The Lost Anton Schwartz House - 127 West 108th Street

 

Assuredly a centered staircase originally rose to the shared porch.  photo by Charles Von Urban from the collection of the New York Public Library

In 1857, Swiss-German immigrants Emanuel Bernheimer and August Schmid organized the Lion Brewery.  Its sprawling complex on Tenth Avenue stretched from 107th to 109th Street.  Following the Civil War, Lion Park, a "pleasure garden"--the Victorian equivalent of today's recreation park--was added to the property to the north.

Around 1870 two abutting Second Empire-style mansions were erected on the Lion Brewery property.  Located on West 108th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues, the frame structures were nearly mirror images.  (The avenues would be renamed Columbus and Amsterdam, respectively, in 1890, around the time the houses would be given the official street addresses of 127 and 129 West 108th Street.)  The residences shared a porch and, almost certainly, a centered staircase.  The eastern house, No. 127, sat slightly forward.  Its asymmetrical configuration of the second floor openings included a squared headed window and a Palladian-inspired grouping.  Lacy cast-iron cresting decorated the slate-shingled mansard.

The residences were built for Lion Brewery executives.  Around 1890, 127 West 108th Street became home to Anton Schwartz, a partner in the brewery.  He and his wife, Emma, had one son, Adolph.

On the morning of June 19, 1894, Anton took a drive in Central Park.  Presumably, Emma was with him in the family's "dogcart"--a open carriage popular for leisurely rides.  

A dogcart could have two or four wheels, and was pulled by one or two horses.  Across England in a Dog-Cart, 1891 (copyright expired)

The pleasant morning drive became a horrific incident.  Also driving in the park that morning were J. W. Platt, his wife and their baby.  At around 92nd Street, the Platts' horse bolted.  It upset the carriage and threw its occupants to the roadway.  The commotion upset the horse pulling the wagon of John H. Coleman and his wife, "causing it to run away," as reported by The New York World.  Like the Platts, they were thrown out of the vehicle.

The article said, "For an eighth of a mile the race was a mad one, the runaway galloping furiously."  At around 94th Street, the panicked horse "crashed into a dog-cart driven by Anton Schwartz, of No. 127 West One-Hundred and Eighth street," said the article.  Happily for Schwartz, he was uninjured and "a broken shaft and lamp was the only damage" to his vehicle.

Schwartz was best known for his thoroughbreds and his racing.  He routinely competed at the Harlem River Speedway, which ran from West 155th Street to Dyckman Avenue.  (The venue was established in 1893 and its scenic grounds were designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, of Central Park fame.)

On May 29, 1899, for instance, The Sun reported, "Anton Schwartz's stately black trotter Wyoming scored quite a victory by defeating the fast black pacer Dick Vail."  Schwartz and his trotters would be regulars at the Speedway for years.

August Schmid died in 1889.  His widow, Josephine, stepped into his position at the Lion Brewery.  A difficult and headstrong woman, at the turn of the century her relationship with the other partners had become so argumentative and unworkable that she bought them out for $1.4 million.  The transaction not only left Anton Schwartz and his former partners, Max E and Simon Bernheimer, without a brewery, it necessitated the Schwartz family to leave the brewery property.  

Schwartz and the Bernheimers established the Bernheimer & Schwartz Brewery at Amsterdam Avenue and 128th Street.  Anton moved his family to a commodious third-floor apartment in the Central Park View on West 86th Street.  Despite their significant wealth, the family faced unspeakable tragedy.  In September 1910, Adolph Schwartz died from spinal meningitis and six weeks later, Anton committed suicide by shooting himself in the head in the West 86th Street apartment.

Expectedly, 127 West 108th Street became home to a Lion Brewery employee.  Cornelius C. Link listed his profession as "foreman."  Born in Germany in 1848, he and his wife, the former Anna Abel, had three sons and two daughters.

From this angle, the slight projection of the Schwartz house can be seen.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

The Links apparently took in a boarder and living here in 1911 was James Osborne.  On the night of May 6 that year, George W. Parkhurst and his wife returned to their apartment on West 100th Street to find the door locked and chained from inside.  With the aid of the janitor, they broke into their own apartment and found the place ransacked.  Hearing noises, they ran to the kitchen and "found the dumbwaiter rapidly descending," reported The New York Times.  Parkhurst called the West 100th Street police station.  When Detective Farrell arrived, he saw a man rushing away and grabbed at him.  The article said, "The man leaped aside and started to run."  Farrell pursued him, firing his gun three times and missing.

