335 Grand street, and that of their immediate neighbor, C. Wagner, at No. 337."  The article said that Grand Street was packed with "Saturday night shoppers" when suddenly, "purchasers and employes [sic] ran screaming out of the place.  One of the girls fainted and was carried into a nearby store."

By the time firefighters arrived, both buildings were ablaze and "the flames were shooting up through the roof and had caught on the corner of No. 339 Grand street, the ground floor of which is occupied by J. Freund & Co., linen importers."  Although 335 and 337 were devastated, firefighters arrived in time to save 339 Grand Street from serious damage.

The Evening World, May 21, 1902 (copyright expired)

After being in business here for three decades, Freund & Co. closed in 1902.  It was replaced by George and Max Weiner's millinery shop.  The shop would remain until October 14, 1919.

In the Depression years, a children's apparel shop occupied the store.  The storefront was remodeled and an arcade entrance installed.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

On August 10, 1950, The New York Times reported that Edward W. de Nottbeck had sold 339 Grand Street to the 339 Grand Street Corp.  It ended the Astor family's 120-year ownership of the property.  The Ideal Hosiery company leased the building and placed a vibrant red metal sign over the shop.  The firm purchased the building in 1965.

The Ideal Hosiery sign was still vibrant in 1995.  The upper floors were being used as storage.  (original source unknown.)

Like Jeremiah L. Sackett and Joseph Freund & Co., Ideal Hosiery remained here for decades.  On August 21, 2018, The New York Times reported that Ideal Hosiery had placed the building on the market for $7.2 million.

photograph by Carole Teller

The faded metal signage still clings to the facade of 339 Grand Street.  The venerable structure was designated an individual New York City landmark in 2013.

many thanks to artist Carole Teller for suggesting this post.

The 1890 Julius and Henrietta Steinfelder House - 1215 Park Avenue

 

On June 29, 1889 The Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that architects Flemer & Koehler had filed plans for eight stone-fronted homes on Park Avenue, wrapping around the northeast corner of 94th Street.  The project would cost developer Edward T. Smith $112,000 to erect; or about $492,500 per house in 2026 terms.

Almost immediately, J. A. Henry Flemer and his partner, V. Hugo Koehler, would be at work filling the northern half of the block.  Completed in 1890, their blend of historical styles seamlessly melded with the earlier homes.  Flemer & Koehler reached deep into their grab bag of styles in designing No. 1215, just south of East 95th Street.

The basement and parlor floors were faced in undressed brownstone, typical of the Romanesque Revival style.  And yet, the carved panels of the stoop newels and those under the windows and above the entrance drew inspiration from the Italian Renaissance.  The brick pilasters with terra cotta Corinthian capitals that flanked the second floor windows, too, were Renaissance Revival in style, but the pretty foliate terra cotta bandcourse above them was Queen Anne.  The fully-arched openings of the third floor, with their molded, terra cotta lintels and prominent keystones, harkened to the earlier Italianate style.  The architects' judicious choices created a handsome hybrid.

The two-story rounded bay provided a sleeping porch to the third floor.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

On May 8, 1883, the New York Herald reported that realtor Julius Friend had sold "the three-story and basement dwelling, No. 1,215 Park avenue, 20 x 69, to Samuel Steinfelder."  (It was certainly not a coincidence that Julius Friend and his family, who were close friends with the Steinfelders, lived around the corner at 135 East 95th Street.)

Samuel Steinfelder was a "wealthy silk and ribbon importer," as described by The World.  His wife, Henrietta, was a former school teacher, described as "a fine-looking woman of middle age."  The couple had five daughters, Rita J., Rosalie H., Ruth A., Hattie E., and Maude S.  The newspaper added, "The family are wealthy, well connected and move in the highest Hebrew social circles in the city."

