A Hidden Theater District Treasure -- 690-692 Eighth Avenue

 

Only the Gothic arches and drip moldings hint at the Eighth Avenue facade's original purpose.  photograph by frog17.

On March 21, 1886, the New-York Tribune reported that Rev. Albert Benjamin Simpson, "of the Twenty-third Street Tabernacle" had sign a contract to purchase the Madison Avenue Congregational Church for $126,000.  The article said it would "become known as the Gospel Tabernacle."

Born in Canada, Simpson was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1865 and came to New York City in 1881.  The year after purchasing the Madison Avenue church, he founded the Christian Alliance and would be president of the organization until his death.  His ability to amass the funds necessary to purchase the Madison Avenue property--equal to $4.3 million in 2026--had much to do with Simpson's charismatic personality.  The New York Times would later comment that it was not unusual for him to raise tens of thousands of dollars at a single meeting.

Rev. Alfred Benjamin Smith, image via cmalliance.org

Just two years after moving into the Madison Avenue property, on March 9, 1888, the New-York Tribune reported, "It was said yesterday by members of the Tabernacle that...the congregation made a fatal mistake in going there."  The Gospel Tabernacle Church sold the Madison Avenue church in August and the next month Edelmann & Smith filed plans for a complex of buildings on an L-shaped plot around the southeastern corner of Eighth Avenue and 44th Street.

On September 22, 1888, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide explained that the Gospel Tabernacle would occupy a 50-foot-wide building at 690-692 Eighth Avenue.  On the 44th Street side, said the article, "there will be a college building five-stories high, 50x45, of which two stories on the first floor will be rented out, adjoining which will be a six-story home, 50x100."  Edelman & Smith projected the construction costs at "between $100,000 and $125,000."  (The figures would translate to $3.5 to $4.25 million today.)

Edelmann & Smith's rendering of the Eighth Avenue elevation was published in The Christian Alliance and Missionary Weekly in March 1890 (copyright expired)

John Herman Edelmann and Lyndon Smith gave the West 44th Street and Eighth Avenue buildings similar designs.  Eschewing the Gothic Revival style more expected in ecclesiastical structures, the architects turned to Romanesque Revival.  

The Gospel Tabernacle and Missionary Home School building on Eighth Avenue was faced in red brick and trimmed stone.  Between the entrances (the Tabernacle was entered at 692 Eighth Avenue and Missionary Home School at No. 690) was a cast-iron storefront.  The asymmetrical midsection featured paired windows, arches and a second-floor oriel.  A square tower with a pyramidal cap and steep mansard composed the top floor.  

Edelman & Smith's design gave little hint that at the back of the building was an impressive worship and meeting space that soared the full height of the building, culminating with a glorious octagonal stained glass skylight.  

The Gospel Tabernacle could be accessed by the Berachah Home at 258-260 West 44th Street.  Its design was similar to the Eighth Avenue building, with a comparable mansard, but with a rounded rather than squared corner tower.

The Berachah Home offered "a place of rest and instruction for persons coming from various parts of the country in order to attend the meetings of the Tabernacle," according to a pamphlet, which added, "It is a commodious building holding about 100 guests and specially adapted to the purposes of the work."

The lower edge of the octagonal skylight can be glimpsed in this early photo.  (original source unknown)

The pamphlet explained that the Missionary Home School at 690 Eighth Avenue provided training for missionaries.  "A short course of Bible study and missionary training lasting about six weeks is conducted in this place and students are chiefly employed in missionary work and house-to-house visitation in the neighbourhood."

On the morning of March 16, 1890, services to dedicate the Gospel Tabernacle were held.  The New-York Tribune said, "Dr. A. B. Simpson, the pastor, addressed the congregation, giving a short history of the non-sectarian movement which led to the building of the Gospel Tabernacle."  The article said that the following afternoon, "the Training College and Berachah Home, which are connected with the institution, will be dedicated."

(original source unknown)

The headquarters of the Christian Alliance was in the Eighth Avenue Building.  The Encyclopaedia Britannica said, "At the opening of the year 1890, the secretary reported having established 23 missionaries in India, China, Japan, Hayti and Congo Free State."  The Alliance also published the Christian Alliance & Missionary Weekly from the building.

Rev. Simpson's ability to generate funds for the various enterprises under his control was mind-boggling.  On October 12, 1903, for instance, the New-York Tribune reported, "Nearly $70,000 was pledged yesterday by members of the Gospel Tabernacle, Eighty-av. and Forty-fourth st., to support the foreign missions."  The article noted, "At the end of the sermon a woman in the congregation jumped to her feet, shouting, and, rushing to the platform, handed $15 to the minister.  Some amounts pledged, ranging from $1,000 to $6,000, aroused enthusiasm when they were announced."

