The Margaret Delprat Remsen Mansion - 3 East 80th Street

 

William W. Hall erected lavish speculative mansions on the Upper East and West Sides in the 1890s and early 1900s.  He often commissioned the architectural firm of Welch, Smith & Provot to design his homes.  Such was the case in 1898 when he hired the firm to design a sumptuous double-wide mansion at 3 East 80th Street, just steps from Fifth Avenue.  Alexander Welch took the reins, designing the five-story residence in a dignified take on the French Beaux Arts style.

Foregoing the foliate swags and architectural confections often associated with the style, Welch created a refined design.  The offset entrance above a short stoop sat within a rusticated limestone base.  The three-story midsection, faced in gray brick and trimmed in limestone, was dominated by a three-sided stone oriel capped with a balustrade.  Welch faced the fifth floor with stone and crowned the wreathed-bracketed cornice with a row of copper anthemions.

The American Architect and Building News, September 1, 1900 (copyright expired)

On January 18, 1896, two years before Hall broke ground for 3 East 80th Street, Robert George Remsen died in his brownstone residence at 87 Fifth Avenue, just north of 16th Street.  One of the founders of the "Patriarchs," he and his wife, the former Margaret Delprat, were among the original New York 400--Manhattan's highest social clique.  At the time of Remsen's death, their once exclusive neighborhood was being invaded by commerce.

Margaret Delprat Remsen purchased 3 East 80th Street.  She and Robert had four daughters, Margaret Sophia, Georgiana Delprat, Frances, and Caroline.  Only Margaret, who was known as Maizie or May, was unmarried.  She moved into the new mansion with her mother.

The two women spent the warm months at their country residence in Connecticut.  On November 11, 1902, The New York Times updated its readers, "Mrs. Robert G. Remsen and Miss Remsen are in town for the Winter at their residence, 3 East Eightieth Street.  They were in New London, as usual, this Summer."

The women were given a fright on the evening of April 18, 1906.  A workman was hired to paint the servants' rooms on the top floor.  When he went home that afternoon, he left behind a burning cigar.  By 7:00, the draperies had caught fire.  May Remsen went into crisis mode.  The New York Times reported that she "sent the butler to turn in an alarm, and then organized the servants into a bucket brigade."  Despite their heroic efforts, it was not enough.  By the time the firefighters arrived, "the fire was gaining headway rapidly," said the article.  It took them half an hour to extinguish the blaze.  The New York Times reported, "The upper floor of the house was wrecked.  The loss is $3,000."  (The damages would translate to about $108,000 in 2025.)

The frightening chaos was almost too much for Margaret Remsen to bear.  The Times said she became "very much excited during the fire," and was taken next door to the Frank W. Woolworth mansion "where she was cared for."

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

The butler whom May sent for help was John Smith.  He had been with the family since 1887, when he was 17 years old.  While many butlers lived with their employers, Smith lived with his wife and two children at 301 East 83rd Street at the corner of Second Avenue.  The faithful servant caught a cold in the winter of 1916.  It worsened to pneumonia and he died on March 29, just short of having served the family for three decades.

On Christmas Eve 1919, May hosted a debutante dance and supper at Delmonico's for Sylvia Remsen Hillhouse.  Sylvia was the daughter of May's sister, Georgiana and her husband Charles Betts Hillhouse.  The New York Herald reported, "Miss Remsen, Mrs. Hillhouse and her daughter received the guests, numbering about 250 of the younger set."  

Margaret Remsen was not mentioned.  It was likely that the elderly dowager was not there.  Two months later, on February 16, 1920, Margaret Delprat Remsen died.  Her funeral was held at Grace Church three days later.

May Remsen immediately left the mansion.  On April 23, The New York Times reported, "No. 3 East Eightieth Street was sold a few days ago to Miss Brice."  "Miss Brice" was Helen Olivia Brice, the 49-year-old daughter of Calvin S. and Olivia Meily Brice.  

Helen was presented to Queen Victoria in 1896.  The Evening Telegram said she, "is known equally as well in European society as in this country."  Like May Remsen, she would never marry.  The newspaper explained, "while her engagement to several scions of nobility has been rumored she has just as often made emphatic denials and is still single."

Helen would not immediately move into the mansion.  There would be decorating to do and the addition of a rooftop level unseen from the street.  And during the upcoming summer social season she would occupy her Newport residence, The Bluffs.  Then, on October 29, 1920, the New York Herald reported, "Miss Helen O. Brice, whose home since her youth was at 693 Fifth avenue, has moved into her new home at 3 East Eightieth street."

John Singer Sargent painted Helen's portrait in 1907.  (private collection)

Five months after moving in, Helen, like May Remsen had done, took charge of handling a fire in the mansion.  On March 13, 1921, The Evening Telegram titled an article, "Society Girl Directs Fight Upon Flames."  The report opened by saying:

While flames raged at the bottom of an elevator shaft and with clouds of smoke choking her, Miss Helen O. Brice, millionaire daughter of the late United States Senator Calvin S. Brice, organized a bucket brigade of her six servants in her home at No. 3 East Eightieth street today and fought the flames with sand until the arrival of the firemen.

The newspaper said that Helen was preparing to go to church when she heard the cries of "Fire!"  She found her servants pouring buckets of water on the flames and told them that "sand was the only thing with which the flames would be extinguished."  The Evening Telegram reported, "The servants were sent to the rear yard where three of them began digging up the dirt while three others carried the pails and buckets back into the house."  The article said that despite the heat and smoke, Helen stood at the door of the elevator shaft and directed the operations.

