J. Boekell & Sons 1890 8 St. Mark's Place

 

photo by Anthony Bellov

The once elegant Federal-style mansion at 8 St. Mark's Place held a restaurant in 1888.  An incident that occurred there on the night of October 14 reflected the changing demographics of the area.  Police reports indicated that brothers Carlo and Vincenzo Quartararo were at a table with James Polazzi and Antonio Flaccomio when a dispute erupted "about the conduct of Polazzi...who refused to play at 'tocco,' an Italian game."  Later, on the street Carlo Quartararo attacked Flaccomio, fatally stabbing him in the heart.  As Quartararo's trial neared in March 1889, Assistant District Attorney Goff said that witnesses were reluctant to testify against him, explaining that he was a member of "a secret society called 'Mafia'" that protected him.

By then, the venerable house in which the conflict started was gone.  Developer John M. Hutching had demolished it and hired the architectural firm of J. Boekell & Sons to design a tenement building on the site.  Costing $22,000 to erect (about $775,000 in 2026 terms), it was completed in 1890.

A blend of Queen Anne and neo-Grec styles, the building rose five stories above a high basement.  Trendy ironwork with stylized sunflowers protected the areaway and stoop.  The entrance, centered within the rusticated stone first floor, was flanked by substantial, squared and fluted columns that upheld a molded cornice upon heavy, scrolled brackets.  The upper floors were faced in red brick and trimmed in sandstone.  The outer windows wore stone lintels with molded cornices, and panels between each floor were carved with foliate designs.  An ambitious, multi-level terminal cornice completed the design.

The Esthetic-style ironwork, the entrance, and the carved stone panels survived as late as 1941.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

A double-flat, there were two "elegant" apartments per floor in the building, as described in an advertisement.  Carl Vogel and George Hasse rented one of the first-floor apartments from which they operated their dating service.  On October 27, 1890, The Sun reported, "On the big glass window on the first floor flat at 8 St. Mark's place this sign has been conspicuous for the last three weeks: 'Administration Mercur.'"  The article explained that the "two Germans" had started a "matrimonial agency on an improved plan."  After paying $3, single men and women filled out forms with their "name, native place, age, religion, occupation, income and means, or fortune."  A photograph was to be included with the form.

Once a week, a "bulletin" that described each of the applicants was sent to the members.  If a member showed interest in one of them, they were shown the photograph.  It was, in effect, the 1890 version of Tinder.  

Another of the initial tenants to use part of his apartment for his business was Dr. S. B. Minden.  Newspaper accounts reveal that he was a busy man.  In April 1891, for instance, he was involved in the high-profile death of Captain George Mackenzie, whose personal doctor deemed the cause of his death "phthisis pulmonalis," or tuberculosis.  The Evening World reported that Minden, however, refused to sign the death certificate, saying that Mackenzie "looked like a man who had died of morphine poisoning" and suspected suicide.

And in December 1893, Dr. Minden was an important witness in the murder case of Dr. Henry C. F. Meyer, accused of poisoning his friend, Ludwig Brandt, to obtain his $8,500 life insurance.  As Brandt lay dying, Dr. Minden called on him every day from March 6 to March 30 when his patient died.

A robust Queen Anne style cornice coexists with neo-Grec details like the incised carvings and geometric lintels.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

Newlyweds Charles D. and Josephine Riggins were married in 1895 and moved into 8 St. Mark's Place.  Riggins worked as an engineer and, according to the New York Herald, "comes from an old Eleventh ward family."  The couple's happy honeymoon period was soon derailed.  On February 7, 1896, the New York Herald reported that he was arrested and charged with bigamy.  The article explained, "He married his first wife, Eva D. Riggins, in 1875.  He left her ten years ago.  He says he thought she was dead, and so he married his present wife, Josephine and went to live at 8 St. Mark's place."

Pauline Barrett occupied an apartment here in 1897 with her husband and mother.  One evening in January that year, Barrett came home to find Pauline hysterical.  "There were marks about her neck where she had been strangled, and her diamond earrings had been torn from her ears," reported The New York Times.  

Four months later, in late April, Pauline was walking along Grand Street when she recognized her assailant.  She "attacked" him, according to newspaper accounts, but he escaped.  Then, on the evening of May 11, 1897, Pauline, her husband and her mother went to Central Park.  They were sitting on a bench when Pauline jumped to her feet and shouted, "There goes the murderer; police!  Stop him!"

Twenty-five-year-old Jacob Talt was arrested and taken to the Arsenal.   The New York Times reported, "Mrs. Barrett, in the station house, made several efforts to strike the prisoner."  Talt, who said he lived in Philadelphia, insisted that he had never seen Pauline before.  Pauline Barrett, on the other hand, was adamant.  "She says she knew him before the night of the assault," said the New-York Tribune.  Talt was locked up in the East 67th Street stationhouse.

A similar occurrence happened to resident Effie Saalsberg in 1914.  On August 11, 17-year-old Harry Franklin assaulted her and fled with her pocketbook.  Then, on September 2, the thug punched Annie Lichter in the face as she was entering the Corn Exchange Bank on 10th Street and Avenue D.  He grabbed her handbag and ran.  Close behind this time were patrolmen Foeller and Mindel, who chased him into a coal cellar.  The Evening World reported, "On the way to the police station, an excited woman broke from the crowd following the prisoners."  It was Effie Saalsberg. 

