The Haworth - 239 West 103rd Street

 

photograph by Anthony Bellov

Clarence Fagan True opened his architectural practice in 1889.  He would design at least 270 rowhomes on the Upper West Side before the turn of the century, earning him the moniker "the Face of the Upper West Side." In 1898, developer Lawrence Buckley gave True a rare commission--that of designing an apartment building on 103rd Street between Broadway and West End Avenue, rather than a row of townhomes.

Completed in 1899 at a cost of $60,000 (about $2.4 million in 2026), the six-story-and-basement Haworth was faced in beige Roman brick and trimmed in limestone.  Above a short stoop, the arched entrance sat within an impressive portico with Scamozzi columns, a wide entablature decorated with Renaissance designs and a carved ornament.  

photograph by Anthony Bellov

True outlined the lower and midsection with stone quoins and placed the windows within Gibbs surrounds.  The elegant stone-faced top floor sat below an overhanging roof.  Its round-arched openings were separated by paired, engaged Scammozi columns.

An advertisement on March 11, 1899 warned potential renters, "six Apartments only remaining unleased."  It described the apartments as being "fully decorated, tiled bathroom, &c., &c."  The advertisement boasted an electric elevator, electric lights, and steam heat.  It said that the Haworth offered "full attendance," meaning that the building's staff included uniformed "hall boys" would be on call to carry packages, deliver mail, and such; and an elevator operator.  Rent for the seven-room apartments was $70, or $2,800 per month today.

The tenants maintained small domestic staffs, and in 1899 help-wanted ads appeared in newspapers seeking maids, cooks and laundresses.  

Among the initial residents was William McKinley Forbes.  Born in Scotland in 1814, he arrived in America in the 1830s.  He operated a dry goods business in Brooklyn before retiring around 1879.  Sadly, the 85-year-old widower would not enjoy his new apartment for long.  On May 3, 1899, just weeks after moving in, he died here.

Another distinguished tenant at the time was Samuel Reeve.  He descended from eight generations of American Reeves, the first of whom settled in Long Island.  Born in 1807, Samuel Reeve came to New York City at the age of 15.  The New-York Tribune remarked that he "cast his first vote for John Quincy Adams for President."  Like William Forbes, he was retired and a widower.  (His late wife was Ann Amelia Caroline Remsen.)  For years he had operated a merchant tailoring establishment in the St. Nicholas Hotel.  He died in his apartment on December 22, 1903 at the age of 96 and his funeral was held in the parlor the next day.

Actor Charles Abbott (whose stage name was Charles Abbott Mace) and his wife, Margaret Julia Mitchell, known to audiences as Maggie Mitchell, were also initial residents.  Maggie first appeared on stage at the Chambers Street Theatre in the role of  Julia in The Soldier's Daughter in 1851.  She was an intimate friend of actor John Wilkes Booth.  Ironically, one of her fans was President Abraham Lincoln, who attended her performances at Ford's Theatre.  At one point, Mary Todd Lincoln and the President invited her to tea at the White House.

This portrait of Maggie Mitchell was taken in 1899, the year she moved into the Haworth.  Players of the Present, 1899 (copyright expired)

Maggie and Charles were married in 1889, while co-starring in Boston.  The San Antonio Light would remark about Maggie's personal wealth later, saying, "The stage brought not only fame, but fortune to Maggie Mitchell.  She owned apartment buildings on Manhattan Island and had a [summer] home in the theatrical colony at Long Branch."

Among the hall boys who worked in the Haworth in 1901 was Clinton Ward, who was a favorite of Maggie Mitchell.  On March 12, The Morning Telegraph reported that Ward went "to the St. Andrew Apartments, 102 West End avenue, to call on his friend, Robert Daniel, a hall boy there."  Daniel was out to lunch, and Clinton Ward, "it is alleged, borrowed his overcoat, which was hanging in the hall."  Robert Daniel notified the police and Clinton Ward was arrested for theft.  The Morning Telegraph titled its article, "Maggie Mitchell Weeps / Aged Actress Learns Her Pet Hallboy, Clinton Word [sic], Is Under Arrest."

The family of Daniel Thompson Pierce Jr. lived here as early as 1904.  Born in Washington, D. C. in 1875, Pierce earned his law degree in 1894 but turned to journalism.  The next year he became editor of Public Opinion and contributed articles on political and social subjects to various newspapers and magazines.  Pierce married Hadassah Hamilton Hellen, known as Dessie, in 1896.  They had a daughter, Hellen Hadassah, born in 1897.  A son, Daniel Pierce III, would be born here in 1907.

Another resident with an impressive pedigree was Smith Thompson.  A lawyer and agent for the Mutual Life Insurance Company, he was born in 1857.  His maternal great-grandfather was Daniel D. Tompkins, a United States Supreme Court Justice, Vice President of the United States under James Monroe, and Governor of New York.  Thompson's paternal grandfather, also named Smith Thompson, was James Monroe's Secretary of the Navy from 1819 to 1823, and, like his father-in-law, was a United States Supreme Court Justice.

