The Thomas F. Byrne House - 146 East End Avenue

 

The entrance to 146 East End Avenue was recessed within a large arched, shared with the doorway of 144 East End Avenue.

The architectural firm of Lamb & Rich was given an ambitious project in 1880--the designing of 32 middle-class rowhouses for John C. Henderson on a one-half acre plot engulfing the East End Avenue blockfront from 86th to 87th Streets and wrapping both corners.  The charming collection of Queen Anne style houses was completed in 1882, their red brick and terra cotta facades splashed with bits of Elizabethan, Flemish and classic styles.

Among the most picturesque were the mirror image houses at 144 and 146 East end Avenue.  A split brownstone stoop rose to a yawning arch that embraced both entrances.   Two stories of brick trimmed in brownstone gave way to a steep, slate shingled mansard.  The upper portions of the windows were outlined with small, square panes, a hallmark of the Queen Anne style.

Henderson leased No. 146 to Thomas F. Byrne.  Born in New York City in 1856, he was a partner in the law firm of Byrne & Cowan.  He and his wife had seven children.

In 1898 Byrne was appointed "a four-thousand-dollar deputy," as worded by The New York Times, by District Attorney Asa Bird Gardiner.  The deputy assistant district attorney's salary would convert to about $145,000 in 2024.  The newspaper said he "had charge of the cases against the discretionary brokers and bucket-shop operators of the Wall Street district."  ( (A bucket shop was an illegal gambling operation that took bets on the rise and fall of stocks.) 

While Byrne fought crime in the financial district, his boss was profiting from it.  Gardiner accepted bribes from figures like saloonkeeper Frank J. Farrell, who reportedly operated 300 illegal gambling parlors in New York City, protecting them from prosecution.  Gardiner and his cronies became the target of reform Governor Theodore Roosevelt, who cleaned house in 1900.  

Gardiner was replaced by District Attorney Eugene A. Philbin, who initiated a purge.  On January 1, 1901, The New York Times ran a headline reading, "Philbin Lops Off Four More Official Heads."  The article also listed the attorneys who were not disgraced, but were instead promoted.  Thomas F. Byrne became a full assistant district attorney with a salary of $7,500 (about $266,000 today).  The article said he was now in charge of the indictment bureau.  He was quickly promoted to assistant corporation counsel and became a member of the Tammany Hall Law Committee.

On November 20, 1908, The New York Times reported that Byrne "died last night at his home, 146 East End Avenue, of anaemia, after about a month's illness."  Byrne was 52 years old.

On January 10, 1910, John C. Henderson's son, Ernest F. Henderson, sold 146 East End Avenue to Sarsfield J. Turley.  He and his wife Margaret had a son, William Burns Turley.

Turley was born in 1874 and began his career in the wholesale carpet and rug department of Arnold Constable & Co.  Nine years later, he left to become a carpet salesman with W. & J. Sloane.

William was a corporal with the Seventh Regiment in the pre-World War I years.  A close neighbor, Beatrice Ann Tagg, who lived around the corner at 548 East 87th Street stole his heart and the couple was married in the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola on July 26, 1917.  The Sun reported, "A squad from the Seventh Regiment in uniform acted as an escort of honor, and after the ceremony a wedding breakfast was served in the Hotel Majestic."

About the time of William's marriage, his father left W. & J. Sloane to partner with John Rodgers to form Turley & Rodgers, a carpet and rug concern.  He brought William into the firm.

After visiting a friend on the evening of October 9, 1921, Sarsfield Turley headed home at 8:30.  He darted into the street in an attempt to catch a bus that had just pulled away from the curb and was hit by an automobile.  Price's Carpet and Rug News said, "He was taken in the autocar to the hospital where his identity was not established until the next day."  Turley had suffered a fractured skull and several broken ribs.  A lodge card in his wallet identified the unconscious patient.  The lodge was called, which in turn notified the office of Turley & Rodgers.  "J. Samuel Ross, a member of the office staff of the firm, immediately went to the hospital and identified his employer," said the article.

Turley died in the hospital without regaining consciousness two days later.  He was 47 years old.  His funeral was held in the East End Avenue house on October 14.

In 1929, Westmore and Esther J. Willcox, who lived at 142 East End Avenue, purchased the house as a rental property.  (Not long afterward, they purchased 144 as well.)  Their initial tenant was Blake I. Lawrence.  In 1930, the house became home to newlyweds Henry Parish II and his wife, the former Dorothy May Kinnicutt whose nickname was Sister.  The couple was married on February 14 that year.

