The 1911 Riverside Mansions Apts. - 410 Riverside Drive

image via apartments.com

In 1888, the mansion of George Noakes was erected at the northeast corner of Riverside Drive and 113th Street.  The lavish private homes facing Riverside Park were being replaced by luxury apartment buildings by the first years of the 20th century, however, and on January 1, 1910, just 22 years after the Noakes family moved into their mansion, the Real Estate Record & Guide reported, "The Einsworth Construction Co. will soon begin work on the new 12-story elevator apartment house on the north corner of Riverside drive and 113th st."  The article noted that construction, "is estimated to cost $750,000."  The figure would translate to $25.5 million in 2026.

Two months later, on March 6, the New York Herald said The Riverside Mansions building "will be ready for occupancy, according to the builders, next October."  Interestingly, the article explained that of the 35 apartments, 14 would be cooperative.  They would be priced from $16,000 to $20,000, or approximately $545,000 to $680,000 today.  The remaining 21 apartments would be rentals.

Architects Neville & Bagge designed the 13-story-and-attic structure in the Chateauesque style.  The three-story base was clad in undressed granite.  The seven-story midsection, which sat between scalloped intermediate cornices, was clad in beige Roman brick.  Stone-and-iron balconies at the fourth, sixth and eleventh floors sat on corbel tables that matched the intermediate cornices.  Neville & Bagge embellished the top floor and attic with Loire Valley inspired gables and crockets and a steep mansard.

The World's New York Apartment House Album, 1910 (copyright expired)

There were three apartments per floor with either eight or nine rooms with three baths.  The well-heeled residents would enjoy "uniformed hall and elevator service day and night," according to The World's New York Apartment House Album, and there were a "separate entrance and elevator for service."

The irregular footprint presented the architects a challenge in laying out the apartments.  The World's New York Apartment House Album, 1910 (copyright expired)

Among the initial residents were the families of Henry Field, Edward A. Mays, Hugo Schweitzer, and Harry McDonald.  The Mays' and McDonalds' apartments were on the ground floor and only months after moving in that caused a problem.

On the evening of February 25, 1911, Edward A. Mays and his wife were hosting a dinner party.  The guests' coats and purses were placed in a bedroom.  While the group was at dinner, a burglar entered a window in that room.  He fled with a $300 fur overcoat and a silver toilet set.  The New York Times reported, "The thief overlooked a wallet containing $1,500 in cash, which was in one of the bureau drawers."

About the time that Mays and his guests discovered the theft, Harry McDonald arrived home.  His wife and daughter had been out all afternoon.  He told a reporter from The New York Times, "his apartment had been stripped."  Among the items stolen were "$600 worth of clothing, silverware, and decorations."

Henry and Mary Fields had two daughters, Rosalynd and Sylvia.  All the residents of The Riverside Mansions employed at least one servant and the Fields family employed 23-year-old Lydia Johnson, whom they said had "long been a faithful employee."  On August 31, 1911, The Evening World said, "For several days the servant had been acting queerly."  But the family "decided to humor her and kept her at her usual duties."

In fact, Lydia Johnson was having a mental breakdown.  On the afternoon of August 30, when Mary Field entered the kitchen, Lydia attacked her.  Mary screamed and her 18-year-old daughter, Rosalynd, rushed in.  "She pulled her mother from the servant's grasp, blocked several wild rushes and succeeded in getting Mrs. Fields into the hallway," reported The Evening World.  Then Rosalynd grappled with Lydia until she could get safely into the hallway and slammed the door.

The women's loud commotion had attracted "two painters at work in the building, two bellboys, two expressmen and the superintendent."  Policeman Best also ran into the building and "all made a rush for the raving negress," as worded by the article.  Lydia Johnson had been worked up into a frenzy, and she took Best's night stick from him and tore his uniform.  The painters came to Johnson's aid, but "the combined strength of the three was no match for that of the woman."  She was overpowered only when all eight men "made a concerted rush and dragged her to the floor."

Lydia Johnson was placed in an improvised straitjacket and taken to J. Hood Wright Hospital.  The day after the incident, The Evening World reported that Mary Fields, "is under the care of a physician to-day from the shock."

