The Ira A. Place House - 268 West 77th Street

 

Real estate developer Dore Lyon hired Edward Angell to design four high-stooped rowhouses on the south side of West 77th Street between Broadway and West End Avenue in 1889.  The 18-feet-wide residences would rise four stories above high English basements.  Angell created them as two Romanesque Revival-style models in a balanced A-B-B-A configuration.

At the western end of the row was 268 West 77th Street, an "A" model.  A solid wing wall of undressed stone flanked the stoop, beside which was a rounded, two-story bay.  Colorful stained glass filled the transoms of the parlor windows, and the panel above the arched entrance was intricately carved with delicate vines.

The center stained glass transom has been lost, most likely to a one-time window air conditioner.  The arched opening above the door was originally stained glass, as well.

The third and fourth floors were clad in beige brick and trimmed in brownstone.  Below the peaked gable was a decorative, blind arcade.

Construction was completed in 1890.  Dore Lyon did not sell 268 West 77th Street, however, until March of 1895, when the "four-story and basement brown-stone and buff-brick" dwelling was offered at auction.   It may have been the ongoing Financial Panic of 1893 that lessened bidders' enthusiasm.  The single bid of $25,000 (about $935,000 in 2025) was refused.

Finally, six years after construction was completed, on September 23, 1896, The New York Times reported that Dore and Anna E. Lyon had sold 268 West 77th Street.  The buyers were Ira Adelbert Place and his wife, the former Katharine B. Gauntlett.

Ira Place was born in New York City on May 8, 1854.  He graduated from Cornell University in 1881 and was admitted to the bar in 1883.  He and Katharine were married in 1893 and had three children, three-year-old Katharine, two-year-old Hermann Gauntlett, and newborn Willard Fiske Place.  When the family moved into 268 West 77th Street, Place was assistant to the general counsel of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company, as well as a director in four other railroads.

Ira Adelbert Place in his later years, from the collection of the Eastman Museum.

Place's position and influence within New York Central increased.  In April 1905, he was appointed the general counsel and a vice president of the railroad.  Apparently well satisfied with the Upper West Side, he was admitted to membership in the West End Association on February 4, 1907.  Founded by millionaire W. E. D. Stokes in 1884 as the Citizens' West Side Improvement Association, it was the Upper West Side's watchdog agency, lobbying for improvements and against incursions, like garbage dumps.

Place's membership in the West End Association and his firm's interests would come into direct conflict in October 1911.  As the railroad laid plans to provide passenger service along the Hudson River, a critic warned the press, "An open railway terminal in full view of the costly Riverside Drive and Parkway...would be an eyesore to Washington Heights and an eyesore to New York in general."

A reporter from The New York Times went to the Place house to obtain a response on October 11, 1911.  His timing was less than considerate--he arrived at approximately midnight.  The interview came to an abrupt conclusion:

Mr. Place listened from the second-story window.  Then he asked who gave him the information.  He was told that his caller was a Times reporter.  Mr. Place closed the window.  He did not reappear.

In 1912, Katharine enrolled in Vassar College.  Three years later, in June 1915, her engagement to James Fairchild Adams, who had just graduated from Princeton, was announced.  The wedding would wait until Katharine's graduation.  

The couple was married in the Church of the Messiah at 34th Street and Park Avenue on November 9, 1916.  "After their honeymoon trip," reported The New York Times, "Mr. and Mrs. Adams will live in New Kensington, near Pittsburgh, Penn., where Mr. Adams is in business."

Like their father, Hermann and Willard attended Cornell.  Hermann graduated in 1917 and immediately went off to war, serving with the U.S. Army.  Upon his return, he went into banking with the Mercantile Trust Company.

On March 6, 1921 the New York Herald reported on Hermann's engagement to Angela Turner Moore.  As his sister had done, Hermann was marrying into a socially prestigious family.  The Cornell Alumni News mentioned that Angela was "a member of the Colonial Dames and of the Junior League."

On January 24, 1928, according to The New York Times, Ira A. Place "announced at a meeting of the Board of Estimate...that the New York Central was ready to cooperate with the city in the vast west side improvement."  The article said he, "seemed to take pleasure in the graceful speech he made," during which he asserted that while the railroad, "hoped for more room for expansion of its yards on the west side, it still wished to cooperate with the city and was ready to make concessions."

The following day, Place prepared to go to Albany for a conference of the New York Central executives.  Before he could leave the house, as reported by The Times, the 73-year-old died "of thrombosis following a stroke of apoplexy."  In reporting his death, the newspaper said, "Mr. Place's name will be linked with some of the most important improvements in New York City in the present generation."

The funeral was held in the Community Church on Park Avenue at 34th Street (previously the Church of the Messiah).  The New York Times reported, "Railroad men of every rank, jurists, educators and civic officials made up a large part of a gathering of more than 700 at the funeral services for Ira A. Place."  The article included an exhaustive list of esteemed mourners at the service.

The formidable wing walls of the stoop survived in 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Place's estate was appraised at $484,954, or about $8.63 million in 2025 terms.  The bulk of the estate went to Katherine.  Each of the children, including Willard, who was unmarried and still lived at 268 West 77th Street, received $1,000.

Katharine Place sold 268 West 77th Street shortly afterward.  It was divided into unofficial apartments.  Among the tenants in 1933 was Abram A. Preciado, who ran "a clearing house for bringing travel car owners together with passengers," as he described it in court that year.  If a vehicle owner were driving to Chicago, for instance, Preciado would match him with individuals going there.  The owner's costs would then be offset and the passengers' fees would be cheaper than riding by train.

