The Lost Bank of Commerce - 31 Nassau Street

The newly completed Bank of Commerce building towered over the New York Clearing House to the left.  Real Estate Record & Guide, June 25, 1898 (copyright expired)

Established on January 1, 1839, the Bank of Commerce was the largest bank in the country by 1863.  On January 27, 1894, the Record & Guide reported that the bank had purchased the Holland Trust Company's property at 33 Nassau Street.  It abutted the Bank of Commerce's marble-faced, Italianate structure at the northwest corner of Nassau and Cedar Streets.  The bank's president, W. W. Sherman told the Record & Guide, "the bank would certainly not build this year, but would, doubtless, soon thereafter."  The article said, "He thought that when they did build, it would be in harmony with the style of the projected Clearing House building."

When this photograph was taken, the bank's handsome 1855 Italianate structure was soon to go.  King's Views of New York, 1893 (copyright expired)

On May 1, 1896, the New-York Tribune reported, "The old National Bank of Commerce Building, at Cedar and Nassau sts., is to be torn down at once for the erection of a tall office and bank building."  The article mentioned, "In consequence, tenants who have had quarters there for many years will have to move."  The bank leased temporary space in the Syndicate Building at Nassau and Liberty Streets.

James B. Baker was hired to design the 18-story bank and office building.  His Renaissance Revival, tripartite design included a limestone clad, four-story-and-basement base.  The double-height Nassau Street arched entrance was flanked with intricately carved pilasters.  The brick-faced midsection was distinguished with grouped openings within 11-story arches.  The top section was clad in limestone, the grouped windows of  the 16th and 17th floors separated by paired columns.

Karl Bitter sculpted the allegorical figures Commerce and Mercury in the spandrels above the entrance.  When they were installed in the spring of 1897, they "attracted a great deal of attention," according to The Sun on May 18.  In fact, it was only one of "heroic figures" that sparked controversy.  The Sun said the male example was "the classical Mercury with the winged cap."  The figure of Commerce, however, which was "very slightly clothed," was "subjected to criticism unfavorable to its anatomical correctness."  The Sun said, "Both figures were almost immediately veiled."

For the next two weeks, passersby heard "the sound of chipping marble behind the screen."  Underneath the draping, Bitter was "flattening some of the contours of the female figure."

Bitter made his Commerce less sensuous.  American Architect and Building News, May 14, 1898 (copyright expired)

The New-York Tribune came to Bitter's defense, saying on May 23, "the much-talked-about spandrels which Mr. Baker introduced over the entrance to the Bank of Commerce Building are not only artistic in themselves but of the utmost importance to the general effect of the Nassau-st. front."

Less controversial was the ceiling painting by Charles Yardley Turner in the entrance hall, Commerce Presiding Over an Exchange of the Products of Wealth and Industry.  This Commerce was fully clothed, described by The New York Times on November 7, 1897 as "Madonnalike."  The critic summarized his lengthy article saying, "As an example of purely decorative composition and delicate color Mr. Turner has surpassed himself in this ceiling."

photograph by Byron Company, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

As the building neared completion, the massive banking vault was scheduled to be delivered.  Unfortunately, Cedar Street had been excavated to lay pipes and, according to The Sun, "The men who did the work left the street in bad shape for eighteen-ton loads."  On April 17, 1897, the truck carrying the steel frame for the vault door "blocked up Cedar street in front of the Clearing House building" the entire day.  One of the rear wheels had sunk into the roadway to the hub.

On April 19, The New York Times reported, "After remaining nearly forty-eight hours mired in the mud on Cedar Street...the seven-and-a-half-ton truck, loaded with a twenty-two ton steel door frame for the Bank of Commerce Building, was moved yesterday morning at 9 o'clock."  Two 20-ton hydraulic jacks had raised the truck and four horses had pulled the truck on heavy skids to the rear entrance of the Bank of Commerce Building.

There was one more hurdle in the building's completion.  An Italian-born marble polisher arrived to work in April with "an eruption on his face."  The worker had smallpox and on May 1 John G. Vaughan, a carpenter, was diagnosed with the disease.  Two days later, William H. Lemon, an engine oiler, was removed from his home by the Brooklyn Board of Health.  He, too, had contracted smallpox.  The Sun reported on May 4, "It is not known what became of the Italian who is suspected of having been suffering from the disease.  He must be well or dead by this time."

King's Views of New York 1903 (copyright expired)

The Bank of Commerce moved in on April 1, occupying the lower floors.  The upper floor offices were rented to real estate agents, attorneys, bankers and brokers.  A particularly notable tenant was financier and railroad mogul, Russell Sage.  On April 3, 1897, The Sun reported that he had moved his office into the building.  Karl Bitter's contentious sculptures were still in the forefront.  In reporting on the banker's move, The Sun titled the article, "Russell Sage Moves To-Day / Going Up Above the Bank of Commerce's Colossal Statues."

