The Lost 1826 Masonic Hall - 316 Broadway

 

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

On April 18, 1826, the Masonic Hall Association announced in the New-York Evening Post its intention "to commence building a Masonic Hall, for the accommodation of all the lodges and other masonic bodies in this city, in the ensuing month."  The article offered "subscriptions to the stock of said association" for $10 each--about $330 in 2026 terms. 

The cornerstone was laid on June 24, 1826.  The Evening Post remarked that New Yorkers had witnessed, "for the first time, we believe, in twenty years, the novel and interesting spectacle of a Masonic Procession."  The article mentioned that inscribed on the stone, along with names of the trustees and builders, was, "Brother Hugh Reinagle, Architect."  The New York Times added, "Many thousands of our citizens were present to witness the ceremony."

The $10 stock certificates depicted Reinagle's rendering.  from the collection of the New York Masonic Library.

Reinagle was not an architect, but a well-known landscape painter.  Nonetheless, his Masonic Hall was one of the first Gothic Revival structures in America.  The New York Times would recall in 1856, "At the time of its erection, it was looked upon as a prodigy of American architecture." 

Sitting on Broadway between Duane and Worth Streets, the building was completed in 1827 at a cost of $50,000, or about $1.7 million today.  It was faced in "eastern gray granite," according to The New York Times.  Two triple Gothic-arched arcades flanked the main entrance, which was ornamented with Gothic crockets.  A row of stone quatrefoils introduced the second floor, which was dominated by a central arched window 22 feet high and 10 feet wide.  The New York Times described it as being, "divided into small diamond-shaped window panes in leaden frames."  The third floor sat between an intermediate cornice and slightly projecting band course.  A rose window distinguished the fourth floor and the crenelated roofline sprouted crocketed pinnacles.

Geo. P. Hall & Son depicted the residential neighborhood around Masonic Hall in 1830.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

Historian Rufus Rockwell Wilson would recall in his 1903 New York: Old & New, "A costly Gothic structure, its first floor was given up to a single spacious apartment, intended for public meetings, concerts, and balls, while its third story was arranged for the meetings of the fraternity from which it borrowed its name."  Visitors entered a long hall that extended through the length of the building.  The Grand Saloon--95 feet long, 20 feet high and 47 feet wide--on the second floor was described by The New York Times as "the most splendid apartment of the kind in the United States."  According to the newspaper, Reinagle had based its design on the Chapel of Henry VII in Westminster Abbey, saying:

The ceiling was beautifully ornamented, and fancifully divided into light arches with numerous decorations...Open-work columns supported arches which projected from the side walls, between which were false windows wreathed with flowers cut in stone, and carved corbels, and other architectural adornments.

There were historic-themed spaces.  The New-York Tribune (which described the Grand Saloon as a "splendid memorial of feudal age, and venerated relic of the early arts,") said that the Great Doric Hall was "equally distinguished for its simplicity, its beauty, and commanding size."  Another of the semi-public spaces, according to the article, was the Reading-Room Library.

New Yorkers had an opportunity to see selected spaces on November 30, 1827.  An announcement in the New-York Evening Post said:  

The public is informed that the Gothic Saloon in that splendid edifice, the Masonic Hall, will be opened for inspection on Wednesday...at which time the whole of the decorations, Grand Lodge furniture, hangings, &c., used at the dedication, can be seen.  The Chapter Lodge and Banqueting rooms can be viewed at the same time.

Tickets to tour the three areas cost 25 cents, or about $8 today.

Certain meeting rooms were available for rent.  On October 30, 1828, for instance, the Republican Electors of the Sixth Ward held a meeting for promoting the nomination of "the election of General Andrew Jackson" for President.  The following year, a meeting of the Friends of the American System backed Henry Clay for the U.S. Senate here.

The Grand Saloon was the scene of the Scottish themed Thistle Ball on March  18, 1829.  The New-York Evening Post reported, "Two Bag Pipers, and a number of Gentlemen in Highland Costume, will promenade the room before the commencement of the Ball."  This was a benefit event for John Graham, "as a mark of respect for his genius, the emanations of which have so frequently enlivened of public festivals; and also, an alleviation of his affliction, he being entire deprived of sight."

from the collection of the New York Masonic Library

Later that year, in October, a less expected function took place.  The New-York Evening Post reported that a boa constrictor was on exhibition.  "Although but about five years of age, it already measures some seventeen or eighteen feet in length," said the article.  Another snake, an anaconda, had been removed from the exhibition because, "it is now torpid from the process which it is undergoing of changing its skin."  The article proposed, however, "When the shedding shall be completed, an opportunity will probably be afforded to the public of seeing this animal destroy and swallow its quarterly meal."

