The 1887 Julius Sands House - 12 East 78th Street

 

Surrounded by modern mansions by the early 20th century, No. 12 refused to cede to change.

Charles Graham was the principal of C. Graham & Sons--one of the most active real estate development and construction firms in New York City in the late 19th century.  His son, Thomas, who trained in the architectural office of Jardine & Thompson, designed a row of six upscale rowhouses at 10 through 20 East 78th Street for the firm in 1886.   Completed the following year, the 20-foot wide, four-story and basement residences were designed in the Renaissance Revival style.

Like its neighbors, 12 East 78th Street was 20-feet wide and four stories high above an English basement.  Its Renaissance Revival design was restrained in terms of decoration.  Panels of delicately carved flowers and vines adorned the parlor level door and window.  Each of the upper openings above sat within architrave frames on prominent sills supported by handsome brackets.  Like the beefy stone stoop newels and railings, the sheet-metal cornice recalled the Italianate style.

In December 1886, shortly before construction was completed, Graham sold the 12-room house to Julius Sands for $48,000--about $1.35 million today.  As was customary, title was put in the name of his wife, the former Esther H. Levy.

Sands was a wealthy dry goods merchant.  Born in German in 1840, he had gone west to Montana upon arriving in America as a young man.  There he opened a dry goods business.  Fully recognizing the opportunities of the developing frontier, he later relocated to Denver where he opened a brewery, founded the Sands Land and Title Company, and the Sands Dry Goods Company.  In 1873 he left the operation of the western businesses in control of his brother and moved to New York City.

He and Esther had three children, Rosa S., Minnie E., and Willard E.  Rosa's debut into society was one of the first major entertainments in the house.  On January 8, 1892 The Jewish Messenger reported, "Mr. and Mrs. Julius Sands and Miss Sands, 12 East 78th street, will receive their friends on the afternoon of the 14th inst.; the young folks are invited to a dance during the evening."

The Sands, like all other wealthy New Yorkers, routinely traveled to Europe.  It presented a problem for valued servants who did not travel with the family and were not needed at home in their absence.  Socialites often placed ads hoping to find them a job.  On May 16, 1894 Esther announced, "A lady going to Europe wishes to obtain a situation for her cook; she is thoroughly competent and reliable; German."

At around 7:00 on the morning of January 20, 1896 a servant girl took a delivery of milk at the basement door.  The Sun reported, "When the maid got the milk she walked out into the kitchen with it and laid the can down on the window sill.  Then she dipped some of it out into a smaller can and started upstairs."  She carelessly had forgotten to close the basement door which, apparently, was being watched.

While on an upper floor the maid busied herself with tidying up rooms.   About 30 minutes later Esther heard the front door bang shut, but assumed it was the maid.  That maid, however, also heard the bang and went to investigate.  It was then that she found the basement door still open.  The Sun reported, "Everything was in order in the parlor, but in the dining room the girl's suspicions were confirmed.  All of the sideboard drawers were open, and every bit of silver had been taken from them."

The New-York Tribune said, "It was noticed that the thieves only took solid silver articles...The police say that one thief could not have carried off all the silverware stolen, and they are sure that two thieves did the job."  The brazen burglars had made off with $12,600 worth of silver in today's money.   This was not the first time the Sands had been robbed.  Julius had regained his previously stolen property by paying a reward and once again offered a generous reward for the family silver.  (One might assume that the maid was soon looking for a new job.)

The year 1903 was a traumatic one for the Esther.   On June 10, the New York Herald reported, "Julius Sands died Monday at his home, No. 12 East Seventy-sixth street."  He had been actively involved in Jewish social organizations and charities, including the Progress Club, the Hebrew Technical Institute, the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children and the West End Synagogue.

The grief-ridden widow left town shortly after the funeral.  On June 23 The Sun announced, "Mrs. Julius Sands...is booked to sail on Thursday for Europe."  Her stay was short and she was home in time to accept an invitation to the home of her sister, Maria, on August 24.  

Maria, was married to Philip Kleeberg and the couple lived in an opulent mansion at 3 Riverside Drive.  Things were possibly not going extremely smoothly in the relationship, with Philip maintaining a second house for his own purposes.  It is possible that Esther and society in general were unaware of the domestic problems, since pretenses would have been rigorously maintained.

After dinner that evening the party took a drive along Riverside Drive, then returned to the terrace where they sat and chatted.  At one point Maria excused herself.  When she did not return, Esther became concerned and followed.  The Sun reported, "She opened the door just as Mrs. Kleeberg put a bottle to her lips.  Mrs. Sands knocked the bottle, which was filled with carbolic acid, to the floor."