The Haworth continued to attract respected figures, like Harvey Mark Thomas, founder of the Thomas Publishing Company and editor of Industry Equipment News; Deputy Assistant District Attorney Edwin Benedict McGuire, here as early as 1926; and retired attorney William Lewis Barnes.

Barnes was born in 1842 and was a widower.  In the spring of 1926, he went to a mountain resort at Wernersville, Pennsylvania.  The 84-year-old became ill in the early part of May.  About two weeks later, on May 25, other visitors got a gruesome shock.  The New York Times reported, "His body was found hanging by other guests, apparently only a few hours after death."

At the fifth floor were Gibbs surrounds, which drew from 18th century English prototypes.  They coexisted with Renaissance inspired detailing at the sixth.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

Even during the Depression years, residents of 239 West 103rd Street were affluent, like the Francis S. McDonnell family, who owned at least one automobile and a 35-foot motor cruiser, the Alice Bee.  

Son John McDonnell was driving through Dobbs Ferry on May 27, 1929, when he ran out of gas.  He and his passenger broke two locks and disconnected the gas line on the village's steam roller and started siphoning gas.  And then Patrolman Edward Doyle showed up.  The Yonkers New York Statesman said that "the desire to get just a few cents worth to carry his car to New York cost John McDonnell...$25 in a fine."  McDonnell left his car as security until he could acquire the money.

On August 21, 1934, Francis S. McDonnell took a party of eight men up the Hudson River on the Alice Bee.  They sailed past Yonkers and were on the way back when Thomas Keane "lost his balance and fell overboard," as reported by The New York Times.  George McDonnell and another passenger, George Amey, dived in after him.  The article said, "They got him back aboard the boat unconscious."  Unfortunately, the 35-year-old married father of two died on the dock.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Significant change came to 239 West 103rd Street in 1940 when it was converted to a single-room-occupancy hotel.  Where once well-heeled residents enjoyed seven-room suites, there were now 13 furnished rooms per floor.

Living here early in 1944 was Irving N. Kaufman.  Not wanting to pay for his long-distance telephone calls, the 25-year-old identified himself to the operator as E. J. Conroy, "head of the FBI here."  He insisted "that he was entitled to make a long-distance call without payment," reported The New York Times on February 21.  She turned the call over to her supervisor.  Kaufman threatened to have him arrested for a "violation of the Federal communications ruling," if his call was not put through charge-free.  Kaufman never made his telephone call.  Instead, he was arrested on charges of impersonating an FBI agent.

photograph by Anthony Bellov

In January 1960, Minnie Smith, the owner of 239 West 103rd Street, incurred "heavy fines" by the State Rent Administration, which described her as a "neglectful landlord."  Two months later, on March 25, The New York Times reported that numerous violations had resulted in "lengthy litigation" and the eviction of all tenants.  The City Housing Authority seized the building with plans "to repair the rooming house and reconvert the interiors to apartments for families."  Work was completed in 1963 as part of the Douglass Houses project.  There are now four apartments per floor in the building.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post

The George A. and Lillian S. Harris Mansion - 313 West 107th Street

 

Prolific Upper West Side real estate developers Perez M. Stewart and H. Ives Smith commissioned the equally prolific Upper West Side architect Clarence F. True in 1897 to design seven upscale residences at 305 through 317 West 107th Street between Riverside Drive and West End Avenue.  Among them was 313 West 107th Street.  Like its architectural siblings, it was 20-feet-wide and five stories tall.  Designed in the Renaissance Revival style with splashes of Beaux Arts, it was faced in gray brick and trimmed in limestone.  The arched centered entrance above a short stone stoop was flanked by engaged Scamozzi columns atop paneled pedestals.  Carved swags and ribbons decorated the spandrels.  

The lower three floors were bowed, providing a stone-railed balcony to the fourth floor.  Stone balustrades that fronted the second-floor windows suggested Juliette balconies.  The fifth floor took the form of a slate shingled mansard pierced with two arched-pedimented dormers.

The first owners of 313 West 107th Street were Henry and Mary A. Nichols.  On April 2, 1904, they advertised, "A North German or Protestant nurse wanted for two little boys; references required."

The Nichols placed the house for sale in November 1908.  Their realtor's ad described it as being "in fine condition, for sale at a reasonable figure."  It was sold twice before newlyweds George A. Harris and his wife, the former Lillian Dorothy Samuels, purchased the residence in 1912.

Born in Titusville, Pennsylvania on November 21, 1873, George A. Harris operated an apparel business with his brother Julian.  He and Lillian were married shortly before purchasing the house. 

The Harris family quickly grew to three.  Edward H. Harris was born in 1913.  Lillian placed an advertisement in The New York Times on February 11 seeking a "Nurse, thoroughly competent and experienced, for infant."  

