The 1890 Solomon and Josephine Zeman House - 346 West 122nd Street

Between 1888 and 1890, brothers Joseph W. and A. Alonzo Teets erected 21 brownstone-fronted houses on both sides of West 122nd Street between Morningside and Manhattan Avenues.  Those on the southern side were designed by J. A. Webster and E. H. Hammond in 1889.  (Webster had tackled the northern project alone a year earlier.)

Instead of the arched entrances seen in the two end houses, the double-doored entrances of the eight interior homes, including 346 West 122nd Street, sat below substantial molded cornices.  They sat upon heavy, foliate-carved corbels supported by diminutive paired columns on foliate brackets.

The architects striated the 16-foot-wide facade with narrow bands.  Those of the parlor level were carved with Renaissance motifs, while undressed stone contrasted with the planar brownstone of the upper floors.  The openings mimicked the entrance with carved corbels and cornices.

On October 2, 1890 A. Alonzo Teets sold 346 West 122nd Street to Josephine and Solomon Zeman for $16,750 (about $611,000 in 2026 terms).  The couple had four children, Ida, Isaac, Bertha and Fanny.

The Zemans maintained a small domestic staff.  On August 31, 1892, Josephine placed an advertisement in The World that sought, "Cook--A thoroughly competent cook; no washing; Swede or German preferred; must have references."  Josephine's noting that the cook would not share the chores of a maid or laundress was important.  Cooks who worked for upper-class families refused to do tasks they considered below their station.

The Zemans dealt in real estate.  On January 30, 1895, for instance, they sold 42 West 83rd Street to John H. Henshaw.  Other times, it appears, they operated on a strictly individual basis.  When Solomon transferred title to 112 Broome Street to Josephine in May 1898, he charged her $37,250 for the property.

Solomon Zeman died at the age of 67 on November 29, 1909.  Four years later, in February 1913, Josephine sold 346 West 122nd Street to Arthur Blue, another real estate operator.  It does not appear that Blue ever lived here, but leased the property as a rooming or boarding house.

Among his first tenants was actor Christopher Richards.  He would leave the stage for the motion picture screen early on, appearing in the 1918 silent films His Double Life and A Safe Danger.  Richard's career was successful enough that he was able to afford a motorcar.  His problem was that he had a lead foot.

On April 17, 1914, Christopher Richards stood before Magistrate Kortel to answer a charge of "running his automobile faster than the legal limit."  Motorcycle Policeman Zeh testified that, "when he overtook Richards he was running his machine through a crowded section of upper Broadway at thirty miles an hour," reported The Evening Telegram.  This was Richards's third offense.  He pleaded guilty, but "at his earnest pleadings not to be locked up," was paroled for 24 hours to obtain his $100 fine--a stinging $3,340 today.

Another tenant at the time, Vincenzo Matta, also had an automobile.  In 1914 he registered a Hudson motorcar.

At the end of World War I, Dr. John R. Hillery owned 346 West 122nd Street.  A chiropodist, his office was at 238 West 132nd Street.

Hillery was rejected by the Pedic Society of the State of New York in 1918 because of his race.  He sued on behalf of himself and eight other black doctors, "all reputable chiropodists," according to The New York Age.  His complaint charged, "the applicants were rejected simply and solely by reason of their color."

Dr. John R. Hillery, The New York Age, December 20, 1919 (copyright expired)

In its January 1920 issue, The Crisis reported, "The Supreme Court in New York City has handed down a verdict in the test case brought by Dr. John R. Hillery, a colored chiropodist, compelling the Pedic Society to admit to membership nine colored chiropodists who had been refused admission."

Hillery's civil rights work caught the attention of an unexpected figure--the Pope.  Calling Hillery "a pioneer podiatrist of Harlem and a leader of the professional group," on October 20, 1923, The New York Age reported that he had received "a most unusual honor."  The article said, "He had received the Apostolic Blessing of His Holiness, Pope Pius XI, the communication, under the Papal Seal, having been signed December 13, 1922."

The New York Age stressed, "This blessing is only conferred by the Pope upon recommendation of high ecclesiastics and then only after a rigorous examination into the honoree."  The article went on to say:

Among the doctor's clientele he numbers the great Polish pianist and statesman, Ignace de Paderewski, and the latter, when in Rome in late in May, in a personal audience, thanked the Pope for the honor conferred on his friend, Dr. Hillery.

In 1932, a wealthy patient thanked Dr. Hillery by chartering a private "passenger transport plane, used by one of the New York daily papers in making photographs from the air," as reported by The New York Age on October 7.  The unnamed patient arranged the airplane to "take Dr. Hillery and friends on an aerial trip to Washington and return."  

Hillery invited his niece and a colleague on the trip.  Terrified of flying, his wife went to the airport "and went so far as to enter the plane and be taxied around the field, but could not be prevailed upon to take the air trip," said the article.  The party was given an automobile sightseeing tour of Washington D.C. before returning to New York.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

On December 1, 1942, The New York Times reported that the estate of Dr. John R. Hillery had sold 346 West 122nd Street to Bertha Williams "for cash."  By midcentury, the house was occupied by divorcee Elinor Stahl.

