Kurtzer & Rohl's 1891 192 Spring Street

The Spring Street block between Sullivan and Thompson Streets during the 1830s was lined with frame, Federal-style houses, most with brick facades.  By the last decade of the century, however, as waves of immigrants settled in the district, those venerable dwellings were replaced with multi-family buildings.

On January 19, 1891, the Real Estate Record & Guide reported that August Ruff intended to erect a "six-story brick, iron and stone flat" at 192 Spring Street.  Although Ruff had not yet decided upon an architect, he estimated his project would cost $25,000 (about $864,000 in 2025).  The German-born developer would be responsible for erecting dozens of apartment buildings before his death in 1921.  For this project, he chose two countrymen to design the structure--Frederick William Kurtzer and Richard O. L. Rohl.

Completed before the end of the year, 192 Spring Street was a blend of Renaissance Revival and Queen Anne styles.  The entrance frame rose slightly higher than the stores on either side.  Above its elegant fanlight was a portrait keystone.  A leaded, round opening dominated the upper portion of the frame.  Kurtzer & Rohl embellished the six upper floors with terra cotta decorations--intricate bandcourses, Renaissance-inspired pediments, shell-filled tympana, portrait brackets, and fantastic masks and creatures drawn from German prototypes.

August Ruff was a developer, not a landlord.  Immediately upon the building's completion, he and his wife, Mena, sold 192 Spring Street to Elizabeth and Nicholas Brooks for $48,000.  Equal to $1.6 million today, the price reaped Ruff a satisfying profit.

The original stores were home to Domenico Marziello's barber shop and John E. Rosasco's "milk" store.  Upstairs were four apartments per floor--two in front and two in back.  The initial residents were a blend of new arrivals--their surnames reflecting homelands like Italy, Ireland and even France.  Among those living here in 1897, for instance, were Frank Santomenna and Francis Ramagli, both tailors.  Peter Laffitte and Raoul Bayeux were cooks, and Thomas F. Gallagher worked as a clerk.

No doubt, the residents were terrified on August 10, 1892 when The Evening World reported, "Annie Gavin, fifteen, was found suffering with small pox at her home, 192 Spring street, last night.  She was taken up to North Brother Island."  (Patients of the contagious disease were quarantined in the Small Pox Hospital on the small island in the East River between the Bronx and Riker's Island.)

Living here in 1895 were Irish-born John and Annie McMunn.  The couple had three children, one of whom was an infant.  On February 20 that year, The World reported, "Mrs. McMunn's neighbors say she acts like a mad woman when in liquor."

On the afternoon of February 19, while John was at work, the baby began crying.  The World said, "Mrs. McMunn, in a fit of frenzy, attempted to brain it, but a man who was working in the hallway prevented her."  The ruckus from the apartment attracted a passing patrolman, who took the baby.  Annie McMunn was not yet done.  She picked up a chair and tried to strike her baby.  The New York Times said that had it not been the policeman instead who took the blows, "the little one would have been killed."

The New York Times continued, "Mrs. McMunn vigorously resisted arrest, and it took two policemen to hold her while she was being taken to the station, in a truck."  The World added that she was "taken screaming and struggling to the Macdougal Street Station."  The newspaper reported the following day that John McMunn, "had two of his children committed to the care of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, as he was afraid his wife would harm them."

By May 1904, when Nicholas and Elizabeth Brooks sold the building to John Capinto and Joseph Libonati, almost all the residents were Italian.  When the country entered World War I in 1917, many of the young men in the neighborhood--several of them new arrivals to America--joined the U.S. Army.

Tony Pappone, Dominick Mangieri, Daniel Licciono, and Joe Anella, whose families all lived in 192 Spring Street, were too young to fight.  Instead, they recruited Angelo De Nisco, who lived next door, and hit the pavement to raise money.  Police Sergeant Theodore Ridder came upon the crew on September 14, 1918.  The Sun said, "In their innocence the youngsters were using an American flag as a receptacle and the sergeant took them to the police station at 24 Macdougal street."  The article noted, "Their ages range from 7 to 14 years."

At the police station, "in a kindly way," according to The Sun, the sergeant asked the boys, "What are you going to do with this money?"

One answered, "We're going to buy a service flag."

The sergeant suggested, "Why not give to The Sun Tobacco Fund instead?  Then, the men you want to honor will get smokes."

(The newspaper was currently raising funds to send cigarettes to the soldiers on the front.)

The boys (and their mothers, who had by now arrived) "assented enthusiastically," and the police sergeant escorted the five boys to The Sun office where they proudly contributed their $1.50.  The boys' names were later published along with the other donors.

More than century old Federal-style houses still survived next door to 192 Spring Street in 1941.  via the NYC Dept Records & Information Services.

The neighborhood was still overwhelmingly Italian at the end of World War II.  Joseph Izzo lived here in 1946 when his attempt to earn a living landed him behind bars.  The 30-year-old was a truck driver and when the CIO Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Employees Union went on strike that December, Izzo was hired to make deliveries.

