John C. Watson's "The Avenue" -- 239-253 East 5th Street

 

photograph via David Mulkins

Real estate developer Isaac Sohnger completed construction of the six-story, brick-faced apartment building at the northwest corner of Second Avenue and East 5th Street in 1910.  Designed by John C. Watson, its residential entrance opened onto East Fifth Street.  Five stores, two on the side street and three on the avenue, lined the ground floor.  Called The Avenue, the Colonial Revival design of its mid-section featured stone quoins at the corners, and splayed limestone lintels with scrolled keystones.  The exception to the latter were the wider, tripartite windows on both elevations which wore stepped lintels.  In keeping with the Colonial motif, the upper sashes of the double-hung windows contained nine panes.  The openings of the top section were separated by blank stone panels.  Atop the deeply overhanging, bracketed cornice was a handsome stone balustrade.

Among the initial residents was 30-year-old Samuel Shor, who left early each morning to work in Brooklyn.  But his profession was much different from most residents.  During rush hour on May 8, 1911, he caught the attention of Detective Evans on the Brooklyn side of the Williamsburg Bridge where throngs were attempting to board streetcars to Manhattan.  The Brooklyn Eagle explained, "The police of the bridge station have received so many complaints of pickpockets operating during the morning and evening rush hours...that there is always a detective there."

As Evans watched, Shor jostled among the crowds "in the scramble for a car, elbowing people right and left, but he never got on," said the newspaper.  After 15 cars left without Shor making "an honest attempt to board one," Evans approached him.  Samuel Shor bolted.  Someone in the crowd cried, "pickpocket!" and, according to The Brooklyn Eagle, "the 3,000 persons on the plaza forgot they were waiting for cars, and joined the chase."  Happily for Shor, Detective Evans got to him first.  

At the station house, police recognized him as a man recently arrested for loitering around a streetcar stop without attempting to board.  Shor's profession was highly profitable.  He astonished police "by displaying several bank books, in which he was credited with a total of $30,000 in deposits," said the article.  (The figure would top $1 million in 2025 terms.)

The rooftop balustrade is evident in this 1934 photograph by P. L. Sperr.  (He noted, "The building on the N.W. corner is an old apartment house called 'The Avenue.'")  from the collection of the New York Public Library

Among Shor's neighbors in the building were Rosie Fischer and her 18-year-old daughter Paula.  The teen worked as a stenographer in a Hungarian bank on Second Avenue.  She caught the eye of Alexander Baehr, described by the New York Herald as the "son of a wealthy, retired merchant of Budapest, Hungary," and noted that he had one glass eye.  He arrived in America in 1910 and he, too, worked in the bank as a stenographer.

Despite their age difference (Baehr was 30), the two became engaged and the wedding was set for autumn in 1911.  In preparation, Baehr wrote to his father for money.  The New York Herald said on September 28, 1911, "Two weeks ago an answer came, but he appeared disappointed in the check which he received."  On the evening of September 16--one week before the wedding day--Baehr visited the Fischer apartment.  Disturbingly, he told Paula of his "burning his other eye with a cigarette the previous night," and said "if he should ever become totally blind he would take his life."

Paula and Rosie walked Baehr home.  Paula later told reporters that "she and her mother tried to get him to take a less gloomier view of what they thought was a slight injury."  He left his rooming house the next morning but never arrived at the bank.  On September 28, the New York Herald said, "Since that time he has not been heard from."  All of his personal effects were still in his room.  Police were notified and a search of the hospitals was made, but no trace of him could be found.

Then, on October 7, Paula received a telegram from San Francisco.  It read, "Do you want me to come back?"  Paula responded with what was, perhaps, a rare example of Edwardian feminine independence.  "As there was no explanation of his mysterious disappearance in the despatch [sic] Miss Fisher [sic] returned a negative answer," reported the New York Herald.  Rosie added, "My daughter considered her engagement with Mr. Baehr ended when he left her without explanation...We have no desire to receive any further communication from him."

The Margolies family lived in The Avenue in 1917.  Their son, Samuel, who was 16 years old, was a member of the Junior Police Department.  On March 5, 1917, he and schoolmate Edward Hirsch were riding home from school on the subway when, according to The New York Times, Samuel watched as a man "sidled mysteriously up to Edward and whispered mysteriously into his ear and then mysteriously shuffled away."  When the man left the car, Edward told Samuel, "He told me not to ride in the subway on Tuesday, for they are going to blow it up."

That night, Samuel told his father about the incident.  His father "hustled him around to the East Fifth street station," said the newspaper, "where he repeated his story."  Before long, Edward was in the station house as well, corroborating the facts.  It sparked a massive hunt within the subway system the following day, with police "looking sharply at every person who carried a bundle."  The New York Times said the search was ended at midnight confident that any "bomb plotters" had given up their "dastardly deed," as worded by the article.

In 1921, two of the Second Avenue stores were occupied by a Lofts candy shop and Isaac Rosenthal's men's clothing shop.  Lofts would remain for decades.  Sharing the avenue side in 1941 were I. Thaller's jewelry shop and the ABC's dairy store.  Four decades later, in 1981, The Last Word, a greeting card, stationery and gift store; and the Binibon Café operated from two of the spaces.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

On July 19, 1981, Jack Henry Abbott had breakfast at the Binibon Café.  Throughout his life he had been convicted for murder and other felonious crimes and had recently been released from prison.  (Interestingly, while incarcerated in 1978 he formed a close relationship with author Norman Mailer, who was researching his The Executioner's Song.)  

