The Lost Home for the Relief of the Destitute Blind - Amsterdam Av. and 104th Street

 

The building's large chapel occupied the second floor corner.  photograph from the New-York Historical's Robert Bracklow Collection.

The soldiers who returned to New York City from the Civil War were often maimed.  Institutions were established to help them reintegrate into society.  One organization, for instance, taught veterans who had lost their right arms to write with their left hands and to function despite their new disability.  In 1868, the Reverend Eastburn Benjamin founded the New York Home for the Relief of the Destitute Blind.

The institution was not relegated to men and, although Rev. Benjamin was Episcopalian, it was non-sectarian.  The blind were given lodging and trained in a trade like "mattrass-making [sic], re-seating chairs, and all kinds of knitting-work," according to King's Handbook of New York, and they were given "fair wages" for their work.  "Inmates," as they were called, who could not afford to pay the $10 per month fee were accepted at no charge.  The Home for the Destitute Blind received no city nor state support, and relied solely on private donations.  

On July 4, 1885, The Record & Guide reported, "The Home for the Relief of the Destitute Blind intends to erect a large building up town."  The 125-by-100 foot southwest corner of Tenth Avenue (shortly to be renamed Amsterdam Avenue) and 104th Street had been acquired and architect F. Carlos Merry hired.  The article said, "The material will be of native stone to the first story and brick and brown stone above."  The three-story-and-basement structure would cost $55,000 to erect, or about $2 million in 2025 terms.

Socialites flocked to support fundraising for the building.  On February 28, 1886, for instance, The Sun reported, 

There will be a brilliant and crowded audience at the Academy of Music to-morrow evening, when Delibe's opera, 'Lakemé,' will be produced for the first time in this city by the American Opera Company, in aid of the Home for the Relief of Destitute Blind...All the boxes and more than half of the seats have been sold, and the performance will be witnessed by one of the largest society gatherings that have ever assembled in the Academy of Music.

As the building neared completion, a two-day fundraising fair was "held in the most beautiful ballroom of New York," reported The Sun on December 12, without mentioning which ballroom it was.  The tables were manned by "rosebuds," said the article, a term referring to the season's debutantes, adding that "butterflies of fashion hovered in swarms."

Completed early in 1887, Merry had created a delightfully organized jumble of shapes and gables and roofs.  On February 19, 1887, The Record & Guide said, "It has architecturally two fronts...the principal one on the avenue and one on the side street."  Merry gave both elevations projecting sections, which were connected with iron balconies.  The center section of the avenue side rose to what The Record & Guide described as a "separate roof [with] an ogee curve."  The Hershey Kiss-shaped cap was in effect a stylized onion dome and gave the building a slightly Oriental flavor.

A terra cotta band on 104th Street read "Home for the Relief of the Destitute Blind."  The architect splashed the Renaissance Revival design with touches of Queen Anne.  The half-circle window in one of the 104th Street side gables, for instance, "radiates terra cotta flames over the panel above."  The critic praised Merry's treatment of the corner.  "One of the cleverest points in the design is the feature by which the awkwardness of the junction of these two gables at right angles is dissembled, a small half-round bay at the corner ending below the eaves."  The critic ended his critique saying that Merry "is much to be congratulated upon his work."

The fish scale tiles of the dome and the terra cotta "waved surface" of the gable tiles can be seen in this photo.  King's Handbook of New York, 1893 (copyright expired)

In 1891, according to King's Handbook of New York, the Home took in 150 residents.  In reporting on an upcoming benefit performance held in the Waldorf-Astoria ballroom on April 3, 1901, the New-York Tribune explained, "The home is conducted in an economical manner, and the cost of maintaining it is only about $9 a month for each of the inmates."  The article noted, "The home has a workshop in which many of the inmates are employed, and a slight profit is derived from their work."  Nevertheless, said the article, "The income of the society is barely sufficient" and donations were always needed.

Presumably, it was a generous donor who made possible the purchase of two five-story apartment buildings at 208 and 210 West 104th Street by the Home.  In reporting the transaction on February 17, 1912, The New York Times explained, "The purchase was made to prevent the erection of any tall structure adjoining the home."

Nevertheless, nothing the Home did would stem the incursion of modern apartments in the neighborhood.  On October 14, 1916, The Record & Guide reported that the Society for the Relief of the Destitute Blind had hired M. L. & H. G. Emery to design a new facility in the Bronx.  Three years later, on June 20, 1919, the New-York Tribune reported that Harris and Albert Sokolski had purchased the Amsterdam Avenue corner as well as 208 and 210 West 104th Street.  The article said, "The purchasers plan to begin work immediately on an apartment house to cover the entire plot."

Architect George F. Pelham filed plans for "two six-story brick and limestone apartments, with stores," on the site.  The buildings survive.

image via brownstoner.com

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post