The Charles Halbe House - 529 Manhattan Avenue

 

Brothers Joseph Warren and Abraham Alonzo Teets were responsible for erecting scores of rowhouses in Upper Manhattan in the 1880s.  In 1887 they filled the western blockfront of Manhattan Avenue from 121st to 122nd Street with three-story-and-basement homes, and the following year completed a similar row along the block from 122nd to 123rd Streets.

Architects Cleverdon & Putzel lightened the neo-Grec design of the latter row by adding fanciful terra cotta hoods, molded to simulate fish scale tiles, to the parlor and second floor openings.  The architrave frames of the windows were decorated with incised carvings, and the elaborate metal cornices included pressed fans between the prominent brackets.

The row engulfs the entire blockfront.

The house at the southern corner of the row, 529 Manhattan Avenue, was highly desirable because of the southern wall of additional light and ventilation.  It became home to the Frederick Charles Halbe family.  Halbe was born in Germany on March 30, 1830 and came to America at the age of 17.  While he was in the upholstery business, he dealt in Manhattan real estate as well.  He owned, for instance, the valuable property on Sixth Avenue on which the Adams Dry Goods emporium was built.  He often used only his middle name professionally.

Halbe and his wife, the former Sophia Hiedelhouse, had at least three children, Bertha, William A., and Charles G. H.  William was listed as a clerk in 1889, and Charles G. H. Halbe as a merchant at 30 Front Street.  The affluent family was annually listed in Dau's New York Social Blue Book.

Bertha H. Halbe died on November 15, 1901.  Her funeral was held in the parlor on the 17th. 

A second funeral was held there ten years later.  Frederick Charles Halbe died on June 3, 1911 at the age of 81.  He left an estate of about $8.67 million by 2025 conversions.

William still lived with his mother at the time of Frederick's death.  Sophia survived her husband by a decade, dying in the Manhattan Avenue house on February 26, 1921.  Hers was the last of the Halbe funerals to be held here.

Five months later, Joseph Goodfellow, a contractor, purchased 529 Manhattan Avenue for $16,000, according to The New York Times (the price would translate to about $272,000 today).

It continued to be a single-family home until 1958, when a renovation resulted in one apartment each in the basement and parlor levels, and two each on the upper floors.

Among the tenants by the early 1970s were Clifford A. Scott and his wife, the former Mary Myles.  Born on January 15, 1918 in Monroe, Louisiana, Scott was a 1942 graduate of Southern University and received his Bachelor's and Ph.D. degrees from Brooklyn Law School.  While living here in 1974, Scott was elected a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court.  The January 14, 1991 issue of New York Magazine listed him as one of the five toughest judges in New York State.

A renovation/restoration completed in 2019 returned the former Halbe house to a single-family home.

photographs by the author

The David and Emily Kearr House - 397 Manhattan Avenue

 

Real estate developer Edward Cunningham purchased the western blockfront of New Avenue (renamed Manhattan Avenue the following year) between 116th and 117th Streets from John M. Pinkney in February 1886.  A partner in the contracting firm of Cunningham & Henderson, he seems to have acted as his own architect in filling the plots with 11 three-story houses before the year was out.  A medley of Queen Anne designs, the houses--some faced in brick, some in brownstone, and others in both--created a charming streetscape.

No. 397 Manhattan Avenue was faced in brownstone at the basement and parlor levels.  Beefy cast iron newels and railings flanked the stoop, which led to the double-doored entrance beneath a generous transom and intricate carvings.  The paired parlor windows sat within an arch, its transom filled with colorful stained glass.  The upper two floors, outlined in stone quoins, were clad in brick.  Additional quoins framed the second floor windows and their carved panels above.  A pressed metal cornice with a fanciful fascia completed the design.

The house was sold to newlyweds David Kearr and the former Emeline Irene Russell.  Kearr was a butcher and real estate operator who had previously lived in Islip, Long Island.  He had operated a butcher stand in the Washington Market since 1859.  The couple was married on June 23, 1887.

They were not in the Manhattan Avenue house long before scandal arose.  On July 25, 1888, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that Jennie Scammel had sued Kearr for $100,000.  Her suit maintained that between 1885 and 1886 he had promised to marry her and "that relying on such promises she consented to live with him in his home at Islip, and that there her child was born."  

Additionally, she accused him of physical abuse, including an incident on August 30, 1887 when, according to The Evening World, he "assaulted her and threatened to cut her throat."  In addition to the breach of promise amount, she requested an additional $115,000--$5,000 for each assault.  (The damages would total more than $7 million in 2024 terms.)  The Brooklyn Daily Eagle commented, "Whether Kearr is able to pay a tenth of that sum does not appear."

The readers of newspapers across the country who followed the story for weeks were even more titillated when a second breach of promise suit was filed in February 1889.  This one, filed by Margaret Louise Williams, was even more startling.  Margaret was the sister of Kearr's first wife, and at the age of 15 "she was led astray" when Kearr began "an intimacy with her that extended over a number of years."  When his wife died, she claimed, he promised to marry her and they lived together.  She told the court on February 11, 1889 that she discovered love letters from Jennie Scammel and he promised to give Jennie up.  Margaret's suit asked for $100,000 damages, but she was awarded $3,500--about $120,000 today.