(original source unknown)

The incident was not out of the ordinary.  Three years later, on October 15, 1906, the newspaper reported that $71,773.80 was collected during the previous morning and afternoon services.  (The amount would equal more than $2.5 million today.)  The article said, "the congregation was wrought up to an almost hysterical pitch and threw gold watches and diamonds on the stage of the tabernacle."

Around 1908, the Berachah House was converted to a residential hotel called Alliance House.  An advertisement in the New York Herald in October 1911 read: 

Quiet place for quiet people; in the very centre of the city, catering only to a respectable class; suites consisting of parlor, sleeping apartment and private bathroom; also parlor and sleeping room, with running water; single and double rooms; steam heated; elevator service; popular rates; special rates for permanent guests.

In 1916, the Christian Alliance relinquished the management of Alliance House.  On February 16, The New York Times reported that Dr. Albert B. Simpson had leased it to Arthur K. Bonta, "the proprietor of the Hotels Bonta and Narragansett."

The configuration of the Alliance Hotel and Gospel Tabernacle are clearly seen in this property map.  from the collection of the New York Public Library.

Rev. Albert Benjamin Simpson died on October 29, 1919 at the age of 74.  In reporting on his death, The New York Times remarked, "There was almost no end to Mr. Simpson's religious activities.  He was editor of the Alliance Weekly and proprietor of the Alliance Press Company."  He had written many books, including the 10-volume Christ in the Bible, The Gospel of the Kingdom and The Old Faith and the New Gospel.  Of course, Simpson's funeral on November 4 was held in the Gospel Tabernacle.

Rev. Simpson's funeral was called a "service of testimony."  New York Herald, Nov. 1, 1919 (copyright expired)

In 1925, renovations were made to the two facades.  The mansards were removed, replaced with parapets.  Edelmann & Smith's Romanesque Revival elements were totally eliminated from the Eighth Avenue elevation and Gothic arches and square-headed drip moldings installed at the ground and second levels.  On the 44th Street side, the openings on the upper three floors were squared off, but much of the original appearance of the lower levels was preserved.

The Alliance House facade retained much of its original, lower floor elements after the renovation. vintage postcard from the author's collection.

The Gospel Tabernacle Church welcomed touring evangelists in the 1920s.  Some of their services were almost carnival like.  On July 22, 1922, for instance, the 14-year-old preacher Mary Agnes Vitchestain appeared here.  The Gospel Tabernacle Church's advertisement said, "Miss Vitchestain preaches to the largest audiences everywhere."  And the following month The Bosworth Brothers held a service.  The announcement said, "How sinners may be forgiven and how the sick may be healed are made equally plain by the preaching of Evangelist F. F. Bosworth."  It urged, "come and bring the sick."

The 1925 renovations erased all of Edelmann & Smith's 1888 design.  An electric sign for the Gospel Tabernacle hangs over the entrance of No. 692.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Another renovation completed in 1950 converted the former Alliance Hotel into offices for the International Christian Alliance.  Then, on January 12, 1969, The New York Times reported, "For 80 years Gospel Tabernacle Church...has stood at 690 Eighth Avenue, south of 44th Street.  A domed skylight of stained glass surmounts nine banked rows of pews and a full-immersion baptismal font on the main floor."  Now, said the article, the buildings were "up for sale."  The organization had purchased the former German Evangelical Reformed Church on East 68th Street for its new headquarters.

The complex became home to Covenant House, organized in 1968 to house homeless teenagers.  The facility remained until 1995.  On November 12 that year, The New York Times reported that Peter Castellotti and Robert Vittoria (co-owners of John's Pizzeria founded by their great uncle, John Sasso, in 1935) were "negotiating to open a fourth John's Pizzeria, in the site of the original Covenant House at 260 West 44th Street."

Seven months later, on June 26, 1996, The Times food critic Florence Fabricant announced that John's Pizzeria would indeed open in the space before the end of the year.  Astoundingly, much of the interior of the Gospel Tabernacle was preserved--the galleries, original lighting figures, and all of the stained glass, including the striking skylight.

Before the 400-seat pizzeria was opened, artist Douglas Cooper was commissioned to execute a series of three murals.  The largest--21-feet high and 30-feet wide--adorns a wall in the former worship space.  Cooper describes it in architect Andrew Tesoro's website as: 

A panoramic fly-over of Manhattan visible from the full width of a bi-level mezzanine...The foreground is set in one of the most dramatic views of Manhattan: the view from the New Jersey side of the Hudson River above the entrances to the Lincoln Midtown Tunnels.

