The 1888 Edinboro - 203 West 103rd Street

 

Like the green patina'ed bands at the cornice and window pediment on 103rd, the black bays on Amsterdam Avenue were once clad in copper.  photo by Anthony Bellov

In August 1887, Edward L. Angell filed plans for a "six-story brick apartment house" at the northwest corner of 103rd Street and Tenth Avenue (renamed Amsterdam Avenue in 1890) for developer Charles A. Fuller.  Angell projected the construction costs at $65,000, or about $2.27 million in 2026.  

The neighborhood Fuller chose was known as Manhattan Valley.  On December 20, 1890, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide noted, "The first builder to erect a six-story flat in the neighborhood was Chas. A. Fuller."  Fuller dubbed his building the Edinboro.

Angell designed the structure in a blend of Queen Anne and Renaissance Revival styles.  His tripartite design was a study of mixed-media.  Faced in variegated beige brick, the Edinboro was trimmed in brownstone, sandstone, copper and terra cotta.  

On the avenue side were storefronts.  The residential entrance  at 203 West 103rd Street was uncompromisingly Renaissance Revival in style.  Sitting above a wide flight of steps, it was flanked by paneled pilasters capped with rows of anthemions.  They supported a heavy entablature elaborately carved with Renaissance inspired decorations.

The stonework has been painted and the entrance modernized with unsympathetic doors more expected in a public school building.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

The 103rd Street elevation included a panel carved with a zig-zagging ribbon and surmounted by an arched, swag-filled pediment.  At the fifth floor were quilt-like panels of Queen Anne-style terra cotta tiles, and at the sixth a shield on a leafy background announced the construction date.  A large, ogee gable that rose from the sixth floor and interrupted the cornice was outlined with copper.

The Amsterdam Avenue side was distinguished by copper-clad bays.  Those on the third floor were fronted with blind balustrades and capped with Renaissance-style triangular pediments.  Angell designed the cornice as more of a parapet composed of a regimented table of brick-stepped corbels.

The ribbon design smacked of the letter M.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

Potential residents could choose from apartments of five, seven or eight rooms with a bath.  (There was a total of 26 apartments in the building.)  Tenants could patronize the restaurant in the building and rents were offered "with or without meals."  An advertisement boasted, "hot water, gas ranges, steam heat" and "uniformed service."  (The uniformed staff would have included the elevator operator and hall boys, available for doing errands like carrying packages, delivering mail and such.)  Rents ranged from $600 to $900 per year--about $2,000 to $3,000 a month today.

Among the residents in the 1890s were civil engineer Edward P. North, who was appointed Water Purveyor for the Department of Public Works in 1895; real estate broker John W. Stevens, who purchased his first Upper West Side property in 1854; and banker and stockbroker John W. Gilbough.

John W. Gilbough, King's Views of the New York Stock Exchange, 1898 (copyright expired)

Richard Spillane and his family lived in the Edinboro as early as 1903.  An editor, he and his wife had at least one daughter.  They worshiped at St. Agnes's Chapel on West 91st Street.  Robert J. Hudson was on the staff there.  The 53-year-old was described by The Evening World as "an evangelist and Bible class leader."  

In the spring of 1903, Spillane's daughter came home from Riverside Park with a horrific tale.  Robert Hudson routinely "gathered the little children around him and read them stories from the Bible," said The Evening World.  "He would then take liberties with the tots."  

Enraged, Spillane had Hudson arrested in April on charges of "accosting girls in Riverside Park and showing them indecent sketches."  Spillane also told other parents of the crimes.  On April 3, Hudson appeared in Magistrate Crane's private quarters.  Testifying against him were Richard Spillane and two other fathers, Dr. J. H. Prentice and R. C. Stannard.  Stannard had already made up his mind about Hudson's guilt, saying that if he "ever dared to show his face in the neighborhood again he would riddle him with bullets."

Hudson insisted he, "never did anything wrong in my life."  He told the magistrate, "I play ball with the boys and pat the girls on their heads."  When Magistrate Crane asked why he had been forced to leave Spencer, Massachusetts, Hudson explained that "Some malicious persons there said I was stealing hay."

Roger J. Hudson was tried in the Court of Special Sessions on April 14.  Richard Spillane was there to testify, as were four little girls ranging from eight to 12 years old.  Spillane said in part:

His character is bad for he told me himself he was driven from Spencer, Massachusetts.  He is the enemy of every child that frequents the Drive.  He told me he wouldn't blame me if I killed him.  The women wanted to hang him to a tree.

In his defense, Hudson insisted, "the most he was guilty of was a little indiscretion."  He pointed out, "All men are subject to indiscretions."  Justice Mayer did not agree.  He sentenced Hudson to eight months in the penitentiary.