On September 21, 1950, the Tarrytown, New York newspaper The Daily News said that Elinor and her former husband, Harlow Curtis Stahl, "were divorced several years ago [and] she received an undisclosed settlement reported to be $1 million and a mansion in Grosse Point Farms [Michigan]."  Why Elinor chose the West 122nd block for her New York City home is puzzling.  By now, most of the homes were converted to rooming houses.

Elinor raised social eyebrows in 1950.  The Daily News reported, "Mrs. Elinor Stahl, heiress in an exclusive Detroit suburb, was married [in Tuckahoe] to her Negro houseman, William Tibbs, on Aug. 26, it was revealed today."  The article said, "The socialite and her houseman took out the marriage license in Yonkers on Aug. 24.  She listed her age as forty-seven, and her address as 346 West 122d Street, New York City."  The groom was 26.  The Daily News reported that they would spend their honeymoon at the Grosse Point Farms mansion.

In the first years of the 2000s, the interior architectural details survived, but significant neglect was apparent.  photos via zillow.com

By the turn of the 21st century, the interior detailing survived--most of which, miraculously, had not been painted.  But decades of neglect was apparent.  The buyer restored the interiors and converted the house to a two-family home.

uncredited photographs by the author

Clarence F. True's 1891 161 West 76th Street

 

Clarence Fagan True designed the four upscale rowhouses at 155 through 161 West 76th Street for Duncan C. McKinlay in 1890.  He designed the brownstone-fronted homes in the Renaissance Revival style.  Like the others, the westernmost house, No. 161, was four stories tall above a high English basement.  True was noted for his often eccentric details, and carved onto the dog-legged, box stoop was a fearsome-looking dragon sinking its fangs into a banner.

The stoop detail is patently Clarence F. True.

True striated the parlor level with rough-cut bands upon the otherwise planar surface.  Stylized Corinthian pilasters  carved with vining flowers and a fantastic bird flanked the doorway.  Carved ornaments capped the fully-arched parlor windows and the molded cornice of the entranceway.

The architect treated each of the upper floor openings differently.  The second floor windows wore flush, ornately-carved lintels; those on the third floor sat below large shells; and the fourth-floor windows were embraced by carved panels and lintels.

McKinlay sold 161 West 76th Street to real estate operators Robert P. and Annie G. Martin in 1891.  They advertised:  "To Rent--Handsome new house, No. 161 West 76th st; will be decorated to suit tenant."

Their ownership would be short.  On May 2, 1892 the Martins sold the house to George and Henrietta F. Reid.  It appears that the Reids, like their predecessors, leased it.  

Living here in 1894 was Harriet Hall Valentine Holder, the widow of Charles Hawkes Holder who died in 1892.  Born in 1849, she and Charles had five children.  At least one of them, Suzanne Valentine, lived here.  The parlor was the scene of Suzanne's wedding to Charles Schumacher Jr. on November 28, 1894.

The Reids sold 161 West 76th Street in May 1898.  It became home to the John Paret Jr. family.  Born on September 4, 1835, Paret married Emily Louisa Story in 1859 and the couple had nine children--five sons and four daughters.  The family's country home was in Ellenville, New York.

Paret was the head of the men's clothing firm, John Paret & Co., founded by his father in 1816.

A charming John Paret & Co. trade card.  The reverse would have contained the advertising material.

Rufus Story Paret was the eldest of the sons.  The 35-year-old died here on June 6, 1899 and his funeral was held in the parlor on the 8th.  One month later, on July 27, John Paret died at their summer home.  His body was brought back to Manhattan and his funeral was held in the house on July 29.

At least two sons would continue to live at 161 West 76th Street with their mother.  Walter P. Paret was born in 1872 and was educated at Yale University and Columbia University Law School.  Still unmarried, he was with the law firm of Perkins & Jackson.  His older brother, John, was born in 1867 and graduated from Cornell University in 1893.  He, too, was unmarried.  A banker, he was associated with the Union Trust Company.

The Parets left West 76th Street early in 1902.  As was common at the time, when affluent families relocated they sold everything in their previous home and started over.  An auction of the contents of 161 West 76th Street was held on February 7, 1902.  The announcement listed items like "rich hangings, Gold and Vernis Martin Cabinets, rare and costly Curios."  There were also a "Gold Drawing Room Suite, odd and beautiful Chairs, Turkish Rugs, Oil Paintings by eminent Artists."  A particular Royal Vienna pedestal was valued at $500 and a Royal Dresden vase, described as "one of the largest in the city" was valued at $550.  The combined value of those two items alone would translate to about $40,500 in 2026.

Typical of Clarence True's designs, close inspection of the entrance pilasters reveals a fantastic fowl seemingly plucking at a vine.

The house next became home to Adolph and Sophie Hirsch.  Adolph was a partner in the commodity, fertilizer and chemical commission firm of Heller, Hirsch & Co.  The couple had three children, Herbert Adolph, Ralph Tuska, and Alice M.  

Herbert was attending the Harvard Law School when the family moved in.  He graduated in 1905 and, despite his law degree, he took a job as a clerk with Heller, Hirsch & Company.

Sophie Hirsch died on October 22, 1914.  The following month, on November 27, Adolph transferred title to the house in equal parts to his three children.

