The Richard Grant White House - 118 East 10th Street

 

In 1861, Richard Grant White moved his family into the newly built house at 186 Tenth Street (renumbered 118 East 10th Street in 1867).  It sat upon a triangular parcel of land purchased by Matthias Banta from the Stuyvesant family in 1854.  Banta's architect (most historians attribute the homes to James Renwick, Jr.) had to deal with the irregular plots, resulting in the five-story-and-basement houses ranging from 16- to 32-feet-wide and from 16- to 48-feet deep.  The Anglo-Italianate-style homes were completed in 1861, the year the Whites purchased their new residence.

Like its neighbors, the rusticated brownstone basement and first floor of the White house sat below four stories of red brick trimmed in sandstone.  The tall, fully-arched windows of the second floor were connected by a stone bandcourse.  Each of the architrave frames of the upper openings were treated slightly differently.

Born in 1822, Richard Grant White was a globally recognized Shakespearean scholar.  He traced his American ancestry to John White, a founder of Cambridge, Massachusetts and of Hartford, Connecticut.  Although he studied medicine and law (he was admitted to the bar in 1845), by the time he purchased the Tenth Street house, he was the musical critic for The Courier and Enquirer, and had already published his 1854 Shakespeare's Scholar and the 1859 Essay on the Authorship of the Three Parts of Henry VI.  He would be described by the 1901 New York University; Its History, Influence, Equipment and Characteristics as, "one of the foremost literary and musical critics of his date."

Richard Grant White, from the 1901 New York University; Its History, Influence, Equipment and Characteristics (copyright expired)

Grant was married to Alexina Black Mease on October 16, 1850.  The couple had two sons, Richard Mansfield, born in 1851 and named after Grant's father; and Stanford, born in 1853.

The parlor of the East 10th Street house was most likely the scene of lively artistic discussions.  Among Richard G. White's acquaintances were Louis Comfort Tiffany, Frederick Law Olmsted, and John LaFarge.  It may have been those gatherings that sparked young Stanford White's interest in architecture.

The outbreak of the Civil War affected Richard White's career, at least temporarily.  In 1861 he was appointed Chief of the United States Revenue-Marine (later the U.S. Coast Guard).  He would serve in that post until 1878.

In the meantime, Stanford White pursued a career in architecture.  With no formal training, he became an apprentice in the office of Henry Hobson Richardson in 1871 at the age of 18.  While his professional life progressed (he would become Richardson's principal assistant), the young man's personal lifestyle was a concern to his parents.  Mary Cummings, in her Saving Sin City, says Stanford White and his friends "preferred the company of models and chorus girls to that of dowagers and debutantes."  She writes:

He was living with his family at 118 East 10th Street but seldom came home.  One night he was hurrying off in swallowtail and knee breeches to a society event, the next he was headed for the libidinous downtown wilds, leaving his father to lament that he was absent at breakfast, rarely present at dinner, and then after dinner "he don't stop patome more than ten to fifteen minutes but is off to the Benedick."

Stanford White, photograph by George Cox, ca 1892 (copyright expired)

Stanford White left East 10th Street in 1878 for a year-and-a-half tour of Europe.  When he returned in 1879, he joined Charles Follen McKim and William Rutherford Mead to form McKim, Mead and White.  His parents had sold 118 East 10th Street to Charles Nicholson the previous year.  They moved to 330 East 17th Street where Richard Grant White died on April 5, 1885.  In reporting on his death, The New York Times called him a "variously accomplished man."

The house was owned by two more owners in quick succession.  After William L. Stow purchased it for $14,000 in October 1884 (about $462,000 in 2026), the dwelling was operated as a boarding house. 

Among the residents in 1886 was singer Louise Pauline, described by The Sun as the "prima donna of the Carlton Opera Company."  In May that year, the company took the production of The Bohemian Girl to Philadelphia.  The New York Times reported that on May 29, "just before the curtain rose on the first act," Louise fainted.  She was taken to her dressing room where her costume was removed by two other singers.  Louise would later say, "They took $1,500 which was concealed in my bodice, and gave it to the stage manager, Mr. [Charles] Fais, for safe keeping."  (It was an astounding amount of cash to be hidden in one's underclothes--equal to about $51,000 today.)

Upon returning to 118 East 10th Street, Louise Pauline asked Fais for her money.  "He gave it all back except $90," she told the courts.  He could not explain the shortfall, "and offered to return to Philadelphia and investigate," reported The New York Times.  After waiting a week, Louise had Charles Fais arrested.  The Times said, "When taken into custody, however, he offered to make good the loss."

The boarders continued to be respectable, for the most part.  In 1890 they included Mary E. Brady, a teacher in the primary department of Grammar School No. 30.  Edward Bagwell and Frank Tuttle also lived here at the time.   