Living in the Edinboro at the time of the scurrilous trial was professional whistler Alice J. Shaw, who, with three of her daughters, shared an apartment with her aunt, Harriet Goodhue.  Born Alice J. Horton in 1853, she divorced her husband, William Holland Shaw in 1888.  (Somewhat scandalously, on May 15, 1888 The New York Sun reported, "A report is in circulation that Mrs. Alice Shaw, the whistler, is to be married to the Hon. William F. Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill...Buffalo Bill, it may be added, is married.  Mrs. Shaw is, too, but is suing for a divorce.")

Alice was a celebrity.  Following her divorce she honed her talent of whistling.  By the time she and her daughters moved into the Edinboro, she had traveled the world, had performed for the Prince of Wales, and The Times-Union described her as being "well known throughout the country."

Alice J. Shaw, The Amusement Bulletin, October 19, 1889 (copyright expired)

Alice was sued by photographer Theodore C. Marceau for $143.09 in publicity photographs.  In  court on February 8, 1903, she was asked, "What are you?"  She answered, "I am an artist--a musical artist.  I am a professional whistler."

In the spring of 1907, another entertainer, actor Willard Hutchinson, moved into the Edinboro with his wife.  While the 29-year-old thespian was appearing in Toledo, Ohio in May that year, his valise was stolen.  Among the items inside were his new lease and business card.  The next week, sans valise, Hutchinson returned to New York.  In the meantime, the thief in Ohio was using his identity to pass bad checks.  On May 11, Hutchinson was arrested and jailed in The Tombs after Toledo police had sent a telegram with his information and a photograph.

In court the next morning, Hutchinson complained, "It's pretty hard luck for a fellow to be arrested and jailed because a crook swipes his suit case."  His "hard luck" worsened when he was told he would be held until the arrival of a Toledo detective "to see if he is the man wanted," reported the New York Herald on May 12.  Five days later, The New York Times reported that he had been dismissed, saying that the "picture and description of Hutchinson were not those of the man who had committed the fraud."

The Edinboro continued to attract upper-middle-class tenants, like civil engineer John Christian Ostrup and his wife, the former Mary Forbes Whyte, who were here as early as 1910.  Born in Denmark in 1864, he was educated at the Royal Cadet School in Copenhagen, received his Civil Engineering degree at the Polytechnic School in Copenhagen, and did post-graduate work at Chicago Engineering School.  In 1907 he was hired as Professor of Structural Engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken.  He was, as well, a consulting engineer with offices at 17 Battery Place.

British Engineers and Allied Professions in the Twentieth Century 1910 (copyright expired)

Henry "Harry" Anderson was born in 1869.  He married Grace Irene Ryder in the Church of the Transfiguration on April 8, 1907.  An avid yachtsman, he became a member of the New York Athletic Club's yacht division in 1902 and later a member of the Larchmont Yacht Club.  

As a representative of the importing and exporting firm Roderick & Rumsey, Anderson traveled abroad regularly.  He was in London in March 1912 on business and booked passage home on the new luxury liner RMS Titanic.  Interestingly, while Grace did not accompany him on the trip, their dog did.  Somewhat surprisingly, Anderson was rescued by the RMS Carpathia following the Titanic's sinking.  (Unfortunately, his dog was not so lucky.)

Once aboard the Carpathia, Anderson attempted to telegram Grace, saying, "Safe aboard Carpathia.  Do not worry."  The wireless operator, however, was faced with a mountain of messages  and Andersons's was one of those that was not transmitted.  

Grace Anderson died at the age of 38 on June 9, 1915.  Harry Anderson was still living in the Edinboro as late as 1919.

In 1940 the copper bays on the Amsterdam Avenue side and the distinctive ogee gable on the side street were intact.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Stockbroker John L. Burness lived here in the early Depression years.  The bachelor maintained a country home in Sea Cliff, Long Island.  On Friday, June 21, 1935, he left 203 West 103rd Street to spend the weekend at the home of William Brown at Atlantic Beach, Long Island.  The men played golf at the Lido Country Club that afternoon.

The next morning, Brown went to his office in Rockville Centre.  Burness got up and, for some reason, went into the garage.  There, according to police, he got into an argument with a maid, 20-year-old Dorothea Kassady.  Later that morning, Burness's body was discovered in the garage.  "It was said death was due to carbon monoxide fumes," reported The New York Times.

But an autopsy revealed a blunt-force injury on the back of Burness's skull.  An investigation discovered that Dorothea Kassady quarreled with the 30-year-old "over money she said he owed her."  She hit him over the head with a hammer, then turned on the ignition of the Brown's automobile and closed the garage doors to stage his murder as carbon monoxide poisoning.

photo by Anthony Bellov

In 1948, 203 West 103rd Street was renovated.  There were now 42 apartments in the building--about twice as many as there were originally.  The tenants were still middle-class.  Among the residents in 1949 was Rafael Rio, a representative of the Puerto Rican Government.  Born in 1888, he relocated to New York City as a young man.  He held memberships to the Whitehall Club, the New York Athletic Club, the Pan-American Society and the Maritime Exchange.