"Crook!" she screamed.  "There's the man who struck me and took $200 from me three weeks ago."  (Effie had good reason to be impassioned.  Her significant loss would equal nearly $6,500 today.)

By the Depression years, certain residents of 8 St. Mark's Place were on the opposite side of the law.  Among them was Emil Sherman, arrested with his brother Charles and another man on August 31, 1933 for felonious assault.  The three were described by police as "the sole survivors of the notorious Waxey Gordon mob."  On May 24 that year, three innocent pedestrians were injured during "a machine-gun battle between gangsters in two armored automobiles," according to The New York Times.  The article said, "the machine-gun battle was between rival gangs headed by Waxey Gordon on one side and by Charles (Lucky) Luciano and Louis Buckhalter, alias Lipke, on the other."

Another resident, 36-year-old Harry Inberman, was arrested on June 5, 1937 by the Safe and Loft Squad of the New York Police Department.  (The squad focused on commercial burglaries.)  That night he and Adolph Ackerman were caught fleeing from a loft building on East 8th Street.  "Ackerman was shot in the right arm at the time of their arrest as they started to drive away in an automobile," reported The New York Times.

The names of tenants continued to appear in newsprint for the wrong reasons.  On January 19, 1949, Max Fine, who was 57-years-old and listed his profession as an auditor, was arrested for pickpocketing.  Police reported that it was his 45th arrest.

And on New Year's Eve 1951, Meyer Lewis attempted to pick the pocket of Clifford Deabler who took his wife and three teenaged children to Times Square.  The family came from Philadelphia for the event.  Deabler had told his daughter to give him her change purse for safekeeping.  At 11:10, Deabler "felt a hand in my hip pocket, under my overcoat, extracting the purse."  What Lewis could not have known was that his target was an off-duty Philadelphia police officer.  Deabler grabbed Lewis's wrist "and held on tight."

The New York Times reported, "he and his family missed what they had come to New York to see.  Instead they welcomed in the New Year at the West Forty-seventh Street police station, where Meyer Lewis, 63 years old, was booked on a charge of grand larceny."

A renovation completed in 1971 divided the apartments in half, creating four apartments per floor.  In doing so, the entrance was converted to a window.  Why the carved panels of the upper facade were shaved flat is unclear.

photograph by Anthony Bellov

Despite the regrettable changes to the basement and first floor, the upper portion of J. Boekell & Sons's handsome tenement building design survives relatively intact.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post

The 1880 St. Nicholas - 10 St. Mark's Place

 

photograph by Anthony Bellov

Beginning in 1831, the three-block section of East 8th Street known as St. Mark's Place, saw the rise of refined Federal-style mansions.  Within two decades, the tenor of the neighborhood would change as over a million and a half German immigrants poured into the district.  By 1879, the vintage house at 10 St. Mark's Place between Second and Third Avenues sat within what was known as Kleindeutchland, or “Little Germany.”  One-by-one, private homes were replaced with tenement buildings.

On November 14, 1879, developer Michael Schultz hired German-born architect Jobst Hoffman to design a "five-story Nova Scotia stone tenement" on the 25-foot-wide lot.  Overall Queen Anne in style, Hoffman added neo-Grec touches to his design--particularly in the incised foliate decorations in the side piers and the lintels.  The complex pressed metal cornice included miniature columns at the sides, full-relief flowers along the top and the building's name, "St. Nicholas," within the fascia.  Construction cost Schultz $22,000, or about $714,000 in 2026 terms.

Close inspection reveals the monogram SN within the incised carvings within the tympanum of central arch.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

There were two spacious apartments per floor.  One of the second floor tenants in 1883 rented unused space, offering: "Handsomely furnished parlor and bedroom for one or two gentlemen, with gas and bath.  Second flat east side of 10 St. Mark's place."

Among the initial residents was Gottlieb Schmidt, a wine merchant whose shop was on Pearl Street.  He was already acquainted with another resident, Jane H. Lewis, when they moved in.  Jane explained that she was the widow of multi-millionaire Joseph L. Lewis, who died on March 5, 1877.  He left the bulk of his massive estate "to be applied toward the payment of the national debt," as reported by the New York Herald.  Jane Lewis almost immediately started proceedings to overturn the will.

Gottlieb Schmidt would be called into court to testify about what he knew about Jane Lewis who was, in fact, Jennie Holbrook, an "adventuress," as described by the New York Herald.  Calling her a "tall, lady-like person," on April 18, 1880 the newspaper explained that she had successfully passed herself off as Mrs. Lewis and assembled a "score of persons" to help her obtain part of the estate.  As Holbrook's hearing played out, the newspaper said, "it is at once an illustration of what mischief an unscrupulous and intelligent woman can work."

The Bauer family lived here in 1892 when The Evening World initiated the Sick Babies' Fund to help care for children of indigent families.  In reaction, a letter to the editor appeared on May 31 that read:

We are two little girls, Elsie and Margaret Bauer.  We have heard that there are a great many babies that are sick, and, as we love babies, especially the poor and sick ones, we saved 25 cents, and we will try to send double next time.

                Elsie and Margaret Bauer, 10 St. Mark's place.

Two years later, more children of the St. Nicholas helped the cause.  On September 7, 1894, The Evening World reported, "A sidewalk fair held by Doretta, Lillie and Abraham Freeman and Emma Myerhoff and Vira Squigle, at 10 St. Mark's place, yielded $4., but they gave $2 to a family that was in urgent need."