In 1827, the body of anti-Mason William Morgan washed up on the shore of Lake Ontario.  Shortly after, David Cade Miller published a book that strongly suggested that he had been murdered by Masons.  The book eventually affected Masonic Hall.  Rufus Rockwell Wilson recalled in 1903, "But following the blow given to Masonry by the disappearance of William Morgan, its name was changed to Gothic Hall."

Gothic Hall continued to be the venue of political rallies, temperance meetings, and exhibitions.  On July 26, 1841, for instance, the New-York Tribune reported on the "grand opening fete" of the temperance movement.  Among the activities, said the article, was "an elegant supper, upon Temperance principles, served up in the Doric Hall with the same splendor and magnificent that was displayed in London at the Great Temperance Festival at the Coloseum [sic]."

from the collection of the New York Public Library

On November 29, 1854, an advertisement in the New-York Tribune read: "On Friday, Dec. 1., the marvelous Hybrid, or Bear-Woman, will be exhibited--pronounced by naturalists as a mysterious link combining the Human Species with the Brute Creation."

At the time of the Bear-Woman's appearance here, the end of the magnificent structure was near.  On May 26, 1856, The New York Times reported, "They are tearing down Gothic Hall, in Broadway."  After reminiscing about the building's history and mentioning that it had held the "largest bowling alley in the world," the article said, "The workmen are busily engaged in tearing down the walls of the edifice, and in a few days nothing will remain on the spot but dust and ruins."

Today the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building sits on the site.

image by Ajay Suresh

The 1854 55 Warren Street (aka 55 Murray)

 

photograph by Anthony Bellov

A French family resided in the vintage house at 55 Murray Street between West Broadway and Church Street in 1853.  On October 20 that year, an advertisement written in French sought, "We ask for a good Frenchwoman who knows how to sew well.  Contact 55 Murray Street between 12 and 2, after noon."

The family would soon have to move.  That year former district attorney James R. Whiting purchased the property and that directly behind it at 55 Warren Street.  He erected a five-story store and loft building on the site, completed in 1854.  Although Whiting (who would be elected to the bench of the New York Supreme Court the next year) was listed as both the builder and owner, he indubitably commissioned an adept architect to design his structure.

Faced in marble above cast iron storefronts, the Warren and Murray Street facades were identical.  Their striking Italianate elements were drawn from Renaissance palazzi--alternating triangular and arched pediments over the center openings, prominent molded cornices over the others, and delicately carved cresting over those of the second floor.  The marble cornice was supported by scrolled, foliate brackets.

The details were drawn from the Italian Renaissance.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

The initial tenants were importers Bradford, Heath & Clark, operated by George P. Bradford, Charles Heath and John Q. Clark; and boot manufacturer Howes, Hyatt & Co., owned by Rueben W. Howes and Stephan Hyatt.

Around 1859, some of the floors were divided, giving certain tenants the 55 Warren Street address only.  Among those was a shirt manufacturer, and one of his employees seems to have been embarking on a more artistic career: the formation of a band.  An advertisement on June 8, 1859 read:

Wanted--A violinist, a good player.  One willing to travel, and capable of leading at a performance; must be satisfied with a moderate salary.  Apply at 55 Murray street, up stairs, in the shirt store.

  

Alexander Platt worked in the building in 1865 when he found himself in a highly embarrassing situation on November 29.  Platt went to Greene Street, notorious for having no fewer that two dozen houses of prostitution.  The New York Times reported that he accompanied "Cecilia Austin, otherwise Flora Reed, a syren [sic] from Greene-street" to her house.  The next day he realized his valuable gold watch was gone.  Prostitutes most often got away with thievery since their clients avoided the humiliation and scandal that would accompany the reporting of the crime.  Such was not the case with Platt and Cecilia was arrested later that day.

By the last quarter of the century, the tenant list was predominately glass and hardware dealers.  In 1879 they included Williams, White & Churchill, hardware, and S. N. Wolff & Co., glass (listed at 55 Warren Street); and Vogel & Reynolds, "dealers in glassware" at the Murray Street address.

At the turn of the century, the hardware firm of Surpless, Dunne & Co. was on the first floor and the New York Bag Company occupied the entire second floor.  A. L. Tuska, Son & Co., importers of Japanese ware, also leased space in the building.

On the night of July 20, 1901, a passerby saw smoke pouring out of the windows of the Warren Street side.  A fire had started under the stairway on the second floor.  The New York Times reported, "the flames quickly spread to the thousands of tightly packed bags, causing thick volumes of smoke to fill the whole building."  The fire was contained to the New York Bag Company space, although the upper floors were slightly damaged by smoke and Surpless, Dunne & Co. suffered water damage.