Sister Parish's parents, G. Hermann Kinnicutt and May Appleton Tuckerman, not only leased the house for them, but had it professionally decorated.  Sister Parish is quoted in her biography, Sister Parish, The Life of the Legendary American Interior Designer by Apple Parish Bartlett and Susan Bartlett Crater, saying:

My parents provided our beautiful house, which had been done entirely by Mrs. Brown of McMillen--with Mother's help and suggestions, of course.  Wedding presents provided almost all of the furnishings.  We had to buy one upholstered chair, at Macy's, and I was appalled at having to spend forty dollars.

Sister Parish recalled, "Our house was a dream of beauty; 146 East End Avenue--the street was then cobblestone, every window had a flower box, and we looked across to Carl Schurz Park."  The couple appeared in society columns for their entertaining.  On December 11, 1931, for instance, the New York Evening Post reported, "Mr. and Mrs. Henry Parish 2d are giving a small dinner at their home, 146 East End Avenue next Monday night."

In 1933, the 23-year-old Sister Parish opened a decorating business, "Mrs Henry Parish II, Interiors."  She would go on to help Jacqueline Kennedy decorate her Georgetown house.  After John F. Kennedy's election to President in 1960, the First Lady hired Sister Parish to help in the redecorating of the White House.

The year she opened her business, the Parishes left East End Avenue.  On May 26, 1933, the New York Evening Post reported that Westmore Willcox had leased "his modern three-story house at 146 East End Avenue to Dr. R. Townley Paton of Baltimore."  The article noted, "Dr. Paton will use the house for his New York residence."

Born in 1902, Robert Townley Paton was an ophthalmologist who pioneered corneal transplants.  He and his wife, the former Helen Meserve, had two children, Joan and David.  Paton would found the Eye-Bank for Sight Restoration in 1944.  The facility would eventually have around 100 branches throughout the country and provide 1,200 corneas for transplant operations in the New York area.

David Paton was three years old when the family moved into 146 East End Avenue.  Following in his father's professional footsteps, he would become a renowned ophthalmologist, a founder of Project Orbis, and its first medical director.

The Willcoxes had painted 144 and 146 East End Avenue white by 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In 1943, Westmore and Esther Jenkins Willcox moved into the house they had owned since 1929.  A few years earlier they had painted the brick white.  A banker and financial consultant, Willcox had led American economic missions to other countries during and after World War II.  A graduate of Harvard College, he was for many years a partner in the investment banking firm of Dillon, Read & Co.  When the couple moved into 146 East End Avenue, he had been retired from Jackson & Curtis for two years.

The Willcoxes appeared occasionally in society pages.  On November 21, 1946, for instance, The New York Sun reported, "Mr. and Mrs. Westmore Willcox of 146 East End Avenue gave a dinner in the St. Regis Maisonette last night in honor of Miss Mary Ellen Plant and Algernon Sidney Roberts, whose wedding will take place on Saturday."

By the early 1960s, 146 East End Avenue was home to the William A. Read family.  Still a single-family home, it recently received a renovation that included removing the paint from the façade.

photographs by the author

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The John Darling Terry House - 144 East End Avenue

 

144 East End Avenue (left) was a mirror image of 146.  

Having garnered a significant fortune in the hat, fur, straw goods and other businesses, John C. Henderson turned his attention to the conditions of others less affluent.  He would erect groups of charming homes specifically intended "for persons of moderate means," beginning in 1880 when he acquired approximately one-half acre of land between 86th Street and 87th Street along East End Avenue.  Henderson commissioned the architectural firm of Lamb and Rich to design his houses--32 in all--that would comprise a charming mini-village.  Completed in 1882, the architects produced a streetscape of Queen Anne houses of red brick and terra cotta that romantically mixed bits of Elizabethan, Flemish and classic styles.  

Among the most picturesque were the mirror image homes at 144 and 146 East End Avenue.  A split brownstone stoop rose to a shared landing, divided by an iron railing.  The side-by-side doorways were nestled within a yawning arch.  Two stories of red brick sat upon the rough-cut brownstone basement, while the third floor took the form of a slate-shingled mansard.