Richard Adan, who was 22 years old, worked in the cafe.  That morning, Abbott asked him where the restroom was.  According to Eric Ferrara in his A Guide to Gangsters, Murderers and Weirdos of New York City's Lower East Side, "Unfortunately for Adan, the Binibon either did not have a restroom or it was under construction."  It was not the answer Abbot was looking for.  He pulled out a knife and fatally stabbed Adan multiple times.  According to Ferrara, Abbot "was spotted and caught a few weeks later while hiding out in Louisiana."

By 1985, the Prometheus Theater occupied one of the East 5th Street spaces, and in October 1987, Tri Video opened in the other.  As early as 1989, the name of that shop was changed to Finyl Vinyl.  Writing in The New York Times on March 29, 1991, Eric Asimov quoted Finyl Vinyl's owner Rob Cohen saying, "Vinyl's in my blood," noting, "And vinyl's about all you will find in his store."

The commercial spaces have been home to a variety of restaurants and shops throughout the succeeding decades.  Through it all, other than the loss of the rooftop balustrade, the building retains its 1910 appearance, including the handsome entranceway and (rather astoundingly) most of the nine-paned sashes.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post.

The Altered Charles Canda Mansion - 236 Second Avenue

 

image via loopnet.com

Charles and Adele Canda lived at 17 Lafayette Place in the mid-1850s.  Born in 1792 and 1804 respectively, their elegant neighborhood was populated with wealthy families like the Schermerhorns and Astors.  Charlotte's father had been an officer in Napoleon's army, as had been Charles's brother, Louis-Joseph-Florimond Canda.  (The familial connections with the French army prompted stories that it was Charles who served under Napoleon.)  The couple had one daughter, Charlotte, born on February 3, 1828.  (Some accounts purport that she was adopted, but there seems to be no evidence to support that.)  Also living with the family was Charles's much younger sister, Clemence, born in 1816.

The Candas' handsome Lafayette Place (later Lafayette Street) mansion is at the far left above.  The Evening World April 25, 1893 (copyright expired)

Charles Canda was a landscape artist.  As early as September 1831, he and Adele operated a school for young women at 46 Lispenard Street.  

Charles Canda painted this romantic landscape in 1822.  image via Sotheby's New York, May 2000

Charlotte was highly educated and, almost assuredly trained by her father, showed artistic talent.  The New York Evening Post described her by saying, "She was the familiar mistress of six languages besides being an accomplished musician and proficient of much...skill in drawing."

Clemence Canda died on November 23, 1844.  Moved by grief, Charlotte sketched a grand, complex memorial for her young aunt.  At the time, Charlotte was engaged to Charles-Albert Jarret de la Marie.  Ten years older than she, his family was French nobility.

Three months after Clemence's death, on February 3, 1845, Charlotte was invited to a party on Eleventh Street (that day was her 17th birthday).  Reportedly her parents refused to let her go.  The Morning Post later explained, "every one of her birthdays had been marked by some cross or mishap, frustrating the ordinary pleasant celebration of the day."  But then young friends came to the door, saying that the party was "nothing without her," and her parents relented.

The Evening Post reported that Charles engaged a cab to escort her to the party.  He returned to the Eleventh Street house at 11 p.m. to bring her home.  Riding with them was a friend.  They reached the young lady's house at 11:30.  Canda escorted her to the door, the driver waited next to the cab, and Charlotte sat alone inside.  Suddenly, the horses bolted, galloping to Broadway and then to Fourth Street and finally to their stable.  Charlotte was no longer in the carriage.  Canda and the cabbie found her unconscious in a snowbank.  Having jumped or been thrown from the vehicle, she had struck her head on the pavement.  She died that night.  

Canda discovered Charlotte's sketch for Clemence's monument.  He modified it to include personal symbols of his daughter and had sculptors Robert Launitz and John Franzee transform it into marble.  It marks her grave in Brooklyn's Green-Wood cemetery.

A 19th century stereoscope slide depicts Charlotte's self-designed memorial.

In 1857, Charles and Adele Canda began construction of a mansion at 244 Second Avenue, just north of East 14th Street and half a block south of the elegant Stuyvesant Square.  (The address would later be renumbered 236 Second Avenue).  Completed in 1858, the brownstone-fronted residence rose three floors.  Its formal Italianate design included floor-to-ceiling windows at the second floor, which were fronted by stone balconies and crowned with classical pediments.  Most likely, the first floor included a projecting parlor window and balcony, and a porticoed entrance.  The Evening World superfluously deemed it, "the most elegantly appointed mansion in the city."

The Candas had two live-in servants in 1860--most likely the cook and butler.  But they would have had several others who arrived daily, like the laundress, chambermaid, lady's maid and such.