The Hirsch family leased 161 West 76th Street to Mary H. Squire in April 1916.  She either shared the house or sub-let it to Florence McMillan, who operated her music studio here.

Musical America September 30, 1916 (copyright expired)

In 1920, Mrs. Lulu Freeth Bosworth occupied the house.  She was active in the Professional Woman's League.

The Hirsch siblings advertised 161 West 76th Street for sale in 1921.  The ad on April 28 in the New York Herald read, "Four story high stoop residence, 15 rooms and 4 baths; 19x100; price $33,000; immediate possession."  Two months later, on June 4, the New-York Tribune reported that the Hirsches had sold it to Thomas S. Keatinge.

Alice Hirsch seems to have had seller's regret.  The 1923 American Art Annual's "Who's Who In Art" section listed Alice as having a studio on Washington Square and living at 161 West 76th Street.  Alice would have been renting rooms in her former home.  Another resident at the time was musician Frederic W. Berryman, who, until 1921, was organist and choirmaster of St. Peter's Church in Chelsea.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Among the tenants here in 1938 was Harriet Brown Nielson.  The 35-year-old was described by her attorney, Bernard H. Sandler, that year as "a member of a well-to-do California family, a writer, a linguist and a former Olympic swimmer."  Despite her rather illustrious background, Harriet was experiencing personal problems.

Nielson occupied two furnished rooms.  On the afternoon of February 7, 1938, she met William King, a saxophone player who worked for the Workers Progress Administration.  (His name, it turned out, was actually William Loftus.)  They went to dinner and, according to Loftus, "Mrs. Nielson had several drinks."  On the way to her apartment, they picked up a pint of gin.  When they finished it, they "took a walk and bought a quart of liquor," according to Loftus, "most of which they drank."

At one point, Loftus, a.k.a. King, allowed Harriet's two kittens to escape the apartment.  She flew into a rage and hit Loftus with an empty gin bottle, cutting his face.  According to him, he slapped her and, later, she fell several times and each time he picked her up.  He eventually passed out and when he awoke the next morning, Harriet was dead on the floor.

An autopsy revealed that Harriet, "former Pacific Coast diving champion," as described by the Syracuse Journal, had died of a "homicidal assault."  Dr. Milton Helpern said that Harriet's death was caused by abdominal hemorrhage, "following a traumatic laceration of the liver."  He explained that the injury "was caused by a blow and could not have resulted from a fall."

William Loftus was arrested for murder.  The following month, on March 19, 1938, The New York Times reported that a grand jury, "after listening to four witnesses," dismissed the charge.  What actually led to the former Olympic swimmer's death will never be known.

Frank J. Patti rented a room here in 1944.  The 26-year-old bus driver boarded a Staten Island Ferry on August 5 that year.  He was on the lower deck and "became angry when ordered behind ropes that had railed off part of the deck," as reported by the Staten Island Advance.  So angry was he, in fact, that he slugged 46-year-old deckhand Thomas Cochan in the jaw.

When the ferry pulled into the St. George terminal at 6:00 p.m., Patti was removed by police.  He was charged with third degree assault.  The case was scheduled for trial, but when Frank Patti agreed to pay Cochan "for any damage that had been done," according to the Staten Island Advance on September 7, Cochan dropped his complaint.  (The amount that Cochan agreed upon to ameliorate his injuries was not revealed.)

Also occupying a room here at the time was Walter L. Rowe.  On April 30, 1944, the 57-year-old stepped off the curb at Amsterdam Avenue and 76th Street and was killed by a hit-and-run driver.  Whether the offender was ever arrested is unclear.

In 1968, 161 West 76th Street was converted to apartments, two per floor.  Two decades later, a penthouse level, unseen from the street, was added.  In doing so, one of the fourth-floor apartments was raised to a duplex.

photographs by the author

The 1871 Jacob J. Lissner House - 125 East 78th Street

 

Among the early developers who began transforming the mostly rural land east of Central Park at the end of the Civil War was Nicholas McCool.  Around 1871 he erected a row of three-story, brownstone-fronted homes on the north side of East 78th Street between Lexington and Fourth Avenues (renamed Park Avenue in 1888).  The three-bay-wide homes were identical--their brownstone stoops protected by substantial cast iron railings and newels.  On either side of the fully arched entrances were foliate carved corbels that supported Renaissance-inspired triangular pediments.  Smaller versions sat upon the parlor floor windows.

McCool sold 125 East 78th Street to real estate operator Dennis Loomie, who, in turn, rented it to the family of Samuel Trishet.  Trishet and his wife had at least one small daughter.  An advertisement in the New York Herald on May 28, 1872 read: "Dressmaker wanted who understands making children's dresses, at 128 East 78th st, near 4th av., steady work."

On April 27, 1874, Loomie sold 125 East 78th Street to Jacob J. Lissner for $17,000.  The price would translate to about $496,000 in 2026.  The obscure Lissner did not list a profession in city directories.  Six years after purchasing the house, he and his family moved to Madison Avenue and 99th Street.

The family of John Byrnes next moved into 125 East 78th Street.  Born in Dublin, Ireland, Byrnes was the principal of the National Surety Company and was well-connected with Tammany Hall.  He and his wife, Rose, had at least three children: Matthew, Mary Cecelia, and Thomas F.  The family's country home was in Babylon, Long Island.