Through it all Emily remained with her husband.  In the meantime, the case brought by Jennie Scammel dragged on for months.  Although the Kearrs retained possession of the Manhattan Avenue house, they quickly moved out.  

Their tenant, Conrad Schlotterer, also brought notoriety to the address.  The volatile bachelor went through "a long succession of...housekeepers," according to The Star on March 23, 1889, "nearly all of whom have had trouble with him before retiring from his household."

The day before the article, his latest housekeeper, Amelia Hagan, had accused him in court of assault.  She sought $1,000 in damages.  She testified, 

I was his housekeeper.  On October 15 he called me names, struck me and told me to get out.  I said I'd go when he paid me my wages.  He struck me with his hand, took hold of me and threw me out of the room, then tried to throw me down stairs.  I cried for help and he struck me again, put his hand on my mouth and threw me against the wall.  I then went to my room and he ordered me to leave there, saying that it was his.  He again put me out.  Then I went to a house of a lady friend.

Another servant, Maria Alberts, was brave enough to testify on Amelia Hagan's behalf.  Schlotterer was found guilty and fined $50.  Amelia Hagan was not awarded any damages.

The names of the Kearrs' tenants continued to appear in newspapers for legal troubles.  The widowed mother of George W. Bloomfield followed Schlotterer in the house.  Upon the death of her husband in 1891, Mrs. Bloomfield inherited "about a million dollars," according to The Sun.

On November 14, 1892 she answered the door to find her son and his wife, Caroline, there.  Caroline said (according to George), "I won't bother him any longer.  You take care of him."  The two had been married for about ten years.  In 1891 George suffered "paralysis" (possibly the result of a stroke) and had "almost completely lost the use of his right side," according to The Evening World.   They lived nearby at 313 West 116th Street.  

In December 1893, Caroline sued for legal separation and temporary alimony.  She denied that she had taken George to his mother's house, and said, instead, that he "deserted her and went to live with his mother at 397 Manhattan Avenue."  George protested that Caroline grew tired of caring for him since his affliction.  He added that he could not pay, saying, "all the money he has is $10 a week allowance from his mother."  The Evening World reported, "He says he pays $5 a week of his allowance for board."

In 1941, while the house was operated as a rooming house, the stained glass and original stoop newels survived.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Finally, in 1902, a Kearrs' tenant appeared in newsprint for noncontentious reasons.  On March 9, the New York Herald reported, "Thirty of the friends of Miss Grace Halleck, of No. 397 Manhattan avenue, were present yesterday afternoon at an enjoyable musical tea which she gave from three until six o'clock.  The decorations were in white and green."

Around 1905, Dudley Returned Horton and his wife, the former Florence Cromwell, leased the house.  The couple was married on October 17, 1903.  Horton had four children from a former marriage, Fannie C., Florence E., Dudley, Jr., and Cromwell S.

Horton was born in New York City on December 17, 1854 and studied under a private tutor before entering Cornell University.  He graduated from Columbia Law School in 1879 and was admitted to the United States Supreme Court on May 28, 1900.  The family remained here through 1909, when Emily Kearr leased the house to "a Mrs. Goldie," according to The Evening Post on August 28.

After David and Emily Kearrs' deaths, their estate continued to manage and lease 397 Manhattan Avenue for years.  Although it was operated as a rooming house by the World War II years, it was never divided into apartments.   Still a single-family home, at some point the stained glass transom in the parlor was removed and the robust stoop newels replaced.

photographs by the author

Edward Cunningham's 1886 395 Manhattan Avenue

 

In 1886, developer and architect Edward Cunningham purchased the vacant lots on the western side of New Avenue (renamed Manhattan Avenue the following year), between 116th and 117th Streets.  A partner in the construction firm Cunningham & Henderson, in April that year he filed plans for 11 houses along the avenue and three others on West 116th Street.  The project, according to the Record & Guide, would cost $135,000 to erect, or just over $4.5 million in 2024.

Similar to the houses of developer-builder-architect William J. Merritt being erected in the district at the time, Cunningham's row was a harmonious row of Queen Anne style homes--each a bit different from the other.  Among them was  the brownstone-faced 395 Manhattan Avenue.  Three stories tall above a rough-cut stone basement level, the cast iron stoop railing with urn-shaped balusters descended to beefy newels.

The parlor floor openings were framed by quoins and topped with Renaissance inspired, rounded pediments.  Cunningham gave the second floor windows graceful, scalloped lintels, and paired the top floor openings with a shared frame and single molded cornice.

Cunningham put the titles to the homes in the name of his wife, Jane.  The couple initially leased 395 Manhattan Avenue.  In June 1893, Jane sold the property to real estate operator Robert Black.  He, too, leased the house before selling it in 1906 to Solomon Schinasi, who had begun buying up houses along the row.  Among his initial tenants were the Thompson family.  Gertrude Thompson died here on October 25, 1908.

On August 28, 1910, Schinasi advertised 395 Manhattan Avenue for lease again.  The rent was listed at $75--an affordable $2,500 per month by today's terms.

