The 1914 Municipal Building - 1 Centre Street

 

photograph by Momos

As early as 1884, the city's government had outgrown the 1812 City Hall building.  Plans for a Municipal Building that would "contain the different departments that are now housed in rented quarters," as described by the Real Estate Record & Guide in October 25, 1890, were varied.  The article said that the Municipal Building Commission had considered sites on St. Mark's Place and East 6th Street, but had decided on City Hall Park, which was already owned by the city.  The New York Times explained that several structures, including City Hall, the Post Office and the Court House, would have to be demolished.

A vote in the State Senate on February 25, 1890 challenged the idea.  The New York Times reported that legislators balked at the loss of a public park.  They further argued, "The City Hall is architecturally and historically too valuable, and the Court House and the Post Office are too substantial and costly to be removed."  (The sensitivity to City Hall's architectural importance, or even its recognition, was highly unusual for the time.)

A year later, however, the plan looked promising.  On March 28, 1891, The New York Times reported that Mayor Hugh J. Grant was pushing hard for the plan.  The article explained:

He was fully aware of the fact that there was opposition to the scheme of tearing down the old City Hall, but so far as he had been able to determine this was the expression only of sentimentalism which should not be allowed to stand in the way of the city's progress.

Ready to fight the mayor, said the article, was the Architectural League of America, which "would condemn the proposition to tear down the old City Hall."

City Hall seemed doomed following a two-hour meeting in the private office of the new mayor, Thomas Gilroy, on March 28, 1893.  The Municipal Building Commission and the Advisory Committee of Architects agreed with Gilroy and his predecessor.  A site map was released showing the proposed $4 million structure sitting directly on top of the City Hall site, its northern wings engulfing the Court House.

The New York Times, March 29, 1883 (copyright expired)

A contest for the design of the Municipal Building was opened shortly after, with the deadline for submission at noon on September 1, 1893.  The 130 architects had toiled in vain, as it turned out.  The battle to save City Hall was far from over.

Andrew Haswell Green was well known to New Yorkers.  He had been highly involved in the development of open spaces including Central Park, Riverside Drive, and Morningside Park.  He wrote a lengthy, pleading open letter to the Parks Commissioners in February 1894.  It said in part:

The City Hall presents an example of fine architectural taste.  In design and construction it is faultless as any structure in the city, while its historical and biographical relations involve events of paramount interest and personages of dignity and estimation, and, as has been well said, "It stands to-day unsurpassed by any structure of its kind in the country."  It should continue to stand, as for nearly a century it has stood, ample, commodious, and convenient.

It would be more than a decade before a committee agreed to  find an alternative site for the Municipal Building, and to preserve the Court House and City Hall, and renovate the park.  Finally, on May 9, 1908, the Record & Guide published a rendering of the new building, designed by William M. Kendall of McKim, Mead & White.  The site, facing City Hall Park on the east side of Centre Street, had proved a challenge for him.

The article said, "The peculiar shape of the lot...at the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge, made the architectural problem, as well as the problem of light and air an unusual one."  Also challenging was "the problem of construction over the subway without interfering with the passage of trains."  Kendall had chosen "the classic style" for the building, said the article, "following the accepted traditions of buildings of a civic character throughout the country from the earliest times down."

McKim, Mead & White released the above rendering on May 8, 1908.  Real Estate Record & Guide (copyright expired)

As construction progressed, on June 27, 1909 The New York Times began an article saying, "New Yorkers thrive on superlatives."  It reminded readers of the Municipal Building's unique elements: "a subway running through its basement, an elevated railroad on its second floor, with streets on every side of it, and one passing directly through it."  

On December 27, 1909, Mayor George B. McClellan, Jr. and Bridge Commissioner James W. Stevenson oversaw the laying of the four-ton, Maine granite cornerstone "of what is to be the largest, most elaborate, and most ornate municipal building of any city in the world," according to The New York Times.  The article said construction would be completed by January 1912 at a cost of "about $14,000,000."  (That figure would translate to nearly $500 million in 2026).

 Real Estate Record & Guide (copyright expired)

The article went on to describe Kendall's design, saying it would rise 25 floors to an eight-story tower.  "The general style is to be French Renaissance...The ornamental front of the building on Centre Street, with a long row of fifty-foot pillars, will be broken in the centre by an arched arcade through which Chambers Street will be run through the building."  Kendall strayed from the French Renaissance with that arcade, which was inspired by the ancient Arch of Constantine in Rome.

photograph by Jgrenaldy

Constructing a massive building adjacent to the subway was not only challenging, but dangerous.  On June 4, 1910, The New York Times reported that the east side of the excavation for the Municipal Building's foundation collapsed.  "A mountain of sand behind the shoring suddenly shifted and buried three workmen," said the article.  "Some of the timbers knocked over two others."  One of those workers, James McClellan, was buried to the neck and pinned by timbers.  The article explained, "further movements of the sand threatened to bury him completely."  Two priests, Father John Curry and Father Luke J. Evers, were lowered into the pit where they gave the last sacraments to McClellan.  Three hours later, fortunately, he was extricated and removed to a hospital.

