The Walter E. Strobel House - 317 West 103rd Street

 

Around 1888, Daniel Hallecy and John J. Egan, established the Egan & Hallecy Construction Company.  They quickly became a force in Manhattan development, erecting scores of rowhouses.  In 1891 they began construction of five upscale homes at 315 to 323 West 103rd Street designed by Martin V. B. Ferdon.  Completed the following year, each of the brownstone faced, three-story-and-basement homes had cost $16,000 to erect, or about $553,000 in 2025 terms.

The residences were designed in the Renaissance Revival style.  At 317 West 103rd Street, the wing-walled stoop spilled down to beefy stone newels, each girded with foliate carvings with a face in profile.  The double-doored entrance featured an elegant fan light and sat within an elaborate framework.  Caryatid-like brackets supported fruit-carved capitals.  The arch included a fearsome portrait keystone and foliate spandrels.  A full-height, rounded bay rose tower-like to the denticulated cornice.

The house was purchased by Richard Albert and Helena Waples Babbage.  The couple had two children, Helena Maude and Richard.  Their residency would be relatively short-lived.  On March 4, 1895, an advertisement in the New York Press read:

317 West 103d St.--A superior 3 story and basement brownstone house, 20x55, with an extension, on the upper side of the street, and commanding charming views of the beautiful Riverside Drive and the Hudson; it is near the palatial residences on the drive and is in all respects desirable.

The Babbages sold the house to Eva P. and Abraham M. Graff on September 20, 1895, sparking a rapid-fire turnover of the property.  Three days later, the Graffs sold 317 West 103rd Street to George E. and Florence E. S. Weyl.  They remained just over two years, advertising it in January 1899 as being "in one of the choicest blocks up town."

It was next home to educator and author James E. Russell, dean of Teachers' College at Columbia University.  Born in Hamden, New York, he graduated from Cornell University and did post-graduate studies in Jena, Berlin and Leipsic.

Journal of Education February 27, 1902 (copyright expired)

Finally, starting around 1905, the house had long-term residents with the Strobel family.  Following his graduation from the College of the City of New York in 1896, Walter E. Strobel entered Strobel & Wilken Co.  It was co-founded by his grandfather, Charles Strobel in 1849 (at the time, the firm was "devoted to the manufacture of pocket books," according to the Crockery and Glass Journal decades later).  Strobel's father, Emil, was president of the firm when the family moved into the 103rd Street house.  (Emil and Elsa Strobel lived four houses away, at 309 West 103rd Street.)

Strobel & Wilken Co. had greatly diversified since its inception.  In 1878 it advertised, "importers and wholesale dealers in Fancy goods, Druggist, Sundries, Smokers' articles & Toys."  But by the turn of the century, it was mostly known for its German-made bisque dolls marked with the initials SWC.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

While Walter managed the business, his wife busied herself with more social pursuits.  On March 10, 1907, for instance, The New York Times reported, "A pretty bridge party was that given recently by Mrs. Walter E. Strobel in her home, 317 West 103d Street."

Upon the death of Emil Strobel in 1916, Walter became vice-president.  He briefly was president, and then in February 1926 was elected as a member of the board.

Walter retired in 1936.  By then, the couple spent their summer months in Tarrytown, New York, where they were visible members of summer society.  The Daily News of Tarrytown, for instance, reported on June 29, 1938, "Today, Mrs. Walter E. Strobel of New York City is entertaining at the club at a lunch for 20 guests."  "The club"  mentioned in the article was the Sleepy Hollow Country Club.

It is unclear when the Strobels left 317 West 103rd Street.  It was converted to apartments, two per floor, in 1960.  Among the tenants that year was Krythia Helen Reid.  She was a documents assistant within the New Zealand Mission to the United Nations.  

A rooftop addition was added to the Strobel house around the turn of the 21st century.  

photographs by the author

The Ashbel R. Elliott House - 306 West 91st Street

In 1893, Martin V. B. Ferdon designed a row of five houses on the south side of West 91st Street between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive for developers Alexander Walker and Judson Lawson.  Like scores of his other designs on the Upper West Side, these would be Renaissance Revival in style.  

Completed in 1894, 306 West 91st Street, like its neighbors, was three stories tall above an English basement and faced in brownstone.  Above the single-doored entrance, a swan's neck pediment was filled with carved garlands of flowers.  A hefty bracket between the parlor windows upheld a two-story bowed oriel.
 
The house would see a turnover of owners before the turn of the century.  It and two others in the row were sold to August Jacob, who sold them to Andrew Wachter in May 1897.  A week later, Wachter transferred title to all three to Amelia Schwartzler, who sold them to Louis Stolber in April 1900.  The string of owners leased the houses to well-to-do tenants.

It would not be until the spring of 1903 that 306 West 91st Street saw its first owner-occupant.  On March 20, The New York Times reported that the 17-foot-wide residence had been sold.  The purchaser was Ashbel R. Elliott, the head of A. R. Elliott Advertising and the A. R. Elliott Publishing Co.  

