John Hauser's 1903 The Pauline -- 16 Morningside Avenue

 

On October 25, 1902, the Real Estate Record & Guide reported that George Doctor would erect a 54-foot wide, six-story apartment building at 16 Morningside Avenue.  "John Hauser...is the architect," noted the article.

Called The Pauline, the structure was completed within a year.  Hauser's dignified, Renaissance Revival design included a two-story rusticated stone base and four stories of sand-colored brick trimmed in stone.  Above the brawny Ionic pilasters that flanked the entrance were paired Corinthian examples at the second floor.  They supported a monumental broken pediment above an arched opening.  The windows of the upper floors were decorated with Renaissance style pediments, splayed lintels, and garlanded keystones.

An advertisement for The Pauline on September 6, 1903, boasted an elevator and "all the latest modern improvements."  Potential tenants could chose apartments of either six or seven rooms with a bath.  Rents ranged from $55 to $75--about $225 per month for the most expensive in 2024 terms.

Among the first residents were Hannibal Hamlin Garland and his wife, the former Zulime Taft.  Garland, who went professionally by his middle name, was a novelist, short story writer and poet.  The couple had married in 1899 and would have two daughters, Mary Isabel and Constance Hamlin.  Mary was born on July 15, 1903, the year her parents moved into The Pauline.  Constance arrived four years later.

Hamlin Garland, The Writer: A Monthly Magazine, October 1891 (copyright expired)

Born in Wisconsin in 1860, Hamlin Garland was a well-known writer.  Among his works were the highly popular Main-Travelled Roads, Prairie Folks, and the novel Jason Edwards.  In 1898, he published his biography of Ulysses S. Grant, and the following year his The Trail of the Gold Seekers was released.

Zulime Taft Garland, known affectionately as Tetie, was an artist (and the sister of famed Chicago sculptor Lorado Taft).  The Garlands spent part of their summers in the homestead where Garland was born near West Salem, Wisconsin.  He had purchased the farm in 1894.

Zulime Taft Garland and her infant daughter Mary Isabel in 1903 (the year they moved in). from the collection of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. 

Joseph Hart Boudrow and his wife, the former Carrie De Mar, were also early tenants.  Joseph Hart (he dropped his surname professionally) had begun his stage career as a teenager working with minstrel troupes.  He married Carrie, an actress, in 1894.  The couple had worked together for several years and would appear together in two silent films, The Boys Think They Have One on Foxy Grandpa and Foxy Grandpa and Polly in a Little Hilarity.

Joseph Hart and Carrie De Mar, from the collection of the New York Public Library

Emil Fischer was, according to the New York Herald, "one of the greatest bassos this country ever heard."  He debuted in America in the 1880s.  The newspaper said, "his success was instant and his subsequent triumphs too numerous for mention."  On New Year's Day 1906, while a house guest of residents of The Pauline, the 65-year-old paid a visit to the home of millionaire Philip Lewisohn.  The New York Herald reported, "He was stepping lightly to a staircase when the treacherous rug over the polished floor sent him sliding to the topmost stair.  He could not catch himself.  With considerable force he fell several steps before he could grasp a support."

An 1889 cabinet cart depicted Emil Fischer in his role as Wotan in Das Rheingold.

The opera star broke his ankle.  The newspaper said he "displayed rare courage while being removed in great pain to the home of friends with whom he is staying at No. 16 Morningside avenue."

Living here by 1909 were Edward Kapp, his wife and their 15-year-old son, Martin.  The New York Evening Telegram described Kapp as, "fifty years old, a manufacturer of skirts, who is reputed to have been wealthy."

According to a servant, on the morning of January 7, 1910, Kapp left the apartment at around 8:00 "after kissing his wife good bye.  He appeared then to be in good spirits."  At 1:15, Kapp went to the office of Albert Sittner at 101 Fifth Avenue.  Sittner was not in, and Kapp requested the key to the lavatory from the office boy.  The New York Times reported, "It was handed to him, and two minutes later the report of a revolver shot was heard."  When the door of the lavatory was opened, Kapp was found lying dead on the floor.

The New York Evening Telegram reported, "The pistol shot was heard by the young women in the shop and caused great excitement among them.  Several of the girls became hysterical when it was learned that a suicide had occurred in the adjoining room."

A fascinating resident was Martha Foote Crow, here by 1919.  Born in 1854, she was educated at Syracuse University (where she was a founding member of Alpha Phi Sorority).  She earned a Ph.B. in 1876, a Ph.M. in 1878, and her Ph.D. in English Literature in 1886.  She was the widow of archaeologist John M. Crow, who died of tuberculosis in 1891.

Martha Foote Crow, from Northwestern University: A History, 1855-1905 (copyright expired).

Before John Crow's death, Martha had been preceptress of Iowa College.  During her time there, she conducted an international survey of women's higher education.  She became assistant professor of English literature at the University of Chicago after her husband's death.  Martha Foote Crow would play a significant part in the development of women's higher education in America.  

