Charles Mettam's 1870 506 La Guardia Place

image via loopnet.com

As early as 1845, a two-story brick house occupied the plot at 185 Laurens Street.  In the rear yard was a three-story brick house.  (It was an unexpected configuration since, normally, the larger house was at the front of the property.)  The address and the street name would be changed more than once in the coming decades.

Charles Golden owned the property in the post-Civil War years and the front house was home to Edwin Beyersdorf's lager-beer saloon.  At 10:00 on the morning of September 30, 1869, Beyersdorf was filling a cigar lighter on the counter from a "can of liquid gas," according to The New York Times.  The can ignited and the flames quickly engulfed the barroom.  The article noted, "The building, owned by M. [sic] Golden, is damaged about $800 and is insured for $4,000 in the Aetna."  (The amount of damage would translate to about $19,500 in 2026.)

One wonders if the fire was truly an accident or if Golden was in cahoots with his tenant to obtain the insurance money.  Two weeks before the fire, architect Charles Mettam had already filed plans for a "five-story brick store & tenement" on the site.  It is clear that Golden intended to replace the old structures, because at the time of Mettam's filing, the builder, James Clarke, had already been contracted.

Whether Golden was aware that Clarke was making shortcuts in the construction of the new building is impossible to know.  But a horrific accident took place on the job site.  The New-York Tribune reported, "a wrought-iron tension rod broke.  It was used to sustain the front wall...Having broken it let the entire wall down in to the cellar, and came near killing the master mason and a laborer."  An investigation revealed that the rod "was not of suitable form to sustain a great weight."

By the time construction of the building was completed in 1871, the block was known as South Fifth Avenue.  Mettam's Italianate design was typical of scores of store-and-apartment buildings being constructed throughout the city.  Faced in red brick above its cast iron storefront, the building's windows wore handsome molded stone lintels.  The cast metal cornice, likely chosen from a foundry's catalogue, featured foliate corbels, dentils and brackets. 

The building received a new address again in 1896--506 West Broadway.  Occupying the commercial space at the time was the United States Directory Publishing and Printing Company.  Among the upstairs tenants were the Mullin and Smith families.

Mary Mullin was an activist of sorts, at least for a woman of her time.  In 1896 she co-founded of the Woman's National Democratic League of the United States of America.  Its noble and floridly written purposes included: 

To denounce all forms of political corruption and unjust legislation and to aid and encourage the voters of the nation in their patriotic endeavors to maintain and perpetuate government of the people for the people and by the people.

The Smith apartment was burglarized by a trio of crooks early in 1897.  John Gartland, alias Corey; John Kelley, alias Frank Hazel, and Charles Walker, alias Stewart, were arrested on March 27 at 96 Barrow Street, described by the New York Herald as "a den of thieves."  Recent victims of burglaries, including Annie Smith, were summoned to Police Headquarters to identify any possible stolen items.  Annie "claimed a gold wedding ring," reported the New-York Tribune.

By the turn of the century, Gross & Horn, makers of shoe soles, occupied the ground floor.

Building Trades Association Bulletin, July 1901 (copyright expired)

In 1905, Ulric J. De Poli, described by the New York Herald as "a good looking young Italian," took an apartment here.  He operated his silk business from his apartment.  The nearly penniless immigrant posed as Louis Banta, "an Italian nobleman and a wealthy silk merchant," said the article.  Telling the owners of silk mills in New Jersey that he had $17,000 in the bank, he ordered bales of silk on credit and resold them to dry goods merchants.

The scheme collapsed on the morning of December 8, when De Poli "was nabbed at Bleecker street and West Broadway by Detective Sergeants Howard, Flannelly and Schoenick, who had a warrant for his arrest," as reported by the New York Herald.  The article explained that De Poli had been wanted "for fleecing several silk manufacturers out of goods valued at $20,933." 

Abolardo Cassi and his family arrived from Italy in 1906 and moved an apartment on the third floor of 506 West Broadway.  Like De Poli, he ran his business, of sorts, from his apartment.  On July 26, 1907, a man "hurried into the New York Custom House," and told officials that "he had found seven paintings by old masters, including Correggio and Titian, offered for sale by Abolardo Cassi...and that at the price asked he was sure they must have been smuggled into the country."

An art expert from the Appraiser's Office, a Customs inspector and a representative from the Custom House's legal department accompanied the man to Cassi's apartment.  Here Cassi showed them Titian's Rebecca at the Well; two canvases by Tintoretto, Hunting and Music; two works by Correggio, Abraham Dying and Joseph Recognizing His Brothers; The Holy Family by Cimaburg, and Massaccio's The Redeemer.  Cassi's asking prices ranged from $1,000 each for Hunting and The Redeemer to $15,000 for Rebecca at the Well.  The total amount of $32,000 would equal $1.1 million today.

Cassi explained that the paintings were "heirlooms of his family, which was at one time well-to-do in Italy," as reported by The New York Times.  He told the officials that he "had formerly been in prosperous circumstances, but that, meeting with reverses, he came to this country, bringing the paintings with him, as he did not wish to part with them."  Now in America, the Cassis' 17-year-old son was their main support.  But "since they arrived in this country," he explained, he "recently became insane and is now confined in the Manhattan State Hospital."