The fugitive was James Osborn.  At Riverside Drive, he climbed the retaining wall and leaped over.  The article said, "It was a 60-foot drop."  Detective Farrell found Osborn, "bruised and crushed against a great boulder, and barely conscious."  Doctors at the J. Hood Wright Hospital said he "will probably die."

Around 1913, Link began investing in real estate.  He would buy and sell properties in the Harlem and Bronx areas for years.  

The enaction of Prohibition in 1920 changed the lives of brewery employees.  The Links moved to the Lexington Hotel in Mount Kisco where Anna died on February 14, 1922.  The Daily Item reported, "No estimate of the value of the estate is given, but she gives it all to her husband, Cornelius Link."  

The following month, The Brooklyn Citizen reported on an arson fire "in the Lexington Hotel...which was occupied by Cornelius Link, his son and daughter."  Although Link and his family members survived, Cornelius died later that year.

The handsome houses on the former brewery property were replaced by a one-story garage within the decade.  

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

An apartment building was erected on the site in 1951.

The 1905 Hudson Stables - 248 West 108th Street

photograph by Anthony Bellov

Born in 1839, Herman Masemann immigrated from Germany in 1856.  By the turn of the century, he had garnered a significant fortune in the butcher business.  In 1905, he acquired the 25-foot-wide lot at 248 West 108th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue and gave the architectural firm of Holt & Weidinger a formidable (some might have said impossible) task: squeezing a livery stable onto the plot no wider than an upscale residence.  The five-story brick-and-stone stable cost Masemann $18,000 to construct, or about $650,000 in 2026 terms.

Holt & Wiedinger's design was a blend of Arts & Crafts and neo-Georgian styles.  Two large arches with limestone lintels filled the ground floor.  One contained the double-doored carriage bay and the other the pedestrian entrance and a window.  Grouped windows at the second through fourth floors sat within a vast arch topped with a brick eyebrow and stone keystone.  They flooded those floors with natural light.  The five openings of the fifth floor, which sat upon a single limestone sill, were protected by a projecting cornice on floor-height cast iron brackets.  A simple brick parapet completed the design.

Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide, March 10, 1906 (copyright expired)

The critic of the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide was highly impressed, calling the Hudson Stable, "what is undoubtedly the finest 25-ft. boarding stable in the city," and saying that Holt & Weidinger had shown "that it is perfectly possible to build a satisfactory stable on a 25-ft. lot."

The ground and second floors contained 60 horse stalls.  Vehicles were stored on the upper floors.  The architects placed the large electric elevator in the middle of the building rather than the rear, as was customary.  It had doors on the front and the back, "and thus permits the easy handling and storing of wagons without requiring large gangways," explained the Record & Guide.

On the first, third and fourth floors were "ample carriage-washes," while "horse-washes" were on the first and second.  The washing stations were supplied with hot and cold water.

At the front portion of the third floor was the harness room, "connected by a harness lift with the stall floors and office below," said the article.  "This room also contains lockers for private coachmen."  The architects' ingenious solutions included the feeding of the horses.  The feed room was at the rear of the top floor and "feed chutes" delivered the fodder to the individual stalls below.  The Record & Guide noted, "The problem of the storage and disposal of manure has been effectively solved, and a brick vent flue removes all odors."

After operating the Hudson Stables for four years, on June 6, 1910 Herman Masemann sold the property to George C. Masemann for $1.  As his father had done, George assisted his customers in selling their horses and vehicles.  On May 28, 1912, for instance, an advertisement in the New York Herald read, "For Sale--Pony, Shetland; safe, gentle; with governess cart, harness and saddle.  Hudson Stables, 248 West 108th st."  (A governess cart was a popular two-wheeled vehicle.)

Importantly, the overwhelming majority of the advertisements on that page were marketing automobiles, not carriages or horses.  They indicated the major shift that was transforming transportation.

On April 2, 1917, architect George Raymond Euell filed a request with the Board of Appeals to convert 248 West 108th Street from "a stable into a garage in a residence district."  It appears that the request was denied, because Euell instead converted the Hudson Stable to a storage warehouse.  In doing so, he added a fifth floor in the form of a mansard.  Its single dormer sat below a deeply-overhanging roof, reminiscent of the one he removed from the fifth floor.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

George C. Masemann and his wife, Phoebe, leased the remodeled building to the Haage Storage company.  It was occasionally the scene of auctions of unclaimed property.  On February 16, 1921, for instance, auctioneer Henry Brady advertised the Sheriff's Auction at the Haage Storage Warehouse.  It included, "one George Steck baby grand piano."