Panels of terra cotta, Queen Anne-style tiles decorate the fifth floor.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

In 1957, jazz saxophonist John William "Trane" Coltrane  and his wife, Naima, moved into an apartment here.  Naima (born Juanita Grubbs) was a Muslim convert and had a daughter, Antonia (later renamed Syeeda).  Coltrane later adopted her.

John William Coltrane, from the collection of the Library of Congress

Coltrane had been a part of Miles Davis's successful group, the First Great Quinet.  According to Ben Ratliff of The New York Times later, the group dissolved partly because of Coltrane's heroin addiction.  By the time he moved his family into 203 West 103rd Street, he had beaten his addiction.  In his Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins, Aiden Levy writes:

Coltrane invited [Freddie] Hubbard to practice with him at the apartment he shared with his wife, Naima, and his stepdaughter, Syeeda, at 203 West 103rd Street.  Coltrane was developing the "Coltrane changes" that culminated in "Giants Steps."

Hubbard later recalled, "I'd take the subway to Trane's house every day he was in town.  I had a headache when I left there because he was practicing so much."

The Coltranes left 203 West 103rd Street in 1959.  He is remembered today as one of the most influential figures in 20th century jazz music.

The top of the gable has been chopped off.  Happily, its copper outline survives.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

 In 2017, plans were filed for "facade repair."  It was likely at this time that Edward L. Angell's distinctive copper bays were removed and his striking ogee gable decapitated.  The changes greatly diluted what had been a highly unusual and attractive design.

many thanks to Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post

The Lost Alphonse L. Fachere House - 170 West 99th Street

 

The house was in pristine condition in 1932.  The door between it and the flat building to the right was once called a horsewalk--an access to the rear yard.  photograph by Charles Von Urban from the collection of the New York Public Library

In the first years of the 19th century, John Clendening's summer estate stretched from what would become 99th Street to 105th Street, and from Central Park West to Broadway.  On March 20, 1845, the estate was sold at auction at the Merchants' Exchange.  The New York Times would muse decades later, "Of course, in 1845 there was no Central Park.  It was eight years later before the city acquired the great acreage in the central part of Manhattan Island."  Nevertheless, said the newspaper in 1911, "one cannot help but marvel at the lack of confidence displayed by the moneyed men of the city in their apparent lack of confidence in the future" of the West Side.  

Some of the newly plotted lots were sold for only $9.50 each (about $417 in 2026 terms).  The Commercial Advertiser reported on March 20, 1845 that the plot that would later be numbered 107 West 99th Street had sold for $13.  

The Georgian-style Clendening mansion sat between today's Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, and 102nd and 105th Streets.  D. T. Valentine's Manual, 1863 (copyright expired)

It would not be until the end of the Civil War that development in the district slowly started.  Around 1875, a three-story-and-basement frame house was constructed at what would be given the address of 170 West 99th Street.  Nearly a generation before the neighborhood's blocks would be lined with rows of high-stooped houses, this one was free-standing.  Its full-width porch above a short stoop reflected the personality of the still-rural district.  The porch columns, the corbelled cornice and the molded lintels were influenced by the Italianate style.  The third floor, however, took the form of a slate-shingled mansard pierced by two peaked dormers, a trademark of the fashionable French Second Empire style.

At the time, Alphonse Louis Fachere lived far to the south on West 35th Street.  Born in 1824, he was the owner of the marble business, A. L. Fachere & Co.  The firm had two locations--at 1319 Broadway and 237 West 32nd Street.  Around 1890, Fachere retired and moved into the picturesque wooden house.

Fachere and his wife had at least three children.  One adult child lived here, while two daughters were married.  One of them had married Thomas McNeill in 1890.  The New York World said McNeill, "is a coachman because he loves horses."  The young man was also fond of horse racing.  On September 8, 1893, the 30-year-old Thomas McNeil appeared in Harlem Police Court.  "Three complainants were ready to appear against him for stealing a coupe," reported The New York World.  

McNeill was the coachman of Moses R. Crow.  He sold Crow's coupe (a four-wheeled carriage) to Mooney & Connors, liverymen, for $268.  "Then he got the coupe back on the promise to return the money and sold it again to a physician," said the article.  Now Moses Crow, Mooney & Connors, and the physician all filed complaints against him.

McNeill sent a message to 170 West 99th Street for bail, but, as The World explained, "McNeill isn't admired by his wife's family."  McNeill told a reporter, "My father-in-law is a millionaire, but he is down on me."

And, indeed, when Fouchere was asked to comment, he told a reporter from The World, "McNeill is no good and I have had trouble enough with him.  He can go to the devil for all I care."

