The Michael and Rosa Wineburgh House - 25 West 76th Street

 

On February 9, 1895, the Real Estate Record & Guide described Cornelius W. Luyster as one of the few developers who built residences "for only the wealthiest and best classes of buyers."  The article went on to describe his three newly completed homes at 21 through 25 West 76th Street, designed by John H. Duncan.  Four stories tall, their basement through second floors were clad in Indiana limestone and the upper floors in buff-colored brick.  Duncan's chaste Renaissance Revival designs were described by the journal as "quiet, though handsome and dignified."

No. 25 is at the left.  The Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide, February 9, 1895 (copyright expired)

The western-most of the trio, 25 West 76th Street, was 25-feet-wide and cost Luyster $42,500 to construct--about $1.7 million in 2026.  Duncan's decorations were reserved and unobtrusive.  The doorway was framed in delicately carved foliate sheaves and the paired parlor windows wore a guilloche of intricate rosettes.

A band in a complex Greek key motif ran along the top of the second floor, where between the windows of the bowed bay a lion's head held a ribbon laden with groups of fruit.  The upper floor windows sat within molded architraves under molded cornices.  The copper terminal cornice wore a row of anthemions and lion masks, drawn from ancient Roman motifs.

Luyster had not scrimped on the interior details.  The Record & Guide described, "immense French plate glass mirrors in his hallways, where moderate and inferior ones would be found in other houses, and exquisite colored onyx tops on wash-bowls, where marble might have been used without prejudice."  The dining room was paneled in white mahogany "relieved with gold," and the fireplaces were "fronted with delicately-colored marble or onyx trimmed with silver or gold metal strips."  The article noted, "arrangements are made to cut off the servants from the rest of the family as much as possible."

Cornelius Luyster sold 25 West 76th Street to Michael Wineburgh on December 17, 1895.  He and his wife, Rosa, had one child, Dorothy.  

Wineburgh (whose surname would be confusingly spelled alternatively as Wineberg and Winburn) was an advertising executive.  He was out of town on business in March 1896, a few weeks after the house next door had been burglarized.  That crime had prompted Rosa to have many of the valuable items, like the sterling silverware, moved into an upper floor room.  But on the evening of March 15, Rosa hosted a reception "and a quantity of the silver was taken down to the first floor," explained the New-York Tribune.  "This was left on the sideboard over night."

The next morning Rosa went shopping.  While she was gone a policeman stopped by and the cook gave him a cup of coffee.  In the meantime, a crook was watching the house.  The New-York Tribune said, "The burglar doubtless waited for his opportunity, and, it is believed, that after the officer had drunk his coffee...the thief sneaked into the house and upstairs to the dining room."

Rosa returned home at noon and rang the bell.  She was surprised and terrified when a strange man opened the door.  He told her he was a police officer "and had come to investigate some trouble," reported the New-York Tribune.  Rosa tried to stop him, but he brushed by her and ran down the street towards Central Park.  The article said, "He was followed by two servant girls, screaming at the top of their voices."  One of the servants, Freda Lindaur, chased him all the way to the Central Park wall, then lost him.

The "audacious" burglar, as described by the newspaper, must have been quite an athlete.  As he raced away he was carrying a significant burden.  The article said that among the articles he stole were:

...a dozen oyster forks, with the initials "M. W." on the handles; a dozen coffee spoons, a pair of salad tongs, an almond tray and spoon, a soup ladle, five dinner forks, twelve pearl-handled knives and a varied collection of napkin rings, teaspoons and nut picks.

The crook had taken his time in choosing the loot.  Using acid, he tested the silverware and took only sterling pieces.

Four years after moving into 25 West 76th Street, Wineburgh added to his resume by incorporating the Omega Chemical Company with partner Bert M. Jones in January 1899.  The firm produced Omega Oil, a liniment.  An 1899 advertisement promised it "takes out soreness caused by hard work or hard exercise or hard pleasure."

Rather than spending the summer of 1901 in their Lakewood, New Jersey country home, Michael and Rosa sailed to Europe that year.  When they arrived back in New York on the White Star liner Majestic on September 4, 1901 they were stopped by a customs agent who noticed Rosa's necklace.  The New York Herald described the item as having "fifty or sixty pearls and valued at something like $4,000."  (The value would translate to about $156,000 today.)  The couple insisted that they had not purchased it abroad and was, in fact, a wedding present from Michael to Rosa on their wedding day 15 years ago.  The New York Herald noted, "She was wearing the necklace when she left the boat and made no attempt to conceal it."  

Nevertheless, The New York Times reported on September 7, "Collector Bidwell is holding a costly diamond [sic] necklace...pending an investigation of its history."  Michael Weinburgh was infuriated and Rosa humiliated.  Their attorney, Peter Zucker, told reporters, "Fortunately this is a case where we have ample proof, but it is too bad that a private citizen should be subjected to such publicity."  The New York Herald added, "The customs officers are inclined to think that the statement is correct and that the necklace will be released."