Nathan Cahan lived here in 1947.  He was listed within the directory of Local No. 802 Associated Musicians of Greater New York.

An official conversion was completed in 1968.  It resulted in two apartments per floor.  The stoop was removed and the entrance lowered to below grade.  It may have been at this time that most of the stained glass transoms throughout the house were removed.

photographs by the author

The Lost 1827 Azariah Ross House - 45 Dominick Street

 

image from the collection of the New-York Historical Society

Born in 1787 in New Jersey, Azariah Ross served in the War of 1812, then became a significant architect, real estate developer and builder (although he consistently understated his profession in directories as "mason").  On March 11, 1826, he purchased a substantial amount of rural land from Robert M. Livingston.  The deed demanded Ross "to convey it as a street to the Corporation" [i.e., the city] within 18 months, "otherwise it reverts to R. M. Livingston."  The new street would be named Dominick Street, after George Dominick, a French-born vestryman of Trinity Church.

Ross quickly developed Dominick Street with prim, brick-faced Federal-style houses, two-and-a-half stories tall.  He moved his family into one of the first, the 20-foot-wide 45 Dominick Street, and used it as his base of operation.  An advertisement in the New-York Evening Post on May 3, 1827, offered, "To Let, 3 elegant two story brick Houses in Dominick near Hudson street.  Possession given immediately.  Inquire of assessor, 45 Dominick street."

The mention of "assessor" referred to Ross's other profession.  In addition to his substantial development and real estate operation, he was one of the two Assessors of the Eighth Ward.  On June 22, 1827, the New-York Evening Post reported, "Public notice is hereby given that the Assessors of the Eighth Ward have completed their assessments, and that a copy thereof is left with Azariah Ross, 45 Dominick street, where the same may be seen and examined by any of the inhabitants."  (Today, no doubt, eyebrows would be raised if the builder and seller of many of the properties was also trusted with appraising their values.)

Azariah Ross was married to the former Elsie Van Buskirk.  When they moved into 45 Dominick Street they had two children, Edwin, who was eight years old, and Theodore, who was five.  Elsie was pregnant at the time, and Amelia was born in the house that year.  A fourth child, Leander, would arrive in 1834.  The family had a summer home in Rockland County.

By 1830, Ross had been appointed a Commissioner of Estimate and Assessment.  He continue his construction and architectural work, as well.  He would work with Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux in the design and construction of the stone bridges of Central Park, for instance, and in the stonework at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

On December 13, 1839, Ross sold his home and the abutting house at 43 Dominick Street at auction.  (He would design and erect a striking Gothic Revival mansion at South Nyack, New York in 1856, where his family increasingly spent time.)

The Dominick Street house was purchased by Charles L. Vose, a merchant at 28 South Street.  His residency would be relatively short.  When he advertised 45 Dominick Street in 1845, he boasted that it "is in complete order and has all the modern improvements, Croton water, &c., probably the most convenient house in the city."

The mention of Croton water was significant.  It meant that 45 Dominick Street was one of the earliest to have running water.  The Croton Reservoir on Murray Hill (site of today's New York Public Library) had opened only three years earlier.

For nearly two decades, 45 Dominick Street saw a succession of occupants who most likely rented the house.  Then in 1863 it would become the long-time home of the Townsend Carpenter family.  

Carpenter was born in Purchase, New York in 1800.  He and his wife, Phebe, who were married in Purchase on October 5, 1823, were members of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers.  After relocating to New York City, they continued to maintain a home in Purchase, a Quaker community founded by John Harrison in 1695.  

Townsend Carpenter was a wholesale grocer at 308 Spring Street.  He and Phebe had three children, Isaac Thorne, born in 1825; David R., born two years later; and Adelia Augusta, born in 1829.    

On June 29, 1868, one month after Townsend's 68th birthday, he died "suddenly," according to The New York Times.  The term most often referred to a heart attack or stroke.  His death notice reflected the phraseology of the Society of Friends:

His friends and relatives are respectfully invited to attend his funeral, from his late residence, No. 45 Dominick-st., at 4 o'clock on Fourth Day (Wednesday) afternoon, and at Friends meeting house, Purchace [sic], at 11 o'clock Fifth Day morning.

The family was in Purchase on September 1, 1884, when Phebe Carpenter died at the age of 79.  Her funeral was held there, the notice in the New-York Tribune noting, "Carriages in waiting at White Plains Depot on arrival of the 8:30 a.m. train out of New-York."

Isaac T. Carpenter had taken over the operation of the family's grocery business.  Neither he nor Adelia married and lived quietly in the Dominick Street house for the rest of their lives.  The New-York Tribune mentioned that in his leisure time, Isaac was a member of the Manhattan Chess Club.

Around 1896, Isaac suffered a stroke.  Paralyzed, he was "confined to the house in care of nurses," according to the New-York Tribune.  Calling him, "one of the oldest residents of Greenwich Village," on December 17, 1902 the New-York Tribune reported that Isaac T. Carpenter had died. He was 77 years old.   The newspaper mentioned that he, "lived with a sister nearly as old."  There was no funeral in the Dominick house.  Instead, the body was directly transported to Purchase where the funeral was held in the Friends' Meeting House.

Amelia Augusta Carpenter lived on alone until November 19, 1915, when she died at the age of 87.  The New-York Tribune noted, "For the last fifty-two years she had been a resident of Greenwich Village, living during the entire period in the house where she died."  Like her family members before her, her funeral was held in the Friends' Meeting House in Purchase.

