The Enigmatic 359 Sixth Avenue

 

photo by Jason Kessler

In 1832, Henry Bayard erected a Federal-style, brick faced style house at 55 Sixth Avenue (renumbered 359 in 1925), just south of Barrow Street.  (That spur of Barrow would be renamed West Washington Place the following year.)  Bayard offered it for sale in 1833, describing it as, "the two story Brick House, with slate roof."  It either did not sell or the buyer defaulted and on January 8, 1834 it was sold at auction.  The announcement gives us a detailed description:

The substantial and convenient modern built 2 story brick house and lot, no, 55 Sixth Avenue, one door below Barrow St.— The house is nearly new, covered with slate, and has accommodations for a large family.  In the rear of, and adjoining the house, there is a 2 story brick building, forming convenient apartments opening from each story; besides a subcellar under the principal building, and a spacious and airy kitchen.  There are 11 rooms, six of which are furnished with grates.

(The term "grates" was interchangeable with "fireplaces" at the time.)  The house became home to the Thomas Hardy family.  A merchant, he would not remain here especially long.  An advertisement in The Evening Post on January 16, 1839 offered the house for sale, "in excellent order."  It was purchased by Peter A. Hegeman, who had been living next door at 53 Sixth Avenue for several years.

The family nearly lost their home on June 1, 1848.  The Evening Post reported, "The roof of the dwelling of Peter A. Hegaman [sic], No. 55 Sixth Avenue, took fire about 1 o'clock yesterday, from a spark from an adjoining chimney, which was burning.  Damage about $50."

By 1860, Martha Covert, the widow of Daniel H. Covert, ran a boarding house here.  The few tenants were white collar, like William E. Blakeney, a dentist; and milliner William J. Demarest, who lived here in 1858 and 1859.

Around 1863, the ground floor was converted to a commercial space.  It may have been at this time that the attic was raised to a full floor and pressed metal lintels were installed over the windows.  A handsome Italianate cornice with scrolled brackets completed the make-over.  The removal of the stoop and lowering the first floor to ground level cut the windows of the former parlor level in half.  The remainders were bricked in, resulting in what has been described as a "half-story" above the storefront.

The shop became home to Frederick J. Lindeman's toy store.  It was replaced in 1867 by the Jeitles Brothers "segar" shop, run by Arnold and James Jeitles.

An advertisement appeared in the New York Herald on April 1, 1869, that read, "$700--Partner wanted in a money making business.  $5,000 can be made yearly and no risk.  Inquire of Mr. Smith, 55 Sixth avenue, in the store."  The required investment would translate to more than $16,000 in 2024.  But "Mr. Smith" may well have been a scammer.  The ad appeared in September, signed "Mr. Felton," and again in November, signed "Mr. Wilson."

Mr. Smith, alias Mr. Felton, alias Mr. Wilson, was almost assuredly William H. Brandon, who had taken over the cigar store from Jeitles Brothers.  The Evening Telegram said he was "better known as handsome Billy Brandon, who has figured so often in the police courts of the city that his career is pretty well known to the public."  The newspaper added, "So admirably are his plans concocted that he has never once been convicted."

But Brandon's luck changed in the fall of 1870.  The Evening Telegram described his place of operation, saying, "No. 55 is a cigar store with a sample room back of it."  Late in October, Louis Aguero, a cigarmaker who lived on Bleecker Street, made a sales call.  "Brandon told Aguero that he would take $200 worth of the cigars, and directed him to bring them round," reported The Evening Telegram.  He returned on November 1 and had just laid the goods on the counter when two men barged in brandishing firearms.  The gunmen identified themselves as United States marshals and took Brandon and Aguero into custody.  One took the pair away while the other took charge of the supposedly contraband cigars.

On the way to the stationhouse, the marshal took his captives into a saloon, where Brandon offered him a $30 bribe to be let off.  The marshal accepted and demanded the same amount from Aguero.  "This the Spaniard refused, saying that he wanted to be arrested, in order that he might learn what all this was about," said the article.  He insisted that his cigars had the requisite government stamp and there was no reason for his arrest.  

With that, Brandon and the fake marshal fled.  Aguero saw the "marshal" board a Sixth Avenue streetcar.  He returned to 55 Sixth Avenue, where Brandon told him the other marshal had taken the cigars--worth just under $5,000 today--as evidence.  Aguero's next stop was the office of attorney Abraham Webb.  On November 3, The Evening Telegram reported, "A summons was issued for Brandon, and the case will come for examination at Jefferson Market, when it is to be hoped that Brandon will meet with his just deserts."  The cigar shop was soon taken over by Louis Xigues.

