The Juan and Emilia Sala House - 13 West 74th Street

 

In 1889, construction of five rowhouses began on West 74th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue.  David T. Kennedy was the contractor and his wife, Carrie S. Kennedy, handled the business end of the project.  Designed by Daniel Burgess, the four-story-and-basement homes were completed in 1890.  A blend of neo-Grec and Queen Anne styles, they were clad in red brick and trimmed in brownstone.

The basement and parlor levels of No. 13 were faced in rough-cut brownstone.  An especially sumptuous, colorful stained-glass arched transom decorated the parlor window and an equally elegant fan of wrought and cast iron filled the tympanum of the entranceway.

A bowed oriel dominated the second floor and the stone-framed, elliptically arched third-floor windows were crowned with voussoirs.  Scrolled volutes introduced the stone gable that fronted the slate-shingled mansard level.  Its triangular pediment was filled with complex foliate carving.

The completed house quickly passed through several hands.  On October 13, 1890, The World reported that Carrie S. Kennedy had sold it to "A. V. Goodfellow for $44,500."   On November 1, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that the house was sold to Thomas K. Egbert.  And two months later, on February 3, 1891, an advertisement appeared in the New York Herald:

The elegantly decorated four story extension house, No. 13 West 74th st.; parlors hung in tapestry; will be sold at a bargain, including handsome gas and grate fixtures if desired.  Apply on premises.

The buyers were Juan Sala and his wife, the former Emilia Chadric.  Born in Barcelona, Spain in 1834, Sala was taken to the West Indies as a boy.  There, according to The New York Times, "he established a large business both at St. Thomas and Puerto Rico."

Emilia was born in Curacao in 1854.  She and Juan had one child, Aurora, born in 1881.  The family moved to New York City in 1887, four years before buying 13 West 74th Street.

Upon arriving in New York, Juan Sala co-founded Sala, Hoheb & Co., export and commission merchants.  Upon Hoheb's retirement, the firm was renamed J. Sala & Co.  

Juan Sala (original source unknown)

Emilia quickly became part of Upper West Side society.  On January 29, 1893, for instance, The World reported, "Mrs. J. Sala, of No. 13 West Seventy-fourth street, gave a small dance on Friday evening."

Aurora's wedding to William Eadie Kotman was held in the parlor at 8:00 on the evening of November 17, 1893.  The World called the bride, "a very lovely girl of sixteen," while the New-York Tribune said she, "is only fifteen years old."  Her parents were, apparently, fudging on the facts.  Aurora Sala was just 12 years old.  Her husband was 21.  The World said, "The newly married couple will live in Mexico."

Emilia was the victim of a horrifying incident on April 10, 1895.  At around 8:45 that night, she and her niece, Anita Font, intended to visit Emilia's nephew at 89th Street near Columbus Avenue.  They hailed a cable car at 74th Street.  Emilia had just stepped onto the lower step when the conductor lunged ahead.  Anita, who had only one foot on the step, was left behind.

Emilia Chadric Sala (original source unknown)

Emilia ordered the conductor to stop and, according to her, "He shoved me gently inside the door, saying, 'Oh, she'll get the next car, and be right up after you.  I am behind time now, and can't be stopping and starting every second."  At 89th Street, Emilia rose to leave the car.  She later explained:

I am somewhat stout, as you can see, and may have been rather slow in my movements.  At any rate, the conductor bawled out at me, 'Come, hurry up!'...I took care in stepping from the platform to the step, and had just placed one foot on the ground, when I heard the signal bell ring.

Before Emilia could completely disembark, the cable car jerked forward and left her lying upon the avenue pavement.  A crowd assembled around her and two men "half led and half carried me to my nephew's home," she said later.  Two doctors arrived.  "They found that my left arm had been broken in two places.  I was also cut and bruised about the head and face," she said.  The angry socialite added, "Of course, I intend to sue the company, if only to teach them a lesson."

It appears that around the time of the unfortunate incident Aurora's marriage had failed.  She was back in the West 74th Street house and in the Salas' Long Island summer estate by 1896.  An ardent horsewoman, she exhibited in the annual National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden.  That year her trainer showed Fanny Fern and American Fashion.  (The New York Herald explained, "Unfortunately, it is not considered good form for ladies to appear in the ring of the Madison Square Garden.")

It seemed that the Sala family would be returning permanently to the West Indies in 1898.  When the United States declared war on Spain following the sinking of the USS. Maine in Havana Harbor in February that year, "Sala took the matter very much to heart," according to The New York Times.  However, said the newspaper, "his friends remonstrated with him, and finally induced him to remain."

Whether the stress of the Spanish-American War affected Sala's health is unknown.  But he died in the house on June 17, 1898 at the age of 61.  His funeral was held in the parlor on June 19.

By then, Aurora Sala Kortman was divorced from her husband.  Interestingly, Aurora, rather than her mother, inherited the West 74th Street house.