The art appraiser decided that the paintings were "very old, but were not considered originals."  Because there was no evidence that Cassi smuggled them into the country, the matter was dropped.  Whether the struggling immigrant was able to liquidate the copies is unclear.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Around the time of the Cassi investigation, 506 West Broadway was acquired by C. & M. Moriggia.  In 1911, they hired architect L. V. Spenaport to do $8,000 in renovations to convert the upper floors to commercial use.

Their ground floor tenant around the time was the Mariani Brothers, importers of Italian foods, operated by Filomena and Oreste Mariani.  On January 15, 1915, the New York Herald reported on the massive earthquake that destroyed 16 Italian towns, including Avezzano, and damaged 12 others.  An article said, "Mr. Oreste Mariani, who is a native of Vasto, near Avezzano, set to work early in the morning collecting funds at his place of business, No. 506 West Broadway, and turning them over to the Italian Red Cross Society.  The firm of Mariani Brothers headed the subscription list with $100."  The article continued:

Mr. Oreste Mariani sent a cable despatch [sic] to his brother, Mr. Humbert Mariani, in Naples, directing him to go to the stricken country, investigate conditions and to extend whatever immediate aid he could to the sufferers.  Mr. Mariani awaits a reply and expects to be accurately informed by one who was born and reared near Avezzano and still has nearly a dozen relatives in that region.

Less noble press about the Mariani Brothers came four months later.  The firm was fined $25 in April 1915, "for shipping whiskey into prohibition Vermont as 'groceries,'" reported The Larchmonter-Times.  

Among the upper floor tenants in 1912 were Axelrod & Sokel, manufacturers of boys' pants, and H. H. Upham & Co., sign makers.  The latter firm was established in 1863.  They would be joined in the building by 1915 by Edward Podesnick's electrical machinery shop.

Mariani Brothers remained in the building at least through 1919.  That year they advertised, "Correspondent wanted to take care of Italian and English correspondence; good typist; several years' experience with importers and small mail order; good salary."

But, initiated by Edward Podesnick, the building was mainly occupied by electrical firms in the 1920s.  Among them were the Shotwell Electric Co. and Neptune Battery Co., manufacturer of dry batteries.  The latter was renamed the Advance Battery Co. in 1923.

The building was a scene worthy of a cops-and-robbers movie in 1958.  In the early hours of February 8, Police Sergeant Thomas Gilligan and Patrolman John Dolan followed Kendall Brown, an ex-convict.  A passerby notified them that he had climbed the fire escape of 506 West Broadway to the roof.  The New York Post reported, "Gilligan, a six-footer weighing 200 pounds, was confronted on the roof by a man about his size wielding a switch-blade knife.  He disarmed the suspect in a struggle near the edge of the roof."

As the pair wrestled, Kendall tried repeatedly to shove Gilligan over the edge of the roof.  After breaking loose from the sergeant's hold, Kendall "scaled an eight-foot wall to the roof of an adjoining building," said the article.  Gilligan fired two shots and missed.  While Dolan waited below for the fugitive to emerge, Gilligan fired one more shot, hitting Kendall in the arm.  He was taken into custody.  The New York Post reported that Kendall had been arrested twice for robbery and spent a prison term that ended in 1953.

A renovation in 1962 resulted in a luncheonette on the ground floor, and one apartment-working space each on the upper floors. 

The street was renamed yet again in 1967, now known as La Guardia Place in honor of former Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.  

In 1980, Bruno Bakery occupied the ground floor.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Around 1980, Bruno Bakery, a bakery-cafe, moved into the ground floor space.  In 1999, Biagio Settepani purchased the business, renaming it Pasticceria Bruno.  The pastry chef had started his career at the age of 13 in a small bakery in Brooklyn.  Settepani had previously been named one of the ten best pastry chefs in America and in 2006 he received the Northeastern Region's Pastry Chef of the year Award from the American Culinary Federation.

The popular bakery remained through 2016, when it was supplanted by Austrian restaurant Freud.  Two years later the name was changed to Bar Freud after, as reported by Florence Fabricant in The New York Times on February 27, 2018, "Freud has hit the bottle.  Or, rather, the cocktail hour."

The change was short-lived.  On August 6, 2019, The New York Times reported the opening of Bosie Tea Parlor a "well-appointed tea cafe" and French bistro.  The cafe remained until 2022 when Lord's opened.

On September 2 that year, Florence Fabricant wrote, "At Lord's contemporary English fare 'a long way from the bangers-and-mash of previous generations,' is how Patricia Howard and Ed Szymanski, the owners of Dame, describe what they have in store for this sibling."

Today each of the upper floors has one apartment and the commercial space is still home to Lord's.

The Edward and Catherine Van Winkle House - 25 West 9th Street

 

The architraves around the windows would have originally looked much like those of 23 West 9th Street, at the right. photograph by Richard Korchak

Dr. Samuel T. Hubbard completed two identical, four-story-and-basement homes on Ninth Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, in 1855.  (The "West" would be added to the address later, and the homes would be numbered 25 and 27 in 1868.)  It is possible that they were designed by James Renwick Jr., who had previously owned the vacant lots.  

Two bays wide, their Anglo-Italianate style forewent the high stone stoops that were so popular at the time.  Instead, visitors climbed just four steps to reach the arched entranceways flanked by engaged, square Corinthian columns. 

