The Alexander Grant House - 426 West 44th Street

 

photograph by Anthony Bellov

Around 1860, a trio of brick-faced, Italianate style houses were erected at 274 through 278 West 44th Street.  (They would be renumbered 426 through 430 in 1865.)  Three bays wide and three stories tall above a brownstone basement, their elliptically arched entrances were capped with shallow pediments.  The windows wore molded cornices and miniature brackets upheld the sills.  Especially handsome cornices incorporated ornate foliate brackets and leafy fascia decorations.  The heavy Italianate ironwork included a surprising areaway gate that took the form of a giant daisy or cartwheel.

photograph by Anthony Bellov

Although the residences sat perilously close to the notorious Hell's Kitchen district, the block between Ninth and Tenth Avenues was respectable and populated with upper-middle class families.  The easternmost house, No. 274, appears to have been originally rented, based on the rapid-fire turnover of occupants.  In 1861 and '62, it was home to William Armstrong, a carpenter; coal merchant Peter Connelly; and Charlotte Pollock, who taught in the Primary Department of Public School No. 33 on West 28th Street.  (Charlotte earned $300 a year in 1862, or about $9,650 in 2025.)

In 1864, the house was home to Thomas White, who ran a slaughterhouse at 13 Abbatoir Place.  His family was followed in 1868 by Jacob Brower, a carpenter; James Avent, a driver; and Joseph Burns, who worked as a clerk.  Finally, in 1870, No. 426 received long-term residents when Alexander Grant purchased it.

Grant was born in Granton, Scotland in 1811.  He came to America as a young engineer with the United States Coast Survey Service.  (Formed in 1807 as the Survey of the Coast, the agency was renamed Coast Survey in 1836.   Today, as the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, it is part of NOAA.)  By the time Grant purchased 426 West 44th Street, he operated an iron foundry, specializing in the manufacturing of railings.

The Grants had two children, a son and daughter.  By 1879, Charles A. Grant had a job as an "agent," and on January 6, 1881, was appointed a clerk in the Police Department.  He rapidly rose within the force and within three years was the private secretary to Police Commissioner Joel W. Mason.

On April 14, 1884, The New York Times reported, "Alexander Grant, an old business man of this city, and an active Republican worker in the Seventeenth Assembly District, died yesterday of paralysis of the heart, at his residence, No. 426 West Forty-fourth-street."  His funeral was held in the parlor on April 15.

The original entrance doors survive.  Originally they most likely held acid-etched glass.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

The Grants sold 426 West 44th Street to John Crawford and his wife, the former Rachel Rylie.  Born in 1825 and 1834 respectively, he and his wife had two daughters, Elizabeth J. and Matilda A.  Elizabeth was a teacher in the primary department of Grammar School No. 17 on West 47th Street in 1892.  

Sharing the house with the Crawfords starting around 1895 was Rev. Homer H. Wallace.  Born in 1854, Wallace graduated from Princeton University in 1881.  Living with the Crawford family was highly convenient, since he was pastor of the West Forty-Fourth St. United Presbyterian Church just steps away to the west.  

John Crawford died in the house on October 30, 1903 at the age of 78, and his funeral was held in the parlor on November 2nd.  

Rachel took in additional boarders, apparently only one at a time.  They were often elderly widows, some remaining with the family until their deaths.  On March 3, 1911, for instance, Mary A. Mains, the widow of Robert Mains, died at the age of 85; and on February 14, 1914, Isabelle Josephine Simon died.  Their funerals were held in the Crawfords' parlor.

After living here for three decades, Rachel Rylie Crawford died on May 6, 1921 at the age of 87.  Her funeral (nearly a week later on May 12) would be the last to be held in the house.  About this time, Rev. Wallace was taken to a private nursing home in Washington, Connecticut, where he died at the age of 84 on July 13, 1938.

Two decades after her mother's death, on May 28, 1941, The New York Times reported that Matilda A. Crawford had sold 426 West 44th Street.  The article noted, "This is the first sale of the property in fifty-four years.

The original ironwork was intact in 1941.  Close inspection reveals the marvelous, giant daisy gate.  Rev. Wallace's church is at the right.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The new owner, described by the newspaper as "an investor," operated the house as rented rooms.  Among the residents in 1941 were Frank W. Kerr, who received his insurance brokage license that year; and the Prosser family.  

On the night of November 15, The New York Times reported, 

Two boys, found cowering in a clump of bushes in back of 65-83 Fitchett Street, West Forest Hills, Queens, last night were arrested as the burglars who had broken in the home of Mrs. Wilhelmina Smith...shortly before, and had fled with jewelry after they had been surprised in the house.  

In their pockets, police found "rings, jewelry, a watch and some unset diamonds."  The items were identified by Mrs. Smith as having been taken from her dresser.  Sixteen-year-old Frederick Prosser was one of the teens arrested.  The Times noted, "The boys said they escaped three months ago from the Parental Home at Bayonne, N. J."

Oddly, every other oval balustrade has been removed, and the hand railing replaced. photograph by Anthony Bellov

The house was sold on August 11, 1961 to Joseph L. Ennis & Co., real estate operators.  It was converted to a two-family home.  Although the masonry is painted and the once-striking ironwork mutilated (or totally replaced, in the case of the areaway fencing), the Grant house greatly retains its pre-Civil War appearance.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post