Three months later, on September 3, a second cave in took place, this time on the western side.  It undid significant work.  The New York Times reported, "The sewer and water pipes along the line of the cave-in were torn away."  Happily, this time no workers were injured.

Within months after that setback, the building began taking shape.  On April 23, 1911, McKim, Mead & White announced that the tower of the structure was "designed in the modern classic style, and will be built of Maine granite of a light tone."  Not yet decided, according to The New York Times, was "a figure to top the tower."  The firm said "a number of figures are being considered."

Disaster struck again on June 28, 1911.  The New York Times reported, "The highest blaze ever fought by the Fire Department...was discovered early last evening on the twenty-fifth floor of the new Municipal Building, now in course of construction."  The stand pipes did not yet extend above the 21st floor.  The article said, "The firemen tried to extinguish the fire by throwing on sand, but the blaze was beyond their control."  The fire fighters were also endangered by the fact that the floors at that level were not yet floored over.  They "were compelled to walk in line and carry a lighted lantern," said the article.  Hoses were hauled up from the 21st floor stand pipe and eventually the fire was extinguished.

The next week, on July 3, the building was topped off.  "Just before stopping work last night," reported The Times, "several hundred iron workers on the new Municipal Building...unfurled a large American flag to show they had reached the highest point of the structure."

On May 8, 1913, Adolph A. Weinman's gilded statue, Civic Fame, was installed atop the tower.  Although the building was still under construction, the first tenants moved in seven months later.  

Not everyone was happy with Kendall's results.   On January 22, 1914, Mayor John Purroy Mitchel told a meeting of the Sinking Fund Commissioners, "The building was planned badly in its original conception and is largely a waste of space as now constructed."  The board's commissioner noted, "this undoubtedly can be attributed to the fact that the site was a bad one in the beginning."  The president of the Board of Aldermen added his thought.  "We have the building and we must make the best of it."

On January 22, 1914, the New-York Tribune wrote, "If the protests of city department heads are to be believed, the fine white Municipal Building is a fine white elephant; cost to date, some $15,000,000; and value for the original purpose, doubtful."  The article admitted, "The Municipal Building is good to look at."  But it added, should it not adequately fulfill the needs of the city departments, "Miss New York on the top of the tower may have cause to hide her face in her robes for shame at the waste."

A vintage postcard shows the Municipal Building as the highest structure in the district. (copyright expired)

Borough President Marcus M. Marks came to Kendall's and the building's defense.  The Evening World reported on February 23, 1924, "He pointed to the wonderful capacity of the building with its fourteen acres of net floor space, its thousand offices, supplying 5,000 employees with plenty of natural light, and figures that office space in the new structure will cost the city...$1.33 per square foot, as against an average price of $1.76 per square foot paid during the past two years for rented space."

original photograph from the author's collection

Another complaint was almost unbelievable.  On June 21, 1914, the New York Herald reported, "Don't believe anybody who tells you that it's an optical illusion which makes you think that Miss Civic Virtue, or whatever the official name of the bronze lady on the top of the Municipal Building tower is, has hiked her gilt skirts up hysterically during the past few days and is trying to stand even higher on her pedestal than heretofore."  

As construction began, two cats "fell into the excavation," said the New York Herald.  And then, "nature took its course."  By the time the building opened, "the cats in the building grew so numerous that something had to be done."  The newspaper said that the city had eliminated to date 63 feral felines.  The problem now, said the article, "mice frolic gayly" within the building.

photograph by Ken Lund

Despite the early denunciation of the structure, the Municipal Building (renamed the David N. Dinkins Manhattan Municipal Building on October 15, 2015) has become an architectural landmark of the lower Manhattan skyscape.  William M. Kendall's ability to conform his design to the awkward footprint, his striking entrance arcade, and the structure's soaring presence topped with Civic Fame is integral to the City Hall and Foley Square architectural neighborhood.

The 1900 Samuel Haas Mansion - 15 East 80th Street

 

Samuel Paul Haas was president of Haas Brothers Ladies Tailoring Co.  On October 30, 1898, he and his wife, Isabella, purchased the 21-foot wide, four-story brownstone at 13 East 80th Street from the estate of Anne Bishop for "about $36,000," according to the New York Herald.  (The address would be renumbered 15 East 80th Street in March 1907.)  The price, equal to nearly $1.5 million in 2025 terms, reflected the rising real estate values in the neighborhood as Manhattan's millionaires crept this far north.

