The 1893 Munroe Smith House - 635 West 115th Street

 

In 1896 Columbia University left its collection of Midtown buildings for a new campus in the remote Morningside Heights district.  The move created problems for fraternities and academic clubs, which had costly clubhouses downtown, and for faculty and staff.  Two Columbia professors, however, were far ahead of the game.

In 1891 Francis M. Burdick and Munroe Smith acquired two 25-foot-wide plots on the undeveloped block of West 115th Street, between Riverside Drive and Broadway.  The site was just one block west of the proposed campus.  The educators hired architect Henry Otis Chapman to design mirror-image houses at 633 and 635 West 115th Street.  Construction began in 1892 and was completed the following year.  

The handsome Colonial Revival style houses were faced in yellow brick and trimmed in terra cotta.  The design was dominated by the striking Federal-style arched doorways with leaded and stained glass sidelights and exquisite fanlights.  Each of the four stories was defined by a terra cotta bandcourse.  The houses shared a delicate dentiled cornice.

Edmund Munroe Smith, who went professionally by Munroe Smith, moved his family into 635 West 115th Street.  He and his wife, the former Emma Gertrude Huidekoper, had one daughter, Gertrude Munroe, who was two years old at the time.

Munroe Smith from the collection of the Columbia University Archives.

Smith was a very well-educated man.  He graduated from Amherst Collect in 1874, earned his law degree from Columbia Law School in 1877, re-enrolled in Amherst in 1879, and received his J.U.D. from the University of Göttingen in 1880.  That year he was hired at Columbia University as an instructor in history and Roman law.  When he and his family moved into the 115th Street house, he was a full professor of Roman law and comparative jurisprudence.

The Smiths' large house afforded them the ability to take in other Columbia educators.  By 1906 Dr. Henry Rogers Seager, a professor of political economy, lived with the family.  Born in Kiev, Russia, he earned his Ph.D at the University of Michigan in 1890.  Both he and Munroe Smith were members of the Century Association, the membership of which was composed of authors, artists, and "amateurs of letters and fine arts."  

Henry Rogers Seager, from the collection of the Library of Congress

Another Columbia professor, John Bates Clark, and his wife, the former Myra A. Smith (no relation to their landlord), were listed here by 1909.  Born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1847, Clark taught economics.  His controversial views about capitalism had softened by the time he boarded with the Smiths.  Early on he had been a critic of capitalism, favoring instead German Socialism.  His views eventually evolved to make him a leading proponent of capitalism.

All three men wrote extensively.  They were the authors of academic books, articles and monographs in their respective areas.

The professors would have to find alternative lodging in 1910.  The Smiths moved out in 1910, and an advertisement in the New York Herald on October 2 offered the unfurnished house for rent.  It touted "11 rooms, 3 baths, immediate possession, refined residential section."

The house became home to Edward Purcell Slevin, his wife, the former Josephine Mary Hecker, and their daughter Elizabeth.  The couple's country home, East Clive, was in West Orange.  Another daughter, Paula, had been married on January 11 that year to Stephen Valentine Farrelly.

Only months after moving into 635 West 115th Street, Josephine died on March 15, 1911.  Edward remained in the house for years.

Then, on October 6, 1921, the New York Herald announced that "the Catholics of Columbia University" had purchased 635 West 115th Street "for occupancy as the Newman Club, an organization of Catholic students, who will occupy it after extensive alterations are completed."  The article added, "The present plans embody an assembly hall, committee meeting rooms, space for informal dances and other features, besides a library and reading room."

A chapel was installed in the basement level, where mass was said every day and twice on Sundays.  On the parlor floor was a "large comfortable reception room" where lectures were sometimes given, as well as social events.  The reading room and library were on the second floor.  Father H. F. Riley of the Paulist Fathers, the club's chaplain, resided in the house.

On April 7, 1922, the Columbia Alumni News reported on the opening of Newman Hall.  The article noted, "An inspection of the newly opened club house was made under the guidance of Father Riley, the resident Chaplain."  The Handbook to Catholic Historic New York City explained in 1927:

Newman Hall is the center for Catholic students.  The Newman Club of Columbia University was established in 1902.  Its headquarters at No. 635 West 115th Street is a meeting place for the members of the Newman Club in and around New York City.

