The 1894 Wm. and Harriette Greene House - 410 West 149th Street

 

Players in the real estate field in the late 19th century included several powerful women who held their own with their male counterparts.  Among them was Susan Orcutt who focused much of her attention on the developing Sugar Hill area of Harlem.   On May 19, 1893 her architect, Christian Steinmetz filed plans for seven three-story stone-faced dwellings on 149th Street, between St. Nicholas and Convent Avenues.  Each would be 19 feet wide and cost $14,000--or around $403,000 today.

Steinmetz designed the row as a pleasing assortment of styles. He drew mainly from Romanesque and Renaissance Revival but took creative license.  Among them was No. 410, faced in rough cut limestone in keeping with its medieval-inspired Romanesque Revival design.  Three stories tall above an English basement, its entrance was embellished by two floating engaged columns which upheld a blank entablature.  A bowed bay at the second floor would have provided a cozy sitting nook inside.  Steinmetz forwent a cornice for a stone parapet with a peak.

Susan Orcutt apparently stretched herself too thin on the project, finance-wise.  Just after their completion she lost the entire row to foreclosure.  They were sold to Thomas Charlton, another real estate operator, in September 1894 for $16,000 each--only $2,000 more then they cost to build.

He advertised No. 410 in April the following year saying "$20,000 will buy the 19 foot, stone front three story basement and cellar decorated Dwelling, with extension, at 410 West 149th st; restricted neighborhood."  His mention of a "restricted" neighborhood was important--it meant that no businesses were allowed to encroach on the residential blocks.

There were no buyers, however, and Charlton leased the house until finally selling it in April 1903 to William Z. and Harriette E. Greene.  William was a partner in the real estate firm of Greene & Taylor with Louis R. Taylor.

The Greenes had no children, an important detail when Harriette was looking for a maid a few months later.  Her ad read "Wanted--a girl for general housework, two in family, private house."

The couple lived quietly in the house, drawing no press coverage for either scandal or social activities.  Harriette died in the house on June 4, 1910.  Interestingly her funeral was not held in the parlor, as was common, but in Our Lady of Lourdes church nearby on Convent Avenue.

In October William sold No. 410 to Josephine C. Wood.  She owned it only seven months, losing it to foreclosure in May 1911.  It was purchased by Julia Nusbaum at auction for $16,651, or about $462,000 today.  Like the Greenes, the Nusbaums drew no attention to themselves.  They lived here until 1920 when the house was sold to William Manning.

By now the neighborhood had greatly changed.  Subways were extended to the area in 1904 making it much more accessible.  A rash of apartment building construction followed.  Many of the private homes were being converted to rooming and boarding houses, and that was the fate of No. 410.

Two of the roomers in 1932 were from Pittsburgh.  On November 12 that year The New York Age reported that they had joined with a neighbor, Lewis E. Dial who lived on Edgecombe Avenue, to search for other former Pittsburgh residents.  "Purpose--to organize a New York Pittsburgh club," said the article.

Little has changed since this photo was taken around 1941.  via the Dept of Records & Information Services

A young couple moved from Ohio and took rooms here in 1933.  They went to the Harlem Furniture Co. on Eighth Avenue and paid $12 on furniture; but when it arrived they realized they had been duped.  The New York Age reported on March 4, 1933, "it was not what they had chosen, but, instead, some dilapidated pieces."  They took the store management to court where Magistrate Renaud asserted that the operation "was nothing but a racket by which several Negroes were robbed of their money by fraudulent furniture dealers."  He ordered the owner to give the couple their $12 on the spot.

Despite the victory, something continued to nag at Esther Miller.  Three months later, on June 10, The New York Age reported that the 31-year old had been rushed to Harlem Hospital after attempting suicide by swallowing bichloride of mercury.   There Dr. Payne deemed her condition serious.

Mason Stokes's name appeared in print in 1937 for a joyous and then a not-so-joyous reason.  On July 31 The New York Age reported that he had obtained his license to married Susie Taylor.  Two weeks later he was arrested for speeding on the Cross County Parkway in Queens.  The Herald Statesmen reported that he "was given the choice of $5 fine or a day in jail.  He took the jail sentence."

On January 12, 1944 Maude Miller came back to her apartment to find that the door had been forced open.  Her fur coat and radio were gone.  She seems to have been most concerned about the radio, which she valued at $250, or about $3,630 in today's money.  Police found the radio in a pawn shop on Amsterdam Avenue.  The shop owner identified 22-year old Francis Williams as the man who brought it in, and he was arrested.

Maude was most likely disappointed when the Nassau Daily Review-Star reported on February 5 that "A charge of grand larceny pending here against Francis Williams, 22, colored...was reduced to petty larceny by Magistrate Charles E. Ramsgate after a hearing in felony court today."

In 1957 Grace Wright and Gale Page shared an apartment here.  The couple got into a heated argument at 3:15 on the morning of April 21--so heated that a policeman was called to intercede.  The Daily News reported "All he was trying to do, Patrolman Terrance Rasamen explained, was to act as peacemaker in a brawl between Grace Wright, 25, and Gale Page, 29, at their home."  Suddenly the peacemaker became the enemy.  "But, he said, the woman belted him with her shoe, and Page punched him."  Both were arrested on charges of felonious assault.