At the time, new homeowners were either drastically remodeling the outdated high-stooped brownstones or replacing them with modern, American basement residences.  Haas contracted the newly formed firm of Brun & Hauser to replace the Bishop house with a fashionable Beaux Arts-style mansion.

Completed in 1900, the five-story residence was faced in limestone.  Its elliptically arched entrance was centered within a rusticated base.  French windows at the second and third floors were fronted with faux balconies with French-style railings.  Below the third floor balcony and flanking it were carved cartouches, the former backed with palm fronds and the latter draped with elaborate swags of roses and bows.  The fifth floor sat atop a stone cornice and was capped with a carved parapet.

Haas was born in Reckendorf, Germany in June 1837. Isabella (known as Bella) was notably younger, born in March 1856.  The couple had one daughter, Florine, who was 18 years old and a recent debutante when they moved into the East 80th Street mansion.  Like their neighbors, they were attended to by a significant domestic staff, as reflected in an advertisement in The New York Times:

Waitress and Parlor Maid--Only first-class need apply; family of three; five in help; good wages, fine position; personal city references required.

The "waitress and parlor maid" would be one of the more polished of the staff members.  She would serve in the dining room and in the drawing room and would need to have impeccable finesse.  The mention of "five in help" suggests that the other staff members were the butler, lady's maid, cook, and chambermaid.

Florine married Dudley David Sicher in 1904.  The newlyweds moved into the mansion with Samuel and Bella, where little Richard Dudley Sicher was born the following year.  A second child, Jane E., would come along on September 17, 1911.

Like his father-in-law, Dudley D. Sicher was in the garment industry.  He was president of D. E. Sicher & Co., underwear manufacturer, and president of the Cotton Garment Manufacturers' Association of New York.  His firm employed 500 men and women, according to The New York Times.  

Sicher's approach to employer-employee relations at a time of worker dissatisfaction and tense labor problems was the polar opposite of many other garment makers.  He supported the concept of minimum wages, and in 1913 organized a factory-supported school for his poorly educated, mostly immigrant female workers.

He told The New York Times on April 20, 1913:

We want [the factory girls] to get a broader education that will help them to be more intelligent workers.  We will give them the skill if the teachers will help to give them the intelligence.

The article said that the workers would be taught "business arithmetic, commercial geography, and writing."

Dudley David Sicher The New York Times April 20, 1913 (copyright expired)

Tragically, two months prior to that article, Richard Dudley Sicher died at the age of five.  The little boy's funeral was held privately.

It is unclear when Bella Haas died, but she was already deceased when Samuel Paul Haas died in the East 80th Street mansion on May 19, 1920 at the age of 63.  After bequeaths of $5,000 to Mount Sinai Hospital and $2,500 to the Montefiore Home, he left his entire estate to Florine.  (He had transferred title to 15 East 80th Street to her in 1907.)

In 1922, the Sichers hired architects Taylor & Levi to remodel the second floor, or piano nobile.  While other homeowners were embracing modern 1920s trends, the Sichers turned to the past.  Taylor & Levi gave the interiors a Tudor and Gothic make-over and replaced the French windows with leaded, Gothic-style versions.  The New York Times reported that the redecorated interiors included "paneling and ornaments from the collection of William Randolph Hearst."

Year Book of the Architectural League of New York and Catalogue, 1922 (copyright expired)

David D. Sicher was elected president of the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies in 1929, and two years later was nominated as Borough President of Manhattan.  In reporting the nomination, The New York Times remarked that he, "has a fine reputation for philanthropy."  (By now, in fact, he had retired to devote his time to charitable causes.)

Florine was equally involved in philanthropy.  She was a founder of the Women's Division of the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies and sat on its board.  She died "after a lingering illness," according to The New York Times, on June 28, 1938.  Her funeral was held in the mansion the following day.

Dudley David Sicher died the following year, on December 29, 1939 at the age of 63.  The New York Times remarked on his "notable business career" in which he "pioneered in industrial relations and became a leader in the cotton garment manufacturing industry."  The article continued, "Then, in his prime, he left the world of business to devote himself to work for the welfare of his fellow humans."

On June 3, 1941, The Sun reported, "Dr. Lester Carson Spier has purchased the five-story dwelling with elevator at 15 East 80th street...from the estate of Florine H. Sicher."  The article noted, "The house contains thirty rooms and eight baths."

Dr. Spier began his medical practice in June 1930 and specialized in surgery and "traumatic surgery" (i.e., cases of victims involved in automobile crashes, industrial accidents and such).  He had two children from a previous marriage, Marcia Ann, who was eight, and Carol Payne, who was six.

In 1949, Spier married Frances Johnson Stillman, just days after her divorce from Charles Latimer Stillman, the executive vice-president and treasurer of Time, Inc.  Moving into the mansion with his bride were her three children, Charles, Stanley and Louise.