Above a rusticated base, the upper floors were faced in planar stone.  Most likely a cast iron balcony fronted the floor-to-ceiling second floor windows, and molded architraves would have originally graced the segmental-arched openings.  While the shared bracketed cornice was otherwise not unusual, its fascia was.  The architect decorated it with an elaborate guilloche-carved pattern of flower-filled rosettes.

photograph by Richard Korchak

Dr. Samuel Hubbard may have been acquainted with the purchaser of 25 West 9th Street--another physician, Edward Henry Van Winkle (his surname was often spelled Vanwinkle).  

Born in Acquackanorick, New Jersey in 1814, The New York Times would later recall, "Dr. Van Winkle was a member of one of the oldest New York families, his ancestry dating back to the Dutch Van Winkle family which settled here in 1636."  Edward grew up in New York City and graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons "and began to practise [sic] in 1838," according to the Medical Record.  He and his wife, the former Catherine Stanford, had three sons: Isaac, Edward Jr., and John S.

Perhaps surprisingly, none of the Van Winkler boys followed their father's professional lead.  All three graduated from Columbia University--the eldest, Isaac, going into law.  Around 1867, Edward Jr. and John S. Van Winkle opened a private banking firm at 27 Wall Street.  Their venture was extremely short-lived and the following year, on August 19, 1868, they declared bankruptcy.

City directories described John as a "merchant" in 1871.  But neither of his brothers was listed here that year.  That was because both had decided on a drastic change of course.  They were living and studying for the priesthood at the General Theological Seminary.

Edward H. Van Winkle Jr. was back home by 1874.  He was now assistant rector at the nearby Church of the Ascension on Fifth Avenue at West 10th Street.

Catherine Stanford Van Winkle died on February 9, 1879.  By 1886, only Edward Sr. and Jr. occupied the West 9th Street house (Isaac and John had married and moved away).  Later that year, Rev. Edward Van Winkle was made pastor of the Chapel of the Comforter at 814 Greenwich Street, "an offshoot" of the Church of the Ascension, as worded by the New York Herald.  

In 1891, Dr. Edward Henry Van Winkle retired.  Three years later, in October 1894, he became ill.  He died here on December 7 of what the Medical Record described as "paralysis of the heart."  The New York Times called him, "one of the best-known physicians of this city," adding, "His medical career extended over fifty-three years."  The notice said, "He leaves three sons, two of whom are Episcopal clergymen in this city."

Rev. Edward H. Van Winkle was now alone in the West 9th Street house with his small domestic staff.  Earlier that year, after being rector of the Chapel of the Comforter for 15 years, he had been "dismissed" by Rev. Percy S. Grant, rector of the Church of the Ascension.  The move had initiated a firestorm and on March 27, 1894, the New York Herald reported on a protest meeting on the sidewalk outside of the chapel.  The article said, "the Van Winkle faction were determined to put [Rev. Grant] on the defence [sic] in regard to his dismissal of their former pastor."

The clamor eventually died down and within months Rev. Edward H. Van Winkle was made pastor of St. Clement's Church on West 3rd Street.  

(In 1896, Rev. Isaac Van Winkle moved his wife, the former Margaret Kemble Lenta, and their children to France where he became rector of St. Luke's Church in Paris.)

It may have been Edward Van Winkle's willingness to stand up to church authorities that had caused his "dismissal" from the Chapel of the Comforter.  In 1899, Bishop Henry Potter announced the upcoming ordination of the Rev. Dr. Charles Augustus Briggs, who had converted from Presbyterianism.  He had been defrocked after a fiery church trial that convicted him of heresy.  Now, Rev. Van Winkle was aghast and made his opinions public.

On September 20, 1899, The New York Journal and Advertiser reported, "those delegates who are known as the more aggressive opponents of Bishop Potter's policy will meet at the house of the Rev. Edward H. Van Winkle, rector of St. Clement's Church, to agree upon a plan of action."

In February 1900, Rev. Van Winkler sold 25 West 9th Street to Charles D. Fuller for $22,250.  The price would translate to about $880,000 in 2026.

Fuller was the son of Dudley Barber Fuller and Mary Reed.  Both he and his wife, the former Anna Pendleton Rogers, came from old, aristocratic New York families.  The couple had a daughter, Sarah.  Fuller was a partner in Fuller Brothers & Co., "iron and steel commission merchant," and a vice president in the Volta Electric Light and Power Company.

On January 20, 1909, The Evening Telegram began an article saying, "Society attended to-day the marriage of Miss Sarah Fuller, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Dudley Fuller, to Mr. Veryl Preston, which was solemnized in the Church of the Ascension."  The New York Times remarked, "There was a small reception at the home of the bride's parents."

The newlyweds--the groom was 44 and the bride 33--moved into the West 9th Street house with the Fullers.  Despite their relatively advanced ages in respect to starting a family, they would have nine children (five sons and four daughters), starting with Seymour, born in 1909, and ending with Joseph in 1919.

Charles Dudley Fuller died on November 22, 1928.  His entire estate was left to Anna Fuller.  