When he drove his truck to the gates of the Strauss Stores warehouse at Maspeth, Long Island on December 18, he was confronted with an angry mob of strikers.  They called Izzo, according to the newspaper PM, "a scab."

Labor conflicts often resulted in violence and this standoff was no exception.  In this case, it was Joseph Izzo who meted out the punishment.  The article said, Paul Millman, a striking saleman, "sustained a broken hip;" a shipping clerk, Harry Samuels, "has rib and spine injuries" and two other picketers "suffered minor injuries."  In the melee, policeman Patrick Norton was also hurt.  Joseph Izzo did not come home that evening.  The article said he, "was arrested and held in $5000 bail on a charge of third-degree assault."

The next day, another resident's name was in the newspapers for a tragic reason.  Despite his advanced age, Joseph Ianatto still worked at A. Imperatrice & Sons, a rag salvage and baling concern at 29 Mercer Street.  On December 19, the 74-year-old was loading heavy bales onto a truck when, as reported by the New York Post, "a bale slipped and struck Ianatto, knocking him to the basement eight feet below and landing on him."  An ambulance attendant pronounced him dead on the scene.

The second half of the century saw change in the Soho neighborhood.  Art galleries, trendy boutiques and cafes little by little transformed its personality.  The movement was vividly exemplified when Trente's Afro-Disiac Boutique opened in one of the stores in 192 Spring Street.  

N.Y. Amsterdam News, April 26, 1969

The other commercial space was occupied from 1968 to 1971 by Old Springs Work Shop.  It handled woodworking projects like refinishing, repairing furniture, framing and such.  According to co-owner Stuart Rudnick, who lived in the building, he and his partner got free rent "for taking out the garbage" in the building.

In the mid-1970s, the Fear Of Art Gallery occupied one of the storefronts, and on June 20, 1989 Fertility, a boutique devoted to fashions designed by Isaia, opened here.

Outwardly, 192 Spring Street is substantially unchanged since newly-arrived immigrants moved into the building nearly 135 years ago.

photographs by the author

The Lost William Maginnis House and Store -- 513 Greenwich Street

 

On June 13, 1913, when this photograph was taken, a restaurant occupied the ground floor.  Colonial Architecture in New York City, 1913 (copyright expired)

In 1815, homes and shops were appearing along Spring Street between Greenwich and Hudson Street.  It was around that year that the two-and-a-half story house-and-store was erected at the southeast corner of Greenwich and Spring Streets.  The Federal-style structure was faced in brick on the front, or Greenwich Street elevation, and in clapboards on the side.  The attic, under a high gambrel roof, featured two tall dormers at the front, and an arched window on the side flanked by quarter-round openings.

The residential entrance was at 318 Spring Street, while the commercial address was 513 Greenwich Street.  In 1816, the shop was occupied by the Henry A. & C. Heiser candle store.  By 1850, the ground floor was divided into two shops.  William Maginnis and his family lived upstairs, and he ran his "willowware" (i.e. baskets) shop here.  The enterprising businessman ran a fruit market next door, at 316 Spring Street, as well.  The other shop was home to Thomas Dean's tinsmith business.  Previously, he worked and lived a block away at 324 Spring Street.  (He and his family now lived at 76 Charlton Street.)

Thomas Dean would operate his tin shop here through 1858.  In 1851, Maginnis moved out, relocating his family to 573 Greenwich Street.  (He kept his fruit business next door, however.)  James Clinton took over the vacant store for his boots and shoe shop.

Ann Mulligan, the widow of Bernard Mulligan, seems to have operated the upper floors as a boarding house in the mid-1850s.  Listed at the address in 1853 were John McCool, a builder, and Levi Hyer, a clerk.  Both men volunteered as fire fighters at the National Hose Company, No. 24 nearby at 315 Spring Street.  (John McCool would become a significant developer in the years after the Civil War, erecting long rows of brownstone residences in the burgeoning Upper East Side.)

from the collection of the New York Public Library

Sharing the ground floor with Thomas Dean in 1858 was John Jones's carpet weaving shop.  On December 16 that year, a fire was sparked by a "candle in dust," according to the The United States Insurance Gazette and Magazine.  The building was owned by Dr. Samuel M. Valentine, who lived at 159 Madison Avenue.  In repairing the damages, Valentine further separated the ground floor, which now held three stores.  It was likely that the reduction of space prompted Thomas Dean to leave, moving his business to 533 Canal Street.

Valentine's ground floor tenants were now John Jones's carpet weaving business, Joseph Watson's tinsmith shop (it is possible he had worked for Thomas Dean), and David Orr's boot and shoe shop.  Just after midnight on November 27, 1861, another fire broke out "in the carpet weaving shop of John Jones," according to the New York Herald, which said, "The flames extended into the tinware store of Joseph Watson, adjoining, before the fire was extinguished."