The Spiers routinely appeared in the society columns.  On January 25, 1964, for instance, The New York Times reported, "Many cocktail parties were given in private homes last evening before the annual Yorkville dinner dance in the Grand Ballroom of the Plaza."  The article noted, "Among those who entertained at parties were...Dr. and Mrs. Lester C. Spier and Miss Virginia Dodge, jointly, at the Spier home at 15 East 80th Street."

Taylor & Levi's Gothic-style second floor windows can be glimpsed in this 1941 photograph.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

On April 13, 1967, The New York Times reported that the Spiers had sold 15 East 80th Street to "Eliot Janeway, the economist and columnist, and his wife, Elizabeth, the novelist" for $350,000.  (The price would translate to about $3.29 million today.)  The article mentioned, "The house is believed to be one of the first in New York to be centrally air-conditioned."

Eliot Janeway was born on New Year's Day 1913.  He and Elizabeth Hall were married in 1938 and had two sons, Michael and William.  Eliot was an influential economist, writing for Time and Fortune magazines until 1944.  He advised President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson.  

At the time of their marriage, Elizabeth was working on her first novel, The Walsh Girls.  Eventually she would write six more, including the 1945 Daisy Kenyon that was made into a film of the same name starring Joan Crawford.

In 1998, 15 East 80th Street was converted to a doctor's office on the ground floor and two duplexes above.  It was possibly during this renovation that the Gothic-style leaded second floor windows were removed.

The mansion was purchased in 2000 by Wall Street mogul Jeffrey Urwin and his wife, Ailsa, for $6.6 million.  They re-converted it to a single family home with five bedrooms, six and a half bathrooms, a private gym,  and 35-foot music-reception room.  The couple sold it in January 2013 for $24.75 million.

photographs by the author

The Benjamin Mordecai Mansion - 319 West 105th Street

 

On April 17, 1902, The New York Times reported that Benjamin Mordecai had purchased the recently completed limestone-faced mansion at 319 West 105th Street.  Designed by William E. Mowbray in 1900, it was one of seven upscale residences erected by builder and developer John C. Umberfield.  

Five stories tall and 22-feet wide, Mowbray designed the mansion in a very structured version of the French Beaux Arts style.  Rather than carved festoons and wreathed cartouches, he ornamented the facade with straight forward Ionic pilasters at the ground floor.  The second through fourth floors were bowed, each story defined by an intermediate cornice.  The bowed section was flanked by paneled quoins, its windows capped with hefty, layered keystones.  A stone cornice with substantial scrolled brackets completed the design.

Benjamin Mordecai and his wife, the former Constance Miriam Davis, were born in 1865 and 1867, respectively.  Benjamin was a partner in A. L. Mordecai & Son, the real estate firm founded his father, Allen L. Mordecai.  He and Constance had four daughters (Eva, Lucile, Constance, and Katherine), and a son, Allen Lewis.

Maintaining a significant domestic staff often came with problems.  Such was the case for Benjamin and Constance on the evening of December 26, 1903.  That evening at 7:30, a cab had been waiting at the curb for some time to take the couple to the theater.  Inside the mansion, Benjamin was dealing with a servant, Ellen McDonald, whom he discharged, but who refused to leave the house.  A telephone call was made to Police Headquarters asking for an officer to remove her.

When the officers arrived, "Mr. Mordecai was remonstrating with a servant in the kitchen," reported The New York Times.  "She would not leave the house, and the other servants were afraid, Mr. Mordecai said, to stay in the house with her."  He told the officers he did not want her arrested, but simply wanted her removed.  One of them tried gently to persuade Ellen to come along with them.

McDonald refused, saying, "I want my discharge in the regular way."

A policeman called for a patrol wagon.  "Another effort was made to get the servant to leave, but she objected," said the article.

"I'm king, here," she asserted, "This kitchen's me castle, and you can all clear out.  Take yer gilted buttons and skedaddle." 

Having tried all else, the policemen had to resort to force. "The woman, screaming and kicking, was carried out by the police and locked up on a charge of being drunk and disorderly," reported The New York Times, which added, "It was then 2:30 o'clock, and M. Mordecai said he would not go to the theatre."

The entrance, above a wing-walled two-step stoop, was originally centered.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Constance's early entertainments in the mansion were routine.  On December 29, 1907, for instance, The New York Times mentioned, "Mrs. Mordecai, 319 West 105th Street, was the hostess a short time ago at a bridge given in her home."

But as Eva and Lucile reached their debutante season, the focus turned to them.  In 1911 the girls were 21 and 20 years old, respectively.  On February 26, The New York Times reported, "Mrs. Benjamin Mordecai of 319 West 105th Street, gave a large dance for her daughters, the Misses Eva and Lucille [sic], on Wednesday night."