Despite the family's affluence, John Brynes had a stain on his reputation, one not forgotten by The New York Times.  Three years earlier, in 1877, he was appointed the city's Chief of the Supply Bureau and the following year he was Tammany Hall's nomination for Alderman.  The newspaper sneered at his nomination, saying that Byrnes, "is a fair sample of the class of men Tammany Hall seeks to place in power in this city."  The article then dragged out a shocking incident that occurred in 1869.  On July 31 that year, he had "exposed his person" to a young woman "in a most indecent manner," reported The New York Times.  He told her he "would like to have some pleasure with her," according to the victim.  She broke free and had Byrne arrested.

The children were young adults in 1897 and on October 20 that year Cecilia was married to Joseph W. Lawrence in the Church of Jean Baptiste on East 74th Street near Lexington Avenue.  John Brynes's earlier indiscretion seems to have been forgotten.  The social status of the two families was reflected in the reception held in the East 78th Street house.  Among the guests, as recorded by the New-York Tribune were "Miss Chambers, Miss Fish and the Misses Bayne," along with other recognizable society surnames like Kennelly, Sniffen, Trainor and Schuyler.

John Brynes's ties to Tammany had been advantageous to his son, Thomas, who was appointed Police Commissioner in 1880, the year the family moved into 125 East 78th Street.  But in 1895, the new president of the New York City Police Commission, Theodore Roosevelt, forced Thomas to resign as part of Roosevelt's purge of corruption within the department.  Thomas Byrnes would later become an insurance investigator.

Thomas F. Byrnes, Professional Criminals of America, 1886 (copyright expired)

Thomas Byrnes attempted to re-enter Tammany politics in 1903 as a nominee for mayor.  On September 12, The New York Times said that Byrnes's name was "stricken off" the list of candidates, saying that he was "one of the best known Tammany men in the city and a man who for thirteen years [sic] has lived at 125 East Seventy-eighth Street."

On January 27, 1912, The New York Times reported, "John Byrnes has sold...his residence at 125 East Seventy-eighth Street."  The purchaser was Marie C. M. Winter, whose country home was in Woodbury, Long Island.

As early as 1914, Marie Winter leased the house to Reverend James Nevett Steele and his wife, Helen Hudson Aldrich.  Born in 1850 and 1851, respectively, the couple maintained a country home in East Hampton.  Steele was vicar of Trinity Church and a prolific hymnist.  

Rev. James Nevett Steele, The Churchman, May 8, 1897 (copyright expired)

Several of the hymns Steele wrote are still highly popular in American churches.  Among them are "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts," "Just as I Am, Without One Plea," and "Nearer My God, to Thee."

Marie C. M. Winter had moved back to 125 East 78th Street before 1917, when she was looking for a new cook.  Her advertisement on October 7 read, "Cook--Good plain cook; young.  English, Scotch or Swedish preferred; must have good reference and want a permanent position."

Marie Winter sold 125 East 78th Street in February 1921 to George and Grace Middleton Roberts.  George Roberts was a partner in the law firm Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts.  Grace was the daughter of Clifford L. and Grace B. Middleton and an alumna of Smith College.  The couple had two daughters, Constance and Rosamond Graham.  Their country home was on Great Peconic Bay in Long Island.  

The Robertses updated the house.  The stoop was removed and the entrance, along with its original brackets and entablature, was relocated to below grade.  Guests approached the doorway under a handsome lantern hung from a wrought iron arch supported by iron posts.  The architect deftly transformed the former doorway into a precise copy of the windows at that level.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The Roberts sisters were educated in the private Brearley School.  Constance was studying at Smith College when she was introduced to society at the Colony Club in December 1936 at a "reception and tea dance," as reported by The East Hampton Star.  She married Robert Louis Hoguet Jr. in August 1940 in East Hampton.

Rosamond's time in the limelight came four years later.  On December 26, 1944, The New York Sun reported that her debut took place "at the roof of the St. Regis."  

The Robertses announced Rosamond's engagement to Donald Arthur Jr. on August 21, 1946.  The East Hampton Star noted that after graduating from Smith in 1944, "She did postgraduate work with the National institute of Public Affairs in Washington and has since been with the Tenant Relocation Bureau in New York."

Nine months later, The East Hampton Star reported, "Mr. and Mrs. George Roberts, who were in East Hampton last week, are moving in May from their house at 125 East 78th St. to 139 East 79th St."   The couple sold the house to photographer Hans Henry Namuth.

Born in Essen, Germany in 1915, Namuth focused on portraiture, often choosing artists as his subject.  Among the painters he photographed were Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko and Rauschenberg.  He also made portraits of architects like Philip Johnson, Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Kahn.

Namuth captured Jackson Pollock at work in his studio.  from the collection of the Hans Namuth Estate

In 1967, 125 East 78th Street was remodeled.  There were now a dress shop in the ground floor and one apartment each on the upper stories.  A one-year renovation initiated in 2019 returned the structure to a single family home.

photographs by the author

Bernstein & Bernstein's 1901 202 East Sixth Street

photograph by Carole Teller

Starting in 1867, reformers worked tirelessly during the 19th century to enhance living conditions among tenement dwellers.  Fire safety, ventilation and sanitary conditions were gradually improved.  The ultimate statute was the New York State Tenement House Act of 1901, passed on April 12 that year.  Referred as the "New Law," it required central courtyards that replaced the earlier airshafts, and demanded that tenements sit upon more than one building lot.  

