The Sadly-Stunted No. 913 Broadway

Brothers Peter and Robert Goelet were two of Manhattan’s wealthiest citizens in the second half of the 19^th century.  As the refined residential stretch of Broadway between Union Square and Madison Square gradually turned commercial; the men purchased property being abandoned by wealthy residents moving northward.  By either razing or renovating the homes to business purposes, the Goelet brothers took advantage of the changes taking place and multiplied their wealth in the process.

Gilbert Coutant had a three-story residence constructed in 1838 at No. 913 Broadway.  A wealthy grocer and lumber merchant who was also known as a “Tammany fixer,” Coutant and his family would live in the house for only eight years.  In 1846 he sold the building to Peter Goelet.

Now the brothers waited for the appropriate time to improve their property.

Three decades later the time was right.  Nearly all the grand homes of this section of Broadway had been replaced or renovated as commercial buildings (except for, oddly enough, Peter Goelet’s own mansion on Broadway at 19^th Street, just a block south of the Coutant home).  The brothers demolished the 36-year old house and commissioned architect Charles Wright to design an up-to-date mercantile building on the site.

Wright turned to the recently popular neo-Grec style in designing his building, using equally-popular cast iron for the façade.  A short flight of steps led from the sidewalk to the first floor.  Above it all an ambitious cornice with pointed finials announced the address in giant cast iron numbers.

Immediately upon the structure’s completion the haberdashery firm Union Adams & Co. took it over.  On November 23 the store opened, a block north of the elegant Lord & Taylor dry goods store.  Union Adams kept its original store at No. 637 Broadway opened through Christmas, offering customers the option of either venue for gift buying.

On November 21, 1874 Union Adams & Co. announced its opening "on Monday Next."  The New-York Tribune, (copyright expired)

On December 11 The New York Times opined that “At no previous Christmas season have the thousands of patrons of Union Adams & Co. had such an excellent opportunity of making their purchases, for Mr. Adams has very recently opened his new store, at No. 913 Broadway, between Twentieth and Twenty-first streets, with the finest stock of gentlemen’s furnishing goods ever yet exhibited in the City, and the old, well-known store at No. 637 Broadway is still in its pristine glory, and will remain open until after the holidays.  Then Mr. Adams will remove all his immense stock of wholesale and retail goods to his future business house at No. 913 Broadway, on what is known as ‘The Ladies’ Half-mile.”

The article praised Adams’ taste in robes and smoking jackets, focusing on those “made of cashmere, heavily embroidered with silk, in a variety of patterns in the Indian style.”  Shoppers could browse among driving mufflers, scarves and neckties, silk handkerchiefs (“now so much used”), hosiery, shirts, gloves, canes, umbrellas, walking sticks and American and French jewelry.

Calling the store’s stock of hosiery the “foremost in this department,” The Times writer turned to the shirts.  “The same may be said of the shirt and embroidered shirt bosom department, which has all the marvels of the fine needle-work of the nuns of France and Italy.”  The gentleman patron could choose among a wide variety of gloves:  “kid, castor, buckskin, reindeer, seal, bear, of even kangaroo skin.”

Despite the newspaper’s glowing reviews of Union Adams & Co., the store lasted only two years in its new home.  In 1876 McGibbon & Co. moved in.  Founded in 1866, the firm imported linens and upholstery goods from European manufacturers.  New York’s Leading Industries remarked that at No. 913 Broadway, “they carry what is without doubt one of the largest and best selected stock of goods of their line in the city.  It comprises linen and cotton shirtings, pillow-case linens, linen sheetings of all widths, table damasks, bleached and unbleached, table cloths in every size, napkins, doylies, towels, embroidered sheets and shams, quilts, cotton and silk comfortable, blankets, handkerchiefs, etc.”

An advertisement in The Christian Union focused on the curtain department, December 1874 (copyright expired)

Among the five floors of fabrics were upholstery goods, as well.  “In upholstery their stock is equally complete, comprising worsted and silk coverings, woven jute fabrics, mohair, and all silk plush, all the fashionable tapestry and Turcoman curtains, raw silk portiers, etc., etc.  Their stock of lace curtains is complete, also table covers and shade materials in full and fresh assortments.”

For those households lacking a seamstress, the firm would custom-make linen items and embroider them to order.