Like those of her neighbors, Rosa Weinburgh's entertainments were often elaborate.  On February 5, 1905, the New York Herald reported that she "recently entertained sixteen of her friends at luncheon.  The decorations for the day were orchids and white lilacs.  A string orchestra furnished music."

That luncheon was prepared by the Wineburghs' cook, Rosa Hahn, who was hired in 1896.  She was recognized by the German Housewives' Society at a luncheon on October 31, 1906 with a "golden bee," an emblem of industry.  Of the other 30 domestics awarded, she "headed the list with ten years' service in the home of Mrs. M. Weinberg," said the New-York Tribune.

Handan Welli would not be wearing a golden bee on her uniform.  The Turkish-born maid was hired by Rosa in Paris in July 1909.  Six months later, on the night of January 24, 1909, Handan returned home 45 minutes past her curfew.  Rosa Wineburgh fired her on the spot, but Handan refused to leave.

The New York Herald reported, "Policeman Loos induced the girl to go to the West Sixty-eighth street station without placing her under arrest."  Handan claimed that upon being hired, Rosa had agreed to pay her passage back to Paris.  "Mrs. Weinberg denied this assertion," said the article.  Handan Welli "finally went to the Leo Immigrants' Home, No. 6 State street, for the night."

Rosa was looking for a maid again in 1920.  Her advertisement in The New York Times on January 18 sought, "Lady's maid wanted; young woman between 25 and 30, Frenchwoman preferred, references required; good salary."

A succinct notice appeared in The New York Times on November 10, 1922:  "Winburn--Rosa, beloved wife of Michael Winburn and beloved mother of Dorothy, [died] in her 57th year, at her residence, 25 West 76th Street.  Funeral private."

A detail of the striking copper cornice.

Four months later, Michael Wineburgh sold 25 West 76th Street to James H. Cruikshank for $75,000 (about $1.4 million today).  In reporting the sale, The New York Times mentioned, "The seller has owned the above property since 1895."

The house was converted to upscale apartments.  Among the initial residents were the families of Dr. George Goodman and Henry Davidoff.

Charles Goodman received his medical degree from Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 1892.  The clinical professor of surgery at University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College, he and his wife had a daughter, Jane.  Like the Wineburghs before them, they spent time in the summer months away from the city.  On August 23, 1929, for instance, The New York Times announced, "Dr. and Mrs. Charles Goodman and Miss Jane Goodman have returned from the Adirondacks to their home, 25 West Seventy-sixth Street."

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Henry Davidoff, a 1904 graduate of Columbia University, was a teacher in Stuyvesant High School.  He and his wife, Elizabeth (known as Bess), had a daughter Amy.  And like the Goodmans, they would remain at 25 West 76th Street well into the 1930s.

In 1925, the Davidoffs sailed to France.  Years later, The New York Evening Post would recall that the family met singer Paul Robeson there.  Amy was 11 years old at the time and, according to the newspaper, "Robeson felt an instant attraction for the little girl, and the little girl felt an immediate love for the singer.  Thus the two became inseparable companions during many months in Paris."

Music had been the catalyst for the strong platonic bond between the star and the girl.  Despite her youth, Amy had learned "at least a thousand songs in five languages and sang them beautifully," said The New York Evening Post.  She would sing German ballads, Yiddish folk songs and Gilbert and Sullivan songs to Robeson and he would sing spirituals and arias to her.  The newspaper said that Amy, "had the impudence to correct him in pronunciation and pitch."  Robeson called Amy his "songbird."

Back in America, Amy and her parents would attend Robeson's concerts and plays.  Eventually she attended the University of Wisconsin.  Then, in December 1935, she was stricken with an illness and was taken to a Madison, Wisconsin hospital.  Bess left 25 West 76th Street to be with her.  In the meantime, word was sent to Paul Robeson, who was in California.  He traveled the 2,000 miles, engaged a special nurse and a parlor car "on the fastest train" to New York, and hired specialists to attend to the young woman.  He postponed a concert to be near her.

Amy improved.  Bess told a reporter, "Something of Paul Robeson's vitality and strength seemed to flow into her...So Robeson left, happily, on January 11 for London."  As soon as the celebrated singer left, Amy began failing.  She died on January 24 at the age of 22.  Writing in The New York Post on January 28, Ernest L. Meyer began his article saying, "Part of Paul Robeson, the singer, was buried in New York on Sunday."

When 25 West 76th Street was sold in 1951, it was described as a "six-family house."  The configuration lasted until 2016 when a renovation returned it to a single-family home.

photograph by the author

"Horizonal Mansions" - the 1916 820 Fifth Avenue

 

photo by Buddy 212

When the Progress Club moved to the west side of Central Park in 1901, its clubhouse at 820 Fifth Avenue was purchased by millionaire James Haggin as the site of his new mansion.  Instead, the magnificent structure sat vacant until his death in 1914.  The following year, on December 11, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that his estate had sold the property "to a syndicate formed for the purpose of erecting an apartment house suitable in every way to the location where it is to be constructed."  That "location," at the northeast corner of 63rd Street, sat among the mansions of some of Manhattan's wealthiest citizens.