Three years later, The Sun reported that Schinasi had sold 395 Manhattan Avenue to Wilhelmina Walther, noting, "This is the third house sold of a row of six lately taken in exchange from Solomon Schinasi."  Walther, like all of the owners to date, was a real estate operator.  She continued leasing the house until selling it in June 1918 to Ezekiel Fixman.  In reporting the sale, the New-York Tribune described the house as "a three-story flat," reflecting its operation as unofficial apartments.

Living here in 1929 was Mary Marcus, who did bacteriological research for Dr. Joseph L. Wathick.  On October 25, 1930, he described Mary in a letter to Agnes H. Brock saying, "Her personal character is beyond reproach.  She is reliable, ethical, honest and of good habits; zealously guarding her reputation."

Dr. Wathick's letter was a result of a tangled legal case in which Mary Marcus had become embroiled.  (Agnes H. Brock was a probation officer.)  In 1930, Mary bought a dress and as she left the store, was arrested by store detectives who testified they did not see her purchase anything.  Her attorney argued, "There is no argument but she bought it that day; she paid for it.  She couldn't have walked out with this dress.  That in itself shows that there is a contradiction in the testimony of the Officers."  Nevertheless, Mary was convicted of shoplifting and her employer's letter attesting to her character was important in her appeal.

Interestingly, while the Harlem neighborhood by now had morphed into the center of Manhattan's black community, one tenant of 395 Manhattan Avenue around this time was an Irish immigrant.  Patrick O'Neill was born in Ireland in 1850.  According to the Mount Vernon, New York newspaper the Daily Argus, O'Neill first had returned to Ireland in 1900 when he retired as a sergeant in the U.S. Army.  After that trip, he returned to his native land every summer.

The substantial cast iron stoop newels survived in 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In August 1938, O'Neill was enjoying his 38th trip to Ireland.  He was scheduled to return to New York on the President Harding on August 20, but a few hours before boarding he suffered a fatal heart attack.  The 88-year-old's body was placed on the liner Manhattan a week later.  The Daily Argus reported, "It is understood that a United States Army escort would receive the body at Governor's Island."

Benjamin F. Thomas married Ann E. Branson on December 23, 1943.  The newlyweds moved into 395 Manhattan Avenue.  Ann, who was the widow of H. J. Branson, was "very active in the social activities of the community," according to the New York Age.  Thomas was prominent in the Harlem community.  The former proprietor of the Hotel Maceo and the Broadway Auto School, he was one of New York State's first automobile inspectors.  He was, as well, treasurer of the Harlem Children's Fresh Air Fund and a director of the Association of Trade and Commerce.

The 18-foot-wide house has never officially been converted to apartments.  Nevertheless, there are three rental units in the building today.  Externally, (other than the loss of the stoop newels) the house is little changed after nearly 140 years.

photographs by the author

The 1887 Charles B. Poor House - 367 Manhattan Avenue

 

In 1889, Andrew Carnegie gave architect William B. Tuthill a significant commission--designing Carnegie Hall.  But three years earlier, in September 1886, when Tuthill designed a row of 10 three-story houses along the western blockfront of Manhattan Avenue between 115th and 116th Streets for George F. Ferris, the 31-year-old was better known for his singing capabilities than for architecture.

Tuthill designed the row in a satisfying blend of Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne styles.  Toward the center of the row, 367 Manhattan Avenue was faced in red brick and trimmed in brownstone.  The fully arched openings of the parlor floor were capped with sturdy voussoirs of undressed stone.  The second story sat between two intermediate cornices, while the third featured two arched windows with brick eyebrows and a gable with Queen Anne style stone tiles.  The brick piers on either side terminated in elaborate Corinthian capitals.  The house had cost Ferris $7,000 to build--about $235,000 in 2024.

An advertisement in the New York Herald on October 18, 1887 read, "Charming 20 foot residence 367 Manhattan av., for sale; price $15,000; convenient to Morningside Park and 116th street "L" station."

Instead, however, Ferris ended up leasing the house, its monthly rent equivalent to about $2,741 today.  In 1895, Charles B. Poor moved his family into 367 Manhattan Avenue.  Poor juggled two professions.  He was a wine merchant at 44 Beaver Street while also running a real estate operation at 45 Broadway.  He and his wife had a daughter.

In May 1896, Charles B. Poor's name appeared in newspapers from coast to coast.  He was the first juror selected for the sensational "Chowder Trial."  

Two years earlier, the Bliss family moved to 121 Manhattan Avenue, about ten blocks south of the the Poors' home.  Henry H. Bliss, the deputy librarian at the College of the City of New York, had married his wife, Evelina, on July 23, 1868.  Also living in the house was Evelina's daughter by a former marriage, Mary Alice Almont Livingston Fleming, and her children.  It was not a tranquil arrangement, with Mary Alice constantly at odds with her mother and step-father over finances.

On the night of August 30, 1895, Evelina and Mary Alice got into another heated argument in Henry's presence.  After dinner Evelina fell violently ill.  A doctor was called who diagnosed "mixed poisoning."