Late on the night of April 29, 1863, a neighbor, John Graham, heard a noise.  Looking out his rear window, he realized that burglars had pried opened and entered one of the Candas' rear windows.  In a loud voice he hollered for his wife to bring him his pistols.  The ploy worked and the two thieves fled the mansion and clambered over the rear fence.  At the same moment, a policeman arrived and, after a chase and a significant hand-to-hand battle, apprehended one of them.  

Charles Canda praised his neighbor for saving "$500 worth of property," saying "but for the fact that Mr. Graham called aloud for his pistol [it] would have been in the possession of these burglars."  The property was silverplate and the valuation would translate to about $12,900 in 2025.

Canda died in the Second Avenue mansion on September 27, 1866 at the age of 73.  His funeral was held in the drawing room the following afternoon followed by a service at the Church of the Nativity.  

Adele sold the house to Richard Sager that year.  A condition of the transaction apparently allowed Adele to remain in the house with the Sager family.  She was still listed here when she died at Boulogne-sur-Mer, France on May 16, 1871.

A widower, Sager was a prominent pork and provisions packer.  The New York Times said he "had large dealings in the [Produce] Exchange."  The Sagers hosted glittering entertainments in the mansion.  On January 30, 1876, for instance, the New York Dispatch reported that the members of the Irving Amateur Club "held a most pleasant and brilliant social reception at the residence of Mr. Richard Sager, No. 236 Second avenue.  After recitations, a piano solo, and readings, "the remainder of the evening was devoted to dancing in the elegant parlors of the genial host, who with his affable sons and charming daughters did everything to make his guests happy."  The dancing was followed by "an elegant repast" and yet more dancing.

And on February 17, 1878, the New York Dispatch reported, "The Misses Marie and Mattie Sager, daughters of Mr. Richard Sager, of No. 236 Second avenue, formerly the Canda mansion, held a brilliant reception at their parlors on Friday evening in honor of the coming [of] age of Mr. Thomas Sager their eldest brother."  The article mentioned, "the company was large and fashionable, and the parlors, which are among the most elegant in New York city, presented a singularly brilliant and handsome appearance."

On June 2, 1885, The New York Times reported, "Richard Sager, an old citizen of New York, and a well-known member of the Produce Exchange, died very suddenly of heart disease at his residence in Second-avenue...on Sunday."  

The mansion was purchased around two years later by Charles Lindner.  In June 1889, he hired architects Rentz & Lange to "cut window openings in the north wall."  Interestingly, although there had always been an easement, or passageway, between the mansion and the property next door, the original architect had not included windows.  Lindner apparently did work on the mansion again in the summer of 1899.  The New York Journal and Advertiser succinctly reported on June 17, "A workman known only as 'Pat' fell from the roof of No. 236 Second avenue, and was instantly killed."

On November 9, 1900, The New York Times reported that Charles Linder "is about to leave this country to make his home in Germany."  The article said that he had placed his home for sale at $30,000 (about $1.16 million today) and described:

This house...is a fine, old fashioned place, which dates back to the time when Second Avenue was a fashionable quarter of the city.  It is the old Canda house, occupied by the family now best remembered by the monument to the young girl, Charlotte Canda, which is one of the sights of Greenwood Cemetery.

The house was purchased in December by the Little Mothers' Aid Society.  Organized the previous year, it provided day care for children of working mothers, offered homemaking classes, and hosted summer outings that afforded tenement children a brief respite from the city.  The New York Times deemed the house "in perfect condition, and is conveniently arranged for the work of the Little Mothers."  Before moving in, alterations were made for the organization's purposes, and remodeled the exterior of the ground floor.

The ground floor alterations were not especially attractive.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The Times explained, "On the upper floor of the building are ten rooms, which the association...will use for the lodgings of its girls.  The remainder will be used for the club meetings, cooking and sewing classes, kindergarten and day nursery, and other branches of its work."  The former mansion became the headquarters of the Little Mothers' Aid Association (there were several branches in the city), and was called Happy Day House.

The Kindergarten Magazine and Pedagogical Digest, January 1907 (copyright expired)

An annual event at Happy Day House was the Better Babies Contest.  In 1913, 400 babies between three months to five years old--divided into three age groups--were entered.  A board of physicians examined each carefully and the parents of the winners in each category won $15.  This was not a beauty contest.  Its purpose was to engender nutrition, hygiene and pediatric care within the tenements.

The Little Mothers' Aid Association operated from 236 Second Avenue for decades, finally selling the building early in 1949 to the Jewish Ministers Cantors Association of America.  Founded in 1890, it was a fraternal organization of cantors.

The funeral of cantor Rev. Jacob Schwartz of Temple B'nai Jeshurun on June 9, 1953 was attended by "more than 1,000 persons," according to The New York Times.  The article said, "Later a service was held on the steps of the home of the Cantors Association at 236 Second Avenue, with hundreds watching in the street."

The Canda mansion was returned to a single family home--sort of--after real estate broker Gregg Marsh purchased it in 1979.  It was "restored and furnished with his own period furniture," according to The New York Times on April 25, 1981, noting that he "lives there but also rents it out, complete with caterer."  He named it Rutherford House, as a nod to the prestigious family who lived in the district in the early 19th century.  On the night before that article, Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager had hosted a "soiree musicale" here for 300 persons to introduce their first collaboration.

