The Lost Cornelius Vanderbilt I House - 10 Washington Place

 

Frank Leslie's Illustrated Magazine, January 1877 (cropped, copyright expired)

In January 1877, Frank Leslie's Illustrated Magazine recalled, "Cornelius Vanderbilt was born on Staten Island on May 27th, 1794.  His father owned a farm on the island and also a rude ferry-boat on which the future commodore and railroad king plied an oar."  When young Vanderbilt was 18 years old, he owned his own boat and the foundation of his massive fortune was laid.

At 19, Vanderbilt married his first cousin, Sophia Johnson.  They would have 13 children.  Although his formal education ended when he was 11 years old, Vanderbilt grew his empire by ruthless ambition and innate business acumen.  By the end of the 1830s, he dominated the Long Island Sound steamship business, owned substantial Manhattan and Staten Island real estate, owned the Staten Island Ferry, and through cutthroat dealings had begun acquiring his first railroads.

In 1839, Sophia pressured her husband to move the family from Manhattan to his birthplace in New Dorp, Staten Island.  (His father, Cornelius van Derbilt, died in 1832 and his mother, Phebe Hand Vanderbilt, was living there alone.)  Always one to follow his own wants, however, in 1845 Cornelius purchased the 44-foot-wide plot at 10 West Washington Place (the "West" would be dropped from the address later) from Matthew Morgan for $9,500.  Morgan had already erected his mansion on the abutting property at 12 Washington Place.

Vanderbilt's property ran through the block to West Fourth Street.  Working with builder Benjamin F. Camp for the designs, he planned a double-wide mansion with a commodious carriage house in the rear lot opening onto Fourth Street.  Ground was broken in May 1845 and construction was completed in November 1846.  The New York Times placed the cost at $55,000, including construction and real estate.  The figure would equal $2.68 million in 2025.

Sophia Vanderbilt was inconsolable about the thought of moving back to Manhattan and leaving the fresh air of the farmland.  Cornelius, however, could make his wife bend to his demands.  Edward J. Renehan, Jr., in his Commodore, The Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt, explains,

…when she protested too loudly about being taken from Staten Island to occupy the new Washington Place residence nine months out of the year, Vanderbilt threatened to have her committed to an asylum in Flushing.  When a trip to Canada with a daughter and son-in-law did nothing to calm Sophia’s nerves or tone down her protest, Vanderbilt made good on the threat.  Sophia remained incarcerated for three months until, after the apparent intercession of Phebe Hand  [Vanderbilt] and Sophia’s surrender in the form of an announced willingness to live in Greenwich Village, she was finally released.

The Greek Revival-style Vanderbilt mansion was faced in red brick and trimmed in brownstone.  Four stories tall and four bays wide, it held its own with the aristocratic mansions a block-and-a-half away on Washington Square.  The entrance was flanked by free-standing columns that upheld a classical triangular pediment.  The parlor windows opened onto two balustraded balconies.  The New York Times deemed, "It is reckoned to be one of the strongest and best constructed buildings in the City."

Between the carriage house and the mansion, reported The New York Times, was "a small paved court-yard."  The article described the expanse of rear building, saying, "The stable is large and well ventilated, and in a large open space in the centre, under the same roof, there is an oval dirt track on which the horses may be exercised when the weather is too inclement for them to be taken out."

Upon entering the residence, there were two "large and commodious" parlors on the right.  To the left was the reception room and beyond that was the dining room. 

Nathaniel Jocelyn painted Vanderbilt's portrait in 1846, the year the family moved into 10 Washington Place.  from the collection of the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian

Interestingly, the décor reflected Vanderbilt's egocentric personality.  The New York Times described the artworks:

The most valuable of these is a bust of the Commodore, in white marble, by Powers.  In a niche in the lower great hall is a statuette in Parian marble, a copy of the statue, in heroic size, cast in bronze, by Capt. Albert De Groot, for the Vanderbilt memorial in front of St. John's Park Depot.  In the dining-room is a picture of the Commodore in a road wagon, wearing a white hat and driving a favorite span of horses.

To the front of the second floor were two identical spaces, each 20 by 20 feet--Vanderbilt's frescoed ceiling library and a sitting room.  The latter was "plainly, but elegantly furnished," and hung with portraits of Vanderbilt, Sophia, and Phebe.  In the rear of the second floor were Sophia's dressing room and boudoir, and Cornelius's bedroom and private office.  The third floor held the children's bedrooms and on the fourth floors were servants' rooms.  In the basement, along with the kitchen and service rooms, was a billiard room.

Cornelius surveys a servant with three of the girls in a parlor.  Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, January 20, 1877 (copyright expired)

Despite decades of tensions between Cornelius and Sophia, they were described as a warm, loving couple during their 50th anniversary celebration held in the house on December 19, 1863.  The Sun reported, "Since their first marriage day, the career of this happy couple has been one of an almost unchequered success.  With nothing but youth, good looks, mutual affection and unconquerable energy as their portion then, now they are blessed with a wealth and influence, second to none other private citizen in the country."

After speeches and tributes, "The band of music now struck up a march, and the party moved to the supper room."  Following dinner and more celebrations, the night was closed "by a splendid serenade from the Seventh Regiment Band."

Sophia Johnson Vanderbilt.  (original source unknown)

George W. Vanderbilt had been given leave from the Army to attend the event.  Although he was the youngest of the boys (after William Henry and Cornelius Jeremiah), George was his father's favorite.  Born on April 10, 1839, he graduated from West Point in 1860.  After the Civil War broke out in April 1861, Vanderbilt saw combat and was promoted by President Abraham Lincoln to 1st lieutenant of the 10th Regiment U.S. Infantry on June 14, 1861.  Three months before his parents' golden anniversary, he was promoted to captain.

George Washington Vanderbilt.  His eldest brother, William Henry, would name one of his son after him. (original source unknown).