In 1900, the bank merged with the National Union Bank and three years later the Western National Bank was absorbed. 

Baker carried the Italian Renaissance motif into the interior.  photographs by Byron Company, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

A high profile tenant moved into the building in February 1906.  Joseph P. Day was one of the foremost real estate appraisers and auctioneers in the city.  Also here were the offices of the Rhinelander Real Estate Co.

Russell Sage died on July 22, 1906 at the age of 90.  On November 2, the New-York Tribune reported that his will directed that his employees, "are to receive double the amount of salary paid them in Mr. Sage's lifetime."

On March 30, 1912, The Sun reported, "The buildings along Nassau street are to be shaved of all encroachments on the public way."  Included was the framework of the National Bank of Commerce entrance.  The article said, "it is not known whether the two nude figures over the doorway, which caused comment at the time of the erection of the building, will be allowed to remain or not."  (It appears they were not.)

The 1922 book National Bank of Commerce in New York remarked on the growth and stability of the institution, saying that its "present figure [is] $25,000,000."  Converted to 2025 terms, the amount would equal $454 million.  Seven years later the bank merged with Guaranty Trust Company of New York.  In 1959, Guaranty Trust merged with J.P. Morgan & Co.

1902 photograph by Irving Underhill, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

On November 2, 1964, The New York Times reported, "A group headed by Harry B. Helmsley" had obtained funds "to erect a 49-story office building," adding, "The square-block site, bounded by Broadway and Liberty, Nassau and Cedar Streets, is being cleared."  Included in the block, of course, was the Bank of Commerce Building.

The Lost Hanover National Bank - 5-11 Nassau Street

 

from the collection of the Library of Congress

Established in 1851 as the Hanover Bank, the institution became the Hanover National Bank in 1865.  Its success continued until on July 13, 1901 the Real Estate Record & Guide reported that it intended to build a 22-story office building on the southwest corner of Nassau and Pine Streets "from plans by James B. Baker."  The Duncan Sherman & Co. building on the site, erected in 1857, would be a casualty of the coming construction.

Completed in June 1903, the soaring structure had cost $1 million to erect--more than 30 times that much by today's terms.  Baker's neo-classical office building stood head and shoulders above its neighbors.  His tripartite design included a rusticated three-story base, a 15-story midsection, and a four-story upper segment embellished with engaged columns, pedimented metal window framing, and stone balconies.  A handsome stone balustrade crowned the elaborate terminal cornice.

James B. Baker's 1901 rendering included foot and carriage traffic on the busy intersection.  from the collection of the Library of Congress.

Three months before the building opened the Record & Guide noted, "The Hanover National Bank Building is not filling up as rapidly as some of the others, because the high rental, which is naturally demanded for space in a building so well situated."  The rental agents, however, told the reporter they were "fully satisfied with the demand for offices."

And indeed, the upper floors filled with tenants--mostly banking and brokerage firms.  Among the early occupants were the large stock exchange brokers Moffat & White, the American Finance & Securities Co., and Spitzer & Co., bankers.

To the left of the Hanover National Bank is the 1897 Gillender Building, and at lower right is the 1842 Federal Hall.  from the collection of the Library of Congress.

Two tenants unrelated to the finance industry were the New York and New Jersey Rapid Transit Company, which took space in May 1906; and the offices of the Lunacy Commissioners, which judged the sanity of certain individuals.  

The New York and New Jersey Rapid Transit Company was formed to operate commuter railroads between Manhattan and New Jersey.  Its general manager, Malcolm R. McAdoo, explained in a letter to The Paterson Morning Call on May 29, 1908, that the large railroads had told him that "the short-haul suburban business was so much less profitable" and that they "would gladly abandon it."

In the 19th century, having a wealthy or cumbersome relative declared insane was a convenient way to get one's hands on their money, or simply to put them out of the way.  The problem was such that in 1891 the Lunacy Law Reform League was established to prevent sane victims from being committed to asylums.

A peculiar case came before the Lunacy Commissioners here in November 1906.  Valeria F. Sands had been held for 15 years "as a lunatic in the Sanford Hill Asylum at Flushing, Long Island," according to The New York Times on November 17.  The newspaper said, "Miss Sands's delusion is that she has a right to the titles of Countess of Balmoral, Duchess of Kent, Duchess of Argyll, Duchess of Orleans, Countess de Rochefouchauld, Barone von Blanc, and Infanta of Spain."

Valeria's father had made a fortune in the East India trade and she had grown up in "one of the greatest mansions ever erected in Hong-kong," according to The New York Times.   Valeria's personal fortune was estimated at about $500,000--nearly $15 million today.

An only child, she had been committed by her cousins, Mattie Robinson and Margaret Clayton.  Now the two sisters wanted Valeria released for entirely different reasons.

Mattie Robinson declared that her sister wanted Valeria in her own custody to control her fortune, which was being administered by a court-appointed guardian.  The New York Times noted, "it has been increasing in value every year."  The accusations between the warring sisters erupted during the first session when they "fought with their fists."

