tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75023120000875957012024-03-18T12:28:46.733-07:00Daytonian in ManhattanThe stories behind the buildings, statues and other points of interest that make Manhattan fascinating.Tom Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13542224816886418433noreply@blogger.comBlogger436113tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502312000087595701.post-1812416133274366172024-03-18T01:00:00.000-07:002024-03-18T05:32:32.868-07:00The Lost Hotel Dauphin - Broadway and 67th Street<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMMs5VkgrcfxE9BiuayNgrVAFcfVhuv57g4lJo4hEfQ-wIGP25Ncx8cB2kxpv-KDg_LAa92yGxEsD8iRhC5Hz-IwPyt2AQNJvtBOji83uBKItYmg9m2wWiAxlQwjQrsAD02x8zA2QKhJVXG1TH6tsEdUea3xBstZE-y89o8I3yTpcnluJW7WuSVGnSNn4/s1128/hotel%20dauphin.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="883" data-original-width="1128" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMMs5VkgrcfxE9BiuayNgrVAFcfVhuv57g4lJo4hEfQ-wIGP25Ncx8cB2kxpv-KDg_LAa92yGxEsD8iRhC5Hz-IwPyt2AQNJvtBOji83uBKItYmg9m2wWiAxlQwjQrsAD02x8zA2QKhJVXG1TH6tsEdUea3xBstZE-y89o8I3yTpcnluJW7WuSVGnSNn4/w640-h500/hotel%20dauphin.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;">To the left, at 66th Street, is the Hotel Marie Antoinette. <i>from the collection of the New-York Historical Society.</i></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In 1894, William F. Flanagan opened his elegant new Hotel Marie Antoinette at the northwest corner of Broadway and 66th Street, designed by J. Munkowitz. Four years later Franklin Pettit sold the abutting vacant plot to the north to August M. Bruggeman for around $190,000--around $6.8 million in 2024. The <i>Record & Guide</i> commented, "The buyer will erect a 10-sty apartment hotel on the site."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Bruggeman's plan never came to pass. On February 22, 1902, the <i>Record & Guide</i> reported that the Broadway Realty Co. had hired architect C. P. H. Gilbert to design a 12-story apartment hotel on the site. Before ground was broken, the developer had leased the building to Albert R. Keen, the proprietor of the Hotel Marie Antoinette.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Charles Pierpont Henry Gilbert had firmly established his position as a leading architect of the period. But he was known for designing opulent mansions and townhouses, and so the Hotel Dauphin would be a step away from his specialty.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">At the time, William Earl Dodge Stokes's magnificent <a href="https://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2010/06/wedding-cake-of-west-side-ansonia.html">Ansonia</a> apartment hotel, designed by Paul E. M. Duboy, was rising six blocks to the north on Broadway. The Hotel Dauphin would echo its French Beaux Arts architecture--its brick-and-limestone facade rising to a massive mansard with elaborate dormers and copper cresting.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivjSbElwGCjDwpi26EAG2ff007GI5Lm6WoMspPX25QneMMkjlstnzEGclJ89uoeYpwCJZSP_bTceIa4s1YSKojcY_V42Ud4upurNY2igS7YmtqTC5fZM6LZzzg4HixQ1mCYR8rIsfWWjmhFiLaLcBNbaZ7ZbhC9aK5qjLfagEa8di7FRNe-CQTj2pppcU/s800/dauphin%201902.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="507" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivjSbElwGCjDwpi26EAG2ff007GI5Lm6WoMspPX25QneMMkjlstnzEGclJ89uoeYpwCJZSP_bTceIa4s1YSKojcY_V42Ud4upurNY2igS7YmtqTC5fZM6LZzzg4HixQ1mCYR8rIsfWWjmhFiLaLcBNbaZ7ZbhC9aK5qjLfagEa8di7FRNe-CQTj2pppcU/w406-h640/dauphin%201902.jpg" width="406" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;">An advertising postcard from post-World War I depicted Broadway with no traffic. </div></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The hotel--which offered both permanent and transient accommodations--opened on April 15, 1903. The<i> New-York Tribune</i> reported, "about four hundred guests inspected the handsome new dining rooms, offices, parlors, reception rooms, suites, etc...Several dinners were given, in gayly decorated dining rooms, in honor of the occasion." </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Among the visitors were some of New York City's wealthiest citizens, including John D. Crimmins and his wife, William D. Sloane, and William Crittenden Adams. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Those residents who gave dinner parties included renowned soprano Emma Eames and her husband, artist Julian Russell Story. Eames made her professional debut in</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i> </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><i>Roméo et Juliette </i>with the Paris Opera. She debuted with the Metropolitan Opera in November 1891, quickly becoming a favorite of New York audiences. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_sayiwXqFnmOXozOVVeydBz3o42XAgAv6-5d-O9jTJcbXNZpoBCs-XTogsXUJg6a2r1yRxNXDLu0BN6yAuk9lUW96SGQBfBESGv_qgTbpwgCtz1mlX71vws26Iq8AVCHv-ddHT2e4td0TUlUDd-ZJ1lc7XS_3eFxTzDzuRuqK5itY8JMH-BUv0JT3uwo/s574/Emma_Eames_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="432" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_sayiwXqFnmOXozOVVeydBz3o42XAgAv6-5d-O9jTJcbXNZpoBCs-XTogsXUJg6a2r1yRxNXDLu0BN6yAuk9lUW96SGQBfBESGv_qgTbpwgCtz1mlX71vws26Iq8AVCHv-ddHT2e4td0TUlUDd-ZJ1lc7XS_3eFxTzDzuRuqK5itY8JMH-BUv0JT3uwo/w301-h400/Emma_Eames_1.jpg" width="301" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Madame Emma Eames, <i>from the collection of the Library of Congress</i></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Born in England in 1857, Story came from an artistic family. His father was sculptor William Wetmore Story and his brother was a well-known sculptor, as well. He was best known for his portraits of well-heeled sitters.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHnEFFWByd0Rf8e12Yy7sjgw13dcH8K7QkNNW9jOIdogiPfVerwur8WGJbS_lobNaCA7HTghp3pjvhjXJ-eoYtr-wlbidnFMEpFHRwMXaCB7pUK42SXFV20fv5ZSMv3Y0W3iloF_4mVOwTfm6JcYBT8kZmzABGJKgyh7_cPf5NutAAmVpy-HFVDv-agy8/s990/Julian_Russell_Story.