The Philip Minis House - 117 East 78th Street

 

photograph by the author

As laborers returned to New York City following the end of the Civil War, construction resumed.  Within a few years years development was inching northward into the Upper West and Upper East Sides.  Around 1871, Nicholas McCool erected a dozen high-stooped brownstones at 103 through 125 East 78th Street, between Lexington and Park Avenues.  Like its neighbors, 117 East 78th Street was just under 19-feet wide and rose three stories above a high English basement.  The Italianate design included an arched entrance below a classical pediment supported by foliate-carved corbels.  The architrave framed parlor windows, as well, wore triangular pediments.

It appears that McCool originally leased the house.  Robert Wild Todd was a Yale University educated attorney.  He married Mary M. Shields on December 14, 1871, and they lived here as early as 1873.  By 1876, John B. Carroll, who worked in the city's Bureau for the Collection of Assessments, occupied 117 East 78th Street, followed by Joseph and Sophie Newman.

Sophie Newman died in the house in 1881.  Within months, George Frederick Seward and his wife, the former Kate Sherman, moved in.  The couple were married in 1870 and had four children.  Born in 1840, George Seward was the president of the Fidelity and Casualty Co. and a director in several other firms.

George's uncle, William H. Seward, had served as Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of State.  It may have been his influence that landed George's appointment as United States consul to Shanghai in 1861.  He became Consul General and, in 1875, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Peking.  When he and Kate moved into 117 East 78th Street, they had just returned to New York from Washington D.C. where he was the American Minister to China.  He had held that post from 1876 until 1880. 

George Frederick Seward.  from the 1911 "George F. Seward: Born November 8, 1840, Died November 28, 1910" by the Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York.

Seward was, as well, "a writer on political and financial matters," according to The Milwaukee Journal.  Among his works was the Chinese Immigration in Its Social and Political Aspects.

Around 1883, Martin Freeman and his wife, the former Henrietta Wise, purchased 117 East 78th Street.  The couple had two adult sons.  Freeman arrived in New York City from Belvidere, New York around 1879 and found employment in the clothing and men's furnishings business of Henry Wise & Co.  He would not only rise within the firm, but he would marry the owner's daughter.  Martin's brother, Joseph Freeman, also got a job within the firm and he, too, married one of Henry Wise's daughters.  Upon the death of Henry Wise, the firm was renamed Freeman Bros.

Martin Freeman, The American Hatter, June 1902 (copyright expired)

The Freemans maintained a country home in Elberon, New Jersey.  In April 1895, they advertised the property for rent, possibly because the family would be summering in Europe.  The ad described: "15 rooms; all modern improvements; with stable having accommodation for coachman's family and room for four horses; location the best."

Despite his relative youth, Martin Freeman suffered from heart disease.  On the evening of May 26, 1902, he died from a heart attack.  The American Hatter noted, "He was not quite 58 years of age."

On May 2, 1905, Henrietta Wise Freeman sold 117 East 78th Street to Philip H. Minis for $28,250, just over $1 million in 2026 terms.  

Before the Minis family moved in, they hired architect Henry Brooks Price and Hunt & Howells to make what the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide described as "extensive alterations."  Almost assuredly, one firm handled the structural changes and the other the interiors.  On March 21, 1906, the New-York Tribune reported, "The interior is to be remodelled [sic] and a new staircases installed."  The residence was enlarged by the seamless addition of a fourth floor.  It was likely during these renovations that new iron stoop railings in a Classical Roman cross-hatch design were installed.  The remodeling cost the Minis family the equivalent of $554,000 today.

A 1940 tax photograph captured the distinctive ancient Roman-inspired stoop railings.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Philip Minis was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1843 and fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War.  He came to New York City in 1871 and founded the brokerage firm P. H. Minis & Co.  Among his most visible clients was William K. Vanderbilt.

He and his wife, the former Roberta Dudley, had one son, Robert B. Minis.  According to the New York Herald, Minis was a founder of the Metropolitan Club and (ironically) a member of the Union Club.  By the time he purchased 117 East 78th Street, he was a partner in the brokerage firm of Minis & Davis.  

In October 1911, Philip H. Minis fell ill.  His condition worsened to pneumonia and he died in the house on October 22, 1911 at the age of 68.  In reporting his death, the New York Herald described him as "one of the oldest members of the New York Stock Exchange."