Columbia Alumni News, July 1919 (copyright expired)

On July 1, 1928, The New York Times reported that the Masemanns had sold "the six-story warehouse building" to Vera Beermann.  Vera was the wife of Edward Beermann Jr. and the couple operated the Harlem Despatch Express Co.

Like the Haage Storage Warehouse, the Beermann's operation was a moving and storage business and it would remain in the building for decades.  By the time America entered World War II, the firm's name had been slightly changed to the Despatch Moving & Storage Company.  An advertisement in 1944 touted, "Our First Love is Commercial Hauling and Storage" and that it was "Now Our Defense Contribution."  (Exactly how the firm's hauling or storage of freight contributed to the war effort was left unclear.)  It added, "Tell us your hauling or storage problems.  Then you will not have one."

The Despatch Moving & Storage Co. was still in the building in the third quarter of the century.  Then, in 1989 248 West 108th Street was converted by The Bridge, Inc. for its headquarters and facilities.  The organization was founded in 1954 "to change lives by providing help, hope and opportunity to the most vulnerable New Yorkers," according to its website.  It adds that The Bridge offers "a range of behavioral health services, supportive housing, and community services to adults in New York City who are experiencing serious mental illness."

photograph by Anthony Bellov

The Bridge, Inc. continues to occupy the building that once housed horses and carriages.  Its sympathetic renovation to the building greatly preserves the historic 1905 and 1917 designs.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post

The Frederick Wm. Saltzsieder Mansion - 324 West 108th Street

 

photograph by the author

On November 5, 1898, the Real Estate Record & Guide titled an article, "Joseph A. Farley's New and Artistic Dwellings."  Farley had just completed three upscale homes on the south side of West 108th Street between Riverside and West End Avenues.  Designed by Janes & Leo, their rusticated Indiana limestone bases supported four floors of gray Roman brick.  Although the article said they were, "in modern French style," the houses would be described as Renaissance Revival in style today.

No. 324 West 108th Street was an "A" model of the A-B-A configuration.  A three-sided bay at the second and third floors provided "an excellent view of the river," said the article.  

Real Estate Record & Guide, November 5, 1898 (copyright expired)

The mahogany inner door of its white-enameled "Colonial vestibule" was flanked by sidelights and topped with a leaded fanlight.  Guests next entered a hall with seven-foot high wainscoting with a plate or stein shelf along the top.  "The hall has a parquet floor, a large fireplace and mantel surmounted by a stepped hood, and supplemented by deep fire-seats on either side," said the article.  The hall led to a "gallery" in the rear "with fluted Ionic columns supporting the ceiling."

In the far rear of the ground floor were a "bicycle room with excellent light" outfitted with a sink; the kitchen and the laundry (accessed by a separate service entrance).  "Back stairs extend from the laundry to the fourth floor, and a dumb-waiter connects the kitchen with the floors above," said the article.

On the second floor, or piano nobile, were the drawing room, the "foyer," the dining room, and butler's pantry.  The Record & Guide described:

The drawing room is in white mahogany and gold, and contains a large Colonial mantelpiece and fireplace.  A high base runs around the room, and full length French windows allow egress to a balcony in the front, which commands an excellent view of the Drive [i.e. Riverside Drive] and river.

The dining room was "English Gothic in design" and paneled with seven-foot high quartered oak wainscoting.  The mantel above the fireplace was supported by Gothic style columns, their capitals carved with lions' heads.  Leaded windows overlooked the rear garden.

The third floor held the "handsome library" in the front.  It was separated from a bedroom by a "salon passage" that held "four large hanging closets, one washstand with closets and drawers and a large cheval glass."  Off the bedroom was a bathroom with a marble mosaic floor.  The floor above contained bedrooms and a bathroom, as well as three small servants' rooms and a servants' bathroom.  A stained glass skylight lit the main staircase.  The article noted, "The houses are wired for electric light and piped for gas."

Joseph A. Farley titled an advertisement for 324 West 108th Street in The Evening Post on February 4, 1899, "One Left of The Best-Planned Houses in New York City For Sale."  The ad noted that the street was "restricted to wide private dwellings."  It caught the attention of Frederick William Saltzsieder and a month later, on March 5, The New York Journal reported that he had purchased the mansion for $41,000 (about $1.6 million in 2025 terms).