Elegant carved marble cresting crowns two of the second floor windows.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

A much more serious fire broke out eight months later.  On Saturday night, March 15, 1902, the engineer of a Sixth Avenue elevated train noticed smoke coming from a fourth floor window.  He stopped his train midblock between Church Street and West Broadway directly in front of Fire Patrol No. 1 and blew his whistle several times.  He shouted that there was a fire at 55 Murray Street.

The blaze soon grew to a three-alarm fire.  The New York Times reported, "An exciting incident occurred soon after the second alarm had been sent in.  Four firemen of Engine Company No. 7 had climbed to the fourth story by the fire escape, and as they reached the cage a sheet of flame burst forth, completely enveloping them."  The water tower truck had just gotten into position.  The stream of water "struck the men with great force," but saved their lives.

The Annual Report of the Committee on Fire Patrol reported, "Fire originated on fourth floor of No. 55 Warren Street and extended to fifth floor, then through roof and fifth floor and roof of No. 55 Murray Street."  The blaze also damaged the abutting buildings at 53 Murray, 53 Warren and 57 Warren Street.

The Murray Street elevation is identical to that on Warren Street.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

The Motor Car Equipment Company leased three floors in the repaired building in 1905.  Established in 1902 by Emil Grossman, it handled automobile supplies like batteries and tires.  Automobile Topics said their new space contained "approximately 10,000 square feet."

A. L. Tuska, Son & Co. was still here.  On November 25, 1907, the American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record suggested, "In casting about for striking holiday goods the druggist could not do better than include the line of beautiful Japanese novelties which are imported into this country direct by A. L. Tuska, Son & Co. 55 Murray Street, New York."  

Also in the building that year was Plume & Atwood Mfg. Co., makers of "electric portables," such as "lamps, unmounted gongs for electric bells, etc."

In 1917, Columbia Graphophone Co., makers of the Dictaphone, leased the entire building.  An announcement in The New York Times on July 9, 1917 explained, "And here are the reasons for the move: The steadily increasing adoption of The Dictaphone System by business men generally in and around New York has made more room and better facilities a necessity."

The New York Times, July 9, 1917 (copyright expired)

Another advertisement stressed that the country's entry into World War I would make the Dictaphone crucial to the workings of an office.  "You are going to lose some of your workers through conscription--possibly many--and you must be prepared for the loss."

The Columbia Graphophone Company's residency would be short.  In 1920 it completed construction of its own building at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street.  In March that year, the I. Blyn Shoe Company purchased the property.  Founded in 1874 and incorporated in 1923, it operated Red Cross Shoe and Rambler Shoe stores.  The firm moved its main office into the building and continued to rent unneeded space.

The company was the victim of audacious thieves in 1924.  On April 27, The New York Times reported, "Burglars broke open two safes and stole $5,000 in the offices of the I. Blyn Shoe Company, 55 Warren Street, yesterday morning or Friday night.  The police think the burglars hid in the building before it was closed Friday night.  They entered the offices by boring a hole through a wall."

I. Blyn Shoe Company operated numerous stores across the country.  But the Great Depression dealt a fatal blow to the firm and it declared bankruptcy in July 1931.  Jacob Blyn, a widower, moved into his sister's apartment on Riverside Drive.  On July 27, 1936, The New York Times reported, "Jacob Blyn, 67 years old, ended his life early yesterday by opening four jets on a gas range in the kitchen of the apartment of his sister, Mrs. Hannah Stoff."

photograph by Anthony Bellov

A renaissance in the Tribeca neighborhood began in the last quarter of the century as industrial lofts were converted to artists' working and living spaces.  In 2013, 55 Warren Street was converted to residential use above the ground floor.  The renovation resulted in one apartment per floor.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post

J. Morgan Slade's 1880 36 White Street

 

Born in 1836, Seth Mellen Milliken co-founded the dry goods and textile firm of Deering-Milliken Co.  Having amassed a fortune by the mid-1870s, he invested in speculative real estate.  In 1880, Milliken purchased the converted vintage house at 36 White Street, just east of Church Street.  As early as 1821, when the neighborhood was almost exclusively residential, the R. Tagart's School operated from the house.  Now Milliken hired architect Jarvis Morgan Slade to design a loft and store building on the site.

The 27-year-old architect had already made his mark in the dry goods district known today as Tribeca, having designed commercial structures in a variety of historic styles and materials.  Among his most striking was the David S. Brown Soap Store building at 8 Thomas Street--a brick and stone Victorian Gothic confection.

Slade's plans, filed in April 1880, described a five-story brick building with "galvanized iron cornice."  He projected the construction costs at $20,000--about $633,000 in 2025 terms.  For Milliken's project, he turned to the fashionable neo-Grec style, splashing it with whimsical Queen Anne details.

Slade's cast iron storefront was highly unusual.  Two beefy piers on either end were incised to suggest fluting and wore flat, egg-and-dart capitals.  The storefront was deeply recessed behind the cast iron elements.  Two thin, deep piers with Ionic capitals supported two shorter examples, like circus acrobats balancing atop the shoulders of another.