Upon the appraisal of Philip Minis's estate, many in the financial community taken aback.  On September 25, 1912, the New York Herald reported, "A woman as equal partner in a Stock Exchange firm was revealed yesterday...The report stated that Mrs. Roberta B. Minis, the widow, claimed to have been admitted to membership in the firm in 1906 and remained in it until her husband died."  Minis may have made his wife an equal partner to guarantee her financial future.  She received half of the firm's assets and about one-third of her Philip's estate.  Robert received the other two-thirds.

Robert and his wife, Janet, shared the house with Roberta.  On July 10, 1911, The Wall Street Journal reported that Robert had been appointed cashier of the National Reserve Bank.  It was a highly responsible and visible position.  Three years later, on February 5, 1914, the newspaper reported that he had been elected as a vice-president of the Mutual Trust Co., "which absorbed the National Reserve Bank."

In the meantime, Janet, was visible in high society.  In reporting on the activities in Southampton on August 28, 1922, for instance, the New York Herald said, "Mrs. Robert B. Minis, who for some weeks has been at the Irving House, gave a luncheon yesterday at the Meadow Club."

The house was photographed in 1940, just before the stoop was removed.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The Minis family sold 117 East 78th Street to Harold Joseph Roig and his wife, the former Henrietta Bartlett Havens (known familiarly as "Henri"), in 1939.  Born in 1885 and 1892, respectively, the couple had three daughters, Jean, Carol and Leila.  Like their mother, at least two of them went by nicknames--Jean as "Cookie" and Leila as "Dee Dee."

As the Minis had done, the Roigs made significant alterations to the house before moving in.  They hired architect William Lawrence Bottomley to remove the stoop and lower the entrance below grade.  In transforming the original entrance to a window, Bottomley recreated the triangular pediments of the original windows.  And he skillfully removed the foliate entrance brackets and reinstalled them on either side of the new doorway.  (Tellingly, the certificate of occupancy noted, "entire premises to be occupied as [a] dwelling for one family and servants.")

Although Harold was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, his father, Adolph S. Roig, was Cuban-born.  Harold graduated from Columbia Law School and became CEO of W. R. Grace & Company and a co-founder and president of Pan American Grace Airways.  The family maintained a country estate in Great Neck, Long Island.  

Harold Joseph Roig, (original source unknown)

The Roigs moved in just in time for the announcement of Jean's engagement to John Thompson Ross.  The article in The New York Times on July 12, 1940, testified to the Roig sisters' privileged youth and their significant educations.  

Miss Roig attended the Brearley School in this city, was graduated from the Shipley School, Bryn Mawr, Pa., and in 1939 from Smith College.  She was introduced to society at a supper dance at the St. Regis in December, 1936, and is a member of the Junior League of New York.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the article noted that the prospective groom "is now with W. R. Grace & Co.

When the United States entered World War II, Carol enlisted in the U.S. Navy.  Her sense of patriotic duty led to romance and on August 19, 1945, The New York Times reported, "Lieut. (j.g.) Carol Roig of the Waves...was married [in Coronado, California] to Lieut. David Gapen Watrous, USNR."  Interestingly, none of the family members other than her father, was mentioned in the article.

On August 28, 1946, the Pan American-Grace Airways launched two passenger-cargo ocean liners, the Santa Sofia and the Santa Clara.  A crowd of about 500 watched as Henrietta Roig christened the Santa Sofia.  (The other was christened by the wife of another W. R. Grace & Co. executive.)

That would be perhaps that last time the Riogs' names would appear in the newspapers for quite a long time.  In 1946, Harold and Henrietta relocated to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

By the mid-1960s, the house was owned by Andrew Y. Rogers.  He was president of The Park Association of the City of New York, a civic and advocacy organization.  The group often battled city officials, like Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, regarding urban planning and the loss of public green spaces.

George A. Kellner occupied 117 East 78th Street as early as 1981, when he was an incorporator of Kellner, Dileo & Co., an investment firm.

photograph by the author

At some point, an unofficial renovation resulted in three units within the house.  The exterior, however, is little changed since William Lawrence Bottomley removed the stoop and remodeled the lower floors for the Riogs in 1940.  And, perhaps coincidentally, the lost stoop railing's Roman cross-hatch design is reinvented in the ground floor openings.