The Sun-Ray Yarn Building - 349 Grand Street

 

photo by Carole Teller

In reporting on the "inventions and improvements" exhibited in the Annual Fair of the American Institute of New-York, the October 1833 issue of Mechanics' Magazine noted, "Mr. F. Murphy's exhibition of blacking will, if properly appreciated, make him a shining character...He makes it at 349 Grand street, and let it be remembered that it is American."  Francis Murphy would soon have to find another spot to make his improved shoe polish.  Within a few years, his vintage structure was replaced with a three-story house and store.

Faced in running bond red brick, its design most likely drew from the current Greek Revival or Italianate style.  In 1840, Benjamin Stimpson, Jr., a hatter, and his family lived upstairs while he ran his store downstairs.  Sharing the upper portion in 1847 were Gertrude Pearsall, the widow of Abijah Pearsall; and "segarmaker" William Fick.  The commercial space was now home to the Tice & Abbott bakery, run by Peter Tice and Samuel P. Abbott.

Drastic change soon came when Joseph Ochs and his family moved in.  He opened his "dining saloon" in the former bakery space.  Ochs also operated another dining saloon at 3 Cedar Street.  His venture here, however, was short-lived.  In March 1853, he advertised:

A public house for sale--A barroom, with restaurant and club room attached for sale low to a cash purchaser.  The house is doing a good business, and is in one of the best locations in the city.  For particulars, apply at No. 349 Grand street.

Marcus Nehab converted the space for his ribbons store.  In the meantime, William Seaman lived upstairs.  He was irate in 1854 when unflattering rumors about him were circulated.  In August he placed an announcement in the New York Herald saying,

$50 Reward--Whereas some person unknown to the subscriber [i.e., Seaman], has been circulating false and scandalous reports concerning him, the above reward will be cheerfully paid to any one who will furnish such information as may lead to the conviction of the one who circulated the slander.

Seaman's reward would equal about $1,950 in 2026.

Aaron Phillips took over the store around 1857.  He would operate his dry goods store for years while he and his family occupied the upper floors.  

In 1861, the Union Home and School was established to care for the children of soldiers killed in battle.  Following the conflict, the facility continued and on February 1, 1867, a lottery for its benefit was held.  The following day The New York Times reported on the winners, among whom was G. A. Phillips, who won $100 (the windfall would translate to $2,000 today).  Presumably, G. A. Phillips was Aaron Phillips's son.

The dry goods store was taken over by brothers Jacob and Leopold Diamond in 1867.  Change came again in 1871 when the store became a branch of the M. H. Moses & Co. tea shops.  It was one of 15 tea shops the firm operated throughout the city.

It may have been Moses H. Moses who updated the facade.  Impressive Renaissance Revival-style cast metal architraves were applied to the upper openings and an ornate cornice that included the street number was installed.

photograph by Carole Teller

Mary Morris was the widow of shoemaker Matthew Morris.  Upon his death, she took the reins of the company and in 1879 leased 349 Grand Street, installing her shoe store here and moving her family into the upper floors.  Mary had at least two sons and two daughters.  

One of the daughters, who signed her name "Miss L. Morris," thought that a joke that she invented in 1888 was so clever that she should share it with the world.  She wrote to the editor of The Evening World on July 31:

The other day I remarked to a group of friends in talking about a child that happened to be standing near by: "I think that child will be a teacher some day because he has a pupil in his eye."

By 1890, Mary's sons had joined the business, which was renamed Morris Bros.  At the time, clerks throughout the city had mobilized to promote the "half holiday" concept.  It proposed that during the hot summer months, shops would be closed on Saturday afternoons.  On August 6, 1890, a reporter from The World interviewed Max Morris about the movement.  He compassionately said, "If the others close we shall cheerfully follow suit," adding, "We are only employing two clerks now, and they get off whenever they ask the privilege.  The clerks ought to have the half day, by all means."

After having leased the property for 12 years, on April 3, 1891 Mary Morris purchased 349 Grand Street.  Following her death, on February 26, 1904 her children sold the building to Louis Minsky.  On March 30, the Shoe Retailer and Boots and Shoes Weekly reported:

Morris, the Grand street shoeman, who has conducted a store at 349 Grand street, under the style of Morris Bros. for several years, will open a new store on 8th avenue, between 37th and 38th street, about May 1st.

Minsky quickly resold the building to Frederick Siegler and his wife, Paulina.  (Confusingly, Siegler's name would also be spelled Zeigler and Siegel in documents.)  The couple moved into the upper floors and opened their fancy goods store downstairs.

On April 23, 1906, The Evening World reported on ten young women who were "shop girls on a weekday, but turned sleuth of a Sunday here of late."  They intended to gather evidence against "shopkeepers, dealers in dry goods, notions and the like," said the article, who kept their businesses open on Sundays.