The Prestons maintained a country home in Saddle River, New Jersey.  Their affluence was reflected in the announcement of Margaret Preston's engagement to George W. D. Symonds on May 27, 1937.  The New York Times remarked, "Miss Preston was graduated from the Brearley School in 1931 and later studied at Vassar College."  

Anna Pendleton Rogers Fuller died later that year.  A renovation completed in 1939 resulted in two apartments per floor.  It was almost assuredly at this time that the 1855 details  of the upper floors were shaved flat.

In 1940, 25 and 27 (left) had lost the molded window frames.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services. 

Interestingly, in 1992 apartment 3-B was used by the Tinker Institute on International Law and Organizations, which was organized that year.  It was "dedicated to research, writing, and education on the development of international law and organizations," according to the agenda of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development published that year.

photograph by Richard Korchak

A subsequent renovation completed in 2005 resulted in a triplex in the basement through second floor, one apartment on the third, and two on the top level.

many thanks to owner Richard Korchak for suggesting this post

A Georgian Transformation - 213-215 West 13th Street

 

photograph by Anthony Bellov

In 1851 George P. Rogers and William C. Rhinelander erected two three-story-and-basement homes on West 13th Street between Seventh and Greenwich Avenues.  Their basement and parlor levels were clad in brownstone and the upper floors faced in red brick and trimmed in stone.  Nos. 141 and 143 West 13th Street (renumbered 213 and 215 in 1868) were initially rented, resulting in relatively short residencies for their early occupants.

Real estate agent William H. Terry and his family lived in 141 West 13th Street in 1853.  Living next door in 1855 and 1856 was the family of dry goods merchant Max Weil.

Charles Fox, who operated a "caps and fur manufactory" on Canal Street, moved into 143 West 13th Street and would remain through 1869.  The Campbell family next rented the house.  Andrew J. Campbell was a blacksmith and Henry Campbell listed his profession as "iron."  (The related professions suggests that they worked together.)  When the Campbell family left early in 1872, an advertisement in the New York Herald on April 24 offered: 

To let--A three story high stoop house, 215 West Thirteenth street, in perfect order, with carpets, mirrors, cornices and gas fixtures, near Seventh avenue; immediate possession; $1,500; very cheap.

That yearly rental would translate to about $3,400 per month in 2026.

The advertisement was answered by widowed Lawrence Mingey.  He and his late wife, Mary, had eight sons, at least two of whom--Walter and Lawrence A.--moved into the West 13th Street house.  

A married daughter and her family also shared the house.  On July 4, 1873, their 18-year-old daughter, Mary Agnes McCann died.  Her funeral was held in the parlor.

The Mingey parlor would be the scene of another funeral before long.  Lawrence A. Mingey, the youngest of the brothers, died at the age of 27 in Raleigh, North Carolina on May 1, 1874.  His body was rushed back to West 13th Street and his funeral was held on May 3.

Walter Mingey was a successful and enterprising businessmen.  When the family moved into 215 West 13th Street in 1873, he operated a saddlery on Staten Island and a butcher business on Grove Street.

In the meantime, the family of Henry Strouse leased the house next door in 1867.  Among their servants was German-born Sophia Woelt.  A 42-year-old German man, Albert Garagnon, became infatuated with her and "frequently importuned [her] to become his wife," according to the New York Herald.  Sophia, however, "often refused him on account of his being previously married."

Between 6:00 and 7:00 on the morning of February 11, 1868, Garagnon arrived at the house.  He and Sophia quarreled and Garagnon drew a revolver and fired two shots at her.  Both bullets missed Sophia.  "He then took a razor from his pocket and cut his own throat," said the newspaper.  Garagnon died on the spot and the New York Herald concluded, "Disappointed love, so far as has yet been ascertained, is the cause assigned for the dreadful act."

Max Goepp and Simon Sterne were partners in the law firm Goepp & Sterne.  Their office was at 35 Wall Street.  On September 10, 1870, they purchased 213 West 13th Street--each owning a 50 percent share--and moved in.  The attorneys remained here until Goepp's death on May 12, 1872.  

The house was rented after that, but the unusual ownership caused problems.  In 1875 a relative, Charles Goepp, sued Simon Stern "to restrain defendant from collecting the rent of property 213 West 13th street."

The house was sold to David Richey, who continued to lease it.  In January 1886, he hired architect Gilbert A. Schellenger to add a fourth floor and a four-story addition to the rear.  Richey quickly sold the remodeled building to Mary Stappers for $19,000 (about $663,000 today).  By then, 215 West 13th Street had been raised to four floors, as well.

When Charles Rubinger purchased both buildings in June 1909 for "about $200,000," according to The New York Times, they were described as "two four-story single flats."  Then, in 1925, they were combined.  Rubinger's architect gave the cojoined buildings a neo-Georgian make-over.  The stoops were removed and an elegant entrance created at grade.  Within a columned portico, the doorway echoed an 18th century country mansion with multi-paned sidelights and a refined fanlight.

photograph by Anthony Bellov

At the same time, a fifth floor was added above a cornice upheld by corbels and decorated by a row of dentils.

Splayed Georgian-inspired lintels decorate the midsection openings.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In 1938, architect Joseph Lau renovated the interiors, resulting in four apartments per floor.  They quickly attracted literary figures.  Anaïs Nin and her husband, engraver and filmmaker Hugh Parker Guiler were perhaps the first.  Born Angela Nin, she had started writing detailed journals at the age of 13.  By now she was known as a writer of novels, short stories and erotica.  She and Guiler were married in 1923.