Cooper's "Front Room Bar Mural," which is 8-feet high and 30-feet wide, pictures a scene in Times Square including identifiable theaters and throngs of pedestrians and vehicles.  Astute bar patrons can pick out figures like Theodore Roosevelt, Mickey Mantle, Salvadore Dali and Marilyn Monroe from the dozens in the crowd.  And the smallest, the "Mezzanine Mural," is 2-feet high and 28-feet wide.  The separate images, according to Cooper, "focus on the theatrical character of the District [and] illustrate a set of improbably theatrical anecdotes going back as far as the 1880s."

Elements of the 1888 and 1925 designs survive in the West 44th Street upper facade, including the sump of the rounded tower.

Easily dismissed today, the two 1888 buildings are at best unremarkable from the outside.  But inside, better known to tourists than to New Yorkers, is a hidden and remarkable gem.

non-credited photographs by the author

The Erica Jong House - 125 East 94th Street

 

In 1878-79, real estate developers Duffy & Bros. erected a row of nine, 17-feet-wide rowhouses along the north side of East 94th Street between Lexington and Park Avenues.  Designed by F. S. Barus, the identical brownstone-fronted homes were three stories tall above high English basements.  Barus's neo-Grec design placed the openings into architraves embellished with scrolled brackets and molded cornices.  Each house terminated with its own pressed metal cornice.

The original residents of 125 East 94th Street were Philip and Annie Smith, whose residency would be short and disturbing.  Philip, it seems, had a drinking problem and when intoxicated became abusive.  A maid, Louise Hughes, testified several years later that on March 25, 1880 Philip was drunk and struck Annie "with his fist around the head."  She said he was "in a great rage and used violent and abusive language."  That night, said Louise, Annie "ran away from the house to get out of his way."  She also testified that Philip would tell his wife, "I will knock your teeth out," and, "I will throw you out of the window."

The Smiths left 125 East 94th Street on May 1, 1881.  The house was leased by Laura M. Boehmann to several affluent tenants over the ensuing years.  Living here in the pre-World War I years was the Kroger family, who announced the engagement of daughter Matilda to Henry C. Reife in April 1916.

Laura Boehmann sold 125 East 94th Street in April 1917 to W. S. Groesbeck Fowler.  He, too, used the property for rental income.  In 1919, he leased it to Colonel Latham Gallup Reed and his wife, the former Mary Newbold Welsh. 

Latham Reed was born in Albany, New York in 1856.  His deep American ancestry included "early residents of the Plymouth Colony," according to The New York Times, and "officers of the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars."  Reed studied at Columbia University, and at Cambridge University in England where he earned his law degree.  Formerly a partner in the law firm of Bowers & Sands, he retired in 1914.

Fowler sold 125 East 94th Street in May 1921.  The New York Herald remarked, "The new owner will alter and occupy."  The house continued to see a relatively quick turnover of residents.  

Amelia Caroline Taylor Mason was the widow of Reverend Arthur Mason.  Born in 1837 in Cuba, she and her husband, who died in 1907, had two children.  Amelia died in the house on January 11, 1924 and her funeral was held in St. Bartholomew's Church.

Dr. Robert Ogden DuBois quickly moved into 125 East 94th Street.  The 30-year-old bachelor had graduated from Columbia University in 1915 and from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1919.  An assistant at the New York Nursery and Child's Hospital, he would not be alone here for long.  On March 9, 1925, The New York Times reported that he was engaged to Elizabeth Harsen Chisolm.   The newspaper mentioned that the bride-to-be "is well known in New York society."

Like Latham Gallup Reed, DuBois had a sterling American pedigree.  He traced his ancestry to Robert Livingston the Elder, who arrived in Albany in 1674 and established Livingston Manor along the Hudson River in 1715.  The couple would have two sons, Robert Jr., born in 1926, and Philip Mason, born in 1932.

In August 1933, Betty Menzel was hired here as a servant.  The 24-year-old had previously worked in the home of Benjamin Friedman in Laurelton, Long Island.  Only days after she moved in, Friedman rang the door.  The Long Island Daily Press reported "on June 28 he missed a gold ring set with a sapphire worth $50, two fountain pens valued at $20, and a cigarette lighter valued at $8."  When Betty quit on August 12, Friedman's suspicions "turned to her."

Faced with her former employer, Betty Menzel crumpled.  The article said, "she returned the pens and lighter, and gave him a pawn ticket for the ring."  That was not enough for Friedman, and Betty was arrested.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The house was next owned by Julia Smith, the widow of John Smith.  She lived here with her young adult daughter, Madeleine Anne.  Madeleine graduated from the College of New Rochelle and received her Master of Arts degree from Columbia University.

Madeleine was married to Lieutenant John Francis Butler in the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola on May 5, 1944.  The groom had just returned from deployment overseas.  

Julia Smith died in 1954.  In reporting that her estate had sold the house, The New York Times remarked, "It has ten rooms, three baths, and a garden."

