German-born architect Jobst Hoffmann filed plans for a "five-story brick apartment house" at 29 East 7th Street in February 1880 for developer Isaak Horchster. Hoffmann's plans projected the cost of construction at $11,000, or about $357.000 in 2026 terms. Seven months later, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide's "Watch The Records" column noted that liens had been filed against the owners of 25 and 27 East 7th Street. The new owner of that property, Z. H. Miller, hired Hoffman to design two apartment buildings that would exactly match 29 East 7th Street, already under construction.
Hoffman's design was a blended of Queen Anne and neo-Grec styles. And he introduced a splash of the Esthetic style in the whimsical cast iron fencing and stoop railings, composed of stylized sunflowers.
The stylized sunflowers were echoed in the incised carving of the stone stoop newels.
The paired ground floor openings shared a lintel decorated with a small rosette. The centered entrance was crowned with an earred cornice inspired by ancient Greece. The four upper stories were clad in red brick and trimmed in sandstone. Hooded lintels decorated the second and fourth floor openings and between the third and fourth, Hoffmann added colorful encaustic, quilt-like tiles.
Colorful Queen Anne tiles and a fanciful cast iron ornament (the left half of which has been lost) decorate the facade.
The brick piers of the top floor wore cast metal capitals decorated with bosses. They upheld the corbels of the elaborate pressed metal cornice.
No. 29 East 7th Street was known as a "double flat," meaning there were two apartments per floor. Among the initial tenants was Auguste Schelcher. He was on his way with friends to the ball of the Société Culinaire Philanthropique on the evening of April 30, 1883, when his night of gaiety turned to horror. The New York Times reported that the group "were in a pleasant mood." As they passed 404 Sixth Avenue, Désiré L. Houvet, a French chef and another member of the Société Culinaire Philanthropique, exited the building. The New York Times reported:
Two or three were in a convivial condition, and they made jocose remarks when Houvet ran out...placing his hands on the shoulders of H. Barbier, of No. 49 West Twenty-seventh-street, and Auguste Schelcher, of No. 29 East Seventh-street, [and] sank to the pavement. But their merriment changed to fear when they saw Houvet gasping and unable to speak.
The "elegantly dressed" Houvet had just been stabbed in the back by Elizabeth Quinquinet. The New York Times would later explain, "Houvet, who was single, had led Mrs. Quinquinet astray and they had quarreled." The 33-year-old Houvet died on the scene and, presumably, the evening that Auguste Schelcher's had looked forward to came to an end.
Josephine Frank, who lived here with her 10-year-old daughter in 1885, was in financial straits. She was married to Lippman Frank on April 17, 1876, and "lived together for one year and a half. Then they separated by mutual consent," according to the New-York Tribune. In January 1886, she sued her husband for support, charging him with abandonment.
In court on January 19, Josephine presented a letter from the Commissioners of Charities and Correction, "stating that it was likely that she would become a burden on the taxpayers, unless her husband was compelled to support her," reported the New-York Tribune. She, however, had to explain to the court what she had done with the money her husband had provided for. When they separated, he gave her two houses on East 11th Street. Josephine claimed that they were "in a bad condition and were torn down soon afterward." She lost the properties in foreclosure.
Josephine had also neglected to mention that she and Lippman were not separated, they were divorced. Lippman Frank presented a decree of divorced dated 1878 and Justice Power, "said that Mrs. Frank's claims fell to the ground." He told the disappointed woman that she could, however, initiate a new suit for the support of the child.
image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services
The Hessler family occupied an apartment here in 1896 when their 15-year-old son, Charles, became a hero of sorts. At 2:00 on the afternoon of July 7, Charles was on the Bowery near Catharine Street. He saw 68-year-old John M. Sweitzer, who was inebriated and lived in Utica, staggering along the sidewalk. Suddenly three men rushed up and robbed him of $40. The New-York Tribune explained that Sweitzer, "was unable, owing to his condition, to furnish any description of the robbers."
Young Hessler, however, was quite able to describe them. He told police that two had boarded a Second Avenue street car and the other went away on foot. The article said, "With the boy, Detective Cahill entered a corner saloon, and Hessler pointed out [John] Long as the man whom he had seen standing to one side while the robbery was committed." Charles Hessler countered Long's testimony that he "knew nothing of the affair." On the weight of teen's affidavit, Long was committed to the Tombs Prison for further investigation.
Pauline Zelba lived here in 1913. She and two friends, Emma Stern and Celia partnered in running two cider stubes on East 4th and East 5th Streets. (Cider stubes were taverns, patronized mostly by German Americans, that sold light food and cider made from fermented apples.) The women were offering more than cider and sausages, as it turned out. On April 16, 1913, the New-York Tribune reported that all three were arrested and "charged with keeping disorderly houses in cider stubes." (A "disorderly house" was the polite term for a brothel.)
By 1924, the basement level of 29 East 7th Street had been converted to two commercial spaces. Operating from one of them that year was George Withers Music Co.
Music Supervisors' Journal, December 1924 (copyright expired)
There are still just two apartments per floor in 29 East 7th Street. Because Z. H. Miller wisely decided to have Hoffmann recreate his design at Nos. 25 and 27, the trio has an enhanced presence.
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