Born in Sussex, England in 1852, Frank Eugene Wise entered his father's construction firm, the Nathaniel Wise Company as a young man. On July 15, 1880, he married Emma Palmatier and the couple had two children, Florence Isabel and Frank Lounsbury.
Following his father's death, Wise took the reins of the firm, renaming it the Wise Construction Company. Decades later, The New York Times would remark, "He built extensively on the West Side as a speculative builder in the Nineties." Among those speculative projects was a row of upscale rowhouses along West 101st Street between Broadway and West End Avenue in 1892.
Completed the following year, the homes were designed by Gilbert A. Schellenger. Each a variation of the other, they were three stories tall above a high English basement. Only 236 West 101st Street had fully arched openings at the parlor level. Like its architectural siblings, its second and third floors were bowed. Panels below the parlor and third floor windows were filled with Renaissance inspired foliate carvings.
Frank Wise retained 236 West 101st Street for his family. Also moving into the house was Emma's widowed mother, Julia A. Palmatier. She died here on April 13, 1900 and her funeral was held in the drawing room two days later.
Florence's engagement to Lewis Burton Hall, Jr. was announced late in 1903. On January 9, 1904, Emma held a luncheon in her honor. The New York Herald commented, "Covers were laid for fourteen." The wedding took place in the 101st Street house on January 17. The Brooklyn Standard Union mentioned, "There were nearly 400 guests at the reception after the ceremony."
Emma became involved in the Girls' Social and Industrial Club of St. Michael's Parish upon its formation in 1901. On March 11, 1905, the New-York Tribune reported that it had "not been a formal organization," but now had adopted a constitution and elected members. "The reorganization took place at the home of Mrs. Frank Eugene Wise, No. 236 West 101st-st.," said the article, which noted, "It also changed its name to the Neighborhood Social and Industrial Club."
Emma became its president and would hold the title for decades. Club Women of New York explained, "The object of the club is to provide a safe place of amusement for girls between the ages of 12 and 20 who live in the crowded tenement houses. The majority of the 225 members are girls employed in shops or as maids in families." In addition to holding classes in sewing, cooking, embroidery, calisthenics and dancing, the group hosted a monthly social for the girls.
Frank Lounsbury Wise joined his father's firm upon his graduation from Cornell University's College of Engineering. The firm was renamed Frank E. Wise & Son. It appears that the son and father were too busy erecting buildings to take extended vacations. For years, the society columns reported only on Emma's summer movements. On October 6, 1907, for instance, The New York Times reported, "Mrs. Frank E. Wise...has come home from Palenville, Green County, N.Y.," and on May 28, 1911, the newspaper announced, "Mrs. Frank E. Wise, 236 West 101st Street, has returned from the Catskills."
By the time of that article, Frank E. Wise was a former president of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen and a trustee of the Harlem Savings Bank. He was president of the Mechanic's Institute School. It provided, "evening classes to furnish free instruction to young men in freehand drawing, elementary and advances; in mechanical and architectural drawing and mathematics; also classes in physics and industrial electricity," according to the New York Charities Directory in 1919.
World War I took Frank L. Wise away from his father's firm. He was still on active duty in the 570th Field Artillery on April 29, 1922 when he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant.
Frank Eugene Wise retired in 1928. Forty-three years after he erected his home, he died in 236 West 101st Street at the age of 84 on August 14, 1936. In reporting his death, The New York Times mentioned that he "had been active in the building materials and building industry for fifty years." His entire estate, equal to $3 million in 2025, went to Emma.
Emma and Frank L. Wise remained here. Emma acquired a 21-acre country home in Croton Falls, New York by the late 1930s and was active in the social activities there. On October 14, 1941, for instance, the Daily Argus reported on plans for "an evening bridge" on October 25. The article said, "Reservations must be made before Nov. 14 with Mrs. Frank Wise, 236 West 101st Street, New York City."
Emma Wise apparently insisted that the window shades were kept at a regimentally-even level when this photograph was taken in 1941. image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
Emma Wise died on June 21, 1943 at the age of 85. Her $186,849 estate (equal to about $3.4 million today) was divided equally between Frank and Florence.
Frank, who was 58 years old at the time of his mother's death, was still unmarried. That would soon change. On December 4, 1943, the Burlington Daily News reported that Cecelia Marguerite Bliss was engaged to Frank L. Wise. The article noted that he had been "for many years a partner in the Wise Construction Company," adding, "He is a dog fancier and owns the Amawalk kennels."
It may have been Wise's passion for breeding beagles that prompted him and Cecelia to purchase a home in Carmel, New York. His Amawalk Si, according to The Reporter Dispatch in 1950, was the "only dual championship beagle hound at stud in the country."
Frank Lounsbury Wise contracted an illness in the late 1940s and died at the Carmel property on March 3, 1950 at the age of 64.
Unlike almost all the houses along the row erected by his father, 236 West 101st Street was never converted to apartments. When the five-bedroom house was sold in 2015, much of Gilbert A. Schellenger's 1893 interior details were intact.
photographs by the author
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