In the meantime, a respected resident was Dr. Frederick Louis Fuchs.  Well-known in the neighborhood, he was summoned to a wide variety of cases over the years.  In July 1892, for instance, he was called to the home of Robert Elder who lived across the street at 9 St. Mark's Place.  A bachelor, Elder went to a manicurist early that month who removed a corn from his toe.  A few days later, a "massage operator" noticed that the toe was swollen and Dr. Fuchs was called in.  "He said the swelling was gangrenous," said the New York Herald.  

Fuchs lanced the swelling, but it soon became necessary to amputate the toe.  And then the foot.  Six days after the second operation, the 57-year-old died.  Fuchs and the surgeon stressed that the corn was not the cause of his death, but diabetes.

As early as 1896, Dr. Fuchs served as assistant surgeon with the New York State National Guard with the rank of lieutenant.  He would remain in his St. Nicholas apartment at least through 1902.

A celebrated resident at the time was Andrew John Hughes, known to vaudeville audiences as Banjo Andy.  Born in Ireland in 1847, Hughes was working as a butcher's boy in Philadelphia when he learned to juggle.  He debuted on stage at the Walnut Street Theatre there.  When the Civil War broke out, he joined the Union Navy.  After the war, according to The New York Clipper, "he won fame as an Indian club swinger, and his name was known in Europe as well as America."  He married a "toe dancer," named Annie and they created a well-known song and dance team.  Following Annie Hughes's death in 1892, Andy "deserted the footlights to become a manager," according to The Sun.

Additionally, Andy Hughes became close friends with Tammany Hall bigwigs, most notably "Big Tim" Sullivan.  The relationship resulted in Hughes's being appointed a court officer in the Second Avenue Municipal Court.

On March 18, 1907, Andy Hughes "was taken with pneumonia," as reported by The Sun.  Among his visitors was District Attorney William Travers Jerome, whom the newspaper said "was an old friend."  At midnight on March 20, Hughes died at the age of 60.  His funeral was held at St. Ann's Church, which was filled with Tammany Hall and theatrical figures.

Among the residents here in 1915 was the Lesser familly.  The couple had six children, the eldest of whom was Jacob, who was 23.  Jacob Lesser worked as a "clothes presser," but lost his job in February that year.  Week after week, he unsuccessfully sought employment.  On June 5, the Evening World reported that his father "went to awaken him to go out and look for a job, as he had been doing regularly for the past five months."  He found Jacob dead.  The article said he, "hanged himself this morning from a curtain pole with a clothesline while despondent."

Also living here that year was the family of Elias Mohr, a "garment fitter."  Their 15-year-old daughter, Sophia, disappeared that year, sparking a multi-state search.  On December 6, The Evening World reported that the chief of police of Hartford, Connecticut notified New York City Police Headquarters that the teen had been found.  "Sophia's parents were notified to go for her at once."

While the article said, "Chief Farrell did not give the circumstances under which the girl was found," her brother, Dr. Frank Mohr had a theory.  He told a reporter "she might have been lured away by some one who had encouraged her love of dancing as she was anxious to go on the stage."

A renovation in 1936 divided the apartments in half, resulting in four units per floor.  By then, the German community had been mostly gone from the Lower East Side for several decades.

In 1941, Colonial Revival inspired multi-paned windows graced the first floor apartments.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Among the tenants in 1951 was 23-year-old Arthur Riccardi, a dockworker.  He was arrested on August 22 that year for "possessing heroin for the purpose of selling it," according to The New York Times.

It was not the last time Riccardi's name would appear in newsprint.  On the night of February 15, 1957, he was drinking

at the Club Chantilly on West 4th Street.  At around 1:00 a.m., he got into a "brawl over money," as reported by The New York Times, with Daniel J. Sgobbo, alias Don Terry.  The article said, "Eighteen patrons fled when the fight began."  In the clash, Riccardi suffered "severe head injuries and a fractured left wrist."  He pulled out a handgun and killed the 30-year-old Sgobbo.  The article noted, "Both men were said to have long police records."

Sculptor Jacob Lipkin and his family lived in a basement apartment by 1960.  Born in the neighborhood in 1909, he studied art at the Art Students League, the Cooper Union, Leonardo da Vinci Art School and the Educational Alliance.  He and his wife, the former Dorothy Keogan, had two children, Carl and Laura, who were 14 and 17 years old respectively in 1960.  Although his work was exhibited regularly, it was an incident that year that caught the attention of readers nationwide.

Jacob Lipkin working in his apartment-studio at 10 St. Mark's Place around 1959.  photo by Img43vr

On January 7, The New York Times reported that Lipkin was threatened with a marshal's sale "to satisfy a $153.33 debt."  Within two days, hundreds of letters including donations had arrived from strangers--totaling more than $8,300.  But Lipkin would not accept the money, instead returning all of it.  The Times said, "The family is supported by his wife's salary of $70 a week as a secretary and the sculptor's fees of $30 for two art classes a week."  Asked if he did not owe it to his family to accept the help, Lipkin replied, "No; they would lose all respect for me."

Lipkin's sculptures would earn him awards, including the Antoinette Scudder Prize for Sculpture and the Ceceile Award for Sculpture (awarded by the Ceceile Gallery which staged a one-man show of his work).

The first floor stone has been painted a minty green and metal security entrance doors installed.  Nevertheless, the St. Nicholas survives in remarkable condition--other than desperately needing a careful cleaning.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post.

