The Civil War ended in April 1865 and one developer wasted no time in constructing of a row of upper-middle-class rowhouses along East 78th Street between Lexington and Fourth Avenue. Historians agree that it was likely Richard Williamson who was responsible for the project.
Three stories tall above rusticated basements, the houses were just 18-feet wide. Their elliptically arched openings sat within attractive molded frames. Williamson's builder forewent the fussy scrolled corbels and pediments seen above Italianate entrances of more costly homes, giving these a simple keystone.
The molded architraves of 118 East 78th Street would have matched these, which survived in examples farther east along the row in 1940. via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
Given the regular change in occupants, it appears that Williamson rented 118 East 78th Street. Living here in 1870 was Deborah Plume, the widow of Isaac Plume, and her son, Joseph. (Another son, Isaac H. Plume, was among those New Yorkers who had marched off to battle. A member of the Seventh Regiment, he rose to the rank of first lieutenant and was killed in the Battle of Manassas on August 27.) Deborah died here on July 23, 1870 at the age of 80. Her funeral was held in the parlor three days later.
James S. Shell and wife, Mary J., moved in within months. Schell was a saddler with Hoover, Calhoun & Co., "manufacturers and importers of fine saddlery and harness, wholesale and retail," as described by The Merchant's Directory.
Schell, too, had served in the war, but his experience was much different from that of Isaac Plume. James S. Schell was drafted into the Union Army on March 21, 1865. Just over two weeks later, on April 9, Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the war. Schell was mustered out on July 11, 1865.
Like most families who had extra rooms, the Schells took in boarders. Their ad on December 22, 1875 read:
A gentleman and wife, or family, can have elegant Rooms and Board very low with small private family; brown stone residence. 118 East Seventy-eighth street, near Madison avenue cars.
Answering that ad was attorney Wells Hendershott, who listed his address here through 1877.
Around 1878 William D. Lent and his family owned and occupied 118 East 78th Street. Lent was a glass merchant with his business at 390 Broome Street. He and his wife, Ella M., had three daughters Alice, Mary and Marietta.
Marietta's wedding to William H. Starbuck in St. Bartholomew's Church on September 22, 1880 reflected the family's comfortable finances. "The bride's dress was of brocaded silver satin, and the dresses of the bridesmaids of mull and satin," reported The Daily Graphic. The article noted, "A reception followed at the house of the bride's parents, No. 118 East Seventy-eighth street."
It appears that living with William D. Lent could be taxing. Decades later, he sued his daughter, Alice, who was now married, "to restrain her from disposing of the contents of a safe deposit box containing securities which he had given to her," reported the New York Herald. He died on November 17, 1915 leaving an estate equal to $3.2 million in 2026 terms. The New York Herald reported, "He gave nothing to his wife, Mrs. Ella M. Lent."
In the meantime, the Lent family had moved to 60 East 68th Street around 1886 and the East 78th Street house became home to the Herman Hirsch family. It was either the Lents or the Hirsches who slightly updated the house around that time. Modern, Esthetic-style ironwork at the stoop and areaway replaced the Italianate originals. And French windows with a modified fanlight were installed in the parlor.
The new parlor window and one of the replaced newels can be seen at the left in this 1913 photograph. (The molded architraves are intact.) from the collection of the New York Public Library.
Herman Hirsch listed his profession as "liquors," meaning he either ran saloons or liquor stores. He had two locations, one at 1336 Third Avenue and the other at 75 Murray Street. When the family moved into 118 East 78th Street, Lee Hirsch was attending the Free Academy of New York.
The residence continued to see a frequent turn-over of occupants. The Beckwell family lived here in 1895 when William and James J. Beckwell added their names to hundreds of New Yorkers who petitioned the Board of Aldermen to construct a "bicycle path between the upper and lower parts of the city."
Around 1906, John H. Campbell and his wife purchased 118 East 78th Street. Born in 1866, Campbell was described by the New-York Tribune as "prominent in New York politics during the reign of Richard Croker as Tammany Hall chieftain." The distinction was not especially positive. "Boss" Crocker's tenure was marked with corruption. Campbell was initially Crocker's secretary, and when the latter became City Chamberlain in 1889 he made Campbell his deputy.
John H. Campbell, from the collection of the Library of Congress.
In 1908, Campbell "left the city's service," as worded by the New-York Tribune, and took the position of treasurer of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company. He would become, as well, the treasurer of the Subway Realty Company, the Rapid Transit Subway Construction Company, the Interborough Consolidated Corporation, and a director of the Merchants Refrigerating Company, the Metropolitan Securities Company, and "several ferry and transportation concerns," according to the New-York Tribune.
While Campbell was busy at work, his wife enjoyed the lifestyle of a well-to-do woman. On August 24, 1913, the New-York Tribune reported, "Mrs. John Campbell, of No. 118 East 78th street, who is spending the summer at the Nassau Hotel, Long Beach, gave a shore dinner and dance to her Beach friends at the Casino, Long Beach, Tuesday evening, August 19." The article noted that Nathan Frank and his wife were among the guests and "his orchestra of fifty pieces played on the porch during the dinner."
With his health failing in 1919, Campbell and his wife sold 118 East 78th Street to Dr. Royal Herman Willis and his wife, Jennie. The Campbells moved to the Garden City Hotel in Garden City where John H. Campbell would die on April 5, 1922 at the age of 56.
Herman was Jennie's second husband. Born Jennie B. Murray in 1867, her first husband, Samuel Edward Vernon, died in 1914. She and Vernon had two children, Vivian and Murray Vernon. They were 25 and 21 years old respectively in 1919.
Vivian would not reside in the East 78th Street house. The previous year, on May 11, 1918, she married Leo Nunes, "of Leghorn, Italy, in Grace Church," as reported by the New-York Tribune.
Murray Vernon would live here until 1923. On June 9, 1923, The New York Times reported on his marriage to Marcella Verran at the bride's home at 270 Park Avenue.
At some point prior to 1940, the molded architraves were shaved flat, apparently in an effort to slightly modernize the facade.
The molding of the frames around the windows and doorway was flattened by 1940. The shuttered windows and boarded entrance suggests interior renovation was going on. The charming crescent moon cutouts in the shutters provided ventilation. via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
Jennie B. Willis died on December 3, 1953 at the age of 86. Dr. Royal Herman Willis would die in Brooklyn in 1961 at the age of 85.
In the meantime, the East 78th Street house was converted to two duplex apartments in 1953. The configuration remained until a renovation in 1971 returned the house to a single-family home.
In 2007 Chelsea Atelier Architect, PC completed a gut renovation. The firm's website says that the "facade was completely restored to its original brownstone...Some stone was replaced and everything was repainted."
photograph by the author
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