Anaïs Nin (original source unknown)

Writing in her diary on September 12, 1940, Nin wrote, 

After much searching I found an apartment I could afford.  Sixty dollars a month, a skylight studio, on the top floor of 215 West Thirteenth Street.  Five flights up.  A very large, high-ceilinged room, half of the ceiling an inclined skylight, the whole length of it, twelve windows in all.  A small kitchen, with barely enough room for stove and icebox.

Also moving in that year were Shirley Jackson and Stanley Edgar Hyman.  The writers met in 1938 and moved in shortly after their marriage in 1940.  Shirley Hardie Jackson, born in 1916, would be best known for her mystery and horror novels and short stories.  Stanley Edgar Hyman, who was three years younger, was a literary critic.

Shirley Jackson, from the dust jacket of We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

Arthur McCaffery and his wife lived here at midcentury.  Born in 1899, his wide-ranging resume included radio writing, acting, and directing.  In 1947 he wrote Cape Cod on the Subway and collaborated on theatrical and musical comedy productions.

An avid fisherman, he and his wife owned a 30-foot cruiser.  The couple hosted several guests on their boat on Sheepshead Bay on May 22, 1954, when a gale blew in.  In battling the weather conditions, McCaffery suffered a heart attack.  The New York Times reported, "Mrs. McCaffery had other fishermen summon Coast guard assistance for her husband."  Happily, although "strong winds and waves up to ten feet" hampered the rescue, McCaffery was taken ashore for treatment and recovery.

photograph by Anthony Bellov

From the street, the handsome, combined rowhouses are nearly unchanged since their significant 1925 remodeling.

many thanks to Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post

The 1893 Henry A. Caesar House - 19 West 76th Street

 

Developer Cornelius W. Luyster broke ground for five high-end townhouses on West 76th Street just west of Central Park West in 1892.  Completed the following year and designed by John H. Duncan in the Renaissance Revival style, they were four-stories tall above English basements.

The basement and parlor levels of the westernmost house, 19 West 76th Street, were faced in planar brownstone.  A dog-legged stoop decorated with swirling volutes and rondel-filled panels rose to the double-doored entrance.  It and the parlor windows were flanked by shallow pilasters decorated with carved anthemions.  The upper portion was clad in variegated beige brick.  The second floor was dominated by a three-sided oriel that provided a balcony to the third.  Windows at that level sat within molded brownstone architraves, while those at the fourth were surrounded by elaborate terra cotta frames, their cornices topped with swan's head pediments crowned with urns.  Above a terra cotta frieze, the cornice was supported by foliate brackets of the same material.

Duncan changed from brownstone trim to terra cotta at the top floor with satisfying results.

John H. Uhlman was the original owner of the 25-foot-wide residence.  He sold it to Henry A. Caesar and his wife, the former Laura F. Unger, in March 1902.

Born in Brooklyn on May 15, 1856, Caesar was educated abroad and founded H. A. Caesar & Company, factors and commercial bankers, in 1886.  He was also a director of the Germania Life Insurance Company and the Chemical Bank and Trust Company.  He and Laura had three sons, Paul N., born in 1889; Harry I., born in 1891; and Charles U., who arrived in 1897.  The 1908 Men of America mentioned, "His favorite recreation is big game hunting."

The Caesars' 39-acre summer estate, Lauriston (named for Laura) was in Rumson Borough, New Jersey.  The mansion on the property was designed by Leon Cubberly in 1870.

The mansion at Lauriston today.  image via Preservation New Jersey

Harry I. Caesar was married to Doris Porter in St. Thomas's Chapel on December 27, 1913.  The bridal party included socially elite surnames like Slocum, Townsend, Symington, and Hoagland.

The family remained at 19 West 76th Street until April 1917 when they sold the house to Solomon Marcuse Stroock and his wife, Hilda Weil.  The couple were married in 1904 and had three children, Minette, Robert Louis, and Alan Maxwell.  

Stroock was born on September 22, 1873 of German immigrants.  He graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1891, received his Masters degree from Columbia University in 1892, and his law degree from Columbia Law School in 1894.  After being in partnership with attorney M. Warley Platzek since 1896, in 1907 Stroock established a law office, Stroock & Stroock, with his brother, Moses.

Solomon Marcuse Stroock, The Jewish Tribune, November 25, 1927 (copyright expired)

Stroock was highly involved in Jewish affairs.  He was chairman of the board of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and a member of the American Jewish Historical Society.  In 1903, he contributed to the latter's American Jewish History, an academic journal that focused on the history of Jews in the United States.

Like the Caesars, the Stroocks left the city during the summer social season.  On May 20, 1921, for instance, The American Hebrew reported, "Mr. and Mrs. Sol. M. Stroock of 19 West Seventy-sixth street will spend the summer at Ossining, N. Y."

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

On August 30, 1939, The New York Times titled an article, "19 West 76th St. Leased."  The article said the "lessee will occupy the house after improvements are made."  That was stretching the truth.  The unnamed tenant converted the residence to unofficial apartments.