On September 9, 1895, the Glens Falls Daily Times reported, "Nine days ago Mrs. Evelina M. Bliss ate some clam chowder.  Five hours after eating it she was dead."  An investigation by Dr. Henry A. Mott, an analytical chemist, discovered "a large amount of arsenic in the stomach of Mrs. Bliss," according to testimony later.

The morning after Evelina's death Mary Alice was arrested "and locked up in the Tombs charged with murdering her mother," said the Glens Falls Daily Times.  An official told the newspaper, "There is not the shadow of a doubt that Mrs. Bliss was poisoned by eating clam chowder."

On May 12, 1896, The World reported that after "more than four hours of questioning," Charles B. Poor had been selected as the first juror.  "He evidently didn't care to serve; but he had no valid excuse and was acceptable to both sides."  The newspaper described him as "a slender, well-dressed man with a brown beard tinged with gray."

Charles B. Poor in the courtroom.  The World, May 12, 1896 (copyright expired)

The reluctant Charles Poor was also selected as the jury's foreman.  The group deliberated for 19 hours (and wrangled over the possibility of condemning a woman to the death penalty).  On June 26, 1896, the Pike County [Pennsylvania] Press reported, "When Clerk Brophy asked foreman Charles B. Poor if the jury had agreed upon a verdict, he replied: 'We have.  Not guilty.'"  For the rest of his life, Poor would be remembered as having uttered those words.

Two months after the trial, Poor's wife and daughter were in the country while he remained in the city to conduct business.  On August 28, he and two friends, Dr. and Mrs. William T. Alexander, took a bike ride to Yonkers.  Returning late in the evening, they reached 163rd Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, "when horses attached to a light road wagon bore down upon Mr. Poor," reported the New York Herald.

In what can only be described as the perfect storm of bad luck and timing, the article said Poor attempted to avoid the team, "but was seized with a stroke of epilepsy.  He fell heavily, striking the curb.  He lost consciousness and blood poured from a gash in his head."  Reminding its readers that Poor "was the foreman of the Fleming jury," the newspaper said he was seriously injured and "is suffering at his home, No. 367 Manhattan avenue."

Charles B. Poor's luck would not improve.  At a time when it was often easier for a woman to have her husband committed to a lunatic asylum than to obtain a divorce, on November 12, 1898 the New York Journal and Advertiser reported that Poor "was committed to the insane pavilion at Bellevue yesterday morning."  This, said the article, was done, "despite Poor's vehement statement that he had been examined by two reputable physicians and pronounced to be sane."

Poor apparently never got over his wife's betrayal.  After being released, in 1906 he boarded with a family at 69 West 83rd Street.  On January 6, 1907, he committed suicide by throwing himself into the Harlem Canal.

In the meantime, by 1900 Poor's former home on Manhattan Avenue was being operated as a boarding house.  Living here that year was William Henry Glasson, who held a Ph.B. from Cornell University.  Martin J. Jackson moved in at the beginning of 1901.  He placed an announcement in The New York Dramatic Mirror on February 9 that read, "Martin J. Jackson, designer of costumes and at one time with the well known London costumer, is now located at 367 Manhattan Avenue, this city."

In 1912 and 1913, the house was the clubhouse of the Monongahela Democratic Club, a Tammany Hall organization.  It quickly returned to a boarding house, run by John M. Walsh who also leased 363 and 365 Manhattan Avenue.

After owning the houses for nearly four decades, the Ferris family sold 361 through 367 Manhattan Avenue to Samuel Polensky in October 1925.  He leased No. 367 to Cedric Whittier Root and his wife, the former Eva Bertram.  The couple had two sons, Peter H. and Edward J.  Born on May 21, 1903, Root was a radio enthusiast and installed an amateur radio "station" in the house.  The Roots remained here until at least 1928.

In 1938, 363 to 367 Manhattan Avenue were sold as a group to Sophie Malakoff for $24,000 (about $519,000 today).  They would continue to be sold together over the years, and on March 16, 1997, The New York Times reported that James Henderson had sold "the four dilapidated brownstones at 361 through 367 Manhattan Avenue" to developer Phillip H. Morrow.  The article said he and his partners "have set about to create duplex apartments with about 1,600 gross square feet of space."

Today there are two condominiums in 367 Manhattan Avenue.  Unfortunately, at some point the stained glass transoms of the parlor windows were removed, and the 1997 renovation included a shockingly inappropriate entrance door.

photographs by the author

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Edward Cunningham's 1886 385 Manhattan Avenue

 

In February 1886, John M. Pinkney sold the vacant lots that made up the western blockfront of New Avenue (renamed Manhattan Avenue the following year) between 116th and 117th Street to developer Edward Cunningham.  Cunningham was also a partner in the contracting firm of Cunningham & Henderson, and appears to have acted as his own architect.  Before the year was out, he had filled the block with 11 three-story homes.  A medley of Queen Anne designs, the houses--some faced in brick, some in brownstone, and others in both--created a charming streetscape.

The parlor level facades of the mirror-image houses that anchored the corners were clad in brownstone.  Stone quoins framed the openings and ran up the corners.  Large arched openings with stained glass transoms faced the avenue and side street, and decorative chimney backs carried on the Queen Anne motif.

