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| Tall windows replace the original doorway above the sidewalk after removal of the brownstone stoop. |
Prior to the Civil War, the streets around Washington Square were among the most fashionable in the city. Wealthy New Yorkers moved into wide brownstone or brick residences filled with costly furniture from the shops of Henry Belter or Joseph Meeks.
West 10th Street, between the Fifth and Sixth Avenue, was one such street. A stylish Greek Revival-style home was erected at No. 56 (renumbered 14 in 1868) in 1854-55. Constructed of red brick with brownstone trim over an English basement, it was exceptionally wide and spacious.
It became home to James Boorman Johnston and his family. Born in 1822, he was an executive in Boorman, Johnston & Co., founded by his father. He was, as well, a founder of the Metropolitan Underground Railroad and the Broadway Underground Railroad. His wife was the former Mary Hoppins Humphreys, a member of the Colonial Dames of America.
The socially-active Johnstons were highly involved in artistic and charitable causes. James Boorman Johnston was one of a group of men including Albert Bierstadt, James Beekman, and James F. D. Lanier who, in 1864, incorporated to establish a library, reading room and gallery of art “and any other means deemed proper” for the purpose of “promoting the advancement of Literature and Art.”
In 1857, Johnston commissioned architect Richard Morris Hunt to design America's first artists' studio-and-residence building, the Tenth Street Studio Building. Opened in 1858, the mecca of artists and sculptors would transform the block of West 10th Street to the center of Greenwich Village arts.
By the time of Johnston's death on May 16, 1887, the family had moved to 7 West 53rd Street.
In 1897 Fred H. Andrew was living at No. 14. A cyclist, he had the bad luck to collide with little eight-year-old William Murtha on Hudson Street, breaking the boy’s leg. Andrew was arrested for reckless bicycle riding.
It was in 1900, however, that the house drew the attention of the press and the curious when the author and satirist Samuel Clemens took up residency with his family. Years later Mark Twain’s daughter would recall, “One could never describe the atmosphere of adulation that swept across the threshold.” This was reportedly Twain’s favorite among the several residences in which he lived in New York and here the author and his wife entertained lavishly.
In 1897 Fred H. Andrew was living at No. 14. A cyclist, he had the bad luck to collide with little eight-year-old William Murtha on Hudson Street, breaking the boy’s leg. Andrew was arrested for reckless bicycle riding.
It was in 1900, however, that the house drew the attention of the press and the curious when the author and satirist Samuel Clemens took up residency with his family. Years later Mark Twain’s daughter would recall, “One could never describe the atmosphere of adulation that swept across the threshold.” This was reportedly Twain’s favorite among the several residences in which he lived in New York and here the author and his wife entertained lavishly.
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| The feisty author, Mark Twain, lived at No. 14 from 1900 to 1901 - photo World Almanac |
Twain was living here when one of his maid servants, Kate Leary, was overcharged by cabman William Beck by 50 cents for a ride from Grand Central Station to the house. When Twain confronted the man about the $1.50 fare (which should have been $1.00), the cabbie gave him a false cab number and fled. Twain’s butler chased the cab on foot to get the correct number. William Beck soon realized that 50 cents was not worth incurring the wrath of Samuel Clemens.
Despite the piddling amount, Twain took the cabbie to court to prove a point of principal, resulting in Beck’s losing his cab license.
“What a damn fool that cabman was!” Twain said upon leaving the courtroom.
Charles W. Wetmore, president of several concerns including the North American Company, leased the residence when Clemens moved out in 1901. Wetmore was a leading force in the New York Yacht Club and its annual competition for the Americas Cup.
The list of wealthy residents continued when, later, the prominent John Farr family purchased No. 14. Farr, a leader in the sugar industry, was the vice president of the Guayama Railroad and sat on the board of several companies. The Farrs had two sons and two daughters. The house was the scene of elegant coming-out parties for daughters, Edith and Frances.
The Farrs’ names often appeared upon the society pages of The New York Times, especially for the highly publicized and socially important marriage in 1921 of Edith to William Montague Geer, Jr., the son of the Rev. Dr. William Montague Geer, Vicar Emeritus of St. Paul’s Chapel.
John Farr died in 1933, and five years later Frances sold the house to the Fourteen Ten Corporation which immediately announced its plans to convert it into a ten-family apartment--two apartments per floor. The brownstone stoop of 14 West 10th Street was lost in the renovation and the entrance moved to the basement level.
Despite the piddling amount, Twain took the cabbie to court to prove a point of principal, resulting in Beck’s losing his cab license.
“What a damn fool that cabman was!” Twain said upon leaving the courtroom.
Charles W. Wetmore, president of several concerns including the North American Company, leased the residence when Clemens moved out in 1901. Wetmore was a leading force in the New York Yacht Club and its annual competition for the Americas Cup.
The list of wealthy residents continued when, later, the prominent John Farr family purchased No. 14. Farr, a leader in the sugar industry, was the vice president of the Guayama Railroad and sat on the board of several companies. The Farrs had two sons and two daughters. The house was the scene of elegant coming-out parties for daughters, Edith and Frances.
The Farrs’ names often appeared upon the society pages of The New York Times, especially for the highly publicized and socially important marriage in 1921 of Edith to William Montague Geer, Jr., the son of the Rev. Dr. William Montague Geer, Vicar Emeritus of St. Paul’s Chapel.
John Farr died in 1933, and five years later Frances sold the house to the Fourteen Ten Corporation which immediately announced its plans to convert it into a ten-family apartment--two apartments per floor. The brownstone stoop of 14 West 10th Street was lost in the renovation and the entrance moved to the basement level.
image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services
The relatively quiet tradition of No. 14 was jolted when resident Joel Steinberg beat to death his six-year-old adopted daughter, Jessica, inside the house in November 1987. The subsequent discovery of his repeated physical abuse to both the sad-faced little girl and Steinberg’s common-law wife, Hedda Nussbaum, shocked the city and the nation.
New York lore speaks of 22 people dying in 14 West 10th Street over the years, some of them haunting its halls; while some report that Mark Twain himself is seen on its staircase. Although it is called by some “The House of Death;” in fact, a score of residents dying over the course of 160 years in any residence would be expected, especially considering that wealthy Victorians and Edwardians normally received medical treatment at home, rather than in a hospital.
Haunted or not, 14 West 10th Street–even without its stoop -- is a charming and elegant component of an equally-charming residential street.
non-credited photographs taken by the author
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