Novelist and poet Erica Jong purchased 125 East 94th Street following her divorce from Jonathan Fast in 1983.  She moved in with the couple's five-year-old daughter, Molly Jong-Fast.  Jong also maintained a country home in Weston, Connecticut.

Bernard Gotfryd created his portrait of Erica Jong in 1969.  from the collection of the Library of Congress.

Dr. Du Bois's former office was still in the basement level and Jong leased it to what Molly Jong-Fast described as "sexologists."  In her How to Lose Your Mother, Jong-Fast writes:

The house looked like all the other narrow brownstone houses on the sloping block, but it wasn't the same.  She painted the front door bubblegum pink.  People who visited the house said it looked like a haunted bordello, but that wasn't because the house was haunted--that was because my mother had terrible taste.  She put floral wallpaper in each room.  Later she'd hang paintings of people having sex (bequeathed by the sexologists who would move into the basement) on that floral wallpaper.

Erica Jong was best known for her novel Fear of Flying, published a decade before she purchased 125 East 94th Street.  The controversial book's slant on female sexuality would greatly influence what was termed by some the "feminist wars."  By 2022, the book would have worldwide sales of more than 37 million copies, according to The New York Times.

Like her mother, Molly Jong-Fast would go on to a career as novelist and journalist.  By then, she and her mother would have moved on from 125 East 94th Street.

In 1997, it was purchased by Lisa and Perry Gershon--a lawyer and a real estate finance executive, respectively.  In reporting on the sale, The New York Times remarked that of the 1879 row, it was "one of the two brownstones left with its rosettes intact--its stoop standing proud, its interior spaces unblemished by conversion to apartments."  The article said, "the interior spaces were a bit tattered, but the house remained a single-family residence, with an office on the ground floor."

Astoundingly, given its long list of residents and owners, outwardly 125 East 94th Street survives essentially intact.

photographs by the author

The 1926 John Muir - 27 West 86th Street

 

image via landmarkwest.org

Developer and builder John Muir assembled a syndicate, The 31 West 86th Street Corporation, in 1925 to replace five handsome rowhouses at 27 through 35 West 86th Street, just west of Central Park, with an apartment building.  The group hired the architectural firm of Sugarman & Berger to design the the 15-story structure.  Completed in 1926, it was faced in variegated brick above a stone base.  Designed in the neo-Renaissance style, Sugarman & Berger peppered the facade with romantic terra cotta and cast stone details. 

The double-height frames around the grouped openings of the second and third floors included engaged terra cotta columns and spandrel panels with rondels containing bas relief busts or shields.  Shells and pinnacles capped each grouping.  The motif was copied at the sixth and thirteenth floors, where they were fronted with stone balconies.  An elaborately decorated cast stone parapet crowned the design.

John Muir christened the building after himself: The John Muir.  Although he had no connection with the naturalist and explorer of the same name (and who had died 14 years earlier), Sugarman & Berger might have given a nod to the much more famous John Muir by adding a very subtle, very non-Italian Renaissance detail--a Western cow's skull on either side of the entrance.

Above the ornate neo-Renaissance details of the entrance pilasters, is a surprising Western skull.  image via landmarkwest.org

An advertisement in The New York Times in November 1926 offered apartments of five through seven rooms, with two or three baths.  It boasted high ceilings and large rooms.  Although the ad described The John Muir as a "housekeeping apartment building," meaning the apartments had kitchens (including "electrical refrigerators" and "kitchen cabinets"), it noted, "Restaurant service available."  It was a vestige of residential hotels, in which tenants ate in restaurant-like dining rooms.

In September 1926, while construction was nearing completion, Dr. Leon L. Feldberg leased an apartment.  He was, perhaps, the first of an inordinate number of doctors and dentists in the building. 

Margaret (known as Rita) Hoff and Henry McAleenan were married in the Church of the Blessed Sacrament on Broadway and 71st Street on January 12, 1927.  The New York Times noted that following their "wedding trip in Europe," they would live at 27 West 86th Street.  The following year, on May 1, 1928, The New York Sun reported that the couple had welcomed a son.

Attorney Charles Culp Burlingham and his wife, the former Mary Farrell, were original residents.  Their country home was in Blackpoint, Connecticut.  Born in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1858, Burlingham was admitted to the bar in 1881 and became a partner in Burlingham, Veeder, Masten & Feary.  An expert in admiralty law, among his prominent clients were the White Star Line, the Holland America Line and Nippon Yusen.

Fourteen years before moving into The John Muir, Burlingham represented the White Star Line before the United States Supreme Court following the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912.  He was, perhaps, better known as a civic and legal reformer.  (In 1953, the New York City Bar Association deemed him the "first citizen of New York.")  A close adviser to Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, Burlingham become president of the New York City Bar Association in 1929.

Charles Culp Burlingham in 1932.  from the collection of the Library of Congress.