On July 8, 1890, The Evening World reported on the stifling heat wave, predicting, "Old Sol is rendering himself liable for malicious mischief to-day."  The previous day, the "malicious mischief" of the dangerous heat resulted in 39-year-old Edward Bagwell's collapsing on a Christopher Street streetcar.  He was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital for treatment.

Later that year, on the night of September 3, Frank Tuttle was walking along the corner of Bond Street and the Bowery when he "lurched against" Jack Ashton and "made an impolite remark."  The World reported, "Mr. Ashton returned a merry response and Mr. Tuttle, unfortunately, took that as an evidence of weakness, so he rushed rudely forward and attempted to toss Mr. Ashton into the air."  Tuttle had chosen the wrong man to attack.  The article said, 

But Mr. Ashton is as quick with his fists as he is at repartee, and he dealt Mr. Tuttle that which is known at Bond street and the Bowery as a "biff on the kisser."  Mr. Tuttle made a second attempt, and, this time, instead of being the thrower, he became the throwee.

A passing policeman arrested both men.  At the station house, neither wanted to make a complaint.  The World ended its article saying, "In a few moments that entente cordiale which should always exist between gentlemen was re-established, and the snowy dove of peace cooed and spread her pin-feathers over the happy little group."

Annie Nicholson operated the boarding house at the time.  She proved to be more than a match for 25-year-old Joseph Braham on the night of February 6, 1893.  Described by The Evening World as a "sneak thief," he attempted to leave the house that night with a $60 overcoat.  Annie Nicholson thought not.  She overpowered the young man and held him until a policeman arrived and arrested him.

Boarding here that year was actress Ella Dunbar who was playing the leading female role in A Winning Hand.  The company went on the road on October 16, 1893, but the reviews were devastating.  Just over a week later, she was back.  With no receipts, the cast did not get paid and Ella had to leave her jewelry with the hotel as a guarantee for her room fare.  Additionally, she had to put up the check for her trunk with the railroad for her passage.

At the turn of the century, the neighborhood had declined.  The condition was reflected in the change in boarders.  Margaret Delahunty worked at the Hot Air Club at 7 East 22nd Street within the notorious Tenderloin district.  On November 6, 1904, undercover officers entered the nightclub.  The Sun reported that 27-year-old Margaret Delahunty and 21-year-old Mable Miller, "stepped out on an improvised stage and began to sing and dance.  The crowd voted the performance slow."

One of the women replied, "Think so? Well, there!" and kicked off her slipper.  "In the course of the next five minutes the performers removed one garment after another."  Responding to a call from the officers, "a squad of Tenderloin sleuths rushed in and arrested everybody."  

George Berger and his family occupied rooms here in 1911.  A clerk, according to him, he was having problems supporting his family.  On the afternoon of June 21, he sneaked into the apartment of W. J. R. Johnston, a magazine writer, at 215 West 108th Street.  Mrs. Johnston returned home to find him there.

"I guess I got into the wrong apartment," he said.

"I am sure you did," she answered.  

The woman confronting him was no retiring housewife.  "Take off that coat and let me see what property of mine you've got in your pockets," she demanded.  The Sun reported, "She called for help and the neighbors began to arrive.  They found the man backed up against the wall with Mrs. Johnston guarding him."

Police officer Murrell arrived with his gun drawn.  Mrs. Johnston realized that she was dealing with a meek, inexperienced burglar.  "You can put that gun back in your pocket," she said, "He's perfectly harmless."

More experienced in burglary was Harry Stein, a 26-year-old roomer who listed his profession as a salesman.  On August 16, 1916, he was arrested during a burglary in the Bronx with two accomplices.  The New-York Tribune reported that Stein tried to escape, but "a shot into the air stopped" him.

When Stein got out of jail, he returned to 118 East 10th Street and to his life of crime.  On October 1, 1916, he appeared in court to plea guilty of another burglary.  The Evening World said he and his accomplice had "long police records."

By the end of World War I, the rooming house was operated by a Mrs. Lewis.  A woman who gave her name as Helen Curtis took a room in 1920.  According to Mrs. Lewis, she left at the beginning of summer "to take a position as checker in a tea room."

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

On September 23, old Helen Bolger was admitted to the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital.  She gave her address as 118 East 10th Street.  During a throat operation that night, she died.  The 24-year-old was the wife of a merchant mariner, Thomas Bolger, who had just returned from sea.  In a bizarre turn of events, Helen Bolger and Helen Curtis were the same woman and why she was living in Mrs. Lewis's rooming house under an assumed name is a mystery.

On June 9, 1958, The New York Times reported that 118 East 10th Street had been purchased by S. P. Sloane and Lloyd Hauser.  "They plan to modernize the building into ten apartments," said the article.  Instead, the renovations resulted in just four apartments--a duplex in the basement and first floor, one apartment each on the second and third, and a duplex in the fourth and fifth floor.