Born in Niles, Michigan in 1850, Elliott had begun his career in Chicago.  Upon moving to New York City, he founded A. R. Elliott Advertising on College Place (now West Broadway).  It was one of the first advertising agencies in New York.  Later, he founded the A. R. Elliott Publishing Co., which published medical books.  Working with him in that firm were his sons, Daniel M. and John M. Elliott.  The Elliotts' summer home was in Montclair, New Jersey.

Ashbel was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.  He also held memberships in the New York Chamber of Commerce, the Columbia Yacht Club and was a founder of the Illinois and Ohio Societies.

New Yorkers traditionally opened their homes to friends on New Year's Day.  But the Elliott's open house on January 1, 1906 was different--it was a men-only event.  On January 6, The Fourth Estate reported, "Ashbel R. Elliott invited some of his many friends to 'a stag at home' New Year's day at his residence, 306 West 91st street, New York.  Several friends assisted Mrs. Elliott in receiving but all the other guests were men."

Some of the most influential men in American journalism and publishing visited the Elliott's parlor that day.  Among them were Frank Crane, of Montgomery Ward & Co.'s advertising department; Eugene W. Spalding, the New York representative of the Ladies' Home Journal; and Melville E. Stone, general manager of the Associated Press.

The Elliotts sold 306 West 91st Street in April 1909 to William C. Strange.  He sold it within the month to Lorenzo Martinez Picabia and his wife, the former Marie J. Marrin.  The couple had been married just months before, on October 26, 1908.  On May 30, 1909, the New-York Tribune mentioned, "The purchaser will occupy the premises after it has been extensively altered."  Those alterations were interior updates and the exterior was not affected.

Lorenzo M. Picabia was a partner in the brokerage firm of Hartshorne & Picabia.  He also invested heavily in Manhattan real estate.  

Like their neighbors, the Picabias maintained a domestic staff.  Their Japanese butler in 1913 had the very un-Japanese surname of Pami Ohara.  On March 21, Picabia fired Ohara because, according to The New York Times, "he had overindulged in saki."  At 9:00 that night, as reported by The Sun, Ohara showed up at the house "with four warlike sakied compatriots and told the family quite politely, but firmly, that he was sorry, but they must all go and stand on the front stoop.  He and his friends, he said, had come to have a little party in the parlor."

The entire Picabia household was exiled to the stoop as the Japanese invaders made themselves at home.  The Sun reported that the Picabias and their servants, "set up a collective cry for the police."  Policeman Riordan ran from Riverside Drive and "pounded up the stoop, only to be informed that Mr. Picabia's Japanese butler, glorying in the name of Pami Ohara, was inside with four friends, a bottle of sake and great joy," said The Sun.

The New York Times reported that Picabia told Riordan, "My butler and four other [Japanese] have taken possession of the house and threatened to shoot us."  The policeman found Ohara, "smoking a cigar and seated uncertainly but comfortably in one of the best Picabia parlor chairs," reported The Sun.  "As Riordan panted in, Ohara let loose the warcry of the Ohara clan, which brought from upstairs, where they had been singing together, the other four fighting men."  Officer Riordan, who assumed that arresting the intruders would be routine, soon found out otherwise.  The New York Times explained that Ohara, "knows quite a deal about his countryman's art of wrestling jiu jitsu."  With every attempt to arrest Ohara, the policeman found himself slammed to the floor.

"Riordan bumped around until his whistle fell out of his pocket," said The Times.  "He threw it to the banker, who blew for all he was worth."  Two backup policemen, officers Ferguson and Flynn, arrived.  (In the meantime, Ohara's friends had escaped.)  When they entered the parlor, Ohara had Riordan in a "most scientific hold" and was repeatedly banging his head on the floor.  Ferguson had been an amateur wrestler, but his efforts only prompted Ohara "to show the three what a real jiu-jitsu man can do if riled," said The Sun, which continued:

He sent Riordan chandelierward with some amazing and unwritten hold.  In some other way he so tied Ferguson up as to his feet that the latter found himself under the piano, while Flynn held on for dear life and became more and more in favor of immediate war with Japan.

Eventually, Ohara tired and the three officers wrangled him to the West 100th Street station.  By then, however, Ohara had his second wind.  The New York Times reported that he, "wriggled his arms and legs and one, two, three, Ferguson, Riordan and Quinn [sic] were on the sidewalk."  A troupe of reserves rushed out of the station house and finally subdued the unruly butler, who was "locked up charged with alcoholism."

In August 1915, The Piabias hired the architectural firm of Peabody, Wilson & Brown to enlarge the house with a one-story addition in the rear.  They remained here for just over three more years, selling the house in January 1919 to Christine Blessing Mertens.

Christine Mertens was better known to theater audiences as Christine Blessing.  Among her Broadway roles were Cymbeline in the 1893 production of Le Belle Hélene; Mrs. Elias Rigby in the 1903 The Country Chairman; and Keziah Pipkin in the 1900 production of Broadway to Tokio.  Christine's summer home was in Connecticut.