In the summer of 1984, developer Peter Sudarsky purchased the house and started a $1 million renovation.  On August 8, The New York Times reported it "will include a greenhouse addition to the ground-floor ballroom.  Mark Fahrer, a professional chef, has signed a long-term lease on the property and plans to reopen it in the fall as a catering and party facility."

Rutherford House became the venue of various benefits and other events.  In September 1986, for instance, it was the scene of "Murder at Rutherford House," a murder mystery and dining event.

Two years later came another renovation.  Completed by the New York Health and Racquet Club in September 1988, "River Club" included, "ornate game rooms, ballroom dancing and 10 kinds of bottled water at dinner," according to The Times.

There would be more changes to come.  In 2000, the building was converted to Gateway School.  The renovations to alter a former mansion into an educational facility with classrooms, a gymnasium, library and auditorium necessitated a two-story addition that starkly clashes architecturally with the original structure.

photograph by Carole Teller

Gateway School sold the building in 2009.  It is still listed as a commercial structure.

many thanks to reader Carole Teller for suggesting this post

The 1832 Benjamin Robert Winthrop Mansion - 138 2nd Avenue

 

image via apartments.com

In 1832, the year after he completed the sumptuous homes along St. Mark's Place between Second and Third Avenues, Thomas E. Davis began construction of similar Federal-style mansions on Second Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets.  The property sat within what had been part of the Stuyvesant farm.  Completed the following year, like its identical siblings 138 Second Avenue was faced in Flemish bond brick and trimmed in brownstone.  Typical of Davis's designs, the arched entrance sat within a Gibbs surround.  Three-and-a-half stories tall, its peaked roof was pierced with two prominent dormers.

photograph by the author

The mansion was purchased by Benjamin Robert Winthrop, a nephew of Nicholas William Stuyvesant.  Born in January 1804, he was a direct descendant of John Winthrop, the first Governor of Massachusetts and from Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch Governor of New York.  The head of a marine insurance company and a vice president of the New-York Historical Society, he and his wife, the former Elizabeth Neilson, had three sons and a daughter.

Benjamin Robert Winthrop later in life.  from americanaristocracy.com

The "Report of the Annual Dinner of the New England Society" on December 23, 1851, recalled, "From both father and mother he inherited a large fortune," adding that his house "is said to have been one of the finest houses in the city."

The Winthrops sailed to Europe in 1839, apparently intending to return to 138 Second Avenue eventually.  Benjamin Winthrop's first cousin, Hamilton Fish, moved into the house with his wife, the former Julia Kean, and their seven children.  The family had previously lived in Fish's birthplace, 21 Stuyvesant Street.

Hamilton Fish, from the collection of the Library of Congress

Born on August 3, 1808, Fish was an attorney.  He first ran for New York State Assembly as a Whig candidate in 1834 and would be a prominent figure in State and U.S. politics for the rest of his life.  

It appears that the Fish family lived with the Winthrops' furnishings.  In 1851, the "Report of the Annual Dinner of the New England Society" noted that the house "remains nearly in the same condition as when [Winthrop] left it to go abroad.  His library, rich in American and local history, is  still there.  On one of the walls hang pictures of his ancestors, among them one of Petrus Stuyvesant."

In 1851, Hamilton Fish was elected U.S. Senator.  (He would go on to become U.S. Secretary of State from 1869 to 1877 and a close advisor to President Ulysses S. Grant.)  He and his family left 138 Second Avenue following his election.

The house became home to Duncan Pearsall Campbell and his wife, the former Maria Bayard.  (Maria was Campbell's second wife, his first, Catherine Bayard, was her sister.  Catherine died in 1814 and Duncan and Maria were married on June 16, 1817.)  Campbell, who was born on Christmas Day 1781, was a partner in the shipping firm Le Roy, Bayard & Co.  His father-in-law, William Bayard, was the senior partner of the firm.  Living with Duncan and Maria were the children of Duncan's first marriage--Sarah Ann, Henry P., Robert B., and William B. Campbell--and Thomas P. Campbell, the only child of his second.

In addition to his position with Le Roy, Bayard & Co., Campbell was a director of the City Dispensary, was a founder of the Bank for Savings, and a trustee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York.

It was almost assuredly Duncan Campbell who raised the attic to a full fourth floor and updated the parlor with a three-sided bay.  While the Federal-style lintels were copied at the new level, the Italianate cornice with foliate brackets gave the house an up-to-date flavor.  

The parlor bay was likely added when the attic was raised.  No. 138 is the fourth house from the left.  Its original appearance can be see in 140 and 142 2nd Avenue next door.  King's Handbook of New York, 1892, (copyright expired)

The Campbell family suffered a period of grief starting on December 9, 1860 when William Bayard Campbell died.  Interestingly, his funeral was not held in the house, as would be expected, but at Trinity Church.  (None of the Campbell funerals would be held at home.)  Three months later, on March 5, 1861, Sarah Ann Campbell died, and on November 9, Duncan Pearsall Campbell expired in the house at the age of 80.

Thomas and Henry remained in the Second Avenue house with Maria through 1869.  By then, the once refined neighborhood was being engulfed with immigrants.  In 1870, the Winthrop family leased the former mansion to Eliza Foshee, the widow of Bernard Foshee.  She operated it as a boarding house.  Among her initial tenants were William Vanduze, a dry goods merchant; and George Adams, who did not list a profession in city directories, suggesting he was retired.