The Newman Club remained until the early Depression years, selling the property to Armic Restaurant, Inc., which leased it.  Living here in 1938 was John M. Kelly, chief supervisor in the Department of Markets.  Kelly had been a city employee since 1920.  Two years later, Angelina Geminiani was leasing the house.  Living with her were her 17-year-old daughter, Regina, and two boarders, John and Eleanor Morgan.

The house in 1941 appeared little different than it does today.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In 1946 Columbia University purchased the former Smith house.  It became the center of the school's Modern China Research Project in 1958.  Professor Howard L. Boorman, its director, said that year, "One phase of this project is to compile a biographic dictionary of Chinese personalities as a basic reference tool to enable scholars to fill more readily the research gap for the transition period between 1911 and 1949."  The Modern China Research Project was still here as late as 1967.

Trouble came to Columbia University in the spring of 1972 when anti-war protestors shut down the campus.  On May 4, 1972, The New York Times reported, "Black and Latin students continued their occupation of Lewisohn Hall and an off-campus brownstone at 635 West 115th Street, which is owned by the university."  Over a week later, on May 13, the newspaper reported that the house had been "voluntarily vacated by the black and Latin students."

On the same day, the N.Y. Amsterdam News reported, "The University President has also agreed to an extension of the CEEP Program through 1974 and to provide the university facilities at 635 West 115th for the exclusive use of the CEEP Program."  That project, the Community Educational Exchange Program, "provides compensatory education for Harlem residents," as explained by The New York Times.

Later the building became home to the university's Office of Environmental Stewardship.  Appropriately, in November 2007 it was one of two Columbia buildings to receive a "green roof."  Nilda Mesa, Director of Environmental Stewardship explained in December that year, "Grass and plants growing on green roofs take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turn it into oxygen, helping cool temperatures in the hottest months and cleaning the air supply."

While its fraternal twin next door has been slightly altered, 635 West 115th Street is remarkably intact, including its wonderful 1893 doorway.

 photographs by the author

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Rutgers Presbyterian Church - 236 West 73rd Street

photo by Jim.henderson

By the 18^th century the Dutch Rutgers family had established itself in Manhattan with a large estate north of the city and a fine mansion.  Henry Rutgers survived service in the Revolutionary War to enter a life of public service and distinguish the family name with his generous philanthropies.  One of these would result in the change of the name of Queens College to Rutgers College.

A devout man, in 1798 he donated land to a Presbyterian congregation at what would become the corner of Henry and Rutgers Streets.   It was known as the Rutgers Street Church, or more familiarly “The kirk on Rutgers Farm,” and opened its doors for worship on May 13, 1798.  

In 1888, after three previous moves, the Rutgers Presbyterian Church congregation acquired a large lot at the southwest corner of Broadway and 73rd Street and hired architect R. H. Robertson to design a forceful Romanesque Revival church on the site.  The substantial structure cost $240,500 to construct--more than $6.5 million today.

A stereopticon slide shows the R. H. Robertson church with newly-planted trees.  Streetcar tracks run up Broadway.  

Thirty years after the building was completed the property on which it sat had become extremely valuable.  On the northwest corner was the imposing Ansonia Apartments and Broadway bustled with activity.  The New York Times noted in November 1921 "The six lots there were purchased for $93,700.  Today the property is worth approximately $1,000,000."

On December 6, 1919 The Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide announced "The Rutgers Presbyterian Church property...has been purchased by Sheriff David H. Knott and Henry J. Veitch, president of the Hotel St. Andrew Co., as a site for a 14-story hotel to cost about $3,000,000."

The architectural and building firm Fred F. French Company was contracted to design and erect the 500-room hotel; but then things faltered.  When the Rutgers Presbyterian congregation celebrated its 125th anniversary in November 1921, it was still in the corner church.

With the hotel project defunct, in July 1922 the trustees leased the vacant plot abutting the church to the real estate firm of Wood, Dolson Co., In. for $12,500 per year as the site of its new headquarters.  "The architecture of the new structure will conform with the church building," announced the Record & Guide.