Solomon Marcuse Stroock suffered a fatal heart attack while he and Hilda were at the Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia on September 11, 1941.  The West 76th Street house was sold to James H. Cruikshank, who resold it in November 1942 to George Lawall.  In reporting on the latest sale, The New York Times mentioned, "The building contains nineteen rooms and eight baths."

A renovation completed in 1974 resulted in 14 apartments.  None of the alterations, happily, affected the exterior.

photographs by the author

The Lost Daly's Restaurant Building - 20 East 42nd Street

 

The Brickbuilder, October 10, 1916 (copyright expired)

Born in Ireland in 1865, Bernard Daly arrived in New York City in 1883.  Although he never dabbled in politics, according to The New York Times years later, he "was a personal friend of many Tammany Hall figures."  Among those were Tammany bosses John F. Curry and Charles F. Murphy.

In 1885, Daly opened a saloon on Eleventh Avenue and West 42nd Street.  He lost the business in bankruptcy in 1908, creating a problem for Judge Hough.  He appointed a businessman who was not affiliated with the courts to "carry on the business," according to the New York Herald.  The article explained, "A lawyer remarked that Uncle Sam running a liquor saloon would not please the Prohibitionists."

Bernard Daly began anew, opening a restaurant and bar in a renovated three-story townhouse at 20 East 42nd Street, just east of Fifth Avenue.  Daly subleased the space from the New York Real Estate and Security Company, which was renting the property from Caroline Cochard, who lived in Paris.  Spaces in the upper portion of the building were occupied by offices, at least two of which held well known architects--Emery Roth and Oscar Lowinson.

In 1913, the New York Real Estate and Security Company failed.  The New York Times reported on January 17, 1914, "Agnes Daly, wife of Bernard Daly, the tenant of the property," had leased the old building.  The New York Herald noted that the lease would extend for 19 years.

The Dalys hired architect John Philip Voelker to remodel the vintage house into a romantic, five-story-and-attic building.  The Daly Restaurant would occupy the lower three floors of the Tyrolean-style structure, and the upper portion would hold apartments.  Voelker was assisted by architect Oscar Lowinson.  (The latter's fees were covered by Caroline Cochard.)  Lowinson was charged with designing the striking glass-and-iron marquee, an extension in the rear, and (less glamorous) the plumbing.

Voelker gave the side piers a striated effect by alternating red brick and stone.  A long arcade fronted the second floor and three grouped windows dominated the third.  The upper floors sat back, allowing for a crenellated balcony at the fourth floor.  The step-gabled attic was decorated with half-timbering.

Oscar Lowinson worked "in co-operation with Jack Abrams & Bro., Inc.," on the up-to-date plumbing, according to The Plumbers' Trade Journal, Steam and Hot Water Fitters' Review on September 15, 1915.  The journal called it "a very fine installation of modern plumbing work," and described, "The changes and alterations consist of providing extensive kitchen plumbing equipment, a six-station bar 67 feet long, two commodious toilet rooms, one in the basement for men and one on [the] second floor for women."

Unlike his previous saloon, Daly's was a proper restaurant and barroom.  The New York Times would recall in 1933 that it "was noted for many specialties both in its cuisine and at its bar, one of the longest in the city at that time."

The price for the above meal would translate to about $38 in 2026.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

Shortly after the restaurant opened, tragedy occurred.   Myles Carroll, who was employed by the Knickerbocker Ice Company, drove his ice wagon to the restaurant on September 22, 1914.  Court papers documented that he was delivering ice in the cellar when "the ice tongs slipped and a 300-lb cake of ice fell upon him, striking him in the abdomen."  The injured man died in a hospital six days later.

Like the modern plumbing, Bernard Daly kept up with technological advances.  Early in 1916, he converted the kitchen from coal ranges to gas.  In its April 1916 issue, Gas Logic published two photographs, explaining:

It was an over-night change of kitchen.  The chef and his three assistants left Daly's Restaurant, No. 20 East Forty-second Street, after the coal fires had been "drawn."  The next morning the chef was prepared to cook the meals of 500 customers on Gas Ranges.

Kitchen workers among the coal-fired equipment. Gas Logic, April 1916 (copyright expired)

The kitchen with its gas-fed equipment.  Gas Logic April 1916 (copyright expired)

Although the article's photographs did not reveal dramatic transformations, it noted, "The heat in the Daly Restaurant kitchen had always been excessive...That kitchen is cool and comfortable today."

Bernard Daly's first trouble with authorities came in 1918.  To conserve oil and coal for the war effort, the Federal Government instituted "Lightless Sundays and Thursdays."  On those nights, no exterior lighting other that street lights was allowed.  Storefronts and displays were ordered shut off.

The electric sign outside Daly's Restaurant burned brightly on Thursday night, March 29, 1918.  The infraction cost Daly dearly.  The following day, The Evening World reported, "Ten firms...had their electric current turned off to-day by order of Deputy Fuel Administrator Edwin O. Norma. for violation of the 'lightless Thursday' rule last night."  Among those businesses was Daly's Restaurant.  The article said that it was Daly's second offense, and he received a warning the first time.