It was not long after the family moved in that tensions--and eventually a rift--grew between the Steinfelders and the Friends.  Hattie Steinfelder "seemed to take a fancy to young Mrs. [Carrie Kohn] Friend," explained The Sun on March 24, 1894, "and she spent much of her time at the Friends' house."  According to Carrie Friend, Hattie would confide about "her troubles at home."  Henrietta Steinfelder thought that her private family politics was none of Carrie's business.  The World explained at the same time, "According to Mrs. Steinfelder she became tired of having her maternal authority interfered with by an outsider and the result was a quarrel between the two ladies in September, since which time they have not spoken."

Henrietta Steinfelder and Carrie Friend may have stopped speaking to one another, but Hattie continued her close friendship.  On March 15, 1894, Hattie and her mother had "a spat," as described by Henrietta.  Hattie rushed out and around the corner to the Friends' house to vent her problems.  At around 10:00 that night, Julius Friend walked her home.  Samuel Steinfelder was waiting at the door, fuming.

"Steinfelder got excited and said things to Friend," reported The Sun.  Among those "things" was the accusation that Friend was engaging in "lover tricks on the street" with Hattie.  The next day Hattie, "departed from her home at 1,215 Park avenue...without leaving word where she might be found."  Not surprisingly, she sought refuge with the Friends.

In the meantime, Julius Friend reported Steinfelder's slanderous comment to police.  The former chums faced one another in a courtroom on March 20.  "Justice Welde dismissed the case and told Friend that he had no right to keep the girl away from her family."  Julius Friend went straight home and told Hattie "he could harbor her no longer."  That was the last anyone saw of the 18-year-old.  At least for a while.

On March 24, The World began an article saying

A self-willed, high-tempered girl, a jealous and exasperated mother, an irate father and a scornful neighbor's wife, with a husband nursing his wounded pride, are the actors in this domestic, serio-comic squabble that has disrupted the social relations between the Steinfelder and Friend families.

Hattie, said the article was, "bright, intelligent, well educated, attractive, but possessed of an all-powerful desire to have her own way in everything."  Four days later, Hattie's hideout was revealed.  She had sought refuge in the home of her aunt, a Mrs. Hahn, at 230 East 49th Street.  Reading of the tempest in the newspapers, Mrs. Hahn sent a message to the Steinfelders.  On March 24, 1894, The Sun reported, "Her aunt will send her home to-day, whether she wants to go or not."

Like other well-to-do New Yorkers, the Steinfelders spent time away from the city during the summer months.  On July 19, 1898, for instance, the Oswego, New York The Daily Record reported:

Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Steinfelder and daughters Misses Rita and Rosalie, of 1,215 Park avenue, New York, are at the Ahwaga House, guests of George and Adolph Newman for a few days.  They are to depart to Sheldrake on Cayuga lake for a stay before returning to their home.

(It is, perhaps, notable that Hattie was not mentioned.)

In 1902, Samuel Steinfelder was appointed to the School Board and by the following year, Rosalie was teaching at Public School 171 on East 103rd Street.

On the night of November 12, 1911, Henrietta walked into a drugstore at 375 Lenox Avenue.  She suddenly collapsed on the floor, stricken with a stroke.  The 63-year-old died before help could arrive.

The following year, on November 5, 1912, The New York Times reported that Steinfelder had sold 1215 Park Avenue.  His realtor, Douglas L. Elliman, was coy about the sale, saying "The buyer is an investor."  In fact, the buyer was Douglas L. Elliman.

Interestingly, the now-retired Steinfelder continued to live in the house, apparently renting it from Elliman.  He died here four months later, on March 25, 1913, at the age of 67.

Elliman next leased the house to Marcus and Maria Neustaedter.  Born in 1871 in Galicia, Austria, Neustaedter arrived in New York City in 1888 and graduated from Bellevue Hospital Medical College in 1896.  Ten years later he earned his Ph.D. from New York University.  When the family moved in, Neustaedter was teaching neurology at Bellevue Hospital Medical College.  He and Maria had four children, Shadoin, Hannah, Theodore Maier, and Leonard.  