Benjamin Robert Winthrop died in London in 1873.  The Evening World reported, "By a provision of the will, the widow was given the house at 138 Second avenue, rent free for her life and $20,000 a year."  Elizabeth Winthrop, who had homes in Paris and London, would not be returning to Second Avenue.

The residence continued to house boarders until about 1883, when the Association for Befriending Children and Young Girls leased it and the house next door at 136.  Founded in 1869, its Annual Report said, 

The objects of the association shall be to rescue the daughters of poor and dissolute parents in the city of New York from the evil influences which surround them, by providing houses where the most necessitous and exposed may be cared for, or by gathering them for daily instruction, religious or secular.

The Annual Report of the State Board of Charities noted in 1885, "The building No. 136 is occupied by the older girls and young women, and constitutes an institution quite separate from the next house, occupied by children."  It added, "Number 138 is undoubtedly overcrowded, especially considering the condition of the health of a large number of the children."

Around 1894, the basement level was converted to business.  It held a barber shop through the turn of the century.  Despite its current uses, No. 138 Second Avenue and the other surviving Davis homes still exuded their former graciousness.  Influential architectural critic Montgomery Schuyler wrote that they give "an impression of decorum and refinement for which one would search any more modern quarter entirely in vain."

The Rev. Dr. Orlock and his wife were associated with Association for Befriending Children and Young Girls.  They lived here as early as 1900.  The couple got around town on bicycles, a popular and expensive pastime.  But on April 16, 1900, The Sun reported that the pair, "have been obliged to forego bicycle riding for the last two weeks because someone stole their wheels from their residence at 138 Second avenue."   Happily for them, a detective discovered the bicycles in a junk store on First Avenue on April 14. 

Living in the building in 1904 was John Holthosen, the sexton of St. Mark's Church.   By now, the former barber shop was operated as Philip Wagner's "funeral shop."  On June 14 that year, John and his two adult daughters boarded the General Slocum for a day trip up the East River and across the Long Island Sound to a picnic grove on Long Island.

The pleasure trip became a disaster--ending with the largest loss of life in New York City until the World Trade Center attacks.  Fire broke out below decks around 10:00.  Within 15 minutes the General Slocum burned to the waterline.  Of the 1,300 people aboard, only 321 survived.  Among them was John Holthosen, "who was saved with his two daughters," according to The Sun.  

On June 19, The New York Times reported,

...all day yesterday many [unidentified bodies] lay in the undertaking shop of Philip Wagner, at 138 Second Avenue, while every now and then hearses came and went and now one and then now another coffin was borne out for burial, some of whom made up the grim family party lying so quiet in the long black boxes in the back room of the undertaker's shop.

The "grim family party" referred to in the article were the 26 extended family members of Henry A. Kohler.

In 1910, the Winthrop family received a permit to install a store front, or "bay window."  The permit noted it was "not to project past the property line."  Five years later, in February 1915, architect Louis A. Sheinart filed plans to make alterations "for show rooms."  While the projecting, two-story storefront destroyed the parlor bay, the renovations did not alter the magnificent entrance nor the upper floor openings.

In 1916, the League of Foreign-Born Citizens moved its headquarters into the building.  Its present, Nathaniel Phillips, also took up residence here.   On December 15, The Evening Post remarked, "Starting in October, 1913, with five members, the League has grown steadily until its membership is now close to 2,400."  The article said, "At 138 Second Avenue the brother of the man who stormed Bucharest sits beside the cousin of the man who defended it and learns how to become a citizen of his adopted land."  The organization was described in the November 1919 issue of Foreign Born as the "First organized institute for the purpose of helping the foreign-born to become American citizens and appreciate American institutions."

The League remained here at least through 1919.  The commercial spaces held the Enterprize Dental Supply Co. and the Art Costume Co. in the 1920s.  By then, ownership of 138 Second Avenue had passed to Benjamin Winthrop.  Prior to his death before 1931, he possessed 72 properties in the district, including this one.

In March 1939, the Manhattan Eighth Assembly District Club established its clubhouse here.  The social-political club was "formed to fight Charles A. Schneider for the Tammany leadership of the district," according to The New York Times on March 17.

Lightweight boxer Angelo DeSanza fought in the ring as Terry Young.  On November 17, 1943, The New York Times reported that the 21-year-old "boasted...he had averaged $10,000 yearly for the last three years."  He was, as well, the leader of a gang of gunmen who had been perpetrating hold-ups on the Lower East Side.  The article said their downfall came "when the four younger robbers invaded the Eighth Assembly District Democratic Club at 138 Second Avenue on Feb. 19."  The gang threatened 40 members with drawn pistols and fled with $400.

The inexperienced delinquents had chosen the wrong club to target.  Two were arrested within hours and they then fingered the others as well as DeSanza.  He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in Sing Sing.  In sentencing him, Judge Goldstein commented, "It was only by the grace of God and the cool-headedness of those in that club that some of the victims were not murdered by those young gunmen."