The previous day, a "good-looking young woman" named "Miss Marcus," according to The Evening World, had entered Siegel's store and asked for three yards of blue ribbon.  "The clerk wasn't certain about selling the ribbon, and he called the boss."  Miss Marcus later alleged that Siegler directed, "Sure, sell her.  Only because it is Sunday she must pay ten cents a yard instead of seven and a half."

Later, Katie Burns entered the store.  The New York Herald reported, "Morris Lieberman, a clerk, sold her a pair of hose with the knowledge and consent of Ziegler."

In court the next day, the magistrate asked Siegler if he kept his store closed on the sabbath.  The Jewish shop owner replied that, "his store was always closed until 4 o'clock on Saturday," according to the New York Herald, which concluded, "'Discharged,' said the magistrate."

In February 1910, Siegel hired architect O. Reissmann to make interior alterations, including the reconfiguration of walls.  The changes cost the equivalent of $51,000 today.

In 1922, the children of Frederick and Pauline Seigler leased 349 Grand Street to Samuel Keiser "for women's wearing apparel," according to the New-York Tribune.  The lease was renewed in March 1930 for another five years.

At the end of the lease, Samuel and Abraham Friedman rented the building for their Sun-Ray Yarn Company.  The following year, in January 1936, they purchased the property.

In 1941, Sun-Ray occupied the ground floor of 351, as well.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Called Sun-Ray House, the three-story shop became a destination for its broad array of yarns.  But in February 1943, the Federal Trade Commission had a problem with S. Friedman & Sons.  The New York Times explained that the complaint charged "that they had misrepresented the fiber, material, or place or origin of some of the yarn they sell."  The Feds said, for instance, that they called "rainbow type yard" "rainbow tweed;" and instead of describing one item "mystic yarn," they marketed it as "mystic crepe."  

By then the dash had been dropped from Sunray and the store had extended into 351 Grand Street.  By 1975, it included the ground floor of 347, as well.

In 1975, Sunray Yarn had extended into 347 Grand Street.  No. 349 is at the far left.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

Sunray Yarns remained at least into the 1980s.  In the early 2000s, a restaurant supply firm occupied the building.  It was replaced in 2012 by a pharmacy.  Somewhat beleaguered today, the vintage building still draws attention for its unusual window treatments.

many thanks to reader Carole Teller for prompting this post.

The 1887 Michael Hughes House - 365 West 123rd Street

 

The blocks just east of Morningside Park saw a flurry of construction in the 1880s.  In 1886, real estate developer Samuel H. Bailey purchased "the lots on the northeast corner of Ninth avenue and One Hundred and Twenty-third street," as reported by the Record & Guide and hired architect Charles E. Baxter to design a row of brownstone-faced houses on the site.  Completed on April 30, 1887, the neo-Grec-style homes were three stories tall above high English basements.  Baxter blended touches of Queen Anne into his design.  Instead of the striking copper oriels seen at the second floor of the other houses, the end homes, including 365 West 123rd Street, featured full-height angled bays.

That house became home to the Michael Hughes family.  He and his wife, the former Mary A. O'Grady, had four children, three sons and a daughter.  

The two rows of stylized acanthus leaves that decorate the cornice enhanced the Greek motif.

Hughes joined dozens of men who were "engaged in business in the northern part of the city of New York" in signing a petition to the Common Council on November 27, 1895.  Pointing out that the district "lying north of One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street and fronting the Harlem river is a rapidly growing locality," they complained that the riverfront was not keeping up.  The businessmen asked for "wharves and dock facilities" which would make merchandise more easily received.

Mary was looking for a servant in September 1897.  The wording of her ad suggested the girl would not have an easy workday.  "Strong girl for general housework."

Nearly a half century after moving into the house, Michael Hughes died on March 26, 1921.  His funeral was held in Annunciation Church three days later.  

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Mary A. Hughes advertised 365 West 123rd Street for sale the following summer.  Her ad in the New York Herald read, "House, brownstone, 10 rooms, fine condition; could be used by two families."  It was purchased by Michael T. Reilly and his wife Catherine.  

In the fall of 1940, the Daily News challenged housewives to be a "pigskin clairvoyant" by picking the weekend's football game winners.  Of the 117,263 entries who guessed the outcome of the November 30 games, Catherine Reilly received the third prize of $25.

Michael T. Reilly sold 365 West 123rd Street in September 1941 to Thelma York for $5,500 (about $117,000 in 2026 terms).  She and her family lived here nine years, selling the house to Jacob Goodman & Co. in April 1950.

When Daisy Hatcher purchased it two years later, The New York Times described the property as a "four-story rooming house."  Among the roomers living here that year was musician and band leader Rudolph "Rudy" King.

Born in Trinidad, Rudy King introduced the steel pan to the United States in 1949.  The evolution of the steel pan began in Trinidad when empty cans were struck with bamboo shoots, according to King in an interview later.  He organized a band called the Tropican.  