The architect chose a warm sandstone to contrast with the red brick of the upper floors.  Other than the identical, pencil-thin cast iron columns separating the grouped windows, each floor was treated separately.  And, yet, by placing a stone arch above the fourth floor openings, Slade gave the mid-section the visual appearance of a single large segmental arch.  Stone moldings crowned with rosette-incised panels transformed the brick piers of the top floor to pilasters.

Milliken's project was profitable.  He sold the building in September 1882 for $64,000--just over $2 million today. 

An early tenant was Nathan Cohen, who dealt in trimmings.  His success afforded him the funds to purchase at least two tenement buildings.  Around 1890, his wife, whom he married in 1859, convinced him to transfer title to his properties, including the business, to her.  The decision would end their decades long marital bliss.

Cohen began experiencing financial difficulties in 1891 and, according to The New York Times, "his creditors chased after assets until their legs ached."  He asked his wife to return the properties, but she refused.  "And ever since Cohen and his wife have been out [i.e., at odds]," said The New York Times.

Cohen retaliated against his wife by filing complaints to the Health Department.  They purported that the plumbing and sanitary conditions of the tenement buildings were unhealthy.  He additionally alerted the Fire Department that "they were liable to burn," and told the Building Department that they were unsafe.  The New York Times reported that his fictitious suits against his wife's properties were filed "in various names," but "were discontinued one by one."  He then sued her for $800 for money he claimed he had loaned her over their years together.

One day, Mrs. Cohen discovered her husband attempting to spirit away the household silverware to pawn.  She "recovered the silverware and thrashed Cohen with a broom," according to The Times.  "The couple frequently assaulted each other, and Mrs. Cohen made Cohen sleep down stairs.  He had a habit of getting up at 2 A. M. and yelling names at her," said the newspaper.  The domestic rift affected the 36 White Street business, and in 1892 it failed.

Another Cohen in the building, presumably not related, was Jacob Cohen, a partner with Moses L. Rosenfeld in the shirt manufacturing firm Cohen & Rosenfeld.  The firm moved in upon organizing in January 1886.  An audit of the books on January 1, 1893, showed that the firm was on shaky financial ground.  Owners of two creditors, Abraham Steinam and William L. Strong & Co., panicked when they saw crates leaving the building on October 18.  The truck driver said he had removed 30 "large cases of goods."  Cohen and Rosenfeld, aware that their business was about to fail, were attempting to sneak their inventory out of the building, safe from being attached.  The ploy did not work.

On October 19, the New York Herald reported that the sheriff "took charge yesterday of the place of business of Cohen & Rosenfield."  The article said, "Seven cases had been found stored in a warehouse under a fictitious name."

Other tenants in the building at the time were Shaw & Peck, linen merchants; the Art Fabric Co., textile designers; and dry goods importer Joseph L. Frame.

Joseph L. Frame died at the age of 63 on March 10, 1903, ending the business.  The Hearn department store on West 14th Street purchased the entire stock of the "prominent importer," as described by its advertisement in The New York Times on April 12, 1903.  The ad revealed the wide-ranging items in which Frame dealt--linen fringed cloths, satin damask dinner sets, dress linens, "glass towellings," linen napkins and such.

The Art Fabric Co. introduced a surprising item just in time for Christmas 1904--a cloth "life size doll."  The "clothes" were printed onto the fabric and the doll came with shoes that "can be put on and off."  Standing 2.5 feet tall, it sold for 50 cents.

The Life Size Doll was touted as having no clothes to ruin or get lost.  New-York Tribune, December 11, 1904 (copyright expired)

Among the tenants in 1913 were the Perfect Pants Co., and Robert Watson & Sons, makers and importers of "handkerchiefs and linen lawns," according to an advertisement in September that year.  The firm's factory was in Lurgan, Ireland.

Robert Watson & Sons was still in the building in 1919, but they would have to find a new location.  On April 27, the New-York Tribune reported that linen dealer Watts-Stebbins & Co. had leased "all the lofts at 36 White Street."

The venerable 34 White Street next door was a relic of the early development of the area.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Watts-Stebbins & Co. may have leased the entire upper building to eliminate inquisitive co-tenants.  Three months earlier, Congress ratified the 18th Amendment, known as the Volstead Act.  It demanded that starting on January 17, 1920 the manufacture or sale of alcohol would be prohibited.  It took Prohibition agents a little time to discover Watts-Stebbins & Co.'s sideline, but on September 17, 1922, the New-York Tribune reported that agents "raided a linen establishment occupying four floors at 36 White Street, and [seized liquor] in excess of $500,000."  The raid was triggered when an undercover agent visited the address earlier and talked to a clerk, Joseph Elliott.  Elliott sold him six bottles of whisky for $30.