The extensive Carpenter real estate holdings was revealed the following year when Isaac T. Carpenter's estate was liquidated.  The auction in April 1916 included tenement buildings, factories, numerous houses, and vacant lots throughout the New York area and even a dwelling in Bar Harbor, Maine.  The Real Estate Record & Guide noted that Carpenter's will directed the proceeds to go to "over twenty-five charities as beneficiaries, including many hospitals."

Following World War I, William Sloane Coffin purchased many of the overlooked vintage structures in the neighborhood.  Included was 45 Dominick Street, which he leased to the Spring Street Church for its parsonage.  On April 18, 1920, The Sun noted (with one glaringly inaccurate historic detail), 

Mr. Coffin's first activity in the rehabilitation of Greenwich Village started seven or eight years ago, when he remodelled [sic] the parsonage of the Spring Street Church at 45 Dominick street.  This old house, like others in the neighborhood, has the quaint dormers and interesting Colonial doorway.  It is, as in the case of the others, built substantially of brick, with brownstone copings and a low front stoop with iron railings, and in this case, wrought iron posts [that] indicated the fact that at some time in its history, it was occupied by a Mayor of New York.

The same year of the article, construction began on the massive Holland Tunnel project that wiped out blocks of vintage structures.  The venerable Azariah Ross house, however, escaped the carnage by a mere block.  Nevertheless, in 1927, 45 Dominick along with the structures stretching to the corner of Varick Street, were demolished for a parking lot.

In 1954, a shed was erected on the parking lot to shelter the vehicles.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services. 

Construction began in 2006 of the 46-story Trump SoHo hotel on the site, engulfing the blockfront of Varick Street from Spring Street to Dominick Street.  The building was opened in 2008 and renamed the Dominick Hotel in 2017.

The 1928 Bergdorf Goodman Building - 58th Street and Fifth Avenue

 

photo by Ajay Suresh

In 1925, Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt had outlived the grande dames of her generation like Caroline Schermerhorn Astor and Marion Fish.  Her massive mansion that engulfed the Fifth Avenue blockfront from 57th to 58th Street, which had been the showpiece of Millionaire's Row at the turn of the century, was now an anachronism.  One-by-one, the mansions of Alice's former neighbors had been replaced with high-rise commercial buildings.  The 80-year-old and her army of servants lived within a Gilded Age time capsule amid a 20th century sea of commerce.

Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt's palatial home was engulfed by 20th century business buildings.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

That year, Alice Vanderbilt offered the mansion that had been her home for nearly half a century for sale, saying "it had become a burden," according to The New York Times.  In November, a syndicate headed by G. Maurice Hecksher offered $7.1 million for the property, announcing it would "improve the site with a fifty-six-story apartment hotel," said the newspaper.  The deal fell through, however.

On June 16, 1926, The New York Times reported that the mansion "was disposed of finally yesterday by Mrs. Alice G. Vanderbilt to Frederick Brown."  The real estate operator had paid $6 million, or about $103 million in 2025 terms.  "The fate of the mansion, which was built by the late Cornelius Vanderbilt at a cost of millions of dollars, is undetermined," said the article.

That situation soon changed.  One of the last surviving landmarks of what was once called Vanderbilt Row, or sometimes Vanderbilt Alley, was demolished.  Brown hired Buchman & Kahn to design eight stores and office buildings  on the site.  (The plans would eventually change to seven.)  Ely Jacques Kahn headed the project, designing the grouping visually as a unified structure.  His Modern Classical design greatly drew from French Renaissance prototypes in order to complement the surrounding structures, most notably Henry J. Hardenbergh's Plaza Hotel.

Ely Jacques Kahn's Fifth Avenue elevation clearly depicts the separate buildings, from the Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.

Completed in 1928, the buildings were designed in a symmetrical A-B-C-D-C-B-A configuration.  The end buildings, nearly twice the width of the others, rose nine floors, while the middle structures were six stories tall.  On March 11, 1928, The New York Times described, "the exterior of the building is of white South Dover marble with green bronze window trim, balcony and doorway, and a sloping roof of green tiles, thus carrying out the color scheme of other buildings on the plaza."

In the meantime, Alsace-born Herman Bergdorf had opened a tailor shop near Union Square in 1899.  Two years later, his former apprentice, 25-year-old Edwin Goodman, partnered with him and the business was renamed Bergdorf Goodman.   In 1906, Edwin Goodman purchased Bergdorf's interest.  Increasingly he established a reputation of a high-end women's tailor.  In an example of his marketing acumen, in 1914 he was the first Manhattan women's clothier to offer sophisticated, ready-to-wear fashions.

Brown's first tenant was Bergdorf Goodman, which signed a 21-year lease for the building on the southwest corner of 58th Street and Fifth Avenue in March 1927.  Because the building was still under construction, Edwin Goodman was able to provide design input to Kahn, including an apartment for Goodman's family on the ninth floor.

image by Sigurd Fischer, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

Goodman specified opulent, French-style interiors.  Shoppers would move through rooms that echoed the salons and parlors of the Fifth Avenue mansions of a generation earlier.  Architecture & Building described the store in March 1928 saying, "The interior follow the French styles of the Louis' and the Empire with a savoring of modern French decoration...The principal entrance at the center of 58th Street leads into an elliptical rotunda in the style of the Empire."

On March 1931, Through The Ages captioned this photograph, "Entrance rotunda, Bergdorf Goodman Building.  The walls are of Biegenelle, the base and pilasters of Loredo Chiaro-marble. 