In January 1914, George and Julian Harris took in a "special partner," Simon Ascher.  Asher contributed $150,000 to the company (more than $4.6 million in 2026 money).  While George remained as president, the name of the firm, which made and sold "knit goods and all other kinds of wearing apparel," as described in the partnership agreement, was renamed the Simon Ascher Company.

In September 1915, the Harrises hired architect John H. Corrigan to design a roof garden.  It included a "new enclosure" and cost the equivalent of $13,000 today.

George and Lillian Harris apparently determined early on that their son would be polished and erudite.  When they looked for a governess in 1918, they demanded that she be "experienced, speaking good French; boy five years."

Lillian's own cultivation was reflected in December 1928 when the Henry Street Settlement added a music school to its offerings with Lillian as its chairman.  The New York Times noted that the school would be under the leadership of Paulus Pilat, former teacher at the Königliche Kunstgewerbe Academy in Budapest.  The article said, "as they are sufficiently advanced, children will be taught ensemble work.  Chamber music is ultimately to be an important part of the program."

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

While the Harrises maintained a country home in Scarsdale, New York, they were often seen at what society columns referred to as "fashionable watering-holes."  Such was the case in the summer of 1929, when they spent time in Saratoga Springs.  On August 30, The New York Times reported that they hosted a dinner party at the Lido Venice there.  Among the guests were Mrs. Graham Fair Vanderbilt, John Hay Whitney and Marquise Caigliano.

The family was absent from West 107th Street in 1930 and 1931, possibly in Europe.  It was leased to Walter and Helen T. Emerich.  Walter was the founder and head of Walter Emerich & Co., manufacturers of silk ribbons.  In reporting on the lease, The New York Times described the property as a "five-story residence with roof garden."

The house was sold in October 1938 to Kathryn A. Gorman.  The New York Times reported, she would occupy it "when alterations are completed."  Gorman lived quietly in the mansion, and the address fell from the society columns for decades.

A renovation completed in 1975 resulted in two apartments.

photograph by the author

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for prompting this post

The Stubborn 1892 Holdout at 304 West 104th Street

 

Perhaps the most prolific architect working in the Upper West Side in the late 19th century was Clarence Fagan True.  Known for his often lighthearted take on historic styles, in 1891 he was hired by developers T. A. Squier and William E. Lanchantin to design ten upscale homes on West 104th Street--numbers 304 through 322--between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive.  

Construction was completed in 1892.  True created an architecturally harmonious row.  Sitting atop high English basements, each house was three stories tall with an attic.  Designed in a contemporary take on Romanesque, True visually connected them with stone railings that protected sleeping porches at the attic level.  The carved scrolls of the railing's identical panels were, in fact, back-to-back serpents.

The basement of the easternmost residence, 304 West 104th Street, was faced in rough cut stone.  A wing-walled stoop led to the arched entrance that sat beside a full-height, two-bay wide projecting section.  The strikingly spartan parlor level was faced in planar brownstone.  The second and third floors were clad in variegated beige Roman brick accented by brownstone quoins.  A shallow mansard was pierced with a single brick dormer.

The house initially saw a rapid turnover in owners.  In May 1893, William Lanchantin sold it to F. Milton Welch, who resold it the next month to Sarah J. Lozier.  Sarah sold the residence seven months later, in January 1894, to Moritz Arthur Gottlieb for $27,250.  The price would translate to about $1 million in 2026.

Moritz (who sometimes anglicized his name to Maurice) would share his new house with his brother, Dr. J. Adelphi Gottlieb.  Both were fascinating figures.  

Moritz and J. Adelphi Gottlieb were born in Vienna, Austria in 1856 and 1870 respectively.  Moritz was described by Herringshaw's Library of American Biography as, "artist, founder, antiquarian, author."  Around 1880 he became manager of the art department of Puck magazine.  A Masonic master, he wrote The History of the Rite of Memphis.  Herringshaw's recorded, "He is a noted collector of antiquities; a member of the Geographical Society; was treasurer of the Medico-Legal Laboratory; is a life member of the Society of Science, Letters and Art of London, England; and vice-president of its American branch."

Moritz Arthur Gottlieb Herringhaw's Library of American Biography, (copyright expired)

His brother was a physician, scientist and author.  Educated in the German-American Institute and the State University of New York, after receiving his medical degree J. Adelphi Gottlieb became director and professor of micro-medicine in the New York Medico-Legal Institute.  There he oversaw the "laboratory of scientific technology," where work known today as criminal forensics was done.  The American Public Health Association's listing of members gave his title as "professor [of] forensic medicine."

Dr. J. Adelphi Gottlieb Herringhaw's Library of American Biography, (copyright expired)

In 1900 the brothers established the National Volunteer Emergency-Service Medical Corps.  In its December issue that year, The Druggists Circular and Chemical Gazette reported, "This unwieldy title is the name of an organization with headquarters at 304 West One-Hundred-and-Fourth street...of which Surgeon-Major-General J. Adelphi Gottlieb, M. A., M. D., LL.D, is commandant director general."  