More typical of events within The Riverside Mansions were glittering dinner parties, teas and receptions.  On the evening of September 6, 1912, for instance, Dr. and Mrs. Hugo Schweitzer hosted a dinner "for forty, in honor of the official delegates of Germany, France, and Great Britain," as reported by The New York Times.  (The men were attending the Eighth International Congress of Applied Chemistry.)  

Dr. Hugo Schweitzer was born in Pitschen, Silesia in 1861 and came to America around 1885.  He married Adela Hammerslough in 1892 and the couple had one son, Edward Stephen.  Hugo Schweitzer studied chemistry in four German universities and was a member of the Society for Chemical Industry, the American Chemical Society, Engineers' Club of Boston, Cosmos Club of Washington and was president of the Chemists' Club of New York.

The international harmony seen at the Schweitzer's dinner table that September evening in 1912 was about to be shattered world-wide.  Following the outbreak of world war in 1914 and several years before America became involved, Schweitzer ardently sided with Germany.  He was a delegate of the German-American Alliance meeting in Utica in 1915, and that autumn announced that he would publish "a New-York daily newspaper of pro-German proclivities, to be used in propaganda," according to The Evening Post.

Dr. Schweitzer died of pneumonia in the apartment on December 22, 1917 at the age of 56.  In reporting his death, The Evening Post commented that in the early days of the war he "had been the centre of much attention because of his pro-German sympathies."

In the meantime, the Fields family appeared in society columns.  On June 22, 1914, for instance, The New York Times announced that Mary and Rosalynd "who sailed on the Vaterland last Tuesday, are to visit Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Holland."  The article added, "Mr. Fields, who is a brother of Lew Fields, with his youngest daughter, Miss Sylvia Fields, will join his family abroad in August."

The following year, on October 21, 1915, Mary and Henry announced the engagements of both of their daughters.  More surprising was that the sisters would be marrying brothers.  The New York Times reported that Rosalynd and Sylvia were engaged to Meyer and Jacques Ginsberg, respectively.

On January 21, 1916, the newspaper reported on Rosalynd's and Meyer's wedding in The Riverside Mansions apartment.  The article said the newlyweds left for their honeymoon, "but will return on Sunday to act as attendants at the wedding of Miss Sylvia Fields and Jacques Ginsberg."

In the meantime, the family of Farron S. Betts occupied an apartment here.  He was the president of F. L. Schafuss Co., maker of greeting cards and postcards.  Living with the family was Betts' widowed mother-in-law, Alma E. Byxbee.  

When Betts sailed to Europe on business in July 1914, he took along his chauffeur, Ernst Theodor Edward Fischer.  The young man was the son of Brigadier General Carl Heinz Fischer of the German Army.  They were in England when war was declared and Fischer "was promptly taken into custody by agents of the British Secret Service," reported The New York Times.  He was held in prison for several weeks before Betts could get him released.  The article said the chauffeur pledged, "not to try to get back to Germany, but to return to the United States."  Betts and Fischer returned to New York.  However, like Hugo Schweitzer, the chauffeur "admits that he is anxious for the kaiser to win," reported The New York Times.

Nine months after the Fields sisters' weddings, on October 19, 1916 Jenesse Alma Betts was married to Ernst Theodor Eduard Fischer.  Alma E. Byxbee died in the Betts apartment at the age of 89 on February 18, 1918.  Her funeral was held in the parlor the following afternoon.

Once America entered World War I, Ernst Fischer's outspoken favoritism to the German cause could not be ignored.   On July 4, 1918, The New York Times reported that he had been arrested by agents of the Department of Justice.  Although he had not committed a crime, the Department said his family "is one of the best known fighting families in Germany."  Ernst Fischer was imprisoned as an enemy alien, "for the period of the war," said the article.

A war of a different type was playing out in the apartment of Edwin Clifford and Louise McCullough.  McCullough was the head of E. C. McCullough & Co., which imported cigars and tobacco from the Philippines.  He had a personal fortune of $2 million according to Louise (or about $23.7 million today).  Louise was, according to the New York Herald, "a musician of ability and a linguist, speaking German, French and Spanish, as well as English."

