The 1910 Fischer Lewine Mansion - 116 East 78th Street

Around 1866 a row of high-stooped, brownstone-fronted houses was erected on the southern side of East 78th Street between Lexington and Park Avenues.  At the turn of the century, they were decidedly outdated.  On May 29, 1909, The New York Times reported that Anna De Blois had sold 116 East 78th Street, noting, "The new owner will erect a modern residence on the site for his own occupancy."

The buyer was the Saltz Company and among its executives was Fischer Lewine, who had been in the real estate business since 1885.  The architectural firm of Rouse & Goldstone filed plans for the replacement building in August.  They called for a four-story dwelling to cost $30,000 to construct (just over $1 million in 2026).   On August 20, The New York Times mentioned, "The house is to be of Colonial design."

Completed in 1910, the Lewine house was faced in beige Flemish bond brick above a rusticated limestone base.   The centered entrance sat within a modified Gibbs surround.  The three sets of French windows at the second floor, or piano nobile, were framed in stone, the central pair crowned with a majestic broken pediment embelished with a cartouche, carved garlands and ribbons.  The upper floor windows were framed in molded architraves, and a dignified stone balustrade sat upon the cornice.

from the collection of the New York Public Library

Only seven years after moving into the mansion, on February 4, 1917 The New York Times reported that Fisher Lewine had leased "his residence at 116 East Seventy-eighth Street to Louis Joseph Grumbach."  

Born in Montbéliard, France in 1874, Grumbach studied banking in Switzerland and Germany, and came to New York City in 1900.  He and Edna Reckendarfer were married in 1914 and had two children when they moved in, five-year-old Louise Jeanne and two-year-old George Jacques.  The following year, on March 20, 1918, Elizabeth Werner Grumbach was born in the house.

In 1919, Grumbach was made a partner in Speyer & Co., investment bankers.  The 1923 issue of Herringshaw's American Blue Book of Biography noted, "He is a director of the Speyer Building; and a director of other corporations."  The family summered in Elberon, New Jersey.

When not hosting polite entertainments in her drawing room, Edna had an athletic bent.  On June 13, 1924, for instance, The American Hebrew reported:

Mr. and Mrs. L. J. Grumbach of 116 East Seventy-eighth Street, who have been traveling abroad, will return this month and go to the Hollywood Golf Club, where Mrs. Grumbach will golf.  She will again compete in the Woman's Golf Championship in the Fall.

Louise Jeanne was the first of the siblings to marry.  On March 31, 1931, the New York Evening Post reported on her wedding to Serge Weill-Goudchaux in the Ambassador Hotel.  The article said, "After a short wedding trip...Mr. and Mrs. Weill-Goudchaux will sail for Paris, where they will make their home."

George was married to Helen P. Leidesdorf in February 1940.  Six months later, on August 14, Louis and Edna announced Elizabeth's engagement to Henry Werner.  The New York Times noted that on her mother's side, Elizabeth "is a descendant of Gershom Mendex Seixas, revolutionary patriot and one of the founders of King's College, now Columbia."

Something went awry with Louise Jeanne's marriage, and by the time of Elizabeth's wedding she was back in the East 78th Street house with her parents.  Louise was married in the drawing room on November 6, 1941 to Dr. Rudolf L. Baer.

The following year, on December 21, 1942, The New York Sun reported that William A. Drayton had purchased the house for $18,000, a bargain equal to $346,000 today.

Louis and Edna Grumbach moved to 465 Park Avenue, where Louis was diagnosed with cancer in March 1952.  He committed suicide on September 19 that year by throwing himself from a fifth-floor window of Lenox Hill Hospital where he was being treated.

In the meantime, William A. Drayton added a "penthouse" level to the residence that had no architectural panache.  He sold the mansion in 1950 and on April 13 The New York Times reported that the buyers had filed "plans for remodeling."  The renovations resulted in apartments, including two in the penthouse level.

The rooftop addition had the architectural flair of a World War II bunker.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

An initial resident of the apartments was the fascinating Nancy Garbett-Edwards Wilbur, who was separated from Emery Wilbur.  Born in Llandinam, Montgomeryshire, Wales, during World War II she served with the Auxiliary Territorial Service of the British Army.  She was now an officer on the staff of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.  She and Wilbur were married on November 9, 1946 and she was now suing for divorce "on grounds of cruelty," according to The New York Times.

At the time, women in the neighborhood were being terrorized by dozens of violent burglaries by two men.  On November 9, 1951, Isabelle Parker was accosted by one of them in the hallway outside her apartment here.  The New York Times reported that he, "assaulted her and then fled with her pocketbook containing $60 in cash."  The perpetrators, it turned out, were brothers.  Calling them, "two young thugs," The New York Times reported that they were arrested on November 25, 1951 and charged with "burglary, felonious assault, robbery, possession of burglars' tools and illegal possession of a weapon in the commission of two crimes."

A renovation begun in 2011 returned 116 East 78th Street to a single family home.  As part of the remodeling, the top floor addition was given dormers, more sympathetic to Rouse & Goldstone's neo-Georgian design.

photographs by the author

Rouse & Goldstone's 1924 760 Park Avenue

 

In 1923, the 760 Park Ave. Corp. purchased and demolished the three rowhouses at the northwest corner of Park Avenue and 72nd Street.  The syndicate commissioned the architectural firm of Rouse & Goldstone (composed of W. L. Rouse and L. A. Goldstone) to design a sumptuous apartment building on the site.  Completed in 1924, 760 Park Avenue rose 13 stories, its nine-story, tan brick center section sat upon a three-story limestone base.  Stone returned at the 13th floor, where it morphed into the modillioned roof cornice.  The architect's reserved neo-Renaissance design included bowed, iron balconies at the second floor, brick and stone quoins, and recessed panels between the windows of the 13th floor.