A brewer, Saltzsieder was a director of the Consumers Brewing Co., the Hudson Trust Co., and William E. Seitz & Co.  He had married Marie Schneider a year earlier, on May 26, 1898.  It was the second marriage for both, their previous spouses were deceased.  Saltzsieder came into the marriage with three sons, Frederick W., Walter H., and Herbert G.  Marie had a daughter and son, Hedwig Ottilia and Otto Herbert.  Marie was pregnant when they moved into the West 108th Street house, and a daughter, Irma, was born on May 10, 1899.

The affluence of the family was reflected in Otto Schneider's registering his new automobile--a Chalmers 30--in September 1910.  The price would equal about $51,000 today.

Otto Herbert Schneider purchased a Chalmers like this in 1910.  (copyright expired)

    

Hedwig's engagement to Joseph E. Ridder that year caused excitement among the German community.  The prospective groom was the son of Herman Ridder, publisher of the German language newspaper Staats-Zeitung.  On February 4, 1911, The New York Times reported that the plans for the marriage "are now completed" and the date was set for February 11.  The article mentioned that Hedwig was "being entertained extensively."

The wedding was celebrated at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament at Broadway and 71st Street.  The New York Times reported, "There were about 500 people at the wedding ceremony, and about 300 attended the reception which followed at the Plaza." 

Frederick W. Saltzsieder died on March 13, 1913 at the age of 64.  He left $25,000 to Marie (about $817,000 today) and the remainder of his substantial estate to his four children--ignoring Marie's children, Hedwig and Otto.  The slight resulted in a lawsuit.

While the upheaval played out, Marie leased 324 West 108th Street in September to Frederick E. Montgomery.  He was still occupying the house in the spring of 1917 when he enlisted in U.S. Army to fight in World War I.  With her tenant gone, Marie sold the house in May to Thomas Lancaster for $24,500. 

Thomas Lancaster and his wife, the former Ruth Jacques, had two sons, Thomas Jacques and Horace Mayhew.  The younger Thomas attended Columbia University.  Upon graduation, he moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, where he married Eleanor Helena Nelson on September 14, 1926.  At the time, his brother was attending Trinity College.  Horace graduated in 1929 and began a law career in the office of Thomas F. Keogh.

In 1941, the Lancasters converted their home to apartments, retaining one for their own use.  Horace, now 35, was still unmarried and living with them.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that year, America entered World War II.  Five months later, in May 1942, Horace joined the U.S. Army Air Corps and was assigned to Mitchel Field on Long Island.  The following month, he was given a furlough and visited his parents.  On June 23, The New York Times reported, "First Lieutenant H. Mayhew Lancaster of the Army Air Forces...was found dead yesterday morning in the gas-filled kitchen of the apartment in which he lived with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Lancaster, at 324 West 108th Street.  He was 36 years old."

Suicide among society families was scandalous, and preposterous explanations were often concocted.  Thomas Jacques Lancaster told reporters, "he believed the officer had gone to the kitchen, which adjoined his bedroom, on Sunday night, and that his bathrobe sleeve had caught against the stove, turning on the gas."  He assumed that Horace did not notice the escaping gas, "until awakened by an alarm clock this morning and that he had gone into the kitchen to turn off the gas and had collapsed there before he could do so."

In 1950, the mansion was converted to Windham House, the "national training center for women workers" of St. George's Protestant Episcopal Church on Stuyvesant Square.  The organization remained here until about 1975, when the house became home to St. Luke's Hospital's Alcoholism Program.

In 1981, the alcoholism treatment center was expanded into No. 326.  By 1996 it was operated as the Smithers Center.

image via streeteasy.com

Today there are ten residential condominium units in the co-joined buildings.

The 1899 James A. O'Gorman House - 318 West 108th Street

 

image via apartments.com

Architects Janes & Leo had a close relationship with Joseph A. Farley, designing several rows of speculative, upscale rowhouses for the developer in the 1890s.  On October 7, 1898 the firm filed plans for another project: four resplendent homes at 316 through 322 West 108th Street for Farley.  

Completed late in 1899, 318 West 108th Street was faced in red brick above a limestone-clad base.  The centered entrance atop a two-step stoop sat within a dignified Georgian-style portico.  The three-story midsection included a bowed oriel at the third floor.  The fourth floor sat atop a dentiled and bracketed cornice, while a much more modest terminal cornice completed the design.

The entrance originally sat between the service entrance and a window.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In January 1900, Joseph A. Farley sold 318 West 108th Street, "a new 5-story American basement dwelling," as described by the Record & Guide, to Justice James Aloysius O'Gorman.  He paid $42,500 for the 22-foot wide house, or about $1.64 million in 2025 conversions.  (O'Gorman had negotiated the price down.  On January 9, The Sun noted, "Mr. Farley was asking $45,500 for the house.")