Aurora married Thomas Joseph Regan in January 1905.  The groom was the secretary and treasurer of the Whitney Realty Company.  On the 22nd, the New-York Tribune reported that they were "among the bridal couples staying at the Lakewood Hotel this week."  

Aurora Sala Kortman Regan (original source unknown)

The following month, on February 20, Emilia Chadric Sala died at the age of 50.  Aurora and Thomas remained in the West 74th Street house.  Their summer home was in Old Westbury, Long Island.  Still an ardent horsewoman, Aurora annually exhibited her thoroughbreds in the New York Horse Show.  She later acquired a horse farm in Lexington, Kentucky where her thoroughbreds "achieved wide recognition," according to The New York Times.

The couple quickly filled their homes with children.  Tragically, their first, Thomas Jr., who was born in 1905, died in infancy.  But the next year, Constance was born, followed by Jean in 1908 and Gordon in 1913.

The Regans, of course, maintained a small domestic staff.  And in 1920, Aurora seems to have been having problems retaining a maid.  On December 22, she advertised, "Maid, French; must be pleasant, willing and obliging.  Mrs. Regan, 13 West 74th."  Seven months later, on June 25, 1921, she advertised again.  "Chambermaid, French, speaking no English preferred; must be willing, careful, and obliging."

In December 1924, the Regans applied with an employment agency for a butler.  Jack Archer came with sterling references, including one from Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt II.  Archer had been a footman for the Vanderbilts "and had given satisfaction there," according to The New York Times.

Regan, whom The Times described as "a tall, dapper Englishman who appeared to be a well-trained and trustworthy servant," started work in the Regan house at mid-December.  On Christmas Eve, a week after Regan moved in, the family returned home to find him gone.  They told police that the house "had been ransacked and everything of value that the thief could lay his hands on had been taken."

On December 27, The New York Times reported, "Mr. Regan and his family are most anxious to find the butler and they are even more eager to know the whereabouts of a collection of jewelry, including a pearl necklace and several pieces set with diamonds, some of which are valued as antiques and others for their sentimental as well as intrinsic value."  Also missing from the house were "fine linens and some choice pieces of porcelain."  The value was estimated by Regan as about $10,000--about $183,000 in 2026.

In attempting to find Jack Archer, the police went to extremes.  On the day of the article, the sailing of the White Star liner Cedric was delayed by 90 minutes as detectives searched the vessel.

Just over two weeks after the crime, on January 8, 1925, The Sun reported that Jack Archer, "the suave, efficient butler," had been arrested in Montreal after he attempted to sell some of Aurora Sala's jewelry.

Archer's crime slightly tarnished Constance Regan's debutante season.  Nevertheless, her entertainments continued and on January 30, 1925, her parents hosted a dinner party in her honor.

Jean Regan's photograph was published in The Spur on March 1, 1927.  The caption said that she was introduced to society "this winter."   (copyright expired)

The following winter season was Jean Regan's debut.  Like her mother, she was an accomplished horsewoman.  On October 10, 1931 before the first of her debutante entertainments, the New York Evening Post reported that she had won second prize in the jumping event at the Piping Rock Club's horse show.  

A marquee had been added over the doorway as early as 1940.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Several years before then, Aurora had sold the Kentucky farm and acquired another, Pilot Knob, near Nashville, Tennessee where she turned to breeding race horses.  Calling her an "internationally known horse breeder," The New York Times remarked, "In 1928, one of her yearlings brought the world record top price for a horse of that age, $75,000."  Her Pilot Knob farm stabled more than 100 thoroughbreds.

Aurora was at Pilot Knob on July 19, 1940 when she died at the age of 58.  Three years later, in January 1943, Thomas J. Regan sold 13 West 74th Street.

After having been home to one wealthy family for half a century, 13 West 74th Street became a rooming house, repeatedly sold and resold.  When Leon Schiffer and Sora Jalowsky purchased it from Sol Grobman in April 1952 and then resold it within the month, The New York Times described it as a "fourteen-family house."

A renovation completed in 1973 resulted in two apartments per floor in the basement through fourth floors, and one in the fifth.  The configuration lasted until 1982 when the basement and parlor were combined as a duplex.  Six years later, that apartment was expanded into a triplex.

Living here by 1990 was Tonne Goodman, vice president of advertising for Calvin Klein.  Starting out as a model, she had formerly worked with Diana Vreeland at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute, worked at The New York Times and as a stylist for LIFE magazine.  She would go on to join Anna Wintour at Vogue in 1999 as the magazine's fashion director.