In 1872, the furnishings of the upper floors were auctioned and, it appears, the storefront renovated.  On March 29, 1873, an ad appeared in the New York Herald offering, "To Let or Lease--Three story brick building, with new store and cellar, 55 Sixth avenue, for some respectable business; terms reasonable."  The building was valued at the time by real estate appraiser Nelson S. Flock at $18,000 (about $473,000 today).

The ground floor became home to an "eatinghouse" run by William F. Smallwood and John W. Hill.  The two lived nearby on Sullivan and Thompson Streets, respectively.  Living above the restaurant in 1876 were James H. Mathews, an undertaker, and his wife Caroline.  She ran a laundry in the basement of the building.  The couple would remain at least through 1880.  Also living here that year was Cornelius A. Chrisstoffels, a cigar merchant; machinist Charles Baker; and Michael Doyle, who was a janitor.

 

In 1883, the ground floor of 55 Sixth Avenue was home to A. Freudenhammer's grocery store.  Described by the New York Herald as "a stout, good natured German," he complained to the reporter about scam artists who preyed on small businessmen.  On November 14, 1883, the newspaper quoted him saying, 

I have been in business here three years and I handle everything in the grocery line.  My trade is mostly with poor people and small boarding houses.  Oh, those boarding house people!  What trouble and loss they cause small storekeepers.  I have lost a good deal of money through them.  One landlady skipped off owing me $200.  Another disappeared leaving an unpaid bill of $100.  They play their little game very well, for they move into a neighborhood, run up bills, and then in a few months suddenly cross to New Jersey, where they are out of reach of their grocer, baker and butcher.

 

Freudenhammer was gone by 1893, when the shop was home to George H. Rozelle's butcher shop, the Sixth Avenue Meat Market.  In the meantime, residents came and went upstairs.  Among the most colorful, perhaps, was Elizabeth Bourke, who lived here in 1909.

On June 20, 1909, Mrs. Bourke read a notice in a newspaper that read, "Healthy blonde boy; can't keep; for adoption.  Call afternoons 414 West 19th St."  She answered the ad, telling Alma Williams, who was a widow, that she was "a woman of means, and that her husband was in the West," according to The New York Times, which added, "She told Mrs. Williams she lived at 223 West Seventh-fourth Street."  Elizabeth Bourke took a liking to Charles Williams, described by the newspaper as "a bright, curly headed youngster."  The two women agreed that Mrs. Bourke would adopt him, and Elizabeth promised to bring him around to see his mother every Wednesday.

Later, Alma Williams went to the West 74th Street address and discovered there was no one there named Bourke.  She notified police and a search was begun for Elizabeth Bourke and the kidnapped boy.  A few days later, Detective John McSherry saw a woman matching Elizabeth's description and a curly headed boy walking along Charles Street.  He followed them to the St. Agnes Nursery, where the woman dropped off the boy and left.

The nursery's matron told the detective that the boy's name was Charles Bourke, although she added, "The lady who left him sometimes called the boy, Mary."  She gave him Elizabeth's true address on Sixth Avenue, where she was arrested for kidnapping.

In the Jefferson Market Court, Elizabeth explained she gave the fictitious address to prevent the mother from bothering her.  She still intended to bring the boy around to his mother weekly.  And she also disclosed, "I had a little girl, Mary, who died.  The boy reminds me of her.  I put her clothing on him and at times called him Mary."  The magistrate ruled there was no intention of wrongdoing and the case was dismissed.  The New York Times reported, "Both women left court smiling, and the boy, it was said, would remain with Mrs. Bourke."

In 1919, two college students, Jack Kriendler and Charlie Berns, opened a "cup joint" called the Red Head at 359 Sixth Avenue.  The term referred to a speakeasy in which liquor was served in coffee cups.  Because the renumbering of Sixth Avenue six years later changed 55 Sixth Avenue's address to 359 Sixth Avenue, legend persists that this building was the original home to the speakeasy that would later become the 21 Club.

The ground floor was home to Emma's Rotisserie in 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The ground floor of 359 Sixth Avenue would be a restaurant for the rest of the century.  At mid-century it was Ernesta's, described by Eleanor Early in the 1950 New York Holiday as "a humble place where I have had good food."  It as replaced by Bravissimo.  The 1962 The Mademoiselle Career Girl's Guide to New York described, "Italian specialties, as you might guess, but also Spanish, Indian and international dishes at this crowded, casual Greenwich Village hangout."

A long-term tenant arrived in 1965 when Ida and Ed McLaughlin and Frank Campbell opened McBell's Irish Pub.  Shortly after its opening, on June 17 The Villager columnist Elizabeth Byrd said, "First of all, and very important to me, the restaurant is not self-consciously Irish.  There is no malarkey and there is dignity."  McBell's would become a Village destination, surviving over three decades.