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="990" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHnEFFWByd0Rf8e12Yy7sjgw13dcH8K7QkNNW9jOIdogiPfVerwur8WGJbS_lobNaCA7HTghp3pjvhjXJ-eoYtr-wlbidnFMEpFHRwMXaCB7pUK42SXFV20fv5ZSMv3Y0W3iloF_4mVOwTfm6JcYBT8kZmzABGJKgyh7_cPf5NutAAmVpy-HFVDv-agy8/w259-h400/Julian_Russell_Story.png" width="259" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;">Julian Russell Story, <i>Hartford Daily Courant, February 25, 1919 (copyright expired)</i></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The <i>New-York Tribune </i>noted, "F. J. Middlebrook and Miss Middlebrook, too, gave a dinner, at which Mr. and Mrs. Henry S. Thompson, Dr. Russell Bellamy and Mrs. Bellamy, Robert E. Dowling, Miss Potter and Mr. and Mrs. William H. McIntyre were guests." It added, "Dr. Bellamy, who is the house physician of the Cliffs, at Newport, will be the physician of the new hotel."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Although the new hotel dwarfed its predecessor, Albert R. Keen (who now managed both hotels) touted it as "an annex" to the Hotel Marie Antoinette and marketed both under that name. It caused understandable confusion and newspapers sometimes differentiated between the structures by referring to the "Hotel Marie Antoinette on 66th Street" and the "Hotel Marie Antoinette on 67th Street." </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4EtrEN8XvCRao_VQ8iApKGLOeyDm18TYaMbHQ1TixnFDnxzsajQKKOaRswTiRCYZ2H5wS1jym54Q-SsbjWbg0H_EGI8NTNHv3W5wu5f3ILGMrZUL_M5wrvN9zdCzVrpN2ZXYWVQoh8UW-tzC4_okUOK6H6NEjziBwfPLkqkBjZ1CJhP2wvDOENcKLxGQ/s1600/marie%20antoinette.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1386" data-original-width="1600" height="554" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4EtrEN8XvCRao_VQ8iApKGLOeyDm18TYaMbHQ1TixnFDnxzsajQKKOaRswTiRCYZ2H5wS1jym54Q-SsbjWbg0H_EGI8NTNHv3W5wu5f3ILGMrZUL_M5wrvN9zdCzVrpN2ZXYWVQoh8UW-tzC4_okUOK6H6NEjziBwfPLkqkBjZ1CJhP2wvDOENcKLxGQ/w640-h554/marie%20antoinette.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;">A 1916 advertisement grouped both hotels under a single name. The $2.50 per day starting rate would equal about $69 in 2024.<i> (copyright expired)</i></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">On December 12, 1913, Michigan attorney Devere Hall checked into a ninth floor suite in the northern hostelry. The 60-year-old was a leading corporation lawyer in his home state, and was once considered for a seat on the State's Supreme Court. <i>The Evening World</i> said, "Overwork caused a nervous breakdown a year ago." Hall came to New York to be treated by nerve specialist Dr. Spitzka, who happened to be a boyhood friend. Hall's adult son, Ray, came with him, taking a furnished room near the hotel.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">At 8:30 on the morning of December 14, Ray went to his father's room. To his surprise, Hall was not there and the bed had not been slept in. <i> The Evening World </i>reported, "The shoe and sock underneath the open window prompted the son to look out and discover his father's body." Suicide was ruled out. The body, which landed on the roof of the hotel's engine room, was clad in underclothing and the other shoe and sock. Investigators surmised Hall had sat on the sill to remove his shoes and socks and fell backwards out of the window.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In 1929, the hotel regained its individual identity. After a court battle over which facility could use the name Hotel Marie Antoinette (which the 66th Street owners won), it became the Hotel Dauphin. On January 11, 1930, the Atlanta, Georgia newspaper <i>The Constitution,</i> noted, "Mr. and Mrs. Guy Mark Mankin, who were the recent guests of their mother, Mrs. Hamilton Douglas, are making their home for the present at the Dauphin Hotel, New York city."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Mrs. H. Magen lived here in 1934 when she read of Gimbel Brothers new policy of "telling the whole truth, good or bad about every article." In an announcement, the department store offered a $10 reward "to the person who first reports to it any misleading or untrue statement about or claim for qualities of any article of merchandise advertised."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_jbi5YcnfdLsotlQZJLIgEO24ue323tIEdReBk0aa6qUFvjwnNG9OV99ysZqhIfB4GZKxoXeKllGC7d34LNqxXpiS4DtfRel4shcHqc0hrjuw4gfPI1PfFsthEJEAeSiyvJRQz4-ThsvMVkO86Lt2MzkgFQFsHZQgVCT9GleO1urBSnMBHxm4JQ68jt8/s760/index.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="501" data-original-width="760" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_jbi5YcnfdLsotlQZJLIgEO24ue323tIEdReBk0aa6qUFvjwnNG9OV99ysZqhIfB4GZKxoXeKllGC7d34LNqxXpiS4DtfRel4shcHqc0hrjuw4gfPI1PfFsthEJEAeSiyvJRQz4-ThsvMVkO86Lt2MzkgFQFsHZQgVCT9GleO1urBSnMBHxm4JQ68jt8/w640-h422/index.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;">The period of marketing both buildings as the Hotel Marie Antoinette, as in this 1911 postcard, still causes confusion.</div></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Mrs. Magen wasted no time in reporting her disgruntlement with the heating pad she had purchased for 50 cents. It was advertised to "retain heat 10 to 15 hours." <i> The New York Sun</i> reported on February 5 that Mrs. Magen was the first customer to receive the $10 award. "The Gimbel people tested the pad and felt it succumb to the weather after seven hours." Mrs. Magen's $9.50 profit from the falsely advertised item would equal a satisfying $208 today.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The dining room and ballroom were favorites for large groups. On April 27, 1938, for instance, the <i>Columbia Daily Spectator</i> reported, "The banquet given annually in honor of the basketball squad at the College of Pharmacy will be held tonight at the Dauphin Hotel."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLcUtx2OVPtyP6uSORLjKYDpO5s8Qe4t8rf-b0SFE6LQTz4ihJcm9l8DehGCrBVqfvjTbnLkjMpIAUF9xBCV9QcTnNMp54CbBBwOukoX60aZfnF817P1UrFcycxZZtNQxH97ZkOITkgeKfYCTeFj1zqoNeM9rm8cJ16Xw24nYD2wFCTPJO2UzKaOzFdTk/s335/Screenshot%202024-03-05%20at%2005-50-16%20New%20York%20Columbia%20Spectator%20Mar%2018%201947%20p.%205.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="179" data-original-width="335" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLcUtx2OVPtyP6uSORLjKYDpO5s8Qe4t8rf-b0SFE6LQTz4ihJcm9l8DehGCrBVqfvjTbnLkjMpIAUF9xBCV9QcTnNMp54CbBBwOukoX60aZfnF817P1UrFcycxZZtNQxH97ZkOITkgeKfYCTeFj1zqoNeM9rm8cJ16Xw24nYD2wFCTPJO2UzKaOzFdTk/w400-h214/Screenshot%202024-03-05%20at%2005-50-16%20New%20York%20Columbia%20Spectator%20Mar%2018%201947%20p.