Through Cornelius Vanderbilt's influence, George was allowed to travel to Nice, France to recuperate from battle wounds and illness.  He was there on December 31, 1863 when he died at the age of 24.  Vanderbilt's body was shipped to 10 Washington Place, arriving a month later.  His military funeral was held in the parlors on February 5, 1864.

Four years later there would be another funeral in the parlor.  On August 20, 1868, the New York Herald reported, "the residence of Commodore Vanderbilt, No. 10 Washington place, was yesterday morning thronged with relatives and friends of the family, who had assembled for the melancholy purpose of paying the last tribute of respect to the remains of the late and much lamented Mrs. Vanderbilt."  Sophia Johnson Vanderbilt had died on August 17 at the age of 73.

By 1865, Mary Eliza Crawford and her daughter, Frank Armstrong Crawford, relatives of Cornelius Vanderbilt, had relocated to New York City from Mobile, Alabama.  (Frank was named prior to her birth in honor of her father's business associate, and so she went through life with a man's name.)  Now, months after Sophia's death, Vanderbilt pursued his cousin relentlessly.  Although Frank (who was 45 years younger than Vanderbilt) initially rebuffed his proposals while he was in mourning, she finally relented.

Frank Crawford Vanderbilt, from the collection of the Vanderbilt University

On August 25, 1869, just eight days after Cornelius Vanderbilt's mourning period elapsed, the New York Daily Herald began an article saying, "The gossip that has been current in the newspaper for several months, that the venerable Cornelius Vanderbilt, the world-wide known millionaire and railroad king, was seriously contemplating matrimony, has been verified.  He was married at eight o'clock on Saturday morning last, at London, Canada, to Miss Frank Crawford."

While Vanderbilt was tepid regarding religion, Frank was an ardent Presbyterian.  She and her mother had been acquainted with Rev. Charles Force Deems in Mobile.  Now also living in New York City, Deems had organized the Church of the Strangers, which was worshiping in a chapel at New York University.  

Just months after her wedding, Frank Vanderbilt invited Rev. Deems to 10 Washington Place.  In his 1897 Autobiography of Charles Force Deems, the minister wrote, "The commodore had never been a member of any church, had been a very worldly and even profane man; but he had from his earliest childhood the most unshaken faith in the Bible."  In the parlor, Cornelius Vanderbilt offered Deems $50,000 to buy the Mercer-Street Presbyterian church, just a block from the Vanderbilt mansion.  

Interestingly, Vanderbilt's wife's devoutness had not changed his lack of passion.  When Deems said, "Commodore, if you give me that church for the Lord Jesus Christ, I'll most thankfully accept it," Vanderbilt's business-like reply was, "No, doctor, I would not give it to you that way, because that would be professing to you a religious sentiment I do not feel.  I want to give you a church, that's all there is.  It is one friend doing something for another friend.  Now, if you take it that way I'll give it to you."

Cornelius was confined to the house beginning May 1876.  Speculation about his dire condition resulted in his obituary published in several newspapers on October 17.  Only assertions from his physicians and the patient himself successfully debunked the story.

Less than four months later, however, the end came.  Cornelius Vanderbilt died in his bed at 10 Washington Place on January 4, 1877.  The mogul left an estate of $193 billion in 2025 terms.

The scene on Washington Place on the day of Vanderbilt's funeral.  Frank Leslie's Illustrated Magazine, January 1877 (copyright expired)

As part of her inheritance, Frank took title to 10 Washington Place and $500,000 in bonds.  A bizarre incident occurred four years later, on April 23, 1881.  That day a man, described by the New York Dispatch as, "advanced in life, and with long, grizzly, unkempt hair that had not felt the shedding of a comb in a decade; a long, crispy iron beard, made stiff with lager--a street-gauger--a rope around his waist to keep his breeches up, and his shoes (sandals) strapped to his feet," climbed the stoop of the mansion and rang the bell.  He told the butler, Thomas Odell, he wished, "The Queen of the Earth, Commodore Vanderbilt's widow."

Odell replied, "Get out."

After a period, he returned.  The newspaper said he, "made a demand for 'the Queen of the Earth, Commodore Vanderbilt's fascinating young widow,' as his wife."  This time he was arrested.  The interloper explained to the judge that an angel had whispered, "O, King of the Earth, go claim the Commodore's widow as your wife, and make her Queen of the Earth, and the millennium will come."  He was sent to the Tombs where he was examined regarding his sanity.

Frank attended the funeral of Phoebe Vanderbilt, Cornelius's sister, on April 25, 1885.  She "caught a cold from standing on the damp ground at the cemetery," reported The New York Times.  

On May 3, 1885, The Sun reported that “Mrs. Frances [sic] Vanderbilt of 10 Washington place, widow of the Commodore, who is sick with pneumonia, is getting worse.”   Two days later, The New York Times announced that she had died at 9:00 the previous morning.  Her funeral was held at the Church of the Strangers, the building that her husband had made a gift to Rev. Deems.

The Evening World, February 8, 1890 (copyright expired)

The Vanderbilts sold the mansion in 1890.  On February 8, The Evening World reminisced, "Once there stood a row of wide four-story and basement brick houses, with brown-stone stoops and window-trimmings, on the south side of Washington place."  Now, said the article, "the most notable one was sold the other day to a merchant for over $200,000.  He intends to tear down the house about the first of May, and build a mammoth emporium in its stead."

The Herman LeRoy House - 80 Washington Place

 

When Jacob LeRoy moved into the new 22-foot-wide brick house at 19 West Washington Place (renumbered 80 Washington Place in 1881), the Washington Square neighborhood was rapidly developing into one of the most exclusive residential enclaves in Manhattan.  

LeRoy was leasing the house from builder William W. Berwick.  It was one of two identical houses Berwick erected in 1838 (he moved into the other one), and its Greek Revival design was the latest word in domestic taste.  Three stories tall above a brownstone English basement, its stone stoop led to a double-doored entrance flanked by heavy brownstone pilasters that upheld an entablature and cornice.