The 1875 47 St. Mark's Place

 

The family of Stephen C. Lynes had occupied the brick-faced house at 47 St. Mark's Place for decades when he died at the age of 85 on October 9, 1872.  The elegant neighborhood he knew in the 1840s was now home to hundreds of immigrant families, and former private homes were being converted to rooming houses or razed to make way for tenement buildings.

The Lynes house was offered for sale in February 1873.  It was replaced with a handsome flat (or apartment) building, completed by 1875.  Faced in brownstone, it sat back from the property line to create a yard, protected by a high iron fence.  The rusticated ground floor was designed in the Anglo-Italianate style, its three fully-arched openings crowned with faceted keystones.  

For the upper four floors--separated from the base by a molded intermediate cornice--the architect turned to neo-Grec, which was just beginning to overtake the Italianate style in domestic taste.  Prominent molded cornices above the windows were supported by geometric brackets.  The cast metal terminal cornice was a blend of both styles, with crisp lines of the brackets terminating in curvy foliate designs.

A double-flat (meaning there were two apartments per floor), the building filled with a variety of tenants.  Most had German surnames, along with a few Irish.  Their professions ranged from blue collar, like cartman Michael Hogan and porter Ferdinand Niemann; to middle class, like Gustav Falck, a clerk, and George Wittfielder, an upholsterer.

By 1879, Francis McConnell, a clerk, lived here with his wife, Mary, and their children.  On September 19, 1879, Mary advertised for a, "Middle-aged woman during the day only, to sleep at her own home, to assist in taking care of children and make herself generally useful.  Mrs. McConnell, 47 St. Mark's place, 1st floor."

If Mary McConnell was successful in finding a helper, it was not enough to relieve her stress.  A month later, on September 9, the New York Herald reported that she, "became suddenly demented, and fell in hurling her furniture from the window."  She was taken to the 17th Precinct police station where she, "flung the inkstand at the sergeant's head."  Mary was committed to The Tombs for a medical examination.  There, "she made an attack upon the physician," said the article.  The McConnells' children were "committed to the care of the French Guardian Society," according to the New York Herald.

Actress Florence Vincent, who lived here by the early 1890s, was deemed by the New York Dramatic Mirror as "well known and highly esteemed."  Starting her career in Albany, she had played with some of the most prominent actors of her day--Edwin Forrest, Adelaide Neilson, and Ada Cavendish among them.  

In the fall of 1893, she was appearing in The Chamois Hunter with Paul Barnes.  She had been ill "for a long time," according to the New York Dramatic Mirror, but because she was the sole supporter of her aged mother, "she continued to act even when she should have refrained from work."  Eventually, she was "forced to come home" and a few days later, on October 21, she died in her apartment.

Just before 10 p.m. on August 5, 1901, Patrolman Ozab "found a young man lying in a semi-conscious condition upon the grass in Stuyvesant Park," according to The Sun.  The boy was 18-year-old August Margraf, who lived here with his family.  Margraf was taken to Bellevue Hospital where it was revealed that he had narrowly averted death.  He had been stabbed over the heart, but the knife was "deflected by coming in contact with a rib."  In accordance with the rules of street justice, "Margraf admitted that he knew who had stabbed him, but wouldn't tell the police," said The Sun.

Sharp-eyed officers averted the break-ins of apartments here in 1903.  Detectives Ross and O'Neill spotted August Schaefer, alias "Black Butch," and Henry Miller, alias George Fisher, enter the building on the afternoon of January 28.  The World reported they were apprehended in the hallway, adding, "They put up a fight when arrested."  The policemen said the two were "responsible for several flat-house robberies."  When they were frisked, police found "jimmies and skeleton keys" on the pair.

On June 15, 1904, after their husbands went to work, Nita Ruthinger and Vetta Ruthmayer, along with Nita's children, Fred, Elsie and Ernest (10, 14 and 16 years old respectively), went to an East River pier to take part in St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church's 17th annual summer outing.  For $350, the members had chartered the 235-foot steam sidewheeler The General Slocum for a day trip up the East River and across the Long Island Sound to a picnic grove on Long Island. 

Over 1,300 passengers boarded the steamer which carried a crew of 35.  The church party was unaware of The General Slocum's recent history of problems--running aground several times and, at least twice, colliding with another ship.  Worse yet, Captain William Van Shaick had not practiced fire drills with his crew, as required by law, in years.  Life preservers and fire hoses had not been inspected since the craft was constructed 13 years earlier.

New York's Awful Excursion Boat Horror, 1904 (copyright expired)

Around 10:00, as the vessel entered the treacherous Hell Gate section of the East River, fire broke out below deck, quickly reaching a locker filled with gasoline and other flammable liquids.  Panic ensued as the flames broke through the deck.  The life boats were stuck to the side, having been painted in place.  Pandemonium broke out as children jumped or were tossed into the river, some sucked under in the turbulent Hells Gate eddies, others pulled into the side wheels and beaten to death.  Women who leapt overboard in their woolen Edwardian garments were quickly weighed down and drowned.  Within 15 minutes the General Slocum was burned to the waterline.  Of the 1,300 people on board, only 321 survived.

Bodies were pulled onto the shoreline.  Leslie's Weekly, 1904 (copyright expired)

Like dozens of Lower East Side men, Ernest Ruthinger and Edward Ruthmayer returned from work to an empty apartment.  Later that evening, Ruthmayer identified the body of his 38-year-old wife, Vetta.  The following day The Evening World listed Nita Ruthinger and her children among the still missing.   