Of the original row of six homes, three survive, including 365 West 123rd Street.  Greatly intact on the exterior, a renovation completed in 1989 resulted in a two-family home.''

photographs by the author

The Guy Fairfax Cary Mansion - 61 East 91st Street

 

photograph by Jim Henderson

Born in November 1879 to Clarence Cary and the former Elisabeth M. Potter, Guy Fairfax Cary was the great-grandson of the 9th Lord Fairfax (for which Fairfax County, Virginia, is named).  He was prepared for college at Groton School and received his A. B. and LL. B. degrees from Harvard in 1902 and 1904, respectively.  He was admitted to the New York bar in 1905 and became an influential attorney, the counsel to the National City Bank (later Citibank) and a trustee in the estates of William Rockefeller and Robert W. Goelet.

Shortly after the death of Arthur Scott Burden on June 15, 1921, Cary began a romance with his widow, the former Cynthia Burke Roche.  Born in April 1884 to Sir James Boothby Burke Roche, 3rd Baron Fermoy, and American heiress Frances Eleanor Work, Cynthia had married Burden on June 11, 1906.  The couple had a daughter, Eileen, who was born in 1911.  

Shortly after Cynthia's mourning period elapsed, the September 1922 issue of Harper's Bazar titled an article, "Newport Goes To An Expected Wedding At the Home of Mrs. Burke Roche."  The article reported, "Mrs. Arthur Scott Burden and Mr. Guy Fairfax Cary were married in Newport at Elm Court, the residence of the bride's mother, Mrs. Burke Roche," adding, "The wedding was Newport's happiest surprise of the season."  The first-time groom was 43 years old and his bride was 38.

The wedding party.  Harper's Bazar, September 1922 (copyright expired)

Eight months later, on May 26, 1923, The New York Times reported that H. H. Benkard had sold "the two private houses at 57 to 61 East Ninety-first Street," noting, "The buyer will rebuild and occupy the premises."  That buyer was Guy F. Cary who commissioned architect Mott B. Schmidt to design a replacement mansion on the site.

Schmidt had recently gained attention by transforming 19th century brownstones in Sutton Place to magnificent neo-Georgian mansions for the likes of Anne Tracy Morgan, Anne Vanderbilt, and Elisabeth Marbury.  He returned to the style for the Cary mansion.

Construction of the five-story, 51-foot-wide residence was complete in 1924 and cost $1.3 million (about $23.8 million in 2026 terms).  Faced in red Flemish bond brick, its entrance sat under an arched hood supported by fluted Scamozzi columns.  Brick quoins divided the two-story midsection into three bays.  The fourth floor, sitting upon a prominent cornice, was unexpectedly spartan.  Equally unfinished looking was the mansard with its five unassuming dormers.

Samuel H. Gottscho captured the mansion on film on April 25, 1930.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

The mansion contained 23 rooms, 10 bathrooms, and two elevators.  The Carys filled the mansion with English and Continental antique furniture and a significant art collection.  The family's country home, Oak Hill, in Jericho, Long Island, was built for Cynthia's late husband in 1915, designed by John Russell Pope.  (It was at Oak Hill that Burden died following a polo playing accident.)

Oak Hill in Jericho, Long Island.  The Architecture of John Russell Pope, Volume I, 1925 (copyright expired)

Eileen Burden was 11 years old when her mother married Cary.  She would soon have two half-siblings.  Guy Fairfax Cary Jr. was born in 1923, and Cynthia Cary arrived the following year.

The winter social season of 1929-1930 was Eileen's debut.  On November 28, 1929, The New York Times reported that her parents "will give a dance on Dec. 27 at their home, 61 East Ninety-first Street, to introduce to society [their] daughter, Miss Eileen Burden."  The newspaper followed up on the "supper dance" on December 28, noting, "The guests included many of the débutantes and young men who have been seen at other parties of the season."

The following spring, Cynthia and Eileen sailed to Europe.  On May 2, 1930, The Evening Post reported that they "are returning this evening on the Aquitania."  It would be one of the last travels the mother and daughter would share.

On February 9, 1932, The New York Sun reported on the "important wedding" of Eileen Burden to Walter Maynard in the Church of the Heavenly Rest.  Cynthia Cary, who was eight, was the flower girl.  "A reception follows at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Cary, 61 East Ninety-first street," said the article.

With America's entry into World War II, Guy Jr. entered the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of lieutenant before the war's end.

Upon the death of Cynthia's mother in 1947, she inherited Elm Court in Newport.  The family now spent most of their summer season there.

Elm Court (original source unknown).

The Carys were at Elm Court on August 27, 1950 when Guy Fairfax Cary suffered a fatal heart attack.  He was 70 years old.  Interestingly, the East 91st Street mansion was bequeathed to Guy Jr.  Cynthia moved permanently to Elm Court shortly after her husband's death.

On August 25, 1952, The New York Times reported that the Cary mansion had been sold.  "It will be used as a nursing and convalescence home under the name of Park Town House," said the article.

photo by Samuel H. Gottscho, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York 

The Park Town House catered to well-heeled residents.  Among them over the years was art collector Richard Goetz who assembled "a collection of both modern and classic paintings valued at an estimated third of a million dollars," according to The New York Times.  Never married, upon his death here in December 1954, he left his $300,000 collection to a cousin.  (The value of the artwork would translate to about $3.5 million today.)