Mary Farrell Burlingham died on May 20, 1928.  It is unclear when Charles moved to 860 Park Avenue, but he would survive Mary by decades.  On August 30, 1956, The New York Times said that at the age of 98, he was "one of the country's oldest practicing lawyers."  Asked how others could live to be 98, Burlingham replied, "Just never stop breathing."  Charles Culp Burlingham died at the age of 100 on June 7, 1959.

Among the several physicians in the building in the 1920s and early 1930s were Dr. Rubin L. Kahn; Herbert L. Celler, former president of the Mt. Sinai Hospital Alumni Association; Damas B. Becker and his wife, the former Beulah Mosher; Dr. John J. White; and dentists Ethel R. Meyerson and Henry G. Rieger.

When The John Muir opened, Dr. John J. White was involved in a lawsuit.  On March 15, 1926, he was riding in a Pennsylvania Railroad dining car and ordered the boneless chicken pie.  The pie turned out to be anything but boneless and when White bit into a bone, he lost a front tooth.  The New York Times reported that the cook insisted he could not understand "how come a bone should be in the pie."  Dr. White's long-lasting suit was finally settled on April 27, 1929.  The Weekly Underwriter and Insurance Press reported that he was awarded $650 (just under $12,000 in 2026).

image via landmarkwest.org

Elizabeth Russell, who was 20 years old and an artist's model, moved into The John Muir following her divorce from Richard C. Lyman in December 1926.  She took back her maiden name, but would not have it for long.  Elizabeth attended a New Year's Day party on January 1, 1928.  There she met 34-year-old playwright Patrick Kearney, who had recently adapted Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy for the stage.  He, too, was recently divorced.  He divorced his first wife in 1924 and his second in 1926.  Just over two weeks after they met, on January 17, The New York Times reported that the pair were married that afternoon.

(Patrick and Elizabeth would have two daughters together.  Their marriage would end tragically, however, on March 28, 1933 when the 39-year-old playwright committed suicide.)

Along with Charles Burlingham, at least two other attorneys, David M. Fink of Fink & Frank, and Louis L. Kahn of Wilberg, Norman & Kahn, were early residents.  Kahn and his wife had one daughter.  Born in Hungary in 1880, he graduated from the New York University Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1903.

In August 1930, Kahn was named by the Tammany executive committee as the "Democratic candidate for the vacancy on the City Court bench," as reported by The New York Times.   Three months later, on November 14, the newspaper announced that Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt had appointed him as a judge of the City Court of New York.

The names of residents of The John Muir routinely appeared in the society columns.  On May 26, 1933, for instance, The New York Evening Post reported, "Dr. Eugene A. Dupin of 27 West Eighty-eighth Street, will give a dinner party at the Park Lane tonight for about fifty guests."

At least one resident at the time, however, appeared in newsprint for less favorable reasons.  Physiotherapist Albert C. Thierer occupied his apartment alone after his wife, Lee, left him.  In July 1932, he was ordered to pay her $12 per week to support her and their child.  According to Thierer, his Depression era patients were "lagging" in their payments and his finances were stretched.  On February 1, 1933, he faced his wife and a judge regarding the $125 he owed her.

When Magistrate Anthony Hockstra demanded that he immediately pay the amount in full, a frustrated Thierer exploded.  He told the magistrate, "I'll have to get a pistol permit from you and go out and steal!"  The Daily Star said the outburst "startled" the courtroom.  Hockstra adjourned the case for a week, saying that if Thierer did not come up with the $125, he would "go to jail for six months."

Perhaps because of his financial problems, Thierer branched out from physiotherapy to plastic surgery.  And it appeared to be working.  A year later, The New York Times reported that he "numbered many prominent actresses among his patients."  Unfortunately, Thierer had skipped an important step in opening his practice.

He was arrested on October 8, 1934 for "practicing medicine without a license."  The 42-year-old pleaded not guilty in court on December 20.  Apparently Thierer weathered the storm and on October 21, 1936, the "Shopping With Susan" column of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on "beauty authority" Grace Donohue's skin rejuvenation therapy.  The article said, "Grace Donohue offers a free analysis of your skin by Albert C. Thierer, B.S."

Among the residents in the second half of the century were attorney David Vorhaus and his wife, Dr. Pauline G. Vorhaus.  A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, David was in charge of gasoline rationing in the New York City area during World War II.  Pauline was a psychologist and author.  Their two children took similar professional paths.  Dr. Louis J. Vorhaus was a physician, and Dr. Jane M. Vorhaus Gang was a psychiatrist.

A fascinating resident was Moe Gale, who lived here with his wife, the former Gertrude Arnstein.  Born on the Lower East Side to a luggage salesman, in 1926 Moe partnered with Jay Faggen to open the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem.  The New York Times would say that he "advanced the musical careers of such personalities as Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and the bands of Erskine Hawkins, Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins, Tiny Bradshaw and Lucky Millinder."  It was Moe Gale who discovered the Four Ink Spots.