Brothers Michael and Mitchell Bernstein comprised the prolific architectural firm of Bernstein & Bernstein.  They were, perhaps, best known for designing tenement buildings.  In 1901 developer William Shulmann commissioned them to design another at 202 and 204 East 6th Street just east of Third Avenue.

The Renaissance Revival style, six-story structure was faced in red brick and heavily trimmed with terra cotta.  It cost Shulman $35,000 to construct, or about $1.37 million in 2026 terms.  The residential entrance above a three-step stoop was flanked by polished granite Scamozzi columns that upheld over-sized scrolled brackets.  Above the highly carved entablature was a molded cornice.  A pressed metal frieze of swags ran atop the three storefronts.

Originally, three stores occupied the ground floor.  via NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The second floor windows were flanked by Corinthian pilasters decorated by trailing bellflowers and topped with lintels with cartouches surrounded by wreaths.  Elaborate terra cotta panels connected the second and third floor windows, the latter embellished with intricate triangular pediments.  The fourth and fifth floor windows wore top-heavy terra cotta lintels and pediments.  Paneled brick piers separated the openings of the top floor and a corbeled cornice with a swagged frieze ran along the roofline.  Rather confusingly, Bernstein & Bernstein strayed from the Italian Renaissance in the two central bays.  Here the windows sat below flared Colonial Revival stone voussoirs.

Renaissance Revival and neo-Colonial window treatments coexist side by side.  photograph by Carole Teller

One of the store spaces became a restaurant.  On September 2, 1904, Michael Connelly, a driver for the E. Mass Bottling Company, pulled his wagon to the curb to deliver an order of beer.  While he was busy inside, according to the New York Herald, "A crowd of urchins amused themselves tickling the animals and poking them with sticks until the team ran away."  The article noted, "There was a story that some of the boys stuck pins into the horses."

The panicked horses galloped to Second Avenue.  In avoiding a trolley car, they bolted across the sidewalk and crashed into the stores of money broker Emil Kiss, at 104 Second Avenue, and tailor S. Kleiner next door.  The storefronts were two steps below the sidewalk.  The New York Herald reported, "The horses leaped down into this, pulling the wagon after them, and one of the animals fell sidewise into Kiss's show window, scattering foreign gold coins and paper money as far as the middle of Second avenue by his frightened kicks."  The wagon ended up inside Kleiner's tailor shop.

There was a scramble for the bills and coins in the street.  The New York Herald said (although Kiss had not yet tallied his losses), "He had just spent $100 for elaborate sign painting on the window and put in some showy brass fixtures, which were wrecked."  Next door, Kleiner had "a lot of fine cloth and new clothes" in his window.  The goods were now "filled with little cuts by glass splinters."  The horses, happily, while injured, "can be saved," said the article.  Expectedly, the wagon and the barrels of beer were "damaged."

Meantime, inside the restaurant was a coin-operated music box, the early 20th century version of a juke box.  The proprietor decided to sell it in 1908.  His advertisement in the New York Evening Telegram on August 1 read:

Largest size Regina music box; changes tunes automatically; cost $400; all new; $100.  Restaurant, 202 East 6th st.

The coin-operated Regina music box would have been similar to this model.  image via M. S. Rau Antiques

The expensive instrument would have cost the restaurant owner the equivalent of $14,000 today.

The newly-formed Schorr & Popsk moved into one of the storefronts in 1911.  In its January 1912 issue, The Sheet Metal Shop announced its opening and described the firm as a "new sheet metal and roofing business."

Living here at the time were immigrants, many of them Russian and German Jews.  

via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Henry Schemby lived here in 1915.  The 42-year-old worked as a handyman for a Brooklyn doctor.  On January 23, that year, The Daily Standard Union reported, "while cleaning the slush off the stoop of Dr. Robert Scott...to-day, [Schemby] was seized with epilepsy and fell, receiving lacerations of the scalp."

Born in Russia, S. Podolsky was living here prior to his homeland's being wracked by world war and revolution.  On December 16, 1917, The New York Times titled an article, "Jews in Russia Seek Their Friends Here."  The article went on to say that throngs of Russian immigrants here were seeking news from their relatives, as well.  Among those urgently trying to find information on his relatives in Russia was S. Podolsky.

One of the three shops became a storefront mission as early as 1919.  It also served as what today would be called a homeless shelter.  The New York Charities Directory in 1920 described Mission Hall saying,  "Gospel services carried on nightly and at times worthy women and men are given lodgings; coffee and rolls served nightly."