Fouchere's other son-in-law, A. A. Brunner disclosed, "He has helped McNeill, but grew tired of giving him money to gamble on the races...He has had every opportunity, but has thrown away his prospects."  Thomas McNeill was jailed for the theft.

The Foucheres had at least two servants--a cook and a maid.  The family was explicit in their advertisement seeking a new maid in November 1896:  "Wanted--A woman for general housework, between 35 and 50 years; three in family; French, Swiss or German.  Apply 170 West 99th st."

Alphonse Louis Fauchere died on July 7, 1897.  His funeral was held in the parlor of 170 West 99th Street two days later.

By the first years of the 20th century, John L. Garvey and his wife, the former Mary R. Bishop, occupied the house.  Garvey was a real estate operator.  He and Mary had at least one daughter, Regine.

Garvey's name appeared in newspapers routinely as he bought and sold real estate.  It appeared for a much different reason on October 1, 1912 when he sought to sell his pool table in The Evening Telegram.  "5x9 P & B billiard table, all complete, $35."

Mary Bishop Garvey died on Christmas Day, 1924.  Her funeral was held in the Church of the Holy Name on Amsterdam Avenue and 96th Street.  

Garvey leased 170 West 99th Street to Lorenzo Daniels and his wife, the former Elinor Louise Adee.  By now, the West 99th Street block was fully developed and the stand-alone wooden house was a charming anachronism.

Lorenzo Daniels was born in Hartford, Connecticut on March 21, 1862.  Elinor was his second wife.  His first, Edith Rexford, died on December 12, 1919, the year that Lorenzo retired.  He and Elinor were married in 1921.

Daniels had been one of the earliest members of the New York Produce Exchange, a co-owner of the Exchange Building, and a trustee of the Dry Dock Savings Institution.  The New York Times said, "Early in his career he moved to New York and entered the exporting and importing business...He developed the scope of his operations until they extended to nearly every quarter of the globe."

Elinor Daniels (who was known familiarly as Ellen), was highly involved in charity work and, according to The New York Times, was "one of the leading Eastern executives of the Red Cross.

Only months after the couple moved into 170 West 99th Street, Elinor Adee Daniels died on December 17, 1925.  Five days later, The New York Times reported on her funeral in St. Bartholomew's Church.  "Several hundred persons, including 100 representatives of the American Red Cross" were there, as well as delegations "from the many charitable organizations with which Mrs. Daniels had been associated."

Lorenzo Daniels moved to 853 Seventh Avenue, where he suffered a fatal stroke on October 14, 1930.  In the meantime, Regine Garvey had returned to 170 West 99th Street.  She was living here in December 1929 when she became a director of the newly incorporated Cloverleaf Creamery, Inc.  As early as 1937, however, the house was vacant and boarded up.

The house was boarded up in 1937.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

Within a decade, the wooden relic was gone.  A short fieldstone wall and chain link fence was erected in front of the vacant lot.  

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In 2007 the lot at 170 West 99th Street and all the properties between 97th to 100th Streets and Columbus to Amsterdam Avenues became the site of the Columbus Square development project.

Fellheimer & Wagner's Corn Exchange Bank - 267 Broadway

 

The expansive Wallach Brothers clothing store occupied 265-267 Broadway in the post-World War I years.  The building was owned by the Orphan Asylum Society of the City of New York.  On September 20, 1937, Wallach's moved into the Paragon Building at Broadway and Murray Street.  The move was necessary because the Corn Exchange Bank had taken over the lease for 265-267 Broadway as a branch office and was remodeling it.  Founded in 1853, The Corn Exchange Bank now had multiple branches throughout the city.  

The architectural firm of Fellheimer & Wagner was commissioned to remodel the architecturally outdated structure.  The architects' streamlined Art Moderne design included glass blocks over the entrances and in the vast second floor openings.  They were flanked by deep-set piercings, stacked in a diamond pattern.  Stylized Chicago-style windows gave interest to the upper three floors.  A striking Art Moderne-style flagpole base drew the eye upward and balanced what would otherwise have been a bottom-heavy design.

This photograph was taken by Wurts Bros. in 1937, shortly after the bank opened here.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

On October 24, 1937, The New York Times tepidly remarked on the renovations, saying only that "a glass front on the five-story building housing the Corn Exchange Bank at 265 Broadway" had been installed.

In 1954 the bank merged with Chemical Bank, becoming the Chemical Corn Bank.  Interior renovations were done in 1957.  The bank was renamed again in 1959, now the Chemical Bank Trust Company.

That year the TelePrompTer Corporation opened an account.  The firm was responsible for broadcasting the Ingemar Johansson-Floyd Patterson heavyweight title prize fight in June.  Two months later, Johansson's promoter, Bill Rosensohn, questioned the firm's accounting.  On August 8, 1959, attorney Edwin Schweig announced, "all the accounting records were in order, and that there was about $460,000 now in an account at the Chemical Corn Exchange Bank at 265 Broadway--money from the sale of radio, motion picture and theatre-TV rights to the June fight."  The balance would translate to about $5 million in 2026.