Another renovation in 2010 resulted in two triplex apartments.  Although the brownstone has been painted, overall the exterior of 13 West 74th Street is remarkably intact.

photographs by the author

The Lost John and Ethel Hoyt Mansion - 900 Park Avenue

 

photo by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

Born on July 29, 1869 to Alfred Miller Hoyt and his wife, the former Rosina Elizabeth Reese, John Sherman Hoyt was a great-nephew of Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman.  He married 22-year-old Ethel Valentine Phelps Stokes on October 31, 1895.  The bride's parents were  Anson Phelps Stokes Sr. and Helen Louisa Phelps.  The Phelps and the Stokes families were among the wealthiest and most socially prominent in New York City.  

Hoyt was a director of the American Car and Foundry Company, maker of railroad cars.  He and Ethel had five children (their first, John Jr., died in infancy in 1897).  The family's townhouse was on East 65th Street and their country home was on Contentment Island in Darien, Connecticut.

John Sherman Hoyt (original source unknown)

A one-line article in the New-York Tribune on April 24, 1915, read, "John Sherman Hoyt will erect a home costing $100,000 on the site he recently purchased at the northwest corner of Park av. and 79th st."  Not surprisingly, the Hoyts commissioned the architectural firm of Howells & Stokes to design the mansion.  Partner Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes was Ethel's brother and, although Howells & Stokes was the architect of record, Architecture magazine gave Stokes full credit for the design.

Construction costs rose to $150,000 (about $4.83 million in 2026).  The facade was faced in Pennsylvania granite and trimmed in limestone.  Stokes drew inspiration from Elizabethan manor houses.  The two-story entrance provided a commodious balcony at the third floor, sheltered by an overhanging roof.  The 16th century motif included projecting bays "fitted with English casement windows," as described by The New York Times, grouped openings with square-headed drip moldings, clustered chimneys and charming hooded dormers.

from the collection of the New York Public Library

Visitors entered into a "two-story hall with gallery," reported The New York Times.  "This with the drawing rooms occupies most of the ground floor," said the article.  Unexpectedly, the floors throughout the home were worthy of notice.  The floors on the ground level were of teak and oak, and those on the second floor, which included the large library, were of mahogany and oak.  The newspaper noted, "On the fourth floor there is a squash court and a large sun parlor."

A very young Ethel Valentine Stokes Hoyt (original source unknown)

Anson Phelps Stokes Hoyt and Sherman Reese Hoyt, were 20 and 17 years old, respectively, in 1918 when America entered World War I.  That year both were inducted into the army.  The privileged young men had, apparently, a greatly protective mother and grandmother.  On April 15, 1918, The Sun reported, "Mrs. Anson Phelps Stokes and Mrs. John Sherman Hoyt started for Chillicothe, Ohio, where members of their families are in training for war service."

The Hoyt family received disturbing news a year later, on April 3, 1919, when Anson's name was listed among the soldiers wounded in battle.  Happily, both sons returned home safely following the conflict.

John Sherman Hoyt's father had died in 1903 and on February 26, 1922, his mother, Rosina, died in the Hoyt mansion at 934 Fifth Avenue.  Half of her massive estate went to John's unmarried sister, Rosina Sherman Hoyt.  Each of John's and Ethel's children received $10,000 (about $187,000 today), and John was left one-quarter of the estate.  Rosina, who was now 48-years-old, moved into the Park Avenue mansion with the Hoyts.

Sherman Reese Hoyt was married to Hayes Blake on August 19, 1924 in New Haven, Connecticut.  Another wedding in the family four months later may have surprised high society.  On December 21, The New York Times reported that John and Ethel, "have sent to relatives and a few intimate friends invitations to the marriage of Mr. Hoyt's sister, Miss Rosina Sherman Hoyt, to Gerard Beekman Hoppin."  The wedding, which took place in St. Thomas's Church on December 27, was the first for bride and groom, who were 50 and 55 years old, respectively.

Anson was married the following year, on June 30, 1925, to Amy Jessup Moore.  He would be the last of the Hoyt children to marry while the family occupied the Park Avenue house.

On June 4, 1926, The Knickerbocker Press reported, "James A. Stillman has purchased for his home 900 Park avenue...a stone mansion designed for John Sherman Hoyt, the seller."  The article said that Stillman had paid $600,000 for the property, or about $10.6 million today.

James Alexander Stillman was Chairman of the National City Bank.  He married Ann Urquhart Potter (known as Fifi) in Grace Church in 1901.  The Evening World called it “a social event” and reported “about 2,000 invitations had been issued, and a fashionable assemblage was present.”  The couple moved into a 14-room apartment in the exclusive Hotel Marguery and maintained a "camp" in Grand Anse, Quebec and a country estate in Pleasantville, New York.

James and Ann Stillman, Daily News, May 4, 1921 (copyright expired)

Trouble had come in 1921 when James sued for divorce, suggesting that their youngest child, Guy, who was born in 1918, was the son of "a half-blood Indian guide from Quebec."  The lurid trial stretched on, with Ann charging James of fathering two illegitimate children with a chorus girl.  Then, in a surprising twist, in 1926 Stillman gave Ann a half-million dollar necklace and the two sailed off to Europe to receive marriage counseling from Carl Jung.