John Kassman's saloon-restaurant became merely a restaurant after the enactment of Prohibition.  On the night of October 26, 1924, a man entered and announced that he was a Special Service Division detective.  He displayed a badge and demanded to make an inspection, "because of a number of complaints that he had received," according to Kassman.  Although Kassman did not object, the agent whispered that "trouble could be adjusted with money."  

via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Discreetly, Kassman directed one of his employees to find a policeman.  Shortly afterward, Sergeant Kelly and Patrolman Falls responded.  John Carney attempted to confirm his authority, but was unable to convince the officers.  As they were interrogating him, an object fell on the floor.  "It was a gold shield bearing the inscription, 'Special Officer,'" reported The New York Sun.  The 28-year-old was arrested for impersonating a Special Service Division detective.

A restaurant occupied the space into the 1940s.  By 1940, R & W Trucking Company occupied the middle storefront while the other held a barbershop.

The exuberant terra cotta was originally a cream color.  photograph by Carole Teller

In the last quarter of the 20th century the terminal cornice was replaced with a less ornamental example.  By then, the 1901 storefronts had been modernized.  In 2020, the red brick was painted white and the elaborate terra cotta, the stone voussoirs, and the outlines of the top floor piers were painted black.

many thanks to artist Carole Teller for suggesting this post

The 1893 Jacob and Emma Wertheim House - 19 West 76th Street

 

Born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1858, Jacob Wertheim came to New York City with his parents as a boy.  He started working at the age of 14 and by 1893 had founded and owned several cigar making companies.  That year, he and his wife, the former Emma Stern, purchased the newly built residence at 19 West 76th Street.

Real estate developer Cornelius W. Luyster had broken ground for this and two other upscale homes a year earlier.  Designed in the Renaissance Revival style by esteemed architect John H. Duncan, 19 West 76th Street was 25-feet-wide and rose four stories above a high English basement.  A handsome dog-legged box stoop, decorated with swirling volutes and rosettes, fronted the brownstone-fronted parlor level where shallow pilasters were carved with anthemions.  The upper three floors were faced in tan Roman brick.  A three-sided brownstone oriel dominated the second floor.  The third-floor openings sat within molded architraves, and the fourth-floor windows were framed in terra cotta, their cornices crowned with urn-topped pediments.  A deeply overhanging cornice with a terra cotta frieze crowned the design.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Jacob and Emma had five children: three daughters and two sons.  The boy who left school to find work had come a long way.  The Brooklyn Eagle said, "he engaged in the cigar business and made rapid progress, organizing one company after another."  Eventually he consolidated them into the United Cigar Manufacturers, one of the largest independent cigar making firms of its kind.  

The Wertheims were generous with their wealth.  Calling Jacob "one of the most prominent Jews in this city," The Brooklyn Eagle noted that he was highly involved in the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies and the Joint Distributing Committee.

The family's residency was relatively short-lived.  On September 13, 1899, the New-York Tribune reported that Wertheim had sold 19 West 76th Street to "a Mr. Ullman."  The buyer was Jacob Uhlman and his ownership, as well, would be short.  He resold the residence in March 1902 to Henry A. Caesar and his wife, the former Laura F. Unger.  The New York Times mentioned that they "will occupy the house after making extensive alterations."  Those alterations most likely had much to do with modernizations like the installing of updated plumbing and electricity.

Henry A. Caesar was born in Brooklyn on May 15, 1856.  Educated in Europe, he established the banking firm of H. A. Caesar & Company in 1886.  He was, as well, a director of the Germania Life Insurance Company and of the Chemical Bank and Trust Company.  Laura was his second wife.  His first was Mathilde M. Muller, with whom he had two sons, Paul N. and Harry I.  He married Laura in 1894 and they had a son, Charles U., born in 1897.

The Caesars' 39-acre country estate, Lauriston (named for Laura), was in Rumson, New Jersey.  The mansion on the property was designed by Leon Cubberly in 1870.

The Colonial Revival mansion at Lauriston.  image via Preservation New Jersey

Form was a weekly magazine that kept affluent American families abreast of incidents in society.  Its masthead explained that it covered "the interests of American Society at Home and Abroad."  On December 27, 1913, the periodical reported that Henry I. Caesar and Dora Porter would be married that day.  The ceremony took place in St. Thomas's Chapel.  The high-society surnames of bridal party reflected the families' status.  Among them were Townsend, Hoagland, Slocum and Symington.

Henry and Laura Caesar sold 19 West 76th Street to Solomon Marcuse Stroock in April 1917 for $70,000.  (The figure would translate to about $1.7 million in 2026.)  

The son of German immigrants, Solomon Stroock as born in New York City on September 22, 1873.  He graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1891, received his Masters degree from Columbia University in 1892, and his law degree from  Columbia Law School in 1894.  In 1907, he was appointed a Justice on the New York Supreme Court.  He was also a partner with his brother Moses in the law firm Stroock & Stroock.

Solomon Marcuse Stroock, The Jewish Tribune, November 25, 1927

Stroock married Hilda Weil in 1904 and the couple had three children.  Like the Caesars, they spent the summer months away from the city.  On May 20, 1921, for instance, The American Hebrew noted, "Mr. and Mrs. Sol. M. Stroock of 19 West Seventy-sixth street will spend the summer at Ossining, N. Y."

As had been the case in the two previous owners, the Stroocks would not remain here especially long.  On September 17, 1924, The New York Times reported that they had sold 19 West 76th Street "to a buyer for occupancy."  That was only partially accurate.  The house became The Liberta School, a private co-educational progressive school.