Ernest Ruthinger identified Nita's and Ernest's bodies at the morgue on July 16.  The bodies of Fred and Elsie were never recovered (or were too charred to identify).  The Sun reported on the numerous funerals held the previous day, including that of "Mrs. Rudinger and Ernest Rudinger of 47 St. Mark's Place."

Eight decades after this photograph was taken in 1941, little has changed to the exterior appearance of the building.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Bernard Finkelstein lived here in 1938 when he was convicted of "cheating one of many persons of small sums under the pretext that he had 'influence' and would obtain news stand privileges for them," reported The New York Times on November 29.  The 30-year-old, according to John C. Mansfield, the circulation commissioner of morning and Sunday newspapers, "had defrauded newsstand operators of between $1,500 and $2,000 in the last year."  (The figure would translate to about $44,500 on the higher end in 2025.)  Among the witnesses at Finkelstein's trial was Mrs. Constance Morris.  She testified that "he induced her to give him $5 under the pretext that he would have her installed in a newsstand at a lucrative corner of the city," adding that, "he also induced her to sign a contract that he pretended was with a publishing concern."

In September 2020, the building was offered for sale, a realtor suggesting that it would be perfect for conversion to a single-family home.  That did not happen and today there are still just eight apartments in the building.

photograph by the author

The Joseph Conselvea Pickney House - 73 St. Mark's Place

 

A creative brick frame, painted today, testifies to the original location of the entrance above the long-lost stoop.  photograph by the author

In 1831, real estate developer Thomas E. Davis lined the entire block of St. Mark’s Place between Second and Third Avenues with first-class residences.  The elegant tenor of the block spread eastward and within the decade upscale Federal and Greek Revival-style homes appeared on the block between First and Second Avenues.

Erected in 1845, the brick-faced, Greek Revival-style house at 73 St. Mark's Place was 25-feet wide and three stories tall.  It became home to Oliver W. Bird, an importer, and his family until 1851 when the property was purchased by Joseph Conselvea Pickney.

Born in November 1821, Pickney and his wife, the former Hester Ann Bloomfield, had one child, Mary Caroline, born in 1842.  Pickney's father, Peter A. J. Pickney, died in 1847 and his mother, Margaret Robertson Pickney, moved into the house with the family.  

Pickney was the redemption clerk within the City's Department of Finance.  As such, he handled administrative issues like the disposition of failed mortgages.  He was, as well, a trustee of the Common Schools of the 17th Ward.

The affluence of the family was reflected in Hester's lost-and-found advertisement on May 17, 1858.  The couple had attended Niblo's Theater in the Metropolitan Hotel on May 3.  When they reached the theater, Hester realized she was missing her fur cape.  (She, most likely, left it in a hansom cab.)

$5 Reward--Lost, in going to Niblo's on the evening of May 3, a Mink Victorine.  The above reward will be paid by returning the same to No. 73 St. Mark's-place.

The reward for the lost mink would equal approximately $200 in 2025.

By 1859, Joseph Pickney was promoted to clerk of arrears.  As such, he headed the Bureau of Arrears and had five assistants below him, along with the new Redemption Clerk.

Pickney had a serious decision to make in 1863.  To augment Union troops, the Government enacted a draft lottery.  A loophole allowed well-to-do prospective draftees to hire a stand-in.  Those were most often needy immigrants whose families desperately needed the money.  On December 19, 1863, Colonel James B. Fry published a list of persons "stricken from the list" of eligible draftees.  Among them was Joseph C. Pickney.  (To his defense, Pickney was 42 years old at the time.)

Margaret Robertson Pickney died in the St. Mark's Place house on November 2, 1865 at the age of 72.  Her funeral was held in the parlor on November 5 at 1:00.

At the time of Margaret's death, the once refined neighborhood was experiencing a change.  Waves of European immigrants flooded the district, resulting in well-to-do families moving northward.  Their patrician homes, in most cases, were turned into boarding houses.

Just over two months later, on January 24, 1866, the New York Herald reported that the Pickney house had been sold for $10,200 (about $208,000 in 2025 terms).

Initially, the residence continued to be a single-family home.  On April 16, 1869, an advertisement in the New York Herald offered, "A private family at 73 St. Mark's Place will rent Parlor Floor, handsomely furnished, to gentleman and wife, with Board.  None but first class parties need apply."

The ad was answered by musician Joseph Poznanski.  He and his brother, a fellow musician, were natives of Charleston, South Carolina.  At the end of the Civil War, they had temporarily returned to their ravaged hometown to give concerts to raise money for the residents.  On June 9, 1866, Charleston's mayor, P. O. Gaillard, presented the brothers with silver cups in appreciation.  Joseph's read:

Presented by the City Council of Charleston, to Joseph Poznanski, April, 1866, in congratulation on his return to his native city, and in testimony of their appreciation of his brother and himself, in devoting their Concerts to alleviate the wants of their fellow-citizens.

The owners continued to take in one boarder at a time.  In 1874, it was Minnie A. Flowery, a teacher; and in 1876, Edward Hare, who ran saloons on First Avenue and on Avenue C, and his wife lived here.

Despite the changes to the neighborhood, the property values on St. Mark's Place remained stable.  No. 73 was sold at auction on April 23, 1880 with the winning bid being $7,000, or about $222,000 today.

The house was renovated the following year and again in 1891.  During one of those projects, a triangular pediment was affixed atop the cornice.  It was a visible sign that the house was now a multi-family building, home mostly to German-born residents.