Among the residents in the early 1970s were Huibert Zuur and Edward J. Austin.  The young men had worked together for Halston for some years.  In 1973, they launched their own women's clothing line: Austin-Zuur.  On September 9, 1974, Enid Now reported in The New York Times, "The partners show their collection in their glass, brick and wicker duplex apartment at 118 East 10th Street."

From the exterior, the house where one of the world's greatest Shakespearean scholars and one of America's greatest architects lived for decades is little changed since 1861.

photographs by the author

John Sloan's 1924 898 Park Avenue

 

photo by Jim Henderson

In 1923, two years after Henry Mandel hired architect John Sloan to design his Pershing Square Building at Park Avenue and 42nd Street, he commissioned Sloan for a much different project--an ultra-exclusive apartment building at the southwest corner of Park Avenue and 79th Street.  The posh tenor of the neighborhood was reflected in the price Mandel paid for the corner.  The $207,500 would translate to $3.8 million in 2026.

Although Adolph E. Nast was listed as assistant architect, it is Sloan who routinely gets credit for the design.  Drawing inspiration from what The New York Times described as "the pre-Renaissance style of Northern Italy," Sloan's tripartite was sprinkled with arched corbel tables above the first, fourth, twelfth floors, and fourteenth floors, and a stately arcade above the entrance.  His choice of variegated beige, black and brown brick prompted The American Architect to say he used it "in the same way the artist painter mixes his colors."  The roof was paved in red tile and an arcaded penthouse.

Completed in October 1924, the the 14-story building held only six cooperative apartments on the upper floors (there was a simplex and a doctor's suite on the ground floor).  An advertisement called them, "8 exclusive apartments at Park Avenue's most exclusive corner."  Each of the other apartments were duplexes--each comprising two full floors, "with a private stairway of travertine stone and wrought iron balustrade, leading from the living room floor to the bedroom suite on the upper floor," explained The New York Times on October 6, 1924.

Among the initial buyers were George Winfield Fairchild, Allerton Seward Cushman, and Charles X. Cordier.  

Born in Oneonta, New York on May 6, 1854, Fairchild had served as a U.S. Representative from 1907 to 1919.  He had been, as well, the vice president of the 1919 International Peace Conference.  Before his political career, he owned the Oneonta Herald Publishing Co. and president of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company.

Fairchild married Josephine Mills Sherman in 1891 and they had one child, Sherman Mills Fairchild.  He purchased his 13th-and-14th floor apartment in May 1924, five months after his Josephine died.  

George Winthrop Fairchild, from the collection of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Fairchild was still president of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company when he left Congress, and was its chairman in February 1924 when the firm was renamed IBM.

George Winthrop Fairchild would not enjoy his sprawling apartment for long.  On December 31, 1924, newspapers throughout the country reported that he had died "of acute heart trouble."

Like Fairchild, Allerton Seward Cushman was a recent widower.  Born in the American Consulate at Rome in 1867, he earned his M. A. and Ph.D. in chemistry at Harvard in 1896 and 1897.  In 1910 he founded the Institute of Industrial Research in Washington D.C.   Cushman's wife, the former Sarah Hoppin, died in 1921.  They had one son, Charles Van Brunt Cushman.

Three years later, he relocated to New York City as a consulting chemist, and purchased the fifth-and-sixth-floor apartment.  He married Katherine McCausland Inglis-Jones in 1926.  

Allerton Seward Cushman and his second wife, Katherine Inglis-Jones.  (original sources unknown)

Katherine (known familiarly as Kay) was in Europe on April 30, 1930 when Allerton underwent an operation at the Park East Hospital.  The 62-year-old died there two days later.

Charles Xavier Cordier and his wife, the former Suzanne Sanford, took the second-and-third-floor apartment in May 1925.  Both were born in 1875 and had a daughter, Marjorie Case.  The family maintained a country estate, The Four Ways, in Sharon, Connecticut.  

The Cordiers announced Marjorie's engagement to William Holland Lawrence Shears on December 22, 1926.  Four months earlier, another family in the building, the Haley Fiskes, had announced their daughter's engagement.

An attorney, Haley Fiske was born on March 18, 1852.  He was a partner in the law firm Arnoux, Ritch & Woodford and since 1891 had been president of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.  He and his first wife, Mary Garrettena Mulford, who died in 1886, had one daughter, Helen.  Fiske married Marione Cowles Cushman on April 27, 1887.  (The New York Times noted that she "is a descendant of Robert Cushman of Mayflower fame.")  They had five children and their youngest daughter, Margaret Lois, was still unmarried and lived with her parents.  The family's country home, Overcross, was in Bernardsville, New Jersey. 