Badly burned by the acid, Esther ran downstairs and instructed the servants to summon a doctor.  By the time the ambulance arrived Maria Kleeberg was dead.

Esther soon left East 78th Street.  An auction of the contents of the house was held on September 20, 1904.  The catalogue listed items from the drawing room, including a "magnificent Louis XVI suite...fine solid bronzes and bronze groups, Louis XVI Ormolu clock sets [and] very large and rare pieces Capo di Monti Royal Worcester."  There were a Weber white mahogany grand piano, silverware by Tiffany and Gorham, and "massive hand carved sideboard, table, chairs and cabinets."

(As an interesting side note, Julius Sands' estate was administered by broker Arthur S. Levy.  He committed suicide in 1913 when it was discovered he had embezzled $500,000 from the estate, according to The Sun.)

By the time of the auction, Esther had already sold the residence to Sidney M. Sternbach.  He was a member in the law firm of Popper & Sternbach.  (Arthur William Popper was the brother of Sternbach's wife, Minnie.)  The couple maintained a summer home in Deal, New Jersey.

When the house was sold in 1943, newspapers reported, "the buyer will occupy."  But instead it was quickly renovated into apartments, one per floor.  The large units were leased to well-to-do tenants whose names appeared in the society columns over the coming decades.  

Dr Byron Smith purchased the house in 1981 and maintained his oculoplastic practice in the ground floor.  According to his son, Lindsay, the family "renovated the entire house and kept the four apartments above.  The tenants were all celebrities, Pia and Chantell Miller, John Bowes Lyon, Coco Blaffer, Linda Scott Pitts."  The Smith's retained possession until 1992, when it was sold to an Italian-based firm.  Another renovation completed in 1996 resulted in three apartments--two duplexes and a simplex.

The house was purchased in January 2008 for $13.5 million by Matthew and Marisa Brown.  Brown was a managing director of his father-in-law's investment firm, the Fairfield Greenwich Group.  In 1989 Bernie Madoff began overseeing that firm's investment decisions and by 2008 48 percent of its capital was tied to Madoff.  

A year after purchasing the 7,800-square-foot house, the Browns were forced to sell after Madoff's scheme ruined Fairfield Greenwich Group.   They listed it at $12 million, however one real estate agent said, according to The Observer, "make them an offer.  They have to sell it.  I told my guy he should offer them $8 million."   That figure was not far off.  The Browns accepted a $9.75 million offer--$3.75 million less than they had paid only months before.

The house as it appeared before 2012.  photo via StreetEasy.com

A renovation to a single-family residence was begun in 2012.  It included painting the brownstone facade.  Despite its sitting within the Metropolitan Museum Historic District, the painting of the facade forged ahead.  The outward appearance of the house was therefore altered for the first time in 125 years.  The renovations were completed in 2013.

photographs by the author

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The 1887 Michael B. Fielding House - 20 East 78th Street

On Monday, January 25, 1886 Charles Graham & Sons broke ground for its latest project--six upscale homes on the south side of East 78th Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues.  Charles Graham doubled as both the developer and an architect.  His design concept for the row was both interesting and unusual.  According to the Real Estate Record & Builder's Guide, "Their dimensions will vary, one being 26x100.5, one 25x60, two 20x60, and two 17x90."  The central four homes were designed as pairs of two mirror-image structures.  The two end houses, Nos. 20 and 10, had little architecturally to do with either each other nor the rest, other than height.  The $150,000 cost of the project would place the average cost of each at just under $600,000 today.

Charles Graham's original renderings show No. 20 (far left) as it originally appeared.  from the collection of the Avery Archives

Completed in 1887, their blend of red brick and white limestone created a striking contrast.  Graham gave No. 20 a spattering of several architectural styles.  The basement level was clad in rough cut limestone, its entrance below the high stoop with brass railings.  The entrance was flanked by planar stone blocks alternating with undressed bands, looking like mortar oozing from between newly-laid bricks.  Three-quarters of the way up the personality changed as prim fluted pilasters upheld an entablature of delicate carved swags of flowers.  Another floral-carved panel sat directly over the doorway.  A three-sided bay rose to the third floor where a brass railing protected its balcony.  Here Renaissance Revival pediments graced the openings.  The whole was crowned by an elegant bracketed cornice.

In September 1887 Charles Graham & Sons sold No. 20 to Michael Bernard Fielding for "58,000 cash," according to the Record & Guide.  That price would translate to about $1.37 million today.