As 1923 drew to a close the trustees of Rutgers Presbyterian Church thought they had found a solution to getting the most value from their property--a skyscraper church.  The concept was becoming popular in large cities.  Church buildings were being demolished to be replaced with apartment or office buildings which retained space for the religious organization.

On December 13, 1923 The Hudson Valley Times wrote "Rutgers Presbyterian Church on Broadway at 73rd Street is to be remodeled.  The lower floors will be occupied by a branch bank.  The church will have he upper part and will gain an income of $25,000 a year to help bear the cost of its program."  

But that plan, too, never came to fruition.  Instead the church leased the corner plot jointly to Wood, Dodson & Co. and the United States Mortgage and Trust Company; while retaining for itself a rear portion of the property for a new, smaller building.  The cornerstone was laid in February 14, 1925 "in the presence of several hundred parishioners and a number of distinguished clergymen," according to The Hancock Herald.

Within the cornerstone were placed documents relating to church calendars, ministers, photographs of the exterior and interior of the old church, a copy of the leases for the corner site, and related papers.  The article noted "The cornerstone weighed two and one-half tons."

The trustees had hired Henry Otis Chapman to design its new home.  Construction was completed early in 1926 and the dedication ceremonies took place on March 21.  Chapman's red brick and limestone sanctuary and church house were a 1920's take on English Gothic and, in the case of the church house, neo-Tudor.  

The entrance doors were slightly recessed within an elliptical arch; its width was carried on to the three pointed-arched stained glass windows directly above.  Limestone was used on either side of the gable to create grouped, blind Gothic arches that simulated towers.

The American Architect & Building News, December 5, 1926 (copyright expired)

Inside Gothic co-existed with the waning Arts & Crafts movement.  The oak elements--pews, pulpit, railings, and such--were carved with Gothic arches and trefoils and sat upon a pavement of Arts & Crafts mottled tiles.  Worshipers accustomed to R. H. Robertson's highly-decorated sanctuary now found plain plastered walls free of frescoes or nearly any other ornamentation.

The American Architect & Building News, December 5, 1926 (copyright expired)

Three years later the country was overwhelmed by the onslaught of the Great Depression.  Political and social issues often made their way to the pulpits of Manhattan churches and in 1934 the Rev. Daniel Russell gave his opinion of Franklin D. Roosevelt's National Recovery Administration to the congregation of Rutgers Presbyterian.

On July 19 the Stamford Mirror-Recorder reported that he "told his congregation that the N.R.A., far from bringing the masses any relief, had in fact reduced even further their living standards.  He said that he would render no greater service from the pulpit than to point out to the wage earner that a planned economy offers but little hope, in the long run, but rather blasts his chances for independence, prosperity and the good life."

With tensions building in Europe the issue of war and education was addressed in the church in January 1936.  A conference of "peace educators" concluded "The trouble about peace education along idealistic lines is that it rests so largely on emotion appeal, a psychological factor which can never be trusted in the excitement and alarm of an impending war," as reported by the Buffalo Courier-Express on January 19.  "The war-makers are past masters in the treatment of mass psychology when popular ideals are all too easily confused."

A situation that would bring nationwide press began the following year when the church held a contest among artists for a 26-foot-wide, 35-foot-high mural for the unadorned rear chancel wall.  The design of well-known muralist Alfred D. Crimi won the $6,800 commission for his Spreading the Gospel.

Crimi worked on the mural for two years.  Upon its unveiling on November 20, 1938 the pastor, Dr. Daniel Russell, described it as a picture of "the human Christ, whose muscles have hardened with the toil of rude and heavy tools in a primitive carpenter shop."  A large number of the female members disagreed, finding it disturbing to look at the muscular naked torso of Christ throughout the service.

Late in the summer of 1946 Crimi was in Manhattan and dropped into Rutgers Presbyterian Church to visit his work.  The Rome [New York] Sentinel reported "he was horrified to find that it had been blotted out by the church authorities."  That mural had been erased by a thick coating of white paint.