In 2011 Tertulia, a Spanish restaurant, opened.  It was supplanted by a Nikkei restaurant, Llama San in 2019.  

photo by Jason Kessler

In the meantime, the story of a speakeasy in the building was not entirely without foundation.  Long-time Greenwich Village resident Jason Kessler recently told me, "Years ago, you’d go up a flight, and then another short flight.  There was a speakeasy there.  Bookshelf-lined warrens with comfy sofas where you could get credible martinis.  It didn’t last long; I suppose it couldn’t have."

many thanks to Jason Kessler for suggesting this post

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The 1901 Emil Loeb House - 272 West 91st Street

 

In 1897, eight high-stooped brownstone houses were erected on the east side of West End Avenue between 90th and 91st Street--leaving the two corners vacant.  Two years later, the Realty Improvement Co. hired architect Hugh Lamb to design bookend-like mansions on the corners.  Behind each of the West End Avenue homes would be another mansion and, like those on the avenue, they would be mirror-images of one another.

Lamb filed plans in December 1899.  Construction would take two years and cost the equivalent of $925,000 each in 2024 terms. Like its twin on 90th Street, 272 West 91st Street was clad in red brick above a rusticated limestone base.  The Renaissance Revival design included a dignified portico with paired Scamozzi columns.  It was surmounted at the second floor by an arresting Palladian-style window.  A pair of arched openings at this level were centered over the service entrance.  Splayed lintels with layered keystones distinguished the third floor windows.  By separating the fourth and fifth floors with a prominent, bracketed cornice, Lamb created the visual proportions of a four-story mansion.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The mansion was sold in July 1903 to John D. Walton, whose ownership would be short.  He resold it on August 12, 1905 to Emil and Blanche Pulaski Loeb.

Born in Germany in 1864, Emil Loeb arrived in America at the age of 17.  In 1889 he joined with A. B. Loveman and Moses Joseph to form the Birmingham, Alabama department store Loveman, Joseph & Loeb.  It would become the largest department store south of the Ohio River.  Although still associated with the firm, Loeb brought his family to New York City around the time he purchased 272 West 91st Street.

Blanche was born in Philadelphia in 1873 and married Emil Loeb in 1897.  The couple had a son, Louis Melville, born in 1898.  The year they moved into 272 West 91st Street, a daughter, Madeleine H. was born.

It appears the Loebs took an extended trip, almost assuredly to Europe, in 1914.  They advertised the 42-foot wide mansion for rent in August that year, noting, "every room facing the front, three modern baths; electric lights, with beautiful fixtures."  The rent of $2,500 per year would translate to $6,550 a month today.

Like the children of other well-heeled families, Louis and Madeleine attended high-status schools.  Louis graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1915.  He immediately entered Yale University, but temporarily left to serve in the field artillery of the U.S. Army during World War I.  He graduated from Yale in 1919 and enrolled at Columbia Law School that year.

On November 13, 1921, The New York Times reported on the elections of officers of the classes of 1922 and 1923 of the Columbia Law School.  Louis Melville Loeb had been elected treasurer.  He would go on to be a partner in the law firm of Cook, Nathan, & Lehman and the general counsel for The New York Times.  In 1956 he would become president of the New York City Bar Association.

Madeleine, too, would have a successful career.  After graduating from Vassar College, she was a feature writer for Musical Digest Magazine and later conducted a weekly radio program, "Women Review the News."   She did national publicity for a number of organizations, including Anne Morgan's museum for Franco-American cooperation.  Never married, she eventually became a journalist with The New York Times.

In the meantime, Dr. Charles Spivacke purchased 272 West 91st Street in June 1922.  The widowed physician was born in Russia in 1877 and came to America in the 1890s.  He obtained his medical degree from Cornell University in 1899.  By now, he was a leading specialist on allergies and asthma.  

Also living in the house were his two children, Harold and Lucia, and his widowed mother, Taube Spivak. (When Charles changed the spelling of his surname is unclear.)  Taube died in the house on June 26, 1925 and her funeral was held in the drawing room two days later.

Harold Spivacke would have a stellar career.  After receiving his Masters degree from New York University in 1924, he received his Ph.D. magna cum laude at the University of Berlin in 1933.  In 1934 he was appointed Assistant Chief of the Music Division of the Library of Congress and three years later was promoted to Chief.

Dr. Charles A. Spivacke died on November 21, 1943.  His funeral was held in the West End Funeral Chapel on West 91st Street on the 24th.  In reporting his death, The New York Sun recalled that he "aided in the organization of the allergy clinic of the Lebanon Hospital and directed it into becoming one of the largest in the city."  He was, as well, a former president of the New York Physicians Association.

No. 272 West 91st Street continued as a single family residence.  By the late 1970s, it was home to the Moses Dyckman family.  Dyckman operated a jewelry store at 79 West 47th Street.