After cooling off, the sisters reappeared on November 16.  Mattie Robinson told the commission, "She has been kept locked up all these years for no other than mercenary reasons."  Now, half of Valeria's fortune, which was held in Scotland, was in jeopardy.  Mattie testified that the $250,000 there would revert to the Crown in three years if Valeria did not appear to claim it.  "I am going to Scotland next Spring to look after some property of my own there, and Miss Sands wants to go with me and claim her property."

A third session was held on November 23.  Mattie Robinson declined to testify this time, telling a reporter, "I would have taken the stand but Mrs. Clayton was present, and I feared she would start a fight.  She would hit me with a chair at the slightest provocation."

The case dragged on until December 3 when neither sister got the result she had hoped for.  Valeria was deemed, "incapable of taking part in any other amusement than visits to the ladies' parlor" in the asylum, as reported in The New York Times.  Dr. Charles L. Dana, saying she was "unlikely to be cured," announced "she was better in the asylum."  Dr. Jared G. Baldwin, who had been the Sands' family physician, was given custody of her fortune, with no authority over "the spending of her money beyond approving the accounts submitted by the asylum."

from the collection of the New-York Historical Society

Broker George Wheeler Meacham was another early tenant.  He nearly lost his life in the summer of 1907 when he was carried unconscious from the burning Long Beach Hotel on July 29.  He recuperated in a private hospital near Central Park.  That paled, however, to the threat he encountered in his office two months later. 

Meacham was sitting at his desk on September 20 when James Macdonald stormed in, drew a revolver, and accused Meacham of being "attentive" to his wife.  The broker insisted he did not even know Macdonald's wife.  His earlier near-tragedy turned helpful when Macdonald mentioned dates that Meacham had supposedly carried on the indiscretion with his wife.

The New York Times reported, "To prove that Macdonald was wrong in his suspicions, Meacham brought forth his diary and asked him to compare it with the dates he said Mrs. Macdonald and Meacham had been together."  He had been hospitalized throughout the entire period.  Later Meacham testified, "He then forced me, at the point of his revolver, to sign a paper to the effect that I did not know his wife, and left, saying that if he ever returned it would be with the intention of blowing my brains out."

But the signed paper did not end the frightening affair.  On November 25, a Saturday, Macdonald showed up again.  Meacham explained to a judge a few days later, "Then I decided to put a stop to the business, as it was a little out of the usual routine in a New York office to have a man coming in with a loaded gun to interview one at unexpected moments."  He had Macdonald arrested at his home on December 3.  Macdonald professed that he had returned to Meacham's office merely to apologize for his first visit.  He was locked up.

Charles Edwin Ellis was the secretary, treasurer and director of the American Finance and Securities Company until the summer of 1912.  After going on a "prospecting trip" through the South, the Far West and Canada, he "became impressed with the insincerity of mankind," wrote The New York Times on August 19.  "He would have each man sincere with himself, and sincere with others."  

And so, to devote his entire time to the cause of sincerity, he resigned his position with the American Finance and Securities Company and two other concerns.  On August 18 he sent a 3,000-word platform for the Society of Sincerists to New York newspapers.  Although his plans for attacking the problem were, admittedly, still vague, Ellis could pinpoint the source of the country's problems.  "Then let us write across the sky in letters that the whole Nation may read, and spell out as the exact cause of this individual's culpability, the one word--insincerity!"  (Ellis's Society of Sincerists was not especially long lived.)

Banking and brokerage firms were often deceived by trusted employees.  Such was the case with Kean, Taylor & Co. in 1920.  Antonio di Gregario had been hired as a messenger boy five years earlier.  By now, the 19-year-old was the head messenger and, as such, was informed ahead of time when deliveries of bonds were expected.   

On November 30, 1920, messengers Irving Cohen and Austin Young were on their way to the office of Igoe Brothers with $466,666 worth of Liberty Bonds.  They were attacked by three men.  Young said later, "One of them pressed a gun to my side and demanded the bag."  When he did not release it, he was shot.  "I put up a fight and was struck over the head...I tried to hold to the bag, but they got it away from me."

Luckily, Young was not fatally injured.  Cohen told investigators, "It looks to me as though some one had tipped them off and they lay in wait for us."  It did not take police long to focus on Antonio di Gregario.  Pressured, he confessed and identified his brother, Joseph, who had a criminal record, and Antonio Vanilla, as the hold-up men.

Another tenant to fall victim to its own employee was the brokerage firm of Potter & Company.  Charles W. Reid was an auditor for the firm.  He got himself into serious trouble when he started an extramarital affair in 1923.  "Although I am married and have a daughter four years old, I fell in love with another woman," he explained to police two years later.

The other woman wanted more than to be a mistress.  She sued for $25,000 in damages for breach of promise.  Reid later said, "Fearing that my wife would hear of my misconduct, I did not contest the suit.  That was my mistake."