The firm of Starrett & Van Vleck was commissioned to design the 12-story building that would be inspired by Italian Renaissance palazzo prototypes.  There would be only one apartment per floor (others would be enlarged), and were marketed as "horizontal mansions."  The rents were expected to be about $18,000 to $25,000 per year—about $67,000 a month in today’s money for the more expensive apartments.

Each of the full-floor apartments had 11-foot ceilings, fireplaces in the principal rooms and typically five bedrooms and seven servants' rooms.  Three elevators opened directly into the apartments--one passenger; one "cargo," or service elevator that opened into the service hall; and a "party" elevator to accommodate larger groups.

A typical, floor-through apartment.  The New York Real Estate Brochure Collection of Columbia University Libraries.

Millionaires lined up to sign leases during construction.  On May 13, 1916, The New York Times reported that Robert Goelet had leased "an apartment of eighteen rooms and six baths."  The recently divorced real estate tycoon moved from his marble-fronted mansion at 647 Fifth Avenue.  

Two of the five woodburning fireplaces in the Goelet apartment.  Photos by Wurts Bros, from the collection of the Museum of the City f New York.

By the time Alfred Nathan, president of Nathan Manufacturing Company, moved into the "large duplex apartment, comprising the entire ninth floor and part of the tenth containing twenty-four rooms and nine baths," as described by The New York Times on November 7, 1916, the building was nearly full.  The article said, "Other tenants in this building are August Belmont, Robert Goelet, Alexander S. Cochran, Mrs. S. V. Harkness, C. G. K. Billings, and H. D. Whiton."  

George Arents, treasurer and co-organizer of the American Tobacco Company, and his wife, the former Annie Amelia Walter, were also initial residents.  He died of pneumonia in their apartment on February 22, 1918 at the age of 83, leaving an estate of $10,040,643--equal to $209 million in 2025.

Anna M. Harkness was the widow of Stephen V. Harkness, a co-founder of the Standard Oil Company.  On May 1, 1916, shortly before moving into 820 Fifth Avenue, her son and business advisor, Charles William Harkness, died.  His death prompted legal entanglements for her, since $25 million of her bank deposits and securities had been under his name.  Happily the confusion was settled in court in May 1917.

Robert Wilson Goelet was not the only unmarried man in 820 Fifth Avenue.  Although Alexander Smith Cochran had inherited the Alexander Smith & Sons Carpet mills, one of the largest carpet manufacturers in the world, he was better known among society as a yachtsman.  And he could afford to pursue a leisurely existence.  Upon the death of his uncle, Warren B. Smith, in 1902, Cochran inherited an estate of $40 million (about $1.5 billion in today's money).  His country estate, Brookholt, was on Long Island.

Alexander Smith Cochran, via americanaristocracy.com

Goelet ended his bachelorship on October 22, 1919, when he married Fernanda Riabouchinsky in the American Church at Paris.  In January 1921, their son, Robert, Jr. was born in the apartment.

The couple hosted a "caudle party" on December 30, 1922, following the baptism of the infant of the William May Wrights.  Fernanda was the baby's godmother.  The impressive guest list included the Duke and Duchess de Richelieu, Prince and Princess Francesco Rospigliosi, the Middleton S. Burrills, the Efrem Zimbalists, and Whitney Warren, among others.

Robert Wilson Goelet (original source unknown)

Like Goelet's first marriage, this one would end in divorce.  On February 10, 1924, The New York Times reported that Fernanda had begun proceedings in Paris.  "Mr. Goelet could not be reached last night at his town apartment at 820 Fifth avenue or at his country place at Goshen, N. Y.," said the article.

Robert Goelet, it seems, did not intend his failed domestic relationship to upset his social schedule.  A month later, on March 26, he hosted "a supper with dancing," in the Fifth Avenue apartment.  "There were about 150 guests," reported The Times.  Among them were Prince and Princess Francesco Rospigliosi, Prince and Princess Matchabelli, Prince and Princess Pierre Troubetskoy, Mr. and Mrs. Jay Gould, the Otto Kahns, and society surnames like Drexel, Gerard, and Pell. 

In the meantime, Alexander Smith Cochran had found romance.  In 1920, he met Polish opera singer Ganna Walska aboard the Aquitania headed to Paris.  Only a few days later, he proposed and the couple was married on September 15.  The Evening World remarked that Walska, "became the bride of one of New York's richest bachelors."

Deemed by critics as a "mediocre" singer, Walska had been married twice before.  Her lack of success on the stage was countered by her success in marrying wealthy men and garnering large settlements.  The newlyweds moved into Walska's home at 101 East 94th Street, however The Evening World noted on December 20, 1920, "Mr. Cochran still retains his bachelor apartments at No. 820 Fifth Avenue."  It was fortunate that he did.  The couple was divorced in May 1922 and in August Ganna married Harold McCormick.  She received a $3 million settlement from Cochran--about $56 million today--and would marry two more times.  (Alexander S. Cochran died of pulmonary tuberculosis on June 19, 1929 at the age of 53.)