As the building rose, its owners pre-advertised the apartments using unabashed snob appeal.  An advertisement in The New York Times on May 31, 1923 began,

The apartments in 760 Park Avenue are planned on a scale that automatically restricts them to those who, because of their standing in society, must exercise discretion as to where to establish their homes, as well as giving consideration to the character of the building in which they live.

There were only 12 apartments in the building, one to a floor, most with 14 rooms and 6 bathrooms.  The residents would buy, not rent, their apartments.  An ad explained, "They are being sold on a highly endorsed Cooperative Plan."

A typical floor plan.  The New York Times, May 31, 1923 (copyright expired)

The building opened in August 1924.  Its initial residents came from the upper echelons of Manhattan society.  Five months before construction was completed, the New York Evening Post reported that Colonel De Lancey Kountz had purchased "the entire top floor and part of [the] penthouse at 760 Park avenue, now being built."  De Lancey Kountz was a banker and the chairman of the board of the paint and varnish firm Devoe & Raynolds, Co.  His wife was the former Isabel Thomas, of Athens, Georgia. 

A month later, on April 17, the newspaper reported that Mrs. Benjamin Brewster had bought "the last remaining apartment of fourteen rooms and six baths," noting, "In addition, to the entire second floor, she has purchased two extra servants' rooms, giving her a total of sixteen rooms and six baths."  Elmina Hersey Dows Brewster was the widow of Benjamin Brewster, one of the original trustees of Standard Oil.  He died in 1897.  Elmina's country home, Scrooby, was in Cazenovia, New York.

On September 5, 1924, The New York Times reported, "Mrs. Phelps Stokes, after leaving her camp on Upper St. Regis Lake went to her country place in Ridgefield, Conn., where she will remain until moving to her new apartment at 760 Park Avenue."  Helen Louisa Phelps Stokes was the widow of Anson Phelps Stokes.  Born in 1846, she grew up in her family's brownstone mansion at 231 Madison Avenue.  Living with her here would be her granddaughter, Helen O. Phelps Stokes.  

All of the residents of 760 Park Avenue were listed in Dau's New York Social Blue Book and they appeared consistently in society columns.  On June 3, 1925, for instance, the New York Evening Post reported, "Mrs. W. H. La Boyteaux of 760 Park avenue and her daughter, Miss Mary La Boyteaux, who have been abroad, are returning on the Homeric, which will land tomorrow."

Less socially conspicuous was James S. Jones, the founder and president of the Jones Brothers Tea Company.  The Daily Worker called the company, "one of the largest tea concerns in the United States" and said Jones "was a pioneer in the chain stores idea and the application of factory technique to grocery workers."  His summer estate was in Sayville, Long Island.  Jones died of pneumonia in his apartment on May 13, 1927.  His funeral was held there three days later.  After the filing of his will on May 24, The Daily Worker reported, "The estate is understood to be several millions of dollars."

The following year, in February 1928, Velma Erminie Bailey Woolworth purchased the Jones apartment.  Born in 1875, she was the widow of Fred Moore Woolworth.  He was a cousin of F. W. Woolworth, founder of the five and ten cent stores, and in 1909 had traveled to England to establish a Woolworth chain there.  He died in the Ritz Hotel in London in 1923, leaving an estate of over $15 million in today's money to Velma and their son, Norman.

Among Velma Woolworth's neighbors were the Roland Livingston Redmonds.  Redmond had grown up in the massive mansion at 701-705 Park Avenue.  His wife was the former Sara Delano.  Their summer home was at Tivoli-on-the-Hudson.  A member of the law firm Carter, Ledyard & Milburn, he was for a period the personal attorney of Vincent Astor.  Starting in 1947, he would serve, as well, as the president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Redmond apartment was unusual in that it was a duplex.  Because the servants were having lunch in the kitchen on the afternoon of November 9, 1927, they did not immediately notice a fire in the living room.  By the time it was discovered, it "had made rapid headway," according to The New York Times.  As one servant phoned the fire department, a pedestrian looked up and saw smoke rolling from the windows.  He, too, sent in an alarm.

The servants rushed the two Redmond children to the street.  The Times said the firefighters, "put out the flames within a few minutes," noting, "so much water was poured into the room, however, that numerous antique tapestries and other works of art on both floors of the apartment were damaged."

Helen Phelps Stokes died of a heart attack on June 30, 1930 at the age of 83.  In reporting her death, The New York Times recalled her many philanthropies, including the founding of the Grace Home for Children on Staten Island.

Evelyn Isabella Marshall Field was the former wife of multimillionaire Marshall Field III.  Two years after their divorce in 1930, she sold their sumptuous mansion at 4-8 East 70th Street and moved into 760 Park Avenue.  Her country home at Lloyd's Neck, Long Island, was described by the New York Evening Post as having, "the largest acreage of any private estate within commuting distance of New York City."

Evelyn's widowed mother, Josephine Mozier Banks Marshall, arrived from London in August 1932.  She was described by The New York Times as being, "long socially prominent both here and in London."  Josephine, who was born in Newport, Rhode Island, was a great-niece of James Lenox.  She would never return to her home at 6 Grosvenor Square in London.  She died in the Park Avenue apartment on June 4, 1933.