Things only worsened for Reid when friends of the woman threatened to tell his wife and his employer.  (Marital infidelity at the time was grounds for dismissal.)  In order to pay his blackmailers, Reid began to embezzle funds.  "I was trusted by my employers and it was easy for me to pad the payrolls and steal from $500 to $800 a month," he confessed.  He had skimmed $4,000 before being caught in 1927--nearly $60,000 in today's money.  He insisted "Every cent of this was spend on the young woman or given to the blackmailers."  As was so often the case with embezzlers, said The Times-Union, he "blamed his downfall on a woman."

The Hanover National Bank building would fall victim to its taller next door neighbor, the Bankers Trust building.

By now the Hanover National Bank had been renamed the Central Hanover Bank.  On September 11, 1929 The New York Times reported that it had sold its Nassau Street building to the Bankers Trust Company.  "The purchase gives the Bankers Trust Company control of more than half the block," said the article.  Less than two years later, on June 19, 1931, the newspaper reported that the demolition of the 28-year-old Hanover National Bank building had begun "to make room for the new building of the Bankers Trust Company."

image via cbre.us.com

many thanks to reader Doug Wheeler for suggesting this post

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The 1902 Caledonian Insurance Bldg - 50-52 Pine Street

In 1894 the Caledonian Insurance Company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, established its United States Branch at Nos. 27-30 Pine Street.  According to the firm's History of a Hundred Years, 1805-1905, "Such had been the growth of the business, that arrangements were made which resulted eventually in the purchase of a valuable property at 50-52 Pine Street."

Sitting on the site was the old Mercantile Exchange Building, which had been used as the home of the Down Town Club since around 1877.   On October 24, 1899 The New York Times announced that the insurance firm "will erect immediately a twelve or fifteen story office building.   The structure will embody all modern improvements with extra high ceilings, and much space devoted to courts for light and air."  The article projected that the new building would be ready for occupancy on January 1, 1901.

When the Caledonian Insurance Company purchased the property, this building was on the site.  sketch by Pettit & Field, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

Something happened, however, and the deal fell through.  But the Caledonian Insurance Company kept its eye on the property and when it came up at auction in March 1901, three of the firm's trustees were in the crowd of bidders.  This time they were more successful, paying $175,000 for the old building.  The Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported less than a month later, on April 13, that the firm had wasted no time in hiring an architect and planning a new building.  "Plans have been drawn by James B. Baker...for a 15-sty office building to be erected on the site."

Construction took less than a year and on May 3, 1902 the Record & Guide reported that "The Caledonian Building, at 52 Pine st., containing some one hundred and thirty offices, has been fully rented with the exception of seven small rooms.  Insurance companies, brokers and lawyers are the tenants."

sketch from
History of a Hundred Years, 1805-1905 (copyright expired)

Baker's handsome stone and brick building featured a two story Beaux-Arts style base with frothy carved decorations, including two exuberantly-framed oculi over the side entrance doors.  Stately Corinithian columns upheld the entablature which proudly announced the firm's name.

The midsection was faced in buff colored brick, each story separated by a crisp cornice.  Splayed lintels with paneled keystones distinguished the openings.  Fussy decoration reappeared at the top two floors which nestled below a deeply overhanging cornice.

One major tenant which did not fall into the categories of "insurance companies, brokers and lawyers" was Tams, Lemoine & Crane, yacht brokers, and naval architects and engineers.   The firm was well-known among the nation's yachting community, selling sleek vessels to millionaires.   It had scored a coup several years earlier at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War.  The Sun reported "Tams & Lemoine supplied most of the yachts that were bought up by the Government."

Yacht architect Henry Barbey was a partner in Tams, Lemoine & Crane.  The well-to-do designer was an early automobile owner and was arrested for speeding along the west drive in Central Park in the fall of 1905.  He may have been momentarily relieved when he appeared in court on October 24 and saw that the judge was his long-time friend, Magistrate Barlow.  But there would be no partiality in this case.

"So you're here at last," said the judge.  "I thought the police would get you."  He fined his friend $5 (about $130 today).  The Evening World reported "Mr. Barbey paid the clerk and then joined the magistrate at the bench and laughed at the joke on himself."

Tams, Lemoine & Crane not only sold expensive vessels to wealthy sportsmen, it got rid of their old ones.  In 1906, for instance, the firm sold Edwin Gould's 154-foot steam-powered yacht the Aileen to the Cuban Government.

Tams, Lemoine & Crane designed and built a variety of crafts, like the houseboat shown above, and the streamlined yacht below Yachting magazine, October 1914 (copyright expired)

Ashton Lemoine never married and, despite his having made a million dollars in the stock market in one year alone, he shared rooms in a bachelor apartment on East 29th Street with two other wealthy businessmen.  On the cold evening of February 12, 1907 he dressed in evening clothes and told his roommates merely that he "was going to dine at Sherry's."  His plans were more extensive, however.