The paired parlor windows sat within a segmental arch.  Directly above was another set of paired openings, and a single stairhall window above the entranceway.  Three tall openings pierced the mansard.  The upper portions of the windows were outlined with small, square panes--a hallmark of the Queen Anne style.  (An alteration prior to 1941 changed the configuration of the second floor windows of 144 East End Avenue, resulting in three tall windows where the paired set had been.)

No. 144 became home to the John Darling Terry family.  Terry was an officer in the Custom House, assigned to the Impost Office of the Auditor's Office.  Born on September 3, 1845 in Montville, Maine, he married Emma Celia Brown on July 10, 1866.  When the couple moved into the East End Avenue house, they had seven children, John William, George Stanton, Emma Eliza, Charles Graham, Alexander Hadden, Jeanette Romer, and Celia Darling--the youngest of which, Celia, was a new-born.  Three more children would be born--Ethel in 1884, Eugenia in 1890, and Frederick Gregory in 1892.

Although their house was intended for a middle-class family, by the turn of the century the Terrys were enjoying an upscale lifestyle.  On July 17, 1901, for instance, the New York Evening Telegram reported, "Mrs. John D. Terry and her daughters, Miss Jeanette Terry, Miss Celia Terry, and Miss Ethel Terry, of No. 144 East End avenue, are spending the summer at the River View House, Sullivan county, New York."  And four days later, the New-York Tribune reported on the activities at Southampton, noting that tennis had overtaken golf as a favorite pastime among the men.  Among the list of those "most devoted to the sport," the article mentioned John D. Terry.  (Why he was vacationing apart from his wife and daughters is unclear.)  

Emma was replacing staff following the summer season of 1905.  On October 3 she advertised for a "General house-worker: small, private house; two adults, three school children; personal references necessary."  (The mention of three school children is interesting, since, while Eugenia and Frederick were 15 and 13 respectively, Ethel was 21 years old.)  Seven days later Emma advertised, "Wanted--A Protestant to cook and wash in small private house for small family."

By 1913, only Eugenia and Frederick were still at home.  That summer their mother took them to Falmouth, Massachusetts where, on July 6, The New York Sun said they had checked into the Griswold Hotel.

The family of Walter Graeme Eliot purchased 144 East End Avenue in June 1915.  He and his wife, the former Maud Stoutenburgh, had two sons, Amory Vivion and Van Cortlandt Stoutenburg; and a daughter Marion Elinor.

Walter Eliot could not have had a more diverse resume.  He graduated from the Columbia School of Mines in 1878, and within four years received three more degrees from Columbia--his C. E., Ph. B., and Ph. D.  He received his Doctor of Laws degree from St. Francis Xavier in 1892.  The New York Times would later say,

He was successively an inspector of tenements, a judge in competitions for model tenement houses and model public schools, a sanitary engineer with the Health Department, an assistant chemist and inspector of foods for the Health Department, an organizer of milk-distribution in the city, a technician in the Department of Taxes and Assessments, an assistant engineer in the Topographical Bureau of the Borough of Queens and engineer in charge of the bureau in 1910.  The next year Mayor Gaynor appointed him the first Park Commissioner of Queens.

Eliot had stepped down from his Park Commissioner position two years before he purchased 144 East End Avenue.  He was, as well, a major in the Coast Guard Artillery Corps of the State Militia, had been a part owner of The University Magazine, and was the author of Noted Physicians of New York City, College Presidents of the United States, and A History of the Stoutenburgh Family.

The last book detailed the history of Maud's ancestors.  While Eliot came from a colonial family himself, Maud was descended from Pieter Van Stoutenburg, the first treasurer of the colony of New Amsterdam.  He was born in Holland in 1613 and died in New Amsterdam on March 9, 1698.  Her ancestor Jacobus Stoutenburgh founded Stoutenburg, New York in 1741 (later renamed Hyde Park).  The Brooklyn Daily Eagle deemed Maud "an authority on the history of early New York families." 

Marion debuted during the winter social season of 1916-17.  Among the last (and most creative) entertainments came on March 21, 1917.  The New York Times reported, "Ex-Park Commissioner Walter G. Eliot and Mrs. Eliot gave a roller skating party last evening on the seawall in East River Park...and afterward supper was served at their residence, 144 East End Avenue.  The guests included several of this year's debutantes and some older girls."  There were also some eligible, well-heeled bachelors on the guest list.

Just six months later, on September 4, the Eliots announced Marion's engagement to Carleton James.  The troubled times were reflected in the New-York Tribune's mentioning, "Mr. James is a member of Company K, 7th Regiment, and spent last summer on the Mexican boarder with this regiment."