The sisters not only shared their debuts, but their engagements.  On April 29, 1913, Benjamin and Constance announced that Eva was engaged to Sidney Cardoza and Lucile was engaged to Harold Leiber.  The New York Times noted that Eva had graduated from Barnard College in 1912, and that Lucile was a senior there.  The following month, a dinner party was held in the mansion for both couples.

Entertainment briefly focused on the parents in the fall of 1914.  On November 8, the New York Herald reported that Benjamin and Constance had hosted a reception "to celebrate their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary."

Like their sisters, Constance and Katherine were married in quick succession.  Constance was married to Danforth Cardoza (Eva's brother-in-law) on June 28, 1917, and Katherine was married in the 105th Street mansion four months later, on October 9, to Clarence L. Lee.

With only 17-year-old Allen still at home, in the fall of 1919 the Mordecais placed the mansion on the market.  Expectedly, A. L. Mordecai & Son handled the listing.  It was most likely Benjamin himself who wrote the advertisement in The New York Times on October 9, which called 319 West 105th Street "a palatial home."  Noting that it sat within a "restricted neighborhood" (meaning that businesses were banned), the ad said in part that it "is modern in every respect and embodies all the innovations and improvements that money can buy.  Decorations and appointments are in keeping with the artistic ideals of the owner."

Within two weeks, the mansion was sold to William P. Youngs and his wife, Harriet.  The Mordecais moved into a sprawling apartment on Park Avenue.  Like Benjamin Mordecai, Youngs was a real estate operator, a partner in W. P. Youngs Bros.

As the Mordecais had experienced, the Youngs soon encountered a staff problem.  Ella D. Mallet was a seamstress, hired to work on Harriet's "certain dresses and garments," according to her testimony.  On January 8, 1921, she passed through a doorway and, according to her complaint, "was suddenly precipitated and fell down certain steps leading out from said door."  Ella charged her employers of "carelessness and negligence" and sued for $2,000 damages (about $35,000 in 2025 terms).  A year later, when the case came to court, she said she was  still confined to bed "and will so continue to suffer."

The Youngs were childless, but they nevertheless hosted a debutante event in 1921.  On February 28, The Yonkers Statesman reported, "Miss Winifred Youngs, debutante daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Youngs...was guest of honor at a dinner-dance given for her by her aunt, Mrs. William P. Youngs of 319 West 105th street, New York City, Saturday."

The Youngs would not remain in the 105th Street mansion for especially long.  On August 29, 1925, the Record & Guide reported that they had sold it for $60,000 (just over $1 million today).  The buyer was Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad executive Michael J. McGowan.  

The wealthy bachelor remained in the house until his death on November 5, 1938.  Four years later, the mansion was converted to a total of 13 apartments.  The renovation resulted in the main and service entrances being converted to windows, and the doorway relocated to the side.

An interesting resident was actor Takeo Lee Wong.  He was best known for playing a medical examiner in the Fox Television series New York Undercover in the 1990s.  He and his partner, talent agent Rosella Olson, occupied one of the two ground floor apartments as early as 2001.  That year, after the World Trade Center attacks, he began converting the concrete areaway in front of the house with pots of flowers.  It was, he explained later, as a tribute to a neighbor who died.

Over the years, the pots of lavender and impatiens and geraniums were added to with hydrangeas, strawberries, cactus, basil and other plants.  Calling it his "mother garden," Wong carefully tended the pots, and arranged with his neighbors to take in perennials over the winter.  But in 2010, his off-site landlord, Joey Franco, demanded that he clear out the potted garden.  Wong complied, prompting Corey Kilgannon of The New York Times to write, "Mr. Wong turned this concrete expanse--about the size of a parking space--into a plant paradise over the past decade, only to have it stripped of the plants by his landlord."

Takeo Lee Wong posed in his "mother garden" in July 2012.  photo by Ozier Muhammad, The New York Times August 11, 2012.

But two years later, the garden was back.  On July 11, 2012, Corey Kilgannon wrote, "he has brought back the plants, thicker than ever."  The reprise would be short lived.  On July 4, Joey Franco was back as well.  Kilgannon reported that he "showed up, and he was not happy."  He told Wong that he had a truck ready to cart away the plants.  The areaway was returned to a concrete slab.

Other than the refiguration of the ground floor and replacement windows, the appearance of the Mordecai mansion is nearly unchanged after 124 years.

photographs by the author

The Lost H. Kauffman & Sons Saddlery Building - 139-141 East 24th Street

The centered show window replaced a vast carriage bay.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

As early as 1873, J. O. Taylor's brick livery stable sat at 139-141 East 24th Street.  It was lost in foreclosure in June 1881 to Charles E. Larned for $11,550 (about $366,000 in 2025 terms).  At the beginning of the 1890s, the property was purchased by H. Meise for his horse exchange business. 