Banker David Crawford Clark and his wife, the former Zelina Elizabeth Keyser, sold their mansion at 991 Fifth Avenue and moved into No. 820 in 1918. The couple was married on April 23, 1889 and had two daughters, Zelina Theresa and Mary.

Only a few months after moving in, on April 19, 1919 David Clark died at the age of 55. Immediately after the funeral on April 21, Zelina, Mary and Harriet Clark (Zelina's sister-in-law and husband of George C. Clark) went to the Claridge Cottage in Southampton. Zelina's grief was too much for her to bear. Three days later, a carpenter, W. C. Schaeder, was working near Lake Agawam and saw Zelina Clark go into the water fully clothed. The New York Times reported, "when he went to her rescue, she tried to fight him off. He says he heard her tell her daughter, Miss Mary Clark, that she wanted to 'end it all.'" Happily, Zelina Elizabeth Clark survived the attempt and lived on until 1944.

In January 1919, Alfred Nathan leased his massive apartment to John North Willys "for a long term of years," as reported by The New York Times. Born in 1873, Willys was president of the Willys-Overland Company. His firm was the second largest automobile marker in the United States after Ford Motor Company. He and his wife, the firmer Irene Van Wie, had one daughter, Virginia Clayton. The family's country estate was Northcliffe, in Oyster Bay, Long Island.

John North Willys in 1917 from the collection of the Library of Congress.

After leasing the Nathan apartment for seven years, in April 1926 the family moved into another space within the building.  The New York Times reported their new "special duplex apartment" held "twenty-three rooms and eight baths."

On June 27, 1926, Virginia Pope wrote an article in the New York Times on "mansions in flats."  In it she described the Willys apartment, noting in part:

Canvases greet the eye as one enters this sumptuous home, whose living rooms extend the full length of the Fifth Avenue side of the building...The grilled iron doors and the heavily embossed ceiling of the long and broad entrance hall introduce an Italian note, putting one in humor to appreciate the two tendos [sic], one by Raffaelino del Garbo, the other by Lorenzo Credi, that hang at either side of the doorway leading into the living room.

The New York Times, June 27, 1926 (copyright expired)

The salon, she said, was "large enough to contain without crowding a Rembrandt, a Frans Hals, a Velasquez and other old masters."  Calling Irene's sitting room an "airy bower," she described the main rooms as being "grouped in a square about a Regency-style hall.

Virginia Willys's debutante season began with a "large ball" at the Park Lane on December 26, 1928, followed by a "large reception" in the apartment on December 29.  They were the first of a series of notable social events for the young woman within the next few months.  On January 25, 1929, her parents announced her engagement to Luis Marcelino de Aguirre "of Buenos Aires and Paris," as reported by The New York Times.  Nothing was more impressive, however, than her being presented to Queen Mary on May 9 that year.  

John and Isabel Willys divorced the following year.  Isabel remained in the 820 Fifth Avenue apartment and John quickly married Florence E. Dolan.  There was no divorce settlement.  John Willys told reporters four years later, on August 3, 1934, that he "had very amply provided for [Isabel] in the past years, the income from which will more than take care of her for the rest of her life."  Regarding Virginia, he said, "she is 23 years old and married.  I provided a trust fund for her some years ago, the income from which at this time gives her a good monthly allowance."

Twenty-three days after he made those statements, John North Willys suffered a fatal stroke.  His will left the substantial estate to Florence Dolan Willys.  Virginia sued in court in October 1935 to overturn the will.  She asserted that Florence had purposely ruined her parents' marriage "by means of guile, deceit, fraud and stratagem and false protestations of affection" to acquire "the great wealth she knew him to possess."

Former Governor Alfred E. Smith moved into the seventh-floor apartment of 820 Fifth Avenue in the fall of 1934.  In reporting on the move, The New York Times parenthetically mentioned that the building had "apartments of fourteen, seventeen and eighteen rooms, each suite occupying an entire floor...Among the tenants are Alfred P. Sloane Jr., Mrs. Pierre Lorillard, Adrian Iselin, John F. Harris, Mrs. Murray Crane, and Mrs. George Arents."

Living with Smith and his wife, the former Catherine A. Dunn, was their 33-year-old unmarried son, attorney Alfred Jr.; their daughter Catherine and her husband Francis J. Quillinan; and Emily Smith Warner and her husband, John A. Warner.  (Quillinan was a member of Warner's law firm.)  The siblings' father had come a long way from his humble beginnings at 25 Oliver Street.  

Alfred Emanuel Smith, from the collection of the Library of Congress

Among the servants the Smiths hired upon moving in was Mrs. William Suphka.  On August 3, 1935, the maid's sister, Sophie Windstosser, who worked as a children's nurse for a wealthy family, visited her here.  Mrs. Suphka left her "alone resting in the maid's room," according to her.  The New York Times reported, "When she returned she found the window open and her sister gone."  Sophie Windstosser had jumped from the window to her death.