In reporting on their purchasing 900 Park Avenue, The New York Times explained that the Stillmans "were recently reconciled and went on what they termed a 'second honeymoon.'"

The couples' children were Ann, James Jr. (known as Bud), Alexander and Guy.  When the family moved into 900 Park Avenue, Bud was a senior at Princeton.  On October 7, 1926, he told reporters in his dorm room that he intended to marry Lena Wilson.  The 23-year-old had fallen in love with the girl from "the farm adjoining his mother's estate at Grand Anse."  Lena, who was 18, had worked in the Stillman estate as "mother's personal maid and housekeeper," explained Stillman.  She also, "acted as interpreter for mother when she wanted to give orders to the gardener or other servants who spoke only French-Canadian."

Bud Stillman inventoried his sweetheart's attributes, calling her "a girl of the outdoors who loves hunting and tramping."  Saying she was "different from ordinary girls," he said she "doesn't smoke and she doesn't Charleston...She prefers the old-fashioned steps, the waltzes and the square dance."  (She had taught Bud to square dance the previous summer.)  He continued, "she plays the accordion and the mouth organ.  Hunting, fishing and canoeing are the things at which Miss Wilson excels."  He told the reporters that her "first experience with pretty clothes will be when she comes to New York."

Perhaps surprisingly, Bud's parents were happy with his choice.  His mother, he said, "knows that social standing isn't so all important."  James not only said, "We are thoroughly happy about our son's coming marriage," but he and Ann picked out the engagement ring.  He quickly said it was "of moderate price" and that "Bud paid for it out of his own funds."

Ann Stillman accompanied Lena Wilson on the train from Quebec to Manhattan, arriving on December 1.  The New York Times reported that Lena would be the Stillmans' house guest until spring.  "While here she will gather together her trousseau."

Lena arrived just in time for a joyous moment within the Stillman family.  Daughter Ann had married Henry P. Davison two years earlier.  As was common among the upper class, in the final days of Ann's pregnancy, she and Henry moved temporarily into her parents' home in anticipation of the birth.  Their son was born in the mansion on December 14, 1926.

Bud and Lena were married on July 26, 1927 in the Wilson home in Quebec.  The New York Times reported, "there will be a fete to which the country folk will be invited."

Problems between James and Ann were first hinted in March 1929 when Fred Beauvais, the "Indian guide" who had played a prominent role in Stillman's 1921 divorce case, sued the banker for $500,000 damages, claiming "his good name has been held up to ridicule."  The Standard Union said, "Mrs. Stillman is now at camp, in Grande Anse, Quebec, while Mr. Stillman divides his time between his town residence, No. 900 Park avenue, and his country home in Pleasantville."

Ann obtained a divorce in Poughkeepsie in June 1931 and "a few hours after" it was granted she married Fowler McCormick, grandson of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.  Ann received the Pleasantville and Quebec properties in the divorce.  James purchased a winter home in Havana, Cuba.

Architecture magazine, June 1917 (copyright expired)

Stillman's legal battles continued in April 1932 when William Uhe, the engineer of his yacht, the Wenonah II, sued him for $50,000 damages.  An explosion occurred on the yacht on July  16, 1929 and Uhe "declared that his left leg was made crooked for life, his right leg broken and his body and face burned."

The embattled banker continued to live alone with his domestic staff until falling ill in January 1944.  He was taken to New York Hospital where he died on January 13 at the age of 70.  

Perhaps surprisingly, Ann and Fowler McCormick moved into the Park Avenue mansion.  Alexander Stillman was now a pilot with the U.S. Navy.  On August 8, 1945, The New York Times reported on his being "credited with destroying four Japanese cargo ships, a large whaling ship, a heavily armed patrol boat and two large fishing vessels."  The article said, "His mother, Mrs. Fowler McCormick, lives at 900 Park Avenue."

By 1949, the mansion was occupied by the Latin-American Institute.  On January 7, 1952, the Tarrytown, New York Daily News explained that among the courses offered by the school was "legal stenography, which includes court reporting."

The mansion next became the Egyptian Consulate.  It was several times the setting of controversy.  On April 14, 1956, for instance, The New York Times reported that the consulate "was the unexpected setting yesterday for Jewish memorial services for Israelis killed recently by Egyptian raiders.  Twenty-two young Jews forced their way into the building at 900 Park Avenue...at 10:30 A.M., and remained praying for more than an hour."

Now the United Arab Republic's United Nations Mission, in  September 1960 it was the setting for the U.A.R.'s President Gamal Abdel Nasser's meetings with India's Prime Minister Jawaharial Nehru and Yugoslav President Tito.