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In 1947, Spanish American painter Esteban Vicente Pérez (who did not use his surname professionally) and his bride, Maria Teresa Babin, moved into an apartment here.  Born on January 20, 1903, he was among the first generation of New York School abstract expressionists.  He had just returned to New York after a two-year period of painting in Puerto Rico.  According to Elizabeth Frank in her Esteban Vicente, when they moved into 138 Second Avenue, 

Vicente already knew and had become good friends with composer Edgar Varèse and his wife, and now he became friends with the composer Stefan Wolpe and his wife, the poet Hilda Morley, as well as a number of painters, including Willem de Kooning, Pollock, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, William Baziotes, and Barnett Newman.

The couple remained here through 1949.

The Eighth District Assembly Democratic Club had its headquarters here at least through 1969.  One of the commercial spaces was home to Zachary's hair salon in the early 1980s.

photograph by the author

A hearing regarding the designation 138 Second Avenue as an individual New York City landmark was scheduled for June 23, 2009.  Poised to testify was Joyce Mendelsohn, author of The Lower East Side Remembered & Revisited.  In her letter of support, she commented, "No. 138 Second Avenue survives as an important nineteenth century building with twentieth-century alterations, reflecting the history of the area and the growth and development of the city."  Unfortunately, the hearing was "removed from the calendar without prejudice."  

photographs by the author

The Altered Alfred Schanck House - 318 Second Avenue

 

photograph by Ted Leather

Alfred Schanck's first American ancestor was Roelof Martense Schenck, who arrived in New Amsterdam from the Netherlands in 1650.  Alfred's grandfather, John Schanck (the surname had been changed a generation earlier) fought in the Revolutionary War, and Alfred's father, DeLaFayette Schanck, was, according to his obituary, "the first American child who bore the name of La Fayette."

Alfred was born on November 5, 1817.  In 1845 he married Emily Woodward and the couple had two children: Charles W., born in 1846; and Emily W., born in 1849.  Alfred was a partner in the ironworks firm Tugnot, Dally & Co. on First Avenue at 25th Street.  It manufactured elements of U.S. Navy vessels like the U.S.S. Niagara, the U.S.S. Shubrick and the U.S.S. Brooklyn.  

Portions of the U.S.S. Niagara were manufactured in Schank's foundry. (original source unknown)

In 1852 Schanck moved his family into the newly built  Italianate-style rowhouse at 318 Second Avenue, a block-and-a-half north of elegant Stuyvesant Square.  Four stories tall above a high brownstone-clad basement, it was faced in warm red brick and trimmed in brownstone.  The floor-to-ceiling parlor floor windows were most likely fronted by a cast iron balcony.  The elliptically arched openings sat within handsome architrave frames.  An elaborate cornice with scrolled brackets and alternating panels of rosettes and foliate ornaments completed the design.

Schanck also dabbled in real estate.  On March 7, 1860, for instance, he offered a house on this block, 324 Second Avenue, for rent; and a "two story and basement Cottage" on East 35th Street.  He was, as well, a director in the Hamilton Fire Insurance Co.

The Schanck family moved to 844 Second Avenue in 1863 and No. 318 became home to merchant Samuel Bachrach.  The family's residency was relatively short.  On April 5, 1869, an advertisement in the New York Herald offered:

To Let--Furnished, the fine, four-story high stoop brick House No. 318 Second avenue containing 22 rooms, suitable for a large family or private boarding house, at reasonable rent to responsible parties.

The house was rented for a year to attorneys George S. Sedgwick and Thomas Simons, whose office was at 41 Chambers Street.  Boarding with the two families was Mary G. Reyns, a teacher.

The Bachrachs sold 318 Second Avenue the following year.  An auction of the "handsome household furniture" was held on April 9, 1870.  The residence was purchased by Franz Romanus Rust and his wife, Rudolphine.

Rust was the victim of what The New York Times called "one of the most audacious of recent robberies in this City," on July 1, 1871.  Rust went to the New-York Trust Company at 119 Broadway at 1:30 that afternoon.  He intended to make a deposit of $2,000 in cash (equal to $53,000 in 2025).  As he entered the vestibule, "he was surrounded by six thieves, one of whom succeeded in taking the wallet containing the money from his pocket, while another knocked him down," according to The Evening Post.

Attracted by Rust's cries, a crowd collected and "the desperadoes...fled in different directions as soon as the money had been carried away," said The New York Times.  The article continued, "But Mr. Rust continuing his outcries, the next instant a person, whom he vaguely describes as a half-grown colored boy, handed him back the wallet, which he said he had picked up in the street."  There was $500 missing.

Police quickly nabbed two suspects whom Rust identified.  The following day, the New York Dispatch reported, "James F. Martin, alias Butts, and Joseph Page, alias James Ahearn, alias 'Mysterious Jim,' were arraigned before Justice Hogan, at the Tombs, yesterday, charged with having robbed Emil Rust...of a wallet containing $2,000 in greenbacks."  

In an interesting turn of events, this was not the first time the magistrate had interacted with one of the defendants.  The Evening Post reported, "Butts about a year ago assaulted Justice Hogan in a Broadway stage, when the latter interfered to preserve a lady from insult, but the ruffian escaped punishment."