In 1919, The Alpha Phi Quarterly noted, "Sister Martha Foote Crow, 16 Morningside Avenue, New York City...is writing a book on Frances Willard Will."  Among her many other works were The World Above; Harriet Beecher Store, a Biography; and The American Country Girl.  She was still living here when she died on New Year's Day, 1924 in Chicago.

Living here in 1956 was James "Nat" Nathaniel.  The 33-year-old was arrested early in the morning on August 29 "for assaulting 29-year-old Alice Jackson" with a knife, according to The New York Age.  The article said, "The knifing took place in the Vets, an after hours spot."

Earl Grant, who made his living as a welder, lived here in 1966.  In September that year, he and another welder, James Norwood, were the center of NAACP civil rights demonstrations against the Pan American Airways.  The State Commission for Human Rights cited "probable cause to credit the allegations" that the men were the victims of "alleged discrimination in the hiring of Negro welders."

Once the home of well-to-do families who employed at least one servant, by the 1970s 16 Morningside Avenue had been divided into one-room furnished apartments.  Among the tenants in 1974 was 27-year-old James Gadson.  At 5:00 on the afternoon of August 9 that year, his body was discovered in his apartment.  The New York Times reported, "he had been stabbed in the chest."

A renovation completed in 2007, resulted in two apartments per floor.  After 121 years, John Hauser's handsome design is outwardly little changed.

many thanks to reader Lawrence Levens for suggesting this post

photographs by the author

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The 1897 Alfred Watts Kiddle House - 314 West 98th Street

 

Architect John Hauser designed a row of sophisticated, brownstone fronted homes along West 98th Street between Riverside Drive and West End Avenue for William H. Picken in 1896.  Completed the following year, the three-story-and-basement residences exuded affluence.

Picken sold 314 West 98th Street to Alfred Watts Kiddle and his wife, the former Florence Isabel Dunham.  Each floor of the house was clearly defined by a molded cornice and the openings were separated by decorated pilasters.  Expert stone carvers had executed elaborate Renaissance designs in the spandrels.

Born in 1865, Kiddle graduated college with a degree in engineering.  Within a year, however, he discovered his passion was law.  He entered the Law School of Columbia College, graduating on May 25, 1887.  He and Florence were married on October 18, 1893, and the couple would have two children, Marshall F. and Elizabeth, known as Bessie.

Florence was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.  Her great-grandfather, Chauncey Lewis, had fought at Valley Forge, witnessed the execution of John André, and was present at the British surrender at Yorktown.

Alfred Watts Kiddle, New York's Prominent and Progressive Men, 1900 (copyright expired)

By the time the family moved into 314 West 98th Street, Kiddle was a partner in the law firm of Redding & Kiddle.  His engineering background enabled him to focus on patent and corporation law, in which, according to New York's Prominent and Progressive Men in 1900, "he has gained his chief reputation, and has become known as an authority."  The article added that his knowledge "of chemistry, electricity, and applied mechanics, has materially aided him in the practice of his profession."

Among Kiddle's most celebrated clients was Thomas Alva Edison.  As the patent attorney for the Edison Electric Light Co., he worked closely with Edison on acquiring patents for his latest inventions.

Kiddle's work was not solely with patents.  He was, for instance, the corporate attorney for the Brooklyn Baseball Club (later the Brooklyn Dodgers).  On January 13, 1898, The New York Times reported, "The Directors of the Brooklyn Baseball Club met in the office of Alfred W. Kiddle, in the Potter Building, yesterday afternoon, and elected Charles H. Ebbets, President of the club, to fill the unexpired term of Charles H. Byrne."  

In the meantime, Florence kept herself busy with social matters.  On March 21, 1909, The New York Times reported, "Mrs. Alfred Watts Kiddle of 314 West Ninety-eighth Street was informally at home on Friday afternoon.  Cards are out for a large affair on Friday on this week, at which Miss Kiddle will receive with her mother."

In April 1912, police received a call from Florence, who said that "several hundreds of dollars worth of her jewelry and silverware had disappeared," according to The Sun.  When Detectives Donnelley and Quinn got there, street patrolmen were already searching the rooms, since Florence felt the burglar might still be in the house.  There was no burglar, but Florence was able to make an inventory of 25 pieces of missing silver valued at $500 (more than $16,000 by 2024 terms).

The following day the detectives returned and interviewed the two servants who lived in the house.  Detective Donnelley told The Sun, "From one of the girls I learned that she thought she had carelessly left the basement door open on the evening of the robbery.  I could find no other means of entrance, there being no jimmy marks on the doors or scuttle."  The detectives scoured the pawn shops, leaving an inventory of the silver at each one.  No trace of the Kidddles' stolen goods could be found.

Then, a few days later, Florence was going through Marshall's dresser and discovered her missing silverware.  Alfred telephoned Detective Donnelly to explain.  "His son Marshall, 10 years old, had hidden the property in his dresser, playing burglar," reported The Sun.  The journalist visited the Kiddle house on April 6.  Florence told him, "her sons loves excitement and enjoys a joke."  The journalist added, "She discussed the matter with him and applied household remedies with precision."