On February 5, 1972, The New York Times reported, "A 132-unit cooperative apartment house will be built at 900 Park Avenue...the former site of the Egyptian Embassy.  The 25-story building, called The Park 900 and designed by Philip Bimbaum, was completed in 1973.

image via cityrealty.com

The 1910 Brogan Building - 251 Park Avenue South

 

photo by Feil Organization

On December 11, 1909, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that Charles Brogan, Inc. had hired Neville & Bagge to design a "16-story brick and stone loft" at the northeast corner of Fourth Avenue and 20th Street.  The cost, said the article, would be $350,000, or about $12.4 million in 2026 terms.  

The architects' Renaissance Revival design included a three-story, stone-clad base.  Retail spaces sat behind double-height elliptical arches that flooded the interiors with natural light.  Stone faux balconies dotted the brick faced ten-story midsection.  Above an intermediate cornice, a dramatic, triple-height arcade was distinguished by Scamozzi pilasters.  A bracketed cornice completed the design.

A relic from the neighborhood's residential past, the All Souls' Unitarian Church can be seen at the right corner.  The Architectural Record, December 1910 (copyright expired)

The Brogan Building filled with a variety of tenants.  Among the early apparel-related firms were the Regal Art Embroidery Company, which leased the 15th floor in November 1912; the Castle Braid Company; and M. C. Migel & Co., makers of corsets and underwear.  

The Vulcanized Rubber Co., maker of "rubber combs and sundries," was here by 1913.  The United States Rubber Company took two floors in 1918, and the Carlisle Tire Corporation's general offices were in the building by 1920.

Importantly, magazine publishers comprised an important part of the tenant list.  Among them were The Ladies' World, publishers of The Ladies' World and Housekeeper; Harpers' Weekly; and McClure's.  (In fact, 251 Fourth Avenue was popularly called the McClure's Building shortly after its opening in 1910.)

Among the executives of the Castle Braid Company in 1915 was Augustus Latz.  He was the proud father of two Cornell University seniors, Robert C., who was an engineering student, and J. M. Latz, who attended the school's College of Agriculture.  The School of Engineering's graduation ceremonies took place on June 16.  The previous day Latz, his wife, and two friends drove to Ithaca to attend the exercises.  Unfortunately, Augustus Latz would not see either of his sons receive their diplomas.  Fifteen minutes after he and his wife checked into their hotel room, Latz suffered a fatal stroke.  He died without regaining consciousness.

An interesting tenant in the post-World War I years was The Better America Picture-Lectures.  It offered pre-packaged lectures to church groups (ten in a set) with "colored lantern slides."  Its ad in The Expositor in 1919 guaranteed, "You...will need only a brief preparation--and the first one will so advertise the others that you need have no empty seats in your audience."

The Aircraft Syndicate and its related concern, the Aircraft Construction-Transportation Corporation, moved into offices on the 11th floor in 1921.  Its advertisement, printed in German, in the Staats-Zeitung on May 19 was headlined: "$20 for $1!  This is a Fact!"  The ad began, "Every German ought to invest his savings in this wonderful safe undertaking, New York-Chicago in giant Zeppelins in eight hours."  It guaranteed, "Money cannot be lost.  The future belongs to aerial navigation," and concluded, "Every millionaire started that way."  It was signed, "Mr. Goognair, 251 4th av."

Suspicious, a reporter from the New York Herald visited the office.  Mr. Goognair was not in, but the firm's president, Jean D. De Deltrand, granted an interview.  Shown the ad, he said, "I'm glad you showed it to me.  We're not responsible of course, inasmuch as our name is not signed thereto...Must speak to him about it."  De Deltrand called Goognair, "a nice, energetic chap, but probably a bit too enthusiastic in his use of words."

Nevertheless, he assured the reporter that the firm was preparing to build "three airships of the Zeppelin type, 1,000 feet long."  He explained that the trip from New York and Chicago would take ten hours and the "rate for a passenger will be $75, including berth and meals."  (The fare would translate to about $1,300 today.)   Additionally, to accommodate Chicago-to-New York passengers, the firm proposed to build a "great hotel in West Forty-second street, say about Tenth avenue" outfitted with a zeppelin landing platform on the roof.

from the collection of the New York Public Library

Among Jean De Detrand's office staff at the time was bookkeeper Catherine C. Conlon.  On July 11, 1921, De Detrand asked her to stay after hours "so that he could instruct her in the method he wanted followed in opening a new set of books," explained the New York Herald.  Instead, De Detrand made "unmanly advances, and finally made an attack upon her," as described by The New Orleans States.  Catherine fought him off, but, according to her, she "suffered greatly in mind and body."  The Evening World reported that the incident caused her to suffer "a nervous breakdown."

In a desperate attempt to quell a potential catastrophic scandal, "Mr. de Detrand telephoned the girl's home next day, apologized and offered to defray the expenses of the girl, her father and her aunt, with whom she lived, on a vacation trip," reported The New Orleans States.  Instead, Catherine filed a $50,000 suit against her employer.  De Detrand denied the charges, saying he "was with her alone for the first time" that night, "and then for not more than ten minutes."