Well-to-do families often filled non-used rooms with renters or boarders.  On December 24, 1872, the Rusts advertised, "two single nicely furnished rooms to let, without board."  The ad was answered by Herman A. Curiel and Siegfried Koppel, partners in an importing firm at 95 Beaver Street; and Maurice Krickl, a trimmings merchant.

As the Second Avenue neighborhood morphed from elegant private homes to commerce, the Rusts left 318 Second Avenue and leased it to a proprietor who operated it as rented rooms.  Rudolphine, who survived her husband, died on October 4, 1912.  On December 3 the following year, The New York Times reported that "the four-story brick tenement situated at 318 Second Avenue," was being auctioned "to close [the] estate of Rudolphine Rust."  (Rudolphine's estate was equal to about $2.5 million today.)

The handsome cornice and the carved frames of the windows and former doorway survived in 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The property continued to be a rooming house and at some point previous to 1941 the stoop was removed and the entrance lowered to the basement level.  A renovation completed in 1952 resulted in a day nursery in the basement, a doctor's office on the first floor and one apartment each on the upper floors.  

photograph by Ted Leather

A subsequent remodeling in 1990 resulted in a duplex apartment in the basement and first floors, and one apartment each on the upper stories.  There are a total of five apartments in the former mansion today.

many thanks to reader Ted Leather for suggesting this post.

The 1852 Catherine Stapleton House - 321 Second Avenue

 

The upper floor windows were almost assuredly originally framed in stone.  photograph by Ted Leather

The first of the mansions that would encircle Gramercy Park (or Gramercy Place as it was sometimes called) began rising in the early 1840s.  A decade later, the high-tone tenor of the neighborhood had spread and in 1852 a row of identical homes were erected by the wealthy Stuyvesant family along the western side of Second Avenue between 18th and 19th Streets.

Four stories tall, they were two bays wide.  Unlike the English basement style homes that were proliferating throughout the city, their Anglo-Italianate design forewent high stoops.  Their arched entrances sat just above the sidewalk.

Likely a full-width cast iron balcony originally fronted the second floor windows.  photograph by Ted Leather

No. 321 Second Avenue became home to dressmaker Catherine Stapleton, who was most likely a widow.  The best of the dressmakers at the time created the wardrobes of wealthy socialites and earned significant incomes.  Catherine had a boarder in 1853, Samuel Durand, a moulder (a maker of castings or, sometimes, a brickmaker).  He may have occupied the smaller house in the rear yard.

Boarding with Catherine Stapleton by 1859 were Hannah Merritt Smith and Joseph Seymour Mathews, his wife Elizabeth, and their infant daughter, Fannie.  Mary Cleary, the widow of James Cleary, occupied the rear house.  Catherine Stapleton offered the parlor on June 5 that year for Hannah Smith's wedding to Caleb Green Dunn.

J. Seymour Mathews was a commissioner of deeds and an engrossing clerk within the Aldermen's Office.  (As an engrossing clerk he checked departmental entries for accuracy.)  He received a bonus of sorts on December 1, 1859 of $250 "for extra services," according to the Proceedings of the Board of Aldermen.  The windfall would translate to about $9,730 in 2025.

In June 1860, Manhattan society was captivated by the arrival of the first Japanese Delegation of the United States.  The 76 ambassadors were called "the Japanese princes," by newspapers.  J. Seymour Mathews was given a crushing responsibility.  He and Simon Myers were appointed "the principals in charge of the visit."

On June 30, 1860, five days after the the Japanese delegation left New York, Charles DeForest Fredricks created this portrait of Simon Myers and J. Seymour Mathews (right).  from the collection of Getty Museum.

Catherine Stapleton's parlor was the scene of little Fannie Mathews's funeral on December 5, 1861.  She died on December 3, one day after her second birthday.

Three months later, Joseph Seymour Mathews died here on March 19, 1862 at the age of 38.  His funeral was held in the Seventh Street Methodist Episcopal Church near Third Avenue.

By 1868, Thomas Ingham, an iron merchant, and his family occupied 321 Second Avenue and would remain until 1875 when Felix Marx moved in.  Marx ran an "eatinghouse" at 185 Church Street at the time.  By 1879 his son, J. L. Marx had joined him and they opened a second restaurant at 438 Broome Street.

Felix Marx leased 321 Second Avenue in 1881 to G. F. Abraham, who operated it as a boarding house.  Among his initial tenants was Rev. Griffith H. Humphrey.  The 32-year-old bachelor had been the pastor of the Welsh Presbyterian Church on East 13th Street for four years.  The Sun described the young minister as "a tall, slender man, with a full brown beard."  

In July 1882, Laura A. Jones came to New York from Llanberis, Wales.  She found a room in a boarding house on Eighth Avenue and became a member of the Welsh Presbyterian Church.  The Sun reported, "She was looking for employment and made frequent calls with this object on Mr. Humphrey at his residence, 321 Second Avenue."  The newspaper said, "He says he requested her not to call so often."  Her repeated visits, however, resulted in "much talk about their acquaintance."  By the early months of 1883, rumors were so rampant that Humphrey "requested the church to investigate the matter," according to The Sun.