Florence Kiddle received a scare on the night of November 30, 1913.  She and two female friends were returning from a party and her chauffeur entered the intersection of Amsterdam Avenue and 74th Street.  The automobile was violently struck by the car of 22-year-old millionaire Hermann Oelrichs, Jr.  The New York Times reported that the wheels of the Kiddle vehicle were "smashed" and it was thrown on to the sidewalk.  Happily, despite the serious damage to the Kiddles' touring car, the women "were badly shaken up, but not seriously hurt."  The article said, "Mr. Oelrichs...got out of his car and gave his card to Mrs. Kiddle and expressed his regrets.  He offered to do anything Mrs. Kiddle wanted done, but she decided to go home."

As with all socially prominent families, the press followed the movements of the Kiddles.  On July 22, 1919, for instance, The Sun reported, "Alfred W. Kiddle and family are summering in the Adirondacks, where Mr. Kiddle is hunting the elusive trout."

Alfred Watts Kiddle suffered a fatal heart attack in the house on January 8, 1935 at the age of 69.  In reporting his death, The New York Times mentioned, "For a number of years he was associated with the late Thomas A. Edison, for whom he handled a number of patents," adding, "Mr. Kiddle's association with inventors led him to become affiliated with many engineering organizations."

In 1941 the house was unoccupied and the parlor floor boarded up.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

It is unclear how long Florence and Bessie (who was still unmarried) remained at 314 West 98th Street, but by 1946 it was home to Julius Goldstein.  He lived here at least through 1948.

A renovation completed in 1960 resulted in two apartments in the basement, one on the parlor floor, and two each on the upper floors.  

One of the apartments was home to 31-year-old James Torello in 1979.  He was arrested in May that year with two other men for running a gambling operation on West 45th Street.  After being convicted and fined, the trio was arrested again on July 24 at 1133 Broadway for booking bets.  The New York Times reported, "Police Officer John Holder, who took part in last night's raid, said gambling records kept by the men revealed a gross of $1 million a day."

  

Although nothing remains of the 1897 interiors where Florence Kiddle entertained, the exterior of 314 West 98th Street is greatly intact.

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The 1897 Herbert Francis Taylor House - 302 West 98th Street

 

In 1896, architect John Hauser designed a row of eight brownstone-fronted houses at 302 to 316 West 98th Street for developer William H. Picken.  Sitting between two mansion-lined thoroughfares--Riverside Drive and West End Avenue--they were intended for well-heeled owners.  Completed in late 1897, Hauser had designed the row in two models, repeating the A-B configuration down the line.

The easternmost house, 302 West 98th Street was designed, overall, in the Renaissance Revival style.  Hauser splashed it with touches of Romanesque Revival--in the medieval carvings of the otherwise stoic stoop newels, and in the foliate carving on the insides of the entrance pilasters.  The paired pilasters that separated the upper floor windows were an interesting feature--each pair sharing a single capital.

Picken sold the 19-foot-wide house to Henry Pinner on February 10, 1898.  The Record & Guide said he paid, "about $2,500."  (The price would translate to $966,000 in 2024.)  Pinner was associated with the Aeolian Company, which manufactured player pianos and organs.

Henry W. Pinner, The Music Trades, May 6, 1922 (copyright expired)

Pinner had a long career in the piano business, starting out with the Decker Piano Company and moving to J. & C. Fischer Piano Company before joining Aeolian's piano department.  His residency at 302 West 98th Street was relatively short.  Pinner sold the house to Herbert Francis Taylor in April 1904.

Taylor was vice president of Whitaker & Co., merchant tailors.  Its exclusive shops on Fifth Avenue and on Conduit Street in London fashioned custom clothing for wealthy clientele.  Born in London in 1859, he had come to New York in 1890.  Taylor and his wife Annie had three children, Herbert Jr., Eileen, and Lila Mary.  

Annie F. Taylor hired a live-in servant girl shortly after moving in, and was looking for additional help later that year.  Her advertisement on September 7 may have been too strongly couched:  "Wanted--Woman to do housecleaning; come prepared to work."

The following month she reworded the ad.  "General Houseworker--Girl (white), general housework, good plain cook and laundress; wages $20; another girl kept; two adults, three children; Apply Mrs. Taylor, 302 West 98th st., near West End av."  (The monthly wages would equal about $706 today.)

While the Taylors were well-to-do, Annie's job description separated the family from the wealthier households on West End Avenue and Riverside Drive.  In those homes, the cook would have had no other responsibility and the suggestion that she do housework or laundry would have been insulting.

Annie F. Taylor was a staunch fighter for the rights of women.  She was corresponding secretary of The Legislative League of New York, and a member of the Woman's Suffrage League, the City Federation and the Women's Forum.  The objects of the Legislative League were "to secure political, legal and industrial equality to the women of New York State."  Club Women of New York noted in 1904, "The organization has aided in giving to women the rights of a mother to her child and to a woman to her earnings."  The article said that currently "the members are working to amend the marriage license laws."