An advertisement in Country Life in America in 1928 reflected the surroundings in which wealthy women here shopped. 

Here women of critical taste may observe clothes of the highest fashion...One may judge, before purchasing, how such clothes will look when worn in one's own drawing room.

Like the most exclusive fashion houses of Paris, there were no goods to be seen.  Architecture & Building explained, "Here, as elsewhere throughout the building, the effect is of beautifully decorated and furnished salons wherein no merchandise is displayed."  Instead, customers sat in French chairs or settees while a saleswoman (called a vendeuse) brought out the items one-by-one for consideration.

Through the Ages magazine, March 1931

The southernmost four buildings were called the Dobbs Building, named after tenant Dobbs & Company, a hat retailer.  Another initial neighbor of Bergdorf Goodman on the block was the upscale restaurant Sherry's. 

In 1932, three years into the Great Depression, Frederick Brown declared bankruptcy and in 1934 he lost the property to foreclosure.  Edwin Goodman took the opportunity the next year to purchase the three northern buildings for $3 million (more than $66.5 million today).  By now his firm's remarkable success had made the staggering outlay possible.  In 1929, he had expanded through the sixth floor of the northern building.  In 1931, Fortune magazine had noted that none of the couturier houses in Manhattan, "has succeeded in clothing women in an exclusive way on so magnificent a scale as that which Mr. Goodman has achieved, with 18,000 customers on his books."

Despite the ongoing Depression, other chic tenants moved into the other buildings.  On July 9, 1934, The New York Times reported that Grande Maison de Blanc had leased the building at 746 Fifth Avenue, "one of the buildings on the Vanderbilt 'chateau' site."  Founded in around 1872, the firm dealt in children's and women's clothing.  Steuben Glass occupied the store next door, at 748 at the time.  It would move across the avenue in 1937, the same year that the Parke-Bernet Galleries took over four floors of the Dobbs Building.

from the collection of the New York Public Library

Other tenants to move in included two women's shops, the Tailored Woman, Inc. and Mary Lewis, Inc., both of which signed a lease in 1939; and the French jewelry firm of Van Cleef & Arpels, which moved into the building in 1940.

All the while those tenants were signing leases, Edward Goodman was methodically purchasing the mortgages of the buildings.  By 1948, Goodman owned the entire blockfront.

On August 20, 1953, The New York Times reported, "Edwin Goodman, who at the age of 24 became a co-founder of Bergdorf Goodman...died early yesterday at his penthouse, atop the store 754 Fifth Avenue."  Calling the 76-year-old, "one of the most eminent figures in American haute couture and merchandising," the article said, "He catered to the wealthiest women of Hollywood and society and employed debutantes and members of royalty."  (The latter referred to vendeuses like Kay Summersby, who became Dwight D. Eisenhower's wartime aide, and the Grand Duchess Marie of Russia.)

Goodman's son, Andrew, took over the helm of Bergdorf Goodman.  At the time, the store extended the width of the Fifth Avenue property, other than the Van Cleef & Arpels shop.  (By 1998, the Goodman penthouse would be converted to a commercial space, home that year to the John Barrett Beauty Salon.)

In 1984, architect Allan Greenberg was hired to undo the decades of mismatched storefronts that had disfigured Buchman & Kahn's lower two floors.  As part of his renovations, Greenberg installed an imposing entrance on Fifth Avenue similar to the original entrance on West 58th Street.  

After seven decades of city grime, in the summer of 1998 Bellett Construction of Manhattan was commissioned to clean the marble facade.  At the time, the original bronze windows and trim on 58th Street were restored.

photograph by Tdorante10

At a time when the word "iconic" is tossed around to the point that it has lost its meaning, Buchman & Kahn's striking marble Bergdorf Goodman Building is one rare structure deserving of that description.

The 1842 William Dunning House - 749 Washington Street

 

The Greenwich Village building explosion that began in the 1820s often made speculative developers out of investors like hatmakers, bankers and attorneys.  In 1842, cigarmaker Edward S. Innes joined the trend by erecting three brick-faced, Greek Revival-style homes at 749 through 753 Washington Street.  Three stories tall and three bays wide, they sat upon brownstone basements.

William Dunning, who owned a substantial lumber business at 488 West Street, purchased 749 Washington Street.  He and his wife would have at least one child while living here.  William Jr. was born in 1847.  The family remained here until about 1851 when they relocated to Manhattanville.  The move may have been prompted by Dunning's receiving a contract with the city to provide lumber for "Aqueduct Repairs and Improvements."  (The massive "High Bridge" that brought water to New York City had been completed in 1848.)

The house was briefly home to the William Jaycocks family.  He and Dunning assuredly knew one another and were possibly involved in business together.  Jaycocks also ran a lumber business on West Street.  Boarding with the family in 1851 (and most likely sharing a room) were sisters Helen C. and Augusta W. Scott.  Both were primary school teachers.  Helen taught at School No. 10 on Amos Street (later West 10th) near Washington Street.  Augusta's commute was not so convenient.  She taught at School No. 6 on Randall's Island.

The Jaycocks were supplanted by the Thomas Disbrow family in 1855.  Disbrow was a painter and his daughter, Emily J. Disbrow, was a teacher at School No. 45 on West 24th Street.  She made $125 in 1855 (equal to about $3,640 in 2025).  In 1858, she received a significant $25 raise.