The Savoy Ballroom was famous nationwide.  The Times recalled, "Nearly every name band in the late nineteen-twenties, thirties and forties played there, including those of Rudy Vallee, Isham Jones, Duke Ellington, Chick Webb, Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller."  The Savoy Ballroom closed in 1958.  Six years later, on September 2, 1964, Moe Gale died while living here.

Among the Gales' neighbors in the building were Dr. Ludwig V. Chiavacci and his wife, Dr. Sidonia T. Furst-Chiavacci.  The two most likely met at the University of Vienna.  Ludwig received his medical degree there in 1925 and Sidonia the following year.

A research expert on multiple sclerosis, Ludwig was on the research staffs of the neurological Institute in Manhattan and the New Jersey Diagnostic Center in Metuchen.  A dermatologist, Sidonia Furst-Chiavacci was on the staffs of the University and Montefiore Hospitals.  She also served as a physician and dermatologist to the Austrian Consulate.  Ludwig V. Chiavacci died in August 1970 and Sidonia in September 1973.

image via landmarkwest.org

Externally, there are almost no changes to Sugarman & Berger's dignified, 1926 facade.

many thanks to reader (and former resident) Robyn Roth-Moise for suggesting this post

The Lost William E. Finn House - 1994 Madison Avenue

 

from the collection of the New York Public Library

In 1885, the Harlem neighborhood above 125th Street, once dotted with sprawling farms and country estates, was seeing rampant construction as homes, stores, and churches transformed the landscape.  On December 18 that year, architect A. I. Finkle filed plans for six upscale residences on Madison Avenue starting at the northwest corner of West 127th Street for developer George Kuhn.

Overall Romanesque Revival in style, Finkle sprinkled the row with other historical elements--a stepped Flemish gable in once instance, for example.  As was common, the corner house at 1994 Madison Avenue would be the showpiece.  At 35-feet wide, it comfortably fell into the category of a "mansion."  Finkle distinguished it with a chateauesque corner turret that rose to a witch's hat cap.

A moat protected by handsome iron railings provided natural light to the basement.  The parlor level, above a sideways stoop, was clad in undressed granite, while the second and third floors were faced in yellow Roman brick and trimmed in brownstone.  The mansard level exploded into a riot of shapes and angles; one of the two chimneys erupting from the center of a peaked gable.  

The row was completed in 1886 and the houses were leased for a decade.  Then, in 1896, real estate operator and builder William E. Finn and his wife, the former Flora Frank, purchased 1994 Madison Avenue.  The couple, who were 27 and 23 years old at the time, moved in in May and their first child, Myra, was born a month later, on June 26, 1896.  A son, Frank Mortimer, would arrive in 1898.

Despite his relative youth, Finn was successful, well-to-do, and an aggressive businessman.  As early as 1900, he added "investments" to his resume.

At the same time, Finn was turning his attention to the increasing commercialization of Lower Fifth Avenue, buying up former mansions as the site of commercial buildings.  In November 1900, for instance, he purchased the residence at 10 West 18th Street, just off the avenue, from millionaire August Belmont.  And on January 28, 1903, the New York Herald reported, "William E. Finn took title yesterday to the old Waterbury residence at the northeast corner of Fifth avenue and Eleventh street."  The article said he would replace it with a ten-story apartment building.

from the collection of the New York Public Library

Finn's operations were, perhaps, too aggressive.  On July 17, 1908, the New-York Tribune reported that he had filed for bankruptcy.  The article said that among his assets was "No. 1,994 Madison avenue, valued at $920,000."  (If that valuation was accurate, it would translate to an astounding $32.4 million in 2026.)

Finn dug himself out of the financial hole and before long his business was restored.  Nevertheless, in the meantime, the family left 1994 Madison Avenue.  With their financial and social status restored, they would be living at 450 West End Avenue by August 17, 1917 when the New York Herald reported that Myra Finn was engaged to Oscar Hammerstein.  The article was quick to add, "The Oscar in question, however, is not the Oscar of opera fame, but a grandson."

Myra Finn Hammerstein and Oscar Hammerstein, from the collection of the Library of Congress

In the meantime, the Finn mansion was sold to David M. MacLetchen.  It was now operated as a boarding house and in 1911, Dr. Abraham Caspe converted the basement level to his uptown office.  An announcement in the New York Evening Call on August 9 gave his office hours as: "Daily up to 10 a.m. and from 5 to 7 p.m.  Sunday up to 10 a.m. only."  The announcement noted, "His downtown office will remain at 210 East Broadway."