%205.png" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Columbia Daily Spectator, March 18, 1947.</i></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">After mid-century, the Hotel Dauphin was the frequent meeting spot for Irish-American groups. On May 16, 1953, for instance, the<i> New York Irish American Advocate </i>reported on the final meeting of the I.R.A. Pettigo 1922 Memorial Committee. The group was formed to honor the soldiers of the Irish Republican Army who died in the summer of 1922. The article said, </span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="outline: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>A very satisfactory financial report was submitted. Letters were read from the Memorial Committee in Ireland thanking all who helped to make the drive for funds a financial success. The amount was much larger than it was expected. Receipts were received from Ireland for the full amount already sent. A vote of thanks was passed to all who gave donations. </i></span></div></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: arial; outline: none;" /></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">One of the last of Irish-American events was held here in May 1960. <i> </i>T</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">he<i> New York Irish American Advocate </i>reported o</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">n March 27, "The Williamstown Social Club, N.Y. at a meeting held in the Dauphin Hotel...voted to hold a dance on May 7 at the Dauphin Hotel, 67th St. & Bway, N.Y.," adding, "Persons from the Williamstown Co. Galway area, interested in joining the organization can do so at a meeting on Sunday, April 24, at the Dauphin Hotel at 4 P.M."</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The various groups that rented the dining room and ballroom would soon have to find other venues. In 1963 the block was demolished as part of the vast Lincoln Square urban renewal project. A 32-floor mixed use structure occupies the site today.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: georgia; font-style: italic;">no permission to reuse the content of this blog has been granted to LaptrinhX.com</span></div>Tom Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13542224816886418433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502312000087595701.post-36917122187717330292024-03-16T01:00:00.000-07:002024-03-16T08:41:48.924-07:00The Rev. John Leighton Wilson House - 47 East 30th Street<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNW-HWOhwo-lwTg-phoR0MWOPjyr72ifDxVVpIEdwGJEy5vaNsB1U5xX0wtgz-LNYg-85uZ4iWN8kMgKtaSgL1ncoewPZQfwLi93nOHYAysbHz3DJMYUhG8deiM8VLysYPuSy5GlKssfHE-6Khd10PQkPMWtSDmanH1iRHe54uO97Hk6uhbiiK5sJpl6Y/s3671/IMG_4044.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3671" data-original-width="2418" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNW-HWOhwo-lwTg-phoR0MWOPjyr72ifDxVVpIEdwGJEy5vaNsB1U5xX0wtgz-LNYg-85uZ4iWN8kMgKtaSgL1ncoewPZQfwLi93nOHYAysbHz3DJMYUhG8deiM8VLysYPuSy5GlKssfHE-6Khd10PQkPMWtSDmanH1iRHe54uO97Hk6uhbiiK5sJpl6Y/w422-h640/IMG_4044.jpg" width="422" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Born in Sumter, South Carolina on March 25, 1809, John Leighton Wilson graduated from Columbia Theological Seminary in 1833, sailing almost immediately to West Africa for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUolfit2H7zLDMS-s29Zam29xsUeHyWrEootA4eo6KXWZ0fueS-TZ-_ukk_xoS_L5Yq26gOGCXnDH4MP31lHmC8FU2DJdSDE0wdwlLWOaJhSoXaFsC7bNfWxnN0ISNud1dVOqYJ2WeNKmfSXo6GFmtoHfm_VN00qAvrfRN17K8UGG7HrWtTRhqKalv2WI/s347/John%20Leighton%20Wilson.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="347" data-original-width="250" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUolfit2H7zLDMS-s29Zam29xsUeHyWrEootA4eo6KXWZ0fueS-TZ-_ukk_xoS_L5Yq26gOGCXnDH4MP31lHmC8FU2DJdSDE0wdwlLWOaJhSoXaFsC7bNfWxnN0ISNud1dVOqYJ2WeNKmfSXo6GFmtoHfm_VN00qAvrfRN17K8UGG7HrWtTRhqKalv2WI/w289-h400/John%20Leighton%20Wilson.jpg" width="289" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;">Rev. John Leighton Wilson<i> (original source unknown).</i></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">After helping establish a mission in Cape Palmas, Liberia, he worked with the people there until 1834, when he returned to America to marry Mary Elizabeth Bayard, the daughter of a prominent Savannah, Georgia family. The newlyweds sailed back to Cape Palmas that year to work with the Grebo people. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">Over the years, the Wilsons created schools, translated school books, hymns, and parts of the Bible into Grebo, and helped establish other missions.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Wilsons returned to America in 1852 due to John's health issues. He was elected Secretary for the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions in New York located at 23 Centre Street, and shortly afterward purchased the newly built house at 47 East 30th Street.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Their 19-foot-wide home was four stories tall above a low English basement. Anglo-Italianate in design, it was faced in brick and trimmed in brownstone. Ornate Italianate ironwork protected the areaway and stoop. The first floor openings were fully arched and set within deeply molded frames. A stone bandcourse introduced the upper floors, and a wooden cornice with a latticework frieze capped the design.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzgRUR85WzeyxiStYL2csCYKdRemAwdGRPy2My0O30fsKJ3bAF93M9-5QQ18jzTC_ubKh30uYkVkuZSezp9HO4tfr6ttDUd1Z5NtcBVDk7_TgmEQraj8ym6y9r58dmjwnIuztyDUzTTZ5JRSFi900mUZUvDYbr7vpZbDcTkBTFruLOqkAMW-F8C7CeT3U/s1325/IMG_4044a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="689" data-original-width="1325" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzgRUR85WzeyxiStYL2csCYKdRemAwdGRPy2My0O30fsKJ3bAF93M9-5QQ18jzTC_ubKh30uYkVkuZSezp9HO4tfr6ttDUd1Z5NtcBVDk7_TgmEQraj8ym6y9r58dmjwnIuztyDUzTTZ5JRSFi900mUZUvDYbr7vpZbDcTkBTFruLOqkAMW-F8C7CeT3U/w640-h332/IMG_4044a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;">The wooden latticework below the cornice is unusual.</div></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Although the Wilsons were ardent abolitionists, in 1861 (either just before or after the first shot in the Civil War), they returned to the South.