In reporting the sale, The Sun added, "The buyer is a well-known lawyer."  Born on May 5, 1860, O'Gorman was born "in the upper west side of the great city, not very far from where his present residence, No. 318 West 108th street, is situated," according to The Red Book in 1911.

O'Gorman graduated from New York University School of Law in May 1882.  He juggled his law practice with politics and in 1896 was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention.  He had become justice of the District Court in 1893 and just after purchasing 318 West 108th Street, was elected as a justice of the New York Supreme Court's 1st District.

James Aloysius O'Gorman, from the collection of the Library of Congress

O'Gorman married Anne M. Leslie in 1884.  The couple had seven daughters and a son.  Moving into the 108th Street house was the justice's widowed mother, Ellen.

Ellen O'Gorman suffered a stroke just after New Year's in 1905.  She died early on the morning of January 19.  The Evening World reported that O'Gorman's "secretary telephoned the tidings from the home of the Justice...to Clerk Early, of Part 4, Special Term, of the Supreme Court.  The court was adjourned in consequence."

Like most well-to-do New Yorkers, the O'Gormans spent time in Europe.  The Ithaca [New York] Daily News mentioned, "He has several times taken the entire family abroad, spending no less than $3,500 for steamship tickets alone."

The toughness that James O'Gorman learned as a boy on the streets of his Irish neighborhood came into play as an adult on April 4, 1908.  When he returned home that night, as reported by the Ithaca Daily News, "he discovered a big negro in the house, beating and robbing his butler."  The invader was no match for the 48-year-old jurist.  The article said, "Justice O'Gorman beat the man into subjection with his fists, and then turned him over to the police."

On September 27, 1908, the O'Gormans invited "a number of friends" to the house.  During the evening, the engagement of Mary O'Gorman, the eldest daughter, to Dudley Field Malone was announced.  The wedding took place in the Church of the Ascension on West 107th Street on November 14.  The wedding breakfast followed in the West 108th Street house.

Ellen Katherine O'Gorman was married to William J. Duffy in the Church of the Ascension on March 28, 1910.  The reception followed at 318 West 108th Street.  At the reception, Edith Patricia O'Gorman's engagement to Assistant District Attorney James Edward McDonald was announced.  Their wedding was to take place at the Church of the Ascension in 1911.

On June 18, 1910, the entire O'Gorman family sailed for Europe.  While they were in a little Swiss town, James McDonald sent a telegram to the family "that he could not wait, and said that he would go to Switzerland on the next steamship," reported the New-York Tribune.

On September 9, The New York Times reported that the wedding "took place yesterday morning at the Church of St. Leonhard, Brunnen, Switzerland."  The wedding breakfast was held at the Grand Hotel where the O'Gorman family was staying.  The Times said, "Mr. and Mrs. McDonald will return to this country in October after a honeymoon spent in England and on the Continent."

Shortly after the wedding, Edith became ill.  When the newlyweds returned to New York, according to the New-York Tribune, Edith, "felt too ill to go to an apartment which her husband fitted up for her, and they went to live with her father."  Tragically, the 23-year-old bride died in the 108th Street house on November 18, 1910 "from heart disease."  Her funeral was held in the drawing room on November 21.

The following spring, James A. O'Gorman was elected to the U.S. Senate.  He would split his time between Washington D.C. and 318 West 108th Street until the end of his term on March 3, 1917.

In December 1911, the O'Gormans were "in the midst of the family's preparations for the Christmas festivities," when daughter Anna fell ill.  The New York Times said, "she was removed on Dec. 22 from the O'Gorman home" to St. Luke's Hospital.  There she was diagnosed with typhoid fever.  The newspaper said, "Her illness has led to a postponement of the O'Gormans' plans to leave for Washington this month with the idea of making that city their home for the Winter."  Happily, on December 31, the Washington D.C. Herald reported that Anna "had responded to treatment and is progressing as favorably as could be expected."

The O'Gorman family was in Washington in the spring of 1912.  In their absence, on the night of May 21 their 22-year-old New York chauffeur, Frank Hallett, took the O'Gorman's vehicle for a spin.  The next day, The Sun reported that the senator's chauffeur "was locked up in the West 125th street police station last night on charges of reckless driving, intoxication and disorderly conduct."  

When stopped by police lieutenant Meehan, Hallett said, "I'm Senator O'Gorman's chauffeur and I guess he's somebody.  You don't dare to arrest me.  You'll be out of a job if you do."   The Sun reported, "Senator O'Gorman and his family were all in Washington and at a late hour last night a member of the Senator's household said he guessed Hallett would have to stay in the station house until morning."

