photo by Anthony Bellov
Around 1855, a long row of brick-faced homes was erected on the south side of East 33rd Street between Second and Third Avenues. Three stories tall above brownstone English basements, they exhibited elements of the waning Greek Revival style--particularly in the stone entrance frame, with its paneled stone pilasters and corniced entablature. But even here, a decorative carved rosette above the doorway strayed from the expected sternness of Greek Revival. Handsome Italianate-style cast ironwork originally protected the areaway and stoop, and individual cast cornices with foliate brackets, also Italianate in style, finished the design.
The cornice brackets are purely Italianate in style. photo by Anthony Bellov
The presence of Irish immigrants in the Kips Bay district was reflected in the early inhabitants of 156 East 33rd Street (renumbered 250 in 1865). In 1855, Michael Burke lived here. He was a member of the Thomas Francis Meagher Club, which supported the Irish nationalist and leader in the Rebellion of 1848. The Burkes were followed by Mary A. Rice, the widow of Henry Rice, and in 1864 by Daniel and Eliza Fitzgerald.
The parlor was the scene of a somber funeral on November 23, 1864. Jessie Fitzgerald, Daniel and Eliza's only son, had died two days earlier at the age of four-and-a-half.
The Fitzgeralds remained until 1865 when Nehemiah Cohn and his wife, the former Caroline Metzger, purchased the house. Born in Germany in 1825, Cohn was in the tobacco and cigar business Nehemiah Cohn & Co. with his brother, Jacob. They had two locations, one on Fulton Street and the other on South Street. Nehemiah was a Master in the Darcy Lodge of the Freemasons.
The population within the house quickly grew. Cecilia Cohn was born in 1866 and her sister, Josie, arrived the following year. A third daughter, Flora, would follow.
In 1868, brothers Marx M. and Aaron Myres were also listed at the address, presumably boarders. They, with their brother Daniel M., comprised the Myres Brothers drygoods business on Third Avenue.
Nehemiah and Jacob Cohn found themselves facing a judge in the United States Commissioners' Court on July 21, 1869. The previous year, the Internal Revenue Service had passed a law requiring that tobacco offered for sale be stamped as evidence that the necessary taxes had been paid. The Cohn brothers were charged "with fraudulently evading certain provisions of the Internal Revenue laws." Four days later, the commissioner dismissed the charges, saying the Cohns "proved by their clerk that he never knew of any sale of tobacco that was unstamped."
Among Cohn's suppliers was tobacconist John R. Sutton & Brothers. On September 5, 1871, Sutton & Brothers fired Charles Kohler, a young man who had worked there for some time. Kohler walked directly to Nehemiah Cohn & Co. at 12 Fulton Street and said he had been sent to collect a bill of $95 for a recent purchase. On April 18, 1872, the New York Herald reported, "Mr. Cohn, supposing Kohler was still in Sutton & Brothers' employ, paid the amount demanded, and did not find that he had been swindled until several weeks later."
In the meantime, Kohler had fled town and got a job with the Erie Railroad. Unfortunately for him, the train on which he was working pulled into New York City on April 17, 1872. He "was at once arrested and taken before Judge Dowling at the Tombs Police Court," said the New York Herald. (Nehemiah Cohn's $95, which would translate to around $2,500 in 2025 terms, was gone.)
Caroline Metzger Cohn died on June 14, 1874. Her funeral was held in the parlor of 250 East 33rd Street three days later.
In the summer of 1879, Cohn was called as a potential juror in a sensational murder case. Mrs. Jane DeForrest Hull, wife of Dr. Alonso J. Hull, was found dead in their mansion at 4 West 42nd Street on the morning of June 11, 1879. She was blindfolded, gagged, and her feet and wrists were tied with strips of bedsheets. Jane Hull came from the DeForrest family, who was described by the Colorado newspaper The Rocky Mountain News as "wealthy and aristocratic" and who had "left her a fortune." Suspicion quickly focused on "a negro named Chastine Cox," according to the Rocky Mountain News, who had previously been the family's private waiter. When Chastine Cox was arrested weeks after the murder, Mrs. Hull's watch was found on him.
Finding an unbiased jury would prove problematic. Not only had Mrs. Hull been socially esteemed, the defense attorneys would be facing rampant racism. On July 16, 1879, the New-York Tribune reported that the process had taken two days. Among those selected was Nehemiah Cohn. Describing him as "a dealer in cigars," the New-York Tribune said, "he had no opinion on the case that he could not lay aside on entering the jury box," adding, "He was regarded as a competent juryman, and took the last chair."
(On July 24, 1880, Chastine Cox was hanged in the courtyard of The Tombs, downtown.)
The molded window cornices, seen in the neighboring houses, had been shaved flat by 1941. image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
Among the 237 young women who graduated in the commencement exercises of The Normal College on June 26, 1884 was Cecilia Cohn. She found a position teaching in the primary department of Grammar School No. 14 on East 27th Street, where she would remain for years.
Among the death notices in the New York Herald on May 17, 1890, was the astonishingly succinct announcement, "Cohn--On Thursday morning, Nehemiah Cohn." The 65-year-old was buried next to Caroline in Machpelah Cemetery in Ridgewood, Queens.
Flora Cohn's engagement to Julius Starfield was announced on November 18, 1894. The New York Herald noted that the intended couple would be "At home Sunday, November 25, 250 East 33d St." to received congratulations.
Neither Josie nor Cecilia married. Josie died on April 16, 1907 at the age of 40. Vaudevillians Tom Noland and Cora White boarded with Cecilia, remaining here until Cecilia's death at the age of 42 on December 16, 1908.
Nolan & White listed their address within the Cohn house in 1908. Variety, May 2, 1908 (copyright expired)
In the early 1940s, Edwin Schriver and his wife, the former Ruth Hafferkamp, lived here. Their son, Gary Edwin, was born in the Woman's Hospital in November 1946.
Bishop Sears Harrold occupied the house at mid-century. Born in 1888 and a 1913 graduate of Harvard, he was a stockbroker and a member of Filor, Bullard & Smith. Never married, his country home was in Darien, Connecticut. His deep American roots entitled his memberships in the Society of Mayflower Descendants and the Sons of the Revolution. Harrold died while living here on December 30, 1954 at the age of 66.
Although the Italianate ironwork has been replaced, the unusual stone entrance framework and paneled doors survive. photograph by Anthony Bellov
Six years later, the house was renovated. There were now an office in the basement, one apartment on the parlor level, and a duplex apartment in the second and third floors. Then, a subsequent remodeling returned 250 East 33rd Street to a single-family home. Completed in 2007, the renovations included the addition of a fourth floor.
many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post
No comments:
Post a Comment