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">While the Wilsons occupied 47 East 30th Street, Harriet Hunter ran an upscale boarding house on Union Square. On November 1, 1861, she announced in the <i>New York Herald</i>, "Mrs. Hunter has removed from No. 30 Union square, to No. 47 East thirtieth street, where she can accommodate a few persons for the winter."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Among her first boarders were the unmarried Sayre sisters, Ophelia, Emily A. and Elizabeth H. The women may have been newcomers to New York City, since they joined the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church that same year.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">An ad placed in the <i>New York Herald</i> on February 12, 1862 caught the eye of Ebenezer Storer. "Mrs. Hunter, 47 East Thirtieth Street, has two pleasant Rooms for rent; one suitable for a physician's office. Possession immediately." Dr. Storer took the room and lived and practiced there at least through 1880.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Among the boarders in 1864 through 1866 were John H. Anthon and his wife. Highly involved in civic and charitable causes, Anthon was an inspector of public schools, and his wife was the First Directress of the <a href="https://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2011/12/lost-1840-orphan-asylum-society.html">Orphan Asylum Society of the City of New-York</a> in Bloomingdale (today's Upper West Side). </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">By 1867, Elizabeth J. Hunter (presumably Harriet's daughter) was operating the boarding house. Either she or one of her boarders lost a valuable pet in 1870. An announcement in the New York Herald on April 28 read: </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Lost--April 27, a small green parrot, with red bead </i>[sic]<i> and red feathers in tail; he is a little larger than a canary; $20 reward will be given to anyone who will return him to 47 East Thirtieth street. He is the gift of a friend, therefore particularly valuable to the owner. </i></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The sizable reward would translate to more than $450 in 2024.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Dr. Ebenezer Storer was an ardent proponent of temperance. In 1874 he joined a long list of physicians who signed a "medical declaration" to the State and Federal Governments that said in part, "</span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">We are of [</span><i style="font-family: georgia;">the</i><span style="font-family: georgia;">] opinion that the use of alcoholic liquor as a beverage is productive of a large amount of physical disease; that it entails diseased appetites upon offspring; and that it is the cause of a large percentage of the crime and pauperism of our cities and country." The declaration proposed state and federal laws that would "confine the traffic in alcohol to the legitimate purposes of medical and other sciences, art, and mechanism."</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Laura M. Thorpe, who "belongs to one of the most fashionable families of Philadelphia," according to <i>The National Police Gazette,</i> took rooms in the house in 1878. The newspaper described her as "a handsome blonde of about twenty-five years." Her husband, Gould H. Thorpe, a "wealthy produce merchant" had sued her for divorce earlier that year "on the ground of infidelity to her marriage vows." The indiscretion had been carried out with one of New York's wealthiest young men, Lloyd Phoenix, the son of Philip Phoenix and the grandson of Stephen Whitney.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Both Laura Thorpe and Lloyd Phoenix were "well known among New York 'society' people," said <i>The National Police Gazette.</i> Their illicit relationship had caused what the journal on January 11, 1879 called "a social scandal which for months has been the talk of the up-town clubs and of 'fashionable' society circles." On December 26, 1878, the scandal became even more public. Laura Thorpe sued Phoenix for a physical attack in her rooms here.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">According to Mrs. Thorpe, on December 18 Phoenix came to her rooms and demanded his love letters, fearful that they would be used as evidence in her divorce case. When she refused, he seized an iron poker "and with this formidable domestic weapon inflicted several blows," according to <i>The National Police Gazette</i>. The article continued,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="outline: none; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Then, as she further alleges, Mr. Phoenix, by no means satisfied with the frightful havoc he had made with her beauty, seized a chair and augmented the bruises, wounds and dislocations by at least two. After that he, so she claims, took from the mantel a majolica vase, which she specifically says cost $20, and with violence threw it at her, thereby breaking it into fragments.</i></span></div></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="outline: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; outline: none;" /></span></div><div style="outline: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Hearing the crash, two servants rush into the room and Mrs. Thorpe directed one of them to find a policeman. Phoenix fled.</span></div><div style="outline: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="outline: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>The National Police Gazette</i> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">reporter asked Laura Thorpe why Phoenix would think that beating her would prompt her to relinquish the letters. He recounted the ensuing conversation:</span></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="outline: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="outline: none;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; outline: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>"Oh! It is not the first time he has done such a thing, and this time he tried to kill me," said Mrs. Thorpe.