This time, the Fire Marshal's Semi-annual Report deemed the cause, "carelessness."  The damage to the building was estimated at $100.  Jones suffered the same amount (equal to about $3,570 in 2025).  Watson's loss was half that amount, but he had no insurance coverage.  Although the fire did not spread into David Orr's shop, he suffered the worst.  The New York Herald noted that his "stock of boots and shoes...was damaged by water to the extent of about $150."

It appears that Valentine restored the ground floor to two spaces.  Not surprisingly, after two fires in his shop, John Jones was no longer a tenant.  Joseph Watson now shared the ground floor with John and Elizabeth Collins.  John shared his basket store with Elizabeth's "home furnishing" business.  The couple lived nearby at 311 Spring Street.

In the meantime, boarders came and went in the upper floors.  J. Flinger's residency was cut short in August 1863, when he was drafted into the Union Army.  An unmarried woman, E. Connell, lived here the following year.  She advertised for a job in The New York Times on November 18, 1864, "Wanted--By a young American woman, a situation to travel as a companion to an invalid or as lady's maid; can furnish the best reference."

from the collection of the New York Public Library

Elizabeth and John Collins remained in their store as late as 1874.  By then, John had added crockery to his basket offerings.  Around 1867, Thomas Gallagher had taken over the former Joseph Watson tin business.  John Gallagher, presumably his son, ran the business in 1879. That year Philip Scheurer ran a crockery store in the former Collins space.  Scheuer and his family shared the upper portion of the building with "pumpmaker" John Ivans.

In 1888, D. Parrata obtained a permit to operate a "fruit and soda water stand" on the sidewalk.  Living upstairs at the time was the Ferris family.  Charles Ferris listed his profession as "pedlar," and Joseph Ferris as a driver.

The frame building survived another fire that broke out at 10:25 on the morning of October 27, 1903 in the office of Ledyard Avery & Co., commission merchants.  The ground floor was returned to a single commercial space, home to a restaurant by 1913.  It was replaced in the post World War I years by Star Art Glass Co.

The Glaziers' Journal, August 1923 (copyright expired)

The Star Art Glass Co. was still in the unlikely surviving relic on June 29, 1938 when photographer Berenice Abbott photographed it.  In the shadow of the rumbling elevated train, a notice plastered on the building's facade offered "This Corner Plot" for sale, noting, "Will Alter or Erect New Building."

from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

Within three years the venerable structure was gone.  In its place, a single-story building was erected, which survives.

image via Googlemaps

The Eighth Ward Hotel - 188 Spring Street

 

The facade is partially obscured in 2025 by construction netting next door.

Around 1824, Nathanial Paine erected three Federal-style houses at 166 to 170 Spring Street (renumbered 186 to 190 Spring Street in 1848).  Three-and-a-half stories tall, the peaked roofs of each had a single dormer.  A commercial space occupied the ground floor of the center house and a narrow horsewalk, or passageway, that tunneled through the structure accessed a smaller building in the rear.

The upper floors appear to have been originally operated as a boarding house.  Living here in 1827 were John Beraun, a hairdresser; Cyrus Fairchild, who was a cartman; grocer Josiah Merritt; carpenter Jacob Noble; and shoemakers Isaiah Sickels and Alan H. Brown.  Sickels and Brown most likely worked for Henry Travis, whose shoe store was in the ground floor.  In the rear building, Burgess & Smith ran a tailor shop.

On April 26, 1832, according to the American Rail-Road Journal, the property was sold at auction for $2,600 (about $94,600 in 2025 terms).  The buyers, William Lewis and his wife, almost immediately leased it.  An advertisement in the New-York Evening Post on June 5, 1832 offered, "To Let, the three story brick House No. 168 Spring street, calculated for a dwelling and store; rent very low and possession given immediately."

It was leased to John F. Davis, a captain in the 1st Regiment of the U.S. Volunteers of New York.  Davis was highly involved with Tammany Hall and converted the store space to "Captain Davis's Large Room," sometimes called the Davis's Long Room, a tavern and meeting place for Eighth Ward Democrats.  Rooms continued to be rented in the upper floors, which Davis named the Eighth Ward Hotel.

Davis's signing of the lease came in time for the 1832 elections.  On November 6, The Evening Post reported that the Eighth Ward Hotel would be the polling place for the ward.

At a meeting here on March 14, 1834, the Eighth Ward Democrats passed a series of resolutions.  Among them were, "Resolved, That Mr. Martin Van Buren, Vice President of the United States, we recognize a true Democrat, one ever willing and ready to sustain his country at the call of the people," and, "Resolved, that the attempt by our political adversaries to corrupt the voters by raising, as they boast they have done, a fund of 20,000, while it exhibits the depravity of our opponents, shews that they illy understand and cannot appreciate the virtue of the American people."