McGibbons & Co. employed 75 people and was deemed by Illustrated New York: the Metropolis of To-Day in 1888 to be “the only exclusive Linen and Upholstery house in the United States, and has a national reputation.”

The renowned quality of McGibbons goods was enough to cause Anna Beach Appleton to hatch a scheme in 1894.  She was living in the home of two sisters, Mrs. McDonald and Miss Maynard, at No. 172 East 74^th Street.  Realizing that she was unable to come up with the money for her board, she visited McGibbons & Co.   Anna chose a pile of linens valued at $39, then casually mentioned to the clerk that she was the sister of ex-Judge Beach. 

With so reputable a brother, she was allowed to walk out of the store with her expensive goods (the $39 worth of linens would equal about $1000 today).  Anna went home, paid off her board bill with crisp new linens, and everyone was happy.  Until McGibbons & Co. looked for its payment.

On January 24, 1894 Mrs. Anna Beach Appleton found herself in the Jefferson Market Police Court on the charge of obtaining goods on false pretenses.  Her landladies were in court, as well, to testify about the linens-for-board swap she had concocted.

“Justice Ryan then ordered the women to return the linen to McGibbon & Co.,” reported The Times.

As it turned out, McGibbon & Co. was the least damaged in Anna Appleton’s charade.  “Mrs. Apppleton is also charged with obtaining on false pretenses $70 worth of goods from Adams & Co. and $300 worth from Stern Brothers,” said the newspaper.

New York is a city of change and by 1896 the grand emporiums of Broadway were already beginning to inch further towards Midtown.  That year McGibbon & Co. opened its second store at No. 9 West 42^nd Street in the fashionable area of mansions and high-end shops.  An advertisement advised shoppers “The latter place will be found very convenient to ladies residing up town or out of town.”

It was the first hint that McGibbon & Co. was considering leaving its Broadway building.  Then, on January 10, 1898 the New-York Tribune ran an advertisement that announced “Our Removal Sale” that “embraces other goods than Linens, which have been well received by customers.”

By August of 1899 McGibbon & Co. was gone.  Louis Cohen & Co., manufacturers and retail furriers, took the second floor; which, said the Fur Trade Review, “they have attractively fitted and furnished, for the greater convenience of their retail department.”

The following month New York society was preparing for the fashionable Horse Show.  Louise Cohen & Co. advertised “An exceptional line especially gotten up for the coming event in very smart effects.”  The ad listed “Smart coats in Broadtail, Persian Lamb and Seal, Plain and with combinations of Chinchilla, Rusisan and Hudson Bay Sable.  Plain coats from $120.00 upward, with combinations from $165.00 upward.”

Advertisement--The Sun, December 3, 1905 (copyright expired)

Ladies desiring to show off expensive stoles and wraps could choose from “neck pieces in Alaska sable, blue fox, sable fox, blue lynx, black lynx, chinchilla, mink, ermine, Persian lamb, Hudson Bay and Russian sable, and silver fox.”

Peter Goelet had died in 1879, leaving No. 913 Broadway to his sister, Hannah Goelet Gerry.  In 1890 she had the building updated—removing the stairs and installing a more modern storefront at street level.

Hannah Goelet Gerry removed the entrance stairs.  By November 20, 1924 when this photograph was taken, a cafeteria was operating at street level -- from the collection of the New York Public Library

By 1902 the high-end millinery importer Florette was also in the building.  The firm also had a Paris shop and offered stylish headwear to Manhattan’s carriage trade.  In offering “model hats, tailored hats and bonnets” in The Illustrated Milliner in 1902, Florette promised that “individuality will predominate.”

Sharing the building with the other upscale tenants was the Frederick Jewelry Company. 

The high-end retailers would remain in the building for several years.  But by the time of the Great Depression the exclusive shops had all moved up Fifth Avenue.  In 1932 No. 913 was purchased for $30,000—although it was assessed that year for $82,000.  The new owners had a startling renovation in mind.

No. 913 would have been similar to the highly-altered 3-story house next door.  By the time this photo was taken it was the last remaining of the once-residential buildings.  No. 913 has been altered to include "arcade" shop windows where the former cafeteria was.  photo from the collection of the New York Public Library

Two years later, on November 23, 1934, Charles F. Noyes announced that he had leased the building to gift and novelties merchants Rubenstein Merchandise Company.  But there would be changes made.  "The property at present consists of a five-story which will be made over into a two-story structure," reported The Times.

