The family of Ebenezer Doughty most likely leased the upscale house at 185 East 15th Street (renumbered 135 in 1868) in 1853. Doughty had retired from his position as an inspector at the Customhouse. Living with him and his wife were their adult sons, Edward and Charles A.
The four-story, three-bay wide home was typical of the Greek Revival style. Its double-doored entrance was flanked by sturdy brownstone pilasters that upheld a substantial entablature. The house would have originally had an understated cornice. A superb cast iron railing swept down the stoop to encircle the newels.
In 1854, the family of tea merchant Theodore Crane moved in. As was common, the Cranes took in a boarder. In 1854 it was Charles E. Groesbeeck, and in 1856 Augustus Morand lived with the family.
Augustus Morand, The Photographic Art-Journal, 1851 (copyright expired)
Augustus Morand listed his profession as "artist," however he was taking artistic license in saying so. Born in New York City in 1818, he was a pioneer in the photographic field. When living with the Cranes, he had been creating daguerreotypes for about a decade. He would become well-known as a portrait photographer. Perhaps his most celebrated client would be Frederick Douglass, whom he photographed on May 15, 1863.
The Cranes were followed in the house by Herman Joseph Aloysius Koerner, Ph.D. Dr. Koerner was an artist and Professor of Drawing at the Free Academy of New York. The Koerners were involved in the German community within the district. On April 18, 1862, for instance, The Sun reported, "The ladies of the 18th Ward assembled yesterday noon at the residence of Miss Koerner, 185 East 15th street, and adopted preliminary measures for the organization of a Ladies Aid Society...in behalf of the German Hospital project."
Beginning around 1864, Margaret Andrews operated the residence as an upscale boarding house. She accepted only a handful of boarders. In 1872, Clarinda A. Witherstine took over the operation. The widow of Gaylord Witherstine, she seems to have sought out teachers as her residents.
On November 10, 1872, an advertisement in the New York Herald read, "Miss F. A. Millspaugh would like a few more pupils for the Pianoforte at her own residence, 135 East Fifteenth street, or at that of the pupil." Florence A. Millspaugh would board here through 1879. Other boarders in the house that year were teachers Genevieve Baker and Maria L. Clawson.
The house was sold in foreclosure in October 1879, and underwent a rapid turnover of owners until Cornelius B. Gold sold the property to the Prison Association of New York in 1887. On June 9, The New York Times reported that "through the generosity of some of its friends," the Prison Association "has been able to buy the house 135 East Fifteenth-street, where its offices will be in the future. The same building will contain the offices of the National Prison Association of the United States and of the Burnham Industrial Farm."
Incorporated in 1846, the association worked to improve conditions of prisoners, and to reform discharged convicts. It lobbied for reformatory laws regarding indeterminate sentences, probation and parole. Additionally, the association worked to help the families of incarcerated men, now faced with no income.
On October 10, 1897, the New York Journal reported, "A very novel exhibition has been given at No. 135 East Fifteenth street the last three days." The artworks were the work of prisoners in "Sing Sing, Auburn and Clinton prisons, but also from the Elmira Reformatory and the Mattawan Asylum for the Criminal Insane." In addition to drawings, there were "fine plaster casts" made by a young Italian convict, an architect, and wood carvings. (The article said it would not reveal the architect's name, "for on his release he intends to go back to his old position, and to begin life over again as an honest man."
The Prison Association of New York hired the architectural firm of Stoughton & Stoughton in June 1910 to remodel the interiors. The first floor now held the parole bureau, the library, and a waiting room for released convicts. Clerical staff--the chief parole agent, and the assistant parole agent, for example--were now housed on the second floor. A new cornice with a triangular pediment was installed.
The association also published The Delinquent from the house. The monthly periodical printed articles like, "Domestic Relations, Courts and Divorce," and "Some Factors in Prison Reform," which appeared in the February 1917 issue.
Especially at Christmas time, the families of convicts were remembered by the association. General Secretary E. R. Cass wrote a letter to the editor of The New York Times on November 30, 1923 that read:
Mothers and children come to us every day in great sorrow and distress, through no fault of their own. For the children of men in prison we hope, through the help of your interested readers, to have a Christmas tree and toys at 135 East Fifteenth Street. Dolls for the girls and toys and games for the boys will be appreciated and will help to bring cheer and sunshine to these children.
In 1961, the Prison Association of New York changed its name to the Correctional Association of New York. A renovation completed in 1971 resulted in a superintendent's apartment in the basement, and offices throughout the upper floors.
North Star Fund, created in 1979, acquired the former house in 1983. The organization raises funds and makes grants "for racial, gender and economic justice," according to its website. In 1984, it made renovations to the building and it was most likely at this time that the former parlor floor windows were replaced with grouped openings under a single lintel, which the architect carefully coordinated with the entrance entablature. It was also possible that during this renovation the cornice pediment was removed.
The former Ebenezer Doughty house was restored to a single family residence in 2012. Described by a realtor in 2017 as a "stunning, 25-foot elevator home," there are now eight bedrooms within the home.
photographs by the author
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