Stage and silent film actor Jack Devereaux was also a resident.  The son-in-law of famous actor John Drew, he died here in January 1958 at the age of 76.

Irish-American actor Jack Devereaux, Motography magazine, 1917 (copyright expired)

In 1964, the former Cary mansion was acquired by the Dalton School to house its First Program (kindergarten and first grade levels).  The facility's main location was on East 89th Street.  Founded by Helen Parkhust in 1919 as the Children's University School, it was renamed in 1924.  

On August 26, 1990, The New York Times reported, "The Dalton School has added another town house to its diverse holdings on the Upper East Side."  The school acquired the former Martha Rusk Stuphen mansion next door at 63 East 91st Street.  It enlarged the capacity of the "lower school" housed in the Cary mansion, which currently had about 400 students.

photograph by Jim Henderson

The Samuel C. Paxson House - 137 East 15th Street

 

Samuel Canby Paxson married Elizabeth Drinker on July 5, 1827.  The couple had eight children, only four of whom had survived when they moved into the newly built house at 187 East 15th Street (later renumbered 137) around 1851.  Four stories tall and three bays wide, the design of the brick-faced residence transitioned from Greek Revival to Italianate.  The arched entrance was flanked by ornately carved foliate brackets that upheld a dentiled cornice.  Its style was purely Italianate.  The short attic and the understated terminal cornice, however, smacked of the earlier style.

Paxson was a prominent commission merchant, a partner in the flour and grain trading firm Allen & Paxson.  He had become the first president of the Corn Exchange in 1832, and was also a director in the Security Fire Insurance Company.

The Paxsons were members of the Society of Friends, known commonly as the Quakers.  They took in a few boarders at a time.  In 1851, Hanna Barnes, a widow, and broker George M. Barnes, presumably her son, lived here; as did Thomas B. Dutcher, a commission merchant; and William Hagadorn.  (Hanna Barnes would remain with the family at least through 1858.)

On May 9, 1855, Mary Drinker Paxson married William H. Cooper.  The union caused problems, since the groom was not a Quaker.  Mary was disowned by the Orthodox congregation in January 1856.  (It appears that the family had already begun moving away from the Society of Friends at the time.  In 1854, the family owned a pew in a New York City church.)

Samuel Canby Paxson died at the age of 56 on July 26, 1860.  The New-York Tribune reported, "He had just taken a warm bath, when he was seized with paralysis, and died in a few minutes."  (The description most likely referred to a stroke.)  The article said, "there is not a clerk or laborer who had ever been employed in his service but remembered him affectionately and loved him."  The funeral was held in the house on July 28, attended by the board members of the New-York Produce Exchange.

Still living with Elizabeth were her unmarried children William, Frances, known as Fannie, and Elizabeth Drinker Paxson.  William was already involved in Allen & Paxson, and in 1858 its name was changed to Samuel C. Paxson, Son & Co. in his father's honor.  Fannie was highly involved in the Colored Orphan Asylum and by the time of her father's death was a manager of the institution.

The Paxson family remained here until 1865.  It became an upscale boarding house, operated by Hannah Ketcham.  A widow and a Quaker, she may have had known Elizabeth Paxson for some time.  Some of Hannah's well respected boarders would stay for years.  Living here that year were Thomas G. Hunt, a merchant in "oil," and his wife.  Hunt graduated from Harvard University in 1860.  His wife was assistant secretary of the St. Barnabas' Industrial Association, which worked within the tenement district.

William Ransom was the principal of William A. Ransom & Co., wholesale dealers in boots and shoes.  Like Mrs. Hunt, his wife was involved in charitable causes.  That year she helped in fund-raising for "Mrs. Pruyn's Japan Home."

Ransom died at the age of 45 on December 5, 1875.  The New-York Tribune remarked that he "was well known in the boot and shoe trade throughout the country."  Hannah Ketcham's parlor was the scene of his funeral on December 7.

Hannah Ketcham died at the age of 84 on November 11, 1886.  Her funeral was held in the Friends' Meeting House on Rutherford Place three days later.  The East 15th Street house was inherited by Phebe S. and Doreas S. Ketcham, presumably Hannah's daughters.

On April 13, 1894, the house was purchased by David Schwartz for $18,950 (about $713,000 in 2025 terms).  Born in New York City of German parents, Schwartz was the proprietor of a trunk store.  Like Hannah Ketcham, he took in boarders and, perhaps not coincidentally, they were members of the Society of Friends.

New-York Tribune, October 29, 1895 (copyright expired)

Among them in 1894 were teacher S. Elizabeth Stover, who was highly involved in the Society of Friends; and Edward B. Rawson, also an educator, and his wife.  Both Elizabeth and Edward Rawson would sit on the Executive Committee of the 20th Session of the Friends General Conference in 1896.