In forming the organization, the Gottliebs were preparing for the worst.  The article explained, "The object of the corps is to render prompt aid in time of pestilence, catastrophe, war, etc."  They were actively recruiting, "civilians, physicians, pharmacist, nurses and medical students," particularly in areas that would be prone to attack: "railroad centers, factory districts, mining regions, etc."

The medical corps was not the only organization headquartered in the brothers' home.  Like Moritz, J. Adelphi was highly involved in the Masons.  The World's 1903 Almanac and Encyclopedia included the Sovereign Sanctuary of Ancient and Primitive Freemasonry.  It listed J. Adelphi Gottlieb, as "legate of the M. I. Grand Master-General and Sovereign Sanctuary to Foreign Countries," and Moritz as "Deputy Grand Representative and Assistant Grand Examiner Mystic Temple."  The entry noted that the offices were at 304 West 104th Street.

A succinct announcement in The New York Times on February 24, 1904 said simply that 304 West 104th Street had been sold.  "The buyer will occupy the house," it said.

That buyer was Joseph Berndt.  Born in Austria in 1843, he arrived in New York with his family at the age of 10 on the ship Beethoven.  He married the 22-year-old Mary Ann Hattemer on June 21, 1877.  The couple had ten children, nine of whom moved into the West 104th Street house with their parents.  They ranged from Frederick, who was 9 years old, to Joseph Jr., who was 26.

Oscar was in the middle, age-wise.  He was 17 years old in 1904 and in October 3, 1908 was looking for a job.  He described himself in an ad in the New-York Tribune: "Young Man, 21, business school graduate, with office experience.  O. B. 304 West 104th st."

The parlor of 304 West 104th Street was the scene of Mary A. Berndt's low-key wedding to William Buryan on November 9, 1912.  The New York Herald reported, "Only relatives and a few intimate friends were asked to the ceremony."  Mary's sister, Julia, was her sole attendant.  The best man, Herman Linder, traveled from Germany for the occasion.

The following year, on December 28, 1913, the Berndts announced Julia's engagement to Frederick Walter Lohr.  The wedding took place in the house on the evening of March 26, 1914.  Eleanor was Julia's only attendant.  The New York Herald noted, "A reception and dancing followed the ceremony after which Mr. and Mrs. Lohr started for the South.  They will live in Boston."

Julia V. Berndt's engagement photograph.  The New York Times, January 25, 1914 (copyright expired)

Real estate operator Leon Sobel purchased 304 West 104th Street in September 1916.  President of the Cathedral Realty Company and the Leon Sobel Company, Leon would eventually be responsible for the erection of more than 400 buildings in New York City.  He filed plans for renovating the "private dwelling" in 1917.  The remodeling focused on updating the interiors, likely the installation of electricity and improved plumbing.

The house briefly became home to Herbert R. Snyder, who was likely closely acquainted with Leon Sobel.  Since 1902 he had been a real estate appraiser and operator. 

John McCaffery moved into the house in 1918.  From 1909 to 1912 he had worked as a traveling representative of the New York Journal.  He now worked for the Hearst organization.

The 42-year-old McCaffery found himself before a judge on September 2, 1918.  The next day The Daily Argus ran the headline, "Hearst Agent Is Accused By A Former Newsboy" and said that McCaffery was charged with threatening Benjamin Handler.  According to Handler, "Mr. McCaffery approached him and said something about 'I'll throw you downstairs; I'll beat your head off and murder you,' and a few other things," said the article.

As early as 1921, Everett Louis Hackes occupied 304 West 104th Street.  A 1914 graduate of Harvard, he initially used the house only for the summer.  The educator listed his winter address as "University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan."  That position had ended by 1923, when the Harvard Alumni Bulletin nebulously announced that he "is doing literary work."

The ambiguous wording most likely was because Hackes was temporarily unemployed.  An advertisement in the May 17, 1924 issue of The Publishers' Weekly read:

Harvard Graduate--Ten years in teaching profession, specialist in French and German, knowledge of Spanish and Italian, desires connection with publishing house in New York.  Editorial work.  Hackes, 304 West 104th St., New York City.

And on November 13 that year, an advertisement in The Christian Science Monitor read: "Tutoring--Modern languages; Latin, history, literature; literary reading; classes or individual; university instructor. Hackes, 304 West 104th St., New York City."

Two decades earlier, in 1912, the houses at 300 and 302 West 104th Street were demolished for a Gaetan Ajello-designed apartment house.  The three houses on the opposite side of No. 304 were razed in 1926 for an apartment building designed by Schwartz & Gross.  The slice of Clarence F. True's row was now squashed between the two 20th century structures.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

The Depression years saw unofficial apartments in the house.  Among the residents in 1930 was Lincoln Jose, a union carpenter; and in 1940 musician George Robert was listed here.