In 1925, Christine Blessing Mertens forewent her summer routine.  On May 22, the New York Star reported, "In the spotless house at 306 West 91st St., which bespeaks perfect housewifery, Christine Blessing said: 'Au revoir' to her friends over the tea table."  She had leased her Connecticut farm for the season and instead, "will pay a series of visits this summer.  The first is to a friend in Atlantic Highlands."  (That visit was to actress Lillian Marshall.)

The guests that afternoon were all from the theater.  "Oliver May, Katherine Gray, tanned from working in the garden at her home at Staten Island, and Gila Blow were among the actresses who surrounded the toast and jam and tea center," said the article.

A cabinet card depicted Christine Blessing in costume.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

Not long after that summer season, Christine began sharing her house with two friends, actress Grace Fisher and singer Lila B. Ross.  

Christine Blessing Mertens fell ill in the summer of 1929 and was taken to Roosevelt Hospital, where she died on August 11 at the age of 62.  Six days later, The New York Times reported the details of her will, which left $48,000 to friends and $5,000 to The Actors' Fund of America.  (The combined bequests would equal about $806,000 in 2025.)  Readers' eyebrows may have been raised when the article noted that Christine's physician, Dr. Monford Cole, received the bulk of her estate.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

It appears that 306 West 91st Street was operated as a rooming house soon after Christine Mertens's death.  In 1933, Anne Gilmore lived here.  A former housekeeper, she was now working as a hairdresser.

A renovation completed in 2000 resulted in eight apartments.  From the exterior, 306 West 91st Street is nearly unchanged after more than 130 years.

photograph by the author

The 1887 James B. Gillie House (St. John's Baptist Church) - 448 West 152nd Street

 

Born on June 23, 1854, James Bruce Gillie was a prominent builder and real estate developer by the last quarter of the 19^th century.  Early in 1887, he commissioned architect Martin V. B. Ferdon to design a freestanding residence for him and his wife at 448 West 152^nd Street between St. Nicholas and Amsterdam Avenues.  Ferdon’s plans, filed on February 11, laid out a “two-story brick and basement brown stone dwelling” that would cost Gillie $12,000 to construct—just under $400,000 in 2024.  (His costs were drastically reduced since he would be erecting the house himself.)
 
The 33-foot-wide residence would sit within a 50-foot-wide parcel.  Ferdon blended two popular styles—Queen Anne and neo-Grec.  Completed within the year, the basement level was faced in undressed brownstone.  Iron, winged griffins stood in for the areaway posts, and larger examples perched upon the stoop newels.  An imposing portico with Corinthian columns upheld a substantial entablature and cornice.  The entrance sat within a projecting, single bay.  A triangular pediment above the bracketed cornice over that center bay was filled with a Queen Anne sunburst.

 
James B. Gillie and Sarah Elizabeth McWhinney had married on May 8, 1878.   They were 24 and 23 years old respectively.   The couple had three sons, George Ross, Robert Bruce and Leslie Beach.  Just four years after the family moved into 448 West 152^nd Street, Sarah Elizabeth died on August 15, 1891, at the age of 36.  Her funeral was held in the parlor on August 17.

Almost immediately Gillie sold the house to Philip Schaeffer, another contractor.  (Interestingly, James B. Gillie would marry Sarah's sister, Agnes May McWhinney, and they would have a son, Benjamin Austin.)

Schaeffer lost the property in foreclosure on April 15, 1897.  John A. Northwood, of the Northwood Malting Company, paid $32,000 (about $1.2 million today).  Just a month later, on May 28, Northwood sold 448 West 152nd Street to another beer dealer, Rudolph (sometimes spelled Rodoph) Oelsner.

Oelsner was born in Germany on New Year's Day in 1849.  He arrived in America at the age of 17 and found a job in a linen company.  Eventually, however, he introduced the Buergerliches Brauhaus Pilsener and other beers from Austria and Germany.  His operation grew to distribution branches in St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Cincinnati, Boston and was one of the largest importers of beers in the county.

He was, as well, a restauranteur.  His Kaiserhof Restaurant was on the corner 0f 39th Street and Broadway where theater goers would stop before and after the performances.

Rudolph Oelsner's wife was the former Dorothea Ringer, known by friends as Dora.  When they moved into 448 West 152nd Street, their daughter, Martha, was 11.  The family's affluence was reflected in Oelsner's two yachts in 1905, the Dora and the Penelva.

In December 1905, Rudolph Oelsner purchased the high-stoop brownstone house at 135 West 72nd Street.  He sold 448 West 152nd Street to Alex Mackenzie, who quickly resold it to Isabella Wallace.  On September 1, 1906, the Record & Guide remarked, "The building will be altered and used as a dancing academy."  Only a month later, an advertisement for the George W. Wallace's Schools in The New York Times offered, "Class & private lessons.  Children.  Adults."

The dance academy's ballroom doubled as an event venue, The Wallace.  On February 7, 1907, for instance, Maida Peirce was married to Maurice Harrison Stearns here.  And in 1909, the Washington Heights School occupied space in the house.  An announcement in The New York Times on September 14 read, "Opens Oct. 1st.  Kindergarten, Primary, Intermediate, Academic Classes."