Later that night he entered the lobby of the Bijou Theatre with a woman.  He bought two orchestra seat tickets for All-of-a-Sudden Peggy.  Just as he turned away from the box office, he fell to the floor.  The Sun reported "His head struck the marble tiled floor and his opera hat bounded across the lobby."  Lemoine was dead.

When his female companion realized he was dead, she tried to bolt, but was stopped by a theater employee.  She refused to give her name and the mystery of her relationship with Lemoine and her identity seem to have never been solved.

On January 14, 1907 the Russo-Chinese Bank, headquartered in St. Petersburg, opened a branch office in New York on the second floor of the building.  The bank explained its purpose was "the furtherance of American trade with Russia and the Far East."  Three years later, its principals would be scrambling to do damage control.

The bank's agent, Gustav Gertz, left for Europe on vacation in July 1910.   Two weeks later headlines shocked newspaper readers across the country.  The Sun's headline on July 23 read "Strong Box Looted of $70,000 of Bonds / Agency of Russo-Chinese Bank in Pine Street Robbed Strangely / Manager is On a Vacation."

It was a major problem for the bank, the negotiable bonds equaling about $1.75 million today.   Spokespersons repeatedly assured the press that the bank was fully protected against loss; however The New York Times was skeptical.  'In spite of this statement," it said on July 26, "doubt was expressed that the Russo-Chinese Bank would be able to recover the stolen bonds, and Wall Street discussed this phase of the case all day."

The identify of the culprit was discovered just three days after the loss was reported.  Erwin Wider was a cashier who made $25 a week.  But while his name was now known, his whereabouts were not.  On July 27 The Times noted "At Police Headquarters it was said last night that no trace of Wider had yet been found.  Detectives have been watching his house in the Bronx."

As it turned out, Wider had been spiriting bonds for months.  The New-York Tribune reported "Wider's downfall came as a result of the allurements of Wall Street, and it was stated positively by one of his intimates last night that the missing bonds were put up as margins for speculations."

The article continued "For the last few months, it was said, he had been living high, spending freely, and riding in taxicabs instead of streetcars.  His wife, who has disappeared for the present, is said to be broken own physically from the shock of their troubles."

Surprisingly, the German-born Wider was spotted by Detectives Thomas Hughes and Louis Hyams "walking carelessly through the downtown business district," according to The Times on July 30, just a few blocks from No. 50-52 Pine Street.  He was accompanied by his lawyer, Leon B. Ginsburg and a law clerk, Alexander Henshall.  Wider had shaved his mustache and his altered appearance almost worked.

"If that fellow had a mustache he might be our man," Hughes was reported to say.  Hyams took a closer look and answered "He's Wider, all right."

Wider was arrested and held in The Tombs.  His doctor told reporters he had developed "acute suicidal mania," and his lawyer added he "was very ill, being unable to eat or retain any food."  His jail keepers disagreed.  On August 1, 1910 The New York Times reported "Keepers in the Tombs, where Wider is confined, laughed when asked about Wider's reported refusal to eat to starve himself to death.  'He eats like a longshoreman,' said Head Keeper John Hanley."

Wider had confessed to the crime, but it was not until February 1911 that he was sentenced.  The District of Columbia Alexandria Gazette reported on February 9 that he was sentenced to "14 years imprisonment."

The Caledonian Insurance Company was notified in the summer of 1914 that their handsome Corinthian columns "encroached" on public property.  The city demanded that it get is sidewalk space back.  In response, the architectural firm of Nast & Springsteen was commissioned to redesign the two lower floors.  They replaced the columns with flush piers that terminated in huge scrolled brackets.

By 1913 W. S. Barstow & Co. had its headquarters in the building.  It advertised at the time as "Consulting and Construction Engineers."  But as the years progressed, the firm would greatly diversify.   The company exhibited its patriotism in 1916 after Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa attacked the border town of Columbus, New Mexico.  National Guard units were mobilized to find Villa and to guard the border.   On July 1, 1916 W. S. Barstow & Co. announced it would "continue the salaries of employes enlisted in the guard and hold their positions for the period of enlistment."

Tams, Lemoine & Crane were still in the building and would remain well into the 1920s.  Other tenants included attorneys Aron & Vanderveer, public accounts West & Flint, and insurance firm Alberti, Baird & Carleton, Inc.

In 1918 the National Surety Company leased the ground floor for its underwriting office.  The firm marketed itself as both "the World's Largest Surety Company" and "America's Largest Burglary Ins. Co."  That same year the investment firm of Case, Pomeroy & Co. took two floors, signing a lease totaling $75,000. 

Two years later real estate operators may have been surprised when, in March 1920, the Caledonian Insurance Company sold its building to its tenant, Alberti, Baird & Carleton, Inc.  The Caledonian Insurance now became a renter in the building it had erected as its headquarters.