New-York Tribune, April 23, 1905 (copyright expired)

Meise's operation was significant.  An article titled, "Horse and Carriage Trade Notes" in the New York Journal and Advertiser on May 14, 1899, mentioned, "H. Meise, 141 East 24th street, has enjoyed a most successful trade right along and feels thoroughly satisfied.  There are at present about seventy-five head in his stables suitable for all manner of business."

In September 1905, Meise sold the building to Robert Leslie Moffett "and others of Minneapolis, Minn.," as reported by the New York Herald.  Then in 1913, the property was purchased by the Fiss, Doerr & Carroll Horse Co.  The concern was a major player in the horse trade business.

On May 17, 1913, the Record & Guide reported that the Fiss, Doerr & Carroll Horse Co. had commissioned architect Michael Bernstein to replace the vintage structure.  Bernstein's plans placed the construction costs at $8,000 (just over $260,000 today).  Completed before the end of the year, Bernstein's design married the Beaux Arts and neo-Classical styles to create a striking stable and auction mart.

The centered, arched carriage bay of the two-story, steel-framed stucco-covered structure was flanked with Ionic columns.  On either side of those were carved yoked horses' heads, the traditional iconography of stables.  Most eye-catching was the dramatic, parabolic-arched hayloft that sat back from the facade.  

The Fiss, Doerr & Carroll Horse Co. quickly realized that automobiles were winning the battle for the streets of Manhattan and added motorized vehicles to its offerings.  On December 2, 1913, shortly after the completion of its building, an announcement in the New York Herald read:

Automobiles on Auction !

On Exhibition

In modern, light, absolutely fire-proof ground floor show arena

at 139-141 East 24th Street.

A Bona Fide Auto Auction--An Innovation

In 1922, nine years after its completion, the "business building presently used as a horse ring known as No. 139-141 East 24th Street," as described by legal papers, was lost in foreclosure.  The property was purchased by H. Kauffman & Sons Saddlery Company.

Herman Kauffman was born in Prussia in 1841 and arrived in the United States around 1867.  He founded the Herman Kauffman Harness company in the 1870s, mostly supplying harnesses for horse-drawn fire wagons and police carts.  When his sons, Jacob and Isidor, joined the business around the turn of the century, it was renamed H. Kauffman's Sons.  World War I prompted the firm to diversify and it now manufactured saddles and saddle blankets for the Army.

When the firm purchased 139-141 East 24th Street, its name was changed to H. Kauffman & Sons Saddlery Company.  The Kauffmans renovated the building for its retail business.  The carriage bay was replaced with a show window and, inside, the gravel horse ring was covered with a concrete slab.  The second floor mezzanine, from which potential buyers once surveyed horses or automobiles, became offices and a leather workshop for working on boots, saddles and other items.

from the collection of the New York Public Library

Kauffman & Sons was accustomed to catering to prominent customers and shortly after moving in New York Governor Alfred E. Smith walked in the door.  The New York Times explained that he, "bought a pony for his grandson, and then drove it in his limousine to Kauffman's to be outfitted."

The firm took custom orders, and an especially notable one came in 1939 when it made "the boots and riding clothes for the cowboy midgets" performing at the World's Fair, as described by The Times.  Years later, in 1974, Kauffman's created two camel saddles for the Bronx Zoo, and another time manufactured a miniature saddle for a customer's chihuahua.

On March 24, 1946, The New York Times lamented the vanishing of trade signs--three-dimensional outside sculptural elements that signified the businesses inside.  The article noted that the last cigar store Indian in Manhattan stood outside 122 East 7th Street, and a wooden mortar and pestle hung outside a drugstore at Lexington Avenue and 82nd Street.  The journalist turned to East 24th Street, saying:

A life-size yellow papier-mâché horse named Modock stands on a dolly outside Kauffman's Saddlery Company at 141 East Twenty-fourth Street.  Dressed in a helmet and blanket for winter--for he is very old--Modock is missing his ears and tail, which have never been replaced because the Messrs. Kauffman felt that it would attract more business as it is.  It did.

from the collection of the New-York Historical Society

On April 28, 1975, Mayor Abraham Beame presented the city's Citation of Business Merit to "the saddlery that has catered to New York's horsey set for 100 years," as described by The New York Times, which said the air "was redolent with saddle soap and nostalgia."  Instead of being anachronistic, the journalist explained that Kauffman's filled an important niche.

For even in this city, the horse lives.  Bridle paths in all the boroughs are regularly pounded by the clatter of hoofs.  Rented mounts from about 780 licensed stables raise clouds of dust in the parklands.  And for those who are committed, the inconveniences and costs of horsemanship are outweighed by the joys of an early morning canter.

