Charles and Adele Canda lived at 17 Lafayette Place in the mid-1850s. Born in 1792 and 1804 respectively, their elegant neighborhood was populated with wealthy families like the Schermerhorns and Astors. Charlotte's father had been an officer in Napoleon's army, as had been Charles's brother, Louis-Joseph-Florimond Canda. (The familial connections with the French army prompted stories that it was Charles who served under Napoleon.) The couple had one daughter, Charlotte, born on February 3, 1828. (Some accounts purport that she was adopted, but there seems to be no evidence to support that.) Also living with the family was Charles's much younger sister, Clemence, born in 1816.
The Candas' handsome Lafayette Place (later Lafayette Street) mansion is at the far left above. The Evening World April 25, 1893 (copyright expired)
Charles Canda was a landscape artist. As early as September 1831, he and Adele operated a school for young women at 46 Lispenard Street.
Charles Canda painted this romantic landscape in 1822. image via Sotheby's New York, May 2000
Charlotte was highly educated and, almost assuredly trained by her father, showed artistic talent. The New York Evening Post described her by saying, "She was the familiar mistress of six languages besides being an accomplished musician and proficient of much...skill in drawing."
Clemence Canda died on November 23, 1844. Moved by grief, Charlotte sketched a grand, complex memorial for her young aunt. At the time, Charlotte was engaged to Charles-Albert Jarret de la Marie. Ten years older than she, his family was French nobility.
Three months after Clemence's death, on February 3, 1845, Charlotte was invited to a party on Eleventh Street (that day was her 17th birthday). Reportedly her parents refused to let her go. The Morning Post later explained, "every one of her birthdays had been marked by some cross or mishap, frustrating the ordinary pleasant celebration of the day." But then young friends came to the door, saying that the party was "nothing without her," and her parents relented.
The Evening Post reported that Charles engaged a cab to escort her to the party. He returned to the Eleventh Street house at 11 p.m. to bring her home. Riding with them was a friend. They reached the young lady's house at 11:30. Canda escorted her to the door, the driver waited next to the cab, and Charlotte sat alone inside. Suddenly, the horses bolted, galloping to Broadway and then to Fourth Street and finally to their stable. Charlotte was no longer in the carriage. Canda and the cabbie found her unconscious in a snowbank. Having jumped or been thrown from the vehicle, she had struck her head on the pavement. She died that night.
Canda discovered Charlotte's sketch for Clemence's monument. He modified it to include personal symbols of his daughter and had sculptors Robert Launitz and John Franzee transform it into marble. It marks her grave in Brooklyn's Green-Wood cemetery.
A 19th century stereoscope slide depicts Charlotte's self-designed memorial.
In 1857, Charles and Adele Canda began construction of a mansion at 244 Second Avenue, just north of East 14th Street and half a block south of the elegant Stuyvesant Square. (The address would later be renumbered 236 Second Avenue). Completed in 1858, the brownstone-fronted residence rose three floors. Its formal Italianate design included floor-to-ceiling windows at the second floor, which were fronted by stone balconies and crowned with classical pediments. Most likely, the first floor included a projecting parlor window and balcony, and a porticoed entrance. The Evening World superfluously deemed it, "the most elegantly appointed mansion in the city."
The Candas had two live-in servants in 1860--most likely the cook and butler. But they would have had several others who arrived daily, like the laundress, chambermaid, lady's maid and such.
Late on the night of April 29, 1863, a neighbor, John Graham, heard a noise. Looking out his rear window, he realized that burglars had pried opened and entered one of the Candas' rear windows. In a loud voice he hollered for his wife to bring him his pistols. The ploy worked and the two thieves fled the mansion and clambered over the rear fence. At the same moment, a policeman arrived and, after a chase and a significant hand-to-hand battle, apprehended one of them.
Charles Canda praised his neighbor for saving "$500 worth of property," saying "but for the fact that Mr. Graham called aloud for his pistol [it] would have been in the possession of these burglars." The property was silverplate and the valuation would translate to about $12,900 in 2025.
Canda died in the Second Avenue mansion on September 27, 1866 at the age of 73. His funeral was held in the drawing room the following afternoon followed by a service at the Church of the Nativity.
Adele sold the house to Richard Sager that year. A condition of the transaction apparently allowed Adele to remain in the house with the Sager family. She was still listed here when she died at Boulogne-sur-Mer, France on May 16, 1871.
A widower, Sager was a prominent pork and provisions packer. The New York Times said he "had large dealings in the [Produce] Exchange." The Sagers hosted glittering entertainments in the mansion. On January 30, 1876, for instance, the New York Dispatch reported that the members of the Irving Amateur Club "held a most pleasant and brilliant social reception at the residence of Mr. Richard Sager, No. 236 Second avenue. After recitations, a piano solo, and readings, "the remainder of the evening was devoted to dancing in the elegant parlors of the genial host, who with his affable sons and charming daughters did everything to make his guests happy." The dancing was followed by "an elegant repast" and yet more dancing.