Born in Troy, New York, Fielding was a former president of the Cotton Exchange and a partner with Nicholas Gwynn in the firm Fielding, Gwynn & Co., cotton factors and commission merchants.  He was also a director in the Corn Exchange Bank.  Decades later Theodore H. Price fondly remembered him as "probably the best extemporaneous speaker that has ever been a member of the Cotton Exchange."

Michael and his wife, the former Mary Ann Ridge, appear to have lived here alone with their servants, their six children now grown.   While the wealthy couple did not own a summer estate, their names appeared at fashionable resorts like Saratoga Springs each year.

On October 17, 1903 the New York Herald reported that Fielding "died from a complication of diseases yesterday," adding that he "had been ill for a long time."  The Brooklyn newspaper The Standard Union noted the same day that "the death of M. B. Fielding was announced on the Cotton Exchange this morning.  Mr. Fielding was vice-president of the exchange in 1872 to 1873 and president in 1882 to 1884."

Fielding's funeral was held in the 78th Street house the following Monday at 2:00 p.m.  Mary remained here for just over a year, selling the house on May 5, 1904 to Isaac David Einstein.  The widower paid $82,500 for the property, or about $2.4 million today.

Born in Laupheim, Germany in 1842, Einstein was president of the International Handkerchief Manufacturing Company.  He came to the United States alone when merely a boy, first settling in Alabama.  When he was 14 he moved to New York and in 1872 established his own business, importing fabrics from Europe.

Isaac was described by one newspaper as "one of the most successful merchants in that line in the country."  Despite its misleading name, the firm not only manufactured handkerchiefs, but other items like lace curtains.  Einstein was involved in rug-making and dyeing firms as well.  

Einstein and his wife, the former Thekla Rieser, enlarged the house.  In July they hired architects Chappell &  Bosworth to design a one-story extension in the rear that cost them around $291,000 in today's dollars.  Like the Fieldings before them, by the time Isaac and Thekla moved into No. 20 their children, Milton and Francis (known as Fannie), were grown.  

As was the case with all the families along the block, the Einsteins maintained a domestic staff.  On October 1, 1916 Thekla placed an advertisement for a servant to do "General Housework, assist with laundry.  Must have First Class personal reference."

Isaac and Thekla would live in No. 20 for three decades.  Despite his advancing age, he remained active and in control of his businesses.  He was a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for years.

On May 11, 1936 the Broadway Association honored Isaac with a luncheon at the Hotel Astor as "the oldest living pioneer merchant associated with 'The Great White Way.'"  In reporting on the event The Niagara Falls Gazette noted that he "witnessed the opening of the Brooklyn bridge in 1883, is Broadway's oldest first nighter [a term applied to the fashionable set who made it a point to attend opening night of Broadway plays] and has seen 23 mayors come and go." 

Einstein told the assemblage, "There used to be farms all over that area next to Times Square, and the retail shopping district was below Canal Street.  Then, too, when I got here there were no telephones or automobiles or skyscrapers.  But outside of that, everything looks pretty much the same."  It would be the last large event the 94-year-old would attend.  

Seven months later, on December 3, The New York Sun reported "A private funeral service will be held for Isaac David Einstein, president and a director of the International Handkerchief Manufacturing Company, who died yesterday at his home, 20 East Seventy-eighth street, following a short illness."

Thekla Rieser Einstein remained at No. 20 until 1944 when she moved into a suite in the Hotel Plaza.  She died there in October 1953 at the age of 87.

In 1965 a renovation of the house resulted in a triplex apartment in the basement through second floors, and one apartment each on the third and fourth.  At this time the stoop was removed and the entrance lowered to the basement, below sidewalk level.

When the stoop was removed the cast iron newels were retained as gate posts.

Then in 1997 plans were filed to return the house to a single-family residence.   It was home to filmmaker Pia Christina Getty until 2003 when she sold it for $14 million to financier Michael Price and his wife, Jennifer.  The couple hired David Easton to redesign the interiors.   Michael and Mary Ann Fielding would have found the basement gym and wine cellar startling.

The library...

and the entrance hall in 2016.  photos via observer.com

The Prices put the house on the market in the spring of 2016 for $38 million.  The real estate broker described seven bedrooms, 8.5 baths and a double-height windowed gallery" with a distinctly European sensibility."  Security was ensured by a bulletproof entrance door, infrared detectors and cameras inside, as well as a panic room with telephone, 12 television monitors, a refrigerator and stock of food supplies.

The 1887 brass balcony railing has achieved a delicious green patina in its more than 130-year existence.

While the interior of the Fielding house went through the elaborate changes, the outside has survived nearly intact, albeit without its 1887 stoop.

photographs by the author