In the spring of 1933, Alfred E. Smith, Jr. was seduced by a young woman, Catherine Pavlick, to a hotel room.  Soon afterward, he was approached by a Brooklyn lawyer, A. Henry Ross, who demanded $25,000 or his client "would expose a visit they made to a hotel."  Between May and August that year, Smith paid $7,250.  But when the demands kept coming, in 1936 Smith went to the authorities.  Despite the public humiliation and embarrassment to his family, he testified in court against Ross and Pavlick.

Catherine A. Dunn Smith contracted pneumonia in April 1944 and died in St. Vincent's Hospital on May 4 at the age of 65.  Her funeral was held in St. Patrick's Cathedral.  The New York Times reported, "Deeply grieved and shocked by the unexpected death of his wife...Governor Smith retired to the seclusion of their home at 820 Fifth Avenue."

Five months later to the day, Alfred Emanuel Smith died on October 4, 1944 at the age of 70.  His funeral, too, was held in St. Patrick's Cathedral.  For the "millions of Americans" who were mourning his passing, the service was aired on radio nationwide.

photo by Wurts Bros., from the collection of the New York Public Library.

The building was converted to cooperatives in 1949.  In its May 20, 1968 issue, New York Magazine described 820 Fifth Avenue, saying in part:

Its social tenancy includes the William Paleys, [and] Mrs. Carter Burden Sr.  The Charles Wrightsmans, who just paid about $350,000 for a floor to use as supplementary gallery space, spend about $18,000 for its maintenance which is below average, since some go as high as $30,000 a year.

At the time of the article, typical apartments sold for $750,000 (about $6.7 million today).

Florence Vanderbilt Twombly Burden's husband, William A. M. Burden had died in 1909.  She had two sons, William and Shirley C.  Florence died in her apartment on November 18, 1969 at the age of 87.  The New York Times mentioned that William Burden was a "former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Air and former United States Ambassador to Belgium."

William Paley, who built Columbia Broadcasting System into one of the foremost radio and television networks in the U.S., married Barbara Cushing Mortimer in 1947.  The couple filled their apartment here with a dazzling collection of artworks by masters like Matisse, Picasso, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Bonnard, Rouault and Derain.  Among their collection, for instance, was Paul Cézanne's Milk Can and Apples and Paul Gauguin's Washerwomen.  The couple's country home, "Kiluna North" sat on Squam Lake in New Hampshire.

Paul Gauguin's 1888 Washerwomen hung in the Paley apartment.  from the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

Barbara, known as Babe, was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1974.  On July 5, 1978, the day after her 63rd birthday, she died.  William survived her by 12 years, dying of kidney failure on October 26, 1990, one month after his 89th birthday.  On November 3, The New York Times reported, "The collection of 19th- and 20th-century art assembled by William S. Paley, valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars, will go to the Museum of Modern Art."

Charles B. Wrightsman, an Oklahoma oil tycoon, and his wife, Jayne, moved into 820 Fifth Avenue in the 1950s.  The New York Times said that Jayne, "held court over the years with various socialites, aristocrats, politicians and museum curators who attended her elegant soirees."  Wrightsman died in 1986, and Jayne continued to live here.  

Jayne Wrightsman sits on a French settee in her sitting room under Renoir's The Green Jardiniere in 1966.  Cecil Beaton/Conde Nast

Described by The New York Times as a "society grande dame," she died in April 2019 at the age of 99.  The newspaper described her third-floor apartment as being "filled with priceless paintings and rare books and collectibles."  Her apartment was placed on the market in November that year for $50 million.

No. 820 Fifth Avenue is considered one of "the best" addresses in Manhattan.  Potential buyers are warned that sales must be "entirely in cash" and their liquid assets be ten times the price of the apartment.

George F. Pelham's 1930 Gramercy Square Apartments - 81 Irving Place

 

The upscale tenor of Gramercy Square (later Gramercy Park) spilled down the side streets.  In 1852 Richard S. Fellowes and his wife, Emma, lived in the commodious house at 81 Irving Place, on the northwest corner of East 19th Street.  By the first months of 1929, however, it was being operated as a rooming house.  That year developer Louis Cowan demolished it and the two abutting houses at 83 and 85 Irving Place, and hired architect George Fred(erick) Pelham to design an apartment building on the site.

The 58 year old Pelham was the son of architect George Brown Pelham.  His design for the Gramercy Square Apartments would be heavily influenced by Cowan, who had just returned from Europe.  On March 2, 1930, The Brooklyn Daily Times explained, "Mr. Gowan [sic] visited Italy last summer, bringing with him on his return a number of examples of Italian architecture, many of which were incorporated in the design of the structure."

Pelham's design was also partially governed by building laws.  Upon its completion, The New York Sun noted, "The structure is the first multi-family building to be finished in accordance with the provisions of the new multiple dwelling law," which demanded set-backs above a certain height.