Not all of H. Kauffman & Sons Saddlery Company's patrons were riders.  Many of them, said the article, simply "like Western outfits and riding clothes."  

In 1977, H. Kauffman & Sons sold the building to the L. B. Oil Company, while remaining as its tenant.  It was a decision that would eventually doom the structure.

On May 17, 1981, The New York Times recalled that H. Kauffman & Sons "has outfitted such famous figures as Teddy Roosevelt, General Patton and Larry Hagman, star of 'Dallas.'"  By the time of the article, the company did a mail order business as well, now including polo equipment.

A decade after the article, Kauffman moved out.  Charles Kauffman, CEO of the still family-owned firm, explained to a reporter on March 3, 1991 that, although preservationists had initiated a campaign to landmark the building, "it has been slated for demolition by Baruch College."  L. B. Oil Company had already sold the property to Baruch.  Unwilling to gamble that preservationists' efforts would be successful, H. Kauffman & Sons moved uptown.

from the collection of the New York Public Library

In January 1989, Historic Conservation and Interpretation, Inc. completed its "Cultural Resource Survey for the Proposed Baruch College Campus Development."  In it, Edward S. Rutsch and Patricia Condell said:

The structure is both historically and architecturally significant and eligible for listing on both the National and New York State Registers of Historic Places...The building's historical significance stems from its association with the Fiss, Doerr, and Carroll Horse Company and its later use as an equestrian outfitting store operated by H. Kauffman and Sons Saddlery Company.  The structure is architecturally significant because it retains its interior spatial arrangements that reflect its original function as a horse auction mart.

The efforts to save the building were fruitless.  The block was demolished for Baruch College's expansion.

photograph by Faud Choudhury

The Lost William E. Benjamin Mansion - 2 East 87th Street

To the left of 2 East 87th Street is the John Phipps house, erected simultaneously.  photo by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

By the turn of the last century, the relentless northward migration of Manhattan millionaires had reached the 80s.  The blocks along Central Park, once home to Dutch farms and Native American settlements, saw the rise of palatial mansions.  

In 1901, developer William H. Bolton began construction of a massive speculative residence at 2 and 4 East 87th Street.  His architects, Janes & Leo, had designed a Beaux Arts-style structure faced in limestone.  The rusticated two-story midsection was dominated by a double-height arch that included a columned, bowed balcony under a French style railed balcony at the third floor.  The fifth floor took the form of a striking Parisian inspired mansard.  Bolton reserved a 13-foot wide "easement" along the western border of the property.  It allowed Janes & Leo to place the service entrance to the side, along with windows that afforded a third elevation of light and ventilation.  Construction, completed in 1902, cost Bolton $200,000--about $7.6 million in 2025 terms.

Bolton advertised the mansion as being "directly opposite the garden front of one of 5th Ave.'s finest mansions."  (That was the newly built Henry Phipps residence.)  It ad said, "The house is a conspicuous example of the highest type of domestic architecture.  Everything appertaining to the most advanced art of construction has been incorporated."

New-York Daily Tribune, September 7, 1902 (copyright expired)

Finding a buyer for the sumptuous home took time.  Finally, on January 30, 1904, the Record & Guide reported that Bolton had sold it to Lewis Cass Ledyard.  On February 28, The New York Times commented that spending "about $300,000" for the mansion, "did not attach sufficient importance to the event to let it delay a trip out of the city." The purchase price would translate to about $10.9 million today.

Lewis Cass Ledyard, from the collection of the Library of Congress

An attorney, Ledyard was a partner in Carter Ledyard & Milburn and president of the New York City Bar Association.  He married Gertrude Prince on April 11, 1878, and had one son, Lewis, Jr.  She was the daughter of Colonel William E. Prince of the United States Army.

Gertrude Prince Ledyard, from the collection of the New-York Historical Society

On January 17, 1905, less than a year after moving into the mansion, the 54-year-old Gertrude Ledyard died.  The New York Times mentioned, "She was prominent socially in New York, and was one of the leaders of the Newport colony, where the Ledyard house is one of the show places."  Devastated, Lewis Cass Ledyard sold the residence to William Evarts Benjamin.

Born in 1859 the son of millionaire journalist Park Benjamin, William had retired in 1900.  During his career he was a book and print seller and dealer of historic autographs.  His wife, Anne Engle Rogers, was the daughter of Henry Huttleston Rogers, a founder of Standard Oil Company with John D. Rockefeller.  She could boast Mayflower lineage on both sides of her family.  The couple had two children, Beatrice May and Henry Rogers.  Their summer home, Lake House, was in Southampton, Long Island.

Beatrice's debut season started with a dance in the mansion on December 17, 1907.  The New York Times reported, "The cotillion was danced in the Louis XVI ballroom, and was preceded by a dinner for fourteen guests."  The extensive guest list for the dance portion included the cream of high society, including names like Lanier, Fish, Rogers, Roosevelt, Morgan, Mortimer and Dodge.