The Christian Science Monitor, February 12, 1925 (copyright expired)

Among the students here was nine-year-old Mary Elizabeth Steele, who lived with her mother at 66 West 77th Street.  The prodigy was an accomplished pianist--so accomplished, in fact, that she was invited to give a private concert for President Calvin Coolidge and the First Lady in the White House.  Mary Elizabeth and her mother, Mrs. C. O. Steele, left their apartment on March 17, 1925.  They left Mary Elizabeth's dog, Frisky, with the building's superintendent.  The New York Times remarked that the wire-haired terrier "had been Mary's companion almost since his birth, frequently sitting beside her as her nimble fingers played compositions of Bach, Chopin and other masters."

Mary Elizabeth played the concert on the evening of March 21 and the following day she and her mother were invited to  meet the President at the White House.  On March 27, The New York Times began an article saying, "Her joy at being received by President Coolidge in the White House several days ago was dispelled upon her return to New York, Wednesday night."  The superintendent had lost Frisky.  It is unclear whether Mary Elizabeth's precious pet was recovered.

In March 1926, just one year after moving into 19 West 76th Street, The Liberta School sold the house to Carl and Hulda Steen.  Their son, Jens H., born in 1914, was a scholar.  After graduating from George Washington High School, he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Cooper Union in 1934.  He continued studying at New York University and on July 9, 1936, Louise Whitfield Carnegie, the widow of Andrew Carnegie, awarded him a scholarship for foreign study.  The New York Sun reported, "He will sail abroad...for Sweden, where he will spend [a] year at the University of Lund, majoring in Economics."

The Steens leased 19 West 76th Street in 1939, and sold it in 1942.  The house avoided being converting to apartments until 1974, when it was renovated into a total of 14 units.  The exterior, however, is nearly unchanged after nearly 135 years.

photographs by the author

The Theodore and Florence Sutro House - 320 West 102nd Street

 

image via streeteasy.com

Alonzo B. Kight began his career in 1891, acting as both real estate developer and architect.  The 1898 A History of Real Estate, Building and Architecture in New York City said that, perhaps, no other architect had "accomplished so much for the general appearance" of the Upper West Side.  The article noted that he worked "generally west of West End avenue."

In 1896, Kight filed plans for a trio of limestone-faced dwellings on West 102nd Street between Riverside and West End Avenues.  Like his other projects, the speculative homes would be targeted at wealthy owners.  The cost to construct each was projected at $25,000, or just under $990,000 in 2026.

The homes were completed in 1897.  Kight designed the 20-foot-wide American basement residences in the Renaissance Revival style.  (American basement plans forewent the high stoops of the waning English basement plan.)  Like its architectural siblings, the westernmost house, 320 West 102nd Street, was five stories tall.  A faceted, three-story bay provided a balcony to the fourth floor.  Balustraded faux balconies clung to the corners of the second floor and another fronted the center windows of the third.  The grouped and paired windows of the top two floors sat within molded surrounds.

When the Real Estate Record & Guide published this rendering on April 10, 1897, it noted that 320 West 102nd Street was "recently sold."  (copyright expired)

Attorney and financier Theodore B. Sutro and his wife, the former Florence Edith Clinton, purchased 320 West 102nd Street in March 1897.  The price, according to The New York Times, was "about $40,000."  (The figure would translate to about $1.6 million today.)  Born in Germany, Sutro was brought to America by his parents at the age of five.  He graduated from Harvard College in 1871 and from the Columbia Law School in 1873.  

Theodore Sutro, Schlegel's German-American Families in the United States, 1917 (copyright expired)

Florence Clinton Sutro, born in England in 1865, was (astonishingly for the period) also a lawyer, as well as an artist and accomplished musician.  A prodigy, she had won the $1,000 first prize for her piano playing of Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 at the age of 12, and was the first woman to graduate with a doctorate of music from the Grand Conservatory of New York.  Her paintings were regularly exhibited at the National Academy of Design.  She graduated valedictorian of the 1891 class of the City College of New York where she received her law degree.  Two years prior to the Sutros' purchasing 320 West 102nd Street, she wrote Women in Music and Law.

Florence Clinton Sutro,  Schlegel's German-American Families in the United States, 1917 (copyright expired)

Florence Sutro's involvement with art and music interfered with her decorating of the new mansion.  On June 20, 1897, the New-York Tribune reported that the Music Teachers' National Association had established its first woman's department.  The association's president, Herbert Wilber Greene, asked Florence "to take charge of the new department."  The article said:

Mrs. Sutro, who was preparing to move into her beautiful new house at No. 320 West One-hundred-and-second-st., at first thought it would be impossible for her to undertake the work; but the request was repeated with such urgency that she consented, and is putting off the furnishing of her house as much as possible until afterward.

Of course, Florence did get around to furnishing the home.  It was soon filled with costly furniture and an impressive collection of art, including historic marine paintings by Edward Moran.

Two views of the foyer with its marble floor and groined ceiling.  images via Byron Company from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

Entertainments in the Sutro residence were frequent.  One early gathering was especially important for the couple.  On October 3, 1899, The New York Times reported, "Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Sutro celebrated their crystal wedding Sunday by giving an afternoon and evening reception."  The article said, "The gifts were numerous, and several hundred friends called to pay their respects to the couple."  