Five months before the announcement, America had entered World War I.  Amory left home to serve in the army.  The family received terrifying news in December 1918 when the War Department announced that he had been "wounded severely" in battle.  

Like most socialites, Maud did her part through benefit work.  On May 26, 1918, The Sun reported that she was on a committee arranging "a garden party for the benefit of the soldiers of the 307th Regiment and their families" in Gramercy Park.  The article noted that the private park "has not opened at any time in its history for such a purpose." 

Walter was more hands-on.  By the end of the conflict he had been promoted to the rank of colonel in the Coast Guard Artillery Corps.

At war's end, things returned to normal at 144 East End Avenue.  Marion and Carleton James moved in, and Amory was still officially listed at the address when he was commissioned a first lieutenant in September 1920.  Amory would be a life-long military man, eventually achieving the rank of colonel and seeing action in the Second World War.

In the meantime, Van Cortlandt's engagement to Effie Pearson Williams was announced on April 30, 1919.  He carried on the family's tradition of deep American roots in his choice of brides.  The Washington Post remarked, "The bride is a descendant on her mother's side of Capt. Sir John Pearson, of revolutionary fame...Mr. Eliot is a son of Col. Walter Graeme Eliot, and is a member of the family whose ancestors were among the early settlers of Manhattan Island."

Maud was a founder and the president of the Yorkville District Dispensary, established in July 1918 to provide free dental treatment to children between the ages of three and fifteen years old.  Through it she rubbed shoulders with some of society's most elite, including Mrs. Vincent Astor and Ogden Mills, (who, despite Maud's presidency, the New York Herald said were "at the head" of the institution).

She was still president on December 25, 1921 when the New York Herald reported, "Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Astor again will turn over their picture gallery at 840 Fifth avenue...for the benefit of the Yorkville District Dispensary."  On the list of patrons were elite names like Webb, Olcott, Cutting, and Dodge.

In 1931 Eliot traveled to Fort Sam Houston, Texas to visit Amory.  The 73-year-old died there on May 3.  In reporting his death, The New York Times reflected on his astounding career, saying he "was a former president of the Technical League of Engineers, a founder of the Society of Municipal Engineers of New York, a former president of the Yorkville Chamber of Commerce and a former vice president of the Society of American Officers."

Walter Graeme Eliot's will may have revealed tensions within the family.  At the time of his death, Maud was living with Marion and Carleton at 520 East 87th Street, around the corner from 144 East End Avenue.  Walter left half of his estate to institutions, including Columbia and Harvard Universities.  Amory received a $10,000 trust (about $192,000 in 2024), Van Cortlandt received $1,000, and Marion was bequeathed "personal effects, including a cane said to have belonged to Napoleon."  Maud was left out of the will altogether.  

The Daily Eagle reported, "Eliot said in his will that he made no provision for his wife because he had already turned $60,000 over to her.  He also said he had deposited money in banks in the name of his daughter."

Not unexpectedly, Maud and Marion went to court to overturn the will.  On June 9, 1931, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle said the women "contend that the reference to money turned over to them before Eliot's death was 'wholly untrue.'"  More shockingly, they asserted that Marion's name had been "stricken out" of the original document and Amory's name inserted.

The East End Avenue house was purchased by Esther J. Willcox, who also owned 142 and 146.  She operated them as rental properties, leasing the former Eliot house furnished in November 1937 to Kenneth Jewett.

It was no doubt Willcox who painted 144 and 146 white.  The second floor windows of 144 had already been reconfigured in 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

By 1960, 144 East End Avenue was home (and presumably studio) to artist Stephen Olin Dows and his wife, the former Chilean Ambassador to the Netherlands, Carmen Vial Freire Señoret.  

Born in 1904 at Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, Dows studied at Harvard's Department of Fine Arts, and Yale's Student's League.  He had helped establish the Government's Public Works of Art Project in 1933, becoming director of the Treasury of Relief Art Projects.  His book, Mural Designs, was commissioned by the Section of Fine Arts.  Following America's entry into World War II, Dows enlisted in the U.S. Army in June 1942.  He went abroad as a war artist, the head of a group of three covering the European Theater of Operations.

Dows 1934 Loading typified Depression Era, WPA motifs.

The couple maintained two other homes--Glenburn in Rhinebeck, New York, and another residence in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.  They would remain in the East End Avenue house until around 1965, when Ernest George Benkert occupied it.