In the meantime, the Freed-Eisemann Radio Corporation, "manufacturers of high and low radio apparatus," occupied space here; as did the offices of the Reinhardt Manufacturing Company, which manufactured silk ribbons in Paterson, New Jersey; the Catoir Silk Company; and the publishers of Success Magazine.  The Parents Publishing Company moved onto the 16th floor in January 1929.

The Depression brought a new tenant, the local Works Progress Administration offices.  And political and social upheaval in Europe in the late 1930s and early 1940s prompted another type of renter.  As early as 1941, the offices of the Jewish National Workers' Alliance were here.  Among its operations was the administration of the Unser Camp and Kinderwelt, the organizations "summer home" at Highland Mills, New York.  

Midcentury saw additional publishers in the building.  Fur & Leather Worker magazine was here as early as 1948, as was the N. P. D. Corporation, which published periodicals like Modern Photography and National Photo Dealer.  Exposition Press, which occupied space by 1950, created illustrated booklets like "How to Select a Publisher." 

Abraham Liberman, head of Book Sales, Inc., narrowly escaped arrest in the summer of 1955.  Another publisher, Samuel Roth, was indicted on August 20 "for sending obscene articles and publications through the mails."  The New York Times reported that Abraham Liberman was "listed in the indictment" as a co-conspirator, but was not indicted.

The neighborhood was known as "Camera Row" in the 1950s, and among the related firms in 251 Fourth Avenue were Intercontinental Marketing Corporation, which distributed camera accessories; Nikon Incorporated; and Fuji Photo Optical Products.

Fourth Avenue was renamed Park Avenue South in 1959.  By then, a different type of tenant had already started changing the personality of No. 251.  The Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies moved into the building in 1957, and The International Rescue Committee and its Medico Division were here by the following year.  By 1968, the American Occupational Therapy Association and the Jess Ward Foundation occupied space.

The Crestwick-Hummelwert stood alone among the publishing, camera, and welfare organizations.  The firm was described by The New York Times in 1965 as "distributor of Hummel figurines and other novelties."

Among the tenants in the 1980s were the architectural offices of Conklin & Rossant; the Young Adult Institute; and The Hinson Collections, manufacturers of high-end wall coverings.

image via marketplce.vts.com

Significant interior renovations to the building began in the late 1990s, and some exterior restoration was initiated.  It was possibly during this work that the cornice was removed, leaving an unfortunate scar and an uncompleted look.

many thanks to reader Peter Alsen for prompting this post.

Boak & Paris's 1930 45 Christopher Street

 

In 1929 Cobham Realty hired the architectural firm of Murgatroyd & Ogden to design a 16-story-and-penthouse "brick hotel" on the site of five vintage structures at 41 through 49 Christopher Street.  Something derailed that project and the following year Boak & Paris filed plans for a 16-story apartment building with stores on the site.  The architects projected the construction costs at $500,000--about $9.3 million in 2026.

The firm's Art Deco design included a two-story rusticated stone base.  The entrance, centered between stores, was flanked by shallow pilasters decorated with stylized palm trunks.  Verticality of the brick-faced upper portion was emphasized by thin ribs that rose to romantic stone balconies.  Terraced penthouse apartments shared the roof with a creatively designed water tower.

image via homes.com

Despite the ongoing Depression, 45 Christopher Street filled with financially-comfortable residents.  Among the first were the family of George E. Heidt, who leased a penthouse in August 1931; newspaper columnist Louis Sobal, who rented "a duplex apartment in the penthouse," as reported by The New York Times; and attorney John Langley Ridley.

Ridley was the nephew of multimillionaire Edward Albert Ridley.  In 1932, Edward hired his personal secretary, Lee Weinstein.  Less than a year later, on May 10, 1933, the 88-year-old Ridley and Weinstein were discovered murdered.  The younger Ridley's suspicions were raised when his uncle's will was read.  For one thing, the recently written document was not drawn up by the elderly man's trusted attorney, and his bankers knew "nothing about it."   The new will bequeathed $200,000 to Weinstein and completely ignored Ridley's relatives (including John L. Ridley).  The New York Times estimated the estate at about $7 million (nearly $170 million today).

John L. Ridley filed a caveat against the probate of the will in May 1933.  An investigation revealed that Weinstein "had been the head of a conspiracy" to drain Edward Ridley's fortune.  He slipped the fake will into a stack of papers for the elderly man to sign.  Unfortunately for Weinstein, his conspirators' greed ended not only his employer's life, but his own.  In November the estate was distributed among the millionaire's relatives.  John Langley Ridley received "one-third of his uncle's large real estate holdings," reported The New York Times.  

from the collection of the New York Public Library

Among Ridley's neighbors in the building at the time was Navy Lieutenant Eric Hoag, who lived on the fifth floor.  He was attached to the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  Early in November 1933, a friend, Lieutenant John Dyer Foley, was married in Seattle, Washington.  A naval surgeon, he and his bride would be relocating to the Civilian Conservation Camp at Montpelier, Vermont.  Two weeks after their wedding, the newlyweds visited Eric Hoag.