A reporter from the New-York Tribune (an anti-Tammany newspaper) attended a meeting "at Captain Davis's Large Room" on June 25, 1844.  His article cast an unfavorable light on the speaker, Dr. Chetou, who addressed the concerns of tavern owners over the Temperance-leaning mayor.  "He told them this was not the first time that their rights had been invaded," said the article, "A similar attempt was made in 1828 to prevent them from selling on Sunday."

He then descanted at length on the influence and respectability of Rum-sellers, and contended that they had more property and more money invested in their business than all the Stock Gamblers in Wall street.  You have come here, said he, this afternoon to perform your duty, to maintain your rights, which a party placed in power by our partialities have encroached upon.

Davis's Large Room continued to serve as a polling place each year and as the Democratic Ward headquarters.  By 1846, it was also the headquarters of the 1st Regiment U.S. Volunteers.

In 1850, the rear building was home to the Charles J. Holder piano shop, established in 1834.  The English-born Holder's piano-fortes were high-quality instruments.  He won a silver medal at the 1852 and 1853 American Institute Exhibitions, and in 1852 C. A. S. Holder, presumably a son, was recognized for "a superior piano-forte case."  

An advertisement in The New York Times on April 23, 1853 said Holder's, "splendid 7-1/2 octave Instruments...are now eliciting the admiration of professors and musical families" and predicted, "these instruments are destined to supersede the Grand Piano, as they possess all their melody and power, and are afforded at half their price."

One can imagine the difficulty workers encountered in moving pianos through the narrow horsewalk.  Nevertheless, Charles J. Holder would occupy the rear building through 1860.  By then, Thomas Holder and Elbridge G. B. Holder were involved in the business.

In addition to its traditional pianos, in 1868 the firm was manufacturing celestas, also known as bell pianos.  The instruments produced a sound similar to a glockenspiel.  On May 3, 1868, the New York Herald headlined an article, "A Musical Offender," and reported that Henry Ennver, "a young man, twenty-one years of age, recently in the employ of Mr. Charles J. Holder, of 188 Spring street," had been arrested "on the charge of stealing one hundred and fifty pounds of gong bells."  Ennver confessed to the theft and to having sold them for $10.

In the meantime, in 1845, most likely in response to his Tammany loyalty, John F. Davis was appointed an officer of the U.S. Customs House.  His new responsibilities may have eventually made it impossible to run the hotel, as well.  An advertisement in the New York Herald on April 21, 1853 read, "To Let or Lease--The House No. 188 Spring street, known as the Eighth Ward Hotel, with fixtures and furniture for sale.  The reason for selling out is, that the proprietor has other business to attend to."

In 1870, the rear building was leased to Crawford Monds, who operated C. Monds, carpenters and builders.  The commercial space in the main building became the variety store of Frederick Eckhardt, who now owned the property with his wife, Anna.  In 1879 Frederick transitioned to selling milk.

Lewis (sometimes spelled Louis) Eckhardt ran the "creamery" business by 1880 while Frederick managed his real estate holdings.  On July 23, 1881, The Evening Post reported that "Lewis Eckhardt, an extensive milk dealer at No. 188 Spring street," had been charged by Dr. John B. Isham, an inspector of the Board of Health, for adulterating his milk.  Isham told Justice Bixby, "that one third of the cream had been removed and eleven per centum of water had been added."  

The Eckhardts operated the milk business from the property into the first years of the 20th century.

image for the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

By the World War I years, the building was updated with a veneer of running bond brick and the removal of the dormer.  The family of Seung Gong, who ran a laundry in the store space, lived in the upper floors.  A Chinese-run laundry would remain through World War II.

A significant renovation completed around 1962 converted the ground floor to residential.  The horsewalk was incorporated into the space and the ground floor was given a wooden veneer.  A rooftop shed dormer was installed at the same time.

photographs by the author

A. G. Rechlin's 1901 204 Spring Street

 

Unlike thousands of Italian immigrants who arrived in Manhattan in the 1890s, Dominick Abbate and Rocco Maria Marasco did not live in tenement buildings, but constructed them.  Abbate could have sprung from a Horatio Alger rags-to-riches story.  Starting as a newsboy at the age of nine, he worked various jobs until he saved $150 at the age of 21.  He and Marasco invested in real estate and, according to The New York Times, "The firm did a business of $2,000,000 in seven years."

At the dawn of the 20th century, Marasco & Abbate were replacing numerous vintage structures with modern multi-family buildings.  On April 10, 1901, The New York Times reported that architect A. G. Rechlin had filed plans for another--a seven-story "brick flat" at 204 Spring Street.  Rechlin placed the construction cost at $25,000 (about $924,000 in 2025).

The building was completed by the end of the year.  By December 9, 1901, when Francesco and Louise Roseti purchased it from Marasco & Abbate, they had already moved in.  Rechlin's tripartite Renaissance Revival-style design included a cast iron storefront.  Two shops flanked the centered residential entrance.  The second floor windows sat within unusual terra cotta frames.  Bracketed, terra cotta intermediate cornices above the third and sixth floors defined the brick midsection.  Three-story terra cotta frames unified the windows into regimented rows, their spandrels filled with elaborate terra cotta panels of cartouches with female faces upon a foliate background.  Echoing those of the third floor, the arched windows of the seventh floor wore brick voussoirs. 