Wallace leased the property to Ernestine and Anton Fuerst around 1912, when they sublet the "two lower floors," according to the Record & Guide on September 14, "to the Mount Neboh Congregation."  The synagogue occupied the space for two years, when the congregation erected a building on West 150th Street.

The space resumed as The Wallace by 1917.  The Fuersts purchased the property, retaining the name.  It was a highly successful and popular spot for gatherings.  In its April 1917 issue, The Practical Druggist reported that at the last meeting of the Alumni Association of the Fordham College of Pharmacy Alumni Association, "The much-discussed topic was the annual affair which will be held at 'The Wallace', 448 West 152nd Street, on April 17th."

The Hebrew Standard, September 8, 1922 (copyright expired)

And on June 29, 1922, The New York Times reported, "The marriage of three young women, partners in business, took place in this city last Sunday."  Mildred Harris, Eve Lippman, and Ethel Westheimer were partners in a hat shop on Broadway.  They and their grooms were all married in The Wallace that day.

The Wallace (sometimes called the Wallace Mansion) operated until 1932, when the former house was purchased by the St. John's Baptist Church.  The congregation was founded in 1917 by the Rev. Wilson Major Morris.

In 1936, an interesting program was initiated here by the auspices of the Works Progress Administrations.  The New York Age reported on December 26, "A Major Bowes' gong, bells, blocks, drums, symbals [sic], and other such instruments, which are easily mastered, make up the equipment used in children rhythm bands at the St. Johns Music Center, 448 West 152nd street."  The article explained that children from 8 to 14 years old could participate.

"The rhythm bands provide a means for the youngsters to learn to listen to music intelligently and to think and do in terms of music."  If the children desire to progress further, they could partake in "classes in piano, violin, harmony, theory, or other musical classes available at these W. P. A. centers."

 

In 1941, the unpainted masonry shows Ferdon's contrast of brick and stone.  The wonderful griffin posts and newels survived.  from the NYC Records & Information Services.

By the third quarter of the century, the church furthered its outreach within the community with the St. John's Baptist Church Credit Union.   In her article on June 2, 1973 in the New York Amsterdam News, Sara Slack noted, "The Credit Union members "range from beauticians to school teachers to building superintendents to government workers to domestics to those in the medical profession."  The Credit Union members took a long weekend to Nassau that year.  Slack said, "Anyone who thinks devout, church-going people are squares and have little fun have never spent a Memorial Day weekend here in the sun."

After more than 90 years in the former Gillie house, St. John's Baptist Church continues to serve for the Harlem neighborhood.  Although the masonry has been painted red and white, Martin V. B. Ferdon's striking Queen Anne structure is remarkably intact.

thanks for Mark Satlof for requesting this post

photographs by Mark Satlof

The Daniel and Katherine Holden House - 310 West 91st Street

 

Developers Alexander Walker and Judson Lawson hired architect Martin V. B. Ferdon in 1893 to design a row of five houses on the south side of West 91st Street between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive.  Ferndon was responsible for scores of Upper West Side homes, the majority of them in the Renaissance Revival style.  These would follow suit.  The row was designed in an off-balanced A-B-C-B-D arrangement.  

No. 310 West 91st Street was one of the B models.  Above its single-doored entrance, a swan's neck pediment was filled with carved garlands of roses.  A hefty bracket between the parlor windows upheld a two-story bowed oriel.

In 1894 Walker & Judson advertised, 

Two left--304 and 310 West 91st st., Riverside Drive; elegant three story basement and cellar dwellings; bay windows; three story extensions; two tiled bathrooms, gas grates, and all the latest improvements; inspection invited; price low; send for circular.

Daniel Judson Holden and his wife, the former Katherine Veghte Knox, purchased 310 West 91st Street for $24,500 on April 19, 1894.  The price would translate to about $772,000 in 2024.

Daniel Judson Holden was born in New York City on January 15, 1844.  He was educated at Yale University and received his law degree at Columbia Law School.  When the family moved into 310 West 91st Street, he was a member of the law firm of Coudert Brothers.

Holden married Katherine (known familiarly as Kate) on September 1, 1885.  Their first child, Daniel Jr., had died at the age of one on February 6, 1888.  Their second, Edith, was seven when the family purchased the house.

Holden's club memberships reflected his social and professional standing.  He was a member of the University and the City Club, the Down Town Association, the Society of Medical Jurisprudence and the Sons of the Revolution.  

Attorney Paul Fuller called Holden, "A deeply religious man, in whom religion was an essence and not a garment."  He had joined the Brick Presbyterian Church at the age of 14, and served as a church trustee for three decades and as a ruling Elder from 1886 to 1897.  When the family moved to the Upper West Side, Holden became a ruling Elder of the Fourth Presbyterian Church down the block, at the corner of West End Avenue.

Well-to-do families left town during the summer months, normally taking their most valued servants--like valets and ladies' maids--with them.  The less important servants were often let go, to be replaced in the fall.  On May 22, 1902, Katherine placed an advertisement in hopes of finding jobs for two employees.  "A lady leaving town wishes to place her two maids as waitress and chambermaid; they are German Protestants, and can be highly recommended."