</i></span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="outline: none;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; outline: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br style="outline: none;" /></i></span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="outline: none;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; outline: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>"Do you mean that he has beaten you before this?" </i></span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="outline: none;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; outline: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br style="outline: none;" /></i></span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="outline: none;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; outline: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>"Twice before this," she replied, "On one occasion he lamed me seriously by the violence of his blows. This time he pointed a revolver at me and was fingering the trigger, when I knocked it from his hand and screamed for help." </i></span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="outline: none;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; outline: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div></div></div></blockquote></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In 1880, Dr. Augustine Arrango shared Storer's office, most likely during a transitional phase. In 1881 only Arrango was listed here. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">That year, on April 2, Virgil Lopez was sitting in Arrango's waiting room. Through the window he noticed another patient, Elvina De Molina ascending the stoop. Suddenly, 14-year-old James Goss rushed up, grabbed Elvina's pocketbook and ran. Almost before she could realize what had happened, Goss ran down the stoop in pursuit of the teenage purse snatcher. At the corner of 31st Street and Fourth Avenue (today's Park Avenue South), Goss tackled and overcame the youth. <i>The New York Times</i> said on April 3, 1881, "The lad was arraigned before Justice Flammer, at the Jefferson Market Police Court, and committed for trial in default of $500 bail."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Never married, Elizabeth J. Hunter died in 1889 and bequeathed 47 East 30th Street to Sarah F. Richards, most likely a relative. She leased it that year to Dr. John Warren, who would occupy the doctor's office and rent rooms in the upper floors. Unlike the Hunter women's fashionable boarders, most of Warren's were in the theatrical profession.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Among the earliest was Charles Franklyn Henry De Witt Chatterton, who had for years been private secretary to theatrical manager Henry E. Abbey. <i>The New York Times</i> called Chatterton "one of the best known and most highly esteemed of the theatrical people of this country." Somewhat interestingly, when Chatterton was bedridden in the spring of 1891, he did not consult his landlord doctor. On May 9, <i>The New York Clipper </i>reported, "T</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">he condition of Charles P. Chatterton, who has been ill with consumption, at his home, No. 47 West Thirtieth Street, this city, was reported last week as being somewhat improved. Dr. Curtis said the hemorrhages were practically over, and, although the sick man was in a critical condition, it was hoped he would rally."</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Chatterton's recurring condition proved fatal three years later. When he died on October 11, 1894, <i>The New York Times</i> mentioned, "He had been subject to hemorrhages for a long time, and three times within the last three years attacks of this kind have been so severe that his life has been despaired of."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Boarding at 47 East 30th Street at the time were four other theatrical professionals--the married couple Grace Sherwood and Jerome Sykes, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">22-year-old actor Ulysses Alton, and 28-year-old John Walton, also an actor. Grace Sherwood was described by the <i>New York Press</i> as "one of the most popular and charming women in her profession," and her husband was stage manager of the Bostonians. She became pregnant while living here, and had to give up her role of Chollie Kell in <i>Passing Show</i>.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Tragically, Grace died here on May 2, 1894 while giving birth to twins. In reporting her death, the <i>New York Press</i> said, "Mrs. Sykes was well known and liked in the profession."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In 1894, b</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">oth Walton and Alton would be in trouble with police. The first was </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">John Walton, who landed a role in <i>Mr. Barnes of New York</i> that year. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">On September 5, 1894, Walton and a friend, William Harvey walked up Sixth Avenue with two women, dropping them off at 30th Street. As the females walked away, Walton accused, "You made a fool of me before those women," according to the <i>New York Sun, </i>which noted, "Harvey contradicted him with an oath."</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">With that Waldon pulled out a knife and made several slashes to Harvey's clothing, but failed to wound him. <i>The New York Sun </i>reported, "Policeman McDonald, who jumped off a Sixth avenue car just then, arrested the fighters and took them to the West Thirtieth street station. Walton was bailed out by Shanly, the restaurant keeper."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Ulysses Alton was behind bars a month later. On October 13, 1894, he and another actor, John E. McGoward, stepped into the cigar store next to <a href="https://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-lost-daly-theatre-1221-broadway.html">Daly's Theatre</a>. While there, according to <i>The Press,</i> their "discussion waxed warm, and</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"> Alton grabbed an automatic slot machine and hit McGowan on the head, inflicting serious scalp wounds."</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In 1896, Sarah Richard offered the house for lease again, describing it as an "unfurnished, four-story brown-stone and brick English basement dwelling; newly painted and decorated." The new proprietor seems to have replaced the sometimes troublesome theater tenants with professionals like Benjamin Orne, a stockbroker.