When the house was sold in April 1950, The New York Times described it as a "five-story building altered into nine small apartments."  That configuration lasted until a 1999 renovation resulted in two apartments per floor in the basement through third floors, and one in the attic level.

Looking somewhat lonely today, the 1892 survivor is little changed on the exterior.  

photographs by the author

The 1892 Anthony and Elenora Kimbel House - 320 West 104th Street

 

Working almost exclusively on the Upper West Side, architect Clarence Fagan True was known for his often playful interpretations of historic styles.  In 1891 he was hired by developers T. A. Squier and W. E. Lanchantin to design a row of ten upscale homes on West 104th Street between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive.  The project, stretching from 304 to 322 West 104th Street, was completed in 1892.

True created a streetscape of undulating bays and turrets, gables and dormers.  Among the three-story-and-attic, Romanesque Revival-style homes was 320 West 104th Street.  Its dogleg stoop rose above an English basement faced with rough-cut stone to a spartan parlor level clad with planar brownstone.  A two-story, three-sided stone oriel sprouted from the beige Roman brick-clad upper floors.  A brick-faced dormer, capped with an angular pediment decorated with a brownstone panel of an urn and vines, poked through the attic roof.  The stone railing of the sleeping porch was decorated with carved scrolls.  But, typical of True's tongue-and-cheek detailing, close inspection reveals that the scrolled ornamentation is composed of fantastic, back-to-back serpents.

The house was initially purchased by Dr. A. W. Lozier, who quickly resold it in March 1893 to Alexander Kimbel and his wife, the former Elenora Haubner.  Kimbel was born in 1854 and Eleanora in 1858.  The couple had three children when they moved in, Eleanore Pauline, who was 14; 12-year-old Frances; and William Anthony, who was five.  Eleanora was pregnant when they purchased No. 320, and Elsie was born that year.  

Also moving into the house was Eleanora's widowed mother, Fredericka S. Haubner.  Charles Haubner, Fredericka's late husband and Eleanora's father, had operated a tannery on West 35th Street.  Fredericka's physical condition was frail, and on September 10, 1894, Eleanora placed an ad in the New York Herald that read, "Wanted--An experienced German nurse for an invalid lady.  320 West 104th st."  Fredericka Haubner died on April 7, 1900 at the age of 72.

In 1904, a group of influential German residents including Carl Schurz, Herman Ridder, and August Zinsser, formed the Germanistic Society of America.  Its object was "to promote the study of knowledge of German civilization in America, and of American civilization in Germany."  Among the initial members was Anthony Kimbel.

It may have been their mutual memberships in the Society that brought Kimbel and August Zinsser together.  In 1914, August and Eleanora rented 320 West 104th Street to Zinsser's son, Dr. Hans Zinsser.

Born in New York City in 1878, Zinsser received his bachelor's and master's degrees and a doctorate in medicine from Columbia University.  He and his wife, the former Ruby Handforth, whom he married in 1905, had two children, Hans Handforth and Gretel (known as Margaret).  In 1910, Zinsser was appointed an associate professor at Stanford University, but the family moved back to New York City in 1913 when Zinsser was hired as professor of bacteriology at Columbia University.  

Dr. Hans Zinsser, from the Wellcome Collection gallery.

Many Americans, especially the lesser educated immigrant population, viewed vaccination warily.  On April 14, 1915, Hans Zinsser very publicly got his typhus shot.  The New York Times reported (in a exhaustingly long sentence):

As conclusive proof of the acceptance of the vaccine as a prophylactic agent, it was further stated, to the amazement of a large number of the physicians present, that Dr. Hans Zinsser, the eminent bacteriologist who holds the professorship of bacteriology of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, who is also President of the New York Pathological Society, and who is now on his way to Serbia as a member of the Rockefeller expedition to take up the fight against typhus, had been inoculated with the protective vaccine prior to his departure.

Zinsser's mother, Marie, died in October 1916.  She left a startling condition in her will concerning the inheritance of her two granddaughters, including Margaret.  Marie Zinsser wanted to ensure that her granddaughters were proficient in homemaking duties.  The Evening World reported, "According to the will, not only must each girl cook an acceptable six-course dinner, but while doing so she must wear a dress of her own making."  Should Margaret and her cousin not comply with the instructions, they would each forfeit $10,000 (about $295,000 in 2025 terms).   Presumably, Margaret completed the task to the approval of the trustees.

When America entered World War I in 1917, Dr. Zinsser was commissioned a major in the Medical Reserve Corps.  He would go on to write more than 200 books and medical articles and, surprisingly, became a published poet, as well.  Among his most influential works was his 1935 Rats, Lice and History.

It was possibly Zinsser's involvement in the war that prompted the family to leave West 104th Street.  An advertisement in The New York Times on March 10, 1918, read, "For Sale or To Let, House, 320 West 104th St., 20 ft. wide, 3-1/2 stories--electric light, 2 baths."

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Elenora Haubner died in 1919 and in January 1920 Anthony sold 320 West 104th Street.  The house was converted to unofficial apartments.  