Every morning before going to work, Dyckman attended the 6:45 services at the synagogue in the basement of 646 West End Avenue, just north of 91st Street.  He would not make it there on September 15, 1981.  That morning the superintendent of the apartment building at 646 West End Avenue saw the 86-year-old crossing the street when a green sedan pulled up and two men forced him in.

The kidnappers took Dyckman (described by the building super as "thin, rather frail") to an abandoned building on East 132nd Street where he was bound, gagged, and tied to a chair with a paper bag over his head.  But they were seen entering the building by neighbors, some of whom investigated after the men left.  The New York Times reported that they "heard Mr. Dyckman moaning, and removed him from the building.  One of them then called the police."

Unaware that Dyckman had been rescued, the kidnappers continued calling his home, eventually negotiating a drop-off point and a scaled-down ransom amount.  News coverage tipped off the crooks and they temporarily escaped capture.  But on October 7, 1981, The New York Times reported that two men had been arrested and a third, whose identity the police knew, was being sought.

A renovation begun in 2019 stripped every inch of historic detail from the interior of the Loeb mansion.  Elegant  staircases, stone mantels, and decorative woodwork were trashed.  Completed in 2023, the remodeling left only the front facade--protected because the house sits within a historic district--intact.

photographs by the author

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The Lost New York Eye & Ear Infirmary - 218 Second Avenue

 

from the collection of the New York Public Library

Having recently graduated from the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital, Drs. Edward Delafield and John Kearny Rodgers established the New York Eye Infirmary on August 14, 1820.  The first such facility in the Western Hemisphere, it was incorporated in March 1822.  By the 1850s, it had expanded its services, becoming the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary.

In 1855, having moved several times and achieved several more medical milestones, the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary broke ground for a new hospital at the northeast corner of Second Avenue and 13th Street.  The New-York Tribune made note of the "decidedly fashionable neighborhood."  On April 26, 1856, The New York Times reported, "Last evening the building recently erected in Second-avenue, corner of Thirteenth-street, specially for the purposes of an Eye and Ear Infirmary, was formally inaugurated by a public meeting in one of its spacious and elegant saloons."

The new Italianate style building was three bays wide on Second Avenue, its slightly protruding central section terminating in a triangular pediment.  The two-story upper portion was separated from the base by an intermediate cornice.

from the 1908 The Development of Ophthalmology in America 1800 to 1870.  (copyright expired)

The examination and admissions rooms were bustling scenes.  The 1864 Catalogue of Columbia University noted, "Over 8,000 cases of diseases of the eye and ear are treated annually at this Infirmary, including all varieties of Conjunctivitis, Amaurosis, Cataract, Tumors of the Orbit, Strabismus, and other affections of the organ of vision."  Patients who were unable to pay were not charged for treatment.  On August 5, 1869, The New York Times pointed out that of the 6,815 patients with eye diseases and the 1,526 treated for ear disorders the previous year, "5,207 were of foreign birth."  Most were treated as out-patients.  "The infirmary accommodates fifty patients," said the article.

from the collection of the New York Public Library

The facility was, as well, a teaching institution.  The Catalogue of Columbia University added, "Every pains [sic] is taken to make this a great and valuable school of Clinical instruction in this important branch of special surgery."

An enlargement to the building was begun in 1870, and on July 3, 1872, The New York Times reported, "another story has been put upon the building, and the rooms have been fitted for the better accommodation of patients.  There are now about sixty beds in the institution."  The architect designed the new fourth floor as a stylish mansard.

from the collection of the New York Public Library

In reporting on the improvements, the newspaper reminded readers, "no fees are ever received by the surgeons as their own perquisite for services done at the Infirmary...Persons who are not absolute paupers, and who desire to make such compensation as they can for professional attendance, are invited to do so."

The New York Eye & Ear Infirmary received rare negative publicity in May 1875 when it was sued for $100,000 damages by the guardian of Edward P. Doyle.  The youth was brought in for treatment of an eye disease.  Dr. Derby used a contaminated brush on the boy's eyes, resulting in his being infected with gonorrheal ophthalmalia (better known as gonococcal conjunctivitis today) and losing his eyesight.

Shockingly today, Judge Van Brunt of the Supreme Court instructed the jury on May 13, "It was not every member of the profession that was supposed to be gifted with the highest degree of knowledge and skill.  All that was to be expected was that he should be ordinarily well acquainted with the appliances and usages customary in such cases, and should give his best exertions to render them successful."  The jury found Dr. Derby innocent.