By 1969 Dr. Robert Emery Gould owned the house.  A member of the American Psychiatric Association, he was head of the New York Office of the National Coalition on TV Violence, which he operated from the address at least through 1997.

Still a single-family home, the interiors were relatively recently renovated, leaving no trace of Lamb and Rich's 1882 design. 

photographs by the author

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The 1882 John G. Wilson House - 6 Henderson Place

Approximately five miles north of the city, the Yorkville community was surrounded by sprawling, bucolic country estates of wealthy New Yorkers like John Jacob Astor and Archibald Gracie in the 18th century.  Following the end of the Civil War, the city expanded ever northward, eventually engulfing the once-rural town.

By 1880, John C. Henderson had established a significant fortune in his hat, fur, and "strawgoods" business.  He turned to real estate development and in 1881 acquired the blockfront along East End Avenue, wrapping the corners of East 86th and East 87th Streets.  Henderson commissioned the architectural firm of Lamb & Rich to design 32 brick-faced houses that would be marketed "for persons of moderate means."  The plans, filed in October 1881, placed the cost of each at $6,500, or about $192,000 in 2024.

Lamb & Rich turned to the fanciful Queen Anne style for the project.  The houses began with a charming mews called Henderson Place that opened onto East 86th Street, then continued around the block, ending with four homes on East 87th.  Completed in 1882, the individual designs of the group melded into a charming streetscape of arches, towers and gables.  

(Henderson was so pleased with the outcome that a year later he began construction of another Queen Anne group on Staten Island, also designed by Lamb & Rich and also intended for less affluent occupants.  The Record & Guide noted, "It will be a satisfaction to people in humble circumstances, therefore, who wish to make Staten Island their home, to know that Mr. Henderson contemplates the construction of other buildings that may be offered on very much easier terms.")

Sitting at the southeast corner of the mews and East 86th Street was 6 Henderson Place.  Its doorway sat atop a sideways stoop that matched the rough-cut granite basement level.  The 86th Street end was dominated by a two-story metal and wooden bay, its upper section slightly larger than the lower.  Molded brownstone bandcourses defined each floor, and diminutive square panes--a common feature of the Queen Anne style--embellished the windows.  The third floor took the form of a slate-shingled mansard with a pedimented dormer directly above the entrance and a picturesque tower on the corner that terminated in a cone-shaped roof.

The entrance opens onto the mews, known as Henderson Place.

No. 6 Henderson Place was first leased to the family of playwright John G. Wilson.  Soon after moving in, he collaborated with actor Frank Mayo on a stage version of Elisabeth Werner's 1877 novel Vinetta, called Nordeck.  The play opened at the Union Square Theatre on May 23, 1885 with Mayo playing the role of Waldemar.  The New York Dispatch said, "It has strength; its argument is straight-forward and possesses a meaning; it is bold in color, positive in intent, and it has a vigorous vitality."

Wilson's wife had an artistic bent, as well.  On June 7, 1885 the New York Dispatch reported, "The statuette of Mr. Frank Mayo, as Waldemar in 'Nordeck;' which may be seen in windows on Broadway, is the work of Mrs. John G. Wilson, wife of the author of 'Nordeck.'"  The critic was diplomatic in his description.  "Mrs. Wilson is not an art professional, the statuette being a labor of love; a tribute of esteem to the actor."

The Wilsons had two boys, Henry Mclandburg and Mclandburg, and a daughter Elaine, would soon follow.  (Mclandburg Wilson went on to become an aspiring poet.)  Having small children was possibly distracting to her artistic work.  Three months later, on September 22, 1885, an advertisement in the New York Herald read, "Wanted--Nurse girl for two children; bring references.  Apply at 6 Henderson place, corner East 86th st."  

Wilson's next play was also written with Mayo.  The Royal Divorce, completed in June 1886, introduced "Napoleon Bounaparte [sic] and the beautiful Josephine," according to the New York Dispatch.  Seemingly indefatigable, the pair completed The Royal Guard in 1887 with the role of D'Artagnan written for Mayo.

On September 20, 1890, the Buffalo Evening News reported, "John G. Wilson, the author of 'Nordeck,' 'The Royal Guard' and a dozen other successful dramas, has written a comic opera satirizing Wall street and American plutocracy.  The title of the piece is said to be 'Gay Gold.'"