Manhattan's downtown district, including Tribeca, was  celebrated for its architecture in 1975, when June was officially proclaimed by the City Planning Commission "Lower Manhattan on Exhibit Month."  Part of the exhibitions and activities was a quirky "fashion show" of famous buildings on parade.  On June 19, The New York Times explained, "The buildings were actually costumes created and worn by architects and artists, and they were put on to dramatize the area's architectural heritage and evolution."  Among the structures represented in the parade was 36 White Street.

The third quarter of the 20th century saw a renewed interest in the Tribeca area as industrial lofts were converted to artists' studios and living spaces, and stores that once sold fabrics and trimmings became trendy shops and cafes.  In 1981, Jarvis Morgan Slade's handsome 36 White Street was converted to apartments, one per floor above the storefront.

photographs by the author

The 1931 Green Sixth Building - 100 Sixth Avenue

 

photograph by Beyond My Ken

Despite the Great Depression, real estate operator Vivian Green organized the 100 Sixth Avenue Corporation in 1929.  The syndicate assembled the properties along the south side of Watts Street between Sixth Avenue and Thompson Street as the site for a loft building.  On April 11, 1930, The New York Times reported that the old buildings were "being cleared for a $2,500,000 sixteen-story building designed by Shampan & Shampan."  (The costs would translate to about $47 million in 2025.)

Construction progressed swiftly.  Four months later, on August 2, the New York Evening Post reported that "work is proceeding rapidly" of the "sixteen-story reinforced concrete industrial building to be known as [the] Green Sixth Avenue Building."  The structure was completed within the year.

Shampan & Shampan's Art Deco-style factory building used steel framing to provide vast expanses of glass that filled the interiors with natural light.  The spandrels between floors were decorated with geometric designs executed in brick.  The architects made the most of cost-saving cast concrete, lavishing the tops of the setbacks with ornate panels.  Especially eye-catching were the bas-reliefs of workers and craftsmen on the second floor pilasters around all three sides.  Those on the Sixth Avenue elevation were polychromed.

A chemist works with test tubes (top) and a carpenter uses a plane in two panels.  photographs by Beyond My Ken.

The Green Sixth Building filled with a variety of tenants, several of them in the printing and the radio industries.  Among the first were the Pyramid Engraving Company, the Illustration Engraving Company, and J. Hoeffler & Co., Inc., manufacturer of printing inks.  The Oil Products Appliance Co., Inc. designed and manufactured oil dispensing equipment, like pumps.

Another printing firm, Parker Guy & Co., was also an initial tenant.  A year after moving in, on September 17, 1932, Lillian Landis left the office to withdrawal the week's payroll of $461 at the Corn Exchange Bank.  (Employees were paid in cash at the end of each week.)  With the envelope in hand, she started back to the office.  On Canal Street near Varick, she was set upon by a man who "snatched the money and escaped before Miss Landis's cries for help brought a policeman," reported The New York Times.  The bandit escaped with the equivalent of $10,600 today.

A metal worker weighs what appears to be gold (top) and a turner works on a lathe.  photographs by Beyond My Ken.

The Freed Radio Sales Company and the Fulton Radio Corporation leased space in April 1932.  They were the first of several radio-related tenants to come.  By 1938, the Wholesale Radio Service was here.  In the November 1938 issue of Popular Mechanics, it advertised do-it-yourself radio kits.  "Thrill to performance that outstrips many a 'store bought' set," said the ad.

Among the first publishers in the building was Harry L. Lindquist.  In November 1933, he released Harry M. Konwiser's Texas Republic Postal System, described by The New York Times as "the story of the post office system of the Republic of Texas."  

The Traffic Publishing Company, here as early as 1940, offered just one item: The Official Directory of Commercial Traffic Executives.  The annual register came with an appendix of transportation commissions and organizations.

Another industry-specific publisher, here by 1946, was the American Health Publishers, Inc.  In 1948 the Fiction Book Club took space, and in 1949 the Book of the Month Club moved into two floors.

In the meantime, printing firms, along with publishers, continued to be a significant presence in the building.  The Eagle Printing Ink division of the Sun Chemical Corporation was here in 1946.  Greystone Press was here in 1950 when it released decorating books like How to Use Color and Decorating Designs in the Home, The Standard Book of American Antique Furniture, and The Complete Book of Interior Decorating and Every Woman's Guide to Traditional and Modern Furniture.  Major publisher Simon & Schuster was in the building as early as 1952.

Recording firms first appeared here just after mid-century.  Music Treasures of the World operated here in 1955, operating a mail-order record-of-the month club.  Similar record clubs here at the time were the American Recording Society and the Capitol Record Club, Inc.