Modern technology was installed within the Eye & Ear Infirmary in 1881.  On New Year's Day 1882, The New York Times reported, "By means of an Ericsson motor and double boiler, water is now forced to the fourth floor of the building, thus affording suitable bathing accommodations for the patients on that floor."  During the previous year, 524 patients were admitted, while 12,086 out patients were treated--8,368 for eye problems and 2,799 for hearing.  The difference, explained the newspaper were the "919 [suffering] from throat diseases."

King's Handbook of New York City, 1892 (copyright expired)

At the time, the venerable facility was overstretched.  On April 28, 1887, The New York Times said it, "has long been in want of more room and better accommodations."  Fund raising for $275,000 to erect a "good new hospital and dispensary" had been begun.  In order to keep the facility operating throughout the construction, a two-phase building plan was arranged.

On March 15, 1890, former First Lady Frances Folsom Cleveland laid the cornerstone to the first section, directly behind the old building.  Designed by Robert Williams Gibson, The New York Times explained, "The new building is so arranged as to combine with the old one until money can be had to replace it.  The complete hospital will be in three pavilions placed across the lot with open spaces between."

The cornerstone for the second phase, replacing the 1856 building, was laid later that year.  In 1891, as reported by King's Handbook of New York City, "a hospital wing containing 70 beds was opened for the free treatment of patients."  The complex was enlarged with the building of the Schermerhorn Pavilion in 1903.

photo by Irving Underhill from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

At this writing, the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary has vacated the Romanesque Revival complex (which does not have landmark designation), leaving its fate unclear.

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J. M. Felson's 1937 161 East 88th Street

Although the country was mired in the Great Depression, architect J. M. Felson was busy designing apartment houses in New York City in the 1930s, sometimes acting as his own developer.  In 1936, he was hired by York Enterprises to design a six-story structure at 159 through 163 East 88th Street.  Completed the following year, the Art Deco, six-story building was faced in beige brick.  Unlike Felson's 1931 40 West 86th Street, which was decorated with brilliantly colored terra cotta panels, 16 East 88th Street depended almost entirely on brick.

Stone appeared only at the reeded entrance, which was capped by a waterfall-like panel.  Felson accentuated the verticality of the relatively short building by laying the bricks within the spandrels between floors on their ends.  The fire escapes were part of the design, their curved corners and chevron motifs melding with the Art Deco architecture.  Felson reserved the drama for the top floor, where Aztec inspired panels and a stair-stepping parapet stole the show.

There were seven apartments per floor, ranging from one-and-a-half to four rooms with either one or two baths.  A 1937 advertisement in The New York Sun boasted, "modern elevator apartments; dropped living rooms, dining alcoves, open galleries, concealed radiation, etc."  Rents started at $55--or about $1,140 by 2024 terms.

from Columbia University's Real Estate Brochure Collection

Among the initial residents was the George William Knight family.  Knight's father, Louis Aston Knight (who went professional by his middle name), was a recognized landscape artist.  When his parents and sister, Diane, returned to America on the Vulcania on November 26, 1937, they "went to the home of a son, George W. Knight, at 161 East Eighty-eighth street," reported The New York Sun.

Aston Knight had been busy abroad, completing about 20 paintings in Normandy.  He told the press, "I have no definite plans.  We shall spend the Christmas holidays in Rochester and go on a cruise at Eastertime, probably to the West Indies, but just where will depend on the sailings."

The Knights apparently approved of their son's apartment, and within a year they, too, had moved in.  Born in Paris in 1873, Aston Knight first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1894.  In 1922, President Warren G. Harding purchased his The Afterglow for the White House.

Knight's wife was the former Caroline Ridgeway Brewster.  In addition to George and Diane, they had a son, Ridgway Brewster.  (Ridgway would go on to become American ambassador to Syria, Belgium and Portugal.)  

Along the Seine is typical of Aston Knight's work.

The Knights were visible in Manhattan society.  On February 20, 1939, for instance, The New York Sun published a photo of Diane in an evening gown and George in white tie at the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center, "where they were members of a dinner party."  Interestingly, when Diane married James R. Todd in the Church of the Transfiguration on June 25, 1940, The New York Sun noted, "A small reception will follow at the home of the bride's brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. George W. Knight, 161 East Eighty-eighth street," rather than her parents' apartment.

Living here in 1941 was Yolanda De Clifford, described by the New York Evening Telegram as, "a rather plump brunette...who says she is a singer, a linguist and a playwrighting collaborator."  Sharing her apartment was her Irish Setter, Erin's Pride, which she fondly called Tinko.

Yolanda De Clifford, The New York Sun, May 29, 1942

One afternoon while De Clifford was walking Tinko, he "rushed upon the tiny dog being walked by [Irving] Halpern and bowled it over," reported The New York Sun.  De Clifford explained to Halpern, who "seemed somewhat disturbed," that Tinko was "just being playful."