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Sarah Richard's son, J. Swift Richards, sold 47 East 30th Street to Sheppard K. de Forest in September 1913. He quickly remodeled it into bachelor apartments. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1CciCewwW5dtuI-u-bxQqEIHDF2kTChHxoV5qYQfFTwy0kuUh5z_0phyphenhyphenujCR-T4UZbeVg4L0GlCWJuH8NRE06BxLEguE06NRcfpZGAr5GPZuXAZdwjh4opUB3jIr6ArVwjEKWaDmQCFvN8Gb6fNMcmJTZKp6oFIZGebkz7WHE9ZXZR80Wt15RZjn6rTM/s470/47%20e%2030th.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="456" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1CciCewwW5dtuI-u-bxQqEIHDF2kTChHxoV5qYQfFTwy0kuUh5z_0phyphenhyphenujCR-T4UZbeVg4L0GlCWJuH8NRE06BxLEguE06NRcfpZGAr5GPZuXAZdwjh4opUB3jIr6ArVwjEKWaDmQCFvN8Gb6fNMcmJTZKp6oFIZGebkz7WHE9ZXZR80Wt15RZjn6rTM/w388-h400/47%20e%2030th.png" width="388" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The New York Times, September 7, 1913 (copyright expired)</i></div></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Among the initial tenants was N. Val Peavey, a pianist who used his apartment here as his New York teaching studio. (He lived in Brooklyn.) Another was stockbroker John F. Murphy, who had started in the brokerage business in 1898. He and his wife lived here until his death on September 3, 1918.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGhEgXfYxn1e8TepG8ijEkIMk6WEWCIA1fPh6Qp_qqtp538Cmlvdco-cTUbt9Uw8p2OhCRQ7z7MwaSM9Y0SLqRt4XZJeVDCFghbeaVfGKcJrAbEqy161iIoR4jT8Zv1j-g6kpc5JahHgL0slxyMDJ-tzMZcy5AQN_ecOmhJRAUsvld8uvHelK4a99HGyM/s497/47%20East%2030%20Street.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="497" data-original-width="442" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGhEgXfYxn1e8TepG8ijEkIMk6WEWCIA1fPh6Qp_qqtp538Cmlvdco-cTUbt9Uw8p2OhCRQ7z7MwaSM9Y0SLqRt4XZJeVDCFghbeaVfGKcJrAbEqy161iIoR4jT8Zv1j-g6kpc5JahHgL0slxyMDJ-tzMZcy5AQN_ecOmhJRAUsvld8uvHelK4a99HGyM/w570-h640/47%20East%2030%20Street.png" width="570" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;">In 1941, the Italianate ironwork and other Victorian details were intact. <i>image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.</i></div></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">By mid-century the once elegant neighborhood had significantly changed. A renovation completed in 1948, resulted in a veterinarian office on the ground floor, a kennel in the basement, and a triplex apartment on the second through fourth floors.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">Surprisingly, a veterinarian office still occupies the ground floor. Today there are six apartments in the former Wilson house--its former elegance lost to paint, abuse and a commercial awning.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">photographs by the author</span></i></div><div style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">no permission to reuse the content of this blog has been granted to LaptrinhX.com</span></i></div></div>Tom Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13542224816886418433noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502312000087595701.post-68872322387590120642024-03-15T01:00:00.000-07:002024-03-15T09:20:11.806-07:00The Barber Badger House - 15 King Street<p> </p><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Jmw8jC8uizHoZfUBUw90SAYleeXNLlcbU3EYufTiyS4s9bqm2iBaFfX5HwY4603KfwQCo45a2angjGnIL6aV2JOOTz5ZkFH-A59Sy2JdINwUI2J1Qv9FzD3aMETcXPuVI9fKkuLKKs-aXl67gMF-XXgrDjYudGMDLBNBReXTLZKxzwyz9LbYFUSQE28/s3959/IMG_4081.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3959" data-original-width="2969" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Jmw8jC8uizHoZfUBUw90SAYleeXNLlcbU3EYufTiyS4s9bqm2iBaFfX5HwY4603KfwQCo45a2angjGnIL6aV2JOOTz5ZkFH-A59Sy2JdINwUI2J1Qv9FzD3aMETcXPuVI9fKkuLKKs-aXl67gMF-XXgrDjYudGMDLBNBReXTLZKxzwyz9LbYFUSQE28/w480-h640/IMG_4081.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br />In 1817 John Jacob Astor I paid Aaron Burr "handsomely," according to one source, for his <a href="https://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2012/01/lost-1760-richmond-hill-mansion.html">Richmond Hill Estate</a> slightly south of Greenwich Village. In doing so, he took over the land lease from Trinity Church, upon which the estate stood. Over the next decade, Astor leveled the land and laid out streets, including King Street, named for Revolutionary War soldier and member of the Continental Congress Rufus King. By the mid-1820s, prim brick-faced houses were rising along the new blocks.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Among them was 15 King Street, on the northwest corner of Congress Street. Two-and-a-half-stories tall, its peaked attic level was pierced by two dormers at the front, and three windows on the side--two of them were arched and the other was quarter-round. A stable, accessed on Congress Street, sat within the rear yard.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOiTAro5XcQF1KFiMw18BLwim3cawsDHol4xnxWEqKlV6xdFH-6OMogpYtxn8VyNCcd4_nF6aUyBax4DtEJdf6TZYdthdEyaxGKm8lGr2LtkDLkXsbkbUF-De18sh8aZ1dcmSljI2Kz6wU0XC1zDP18y6FTW8gEpmiRPgviG9Ywh2dMOgbHufaeRnIk0E/s638/king%20and%20congress.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="216" data-original-width="638" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOiTAro5XcQF1KFiMw18BLwim3cawsDHol4xnxWEqKlV6xdFH-6OMogpYtxn8VyNCcd4_nF6aUyBax4DtEJdf6TZYdthdEyaxGKm8lGr2LtkDLkXsbkbUF-De18sh8aZ1dcmSljI2Kz6wU0XC1zDP18y6FTW8gEpmiRPgviG9Ywh2dMOgbHufaeRnIk0E/w640-h216/king%20and%20congress.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;">A century before Sixth Avenue mowed a swatch through Greenwich Village, 15 King Street sat within a quiet residential neighborhood. <i>map by G. W. Bromley & Co. from the collection of the New York Public Library.</i></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The house became home to the Barber Badger family by the early 1830s. Born in Coventry, Connecticut on June 24, 1793, Badger was an editor and publisher. He was the original editor of <i>The Christian Advocate and Journal, </i>founded in 1826. He resigned in 1831 to establish the <i>New York Weekly Messenger, </i>acting as its publisher and editor. H</span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">e and his wife Sarah had a son, Thomas B. Watt Badger, born in 1819.