The Orphan Asylum Society of the City of New York finally sold the property to Chemical Bank in 1976.

A rash of bank robberies ushered in the new year of 1980.  There were 17 robberies the first week, including four on January 7.  The following day Newsday said, "Three banks in Manhattan were robbed of several thousand dollars within 34 minutes yesterday morning, and a pair of armed robbers held up a fourth bank in the Bronx, police said."  Among them was the Chemical Bank at 267 Broadway.  Newsday reported that it "was held up at 11:02 AM by an armed man who got 'a few thousand dollars,' police said."

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Two years later, on February 7, 1982, The New York Times began an article saying, "To the New York City detectives who concentrate on trying to catch bank robbers, they have become known simply as 'the Women.'"  Since December 28, a three-member female gang had knocked off 11 banks in Manhattan and Brooklyn.  The article said, "In their most recent robbery, last Thursday, two of the women held up a Chemical Bank branch at 265 Broadway, near Chambers Street, and got away with $1,500."  

At the time, bank tellers interacted with their depositors face-to-face.  NYPD Lieutenant Joseph R. Nekola urged banks to install "bandit barriers"--shields of bulletproof Plexiglas.  The shields became more and more familiar to the banking public until becoming ubiquitous.

At the turn of the century, an HSBC Bank occupied the building.  Despite updated precautions, the branch was targeted by an unarmed robber on April 22, 2003, who made away with $41,000 in cash.  It was one of 170 bank robberies that year so far.  The following day, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg "harshly criticized some banks for failing to provide better security," reported The New York Times.  He told reporters that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly "is meeting with them today to read the riot act.  It's unconscionable what's going on."  He added, "Word is also out that some banks don't care, that you pass a note to get the money and you can get away with it."

The suspect in the HSBC Bank robbery, 37-year-old Bryant Brown, was arrested.  He was suspected in "a series of bank robberies scattered across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx," reported The Times.  Police said, "his method was to pass a note to a teller in each of the banks demanding money."

In 2011, HSBC Bank announced it would sell 195 branches.  Among those was 265 Broadway.  In 2017 real estate developer Roe Corporation announced a 45-story, mixed-use structure on the site.  The project did not move forward and in the spring of 2026, The Rabsky Group purchased the building for $30 million.  On May 18, 2026, Tribeca Citizen reported that a "mixed-use condo using 51,730 square feet of zoning floor area," would replace the bank building.

With no protection from the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the fate of one of downtown Manhattan's most eye-catching Art Moderne structures seems sealed.

photographs by the author

Charles Mettam's 1870 506 La Guardia Place

image via loopnet.com

As early as 1845, a two-story brick house occupied the plot at 185 Laurens Street.  In the rear yard was a three-story brick house.  (It was an unexpected configuration since, normally, the larger house was at the front of the property.)  The address and the street name would be changed more than once in the coming decades.

Charles Golden owned the property in the post-Civil War years and the front house was home to Edwin Beyersdorf's lager-beer saloon.  At 10:00 on the morning of September 30, 1869, Beyersdorf was filling a cigar lighter on the counter from a "can of liquid gas," according to The New York Times.  The can ignited and the flames quickly engulfed the barroom.  The article noted, "The building, owned by M. [sic] Golden, is damaged about $800 and is insured for $4,000 in the Aetna."  (The amount of damage would translate to about $19,500 in 2026.)

One wonders if the fire was truly an accident or if Golden was in cahoots with his tenant to obtain the insurance money.  Two weeks before the fire, architect Charles Mettam had already filed plans for a "five-story brick store & tenement" on the site.  It is clear that Golden intended to replace the old structures, because at the time of Mettam's filing, the builder, James Clarke, had already been contracted.

Whether Golden was aware that Clarke was making shortcuts in the construction of the new building is impossible to know.  But a horrific accident took place on the job site.  The New-York Tribune reported, "a wrought-iron tension rod broke.  It was used to sustain the front wall...Having broken it let the entire wall down in to the cellar, and came near killing the master mason and a laborer."  An investigation revealed that the rod "was not of suitable form to sustain a great weight."

By the time construction of the building was completed in 1871, the block was known as South Fifth Avenue.  Mettam's Italianate design was typical of scores of store-and-apartment buildings being constructed throughout the city.  Faced in red brick above its cast iron storefront, the building's windows wore handsome molded stone lintels.  The cast metal cornice, likely chosen from a foundry's catalogue, featured foliate corbels, dentils and brackets. 

The building received a new address again in 1896--506 West Broadway.  Occupying the commercial space at the time was the United States Directory Publishing and Printing Company.  Among the upstairs tenants were the Mullin and Smith families.