Dr. Neustaedter's expertise was called upon in 1921 when a Russian boy was slated to be deported as "an imbecile."  Having survived the Russian pograms, Moische Shulman's father, a musician, escaped Russia with his eldest son in 1913.  Seven years later, the rest of the family (including Moische) left the World War I-ravaged country.  The New York Times reported that on September 21, 1920, "Mrs. Shulman, after much difficulty, came here with four children."  

But now, a year later, the Special Board of Inquiry of the Immigration Bureau singled out 10-year-old Moische as an imbecile and ordered him deported back to Russia.  The deportation would, of course, necessitate the breaking up of the Shulman family.  The New York Times reported, "If the boy is compelled to return to Russia, it was said that his mother would go with him."  At a hearing on August 27, 1921, Moische's father said that if the Immigration Bureau's stand was upheld, "he would appeal to the President."

Dr. Marcus Neustaedter took the stand in the boy's defense.  He said he was "neither feeble-minded nor an imbecile."  He pointed out that the "boy's studies in mathematics baffled his imagination" and that he had "mastered English and that one teacher had given him a rating of 100 per cent."  Neustaedter urged "it must be remembered that the boy and his mother had been in the war area of dark Russia."  He told the judge, "I think it would be a crime to separate this child from his parents, since he will be potentially a self-supporting member of the community."  The boy was allowed to remain.

The Neustaedter family remained at 1215 Park Avenue through 1923.  The following year, Elliman sold the house to Dr. Eugene Floyd Dubois and his wife, the former Rebeckah Rutter.  Dubois was born on Staten Island in 1882 and was educated at the Milton Academy, at Harvard College, and at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons.  He and Rebeckah were married in 1910 and they had two sons, Eugene and Arthur, and a daughter, Rebeckah.

Dr. Eugene Floyd Dubois specialized "in the mechanisms and diseases of the metabolism," according to the International Rasmus Mailing-Hansen Society.  image from the society's collection

When the family moved in, Dubois was associate professor of the Cornell University Medical College and medical director of the Russell Sage Institute of Pathology.  He was, as well, a director of the Medical Division of Bellevue Hospital.

In 1928, Park Avenue was widened and it was most likely at this time that the stoop was removed from 1215 Park Avenue and the entrance lowered below grade.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Rebeckah was educated in the exclusive Chapin School, the Milton Academy and Vassar College.  On December 4, 1937, The New York Sun reported, "Dr. and Mrs. Eugene Floyd DeBois of 1215 Park avenue, have a reception today at the Colony Club to introduce their daughter, Miss Rebeckah DuBois, to society."  At the time, her brother, Eugene, was working in the editorial office of the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper.

When America entered World War II, all three of the Dubois men joined the Navy Reserves.  Dr. Dubois earned the rank of captain in the Medical Corps, Eugene rose to the rank of lieutenant, and Arthur was a midshipman.  

On April 4, 1944, The New York Times reported that Lt. Eugene Dubois, USNR, was married to Carol Johnston Mali, "in a setting of white spring flowers" in the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church.  Eugene F. Dubois was his son's best man.  The wartime ceremony had a decidedly military atmosphere.  Along with Arthur, the other ushers wore their Army, Naval, and Air Force uniforms.

Eugene and Rebeckah announced the engagement of their daughter to James Robinson Glazebrook on August 22, 1952.  The New York Times noted, "She is a research assistant at Cornell University Medical College."

The family sold 1215 Park Avenue in June 1956 to Max Greenberg.  He initiated a renovation the following year that resulted in apartments.  Today there are five units in the building.  

photographs by the author

The 1909 Esperanto - 229 West 105th Street

 

photograph by Anthony Bellov

In 1908 developer Lorenz Weiher acquired the five lots at 227 through 235 West 105th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway.  He commissioned the architectural firm of Moore & Landsiedel to design a "six story brick and stone tenement" on the site, as described in the firm's plans.  (The term "tenement" at the time referred to any multi-family residential building.)  Construction, which was completed the following year, cost Weiher $125,000, or about $4.45 million in 2026.