Born in 1758, LeRoy was appointed Consul-General for Holland in 1786.  Two decades later, he founded LeRoy, Bayard & Co. with his brother-in-law, William Bayard.  It became the largest international trading firm in New York.  He was, as well, a director in the Bank of the United States and president of the Bank of New York.  Jacob married Hannah Cornell in 1786.  The couple had 10 children who lived to adulthood.  Their country home was in Pelham, New York, and Herman LeRoy owned massive amounts of land in western New York.

Hannah Cornell LeRoy had died in 1818, two decades before LeRoy purchased the Washington Place house.  Living with him here were at least two of his children--his unmarried daughter Mary, who was 38 at the time; and Herman Jr., his wife, Juliet, and their two children, Herman Cornell and Anson Van Horne.

Herman LeRoy Sr. died in 1841 and by 1845, his family had moved to 25 Washington Place.  William Berwick now leased 19 West Washington Place to George H. Moore, the head of the silkgoods firm George H. Moore & Co.  In 1849, William D. Greene, who worked in the tax receiving department in the new City Hall, leased the house, and in 1856, the year William Berwick died, Mary Harvey lived here with her son, Robert H. J. Harvey.  Mary was the widow of Robert J. Harvey, and her son was in the express business at 72 Broadway.

By the early 1870s, 19 West Washington Place was being operated as a high-end boarding house.  It seems to have been a favorite of well-heeled young men attending Columbia College.  In 1871, student Frederick Aycrigg Pell, who lived in Passaic, New Jersey, boarded here; and the following year The College Courant reported, "John W. Andrews, recently returned from abroad and is in the Columbia Law School.  Address 19 W. Washington Place, N. Y."

A Miss Erskin ran the boarding house by the late 1880s.  Her tenants in 1890 included Augustus W. B. Garrison, who arcanely listed his profession as "piano."

On April 15, 1895, The World published an extensive article on the Beef Trust--a group of meat packing companies that had formed an alliance to control prices.  The headline read, "Boarders Suffer Next / Another Turn of the Beef Trust Screw Will Raise Rates of Boarding-Houses."  The journalist had interviewed several boarding house proprietors, including Miss Erskin.  She said the "only hope was in an aroused public sentiment against the beef combine."

Among the boarders here in the first years of the 20th century was editor Edith Lewis.  Beginning in 1908, fledgling author and Willa Cather began sharing Lewis's rooms.  David Porter, in his 2015 "Historical Essay" addendum to Cather's Lucy Gayheart writes, "After Cather returned to New York in 1908 and began living with Edith Lewis at 80 Washington Place, Lewis wrote, 'we went often to the opera, sitting high up, in the cheap seats.'"  Cather would win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1923 for One of Ours.  The two women would live together for nearly four decades, until Cather's death in 1947.

Edith Lewis and Willa Cather typified the erudite boarders at 80 Washington Place.  In 1916, John Horace Mariano lived here (and would remain at least until 1921).  A graduate of Columbia University, he was the Assistant Director of Community Service and Research at New York University.  He was, as well, a member of the American Sociological Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  

Also living here in 1917 was philosopher Clifford W. Cheasley, and the following year two New York University students, Bruce Ford Bundy and Claire Elain Foster rented rooms.

On December 7, 1912, The Sun had published a succinct article saying that Helen Sousa, daughter of bandleader John Philip Sousa, and Hamilton Abert had taken out a marriage license.  "The wedding will be at St. Thomas's Church on December 17," it said.  Five years later, on July 5, 1919, the Record & Guide reported,

Lieutenant John Philip Sousa, U. S. N. bandmaster, has joined the colony in the Greenwich Village section.  Lieutenant Sousa, who is soon to reassemble his band for concert work, is to live on Washington pl. about half a block west of Washington sq.  He signed a contract for the purchase of the 3-sty house at 80 Washington pl, and his plans are to alter it into a fine home with a passenger elevator in it.

If, indeed, Sousa and his wife Jane actually had ever intended to remodel 80 Washington Street for their own home, they quickly changed their minds.  On August 27, Sousa transferred title to Hamilton Abert for $100.

Abert hired architect Charles Volz in October to remodel the house to apartments.  The stoop was removed and the entrance (including the Greek Revival enframement) were lowered to the English basement level, a few steps below the sidewalk.  A fourth story was added with a large studio window.  In place of a cornice, Volz gave the building a brick parapet with a projecting canopy.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The renovations were completed in January 1920.  An ad offered two rooms with bath and kitchenette and boasted, "Electric light, steam heat, elevator; everything absolutely modern.  Up to date plumbing, built-in tub."  Rents ranged from $900 to $1,500 per year--about $1,900 a month today for the most expensive.

Hamilton and Helen Sousa Abert lived in the building in what was assuredly larger than a two-room suite.  Born in 1885, Hamilton had prepared for college at St. Paul's in Concord, New Hampshire and graduated from Yale in 1906.  He was a stockbroker and secretary of the Manhattan Rubber Mfg. Co.

In May 1920, the Aberts advertised for help.  "Cook and chambermaid-waitress, white, to do laundry between them; apartment, two in family.  Call Abert."  And as they prepared to go to their summer home, they advertised:

Couple, white, useful, butler and chambermaid; 3 in family; Long Island.  Call Abert, after 3 Thursday, 80 Washington place, near Washington square.

The mention of a third family member was no doubt a typo.  The couple's only child, Hamilton Sousa Albert, was born in 1919 but did not survive infancy.