Anne Leslie O'Gorman, The Evening World, March 13, 1913 (copyright expired)

The family had another medical scare in 1913.  They were in Washington on March 11 when Anne became ill.  Dr. Howard Hume diagnosed her with "an attack of ptomaine poisoning" and advised "a complete rest," as reported by The Evening World.  Anne brought Alice, Dolorita and Anna back to New York.  The article said that she, "has no plans for her return to the capital and will absent herself from all social activities for several weeks."

Dolorita was the next to marry.  Her wedding to John Anthony Maher took place in the chapel of St. Ignatius Loyola Academy at Park Avenue and East 83rd Street (where the groom had attended) on May 23, 1913.  At the reception in the 108th Street house were the mayor and his wife, the governor and his wife, and the lieutenant governor and his spouse, a judge, Tammany leaders, and a U.S. Senator and his wife.

James A. O'Gorman, Jr. was one of the "junior rookies from schools, academies and colleges all over the United States," as reported by the New-York Tribune, who gave up their summer vacation by going to the military training camp in Plattsburg, New York.  As part of a recruiting campaign, the program gave the preppies the experience of "living the lives of soldiers."  Somewhat sarcastically, the New-York Tribune remarked that well-heeled recruits, "who brought tennis rackets, golf sticks and musical instruments found that they had no time or inclination for the lighter labors of sports."

At the end of his term on March 3, 1917, O'Gorman returned to his law practice as a partner in O'Gorman, Battle and Vandiver.

In 1921, now 23 years old, James, Jr. found himself behind bars.  The Evening World reported on June 6 that Patrolman Rerle, "charged that his prisoner, who wore a tuxedo suit, was abusive toward him."  Rerle had commanded him to move his vehicle from a no parking zone and O'Gorman refused.

The following day, James A. O'Gorman, Jr., appearing repentant, told Magistrate Silberman "that he had not heard a patrolman tell him to 'move along.'"  Whether his father's stature was an influence or not, the judge accepted his story and dismissed the charges.

Agnes O'Gorman was married to Joseph Sanford Shanley in the Notre Dame Chapel on Morningside Drive on June 15, 1922.  The reception would be the last for the family in the West 108th Street house.  On October 13, 1923, The New York Times reported, "Senator James A. O'Gorman sold his five-story American basement dwelling."

The residence was home to several families over the next few decades.  In the 1930s it was home to Harold Keller and his wife.  A journalist, Keller was with the New York American until it closed in 1937.  The newspaper's closing prompted a significant change in Keller's career.  On December 31 that year, the Daily Worker reported that the newly elected District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey had appointed the 31-year-old Keller as one of his two confidential secretaries.

By 1940, carpet merchant Frank J. Gilroy occupied the house.  That year, on September 22, he married Marion Gertrude Higgins in St. Ursula's Church in Mount Vernon, New York.

Mrs. Julie Stern occupied the house at mid-century.  The 84-year-old suffered a gruesome death at the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and 110th Street at 5:15 on the afternoon of January 14, 1951.  She was hit by a black sedan and thrown onto the street.  A woman on the sidewalk waved frantically at a oncoming taxicab driven by Frederick Burke.  So distracted by her attempts to warn him that Mrs. Stern was on the pavement, he did not see her.  The New York Times reported that she, "was killed...after she was struck by a hit-and-run car and then run over by a taxicab."  

image via apartments.com

In 1970 the former O'Gorman home was converted to eight apartments.  In the remodeling, the doorway was moved to the side and the former entrance converted into a window.   A subsequent renovation in 2010 resulted in three duplexes, one of which extends into the new penthouse level, unseen from the street.

The 1899 Vincent Loeser House - 320 West 108th Street

 

Prolific developer Joseph A. Farley and the architectural firm Janes & Leo repeatedly worked together in the late 1890s.  In fact, their offices were in the same building, 967 Boulevard (later renamed Broadway).  Janes & Leo designed several projects of speculative, upscale rowhouses in the Upper West Side and on October 7, 1898 they filed plans for another: four sumptuous homes at 316 through 322 West 108th Street for Farley.

Mysteriously, the architects designed the row as three harmonious neo-Georgian-style homes and one Beaux Arts beauty that had nothing in common with the others.