Moore & Landsiedel drew from Colonial precedents, embellishing the Roman brick clad upper facade with dramatically splayed lintels and scrolled keystones, and prominent stone quoins that emphasized verticality in the extremely wide structure.  The architects also broke up the horizontal plane by placing the entrance to the east and balancing its heavy stone enframement with a duplicate to the west--the latter embracing two windows.  The four-story midsection sat between intermediate cornices and the top floor was capped with a bracketed and corbelled cornice.

photograph by Anthony Bellov

An advertisement for the Esperanto in August 15, 1909 described "5 or 6 rooms and bath."  Because financially comfortable New Yorkers fled the city in the summer months, the ad noted, "Concessions for summer."  The advertised rents ranged from $660 to $840 per year--the equivalent of $1,950 to $2,500 per month today.

Apartment Houses of the Metropolis, 1909  (copyright expired)

The residents were affluent enough to have domestic help.  Hulda Maske, described by The New York Times as "a servant girl," worked for and lived with a family here.  On her night off on October 18, 1909, she went with three men and two women in an automobile to the Bronx.  Early in the morning, the car struck a telegraph pole on Jerome Avenue.  The Times said, "The women fainted, and all the party were bruised and cut, but apparently none was hurt enough to go to the hospital."

After being treated by an ambulance crew, Hulda and her friends went back to Manhattan "by trolley."  The next day, Hulda complained that her head began to ache.  She was taken to Harlem Hospital where she was diagnosed with a skull fracture.

Apartment Houses of the Metropolis, 1909 (copyright expired)

Among the early residents were Reverend Thomas W. Martin and his wife.  Born in 1837, Martin was ordained by Bishop Henry C. Potter in 1863.  For years he had been rector of Trinity Church in Hewlett, Long Island.  

Walter Bertrand Walker and his wife, the former Mary Creecy Lawton, moved into the Esperanto following their wedding in The Plaza on February 14, 1911.  An attorney, Walker was a 1903 graduate of Yale College and a partner with classmate George Leonard.  The young lawyer was, somewhat surprisingly, a trustee of the American College for Girls in Constantinople, Turkey.  His bride was graduated from Ely School in 1906.  

Baron Paul von Eglinitzki lived here following his divorce from the former Helen Nicholson in July 1915.  The couple was married on June 1, 1907 and their only child, Katharine, was born in 1909.

Von Eglinitzki was born in Germany in 1876.  The New York Times said that his ancestors "could be traced back to the fourteenth century" and that he "was for six years in the German Army, two years in the Thirteenth Huzzars and four in the first guard Field Artillery, of which the Kaiser was the Colonel."

Now living in the Esperanto, he was a stockbroker with Charles R. Flint & Co. with offices in the Park Row Building.  The New York Herald noted, "the Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Justice also had its offices" in the building.  The bureau suspected that the baron was more than a stockbroker.  

On March 14, 1919, The New York Times ran the headline, "Baron Paul von Zglinitzki [sic] and Others Sent to Fort Oglethorpe," and reported, "He was arrested yesterday after having been watched by Government secret agents for a year."  The New York Herald explained that he was suspected "of having negotiated for the shipment of munitions in Mexico."  

The baron and the other six German nationals were sent to the Government internment camp at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia.  But because the Armistice had been signed on November 11, 1918, Von Zglinitzki would likely not be held there very long.  The New York Herald said that prisoners who "escaped arrest until so near the end of the war" would most likely be released from internment camps and deported "when peace is ratified." 