Resident Maria H. Forbes Renville took in boarders by the outbreak of the Civil War.  Born in 1804, she married Thomas N. Hulbert Renville in 1827.  He died in 1852.  

On March 16, 1863, The New York Times headlined an article, "The Draft Begun."  Among the long list of names drawn in the lottery was A. C. Roduskey, who boarded at 749 Washington Street.  

The news was doubly troubling to the residents.  Just the previous day, the funeral of Maria H. Renville's brother, Collin Forbes, had been held in the parlor.  A member of Company M., 13th Regiment New York Heavy Artillery, he had died on February 2 at Camp Graham, Virginia, "while in the service of his country," as reported by The New York Times.  Forbes was 58 years old.  

On May 2, 1870, Peter Huff purchased 749 Washington Street for $9,400 (about $226,000 today).  He initiated improvements and on May 6, 1871 the Record & Guide reported, "cellar to be excavated and basement to be built."  Unfortunately, it appears Huff dug below the foundation.  Exactly one week later, on May 13, the journal reported that 749 Washington Street had been deemed an "unsafe building," noting, "unsafe and cracked north party wall."  Happily, the repairs were successfully made.

In March 1874, Peter and his wife, Amelia, had a baby girl, Deborah.  The infant died a few days later, on March 9.  Her funeral was held in the parlor two days later.

The following year, in December, the house was sold to A. D. Cooper and his wife, Eliza.  They took in a boarder, Henry C. Petty, in 1876.  He earned $1,200 per year as an attendant in Superior Court.

After her husband's death, Eliza Cooper transferred title to the property in November 1880 to John H. Cooper, presumably a son.  He sold the house to William Lyon in May 1885 for $8,750 (about $286,000 today).  In reporting the sale, the Record & Guide described 749 Washington Street as a "tenement," meaning it was being operated as a multi-family dwelling.  The sale initiated a rapid series of turnovers through the turn of the century.

In the meantime, the property continued to be operated as a boarding or rooming house.  Its working class tenants often struggled.  On November 18, 1897, for instance, one of them placed an advertisement in The World that read, "Young man, 23, willing to work to support widowed mother.  Cook, 749 Washington-st."

The O'Loughlin family rented rooms here in 1915.  On the night of October 28 that year, their 11-year-old son, James, hitched a ride on the back of a truck.  The New York Times reported that at the corner of Grove and Hudson Street, he "jumped from the rear of a truck...directly in front of an automobile owned and operated by Israel Straus."  Although Straus tried to swerve, the boy was struck and sent flying several feet.  The article said Straus, "took the child to St. Vincent's Hospital, where he died a few minutes later of internal injuries."  Straus was not charged.

Frank Blanck, who was on the government's list of Communist voters in 1936, was among the last residents of 749 Washington Street before it was converted for business.  In 1941, the windows were closed off with concrete blocks as the former residence awaited a commercial tenant.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

A renovation completed in 1951 resulted in offices in the basement and one apartment each on the upper floors.  The stoop was removed at the time.

The beleaguered building caught the eye of Katharine Schoonover and her husband Alan Straus in 1982.  They purchased the property, according to The Villager, "knowing they'd need to completely renovate both its insides and outsides in order to create the home they wanted."  The couple hired the restoration architectural firm Preserv to oversee the renovations.  Sixteen years into the project, the stoop was refabricated, earning it the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation's Front Stoop Award in June 1998.

The comprehensive restoration was finally completed in 2004, resulting in a single family home that faithfully mimics its appearance when William Dunning moved his family into the house in 1842.

photographs by the author

The William Oland Bourne House - 13 Vandam Street

 

The double doors to the right mark the horsewalk that once provided access to the rear yards.

The block of Vandam Street between Macdougal and Varick Streets saw the rise of two-and-a-half story houses beginning around 1826.  In 1829, construction began on two mirror-image houses at 11 and 13 Vandam Street.  Each a generous 25-feet-wide, their peaked roofs were punctured by two dormers.  Between them was a horsewalk--a passageway that accessed the rear yards.  (The residents of 11 Vandam would enjoy additional square footage on the upper floors, since that house overlapped the horsewalk.)

The houses were completed in the spring of 1830.  An auction notice in the Morning Courier and Enquirer on March 18 offered:

Elegant houses in Vandam-street.  Two elegant two story brick houses, and 36 years lease of the lots, Nos 11 and 13, Vandam st. near Mcdougal st.  The lots are 25 feet by 100.  The lease from Trinity Church, without ground rent.  The houses have each a brick tea room in the rear; 14 feet by 18.  There is a covered gangway of 7 feet leading to the brick stables in the rear, which are 14 feet by 50.  The houses are finished in the most costly manner, with sliding doors and Egyptian marble mantels, &c.  Vaults under the tea rooms--marble stoops, sills, lintels, &c.

As the listing mentioned, the houses sat on land known as the Trinity Farm.  When John Jacob Astor took over the lease of the sprawling Richmond Hill estate around 1805, he paid the rent for decades in advance, making the plots he laid out and the houses on them more marketable.

The buyer of 13 Vandam Street leased the house.  His initial residents did not stay long.  An auction was held of the furnishings a year later, on April 16, 1831, the listing explaining the family was "leaving the city."  It hinted, however, of the family's upscale surroundings.  Included was a "splendid side-board" which had cost them $120 (about $4,300 in 2025), mahogany "card, tea & dinner tables, chairs, beds," and "a splendid assortment of China, Cut-Glass & plated ware."