Among them in the 1890s was the remarkable Dr. Louise Ziegelmeir Buchholz, an 1886 alumna of the New York Medical College and Hospital for Women.  Living here as early as 1895, she was Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Hygiene and Dietetics at her alma mater.  Dr. Buchholz would remain here at least through 1914.

Henry Lichig worked as a bookkeeper at 258 Canal Street and lived here in 1891.  He was called to jury duty that summer and was the last juror selected in a weeks-long search.  Lichig would sit on the jury of the "trial of Ameer Ben Ali, 'Frenchy No. 1,' for the butchery of old Carrie Brown," as worded by The Evening World on June 29.

Resident Frank Siegel was a chemist, but in 1895 he devised a method of obtaining additional funds.  On January 16, The World reported that Jennie Marks was alone and "sewing in her front room on the first floor of No. 24 St. Mark's Place last night, when she heard a knock at the door."  She opened the door to find a "fairly well-dressed man" holding a satchel in one hand and a revolver in the other.

"Your money or your life," he demanded.  "Quick, or I'll shoot."

Jennie Marks replied, "All right, you needn't shoot.  I'll give you all I have."

As she spoke, she moved closer to the would-be robber.  Suddenly she jumped on him, knocked him to the floor and ran shrieking to the street.  Policeman Uhl heard her screams and "soon had the murderous visitor under arrest," said the article.

At the Fifth Street Station House, it was determined that the rookie robber was 37-year-old Frank Siegel.  His satchel (other than a pair of socks and some pretzels) was a newly assembled burglary kit.  It included brass knuckles and a rubber bulb filled with ammonia.  The World remarked, "The revolver was loaded.  Like the brass knuckles, it was new."

Augustus Van Horne Stuyvesant purchased 73 St. Mark's Place in July 1898 as an investment.  The millionaire was the last surviving descendant of Peter Stuyvesant to carry the surname.  Three months after he purchased the property, on September 17, 1898, the Record & Guide reported that he had leased it "for 20 years, at $625 per year."  (The annual rent would translate to about $24,500 today.)

Sarah Rubinter had come to America alone from Germany in 1900, "a friendless immigrant girl seeking employment," as described by The Evening World.  She was approached by Samuel Kitner, who offered to give her a room and employment.  Kitner, as it turned out, was "of the Gerdron type," according to the newspaper years later.  The term referred to Emil Gerdron, who preyed on naive immigrant girls, imprisoning them and forcing them into prostitution--what at the time was called the White Slave trade.  (Emil Gerdron and the term "Gerdron type" became well-known after one of his prostitutes murdered him in 1905.)

Samuel Kitner treated Sarah "with great cruelty" while "living off the money she had been compelled to go on the street to make," according to the New York Morning Telegraph.  Sarah's mother arrived in New York City from Germany in 1903 and, according to the New York World, "found her daughter in her dreadful situation and rescued her."

Sarah and her mother took rooms at 73 St. Mark's Place.  Escaping from the cruel, dominant pimp, however, was not easy.  On August 18, 1905, Sarah was on the Bowery near Broome Street when Samuel Kitner saw her.  The Evening World reported, "her former master came up to her and began to beat her.  He told her he would kill her if she did not return to the life he had compelled her to lead."

Luckily for Sarah, plainclothes Detective Moran was passing by at the time.  He arrested Kitner and the next day Kitner appeared in court.  Sarah Rubinter was there, too.  Having heard Sarah's testimony, Magistrate Steinert sentenced Kitner to six months in the penitentiary.  It was the maximum sentence Steinert could legally impose.

The young woman's safety, however, may have been temporary.  As Kitner was removed from the courtroom, he turned to Sarah and spat, "When I get out of this I'll come back and kill you."

A renovation begun in 1922, resulted in a "clubroom" in the basement, a doctor's office on the first (or former parlor) floor, and a duplex residence above.  The stoop was removed in the alteration.  The former entrance, now a window, and the new doorway at the basement level were given a framework of creative brick.

The rampant lions flanking the entrance in this 1941 photograph survive.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The "clubroom" became home to East Side Post of the American Legion.  The members hosted an annual 3-1/4 mile invitational race.  It started at 73 St. Mark's Place and wound through the Lower East Side streets.  Perhaps the post's first event, however, was its strawberry festival in May 1922.

The new doctor's office was occupied by Dr. John J. Kallen.  The well-rounded physician also had an artistic bent.  In 1924, WGY radio station initiated a "radio drama contest," noting that "each author had in mind the peculiar requirements of what is expected to be a new branch of dramatic art."  On May 31, the Telegram and Evening Mail reported that of the 300 entries, Dr. Kallen's was one of ten to be produced on radio.  His The Man Who Would Not Be King was described by the newspaper as "an historical drama."

Dr. Kallen remained here through the first years of the Depression.  As early as 1932, Dr. Louis L. Goldblatt occupied the office.  He had opened his practice in 1909 and specialized in "x-ray and laboratory" work, according to his testimony that year.

In 1947, the former American Legion space was converted to two apartments.  At the time, dentist Dr. Henry C. Cerully had occupied the doctor's office at least six years.  

On May 12, 1947, Dr. Cerully stepped into the waiting room where two patients were seated.  "Who's next?" he asked, and a 22-year-old man stood up.  He sat in the chair in the examination room.  While Cerully prepared his instruments, the other man entered the room.  The New York Times reported, "Holding their hands in their pockets as if armed, the men told the dentist it was a hold-up, tied his hands behind his back, gagged him with a towel and made him lie on the floor."