Haley Fiske, Nation's Business, May 20, 1927 (copyright expired)

On August 15, 1926, The New York Times reported on Margaret Lois's engagement to Martin Edwin Walker 3d.  The article mentioned that the prospective bride "was presented to society several years ago."  The ceremony was held in the Church of St. Mary the Virgin on October 28 that year and the reception was held in the Fiske apartment.

Two years later, on March 19, 1928, The New York Times reported on Fiske's 76th birthday celebration, which was highlighted by "five children, seven grandchildren and a clean bill of health."  The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company's physicians had examined him a few days earlier and "gave up and admitted that they could find nothing wrong with him."  The article said that the Fiske apartment "looked like a florist shop, every room except the kitchen being filled with flowers, while hundreds of telegrams were received."

Ironically, one year later almost to the day, at around 12:30 on March 3, 1929 the Fiskes' chauffeur pulled up to the curb in front of 898 Park Avenue following church services at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin.  Before he could exit the automobile, Fiske died from an embolism of the heart, as reported by the newspaper.

(Eerily, according to Metropolitan Life Insurance Company employees, when someone entered Fiske's private office the following morning, the "large grandfather clock in Mr. Fiske's inner office, which had run steadily for twenty years, had stopped.")

The New York Times reported Fiske's estate at the equivalent of $15.6 million in 2026.  Marione inherited the apartment, Overcross and the bulk of her husband's fortune.  

Ery Euripides Kehaya and his wife, the former Grace Whittaker, were also initial residents.  Born in Ordou, Turkey on February 18, 1885, Kehaya was the son of a Greek Orthodox priest.  He grew up in the tobacco growing regions of Asia Minor and southern Europe.  He came to the United States in 1910 and founded the Standard Commercial Tobacco Company in 1912.

Grace Whittaker was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  Her father, William A. Whittaker was a prominent tobacco merchant.  The couple was married in 1917 and they had one son, Ery W. 

Ery Euripides Kehaya (original source unknown)

Like their neighbors in the building, society columnists followed the Kehayas' movements.  On February 20, 1927, for instance, The New York Times reported:

Mr. and Mrs. Ery Kehaya and Ery Kehaya Jr. [sic] of 898 Park Avenue have gone to Whitehall, Palm Beach, for the remainder of the season.  In the Spring they will tour Europe.  In Greece they will visit President Condouriotis, who recently, through the Greek Minister...bestowed on Mr. Kehaya the highest decoration of the Greek Republic for his relief work and his services in the cause of education.

The Kehayas also routinely appeared in the society columns for their entertainments both here and at their Westchester home.

Dr. George David Stewart and his wife, the former Ida Robb, purchased the 13th-and-14th-floor apartment in May 1924.  Born in Nova Scotia in 1862, Stewart graduated from Bellevue Hospital Medical College in 1889.  He was president of the American College of Surgeons, of the New York Academy of Medicine, and headed the medical boards of St. Vincent's and Bellevue Hospitals.

This portrait of George D. Stewart was painted by H. Harris Brown.  from the Lillian & Clarence de la Chapelle Medical Archives

The couple had four daughters, the youngest of whom, Mary Leslie, was unmarried and lived with her parents.  The family's country home was in Great River, Long Island.

Although Mary Leslie would not be introduced to society until the winter season of 1930-31, her parents got ahead of the game a year earlier.  On November 6, 1929, The New York Times reported, "Dr. and Mrs. George David Stewart of 898 Park Avenue will give a dinner dance on Dec. 27 at the Central Park Casino for their daughter, Miss Mary Leslie Stewart."  

On February 27, 1933, Dr. Stewart became ill.  Eleven days later, he died in the Park Avenue apartment from uremic poisoning.  In reporting his death, The New York Times called him "one of the foremost surgeons in the United States."  The article recalled that on April 18, 1928, a bronze bust of him had been placed in the Carnegie lecture room of the Bellevue Hospital Medical Centre.

via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

By 1934, the Hoyt Augustus Moores occupied an apartment here.  A native of Ellsworth, Maine, Moore graduated from Bowdoin College in 1895 and received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1904.  He and his wife, Lora, had two children, Edward P. and Dorothy Parsons.  

Edward was the first to marry.  His marriage to Barbara Freeman took place in Mount Vernon, New York on June 13, 1934.  Dorothy was not far behind.  Her engagement to James Wilson Tower was announced in September 1937 during her senior year at Smith College.

The wedding would have to wait until Dorothy's graduation, but anticipatory celebrations took place before that.  On January 3, 1938, The New York Times reported that the Moores hosted a reception the previous day "for their daughter, Miss Dorothy Parsons Moore, and her fiancé."