Among the initial tenants was James A. Howard, former vice-president and general manager of the meat packing concern Wilson & Company.  He was described by The National Provisioner as "one of the best known packinghouse men in the United States."  Born in 1860, Howard started in the business in 1880, and retired in 1917.

In 1932, The 4195 Broadway Corp. officially converted 320 West 104th Street to apartments.  Surprisingly, unlike almost all similar renovations, the stoop was preserved.  A subsequent alteration, completed in 1990, resulted in one apartment per floor in the lower three levels and a duplex apartment in the top two floors.

photographs by the author

The Julian and Clara Meyer House - 307 West 107th Street

 

In 1897 real estate operators and builders Perez M. Stewart and H. Ives Smith, partners in Smith & Stewart, commissioned one of the Upper West Side's most prolific architects, Clarence F. True, to design a row of nine upscale houses along the north side of West 107th Street between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive.  True's plans, filed in June, said the four-story homes would be "of various sizes."

The row was completed in 1898.  Typical of True, No. 307 was a blend of historic styles.  Romanesque Revival appeared in the bowed facade's rough cut limestone, notably in the thickset blocks that created the voussoir over the arched ground floor window.  The carved frames of the second floor openings were Renaissance Revival, and True splashed the doorway with neo-Classical swags.  Completing the design was a Flemish Renaissance Revival gable at the fifth floor.

Department store mogul Benjamin Stern purchased four of the houses from Smith & Stewart, including No. 307, on May 31, 1899 as investments.  Stern leased the 20-foot wide house for four years before selling it to Julian Harriman Meyer and his wife, the former Clara Dempsey Bentley, in 1903.

Born in 1860, Meyer was a graduate of City College.  He founded the wholesale grocery firm of Meyer & Lange.  He and Clara had one son, George Bentley, born on January 6, 1895.

Soon after settling into their new home, Clara began entertaining.  On January 28, 1904, The Evening Telegram reported, "At the home of Mrs. Julian Meyer, No. 307 West 107th street, during the last week, handsome prizes were hotly contested for at the meeting of the Monday Afternoon Whist Club."  The extent of the preparations necessary to receive guests was evident in The New York Times' reporting of Clara's "pretty reception" in April 1908.  It said,

Mrs. Meyer received in a gown of rose point and Duchesse lace in her drawing room, which was fragrant with pink roses and Southern smilax.  In the music room American Beauties were used, and Spring flowers and ferns made the dining room particularly attractive.

The social gatherings here often involved Clara's favorite philanthropy, the Stony Wold Sanatorium.  On April 15, 1907, for instance, the New-York Tribune reported on the regular meeting of the facility's Auxiliary No. 4, during which "Mrs. James E. Newcomb made an address."

In December 1907, Meyer contracted an electrical firm headed by Henry Rheinwold to address a problem in Clara's bedroom.  John S. Moltzen arrived on December 23 and began work.  Clara went downtown, leaving the worker with the servants.  While she was gone, a second electrician, Raymond C. Brainard, arrived.  He had been recently fired by Henry Rheinwold.  When Clara returned home, the workers were gone and so was $3,500 worth of Clara's jewelry.  (The figure would translate to about $121,000 in 2025.)

John S. Moltzen was the obvious suspect.  He deflected the investigators' attention to Raymond Brainard.  At 5:00 on the morning of December 24, Detective Daly broke into Brainard's Bronx apartment.  He "found Brainard and a young woman--Dorothy Wiebel--examining the jewelry, which was spread on a table in the kitchen," as reported by The New York Times.  The article said, "Brainard showed fight, but Daly quieted him by a display of his revolver."

Brainard and Wiebel were arrested and the next morning were taken to the Jefferson Market Court.  Dorothy, an unemployed servant, was discharged.  She told the magistrate, "He promised me a ring.  I had no idea where he got the jewelry."  Also in the courtroom was Clara Meyer.  "She identified as hers the jewelry that Daly found in Brainard's flat," said the article.

The Meyers did not own a summer home, instead they patronized fashionable resorts.  Julian was a member of the New York Athletic Club and as such, the facilities of the club's Travers Island were available to the couple.  On October 23, 1910, The New York Times reported, "A small party motored out to Travers Island one day last week and took luncheon as the guests of Mrs. Julian H. Meyer, 307 West 107th Street."

In addition to his membership in the NYAC, Meyer was a member of the Automobile Club of America and the Metropolitan Opera Club.  Clara was a member of the Daughters of the Revolution.

George enjoyed a privileged youth.  He prepared at the Horace Mann School and at Phillips-Andover before enrolling in Yale.  He graduated in 1916 with a law degree.

George Bentley Meyer, History of the Class of Nineteen Hundred And Sixteen Yale College (copyright expired)

On September 6, 1917, Julian suffered "a sudden attack of apoplexy," according to the New York Produce Review and American Creamery.  (Apoplexy referred to a stroke or cerebral hemorrhage.)  The 57-year-old's funeral was held in the West 107th Street house the following day.