Following his graduation from The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, Herbert Jr. went off to Yale in in 1914.  There he showed diverse interests.  He was a member of the swimming and cross-country teams, and a member of the Mandolin Club.

On October 14, 1917, The Sun reported on the engagement of Herbert Jr. to Madeleine Martha Ros.   The wedding took place in the Ros house at 325 West End Avenue on June 29, 1918.  Herbert joined his father's firm and eventually became president of Whitaker & Co.

The winter social season of 1919 was a busy one in the Taylor household.  On December 10, Eileen was married to Linwood H. Geyer in St. Agnes's Chapel on West 91st Street.  The New York Herald reported, "The ceremony was followed by a reception in the home of the bride's parents."

Ten days later the family was back at St. Agnes's Chapel for Lila Mary's wedding to Ben Stalker Buckmaster.  Once again, a reception was held in the 98th Street house.

Now empty nesters, Herbert and Annie remained briefly in the house, while Annie continued her work with the various women's reform groups.  The couple sold the house in June 1922 "to a buyer, for occupancy," according to the Record & Guide.

It continued as a single-family home until 1961, when an apartment was installed on the top floor.  Then a renovation completed in 1988 resulted in one apartment per floor.

photographs by the author

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The Charles J. C. Schrader House - 214 West 137th Street

 

In 1897 Charles E. Picken began construction of a row of seven upscale homes on West 137th Street, between Seventh  and Eighth Avenues (today's Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, respectively).  Simultaneously, his brother James started work on three additional homes.  Both men contracted architect John Hauser to design the residences, resulting in a contiguous, harmonious row.  Each of the 18-foot-wide residences would cost the developers the equivalent of about $554,000 in 2023.

Hauser designed the row in the Renaissance Revival style.  Like its neighbors, 214 West 137th Street rose three stories above an English basement.  Completed in 1898, its imperious design belied its relatively narrow proportions.  Intricate Renaissance-inspired carvings decorated the spandrel panels, entrance framing, and two-story oriel--its base elaborately carved with vines and grapes.

Advertisements for the homes noted a "restricted neighborhood," meaning that none of the properties could be used for commercial reasons.  Charles Picken sold 214 West 137th Street to Emma Taylor on April 12, 1899.  She and her husband lived here only until April 1904, when she resold it to Charles J. C. Schrader and his wife Jennie H.

As had been the case with Emma Taylor the title was held in Jennie's name.  She and Charles had three children, Harry, Millie and Pauline.

Charles was a partner in Hartwig, Schrader & Co., dealers in "European delicacies and fancy groceries."  The large firm had two locations--on Washington Street and on Franklin Street--and shipped throughout the country.  The company had been founded in 1844 by W. E. Hartwig and was reorganized with its current partners in 1879.  

Although Hartwig, Schrader & Co. handled "the finest table luxuries," according to the New York Stock Exchange Historical Review in 1886, it was best known for "Holland Herrings."  They were in such demand that a shipment arrived in New York every week, and in 1885 the firm had imported 200,000 kegs of herrings--about 50 percent of all herrings imported to the United States.

It was common for even well-to-do families to rent a room in their homes, and in 1912 Mary Wollit lived with the Schraders.  On February 18 that year, Mary accompanied her aunt, Rose Nelson, who lived nearby on West 136th Street, to visit a friend in the Bronx.  Afterward they headed to Rose's home.  As they reached the Manhattan side of the Harlem Bridge, four men jumped from the shadows and ordered them to remain quiet.

The New York Press reported, "Two of the miscreants, Mrs. Nelson said, pointed revolvers at their heads and the other two searched their clothing."  The women had little money on them, and the frustrated robbers "then used their fists until Mrs. Nelson and her niece fell to the ground in a half-conscious state."  The thugs then fled.

A few minutes later a passerby later found the women and helped them to the East 136th Street police station.  Descriptions were sent out and a few hours later Charles Russo, John Trinato, Tony Marino and Tony Golorumo were found lurking near the Harlem Bridge entrance.  They were captured after a foot chase and shots fired by the officers into the air.  The following day Rose and Mary appeared in court to testify against their assaulters-- the eldest of whom was 23.  When the prisoners were brought in, The New York Press reported that the women "shrank from them as if in great fear."

Charles J. C. Schrader died on April 26, 1915 at the age of 63.  His funeral was held in the parlor of 214 West 137th Street on the evening of April 28.  It is unclear how long Jennie remained in the house, but by the 1920s it was being operated as a rooming house.  The demographics of the Harlem neighborhood had changed, as Manhattan's Black population migrated northward.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Renting a room here in 1924 was William Wiggins, who was down on his luck.  On December 18, the frustrated man hurled a brick through a shop window on Seventh Avenue.  The New York Age reported, "When Sergeant Fisher questioned Wiggins, the later informed the office: 'I just can't get work nor food.'"  The article added, "As a result of his misconduct, Wiggins was given free accommodation for thirty days on Blackwell's Island."