Among the Moores' neighbors in the building were the Alanson Gibbs Fox family.  Fox was born in 1879 and his wife, Mary Cumming Humstone, was born in 1881.  The couple was married on September 29, 1923 and their son, Alvin Gibbs, was born in 1927.  The family's country home was Pittsfield, in Berkshire Hills, Massachusetts.

No. 898 Park Avenue was the only town home that Alvin Gibbs Fox ever knew.  He attended the Collegiate School of New York and graduated from Yale in 1950.  His engagement to Nancy Louis O'Connell was announced on June 28 that year.  

Alanson Gibbs Fox died on February 9, 1951 at the age of 71 and was buried in the Pittsfield Cemetery in Massachusetts.  

Unexpectedly, his father's death did not delay Alvin's wedding plans.  He and Nancy were married in Pittsfield, Massachusetts five months later, on July 28, 1951.

Perhaps the most socially prominent couple in the building at the time were I. Townsend Burden Jr. and his wife, the former Florence Sheedy.  The couple, who were married in 1911, had two sons, I. Townsend Burden III and Dennis Sheedy.  Burden was the corporation lawyer for the New York Transit Company and the president of the Burden Iron Company, founded by his grandfather, Henry Burden.  The family's Newport estate, Fairlawn, was formerly owned by Levi Morton.  

The Burdens' Newport mansion, Fairlawn, sits on Bellevue Avenue.  image via americanaristocracy.com

The family was at Fairlawn on August 10, 1949, when Florence died at the age of 61.  Almost immediately, I. Townsend Burden sold the estate. 

On July 16, 1953, Burden and his sister, Evelyn Bird Burden, arrived in Newport.  Three days later he suffered a heart attack and died on July 20 at the age of 77.

The second half of the century saw two entertainment figures in the building, conductor Richard Kaye Korn, here as early as 1956, and theatrical producer and director John Chapman Wilson.

Korn and his wife, the former Peggy Rosenbaum Lehman, had two daughters, Penelope Lehman and Wendy Lehman.  A graduate of Princeton University and the Yale Law School, Korn turned his back on law for a full-time musical career.  He studied conducting under Leon Barzin at the Juilliard School of Music and Serge Koussevitzky at Tanglewood.  He was assistant conductor of the National Orchestral Association and appeared as guest conductor throughout the United States and Europe.

In 1959, Korn founded the Orchestra of America, described by The New York Times as "one of the first orchestras designed to encourage the participation of minority-group musicians."  The Korns were still living here in 1981 when Richard died in the apartment from leukemia on April 27, 1981.

Born in 1899, John Chapman Wilson was a long-time associate of Noel Coward, acting as his business manager, director or producer.  His wife was the former Princess Natalie Paley, daughter of Grand Duke Paul of Russia.  Among the many Broadway hits he either directed or produced were Kiss Me Kate, Private Lives, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Blithe Spirit.

In 1970, James and Manuela Goren (both of whom were born in Italy) purchased the thirteenth-and-fourteenth-floor apartment and connected it to the penthouse by an elevator to create a triplex.  James was a partner in the investment bank and real estate development company Goren Brothers, and Manuela was a correspondent for Italian Vogue and L'Uomo Vogue.  The couple had two children.

Their resultant four-bedroom apartment included a 550-square-foot wrapped terrace, a library with the original 1924 paneling, and a living room ceiling, "brought over from a chateau in France," as reported by The New York Times.  Manuela described it as having, "all the advantages of a town house, and none of the disadvantages."  Thirty years after moving in, the Gorens placed the triplex on the market in 2010 for $15 million.

photograph by Deans Charbal

As it was in 1924, 898 Park Avenue is one of the most exclusive apartment buildings in New York City.

The Mary Hodson Francklyn House - 118 East 95th Street

 

By the late 1880's, development on the Upper East Side had reached as far north as Goat Hill--presumably named because its steep slope made it unworkable for planting, but quite satisfactory for grazing goats.  It was also satisfactory with developers William J. and John P. C. Walsh, who nearly filled the southern blockfront of East 95th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues in 1888.  

Designed in 1887 by Charles Abbott French & Co., the 12 rowhouses drew mostly from the rabidly popular Queen Anne style.  The architects gave each home its own personality--giving some fronts red brick and ruddy terra cotta, and others cream colored brick and sandstone.  

Among the former was 118 East 95th Street.  Its undressed brownstone basement supported three floors of red brick.  The three fully arched openings of the parlor floor wore brick-like terra cotta voussoirs, each with three keystones; the center of which were grotesque masks.  The tympana were filled with colorful stained-glass--the street address incorporated into the design of that above the doorway.