In 1895, Alexander S. Williams was nominated as the Republican candidate for State Senate.  Known popularly as "Clubber Williams" and the "Czar of the Tenderloin," his career within the New York Police Department ended with the state's investigation of corruption.  The New-York Tribune editorialized that his "election would be a disgrace to the city."

On October 29, the New-York Tribune reported, "To remedy this state of affairs the Good Government Club dedicated to put up a man fit to be voted for, and selected as their standard-bearer David Schwartz, of No. 137 East Fifteenth-st."  The article said that, in addition to his many qualifications, Schwartz was staunchly against Prohibition.  "His friends feel confident that on this platform he will win the German vote from Tammany," said the article.  (Nevertheless, he was defeated by another candidate, Richard Higbie.)

In March 1900, Frederick Wrage purchased 137 East 15th Street.  Among his boarders was Thomas C. Copeland.  He was the secretary of the National Exposition of Children's Work, scheduled to open on February 18, 1901.  On December 30, 1900, The New York Times reported that the first meeting of the Executive Committee of the exposition was held here.  The article said, "The exposition has the patronage of Governors of many States, the Governors General of Canada and Cuba, as well as many other prominent men."

Also living here at the time were Frederick Figge, his wife, Helene, and their son Frank.  (Interestingly, Helene Figge was Frederick Wrage's attorney and had represented him in the purchase of the house.)  

In 1903, Frederick Figge was called to testify against the Webster Hotel, across the street at 140 East 15th Street.  In imperfect English he swore in part:

I seen woman go down there and try to catch men there and brought them in there; I saw women speak to men--try to take them into the house; they did take them in; not the same women, different women; I saw it several times; I couldn't say every night; I saw I saw it two or three times in a night.

Among the Figges' neighbors in the house at the time were George and William Campbell, "professional jugglers;" and bookkeeper James M. Howarth.

Howarth experienced a horrifying incident on November 30 that year.  That night the 55-year-old was on his way home, "when a man stepped out from the shadow of a building, grabbed him by the throat, and tried to throw him over an iron fence," reported The Evening Post.  Howarth's cries alerted two pedestrians, Alexander L. M. Backus and Paul Sheldon, who ran to his aid.  Thomas Tully (who, surprisingly, was visiting from Toledo), fled, but he was captured after a chase of a few blocks.  Tully was held in $5,000 bail awaiting trial on charges of attempted robbery.

The prominent window cornices were intact as late as 1941.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Frederick Wrage sold 137 East 15th Street in January 1906 to the Figges.  The change of ownership did not lessen the boarders' colorful stories.

At around 1:00 on the morning of July 19, 1910, for instance, Stella Shaw was walking with her sister, Bella Kilday at 14th Street and Avenue B.  According to Stella, a uniformed officer knocked her to the pavement and kicked and clubbed her, while two other officers stood by.  She complained at the Union Market Street Police Station, displaying her bruised arm.  Bella was unable to pick out her assailant in a lineup of the men who had been on post at the time.  

On the same day of Stella Shaw's incident, Louis Mandelbaum was arrested at First Street and Second Avenue.  Mandelbaum had recently arrived in New York from Belgium.  The apparently mild-mannered tailor went by the aliases of Brjiski Leibus and Louis Cohen.  He had been tracked "by means of finger prints from Liege, Belgium," according to The New York Times on July 20.  He was wanted there for bank robbery.  The article said, "Mandelbaum protested that he knew nothing of the robbery in Belgium."

Perhaps none of the occupants of 137 East 15th Street was more notorious than Antone Karasincki.  The 34-year-old rented a room in August 1917.  He was captured on November 2 as what newspapers called "the Wall Street Ripper."  The Sun began its article saying, "The sex lunatic, the type of degenerate who flares on rare occasions into a slash and run maniac of a Jack the Ripper, appeared on Broadway in the Wall Street district during the lunch hour yesterday and slashed four women in the course of an hour with a small kitchen knife."

In the police station, Karasincki confessed that he had been under the spell of "mystic influences urging him to murder which had driven him for fourteen years."  Two of the women he had slashed that day received injuries "that may result in the permanent disfiguration," said the article.

Alexander Leoff occupied a room here in 1926.  He conceived of a plan to elevate his financial status that year: marrying a woman with money.  His advertisement in The Wide World Magazine in November read:  "Jewish young man aged 26 desires correspondence with Jewish Girl with means or farm.  Object matrimony.  Alex. Leoff, 137 East 15th Street, New York, N.Y."

A renovation completed in 1970 resulted in three apartments.

photographs by the author

The H. Ray Paige House - 304 West 107th Street

 

The advertisement for 304 West 107th Street in the New York Herald on October 19, 1909 called the residence, "well planned and attractive" with "4 bathrooms, needle bath, billiard room, &c."  It was one of a row of four upscale homes built by William J. Casey and designed by Neville & Bagge.  Five stories tall and 18-feet-wide, its neo-Georgian design included a dignified Ionic portico centered within the limestone base.  The upper floors were clad in red brick; the windows of each level being treated differently.  The fifth floor sat between two stone cornices, and a brick parapet finished the design.