"It was explained by the Rev. Dr. Ralph W. Key, the pastor, that members of the congregation felt the central figure of Christ 'portrayed physical rather than spiritual strength--they just didn't like it and when the church was redecorated the mural was included in the plans."

The offending Spreading the Gospel. New York Post, March 11, 1947 

Incensed and indignant, Crimi went to court for damages.  He admitted to reporters that while "he could not legally force the church to restore the mural, he would attempt to force the issue on moral grounds.

Crimi's case was interesting.  He said the church had replaced his mural with "an undignified burial shroud" and asked the courts to "protect his honor and reputation." (And grant him $50,000 as well.)  To do so attorneys and a judge would have to decide if such a thing as "moral ownership" existed.

It didn't.

After dragging on for years, the courts ruled on January 29, 1949 that "when the picture has been painted and delivered to the patron and paid for by him, the artist has no right whatever left in it."

In the meantime an annual occurrence at Rutgers Presbyterian Church, going back to around 1929, was the two-day Interdenominational Missions Training Institute.  Each year's gathering had a theme.  With World War II raging in 1941 the sessions focused on "Democracy at Home and the Old Order Round the Globe."

Independent schools and small colleges routinely used the auditoriums of churches for their graduation ceremonies.  By the 1960's Rutgers Presbyterian was the annual venue for the commencement exercises of the American Academy-McAllister Institute of Funeral Service in New York--perhaps less expected than the more common beauty institutes and industrial schools that filled New York churches at graduation time.

In 2013 a restoration was initiated by Rand Engineering & Architecture, DPC.  The all-inclusive project replaced the roof, repaired the masonry and restored the stained glass rose window, executed by G. Owen Bonawit.  While in overall good shape, the glass was dirty and some panes were cracked.

photograph via LandmarkWest!

While work is still necessary on the other windows, the restoration brought the facade of the Rutgers Presbyterian Church back to its 1926 appearance.

The US Mortage & Trust Bldg -- No. 940 Madison Avenue

photo by Alice Lum

In the spring of 1921 the United States Mortgage and Trust Company was doing a brisk business at its Madison Avenue Branch.  The five-story building included rental apartments on the upper floors.  Business was so brisk, as a matter of fact, that the old building was proving inadequate.  A new structure “was decided upon in order to meet the requirements of the rapidly increasing clientele of this office,” reported The New York Times in May that year.

Prior to the announcement the firm had purchased the properties at Nos. 27 and 29 East 74^th Street which abutted the existing branch building.  Now, in May, it sold that structure and announced plans to erect a new branch, predicted by The Times to be “a handsome individual bank building.”  Architect Henry O. Chapman, of Barney & Chapman, was given the commission and on May 21, 1921 newspaper reported on his designs. 

“The building will be in the style of the late English Renaissance, the exterior of limestone, with Knoxville marble entrance and base.  The plans are designed to give the maximum of light and air and in every way to conform to modern standards of bank architecture.  The expected cost of the building was placed at $600,000—about $6 million in today’s dollars.

Chapman’s resultant building, completed in 1922, was a critical success.  The dazzling white neo-Classical façade oozed respectability and tradition—traits the financial institution sought to portray to its potential customers.  Ornamentation was reserved to carved panels; shallow, stylized capitals above the two-story pilasters; and a weighty, balustrade parapet above the cornice.

Every year since 1907 the Fifth Avenue Association had awarded prizes for the best designs for newly constructed buildings and for the most skillful work in altering existing structures.  On November 14, 1922 the Association gathered at the Waldorf-Astoria for its awards dinner, presided over by Will H. Hays.  Although Hays had just stepped down as Chairman of the Republican National Committee and was currently the United States Postmaster General, he would become best known as the president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America.

Among the 500 guests waiting to hear the results that year were State Senator James J. Walker, Rear Admiral J. H. Glennon, Chief Magistrate William McAdoo and real estate bigwig Douglas L. Elliman.  Interestingly enough, when the first prize was awarded to the new United States Mortgage and Trust Company’s building, newspapers ignored the architect’s name in print.  