Among the Aberts' early tenants was Rev. John A. Wade.  His name appeared in The Evening World for an act of St. Francis-like compassion on October 7, 1921.  The newspaper said, "Some time after midnight, when all the city excepting Greenwich Village was presumably asleep, a band of chilled and travel-worn woodpeckers, weak from hunger, fluttered to the ground in Washington Square."  One of them, "wobbled into the air and went foraging."  The article said it "must have been a wise bird, or else a lucky one, for he flew into an open window at No. 80 Washington Place."

Rev. Wade was aroused from his sleep, thinking there was a burglar in the room.  The weakened bird did not attempt to flee when he turned on the light.  "I fed him some cracker crumbs, which he devoured ravenously--or woodpeckerously," recounted the clergyman.  "Then I dressed and took him out to the park, where I knew I would find [Police Officer] McCarthy."  While the officer kept neighborhood cats away from the birds, Rev. Wade went for a loaf of bread.  "We broke it into crumbs and the woodpeckers hurled themselves upon the breakfast like a flock of farmyard chickens," he said.  "Gradually they regained their strength and spirts.  At dawn they flew away."

At some point following Hamilton Abert's death in 1957, title to 80 Washington Place was transferred to John Philip Sousa, Inc.  In 1970, five years before Helen's death, the corporation sold the building to the Cin-Cin Realty Corp.

In 2013, 80 Washington Place was returned to a single family home after a gut renovation by Clodagh Design.  Around 2017, it became home to celebrity couple Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott and appeared in a 2023 episode of The Kardashians.  In February 2024, it was sold after being listed for just under $20 million.

photographs by the author

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The 1832 Asa B. Meech House - 108 Washington Place

The flurry of building in Greenwich Village in the late 1820's and '30's prompted mason and builder John Nichols to purchased seven lots on West Washington Place.   (West Washington Place was separated from Washington Place to the east by Sixth Avenue at the time.)  He sold a few to other men also engaged in the building craft and they cooperatively erected a row of handsome Federal style houses along the row.

No. 35 West Washington Place was completed in 1832 and, like its neighbors, was faced in Flemish bond red brick.  It rose two-and-a-half stories tall, its attic story punctured by two dormers.  The brownstone basement level was protected by Federal-style iron fencing with anthemion finials. 

The initial purchaser quickly resold the house in 1833 to Asa B. Meech, the principal in the commission business Asa B. Meech & Co. and his wife, Elizabeth.   The couple had been married in Buffalo, New York in 1819 where Meech had begun his career in "a general mercantile business" with partner Hiram Pratt.  Around 1825 he founded Asa B. Meech & Co., only the second forwarding and commission firm in that city.

Meech had been in New York City five years at the time of his purchasing the house.  He had wasted no time in establishing himself in the city.  By the 1840's he was an alderman and as well owned much property in Greenwich Village and downtown.

The couple remained in the West Washington Place house for 14 years before moving back to Buffalo in 1847.  Before leaving they transferred a large amount of property on Christopher and West Fourth Streets to Rufus Meech, presumably their son.

The next family in the house took in roomers in their home, a practice that was common in the mid-19th century.  Their 1853 ad made it clear that they wanted their domestic peace to remain intact--not even offering food except on Sunday:

A small private family have an elegant suit of rooms handsomely furnished, pleasantly situated, to let to single gentlemen; where there are no children.  Rooms supplies with hot and cold water, and will be taken care of...Meals on Sunday if required.

An advertisement five years later gave a better description of the accommodations the roomer would enjoy.  Nearly the entire second floor was rented furnished, encompassing a "front Parlor, front room...and Bedroom adjoining, with use of bath room."  Again, the ad was explicit in saying "private family; no boarders."

By 1861 the house was home to the Labatut family, who continued to rent rooms.  On December 12 that year they advertised "Gentlemen or a family desiring a comfortable home, with a French family, can obtain handsome accommodations on moderate terms; house contains all the modern improvements."

The roomer who answered that ad did not work out--possibly because of his interest in the ladies.  Four months later he was looking for another home:

A gentleman bachelor, who is suffering from the consequences of a paralytical attack, wants a Room, with all comfort, and plain Board for himself and servant man, who occupies the room with him, in a private family who have no other boarders, and where he can find sufficient ladies society for social intercourse, he being entirely unoccupied."

Caroline Labatut seems to have been widowed by now.  She had three grown children, George, William and Mary.  The title to the house was in William's name and, interestingly, he sold it to his sister in April 1877.  Family relations did not get in the way of the transaction and Mary paid $12,700 for the property--about $320,000 in today's money.  

It was most likely at this time that the house was dramatically updated.  The attic floor was raised to full height and capped with a neo-Grec cornice, the parlor windows were extended to the floor, and stylish neo-Grec double entrance doors were installed.   Upon Mary's marriage to Arthur C. Runyan the couple moved nearby to Christopher Street. 

A Mrs. Howe was renting rooms from Caroline in 1879 when she became the victim of a purse snatcher.  On September 14 The New York Herald wrote "James Riley, an Ulster county lad, who had been sent to this city by his father to seek his fortune, failed to get any work."  In despair, said the article, he "snatched a pocketbook from Mrs. Howe, of No. 35 West Washington place, on Friday night."  The wayward boy was held on a charge of highway robbery.

By the early 1890's, with Washington Place now spanning Sixth Avenue, the house had the new address of No. 108 Washington Place.  Caroline was charging $2 and $3.50 for "nicely furnished double rooms" in 1891.  The higher rate would equal about $100 today, presumably for a month.

On April 24, 1893 Benjamin W. Buchanan and his wife took rooms on the top floor.  The 69-year old had been an attention with the New York Supreme Court for 35 years.  Around Christmas he had been diagnosed with dropsy (known today as edema) and dyspepsia.  Subsequently, according to The Evening Post, "For some time past he had been extremely feeble and could not eat.  He was also troubled with insomnia."

It did not help that Caroline Labatut was having work done on the house.  The Brooklyn Daily Eagle said on April 28 "He could not rest.  For two days plumbers have been at work in the house and disturbed him during the day.  He had become melancholy on account of his trouble."