Daniel Holden died in the 91st Street house at the age of 59 on June 23, 1903.  Katherine and Edith immediately moved out, initially leasing 310 West 91st Street to Herbert D. Lacey.  In July 1908, William M. Richards signed a lease, and in 1910 Sara A. Palmer moved in.

The unmarried Sara Palmer was highly visible in society.  On January 22, 1911, for instance, The New York Times reported that she "will give the third of her series of large receptions on Tuesday, March 14, from 3 until 6."  She was chairman of the New York State Federation of Women's Clubs.

In August 1914, Katherine Holden offered the house for sale.  The advertisement described a "modern three story high stoop with bath extension...Plumbing and woodwork in good condition.  This block is one of the best in the 90's."  The listed price was $32,000, or about $720,000 today.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

No. 310 West 91st Street was home to Pauline B. Fox in 1919, and by the early Depression Years was owned by Adelaide Drummond.  Adelaide died here on January 17, 1936, and the house was inherited by her daughter, Louise Adams.  She retained ownership until July 1939, when she sold it to Herman Hippe, who lived in Astoria, Queens.

The house was converted to apartments in 1970--a duplex in the basement and parlor floors, two apartments on the second, and one on the third.  In 2009, it was returned to a single family residence.

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The 1896 Everard Storage Warehouse - 277-283 West 10th Street (667 Washington Street)

 

Born in Dublin, Ireland in 1831, James Everard arrived in New York with his family when he was four years old.  Following his father's death, the youth worked as a brick mason to help support his family.  Like the hero of a Horatio Alger novel, Everard purchased real estate with his savings, eventually establishing his own masonry jobbing business, opening a brewery in Greenwich Village (at a time when most New York brewers were German), and erecting a sumptuous Turkish bath at 26-30 West 28th Street.

Everard's brewery, founded in 1885, was originally named Shook & Everard and produced "ales and porter."  It was located at the northeast corner of West 10th Street and Washington Street.  By 1893, when a factory inspection noted its 35 men worked 59 hours per week and nine hours on Saturdays, the name had been changed to the James Everard's Breweries.

That would be the last inspection of the brewery at this location.  Everard moved the operation to 12 East 133rd Street, demolished the West 10th Street structure, and hired architect Martin V. B. Ferdon to design a massive storage warehouse on the site.  On August 4, 1894, the Record & Guide reported that the "huge ten-story warehouse which Brewer James Everard is about erecting on the northeast corner of Washington and West 10th streets" was projected to cost "a quarter of [a] million dollars."  That figure would translate to about $8.87 million in 2024.

Calling the building "the finest storage warehouse in the city" a year later on August 24, 1895, the Record & Guide reported, "Mr. James Everard has just completed the very handsome storage warehouse on the corner of Washington and 10th streets."  The article said that no flammable materials were used, only "stone, brick, steel and other fire-proofing."  The sturdy construction made the floors capable of holding 400 pounds per square foot.

Ferdon's Romanesque Revival design featured a two-story arcaded base of undressed granite and a gently curved corner.  The six-story mid-section was defined by two molded intermediate cornices.  Paired openings separated by brick pilasters with stone bases and capitals created soaring arches that terminated in double-wide arched windows.  Pediments on each side of the cornice announced "Everard."  Taking advantage of the river views, an observation tower perched upon the curve of the cornice.

The Record & Guide glowed, "The building is architecturally a distinct and attractive addition to the neighborhood in which it is situated...It is without [a] doubt the best located, built and arranged edifice in the city to-day for storage purposes."

An observation tower provided 360-degree, unobstructed views of the city.  Real Estate Record & Guide, August 24, 1895 (copyright expired)

A year after the building opened, tragedy struck.  On August 10, 1896, Christian Bray and Frank Bulger were painting the cornice, sitting upon a wooden scaffold.  The New York Times reported, "When they tried to lower the scaffold one of the ropes slipped and Bray slid from the scaffold."  Bulgar managed to grab a window sill and "crawled to a place of safety."  The 50-year-old Bray, however, fell the 12 stories to the sidewalk, where he was instantly killed.  "Bulger says that the dead man was married and had a family," said the article.

The vast array of companies and individuals that used the facilities was evidenced in the periodic auctions of goods, the storage charges of which had gone unpaid.   In May 1907, for instance, Everard hired auctioneer Edward P. Holahan to hold an auction.  The listing ranged from small items owned by individuals--like Thomas McElroy's "one case [of] effects" and Marie Varbusk's "three packages scenery"--to corporate storage like The 1900 Washer Co.'s "100 washing machines," C. J. H. Robinson's 12 barrels of wine; and the Lehigh Valley Railroad Co.'s five chests of tea.

Newspapers nationwide reported on the scandalous elopement of James Everard's daughter Olga Julia in 1909.  On December 3, The Sun reported, "Society circles are somewhat surprised today at the report from Greenwich, Conn., that Olga Everard, daughter of James Everard, a wealthy brewer, had married William Williams, her mother's secretary."  The article said, "She was eighteen years old on December 1, and was to receive a large sum of money from her father at that time.  Mr. Everard is nearly eighty years of age, and Olga is his only daughter."  