The publishers of Playbill occupied space in the 1970s, as did the Encyclopedia of Photography.  In 1992, the AHF Marketing Research, Inc. signed the lease for a 22,000 square-foot floor.

An interesting exhibition was staged in the ground floor in December 2021.  Thirty-four high-definition, quarter-sized prints of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel were installed.  Melissa Smith of The New York Times remarked on December 23, "While not quite bringing Vatican City to New York, the reproductions lining the space at 'Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel' enable viewers to see details that would be difficult to make out in the originals without a set of binoculars."

photograph by Tdorante10

Routinely misattributed to architect Ely Jacques Kahn, the building's facade was aggressively cleaned recently--removing the colorful paint of the Sixth Avenue bas reliefs.  

many thanks to reader Elizabeth Janovsky for suggesting this post

The Lost Thomas Cole House - 1 Laight Street

 

photograph by Samuel Landsman from the collection of the New York Public Library

On September 13, 1802, the Board of Trinity Episcopal Church resolved to erect a chapel of convenience north of the city.  Construction of St. John's Park, anchored by a Georgian-style chapel designed by John McComb, began in 1803.  By the time St. John's Chapel was completed in 1807, the manicured, fence enclosed park--bounded by Varick, Laight, Hudson and Beach Streets--was being girded by refined Federal-style mansions.

The elegant, brick-faced residence at the head of Laight Street was three-and-a-half stories tall and 27-1/2-feet wide.  Although it faced Varick Street, it took the address of 1 Laight Street.  Because it sat on the northern side of the churchyard, its residents enjoyed windows on the southern side.  A stone stoop with wrought iron cage newels rose to the double-doored, arched entryway.  Its frame, along with the paneled window lintels, were made of marble.

photograph by Samuel Landsman from the collection of the New York Public Library

The Hoffman family occupied the house in 1827.  A. M. Hoffman was a surveyor, most likely employed by the city, and Henry Hoffman was a wholesale grocer.

Commission merchant Richard Reed and his family next occupied the mansion, here as early as 1829.  On the night of September 30, 1832, a sneak thief entered the house and made off with four silver and six silver-plated "table spoons."  A notice in the New-York Evening Post the next day said, "To any person returning said spoons, or giving information where they can be found, a suitable reward will be given by applying as above."

The house was sold on March 4, 1834 to Dr. George Ackerley and his wife, the former Anne Cole.  Born in 1797, Ackerley would be described by historian Henry Howe in 1891 as "the noted New York surgeon."  He and Anne were part of the "English immigrant colony" in Steubenville, Ohio when they were married in February 1821.  At the time, Anne's brother, Thomas, was working in the family's wallpaper factory, designing wallpaper patterns and engraving them into woodblocks.

By the time the Ackerleys moved into 1 Laight Street, Thomas Cole had transitioned to portrait painting.  He moved into the mansion with the Ackerleys.  Interestingly, Cole listed his profession in 1836 as "architect."

The Course of Empire, Consummation was among the works Cole executed while living here.  from the collection of the New-York Historical Society

That year, on November 22, Thomas Cole married Maria Bartow in her family's house in Catskill, New York.  Interestingly, Cole lived with Maria and her parents in the Bartow house during part of the year, while living with Anne and George in the remainder (most likely during the winter season).  Maria remained year round in Catskill, occasionally taking a steamboat to New York City to attend Thomas's lectures.  When they were apart, the pair maintained regular communications, with Maria often giving Thomas advice on his patrons.  In her letter on February 12, 1844, for instance, she urged:

Don't work too hard but go into society as much as you can--& now I Think of it, why need you propose either of your subjects of Pictures, Tell them you have Subjects, & what you will paint for them, & be sure you have it in the bargin [sic] that you may exhibit them if you wish to.

In the meantime, George Ackerley maintained a side practice of patent medicines.  In April 1841, he advertised Dr. Ackeley's Enteritic Balm in The New York Sun.  It guaranteed in part:

A certain remedy for the summer complaint of children, cholera morbus, dysentery, diarrhea, obstinate vomiting, cramp in the stomach and bowels, lead cholic, bilious and flatulent cholic, &c, &c.

The ad said the balm had cured 2,200 cases over the past eight years.  Ackerley also marketed Dr. Ackerley's Vegetable Pills, a "valuable agreeable and safe medicine for Ladies at all times," and Dr. Ackerley's Tonic Bitters, which "have done wonders where the Digestive and Nervous System have been out of order."  And an advertisement on April 8, 1842 in the New-York Tribune touted Dr. Ackerley's Purifying Anti-Scrofulous Syrup.  It said that, in part, that the medicine:

...cures scrofulous affections and other diseases occasioned by or attended with an impure state of the blood, restoring healthy action, diseased growths are stopped and scattered, and sores and ulcers healed...Prepared and sold by Dr. G. Ackerley, at his office for consultation and advice, No. 1 Laight st., corner Canal street.