In reporting on the sale, the Record & Guide called Alberti, Baird & Carleton, Inc, "one of the most prominent insurance brokerage firms in the district."  Saying that building was valued at about $1 million and had a rent roll of approximately $100,000 a year, the journal noted it "will be renamed the 'Alberti Building.'"

The new owners may have given No. 50-52 Pine Street a new name, but they allowed the Caledonian Insurance Company name to remain deeply carved into the entablature.

Among the major clients of Alberti, Baird & Carleton, Inc. was the White Star Line.  Both firms would be drawn into a world-wide controversy in 1925 when the White Star liner Homeric happened across the floundering Japanese freighter S. S. Raifuku Maru off Nova Scotia on April 21.

As that vessel slowly sank, its crew hoped for rescue by the luxury passenger ship.  Instead, all 38 members drowned.  When the Homeric steamed into New York harbor, its passengers were quick to express anger.  One, Amos R. E. Pinchot told The New York Times:

"We could see men climbing over the side of the Japanese ship.  Some were swept overboard, others tried to cling to the bottom of the overturned ship.  We could see them with our naked eyes.  People who had glasses could see them very plainly, as they were clinging to the rail.  Others--many others--drifted down to within 150 to 200 yards of the stern of our ship.  There were three or four in one group.  They gradually dropped out of sight.  We were standing still.  Almost immediately after the Japanese ship was capsized we continued on our way."

In the meantime, W. S. Barstow continued to increase his interests and his fortune.  That same year The New York Times announced "The Binghamton Light, Heat and Power Company, of which W. S. Barstow...is President, probably will be sold to the American Gas and Electric Company."

Three years later the newspaper announced that Barstow, under his Central Gas and Electric Corporation at No. 50 Pine Street would be erecting "the largest dam in cubic content in America and possibly in the World."  Located ten miles outside of Columbia, South Carolina, the project would create a lake "twice the size of Lake George, 30 miles long and fourteen wide."  Barstow told reporters the "first expenditure" would be $20 million and would provide electricity to nearly the entire state.

The building continued to house mostly brokerage, attorney and insurance firms.  In the early Depression years the brokerage company A. W. Porter & Co. was here.   Arlington W. Porter had been connected with Wilson & Co. until 1924 when that firm declared bankruptcy.

Porter was sitting at his desk on June 28, 1935 when 57-year old Joseph Sullivan barged into his office, walked over to him and said "I've been looking for you for eleven years and now I've got you."  He drew a pistol from his pocket and added, "Now, give me my money back or I'll kill you."

Porter started to stand up, but was ordered "Sit down and write out a check for $7,000.  Do it quick and I'll call everything even."  The executive apparently looked puzzled, because Sullivan continued, "You remember how you took $1,200 from me when you were with Wilson & Co. and knew all the time the house was bankrupt."

Despite having a gun pointed at his head, Porter negotiated and the two agreed on a lesser amount.  He wrote out a check for $1,500 and sent an assistant along with Sullivan to cash the check.  Immediately after they left, Porter called the police, directing them to the Continental Bank and Trust Company at No. 30 Broad Street.

Sullivan was standing in line at the teller's window when he was arrested by detectives.  At the station house his story changed.  He now said that Porter "had accepted $4,800 from him for a brokerage account when the first was in bankruptcy."  He pleaded not guilty to robbery and Sullivan Law (gun possession) charges.   Following his indictment by a grand jury, the judge ordered him taken to the psychiatric ward of Bellevue Hospital "for observation as to his sanity."

A colorful occupant of No. 50-52 at the time was mining engineer and promoter Charles V. Bob.   The millionaire had paid $108,000 towards Byrd's 1928 expedition to the Antarctic, resulting in a mountain range being named after him.   But his reputation became tarnished when he was tried in 1931 on charges that he defrauded the public in selling stock of Metal and Mining Shares, Inc., and Mineral Research Corporation, which failed after the Stock Market Crash with losses of $6 million.

That trial ended in a hung jury, as did the second in 1932 and the third in 1935.  After that trial, he demanded a Congressional investigation, saying he was being persecuted.   The U.S. Attorney's office dismissed the old indictment.  But he would not be out of hot water for long.

In May 1938 he was charged with new fraud charges.  On February 3, 1939 he was found guilty of five mail fraud counts and one of conspiracy and sentenced to five five-year sentences for the mail fraud and two years on the conspiracy count.

The indictment had said in part, "In furtherance of the fraud, the defendants operated 'boiler rooms' at 50 Pine Street."  The term "boiler room" referred to the sale of fake investments by telephone.

In the mid 1940s the building was purchased by the city.  Among the departments housed there was the office of the Investigation Commissioner.  John M. Murtagh was tasked with digging into a wide range of issues associated with possible government corruption.

In the summer of 1947, for instance, he delved into the possible collusion between Idelwild Airport officials and the Gulf Oil Corporation.  That same year he looked into gambling on Wall Street, parking bribes taken by policemen, questionable pier leases, police graft in Queens and the racketeering in the sale of fuel oil and kerosene during "storm distress."