The resultant 15-floor and penthouse edifice was a 1920's fantasy inspire by Northern Italian architecture.  Faced in variegated brown brick, the three-story base was lavishly decorated with terra cotta in the form of Renaissance style creatures, twisted engaged columns, shields and panels.  Creative brickwork created dimension, while small, leaded panes in the casement windows gave the impression of antiquity.  The upper floors featured romantic terra cotta balconies, and prominent gargoyles projected from the roofline.

The facade holds a wealth of whimsical terra cotta ornamentation.  photo by Beyond My Ken

The Gramercy Square Apartments opened in October 1930.   The Brooklyn Daily Times said it met "the demand for medium sized housekeeping apartments" with its apartments of one to five rooms each.  The article noted that the set-back law created a positive.  "An advantage follows by allowing for garden and terrace treatment, the terraces conforming with dignity and good taste."  It added, "The building contains nine terrace suites with log burning fireplaces."

from the collection of the New York Public Library

Pelham's interior design included "Byzantine columns separating the foyer from the living room.  Safe and sane casement windows and built-in bookcases are also features."  The lobby and elevators were also described by the newspaper as "Byzantine."

Among the early residents was burlesque queen, actress, author and playwright Gypsy Rose Lee, who moved into the Gramercy Square Apartments in 1933.   In her 2010 book American Rose, Karen Abbott writes:

She decorated the apartment herself, with just the slightest assistance from the antique dealers on Third Avenue.  It was an ebullient mix of periods and styles: blackamoors guarding the front door; a Chippendale sofa; a few chairs covered with her own needlework; Victorian settees upholstered in a muted salmon; crimson satin draperies held back by brass angels in flight.  Metal and plaster cherubs kept watch in every corner, and on the walls she hung a smattering of Charles Dana Gibson plates, a collage of her programs and press clippings, a series of Marcel Vertes watercolors (including several portraits of herself), a white elephant from Florenz Ziegfeld, and a hodgepodge of Victorian tattoo designs, all elaborately framed with colored velvet mattings and a wreath of gold leaf.

Author Carolyn Quinn suggests in her 2013 Mama Rose's Turn that Lee had a motive for finding her own apartment that year, separate from her mother.  She had met a married man, Eddie Bruns.  "The time had come for Gypsy to have a place entirely her own where she could entertain Eddie," she explains.  "She and Eddie would have plenty of privacy."

Gypsy Rose Lee, from the collection of the Library of Congress

Rent in the building at the time Lee moved in was "$50 up," according to an advertisement.  The cheapest rent would translate to about $966 per month today.

On March 13, 1938, another celebrity of sorts moved in.  Painter and author Wyndham Lewis was well known internationally both for his "Vorticism" art, and for his writings.  The year before moving into the Gramercy Square Apartments he published The Revenge for Love, regarded by many as his best novel.  He and his wife, the former Gladys Anne Hoskins, had married in 1930.

(Percy) Wyndham Lewis, from the collection of the Library of Congress

Lewis's biographer, Paul O'Keeffe, in his Some Sort of Genius, said apartment E-5 "would be recalled nostalgically from the austerity of postwar London as being just round the corner from Esposito's on Third Avenue where 'melons and things' could be bought."

More typical of the residents of the Gramercy Square Apartments were dentist Louis M. Goldschlag and his wife.  But while Dr. Goldschlag and his wife were financially comfortable, he was harboring perilous demons.  Mrs. Goldschlag was away from the apartment on January 29, 1939 and in her absence, Dr. Goldschlag snapped.  The Daily News reported, "After slashing his wrists in his fifth-floor apartment, Dr. Louis M. Goldschlag, 35...ran nude upstairs to the fourteenth floor and jumped to his death." 

from the Gramercy Square Apartments brochure, 1930

On November 9, 1939, The New York Times reported, "Thorton Wilder, author, has taken residential quarters in 81 Irving Place."  A week later, on November 18, 1939, Wilder wrote a letter to Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas, noting at the top, "My new apartment is: 81 Irving Place, New York City."  It said in part, "I've lived five days in my New York home and am already flooded with a new overwhelming feeling about New York."

When Louis Cowan sold the Gramercy Square Apartments in march 1942, The New York Times noted it "contains 207 rooms, divided into 108 apartments."

A unexpected touch of scandal visited the Gramercy Square Apartments in 1952.  Cedric Janien had earned the Navy Cross and Silver Star during World War II.   The 30-year-old, who was in the scrap metal business, was arrested by Government officials on June 6 along with mining engineer Guy Vincent, "charged with conspiring to transport and export gold bullion without a license," according to Newsday.  A Customs official had checked "two heavy boxes labeled 'costume jewelry and tie clips," to find gold bars worth a quarter of a million in today's dollars headed to Holland.

photo by Beyond my Ken

It would be five years before the smugglers--now totaling four--would be sentenced.  It appears that, in fact, Janien had been duped by the ring leaders, including Guy Vincent Chastenet de la Maisoneuve, the husband of actress Betsy von Furstenberg.  While the others received prison sentences, the Daily News reported on March 23, 1957 "Janien received a suspended six months sentence and was placed on probation for two years."