Casey's advertisement was not immediately successful.  It would not be until a year later, on October 29, 1910, that the Real Estate Record & Guide reported that he sold 307 West 107th Street to Horace Ray Paige, whose wedding was just three weeks away.

Paige (who went by his first initial and middle name) had graduated from Yale University two years earlier.  His marriage to Maud Emily Louisa Steinway took place in All Angels' Church on West End Avenue and 81st Street on November 22, 1910.  Born on April 6, 1889, Maud was the daughter of William and Elizabeth Ranft Steinway and the granddaughter of Henry Steinway, founder of the piano making firm Steinway & Sons.  Orphaned in 1896, she was reared by her half-sister, Paula Steinway von Bermuth.  

Somewhat surprisingly, Maud joined her husband in a business venture.  On July 2, 1912, they and a partner incorporated the Russian Tyre Sales Co., "to deal in rubber, tires, etc." according to The India Rubber World.

The Paiges' country home, Basket Neck Farms, was in Remsenburg, Long Island.  The couple would have two children, Audrey Helen, born on December 24, 1913, and Shirley Maude, who arrived on June 23, 1917.  But neither would see the inside of 304 West 107th Street.

On January 5, 1913, The New York Times reported that the Paiges had leased the furnished house to James Joyce (not to be confused with the Irish poet), and on October 11 that year they leased it to Foster Crampton and his wife, the former Lorraine March.

The couple was married in London on August 6, 1912.  Born in 1877, like his landlord, Crampton was a graduate of Yale.  In the first half of the 20th century, physicians attended to most well-to-do patients in their homes rather than hospitals.  On November 27, 1914, The Yale Alumni Weekly reported, "A son, Foster, Jr., was born to Mr. and Mrs. Foster Crampton at 304 West One Hundred and Seventh Street, New York City."

On January 6, 1917, the Record & Guide reported that the Paiges had sold 304 West 107th Street for $45,000--equal to about $1.1 million in 2026.  (Unfortunately, the Paiges' marriage would not last, and they were divorced in Paris in February 1926.)

The buyer was Dr. William Sargent Ladd and his wife, the former Mary Richardson Babbott.  Born in Portland, Oregon on August 16, 1887, Ladd earned his medical degree at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1915.  When he purchased 304 West 107th Street, he had just been appointed a professor at Columbia.  He and Mary were married in 1913.  (An ardent mountain climber, Ladd took his bride to the Alps for their honeymoon.)  The couple would have three sons and a daughter.

Mary was the daughter of Frank Lusk Babbott and the former Mary Richardson Ladd Pratt.  Her maternal grandfather was the multi-millionaire Charles Pratt.  Upon the death of her mother in 1919, Mary inherited $576,960--around $10.5 million today.

It was possibly the financial windfall that prompted the Babbotts to built a new house in the Bronx.  In January 1920, they sold the 107th Street house and The American Architect reported that they had hired architect Frederick L. Ackerman to design a "3 story residence to be built on Independence Ave."  

The Babbotts' leaving ended the residence as a single-family home.  It was converted to "bachelor apartments" with the Department of Buildings noting, "not more than 10 rooms to be used for sleeping purposes" and "cooking in more than two of the apartments will render this building liable to immediate vacation."  The conversion was completed within months and an advertisement in The Sun on April 4, 1920 offered, "High class apartments" of "1-2-3- rooms and bath."  Rents ranged from $1,200 to $2,800 a year, or about $3,650 per month for the most expensive in today's terms.

Despite the renovation, the cornices were intact as late as 1941.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The apartments attracted several artistic tenants.  An early resident was Mikhail Press, also known as Michael Press.  Born in Vilnius, Lithuania in August 1871, the violin prodigy first appeared in public at the age of 10 and at 13 years old he was concert master in the Vilna Opera House.  After escaping execution during the Russian Revolution, he fled to Germany, then Sweden, and finally to the United States in 1922.

Mikhail Press (original source unknown).

In its January 1926 issue, The Musical Observer reported,

Michael Press, since his return from Europe late in the Fall, has been busy arranging his work for the season.  In addition to his activities in Philadelphia and his chamber music work, he has been enlarging his New York studio, at 304 West 107th street, where he is giving musical receptions, pupils' recitals, and informal recitals of his own.

Stage and motion picture actress Cecilia des Roches lived here at the same time.  On Christmas Eve 1928, her maid was unable to get into the apartment.  The superintendent opened the door and they found the actress dead in the bathroom.  The New York Times said she was "clad in a kimono and lying half under the bathtub.  It is thought she became ill suddenly while preparing to take a bath."  The article added, "Her position under the tub seemed to have been due to her kimono's catching on a faucet, tightening about her as she fell and causing her to roll partly under the tub."