Halpern soon got over the incident and turned his attention to Tinko.  De Clifford said her dog was worth $750 (a considerable $14,000 today), and Halpern asked "if he might take the dog out walking sometime."  Yolanda De Clifford did some research and discovered that Halpern routinely walked other people's dogs.

When she fell ill on December 28, 1941, she remembered Halpern's offer and called him.  Immediately, both Halpern and Tinko disappeared.  Five months later, on May 29, 1942, The New York Sun reported, "If Irving Halpern weren't so fond of taking other people's dogs for walks he wouldn't be in jail trying to raise $500 bail."  

Halpern had finally been tracked down and brought to court.  "Tinko, he said, is somewhere on Long Island," reported The New York Sun, which added, "He has a record of twelve previous arrests, the police say, including a sentence in 1936 for three years in the Federal Penitentiary and a $500 fine for passing counterfeit money."  Whether Yvonne De Clifford was ever reunited with her pricey Irish Setter is unclear.

At the time, resident Edward F. Morrisey was serving in World War I aboard a Superfortress B-29 bomber.  On March 26, 1945, The New York Sun reported that Sergeant Morrisey had been awarded "the Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster to the Air Medal for outstanding and meritorious achievement on flights from India and Western China."

Educator Dr. George Kurke and his wife, the former Miriam Morris, lived at 161 East 88th Street during the war years.  Born in 1890, Kurke graduated from City College in 1910 and earned his law degree from New York Law School.  He received his Ph.D. from New York University in 1938.  The principal of Robert E. Simon Junior High School, he was also the editor of the Roosevelt Quarterly and associate editor of the Roosevelt House Review.  Nationally recognized for his innovations in education, he revised a series of arithmetic books for the American Book Company, was instrumental in developing a teacher's handbook and new type of report card, along with other public school improvements.  He received the Roosevelt Medallion for "distinguished service rendered in connection with Americanization work," according to The New York Times. 

Little has changed to the exterior of 161 East 88th Street.  Its Art Deco façade is an integral thread in the diverse architectural tapestry that makes up this Upper East Side block.

photographs by the author

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The Rudolphus R. Bogert House - 20 Charlton Street

 

Charlton Street was laid out around 1817 and by the mid-1820's prim, Federal style homes began appearing along the quiet thoroughfare.  Among the first was 20 Charlton Street, built in 1826 by George Paulding.  Similar to its neighbors, the 18-foot wide house was faced in Flemish bond brick and rose two-and-a-half stories above a brownstone basement level.  Two dormers pierced the peaked roof.

The first owner of 20 Charlton Street was Rudolphus Ritzema Bogert, who first appears at the address in 1827.  Born in Holland in 1766, he was brought to America as an infant.  He was listed as "merchant" and was also a director of the United Insurance Company.  Bogert and his wife, the former Ann Clark, had a son, Rudolphus. Jr.

A miniature watercolor locket portrait of Rudolphus R. Bogert was painted by Parmesan Howell around 1806.  from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The younger Rudolphus married Wealthy Jane Gordon.  The family welcomed a baby boy on February 17, 1842.  He was given his father's and grandfather's names: Rudolphus Ritzema Bogert.

Nine months after the joyous occasion, on November 16, the eldest Bogert died at the age of 76.  His funeral was held in the house the following afternoon.

The Bogerts remained at 20 Charlton Street until around 1850, when T. M. Ferguson is first listed here.  Ferguson and his wife were highly involved in administering the Charlotte Boarding Academy in Davenport, New York.  

An advertisement in The Evening Post on October 7, 1851 noted, "Students from the city will be taken in charge at the steamboat Utica, foot of Cedar street, and conveyed to the Academy without charge."

The $130 yearly tuition (about $5,350 in 2024) included "board, beds, bedding, fuel, lights, books and stationery.  The ad said, "There are no extras except Music on Piano and Painting in oil.  Music, with the use of the Piano, $12 per term, or $24 per year, and Painting in Oil $10 per term--the students furnishing their own paints and materials."  Circulars, said the advertisement, could be obtained at two Manhattan offices "or T. M. Ferguson, 20 Charlton Street."

The Fergusons took in two boarders.  In 1851 they were Euphrates Hirst, a teacher; and commission merchant Thomas Clarke.  Hirst taught at Ward School No. 18 on 51st Street and earned $1,000 in 1853, or about $40,700 today.  He received a $200 raise around 1858.

Euphrates Hist was also on the board of managers of the New York Bible Society.  He boarded with the Fergusons through 1858, moving down the block the next year to 10 Charlton Street.  Thomas Clarke was listed here until 1856.

The Fergusons had no boarders in November 1859 when they advertised for a domestic.  Their ad in the New York Herald read:

Wanted--In a small family of two persons (man and wife), a middle aged Protestant woman; must be a good cook, washer and ironer, obliging and willing, and understand her business; good city reference required; wages $7 a month; a German Protestant preferred.