Noyes hired architect William F. Staab to alter the building.  The top three floors were chopped off, resulting in a stubby two-story structure with little evidence of the original cast iron emporium.  Staab installed a single-paneled parapet to cap the renovated building and modernized the sidewalk level.

In the 1940s it was home to the Northern Straw Works, Inc.; manufacturers of “hats.”

By the mid-1980s the neighborhood was reviving and in 1986 the former retail space became a restaurant, Indian Oven II; the first in a series of restaurants.  Before the century’s end it would house Bar Zil, then in 1997 Theodore, a restaurant named for Theodore Roosevelt.

One sliver of Charles Wright's cast iron design survives--somewhat miraculously.

The first floor is still a restaurant today.  At this level any trace of Wright’s emporium where wealthy gentlemen purchased reindeer gloves and later well-dressed women shopped for French linens has long ago disappeared.  But above, somewhat miraculously, the 19^th century lives on where the cast iron façade survives nearly unblemished.

non-historic photos taken by the author

The Last of the Vanderbilt Row - 647 Fifth Avenue

The last remaining Vanderbilt-erected townhouse in the area now houses Versace -- photo by Alice Lum

In 1901, John Jacob Astor shocked Manhattan’s millionaires when he purchased and destroyed the great brownstone mansions at the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 55th Street and began construction of the 19-story St. Regis Hotel. This section of Fifth Avenue, the most exclusive residential neighborhood in the city, had been vigorously protected from commercial encroachment for decades.

As the hotel began rising, William Rockefeller began buying up the adjoining houses–a total of five by 1904–in an effort to protect the area.  The Vanderbilts, whose houses lined the western side of Fifth Avenue from 51st Street to 57th Street, were equally protective.

In 1900, the former site of the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum became available, on the east side of Fifth Avenue between 51st and 52nd Streets and diagonally opposite the home of George W. Vanderbilt.  The Vanderbilts rushed in to seize the property thereby preventing further development.  (Already a syndicate represented by J. Stewart Chisholm had shown interest in building an apartment hotel on the site.)

The lot at the corner of 52nd Street was sold to Morton Plant, where he erected his elegant stone mansion, completed in 1905.  At the southern end of the block the grand limestone Union Club–one of the most exclusive in the city–rose, completed that same year.  And between these two imposing structures, George W. Vanderbilt erected matching townhouses designed by architects Hunt & Hunt.  Richard H. and Joseph H. Hunt were the sons of architect Richard Morris Hunt, responsible for many of the Manhattan's great mansions of the late 19th century.

The Evening Post gave a rather dry mention that, “George W. Vanderbilt will erect two five-story American basement dwellings, at Nos. 645 and 647 Fifth Avenue, adjoining the new Union Clubhouse now nearing completion at the corner of Fifty-first Street, on the old Catholic Orphan Asylum block. These buildings will be connected so as to form a double house, with a frontage of 75 feet and a depth of 90 feet, and the front will be of white marble.  The cost will be in the neighborhood of $500,000.”

The New York Times was more interested in the plans, noting on September 7, 1902, “The two new dwellings will be built so that they may be connected and converted into a double house.  What disposition Mr. Vanderbilt intends to make of these residences could not be learned yesterday.”  However, the newspaper stressed that in the recording of deeds, “significant statements were made that no apartment house or hotel would ever be erected on the property.”

Completed in 1905, the twin mansions mimicked a Louis XV-style palace.  Graceful arched openings lined the first floor under a stone balcony supported by great, paired brackets.  Two-story pilasters separated the windows of the second and third floors and a rich cornice crowned the whole.  The ground floor stonework was vermiculated, intricately carved to appear worm-eaten.

In 1911 the Marble Twins sat snugly between the Plant Mansion, to the left, and the imposing Union Club on the corner.  To the extreme right is St. Patrick's Cathedral.  photo NYPL Collection

No. 647 became the home of real estate mogul Robert Wilson Goelet and his wife, the former Elsie Whelen.

