The 1873 William C. Traphagen House - 14 East 63rd Street

 

Robert B. and James G. Lynd were described by the Record & Guide as "well-known builders."   The firm J. G. & R. B. Lynd often acted as its own developer, as well, with Robert B. Lynd as the architect.  Such was the cast in 1872 when the brothers began construction on a 25-foot wide brownstone dwelling at No. 14 East 63rd Street, between Madison and Fifth Avenue.

Completed the following year, the four-story Italianate style structure featured Renaissance-inspired pediments over the parlor windows and the center openings of the upper floors.  A stately columned portico protected the arched entranceway.

The Lynd brothers targeted well-heeled buyers, as evidenced in their sale ad:

Near Fifth Avenue, 14 East Sixty-third street--For sale, brown stone full front House; thoroughly well built and carefully finished in artistic cabinet work throughout; has French mantels, wardrobes, Mirrors, gold and bronze hardware, electric bells, &c; inspection desired.

The electric bells mentioned in the ad referred to the system of servants' call buttons connected to the service areas.

Charming carved bouquets decorate the arched lintels of the second and fourth floor openings.

The house became home to attorney William Conselyea Traphagen and his wife, the former Caroline Ross Maxwell (better known as Carrie).  Born in New Jersey in 1837, Traphagen was educated at Rutgers College, and by now had a successful private practice. 

The couple had a two-year-old son at the time, John Maxwell, but would have four more children, John Conselyea, Eleanor Van Vorst, Caroline, and Ethel.  The family's summer home was in Nyack, New York.

Daughter Ethel, who was born in the townhouse in 1882, went on to study at the National Academy of Design, becoming a fashion designer.  In 1923 she opened the Traphagen School of Co-operative Fashion, one of the first schools dedicated to fashion design and illustration.

Decades before that, the East 63rd Street house was shuttered for a two-year period starting in 1887 when William Traphagen was elected to the State Senate.  In May 1893 his ill health prompted him to move his family permanently to the "spacious and attractive" Nyack home, as it was described by The New York Times.  He died there a year later, on October 27, 1894.

Traphagen had sold No. 14 East 63rd Street the wealthy, 71-year-old bachelor Alonzo Castle Monson for $71,000--just over $2 million today.  A former judge of the California Supreme Court, he was a founder of the Knickerbocker Club and was the treasurer of the New York Jockey Club.

Born in 1822 on Varick Street, he was the son of Captain Marcena and Eliza Monson.  Among the family's neighbors were the Hamilton, Lydig and Minturn families.  The New York Times later recalled that Captain Monson "was fond of entertaining, and many noted persons were guests under his hospitable roof.  Charles Dickens was once a guest at the old mansion, as were Commodore Perry and Gov. Marcy, who was afterward Secretary of State."

Bachelorhood did not mean that Monson lived alone.  Moving in with him were his sister, Ann Eliza Morris, the widow of former Mayor Robert Hunter Morris, and his great-nephew and niece, Monson and Helen Van Cortlandt Morris.

Alonzo C. Monson (original source unknown)

The aging Monson did his best, with the help of his sister, in properly rearing his young wards.   When they moved into the 63rd Street young Monson Morris was attending Columbia College and Helen's debutante season was only a few years off.   On December 28, 1894 The Evening World announced, "Judge Monson, of No. 14 East Sixty-third street, gave a dance for the younger set last evening at his home."

The year 1897 was a significant in the household.  Monson graduated from Columbia that year, and that winter was Helen's debutante season.   On December 15 the New-York Tribune reported, "Miss Helen Van Cortlandt Morris was formally presented to society yesterday at a tea given in her honor by her uncle, Alonzo C. Monson, at his home, No. 14 East Sixty-third-st.  Mr. Monson will give a debutante dinner to-morrow night in honor of his niece."

This delicate ivory miniature was painted the year of Helen's debut.  from the collection of the New-York Historical Society

In 1898 Monson began construction of a new country estate, Mon Repos (My Rest) at Southampton, Long Island.  On May 6, 1899 Brooklyn Life reported "Ex-Judge Alonzo C. Monson's new cottage, commenced last fall, is now ready for occupancy.  Miss Helen. V. C. Morris and Mr. Monson Morris will reside with Mr. Monson this summer.  Mr. Monson has lately been elected a member of the Meadow Club, by the way."

Mon Repos as it appears today.  Image via pricepads.com

Alonzo Monson and Helen sailed for Europe later that season.  On the night of September 6 a fire that broke out in No. 12 East 63rd Street spread to the cornice of the Morris house.  The World reported, "The firemen chopped away part of the roof of No. 14, and believed that the blaze was extinguished after a little water was thrown on it."