A widower, John H. Conway lived here at the time.  Born in 1843, he was a Civil War veteran and the last surviving crew member of the Monitor, which famously fought the Merrimac off Hampton Roads.  An ardent Democrat, he was formerly president of the Horatio Seymour Democratic Club and was treasurer of Tammany Hall in the 1870s.  He was appointed Deputy Tax Commissioner in 1893.  Conway still held that position on August 1, 1919 when he died in his apartment at the age of 76.

photograph by Anthony Bellov

George H. Whaley, president of the dye-making firm John Campbell & Co., lived here with his wife until his romantic eye roamed.  He became infatuated with his stenographer, May M. Croke.  In 1919 he gave her money to take a three-week vacation and while she was gone, he induced his wife to divorce him so he could marry May.  (Whaley moved to the Hotel Breslin and his wife remained in the Esperanto apartment.)  When May returned from her vacation, Whaley gave her a $2,200 diamond engagement ring and the title to a house at 301 West 88th Street.

But problems soon arose.  George Whaley "employed detectives to shadow her."  They discovered, in part, that May had used some of the money Whaley gave her for her vacation on Monte F. Jacobs "and was with him part of the time," according to The Times.  The embittered George Whaley "instructed the detectives to give [Effie Elizabeth Jacobs] the evidence they had."  Jacobs's wife then sued May Croke on September 22, 1920 for $100,000 damages, "charging alienation of the affections of her husband."  George Whaley now had neither wife nor girlfriend, and a significant dent in his bank account.

Two residents were victims of audacious thievery in 1924.  The first took place in the apartment of Bernie Woods where a wedding was held on June 22.  Among the guests was 15-year-old Anna Treloar, presumably accompanied by her parents.  Anna left the ceremony early, according to police.  Later, expensive wedding gifts were discovered missing--a platinum watch, an onyx ring and silver cuff links.  On August 10, Anna was arrested and at the time she was wearing the platinum watch.  "The girl was held for the Children's Society, reported The New York Times.

The following month, on September 15, Detectives Cronin and Barrett thought that 21-year-old Loretta Floyd was acting "suspiciously" as she came out of the building with a suitcase.  Loretta was a maid in the apartment of Irving Finkelstein and his wife.  When they had her open the suitcase, they discovered, "valuable silk dresses, lingerie and other wearing apparel," reported The Evening Mail.  Loretta was charged with grand larceny.

The building continued to house middle-class professionals, like dentist Ernesto Calvo, here as early as 1928; and John G. Broady, an attorney with the firm Chadbourne, Stanchfield & Levy in 1930.

Abraham Adolph Rozen and his wife, Eva, came to America in 1941 and moved into 229 West 105th Street.  Abraham had been a leader among Polish Jews in Paris before leaving Europe.  Now he was a partner in a textile exporting concern.  The couple was still living in the building when Rozen suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 63 on March 10, 1954.

Elizabeth Horvath West lived here with her married daughter, Joyce Kaiden, and Joyce's five-month-old son in September 1960.  (The whereabouts of Joyce's husband is unclear.)  Elizabeth, who was 38, was estranged from her husband.  The Daily News described her as a "120-pound brunette-dyed-blonde."  On the night of September 6, she and three men, including 32-year-old Robert Hannigan, were seen at a rear table in the Castilian Room on East 75th Street.  

Elizabeth Horvath West, Daily News, September 8, 1960

Robert Hannigan was a bartender and convicted gambler.  He had been negotiating with the owner to buy the Castilian Room for about six months.  The Daily News said that Elizabeth was apparently meeting with him "to discuss the possibility of becoming hatcheck girl there in the fall."

The last of the club's employees left around 4:20 a.m.  A refuse collector entered at 5:50 and discovered the bodies of Elizabeth West and Robert Hannigan.  The Daily News said, "The killer shot Mrs. West three times, once in the abdomen, once in the neck and once in the head, the last slug penetrating the brain."  Hannigan's body was on the floor under a pay phone.  A dime on the carpet suggested he had tried to make a call when he was ambushed.

It appeared that Elizabeth was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Hannigan was "in the hole," according to the club's owner, "for $2,000 in business debts and a $7,000 mortgage."  Police thought that the money was the motive.  Elizabeth was murdered because she could have identified the killers.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

The 1960s saw at least two activists in the building.  On October 2, 1961, Joseph Brandt was called to Washington to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities.  Brandt was a member of the National Assembly for Democratic Rights.  The Long Island Star-Journal reported that he "invoked the Fifth Amendment 60 times in refusing to answer questions."  And on May 18, 1968, 21-year-old Steven Goldfield was arrested with two other Columbia University students when they refused to leave a building on 114th Street while other students protested outside.