An article in The New York Times on April 22, 1900 announced that Florence had given her last "at home" for the winter season.  It gave a hint of the couple's recurrent entertaining.  "For the past seven months Mr. and Mrs. Sutro have been entertaining on Wednesdays.  Mrs. Sutro has given several small dances, and the young people of the upper west side have enjoyed these occasions."

The dining room (top) and breakfast room.   images via Byron Company from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

Florence's last at home (the days on which a socialite was available for receiving calls) that was mentioned in The New York Times article had everything to do with the end of the winter social season.  Like all wealthy New Yorkers, the Sutros left the city in the warm months.  At the end of the summer social season of 1901, for instance, The New York Press announced:

Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Sutro, after a sojourn in the maritime provinces of Canada, Bar Harbor, Rangeley Lakes, Poland Springs, Maine and Lenox, have returned to their city residence, No. 320 West 102d street, for the winter.

The Sutros were active patrons of the arts and every social gathering in their home had elaborate music.  On March 23, 1902, for instance, the New-York Tribune reported on Florence's recent at home, saying she "was assisted in a delightful musical programme by Giuseppe Aldo Randegger, Miss Tilden, Miss Beatrice Eberhard, Mrs. Ernest L. Thibault, Edard J. Calthrop, F. Howard Warner, John P. Boruff, Mrs. Silas G. Pratt and Lewis Williams."  The article was quick to point out, "This was not a special at home, but was one of Mrs. Sutro's regular days."

An informal sitting room.  Notice the handsome arched pocket doors in the background and the interesting wicker furniture.  The upright piano was one of several pianos throughout the house, including one in a guest room.   image via Byron Company from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

As early as 1905, Theodore's unmarried niece, Edyth Martyn, lived with the Sutros.  In reporting on Florence's recent "delightful Washington's Birthday reception," the New-York Tribune remarked on February 26, 1905, "Mrs. Sutro was assisted in receiving by her husband and Miss Edyth Martyn."

The drawing room had a painted and stenciled ceiling.   image via Byron Company from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

In September 1905, Florence became ill.  In January, Theodore took her to Hot Springs, Virginia "for the baths," according to The Evening World.  On February 12, the newspaper reported that she "lies dangerously ill in the John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, to which she was taken...by Mr. Sutro yesterday to be operated upon for violent pleurisy."  Astonishingly, said the newspaper, "She has been operated upon four times to relieve her lungs of the accumulation of water, and is now very nearly exhausted."

Somewhat off topic, The Evening World noted, "Mr. and Mrs. Sutro have an ideal home...where Mrs. Sutro has entertained the famous men and women of two hemispheres."

Florence was brought back to 320 West 102nd Street where she died "of pleurisy and a complication of diseases" on April 27, 1906.  Newspapers filled columns with her achievements, her talents, and her numerous positions.

The funeral was held in the mansion on April 30.  The details had been planned by Florence herself five years earlier prior to an operation.  She had written in part, "it would be pleasant if I could contemplate a string orchestra, with an organ and a harp to play for the last obsequies, and that some living woman should sing a solo."  Her body was dressed in the "the gown Mrs. Sutro had worn as a bride," said the New-York Tribune.  Florence Sutro would be posthumously disappointed in one detail.  The New York Times reported, "Mrs. Sutro had desired that Miss Adele Rafter and Miss Emma Thursby should sing at her funeral, but they were unable to be present."

Edyth Martyn took over the duties of the mistress of her uncle's residence.  She became a heroine, as well, on the night of February 18, 1908.  The Evening World reported that a fire from an overturned lamp in Theodore Sutro's bedroom quickly grew.  When the flames "spread to the bedclothing, Miss Martin [sic] ran in, smothered the flaming sheets with blankets and carried water with which to completely extinguish the fire."

In 1912, Theodore Sutro was ready to walk away from his mansion and the magnificent artworks and furnishings he had accumulated with his wife.  The New York Times reported on March 17 that he intended to sell the house, giving "the purchaser the privilege of buying any part or all of the furnishings."

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Instead, Sutro moved to 416 West 118th Street and leased the West 102nd Street mansion.  Franklin Haines and his family were his first tenants.  Born in 1862, Haines married Frances Way in 1885 and they had three children, Dallas Way, Marion, and Margaret Dallas.  Dallas Way Haines graduated from Columbia University in 1913.

The family was still here in October 1919 when Franklin and Frances announced Marion's engagement to Hewitt White Rundle.

Theodore Sutro continued to lease 320 West 102nd Street until his death at the age of 82 on August 28, 1927.  In reporting his demise, The New York Times described him as "one of the leading German-born citizens of New York."

The Alpearl Realty Company purchased 320 West 102nd Street in 1928 and leased it to Ladislaus Rogasky in 1929.  The house was sold a few times before Arthur Holland sold it in December 1946.  The New York Times remarked, "The new owner is altering the building into small apartments."

photograph by Deansfa

The first and second floors were converted to the Barbara Smith Nursery School, and the upper floors to one apartment each.  The configuration lasted until 2012 when 320 West 102nd Street was reconverted to a single family home.