Vibrant stained-glass filled the parlor floor transoms.  The address was worked into the doorway tympanum.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

A pressed metal oriel dominated the second floor.  C. Abbott French & Co. gave visual interest with bands of dog toothed patterned brickwork.  The multi-paned upper sashes of the third floor openings were typical of the Queen Anne style.  The center window was crowned with a terra cotta voussoir and elaborate foliate tympana with a mask.  Rather than a cornice, the architects completed the design with a curvilinear gable atop a stepped brick corbel table.

On December 21, 1889, the Record & Guide reported that William Methven Leslie had purchased three of the houses, including 118 East 95th Street.  The millionaire importer rented the house into the first years of the 20th century, describing it as a "three-story and basement private house; 11 rooms, two baths."  Renters paid $1,200 per year, or an affordable $3,200 per month in 2026 terms.

William and Marion Digby Leslie's only daughter, Mary Digby, was married to Dr. Halstead Pell Hodson in the drawing room of their mansion at 106 West 57th Street in November 1894.  Afterward, said The New York World, there was a large reception and a supper by Mazzetti."  (Louis F. Mazzetti was a favorite caterer of the upper class, and the sole caterer for the exclusive Seventh Regiment.)  Dr. Hodson died in 1904.  

Shortly after William M. Leslie's death in March 1910, Marion Leslie and Mary Leslie Hodson moved into 118 East 95th Street.  The widowed socialites appeared routinely in society pages.  Like other wealthy women, they involved themselves in philanthropic and charitable causes.  On January 25, 1916, for instance, the New York Herald reported that Mary had contributed $50 to the Aide Immediate, a charity that provided aid to "soldiers crippled in the war."  The following year, she donated money to provide a Christmas party at the State Hospital for the Care of Crippled and Deformed Children.

Mary was an athlete, of sorts; at least so far as well-mannered Edwardian women could be.  On June 29, 1913, The New York Times reported, "Mrs. Halstead Pell Hodson, who is at Heaton Hall, Stockbridge, with her mother, Mrs. William Leslie, is playing the best golf of her sex in the hills."

Marion Leslie died in the East 95th Street house on June 8, 1920.  Somewhat surprisingly, six months later (only half-way through her daughter's expected mourning period), the drawing room that had been the scene of Marion's funeral saw the marriage of Mary Digby Leslie Hodson to Cyril Alfred Percy Francklyn.  Mary's aristocratic groom was 72 years old.

The couple now spent their time in the Manhattan house, in resorts like Stockbridge and Newport, and at Cyril's ancestral estate in Devon, England.  The couple was there for the Christmas holidays in 1922 when Cyril died on December 28.

Now twice widowed, Mary Digby Leslie Hodson Francklyn returned to 118 East 95th Street.

Mary had one sibling, William M. Leslie, Jr.  He and his wife, the former Maud Prendergast, had one daughter, Barbara Digby.  She and her first husband, Philip Van Rensselaer Schuyler, Jr. were divorced.  On October 1, 1936, the East Hampton Star reported on her marriage to Richard Hanford Jordan.  The article said, "The ceremony was followed by a small reception at the home of the bride's aunt, Mrs. Cyril Francklyn, at 118 East 95th street."

Shortly afterward, William and Maud moved into 118 East 95th Street with Mary.  Born on March 3, 1863, William was an artist and his work was annually exhibited in the Guild Hall Artists' shows.  He also exhibited his landscapes and seascapes at the Parrish Museum in Southampton and had a one-man show at Clinton Academy.  The couple's country home, which they acquired around 1901, was in Southampton.

Maud Leslie died on September 23, 1946 and William died in the Southampton Hospital on June 16, 1947.  Mary Leslie Hodson Francklyn died on February 12, 1950 at the age of 89.  She left a net estate equal to about $3.4 million today, almost all of which (including 118 East 95th Street) was bequeathed to Barbara Leslie Jordon, described by The County Review at the time as the "socially prominent East Hampton matron."

image via the NYC Dept of Records and Information Services.

Barbara sold 118 East 95th Street to Theodore S. and Anne Nelson Cutler Amussen.  Born in Salt Lake City in 1915, Theodore was an editor, starting out his career with Rinehart & Company.  When the couple moved in, he was vice president and director of Rinehart & Co., Inc., book publishers.

Anne Amussen suffered a fatal heart attack in the house on November 18, 1958 at the age of 41.  Two years later, Theodore sold 118 East 95th Street to Joseph L. Ennis & Co.  He moved to Washington D.C. where he became editor in chief for the National Gallery of Art.

Joseph L. Ennis & Co. had intentionally clouded the actual owner.  Artist Mark Rothko and his second wife, Mary Alice Beistel (known as Mell), quietly moved in.  Born in today's Latvia in 1903, Rothko's parents brought the family to America in 1913.  By the time the couple purchased 118 East 95th Street, he was recognized as one of the most influential and important abstract expressionist painters of the time.