French-inspired iron fire escapes were nearly as much a part of Rechlin's design as the elaborate terra cotta panels.

The neighborhood sat within what newspapers often called the "Italian Colony."  Not surprisingly, the Rosetis' tenants were almost exclusively Italian-born.  

One resident, Louis Landolfi, joined the U. S. Army upon America's entry into World War I.  On November 24, 1918, the War Department reported that he had been slightly wounded in battle.

A year earlier, another tenant had been a victim of the war.  His injuries, however, had nothing to do directly with the conflict.  On November 4, 1917, The Sun reported, "Joseph Percodani of 204 Spring street is believed to be the latest victim from drinking 'war whiskey' to have attracted police investigation."  Percodani had been transported from his Spring Street apartment to St. Vincent's Hospital the previous night, where doctors, "said he was suffering from wood alcohol poisoning."

On March 10, 1922, The New York Times reported that Luigi Parmengini, "lived with his wife and two children in a three-room apartment at 204 Spring Street, and represented himself as a prosperous grocer."  In fact, Federal narcotic agents described Parmengini as "one of the biggest wholesale drug venders in the country."  An undercover operation ended with Parmengini's arrest on March 9, prompting the article to say, "It was three months ago when the effort to bring in this lion of the narcotic jungle begun."

At the time of Parmengini's apprehension, "Federal agents seized 100 pounds of heroin, valued when distributed to street peddlers and other retailers at $500,000," said The New York Times.  That figure would translate to $9 million today.

In 1941, a remarkable Federal-style house survived next door to 204 Spring Street.  image via the NYC Dept. of Records & Information Services.

The Spring Street neighborhood stubbornly retained its Italian personality well into the second half of the 20th century.  Among the residents of 204 Spring Street in 1974 were the family of Vincent Landolfi.  (Whether he was related to Louis Landolfi, wounded in 1918, is unclear.)  Landolfi was described as a "particularly significant" figure within a massive illegal gambling operation headed by organized crime families.

At the time, the Soho neighborhood was changing, as galleries and trendy cafes and shops redefined the district.  In 1978, one of the shops at 204 Spring Street became home to craftsman Bob Wald's Sculptured Furniture.  Having learned woodworking in the 1950s, Anne-Marie Schiro of The New York Times described Ward on July 13, 1978 as, "really a sculptor."  She said a piece of furniture made by Ward "becomes an heirloom."

Perhaps epitomizing the changes of the neighborhood was Details, an accessories shop, which opened in 1981.  Four years later, on New Year's Day 1985, John Duka of The New York Times, remarked that Details jewelry could be seen "at downtown cocktail parties trying to be uptown, or at uptown cocktail parties trying to be downtown."

Today, the two shops contain a smoke shop and an Asian restaurant.  While the street level has been essentially obliterated, other than replacement windows, A. G. Rechlin's eye-catching upper floors are outwardly little changed after nearly a century and a quarter.

photographs by the author

The Philip Muller House - 190 Spring Street

 

Around 1824, Nathanial Paine erected three Federal-style houses at 166 to 170 Spring Street.  (They would be renumbered 186 to 190 Spring Street in 1848.)  Three-and-a-half stories tall, the peaked roofs of each had a single dormer.

In 1827, slavery was abolished in New York.  The area that centered around Minetta Lane, about four blocks to the north of Spring Street, became Manhattan's first black enclave (later known as Little Africa).  Interestingly, in 1827, Thomas Duncan and Francis Hamilton, both listed as "colored," occupied the western house of Paine's row.

Because of the rapid turnovers in the residents over the coming years, it appears that 190 Spring Street was being rented.  Living here in 1830 were the families of Charles M. Davis, who did not list a profession; and John Nicholas, a mason.  Sharing the house with Maria Kerns, the widow of Joseph Kerns, in 1836 were John Bentley, a tailor; and Jacob Moore, a saddler.

Apparently operating as a boarding house in 1845, it must have been tight quarters for the families of tailor Henry Platte; Adam Harlish, a cabinetmarker; Herman Benedix, a "segarmaker;" and bootmaker Paul Brehm.

Paul Brehm still occupied the 16-foot-wide house when it was sold at auction on February 8, 1851 for $4,300 (about $177,000 in 2025).  It was purchased by another bootmaker, Philip Muller, who moved his family into the upper floors and opened his shop on the ground floor. 

Philip and Eva Muller took in five boarders in 1851, two of whom likely worked for Muller.  Joseph Dirlmier and Joseph Tilmare were both shoemakers.  The other men, William Burger, Philip Finkmauer, and George Sehilling were all cabinetmakers.