A month after that ad appeared, George Ackerley was dead.  He died at the age of 45 on May 22, 1842.  Two days later, the New-York Tribune announced, "His friends, and those of his brother-in-law, Thomas Cole, are respectfully invited to attend his funeral this afternoon at 4 o'clock, from his late residence, No. 1 Laight street."

Anne Cole Ackerley soon left the mansion and in 1850 it was being rented by stockbroker S. A. Darling and his family.  The property was sold at auction on November 19, 1851.

Reflecting the gradual change in St. John's Park, Jules Poinsignon converted a portion of 1 Laight Street to a restaurant.  It was operated by William D. Benson in 1856 and '57, and in 1860 Charles Koss took over, running the former mansion as a hotel.

An advertisement in the New-York Tribune on February 4, 1863 offered the commercial properties at 394 and 396 Canal Street for sale.  The parcel included 1 Laight Street "in the rear."  The three properties would be forever linked going forward.

Charles Hoharst leased 1 Laight Street, running it as a boarding house with an "oyster house" in the former restaurant space.  Three years after opening, he lost his new puppy and on January 31, 1866, advertised:

$5 Reward--Lost a Bull Terrier pup, about 3 months old, white with brindle spots.  Had on a plated collar, with the name of Charles Hoharst on it.  Whoever will return the same to 1 Laight st. will receive the above reward.

Hoharst's reward would translate to about $100 in 2025.

In 1867, Trinity Church sold St. John's Park to the Hudson River Railroad Company.  The firm immediately began plans to replace the refined private green with a freight terminal.  Understandably, one-by-one the wealthy homeowners abandoned their mansions and moved uptown.

In 1909, 1 Laight Street (left) was dwarfed by a commercial structure.  The former mansion on the opposite of the chapel (right) is a near mirror-image.  photograph by George F. Arata from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

The Canal Street and Laight Street properties were soon occupied by Huntington Brothers & Company, manufacturers of women's garments.  Presumably 1 Laight Street was used as its offices.  The firm remained until 1896.  Arkin Brothers, a maker of boxes, leased the properties in February 1901, and in May 1914, another box company, the Heppe-Schoen Paper Box Co., moved in.  Amazingly, through it all the exterior of the venerable Laight Street mansion remained essentially intact.

Edwin Davis French created this depiction in 1898.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

Then, in 1918, the widening of Varick Street eradicated not only 1 Laight Street, but the magnificent St. John's Chapel.  The former Ackerley mansion was one of the last vestiges of what had been Manhattan's most exclusive residential enclave.

The Lost James Kearney House and Saloon - 81 Hudson Street

The ground floor was an outstanding example of a 19th century saloon front.  photograph by Edward Loomis Davenport Seymour from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

George Harrison owned a sprawling estate on the west side of Manhattan Island in the 18th century.  In 1797, two roads--Harrison Street and Hudson Street--appeared on city maps on his property.  In the first half of the 19th century, houses first began appearing in the area.  

One of the earliest was 1 Harrison Street at the southwest corner of Hudson Street.  A substantial, three-and-a-half story building, it was faced in brick and trimmed in stone.  A early example of Federal architecture, its windows on Hudson Street displayed layered keystones.  The peaked attic had three windows on the Harrison Street elevation--an arched window flanked by two quarter-round openings.  A double-wide dormer pierced the roof to the front.

The first occupant was "Mr. Whale," who listed himself as "Professor of Dancing."  Whale operated a dancing school in the City Hotel.  His four instructors included "Mr. Degville, ballet master at the Opera House in London," and "Mr. Nouvarre, principal dancer at the Grand Opera in Paris."  A November 1818 advertisement said that Mr. Whale's students would learn "new Dances and a variety of Cotillion Steps, as is now danced by the fashionable circles in London and Paris."  Each Tuesday, "practicing balls" were held, where young society people learned the proper steps and the accompanying, expected decorum.

On November 20, 1818, Mr. Whale announced he had "commenced at his residence No. 1 Harrison Street, corner of Hudson, for the reception of those young ladies and gentlemen who may consider his public school at the City Hotel too great a distance to attend."  The classes were segregated by gender--young ladies being instructed on Mondays and Friday from 3 to 5, and gentlemen the same days from 5 until 7.

Mr. Whale staged his "grand annual ball" at the City Hotel.  An announcement in The Evening Post on March 22, 1819 listed the locations where the $1 tickets could be obtained, including "Mr. Whale's residence No. 1 Harrison street, corner of Hudson street."

Mr. Whale was followed by Miss Squires in the house.  On October 26, 1822, an advertisement in The Evening Post read: "Miss Squires informs her friends, that she will re-open her Seminary on Monday the 28th of October, at No. 1 Harrison street, corner of Hudson street."

