The Heavily Remodeled Walcutt & Leeds Building - 53 East 11th Street

 

On November 11, 1896, The Electrical Engineer reported that Walcutt & Leeds had moved into the building at 53 East 11th Street.  There, said the article, they "manufacture phonograph and graphophone records and supplies.  They manufacture also the blank cylinders and sell also the latest types of the Edison phonographs."  The firm had been formed that same month by Edward F. Leeds, Loring L. Leeds and Cleveland Walcutt.  

Loring L. Leeds, according to the New-York Tribune, was "for many years identified with Thomas A. Edison."  Edison had invented the phonograph nearly two decades earlier and Walcutt & Leeds (along with others) worked to improve the phonograph cylinders.  

The Phonoscope, May 1897 (copyright expired)

The building at 53 East 11th Street had been erected about 15 years earlier by T. F. Sturges.  At the time it was two stories tall, but was remodeled and enlarged in 1894.  Now three stories tall, the stepped gable of the factory-and-shop structure reflected the currently popular Flemish Revival style.  Faced in brick, the upper floors were separated by undressed stone courses.  A large terra cotta rondel above the third floor and a half-round terra cotta sunburst atop the gable added interest.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The firm produced recordings of popular singers and musicians, including Irish-born George J. Gaskin, known as the "silver-voiced Irish tenor."  The company's largest customer for master (or blank) cylinders was the National Phonograph Company, established by Edison.  Walcutt & Leeds, however, was consistently in court because it "flaunted phonograph-related patents," according to the Discography of American Historical Recordings.

Directly behind 53 East 11th Street was Ward School No. 47.  The Sun said that the Walcutt & Leeds building was "only a few feet from the rear windows of the school, and it is easy to see from one building to another."  The newspaper said on June 16, 1897, "For some time the firm has been conducting experiments in a room on the third floor of the factory."  The previous day, Cleveland Walcutt and Dr. J. W. Metcalf had been "experimenting to produce a more perfect phonograph record cylinder than the one now in general use."  According to the article, "They had a great nine-foot cauldron of boiling wax, and into this they poured various chemicals."

Suddenly there was an immense explosion that "literally ripped the room to pieces," said the article.  "Windows were broken, sashes torn out, and the walls and ceilings brought down with a crash."  Cleveland and Metcalf were splashed with boiling wax and seriously burned.  

The blast blew out windows of Ward School 47.  The janitor, who was helping girls decorate a classroom for that day's graduation ceremony, was thrown across the room.  The school was evacuated and, as reported by The Sun, "When the fire in the factory had been put out the children were marched back into the school and the school duties resumed as though nothing had happened."

In 1903 the firm was manufacturing disc recordings.  Lippincott's Magazine Advertiser, December 1903 (copyright expired)

In 1897, a judge found Cleveland Walcutt and Edward Leeds guilty of contempt for ignoring a patent infringement injunction.  Two years later, Walcutt left the company and in June 1899, Edward Leeds partnered with Reade Catlin to reorganize as the Leeds & Catlin Company.

The firm soon began experimenting with the emerging disc, rather than cylinder, market.  It produced its final brown-wax cylinder catalog in 1903 and turned solely to disc (or record) production.

In 1899, Leeds & Catlin leased space to R. Arnold, a manufacturing and retail furrier, who had been operating on University Place.  Working in the shop at the turn of the century was Helene Miller, "a tailoress," as described by The New York Times.  She responded to an advertisement by Charles Blumenthal looking for "people with small incomes desirous of building homes."  Helene sent him several $15 installments towards her building fund, and then Blumenthal disappeared.

Helene lived in North Bergen, New Jersey and took the ferry back and forth each day.  In the fall of 1900, she spotted Blumenthal on the ferryboat.  The feisty woman, it turned out, was not to be trifled with. "I took hold of his collar and gave him a good shaking, demanding my money back," she later told a reporter.  He begged her not to create a scene and promised to return her money "within a day or two."  When the money had not been returned by December 11, Helene began her own investigation to find his home address. 

On January 7, 1901, she told a reporter from The New York Times, "I found out to-night where he lived, and immediately notified the police.  I would have given him a good beating but the detective made me walk on ahead."  Blumenthal was arrested for swindling.

A horrific accident occurred here on the morning of February 27, 1901.  Santa Cancialosa and her husband entered the elevator on an upper floor.  The New York Times reported that when it reached the lobby, "the elevator man threw open the gate, stepped out and started to walk across the hall."  According to court documents later, "When he had gone about ten or twelve feet, he heard a scream behind him, and, turning, saw the elevator moving upwards."