Dr. Abraham Caspe was described by the New York Herald as "a prominent East Side physician."  He began his medical practice in 1898.  In stark contrast to traditional Edwardian mores, he was shockingly open-minded in respect to casual sexual encounters.  Not sharing his attitudes was his wife, Mary.

On October 28, 1914, the New York Herald reported that Mary had filed for a separation and alimony.  Her complaint said that "her husband believes in soul mates and has them."  The article said succinctly that Caspe "advocates lax marital views."

Max Johnson boarded in the house at the time.  Affluent enough to own an automobile, he seems to have had what today might be deemed a "lead foot."  In October 1914, he was fined $25 for speeding.  The next month he was ticketed and fined $100, and in February 1915, he was caught again and fined $25.  On May 21, he faced Magistrate John A. Leach "for speeding his automobile on Hillside Avenue, Jamaica," as reported by The New York Times.  The Brooklyn Eagle noted that he was clocked at "the excessive rate of thirty-five miles an hour."  After looking over Johnson's record, the magistrate announced, "Ten days in City Prison."

from the collection of the New York Public Library

A cavalier Johnson pulled out "a large roll of bills" and asked, "How much does that mean in money?"

"It means ten days in prison, no fine," replied the magistrate.  The New York Times reported, "Johnson, stunned by the sentence, went to a cell and his car was sent to a garage."

Ten days in jail did not teach Johnson his lesson, however.  On May 7, 1916, the New York Herald reported that he struck sisters Angelina and Mary Barbace at 21st Street and Fourth Avenue.  The girls were 18 and 17 years old respectively.  The New York Sun added, 

Both girls are in Bellevue Hospital and yesterday it was not known whether they would recover.  Mary, the younger sister, is suffering from internal injuries from being whirled thirty feet along the pavement when her dress caught in the wheel, and Angelina is still unconscious from a fractured skull, caused by being thrown headlong into the curb.

The New York Herald reported that Johnson was held without bail "on a charge of felonious assault."

Albert and Mary Anderson were married in October 1916 and moved into rooms here.  The 24-year-old Anderson worked as a carpenter.  Six months later, he was part of a crew demolishing an old building in Brooklyn.  On March 2, 1917, The Brooklyn Daily Times reported that he "fell twenty feet from a building at the foot of Commercial street, Greenpoint."  Anderson, who had fallen through a skylight, died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

By the Depression years, 1994 Madison Avenue was, as described by The New York Age, "a remodeled private house which has been turned into a rooming house."  In the summer of 1938, Jemos Natson and his wife, Emily "took a small apartment here," said the newspaper.  The couple were 32 and 25 years old, respectively.  

Natson came home on the evening of August 8 that year to discover Emily "entertaining some other young man," as reported by The New York Age.  The man fled and Jemos's rage turned to Emily.  He pulled out a penknife and stabbed her "in the neck, arms and about the hands," said the article, which added, "She lost a considerable amount of blood before an ambulance arrived."  Five days later, police were still looking for Jemos and Emily's condition was still listed as serious.

The Finn mansion survived until 1982.  If the owners intended to replace it, they did not.  A fenced vacant lot still occupies the site today.

image by durififliapaname

The 1888 Matthew C. Henry House - 138 East 95th Street

 

In 1960, before being protected within the Carnegie Hill Historic District, the house was given an unsightly rooftop addition, visible from the street.

Developers and builders William J. and John P. C. Walsh embarked on an ambitious project in 1887, breaking ground for 12 rowhouses that would nearly engulf the entire southern blockfront of East 95th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues.  Designed by C. Abbott French & Co., each Queen Anne-style home was different yet harmonious.  They created a charming streetscape of colors and materials, oriels and gables, and other decorations.

The $10,000 worth of stone used in erecting the homes was purchased from M. C. Henry & Co., according to the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide on October 8, 1887.  The "old reliable and successful firm of stone cutters," as described by the journal, was headed by Matthew C. Henry and John Gaynor.

Construction on the row was completed in 1888.  Interestingly, when the Walshes placed the two easternmost houses, 136 and 138 East 95th Street, at auction in October 1889, Matthew C. Henry purchased them for $14,000 each (about $492,000 in 2026 terms).

Henry and his wife, Maria, briefly occupied No. 138.  The couple had a country home in New Rochelle.  Like the others, 138 East 95th Street was three stories tall above an English basement fronted by a dog-legged box stoop.  The upper floors were faced in beige brick and trimmed in terra cotta and sandstone.  The parlor floor openings with their curved corners sat below substantial, blocky lintels--the color of the stone so similar to the brick that they nearly disappear.  Between the door and window was a large terra cotta plaque containing a shield, and charming terra cotta tiles of sunflowers filled the gap below the window.