Clara Meyer remained in the house for three years, selling it in August 1920 to the Estere Realty Company.  When the firm offered it for sale in May 1921, it noted that the former residence had been "remodelled [sic] in small apartments."  The property changed hands twice before Walter R. Manning purchased it in December 1928 "for investment," according to the Record & Guide.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The house was briefly home to the Nilsson Institute.  An advertisement in the May 15, 1928 issue of Vogue read:

Slenderize--Medical supervision.  Splendid results.  Also Facial rejuvenation.  Treatments at your home or at Nilsson Institute, 307 West 107th St., N.Y.

It appears that Walter R. Manning died in 1929.  On December 4, 1930, The New York Times reported that Ella Hamblen Manning had given a "release of her dower rights in 307 West 107th Street" to the Michael E. Paterno Corporation.  

The house was remodeled again in 1965, resulting in seven apartments.  Among the initial residents was librarian and educator Wendell Wray.  Born on January 30, 1926, he was passionate in preserving Black history.  He received his Bachelor's degree in psychology from Bates College in 1950 and a Master of Library Science from the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1952.  (He was the first African-American man to graduate from the library school.) 

Wendall L. Wray, School of Information Science Faculty photo, University of Library Science, Pittsburgh 

While living here, he was acting director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.  Shortly after moving in, he was invited to preview a documentary, William Faulkner's Mississippi.  On May 8, 1965, the New York Amsterdam News printed his letter to the editor regarding the piece.  He said in part, "I came away shocked and nauseated by what I saw.  Every broken-down cliche about negroes was used.  I was told that this was not what we wanted to see of Mississippi, but what Faulkner saw."

In 1981, Wray was named chief of the Schomburg Center.  He resigned in March 1983 and retired to Oakland, California.

There are still seven apartments in the former house.  Its exterior appearance is little changed.

photographs by the author

The Edward and Regina Steindler House - 311 West 107th Street

 
Perez M. Stewart and H. Ives Smith were prolific developers on the Upper West Side in the last quarter of the 19th century, erecting dozens of high-end rowhouses.  In 1897 Stewart & Ives hired architect Clarence F. True to design a row of seven residences at 305 through 317 West 107th Street.  Completed in 1898, True designed them in a balanced A-B-C-D-C-B-A plan.

The centerpiece, 311 West 107th Street, was 20-feet wide and, like its siblings, five stories tall.  Faced in gray brick and trimmed in limestone, its lower three floors were bowed, providing a stone-railed balcony to the fourth floor.  A graceful French-style balcony fronted the French windows of the second floor.  The fifth floor took the form of a slate shingled mansard pierced with two arched dormers.

On May 7, 1899, the New-York Tribune reported that Stewart & Ives had sold 309 and 311 West 107th Street to "a well-known merchant."  Benjamin Stern, with his two brothers, Louis and Isaac, owned the Stern Brothers department store on West 23rd Street.  Just before buying these two houses, according to the article, he had purchased several other dwellings on the Upper West Side "for investment."

Stern rented 311 West 107th Street for two years before selling it in September 1902 to Edward and Regina Steindler.  Steindler's life was worthy of a Horatio Alger novel.  Orphaned at four years old, he lived in the Cleveland Orphan Asylum until he was 12.  The pre-teen traveled to New York City and got a job as an errand boy in a tie factory.  He slowly rose through the company to be a "commercial traveller" (today's traveling salesman), "getting a high salary," according to the New-York Tribune later.

In 1893 he organized the New York Curtain Company.  It "arranges advertisements for theatre curtains," described The New York Times.  (The stage curtains of vaudeville theaters were slathered billboard-like with advertisements.)  Steindler was also president of the Block Light Company and of the American Paste Company.  "He is also interested in mines, and is said to be the second largest individual owner of mines in the Dominion of Canada," according to the New-York Tribune in 1907.

Regina was known to her family and friends as Regi.  Moving into the house with the Steindlers were Regina's parents, Louis and Sarah Franke.  Louis Franke was a commission merchant.  When he was summoned to testify in a case about water rights upstate in 1903, Franke mentioned, "I live with my son-in-law, 311 West 107th Street, near Riverside Drive; a very fine house."

As well-to-do families left New York City to spend the summer months at country homes or resorts, the men often stayed back to attend business.  They would see their families on the weekends.  And so, when The New York Times reported on the "expected August rush to the Catskills" on August 9, 1903, among the arrivals at the Hotel Kaaterskill were "Mrs. Edward Steindler" and "Mrs. Louis Franke."

Although the Steindlers had no children, they gave a debutante dance in 1906 for Lola P. Kalman, the daughter of Regina's sister.  On April 8, the New York Herald reported that "thirty young people" attended.