Clifford met Louise at her dancing school when she was 15 years old and he was 25.  They eloped on April 23, 1893 and had a son and daughter.  According to Louise, their marriage was happy until McCullough "began to tell her of his affairs with other women, wives of his social and business friends."  When he began coming home early in the morning three or four days at week, according to Louise, he said "he was entitled to live his life in his own way."

On June 27, 1920, Louise, her 15-year-old daughter, also named Louise, and a cousin, Edwin Elser, were riding in the McCullough's large touring car in Westchester County, driven by their chauffeur, Pietro Holanda.  The teen badgered her mother to allow her to drive and finally, after luncheon, she let Louise get behind the wheel.  The girl slammed the car into a tree on Pelham Parkway.  The crash killed the young driver and severely injured her mother and the other occupants.

Ten days after the accident, Louise was back home, incapacitated with two broken legs and other injuries.  Edwin walked out, telling her that she "could communicate with his stenographer."  He took their son with him.

The following year, on March 26, 1921, Louise began separation proceedings, charging Edwin with abandonment and "poisoning her son's mind" against her.  Edwin denied the charges, saying that his wife was "temperamental."  Louise was awarded alimony the following year.

On Christmas Eve 1921, Farron S. Betts was in his automobile in the Bronx (driven by his new chauffeur).  The New York Herald reported that Betts "felt a bump in the West Drive, and getting out to investigate found an unconscious man."  The victim was Edward McConnell, who lived at 54 West 98th Street.  Betts and his chauffeur lifted him into the automobile and took him to Reconstruction Hospital, "where it was said he had a fractured skull."  Both Betts and his driver insisted that they had not originally struck McCullough, but merely ran over him.

At the time, rents at 410 Riverside Drive ranged from $3,100 and $3,500 a year--equal to $4,000 to $4,500 per month today.

Among the residents during the Depression years were prominent attorney and railroad man Walter J. Bartnett and his wife, the former Frances G. Vaux.  Married in 1895, they had three daughters, one of whom, Joanne, who was unmarried, lived with them.  Born in California, Bartnett received his law degree from Hastings College of Law in 1890.  

Walter J. Bartnett in his younger years.  from the collection of the Western Pacific Railroad.

He organized the Western Pacific Railroad Company in 1903 and became its first president.  He organized the Central California Traction Company and built an interurban system between Sacramento and Stockton, California.  He was, as well, a founder of the World Federation League.

In 1941, the roof cresting had been removed.  Cast iron sconces with milk glass globes still illuminated the entrance area and the balconies were intact.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

An interesting resident at the time was Dr. Raphael Constantin, who lived here with his wife, Florence M.  Born in Armenia, Constantin received his medical degree in 1893 from the University of Edinburgh.  He came to America in 1902 and turned his focus from medicine to industry.  He became the president of the Obelisk Waterproofing Company, which waterproofed structures like the obelisk in Central Park, St. Paul's Chapel, and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Riverside Park.  He was also highly involved in Armenian-American affairs and was president of the Armenia-American Society and the Constantinople Armenian Relief Society.

Millionaire Ida M. Valentine was a resident in the second half of the century.  Never married, like many wealthy employers, she developed a close connection with her loyal servants.  Upon her death on July 28, 1962, she bequeathed the bulk of her large estate to three charitable institutions.  But she did not forget her chauffeur of 23 years, Louis Reale.  Mr. Reale, who lived on West 191st Street, received "a tax-free bequest of $200,000," according to The New York Times, as well as "jewelry and personal property."  The cash inheritance would equal $2 million today.

image via streeteasy.com

By the mid-1980s, Columbia University had acquired 410 Riverside Drive as apartments for "postdocs, faculty and staff."  In 1999 the school restored the upper portion of the building, including the eye-catching gables.  Nina Siegal, writing in The New York Times on November 21, 1999, said, "The structure had needed repairs badly, and instead of just patching it up, the university hired a respected preservation firm, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates."  The architects used extant details to copy missing ornaments "and restore the roof to its original grandeur," according to Siegal.  It may have been during this renovation that the balconies were removed.