A major investigation in 1948 involved the city's milk purchases.  The suspicion was that members of the La Guardia administration had conspired to fix prices with major dairies.  And in 1949 he took on a potentially dangerous adversary--the mafia and the longshoremen.  On May 4, 1949 he characterized dock workers as "mysterious."  He promised that his investigation was "the first step in eliminating irregularities and racketeering."

Murtagh's wide-spread investigations went so far as to include ticket scalping for the hit Broadway plays South Pacific and Kiss Me Kate in 1949.

The Red Scare of the 1950s and '60s showed up at city level in 1964 when the Department of Investigation, now under Commissioner Leon A. Fischel, subpoenaed members of the Mobilization for Youth to testify before its investigation of Communist infiltration.   Three of the seven refused to appear, sending letters instead that said the Mobilization for Youth was "beyond the jurisdiction of the Department of Investigation of the city" and added that the information sought was "irrelevant to the interests of the city."

Fischel fired back in asking the State Supreme Court to issue a show-cause order.  "This is no witch hunt.  I don't want to accuse people unfairly, but we'll keep subpoenaing until we get results."

After it sat vacant for six months, the city sold No. 50-52 Pine Street on November 10, 1966.  It was purchased by the Sylvan Lawrence Company for $500,000.    The firm announced it would "modernize the building, rent the office space, and hold the property as an investment."

Major change came in 1998 when a conversion of the upper floors to residential space was initiated.  Today there are two apartments per floor.   A franchise doughnut shop operates from the ground floor once home to insurance brokers.  Sadly the exquisite foliate carvings over one of the doors and surrounding its round window were for some reason stripped off at some point.

photographs by the author

James B. Baker's No. 4 West 22nd Street

That the still-fashionable residential block of West 22^nd Street just off Fifth Avenue was changing was brutally evident on August 20, 1873 when The New York Times printed a letter to the editor from W. N. Callender.  He wrote “I see in your issue of this date you confine the area of stench from the gas-house to between Ninth and Tenth streets.  Allow me to say that I live at No. 4 West Twenty-second-street, and was kept awake on Friday for the entire night by the suffocating atmosphere, and I am a strong and hearty man.”

The house in which the strong and hearty man lived was a commodious, 26-foot wide brownstone mansion.  Four stories over an English basement, it held its own with the opulent homes just around the corner.   Yet already commerce was inching up Fifth Avenue and private homes were being taken over by dressmakers, merchant tailors, art galleries and other high-end shops.

Before long Callender, too, would be gone and his home converted to commercial space.  By 1887 the art dealer Spiridon was selling European oil paintings, marble statuary, and other works of art here.   Spiridon suffered humiliation and scandal when, in January 1892, it was discovered he was not only smuggling paintings into the port; but he was selling forgeries as well.

In reporting on the shocking discovery on January 28, 1892, The New York Times began “All that is painted is not art any more than all that is glittering is gold.”  The article said “The witness who gave strong testimony against Spiridon was Noel Kentish, also an art dealer…He admitted that he did not like Mr. Spiradon.”

By the turn of the century commerce had engulfed No. 4 West 22^nd Street.  On January 20, 1901 the New-York Tribune reported on its upcoming sale at auction.  The newspaper described it as “a four story and basement high stoop brownstone building, used for stores, offices and studios, with a two-story extension.”  It was purchased in February by Rudolph Shalk for $72,000—just over $2 million in today’s dollars.    

On July 27 that year, Schalk transferred title to his wife, Emma, for $4.   The couple continued to lease the former house as office and retail space for two years.  Mme. Louise Halcombe, a “prima donna soprano,” established her Vocal Studio here; and in 1902 the Holly Co., dealers in silk garments and furs, was here.  The company advertised “a third less than retail stores.  New waists in all of the Fall styles.  A hundred designs $5 to $20.”

Then, on April 4, 1903 the Real Estate Record & Builders’ Guide reported that Shalk had sold No. 4 to James McCutcheon, of James McCutcheon & Co., whose high-end linens store was a block away at No. 14 West 23^rd Street. 

Somehow the deal fell through, however, and two years later, on March 28, 1903, The Guide reported that Shalk had commissioned architect James B. Baker to construct “12-story brick offices” on the site at a cost of $125,000.

Shalk may have been impressed with Baker’s recently completed Chamber of Commerce building at No. 65 Liberty Street.   The lavish white marble structure had drawn attention nationwide.   While No. 4 West 22^nd Street would not be an opulent French palace like the Chamber of Commerce building; Baker provided Shalk with a handsome Beaux Arts office and store building of red brick and terra cotta.

The two-story retail space sat within a heavy terra cotta frame, over which bundled laurel rested on either side of a keystone.  A projecting display window with a curved metal hood lured window shoppers from Fifth Avenue.   At the ninth floor, immense brackets in the form of carved cartouches supported what may have been a balcony.