The thugs opened the safe and removed $75 in cash, a quantity of gold and silver (used in Cerully's dentistry), then took the doctor's gold wrist watch and an additional $75 from his wallet.  Before walking out, they warned him to stay where he was for five minutes.  After a few minutes, Cerully walked into the waiting room where a patient untied him.  The article said, "The police could find no clue of the bandits."

A renovation in 1957 divided the duplex apartment into two units, and in 1974 the doctor's apartment and the third floor were converted to two apartments each.  Through it all, the ever-vigilant stone lions, most likely placed in 1922, still stand guard.

The Little Missionary's Day Nursery - 93 St. Mark's Place

 

The change of brick color testifies to the addition of the fourth floor around 1885.

Like their neighbors, John Christopher Thatcher and his wife, the former Mary Fitch, were well-to-do and their three-and-a-half story, 27-foot wide house at 93 St. Mark's Place reflected that.  Faced in red brick, its entrance would have originally included a substantial Greek Revival-style stone frame and entablature.  The floor-to-ceiling parlor windows opened onto an exquisite cast iron balcony adorned with palmettes, an important Greek Revival motif.

Born on February 29, 1812 in New London, Connecticut, Thatcher was a commission merchant.  He and his family were listed at 93 St. Mark's Place as early as 1843, when the children, Thomas Fitch and Mary Olivia, were five and two years old respectively.

Mary Fitch Thatcher was the daughter of Dr. Thomas and Olivia Fletcher Fitch of Philadelphia.  After Dr. Fitch's death on August 9, 1849, Olivia moved into the Thatcher residence.  She died there only five months later, on January 4, 1850 at the age of 75.  Her funeral was held in the parlor two days later.

John Thatcher owned at least one other property in the neighborhood.  On April 29, 1852, he advertised the "superb" mansion at 99 St. Mark's Place for lease or sale.  He described the 37-and-a-half-foot wide, "three story and attic, basement, cellar" house as having, "bath, fine figured marble mantel pieces, &c; four rooms on each floor."

Thatcher's offering may have been prompted by the waves of immigrants that were engulfing the neighborhood by now.  And, indeed, the following year the Thatchers had moved out of 93 St. Mark's Place, leasing it to a Mrs. Clauson who operated it as a boarding house.  She advertised in the New York Herald on June 4, 1853:

Furnished Rooms with Board, at No. 93 St. Marks place.  The house contains all the modern improvements, gas, baths, &c.  Stages pass the door.  References exchanged.  Dinner at 3 and 6 o'clock.

The boarders received an early morning fright at 2:00 on August 30, 1853.  They were wakened from their sleep when, according to the New-York Tribune, "a fire broke out on the first floor of the dwelling house, No. 93 St. Marks place, occupied by Mrs. Clauson."  Happily, firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze.  The damages were estimated at $500, or about $20,900 in 2025 terms.

On April 25, 1856, the house "with dining-room extension and all the improvements" was offered for rent again.  It became home to Horace A. Schreiner and his wife, the former Julia Elizabeth Nelson.  The couple had at least five children, Jacob, Osmond H., Adelia, Anna and Susan. When the family moved in, Jacob was working as a bookbinder.  His brother would be listed as a cashier in 1859.

In the autumn of 1858, the Schreiners were victims of a burglary.  On September 27, The New York Times reported that Samuel Morris, "a Hebrew, about 80 years of age," had been arrested and "charged with stealing wearing apparel, &c., from the house of Mrs. Schrimer [sic], No. 93 St. Mark's-place."  But the elderly man was in even more trouble.  The article said, "He is also charged with bigamy" and explained:

It appears that in July, 1856, he was married in Court to Amelia Lowenthal, but abandoned her soon after, and since that time, he has been in the habit of taking board at different boarding-houses and marrying one girl at each place, whom he soon after abandoned.  The last victim was Mary Ryan.

The parlor was the scene of Adelia Schreiner's marriage to Pierre Trainique Tunison on February 11, 1858.  Born in New Orleans in 1831, Tunison was the bookkeeper for Jahne, Smith & Co., jewelers.  Eventually, he would become what The Jewelers' Circular Weekly would call, "one of the best known men in the jewelry trade in the east."

The room that had been the couple's joyful marriage would be the scene of their sublime grief.  On March 1, 1860, the New York Herald reported that the funeral of Pierre T. Tunison, "only child of Pierre T. and Adelia Tunison," would be held that day at 1:00.

The extended Schreiner family left 93 St. Mark's Place the following year.  For a few years it was again a boarding house, operated by Helen Goldsmith, the widow of David Goldsmith.  Then around 1864, newlyweds Henry and Helen Dodge Cox Campman purchased the house.

Henry was born in Germany in 1825, and Helen in New York City in 1831.  They were married on October 27, 1863.  Helen was pregnant when they moved into the St. Mark's Place house, and their first child, Marie Louise Campman, was born on August 27, 1864.  They would have four more children: Clara, born in 1866; Jane Eliza Dodge, born in 1869; and Henry Dodge and Mary Dodge, born in 1871 and 1872 respectively.  Sadly, Jane Eliza died at the age of one year and seven months on October 19, 1870.  Her funeral was held in the parlor on October 21.