As May Remsen had done, Helen sent a servant to "sound the fire alarm."  When firefighters arrived, she was still on the scene, "directing her servants in fighting the flames."  The fire was extinguished and, while it was confined to the elevator shaft, fire officials said that the smoke, "perhaps did considerable damage to the furnishings in the house, which the firemen described as being magnificent."

Helen Olivia Brice died at the age of 79 in 1950.  She had sold 3 East 80th Street on October 18 the previous year.  The following day, The New York Times reported, "Plans for converting the five-story private dwelling at 3 East Eightieth Street, near Fifth Avenue, into small apartments were announced yesterday."

The renovations resulted in two doctors' offices on the first floor, three apartments each on the second through fifth floors, and one in the top level.  Over the subsequent decades, the ground floor spaces saw a succession of physicians, therapists, and one gallery, the Wender, which was here in the late 1980s through the early 1990s.

A renovation completed in 2000 created two triplex apartments.

photographs by the author

The Thomas Thompson Eckert Mansion - 38 West 86th Street

 

Real estate developer William H. Hall, Jr. sold the newly built mansion at 38 West 86th Street on February 25, 1908.  The New York Herald remarked, "The buyer is understood to be a resident of the Fifth avenue section, the in-roads of business having driven him to seek a home in the west side."  Hall's reluctant buyer was General Thomas Thompson Eckert, Sr.

As commerce invaded his formerly exclusive Fifth Avenue neighborhood, Eckert had resolutely refused to leave 545 Fifth Avenue, his home for decades.  But now the city was widening the thoroughfare and ordered that the front of the house had to be chopped off.  Eckert had no choice but to move.

No. 38 West 86th Street was one a row of eight 25-foot-wide homes designed by Welch, Smith & Provot.  Sitting upon a rusticated limestone base, its red brick midsection was trimmed in limestone, and its fifth floor took the form of a steep, slate shingled mansard with two brick dormers.  Eckert paid $80,000 for the residence, equal to nearly $2.75 million in 2024.

The general's sentimental ties to his former home resulted in his reworking Welch, Smith & Provot's interiors.  A massive redecorating took place to--as closely as possible--reproduce the interiors of the Fifth Avenue residence.  The New York Evening Telegram reported, 

Wall paper was imported from Europe to match the paper in the General's old library and bedroom.  Woodwork was repainted in exact imitation of that in the old home.  Shades, draperies and even pictures were duplicated or the originals placed in the new house and in the places where they had been.     

The interior decoration took over a year.  Eckert and his family moved into the house in November 1909.

General Thomas T. Eckert.  photograph by Mathew Brady, from the collection of the Library of Congress.

Born on April 23, 1825 in St. Clairesville, Ohio, Eckert became interested in the telegraph as a young man.  He came to New York in 1847 with the sole purpose of seeing the Morse telegraph in operation.  The trip resulted in his becoming an operator and returning to Ohio to work with the Wade Telegraph Company.

In 1861, Eckert was ordered to Washington D.C., assigned to General George B. McCellan's headquarters as aide-de-camp in charge of military telegraph operations.  He organized and oversaw the War Department's telegraph system.  Eckert was one of two confidential emissaries for Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.

In 1866, Stanton appointed Eckert Assistant Secretary of War.  Through their close working relationship, Thomas Eckert became close friends with the President.  Edwin Stanton was protective of Lincoln, and when the President invited General Grant and his wife to attend Ford's Theatre with him and Mary Todd Lincoln, Stanton convinced Grant to decline, hoping to dissuade the President from a public appearance.  Lincoln then invited Eckert and his wife, Emeline.  Stanton forbade him from accepting.  The Secretary of War's fervent attempts were to no avail.  That night, Eckert rushed to the War Department and telegraphed General Ulysses S. Grant, "The President was assassinated at Ford's Theatre at 10:30 tonight & cannot live."

After the war, Eckert joined the Western Union Telegraph Company, eventually becoming president in 1893.  He retired in 1900, retaining his seat as chairman of the board of directors.

Eckert and his wife, the former Emeline Dore Whitney, who died on November 4, 1868, had two sons, Thomas, Jr. and James Clendenin.  Eckert's second wife, Joanna Rice, died in 1902.  Thomas Jr. lived in the West 86th Street house with his father.  (He took the position of president of the Western Union Telegraph Company following his father's retirement.)  The Eckert summer home, Heart's Content, was in West End, New Jersey.

In June 1910, six months after moving into the town house, the Eckerts went to Heart's Content.  They were still there on September 2 when, while preparing to go to bed, General Eckert, "in turning around suddenly fractured his right thigh," as reported by The New York Times.  He would never return to the Manhattan house he had so carefully and sentimentally decorated.  He died in the New Jersey house on October 20 at the age of 85.

Surprisingly, less than a month later, Thomas, Jr. announced his engagement.  Perhaps as shocking to society as the breach of mourning protocol was the bride-to-be.  Mary Eagan was hired as a maid in the Eckerts' Fifth Avenue home in 1901.  The Brooklyn Standard Union said, "Tom Eckert fell in love with her at once."  As it turned out, General Eckert was not only aware of the romance, but was involved in the wedding plans, theretofore unannounced.

"The secret was kept for several years," explained The Brooklyn Standard Union, "but Gen. Eckert learned of it.  He was greatly pleased and helped make plans for the wedding, which was to take place Oct. 13."  Now, the Irish-born servant girl known as Minnie, "will become the mistress of Heart's Content, the country place at West End, N. J., as well as the town house at 38 West Eighty-sixth street, Manhattan."