Velma Woolworth had been ill for months at the time of Josephine Marshall's death.  She never recovered and died on February 8, 1934 at the age of 61.  Among her numerous bequests, many of them charitable, she left each of her three grandchildren a $1 million trust (equal to about $22.8 million today).

The year 1934 was a socially important one for residents.  On May 18, 1934, The New York Times reported, "Mr. and Mrs. de Lancey Kountz...have announced the engagement of their younger daughter, Miss Helen de Lancey Kountze, to Jacquelin Allen Swords."  And on October 6, The Sun mentioned that daughters of three resident families would be introduced to society that social season: sisters Ruth Hilda and Prudence Anne Holmes, Sylvie L. Redmond, and Virginia Welsh.

In December, the Holmes girls' parents, Artemas Henry Holmes and the former Lillian Stokes, hosted a supper dance at the River Club to introduce their daughters.

Four years later, it was Joan Redmond's turn.  On June 25, 1938, The New York Sun reported she, "will make her debut at a diner dance at White Elephant Farm, Syosset," noting, "The debutante was graduated from the Spence School last month.  Her sisters, the Misses Sylvie and Sheila Redmond, also were presented at parties at the Redmond Syosset estate."

A name familiar to New Yorkers for other than social reasons was the recently divorced actor Tyrone Power, who moved into 760 Park Avenue in 1957.  He married Deborah Jean Smith on May 7, 1958.  But his residency here would be short-lived.  He died of a heart attack at the age of 44 in Madrid, Spain on November 15, 1958.

The application of former President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, passed the coop board in February 1984.  But then, on March 2, The New York Times reported that the couple "decided yesterday not to go ahead with the move."  (The Nixons had recently been rejected at 19 East 72nd Street because the residents feared the media spotlight the couple would bring.)

A politically-connected couple who did move in were Edward Schlossberg and his bride, the former Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy.  According to C. David Heymann in his American Legacy, The Story of John & Caroline Kennedy, following their honeymoon in 1986, "they paid $2.5 million for a third-floor co-op apartment at 760 Park Avenue."

The staid building is as exclusive today as it was when Elmina Brewster purchased the last available apartment in 1924.

photographs by the author

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Rouse & Goldstone's 1914 850 Park Avenue

 

By the first decade of the 20^th century, Park Avenue above Grand Central Terminal was no longer the marginal residential thoroughfare of a generation earlier.  Mansions rivaling those on Fifth and Madison Avenues, as well as high-end apartment buildings were rising at a rapid rate.  In 1913 the newly formed 850 Park Avenue Corp. assembled several properties--four houses and three stables on East 77th Street, and two vacant lots facing Park Avenue--and hired the architectural firm of Rouse & Goldstone to design a replacement apartment building.

The plans, filed on July 11, 1913, called for a 12-story brick structure to cost $500,000 to construct (about $13.5 million in today's money).  Completed the following year, its sedate neo-Renaissance, tripartite design featured romantic paired, arched openings at the second floor; carved stone swags and swan's neck pediments at the fourth; and faux balconies at eleventh.  The slightly variegated brown brick was diapered in a subtle, overall diamond pattern.

Architecture, May 1915, (copyright expired)

There were four apartments per floor, each with a private elevator entrance.  The "desirable new apartments," as described in an advertisement, ranged from seven to ten rooms, with from two to four bathrooms.  Rent for the most expensive units in 1914 was $4,200, or about $9,300 per month in today's money.

Elevators opened directly into the reception room of each of the four apartments per floor.  Architecture, May 1915 (copyright expired) 

Among the early residents were the colorful Andrew Miller and his wife, the former Nina LeRoy.  Born in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1857, Miller had been a classmate of Theodore Roosevelt at Harvard University.  He entered the journalistic field as a staff member of The Daily Graphic.  Then in 1884, a year after Life Publishing Company released its first issue of Life Magazine, he joined that staff, became a part owner, and by the time he and his wife moved into 850 Park Avenue he was its secretary and treasurer.

But Miller was, perhaps, better known as a sportsman.  At the couple's country home in New Jersey were stabled famous race horses like Roamer, "winner of many big races," according to The New York Times, and Snapdragon, "which also figured in some sensational races."  

Calling him "prominent in the sporting world, The Evening World reported that he was "one of those who underwrote the proposal to send an American polo team to England after the British victory at Meadowbrook in 1914, an enterprise which the outbreak of war prevented."  Miller was a steward of the Jockey Club and treasurer of the Saratoga Racing Association.

Andrew Miller began experiencing bronchial problems in December 1919 which, according to The New York Times, "kept him away from the offices of Life."  But by December 30 he felt well enough to go to the work.  His attempt to return to normal activity was premature, however.  When he returned home that evening he complained of not feeling well.  He died the following day, on New Year's Eve.  His estate, estimated at more than $15 million today, was divided among his wife and two sons, Leroy and George.

Among the Millers' neighbors were the William Jays.  While most socialites threw their support to war efforts by backing victims' relief groups and Army and Navy organizations, Mrs. Jay took a different route.  She was determined to eliminate anything suggestive of German support from New York.  When the German-born conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Dr. Karl Muck, was scheduled to appear at Carnegie Hall in March 1918, for instance, Mrs. Jay jumped into action.

On March 12 the New-York Tribune reported that she had organized a group of Carnegie Hall subscribers who "evolved a plan to prevent him from conducting his orchestra in New York."  Mrs. Jay told the reporter, "Those concerts are always filled with German sympathizers who do not care to see this enemy alien conduct, and these seats are occupied by pro-Germans, who applaud and approve their hero."  