The glistening white building as it appeared just after completion -- photograph by Wurts Bros., from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UAYWRDW9Q2&SMLS=1&RW=1280&RH=915

Telegrams of congratulations for the award were received from President Harding, Governor Miller, Governor-elect Smith and Mayor Hylan.

By mid-century the award-winning building was home to a Chemical Bank branch which would remain for over four decades.  In 1963, as the neighborhood filled with upscale art galleries and pricey retail stores, the Whitney Museum of Art’s newest building opened across the street.  In 1974 the two buildings would be unexpectedly connected.

Artist Charles Simonds had been busy with a project chronicling the Little People—an extinct race of diminutive nomads who built settlements of unfired clay, sand, fabric and twigs; then abandoned them.   The artist constructed approximately 300 such structures, placed outdoors first on window sills along Greene Street, then in the crumbling walls of derelict buildings on the Lower East Side. 

The little ruins with towers, turrets and battlements mythologized his imagined people.  The works caught the eye of the Whitney, and for its Biennial in 1974 commissioned diminutive ruins to be installed on a second story window sill of 940 Madison.  Five years later the museum added to the multi-piece work, called Dwellings, when Simonds installed a miniature set of ruins inside the Whitney above a window in the main stairwell.  From that vantage point the piece on the former United States Mortgage and Trust is visible. 

Only the most astute passerby notices the small artwork huddling in the corner of the second floor window -- photo by Alice Lum

Barely noticeable from the street, the artwork nearly requires binoculars to fully appreciate.  Thousands of pedestrians pass by the building daily without ever noticing the arcane work of art.

As the 21^st century neared the building was owned by Chase Manhattan Bank which operated a branch here.  But by now the bank utilized only a small portion of the structure for its branch.  Internationally-known English antiques dealer Stair & Company occupied most of the building.

In 1996 Stair & Co. subleased most of its space—6,000 square feet--to the Alexander Gallery.  The 10-year lease, valued at the time at $10 million, included part of the ground level, mezzanine, and the full second and third floors.  In its two decades of exhibitions and events, the Alexander Gallery had established itself as a major player in the New York art field.  In its new home at No. 940 Madison, it would stage landmark exhibits and its especially noteworthy parties called “The Barterer’s Ball.”

Tickets to the exclusive events were not for sale.  To gain admittance, patrons traded possessions worth over $10,000 during the course of the evening.  These included houses in the Hamptons, seats from the Titanic, and race horse breeding rights.

Chase Manhattan’s branch hung on for a few more years and on March 12, 1998 it was the scene of upheaval in the high-tone neighborhood.  Two armed men robbed the bank that afternoon, shooting one customer in the leg and “fleeing with an undetermined amount of cash and ruffling an upscale slice of the city dotted by hushed, thickly carpeted shops with buzzers and gates,” as reported by The Times.

The scene, described by the newspaper as “a bit discombobulating to some passers-by,” was not the sort of mayhem one imagined here.   The Times said “There was a steady stream of ‘What happened?’ from women in furs and men in elegant overcoats.”

The bank and the neighborhood would not have to worry about hold-ups for long.  In 2002 the building was taken over by V. Bruce Hoeksema, the designer and owner of VBH, the Rome-based firm known for its luxury jewelry and handbags.  VBH commissioned New York architects Peter Marino and Stephen Learner to renovate the 10,000 square foot interiors.  The former bank space was transformed to a more domestic setting for the showrooms where handbags—some priced at $14,000—were displayed.

VBH and its architects retained the gallery-like feeling of the former tenants, however.  Modern artwork was hung on the walls and “ethnic home accessories” and furniture, also for sale, decorated the space.  VBH took advantage of the high end gallery district and immediately staged an art program, spearheaded by dealer and consultant Mark Fletcher.

Exhibitions in the jewelry and accessory store continued and in 2006 it staged the exhibition of 160 photographs by May Ray, called “The Photographic Images.”

The once-brilliant facade is sadly grim-covered and stained.  -- photo by Alice Lum

Henry Chapman’s award-winning bank building is virtually unchanged since its doors opened in 1922.  It neo-Classical design has proved equally adept as a home to finance, art and high-end fashion accessories—not to mention tiny nomadic people.