In 1970, The Besma Women's Association was founded here.  On May 27, 1972, the New York Amsterdam News reported on the group's upcoming annual Debutante Cotillion in the Grand Ballroom of the Statler Hilton.  The organization's headquarters is still in the building today.

The nine-over-one windows survive in some apartments.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

The name Esperanto was dropped decades ago.  But the apartments still contain five and six rooms and the exterior is essentially unchanged.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for prompting this post

The Lost North Dutch Church - William and Fulton Streets

Edward Lamson Henry painted this depiction in 1869, probably for the church's centennial.  from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The homestead of John Harpendingh (originally spelled Herbendinck) sat at the corner of Maiden Lane and Broadway.  Harpendingh was "a worthy tanner," as described by The New York Times a century later.  He is remembered today in John Street, originally a lane that ran through his property.  By 1767, his farm had been invaded by streets and buildings.

At the time, the North Dutch Church worshiped in a stone building on Nassau Street.  In 1767, the Consistory of the Reformed Dutch Church resolved that a new edifice "should be erected on the grounds of Mr. John Harpendingh [and] that it should front Horse and Cart lane, and be placed in the middle of the lot."  (Horse and Cart Lane derived its name from a tavern on that street.)  Harpendingh had donated a parcel on his property for the project, and on July 2, 1767 the cornerstone was laid by James Roosevelt.

According to a metal plate discovered under an interior pillar later, construction was executed by "Andrew Breested, Jr. carpenter and protector" and "John Stagg, master mason, and Alex Bates."  The men drew inspiration from Georgian-style churches in London, specifically those designed by James Gibbs.  The openings of the fieldstone walls were framed by quoins--known as Gibbs surrounds.  The four-tiered steeple included a square pedestal, a four-sided clock tower, an octagonal belfry, and a lantern from which a copper weather vane in the form of a cock sprouted.  

from the collection of the New York Public Library

The building would sit at the northwest corner of Horse and Cart Lane (later William Street) and Fair Street (later Fulton Street).  The churchyard at the northern side of the church abutted Ann Street.  Construction was completed in March 1769 at a cost of £12,000.  (The amount would translate to nearly $4 million in 2026.)  The first service was held on May 25.  A century later, The New York Times remarked, "The building was looked upon in those days as one of singular beauty and grandeur, and was pointed at with pleasure and pride as one of the wonders of Manhattan Island."

Inside were ten fluted columns, each contributed by a wealthy congregant.  Architect Samuel A. Warner described them in 1852 as being "all finely carved and finished, and on their friezes rendered conspicuous by gilding the initials of the generous contributors."  The mahogany pulpit was "a wonderful piece of Dutch carving imported from the Netherlands," recalled The New York Times in 1872.  Above the pulpit was the coat of arms of the Harpendingh family.  The ceiling was barrel-vaulted, and the pews, with their paneled doors, were "finished with mahogany railings and scrolls," according to Warner.

When the British Army occupied Manhattan during the Revolutionary War, churches were sorely abused.  The North Dutch Church was converted to a prison, holding around 1,000 captives.  The New York Times recounted in 1872: 

When the English arrived the piers were torn down, the pulpit was sent to London as a free-will offering, and a floor was laid from gallery to gallery, forming an upper story.  The wood of the piers was sold at public auction for fuel.

