The Alexander Grant House - 426 West 44th Street

 

photograph by Anthony Bellov

Around 1860, a trio of brick-faced, Italianate style houses were erected at 274 through 278 West 44th Street.  (They would be renumbered 426 through 430 in 1865.)  Three bays wide and three stories tall above a brownstone basement, their elliptically arched entrances were capped with shallow pediments.  The windows wore molded cornices and miniature brackets upheld the sills.  Especially handsome cornices incorporated ornate foliate brackets and leafy fascia decorations.  The heavy Italianate ironwork included a surprising areaway gate that took the form of a giant daisy or cartwheel.

photograph by Anthony Bellov

Although the residences sat perilously close to the notorious Hell's Kitchen district, the block between Ninth and Tenth Avenues was respectable and populated with upper-middle class families.  The easternmost house, No. 274, appears to have been originally rented, based on the rapid-fire turnover of occupants.  In 1861 and '62, it was home to William Armstrong, a carpenter; coal merchant Peter Connelly; and Charlotte Pollock, who taught in the Primary Department of Public School No. 33 on West 28th Street.  (Charlotte earned $300 a year in 1862, or about $9,650 in 2025.)

In 1864, the house was home to Thomas White, who ran a slaughterhouse at 13 Abbatoir Place.  His family was followed in 1868 by Jacob Brower, a carpenter; James Avent, a driver; and Joseph Burns, who worked as a clerk.  Finally, in 1870, No. 426 received long-term residents when Alexander Grant purchased it.

Grant was born in Granton, Scotland in 1811.  He came to America as a young engineer with the United States Coast Survey Service.  (Formed in 1807 as the Survey of the Coast, the agency was renamed Coast Survey in 1836.   Today, as the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, it is part of NOAA.)  By the time Grant purchased 426 West 44th Street, he operated an iron foundry, specializing in the manufacturing of railings.

The Grants had two children, a son and daughter.  By 1879, Charles A. Grant had a job as an "agent," and on January 6, 1881, was appointed a clerk in the Police Department.  He rapidly rose within the force and within three years was the private secretary to Police Commissioner Joel W. Mason.

On April 14, 1884, The New York Times reported, "Alexander Grant, an old business man of this city, and an active Republican worker in the Seventeenth Assembly District, died yesterday of paralysis of the heart, at his residence, No. 426 West Forty-fourth-street."  His funeral was held in the parlor on April 15.

The original entrance doors survive.  Originally they most likely held acid-etched glass.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

The Grants sold 426 West 44th Street to John Crawford and his wife, the former Rachel Rylie.  Born in 1825 and 1834 respectively, he and his wife had two daughters, Elizabeth J. and Matilda A.  Elizabeth was a teacher in the primary department of Grammar School No. 17 on West 47th Street in 1892.  

Sharing the house with the Crawfords starting around 1895 was Rev. Homer H. Wallace.  Born in 1854, Wallace graduated from Princeton University in 1881.  Living with the Crawford family was highly convenient, since he was pastor of the West Forty-Fourth St. United Presbyterian Church just steps away to the west.  

John Crawford died in the house on October 30, 1903 at the age of 78, and his funeral was held in the parlor on November 2nd.  

Rachel took in additional boarders, apparently only one at a time.  They were often elderly widows, some remaining with the family until their deaths.  On March 3, 1911, for instance, Mary A. Mains, the widow of Robert Mains, died at the age of 85; and on February 14, 1914, Isabelle Josephine Simon died.  Their funerals were held in the Crawfords' parlor.

After living here for three decades, Rachel Rylie Crawford died on May 6, 1921 at the age of 87.  Her funeral (nearly a week later on May 12) would be the last to be held in the house.  About this time, Rev. Wallace was taken to a private nursing home in Washington, Connecticut, where he died at the age of 84 on July 13, 1938.

Two decades after her mother's death, on May 28, 1941, The New York Times reported that Matilda A. Crawford had sold 426 West 44th Street.  The article noted, "This is the first sale of the property in fifty-four years.

The original ironwork was intact in 1941.  Close inspection reveals the marvelous, giant daisy gate.  Rev. Wallace's church is at the right.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The new owner, described by the newspaper as "an investor," operated the house as rented rooms.  Among the residents in 1941 were Frank W. Kerr, who received his insurance brokage license that year; and the Prosser family.  

On the night of November 15, The New York Times reported, 

Two boys, found cowering in a clump of bushes in back of 65-83 Fitchett Street, West Forest Hills, Queens, last night were arrested as the burglars who had broken in the home of Mrs. Wilhelmina Smith...shortly before, and had fled with jewelry after they had been surprised in the house.  