On May 17, 1907, Edward and Regina boarded the Kaiserin Auguste Victoria to France.  On the afternoon of June 2, they and eight other Americans who were staying at the Elysée Palace Hotel in Paris decided to motor to Versailles for lunch.  They took three cars, one of which was operated by Edward Steindler.  The New York Times reported, "While the Americans were traveling at an easy rate through the Bois de Boulogne, a heavy racing car bore rapidly down upon the party.  Mr. Steindler turned out too late and the racing car cut his car nearly in half."

The New-York Tribune reported, "Mrs. Steindler was picked up in a semi-conscious condition and taken to her hotel."  The article said she was "severely injured."  The Sun noted, "Mr. Steindler will prosecute Dodey, the racer who was driving the automobile which ran into him."  In reporting on the accident, the New-York Tribune parenthetically mentioned, "Mr. Steindler was the largest contributor to a fund for building the Training School for Nurses attached to Lebanon Hospital, of which he is treasurer."

Regina recovered and back home in New York the couple resumed their philanthropic work.  In the summer of 1910, The New York Sun reported on the upcoming Orphans Automobile Day.  The annual event took Manhattan orphans on a day trip to Coney Island.  The article titled, "Committee Needs More Cars For Orphans Day," mentioned, "The latest offers of cars include four sight seeing cars donated by Edward Steindler of 311 West 107th street, who more than duplicated his contribution of last year."

By then, Steindler had expanded his advertising business into the new motion picture industry.  Among his various positions, he was president of the Moving Picture Advertising Company.

On April 10, 1912, the 49-year-old suffered a fatal heart attack in the West 107th Street house.  Regina took over the reins of at least one corporation and the following year she was listed as a director in the Dorchester-Riverside Company.

Regina Steindler's wealth was reflected in a notice she posted in the "Lost and Found" section of The New York Times on October 18, 1914:  "Liberal reward, diamond and pearl bracelet lost in taxicab Thursday night from Cort Theatre to 311 West 107th st."  The item was, in fact, a collar, described by police as containing, "sixty-four diamonds set singly, ninety-six in clusters, and thirty-one pearls."

Two months later, on December 15, two detectives arrested Harry D. Koenig and Frederick Young as they attempted to pawn the item.  Koenig told the police he found it between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive, "and, needing money now, had determined to pawn it."  The New York Times reported, "Mrs. Steinaller [sic] was overjoyed to recover the ornament."

The near-loss was not enough to make Regina more careful.  A notice in The New York Times on March 11, 1916 read, "$200.00 reward [for] return of diamond platinum hairpin, tortoise shell prongs, hinges of gold, lost Feb. 25 between Metropolitan Opera House and 311 West 107th St."  Regina's offered reward would translate to just under $6,000 in 2025.

Louis Franke died in the house on March 24, 1922 and his funeral was held there on the 26th.  Five years later, on October 24, 1927, Sarah Franke died.  Her funeral, too, was held in the drawing room.

After occupying 311 West 107th Street for more than four decades, Regina Franke Steindler died in 1943.  Her estate sold the property in February 1944 to Rabbi A. Bornstein.  A renovation completed in 1955 resulted in an apartment "for rabbi's study," as described by Department of Buildings, and a kitchen on the first floor, two apartments on the second, and apartments and furnished rooms on the upper floors.

The Jewish Journal, June 25, 1945

Among the tenants in 1964 was 19-year-old Columbia student Steven Galper.  He was one of eight civil rights demonstrators arrested on March 20.  Sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality, 50 demonstrators appeared at the F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company in Brooklyn to protest alleged racial discrimination in hiring.  Galper paid a $25 fine rather than spending five days in jail.

In September 1966, two other Columbia students, Paul Auster and Peter Schubert, moved into an apartment together.  The two were best friends, according to Auster.  In his Groundwork, Autobiographical Writings 1979-2012, Auster described the space as, "A two-room apartment on the third floor of a four-story walkup between Broadway and Riverside Drive."  Referring himself in the second person, he writes:

A derelict, ill-designed shit hole, with nothing in its favor but the low rent and the fact that there were two entrance doors.  The first opened onto the larger room, which served as your bedroom and workroom, as well as the kitchen, dining room, and living room.  The second opened onto a narrow hallway that ran parallel to the first room and led to a small cell in the back, which served as Peter's bedroom.  The two of you were lamentable housekeepers, the place was filthy, the kitchen sink clogged again and again, the appliances were older than you were and hardly functioned, dust mice grew fat on the threadbare carpet, and little by little the two of you turned the hovel you had rented into a malodorous slum.

Nevertheless, Paul Auster emerged as a novelist, poet and filmmaker.  Among his works are the 1987 The New York Trilogy; The Brooklyn Follies, released in 2005; and the 2012 Winter Journal.

Edward and Regina Steindler's dining room is now part of a two-room apartment.  image via sovereignrealestate.com

Another renovation was finished in 1972.  There are nine apartments within the building.  Despite the alterations, much of Clarence F. True's 1898 interior details survive.

photographs by the author

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post