The Paulding family purchased 20 Charlton Street around 1870.  As was common, the title was put in Ellen Paulding's name.  They advertised on September 18, 1870, "A very nice furnished second story front room as Parlor or Bedroom with connecting bedroom on same floor.  Rooms heated; gas and water; to gentlemen only.  Terms will be very moderate, as family is very small and has no use for them.  This is a chance seldom met with.  Breakfast if desired."

The ad then took a peculiar turn:

Or I will rent the house, all furnished, to a good, respectable private family for $40 a week, and will pay $20 a week for self, wife and four year old.  Coal in cellar for one year and kindling wood for three years.  This little snuggery is at 20 Charlton Street.

Since the Paulding family would remain on premises, they would not actually be leasing the entire house, as the ad suggested.  Their tenants over the next few years included printers Ernest Payent and John T. Hardwick, and James Rossiter, a "pickler."

Jeanetta H. Reab and John Volz, a German immigrant, boarded here in the summer of 1877.  Volz's infatuation with Reab landed him in court on August 10.  His love interest had accused him of attempted rape.

The New York Dispatch reported, "On Friday, there appeared before Justice Otto a buxom, matronly, and chaste-looking woman, who, with some pride, announced the euphonious name of Jeanetta H. Reab."  She told the judge that Volz, who was around 50 years old, had "chased her through the different rooms into her bedroom, and threw her upon the bed, and attempted to commit an outrage upon her."

"Mr. Volz, a man of your age ought to know better than attempt such a thing with a decent woman," chastised the Justice Otto.

Volz replied that he loved Reab "with his whole heart."  

"Yes, but John, you are a married man, and this thing is enormous," said the judge.

Voltz explained that his "frau" had been in a "lunacy asylum" for eight years and he wanted another wife.  He was held on $500 bail awaiting a grand jury decision.

The residence was sold in 1884 and was operated as a boarding house throughout the subsequent decades.  It was the scene of tragedy on August 21, 1902.  On that afternoon, Ida Promezkty was cleaning a dark room using a benzine soaked rag.  The World reported, "Her little girl, Mary, six years old, was holding a candle for her."  Mary dropped the candle and it fell on the benzine can, which exploded.

Mary was unhurt, but Ida's clothing caught fire.  By the time other boarders rushed in, nearly all her clothing had been burned off.  The World said, "She is burned from her ankles to the top of her head and is believed to have inhaled some of the flame."  She was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital where she died.  

In 1920, Leonard Weill purchased several properties in the neighborhood, including 20 Charlton Street.  He resold it in November 1921 to Margaret Donahue Howell who, according to the New-York Tribune on November 7, "will alter the house from plans prepared by Maxwell Hyde, architect, into a modern dwelling."

The plans called for new interior walls and rooms, skylights, and the joining of the two dormers into one.  When the renovations were complete, Howell placed the house on the market in June 1922 for $22,000 (about $400,000 by today's terms).  Her ad described it as a "three story remodeled house; modern in every respect; attractive garden with trees; top floor studio apartment separate."

Interestingly, Margaret Howell had inherited a tenant when she purchased the house.  Robert Dimond, Jr., a real estate agent and his family had moved in around 1897.  His son and daughter-in-law, Matthew and Marcella Dimond, remained in the house until their deaths, and when Howell bought it, Fanny Olivia Dimond still occupied their rooms.  She died in the house on February 27, 1922.

An advertisement in 1925 described one of the apartments.  "Greenwich Village--4 rooms, bath, kitchenette; cool and light, overlooking garden; sublet to Oct. 1.  Inquire caretaker, basement."

The house was renovated in 1946, resulting in one apartment per floor.  Among the tenants in the coming decades was Robert Jonathan Kornfeld, here in 1948.  An advertising man, he had graduated from Harvard in 1941.  And Josephine Assenza was a tenant in 1960 when she was a member of Amita, described by The Villager as a "women of achievement organization."

A renovation completed in 2017 brought the parlor through attic floors back to a single family home.  The basement level holds an apartment.

photograph by the author

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Edward Cunningham's 1886 385 Manhattan Avenue

 

In February 1886, John M. Pinkney sold the vacant lots that made up the western blockfront of New Avenue (renamed Manhattan Avenue the following year) between 116th and 117th Street to developer Edward Cunningham.  Cunningham was also a partner in the contracting firm of Cunningham & Henderson, and appears to have acted as his own arcchitect.  Before the year was out, he had filled the block with 11 three-story homes.  A medley of Queen Anne designs, the houses--some faced in brick, some in brownstone, and others in both--created a charming streetscape.