The entire city prepared for the week-long "Columbian celebrations" beginning on October 8, 1892 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's voyage to America.  They included three days of parades, banquets, speeches and other events.  Buildings throughout the city were "illuminated," or decorated with bunting and other festive adornments.  Mrs. Wilson joined the excitement.

In reporting on the decorations, on October 7 The Evening Post said:

Mrs. John G. Wilson has arranged a special original illumination of her residence at No. 6 Henderson Place, corner East Eighty-sixth Street, near East River Park, on the nights of October 10, 11, 12, 13.  A window will be devoted to the following subjects: Columbus, "Hope and courage rigged his spars," Land Ho! the New World; the Indians, Washington, Lincoln, Grant, War, Peace, Literature, Painting, Music, Invention, the Stage, the Press, etc.

The Wilsons remained at 6 Henderson Place until around 1903, when it became home to the Peter and Margaret Worth family.  Living with the elderly couple were their two adult sons, Harry P. and William.  (Harry occupied his spare time in breeding pedigree French bulldogs.)

Peter Worth died on February 5, 1908 at the age of 84.  His funeral was held in the house two days later.

After having leased the house for 27 years, on May 23, 1909 the New-York Tribune reported that the Henderson estate had sold 6 Henderson Place to the C. N. Sherman Investing Company.  The firm continued to lease the house to various white-collar tenants.

In 1910 Daniel Donegan lived here.  That year he was appointed a deputy New York tax commissioner for Manhattan within the Department of Taxes and Assessments.  

In 1912, John P. Morrisey, was here.  An assistant engineer with Pattison Brothers, he and his family would remain through 1915.  Another civil servant moved in followed the Morriseys.  Charles G. Glennen worked for the city in the Bureau of Highways.

The post-World War I years saw Dr. Henry Dawson Furniss and his wife, the former Ruth Kellogg Pine, living at 6 Henderson Place.  A gynecologist and 1899 graduate of the University of Virginia, his office was located at 54 East 62nd Street.  The couple maintained a summer home in Pelham, New York.

Born in Selma, Alabama in 1878, Furniss had practiced in New York City since 1903.  From 1917 to 1927 he was Professor of Gynecology at the New York Post-Graduate Medical School.  He and Ruth were married in 1912 and had five children, three of whom had survived infancy--Henry Dawson Jr., James Pine, and Warren Todd.  

Ruth Pine Furniss was an author and published several short stories and novels.  In 1937 her short story "Obsession" was adapted by poet Weldon Kees into a one-act play.  She was plagued with a mental affliction which, most likely, would be diagnosed as bipolar disorder today.  It resulted in Henry's sometimes committing her to institutions like the Pilgrim Psychiatric Center and the Central Islip Psychiatric Center for treatments.  

Her 1928 novel Gay, and her 1929 Snow: A Love Story addressed Ruth's struggles with mental illness and her various medical treatments.  Horrible to consider today, those treatments included shock-therapy, a topectomy, and finally a lobotomy, according to the Ruth Pine Furniss Papers in the collection of Yale University.

On January 25, 1942, Dr. Henry Dawson Furniss died of a heart attack in the Henderson Place house.  At the time, only Warren, who was a senior at Yale University, still lived with his parents.  Henry Jr. lived in Massachusetts and James was serving in the army.

Furniss's estate, appraised by the state at around $2.6 million in today's money, was settled the following year.  The Newburgh, New York Daily News reported, "The estate is left to the widow, Mrs. Ruth Pine Furness of 6 Henderson Place, New York.  She will receive the income for life, the principal then going to their three sons." 

Ruth turned her focus on the ongoing war, and became what would be known as a Gray Lady with the Red Cross.  The volunteers (so named because of their gray uniforms) worked mostly in hospitals, providing friendly, non-medical services to the ill or injured.  She died on December 15, 1957 in the Lynwood Nursing Home on West 102nd Street at the age of 64.

image via josephpelllombardi.com

At the time, Samuel Morse Lane and his family lived at 6 in Henderson Place.  An attorney, Lane was a partner in Casey, Lane & Mittendorf.  Pamela Lane made her debut into society in 1958.   The family remained at least into the early 1960s.

Relatively recently, the exterior of 6 Henderson Place was given a thoughtful restoration by the office of restoration architect Joseph Pell Lombardi.  Its prominent corner location makes it a charming and integral part of the picturesque enclave.

photographs by the author

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