In their pockets, police found "rings, jewelry, a watch and some unset diamonds."  The items were identified by Mrs. Smith as having been taken from her dresser.  Sixteen-year-old Frederick Prosser was one of the teens arrested.  The Times noted, "The boys said they escaped three months ago from the Parental Home at Bayonne, N. J."

Oddly, every other oval balustrade has been removed, and the hand railing replaced. photograph by Anthony Bellov

The house was sold on August 11, 1961 to Joseph L. Ennis & Co., real estate operators.  It was converted to a two-family home.  Although the masonry is painted and the once-striking ironwork mutilated (or totally replaced, in the case of the areaway fencing), the Grant house greatly retains its pre-Civil War appearance.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post

The 1892 437-439 West 44th Street

 

photograph by Anthony Bellov

On May 30, 1891, Samuel Hirsch purchased two four-story frame houses at 437 and 439 West 44th Street from Garret A. and Eliza Wanmaker.  Two weeks later, on June 13, the Record & Guide reported that contractor John B. Lowther "will build a five-story flat on the plot," saying the "old buildings are to be torn down."  The project was a tangled affair--Hirsch had sold the properties to William G. Jordan, who became owner of record for the coming building.  Upon its completion, Jordan sold it to Hirsch.  The back-and-forth transactions would result in lawsuits later.

The brick-faced building was a mélange of styles.  The first and fifth floors drew mostly from Romanesque Revival.  The windows of the first floor took the form of large arches within striking frames of beige Roman brick.  The stone hood over the entrance with its foliate brackets, however, was Renaissance Revival.

The entrance pilasters and hood were removed in the second half of the 20th century.  Deft brickwork creates the striking first floor surrounds and the faux quoins at the second.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

The three-story mid-section was clad in red brick and trimmed in brownstone.  The splayed lintels and the faux quoins--created by using the same beige brick of the first floor--were neo-Colonial in style.  An interesting intermediate cornice of stepped brick introduced the fifth floor.  Here, an Arts & Crafts style full-width panel with rosettes ran above the arched openings.  A deeply overhanging metal cornice completed the design.

Among the first occupants of the large apartments (there were two per floor) was Dr. A. L. Gnichtel.  At around 9:00 on the night of September 18, 1893, he answered a frantic knock at his door.  Living directly across the street, at 441 West 44th Street, were George Simmons and his unmarried sister, Martha.  George was a "wire-worker" and Martha, according to The Evening Post, "has been an invalid for thirteen years."  She had suffered a serious bout of influenza earlier that year.  The newspaper said, "Ever since an attack of grip last spring, her mind has been more or less affected, and she had to be watched constantly."

That night, George discovered his sister, "lying on the floor covered with blood, with the razor in her hand."  Martha had cut her throat.  Fortunately, Dr. Gnichtel was nearby.  He rushed across the street and dressed the wound before sending her to Bellevue Hospital.  The Evening Post said she, "may recover."

Dr. Gnichtel regularly published articles in medical journals, and was an associate editor of The Medical Examiner and Practitioner.  

The residents of 437-439 West 44th Street were affluent enough that at least one, merchant John B. McCuag, could afford a bicycle--a rabidly popular and pricey hobby in the 1890s.  On October 10, 1897, he accidentally hit a dog but, instead of stopping, pedaled on.  The World sarcastically reported, "A very unappreciative woman is Mrs. Foley.  When John B. McCaug, of No. 439 West Forty-fourth street, rode his wheel bravely over her pet dog and still kept his equilibrium, she did not realize that he had performed a feat worthy of applause, but on the contrary raised a din compared to which the tuneful cayoodling of the canine was as a tempest to a whisper."  

The enraged Mrs. Foley pursued McCuag.  Her cries attracted Policeman Beadle who "overhauled him."  The World reported that the "dog and man and irate woman faced the majesty of the law and Magistrate Hedges," and recounted:

"It seems to me your dog has not been injured," said the Magistrate.  "I will discharge the prisoner."

"Oh, sir," implored the woman, with a look of fond appreciation toward her pet.  "Don't do that.  He may feel worse to-morrow."

But the Magistrate was firm, and McCuag went his way.

McCuag would appear in a more positive light when he donated $5.00 to The Merchants' Association of New York's Relief Fund for the victims of the San Francisco earthquake and fire.  (His donation would translate to about $180 in 2025.)

Among the residents in 1909 were H. Thomas Stevenson and  William H. Martin.  That year Martin and two partners incorporated The Eccentric Packing & Engineers' Supply Co.  Stevenson was an elder in the Faith Presbyterian Church on West 48th Street.