Although the Goelets were still in residence, in March of 1907 The New York Times reported that William D. Sloane had leased No. 647 for “a long term of years.” Sloane, who was married to Emily Vanderbilt, the sister of George W. and William K. Vanderbilt, had purchased No. 645 soon after construction was completed.  The Sloanes’ daughter, Lila, and her husband, William B. Osgood Field, occupied that house.

Whether Sloane ever intended to move into No. 647 is unclear, however the Goelets continued living there.

The Goelet Family lived in No. 647, to the left -- photo Museum of the City of New York

The Goelet mansion became the setting of elaborate entertainments.  On January 26, 1910, for instance, Elsie gave a dinner for over 60 guests, followed by the production of George Bernard Shaw’s, How He Lied to Her Husband.

Dinner guests were seated at several large “flower decorated” tables in the dining room while an orchestra played.  Afterwards they moved into the drawing room, where the stage from the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel had been installed, creating a mini-theater.  Ten couples were asked to stay after the performance for a small supper.

In 1911, Fifth Avenue was widened, resulting in necessary renovations to the two houses.  Hunt & Hunt was called in again to do the minor changes at a cost of $12,000.

Suddenly in January 1914, Elsie Goelet left 647 Fifth Avenue with her retinue of servants for Daytona, Florida.  She shocked New York society by filing for divorce on the grounds of “extreme cruelty” and “other misbehavior and wickedness repugnant to and in violation of [Robert's] marriage covenant.”

Within the month, Goelet, who was worth about $25 million at the time, temporarily closed the Fifth Avenue house and took his remaining servants to one of his country estates.

A year later, on April 21, 1915, the tangled web of ownership of No. 647 was straightened out after the death of William D. Sloane.  The New York Times reported, “The filing of a deed yesterday in the Register’s Office…shows that Mr. [William K.] Vanderbilt has been the owner of the large residence at 647 Fifth Avenue since [September 6, 1904]."  Goelet was still occupying the house and the Fields were still in residence next door.

The ornately carved Corinthian capitals of the pilasters show remarkably little pollution damage -- photo by Alice Lum

Meanwhile, things were changing in the Fifth Avenue neighborhood.  Despite all the efforts of the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts, commercial encroachment was inevitable.  In November 1916, art dealers Gimpel & Wildenstein leased No. 647, paying $36,000 per year.

Gimpel & Wildenstein were world-class dealers with another store at 57 Rue La Bodie in Paris.  They dealt in “High-class old paintings, tapestries, works of art and Eighteenth-Century furniture,” according to an advertisement.  By "high-class old paintings," it referred to artists like Rembrandt and Corot.  The firm made adroit alterations to the building to accommodate its business, including removing the cornice in 1917 and adding a floor.  The total cost of renovating the building, along with furnishings and lighting, was $140,000.

The neighborhood and the building were perfect for the dealers.  In his Fifth Avenue: The Best Address, Jerry E. Patterson noted that Rene Gimpel wrote in his diary, “Three windows facing the street; here that’s a lot,” referring to the multimillionaires who strolled past.

Crowds push past the Marble Twins in the bustling 1920s -- photo NYPL Collection

The house remained substantially unchanged until 1938 when a New York Times headline announced, “Old Mansion Bows to 5th Avenue Trade.” The article told of “alterations…which will transform that structure into a dignified but architecturally attractive commercial building.”

The American Express Company had hired Paul Verpilleux to renovate the structure.  The graceful sidewalk level was obliterated, replaced with wide plate glass show windows and the elegant stone balcony was replaced with a shallow version with a wrought-iron railing.

In 1945, the matching house at No. 645 was demolished by Best & Co., leaving just half of what Hunt & Hunt had called “The Marble Twins.”

American Express eventually moved out of No. 647 and in 1995 Gianni Versace signed a 20-year lease on the building which would become its flagship store.  Architects Laboratorio Associati were commissioned to initiate a $6 to $7 million renovation that included replacing the 1917 first floor and the long-lost stone balcony.

The marble balcony with its double scrolled brackets was reproduced in the restoration, as was the vermiculated rusticated stonework -- photo by Alice Lum

On a street that was once lined with the mansions of the Vanderbilt family, No. 647 Fifth Avenue is the sole survivor.  Overshadowed by the magnificence of the Morton Plant house next door, it is often overlooked; but it is nonetheless a handsome reminder of last days of this section of Fifth Avenue as a residential neighborhood.