The house saw a steady turnover of tenants until around 1844 when Francis Martin and his family moved in.  In 1845, the family took in a boarder, Dawson Wilson, who ran a grocery at 195 Spring Street.  Francis and Jane Martin's daughter Adelia Ella married William Oland Bourne around 1850.  The newlyweds moved in with the family.

Born in 1819 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, William Oland Bourne was a remarkable figure.  In 1851, he listed his profession as "registrar," but he wore many other hats.  He was an ordained minister; the composer of poetry, books and hymns; and was highly involved in politics.  By 1841, he was associated with the Workingmen's Democratic Republican Association.  While living here in the 1850s, Bourne published three children's books, Little Silverstring: Or Tales and Poems for the Young; Gems from Fable-Land: A Collection of Fables Illustrated by Facts; and Goldenlink: Or Tales and Poems for the Young.

The outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861 would drastically change William Oland Bourne's focus.  He was appointed the chaplain of the Central Park Hospital, a military hospital, and became editor of The Soldier's Friend.  His work among disabled soldiers in the hospital prompted him to sponsor a contest in 1865-66 for Union soldiers and sailors who had lost their right arms.  They were encouraged to practice using their left arms and to submit samples of their penmanship.  In the June 1865 issue of The Soldier's Friend, Bourne wrote:

Penmanship is a necessary requisite to any man who wants a situation under the government, or in almost any business establishment.  As an inducement to the class of wounded and disabled soldiers here named to make every effort to fit themselves for lucrative and honorable positions, we offer the following premiums.

The "premiums" Bourne offered ranged from $50 to a $1,000 first prize--a generous $19,300 by 2025 conversion.

Jacob C. Scwitzer submitted his sampler-like entry on July 4, 1865.  from the collection of the Library of Congress

Bourne's work with the wounded went further.  On July 4, 1866, The New York Times reported,

The disabled soldiers on David's Island will have an entertainment, provided by the public.  William Oland Bourne has purchased, with contributions he has received, a considerable quantity of refreshments, comprising fruits and other delicacies, for the veterans.  Fire-works are not forgotten.  The steamer Benton carried supplies from the Battery at 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon.

In the meantime, Francis Martin had died in 1857, before the outbreak of the war.  It was most likely William Oland Bourne who updated the house following the Civil War, raising the attic to a full third floor and adding a modern Italianate cornice.

The Bournes and Jane Martin remained in the Vandam Street house until 1869.  It was leased to a series of tenants until 1879, when Fire Chief Robert King moved in.

Born in New York City in 1836, King was a bachelor.  He joined Hook and Ladder Company No. 9 of the old Volunteer Fire Department.  In January 1865, a bill was introduced in the State Senate to establish a professional fire department.  In October that year, King was hired as a fire fighter with Hook and Ladder Company No. 7 on East 28th Street.

King's rise within the new professional fire department was rapid.  Finally, in 1878 he was promoted to Battalion Chief "and placed at the head of the Third Battalion," as reported by The New York Times.  "This is considered in the department a most onerous and responsible position, as the section of the City covered by the battalion comprises the dry goods district," said the article.

In January 1881, Robert King was diagnosed with stomach cancer.  He died in the Vandam Street house on May 10.  In reporting his death, The New York Times noted, "The funeral will take place on Friday, from the late residence of Mr. King.  The remains will be escorted to their last resting-place by a detachment of 60 firemen, selected from different companies, divided into 6 companies of 10 men each."

In May 1885, Samuel and Maria Scott took over the leaseholds of both 11 and 13 Vandam Street.  It appears both were initially operated as boarding houses.  A couple living here in 1891 had their hands full with their seven-year-old nephew, Tommy Mulligan, who lived with them.  That summer Tommy disappeared.  The Evening World reported, "He ran away, and was thought to have gone West to kill Indians."  The other possibility, said The Evening Post, was that he was dead.  "For some days after the child disappeared from this city his relatives and friends, supposing that he had been drowned, watched the river for his body."  Instead, Tommy had embarked on a great adventure to see the world.

The boy had gone to the steamship piers and mingled among the passengers boarding the R.M.S. Teutonic.  The steamship was well out to sea when the purser, T. H. Russell, noticed Tommy Mulligan wandering around the deck.  The boy explained "that his aunt at 13 Vandam street had put him on the ship and told him to stay there," reported The Evening World.  The newspaper added, "Cable inquiries from the other side developed the fact that Tommy was a most consummate liar."

The elegant R.M.S. Teutonic, launched in 1890, was Tommy Mulligan's home during his adventurous voyage.  from the collection of the Library of Congress.

The stowaway was given over to the care of the stewardess.  When the Teutonic docked at Liverpool, she took him to her home there until the ship left again.  The Evening Post said that on July 11 Tommy's aunt and uncle "received a letter from Mr. Russell telling of the boy's whereabouts."  Finally, on August 22, The Evening World reported, "Tommy Mulligan, a bright young American for whom Inspector Byrnes has been watching for the last two or three weeks, was a passenger on the Teutonic this morning."  The article ended saying, "He says he 'had a bully time' on his trip and has no fears of the Barge Office experience which he will be compelled to undergo."

Starting in 1892, 13 Vandam Street was home to the Buchan family and fireman Thomas Jordan.  John Buchan was a clerk, and James Buchan was a seaman.  They remained until 1897, when Ellen Cassin and her daughter, also named Ellen, moved in.