Williams had originally been Everard's chauffeur.  James Everard's initial anger--which threatened to disinherit his wayward daughter--cooled.  The Sun later explained that Olga and Williams "were soon forgiven by the brewer, who installed his son-in-law as his private secretary."

Everard died in 1913, leaving nearly all of his $2 million estate to Olga, including the West 10th Street building.  (Her romantic eye wandered again the following year.  Now 23, she divorced Williams and wed the oft-married, 56-year-old actor Robert Hilliard.)

The Everard Storage Warehouse continued as before under Olga's ownership.  On May 9, 1914, for instance, a sheriff's sale was held of "six hundred and four sacks of seed potatoes," the storage charges for which were unpaid.

Another tragedy occurred here on April 6, 1917.  James Keating was working on the fourth floor that day when the 50-year-old "lost his balance and fell one story through the elevator shaft," according to The Evening World.  "He landed on the elevator on the third floor and was instantly killed."

It appears that by 1926 Olga Julia Everard Williams Hilliard had only one tenant.  That year the building was described in city documents as "for storage of tea."  Within three years she leased the West 10th Street structure to Shephard Warehouses, Inc.  The firm described its operation as "merchandise storage and distribution, express and general trucking, pool car distributers."  Now known as the Shepard Storage Warehouse, it may have been at this time that the pediments with the Everard name were removed.  (When the wonderful observation tower was lost is unclear.)

In 1942, the title to 277-283 West 10th Street was transferred to the 677 Washington Street, Inc. of which Roy H. Becker was president.  He was, not coincidentally, also president of Shepard Warehouses, Inc.  Title was transferred again in 1952 to the R. H. Becker & Co.  For decades going forward it would cater to a variety of tenants that stored goods like paper and twine, carpeting, hangers and even grave vaults.

Martin V. B. Ferdon's focus on fireproofing in 1884 proved critical nearly a century later.  On February 14, 1971, a three-alarm fire destroyed the Rolling T Trucking Company garage next door at 275 West 10th Street.  The New York Times reported the blaze spread to a building on Charles Street "and to Shepards Warehouse, a 12-story building at 667 Washington Street."

Three years later, the Rockrose Development Company appealed to the Board of Standards & Appeals to convert "the former warehouse...to residential use with two stores on the first floor," as reported by The Villager on October 24.   The approval would require zoning map changes, since the parcel was in a district "in which residential uses were not permitted."

The board approved the changes and in 1978 a conversion designed by architect Bernard Rothzied was completed, with twelve apartments per floor.  A subsequent renovation resulted in three, four or seven apartments per floor with two duplex units in part of the 11th and 12th floors.  At some point most of the Washington Street cornice was removed, leaving an awkward, unfinished appearance.

many thanks to reader Justine Lee for requestion this post

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The Maurice H. Harris House - 254 West 103rd Street

 

On April 30, 1892, the Real Estate Record & Guide reported on the just-completed group of homes at the southeast corner of West End Avenue and 103rd Street.  Five houses faced the avenue, while two opened onto 103rd Street.  "The houses have been built under the direct supervision of Messrs. Drought & Carew, who are among our most conscientious builders, and will stand the most critical inspection," said the article."  They were designed by architect Martin V. B. Ferdon.  The large corner house was four stories tall--a full floor higher than the others.  And its 15-foot-long, two-story extension to the east left 254 West 103rd Street somewhat estranged from its architectural siblings.

254 West 103rd Street, at the left, was a sort of step-sister to the other houses.  A balustrade ran above its rounded bay.  Real Estate Record & Guide, April 30, 1892 (copyright expired)

The article noted that the floors in rooms where carpets would be used were finished in hard pine, while "those of the halls, dining-rooms and foyer halls [had] oak parquette flooring."  The up-to-date amenities included "the latest scientific sanitary" plumbing, "electric annunciators, burglar alarms and speaking tubes."   (The annunciators were a system of push-buttons in various rooms that lit up a board in the basement level, telling servants the room from which the call had been made.  Speaking tubes allowed the servants and residents to then communicate.)

The wooden fireplaces in each of the major rooms matched the trim work.  The Record & Guide described the finish of the wood throughout as "like satin."  "The hall and dining-room and foyer hall are wainscoted high with paneled oak, and in the arches between the front and foyer halls and the staircases, Moorish fret-work imparts a richness to the finishes which is sure to meet with general admiration."  The "Moorish fret-work" reappeared on the second floor between the bedrooms and dressing rooms (those rooms were further separated by portieres).  The bedroom windows were embellished with "cathedral" or stained glass.  The top floors contained two large bedrooms, front and rear, and "marble lavatories and commodious clothes presses built into the rooms."

The Record & Guide mentioned, "In external appearance the houses are dignified and reposeful.  They are constructed of brown stone of selected quality, with just enough of ornamental sculpture to develop the grace and beauty of the design."