The original appearance of 385 Manhattan Avenue can be seen in its mirror-image on the opposite corner at 405 Manhattan Avenue.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Rudolph and Minnie L. Schneider purchased 365 Manhattan Avenue in 1887.  The couple operated a "brewers' materials" business at 211 East 94th Street under the name M. L. Schneider.  The Schneiders sold the building on January 29, 1904 to William Levers.

It is unclear whether Levers ever moved into the house or merely rented it.  In 1905 and '06, Eugene Bernstein listed his address here.  A German immigrant, he was an active member of the Tonkünstler Society, a German musical group.

Lever sold 365 Manhattan Avenue to Solomon Schinasi in May 1906.  Schinasi converted the parlor level for commercial use and created a second residential entrance around the corner at 355 West 116th Street.  The upper floors were adapted for apartments.  

In 1915, the shop space was leased to Drs. William Boehm and John Luks, who opened the Harlem Health Institute.  A notice in The Columbia Spectator on April 7 that year described the facility as "an institution of interest to all Columbia University students in need of health-baths of all kinds."  Among the services offered were "scientific massage, corrective gymnastics, and physical culture in all its branches--(X-Ray and all modern Electrical apparatus used)."  The institute remained through 1917.

An advertisement in 1921 offered furnished or unfurnished apartments.  It read, "Large rooms, kitchen, shower bath; parquet floor; electricity, gas included; or furnished; reasonable."

Not all the residents of 385 Manhattan Avenue during the Depression years were law-abiding.  Carl Taylor lived here in 1936 when his criminal endeavors nearly cost him his life.  On July 21, the Elmhurst, New York Daily Register reported,  "Captured after a wild chase in which shots were fired, Carl Taylor, 34, a negro of 385 Manhattan avenue, Manhattan is in St. John's Hospital today suffering from bullet wounds received when he was pursued by Newtown police early this morning after the attempted burglary of a Jackson Heights apartment."

Born in Virginia around 1868, Thomas Lyman lived here in 1940.  Crowded into the apartment with him were his 39-year-old daughter, Ellen Ash, and her three teenaged children, Vivian, Robert and Alfred.

At the time, the store was occupied by the grocery of brothers Louis and Michael Ronan.  On the afternoon of December 28, 1946, Harrison Wilson, James Lewis and Leonard Lappeire barged into the store brandishing handguns.  The young men (Wilson and Lappeire were both 22, and Lewis was 26), were dangerous and had committed ten armed robberies within the past month.  During one of the heists alone--at the Club Car at 924 Fifth Avenue--they made off with "cash, furs and jewelry with a total value of $9,100," according to The Sun.  (The Club Car was a private night club within the former mansion of George Henry Warren.) 

The hoodlums were not expecting this caper to be any different from their others.  But, as reported by The Sun, "Michael [Ronan] obeyed the 'stick 'em up' command, but Louis ducked under a counter and grabbed a gun."  A shoot-out commenced during which Ronan wounded one of the would-be robbers in the hand.  In the meantime, a passerby saw what was going on and notified two policemen.  They captured Harrison Wilson, the injured man, as he was exiting the store.  The others were tracked down within 24 hours.

A grocery store occupied the shop space in 1941.   image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

It may have been the harrowing incident that prompted the Ronan brothers to leave 365 Manhattan Avenue.  The following year the store was home to Miguel Aviles's delicatessen.

Beulah Brown lived here in 1963 and worked in the Hotel Ebony on West 112th Street.  She became a key witness in the capture of a serial murderer that year.  James Foster was a 36-year-old trucker's helper who would later admit that he had "nursed a grudge against all women for the past 21 years," according to The Record of Hackensack, New Jersey.  Within a two-week period beginning at the end of April, he strangled three women to death in Harlem hotels, and on the morning of May 12 strangled a 15-year-old girl in her mother's home.  That night, detectives broke into a room in the Hotel Ebony where Foster had just registered with another women.  The raid no doubt saved that woman's life.

A year later Foster went to trial.  On April 25, 1964, the New York Amsterdam News reported, "During the two-week trial, Foster was identified by Mrs. Katherine Owens of 150 West 140th St., and Mrs. Beulah Brown of 385 Manhattan Ave., as the man who registered with Miss Lewis."

Around 2009, a second store was carved into the rear portion of the building.  Kuti's Place, a takeout restaurant opened there in 2010.  The New York Times food columnist Dave Cook described the offerings as a marriage of "West African and Middle Eastern flavors."

More than a bit battered today, 365 Manhattan Avenue nevertheless retains much of its 1886 appearance.

photographs by the author

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The 1887 George and Louise Ferris House - 369 Manhattan Avenue

 

George Ferris Ferris graduated with a degree in civil engineering from Cornell University in 1881.  Although listed as "architect" alongside "builder" in directories, when he planned a row of ten three-story dwellings on the west side of Manhattan Avenue between 115th and 116th Streets in September 1886, he hired the 37-year-old architect William B. Tuthill to design them.

As he often did, Tuthill blended the Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne styles to create the charming row.  Completed in 1887, they were faced in red brick and trimmed in brownstone.  Intended for middle and upper middle class families, each of the homes had cost $7,000 to erect, or about $234,000 in 2024.  George F. Ferris retained one of them, 369 Manhattan Avenue, for his own use.  