And on February 17, 1878, the New York Dispatch reported, "The Misses Marie and Mattie Sager, daughters of Mr. Richard Sager, of No. 236 Second avenue, formerly the Canda mansion, held a brilliant reception at their parlors on Friday evening in honor of the coming [of] age of Mr. Thomas Sager their eldest brother." The article mentioned, "the company was large and fashionable, and the parlors, which are among the most elegant in New York city, presented a singularly brilliant and handsome appearance."
On June 2, 1885, The New York Times reported, "Richard Sager, an old citizen of New York, and a well-known member of the Produce Exchange, died very suddenly of heart disease at his residence in Second-avenue...on Sunday."
The mansion was purchased around two years later by Charles Lindner. In June 1889, he hired architects Rentz & Lange to "cut window openings in the north wall." Interestingly, although there had always been an easement, or passageway, between the mansion and the property next door, the original architect had not included windows. Lindner apparently did work on the mansion again in the summer of 1899. The New York Journal and Advertiser succinctly reported on June 17, "A workman known only as 'Pat' fell from the roof of No. 236 Second avenue, and was instantly killed."
On November 9, 1900, The New York Times reported that Charles Linder "is about to leave this country to make his home in Germany." The article said that he had placed his home for sale at $30,000 (about $1.16 million today) and described:
This house...is a fine, old fashioned place, which dates back to the time when Second Avenue was a fashionable quarter of the city. It is the old Canda house, occupied by the family now best remembered by the monument to the young girl, Charlotte Canda, which is one of the sights of Greenwood Cemetery.
The house was purchased in December by the Little Mothers' Aid Society. Organized the previous year, it provided day care for children of working mothers, offered homemaking classes, and hosted summer outings that afforded tenement children a brief respite from the city. The New York Times deemed the house "in perfect condition, and is conveniently arranged for the work of the Little Mothers." Before moving in, alterations were made for the organization's purposes, and remodeled the exterior of the ground floor.
The ground floor alterations were not especially attractive. image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
The Times explained, "On the upper floor of the building are ten rooms, which the association...will use for the lodgings of its girls. The remainder will be used for the club meetings, cooking and sewing classes, kindergarten and day nursery, and other branches of its work." The former mansion became the headquarters of the Little Mothers' Aid Association (there were several branches in the city), and was called Happy Day House.
The Kindergarten Magazine and Pedagogical Digest, January 1907 (copyright expired)
An annual event at Happy Day House was the Better Babies Contest. In 1913, 400 babies between three months to five years old--divided into three age groups--were entered. A board of physicians examined each carefully and the parents of the winners in each category won $15. This was not a beauty contest. Its purpose was to engender nutrition, hygiene and pediatric care within the tenements.
The Little Mothers' Aid Association operated from 236 Second Avenue for decades, finally selling the building early in 1949 to the Jewish Ministers Cantors Association of America. Founded in 1890, it was a fraternal organization of cantors.
The funeral of cantor Rev. Jacob Schwartz of Temple B'nai Jeshurun on June 9, 1953 was attended by "more than 1,000 persons," according to The New York Times. The article said, "Later a service was held on the steps of the home of the Cantors Association at 236 Second Avenue, with hundreds watching in the street."
The Canda mansion was returned to a single family home--sort of--after real estate broker Gregg Marsh purchased it in 1979. It was "restored and furnished with his own period furniture," according to The New York Times on April 25, 1981, noting that he "lives there but also rents it out, complete with caterer." He named it Rutherford House, as a nod to the prestigious family who lived in the district in the early 19th century. On the night before that article, Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager had hosted a "soiree musicale" here for 300 persons to introduce their first collaboration.
In the summer of 1984, developer Peter Sudarsky purchased the house and started a $1 million renovation. On August 8, The New York Times reported it "will include a greenhouse addition to the ground-floor ballroom. Mark Fahrer, a professional chef, has signed a long-term lease on the property and plans to reopen it in the fall as a catering and party facility."
Rutherford House became the venue of various benefits and other events. In September 1986, for instance, it was the scene of "Murder at Rutherford House," a murder mystery and dining event.
Two years later came another renovation. Completed by the New York Health and Racquet Club in September 1988, "River Club" included, "ornate game rooms, ballroom dancing and 10 kinds of bottled water at dinner," according to The Times.
There would be more changes to come. In 2000, the building was converted to Gateway School. The renovations to alter a former mansion into an educational facility with classrooms, a gymnasium, library and auditorium necessitated a two-story addition that starkly clashes architecturally with the original structure.
photograph by Carole Teller
Gateway School sold the building in 2009. It is still listed as a commercial structure.
many thanks to reader Carole Teller for suggesting this post
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