A renovation completed in 1989 brought the house back to a single family home.  

photograph by the author

The Peter F. McCoy House - 414 West 149th Street

Susan Orcutt was a prolific developer in the last decade of the 19th century, focusing much of her attention on the developing Sugar Hill area of Harlem.   On May 19, 1893 her architect, Christian Steinmetz filed plans for seven three-story stone-faced dwellings on 149th Street, between St. Nicholas and Convent Avenues.  Each would be 19 feet wide and cost $14,000--around $403,000 today.

Steinmetz designed the row as a pleasing assortment of styles. He drew mainly from Romanesque and Renaissance Revival but took creative license.  No. 414 was essentially Romanesque Revival with stoop newels capped with medieval style carvings and heavy rough-cut brownstone blocks facing the facade.  But unlike its fraternal twin at No. 410, which stayed much truer to the Romanesque style, its openings were rectangular like its Renaissance Revival neighbors.  The offset gable with blind openings smacked heavily of the Queen Anne style.

No. 410, two doors away, is a near match but more closely adhers to the Romanesque style.

The row was completed in 1894.  Susan Orcutt sold No. 414 to builder and architect John P. Leo.  The president of the newly-formed Builders' League of New York, he apparently used the house simply for rental income.

In January 1896 Leo sold the residence to Peter F. McCoy.  He, too, was involved in real estate, the president of the Ethelia Realty Company.  McCoy's first wife, Margaret, had died in March 1884 at just 35-years old.  Two years later he married Anna R. Hogan.

The McCoy family included Alice Regeina, Ethel Regina, Angelia, Walter, Harvey, and Peter, Jr.  A year after they moved in, their population was increased by the birth of Rosina on July 10, 1897.  Tragically, the little girl died a year later just ten days after her first birthday.  Her funeral was held in the drawing room of the home.

On August 8, 1901 the New York Herald reported "Announcement is made of the engagement of Miss Alice Regeina McCoy...to Mr. John Monks, Jr."  The article added, "Miss McCoy is an attractive and accomplished young woman...She has been at Long Beach, L. I., for several weeks, but will leave there in a few days for the White Mountains, where she intends to remain until some time in September."

Alice Regeina McCoy - New York Herald, August 8, 1901 (copyright expired)

And so it was presumably on Long Island that Alice read the news of her engagement.  And she was not pleased.  Two days later the same newspaper printed a much different article.

Miss Alice Regeina McCoy, daughter of Mr. Peter F. McCoy, of No. 414 West 149th street, requests the Herald to contradict the announcement of her engagement to Mr. John Monks, Jr., of this city.  The announcement was made originally in the Herald on Thursday, on the authority of Miss McCoy's stepmother.  Yesterday Miss McCoy, who is spending the summer at Long Beach, telephoned that she had no intention of marrying Mr. Monks or anyone else at present."

Despite that unpleasant incident, the family forged on.  In 1904 Anna placed a help wanted ad for a "respectable girl to do upstairs work and assist with children."

At some point Anna's widowed father, Michael Hogan, moved in with the family.  He died in the house on November 29, 1915.   His prestige within the Roman Catholic community was reflected in his funeral being celebrated with a solemn requiem mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral.

In 1908 20-year old Peter, Jr. graduated from Columbia University.  Four years later he earned his law degree from the New York Law School.  On January 10, 1918, now associated with the law firm Eaton, Lewis & Rowe, he was elected to membership of the executive committee of the Bank of Washington Heights.

On April 3, 1918 Peter McCoy, Sr. died in the 149th Street house.  His funeral was held there before his casket was taken to St. Catherine's Church prior to the burial.

In October 1920 the family was looking for additional staff.  An advertisement in The New York Herald read "Man and wife wanted in private house."  An ad in another newspaper explained their intended roles more specifically:  cook and driver.

There was no drama this time when Anna announced the engagement of Ethel Regina to William Lane Donovan on September 21, 1921.   The wedding took place in St. Patrick's Cathedral on January 10, 1922.  The impressive ceremony included two monsignors among the celebrants.  Peter escorted the bride down the aisle and Angelia was the maid of honor.  Walter (now a physician) and Harvey served as ushers.  The only member of the family not mentioned in press coverage was Alice Regeina, who possibly had not reconciled with her step-mother.

A year before the wedding Peter was named Assistant United States Attorney.  His focus was on mail and investment fraud.   Among his most visible cases came soon afterward.  The New York Times later wrote "Mr. McCoy was instrumental in breaking up the nation-wide blind pool, or participating syndicates known as the 'Ponzi System...He prosecuted many persons accused of counterfeiting, selling narcotics and violating the Food and Drug Acts."

Peter was still living in the 149th Street house when on March 7, 1924 the Columbia Alumni News reported that he was "still an assistant United States District Attorney...handling bucketing investigation and commercial frauds."

In 1926 Peter was named Assistant United States Attorney General, assigned to break up mail frauds.  Afterward in the private sector he served as a counsel for the General Electric Co. and other large corporations.

The McCoy family left No. 414 not long afterward.  It was seemingly being operated as a rooming house in 1937 when the Department of Buildings deemed it an "unsafe building."  It may have been at this time, while correcting the conditions, that the owners altered the interiors to apartments.  

Whenever that conversion was completed, however, no official Certificate of Occupancy was granted.  It was not until 2015--most likely after a request from the owner's bank--that a Letter of No Objection to the apartments was issued by Department of Buildings.  The former McCoy house has nine apartments today.

photographs by the author