Another war restriction would get Daly into hot water.  Eight months later, in November 1918, the Government passed the Wartime Prohibition Act, banning the sale of intoxicating liquors.  At 7:00 on September 17, 1919, according to The New York Times, "dinner was being served and the restaurant upstairs and the barroom was crowded."  About 50 patrons were eating in the dining room.  The article added that the cabaret and dancing room on the second floor "was well filled."  Suddenly Federal agents entered and "quietly walked to the end of the bar and told the man behind the bar there that he was under arrest."

The agents spread throughout the premises.  The New York Times said, "Those in the barroom were startled when a file of some half a dozen men, each displaying a gilt badge, started down the bar, moving aside the bartenders and gathering up the stock.  Flasks, demijohns, and bottles were passed back to the end of the counter."  In all, four of Daly's employees were arrested.  The New York Hotel Record added that the agents, "took with them to the Federal Building about four gallons of gin, whisky, brandy, and sherry."

Disgusted, Bernard Daly sold his business and his lease.  The New York Times later reminisced, "Persons in many walks of life frequented Daly's Restaurant and Grill.  Society folk, politicians, stage celebrities, authors and commuters mingled there.  For the last of these a late afternoon drink or two of ale often meant running for a Grand Central train."

(A calmer Daly would soon have seller's regret.  "Not long afterward, however, he opened another Daly's Restaurant and Grill at 17 East Fifty-ninth Street," said The New York Times.)

The ground floor of 20 East 42nd Street became a C. & L. Luncheonette, and the second floor was leased in February 1920 to Irving Chen and Chin Goon, "who will occupy the premises with a first-class Chinese-American restaurant," reported The New York Times.

The restaurants' tenancies would be short-lived.  On December 10, 1922, The New York Times remarked on the proposed "erection of the 20 East Forty-second Street Building" on the site as part of the "peak of the building movement in the Terminal zone."  

The replacement building.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The Daly's Restaurant Building was demolished to be replaced by a six-story structure designed by Dennison & Hirons, completed in 1924.  That structure survives.

many thanks to reader Doug Wheeler for prompting this post

The Unrecognizable Augustus Kountze Mansion - 238 Madison Avenue

 

photograph by Ted Leather

Born in Ohio on November 19, 1826, Augustus Kountze worked in his father's grocery store as a young man.  With greater aspirations, he traveled west in 1854--first to Iowa and then to Omaha, Nebraska in 1855.  Starting in real estate, he branched out to banking and railroads.  On June 14, 1859, he married Catharine Ruth.  Their romance almost assuredly had been conducted by letters for the past five years, since Catharine, too, was an Ohio native.

By 1861 Kountze was influential and wealthy.  He owned the Omaha Horse Railway Company, was treasurer of the Nebraska Territory, and of the State of Nebraska from 1861 through 1869.  By the time he and Catharine moved to New York City in 1872, he had amassed significant land holdings throughout the Midwest and West.

In Manhattan, Augustus Kountze and his brothers, Charles, Herman and Luther, established the Kountze Brothers Bank, of which Augustus was the senior member.  He was, as well, president of the Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western Railway Company, and a principal of the Omaha and Northwestern Railroad. 

Augustus Kountze, from the collection of The Stephen H. Hart Research Center

Augustus and Catharine established their home at 21 West 48th Street, just west of Fifth Avenue.  Then, in 1889, they purchased the 35-foot-wide brownstone mansion at 238 Madison Avenue.  Four-stories tall above an English basement, its stoop rose to a columned portico.  The mansion's neo-Grec design included beefy lintels with incised decorations.  Paired corbels supported the cornice.

Before moving in, the Kountzes made substantial interior renovations.  As the work progressed, Catharine visited the showrooms of Pottier & Stymus, one of New York City's most celebrated cabinetmakers, which outfitted the mansion with suites of elegant furniture.  Tax records placed the value of the furnishings at $23,691.80, or about $865,000 in 2026 terms.   The Kountzes filled the mansion with valuable paintings, sculptures and "bric-a-brac."  The same tax documents valued the "paintings &c." even higher than the custom-made furniture, at $24,200.

The Kountzes' residence sat within one of the most fashionable sections of the city.  Taking up the northern half of the block was the massive Theodore A. Havemeyer house, and diagonally to the east at 231 Madison Avenue was the William E. Dodge mansion.

Iron fencing and a pair of carriage gates separate the Theodore A. Havemeyer property (right) from the three mansions to the south.  The Kountze residence is the middle house, just right of the lamppost.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

Katherine Ruth Smith, the daughter of Catharine's sister, had lived with the Kountzes since 1860, when she was six years old.  The New York Times later remarked, "Although she was never legally adopted, she was regarded as their daughter."

The family moved into their renovated mansion in time for Katherine's 1892 wedding.  As the date neared, Augustus became ill, The New York Sun saying he "has not been a thoroughly well man for several weeks past."  Nevertheless, Katharine was married to Karl Walther Neuhoff "in the Louis XVI room" of the Kountze mansion on April 7, 1892.

The New York Herald called it the "prettiest of the spring weddings thus far," adding, "The large front drawing room was decorated with Marguerites, lilies, azaleas, hydrangeas, and purple orchids."  Those orchids may have inspired Catharine Kountze's outfit.  "Mrs. Kountze, in a gown of purple velvet, trimmed with passementerie and white lace, held the bridal bouquet of lilies of the valley," said the article.