At around 6:00 on the morning of April 28 Benjamin got up and dressed.  He told his wife he was not feeling well and was going to the roof to get fresh air.  "He said that it would brighten him up and left the room," reported the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

A few minutes later "a little newsboy," Charles Brazzo was passing by the house.  "He saw a man standing on the edge of the roof at 108," reported the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.  "The man drew a razor across his throat and jumped from the roof.  He struck the railing on the stoop and bounced out on the pavement."  The newsboy ran for a policeman, who summoned a doctor.  But Buchanan died on the sidewalk within minutes.  The Evening Post remarked "The gash in his throat was sufficient to have caused him to bleed to death."

Caroline Labatut died in 1897.  Mary Labatut Runyan retained possession until 1916 when the 22-foot wide house was sold to Dr. James F. Navoni.  The Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide commented that he "will alter the premises into an apartment dwelling."  On August 6 The New York Herald added "It formerly was occupied by three families, but will be altered into a duplex apartment."

Navoni's renovations included a grouped studio window and balconette at the second floor.  New York Herald, August 6, 1916 (copyright expired)

Greenwich Village had become the center of New York City's artist community and Dr. Navoni responded by installing a studio window on the second floor.  His tenants reflected the trend.  In 1917 artist Sania Rosental Brown lived here, and in 1918 Impressionist and Modernist Frank Osborn was living and working in a studio apartment.  Both he and Brown exhibited at The Society of Independent Artists in 1917.

The Federal style ironwork along the areaway survives.

A different sort of artist moved in that year when Mrs. J. W. Ashley signed a lease in May on the basement and parlor level duplex.   Isabel E. Ashley was known to silent movie fans as Isabel O'Madigan.  She played the role of Mrs. Archibald in two movies that year, Bab's Matinee Idol and Bab's Diary.  

Isabel's husband, James W. Ashley, had been an actor as well, but was now engaged in theatrical management.  In 1918 James was traveling with Ladies First and was in Cleveland when he mailed off a love letter.  There were two problems--the letter was not to Isabel and rather than sending it to the intended 122nd Street address he inadvertently sent it to Washington Place.

In December Isabel sued for divorce, exposing the contents of the letter for all to read:

I sent you all my love, kisses, a million tons of love. I  love you, worship you, idolize you, my baby wife.

Despite the damning evidence, Ashley denied his wife's charges, blaming their troubles instead on her.  The Daily Argus reported that he "says that she is too much devoted to card games and costly gowns for his liking."  Isabel sought $25 per week in alimony, about $425 today.

Another resident involved in the theater was Philip Moeller, who lived here by the early 1920's.  A stage producer and director, playwright and screenwriter, he had helped organize the Washington Square Players and co-found the Theater Guild of New York.  He hosted meetings of the guild in his apartment here.

Guild members pose in Moeller's Washington Place apartment.  Moeller is second from left in the back row.  The Billboard, December 23, 1922 (copyright expired) 

On May 12, 1941 The New York Sun reported that No. 108 had been sold to J. Clark Bingham and Marion L. Bingham for $22,000 (about $382,000 in today's terms) "who will remodel the house."  Their renovations resulted in a duplex in the basement and parlor and one apartment each on the upper two upper floors.

A period mantel (top) survives in the otherwise sleek interiors.  via streeteasy.com

That configuration lasted until 1972 when an alteration created two duplexes.  While a few of the 1832 details survive, the the sleek, nearly gut renovation left little of the original interiors.  

photographs by the author 

A Striking Comeback - the 1832 Richard Merrall House - 122 Washington Place

A renovation around 1870 resulted in a full third floor in place of the dormered attic.

Greenwich Village saw a tremendous building boom in the late 1820's and early '30's.  It apparently occurred to mason and builder John Nichols that rather than construct homes for developers, he could do so for himself thereby reaping the entire profits.  In 1832 he purchased seven building plots on West Washington Place, between Sixth Avenue and Barrow Streets; but he quickly found himself in financial trouble.  He resold some of the plots to other blue collar investors--a mason, a carpenter, a builder, and a well-digger.

The well-digger was Derick D. Foster, who doubled as a mason.  He purchased the plot at No. 39 West Washington Place in 1832.  (West Washington Place, which stretched west from Sixth Avenue, would not become part of Washington Place, on the other side of the avenue, until the 1870's.)   He erected a handsome house on the plot that straddled the line between the familiar Federal style and newly-appearing Greek Revival.  Two-and-a-half stories tall, it was faced in warm Flemish bond brick and trimmed in brownstone.  The iron railings of the stoop terminated in ornate basket newels that sat upon stone pedestals.

Foster sold the newly-completed house in 1832 to Hamilton Murray.  He purchased it as an investment, leasing it to middle-class families.  

Renting unused rooms of one's home was common in the 19th century and in June 1854 an advertisement offered "To Let--The upper part of a genteel dwelling house, in a very respectable and quiet location; possession immediately.  Apply on the premises No. 39 West Washington place, near Parade ground."  (It is interesting that the writer still made reference to the Washington Parade Ground, which had been converted to a park, Washington Square, four years earlier.)

It may have been the Merrall family who placed the advertisement.  Richard and Jane Merrall had at least three daughters, Anne, Isabella and Rosetta.  The family was here by 1860 when the somber funeral ceremony of Rosetta, who died on April 22, was held in the parlor.  A year later, on May 15, the room would be the scene of a much happier event when Anne was married to James Smibert there.

Within two years the Merrall family moved to West 27th Street.  The year 1863 was a tragic one, with Isabella dying on August 3 and Richard dying four months later on December 7 at the age of 76. 

The new owner also leased a room in the house.  An advertisement on December 7, 1866 in The New York Herald offered: "A handsomely furnished room to let--To a lady, or gentleman and lady, with or without Board."