Mary Mullin was an activist of sorts, at least for a woman of her time.  In 1896 she co-founded of the Woman's National Democratic League of the United States of America.  Its noble and floridly written purposes included: 

To denounce all forms of political corruption and unjust legislation and to aid and encourage the voters of the nation in their patriotic endeavors to maintain and perpetuate government of the people for the people and by the people.

The Smith apartment was burglarized by a trio of crooks early in 1897.  John Gartland, alias Corey; John Kelley, alias Frank Hazel, and Charles Walker, alias Stewart, were arrested on March 27 at 96 Barrow Street, described by the New York Herald as "a den of thieves."  Recent victims of burglaries, including Annie Smith, were summoned to Police Headquarters to identify any possible stolen items.  Annie "claimed a gold wedding ring," reported the New-York Tribune.

By the turn of the century, Gross & Horn, makers of shoe soles, occupied the ground floor.

Building Trades Association Bulletin, July 1901 (copyright expired)

In 1905, Ulric J. De Poli, described by the New York Herald as "a good looking young Italian," took an apartment here.  He operated his silk business from his apartment.  The nearly penniless immigrant posed as Louis Banta, "an Italian nobleman and a wealthy silk merchant," said the article.  Telling the owners of silk mills in New Jersey that he had $17,000 in the bank, he ordered bales of silk on credit and resold them to dry goods merchants.

The scheme collapsed on the morning of December 8, when De Poli "was nabbed at Bleecker street and West Broadway by Detective Sergeants Howard, Flannelly and Schoenick, who had a warrant for his arrest," as reported by the New York Herald.  The article explained that De Poli had been wanted "for fleecing several silk manufacturers out of goods valued at $20,933." 

Abolardo Cassi and his family arrived from Italy in 1906 and moved an apartment on the third floor of 506 West Broadway.  Like De Poli, he ran his business, of sorts, from his apartment.  On July 26, 1907, a man "hurried into the New York Custom House," and told officials that "he had found seven paintings by old masters, including Correggio and Titian, offered for sale by Abolardo Cassi...and that at the price asked he was sure they must have been smuggled into the country."

An art expert from the Appraiser's Office, a Customs inspector and a representative from the Custom House's legal department accompanied the man to Cassi's apartment.  Here Cassi showed them Titian's Rebecca at the Well; two canvases by Tintoretto, Hunting and Music; two works by Correggio, Abraham Dying and Joseph Recognizing His Brothers; The Holy Family by Cimaburg, and Massaccio's The Redeemer.  Cassi's asking prices ranged from $1,000 each for Hunting and The Redeemer to $15,000 for Rebecca at the Well.  The total amount of $32,000 would equal $1.1 million today.

Cassi explained that the paintings were "heirlooms of his family, which was at one time well-to-do in Italy," as reported by The New York Times.  He told the officials that he "had formerly been in prosperous circumstances, but that, meeting with reverses, he came to this country, bringing the paintings with him, as he did not wish to part with them."  Now in America, the Cassis' 17-year-old son was their main support.  But "since they arrived in this country," he explained, he "recently became insane and is now confined in the Manhattan State Hospital."

The art appraiser decided that the paintings were "very old, but were not considered originals."  Because there was no evidence that Cassi smuggled them into the country, the matter was dropped.  Whether the struggling immigrant was able to liquidate the copies is unclear.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Around the time of the Cassi investigation, 506 West Broadway was acquired by C. & M. Moriggia.  In 1911, they hired architect L. V. Spenaport to do $8,000 in renovations to convert the upper floors to commercial use.

Their ground floor tenant around the time was the Mariani Brothers, importers of Italian foods, operated by Filomena and Oreste Mariani.  On January 15, 1915, the New York Herald reported on the massive earthquake that destroyed 16 Italian towns, including Avezzano, and damaged 12 others.  An article said, "Mr. Oreste Mariani, who is a native of Vasto, near Avezzano, set to work early in the morning collecting funds at his place of business, No. 506 West Broadway, and turning them over to the Italian Red Cross Society.  The firm of Mariani Brothers headed the subscription list with $100."  The article continued:

Mr. Oreste Mariani sent a cable despatch [sic] to his brother, Mr. Humbert Mariani, in Naples, directing him to go to the stricken country, investigate conditions and to extend whatever immediate aid he could to the sufferers.  Mr. Mariani awaits a reply and expects to be accurately informed by one who was born and reared near Avezzano and still has nearly a dozen relatives in that region.

Less noble press about the Mariani Brothers came four months later.  The firm was fined $25 in April 1915, "for shipping whiskey into prohibition Vermont as 'groceries,'" reported The Larchmonter-Times.  

Among the upper floor tenants in 1912 were Axelrod & Sokel, manufacturers of boys' pants, and H. H. Upham & Co., sign makers.  The latter firm was established in 1863.  They would be joined in the building by 1915 by Edward Podesnick's electrical machinery shop.