The intricate carvings included ribboned festoons, an urn and a bowl of fruit.

No. 254 West 103rd Street first became home to the John M. Hayward family.  Somewhat surprisingly, upon his death the house was bequeathed to his sons, William T. and Frank E. Hayward.  (The title to primary residences was most often held by the wife within well-to-do families and, if not, was normally inherited by her.)  The sons transferred title to their mother, Caroline A. Hayward, in January 1902.

She did not remain long.  In October 1903 an advertisement in the New York Herald touted the "exceptional three story dwelling."  It pointed out the advantages of the low extension of the house next door, allowing for "permanent side windows," a rare advantage in row houses.  Caroline listed the property at $25,000 (about $795,000 in 2023).

The house changed hands several times.  Caroline Hayward sold it to John Monks, who sold it to Sarah Wohigemuth in 1904.  She resold it to the Rev. Dr. Maurice H. Harris on February 1, 1906.

Born in London on November 9, 1859, Harris came from a rabbinical tradition.  Both his father, Henry L. Harris, and his brother, Isidore, were rabbis in England.  He arrived in the United States at the age of 19, first going into business.  The New York Times later said he was "one of the pioneer telegraph company promoters."  Then, in 1883 at the age of 24 and while attending Columbia University and the Temple Emanu-El Theological Seminary, he took a job as a "student-preacher" in a small Harlem synagogue.  It afforded him the income to pay for his education.

He was ordained in 1884, received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1887, and his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in 1889.  Around that time he married Kitty Green.

Harris's ordainment came at a time when a great number of Russian Jews were flooding into Manhattan.  He worked to help the new arrivals, founding the Federation Settlement and the Jewish Protectory.  He would later help found the Jewish Board of Guardians.

The Harrises had three children, Naomi, Ruth, and Adriel.  By the time they moved into the 103rd Street house, Harris was rabbi of Temple Israel of Harlem, on Lenox Avenue and 120th Street.  

The duties of a priest, minister or rabbi often require delicate diplomacy.  Such was the case on the afternoon of November 1, 1906 when Benjamin Grifenhagen, son of Alderman Max Grifenhagen, and Ermentine Kassel knocked on the door of 254 West 103rd Street and requested to be married.  Young Grifenhagen was 21 years old and his fiancée was 18.  Rev. Harris slyly sent the couple out on an errand, then quickly telephoned the alderman, who was just sitting down to lunch.

As he suspected, Grifenhagen had no idea of his son's plans to marry.  When told who his potential daughter-in-law was, he replied, "Kassel?  Oh yes!  Oh yes!  But good gracious!  Why they've only known one another since last Sunday!"

As it turned out, the Grifenhagen and Kassel families had attended the silver wedding anniversary of a family in Tuxedo, where the young couple met.  Alderman Grifenhagen told Harris he needed to make some calls--one to his wife and another to the Kassels.  

"You'll have to be quick," said Harris.  "I sent them out to look for witnesses.  It was a kind of a ruse.  I felt it my duty to let you know.  they'll be back in a few minutes."

Before long Alderman Grifenhagen was in the Harris study.  The families, who admired one another, had agreed to the match.  Grifenhagen told a reporter, "It was a case of love at first sight with the pair of them, and I suppose there's no way of checking a thing like that."  Nevertheless, he "had a little talk" with his son, during which he said "he should have though it worth while to consult us before he took such a step."

The Rev. Dr. Maurice Henry Harris.  The New York Times, June 24, 1930

Rev. Maurice Harris would officiate over a wedding eight years later that was much more personal.  On October 3, 1914 he and Kitty announced Naomi's engagement to George M. Wolfson.  The Sun reported, "The Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Harris will give a reception for their daughter and her finance at their home next Sunday."

In his study, Harris wrote several books, among them Jewish History and Literature, Hebraic Literature: Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala, A Thousand Years of Jewish History, and The People of the Book: From the Creation to the Death of Moses.  He was described by Dr. Alexander Lyons as "one of the most distinguished figures of the American Jewish pulpit for almost half a century."

It may have been the plans to demolish the corner house and two of the West End Avenue houses to make way for a Rosario Candela designed apartment building that prompted the Harrises to sell 254 West 103rd Street to H. P. Bradford in 1921.  On January 4, the New-York Tribune noted, "The new owner will alter it into apartments."

Snarling griffins flank the slightly-eroded face of a man above the doorway.

Instead, Bradford sold it four months later to Dr. M. Muldberg for $35,000 (about $530,000 in today's money).  Muldberg immediate made interior upgrades, including updated plumbing.

Given the home's ownership by a rabbi for decades, its use during the early Depression years is a bit shocking.  On January 8, 1929, The New York Sun reported on two speakeasy raids made by Inspector Day just after midnight.  At 254 West 103rd Street, waiter Frank Martin was arrested and charged with possession of alcohol.  

Two years later, on April 16, 1931, the newspaper reported that William Morrison, 39, a former detective who lived at 501 West 162nd street, had been arrested.  Two rookie cops, Robert Brown and Jesse Taylor, according to the article, "went to work at 8 A. M. in plain clothes and their first tip concerned Morrison.  They went to the speakeasy at 254 West 103rd street Morrison is alleged to own and to disguise themselves dressed in overalls, pretending to be mechanics."