Romanesque Revival played a significant role in the parlor level where undressed stone blocks created chunky voussoirs above the openings.  It appeared again on the second floor, where brick eyebrows rested on a projecting bandcourse, its ends capped with carved Medieval-style ornaments.  The third floor windows were grouped under a single sandstone lintel.  An ambitious, multi-level, pressed metal cornice crowned the design.

Shortly after moving in, on November 10, 1887, George Ferris Ferris and Louise C. Wood were married in Philadelphia in what The New York Times called, "an interesting wedding."  Guests came from Manhattan, New Jersey, Boston, and Pennsylvania.  Although the newlyweds originally occupied the Manhattan Avenue house, they would not stay especially long.  

In 1889, George Ferris moved his business to Philadelphia.  He would join the architectural firm of Moses & King there the following year.  It became Moses, King & Ferris.

The Ferrises sold 369 Manhattan Avenue to Edward Todd, Jr. and his wife Bessie T. on June 25, 1890 for the equivalent of $484,000 in today's money.  Todd was associated with his father in Edward Todd & Co., described by The Jewelers' Circular as the "well known manufacturer of gold pens."

Todd's father died of a cerebral hemorrhage in his residence at 66 Madison Avenue on New Year's Eve 1899.  His funeral was held in the Manhattan Avenue house three days later.  In reporting on Edward Sr.'s death, The Jewelers' Circular mentioned that Edward Jr. had taken over the firm.

The Todds sold the 20-foot-wide house on September 27, 1906 to Asa and Julia Rosen Lemlein.  The couple had two sons, 12-year-old Harold Leon and 8-year-old Barton.

Like Edward Todd, Asa Lemlein followed his father's professional path.  Asa Lemlein Sr. had operated a cigar store as early as 1864, when he opened a store at 397 Bleecker Street.  The younger Asa expanded the cigar shop to a substantial business, Asa Lemlein & Co., "the first tobacco jobbers' association in New York," according to Tobacco years later.  It became, according to the Congressional Record on May 28, 1906, "the largest jobbers in New York and Brooklyn, doing a business of about $500,000 per year."

Decades later, in 1942, Asa Lemlein recounted his first interaction with James Buchanan Duke to John K. Winkler for his book Tobacco Tycoon.  Duke tried to convince the cigar dealer to sell a new product--machine rolled cigarettes.

I remember the first time young Duke came into my cigar store.  He had ridden up on the steam-driven "L" which used to drop live cinders on pedestrians and horses alike...He wanted to sell me some of his newfangled machine-made cigarettes on consignment.  I told him I wouldn't handle cigarettes under any circumstances, that my customers didn't want 'em.

Duke's brilliant marketing campaign finally swayed Lemlein, who said:

The climax came when Duke began putting into each package a picture of a famous actress or athlete or the flags of all nations.  That was a million-dollar idea, for the pictures came in numbered sets and the kids began pestering their dads for them.  Soon collecting pictures became a craze and we had to order the cigarettes in quantity.

Shortly before purchasing the Manhattan Avenue house, Asa had suffered a serious professional setback.  Independent wholesale tobacco, cigar and cigarette dealers consolidated to form the Metropolitan Tobacco Company.  It became a massive trust that eventually caused the collapse of smaller businesses.  On May 28, 1906 (the year the Lemleins purchased the Harlem house), the Congressional Record explained that Asa Lemlein Company, "would not go into the original formation of the Metropolitan Tobacco Company, because they did not care to lose their identity with the trade.  They were eventually compelled to go out of business after losing almost all their money."

The article noted, "Mr. Asa Lemelin [sic] is now the New York representative of the E. H. Gato Cigar Company."  Despite losing his company, Lemlein and his family enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle and maintained a summer home in Neponsit, New York.  Julia busied herself, in part, as a member of the Theatre Club.

In 1916, as war raged across Europe, Harold Leon (who was now 22 years old) joined the U. S. Army.  In 1919, following the end of the conflict, he was a first lieutenant in the Quartermaster Section.

Seen here in 1941, 369 Manhattan Avenue is directly behind the man on the sidewalk.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

On December 21, 1920, The Tampa Times reported, "The E. H. Gato Cigar Co. is preparing to celebrate its 50th anniversary early in January next.  There will be a gathering of the clans at Key West, and a great family reunion will take place."  Among those taking part were the Lemleins.  The article said, "An excursion from Key West to Havana is planned, that a perfect 'celebration' may be rounded out, 'in due and ancient form.'"

Asa's and Julia's tropical adventure lasted several weeks.  On February 3, 1921, Tobacco reported, "Asa Lemlein, New York manager for the E. H. Gato Cigar Co., returned last week with his party from their trip to Key West and Havana."

By then, Asa was also the president of the New York Cigar Manufacturers' Board of Trade, and a director of the Salesmen's Association.  Around 1925 he became manager of the Retail Tobacconist.  Saying that he "is universally known to the tobacco trade," on August 12, 1926, Tobacco reported, "Since Asa Lemlein took over the business managership of the Retail Tobacconist recently, it is reported that there has been a visible increase in advertising for this noted trade paper." 