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On Monday morning, June 10, 1833, Thomas and at least one of his parents had a particularly heated argument. The teen left the house and disappeared. If his parents thought he would cool down and return, they were mistaken. A week later, the frantic couple placed a heartfelt notice in the <i>Evening Post.</i> Saying Thomas had "left his parental home...under circumstances peculiarly painful," the detailed description noted, "</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">He was a bright intelligent lad, in the 14th year of his age; rather full face, fair skin and large black eyes; the nail on the fore finger of the right hand had been torn nearly off by an accident, and has not yet grown out." </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">After describing his clothing, the notice said, </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>He left home without hat or cap, but may have obtained one since. Any person who shall return the lad to his parents, No. 15 King street, New York, or inform them where he may be found, shall be rewarded for the trouble and expense which they may incur in such a deed of mercy and benevolence.</i></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">It appears the youth was found. A Thomas Badger was listed as a silver merchant in New York a decade later.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Sarah B. Badger died at the age of 52 on March 15, 1837. As was customary, her funeral was held in the parlor at 15 King Street two days later. Within three years Barber Badger left the house, which became home to the Gideon Fountain family.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">A merchant doing business on Whitehall Street, Fountain had deep American roots. His first French Huguenot ancestor, named de la Fontaine, arrived in Staten Island before 1658. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Gideon and his wife, the former Maria Slover, had six children, Jansen, Loo B., Emma Slover, Kate, Mary Ann, and Eliza Ross. Despite what must have been snug conditions, the Fountains took in a boarder. In 1840 it was James W. Greenman.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Gideon Fountain was highly involved in local politics. He was a member of the Henry Clay Club of the Eighth Ward, and was on its Committee of Arrangements for a ball held at the Tivoli Saloon (the former Aaron Burr mansion nearby) in February 1842. He ran for alderman on the Whig ticket in 1843, receiving a blistering assessment in an anonymous letter to the editor of the<i> New York Herald</i> in April that year. The writer said Fountain's "intentions are pure, but [<i>he is</i>] a decided flash in the pan."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwtNXl5uY8JaXTd9V3iCrtIXUFBaWoggkkcjYan3sG6OfredUV9BdkzNlqykGx5-AQZ0l-5vCTgQ6j-Ayxh8PTFjWNggSaHFLDpT1Iwj0Cg6tuPHpxYkbjSztitUOG9m0EISdfjvDPo2_Tau_wTE2WllECrYY7iv9H4UcnI5i3XHbiZdUU0qK1yET1s_8/s664/Eliza%20R.%20Fountain%20Sampler.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="664" data-original-width="473" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwtNXl5uY8JaXTd9V3iCrtIXUFBaWoggkkcjYan3sG6OfredUV9BdkzNlqykGx5-AQZ0l-5vCTgQ6j-Ayxh8PTFjWNggSaHFLDpT1Iwj0Cg6tuPHpxYkbjSztitUOG9m0EISdfjvDPo2_Tau_wTE2WllECrYY7iv9H4UcnI5i3XHbiZdUU0qK1yET1s_8/w456-h640/Eliza%20R.%20Fountain%20Sampler.png" width="456" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;">Youngest daughter Eliza Ross Fountain created this charming sampler in 1827 at the age of 9. <i> image via samplings.com. </i></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">That year, Fountain served as the Chairman of the Inspectors of Election in the Eighth Ward. Things got especially heated during a meeting on November 8. Two months later, on January 5, 1844, the <i>New York Herald</i> reported, "James McMurray and Peter Crawford were put on trial for an assault and battery on Gideon Fountain."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">On February 12, 1848, the <i>New York Herald </i>reported that the State Senate was considering Gideon Fountain's nomination for Harbor Master, a responsible and coveted position. He was confirmed and would hold the position of Harbor Master for years. It necessitated his relocating his family to Brooklyn.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The King Street house became home to Calvin Demarest, a carman (a driver of a delivery vehicle). Living with the family in 1856 and '57 was James H. Demarest, also a carman and presumably a son or brother. Like the Fountains, the Demarests took in a boarder. In 1860, for instance, their boarder was policeman Joseph Halsted, and in 1872 Howard Barrett, another carman, lived with the family.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In March 1873, Calvin Demarest hired architect J. C. Doremus to design a full-height, 10-foot extension to the rear of the house. The extensive renovations cost him the equivalent of $30,000 in 2024. It was most likely at this time that the quarter-round window in the attic was bricked shut.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Nine years later, on April 28, 1882, Demarest sold 15 King Street to milk dealer Louis H. Muller for $12,000. The figure would translate to about $354,000 today.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Around 1890 Muller retired. It appears that several of the people with whom he associated were less than respectable. On August 20, 1891, <i>The New York Times </i>reported that he had furnished the $4,000 bail to get Edward Bechtodt, "the green-goods swindler," out of jail. The article said Muller "swore that he owned real estate worth $35,000." ("Green goods" was a 19th century term for counterfeit money.)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Two years later, on July 26, 1893, <i>The Evening World </i>began an article saying, "The notorious Katie Metz was again a prisoner in Jefferson Market Court this morning. Katie is one of the boldest of the many disorderly women [<i>i.e. prostitutes</i>] who frequent the Tenderloin district, and she has been arrested more times than any one can remember." The frustrated journalist said, "Each time that she has been arrested, Katie has been sent to the island in default of bail, and she has always managed to get the bail." </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">As an example, he noted, "she was arrested June 7 and sentenced to one month on the island. Louis H. Muller, of 15 King street, became her surety in the sum of $400."