Morrison initially refused them entry, but they convinced him, "It's all right.  We're okay."  Each of the pair dropped a quarter in a slot machine and had no luck.  "The hell with that!" said Brown.  "Let's have a drink."

They ordered drinks, paid for them, and then "laid heavy hands on Morrison's shoulders."  The disgraced former detective was charged with "selling liquor in a speakeasy and operating a slot machine."  

A subsequent renovation in 1944 resulted in unofficial apartments.  Among the tenants was Florence Sharp, who was under the microscope of the Federal Government in 1953 for her position as legislative director of the Eleventh Assembly District Club, accused by a Senate Subcommittee of printing Communist propaganda.

In 1954 the basement, once home to a speakeasy, was converted to a small synagogue.  Living on the third floor in 1993 were television engineer Peter Feldman and Kerstin Hasenpusch.  After spending three months fixing up the apartment before moving in, they received an eviction notice three days later.  The couple fought the owner in court--refusing a $5,000 offer to leave and determined to save the threatened structure.  They triumphed and bought the vintage house.  

Working with architect James Wagman, the couple began the painstaking process of restoration.  The painted woodwork was removed, refinished and reinstalled; the windows were replaced (sadly, with flat instead of curved panes, a budgeting necessity); and the plumbing was updated, among other projects.

The last surviving remnant of Drought & Carew's 1892 project on the block, 254 West 103rd Street looks a bit lonely between the soaring apartment buildings on either side.  Nevertheless, the facade carvings, once deemed "just enough," still impart the "grace and beauty" they did over 130 years ago.

photographs by the author

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Martin V. B. Ferndon's 1894 77-79 Hudson Street

 

Charles Welsh was a jeweler, but he augmented his income through real estate development--much of it in the rapidly transforming district known today as Tribeca.  In 1885 he purchased the building at 77 Hudson Street.  Eight years later, on February 16, 1893 William D. Tweddle purchased the three-story brick store next door at 79 Hudson Street from Edgar Schieffelin.  Now the two joined forces to erect a modern warehouse on the site.

Welsh had previously worked with architect Martin V. B. Ferdon on three Tribeca projects.  In 1894 he and Tweedle hired him to design their warehouse at 77 and 79 Hudson Street.  The six-story structure was completed the following year.  Above the cast iron storefront, Ferdon's tripartite design included two identical sections at the second and third, and fourth and fifth floors.  Shallow, two-story piers between the openings rose to  continuous stair-stepped lintels.  Prim, molded intermediate cornices defined the sections.  Above the understated sixth floor, a Romanesque style corbel table took the place of a showier cornice.

The neighborhood was by now the center of what was known as the butter and egg district.  Among the initial occupants of 77-79 Hudson Street were Hayn & Day, commission merchants in butter, cheese and eggs; and the A. F. Stone Company, which, according to The New York Times in 1896, "deals in druggists' and grocers' specialties."

One tenant not involved in dairy products was Seville Packaging Co., here by 1897.  The company imported and packaged products from France, Spain and Morocco.

Seville Packaging Co. promoted its olive-based relish, Pim-Olas.  The Illustrated American, 1897 (copyright expired)

The firm dealt in products like olives and olive-related products, such as relishes and olive oil, under the brand name Pim-Olas.  Later, in the 20th century, the brand name Goya would become the firm's main label.

In 1899 the building was renovated for the Harrison Street Cold Storage Company, which also had facilities at 3 through 11 Harrison Street and 12 Harrison Street.  The firm sublet space to butter, eggs and cheese tenants like Pitt, Barnum & Co., and Horneman-May Co.

The Merchants' Refrigerating Company took over the lease in 1919.  It, too, had additional locations.  Established in May 1894, it remained in the building until the 1931, when George W. Welsh leased it to the George F. Wagner Company.

The Commercial Advertiser, July 1937

The wholesale egg, butter and cheese firm was founded in 1905 by George F. Wagner and by now his two sons, Robert and Stanley, were involved in the business.  The firm remained in the building until its merger with the June Dairy Products Co. in March 1950.  That same year the Welsh family sold the property.

A full width sign above the storefront announces Geo. F. Wagner Co. around 1941.  via NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

The building became home to the Atalanta Trade Corp., a member of the Cheese Importers Association of America, Inc.  The firm would remain for decades.  

Vintage refrigeration doors survive within some of the residential lofts.  photo by Joyce Wu

But the third quarter of the 20th century saw tremendous change overtake Tribeca.  One-by-one its lofts were renovated to upscale residential space, while the storefronts became home to trendy shops, galleries and restaurants.  In 1997 a renovation to 77-79 Hudson Street resulted in one residential loft per floor above a restaurant.  Externally, not much has changed to the vintage structure since the days when crates of olive relish and the aromas of cheese filled the floors.

photographs by the author

many thanks to reader Joyce Wu for requesting this post

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