By 1830, the ground floor of the house had been converted to business.  The residential address remained 1 Harrison Street and the store became 81 Hudson Street.  Thomas L. Jackson operated his grocery store in the space that year.  John Adams ran the store from 1836 through 1841, followed by Bruce C. Smith.  Smith and his family lived above the grocery store.

Henry Meyer took over the grocery around 1850.  He and his family shared the upper floors with boarders.  Living with the Meyers in 1853 were Patrick Crenan, a carman; Michael Garaty, a coachman; civil engineer David C. Nodwell; and Simon Strahlheim, an importer.

In 1859, Patrick Kehoe converted the long-time grocery space to a saloon.  (He operated a second saloon at 322 Greenwich Street where he and his family lived.)  By then, the neighborhood was bustling and the following year, on September 3, 1860, the Board of Aldermen approved the resolution "to flag and set curb and gutter stones in front of No. 81 Hudson street, and No. 1 Harrison street."

Robert G. Stevenson and Walter Taylor moved their Taylor & Stevenson saloon into the space in 1861.  They were the first to list the commercial space at 81 Hudson Street.  Neither of the proprietors lived upstairs.  Stevenson lived at 13 Harrison Street and Taylor at 3 Harrison Street.

Stevenson also operated a produce business at 395 West Washington Market.  In 1864, Benjamin Emerson, who lived upstairs at 1 Harrison Street, was also in the produce business at 395 West Washington Market, possibly a partner.  That year the two men partnered in the saloon, changing its name to Stevenson & Emerson.

Most substantial saloons had rear rooms for meetings.  On August 3, 1864, The Sun reported that the Dry Goods Porters and Packers, an early version of a labor union, had met here.  The article said, "It was decided that it was necessary, in order to have justice done them, to organize into a permanent Protective Association."

In 1867, James Kearney took over the saloon and moved his family into the upper floors.  He and his wife, Elizabeth, would eventually have three children in the house: Cornelius P., born in 1869; , Mary A., born in 1870; and Katherine, who arrived in 1871.

Sadly, Cornelius died at the age of four on February 25, 1873.  His funeral was held in the house the following day.

The Kearneys were Roman Catholics and the girls attended St. Peter's Academy rather than a public school.  Mary graduated in 1887, when Katherine was a junior.

Elizabeth and the girls were at Spring Valley, New York that summer.  Families who could afford to spent the hot months in the country.  In many cases, the fathers of the families remained in the city to attend to business, and traveled back and forth on the weekends.  On the evening of July 27, 1887, James Kearney was met at the train station at Spring Valley by devastating news.

That afternoon, Mary and Katherine, who were now 17 and 16 years old respectively, "went with a party of girls of about their age to bathe at Distillery Lake," reported The Sun.  The article said,

They could not swim.  Mary slipped from a small raft into 15 feet of water, and her frightened sister plunged in to save her.  Both girls sank together.

The screams of the other girls attracted workmen in a nearby field, but their attempts were futile.  The Sun reported, "Their bodies were recovered two hours later, still locked together in their last embrace."  On July 29, the newspaper reported that the teens' bodies had been brought to the city and a mass at St. Peter's Church would be held that morning after the funeral at 1 Harrison Street.

In the 1880s, the Temperance Movement began lobbying for public drinking fountains.  Proponents believed that by making healthful, clean water available to the working classes, the temptations of alcohol could be thwarted.  It was most likely that pressure that resulted in the Commissioners of Public Works to install a "free drinking-hydrant" at 81 Hudson Street in 1891.

By 1894, Henry Steinhardt, who also ran a saloon at 315 Bowery, had taken over Kearney's operation.  In February that year, he made $2,500 in alterations to the building.  The cost would translate to about $94,000 in 2025.  The renovations involved the installation of a superb saloon front with four double-doored entrances with stained and wheel-cut glass.  They projected away from the facade under curved metal hoods.

The neighborhood continued to change, and at the turn of the century the Hudson-Harrison Street corner sat amid the "egg and butter" district.  On March 19, 1908, an auction was held "of bar and back bar, and all other goods then on said premises," at 81 Hudson Street.  After having housed a saloon for nearly 80 years, the ground floor became home to the Wisconsin Condensed Milk Co.

When this photograph was taken in 1919, demolition of the venerable building had been begun.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

An advertisement appeared in The Evening World on June 17, 1918 that read simply, "81 Hudson Street, Corner Harrison St.  We offer this desirable corner for sale."  It was purchased by Henry Mason Day, Jr.  On March 1, 1919, the Record & Guide reported that he would replace it with "a new 3-story building" for his export and import food supply business.  Designed by Schwartz & Gross, the terra cotta-clad Henry M. Day Building was completed within the year.  

photograph by the author