When Strafing England, a group composed of anti-English, pro-German Irishmen booked Madison Square Garden for a rally two months later, Mrs. Jay did her best to stop it.  The meeting was held on May 4, during which speeches were "interpreted as a prediction that Germany might yet be victorious," said The Sun.  The article noted, "The meeting was held over the protest of Mrs. William Jay of 850 Park avenue."

The determined socialite had formed the Intimate Committee for the Severance of Enemy Relationship.  On June 4, 1918 letters were send to the Yorkville and Irving Place theaters that "called upon the management to cease further productions in the enemy tongue."  She seems to have been relentless in her efforts until armistice was declared.

The post-war years saw a trend in Manhattan of tenants buying their apartment buildings and converting them to cooperatives.  On May 11, 1920, The New York Times reported that "four tenants and ten outside interests" had purchased 850 Park Avenue.  "The new owners will conduct it on a co-operative basis," said the article.  "The suites are from seven to ten rooms and the house is considered among the finest along Park Avenue."

Among the well-heeled residents at the time were Philip Rhinelander II and his wife, the former Hortense Le Brun Parsons.  The only son of Thomas Jackson Oakley Rhinelander, he was named for his grandfather, Philip Rhinelander.  The couple had a young son, Lebrun Cruger, when they moved into 850 Park Avenue.  Hortense gave birth to a second son, Thomas Jackson Oakley Rhinelander, in their apartment on March 30, 1920.

Also in the building were attorney Sheridan S. Norton, his wife, the former Beulah Sanfield Einstein, and their daughters Marie and Frances.  The family's country estate was at Glen Cove, Long Island where Norton raised pedigree dogs.  The New York Times said he was "a leading American authority on shepherd dogs."

Prior to the her debutante ball on January 7, 1922, Barbara Vanderbilt Whitney was "the principal guest at a dinner given by Mrs. Sheridan S. Norton in her apartment at 850 Park avenue," as reported by the New York Herald.  The impressive guest list included Seth Low, Jr. and his wife, the Count and Countess Laszlo Szechenyi, John Whitney, Adele Sloane Hammond, Sheila Burden and other members of Manhattan's socially elite families.  

Notable was the presence of Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney.  Not only was he the brother of the debutante, but a romance was blossoming between him and Marie Norton, who had come out in society the previous season.  Five months after the party, on June 23, 1922, The New York Times reported, "Society was interested yesterday in the report that announcement would be made soon of the engagement of Miss Marie Norton...to Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney."  The article said, "Mr. Norton, who is a lawyer, said he was unable to discuss his daughter's plans."

The New York Herald chimed in, saying "Miss Norton is well known in the young set that is identified with social and outdoor life of the North Shore of Long Island that centers about the Piping Rock Club.  It was as members of this coterie that she and Mr. Whitney met."  The article added that Whitney "is the youngest of three children who are destined to inherit large fortunes."

What the Norton family was, almost assuredly, unaware of was that in June 1921 the Whitney attorneys had accepted a summons against Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney filed by 22-year old Evan Burrows Fontaine.  The New-York Tribune described her as "a specialist in exotic Oriental dancing."  She had sued him for $1 million for breach of promise.  According to Fontaine's attorney, "the case dragged along without any strenuous efforts being made in the direction of a settlement."  Now, with an engagement on the horizon, things speeded up.

On August 14, 1922, the New-York Tribune reported that the Fontaine's case was about to be heard.  "It will charge that her eighteen-months-old baby is the son of young Whitney and that repeated promises of marriage were never fulfilled."  Fontaine had named the child Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, Jr.  While not denying that he knew Fontaine, Whitney decried the charges saying, "It is a malicious lie.  I was never even engaged to her.  I have not seen her in a year and I never took her to social or athletic events at Yale."

Marie Norton and Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney just prior to their marriage.  Merced Morning Sun, March 1, 1923 (copyright expired)

Despite the scandal, Marie Norton and Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney were married in Paris on March 5, 1923.  The marriage did not survive.  They were divorced in 1929.  Whitney would marry three more times.  Marie married New York Governor and diplomat Averell Harriman, becoming New York's First Lady from 1955 to 1958.

In the meantime, Frances Norton married industrialist William Galey Lord.  The girls' parents were still living at 850 Park Avenue when Sheridan S. Norton died on June 3, 1933.  Beulah lived to the age of 91, dying on Long Island in September 1968.

Another socially important wedding was that of Florence Edrington in 1926.  On June 1, 1926, The New York Times reported, "Miss Florence Edrington, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas R. Edrington of 850 Park Avenue, who have taken a house in Berkeley Square, London, for the season, will be married today in London to George Bruce Ismay, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Bruce Ismay of London."  The wedding took place in St. George's Church on Hanover Square.

Newspapers focused on the groom-to-be's American pedigree.  "Mr. Ismay is half American through his mother, who is the former Miss Florence Schieffelin," said The New York Times, and Brooklyn Life noted, "His relatives in New York include Mrs. Hamilton Fish, Mrs. Henry Graff Trevor, Miss Dorothy Schieffelin and Mr. R. D. Schieffelin."  What they gently sidestepped was the untidy affair of the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

Ismay's father was J. Bruce Ismay, the highest ranking White Star official to survive the disaster.  He was savagely criticized by the American and British press for deserting the ship while women and children were still aboard, some papers branding him the "Coward of the Titanic."  Although cleared of blame by the official British inquiry, the Ismay name was tainted for decades.