The architects solved the problem of the downward slope of West 108th Street by increasing the stoops of each house by one step.  Record & Guide, September 2, 1899 (copyright expired)

The plans projected the construction costs at a total of $110,000 (or just over $1 million each in 2025 terms).  Faced in red brick above a limestone base, 320 West 108th Street rose five stories.  Its American basement plan placed the entrance above a three-step stoop, its doorway flanked by free-standing Scamozzi capitals.  The lower four floors were bowed, providing a stone-balustraded balcony, or sleeping porch, to the fifth floor.  

On December 21, 1899, The World reported that Farley had sold 320 West 108th Street for $42,000 (about $1.64 million today).  The owners were Vincent Adolf Loeser and his wife, the former Mary Craven Thomae.  The couple, who were married in 1893, were both born in Brooklyn--Vincent in 1857 and Mary in 1867.  They had no children.

Educated in private schools, at the age of 22 Loeser became a member of the Produce Exchange.  When he and Mary moved into the West 108th Street house, he was the head of the brokerage firm Loeser, Robinson & Armstrong and a member of the Academy of Political Science.  In 1905, he was appointed president of the East River National Bank.

Like all well-to-do New Yorkers, incidents in the lives of the couple were followed by the society columns.  On October 3, 1909, for instance, the New York Herald announced, "Miss Carol Thomae and her aunt, Miss Caroline Jenks, of No. 22 Monroe Place [Brooklyn], will spend the winter with Miss Thomae's sister, Mrs. Vincent Loeser, at No. 320 West 108th Street."  And at the end of the summer social season of 1911, The New York Times noted on November 12, "Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Loeser will spend the Winter at 320 West 108th Street."

Carol Thomae still lived at 22 Monroe Place in Brooklyn in 1918.  On April 1 that year, Vincent and Mary visited her and while there, Vincent suffered a fatal heart attack.  He was 60 years old.

Mary left West 108th Street shortly after her husband's death.  She sold the house to Joseph P. Walsh and his wife, Agnes.  Born in Brooklyn, Walsh graduated from De La Salle College in 1883.  He and Agnes had a daughter and two sons.  

After running a plumbing supply business, Walsh became treasurer of the Law Recording Company in 1906.  He was not primarily known for his professional activities, however.  The New York Herald said, "Mr. Walsh at one time was one of the best known bowlers and bicycle riders in the city."  A member of the New York Athletic Club, he was still active in both sports when he purchased 320 West 108th Street.  Unfortunately, he would not enjoy the house for long.  He died here at the age of 57 on December 27, 1921.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Agnes Walsh leased a room to a Columbia grad student in 1923.  Paul Alexander Tihler was from Youngstown, Ohio.  The 37-year-old was enrolled in Columbia's School of Architecture.  During the war he had served as a first sergeant with the medical corps.  His talent as an architect earned him a bronze model for excellence from the Institute of Beaux Arts in 1917.

Tihler spent Thanksgiving Day with friends.  They later said that he "was not feeling well" and "that he had been unable to find employment for the last six months," according to The Columbia Spectator on December 8, 1923.  The day before that article, Agnes Walsh had found Tihler dead in his room.  The Columbia Spectator reported, "Dr. Vance said last night that a blotter had been placed over the gas jet in the room to direct the fumes of the gas downward."  Tihler's death was ruled a suicide.

Agnes Walsh sold 320 West 108th Street to Marietta Sinopoli in October 1927.  For the next seven years it was home to the Japanese M. E. Church, and in 1936 was sold twice.  The late Depression and World War II years were not kind to the once elegant home.  In 1944 it was listed as a rooming house.

A renovation completed in 1986 resulted in apartments, including one within the new penthouse level, unseen from the street.  It is possible that during the remodeling the stone balustrade was removed from the fifth floor balcony.

photographs by the author

The 1902 Victor Herbert House - 321 West 108th Street

 

Born in London in 1844, Thomas Graham attended public schools in New York City.  His father was a builder and, upon coming to America, a staunch abolitionist.  Thomas set out on a career in architecture, studying in the office of Jardine & Thompson.  But he left at the outbreak of the Civil War to serve with the First New York Engineers.  Upon his return to New York, he learned the cabinet making and stair building trades, but switched careers again in 1870 when he again took up architecture and building.

In 1898, Leslie's History of the Greater New York noted, "He now has his son, William Van Wyck Graham, associated with him in various building operations."  William was 25 years old at the time and he and his father had just embarked on a new project--seven upscale row houses on West 108th Street between Riverside Drive and  Broadway.  Thomas acted as architect while William was the owner and builder of record.