Mary Lou Hall lived here in the mid-1930s.  The unmarried woman had been a girl scout and she now served as leader of the 24-member Girl Scout Troop 91--the same troop she had been a member of as a girl.  In June 1935 two of her scouts were highly honored.  The New York Age reported, "the first colored girl scouts in Harlem to be awarded the Golden Eagle badge, highest ranking in the organization, is the distinction now held by Vera Holder and Marjorie Dodd."

Not everyone who rented a room in the house was a long-term tenant.  On May 30, 1936, The New York Age reported, "Miss Alma Boulware of Greensville, S.C. has been passing several days visiting New York...While here Miss Boulware is residing at 214 West 137th street.  She comes from one of the well known families of South Carolina."

After being operated as a rooming house for decades, 214 West 137th Street underwent a renovation, completed in 2011.  While there is now an apartment in the basement level, the upper floors have been returned to a single family home.

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The 1900 Paul Chopak House - 250 West 137th Street

 

In May 1897 architect John Hauser filed plans for seven rowhouses on West 137th Street, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues (today's Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, respectively) for developer Charles E. Picken.  Simultaneously he filed plans for three others, for James C. Picken (presumably a relative) on the same block.  Charles E. Picken was apparently well pleased with the outcome.  In February 1900 Hauser filed plans for six abutting houses for the developer.

Similar to the earlier homes, the Renaissance Revival style homes were three stories high above tall English basements.  Hauser designed them in an A-B-C-A-B-C pattern, with the imperious B models, including 250 West 137th Street, demanding the spotlight.  

Hauser gave the parlor level restrained amounts of Renaissance style carving--in the center pilaster between the windows, in the panels below the windows, and in the spandrel panels flanking the arched entrance transom.  The viewer's eye was drawn to the second floor, where the center window sat within a balcony-like framing of engaged columns upholding a sumptuous arched pediment.  A pressed metal cornice and frieze completed the design.

On October 2, 1901 Picken sold 250 West 137th Street to Paul Chopak.  He and his wife, the former Antoinette Klein, had an eight-year-old son, Herman.  Chopak was the president of the real estate firm P. Chopak & Co., Inc.  

At the end of World War I, the neighborhood was rapidly becoming the center of Manhattan's Black community.  The Chopaks had left West 137th Street by 1919, after which their former home was operated as a rooming house.

Typical of the tenants was a woman who was looking for employment in 1921.  Her advertisement in The New York Times on March 13 read: "Cook--Experienced colored; private people; sleep out.  250 West 137th."  By "private people," she meant she wanted to work in a single-family home, and "sleep out" meant that she did not want to live with her employers.

A widow, 60-year-old Susie James, lived here in 1924.  On  the morning of March 29 that year she was hit by the automobile driven of Frank Faherty and died on the scene.

In addition to providing rented rooms, around 1931 the landlord made either the parlor or basement level available for club purposes.  Living here that year was Leon Hogan, the secretary of the Nautilus Exclusive Club, which met every Sunday night in the house.

While ostensibly a men's group, the Nautilus Exclusive Club's social events most definitely included females.  On March 13, 1932 it hosted the Suenos de Amor (Dreams of Love) dance at the Witoka Club.  The response was so great that at 8:35 the venue's management closed the doors, refusing additional ticket holders entrance.  They were later promised a full refund by contacting Leon Hogan.

In June 1932 the club chartered a boat for what The New York Age had promised would be "a trip of unexcelled merriment," on July 3.  The article said, "there'll be music and dancing, dining and, oh I forgot this is a prohibition era."  The newspaper directed, "Make your reservations early, communicate with Leon Hogan, 250 West 137th street."

Perhaps not to be outdone, another resident, Doloris Lee, co-founded the Ala Mode Girls in September 1932.  On September 10, The New York Age reported, "These girls of style and fashion breezed into Clubdom on Tuesday evening at 250 West 137th street, where they held high pow wow at their installation, where words of congratulations were voiced by the elite of clubdom."  Doloris Lee was made president.  She and the other officers were installed by "the genial M.C. George Sands."  The article noted, "Numerous clubs were represented and the party lasted into the yawning."

Like their male counterparts, the Ala Mode Girls hosted social events.  On October 12, 1932, a "guest night" was held in the 137th Street house, followed by an afternoon dance four days later.  The New York Age wrote, "Just next Sunday at the Popularity Studio these fashionable lassies will endeavor to show you what a real Matinee Dansente should be like.  Take it from Miss Lee the president you'll be surprised (but pleasantly tho)."

The Ala Mode Girls was not merely about social events.  On November 26, 1932 The New York Age reported that the club would sponsor a Charity Bazaar at St. Mark's Hall on West 138th Street the following month.  "Proceeds will be used to purchase baskets of food to be distributed on Xmas morning by members," said the article.  It noted, "Among the many entertainers that have donated their services is Ethel Waters, now appearing at the Lafayette Theatre."