Like the upscale apartment buildings of Central Park West, those on Park Avenue did not fall from favor as the decades passed.  No. 850 Park Avenue continued to house prominent families.  The Henry S. Fenimore Coopers lived here in the 1930's and '40's, for instance, and on June 22, 1943 Mary Cabell Auchincloss, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Auchincloss, was married in their apartment to Keith James Laidler of Liverpool, England.

Little has changed to Rouse & Goldstone's staid building, which still maintains a commanding presence.

photos by the author

no permission to reuse the content of this blog has been granted to LaptrinhX.com

The 1910 Riviera - 790 Riverside Drive

 

image via 6tocelbrate.org

Construction of Riverside Drive began in 1872.  Snaking along the landscaped Riverside Park above the Hudson River, it saw the rise of lavish mansions that rivaled those of Fifth Avenue.  By the turn of the century, when the Drive had reached 155th Street, high-end residential hotels and apartment buildings had become fashionable among affluent Upper West Side residents.  In 1908 engineer and historian Reginald Pelham Bolton described the area in the Real Estate Record & Guide as suitable "for the highest class of institutional buildings."

Among the flurry of apartment buildings that went up was The Riviera, designed by Rouse & Goldstone for the Riviera Realty Co.  Engulfing 13 building lots between 156th and 157th Street, the Real Estate Record & Guide predicted on March 12, 1910 that "when completed [it] will be one of the largest and most magnificently constructed and equipped apartment houses in the city."  The writer said the location "on the turn of the new Riverside Drive extension," provided "an unsurpassed view of the Hudson and magnificent scenery to the west and northward."

Completed later that year, the Renaissance Revival style, 13-floor structure held 12 apartment per floor, ranging from five to 10 rooms.  Construction cost $1.7 million--or about $47.8 million in today's money.  Residents would enjoy luxurious surroundings.  The spacious entry hall, or lobby, was finished in Bottocino marble with a heavy, plaster coffered ceiling.

A pierced stone parapet originally crowned the structure.  from the brochure The Rivieria, 1910 (copyright expired)

Rouse & Goldstone deftly managed the downward slope of West 156th as well as the massive footprint of the site.  The deep light courts that provided ventilation and sunlight into the apartments gave The Riviera the first impression of four structures.

A marketing brochure boasted:

The arrangement of the apartments is unsurpassed, the parlor, library and dining room being en suite at the entrance of the apartment and separated by glass folding doors.  Bedrooms are entirely apart from the living rooms, thereby insuring quiet and privacy in the sleeping chambers.

Among the cutting-edge amenities were clothes driers in the kitchens, telephones, mail chutes, and "electrical outlets for small electric stoves or heating irons."  On the roof were the laundry and "steam drying" rooms. 
 

The Riviera filled with a variety of residents.  Among the initial occupants was Edward Rovde Fearn, an advertising agent.  His would be a short residency.  On the night of September 13, 1911 the 21-year-old felt ill and a friend gave him some tablets to help him "straighten up."  He died of bichloride of mercury poisoning in Harlem Hospital two days later.

That year, lithographer Gustave Cerf and his wife, the former Frederika Wise, moved in with their 13-year old son, Bennett.  Frederika was wealthy in her own right, having inherited a fortune from her father, tobacco distributor Nathan Wise.  Bennett became friends with two other teens in the building, Howard Dietz and Merryle Rukeyser.  All three would go on to prominent careers: Cerf would found the publishing firm, Random House.  Dietz became the director of advertising of Goldwyn Pictures and, later, MGM (often credited with creating that studio's mascot, Leo the Lion), and collaborated with composer Arthur Schwartz for decades in songwriting.  And Rukeyser became a well-known financial journalist and author.

What appeared to have been a lamentable accident occurred on December 7, 1913.  Florence McGregor had been an actress, known as Florence Worden, before her marriage to Shubert Theater manager Edger J. McGregor in 1904.  McGregor was a member of exclusive clubs like the Lambs and the Friars' Club. 

That evening the couple argued.  Later McGregor said that Florence, "had been deeply hurt by a conversation at the dining table."  According to him, around 10:00 he realized that Florence had been in the bathroom an inordinately long time.  He knocked on the door and she told him she would be out soon.  After another ten minutes he knocked again, but got no response.

The New York Clipper reported, "The body of Mrs. McGregor was discovered a few moments later by the superintendent of the building in the courtyard.  Death was instantaneous."  Although police appear to have been satisfied that Florence threw herself to her death, modern minds might suspect foul play.  The McGregor apartment was on the second floor.

The comfortable financial status of The Riviera residents was reflected in a law suit filed by Caroline M. Frame in March 1913.  She was the widow of broker Charles P. Frame, who died in 1903 and a granddaughter of Samuel Willets.  Caroline had inherited large amounts from both men.  Now she (and several other women) filed suits against her lawyer, Frederick Prentiss Forster, of Forster & Forster.  She had entrusted him with the administration of her $948,549 estate (more than $25.6 million today) and, according to her, he had absconded with $270,000.

photo by Irving Underhill from the collection of The Museum of the City of New York

Retired merchant J. L. Doherty and his family lived in The Riveria in 1915 with their son and daughter.  That year 24-year old Lionel got into serious trouble.  On April 22, he left Jack's Restaurant on Sixth Avenue and 43rd Street "in an intoxicated condition," according to the New-York Tribune, and got behind the wheel of his automobile.  In his car were two men and three young women.

Lionel made it only three blocks northward before he smashed into a truck at the corner of 45th Street.  One of his passengers, Daisy Hawkins, was taken to the hospital with a broken collar bone.  Lionel was arrested for drunk driving.

