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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