Ellen was the widow of Thomas Cassin.  Her daughter, known as Nellie, was a teacher.  Nellie P. Cassin died at the age of 44 on March 26, 1900.  Somewhat surprisingly, her funeral was not held in the parlor of 13 Vandam Street, but in the old St. Patrick's Cathedral on Mott Street.

In 1919, Trinity Church began liquidating much of its real estate holdings.  On August 9 that year, the Real Estate Record & Guide reported that William Sloane Coffin had purchased 15 properties in the neighborhood, including 13 Vandam Street.  Coffin converted the house to "bachelor apartments," meaning they had no kitchens.  An advertisement offered, "Two rooms, kitchen, bath, entire third floor, $90 monthly."  The rent would translate to $1,560 today.

Frederick Burlingham and his wife, Leontine, were among the initial tenants.  A journalist, Burlingham had written for The Evening World before joining the Paris staff of the New York Herald.  Somewhat eccentric, in Edwardian France he had drawn attention.  The New York Times said, "He became a well-known figure in American circles there, partly on account of his unconventional attire, involving sandaled feet."

His unusual footwear had cost Burlingham his job with the Herald when James Gordon Bennett, Jr. saw him wearing sandals while interviewing a prominent American.  In the meantime, Burlingham's name had become a household word when he was briefly connected with a double murder.

On May 31, 1908, Marguerite Steinheil was found bound and gagged in her Paris home.  Elsewhere in the house, her husband and stepmother were discovered strangled to death.  Marguerite's description of the killer closely matched Frederick Burlingham and he became a prime suspect.  The New York Times reported, "He produced an impeachable alibi, however, and was completely exonerated."

Frederick Burlingham, Motion Picture News, Inc. October 1921

Burlingham then turned to exploration, cinematography, and adventure.  His silent film travelogues between 1913 and 1918 documented his often dangerous expeditions.  On June 11, 1924, The New York Times said, "Of recent years, Mr. Burlingham [has] taken many moving pictures under hazardous conditions, climbing Alpine peaks and descending the crater of Vesuvius to a depth of 1,212 feet, being almost asphyxiated on that occasion."  

The 47-year-old died of "an affection of the kidneys, with complications," according to The New York Times, on June 9, 1924.   The Film Daily commented, "We're going to miss Fred Burlingham...One of the unusual figures of the business."

The horsewalk can clearly be seen in this 1941 photograph.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

By 1965, Hugh and Marguerite Stix occupied the house.  Saying, "He is a retired businessman, his Viennese wife a sculptor-ceramist," on November 9, 1965, World-Telegram staff writer Marilyn Milow wrote they, "maintain the Rare Sea Shell Gallery in their 130-year-old house at 13 Vandam Street."  Her article continued, "Building their collection, now estimated at 15,000, included a year-long trip around the world during which they bought shells from native collectors in tropical countries."

Before embarking on their shell collection, Marguerite had created accessories for Paris fashion houses before fleeing the Nazis.  Now she transformed some of the shells into jewelry, like "distinctive shell earrings, pins and cuff links," which visitors could purchase in the gallery.  Her sculptures were eventually exhibited at the Bertha Shaefer Gallery and acquired by the New School and other institutions.  Her jewelry was worn by the likes of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and was sold at Cartier's as well.

The couple was still living in the Vandam Street house in January 1975 when Marguerite died at the age of 67.  It is unclear how long Hugh remained here.

A renovation completed in 2013 resulted in an apartment in the basement and a single-family home in the upper floors.  

photographs by the author

The Empire Wagon Works Building - 194 Elizabeth Street

 

In the first years after the Civil War, the enterprising Jonas Stoltz had two diverse professions.  He was an undertaker at 237 Bowery and ran a stables at 194 Elizabeth Street.  The Elizabeth Street property was leased from Catharine L. Van Rensselaer.  The vernacular style building was faced in red brick above the ground floor where a central carriage bay was flanked by two openings.  Four stories tall, the building terminated in a dentiled brick cornice more expected in a much earlier structure. 

John Green, who listed himself as a "shoer," leased the stable portion of the building from Stoltz in 1871 and 1872.  On March 31, 1872 he advertised, "Truck, team and harness for sale--Inquire at stable, 194 Elizabeth street."

On February 27, 1874, Catherine L. Van Rensselaer transferred title of 194 and 196 Elizabeth Street to Jonas Stoltz.  He converted the stable to a bakery, but would not be in business here for long.  On June 18, 1875, he advertised, "A bakery for sale in one of the best neighborhoods in the city, baking over 15 barrels per week; all cash over the counter; must be sold on account of sickness."

The building was purchased by Michael Murray and the bakery became Ward's Bakery.  It advertised on July 1, 1875, "Baker wanted--A good second hand on bread.  Apply at 194 Elizabeth st."

Among the bakery's employees in 1876 were James Kellner and and Max Hoppe.  While the two men were talking on December 28 that year, as reported by the New York Herald, Kellner "produced a bottle and invited Hoppe to take a drink, stating that the fluid was whiskey."  Hoppe took a swig, and quickly passed out.  When he awoke, he discovered his gold watch and $40 were gone, and so was Kellner.

The next day, Kellner appeared at the 57th Street Police Court and complained that Simon Lanigan, "in whose company he had been the night previous," had stolen his watch and some clothing.  Lanigan was arrested and the clothing and a pawn ticket for the watch was found in his rooms.  Kellner identified the watch as his.

Informed that Kellner had been robbed, Hoppe gave police a detailed description of his missing watch, including the letters "F. V. D." inscribed in the case, "the initials of the gentleman who had presented him with it while in Germany."  He described perfectly the watch which Lanigan had stolen from Kellner.  Now Kellner, too, was arrested.