That was not the case, however.  As Monson, Ann Morris and their servants slept, the embers erupted into flames.  Two policemen noticed smoke rising from the roof and sent in an alarm.  "The firemen had to cut three holes in the roof before they could quench the flames," said the article.  It added that Monson and his aunt "got out unhurt.  So did the servants."

Early in April 1900 Ann Eliza Morris caught a cold.  The 91-year-old died a week later.  Her funeral was held in the Church of the Incarnation on Madison Avenue on April 11.

Within the year, in February 1901, Alonzo Monson sold No. 14 to real estate operators William and Thomas Hall for the equivalent of $3.4 million today.  The brothers were responsible for erecting scores of upscale dwellings under the firm name of W. W. & T. M. Hall.  They hired the architectural firm of Welch, Smith & Provot to do $20,000 worth of interior renovations--about $621,000 today.  Included were new stairs and walls and an elevator.  Interestingly, at a time when out-of-date brownstones were being remodeled into modern American basement residences, the exterior appearance of No. 14 was not altered.

The remodeled residence was sold to Elizabeth Millan Stevens, the widow of John Rhinelander Stevens.  With her in the house was her 23-year-old daughter, Lucille Millan Stevens.

Although young society women tended to marry soon after their debuts, it would be more than a decade before Lucille wed.  In March 1912 Elizabeth announced her engagement to U. S. Navy Lieutenant Edward E. Spafford.  The Sun noted that he "is on duty at the Ordnance Office in Washington."

The wedding took place in St. Bartholomew's Church on May 22.  Tragically, less than two years later, on February 20, 1914, Lucille died in her Washington, D.C. home.

The loss of her only child may have been too much for Elizabeth to bear.  Two months later, on April 18, she died in the 63rd Street house at the age of 74.  The New York Times noted, "Mrs. Stevens was prominent in society until her husband died in 1889, when she became interested in philanthropic work."

Elizabeth left her estate, about $22 million in today's money, in trust to her granddaughter, Lucille Spafford.  The tiny heiress was not yet two-years-old, prompting the Washington D.C. Evening Star to dub her "the million-dollar-baby."

Included in the inheritance was No. 14 East 63rd Street.  Edward E. Spafford and his daughter moved in by 1916.  Still in the United States Navy, he was now an officer in the American Society of Naval Engineers in New York.  

Little Elizabeth was tended to by servants when the United States entered World War I.  In 1919, after her father returned home, he was awarded the Congressional Medal for Bravery in 1919.  He was again honored on February 5, 1929 by Paul Claudel, the French Ambassador, who awarded him the Legion of Honor.  The New York Times noted, "the honor was conferred by the French Government for services during and after the World War."

In 1944 No. 14 was renovated into a four apartments.   The well-to-do residences over the next few years included the family of Cord Meyer,  Naval Admiral and oil magnate Andrew Francis Carter, and former race car driver and vice president of the Marnier-Lapostolle, Inc. wine and liquor importing firm, Jules Pierre Ortieg.

The house was returned to a single-family dwelling in 1994, with a commercial space in the basement.  In the first years of the 21st century it was home to the David Lawrence Studio, the Gering & Lopez Gallery and most recently the Sandra Gering art gallery.

The 18-room house was sold for a staggering $22.5 million in June 2015.  The New York Times mentioned that "it has retained many original architectural features, including the front stoop, grand staircase, detailed high ceilings and wood-burning fireplaces."  The article noted seven bedrooms and five baths.

photographs by the author

The 1882 Mayer House -- No. 41 East 72nd Street

The rapidly developing Upper East Side presented enormous potential for developers in the late 1870s and early 1880s.  Speculators erected long rows of brownstone-fronted dwellings which quickly filled with wealthy merchant-class families.  One such real estate firm was Lynd Brothers.  Robert B. Lynd not only erected his speculative residences, he designed them. 

In 1881 Lynd Brothers began construction of a row of nine homes on East 72^nd Street, from No. 39 to 55 in the trendy neo-Grec style.  Like its neighbors, No. 41 would rise four stories over a high English basement.  Robert Lynd decorated the window surrounds with incised carvings of whimsical stylized flowers, a nod to the emerging Eastlake movement.  Above the columned entrance portico would be a small balcony with a carved stone balustrade, mimicked in the areaway fencing at street level.  Heavy cast iron railings on either side of the stoop copied the design.