Three years later a member of the family fell ill and was apparently instructed to travel to the country or even Europe for his or her health.  A long-term lease which included all the furnishings was offered.

For cause of sickness--A rare chance for cash; furnished House, in the best of order; all new improvement; suitable for boarding house; rent cheap; three years' lease.

When West Washington Place was officially renamed the house received its new address of No. 122 Washington Place.  It was around the same time that the attic was raised to a full third floor with a stylish Italianate cornice.   By the first years of the 1890's it was being operated as a respectable rooming house.  Rooms were advertised at "$2 upward," or about $58 a week.

Among the residents in 1893 were M. Forester, a seamstress; and Madame Delaux and her husband.  Their advertisements seeking work shed light onto the working class status of the roomers.  Ms. Forester's said that she "makes ladies and children's suit and cloaks" and was "willing to assist in other duties."  

Madame Delaux placed an advertisement hoping to find work for both herself and her husband:

Man & wife, young couple.  French, sober & willing, together or separate; hotel or private; woman to wash, iron & cook, &c.; man to help in kitchen or restaurant & make himself useful; good references & moderate pretensions.

Living here in 1896 were Durant I. Biggony, William C. Peck and Joseph L. Oliver.  The names of all three would appear in the newspapers that year, for vastly different reasons.

Durant I. Biggony was a clerk, employed by the high end women's clothiers, Gosta Kraemer Company at No. 24 West 23rd Street.  He found himself the innocent victim of a rift within the upper management that January.  When manager Gustav Kramer learned that the stockholders planned a reorganization, he feared he would be let go.   He locked the stockholders out of the building before they could meet on January 6, 1896 and placed four clerks, including Biggony, standing guard.  Despite the frigid weather, the stockholders' meeting was held on the sidewalk.  The newly-elected president then broke in and took possession of the building.  Because the clerks refused to leave, they were arrested for trespassing.

In the 1890's women were still scarce in offices.  Secretarial jobs were held almost exclusively by men, among them William C. Peck, a stenographer and "typewriter."  (At the time the term "typewriter" referred not only to the machine but to the person who operated it.)

The World, October 4, 1896 (copyright expired)

Peck provided testimonials in the aggressive advertising campaign of Dr. Copeland, who claimed the "Discovery of the Cure for Deafness."  In one ad Peck said "I am a stenographer and in order to earn a living I must hear accurately.  Unless I sat very close to my employer I could not catch his dictation.  My work became a burden to me.  The Copeland Doctors have restored my hearing."

Joseph L. Oliver moved into No. 122 in September that year, having arrived from Charleston, South Carolina to look for a job.  He found a position as a clerk and things were going well for the 25-year old.  He went out with two friends on Saturday night, November 14, who later said he was "in good spirits all night, and when he left them was perfectly sober."  

But the next afternoon he was found dead in his room.  The New York Times reported "Death was caused by gas asphyxiation."  Suicide was not suspected.  "It is supposed that the gas was blown out by a draught or that it was accidentally turned on during the night."

The house almost exclusively attracted office workers like William Peck and Durant I. Biggony.  A position-wanted advertisement on January 9, 1897 described the writer as a "Young Man, good scholar, temperate habits" who sought a position as "assistant bookkeeper, stenographer and typewriter or other general office work.  Ambitious."

The following year 27-year old H. L. Moore placed a similar ad.  "Stenographer, open for position February 1; rapid, accurate; Remington operator; present employers the largest hardware houses in the city; also keep books; any kind office work."

Later that year a less veteran office worker placed an advertisement:  "Young man; docile entry bookkeeper, stenographer, typewriter and general office assistant; A1 city reference, strictly temperate; good scholar."

By the turn of the century the house was owned by attorney James Shea, whose offices were at No. 416 Broadway.  Like those renting rooms in the house, his son Benjamin was an office worker.  Benjamin's ad in 1900 read: "Young man wants position as assistant bookkeeper; understands commission and banking; industrious and willing to work hard; will begin at moderate salary."

Living with the Shea family was James's unmarried sister, Margaret.   In the spring of 1904 she caught pneumonia and died on April 25.

It is unclear whether Sidney Moore was related to H. L. Moore; but starting in 1902 at the age of 21 he, too, was living here and looking for stenographer and typewriter work.  The young man seems to have had a hard time holding a job.  He placed similar ads looking for work the following year, again in 1905, in 1907 and in 1909; all the while still rooming at No. 122 Washington Place.  (His ad in November 1907 noted "can give good reason for leaving last position.")

Other roomers during Sidney's residency included Michael J. Doyle, who applied for a civil service position as a city electrician in 1905; and an unnamed "first-class dressmaker, corset maker," who described herself merely as "French."

By 1912 Shea had sold the house to P. J. Malloy who operated it as a rooming house.  Long term residents were the Curran family which remained for years.  Patrick H. Curran died in the house on January 22, 1916; and William H. Curran, presumably his son, was appointed a Commissioner of Deeds in 1920.  In 1922 the vacant first floor, four rooms and a bath, were offered for $2,000 a year--or about $2,550 per month in today's terms.

Real change came after Margaret L. Malloy gave a 21-year lease on the property to R. Talfair Smith, Inc. in February 1925.  The New York Times reported that the "lessee contemplates making very extensive alterations" which would convert the house into apartments and studios.

Before the end of the year there was one "non-housekeeping apartment" in the basement (meaning no cooking could be done), another on the second floor, and a "housekeeping apartment" on the parlor and third floor.    The stoop was removed and the entrance lowered to the basement level, a few steps below the sidewalk.  An advertisement offered "Attractive apartment of three and four rooms; all improvements; rents $100 to $125."  The higher rent would equal just over $1,800 today.