Thomas and Minnie Eckert would have a short time to enjoy their wedded bliss before problems arose for the family.  First, James Clendenin Eckert sued to have the will overturned.  Eckert had left Thomas the bulk of the estate, citing "my appreciation of his loving care and attention."  James (who was known by his middle name), on the other hand, had borrowed significant sums of money from his father over the years, and never repaid it.  Clendenin claimed "undue influence" on the part of his brother in the terms of the will.

As that drama played, out, on April 4, 1911, the Wisconsin newspaper The Kenosha Evening News reported, "A short, portly woman came into Surrogate Cohalan's office and announced that she was Mrs. E. L. Davis, the widow of Gen. Thomas T. Eckert, former head of the Western Union Telegraph company, whose two sons have been fighting for his millions since his death last October."  The woman claimed she was entitled to "at least one-third of the real estate of General Eckert as his widow."

Mrs. Davis, according to The Sun, was also known as Mrs. Dore.  She claimed that after taking a touring car with Eckert  to a minister's house in 1908 and being married, the general had given her the deed to 38 West 86th Street.  In court, Clendenin testified that his father refused to ride in motorcars.  "I have had cars since 1902.  He could never be induced to ride in any of them, nor would he ride in my brother's cars."

The woman was eventually identified as Louise Dore.  She was committed to the Middletown State Hospital as insane in October 1911, ending that portion of the estate litigation.

Two months later, on December 16, 1911, The New York Times ran the headline, "Eckert Will Upheld; Son Loses Suit / An Appeal Is Not Likely."  Indeed, an appeal was filed and the bitter fight between the brothers dragged on until December 1915.  On the 15th, The Sun titled an article, "Eckert Estate Row Ends" and reported that James Clendenin Eckert "won a court decision granting him a half interest in the many millions left by his father."  Included within the half of the estate that Thomas was granted was the 86th Street house, which he and Minnie had been occupying the entire time.

With the unpleasant litigation behind him, Thomas and Minnie purchased a summer home in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1916.  He was still president of Western Union Telegraph Company when he died there on November 21, 1931 at the age of 76.  He was buried downtown in a vault at Old St. Patrick's Cathedral.

On June 4, 1958, The New York Times reported that the estate of Mary A. Eckert had sold 38 West 86th Street to the Cathedral College for $65,000 (about $685,000 in 2024).  The preparatory seminary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York announced it would use the mansion, "as a residence hall for students of the college."  A renovation completed the following year resulted in a dining room and foyer on the first floor; the priests' dining room, chapel and parlor on the second; and bedrooms and dormitories on the upper floors.

Nearly half a century later, in 2000, the house was converted for use as the academic building and library of the Bard Graduate Center.  The institute offers two programs, one for Masters of Arts degree candidates, and the other for Ph.D. candidates.

photographs by the author

The 1907 John B. Haskin House - 34 West 86th Street

 

In 1906 developer William H. Hall, Jr. completed two handsome rowhouses at 32 and 34 West 86th Street.  Designed by Welch, Smith & Provot, they were the first in a row of homes built two at at time that would extend west towards Columbus Avenue.  (The architecturally harmonious group would be completed in 1908.)

Welch, Smith & Provot designed the row in the neo-Renaissance style.  Like its neighbors, 34 West 86th Street sat upon a rusticated limestone base, its upper floors clad in warm red brick.  The second through fourth floor windows were framed in limestone, while the top story took the form of a steep, slate-shingled mansard.  Here two brick dormers were capped with arched Renaissance style pediments.

The house became home to the family of John Bussing Haskin, Jr.  His father, who died in 1895, was an influential attorney and congressman.  Bussing and his wife, the former May Louise Quackenbush, had three daughters, Mabel, Edith Mae, and Edna.  (Their first daughter, Ethel Amelia, died in 1888 at the age of one.)  Haskin was a partner in Wyatt & Listman, makers of automobile parts, and president of the John B. Haskin's Estate, Inc.

The family brought their trusted domestic staff with them, including James B. Griffin, who had been their chef since 1891.  In the summer of 1907, the family notified police that pieces of silver and expensive cut glass were slowly disappearing.  Detective Kahn was put on the case.  

Kahn scoured the pawnshops and found some of the Haskins' items in several locations.  In each case, the description of the seller matched that of James B. Griffin.  The Haskin family was no doubt shocked when Kahn arrived at 34 West 86th Street on the night of October 4 and led their faithful chef away in handcuffs.  "Griffin had nothing to say," reported The New York Times.

Unlike many of their well-heeled neighbors, the Haskins did not own a country home, but summered at fashionable resort hotels, instead.  On November 8, 1908, for instance, The New York Times reported, "Mr. and Mrs. John P. Haskins [sic] and family, 34 West Eighty-sixth Street, have returned from the Berkshires and Adirondacks."  And the following year, on October 17, 1909, the New York Herald noted, "Mr. and Mrs. John Bussing Haskin and the Misses Haskin, of No. 34 West Eighty-sixth street, after a trip through the Berkshires, will go to Briarcliff Lodge, Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., for an indefinite stay."

On April 10, 1910, The New York Times reported that Mabel Louise would be married to William Arthur Flinn on April 27, noting, "It will be a home wedding."  One can imagine the panic Mabel experienced when she contracted measles a week later.

The New York Times reported on April 18, "It was said yesterday that Miss Haskins [sic] was confined to her room with measles, and that her wedding to a Pittsburgh young man, which was to have taken place on April 25, would have to be postponed."  While admitting that Mable was sick, the family denied that "her illness would interfere with the wedding plans."