In 1967 the house was converted to apartments, two per floor.  An advertisement in the N.Y. Amsterdam News on June 2, 1979 described, "2 rooms, private kitchen and bath, working persons preferred."

Hauser's handsome 1900 row.  250 West 137th Street is to the right, behind the white automobile.

Although the brownstone facade has been painted, 250 West 137th Street retains its commanding presence along John Hauser's dignified 1900 row.

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The 1904 Clara Court - 503-505 West 111th Street

The extension of the IRT subway to Morningside Heights in 1904 set off a flurry of apartment building construction.  Among the earliest developers to seize the opportunity was Emmanuel Doctor who purchased the two lots at Nos. 503 and 505 West 111th Street--steps away from the rising Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine early that year.

On April 14, 1904 Engineering News reported that architect John Hauser had filed plans for a "6-story brick flat" on the site with a projected cost of $95,000--just over $2.75 million in today's money.  He would be working with an oddly trapezoidal-shaped plot.  It was 82 feet wide along 111th Street but only 54 feet wide at the rear.

Construction proceeded at lightning speed and the building was ready for occupants by Christmas.  Blending Renaissance Revival with Beaux Arts, Hauser designed his building in three layers--known as a tripartite design.  The two-story rusticated stone base sat back from the property line behind an ornate iron fence.  The off-set entrance sat within a handsome porch with columns and balustrades which announced the building's name: Clara Court.

Unwilling to settle for a more expected portico, Hauser created a full porch, adding charm.

Unlike the more reserved base, the three-story middle section was highly decorated.  The red brick contrasted with terra cotta window surrounds, some of which boasted Beaux Arts style cartouches, some with scrolled and festooned keystones, and others with blind balustrades, ornate pilasters and elaborate pediments.  The understated top floor was embellished only with bands of stone.

An advertisement in the New-York Tribune on December 27 touted Clara Court as a "new elevator apartment house" and stressed that it was "near subway and elevated stations."  There were five apartments per floor and potential residents could choose among suites of four, five or six rooms with bath, including "every improvement."  Rents ranged from $37 to $55 per month, the cheapest and smallest apartments costing the equivalent of $1,020 per month today.

Doctor apparently had no interest in being a landlord and in May 1905 he sold the new building for $165,000, making a tidy profit in the deal.  In the meantime, white collar residents called Clara Court home.  Newlyweds Leonard Valentine Holder and his bride Viola Alida were among the first residents.  They had been married on June 18, 1904.  Holder was a foreign exchange broker with offices at No. 56 Pine Street.

In 1909 Mrs. O. F. Page busied herself with the duties of president of the ungainly named Messiah Branch of the Church of the Messiah of the National Alliance of Unitarian and Other Liberal Christian Women.  Also in the building at the time was Henry Despard, his wife and two children.  Despard had founded the marine insurance brokerage firm of Despard & Co. and was secretary of the New York Club.

The Despards, Holders, Pages and their neighbors enjoyed a new amenity that year--telephone service.  It was most likely a centralized switchboard rather than in-apartment service, but was a welcome innovation nevertheless.  It may have been responsible, however, for a rent hike.  The smaller apartments were now 50 cents per month more expensive and the largest went up by $5.

The Holders, who had a summer home on Long Island, had had a rocky start to their marriage.  In 1916 Viola sued for separation, causing The New York Herald to say that the suit "caused interest" among the "society colony" in Garden City.  "Mr. and Mrs. Holder have been active here in social affairs," the article explained.

Viola said in her complaint that Leonard was very jealous and that early on in Clara Court "he accused her of flirting with other men [and] that he came home in November [1905] and asked her if she knew 'one Calahan,' and that on being told that she did not he chased her about the house."

After several instances of physical abuse, Viola left Leonard in September 1915, but several weeks later "was induced by her friends to return to him."  Things went well enough until April 1916 when "he again chased her and then threatened to shoot her."  When he went to look for his revolver she bolted from the apartment never to return.  In her plea for alimony she asserted that Holder earned a $94,000 salary in today's dollars.

There was less drama and more music coming from the apartment of Florence Colell de Montlord in 1916.  The professional pianist had studied under the famous Rudolph Ganz and under Maurice Bastin of the Opera Comique.  She taught pupils in her Clara Court studio at least through 1917.

Prohibition went into effect in January 1920.  It put thousands of workers--brewery and distillery employees, waiters and waitresses, and bottling plant workers, for instance--out of jobs.  But it presented an opportunity to Mary White.  On August 24, 1921 the Brooklyn newspaper The Standard Union reported "A new queen of bootleggers has been discovered, according to Federal Prohibition Chief William F. Kissick...She is Mrs Mary White, 42 years old, of 505 West 111th street."

Mary was involved in bootleg ring headed by Anthony Cassesse.  They worked with five young men ranging from 17- to 25-years old.  The gang serviced a string of road houses and inns on Long Island, providing them with "evergreen alcohol, grain spirits, whiskies and gins," according to the article.  That summer agents posing as liquor dealers arranged to buy 200 cases of whiskey from Cassese for $15,000.