On June 29, 1862, The New York Times headlined an article, "A Fire In Spring-Street," and reported that at 2:00 that morning, while the occupants of 190 Spring Street were asleep, a fire broke out in the shoe store, "owned and occupied on the first floor by Mr. Miller [sic]."  Fortunately, the fire was confined to the shop and, additionally, Muller was "fully insured" for the $700 damages (nearly $22,000 today).

While he and his wife continued to own and live here, it appears that Philip retired around 1876.  That year Henry Otto operated his tailor shop in the ground floor space.  In the basement was a "beer saloon" run by Jacob Hensle.  The configuration would cause problems in 1878.  Every year since 1876, Otto leased his shop to the city as a polling place.  (In 1876, for instance, he received $35 for the day's use.)

On December 21, 1878, the New-York Tribune reported, "Captain McDonnell, of the Eighth Police Precinct, was again before the Board of Police yesterday, in regard to his alleged fault in selecting polling places for the last election at Nos. 190 and 205 Spring-st. where it is alleged that liquor was sold."  In questioning, "Captain McDonnell admitted that No. 190 Spring-st, had a beer saloon in the basement under the polling-room."

Henry Otto's tailor shop was replaced in 1879 by Claude M. Boland's business, whose family lived upstairs with the Mullers.  His self-applauding listing in the city directory that year read:

Boland, Charles M. machinist, engineer, inventor and manufacturer of over-stitching sewing-machines for furs, gloves, &c., patented April 23d, 1878, 190 Spring st.

Interestingly, on October 3, 1890, Philip and Eva Muller transferred title to 190 Spring Street to Jacob Weindorf as a "gift," according to the Record & Guide.  In return, Weindorf gave the couple a "life lease" on the property, assuring they would have a home.

In the meantime, tenants who shared the upper floors with the Mullers continued to come and go.  Two young Italian immigrants, cousins Michael and Nicolo Pierro lived here in 1890.  The pair would be pulled into a dramatic, and finally fatal, incident that year.

Nicolo Pierro seduced a young woman, Pasquelina Robertielio, who lived at 156 Mott Street.  The "ruination" of a young Italian woman in the 1890s was a serious situation.  Nicolo "refused to have anything more to do with her," according to court testimony later.  

Michael accompanied Nicolo to Pasquelina's house in January 1891 where he tried to make peacemaker between the pair.  Michael later recalled, "At the close of the conversation Pasquelina said, "All right.  But if Nicolo doesn't marry me I will kill him."

Things became even more dire when Pasquelina found out she was pregnant.  The wedding was set for March 1, 1891, but Pierro did not show up.  Then the would-be bride discovered that he intended to sail to Italy the following day.  Pasquelina waited outside 190 Spring Street all night.  Finally, Nicolo stepped out of the door.  The Evening World reported, "Crazed by the thought that she was about to become a mother and driven to desperation by her lover's duplicity, she pulled down the pistol he had given her and shot him down."

Nicolo managed to stumble back to his room.  In court on May 20, Michael Pierro testified that his cousin, "told him that Pasquelina had shot him."  He died a few minutes later.

In August 1907, real estate operators Lowenfeld & Prager purchased the vintage house.  The following year they sold it to Guiseppe Sabbatino.  After decades of several families sharing the upper floors, 190 Spring Street was finally a single-family home.  Sabbatino was described by The Sun as "a wealthy real estate man."

The following year, on March 7, 1908, the Record & Guide reported that Sabbatino had contracted architect Max Muller to "improve" 190 Spring Street.  It is unclear exactly what the renovations entailed.

The Sabbatino's son, Nicholas was a musician by 1913.  He was apparently, as well, an obnoxious predator.  Around 6:00 on  the evening of December 23 that year, Patrolman Koelbe noticed Sabbatino hanging around the corner of Spring and Sullivan Streets.  Koelbe said later that Sabbatino was "carrying an umbrella and watching young girls leave a factory."  One after another, Sabbatino propositioned the girls, who were reportedly between 15 and 16 years old.

According to The Sun, Koelbe recounted, "I walked over and asked him where he lived and he said he lived in Spring street.  I said to him: 'If you don't go away from here, I'll lock you up.'" 

The smug musician replied, "Lock me up."  He was well aware he had nothing to fear even if he were arrested.  At the time, he had been apprehended at least six times, convicted, and in each instance his sentence was suspended.

Koelbe walked away, but "kept his eyes on the young man and afterward did lock him up," said The Sun.  This time, however, Sabbatino's fate would be far different.  Convicted again, Sabbatino's sentencing was scheduled for February 26, 1914.  He faced Judge Wadhams in General Sessions, who The Sun said, "approves of heavy fines and long terms for mashers." 

Wadhams declared, "The streets of our city can only be maintained as safe places in which girls and women can go to and from their work by the punishment of those who interfere and annoy them while on the streets." He sentenced Nicholas Sabbatino, "to five months on Blackwell's Island for annoying young girls on their way home from work."