Henry worked as a clerk--a term that ranged from an office or store worker to a highly responsible executive.  Helen invested in real estate and by the late 1870s was the owner of several tenement buildings.  The family moved to Fourth Avenue in 1874 and leased 93 St. Mark's Place to the Leopold Adler family.  Adler was a furrier.  The family took in several boarders and in 1876 they included August Otterbourg, a physician; Francis C. Urchs and Charles F. Urchs, who listed their professions as musician and vocalist, respectively; Frederick Puls, a tailor; Karl F. Witte who worked as a clerk; and leather merchant Patrick C. Costello.

On December 17, 1881, the Record & Guide reported that Helen Campman had hired architect Julius Boekell to replace 93 St. Mark's Place with a "five-story brick tenement."  She did not go forward with the plans, however, and on April 2, 1884, she sold the house at auction.  The winning bid was placed by her tenant, Leopold Adler.  

Louis Adler, presumably Leopold's son, was, like his former landlady, a real estate operator.  In 1888 and 1891, for instance, he erected "flat," or apartment, buildings.  It was most likely his construction savvy that resulted in the remodeling of 93 St. Mark's Place.  The outdated Greek Revival elements were replaced with molded cornices.  A stone bandcourse now marked the former attic level, which was raised to a full floor.  The paired windows of the new top floor shared an impressive bracketed cornice adorned with an anthemion.  A complex terminal cornice of small and large brackets crowned the design. 

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Interestingly, the Adlers' architect preserved the Greek Revival parlor balcony.  Other original ironwork, however, was scrapped.  The stoop was given beefy cast iron newels and railings, and the areaway received trendy Aesthetic-style fencing with stylized sunflowers.

The Adler family resided at 93 St. Mark's Place through at least 1891.  In the early 1890s, it was operated as a boarding house by Caroline Roehm, a widow.  Starting in 1896, the Adlers leased part of the house to the Hungarian Literary Society for its clubrooms.  On Christmas Eve that year, The New York Times reported, "At 93 St. Mark's Place, the First Hungarian Literary Society made 194 children's hearts glad last evening with gifts of clothing, underwear, shoes and caps."

On August 22, 1901, Leopold Adler sold 93 St. Mark's Place at auction.  It was purchased by the Little Missionary's Day Nursery.  

Sara Curry, who was born in Utica, New York in 1865, grew up as an orphan and factory worker there.  Her childhood experience prompted her to turn to social work in 1894.  She founded the Little Missionary's Day Nursery two years later.  The New York Times later explained, 

One day, on seeing a child crushed by a truck, she resolved to devote her life mainly to children.  With only enough money to pay a month's rent and immediate necessities, she rented a room at 204 Avenue C, which became her first nursery, and in it she cared for a dozen babies.

Sara Curry's project had come a long way in five years.  The nursery was brought to the attention of wealthy lawyer Louis B. Rolston by his 11-year-old daughter, Jean, in 1898.  She had held a bazaar and raised $200 for the cause.  Moved, Louis B. Rolston got involved not only financially, but by the time the St. Mark's Place house was purchased, he was its president.  When the nursery moved in, it was taking care of 200 children.

Children crowded onto the vintage cast iron balcony for this photo in 1908.  Harper's Weekly, January 25, 1908 (copyright expired)

The Little Missionary's Day Nursery relied solely on private donations.  To that end, fund raising was constant.  On December 13, 1903, for instance, The New York Times reported that the nursery "will be tendered a benefit concert at the Hotel Majestic, Central Park West, next Tuesday evening."  The article ended saying, "It is hoped that there will be a large attendance to aid this worthy charity."

Custom-fitted canvas shades kept out the hot summer sunshine.  New York Herald, August 4, 1918 (copyright expired)

Living in the nursery along with Sara Curry were employees (like nurses), as well as Robert Curry and his wife, Anna.  (Robert was presumably a relative, although not a brother.)  Robert J. Curry died on July 10, 1920 and his funeral was held in the house on July 12.

A week later, another tragedy occurred here.  On June 18, 1920, The New York Times reported, "While playing around a piano in St. Mary's Day Nursery [sic], 93 St. Marks Place, Peter Mandola, 8 years old...was killed yesterday when the piano toppled over upon him."  Sara Curry had tried to single-handedly lift the piano off the boy and injured her back in the process.

Anna Curry died in the house on September 26, 1929.  Her funeral was held in the parlor two days later.  There would be one more funeral in the nursery building.  On March 4, 1940, Sara Curry was taken to New York Hospital.  Called "'The Little Missionary' to the needy of the lower East Side for more than forty years," by The New York Times, the 77-year-old died there a week later.  On March 13, the newspaper announced, "A service for Miss Curry will be held at 8 P.M. tomorrow at the nursery and another at 10 A.M. Friday at Bellport, L.I."

Sara Curry, Harper's Weekly, January 25, 1908 (copyright expired)

Sara Curry's death did not end the Little Missionary's Day Nursery.  Four decades later, when the Board of Estimate and the City Council were working out the city's budget, a group of children from the nursery showed up with a guardian.  They were there to lobby for funds for public parks and told the officials, as reported by The New York Times on May 18, 1985:  "We like to go to our park where we can walk, run and play.  We like to see in our park healthy big trees and flowers with bees.  We like to stay in our park where it is safe and clean to have wonderful dreams."

On October 5, 2013, the block of St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue was named Sara Curry Way.  Simultaneously, a plaque was affixed to the facade of 93 St. Mark's Place.  At the time, the Little Missionary's Day Nursery (which still operates from the building) provided full-time daycare to 50 children ranging from 2 to 4 years old.  By then, it was partially funded by non-profit organizations and grants from foundations.

photographs by the author