By 1939 the Lemleins moved to 245 West 107th Street.  The Manhattan Avenue house was converted to one apartment each on the second and third floors, and a "meeting room" on the former parlor level.  In the 1960s, that space was home to the Virgin Islands Public Affairs Council, Inc.

A second renovation, completed in 2015, resulted in one apartment per floor.

photograph by the author

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Charles T. Mott's 1890 298 Manhattan Avenue

 

In 1890 Smith Newell Penfield advertised the new house at 298 Manhattan Avenue for rent, emphasizing the convenient location:

At 298 Manhattan Av., facing Morningside Park, near Central Park--Four story twenty foot Dwelling, decorated; location unsurpassed; elevator to 116th elevated station; price low; little cash; terms easy.

The house was one of five erected by Edward Roemer and designed by Charles T. Mott.  Upon their completion in 1890, Penfield had purchased them all.  He and his wife moved into the corner house at 329 West 112th Street and rented the others.

Each of the 20-foot-wide homes had cost $13,000 to construct, or about $386,000 by 2023 conversions.  Mott designed the four houses facing Manhattan Avenue as two mirror-image pairs.  The bowed bays and dormers of the red-brick residences were typical of his style.  Like its neighbors, 298 Manhattan Avenue featured an arched, double-doored entrance above a dog-leg stoop, stained glass transoms in the parlor windows, and a fish-scale tiled mansard with a single dormer.

298 Manhattan Avenue is at the far left.

The house was first leased to Henry Mendelson, who had received his bachelor of science degree from Cooper Union's five-year Scientific Course in 1881.

When Penfield listed the now-vacant house for rent again in 1893, he noted that there were 12 rooms.  The advertised rent was $1,200 per year, or about $3,100 a month today.

No. 298 Manhattan Avenue next became home to the Louis Straus family.  A banker and importer-exporter with offices at 52 Broad Street, Straus had branch offices in Philadelphia and Boston.  Additionally, according to The New York Times, he had "made a fortune by the sale of the Butte and Boston Cooper Mine" in 1887.

Straus's wife, Rosa Welt, was a fascinating figure.  Born in 1856 in Austria, she was the first female in that country to receive a high school graduation.  In 1878 she became the first woman in Austria to receive a medical degree, and was among the first female ophthalmologists in Europe.

Rosa Welt-Straus now worked as an eye surgeon in the New York Eye Hospital and the Women's Hospital.  The year before they moved into 298 Manhattan Avenue the couple's daughter, Nellie, was born.  (Another child, a boy, apparently died in infancy.)

Dr. Rosa Welt-Straus with her daughter, Nellie.  (original source unknown)

Starting around 1895, Louis's sister and brother-in-law, Hattie and Edward Weidenbach, shared the house.  Edward was a director in the E. Klein Supply Company, dealers in bakers' supplies.

Those in banking and importing circles were most likely shocked to read in The New York Times on September 14, 1900, "Louis Straus, residing at 298 Manhattan Avenue, has filed a petition in bankruptcy."  It was a staggering blow to the former millionaire.  He never recovered from the humiliation and shock, and committed suicide in 1907.

Rosa Welt-Straus would continue to make her mark on the world.  She helped organize the Woman Suffrage Alliance with Carrie Chapman-Catt, and in 1904 was a member of the American delegation to the first congress of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance.   She would continue to be a force in the suffrage movement for years.

In 1919, at the age of 63, Rosa relocated to Palestine, where, within two months of her arrival, she was elected head of the Union of Hebrew Women.

The Weidenbach family, along with Louis and Hattie's widowed mother, Elizabeth (known as Betty) Straus, remained at 298 Manhattan Avenue through 1911.  The following year Penfield leased the house to George Hunter who rented rooms.  Among his tenants in 1912 was Gladys Parks, who came from De Leon, Texas to study at Columbia University.  

In 1914 a "highly educated European lady" boarded here.  The multi-talented woman was looking for private students.  Her advertisement in The New York Times in February that year described her as "conversant in English, French, and German, also full-fledged reciter and pianiste," and said she "desires a limited number of scholars; children preferable."

In 1917 Penfield rented the house to an old friend, clergyman William Brewster Humphrey and his wife, the former Marie E. Ives.  Reverend Humphrey was the founder and president of the American Indian League, and Penfield and his wife Sarah were members of the New York City Indian Association.  An eminent musician, Penfield had collaborated with Humphrey for the latter's 1911 compilation, North American Indian Folklore Music, published by The American Indian League.

Humphrey's interest in Native Americans, their music and culture would be his life-long passion.  His purpose in forming the American Indian League was "to assist in preserving native industries; establishing if need be, industrial schools and missions where the young Indians might be taught to keep up the old arts."  He hoped to "arouse interest in the North American customs and to preserve and foster their native music and industries in every possible way."

Like Rosa-Welt Straus, Marie E. Ives Humphrey was as interesting as her husband.  Descending from what the 1917-1918 Who's Who in America called "Pilgrim and Puritan stock, three arriving on the Mayflower," her father Charles Ives had been the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives and an author and poet.  Like he, she was a writer.  Who's Who in America called her a "Writer for papers and magazines of sketches, stories, poems and articles for children."