At 2:00 on the morning of November 13, Mrs. Foley awoke and found "my husband was gone," she later explained.  "I aroused the household.  We looked out a kitchen window and saw my husband lying three stories below on a balcony."

The 31-year-old was conscious when his wife and Hoag reached him.  At St. Vincent's Hospital he said, "I didn't know anything until I struck [the balcony].  I must have been walking in my sleep."  Newspapers across the country reported on the sailor's nocturnal plunge.  Mrs. Foley telegraphed her parents in Seattle, assuring them, "The newspaper accounts made the injuries appear more serious than they were."

Jeanette Bair, who worked for Feer Realty Corp., was the agent for 45 Christopher Street at the time.  A representative of the firm later testified, "Her instructions included the refraining from entering an apartment...unless she had a prospective tenant."  But around noon on August 8, 1934, she violated that rule and entered Penthouse E, the home of Zara Reigga, who was on vacation.

Four months earlier, Bair's husband had obtained a divorce.  He told officials, "on several occasions she attempted to effect a reconciliation," but he refused.  The despondent Jeanette Bair opened the gas jets of Zara Reigga's stove and oven.  It appears that she intended to kill herself by inhaling gas, but the plan went horribly wrong.

Louis Sobol was on the sofa in his penthouse next door at 12:38 when a massive explosion blew out the wall between the two apartments and threw him to the ground.  The New York Times said it "shook buildings within a half-mile radius...For several minutes after the blast, plate and window glass, fragments of Venetian blinds, and bits of brick and mortar rained down on Sheridan Square."  About an hour after the explosion, "a piece of roof coping weighing between twenty and thirty pounds plunged through the sidewalk canopy and was shattered," said the newspaper.

Terrified residents attempted to flee, but police stopped them in the lobby.  "You can't leave," once policeman said.  "Some one has blown the roof off this place with a bomb and everyone must be questioned."  It would be a while before investigators realized the source of the explosion.

Jeanette Bair, of course, was killed.  Amazingly, 37-year-old Louis Sobol suffered only cuts, and his maid, Anna Filsingeo was "cut and bruised."  Other residents were injured by being hit by glass or falling items, or from being thrown from their feet.  Ethel Jackson, a maid in one of the other penthouses, was "hurled through the bathroom door" and suffered painful bruises.

Fred C. Kuehnle, chief inspector for the Building Department, estimated the damages to Zara Reigga's furnishings and artwork at $5,000 (about $117,000 today).  Understandably, she did not return to 45 Christopher Street.  Following the major repairs to the building, an advertisement in The New York Sun on October 6, 1934 offered the vacant penthouse.  It touted a "sunken living room over 20 ft. sq.; wood-burning fireplace, spacious dining foyer, extensive terrace."

Perhaps the first artist to move into 45 Christopher Street was Russian-born illustrator Boris Mikhailovich Artzybasheff and his wife.  Born in 1899, his father, Mikhail Artsybashev, was a noted author.  Mikhailovich came to America in 1919 and quickly began earning a reputation for his book and magazine illustrations.  His work appeared in magazines like Time, Fortune and Life, and he would ultimately create 219 Time covers.

Artzyhasheff created Steel in 1934.

In reporting on the arrival of the steamship Washington on June 25, 1936, the New York Post commented, "Also on the liner was Mrs. Boris Artzybasheff, wife of the artist and daughter-in-law of the famous Russian novelist."  The article mentioned that she worked as a broker.

Another resident artist was sculptor Walter Rotan, here as early as 1944.  Born in 1912, he has been described as "an Impressionist and Modern artist."  He was living here in March 1944 when his bronze head Henry received the Ellen P. Speyer Memorial Prize in the 188th Annual Exhibition of the National Academy of Design.

A colorful resident was James J. McCormick, a widower who lived here with his widowed daughter, Hazel Jacobs.  McCormick had been a Tammany leader for 22 years and "a power in the Hall," according to The New York Times.  

His career had come to an abrupt halt in 1931 when the Seabury Investigation, which delved into city government corruption, discovered his graft and extortion.  The investigators discovered that he held 30 bank accounts containing "more than $257,900," according to The New York Times.  Almost all of that had been obtained from couples whom "he had married as chief of the Marriage License Bureau."  Other money came from "gratuities given him by 'friends' whom he aided when they became involved in difficulties over violations of building regulations."  He had, additionally, failed to file income tax returns for 1929 and 1930, during which time he received $69,000 "in gratuities."

In January 1939, McCormick suffered a cerebral hemorrhage.  He died in St. Elizabeth's Hospital a week later, on January 22.