The reception was brief--lasting from 4:30 until 6:00--but it was too much for Augustus Kountze.  Six days later, on April 13, The Sun reported that he "was taken with a chill on Thursday night at the wedding reception of his wife's niece, Miss Katharine Ruth Smith, which was held at his house.  That night he was carried to his bed, to which he has been confined every since."

Kountze lingered for three weeks before dying "of a complication of disorders," as worded by the New York Herald, on April 30, 1892.  The funeral was held in the Madison Avenue mansion on May 4.  The delay made it possible for some mourners to reach New York City.  Among those attending the funeral, for instance, was Colorado Senator Henry M. Teller.

Interestingly, the deed to 238 Madison Avenue was not in Catharine's name, as was common among affluent couples, but in her husband's.  Augustus's will declared that Catharine was given "for life" the use of the residence, "furniture, &c., paintings, &c."

Katharine and Karl Neuhoff remained in the mansion with Catharine.  A mysterious burglary took place on December 11, 1904.  The New York Times said the family was at dinner and the servants occupied when "a sneak thief" somehow entered the house.  Catharine told police that valuable articles were left behind, prompting police to surmise (ungrammatically) that the burglar "hurriedly took only what he thought he could realize a smug sum on and fled before the family left the dining table."  The items stolen, said the article, "included a mink collar and muff, a silver smelling bottle, two rare porcelain boxes and one gold bonbon box, a gold-framed lorgnette, a gold chain, and a chain of gun metal."  The value would translate to about $37,300 today.

The Kountze mansion continued to be the setting of polite entertainments.  On January 23, 1914, Catherine hosted a dinner, and on March 25, 1915, The New York Times reported, "Mrs. Karl W. Neuhoff of 238 Madison Avenue gave a luncheon yesterday, followed by a matinée party."

Considering the conflict raging in Europe, one event in the house was especially newsworthy.  On March 29, 1916, the New York Herald reported that Karl Neuhoff "gave a small dinner at his home, 238 Madison avenue, last evening in honor of Count Johann von Bernstorff, the German Ambassador."  Among the other 12 guests were Dr. Heinreich F. Albert, the fiscal agent of Germany, and Captain Ewald Hecker, head of the German Red Cross.  The article mentioned, "After the dinner the members of the party went to the Metropolitan Opera House to witness a German production of a Shakespearian play."

The year prior to that function, the Havemeyer mansion was demolished to be replaced by a 16-story business building.  With the once exclusive Murray Hill neighborhood being invaded by commerce, in April 1917 Augustus Kountze's estate placed 238 Madison Avenue on the market.  The changes to the neighborhood were reflected in the realtor's advertisement.  It said in part, "Can be used for business or profitably altered for business on lower floors with apartments above."

Catharine Kountze and the Neuhoffs moved into the Plaza Hotel where Catharine died the following year on April 28, 1918.  The new owner leased the Madison Avenue mansion to the National Emergency Relief Society.  The house would be used as the society's headquarters and for use by "soldiers or sailors," according to The Evening World.

This photograph taken around 1928 shows the business building on the site of the Havemeyer mansion.  The National Emergency Relief Society had not altered the former Kountze house, two doors to the south.  from the collection of the New York Public Library.

The society welcomed servicemen stopping in Manhattan on their way to or from the war.  On November 28, 1919, for instance, The Sun announced a dance "for men in uniform" to be held here that evening.  The National Emergency Relief Society remained a few years following the end of the war.  On January 2, 1920, it held one of its final servicemen's dances.

In 1922, F. A. Lawlor operated his gallery here, selling "paintings, porcelains, bronzes, furniture, ship models."  The parlor floor was home to the National Democratic Club.  It would remain at least through 1928.

A significant remodeling by architect J. A. Berlinger in 1937 resulted in a multipurpose building.  The stoop was removed, two commercial spaces were installed at street level, and the upper floors converted to 14 apartments.  The neo-Grec details, including the cornice, were removed.

In 1940, the Stew Bar moved into one of the store spaces.  It was supplanted in the mid-1950s by Giambelli, an Italian restaurant.  The New York Times food critic John Canaday wrote on January 3, 1957, "'Eating well' at Giambelli means consuming food that ranges from above average to excellent in an atmosphere that is unfailingly delightful."

And, apparently, the restaurant was delightful.  It survived for decades, until Madison Bistro, a "restaurant Francais," opened here in June 1990.

As early as 2005, the Candy Club, a frozen dessert shop, occupied the space next door to Madison Bistro.  Just before  closing up at around 10:00 on the night of August 23 that year, the proprietor was on the telephone with his wife.  Suddenly, a "man dressed in dark jeans, a long white shirt and a white hat" entered and shot the owner twice in the chest, as reported by the Staten Island Advance.  The victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition.

Madison Bistro remained through 2024, by which time the Rico Bagel shop had moved into the other space.  Margaux replaced Madison Bistro.

photo via loopnet.com

In the meantime, the brownstone facade of 238 Madison Avenue has been painted.  Squeezed between 20th century commercial buildings, it is the last remnant of the refined period when this Murray Hill block was home to some of Manhattan's wealthiest citizens.

many thanks to reader Ted Leather for suggesting this post