And, indeed, on May 1, the newspaper reported that the wedding had taken place in the family's drawing room the previous evening.  Edith and Edna were two of their sister's five attendants.

On May 22, 1915, the New York Courier and International Topics reported that John and May had announced "the engagement of their second daughter, Miss Edith Mae Haskins [sic], to Mr. Hugh T. Porter."  The article said, "The announcement was made in interesting circumstances at the house of Mr. and Mrs. W. Arthur Flinn...Mrs. Flinn, the elder sister of Miss Haskin, gave a dinner, followed by dancing, to celebrate the fourth anniversary of her marriage, her mother's birthday and the engagement of her sister."

Not long after Edith's wedding, John Bussing and May Louise  Haskin moved to Glen Falls, New York.  The West 86th Street house became home to the Jorje (sometimes spelled Jorge) Ezekiel Zalles family.  Born in La Paz, Bolivia in 1872, he was married to Arcadia Calderon.  The couple had five children, George Jr., Maria, Leonora Eugenia, Robert H., and Reginald Hugh.

Zalles was the honorary financial attaché to the Bolivian legation.  Arcadia was the daughter of Don Ignacio Calderon, the Bolivian Minister to Washington.  The family's country home, Devon, was in Amagansett, Long Island.

While her husband was on a business trip to South America in the summer of 1919, Arcadia visited her parents in Washington, D.C.  On August 4, The Washington Times reported, "The Minister of Bolivia and Senora Ignacio Calderon have as their guest Senora Jorge E. Zalles, wife of the honorary financial attache of the legation, and daughter of the minister."

By 1930, when Leonora's engagement to Emile C. Freeland was announced, Jorje Zalle was a vice president of W. R. Grace & Co.  Leonora was married in Santiago, Chile in January 1931.  She may have met her husband through her father.  The New York Times mentioned, "Mr. Freeland is an industrial engineer with W. R. Grace & Co."

Reginald H. Zalle also became affiliated with W. R. Grace & Co. following his graduation from Columbia University.  He worked in the firm's office in La Paz, Bolivia.  Interestingly, when Reginald was married to Maria Esperanza Santivanez in La Paz on January 10, 1940, his father did not attend the wedding.  The East Hampton Star reported on January 25, "The bridegroom's mother flew to Le Paz for the wedding.  She will return next month to rejoin Mr. Zalles, who is vice president of W. R. Grace & Co."

By the outbreak of World War II, the once exclusive West 86th Street block had been taken over by commerce.  And yet the Zalles family continued on as they had for decades.  Arcadia, who had been highly involved with musical groups like the Beethoven Association, the Leschetizky Society and the Friends of Music, now threw herself into the war effort as well.  She became a member of the American Women's Volunteer Services.

In 1948, the Zalles moved into a large apartment at 322 East 57th Street where Arcadia died in March 1951.  Somewhat surprisingly, the following year on November 29, The Miami News reported, "An interesting wedding took place recently in New York when Miss Rose Willoughby Saul became the bride of Jorge E. Zalles of Paris, France, and New York...Mrs. Zalles is a retired executive of the W. R. Grace Co."  George died in the East 57th Street apartment at the age of 81 on March 27, 1954.

In the meantime, 34 West 86th Street was converted to apartments in 1949.  It was home to several musicians, including Harold "Sonny" Salad, who was here in 1952.  Salad was an alto saxophonist with Ray McKinley's big band.  Living here at the same time was alto saxophonist Larry Elgart, who played in the band of his brother Les Elgart.

Externally, 34 West 86th Street house looks much as it did when a family's trusted chef purloined expensive pieces of cut glass nearly 120 years ago.

photographs by the author

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The John and Clara Stanchfield House - 36 West 86th Street

 

In 1886, the year he was elected mayor of Elmira, New York,  John Barry Stanchfield married Clara S. Spaulding.  Born on March 13, 1855, Stanchfield was educated as an attorney.  He had been District Attorney of Chemung County, would serve in the New York State Assembly from 1895 to 1896, and run for Governor in 1899.

Clara, who was born in Elmira in 1849, was a schoolmate and intimate friend of Olivia Clemens, wife of author Samuel Clemens.  According to Clemens's biographer, R. Kent Rasmussen, Clara had accompanied "Livy" to England in 1873 when Samuel Clemens was working on A Tramp Abroad.  The close relationship resulted in John Stanchfield's assisting Samuel Clements with legal entanglements following Olivia's death in 1904.

John Barry Stanchfield - from the collection of the Library of Congress

John and Clara brought their children, Alice and John Jr., to New York City around the turn of the century, where John became a partner in the law firm of Chadbourne, Stanchfield & Levy.

On July 4, 1908, the Real Estate Record & Guide reported that developer William H. Hall, Jr. had sold the 25-foot wide house at 36 West 86th Street, saying, "This dwelling is the sixth one out of a row of 8 recently completed."  The neo-Renaissance style rowhouse had been designed by Welch, Smith & Provot.  Sitting upon a rusticated limestone base, its red brick midsection was trimmed in limestone, and its fifth floor took the form of a steep, slate shingled mansard with two brick dormers.  John and Clara Stanchfield paid $80,000 for the residence, equal to nearly $2.75 million in 2024.

The Stanchfields retained their large home in Elmira.  Because of their deep ties there, when Alice became engaged to Dr. Arthur Wright in 1912, a "large wedding at the Elmira home" was planned, according to The New York Times.  Those plans were upended when Clara fell ill.  On April 28, the newspaper reported, "it was decided to have a quiet wedding at the New York house.  Mrs. Stanchfield, who is convalescent, was present."