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV8d1vgbIvB9nRb1xrbRP7q8uwo_GMDwJUAxU60HQh22kqjK-yYyJYVG5qyC7UwHSMTJFFmQqzmUAvlxHJ-cKlsMqE-U1aBpywA236QWEfNyMWqiXKdT-ugjRsFR5jNrw5RYaiEKGVgO3wXxEkmv-0OhgjNHw0wZ5plxfEn0VljUfzRgM7OSxmkQ5v-0w/s4032/IMG_4078.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV8d1vgbIvB9nRb1xrbRP7q8uwo_GMDwJUAxU60HQh22kqjK-yYyJYVG5qyC7UwHSMTJFFmQqzmUAvlxHJ-cKlsMqE-U1aBpywA236QWEfNyMWqiXKdT-ugjRsFR5jNrw5RYaiEKGVgO3wXxEkmv-0OhgjNHw0wZ5plxfEn0VljUfzRgM7OSxmkQ5v-0w/w640-h480/IMG_4078.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: center;">Barber Badger's stable sat where the garage door can be seen today.</div></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Like all well-heeled families in Manhattan, the </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Mullers summered away from the city. And summer homes, like townhouses, required help. On June 17, 1896, an advertisement appeared in <i>The World</i> that read, "Housework--German girl for private family going to country; good wages. Mrs. L. Muller, 15 King st."</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In the first years of the 20th century, the neighborhood around 15 King Street had become one of Italian immigrants. In April 1917, Muller leased the house to Dr. Alfred Benevento. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On May 12, 1919, the doctor's nephew, Attillio Graziano, was discharged from the army and moved in with him. Formerly a drug clerk, Graziano had served with the 305th field Hospital overseas during World War I. Like many returning servicemen, he suffered from what today would be diagnosed as post traumatic stress disorder. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">The day after his nephew moved in, Dr. Benevento discovered the 23-year-old dead from an overdose of morphine. <i>The Sun</i> reported, "Dr. Benevento said he evidently had miscalculated the quantity of drug which he took to quiet his nerves."</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In 1920 Dr. Alfred Benevento replaced the old Badger stables with a "private garage," as described in Department of Building records. He would not enjoy it for long, however. Two years later Louis H. Muller sold the property to Alberto Baratta. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi47bA6ep_jyBsI2mOVkUmF8Z7LjLYcFBnMd4Qy7US61RdvofBxfNQY2dmcFBLdi5u8TziZ4iddDcHbWhj0ZX4aeu6_ezJcZkqQCsYlZrjYS516xEbwP5KyIn2qxUTED5rO1JzKJOocxqeOjg_ofcjOsqgtmCmK2cpQ1Qq5prshV9lh7_0s-ITb8UznekE/s522/15_King_Street.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="522" height="602" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi47bA6ep_jyBsI2mOVkUmF8Z7LjLYcFBnMd4Qy7US61RdvofBxfNQY2dmcFBLdi5u8TziZ4iddDcHbWhj0ZX4aeu6_ezJcZkqQCsYlZrjYS516xEbwP5KyIn2qxUTED5rO1JzKJOocxqeOjg_ofcjOsqgtmCmK2cpQ1Qq5prshV9lh7_0s-ITb8UznekE/w640-h602/15_King_Street.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Dr. Benevento's garage is seen here around 1940. <i> from the collection of the New York Public Library</i></div></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When Baratta purchased the property, Sixth Avenue still ended at Carmine Street. In 1925 t</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">he massive project of extending the avenue southward was begun. It</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> wiped out hundreds of buildings, narrowly skirting 15 King Street and virtually erasing Congress Street. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOvxHrLYUzYh5P5Bv6dA2RgCrUvRzt1pMpF8_mmmv8LwkPk-_AIN9Vh2ew_yVnlpyaN58u_-A8-6UtTp7XXVQk-z66aEjBp-shZbW6Kb_NlGKmqqNe_jQbT0-O0Hh5ew_FDfuFe8oS-hJdUN790SXTNzaCVKou1KuRo5PxMNzPqchnpeMBDMANqAgpCOQ/s658/15%20king.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="658" height="534" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOvxHrLYUzYh5P5Bv6dA2RgCrUvRzt1pMpF8_mmmv8LwkPk-_AIN9Vh2ew_yVnlpyaN58u_-A8-6UtTp7XXVQk-z66aEjBp-shZbW6Kb_NlGKmqqNe_jQbT0-O0Hh5ew_FDfuFe8oS-hJdUN790SXTNzaCVKou1KuRo5PxMNzPqchnpeMBDMANqAgpCOQ/w640-h534/15%20king.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>photo by Edmund Vincent Gillon from the collection of the<a href="https://collections.mcny.org/?"> Museum of the City of New York</a></i></div></i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Dr. Anthony J. Poggi, Jr. and his wife Marie lived in the house after mid-century. Poggi received his degree from the New York College of Dentistry on June 14, 1923. The couple had two daughters, Frances and Evangeline. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Marie Poggi, described by </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">The Villager</i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> as "a lifelong Villager," died in the King Street house on April 27, 1965. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIjcoPlKaDutrsq0OIOJVftufbhU3OzRRCouxVQeJTFjlbVLgx9bSOagVMzWrazYzR7U6fgBcuzmYI-iN2nTFCdVlcAnM6imJnFmuQ9nCTjpkhL4RbsY4W_AsQJUB7bsivtI9p3cWLCXdHKH9XYj5vJPZ7foBN1XQE-XkkOiAfN4yy4yGjFWOUboW6TRQ/s3879/IMG_4080.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3879" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIjcoPlKaDutrsq0OIOJVftufbhU3OzRRCouxVQeJTFjlbVLgx9bSOagVMzWrazYzR7U6fgBcuzmYI-iN2nTFCdVlcAnM6imJnFmuQ9nCTjpkhL4RbsY4W_AsQJUB7bsivtI9p3cWLCXdHKH9XYj5vJPZ7foBN1XQE-XkkOiAfN4yy4yGjFWOUboW6TRQ/w498-h640/IMG_4080.jpg" width="498" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">A renovation completed two years later resulted in a two-family home. Other than expected alterations like replacement windows, outwardly the venerable house is little changed after 200 years.<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-style: italic;">photographs by the author</span></div><div style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-style: italic;">no permission to reuse the content of this blog has been granted to LaptrinhX.com</span></div></span></div>Tom Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13542224816886418433noreply@blogger.com1