The 1905 Hudson Stables - 248 West 108th Street

photograph by Anthony Bellov

Born in 1839, Herman Masemann immigrated from Germany in 1856.  By the turn of the century, he had garnered a significant fortune in the butcher business.  In 1905, he acquired the 25-foot-wide lot at 248 West 108th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue and gave the architectural firm of Holt & Weidinger a formidable (some might have said impossible) task: squeezing a livery stable onto the plot no wider than an upscale residence.  The five-story brick-and-stone stable cost Masemann $18,000 to construct, or about $650,000 in 2026 terms.

Holt & Wiedinger's design was a blend of Arts & Crafts and neo-Georgian styles.  Two large arches with limestone lintels filled the ground floor.  One contained the double-doored carriage bay and the other the pedestrian entrance and a window.  Grouped windows at the second through fourth floors sat within a vast arch topped with a brick eyebrow and stone keystone.  They flooded those floors with natural light.  The five openings of the fifth floor, which sat upon a single limestone sill, were protected by a projecting cornice on floor-height cast iron brackets.  A simple brick parapet completed the design.

Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide, March 10, 1906 (copyright expired)

The critic of the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide was highly impressed, calling the Hudson Stable, "what is undoubtedly the finest 25-ft. boarding stable in the city," and saying that Holt & Weidinger had shown "that it is perfectly possible to build a satisfactory stable on at 25-ft. lot."

The ground and second floors contained 60 horse stalls.  Vehicles were stored on the upper floors.  The architects placed the large electric elevator in the middle of the building rather than the rear, as was customary.  It had doors on the front and the back, "and thus permits the easy handling and storing of wagons without requiring large gangways," explained the Record & Guide.

On the first, third and fourth floors were "ample carriage-washes," while "horse-washes" were on the first and second.  The washing stations were supplied with hot and cold water.

At the front portion of the third floor was the harness room, "connected by a harness lift with the stall floors and office below," said the article.  "This room also contains lockers for private coachmen."  The architects' ingenious solutions included the feeding of the horses.  The feed room was at the rear of the top floor and "feed chutes" delivered the fodder to the individual stalls below.  The Record & Guide noted, "The problem of the storage and disposal of manure has been effectively solved, and a brick vent flue removes all odors."

After operating the Hudson Stables for four years, on June 6, 1910 Herman Masemann sold the property to George C. Masemann for $1.  As his father had done, George assisted his customers in selling their horses and vehicles.  On May 28, 1912, for instance, an advertisement in the New York Herald read, "For Sale--Pony, Shetland; safe, gentle; with governess cart, harness and saddle.  Hudson Stables, 248 West 108th st."  (A governess cart was a popular two-wheeled vehicle.)

Importantly, the overwhelming majority of the advertisements on that page were marketing automobiles, not carriages or horses.  They indicated the major shift that was transforming transportation.

On April 2, 1917, architect George Raymond Euell filed a request with the Board of Appeals to convert 248 West 108th Street from "a stable into a garage in a residence district."  It appears that the request was denied, because Euell instead converted the Hudson Stable to a storage warehouse.  In doing so, he added a fifth floor in the form of a mansard.  Its single dormer sat below a deeply-overhanging roof, reminiscent of the one he removed from the fifth floor.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

George C. Masemann and his wife, Phoebe, leased the remodeled building to the Haage Storage company.  It was occasionally the scene of auctions of unclaimed property.  On February 16, 1921, for instance, auctioneer Henry Brady advertised the Sheriff's Auction at the Haage Storage Warehouse.  It included, "one George Steck baby grand piano."

Columbia Alumni News, July 1919 (copyright expired)

On July 1, 1928, The New York Times reported that the Masemanns had sold "the six-story warehouse building" to Vera Beermann.  Vera was the wife of Edward Beermann Jr. and the couple operated the Harlem Despatch Express Co.

Like the Haage Storage Warehouse, the Beermann's operation was a moving and storage business and it would remain in the building for decades.  By the time America entered World War II, the firm's name had been slightly changed to the Despatch Moving & Storage Company.  An advertisement in 1944 touted, "Our First Love is Commercial Hauling and Storage" and that it was "Now Our Defense Contribution."  (Exactly how the firm's hauling or storage of freight contributed to the war effort was left unclear.)  It added, "Tell us your hauling or storage problems.  Then you will not have one."

The Despatch Moving & Storage Co. was still in the building in the third quarter of the century.  Then, in 1989 248 West 108th Street was converted by The Bridge, Inc. for its headquarters and facilities.  The organization was founded in 1954 "to change lives by providing help, hope and opportunity to the most vulnerable New Yorkers," according to its website.  It adds that The Bridge offers "a range of behavioral health services, supportive housing, and community services to adults in New York City who are experiencing serious mental illness."

photograph by Anthony Bellov

The Bridge, Inc. continues to occupy the building that once houses horses and carriages.  Its sympathetic renovation to the building greatly preserves the historic 1905 and 1917 designs.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post