Des Roches's mysterious death prompted an autopsy.  It revealed that she was a victim of what the Brooklyn Eagle described as "Christmas rum."  Prohibition had forced  Americans to resort to bootleg alcohol in celebrating the holidays.  Cecilia des Roches was among the six deaths attributed to bootleg alcohol on that day alone.

Artist Vera Bock occupied an apartment here as early as 1930.  Born in Russia in 1905, she was known for book illustrations and her posters for the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression.

Vera Bock illustrated A Ring and a Riddle in 1944.

Tim Nagai and Larry Tajai lived here in 1945.  On the night of May 11 that year, Tajai discovered his 23-year-old friend dead.  The New York Sun reported, "Gas was issuing from four burners of a small stove, according to Tajai, and the death was listed as an apparent suicide."

Today there are nine apartments in the building.  At some point the fourth- and fifth-story cornices were removed, and while the several renovations have erased much of Neville & Bagge's interior details, some survive to hint at the mansion's former grandeur.

The former dining room retains its ceiling beams, high wainscoting and "Dutch stein shelving," now painted, and fireplace, all original to the 1907-08 design.  image via zillow.com

photographs by the author

The Lost P. Divver Assc. Clubhouse - 59 Madison Street

 

from the collection of the New York Public Library

In the second half of the 19th century, small political clubs dotted the city.  It was a time when the sons of struggling immigrants could rise to wealth and power through political affiliations.  Among them was Patrick Divver, widely known as Paddy.  Born in Ireland on May 1, 1844 the youngest of 11 children, his parents brought him to New York City when he was two.  

After attending public school, he started out as a messenger boy on Broadway and later apprenticed as a "morocco dresser" earning $2.50 per week.  (A morocco dresser decorated leather for book bindings and such.  Divver's pay would translate to about $50 today.)  He got married just after his 17th birthday.  The New York Times would later note, "He was the father of fifteen children and he strove to rear them with every advantage within his reach."

With that goal in mind, he turned to politics and in 1866 was a member of the Tammany Hall General Committee.  He became a leader in his Lower East Side Second Assembly District and when Mayor Hugh J. Grant took office in 1890, he appointed Divver a Police Justice.  The New York Times would later say, "It has been said that he meted out justice with rare fairness, that ungrammatical lingo was probably his greatest fault." 

Tammany Hall Souvenir of the Inauguration of Cleveland and Stevenson, 1893 (copyright expired)

A reporter from the New York Herald flatly asked Divver if he used his popularity in the assembly district to wrest the justice position.  The journalist wrote:

In reference to an insinuation that he owed his appointment partly to a threat on his part to forsake Tammany Hall unless he got a fat office, he laughed and said that it would take a great deal more than failure to get an office to separate him from Tammany Hall.

On June 28, 1890, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that the Patrick Divver Association had purchased 59 Madison Street for $14,000 (about $498,000 in 2026).  The notice mentioned, "three-story stone clubhouse projected."

The New York Herald described the Patrick Divver Association on December 20, 1890 as "partly a political and partly a social organization."  When the club purchased the Madison Street property its 400 members occupied rooms at 80 Oliver Street.  The article said that all the funds necessary to build the proposed clubhouse had been raised.  "The building will be up in less than a year," it said.

On January 22, 1891, the New York Herald reported, "Architect John S. O'Meara was employed to make the drawings and specifications."  The article said, "the other east side associations...are green with envy," noting that the new clubhouse would have "all the modern improvements and appliances, hot and cold water, gas, steam, and lavatories."

The New York Herald, January 22, 1891 (copyright expired)

O'Meara blended Romanesque Revival with Flemish Renaissance Revival to create his design.  The undressed brownstone of the arched first floor openings and of the Palladian-inspired second story grouping were drawn from the former, while the striking stepped gable with cascading volutes reflected the latter.   The New York Herald said, "The entrance steps will be of white marble, and in place of storm doors there will be gates of heavy iron."

Between the first and second floors would be a large terra cotta shield with the monogram "P.D.A."  The newspaper promised, "the letters will be so plain that they can be read a block away."

A terra cotta shield bore the monogram of the club.  cropped image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Above the center window of the second floor was a sculpted head of a Native American chief, "to indicate that the Divverites are Tammany braves," explained the New York Herald.  Turning to the interior, the article said:

The entrance door opens into a wide hallway.  To the left and in front will be a small reception room, in the window of which the Divverites may sit and stare in the most approved club fashion.  Back of this is the assembly room, 73 feet long.  A wide stairway leads to the second floor.  In front is a small committee room, and six card rooms open into each other, and with a large billiard room occupy the rest of the floor, except the janitor's living rooms.  The basement contains bowling alleys.

O'Meara projected the cost of construction at $20,000, or about $711,000 today.  The project was completed within the year and on December 11, 1891, The Evening World announced, "The Divver Club, of the Second Assembly District, formerly known as the P. Divver Association, will formally open its new clubhouse at 59 Madison street next Monday evening."