J. L. Doherty appeared in court to beg for leniency for his son.  Justice Herrmann was unmoved.  "The situation in New York is dangerous enough for autoists who are sober without having it made worse by drivers who are intoxicated," he said.   Doherty was sentenced to three months incarceration.  Justice Herrmann explained, "We are sending him to prison, not only as a punishment to himself, but principally as a determent to others of his kind."

The New-York Tribune reported, "The prisoner's mother fainted when sentence was passed...Mrs. Doherty was carried unconscious into an adjoining room and there revived."

Ironically, it was Lionel's parents who were involved in a car wreck later that year.  The Dohertys' summer home was near Montclair, New Jersey and on the night of September 26 the couple went for an evening ride.  The following day The New York Times reported, "Oscar Frahn, who has a garage in Park Ridge...heard a crash last evening and ran out to the stone bridge at Glenn and Spring Valley Roads, where he found a wrecked automobile, which had skidded and crashed into the bridge."

In the car with the Dohertys and their chauffeur, Henry Henkle, was "Harry Jackson, a negro living in Allendale, who had been hired there to guide the New Yorkers to Park Ridge after they had lost their way."  Henkle had lost control at the turn in the road.  He was cut on the face by broken glass and Doherty was cut on the back.  "Jackson was hurt so badly he was hurried to the Patterson Hospital," said the article.  Once again Doherty made excuses, telling a reporter, "the accident was due to the condition of the road, which was full of ruts that set the car skidding."

Resident M. E. Berry offered her piano music for social affairs in 1915.  The New-York Tribune, September 19, 1915 (copyright expired)

Former United States Senator Charles A. Towne lived here in 1917.  Now a partner of the law firm Towne & Spellman, The New York Times described him saying, "He has always been noted for his oratorical powers."  On March 3, 1917 his apartment was the scene of his wedding to Alice M. Elkin.  The affair may have raised social eyebrows in New York and Washington, D.C.   While both had previously been married (Alice had divorced Ernest Elkin two years earlier), it was their age difference that was a bit startling.  Towne was 58 years old and his bride was 29.

Another Riviera tenant to have a socially visible wedding was Maria Esther Tallez, the daughter of a Havana sugar plantation owner and niece of the Cuban Minister to the United States, Carlo de Cespedes.  On July 29 1919 she married operatic tenor Eduardo Ferrari-Fontana, who had sung with the Chicago and Metropolitan Opera Companies.  Maria's new husband had a complicated domestic past.

The 40-year-old had married Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Mme. Margarete Matzenauer in June 1912 in Buenos Aires.  According to The Sun, they "lived happily until the outbreak of the war brought conflicting opinions, as she was an Austrian and he an Italian."  He returned to Italy to fight in the war in January 1916, and she filed for divorce.  "The diva alleged misconduct on the part of her husband with two servants," said The Sun.  

The divorce was finalized in January 1919, just six months before Eduardo's and Maria's wedding.  But the terms of the divorce precluded his remarrying in New York, so they had to cross the river to New Jersey for the civil service ceremony.  The New-York Tribune noted, "For the same reason it was impossible to have a church ceremony."

The marble and caen stone clad lobby exudes Edwardian taste.  image via compass.com

In 1919 electrical engineer and inventor William Dubillier and his wife, Marie, lived in The Riviera.  The young couple's only child was born in July that year.  Dubillier was the head of the Dubilier Condenser Company, Inc. on Centre Street.  

On the night of January 25 the couple prepared to go to dinner with a friend, Joseph M. Berlinger.   Berlinger arrived at the apartment around 7:o0 and after speaking for a few minutes, Marie (whom the New York Herald described as "twenty-two years old and handsome) excused herself and went into her bedroom.  The New York Herald reported, "Her husband and the guest waited for her reappearance and when after some time she failed to return, the husband went into the bedroom to hasten her.  She was gone, and a window of the room was open."

The New-York Tribune took up the story, saying, "Cries and shrieks from the street caused William Gubillier [sic] to open a window of his apartment on the eleventh floor of 790 Riverside Drive last night and look out.  He saw several persons, among them a patrolman, clustered around the body of a woman that lay on the sidewalk."

Policeman Loughram reported the case as a suicide.  The New York Herald reported, "No possible motive for suicide, however, could be ascribed to Mrs. Dubilier.  Their neighbors in the apartment...declare that they were apparently most happy."  The article noted, "The husband was prostrated by the tragedy and could not be seen during the evening."

Concert violinist and conductor Alexander Bloch and his pianist/accompanist wife, Blanche, moved into The Riviera in October 1922.  The couple had a daughter, Janet, and a son, Alan.  They were on tour when their furnishings were brought from 57 West 87th Street and so a relative supervised the move.  When they arrived at their new apartment about a week later, a horrible mistake was discovered.  Four valuable violins had been left behind.

One of them had been loaned to Bloch by musician and broker E. E. Levenson.  The New York Times said, it "is said to be the work of an Italian master named Montegarcia" and was valued at $2,500, or around $38,600 today.  Another was a family heirloom "which had been in the family of Mr. Bloch for four generations."  When the vacated apartment was checked, there was nothing there.

The New York Times said, "Mrs. Bloch was sure the instruments had been picked up as abandoned property and not actually stolen."  She explained that the Montegarcia violin could not be sold "because a dealer with enough knowledge to place a true valuation on the instrument would insist on a complete history of it."

Living in The Riviera was not inexpensive.  Rents in 1921 ranged from $1,600 to $3,800 per year--or around $4,575 a month for the most expensive apartments.