Fanciful Eastlake-style flowers decorate the window surrounds.  The cast iron balusters are capped by a brownstone railing.

The homes were completed in 1882 and No. 16 east was purchased by Louis Haas in February for $50,000—just over $1 million in today’s money.  By 1893 it was home to a well-known physician, Dr. Bradshaw, who put the house up for sale in 1899 as he prepared to move to No. 125 East 72^nd Street.

It was purchased in April during a flurry of real estate deals that prompted The New York Times to comment “Seldom has a week produced a more interesting succession of dealings in fine dwellings.”  The purchaser was Bernhard Mayer who, along with his wife Sophie, was active in real estate.  This transaction, however, was not just another property deal.

The Mayers intended No. 16 East 72^nd Street to be the home for their growing family.  The couple had four children, Joseph; Albert, aged 2; 4-year old Clara, and daughter Theresa.  Joseph would be the first to leave No. 16.  His wedding to Minnie Emily Gallert was held at Delmonico’s on the evening of April 4, 1911.

As World War I approached, Albert Mayer, who had attended Columbia University, was working on his civil engineering degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He graduated in 1919 and put off his career to serve his country.  That same year he was a Second Lieutenant in the Coast Artillery Section of the United States Army.

At the war’s end, Albert was listed as “general superintendent of construction.”  He would go on to become one of the nation’s foremost architects and city planners.  In the meantime, his sisters were growing up as well.

The same year that Albert had graduated from MIT 24-year old Clara Woolie Mayer was studying at the New School for Social Research.  It was a decision that would affect her life and the history of the university.

Entertainments in the Mayer home were normally understated.  But on Wednesday June 6, 1923 Sophie Mayer hosted a reception and dance in honor of Theresa and her finance, Milton I. Durlach.  The American Hebrew and Jewish Tribune noted that the groom was “of New York and Porto Rico.” 

Clara Mayer remained unmarried and continued her affiliation with the New School for Social Research.  In 1924 she became a trustee; and in 1930 she was elected secretary.

Somewhat unexpectedly the staid brownstone house would hear the laughter and footsteps of children again in 1942.  World War II was raging in Europe and Albert, now a Captain with the United States Army Engineer Corps, was married to the former Phyllis Carter.  Born in England, she was a stage actress who went by the name Phyllis Joyce.  In September 1942 she was a member of the cast of Noel Coward’s comedy “Blithe Spirit” on Broadway.

With Albert serving his country in wartime again, Phyllis felt a need to do the same.  She left the cast and announced she would leave for England to drive an ambulance for the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service.  But there was the not-so-small matter of the couple’s two children—7-year old Stella and 6-year old Kerry. 

On September 21, 1942 The New York Times reported that the children “will make their home with their paternal grandmother, Mrs. Bernhard Mayer of 41 East Seventy-second Street.”

As mid-century came and went Clara was left alone in the 72^nd Street house.  In 1950 she was made Dean of the School of Philosophy and Liberal Arts and Vice President of the New School o Social Research.  As the 1882 houses around hers were demolished or radically transformed; Clara changed nothing.

There are at least two other vintage dwellings in Manhattan that remained preserved in time because, like Clara, an unmarried family member survived for a long period of time.  The Treadwell House on East 4^th Street and the Francis Huber House on East 17^th Street are examples.  Immune to the changes outside their windows, the unmarried women lived on among their family heirlooms for decades.

The gas porch lights still burn after 130 years.

Nearly eight decades of Mayer life inside the house would come to a rather unexpected end in 1974.  Clara was a member of the Managing Committee of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.  The school had no headquarters in the United States and for years the committee was concerned about its need for a headquarters in which to store records, and to possibly house the schools United States Publications Office.  The problem was financing.

At the May 1974 meeting of the Committee the issue was raised once again.  The 79-year old Clara Woolie Mayer proposed a solution.  She would donate her family home along with a $50,000 endowment.  In November the Board accepted the generous gift.  Clara packed the family belongings, many in the house since 1899, and moved to Los Angeles.  She died there at the age of 93 on July 20, 1988.

The blank white building to the left was originally a match to the Mayer House.

The American School of Classical Studies would share the house with the Royal Oak Foundation.  The group is the American affiliate of Britain’s National Trust, pledged to preserve historic properties.  In 1981 the Landmarks Preservation Commission remarked that the Mayer House’s “fine 19^th century interiors survive.”  It remains a remarkable slice of 1880s New York on busy East 72^nd Street.

photographs by the author