Mariani Brothers remained in the building at least through 1919.  That year they advertised, "Correspondent wanted to take care of Italian and English correspondence; good typist; several years' experience with importers and small mail order; good salary."

But, initiated by Edward Podesnick, the building was mainly occupied by electrical firms in the 1920s.  Among them were the Shotwell Electric Co. and Neptune Battery Co., manufacturer of dry batteries.  The latter was renamed the Advance Battery Co. in 1923.

The building was a scene worthy of a cops-and-robbers movie in 1958.  In the early hours of February 8, Police Sergeant Thomas Gilligan and Patrolman John Dolan followed Kendall Brown, an ex-convict.  A passerby notified them that he had climbed the fire escape of 506 West Broadway to the roof.  The New York Post reported, "Gilligan, a six-footer weighing 200 pounds, was confronted on the roof by a man about his size wielding a switch-blade knife.  He disarmed the suspect in a struggle near the edge of the roof."

As the pair wrestled, Kendall tried repeatedly to shove Gilligan over the edge of the roof.  After breaking loose from the sergeant's hold, Kendall "scaled an eight-foot wall to the roof of an adjoining building," said the article.  Gilligan fired two shots and missed.  While Dolan waited below for the fugitive to emerge, Gilligan fired one more shot, hitting Kendall in the arm.  He was taken into custody.  The New York Post reported that Kendall had been arrested twice for robbery and spent a prison term that ended in 1953.

A renovation in 1962 resulted in a luncheonette on the ground floor, and one apartment-working space each on the upper floors. 

The street was renamed yet again in 1967, now known as La Guardia Place in honor of former Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.  

In 1980, Bruno Bakery occupied the ground floor.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Around 1980, Bruno Bakery, a bakery-cafe, moved into the ground floor space.  In 1999, Biagio Settepani purchased the business, renaming it Pasticceria Bruno.  The pastry chef had started his career at the age of 13 in a small bakery in Brooklyn.  Settepani had previously been named one of the ten best pastry chefs in America and in 2006 he received the Northeastern Region's Pastry Chef of the year Award from the American Culinary Federation.

The popular bakery remained through 2016, when it was supplanted by Austrian restaurant Freud.  Two years later the name was changed to Bar Freud after, as reported by Florence Fabricant in The New York Times on February 27, 2018, "Freud has hit the bottle.  Or, rather, the cocktail hour."

The change was short-lived.  On August 6, 2019, The New York Times reported the opening of Bosie Tea Parlor a "well-appointed tea cafe" and French bistro.  The cafe remained until 2022 when Lord's opened.

On September 2 that year, Florence Fabricant wrote, "At Lord's contemporary English fare 'a long way from the bangers-and-mash of previous generations,' is how Patricia Howard and Ed Szymanski, the owners of Dame, describe what they have in store for this sibling."

Today each of the upper floors has one apartment and the commercial space is still home to Lord's.

The Edward and Catherine Van Winkle House - 25 West 9th Street

 

The architraves around the windows would have originally looked much like those of 23 West 9th Street, at the right. photograph by Richard Korchak

Dr. Samuel T. Hubbard completed two identical, four-story-and-basement homes on Ninth Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, in 1855.  (The "West" would be added to the address later, and the homes would be numbered 25 and 27 in 1868.)  It is possible that they were designed by James Renwick Jr., who had previously owned the vacant lots.  

Two bays wide, their Anglo-Italianate style forewent the high stone stoops that were so popular at the time.  Instead, visitors climbed just four steps to reach the arched entranceways flanked by engaged, square Corinthian columns. 

Above a rusticated base, the upper floors were faced in planar stone.  Most likely a cast iron balcony fronted the floor-to-ceiling second floor windows, and molded architraves would have originally graced the segmental-arched openings.  While the shared bracketed cornice was otherwise not unusual, its fascia was.  The architect decorated it with an elaborate guilloche-carved pattern of flower-filled rosettes.

photograph by Richard Korchak

Dr. Samuel Hubbard may have been acquainted with the purchaser of 25 West 9th Street--another physician, Edward Henry Van Winkle (his surname was often spelled Vanwinkle).  

Born in Acquackanorick, New Jersey in 1814, The New York Times would later recall, "Dr. Van Winkle was a member of one of the oldest New York families, his ancestry dating back to the Dutch Van Winkle family which settled here in 1636."  Edward grew up in New York City and graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons "and began to practise [sic] in 1838," according to the Medical Record.  He and his wife, the former Catherine Stanford, had three sons: Isaac, Edward Jr., and John S.

Perhaps surprisingly, none of the Van Winkler boys followed their father's professional lead.  All three graduated from Columbia University--the eldest, Isaac, going into law.  Around 1867, Edward Jr. and John S. Van Winkle opened a private banking firm at 27 Wall Street.  Their venture was extremely short-lived and the following year, on August 19, 1868, they declared bankruptcy.