Appropriately, given the long history of Muller's shop here, M. Cuzzi's Shoe Repairing occupied the store in 1941.  While the Sabbatinos still owned the building and lived here, a sign next to the residential entrance notes "ROOMS."  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The Sabbatino family lived here at least through 1941.  By 1950, the upper floors were converted to apartments.  It became a center of the folk music scene.

Paul Clayton moved in around 1957.  Born in 1931, Clayton was instrumental in reviving folk music in the 1950s and 1960s.  Shortly afterward, Roger Abrahams took an apartment.  While living here, he recorded with Dave Van Ronk.  In his Bob Dylan's New York, A Historic Guide, Dick Weissman described 190 Spring Street as:

...an apartment building where a few folk singers and fans lived.  On Sunday evenings there were regular jam sessions.  The different apartments were basically divided into different music factions.  There was the bluegrass apartment, the ballad apartment, and so forth.  Future folklorist Roger Abrahams, professional folk singer Paul Clayton, and Village folk singer Gina Glaser were often in attendance.

The atmosphere at the time was captured in Robert Cantell's When We Were Good, The Folk Revival:

Roger Abrahams recalls the Sunday evening sings in Paul Clayton's apartment at 190 Spring Street; Pete Seeger, Dave Van Ronk, Theo Bikel, Bob Gibson, and Odetta made regular visits there.  Clayton had been collecting songs in the mountains above Charlottesville, bringing them to his Village companions with the bloom still on them.

A renovation completed in 1964 resulted in a two-family home.  An advertisement in The Villager on December 17 described the "Unique Upper Duplex" as, "two story, living room, fireplace, skylights, gourmet kitchen, dining area, bedroom, bath, beamed ceiling, paneled balcony."  The listed rent was $325, just over $3,000 per month by today's conversion.

It was during that alteration that the facade was substantially remodeled, the lintels removed and the dormer enlarged.

In the turbulent political and social 1960s, James C. Hormel was in Washington D.C. and a founder of The New Party.  He later described it as "the perfect environment for my own rebellion."  In his autobiography, Fit to Serve, Hormel says,

Within the span of three years, from 1965 to 1968, everything in my life changed.  I went from being a model husband and father to a divorcé; from a Republican to a very left-wing Democrat; and from a timid person to someone on the verge of taking charge of his life.

Part of that change was Hormel's acknowledgement of his homosexuality.  When Nixon won the presidency in 1968, Hormel writes, "I had to face the reality that The New Party was over."  He continues:

I went back to New York and moved into a skinny townhouse at 190 Spring Street in Soho, which was still like any other Italian neighborhood in the city, with grandmothers keeping watch from their windows and laundry strung out to dry.

Hormel not only moved into the lower triplex in 190 Spring Street, he purchased the building.  He remained here until 1972 when, while he was out of town, an electrical fire broke out, heavily damaging the building.  Later that year Hormel sold the property and moved to Hawaii.  (From 1999 to 2001, Hormel served as United States Ambassador to Luxembourg, the first openly gay man to represent the country as an ambassador.)

!90 Spring street and the house to its left were originally identical, part of Nathaniel Paine's group.

The venerable house with an astounding history still contains two residences.

photographs by the author

The 1836 Arthur Rogers Pharmacy Building - 193 Spring Street

 

Little Brannon Street, named for the owner's garden, continued through the country estate of Aaron Burr, Richmond Hill.  In 1817, streets began appearing in the district, followed by houses.  The name of Brannon Street was changed to Spring Street, after the spring that provided water to the new residents.

In 1833, Thomas and Maria Ludlow sold a portion of their large property to three investors--merchant Ellison C. Scott, Israel Clark and John G. Hadden.  The trio erected three similar Federal style houses on the plots.  Clark, a mason, and Hadden, who was a carpenter-builder, were no doubt hands-on in the construction.  Ellison C. Scott was the owner of the new structure at 193 Spring Street.

Originally two-and-a-half stories tall, the 25-foot-wide building and store would have had one or two dormers punching through the peaked roof.  The occupants of the upper floors in 1836 was the family of James B. Bensel, a tailor whose shop was at 51 Fulton Street.

By 1840, the store was occupied by the confectionary store of Arthur Corry (sometimes spelled Cory).  It was replaced by William Core's fancystore by 1845.  (Fancystores offered a variety of items, from sewing needs to gloves and hosiery.)  At the time, Leah Nagle, the widow of William Nagle, lived upstairs.

When 193 and 195 Spring Street were advertised for sale on December 19, 1845, they were described as, "2 story and attic brick front houses."  The ad reflected the well-established neighborhood.  "The situation, with regard to business is unsurpassed, it being regarded as the best stand on the street."  The owner of 193 Spring Street raised the attic level to a full floor.  When he sold the property in February 1850, it was now described as, "the lot of ground known as No. 193 Spring street, with the 3 story brick store and dwelling house thereon."