On the afternoon of August 23 Mary headed to the drop off point, as she always did.  Her job was to be there when the delivery arrived and collect the cash.  This time however, when the truck pulled up and the men started unloading the hooch, the agents swooped in.  

The profitability of the bootleg business was evidenced when Cassese was found to have $61,000 in cash on him at the station house--about $856,000 today.  U. S. Attorney Wallace E. J. Collins told reporters that Mary White "is alleged to have thrown bundles of bills into a waste basket nightly from which it would be sorted out and divided."

For the most part, of course, the residents of Clara Court continued to live respectable lives.  Louis D. Phillips, who lived here in 1922, managed the Woolworth store at No. 1484 First Avenue.  For some reason a gang of burglars were obsessed with the safe in the five-and-dime store that year.  In March and again in June the premises were broken into and an attempt had been made to crack the 1,500-pound safe.

But the thieves were seemingly undeterred by failure.  When Phillips went to the store on October 29 he found a scene of devastation.  This time the burglars broke down the office wall, dragged the safe to the stairway and pushed it to the basement.  Nothing happened.  So they used nitroglycerin in an attempt to blow it open.  Again they were foiled.  "The explosion evidently frightened them away," reported the New-York Tribune, "for they left pliers, wire and gloves and a revolver."

Unfortunately for Phillips, while the would-be safe crackers did not make off with any money, they had wrecked the office and the stairs and heavily damaged the case of the safe.

In 1930 the 78-year old widow Mary Collins had an apartment here.  She shared it with her niece, Josephine, and her husband Charles Henry Albrecht, and their 10-year old son, Kenneth.  The Albrecht family would remain until 1940. 

Although Albrecht's occupation was listed as "salesman at a newspaper" at the time, he was destined for larger things.  He eventually became a major printer of color comic books and was the force behind the famous Charles Atlas comic book advertisements for mail-order body building booklets.

Clara Court was the scene of tragedy on January 11, 1937.  Three months earlier 40-year old Bertha Haber had leased a "kitchenette apartment" on the sixth floor where she lived alone.  At around 7:00 that morning the elevator operator, Frank Adams, found her body in the rear courtyard.  Whether she had jumped or fallen was unclear, however the responding doctor pronounced her death as being instantaneous.

The end of the line for Clara Court and its two flanking neighbors seemed evident in 1965 when the Episcopal Diocese of New York purchased it, the building directly behind on 112nd Street, and the corner building facing Amsterdam Avenue.  They were part of a vision to replace eight apartment houses with a modern home for the aged, designed by Philip Johnson.  The residents were evicted in anticipation of demolition.

Before that could happen, however, homeless families moved in.  But this was not a typical situation.  On November 14, 1970 The New York Times wrote "for the last three and a half month the squatters have been tending the buildings--carrying out garbage, making necessary interior repairs and fixing exterior damage.  Daily meetings of the squatters are held at 8 P.M. to determine what must be done the next day to maintain the buildings."

The diocese responded with, perhaps, unexpected kindness.  It earmarked $20,000 for boiler repairs to provide heat and hot water and a spokesperson said "there will be no legal action and no evictions.  We want those living in the building to be comfortable."

The odd shape of the plot resulted a sharp corner angle.

In the meantime, a neighborhood push was underway to save the buildings.  It was successful in preserving three of them, including Clara Court.  Today the building holds 30 cooperative units.

photographs by the author

The Wm. J. McGinley House - 420 Convent Avenue

In 1897 developer Mary Cahill was erecting two nearly identical rows of houses on Convent Avenue--Nos.408 through 418, and Nos. 420 through 430.  They were separated by West 148th Street.  Designed by architect John Hauser, the residences were a happy marriage of the Renaissance and Romanesque Revival styles.  The two anchor homes on the corners were, of course, the most desirable with windows on three sides (an ample service alley behind the houses provided an unusual amount of light and ventilation to the rear).

Despite its Convent Avenue address, the entrance of No. 420 was situated squarely on 148th Street above a dog-legged stoop.  A mirror image of No. 418, the basement and first floor levels were faced in rough-cut limestone.  Hauser carried the material the full height of the Convent Avenue elevation.  The upper floors were clad in beige brick and the pressed metal cornice was decorated with foliate-filled panels.

No. 420 became home to Walter H. Tappan and his wife, Jennie.  The couple had married on April 15, 1895 and had a one-year old child, Herrick Ogden at the time the house was completed.  In March 1902 a second child was born, Eleanor House Tappan.

Tappan was a banker and a director in the Vergennes Realty Co.  Jennie involved herself in social activities and was a member of the Washington Heights Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.  She hosted an afternoon reception for its members on November 16, 1914.  On its page titled "Society and Its Charities" the New York Herald noted "There will be a musical programme and historical papers will be read."