A 13-foot wide "easement" separated the Benjamin mansion (left) from the massive Speyer residence on the corner.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

Beatrice was married to Alexander Dallas Bache Pratt in St. Thomas's Church on November 17, 1909.  The New York Times devoted an entire column to her Empire-style wedding dress.  The groom, who was 26 years old, had entered military service in 1905.  The newlyweds moved into the East 87th Street mansion.

Social functions within the house were now often hosted by Beatrice.  On February 8, 1910, for instance, she gave a dinner party for 20 in honor of Marjorie Gould and her fiancé Anthony J. Drexel, Jr., and Elizabeth Berton and her fiancé Snowden Q. Fahnestock.  The New York Times reported, "Afterward, the young people went to see 'The Jolly Bachelors' at the Broadway Theatre."  And the following month, on March 18, Beatrice hosted a dinner for 14.  "The guests were at one large table decorated with American beauty roses," said The Times.  (Acquiring roses in March required a significant expenditure.)

Alexander D. B. Pratt was deployed during World War I.  On August 4, 1918, The Sun reported that Beatrice had entertained with a dinner "in honor of her mother, Mrs. William Evarts Benjamin" at the Pratt's cottage in Newport.  No one was aware that while her husband was overseas, Beatrice had begun an affair in Newport with twice-married playwright Preston Gibson.  In June 1919, she divorced her husband "on grounds of non-support and desertion."  

Four months later, on October 18, 1919, The Sun reported that Beatrice and Gibson, "ran away in a taxicab to Greenwich, Conn., yesterday and got married."  The article said that William and Anne Benjamin "have publicly objected to the marriage."

And indeed they did.  On December 21, 1919, the Syracuse Herald ran a full-page article titled, "Was Preston Gibson Worth the Price Mrs. Alexander Pratt Paid for Him?."  It reported that Beatrice was "estranged" from her parents, who had begun proceedings to rescind her $2 million inheritance, and the $200,000 trust funds for her two children.  The Benjamins declared her daughter had "married against the wishes and in spite of the protest of all the members of her family."  The procedure sparked several suits and counter-suits between Beatrice and her parents.

While the ugly and very public fighting within the courts and in the newspapers played out, Henry Rogers Benjamin was serving in the U.S. Navy Aviation Corps.  He returned to the states after a deployment in Italy in January 1919 and on January 27 his engagement to Dorothy S. Rennard was announced.  Married that year, Henry brought his bride home to the East 87th Street mansion.

On May 4, 1921, The Evening World reported that Beatrice, "sailed Saturday for Europe with her two children by a former marriage, Cynthia Anne Pratt and Alexander Dallas Bache Pratt 2d, to visit her parents, who have been abroad for some time."  The article said the voyage, "bears out the report that a reconciliation has been effected" between Beatrice and her parents.  The mending of the rift and the trip to Europe quite possibly had everything to do with Beatrice's plans to divorce Preston Gibson.  Their divorce was finalized the following year.

Beatrice Benjamin Pratt Gibson Cartwright would be married again in 1940.  The Evening World, May 4, 1921 (copyright expired)

Beatrice would not remain unmarried for long.  On January 2, 1923, The Sedalia Democrat reported that she "and Captain Charles Aubrey Cartwright of the royal navy were married [in Paris] last Saturday."

Anne Engle Benjamin died on September 8, 1924 at the age of 59.  In addition to trusts of $1 million each to her children and other bequests, she left $14.5 million to William (the figure would equal about $266 million today).

Henry Rogers Benjamin divorced his wife in 1929.  His sister would divorce Charles Aubrey Cartwright in 1939.  Beatrice would marry Frederick Joseph McEvoy in 1940, and Henry would marry Virginia Poole in 1941.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

William Evarts Benjamin died at the age of 81 on February 24, 1940.  In reporting his death, The Corpus Christi Times mentioned that from his collection of rare manuscripts he had donated to the New-York Historical Society "the letters patent signed by King Charles II in 1674 authorizing Edmund Andros to take New York--then New Netherlands--for the British crown;" and "gave the Library of Congress valuable papers of George Washington concerning Mount Vernon."

Henry's daughter, Anne Rogers Benjamin, lived with him in the mansion.  On October 20, 1941, The New York Times reported, "Miss Benjamin will be introduced to society by her father on Dec. 27," and that her aunt, Mrs. Frederick J. McEvoy would host a dinner dance for her at the Waldorf-Astoria on the 29th.

The days of debutante cotillions and glittering dinner parties were coming to an end at the time.  Within a few years, the mansion was demolished to be replaced with the massive George F. Pelham apartment building, 1056 Fifth Avenue, completed in 1951.

image via compass.com