That year, Thomas Towle moved his drygoods store, Thomas Towle & Sons, from 313 Hudson Street into the shop and moved his family into the upper floors.  Although the Towles continued to live here, in 1853 Peter B. and Charles L. Utley ran the drygoods store, named Utley & Brother.  Sharing the upper floors with the Towles were the Mott family.

Tragedy occurred here on October 4, 1854.  The Motts had a newly born girl, Ella.  On October 14, the Mourning Courier & New-York Enquirer reported, "An inquest was held upon the body of Ella Mott, an infant, who died from the effects of scalds received ten days since, when a pot of boiling coffee was upset upon its chest at the residence of its parents, No. 193 Spring street."

The Utley & Brother store remained in 1856.  That year Arthur Rogers leased the building, opening his pharmacy in the shop and moving his family into the upstairs.  Born in 1817, Rogers had been a druggist for about 15 years.  

When the building was sold at auction on March 18, 1856, the announcement mentioned it was "occupied by a drug store."  The pharmacy would continue to be a neighborhood mainstay for decades to come.

Pharmacists routinely mixed and sold their own patent medicine.  In April 1859, an advertisement in the New-York Tribune touted, "Rogers's Citrate of Magnesia--Try it! Try it!  Large Bottles in Powder only 25 cents.  One Bottle is equal to three of the Liquid.  A very agreeable Purgative."

By 1868, Edward H. Rogers had joined his father's business, now named Arthur Rogers & Son's.  In June that year, Kate Sloan, who was a servant in the house of James Hamilton at 99 Thompson Street, purchased a package of Epsom salts mixed with senna.  (The compound was used as a laxative.)  When she returned, Hamilton did not take it, and the package was placed on a shelf.

Around September 20, James Hamilton took the preparation.  A week later, on September 27, the 42-year-old died.  Both Arthur and Edward Rogers were arrested the next day, "to await an examination into the circumstances attending the dead," reported the New York Herald.  The druggists were held until October 5 when they were exonerated "for all blame," as reported by The Evening Post.  James Hamilton had accidentally ingested oxalic acid after, apparently, the packages had gotten confused.

The Rogers family routinely took in boarders, and in 1869 William Ferguson lived here.  That year in April he joined scores of irate citizens who signed a demand that the New York Senate and Assembly investigate the recent Presidential election.  Saying that prominent officials had "with the shrewdly-concealed connivance of others," they "robbed the people of that great State of their rightful choice of electors of President and Vice-President."

Arthur Rogers was at the Market Street train station in Newark, New Jersey when he was "robbed of fifty dollars and some valuable papers...by a Philadelphia pickpocket named Christian," said The Evening Post on September 22, 1870.  The article reported, "The thief was at once arrested by the police, but he threw the pocketbook and its contents to an accomplice, who succeeded in effecting his escape."  The cash Rogers lost would translate to about $1,200 in 2025.

Around 1876, the father-and-son business was successful enough that they opened a second drugstore at 281 Bleecker Street.  The following year, an "annoying tumor," as described by The New York Times, developed on Arthur Rogers's neck.  The pharmacist worried about his condition, eventually becoming despondent.

Around 5:00 on the morning of November 8, 1877, Rogers left the house, telling his wife "he was going to visit a relative in Brooklyn," said The New York Times.  He would not return.  The newspaper reported, "Between 8 and 9 o'clock yesterday evening the Harbor Police found the body of an unknown man floating in the East River at the foot of Montague-street, Brooklyn."  Papers on the body suggested it was Rogers.  Edward went to the morgue and identified his father.  The body of the 60-year-old was brought here, where his funeral was held.

Edward continued to use the former name following his father's death.  Decades after Arthur concocted the patent medicine, it was still was the firm's major draw.  Friends' Intelligencer, September 21, 1878 (copyright expired)

The Rogers pharmacy remained at least through 1891.  By then, the neighborhood was what newspapers called "the Italian Colony."  The inspection that resulted in a violation at 193 Spring Street for "inadequate fire-escapes" described it as a "tenement," meaning that it was now a multi-family building.  In April 1906, Sophia Longinotti sold the property to Antonio and Silvestro Sozio, presumably brothers.

The Sozios hired architect Frederick Musty in August 1908 to make minor renovations.  The costs were only about $3,500 in 2025 terms.  It was possible at this time that a veneer of stucco scored to appear as stone was applied.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

A more substantial renovation completed in 1944 that resulted in two apartments per floor above the storefront.

The Soho neighborhood retained its Italian personality into the second half of the century.  In the 1980s, the former Rogers drugstore was home to the restaurant, Rocco & His Brothers.  But as the 20th century drew to a close, the district was transformed by trendy cafes, art galleries, and boutiques.  The change was evident when Baluchi's, a Northern Indian restaurant, opened in January 1993.  Today a delicatessen occupies the space.

This resilient survivor stands as a surprising relic of the first wave of the Soho development.

photographs by the author