A peculiar incident occurred on April 28, 1930.   That day 17-year old Selma Seigenfeld, the daughter of Henry (known as Harry) Seigenfeld and his wife, the former Helen Retner, went to school as usual.  But she did not come home.  Selma had never been late or had gone missing, so her parents were understandably panicked.  The following day there was still no trace of her.

In the meantime, the night before Patrolman Manuel Borgoes found a confused girl walking along the Bronx River Parkway.  She was taken to the Lawrence Hospital where she was unable to identify herself, nor remember anything about where she was or where she came from.  The Yonkers Statesman reported, "Doctors said she was not suffering from any injuries, and that there were no marks of any kind upon her.  She complained of a pain in the head, back of the right ear, when the spot was pressed by physicians."

For nearly 24 hours, physicians and nurses tried to pull information from the girl.  Finally, Police Sergeant Elmer Tewey of the Parkway police was put on the case.  He worked on clues like clothing labels and then found an eyeglass case imprinted with an optometrist's name and phone number.  The office identified the glasses as belonging to Selma Seigenfield.

Selma's brother arrived at the hospital to bring her home.  Two days after disappearing, she was resting in her bed in The Riviera apartment.  But while "in an improved condition," according to her brother, she still said she could remember nothing.  The Daily Argus reported, "physicians said they believed she was suffering from amnesia."

In November 1937 two wings of the building were evacuated and extensive renovations begun.  On July 11, 1938 The New York Sun reported, "Alterations to The Riviera, large Washington heights apartment house...will be completed in time for October 1 occupancy."  Architect D. Everett Wald had been commissioned to reduce the size of the apartments in those sections from 7 or 9 rooms to "2, 3, 4 and 6-room layouts," according to an advertisement.  The Sun reported, "formerly composed of fifty-two apartments...[the section] will now contain seven apartments on a floor, or ninety-one in all, which raises the total of suites in the entire building to 191."

The Riviera continued to be home to white collar residents.  Among them were Justice Michael A. Ford and his wife, the former Margaret Rogers.  A son of Irish immigrants, Ford worked his way through Cornell University, graduating in 1902.  He was appointed to the Magistrate's Court by Mayor James J. Walker in February 1930.  His no-nonsense approach to justice was described by The New York Times on August 10, 1944, which said that he was noted for "his paternal attitude toward both the defendants and their accusers, but:

Judge ford was known also to be tough on wife beaters, drunken drivers and the like, but any citizen who lost his temper in dealing with an overbearing policeman found a friend in him.  He once ruled that it was not disorderly conduct to "tell a policeman to go to hell."

One of his signature rulings was over the value of a stolen violin.  It would mean the different between grand and petit larceny.  Judge Ford picked up the instrument and played Turkey in the Straw from the bench.  When he was finished, he ruled, "This is worth $1,000--grand larceny."

Upheaval came in 1964 when The Riviera's management decided to automate the elevators--which since 1910 had been operated by uniformed staff.   The residents sued, claiming that the reduced staff would make the lobby "wide-open to intruders and virtually without security."  The residents lost their case.

The names of residents of The Riviera rarely appeared in newsprint for being arrested.  But that was the case for 21-year old student Alan Egelman on May 21, 1971.  He had joined a rally of 1,000 supporters of the United Federation of Teachers and the Municipal Employees Union outside of Governor Nelson Rockefeller's Midtown office to protest budget cuts.  As teachers' union president Albert Shanker was speaking, a man with a bull horn drowned him out, shouting for a strike.  Several fist fights broke out in the crowd, resulting in four arrests and many more summonses for disorderly conduct.  One of the unfortunate men arrested was Egelman.

image via compass.com

The Riviera still affords the "unsurpassed views of the Hudson."  And although the crowning parapets have been removed and the marble lobby is bereft of the welcoming Edwardian furniture and rugs the occupants enjoyed in 1910, it still exudes a commanding presence. 

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many thanks to reader Bruce Dennis for suggesting this article

The Brooks-Van Horn Building - 112-116 West 18th Street

 

West 18th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues was a "stable block" in the mid-19th century.  It was lined with the private carriage houses of well-to-do Fifth Avenue residents, and with livery stables.  But things were changing in the 1880's, as palatial emporiums rose along Sixth Avenue and Fifth Avenue mansions were being converted to businesses like art galleries and dressmaking shops.  

On August 16, 1899 Edward Jansen purchased the three two-story brick stables at 112 through 116 West 18th Street for $60,000--about $1.9 million today.  Two weeks later, acting as his own architect, he filed plans for a six-story building, the cost of which would double his investment.

On September 9, 1899, even before demolition had begun on the old stable buildings, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported, "A printing house has leased the 6-story building which Edward Jansen is about to erect at Nos. 112 to 116 West 18th street."  That firm was the Grannis Press, Inc., the owners of which, Herman Wheaton Grannis and John W. Grannis, almost assuredly had input on the design of the structure.

Completed in 1900, Jansen's Renaissance-Revival factory and store building was faced in beige brick.  Bands of undressed stone created a striped effect to the piers of the second floor, each of which was decorated by delicately carved swags.  Grouped windows with engaged cast iron columns rose in three vertical sections, giving visual height to the structure.

The building's proximity to the department stores of what would be called the Ladies' Mile, was a significant consideration to any potential ground floor tenant.  On September 5, 1900 The Evening Telegram entitled an article "A Fine New Restaurant" and reported, "A new restaurant will be opened by F. A. Archambault at Nos. 112, 114, and 116 West Eighteenth street, opposite the Eighteenth street entrance of B. Altman & Co.'s store, Saturday next."  The writer opined, "This will be a great convenience for the shopping district," adding, "It is promised that the prices will be moderate, the cuisine excellent and the service unsurpassed."