Laura Jones was interviewed by church elders in April.  She told them that Rev. Humphrey had proposed marriage.  A few days later, she wrote to the deacons and retracted her statement.  Then, a few days after that, she asserted that Humphrey had again proposed to her.  When called to testify to that in person, she again retracted her statements.  She was expelled from the church "for falsehood."

With her out of the picture, Humphrey most likely thought he was free from scandal.  In the summer of 1883 he was married.  But Laura Jones reappeared.  On December 17 she sued Humphrey for $10,000 for breach of promise (about $323,000 today).  Her illegitimate child was born on December 30.

Rev. Humphreys was arrested at his residence on February 13, 1884 "on Miss Jones's complaint that he was the father of her child."  She told the court that "she had no means of support and was likely to become a charge on the county."  The trial revealed shocking testimony.  Boarders in the house where Laura Jones lived said they had seen her in bed with Ellis Owens, another boarder.  A Mrs. Crook testified that when Laura was first in a "delicate condition," she "asked her about Mr. Humphrey, and Miss Jones said there had never been anything wrong between them."  Rev. Griffith H. Humphrey was absolved of any crime.

Living here in the early 1890s were T. R. Fell, a stenographer who worked in the Mayor's Office; and Charles Walton, who worked for a painter and decorating firm.  Walton was estranged from his wife.  His employer, Leopold Freund, was known to the courts for abusing his employees with litigation.  The Evening World said Freund "has come to be known as a professional complainant."

Early in July 1894, Freund procured a summons on a charge "of stealing a pair of overalls" against Walton.  Walton did not appear in court and so on July 13, a court officer appeared at 321 Second Avenue.  The New York Times reported, "At Walton's home...he was told that the man he sought was at his wife's home, 116 Seventh Street."  What he was not told was that Walton was dead.

The article said that when the officer arrived to the wife's home, he "found preparations for a funeral in progress."  The article said:

The woman who answered the door bell explained that when Walton was served with a summons he took it so much to heart he went to his room and killed himself by inhaling gas.  Walton had lived apart from his wife, but when she heard of his death she had his body brought to her home.

The same day, Freund appeared in court against another employee, Henry Paul, whom he accused of stealing painting materials.  In the courtroom were friends of Walton who told the judge "that Freund had hounded the old man and thus drove him to suicide."  Justice McMahon responded by dismissing the complaint against Paul and ordered Freund out of court.  "You have fooled this Court long enough and you will do so no longer," he said.

Nellie Thomas worked as a salesperson and lived here as early as 1904.  Starting around 1902, John A. Price, a theatrical agent, became enamored with her.  On January 21, 1905, The Sun said, "for the past three years he has been paying court to Miss Thomas with poor success."  In fact, Price had become what today would be called a stalker.  The article said, "His attentions became so annoying that she caused his arrest six months ago, and he was put under bonds to keep the peace."

"Under bonds" was what today would be known as a restraining order.  During that time, Nellie began dating a young man.  On January 19, 1905--the same date that the restraining order expired--the two went out.  They were walking along East 17th Street when Price appeared.

"Hello, Nell.  Don't you love me any more?" he said.

"Don't you speak to me.  I don't want anything to do with you," she replied.

"I love you as the flowers love the sun.  You are driving me crazy, and I don't care what happens to me unless I get you for my wife.  Shoot me, throw me in the river, but don't say you won't be my wife.  Chase this young fellow away and say you love me."

Nellie said, "I've told you dozens of times that I'd never marry you.  If you speak to me again, I'll have you arrested."

At the time, Detective Bradley was walking on the opposite side of the street.  He later testified that he "saw Price raise a heavy cane and strike the young woman on the head with it.  The blow cut her scalp open and knocked her to the sidewalk."  Price ran down the street with Nellie's companion and Bradley in pursuit.  He was arrested a few blocks later.

Nellie's head wound needed stitches.  Later she signed a formal complaint.  In court Price told the judge, "Yes, I'm guilty.  Do with me as you like.  If I can't get my Nell, I don't want to live."

Nellie asked the prisoner, "Why did you beat me so?"

"Because I love you.  Do as you like with me."

Then, as is often the case with the victims of physical abuse and emotional control, Nellie began to soften.  She told the court, "He wants to marry me, Judge."

The magistrate responded, "So he tried to woo you with a club, eh?"

"It was only a cane, Judge, and I don't know as I want to press the complaint."

Nellie sat for a few moments, then walked over to Price.  "The two began talking earnestly," reported The Sun.  Nellie approached the bench and said, "Judge, we are going to get married.  Jack is a good fellow, and I know he didn't mean any harm."  The pair left the courtroom together.

On August 14, 1920, The New York Times reported that the Rutherfurd Stuyvesant estate had sold "the four-story dwelling 321 Second Avenue to Henry Braveman."  When he sold it a month later, the Record & Guide described the property as a "four-story tenement house."

In 1941 the stone details had been removed and the third floor windows shortened.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The building was renovated in 1922 to bachelor apartments.  The Certificate of Occupancy demanded, "not more than two families cooking independently on premises."  It was likely during the remodeling that the stone frames of the windows were replaced by brick.

photograph by Ted Leather

There were subsequent renovations over the next decades.  Today there are five apartments in the building.

many thanks to reader Ted Leather for suggesting this post