The 1925 renovation removed the brownstone stoop.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

A notable resident was Frances Marion Brandon who broke ground when she was appointed the City's Assistant Corporate Counsel at a time when female lawyers were scarce.  She made headlines in 1930 when she sued George J. Gillespie, president of the Board of Water supply, for $500,000, "charging he had reneged on a promise to marry her," according to The Daily News.  The case was settled out of court for a reported $25,000--about $383,000 today.

In 1941 Frances contracted double pneumonia.  Although a number of physicians gave up on her case, Dr. John J. McGrath did not and she survived.  She credited him with saving her live "by his great medical skill and disinterested care."  

Frances Marion Brandon - The Daily News, October 1, 1943.

Following her death on September 4, 1943 her family received a shock.  The Daily News reported on October 1 that she "regarded her personal physician so highly that she left him practically her entire fortune--to the great displeasure of her three sisters, two brothers and their children, who are suing."  Frances left Dr. McGrath her stocks and personal property and set up a trust fund, the income of which was to go to him.  "To her brothers, sisters and the children she left $1 apiece 'outright.'"

A renovation completed in 1968 resulted in two duplexes.  One became home to Dr. Milton I. Marcus, former president of the New York County Optometric Society and secretary of the New York State Optometric Society.  He had also helped found the State College of Optometry of the State University of New York.  He was living here in 1976 when he died at the age of 67.

The "fire mark" to the left of the remarkably convincing reproduction doorway, while not original to the house, dates from the period when volunteer fire companies responded to homes who subscribed to their services--identified by the marks.

In 1999 a seven-year renovation was begun.  It resulted in a private home with a basement apartment.  In a careful restoration the stoop was rebuilt and a period-perfect Federal doorway reproduced, closely following the surviving example at No. 126 Washington Place erected in 1834.

photographs by the author

The E. Dean Fuller House -- 121 Washington Place

In 1833 the two-block long road that ran from Washington Square West to West 4th Street was named Washington Place.  The street was already being developed and two years earlier builders John Nichols and William Carroll joined forces to erect four brick-faced homes here.  Nos. 121 through 127 were two-and-a-half stories tall and featured the expected architectural features of Federal-style middle-class homes—tall dormers rising from the peaked roofs, a simple fascia board below the cornice, Flemish bond brick, and handsome entrances with fluted columns.

No. 121 Washington Place was home to the Russell family by the 1870s.  Smith Lafayette Russell was the grandson of Abraham Russell, a founder of the Duane Street Methodist Episcopal Church.  Like his grandfather and father, Smith L. Russell remained highly involved with the church, which became the Duane Methodist Episcopal Church when it was moved to Hudson Street around 1862.  He owned rental properties and railroad and bank stocks, from which he earned handsome profits.

While perhaps not crowded, the Washington Place house was full.  Living here with Smith and his wife, Mary, were his unmarried sisters, Hester Mary Russell and Hilah E. Russell.  

Hester died in the house on Saturday morning, September 13, 1890.  Her funeral in the parlor was not held until 4:00 the following Wednesday.  Seven years later her sister, Hilah, died in her bed on Saturday, April 24, 1897.  Her funeral, too, would wait until 4:00 p.m. on the next Wednesday.

Two months later Smith Russell proudly addressed the congregation of the Duane Methodist Episcopal Church.  On November 21 the church’s 100^th anniversary was celebrated and a white marble tablet in memory of Abraham Russell was unveiled.

The aging man remained active in his religious and business interests through the turn of the century.  In 1900, for instance, he replaced the storefront on his Bedford Street business.  When he died on March 10, 1904 he was 80 years old.  His funeral, like those of his sisters, was held in the Washington Place house.

Russell's will shocked almost everyone, including the members of the Duane Episcopal Methodist Church, and was publicized nation-wide.  On April 6, the New-York Tribune noted, “When Smith Lafayette Russell died, on March 10, there was no great outpouring of religious and charitable societies at his funeral, yet he left almost all his estate to keep downtown for all time a church of which he had been an active member for many years.”

Russell left $50,000 to the church—nearly $1.5 million in 2016.  It was estimated to be the largest trust ever created for a church in New York City.  Included in the bequest was the Washington Place house.  Mary had two years to move out.  The Tribune reported, “this house his widow is to have free for two years; then it is to be rented and the rent paid to the Duane Church.”

Mary was not totally overlooked in the will; although she received nothing directly.  She was to receive the interest from the massive Duane Methodist Episcopal Church Sustentation Fund “for her support” until her death.

Mary Russell seems to have dragged her feet a bit in transferring the title to the trustees of the estate.  She waited until 1906, the year she was to vacate, to do so.  Hints that she had second thoughts about leaving Washington Place first arose on February 27 that year when she filed an “action to extend time to accept dower.”

The extension may have been a ploy to give her time to file her law suit against the trustees of her husband’s will.   The action claimed that Smith Russell had no legal right to dispose of his estate as he did.  The New York Times explained on June 8, 1906, “A question was raised as to the validity of the will under the law prohibiting the bequest of more than one-half an estate to charitable or religious purchases.”

Rather than go to court, the estate came to a compromise with Mary Russell.  She was to receive two-thirds of the amount left to the church that exceeded one-half of the estate.  The confrontation did not bruise the church’s memory of Smith Lafayette Russell.  On June 16, 1907 he received his own bronze tablet in the church.

Eight years earlier, New York society had been shocked when unexpected news arrived from Archahon, France where Mason Chichester Davidge and his wife, the former Clara Potter, were traveling.  The couple was still considered newlyweds, and Clara was well-known as the daughter of the powerful and charismatic New York Bishop Henry C. Potter.

On October 12, 1899, The New York Times reported, “The cable brings the news of the sudden death on Tuesday…of Mr. Mason C. Davidge…His death is a sad ending of a charming romance.”

Now in 1907, Clara Davidge purchased the former Russell house.  Her choice of Greenwich Village in which to live was no doubt prompted by her intense interest in the arts.  A painter herself, she was familiar with artists and literary figures including Willa Cather, Henry Fitch Taylor, and Samuel Clemens.  Sculptor William Zorach later remembered how she “was always discovering talented young artists.”  It was Clara who helped Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in organizing her art gallery.

