In 1878 developers Duffy & Bros. tackled the problem of developing Goat Hill--presumably named because its steep slope had made it unworkable for planting, but quite satisfactory for grazing goats. That year they hired architect F. S. Barus to design nine rowhouses--121 through 137 East 95th Street--between Park and Lexington Avenues. The 16-and-one-half-feet wide homes were completed in 1879.
Among the group was 129 East 94th Street. Faced in brownstone, it rose three stories above a high English basement. Beefy cast iron newels and railings flanked the stoop, and austere stone architraves embraced the openings. Their sills and molded cornices sat on scrolled brackets.
It became home to engineer and inventor Van Buren Ryerson. Born in 1805, he was renowned for his inventions, like his 1869 Ryerson Pulverizer used by miners to pulverize dry ores. But none was more celebrated than his 1858 Sub Marine Explorer, a pioneering diving bell. Ryerson's residency would be short-lived. He died in the house on November 16, 1880 at the age of 75.
Frank R. Houghton purchased the house. A real estate broker, he was treasurer of the Real Estate Board of Brokers. Houghton offered 129 East 94th Street for sale in March 1890 for $16,000, guaranteeing its "value [will] surely increase."
Andrew Fay purchased the house in September 1892 after, apparently, negotiating the price. He paid $15,500, or about $551,000 in 2026.
An attorney, Fay was an assistant clerk in the District Attorney's office. He and his wife, Maria, had five children, Elizabeth A., Edward J., Eugene, Loretta, and William A.
The Fay family led quiet lives, never appearing in the society pages. Other than legal business matters, Andrew Fay's name did not appear in print until his passing here on October 24, 1906. And even then, his death notice was a succinct, one-sentence announcement. His funeral was held in the drawing room two days later.
Interestingly, Fay bequeathed the house in equal portions to his children. Maria was not included in the title.
At the time of their father's death, at least Eugene, Loretta and Elizabeth were still living with Maria. Eugene was highly involved in civic affairs and on January 24, 1906 was appointed a member of the Local School Board of the 16th District.
On January 21, 1909, the New York Herald reported, "Mr. John J. Daniels and Miss Elizabeth M. Fay were married yesterday in the Church of St. Francis de Sales." Loretta was her sister's maid of honor. The article noted, "A wedding breakfast was served at the home of the bride's mother, Mrs. Andrew Fay, at No. 129 East Ninety-fourth street."
Maria Fay died on August 16, 1912. Her funeral was held in the drawing room on the 20th, followed by a mass at the Church of St. Francis de Sales.
In 1941, the muscular stoop ironwork was intact. image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
The house saw several occupants over the subsequent years. It was lost in foreclosure in the World War II years. On August 5, 1943, The New York Times reported, "Paul G. Reilly of the law firm of Earle, Rust & Reilly has bought for his own occupancy, the three-story brownstone dwelling."
Reilly and his wife, Lillian, made substantial changes before moving in. The stoop was removed and the entrance lowered below grade. The 1879 details of the parlor floor openings were shaved off. (Oddly enough, the upper floor windows were left intact.) A second renovation remodeled in the interiors in 1948. During one of the projects, the brownstone was stuccoed.
image via Google Streetview
Paul and Lillian had three sons, Willis, Gorman, and Paul Jr., and a daughter, Jane. Reilly had been a member of Reilly, Fleming & Reilly since the 1930s. In 1948, he represented the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy for reimbursement for 22 million acres of upstate New York land. He would work on the case for four decades, amassing a library of photocopies of treaties between Native American nations and the U.S. Government, maps, chapters from history books, and other materials.
In 1954, Reilly unsuccessfully ran for the House of Representatives. The couple was in San Pedro Cantira, Spain on April 26, 1979 when Reilly died at the age of 70. His casework materials, called The Paul G. Reilly Indian Collection, was donated to the E. H. Butler Library of The State University of New York.
In 2014, a restoration was initiated by William Vitacco Associates, Ltd. The stoop was restored, the stucco removed, and the window details refabricated. Still a single-family home, it has been sympathetically returned to its 1879 appearance.
photographs by the author
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