Baker included exquisite details, like the loose ribbons.

Several publishing firms had already moved into the area and No. 4 West 22^nd Street quickly filled with others.   The Outdoor News Company moved in, publishing the Illustrated Outdoor News here.  For 10 cents an issue, sports lovers got not only detailed articles, but pages of illustrations.  An advertisement in The Evening World on October 14, 1905 boasted “Do you realize that no publication gives authentic, timely, illustrated articles on all outdoor pastimes except The Illustrated Outdoor News.”

The issue that week featured “a special football number with a cover in colors designed by Howard Giles.  There are pictures of the prominent college football squads—an illustrated football article by Walter Camp—an illustrated story on football in the Middle West, by a Western expert.  The double page contains pictures of all the drivers in the coming Vanderbilt Cup Automobile Race.”

The cornice has been lost and the incongruous slab above the 9th floor cartouches hints at a lost balcony.

In the building at the same time was the Burr McIntosh Publishing Company.  The Burr McIntosh Monthly was established in 1903, the same year the 22^nd Street building opened, by the actor-lecturer-photographer-film studio owner-author William Burr McIntosh.  By August 1905 it had moved to No. 4.  An unusual periodical, it had few articles, but consisted mainly of photographs of famous people and pretty landscapes.  Buyers could easily remove the illustrations for framing by simply undoing the string binding.  The publishers boasted “It is the most beautiful, artistic and sumptuous periodical ever produced.  Artists, photographers, engravers and printers, and all classes of people qualified to find flaws, if they exist, pronounce it ‘the most beautiful magazine in the world.’”

Burr McIntosh Monthly published a full-page photograph of Jean Raymong in December 1905 -- (copyright expired)

On December 8, 1906, The New York Times remarked on the Christmas issue of Burr McIntosh Monthly.  It “is replete with good and seasonable things in the way of illustrations and portraits.  Among the latter is a group of the beautiful women of English society, a number of the popular actresses of the day, and other personages of note, including Mayor McClellan, Congressman Herbert Parsons, Mark Twain, Moritz Rosenthal, the pianist; Camille Saint-Saens, Sir William Henry Perkin, the Duke of the Abruzzi, and the late Mrs. Jefferson Davis.  There are also several excellent reproductions of the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci, including the famous ‘Last Supper,’ which is accompanied by a colored print of the Christ head made from a direct photograph of the original painting.  The descriptive articles are entertaining.”

As The New York Times reviewed Burr McIntosh Monthly’s Christmas edition, the Illustrated Outdoor News was negotiating the purchase of another sport magazine, Recreation.  On January 9, 1907 Printers’ Ink reported on the sale and issued its approval of the title of the joined magazines.

“The Illustrated Outdoor News corporation has bought Recreation, and will merge the two in February, getting rid of the cumbersome name of the former.  Recreation will be the title, but the large-paper format will be kept owing to illustrative advantages.”

The publishing district was soon pushed out by the encroaching apparel district.  By 1909 Burr McIntosh Publishing Company had moved to 39^th Street.  Little by little No. 4 was taken over by garment firms.  In 1914 Baruchson & Weinrieb published its new address in American Cloak & Suit Review.  The same year Jacob Rostenberg took the fifth floor; and Satz & Burman were here, manufacturing raincoats.

Samuel Printz manufactured stylish ladies' garments here -- Dry Goods Economist, January 16, 1915 (copyright expired)

Samuel Printz was in the building by 1915 manufacturing ladies’ coats and suits.  The firm advertised “’Printz’ is a name to be reckoned with in the Coat and Suit field.”   As World War I drew to a close, garment companies like W. H. Mazey, “linens, white goods;” and “Mr. Coulson, waists” were still leasing space here.

But as the 1930s dawned, the garment district was moving north of 34^th Street.  Although Irvin-Warren Clothes, Inc. was still manufacturing apparel in the building as late as 1939, other operations like the Dandy Toy and Novelty Co., here in 1931, were more common.

The second half of the 20^th century saw many of the 19^th century loft buildings south of 23^rd Street neglected and, in some cases, vacant.  But a rebirth of the area began in the last decades.  Laurence Jacobs had been a trader on Wall Street; but found the stress of that job overwhelming.

In 1995 he opened a restaurant just a block away, at Broadway and 22^nd Street, called Aja.  Two and a half years later, on May 11, 1997, The New York Times reported “Last week, he took some of his other favorite things in life—cigars, champagne and martinis—and opened Fred’s Beauty (named for an old cigar), where customers can puff, eat and drink until the wee hours of the morning, even while getting their shoes shined.”  Fred’s Beauty was in the amazingly still-extant shop space at No. 4 West 22^nd Street.

A bar and restaurant still occupies the ground floor.  Although the owners have done an inexcusable chop job on the entrance (which was still intact as late as 1989), the magnificent show window survives—including the original many-paned transom.

photographs by the author