As Jeanette Bair had been, in 1939 Adelaide Tate was the building's renting agent.  She, too, was a divorcee and, she too, was troubled.  Among the tenants she placed here was Standard Oil Company chemical engineer Age Skiolvig, who moved into one of the penthouses.  According to Skiolvig, "he had taken her to several parties."  The eligible bachelor, however, had a much different take on their casual relationship than did Tate.

On November 22, 1939, Skiolvig flew to Cleveland, Chicago and St. Louis on business.  Adelaide accompanied him to the airport.  In each city, he received telephone calls and telegrams from the smitten Adelaide.  At some point, Skiolvig "became suspicious that the calls and telegrams were originating from his apartment," reported The New York Times.  He telephoned the building's superintendent, who entered the Skiolvig apartment and found Adelaide there.  Skiolvig insisted "he did not know how she got into his apartment."  Apparently, as the renting agent, she had kept a copy of the key.

Adelaide gave the superintendent the key and promised to leave.  Then, according to The New York Sun, "Skiolvig became "annoyed and a bit alarmed at the tone of a telegram Mrs. Tate had sent him" and he hurried back to New York, arriving in New York at 7 a.m. on the morning of November 29.

He walked into his apartment to find Adelaide was asleep in a chair, still wearing a hat and coat.  When he wakened her, "she asked for a glass of tomato juice, which he gave her," according to The New York Times.  He then "reprimanded her" for the $100 bill of "telephone and telegraph tolls" she had run up.  Twenty minutes later, she walked into the bathroom and jumped from the window to her death 17 floors below.

Snow falling on the day this 1940 photograph was taken gave it a polka-dot effect.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Among the shops in the 1940s was the National Flower Decorating Company florist shop and Irving Weiss's liquor store.  Victor Emanual was the cashier of the flower shop in 1940 when a man who "appeared to be carrying a pistol in his pocket," according to The New York Times, walked in and demanded money.  The 26-year-old cashier handed over $1,281 and the robber fled.

Irving Weiss was not so lucky four years later.  At 12:15 on the afternoon of January 15, Maxine Golberg walked into the liquor store to find Weiss dead on the floor with two gunshot wounds in his head.  This was not a robbery, however.  Detectives said that Weiss was found "in a sitting position behind his swivel chair" and no cash appeared to be missing.

Living here by the late 1940s was newspaper man and playwright James Gow and his wife, the former Olga Alexander.  The couple married in 1941.  With Arnaud d'Usseau, he wrote the 1943 Tomorrow the World and Deep are the Roots, which premiered in 1945.  The former dealt with how post-World War II German children could be reassimilated into normal life after their indoctrination by the Nazis.  The latter play dealt with Blacks within the South.  He wrote screenplays for motion pictures including Ballerina and Paramount on Parade.

Another resident in the theater field was Carroll McComas.  Born in 1886, she made her stage debut in 1907.  While she was a dancer and singer in vaudeville, she was best known for whistling.  She went on to Broadway, where she would play in more than 24 roles, and made her first silent movie in 1916 in When Love is King.  

Carroll McComas with Frank Craven in the 1916 Seven Chances.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

While living here, she appeared on Broadway in Design for a Stained Glass Window, Arms and the Man, The Glass Menagerie and The Innocents; and in the 1953 film Jamaica Run and The Miracle Worker, released in 1962.  She died of a heart attack in her apartment here on November 9, 1962 at the age of 76.

Other residents in the 1960s were artist Ben Bishop; fashion consultant Gastona Marie Rossilli; and labor historian and economist Dr. Lewis L. Lorwin.

Bishop was born in the Bronx in 1923 and held a BFA in art history from the University of Nebraska and did graduate work at Columbia University, the New York University's Institute of Fine Arts, and the University of California at Berkeley where he received his Masters in painting in 1954.  His paintings hang in the collections of the Syracuse Museum, the Russell Sage Museum, the Brandeis University Museum, the Jewett Art Center and several other institutions.

Gastona Marie Rossilli attended the Traphagen School of Fashion and held a degree from Seton Hall University.  A "fashion-behavioral consultant," she had made field studies in the West of "the relation between clothing and behavior of American Indians," as explained by The New York Times.  She also conducted research in Europe and other parts of the U.S.   While living here, she consulted for department stores and the Fashion Institute.

In 1987, 45 Christopher Street was converted from a rental building to condominiums.  

In 1997, management of the Stonewall Inn attempted to circumvent the zoning rule that "prohibits cabaret licenses for places with entrances within 100 feet of a residential district."  The intention was to install a dance floor on the second floor of the bar  On August 6, The Villager reported, "But residential neighbors at 45 Christopher St., are opposing the permit.  Their lawyer, Stewart O'Brien, explained, "We have no problem with an eating and drinking establishment on the second floor, but a disco makes a lot of noise."

The imposing building that soars high above its neighbors, has become an architectural landmark within the Greenwich Village neighborhood.  

photographs by the author