The article noted, "The house was beautifully decorated with flowers from the Elmira estate; lilacs, Japanese quince, and other Spring flowers were used in profusion."  Following the ceremony, 150 guests attended the reception.

In January 1915, the Stanchfields sold 36 West 86th Street to Horace A. Saks, of Saks & Co.  He and his wife, the former Dorothy Drey, had two children--John Andrew and Edna Jane.  The family's summer home was in Elberon, New Jersey.

Born on July 14, 1882 in Baltimore, Saks graduated from Princeton in 1903.  He founded the department store with his father, Andrew; his uncle, Isidore; his brother, William A.; and P. A. Conne.  Horace Saks was a leader in the store's expansion and was largely responsible for its move to Fifth Avenue and 49th Street.

Horace and Dorothy filled the 86th Street residence with art treasures.  The New York Times later remarked that Saks "was a collector of portraits and of Chinese porcelains, of which he had a large and valuable collection."

Horace A. Saks, The New York Times, November 28, 1925

On November 25, 1925, Saks was at work when he first complained of a carbuncle on his cheek.  He consulted Dr. A. A. Berg, who sent him "without delay" to Mt. Sinai Hospital for treatment.  The New York Times reported, "when the wound was examined, it was found that septic poisoning had already developed.  Measures were taken to combat the infection, which had spread through his system."  Despite the doctors' efforts, Saks died within forty-eight hours.

Horace A. Saks's funeral was held in the 86th Street house on November 29, 1925.  At the time of his death, he was also a director of Gimbel Brothers, Inc., and among the honorary pall bearers were five Gimbel brothers.

On August 5, 1927, when The American Hebrew announced that Dorothy Saks was "passing the summer in European centers," the West 86th Street neighborhood was drastically changing.  Businesses were encroaching onto the formerly exclusive residential block.  How long Dorothy remained is unclear, but in 1945 her former home was converted to apartments.

That changed in the late 20th century when 36 West 86th Street became the Bard Graduate Center's academic facility.  A restoration-renovation completed in 2000 resulted in two additional floors (unseen from the street) and an expansion at the rear.  The new spaces accommodated a 75-seat lecture hall, digital imaging center, library, classrooms and offices.  A second renovation combined 36 West 86th Street internally with 38.  The exteriors of both houses survived wonderfully intact.

photograph by the author 

no permission to reuse the content of this blog has been granted to LaptrinhX.com

The 1906 Charles Altschul House - 32 West 86th Street

 

The extended Hall family were builders and developers.  William Hall began the tradition that was continued by his sons William W. and Thomas M. Hall.  (They operated both as William Hall's Sons and W. W. & T. M. Hall).  Joining in the  familial trend were Arlington C. and Harvey M. Hall, who worked together; and William H. Hall Jr.  

In 1906, William H. Hall Jr. partnered with W. W. & T. M. Hall in erecting a row of handsome townhouses on the south side of West 86th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue.  Designed by Welch, Smith & Provot, certain pairs were built and owned by William H. Hall, Jr. and others by his relatives, yet they flowed together harmoniously.

Among those William H. Hall, Jr. erected was 32 West 86th Street.  Its neo-Renaissance design included a rusticated limestone base, stone architrave frames of the upper story windows, and a slate-shingled and dormered mansard.

The house became home to the Charles Altschul family.  Born in London on December 31, 1857, Altschul came to America in 1877 and settled in San Francisco where he joined the staff of the banking firm Lazard Freres.  In 1886, he married Camilla Mandelbaum.  The couple had three children, Frank, born in 1887; Edith Louise, who was born two years later; and Hilda who arrived in 1892.

Altschul thrived professionally in California.  In 1895, he was made manager of the London, Paris and American Bank and five years later was elected President of the California Bankers' Association.  Then, in 1901, he relocated his family to New York, where he remained a partner in Lazard Freres.

Charles Altschul (original source unknown)

Frank Altschul graduated from Yale University in 1908 and for the next two years worked in the Mexico City office of the banking firm Hugo Scherer, Jr. & Co.  On November 18, 1910, the Yale Alumni Weekly reported he "expects to return permanently to 32 West Eighty-sixth Street, New York City, about January 1, 1911."

He would find one more person living in the 86th Street house.  On April 30, 1910, "in a private suite at Sherry's," as reported by the New York Herald, Edith had married Herbert H. Lehman.  After the their honeymoon in the South, the couple moved into the Altschul house.

Lehman's father Mayer, like Charles Altschul, was a financier, one of the three brothers who co-founded Lehman Brothers.  Herbert had been a partner in that firm for two years when he married Edith.  

Frank was next to marry.  On November 3, 1912, The New York Times reported on his engagement to Helen Goodhart, a graduate of Barnard College.  The wedding took place on January 9, 1913 in the bride's home.

Herbert Lehman was drawn into the messy impeachment trial of Governor William Sulzer in 1913.  Among the charges was that he had accepted large, personal gifts, presumably in exchange for favors.  On October 8, 1913, Lehman was called to testify to explain his monetary gift to the governor.  The New York Sun printed his testimony in part.

I gave him $5,000 unconditionally.  I knew he was a man of straitened circumstances.  I did not care what he did with his money, whether he paid his rent or bought himself clothes or paid for his office or any other expenses which he might incur.

Lazard Freres placed a notice in the New York Press on July 3, 1916 that read, "We regret to announce that Mr. Charles Altschul has this day retired from our firm."  It added, "Mr. Fred H. Greenebaum and Mr. Frank Altschul have been admitted as partners in our firm."