In court, Henry Kiel testified that Kellner had bragged to him about stealing Hoppe's watch, "but that it did not do him much good, as it had been stolen from him."  Kellner testified that the watch was his and the initials were those of his mother.  Despite the overwhelming evidence, Kellner insisted the watch was his and he deserved to keep it.  The New York Herald reported,

The Recorder, in passing sentence, severely rebuked the prisoner for his unblushing audacity, adding that the law might have thrown over him the mantle of mercy had he availed himself of his privilege to enter a plea of guilty, instead of which he supplemented the larceny which he committed by the crime of perjury.

He was sentenced to four years and six months of hard labor at the State Prison.

In the meantime, the upper floors of 194 Elizabeth Street were home to mostly immigrant, Irish-born tenants.  In 1876, eleven families were listed here, with professions like laborer, tailor, soap-maker, and painter.  Around 1879, the bakery was run by Dominick Fralliciardi.

Irish-born Maurice Flynn lived here in 1880.  He had become an American citizen in 1868 when he was a teen.  When he headed off to vote on October 12, 1880, he took along his naturalization papers with him to avoid any problems.  Instead, he was confronted by one of the election supervisors, George Connell, who not only refused to allow him to vote, but confiscated his paperwork and refused to return it.  Flynn made a complaint and the United States Commissioner issued a warrant for the arrest of Connell.  (Whether Flynn ever cast his vote is unclear.)

A month later, another Irish tenant was in the news.  John Bryce was a waiter in a Brooklyn restaurant.  Early in the morning of November 7, Thomas Lovitt came into the restaurant "and began to act in a disorderly manner," according to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.  He ordered a plate of pork and beans from Bryce, who refused to serve him.  Lovitt responding by stabbing Bryce in the back with a pocket knife.  The New York Times reported that Lovitt was arrested and Bryce was brought home to Elizabeth Street.

At the time, Irish immigrants were being supplanted by Italians in the district.  On December 12, 1881, The Sun said, "A small colony of natives of Salerno is clustered in the neighborhood of Elizabeth and Spring streets.  Nearly all are tailors and shoemakers."  Two of those shoemakers, Augustiro Ispeni and Amidio Cusitare, were old friends and both lived at 194 Elizabeth Street.

On the afternoon of December 11, 1881, the two became embroiled in a quarrel "as to which was the better workman," according to The Sun.  The dispute became heated and other occupants of the room fled from what promised to be violence.  They told a reporter later, "the men were then confronting each other, each with the left hand on the other's shoulder.  Ispeni's right had held a knife, and in Cusitare's was a pistol."  A pistol shot was heard and Cusitare ran out of the room and down the stairs.  Ispeni was found in the room with two bullet wounds, one in the chest and another in the groin.  A policeman tracked down Cusitare in a Spring Street house.  "He was suffering from stab wounds," said The Sun.

Both men were taken to St. Vincent's Hospital as prisoners.  One of Cusitare's wounds, which caused massive internal bleeding, was fatal.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Around 1885, the building was leased and converted for the Philip Happersberger & Son wagon business, run by Philip and Francis (known as Fred) Happersberger.  It was now described as a "four-story brick factory" by the Record & Guide.  In March 1893, Philip Happersberger purchased the building for $20,000 (just under $700,000 in 2025 terms).  It appears he retired that year, and Fred renamed the business the Empire Wagon Works.

Purchasers' Guide and Commercial Register, 1893 (copyright expired)

Happersberger employed ten men who worked 59 hours per week at the turn of the century.  On October 15, 1903, the American Carbonator and American Bottler wrote,

The Empire Wagon Works, 194 Elizabeth street, New York, are making the finest wagons we know of for the bottling trade...Bottlers wagons always on hand, as well as made to order on short notice.  They also do repairing, painting, lettering and ornamenting.  Mr. Fred Happersberger, the gentlemanly proprietor, will be pleased to quote prices and give full particulars.

American Carbonator & American Bottler, July 15, 1903 (copyright expired)

Happersberger repeatedly updated the facility, renovating the building in 1911, 1913 and 1914.  

The Empire Wagon Works was replaced in the building in the post-World War I years by the Anchor Manufacturing Company, a glass firm.  In its December 16, 1920 issue, The Potter, Glass & Brass Salesman reported on the firm's new line, saying, "The items include compotes, sandwich trays, cracker-and-cheese dishes, candy jars, cake plates, as well as vases and boudoir pieces."  The article praised the hand-decorated items as "most attractive and original."

Crockery & Glass Journal, December 16, 1920 (copyright expired)

The Depression years were unkind to the business, and the building was lost in foreclosure in 1930.  The ground floor was converted to a "non-storage garage" in 1964, with factory space on the upper floors.

The third quarter of the 20th century saw change in the Nolita neighborhood.  In 1999, the ground floor was converted for an Italian restaurant, Peasant.  In his A Man and His Meatballs, John LaFemina tells of leaving his job in the New York Jewelry Exchange to open a restaurant with friend and chef Frank DeCarlo.

Less than one year after our first conversation about opening a restaurant, Frank and I walked into an old garage at 194 Elizabeth Street in downtown New York City, a place where locals went for oil changes and used parts.  I immediately turned to him and said, "This is home."

 

The venerable building received another renovation in 2009-2010.  While Peasant still occupies the ground floor, an office is on the second floor and there are two apartments on the third, and one apartment on the fourth floor.

 

photographs by the author

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