Mark Rothko, from the collection of the National Gallery of Art

The year after purchasing the house, Rothko's first important retrospective was staged by the Museum of Modern Art.  The couple's second child was born that same year.  

The Rothkos' happiness here would be short-lived, however.  In 1964, the couple separated and Rothko moved into his East 69th Street studio.  Mell and the children remained at 118 East 95th Street surrounded by Rothko canvases.

On April 10, 1967, Norman Reid, director of the London Tate Gallery, told the press that Rothko "is considering donating about 20 of his pictures."  He explained, "Mr. Rothko expressed a desire to have a representative group of his works displayed in a public gallery," adding, "he wants his work to be shown in London."  The donation would come much earlier than anyone imagined.

On February 26, 1970, The New York Times reported, "Mark Rothko, a pioneer of abstract expressionism who was widely regarded as one of the greatest artists of his generation, was found dead yesterday, his wrists slashed, in his studio at 157 East 69th Street."  In responding to the 66-year-old artist's death, William S. Rubin, chief curator of painting and sculpture of the Museum of Modern Art, said, "The loss to modern art is incalculable."

Rotkho's two-page will left "five paintings of their choice" from those created for the Seagram Building in 1959 to the Tate Gallery.  It devised to Mary Alice, "the real estate owned by me at 118 East 95th Street, New York, together with all the contents thereof."

The nebulous wording of "all the contents thereof" would spark a long-lasting court battle.  Mary Alice Rothko died six months after her husband.  The children, Kate and Christopher, would face off with their father's foundation for years.

Rothko bequeathed his 800 paintings to The Rothko Foundation.  It now sued the Rothko siblings for any paintings that hung in the house.  Additionally, the executors had contracted with the Marlborough Gallery to sell 700 paintings.  The foundation moved to "cancel the contract" with the Marlborough.  The suit lasted for years.

The house was offered for sale in April 2021 for $7.5 million.  The exterior is greatly intact, although, unfortunately, the striking stained-glass of the parlor floor has been removed.  Most likely at the same time, the Queen Anne sashes of the upper floors were replaced with plate glass.

photographs by the author

The 1922 West Side Meeting House - 550 Cathedral Parkway

photo by the author

After having moved several times since 1886, the Unity Congregational Society of New York purchased the five plots at 244-252 Cathedral Parkway (West 110th Street) between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway in 1921.  The firm of Hoppin & Koen was commissioned to design a church-and-community-house on the site.  Associate architect A. D. R. Sullivant was given the project.  His grand, initial design included a cupola reminiscent of Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

Sulllivant's 1921 rendering was more than twice the width of the subsequent building.  The Christian Register, June 16, 1921 (copyright expired)

But before ground was broken on June 2, 1921, the plans were grossly reduced.  Completed in 1922, Sullivant's dignified three-story, neo-Georgian-style edifice engulfed only two of the plots.  Above a limestone base, the upper floors were clad in red brick.  A centered, temple-like composition of double-height stone pilasters upholding a triangular pediment distinguished the upper sections.  (Sullivant's subdued Colonial design would reappear in a much more exuberant form in Thompson, Holmes & Converse's 1929 Tammany Hall on Union Square.)

On June 16, 1921, The Christian Register explained that the building would be called the West Side Meeting House for two reasons:

First, the name is in accord with the Pilgrim Congregational tradition of Unitarianism; second, it is planned to keep the building open throughout the week for any activity that tends to improve the personality of man, woman, or child.  Religion embraces not only the worship of God, but also the service of man.

To address the second reason, said the article, "religious, civic, educational, dramatic, literary, musical, recreational, and social gatherings will be held under church auspices and the building will therefore be a meeting-house--a house of meeting--for all who are seeking to build their own characters and to improve the neighborhood and the city."

The West Side Meeting House was completed in 1922.  In the basement was an auditorium-theater.  It was available for civic meetings and would become the home of the church's own theatrical troupe.

from Little Theatres, December 1923 (copyright expired)

Many mainstream Christians viewed Unitarianism sideways.  Its liberal doctrine included the belief in one God while denying the Trinity.  Its focus was on reason and tolerance over restricting creeds.  

Having a theater within the building offended many Christians, who still considered plays sinful.  Rev. Charles Francis Potter had to defend the theater in general.  In his sermon on April 22, 1923, he insisted, "There is more obscenity in the Bible than in any current New York play."

Born in 1885, Potter had degrees from Bucknell University, Brown University and Newton Theological Institution.  By the time the West Side Meeting House opened, science was making discoveries that fundamentalist preachers deemed heretical.  The well-educated and Modernist pastor Charles Potter went on the offensive.