Charles Altschul now turned his attention to historical research and writing.  His first project was his 1917 The American Revolution in Our School Text Books: An Attempt to Trace the Influence of Early School Education on the Feeling Toward England in the United States.  After pouring over 93 history textbooks used in schools nationwide, he revealed an inherent bias which The Sun on October 21, 1917 called "an American tradition of Anglophobia."  The New York Times would later say it "helped bring a revision in the teaching of the history of the Revolution in public schools."

Charles was involved in other scholarly interests, as well.  He was a member of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and the American Historical Association, for instance.  

Early in April 1927, Charles Altschul suffered a heart attack.  He died three weeks later on April 28.

His son and son-in-law would go on to great success.  In their 2003 Wall Street People, Charles D. Ellis and James R. Vertin wrote, "Frank [Altschul] rose to be one of Wall Street's grand dukes, both in style and influence.  In the 1930s, he served on the governing board of the New York Stock Exchange and became a director of the Rockefeller family bank, the Chase National."  In 1929, Herbert Lehman became Lieutenant Governor of New York under Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt, and in 1933 became the state's 45th governor, holding that office until March 1946.

In the meantime, the West 86th Street block had changed from upscale private homes to boarding houses, shops and apartment buildings by the time of Charles Altschul's death.  No. 32 was converted to the Ann Reno School--a dual purpose facility that taught deaf children and trained teachers.

The daughter of prominent musicians, Anna Reno Margulies was prompted by the deafness of her son to devote herself to teaching the deaf.  After studying with Maria Montessori in Italy, she opened her school in America using the Montessori methods.  The New York Times said here "students were taught to speak and understand conversation with a facility equal to that of persons with normal hearing."

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The Ann Reno School operated from the converted house into the 1950s.  By 1969, it was home to the Society for the Advancement of Judaism Nursery School, which accepted three- and four-year-old children at a yearly tuition of $675 (equal to about $4,880 in 2024).

A renovation completed in 1981 resulted in apartments.  There are three each on the first through fourth floors, and two duplex apartments on the fifth and new penthouse level, which is unseen from the street.

photographs by the author

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The 1906 Dr. Jos. Archibald Robertson House - 6 West 74th Street

 

Brothers William W. and Thomas M. Hall were known for building often sumptuous, speculative townhouses.  In 1904 they commissioned the architectural firm of Welch, Smith & Provot to design a pair of four-story homes at 2 and 4 West 74th Street (renumbered 6 and 8 around 1930).  The firm estimated the cost of each at $30,000--just over $1 million in 2024.   

The structures were completed in 1906.  The architects placed the doorway of 2 West 74th Street to the side of a protruding bay atop a low, sweeping staircase.  The three floors of beige brick above the limestone base were given neo-Georgian splayed lintels of brick and stone, and layered keystones.  The L-shaped facade provided an abundance of natural light and ventilation.

On January 20, 1906, the Record & Guide reported that the Halls had sold 2 West 74th Street to "a prominent physician."  The purchaser was Dr. Joseph Archibald Robertson who had met his wife, the former Elise Jones, when she was a patient.  Elise came from Birmingham, Alabama.  "She is said to be wealthy, having inherited an estate of several hundred thousand dollars," said The New York Times.  The couple's summer estate was in Virginia.  According to the newspaper, it "was deeded to Dr. Robertson by his wife."

The Robertsons had lived in the new house only about a year before rumors of domestic problems spread, including a report that Elise had served her husband with divorce papers in July 1907.  In September, according to The New York Times, Robertson "denied having any domestic trouble.  He said that his wife was at their Summer home in Virginia, but owing to his professional duties he was unable to be there."

A month later, on October 13, the newspaper reported, "Until a day or so ago [Mrs. Robertson] was constantly seen with her husband, both of them taking daily afternoon trips in their motor car."  But now the pretense had ended.  The day before the article Joseph Robertson moved to the Hotel Aberdeen.  "Mrs. Robertson is still in the Seventy-second [sic] Street house," it said.

Domestic tranquility would be elusive for Dr. Robertson.  Following his divorce from Elise, he married Sarah Miller.  At 3:00 on the morning of August 9, 1919, Sarah and five detectives burst into a room in the Hotel Albermarle.  "The raiding party rushed in," reported the New York Herald, to find Dr. Robertson and his nurse, Maud Davis, together.  Maud "burst into tears" while "Dr. Robertson showed fight but was greatly outnumbered."

In the meantime, the Robertsons had sold 2 West 74th Street to another physician, Frederick W. Church.   He sold it in February 1916 to stockbroker Arthur Lipper.

Born in Philadelphia in September 1876, Lipper established the brokerage firm of Arthur Lipper & Co. in April 1899.  At 22 years old, he was the youngest head of a banking firm in the country.  He relocated to New York in 1900.  He and his wife, the former Clara Behal, had three children, Arthur Jr., Dorothy, Madeleine and Ruth.

Dorothy was the first to marry.  Her wedding to Stephen M. Ames took place in the Crystal Room of the Ritz-Carlton on October 19, 1920.  The groom had much in common with his father-in-law.  The American Hebrew noted, "He is now in the Stock Exchange and is its youngest member."

By the time the Lippers sold their home to Dr. A. J. Ginsberg in December 1938, its address had been changed to 6 West 74th Street.  In reporting the sale, The New York Sun mentioned that it "contains an automatic elevator."   Adding that "this is the first sale in twenty-three years," the article noted that Ginsberg "will use it for his private practice and research laboratories."