Marie was best known for her work with with her husband, however.  She was president of the New Haven Indian Association, first view-president of the Connecticut Indian Association, chair of the Young People's Department of the National Indian Association, and editor and business manager of The Indian's Friend.  Marie lectured in schools, clubs and churches on Native American issues, and marketed the sale of indigenous crafts, like baskets, "to encourage the art." 

After the Humphreys left 298 Manhattan Avenue in 1919, it was operated as a rooming house.  Smith Newell Penfield died in the corner house on January 7, 1920 at the age of 83.  The following year his estate again leased No. 298.  An advertisement on May 15, 1921 read, "Rooming house, 10 rooms, two baths; long lease furniture."

It became a favorite among Chinese students, most of them attending Columbia University.  Among the first was T. Y. Chin, a member of The Chinese Students' Christian Association in North America.  Also living here in 1921 were students M. K. Mo and Edward S. K. Yen.

On November 17, 1942, The New York Sun reported that the house had been leased "for residence club use."  It is possible that it was a chapter house for a Columbia University fraternity.  It is unclear how long the "residence club" remained here.

A renovation completed in 2012 resulted in one apartment each in the basement and parlor levels, and a triplex apartment above.  It was most likely at this time that a large dormer replaced the original.

photos by the author

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The George Hall Baker house - 294 Manhattan Avenue

 

In July 1886 architect Charles T. Mott filed plans for five three-story brick and stone residences on the east side of Manhattan Avenue, between 112th and 113th Street.  Each of the 20-foot-wide homes would cost their developer, Edward Roemer, $13,000 to construct, or about $386,000 by 2023 conversions.   

Mott's red brick, Queen Anne style homes were typical of his style, with bowed bays and dormers.   He designed the four facing Manhattan Avenue as two mirror-image pairs, while the corner house at 329 West 112th Street, was the show-stopper.  

Construction dragged on because of financial problems.  Surprisingly, when the row was completed in July 1890 all five homes were purchased by Smith Newell Penfield, a renowned organist.  He moved into the corner house with his wife, Sarah Elizabeth Hoyt.

Penfield sold 294 Manhattan Avenue to George Hall Baker on March 18, 1891 for $20,000 (around $615,000 today).  Baker and his wife, the former Ellen Eliza Atkins, had four children: George Friederich, Charles Atkins, Helen Julia, and Raymond Hall.

Baker was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts on April 23, 1850 to George and Mary Hall.  Upon his adoption by Charles and Wealthy Wells Baker, he received his new surname.  He and Ellen, who was known familiarly as Nellie, had married in 1875.  He graduated from Amherst College in 1874 and earned earn his post-graduate degree from Berlin University in 1878.  Upon his return to the United States, he helped compile The Century Dictionary.

The Manhattan Avenue house was convenient to his work.  In 1883 he was hired as assistant librarian at Columbia University and two years before buying the house was appointed Librarian-in-Chief.  Several years later, in 1913, the Annual Report of Chicago Historical Society mentioned: 

Under his administration the library made its greatest progress and acquired some of its most valuable collections.  He also instituted a new and very complete cataloguing system by means of which these treasures became thoroughly available to scholars.

George retired in 1899, earning the title Librarian Emeritus.  He now focused on "the study of art and art history and political science and literary work," according to The New York Times.

Not surprisingly, the Baker sons attended attended Columbia University.  Both Charles and Raymond became attorneys.  Following Charles's marriage to Marie Louise Johnston in 1908, the newlyweds moved into the Manhattan Avenue house where they would have three children.  Charles was, by now, a director and corporate counsel for the Harlem Contracting Company, vice president and counsel for the Pacific City Terminal and Contracting Company, and counsel of the Candelaria Gold and Silver Mining Company.  

George Hall Baker died in the Manhattan Avenue house at the age of 61 on March 27, 1911.  Ellen remained with Helen (who was still unmarried), and Charles's family.  At some point Ellen's brother, John Bangs Atkins moved in.  John's country home was in West Brattleboro, Vermont, where he and Ellen had been born.

Nearly four decades after moving into 294 Manhattan Avenue, Ellen died there on December 28, 1930 at the age of 79.  Her funeral was held in the house on the following day.  

Charles Atkins Baker was, by now, the head of the corporate law firm of Parker & Arron at 55 Liberty Street.  He was also a director of at least six corporations.  Still living his family in the Manhattan Avenue house were Helen, who was still single, and John Bangs Atkins.  John died at West Brattleboro on May 17, 1932.  Before the end of the decade the house was sold.  (Charles died in New Jersey on December 7, 1945.)

294 Manhattan Avenue is second from right.

The Baker house was converted to eight apartments in 1941.  After decades of decline, the neighborhood experienced a renaissance in the early 21st century.  No. 294 Manhattan Avenue was put on the market in 2009 at $2.4 million.  It was finally sold in the summer of 2011 for about half that amount.  It and its architectural siblings create a handsome presence facing Morningside Park.  Its well-preserved facade--albeit with painted brick and replaced stoop railings--begs to be restored.

photos by the author

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