Trouble came to Patrick Divver three years later.  While he was away on vacation on the West Coast, several of his election district officers were arrested for election fraud.  "Some of them were fined, and some went to Sing Sing," reported The New York Times on October 21, 1894.  When Divver returned, he would not comment on the scandal.  "This made his followers more dissatisfied than ever, and there came very near a revolt in the district," said the article.

Divver did not survive the uproar.  The New York Times reported, "Patrick Divver has resigned the leadership of Tammany Hall in the Second Assembly District."  Even his former benefactor turned away.  "There was great rejoicing at Hugh J. Grant's headquarters...when his resignation arrived there late yesterday afternoon," said the article.

Patrick Divver took a long respite in California.  In the meantime, the Divver Club went on.  

The members had a significant scare on December 4, 1896.  The New York Journal reported, "A respectable gathering of the members was on hand last night when the gas meter in the cellar exploded."  The members fled to the street and "in a jiffy the flames began to ascend."  Firefighters arrived quickly and extinguished the blaze, but not before "the new furniture of the club" was damaged, "and the building also."  

Patrick Divver returned to New York late in 1897 and things between him and the district officials were patched up.  On December 3, The Sun reported that the members of the Second Assembly District, "who have been fighting him for two years shook hands and made it up last night."  The article said, "everybody recognized Divver as the new leader."

Divver held the reins until 1901, losing the leadership to Alderman Thomas F. Foley.  Patrick Divver died in his home at 7 Madison Street on January 28, 1903.  In reporting his death, the New Jersey newspaper The Morning Call remarked, "'Paddy' Divver was one of the picturesque figures of the Tammany regime."

At the time, the Second District Municipal Court had been "situated above a saloon at the corner of Centre and Pearl Streets," since 1890, according to The New York Times.  On September 16, 1904 the newspaper reported that the court "moved to its new quarters yesterday morning in the P. Divver Association's clubhouse."  The Divver Club moved into the basement of the courthouse, "and will receive $3,000 a year from the city for rent for the use of the building."

When the three-year lease expired, The Downtown Tammany Club, headed by Divver's former political rival Thomas F. Foley, moved into 59 Madison Street.  

Like Divver, Thomas Francis Foley came from humble roots.  He left school at the age of 13 to support his widowed mother by working as a blacksmith's helper.  By the time he began his political career in 1877 as an election district captain, he was a saloon owner.

On November 3, 1917, Tom Foley, an ardent anti-suffragist, told The Sun reporter Eleanor Booth Simmons, "that women should never, no never, be admitted to the nice comfortable Democratic clubhouse at 59 Madison Street."  But three days later, New York State approved women's right to vote.  On February 24, 1918, Simmons wrote, "I called him up this week to ask what arrangements had been made about the new voters at the Democratic clubhouse at 59 Madison street.  His voice came resignedly over the wire, as of one who admitted his chastisement."

An enormous Tammany banner stretches across Madison Street in front of the clubhouse in October 1933.  from the collection of the New York Pubic Library

Foley (no doubt begrudgingly) replied, "Oh yes, the women are here, they are voters, and they will have the use of the clubhouse the same as the men.  So far no arrangements have been made for their meeting on separate nights...It is their clubhouse as much as it is the men's."

In its July 1924 issue, The Atlantic Monthly commented, "Perhaps the most famous [Tammany clubhouse] is the Downtown Tammany Club at 59 Madison Street...which is run under the aegis of Tom Foley, one of the last of the old-type leaders.  Foley began life as a saloon keeper and his ways have been none too gentle." 

Thomas Francis Foley died in 1925.  On the day after his funeral, The New York Times ran the headline, "East Side Crowds Mourn the Passing of Almost the Last of Old-Time Leaders."  

The Downtown Tammany Clubhouse continued to provide for the community.  On July 27, 1927, for instance, The New York Times reported, "More than 10,000 women and children attended the picnic and outing of the Downtown Tammany Club of 59 Madison Street, which is Governor [Alfred] Smith's old district, held yesterday in Battery Park."  The article said that about 25,000 hot dogs and 4,000 quarts of ice cream were consumed.

A disturbing incident occurred a decade later.  The club members collected money for 1,500 bags "of Christmas cheer" for poor families in the district.  The bags were already delivered and stored in the cellar when on December 23, five gunmen stormed the clubhouse and stole the money.  The Tammany leader of what was now the First Assembly District, Dr. Santangelo, stepped forward to say he would personally cover the loss.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

On January 17, 1942, The New York Times reported, "Memories of the colorful days in Democratic politics on the lower East Side of Manhattan, when Paddy Divver and 'Big Tom' Foley ruled the destinies of Tammany in that neighborhood, were revived yesterday by the announcement of the sale of the property at 59 Madison Street."  The article said that the buyer was "a well-known funeral director" who "will remodel it."

The property was acquired by the city in 1946 to make way for the Alfred E. Smith Playground, dedicated in 1950.