City directories described John as a "merchant" in 1871.  But neither of his brothers was listed here that year.  That was because both had decided on a drastic change of course.  They were living and studying for the priesthood at the General Theological Seminary.

Edward H. Van Winkle Jr. was back home by 1874.  He was now assistant rector at the nearby Church of the Ascension on Fifth Avenue at West 10th Street.

Catherine Stanford Van Winkle died on February 9, 1879.  By 1886, only Edward Sr. and Jr. occupied the West 9th Street house (Isaac and John had married and moved away).  Later that year, Rev. Edward Van Winkle was made pastor of the Chapel of the Comforter at 814 Greenwich Street, "an offshoot" of the Church of the Ascension, as worded by the New York Herald.  

In 1891, Dr. Edward Henry Van Winkle retired.  Three years later, in October 1894, he became ill.  He died here on December 7 of what the Medical Record described as "paralysis of the heart."  The New York Times called him, "one of the best-known physicians of this city," adding, "His medical career extended over fifty-three years."  The notice said, "He leaves three sons, two of whom are Episcopal clergymen in this city."

Rev. Edward H. Van Winkle was now alone in the West 9th Street house with his small domestic staff.  Earlier that year, after being rector of the Chapel of the Comforter for 15 years, he had been "dismissed" by Rev. Percy S. Grant, rector of the Church of the Ascension.  The move had initiated a firestorm and on March 27, 1894, the New York Herald reported on a protest meeting on the sidewalk outside of the chapel.  The article said, "the Van Winkle faction were determined to put [Rev. Grant] on the defence [sic] in regard to his dismissal of their former pastor."

The clamor eventually died down and within months Rev. Edward H. Van Winkle was made pastor of St. Clement's Church on West 3rd Street.  

(In 1896, Rev. Isaac Van Winkle moved his wife, the former Margaret Kemble Lenta, and their children to France where he became rector of St. Luke's Church in Paris.)

It may have been Edward Van Winkle's willingness to stand up to church authorities that had caused his "dismissal" from the Chapel of the Comforter.  In 1899, Bishop Henry Potter announced the upcoming ordination of the Rev. Dr. Charles Augustus Briggs, who had converted from Presbyterianism.  He had been defrocked after a fiery church trial that convicted him of heresy.  Now, Rev. Van Winkle was aghast and made his opinions public.

On September 20, 1899, The New York Journal and Advertiser reported, "those delegates who are known as the more aggressive opponents of Bishop Potter's policy will meet at the house of the Rev. Edward H. Van Winkle, rector of St. Clement's Church, to agree upon a plan of action."

In February 1900, Rev. Van Winkler sold 25 West 9th Street to Charles D. Fuller for $22,250.  The price would translate to about $880,000 in 2026.

Fuller was the son of Dudley Barber Fuller and Mary Reed.  Both he and his wife, the former Anna Pendleton Rogers, came from old, aristocratic New York families.  The couple had a daughter, Sarah.  Fuller was a partner in Fuller Brothers & Co., "iron and steel commission merchant," and a vice president in the Volta Electric Light and Power Company.

On January 20, 1909, The Evening Telegram began an article saying, "Society attended to-day the marriage of Miss Sarah Fuller, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Dudley Fuller, to Mr. Veryl Preston, which was solemnized in the Church of the Ascension."  The New York Times remarked, "There was a small reception at the home of the bride's parents."

The newlyweds--the groom was 44 and the bride 33--moved into the West 9th Street house with the Fullers.  Despite their relatively advanced ages in respect to starting a family, they would have nine children (five sons and four daughters), starting with Seymour, born in 1909, and ending with Joseph in 1919.

Charles Dudley Fuller died on November 22, 1928.  His entire estate was left to Anna Fuller.  

The Prestons maintained a country home in Saddle River, New Jersey.  Their affluence was reflected in the announcement of Margaret Preston's engagement to George W. D. Symonds on May 27, 1937.  The New York Times remarked, "Miss Preston was graduated from the Brearley School in 1931 and later studied at Vassar College."  

Anna Pendleton Rogers Fuller died later that year.  A renovation completed in 1939 resulted in two apartments per floor.  It was almost assuredly at this time that the 1855 details  of the upper floors were shaved flat.

In 1940, 25 and 27 (left) had lost the molded window frames.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services. 

Interestingly, in 1992 apartment 3-B was used by the Tinker Institute on International Law and Organizations, which was organized that year.  It was "dedicated to research, writing, and education on the development of international law and organizations," according to the agenda of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development published that year.

photograph by Richard Korchak

A subsequent renovation completed in 2005 resulted in a triplex in the basement through second floor, one apartment on the third, and two on the top level.

many thanks to owner Richard Korchak for suggesting this post