Resident Edward S. Wetherbee was arrested on October 22, 1958 for an even more surprising crime.  He and Joseph H. Grillo were charged with "running [a] 500-gallon-a-day still," according to the Daily News.  Their massive and clever operation ran from the basement of a building, accessed through a secret Prohibition-Era-type door disguised as a locker.

A Revenue agent enters the "locker" that led to the subterranean liquor operation.  The Daily News, October 23, 1958

By the 1960's Mabel E. Palmer was a resident here.  She had broken barriers as a young woman by becoming an attorney, and an associate in the law firm of Stickles, Hayden, Kennedy, Hort & Van Steenburgh.  She died at the age of 84 on November 15, 1971.

Another impressive resident was Eva Beraud Joly, the widow of Colonel Charles L. Joly, an Army engineer.  In the post World War I years she had been a fur designer and the chief buyer in New York and Paris for Revillon Frerers, a major fur retailer.  She remained here until her death in January 1974.

George Fred Pelham's picturesque 1930 building is essentially unchanged from the exterior.  Thankfully the casement windows have not been replaced, a move that would have seriously damaged the design.

photographs by the author

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The Wm. Augustus Read Mansion - 4 East 62nd Street

 

On June 8, 1881 James R. Breen and Alfred G. Nason sold their just completed brownstone house at No. 4 East 62nd Street to Henry Albertson Van Zo Post.  Breen & Nason were not only the developers, but the architects of the four-story, 27-food wide mansion.  The sumptuousness of the residence was reflecting in the sale price--the equivalent of $1.86 million today.

Born in May 1832, Post came from an old Knickerbocker family.  An engineer, the year he purchased No. 4 East 62nd Street he founded the Railroad Equipment Company, which manufactured locomotives and train cars and parts.  He was also a partner in the banking firm of Post, Martin & Co.

Post's first wife had died in 1860 and he was now married to the former Caroline Burnet McLean.  He had two daughters from his first marriage, and six more children with Caroline (one, Maud Evelyn, died in infancy).  One more child, Henry Burnet Post, would be born in 1885.

Son Edwin Main Post was 22-years-old in 1892 when The Sun announced, "A very pretty wedding to occur at the very opening of the month of roses will be at Tuxedo Park, when Miss Emily Bruce Price and Mr. Edwin Main Post will be married."   The ceremony took place in the Price's summer residence.  Two of Manhattan's wealthiest young bachelors were among Edwin's ushers, Gordon Norrie and Theodore A. Havemeyer.  The bride would go on to become an nationally recognized authority on etiquette as Emily Post.

Caroline was actively involved in the Suffragist Movement and on April 24, 1894 she hosted a "parlor meeting" in the 62nd Street house.  Her guest speaker was Harriet Stanton Blanche, the daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.   In her comments that afternoon she said, "These Brooklyn ladies who are protesting against woman suffrage must be dreaming."

The parlor was the setting of daughter Caroline Beatrice's wedding to Regis Henri Post the following year, on March 5.  The couple were distant cousins.   Regis Post entered politics and they would live for years in Puerto Rico after President Theodore Roosevelt first appointed him Auditor of Puerto Rico and later Governor.

On March 20, 1897 The Record & Guide reported that Henry A. V. Post sold "the valuable four-story stone front dwelling" to William Augustus Read.  It was indeed valuable, The New York Times placing the sale price "at between $90,000 and $100,000."  The lower amount would be equal to about $2.86 million today, nearly double what Post had originally paid.

Before moving in Read commissioned the architectural firm of Clinton & Russell to completely remodel the house.  The stoop and front were removed, and a gleaming limestone façade replaced the outdated brownstone.  Designed in the neo-Italian

Renaissance style, the sedate design featured arched pediments over the fourth floor windows and massive carved lions' heads between the top floor openings.  French doors at 

second floor opened onto an iron-railed balcony.

American Architect & Building News, June 2, 1900 (copyright expired)

A banker, Read was a partner in Vermilye & Co. at the time.  Born on May 20, 1858, like Henry Post he came from an old American family, his ancestor William Read arriving in Massachusetts in 1635.  

Read's wife, the former Caroline Hicks Seaman, also had deep American roots and was a member of the National Society of Colonial Dames.  When the couple moved in they a one-year old, Duncan Hickshad, and twin toddler boys, William Jr. and Curtis Seaman.   Shortly after moving in another son, Russell Bartow, was born.  He arrived in 1898 and was quickly followed by Caroline Hicks the in 1899.

Caroline Read with her twins in 1895.  original source unknown

The Read family kept expanding.  Bancroft was born in 1901, but tragically died in infancy, followed by Bayard Whitney in 1902, Mary Elizabeth 1904,  and Kenneth Bancroft in 1906.  Sadly, Kenneth died the same year.