The parlor level facades of the mirror-image houses that anchored the corners were clad in brownstone.  Stone quoins framed the openings and ran up the corners.  Large arched openings with stained glass transoms faced the avenue and side street, and decorative chimney backs carried on the Queen Anne motif.

The original appearance of 385 Manhattan Avenue can be seen in its mirror-image on the opposite corner at 405 Manhattan Avenue.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Rudolph and Minnie L. Schneider purchased 365 Manhattan Avenue in 1887.  The couple operated a "brewers' materials" business at 211 East 94th Street under the name M. L. Schneider.  The Schneiders sold the building on January 29, 1904 to William Levers.

It is unclear whether Levers ever moved into the house or merely rented it.  In 1905 and '06, Eugene Bernstein listed his address here.  A German immigrant, he was an active member of the Tonkünstler Society, a German musical group.

Lever sold 365 Manhattan Avenue to Solomon Schinasi in May 1906.  Schinasi converted the parlor level for commercial use and created a second residential entrance around the corner at 355 West 116th Street.  The upper floors were adapted for apartments.  

In 1915, the shop space was leased to Drs. William Boehm and John Luks, who opened the Harlem Health Institute.  A notice in The Columbia Spectator on April 7 that year described the facility as "an institution of interest to all Columbia University students in need of health-baths of all kinds."  Among the services offered were "scientific massage, corrective gymnastics, and physical culture in all its branches--(X-Ray and all modern Electrical apparatus used)."  The institute remained through 1917.

An advertisement in 1921 offered furnished or unfurnished apartments.  It read, "Large rooms, kitchen, shower bath; parquet floor; electricity, gas included; or furnished; reasonable."

Not all the residents of 385 Manhattan Avenue during the Depression years were law-abiding.  Carl Taylor lived here in 1936 when his criminal endeavors nearly cost him his life.  On July 21, the Elmhurst, New York Daily Register reported,  "Captured after a wild chase in which shots were fired, Carl Taylor, 34, a negro of 385 Manhattan avenue, Manhattan is in St. John's Hospital today suffering from bullet wounds received when he was pursued by Newtown police early this morning after the attempted burglary of a Jackson Heights apartment."

Born in Virginia around 1868, Thomas Lyman lived here in 1940.  Crowded into the apartment with him were his 39-year-old daughter, Ellen Ash, and her three teenaged children, Vivian, Robert and Alfred.

At the time, the store was occupied by the grocery of brothers Louis and Michael Ronan.  On the afternoon of December 28, 1946, Harrison Wilson, James Lewis and Leonard Lappeire barged into the store brandishing handguns.  The young men (Wilson and Lappeire were both 22, and Lewis was 26), were dangerous and had committed ten armed robberies within the past month.  During one of the heists alone--at the Club Car at 924 Fifth Avenue--they made off with "cash, furs and jewelry with a total value of $9,100," according to The Sun.  (The Club Car was a private night club within the former mansion of George Henry Warren.) 

The hoodlums were not expecting this caper to be any different from their others.  But, as reported by The Sun, "Michael [Ronan] obeyed the 'stick 'em up' command, but Louis ducked under a counter and grabbed a gun."  A shoot-out commenced during which Ronan wounded one of the would-be robbers in the hand.  In the meantime, a passerby saw what was going on and notified two policemen.  They captured Harrison Wilson, the injured man, as he was exiting the store.  The others were tracked down within 24 hours.

A grocery store occupied the shop space in 1941.   image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

It may have been the harrowing incident that prompted the Ronan brothers to leave 365 Manhattan Avenue.  The following year the store was home to Miguel Aviles's delicatessen.

Beulah Brown lived here in 1963 and worked in the Hotel Ebony on West 112th Street.  She became a key witness in the capture of a serial murderer that year.  James Foster was a 36-year-old trucker's helper who would later admit that he had "nursed a grudge against all women for the past 21 years," according to The Record of Hackensack, New Jersey.  Within a two-week period beginning at the end of April, he strangled three women to death in Harlem hotels, and on the morning of May 12 strangled a 15-year-old girl in her mother's home.  That night, detectives broke into a room in the Hotel Ebony where Foster had just registered with another women.  The raid no doubt saved that woman's life.

A year later Foster went to trial.  On April 25, 1964, the New York Amsterdam News reported, "During the two-week trial, Foster was identified by Mrs. Katherine Owens of 150 West 140th St., and Mrs. Beulah Brown of 385 Manhattan Ave., as the man who registered with Miss Lewis."

Around 2009, a second store was carved into the rear portion of the building.  Kuti's Place, a takeout restaurant opened there in 2010.  The New York Times food columnist Dave Cook described the offerings as a marriage of "West African and Middle Eastern flavors."

More than a bit battered today, 365 Manhattan Avenue nevertheless retains much of its 1886 appearance.

photographs by the author

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