Ginsberg was a graduate of Columbia Medical School and had studied in Europe and at the Mayo Clinic.  The Malone, New York newspaper the Malone Evening Telegram, reported, 

Of interest to many who knew him as a young Tupper [New York] resident and a student in the local schools will be news of the purchase by Dr. A. J. Ginsberg...of the Lipper mansion at 6 West 74th St.  Dr. Ginsberg will make the four story building over into a practice and research laboratory.  Built in 1906, the mansion is one of the showplaces of that day and is now assessed for $48,000. 

The article added that Ginsberg "has built up a splendid practice in New York."

In 1940, there was still only one doorway.  The residence's 1906 sibling at 8 West 74th Street survived.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In 1961, the house was converted to apartments, one each per floor above a ground floor doctor's office.   A subsequent remodeling completed in 2015 resulted in a triplex and duplex apartment and a second doorway that replaced a window next to the original entrance.

photographs by the author

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The Lost Michael Dreicer House - 1046 5th Avenue

When this photo was taken in 1944, the brownstone house at 1045 Fifth Avenue had been razed.  To the left is Wm. Starr Miller house.  photo by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

 

In January 1906, real estate developers William W. and Thomas M. Hall purchased the 22-foot wide brownstone rowhouse at 1046 Fifth Avenue from Anna Weins.  She and her late husband, Dr. Joseph Weins, had occupied the residence for years.  The neighborhood had greatly changed since the Weins' home was erected, with the palaces of Manhattan's millionaires now engulfing the neighborhood.  In reporting the sale, the Real Estate Record & Guide noted that the Halls "will erect a 6-story American basement dwelling with elevator on the site."

W. W. & T. M. Hall were well-known for erecting lavish, speculative private homes.  They commissioned the architectural firm of Welch, Smith & Provot to design the residence, projected to cost $60,000 to construct--about $1.78 million today.  Completed in 1907, it was a dignified mix of the Second Empire and Beaux Arts styles.  A rusticated limestone base upheld three floors of brick, liberally trimmed in stone.  The second story windows, fronted by cast iron, faux balconies, sat within arches, the tympana of which were decorated with carved wreaths.  The top floor took the form of a high, copper-clad mansard.

On April 9, 1907, The New York Times reported that the developers had sold 1046 Fifth Avenue, noting that it "has just been finished."  The buyers, Benjamin and Emma Thaw, paid $190,000, or about $5.4 million in today's money.  The house would be a sort of pied-a-terre for the Thaws, whose main residence was in Pittsburgh where Benjamin was a banker.

It may have been a tax law that prompted the couple to sell the house in 1909.  That year, on January 17, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle had reported on the Saxe Law, "designed to catch those who move out of town to escape assessments."  The newspaper published a list of "the non-residents assessed this year, whom the Tax Department expects to pay up."  Included was Benjamin Thaw of Pittsburgh, assessed at $25,000.

In June the Thaws sold 1046 Fifth Avenue to Michael Dreicer for $200,000, making a tidy profit.  The couple then rented the former home of R. Livingston Beeckman, at 854 Fifth Avenue, thereby avoiding any tax assessment.

Dreicer was the son of Jacob Dreicer, who had opened his jewelry business at 1128 Broadway in 1868.  At that time, socialites festooned themselves in pearls, essentially ignoring colored gemstones.    Although Dreicer and his son were important pearl dealers (a particular 30-inch string of perfectly-matched pearls put together by the firm sold for $1,500,000, and single pearl from the store went for as high as $130,000), they were instrumental in establishing the popularity of colored gems.  Decades later The New York Times would say “The father and the son are credited with having done much to overcome these prejudices and to have aided in creating in this country a taste for beautiful gems and exquisite art in jewelry.”  They sold a single diamond, known as the Duke of York diamond, for $125,000.

Michael Dreicer and his wife, the former Maisie Shainwald, had two sons, James Huntington and Donald Michael.  He significantly adding to his fortune by investing in Midtown real estate, almost exclusively on Fifth Avenue. 

Dreicer filled his home with an astounding collection of fine art.  Writing in Arts & Decoration in December 1917, Guy Pene Du Bois devoted several pages to Dreicer's collection of Flemish, Italian, French and German works.  "He hangs these pictures in a room, not over-large--designed to be completely in keeping with them.  Thus a French Gothic tapestry depicting 'The Crucifixtion'--filled with the multiple details that enchant small minds--faces a Della Robbia plaque representing the Holy Family, while a table just off the center of the room holds early Italian bronzes, of delightful patine, of which the most notable may be a Paduan horse and rider."

A Della Robbia plaque above the mantel compliments the Italian style ceiling.  Arts & Decoration, December 1917 (copyright expired)

On April 11, 1917, The New York Times reported that Michael Dreicer was in the process of purchasing Deepdale, the Long Island estate of William K. Vanderbilt, Jr.  The massive property was "one of the largest country places in the East," said the article.  "The transaction involves the mansion and outbuildings, but it does not include all of the land."  In fact, the negotiations were taking place between Vanderbilt and Dreicer's mother, Gittel.  Later The New York Times would explain that the estate "was given to Mr. Dreicer...by his mother, who purchased the estate from William K. Vanderbilt, Jr."  Dreicer would take title to 43 acres "of the choicest land surrounding the mansion and make it his Summer home."