R. E. Bartlett was looking for a job in January 1913.  Her highly unusual advertisement in The New York Times read:

Housekeeper or Governess:  Public school teacher possessing voice, rare quality, judged by masters, desires position for purpose continuing study; five years' experience house manager and cooking; Protestant; age 25.  Write or call, 7 to 9 P.M., R. E. Bartlett, 437 West 44th St.

Another resident placed a somewhat unexpected advertisement in the New York Evening Telegram in 1916:  "Hawaiian steel guitar taught by one knowing correct style of Hawaiian playing.  Cunningham, 437-439 West 44th."

Finley W. Gilpin was born in Winterset, Iowa in 1875 and relocated to New York City in 1910.  The actor appeared "in stock productions in this city and in New England," said the New-York Tribune.  When his brother, Victor G. Gilpin, who lived in Brooklyn, could not get in touch with him on September 5, 1920, he went to his apartment to check on him.  The New York Times reported, "With jets open and his room filled with gas, Philip [sic] Gilpin, 45 years old, was found dead in bed at his home."  Victor told reporters that "his brother had been despondent of late because he had been out of work," said the article.

Prohibition turned some respectable citizens into criminals, like laborer Frank Rodell, who lived here in 1925.  On September 3, The New York Times reported that he and three others had been arrested "on charges of transporting and attempting to smuggle liquor into this port."  They were in cahoots with French sailors.  The four men had gone to the French liner De Grasse--two in a sailboat and two on foot--in the cover of night.  The pair who boarded the ship met 10 sailors who, according to the newspaper, "aided them in getting thirty quarts of champagne and forty quarts of brandy into burlap bags which were lowered over the ship's side into the junk boat."

All four then sailed northward, but they did not get far.  The marine police's Patrol Boat 7 overtook them at 58th Street.  Questioned by officials, Rodell and his accomplices refused to disclose the names of the French sailors.

Another resident to run afoul of Prohibition agents was Gaetano Venturereio.  On January 23, 1932, Federal agents raided the Michael Laura Club, "an important Italian-American Democratic unit," as described by The New York Times.  The article said there were about a dozen patrons in the club when undercover agents "went immediately to the barroom in the rear."  They later testified that they "purchased a drink of whisky for 75 cents."  A search revealed "a considerable quantity of alleged liquor."  Among the four men arrested as running the club was Gaetano Venturereio.

Resident Mario Friaglia, a pedophile, was rescued by police on August 8, 1938.  That evening the 23-year-old had convinced two girls, six and eight years old, to meet him in a vacant lot.  One of the girls told her parents.  It would not be his intended victims who were waiting for him.  Instead, Friaglia met with what The New York Sun described as "a menacing mob."  Police arrived and "save him" from street justice.  Friaglia pleaded guilty to morals charges.

In 1941 workers were on site to paint the recently-installed fire escapes.  The entrance hood and the cornice were intact.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Law enforcement was much more focused on another resident, John "Apple" Applegate, who listed his profession as a longshoreman.  Applegate was, in fact, an "enforcer" with the Bowers mob.  A bachelor, he was arrested under the name of Joseph Lawson in 1933 for burglary and sentenced to Sing Sing for two-and-a-half years.  Now paroled, he operated from 437-439 West 44th Street.

In December 1946, he and Vincent Wice got into a fight in a bar and grill on Tenth Avenue.  Wice slashed Applegate's face with a broken bottle resulting in his hospitalization and subsequent plastic surgery.  Applegate did not forget the incident.

Time magazine later said that "Apples" instructed Dominick Genova, "This guy has got to go and I want somebody...to take care of him."  Six months later, on June 15, 1947, Wice was on West 47th Street between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues when, despite the throngs of pedestrians around him, he was murdered by a machine gun wielding assailant.  The New York Times reported that the 42-year-old Applegate, "was booked as a material witness" in the murder.  After 18 hours of questioning at the station house and further interrogation at the District Attorney's office the following morning, Applegate still insisted he knew nothing of the murder and never met Wice.

The net would slowly close in on Applegate.  On September 4, 1952, The New York Times reported that the New York State Crime Commission had subpoenaed the financial records of "Joseph (or John) (alias John Lawson) Applegate."  The mobster was most likely shocked when one of the Commission's star witnesses against Applegate was Dominick Genova.

photograph by Anthony Bellov

Around the Depression years, an Art Moderne-style fire escape was installed on the facade.  Later, after 1941, the stone entrance frame and hood were removed and the cornice taken down.  Despite the vandalism, the eccentric 1892 building survives relatively intact.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post