Rev. Charles Francis Potter, Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography

On March 8, 1924, The Universalist Leader said he had initiated a Modernist Bible class, "whose teaching will be broadcast through the United States by radio at 8 p.m. every Sunday."  The article said it, "is intended to offset the attacks of the Fundamentalists, who have succeeded in excluding the teaching of science and evolution in regard to religion."  Potter told the reporter, "A faith that is disturbed by learning the facts of science is no real faith; it is largely prejudice and superstition."

The following year, Rev. Potter traveled to Dayton, Tennessee to advise Clarence Darrow in the famous Scopes Trial.  Potter was open about his disdain of the Fundamentalist Christians who had initiated the suit.  He scoffed that the "Holy Rollers" might introduced "a bill prohibiting the teaching of geography in public schools because the Bible indicates that the earth is flat."

Potter was replaced by the erudite Rev. Arthur Wakefield Slaten.  He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1916 with a thesis titled, "The Qualitive Use of Nouns in the Pauline Epistles, and Their Translation in the Revised Version."

In reporting on his first sermon, on October 19, 1925 The New York Times said, "Dr. Slaten is an advocate of Humanism, noting, "He was dismissed as professor of Biblical literature and Biblical education by [Rochester Theological Seminary] for heresy, based upon his book, 'What Jesus Taught.'"

Barnard Bulletin, November 13, 1925 (copyright expired)

The year before Rev. Slaten's appointment, the Meeting House Theater troupe was organized.  On October 16, 1926, The Billboard noted that it "has become favorably known for its good work during the last two seasons.  It has won twice successively the cup offered at the little theater tournament of the Metropolitan Federation."  The Meeting house Theater premiered Edna Ferber's $1,200 a Year on October 28 that year.

Like his predecessor, Slaten found himself defending the theater.  The following month, on November 28, he declared in his sermon, "a play is morally bad only when it represents life falsely."  Saying that plays were "valuable contributions to the study of human nature," he insisted, "In no one of these plays is vice made attractive, nor are the facts of life falsely presented."

Slaten continued to raise eyebrows among mainstream Christians.  In his sermon on January 2, 1927, he described the book of Genesis, "One of the folk-lore classics of the world's literature."

Rev. Slaten resigned in January 1929 "because of illness," according to his resignation letter.  Guest preachers took the pulpit of the West Side Unitarian Church for an extended period.

Two years later, the congregation merged with the Community Church and moved into its facility on Park Avenue and 34th Street.  In the meantime, the auditorium, known as the Community Church Centre, continued to be the scene of lectures and meetings.  On the evening of February 3, 1933, Dr. Gustav F. Beck addressed an audience of about 100 on the topic "A Philosopher's View of Immortality."  In discussing whether there was an afterlife, Beck said it "was a mystery which could not be proved or disproved."  The New York Times reported, "Several persons in the audience arose to give their views."

One man, who was around 55 years old, "jumped to his feet and, speaking with a foreign accent, started a fervent comparison of Oriental and Western philosophy," said the article.  The impassioned man contended, "When you are dead, you are dead.  If these were my last words, I would still maintain it."  Ironically, a few seconds later he grasped his chest and fell dead, apparently from a heart attack.

Frank Wilson headed the cast Black, which opened here on May 15, 1934.  His career had skyrocketed after starting out in vaudeville.  He was in the 1925 Broadway revival of The Emperor Jones, and was part of the original 1927 cast of Porgy.  Two years prior to his performance here, he made his film debut in The Girl from Chicago.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

The building was leased to Congregation Ramath Orah, a Modern Orthodox congregation.  It was founded in 1942 by Dr. Robert Serebrenik, who had been Grand Rabbi of Luxembourg from 1929 to 1940.  He had assisted approximately 250 Jews in escaping Luxembourg following the Nazi invasion in 1940.

A troubling incident here in 1944 was made even more so given Rabbi Serebrenik's background.  On April 12, The New York Times reported, "A swastika was found crudely painted on a wall outside the Congregation Ramath Orah at 550 West 110th Street yesterday morning."  The hateful graffiti was discovered by two police officers passing by in a patrol car.  The cops not only reported on the vandalism, but "then helped remove the marking with turpentine and a steel brush," said the article.  Rabbi Serebrenik was surprisingly charitable, saying he presumed "that children probably drew the symbol."

The following year, the congregation purchased the building.  The dedication ceremony was held on February 11, 1945.  Among the speakers was Edgar L. Nathan, the Manhattan Borough President.

Rabbi Robert Serebrenik died of a heart attack at the age of 62 on February 11, 1965.  In reporting his death, The New York Times recalled, "After the Nazis occupied [Luxembourg], he stayed on until 1941, when he was seized by the Gestapo and beaten unconscious.  After that attack he escaped by way of Lisbon and came to this country."

photograph by Beyond My Ken

Congregation Ramath Orah continues to occupy the building.  Other than the stained-glass windows added in 1955, it survives essentially unchanged after nearly a century.