The Dreicer's new summer home had been designed for Wm. K. Vanderbilt, Jr. by Horace Trumbauer.  American Homes & Gardens, 1906 (copyright expired)

Dreicer continued to add to his art collection.  On January 5, 1917, for instance, the New-York Tribune reported that he had purchased Christ Appearing to Mary by Roger van der Weyden, for $150,000 (more than $3 million today).  The article noted, "This is the second important painting of the Flemish Primitive School Mr. Dreicer has secured during the last year."  The article added, "Great sentimental interest is attached to the picture, especially in America, in that it belonged to Queen Isabella of Spain at the time she was befriending Columbus.  It is probable that he saw the painting when he was at court."

The family was at Deepdale on July 26, 1921 when Michael Dreicer died at the age of 53.  In reporting his death, The New York Times called him "one of the foremost jewelers of this country," adding that he was "regarded as one of the best judges of art works.  He was also a connoisseur in jade and Chinese porcelains."

Dreicer had executed his will just six days before his death.  In it he left his entire collection of "pictures, etchings, tapestries and statuary" to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Valued at $1 million, it came with the stipulation "that the collection is to be placed in a separate room for twenty-five years and to be known as the Michael Dreicer Collection."  Maisie received both homes and their furnishings, "the entire stock of wines, $100,000 in cash, and the income during life of one-half of the residue."  The other half was divided between James and Donald, who were twelve and ten years old respectively.

The estate was valued at "about $3,000,000," according to the New York Herald (nearly $43.5 million by today's standards).  He was generous to his servants, and left one employee, Minnie A. Morgan, $20,000 for "faithful service."

Three weeks after Dreicer's death, on August 14, 1921, his father Jacob died.   The New York Times reported, "Relatives said last night that he had been unable to bear the shock of losing his son, Michael."

By 1925 Maisie was leasing 1046 Fifth Avenue to Edwin A. Shewan and his wife, the former Anne Bergeth Hanson.  The couple had two daughters.  Shewan was a partner with his brother in the Shewan Dry Dock and Repair Yard Corporation, "the largest dry dock and ship-repairing plant in the port of New York," according to the 1917 Scots and Scots' Descendants in America. 

Like Michael Dreicer, Shewan had a notable art collection, including rare tapestries and medieval-period needlework.  The scope of the Shewans' fortune became very public in January 1925.  Anne sent a pearl necklace and a solitaire diamond ring weighing 13.5 karats set in platinum to her jeweler for cleaning.  On January 29, the jeweler's messenger handed a box to the maid who answered the door.  The Sun reported, "She opened it, took out the necklace, peered into the tissue wrapping, failed to see the ring and threw the box aside."  The box and tissue were "dumped into the ash barrel in the cellar later in the day."

Later that evening Anne remarked to Edwin that it was strange that the jeweler had sent the necklace separate from the ring (which was valued at the equivalent of $590,000 in today's money).  She telephoned the jeweler the next day and was informed that both items had been delivered.

The maid and butler rushed to the cellar, only to discover that the barrel's contents had already been collected by the Street Cleaning Department.  The garbage scow at East 107th Street and the East River was delayed for two days while workers combed through the rubbish for the ring.  They were too late.  Anne's valuable trinket had already been dumped at sea.

Among those reading the accounts was George Lester Carter, who developed a scheme.  The 30-year-old sent a note, "written in a scrawl," according to The Sun, to Edwin Shewan on February 10.  He demanded $500, "as he had to buy a new car."  The note threatened that if the money was not forthcoming, the writer would "kidnap Mrs. Shewan and her two children."  He gave a deadline for delivery of February 16.

A second note followed, which said that Shewan "might as well prepare for the worst because he was going to do some dirty work."  Shewan was directed to bring the money personally to 228 East 127th Street where the writer would be waiting in an automobile.  It provided the license plate number for Shewan's convenience.  This note warned that the writer was "one of the hustling gang," and that if the police were notified, "members of the gang would kill the merchant and his family," as reported in The Sun.  The would-be extortionist was arrested on April 3.

In 1928 the Shewans separated.  The daughters remained at 1046 Fifth Avenue with their father.  In April 1930, Shewan filed for divorce and Anne countersued for separation on the ground of nonsupport and abandonment.

In May 1934 Shewan married Juanita Austin-Fetter, of Marion, Ohio.  Five weeks later Juanita became sick, "but her illness was not thought to be serious," reported The New York Times.  She died on June 21 from a blood clot on the brain.  Shewan's bride was just 35 years old.

In 1938 Edwin A. Shewan became an invalid.  He left 1046 Fifth Avenue in 1940 and Maisie Dreicer, now Maisie de Kerchove, sold the house to the Ro-M Company, headed by Rose M. Corbell.  The firm announced its intentions "to alter the former Dreicer residence into apartments."

Instead, however, it was sold in June 1941 to Harvey L. and Lillian Schwamm.  Schwamm was the principal in H. L. Schwamm & Co., dealers in municipal securities.  He was, as well, president of the National Bronx Bank and the Pan American Trust Company.

In 1941 the vintage brownstone next door, while boarded up, was intact.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

On August 16, 1958 The New York Times reported, "A Northeast Airlines plane crashed in the fog [at Nantucket, Massachusetts] last night and three hours later nineteen persons were known as dead."  Among the victims listed were Harvey and Lillian Schwamm.

At the time of the Schwamms' deaths, private homes along this stretch of Fifth Avenue were a rarity.  The former Dreicer house survived until 1966 when it was demolished to make way for a 15-story apartment building designed by Horace Ginsbern.   Completed in 1967, the building occupies the Dreicer site and that of 1045 Fifth Avenue, next door.

image via www.elliman.com

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