 

The parlor windows of No 121 (right) had been extended to the floor by the Russell family.  photo by H. Shobbrook Collins from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

With Henry Fitch Taylor she opened the Madison Gallery in 1908.  It was here that the initial planning meeting for the still-famous Armory Show of modern art was held.

In 1909, Clara discovered a new protégé in poet Edwin Arlington Robinson.  While Robinson was a recognized and published writer, he struggled with personal problems and alcohol.  On August 6, 1909, The Sun reported that Clara had hired architects Henry Killiam Murphy and Richard Henry Dans, Jr. to design a one story studio in her rear yard.  The quaint studio building, which cost Clara $850, was for Robinson.

Edwin Arlington Robinson moved into the quaint little building in November that year and, according to Scott Donaldson in his Edwin Arlington Robinson: A Poet’s Life, lived here for two years.  “Breakfast was brought to him, and he took his other meals where he wanted.  He was on call to appear at occasional social gatherings, but otherwise he was left undisturbed to write.”  It was from here that Robinson compiled his The Town Down the River, published in 1910.

That same year Clara Davidge took out a $24,000 mortgage on No. 121 and No. 123 next door.  It is possible she considered combining the two charming Federal houses, but if so the plans never came to pass.  Instead, in March 1912 she had a one-story extension built on No. 121 and eight months later leased the house to Henry P. Griffin.

The reason Clara left the Washington Place house may have been her engagement to Henry Fitch Taylor who was still managing the Madison Gallery.  They married in 1913.

Also married in 1913 were Frances Perkins—already active as a social reformer—and economist Paul C. Wilson.  They rented No. 121 from Clara Davidge Taylor following their honeymoon.  Frances described it in 1915, according to her biographer, Naomi Pasachoff, as “comfortable, though old fashioned.”  They hired a married German couple to run the household.

In the meantime the studio formerly inhabited by Edwin A. Robinson was leased to artist William E. Schumacher.  In 1913 he exhibited two works in the International Exhibition of Modern Art—Her Blue Skirt and The Lady, Maid and Child.

In 1913 Paul Wilson was on the newly-formed mayoral staff and his career was on an upward path.  His close ties with Mayor John Purroy Mitchel were evidenced following a high-level ceremony on June, 24 1915 which included the Governor, the Netherlands Consul-General and other dignitaries.  Immediately after the Mayor accepted a flag from the St. Nicolas Society, he confided that he was suffering an intense headache.  Instead of going to the mayoral mansion, The Sun reported, “He went to the home of one of his secretaries, Paul Wilson, at 121 Washington place, promising to return for the ceremonies of the afternoon if possible.”

But it was the career of Frances Perkins that would soar.   The couple had a daughter, Susanna, in 1916.  Paul’s emotional problems (labeled today by some as bipolar disorder) eventually prevented him from being able to work.  Frances went on to become the first female appointed to the United States Cabinet, serving as U.S. Secretary of Labor under Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The rear yard studio continued to be used by artists—Bayard Boyesen was leasing it in 1918 and Sacha Finkelstein was here in 1919.  That was the year that Clara Davidge Taylor sold 121 and 123 Washington Place to Oliver Harrison Smith.  The Sun reported on July 8 that he “will remodel the buildings for studios.”

Two years later a freak accident would end Clara’s colorful life.  For years she had suffered a back ailment which “caused her to walk unsteadily,” according to The New York Times.  In November 1921 she and her husband were staying in the guest cottage on her brother’s estate in Smithtown, Long Island.

On Sunday morning, November 6, the body of the 63-year-old was found face down in a marsh beside a private road on the property.  Although the water was only two or three inches deep, it appeared that Clara had lost her footing and fallen into the mud.  Unable to free herself, she drowned.

The studio apartments in 121 Washington Place saw a series of upscale tenants.  In 1920 Paul Caldwell Wilson was living here.  He was a graduate of the University of Chicago.  And George H. Soule, Jr. had an apartment that same year.  He had graduated from Yale in 1908.

But the building’s life as an apartment house would be short-lived.  In 1925, E. Dean Fuller and his wife initiated a gut-renovation of the charming home.  The nation was experiencing a fascination with early American architecture and history that began around the turn of the century.  A year earlier John D. Rockefeller, Jr. had begun the first steps in the massive restoration project at Williamsburg, Virginia.  Now the Fullers would transform 121 Washington Place from an authentic Federal period house to a Georgian reproduction.

The renovation took a full year.  The floor levels were altered, providing a street level entrance, and the façade was stripped away to be replaced with a striking four-story façade that would be at home in Philadelphia or Boston.

An impressive single-doored entrance was flanked by fluted Corinthian pilasters which upheld an elegant broken pediment with a stylized pineapple.  The second floor featured three arched openings with stone keystones and at the attic level three especially handsome dormers with arched windows were adorned with fluted pilasters.

Fuller, who put the title in his wife’s name, was an attorney and president of the Fuller-Sherman Company.  He made his fortune by specializing in Mexican and Latin American legal matters.  His firm had a branch office in Mexico City and in Tampico. 

So entrenched was his business there that he had earlier defied President Woodrow Wilson’s warning in 1913 that all Americans should leave Mexico.  In a letter to his clients on August 29 that year he said that he did not believe there was any danger to Americans and “secondly, because we do not care to abandon and lose our earnings, derived from many years of labor in the country…it is my duty to remain here.”

The facade, in February 2016, is partially obstructed by scaffolding as No. 123 undergoes a gut renovation.

Ninety years after the Fullers transformed the house, it remains a single-family home.  A metal plaque has been affixed to the façade reminding passers-by that Edwin Arlington Robinson once lived here.  

photographs by the author