The following year Jennie was elected a vice-president of the Washington Heights Day Nursery.  The organization not only made it possible for women to work, but found them jobs as domestic servants.  The New York Times mentioned on December 15, 1915 "The Day Nursery now has a membership of more than 200, and during the past year has taken care of 10,000 children."

Following the Tappans at No. 420 was the family of William Joseph McGinley.  He and his wife, Mary Ann, had seven  children: Paul J., William V., Aaron M., Helena (better known as Helen), Frances, Florence and Mary.  

Unlike Jennie Tappan, Mary Ann's interest were in business.  She bought and sold real estate.  William was Supreme Secretary of the Knights of Columbus.  

His was a significant post, evidenced when Madison Square Garden hosted 6,500 wounded or convalescent veterans at the circus on April 13, 1919.  The Sun reported "One of the biggest and gayest detachments was chaperoned from General Hospital No. 1 on Gun Hill road by the Knights of Columbus...On the trip to the Garden the long string of cars rolled down Convent avenue, where it was reviewed by Supreme Secretary William J. McGinley and other K. of C. officials from the McGinley home at 420 Convent avenue."

Her father's elevated position provided little Helena a rare opportunity on September 10 that year.   The entire city turned out to see war hero General John J. Pershing lead his troops down Fifth Avenue.  The parade briefly stopped in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral where Archbishop Patrick J. Hayes and Cardinal Mercier, "the hero priest of Belgium," would greet the general.  Before the troops arrived, Helen presented the cardinal with a bouquet of roses.

"He accepted them graciously and, indicating a cluster of American beauties the girl held in her arms, inquired: 'And the other flowers, tell me, now, who are they for?'" reported the New-York Tribune.

"They are for General Pershing, Your Eminence," she replied.

Earlier that year the Knights of Columbus offered to commission a portrait of General Pershing to be presented to the French Government.   A letter arrived on April 21 from artist Gustave Klammerich, a German artist who had fought in the war.  "I desire to paint the portrait of Gen. Pershing," he wrote, "and assure you of a good job as I have admiration for the soldiers of America and their commander."

William McGinley was succinct in his response.  He told reporters "the portrait is going to be made by an American artist."

It was not the last gift to France initiated by the Knights of Columbus and spearheaded by McGinley.  In 1920 50,000 of the 100,000 Knights who had served in World War I contributed to fund a statue of the Marquis de Lafayette to replace the statue of Frederick the Great in Metz.   McGinley said that the K. of C. "had the happy thought that the dethroned statue might be replaced with a statue that would combine French and American tradition."

Interestingly, Hauser made one of the limestone gateposts higher than the other, following the rise of the steps.

The esteem with which McGinley was held was evidenced on April 10, 1921.  At the annual communion breakfast at the Church of Our Lady of Mercy at Fordham University, he was presented with a $3,000 diamond ring and a $2,500 silver service set.  The lavish gifts would be equal in value to more than $77,000 today.

Not long afterward it appears the McGinley family relocated to New Haven, Connecticut.  Their former home was being operated as a rooming house by 1924 when Jane Forestall was living here.  She was fined $10 for driving without a license in July that year; The New York Telegram adding she "is said to be a Belgium actress."

The motion picture industry was fast moving to the West Coast in the 1920's, but the Famous Players-Lasky studio was still in Astoria, Queens when "talkies" began replacing silent movies.  It was a change not welcomed by all employees.

One of them was Ernest DeValera, who rented a room at No. 420 in 1928.  The studio had asked the police for extra protection "as the result of complaints made that the work of installing new equipment for 'taking-movies' has been threatened with interference," reported the Daily Star on August 29.

The policeman who had been on duty the previous night noticed DeValera drive by the building.  Then again.  And again, until he had circled the property five times.  "While he was questioning him, the patrolman said, DeValera became abusive and used boisterous language," reported the Daily Star.  He was charged with disorderly conduct.

A most disturbing incident occurred just outside the house on February 25, 1937.  Albert Victor lived nearby on West 141st Street and made his living as a "rag picker."  That morning he noticed a cardboard box on the sidewalk in front of No. 420, and stopped to open it.  He was horrified to find a dead infant inside.  The New York Post described it as "a stillborn white girl baby wrapped in cheesecloth.  The body had been there only a few hours, physicians say."

Alicia Lawrence had leased the rooming house for many years when it was placed on the market in August 1943.  She purchased the property and initiated a renovation, completed in 1949, that resulted in a doctor's office in the basement, two furnished rooms on the first floor, three on the second and four furnished rooms on the third.  The Certificate of Occupancy noted "Doctor to reside on premises."

That was Dr. Eric Thompson, a dentist who lived and operated his practice practice here at least through 1973.

Surprisingly, much of John Hauser's elements--including the delicate carvings over the basement stairs, survive.  photos via DouglasElliman.com

In 2008 No. 420 was reconverted to a single family home.  Astoundingly, much of the interior detailing had survived.  It was offered in 2012 for $3.5 million.

photographs by the author