The British evacuated Manhattan in November 1783.   The New York Times said, "When the English retired, the congregation purified their church, restored the piers, tore away the boarding of the upper floor, and recommenced the services of the Lord."  The New York Herald recorded, "in September, 1784, the church having been restored by public subscription, was formally reopened by a sermon from the Rev. Dr. [John H.] Livingston." 

from the collection of the New York Public Library

By mid-century, the former semi-rural neighborhood was a bustling commercial district.  In 1852, a Day Prayer Meeting was initiated, held every Wednesday at noon.  A pamphlet titled "The Noon Prayer Meeting of the North Church" explained, "This meeting is intended to give merchants, mechanics, clerks, strangers and business men generally, an opportunity to stop and call upon God amid the daily perplexities incident to their respective avocations."

Midcentury tastes in decor had greatly strayed from the North Dutch Church's simple 18th century design.  While congregants were at their country homes in the summer of 1856, the interior of the church was renovated.  On August 31, The New-York Dispatch reported, "The venerable edifice on the corner of Fulton and William streets, known as the North Dutch Church, has recently been thoroughly overhauled, repaired and painted, and will be thrown open as a free church this day."  Noting that it was "one of the oldest of our church edifices," the article noted, "although, about ninety years old, [it] exhibits no signs of decay, and is at present one of the strongest buildings of its kind in the city."

The first threat to the North Dutch Church came in 1866.  On January 21, The New York Times reported, "the Consistory of the Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church of this city have decided to pull down the church building at the corner of Fulton and William streets, and lease the ground for business purposes."  The backlash was immediate.  The following day, a letter from the congregants to the Consistory was reproduced in the newspaper.  It said in part,

We, the undersigned, lay members of the North Dutch Church, having been for some time past silent, but by no means disinterested spectators of the course pursued by your body, with regard to that church, feel that a crisis has now arrived, in which to be longer silent would subject us to the charge, if not openly by others, at least by our own consciences, of a criminal remissness and neglect of duty.

The long letter did not hold back in its condemnation of the Consistory.  And the groundswell worked.  The organization tabled its plans to lease the ground and demolish the structure.

Early on the morning of October 27, 1869, a fire broke out in a commercial building at 116 Fulton Street.  A strong breeze quickly spread the blaze to neighboring structures.  The New York Herald reported, "the volume of sparks emitted from the burning pile set fire to the steeple of the North Dutch church."  With Victorian prose, the article said, "soon the whole tower, with flames of fire, wild and terrible, a fearful but brilliant sight, fell to the ground."  

Harper's Weekly, November 13, 1869 (copyright expired)

If there were a positive note in the catastrophe, it was that the flaming steeple crashed away from the building rather than collapsing onto it.  The New York Herald said it fell to the side, "breaking and bending the iron railings and gateway surrounding the church."  The damage caused by "the demon of fire" was estimated at $2,000, or about $47,500 today.

The destruction of the tower may have supplied the Consistory the excuse it needed.  On February 26, 1872, The New York Times reported, "The old North Dutch Church...will shortly be among the things of the past.  A twenty years' lease of the ground on which it stands will be sold at auction to-morrow."  The journalist opined, "the removal of the old church would be a cause of deep regret to very many people."  But the Consistory was foiled in its plan.  It had placed a reserve of $16,000 on the annual rental and there were no bidders.  Nevertheless, the organization was resolute.  The New York Times said, "The Consistory will hope to dispose of the lease by private treaty."

Finally, it got its way.  In June 1875, the Consistory leased "a spacious and commodious apartment," as described by a representative, in an adjoining commercial building "where public worship is maintained."  The organization had sold the land lease and the demolition of the venerable church was announced.

As the landmark was razed, some architectural elements were salvaged.  On June 22, 1875, for instance, The New York Times remarked on items purchased by Rutgers College.  "Considerable excitement is anticipated over the arrival of some objects of historic interest from the old North Dutch Church of New-York."  Among them was the weather vane.  "The ancient cock which so long acted as weather-vane for the old church has been regilded and is to be mounted upon the cupola of the college," said the article.

image via showcase.com

The replacement building was demolished in 1939 for the Art Moderne-style, seven-story 111 Fulton Street, designed by Cross & Cross.  In 2007 additional stories were added in a conversion to residential use by architect Karl Fisher.

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 314 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