The late New York Times journalist Christopher Gray would call 138 East 95th Street a "potpourri," pointing out "its great oriel bay designed with 12-pane transoms and curved sides, and flanked by a checkerboard brick wall."  Originally, another terra cotta panel or rondel decorated the gable under the cornice.

Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide, September 23, 1876 (copyright expired)

Interestingly, in 1890 Henry excavated the basement floor, lowering it to accommodate "dining rooms."  The exact purpose of those rooms is unclear.  

The Henrys sold 138 East 95th Street to Ivan and Hilda Frank in June 1891 for $16,500 (about $587,000 today).  Frank was the principal in Ivan Frank & Co., makers of children's clothing.  The couple had one daughter, Minna Vera, and a son, Lawrence.

Minna's wedding to Sigmund Lang Newman took place in Sherry's on January 26, 1910.

Frank, who was still living with his parents, went into real estate development.  On June 15, 1912, for instance, The New York Times reported that he had purchased 104 through 110 West 29th Street.  "Mr Frank is in Europe at present, but it is understood that...a twelve story modern fireproof loft building is to be erected."

In 1913, the Franks moved to 176 West 87th Street and leased 138 East 95th Street to Morris (sometimes spelled Morice) and Bella Bernhard Schwartzkopf.  Born in New York City in 1857 and 1861 respectively, Morris and Bella had two children, Clara S., born in 1895, and Irving Morris, born in 1898.  Morris was a partner in the cigar box manufacturing firm, Schwarzkopf & Ruckert.

Irving Schwartzkopf entered the U.S. Army in 1916, the same year that his sister's engagement to Harry M. Benjamin was announced.  Clara's wedding took place on June 1, and it is unclear whether Irving was able to attend.

Ivan Frank died on April 9, 1918.  The East 95th Street residence became a rooming house.  While the tenants were respectable, they were not merchant class like the earlier residents.

Living here in 1920 was John Ryan, who worked as a motorman on a trolley.  He was involved in a serious accident on September 15 that year.  The New-York Tribune reported that 13 passengers "were hurt last night when the car crashed into a Broadway trolley in front of the car barns at 129th Street and Amsterdam Avenue."  All of the passengers required medical attention, but only one was hospitalized.

Ryan told authorities that his brakes "were not working right."  When another trolley pulled out of the car barn, Ryan crashed into it.  According to the New-York Tribune, he said "the collision occurred before he could stop his car."

Sara S. Steele, who lived here in 1922, was typical of the other residents.  She worked as a nurse for the City of New York.  Another roomer, named Peterson, was looking for employment that year.  His ad read, "Butler, valet, bachelor apartment or small family; good references." 

At some point around this time, the terra cotta ornament in the gable was removed.  Why it was remains a mystery.

The terra cotta ornament had been pried off the gable as early as 1941.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

No. 138 returned to a single family house when it was sold in October 1951.  It became home to siblings Gilbert and Doris Francklyn, born in 1870 and 1887, respectively.  The Francklyns, who never married, came from high society.  Their father, Charles Gilbert Francklyn, was born on Washington Square.  He was the grandson of Samuel Cunard, the shipping magnate and founder of the Cunard Line.  Their mother was Susan Sprague Hoyt, who was born in the Hoyt mansion at 94 Fifth Avenue.

Charles Gilbert Francklyn died in 1929 and Susan in 1932.  Included in Gilbert's and Doris's inheritance was the family's country home, Redcroft, in Southampton, erected by their father in 1897.  

Gilbert was a retired executive with the Consolidated Gas Company (of which his father had been a director).  A poet, Doris had been a teacher.  

Moving into 138 East 95th Street with the Francklyns was Jean Cammann, a close friend of Doris, who had begun living with the siblings as a teenager in 1940.  At the time, she was attending the Barmore School.

Jean also had a sterling social pedigree.  She made her debut in 1949 "at the Junior Assemblies in New York and the Tuxedo Autumn Ball in Tuxedo Park," said The New York Times.  It is unclear why Jean lived with the Francklyns rather than her mother, Mrs. Philip G. Cammann.  But the situation ended on July 11, 1953 when Jean was married to Arnold Guyot Dana in a notable society wedding in Southampton.

Gilbert Francklyn died in the house at the age of 87 on June 15, 1957.  In reporting his death, The New York Times remarked: "Educated at Eton and at Christ College, Cambridge, England, he had been a famous Cambridge rowing star in the Eighteen Eighties."

Two years later, on August 6, 1959, Doris died at the age of 72 at the Southampton estate.  The Daily Item reported on August 17 that she divided her estate equally to Jean Cammann Dana and "another friend, Alice L. Schrieber."

The new owners of 138 East 95th Street added a studio addition to the roof.  Because the Expanded Carnegie Hill Historic District would not be established until December 1993, there was no restriction against visible, intrusive structures at the time.  The house continues to be a one-family home.

photographs by the author