Reed's Restaurant catered not only to the feminine patrons of Sixth Avenue, but to dinner parties and private groups.  On January 30, 1902, for instance, The Vegetarian Society hosted the first of its annual dinners here.  The Brooklyn Daily Eagle said that the 100 guests "well represented the best social element of both Manhattan and Brooklyn."  Non-meat diets were somewhat novel at the time, and the article noted, "One of the features of the evening which elicited much merriment was a vegetarian song, by George Bushwick."

The following year the eatery became Hunter's Restaurant, although little changed other than the name.  On April 25, for instance, a dinner was held in honor of William S. Devery by a group supporting his run for mayor.  The menu was notably different from that of The Vegetarian Society's dinner.  The Daily Standard Union reported, "Beefsteak was the 'piece de resistance' on the bill of fare."

Two weeks earlier the restaurant had seen much excitement.  On Saturday night, April 4, ten waiters were fired.  In solidarity, 29 others walked out.  The owners found replacements to fill their places before Monday afternoon and business went on as usual--until the 39 out-of-work waiters showed up outside.

The men harassed potential patrons, warning them, according to The Evening World, "The grub is on the bum!" or "It's poison!" and "You ought to see where they cook it!"  When the manager was unable to disperse the men, he called the police.  The newspaper said, "The waiters broke and ran when the wagon arrived."   Waiters were pursued by police in different directions, the chases going on for blocks.  The sight "served to highly amuse the large crowd of women who were about in the shopping district," said the article.  A dozen of the protestors were arrested and things returned to normal in Hunter's Restaurant.

Grannis Press, Inc. remained in the building until 1905, afterward replaced by several apparel firms.  Among them were Striker Manufacturing Company, makers of women's neckwear; and L. Dofflien & Co.  L. Dofflein placed an advertisement in The New York Times on March 26, 1905 that read, "Girls just from school to learn making negligee wear; pay while learning."

In the summer of 1910 Edward Jansen filed plans for a six-story building at 113 to 119 West 17th Street, directly behind his West 18th Street structure.  This time he hired the architectural firm of Rouse & Goldstone to design the building, which cost him the equivalent of $2.8 million in today's money.  The resultant structure was designed as a similar, simplified version of 112-116 West 18th Street.  Combined internally, the floorspace was now doubled.

Rouse & Goldstone closely followed the design of the original building in the 17th Street extension.

The 15,000-square-foor ground floor space was leased to the United States Post Office before construction began.  On July 2, 1910 the Record & Guide reported, "the premises will be occupied by Post Office Station 'O,' now at 5th av. and 17th st."

A letter mailed shortly before midnight on August 17, 1913 was, perhaps, the most significant piece of mail that passed through the post office branch.  Harry Kendall Thaw, who had been found not guilty of murdering architect Stanford White in June 1906 by reason of insanity, was committed for life at the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.  In August 1913 he simply walked out and escaped.

The letter dropped at the post office on August 17 was from Thaw to his mother, who was staying at the new Hotel Gotham.  It said:

All well.  Shall take a rest before coming to Elmhurst [the Thaw home in Cresson, Pennsylvania], as I might be asked for interview and do not want to refuse; yet do not care to make any statement.  Hope M. and G. [Margaret and George Carnegie, Thaw's sister and brother-in-law] arrived safe and you will go home together.

                                                                      H. K. T.

Although Mrs. Shaw shared the contents with police, she also attempted to throw them off the trail.  The Evening World reported, "Mrs. Thaw does not believe her son was in New York last night.  She thinks he scribbled the letter in the automobile in which he made his escape and intrusted [sic] it to one of the men who sided with him to be mailed in this city."

In the meantime, the upper floors continued to house garment manufacturers.  Typical were M. Scher & Co., makers of shirtwaists; H. B. Katzman, manufacturers of cloaks and suits; and Jan Globe Cloak Manufacturing Company.  Also in the building in 1914 was the German Novelty Company, makers of toys.  The Post Office branch remained for decades, a designated spot each year for the purchase of Christmas Seals, part of a fund-raising project to fight tuberculosis.

The combined buildings were sold in February 1942 to real estate operator Nathan Wilson, who resold it two years later to Morris Luskin & Son.  Tenants in the building in the early 1950's included Klein & Co., Inc., makers of candy boxes; and Van Cott Brothers, manufacturers of athletic uniforms and sportwear.

photo via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

On November 20, 1962, the Brooks Costume Company merged with the Philadelphia firm of Van Horn Costume Company.  The New York Times reported, "The merger links the two top costume groups in the country," and noted, "the new company, to be known as the Brooks-Van Horn Costume Company, will have offices here and in Philadelphia.  Its facilities will enable it to serve Broadway shows, television, stock theaters, schools, community theaters, state and national events and pageants."

Among the consolidated firm's initial commissions to design and supply the male costumes to Franco Zeffirelli's 1963 production of The Lady of the Camellias, starring Susan Strasberg as Marguerite.  (The women's costumes were designed by Pierre Cardin.)   The firm was still located on East 26th Street at the time.  But by the mid-1970's it had moved into the West 18th Street building.

Change came to the combined buildings in December 1982 when a renovation resulted in a total of 35 apartments above the ground floor store.  Known today as the Brooks Van Horn as a nod to the costume firm that did business here for so many years, the building's commercial tenant has been the furniture and décor store West Elm since October 2004.

photographs by the author

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