The 26-year-old Santa Cancialosa had been the first to exit the elevator.  The New York Times reported, "before she was entirely out of the elevator the car suddenly darted upward, catching her body between it and the landing above."  The elevator operator attempted to stop the car, but "Mrs. Cancialosa was wedged in so tight that she was killed almost instantly."

On March 15, 1909, The Talking Machine World reported on the "new twin record catalog of Leeds & Catlin Co." and added, "The company are making arrangements to move into a new suite of offices in one of the prominent buildings of the city, but retaining their laboratory at 53 East Eleventh street."  That move would not happen.  Three months later, on June 22, The New York Times reported that Leeds & Catlin Company had filed for bankruptcy.  An auction of the firm's physical assets was held in the building on August 10.  Along with the expected office furniture to be sold, according to The Waste Trade Journal, were more unusual items like an organ, a piano and stool, microscopes and technical equipment like a "3-cylinder recording machine," vacuum pumps, Edison reproducers and such.

No. 53 East 11th Street now filled with a variety of tenants.  Waterman & Company, pen manufacturer, occupied space through 1915.  In 1916 Joseph Reichbach leased the ground floor space.  Around the same time Barshop & Klein, general contractors, operated from an upper floor office.  In January 1920, Morallissee & Fondrisi, apparently an apparel firm, took the front portion of the second floor.

In 1932, the ground floor was converted to a restaurant and the factory space above became apartments, one per floor.  

Ben's Luncheonette occupied the ground floor in 1941.  via the NYC Dept. of Records & Information Services. 

Thelma Burne lived in one of the apartments in 1936.  On August 8 that year, The New York Age reported that she "entertained an intimate group of friends at a weekend party ending after Sunday dinner."

In 1948, Robert Frank took an apartment here.  Born in Zürich in 1924, he had emigrated to the United States a year earlier and landed a job as a fashion photographer with Harper's Bazaar.  Frank would develop as a notable photographer and filmmaker.  His 1958 book The Americans was described by critic Sean O'Hagan as, "perhaps the most influential photograph book of the 20th century."  Robert Frank's residency would be short-lived.  He left to travel throughout South American and Europe in 1949.

On May 16, 1963, The New York Times reported that Oscar and Rachel Zurer had purchased "the three-story studio and store building" at 53 East 11th Street.  The article said, "Mr. Zurer, who is identified with several off-Broadway plays, plans to use most of the house for his residence and business."  The couple renovated the ground floor to the Renata Theatre.  Part of the second floor became the office and the other portion was now part of a duplex apartment for the Zurers.  The 157-seat Renata Theatre opened on October 8, 1964 with Shout From the Rooftop by Jess Gregg.  

In the meantime, Grove Press had been established at 18 Grove Street in 1951.  In 1962 the firm moved to University Place (where it was first charged with selling an obscene work).  Then, on August 31, 1967, The New York Times reported that the publishing firm's president, Barney Rosset, had announced that, "he had purchased the Renata Theater, 53 East 11th Street, from Oscar Zurer for $170,000 and leased it to the Grove press for 10 years."  The article said the theater portion "will be used for the presentation of plays and films and its name will be changed to Evergreen."  Evergreen was the title of Grove Press's bi-monthly review, its series of books, and the theater programs that it printed.

The residential space above the theater was converted to offices. Evergreen Theater opened on October 16, 1967 with The Beard, a two-character play by Michael McClure.  Less than three months later, on January 10, 1968, Barney Rosset announced that going forward the Evergreen Theater would present "both plays and films." 

Grove Press had been scrutinized by the Central Intelligence Agency for years.  In August 1975, Barney Rosset and an editor, Fred Jordan, filed a suit against the C.I.A. on behalf of Grove Press.  It charged the agency "with infiltrating, wiretapping and bombing the offices of Grove Press, Inc."  (The bombing had taken place at the University Place location.)  The 21-page complain sought $10 million in damages.  Among the specific accusations were:

The agency wiretapped the telephones of Grove Press and Mr. Rosset, collected the wiretapped information in an intelligence file and divulged the contents to others

Impersonation and disguise were used to "infiltrate" Grove Press, employees placed in the company adversely influenced its managerial, editorial and employment policies

A "mail watch" was conducted against the plaintiffs that included opening and copying their correspondence.

Around 1982, Bahá’í Center took over the building.  According to its website, it strives "to give expression to the oneness of humanity, a core principle of their faith, by seeking to eliminate racial prejudice, advance the equality of women and men, and build a vibrant spiritual community reflecting the human family in all its diversity." The theater portion is used for the Children's Theater Company, which stages children's plays.

In 1992, the lobby and the exterior were remodeled. The ground floor was given a veneer of pink granite, and the upper floors received white stone panels. Unfortunately, the renovations eradicated the little building's 1897 charm.

many thanks to reader Mark Satlof for suggesting this post

photographs by the author