The mansion's library was filled with Read's exceptional collection.  A long-time member of the Grolier Club, American Biography said he was "well known as a discriminating collector of manuscripts, rare editions of books and fine bindings, and he possessed a library of unusual value, both by reason of the character of the books and manuscripts, and the artistic beauty of the bindings in which they were preserved."

The family's country estate, Hill Crest, was in Purchase, New York.  They, nevertheless, spent time in other fashionable summer resorts.  In 1900, for instance, they leased the Kneeland Cottage in Lenox, Massachusetts.

In 1904, after being with Vermilye & Company for nearly three decades, Read founded the banking firm of William A. Read & Co.  The firm specialized in bonds, American Biography noting that Read "had a rare knowledge of the values of securities and his advice was sought by many individual and corporate investors."

The number of Read children belied the fact that wealthy couples slept in separate rooms.  It was a situation that tested Caroline's mettle in the early morning hours of February 14, 1907.  At around 1:00 she was awakened by a noise and called out, "Is that you, Will?"  Getting no answer she got out of bed and opened the bathroom door.  The New York Times reported, "For a moment she was able to see nothing.  Then gradually she made out the form of a man clinging to the upper frame of the window."

A more faint-hearted woman might have screamed, or even fainted.  But Caroline was irately offended.  "What do you want?" she demanded.  The intruder said, "I'm just looking for a place to sleep and something to eat."

Caroline walked directly to the burglar alarm in her bedroom and pulled the switch, and then went to William's room.  By then the would-be burglar had made his escape.  Before long East 62nd Street was teeming with police.  The feisty socialite had prevented a burglary, although the perpetrator was never found.

Nevertheless, William apparently did not take the close call lightly.   Less than two months later, on April 10, The City Record said he had applied for the appointment of "Mr. Ohlson as a Special Patrolman, with permission to carry a pistol."

William A. Read fell ill on March 27, 1916 and died in the 62nd Street mansion a week later, on April 7.   Caroline and the unmarried children continued to live in the mansion.

With the outbreak of World War I Caroline's four sons enlisted in the United States Navy's aviation service.  In 1918 Curtis and Russell Bartow were in France, Duncan was a flight instructor in the Government's aviation school in Florida, and William was training at the Boston Tech Flying School.  

On March 1, 1918 the New-York Tribune reported, "When the authorities at Washington learn the truth, Mrs. William Augustus Read, of 4 East Sixty-second Street, will then learn whether or not her son, Ensign Curtis F. Read, of Yale, '17, lies buried in France or is still flying with the United States naval aviation forces in foreign water."  The confusion was not cleared up until May when Brooklyn Life reported that Curtis had been killed "in an air flight near the Belgian coast."  The article noted, "The service flag which flies over the door of Mrs. Read's residence...carries stars for three more sons--all in aviation work."

Daughter Caroline Hicks Read was active in "canteen work" during the war.  That was possibly how she met Navy aviator Lt. Archibald G. McIlwaine II.  Caroline's introduction to society occurred in the 1919-1920 winter season, and was quickly followed by her mother's announcing the couple's engagement on March 22, 1920.

Russell Bartow Read, now a doctor, was married to socialite and "Junior Leaguer" Hope Williams the following year.  The newlyweds lived at No. 4 East 62nd with Caroline.   In 1927 Hope did what was the unthinkable among the high society set--she tried her hand at acting.  And she was a hit.  The Daily News said "she made her Broadway debut in support of Madge Kennedy in 'Paris Bound,' and won such high praise she was immediately scheduled for stardom."

Hope Williams, from the collection of the Library of Congress. 

Success on the stage did not translate to harmony at home.  On December 8, 1928 the Daily News reported, "The Rialto has become the dividing line in another society romance."  The article noted after Hope achieved theatrical fame, "Matrimony rapidly faded into the background."  Only months after first stepping foot on the stage, Hope obtained a divorce.

Caroline Read entered the Presbyterian Hospital in the spring of 1929 for an operation.  She died there on May 1 at the age of 60.   The mansion was combined internally with No. 6 East 62nd Street in 1931 by architect John Hamlin for the York Club.  The renovations, completed in 1932, resulted in what the Department of Buildings deemed a "residence club with sleeping accommodations."  It noted that the properties were "separate buildings under the same ownership."

6 East 62nd Street.

The club was the scene of weddings, dinners and social events throughout the coming decades.  On November 24, 1940, for instance, The New York Times reported on the coming "tea dance to be given Dec. 2 at the York Club...in aid of the British-American Ambulance Corps."  And on June 20, 1948 the newspaper announced, "The Herb Society of America, with headquarters at the York Club, 4 East Sixty-second Street, will hold its annual meeting tomorrow."

In 1985 the combined houses were converted to sprawling duplex apartments known as Curzon House.  A two-bedroom apartment in 1991 rented for $8,500 per month--more in the neighborhood of $16,000 today.   Outwardly, little has changed to either mansion.

photographs by the author

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