By the fall of 1899 the houses, stretching from 317 to 329 West 108th Street, were taking shape.  On November 4, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported on the homes, which Thomas Graham described as "the finest and best equipped American basement residences ever offered to the public for sale in this city."  The article noted, "They are all built, finished and fitted in the most approved style of modern domestic construction, with hard woods, tiles, mosaics, sanitary plumbing, and the closest attention to the necessity of producing large, airy apartments, rich in appearance and containing all the requirements of elegance and comfort."  Although the row was nearly a year from completion, William Van Wyck Graham had "prepared elegant books containing elevations and floor plans" for potential buyers.

Thomas Graham's rendering depicted a street filled with well-to-do pedestrians.  No. 321 is third from right.  Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide, November 4, 1899 (copyright expired)

Successful and engaged to be married, young William Van Wyck Graham seemed to be leading an enviable life.  But on September 1, 1900 The Sun reported, "William Van Wyck Graham, 25 years old, son of Thomas Graham, a New York architect, committed suicide late last night on the lawn in front of the New York Infant Asylum by drinking enough carbolic acid to kill a dozen men."  The article noted, "Graham was engaged to be married and a letter from the young woman dated Aug. 20 was found in his pocket.  It was evident that he had visited her while he was drinking and that they had quarreled."

Devastated, Thomas Graham stopped work on the West 108th Street project.  The property changed hands twice and the final owner, Hugh J. Gallagher, commissioned the architectural firm of Horgan & Slattery to complete the houses.  The row was completed in 1902, four years after ground was broken.

On May 10, 1902, the Record & Guide reported that Jacob D. Butler (Hugh J. Gallagher, it turned out, was a pseudonym used at the time of the property's purchase) had sold 329 West 108th Street, "an American basement dwelling on lot 30x65."  The handsome, Renaissance Revival-style mansion was faced in gray brick above a limestone base.  The full-width, faceted oriel of the second and third floors was enhanced with Corinthian pilasters carved with elaborate Renaissance designs.  The openings of the fourth and fifth floors sat within a single frame, its spandrel panel intricately carved.

The initial owner's residency was short lived.  In 1904, composer, conductor and cellist Victor Herbert and his wife, the former operatic soprano Theresa Förster, purchased the house.  The couple had two children, Ella Victoria and Clifford Victor.

The Herberts' new home is third from the right.

Born in Ireland on February 1, 1859, Herbert began his musical career as a cellist in Vienna and Stuttgart.  He met Theresa in 1885 while she was a member of the Stuttgart court opera and he was part of the court orchestra.  They married in August 1886 and moved to America two months later.

Victor Herbert's Babes In Toyland had opened at the Majestic Theatre a few months before the family moved into the West 108th Street house.  Starting in 1904, Herbert gave weekly concerts at the venue, The New York Times saying on December 4 that year, "The popularity of the Victor Herbert Sunday night concerts at the Majestic Theatre was demonstrated again last evening by an audience that filled the house."

Herbert converted the fifth floor of the residence to his studio.  Here, and in the family's country home, Camp Joyland at Lake Placid, he wrote his operettas and other scores.  According to the composer, he worked in his studio in the mornings, took a brisk walk, then attended to business downtown.  But soon after moving into the West 108th Street house, his morning quietude was shattered.

Living next door at 323 West 108th Street was a family whose teenaged daughter played piano.  Neil Gould, in his A Theatrical Life-Victor Herbert, explains,

The young lady was accustomed to practicing her Czerny [piano exercises] for three hours each morning--about the same time that Herbert loved to compose...The young lady's music penetrated the wall of Herbert's studio and disturbed his routine.

Theresa solved the matter.  She went next door, introduced herself and explained the problem--the famous composer could neither think nor write.  A compromise was reached and the young pianist practiced in the afternoons and the tranquility of Herbert's morning hours was restored.

Ella's introduction to society came in 1907 and she quickly flexed her social wings.  On October 29, 1908, The New York Times reported, "Miss Ella Herbert, the daughter of Victor Herbert, the composer and orchestra leader, gave a party at the home of her father, 321 West 108th Street, last night in the form of a double celebration, it being Miss Herbert's nineteenth birthday and the wedding day of her friend, Miss May O'Gorman, daughter of Supreme Court Justice O'Gorman, to Dudley Malone."

On January 27, 1911, the newspaper reported that Ella "gave a small luncheon at her house yesterday in honor of Miss Eva Ingersoll-Brown, a debutante.  Afterward Miss Herbert took her guests to a theatre."

Victor Herbert, from the collection of the Library of Congress

Later that year, on September 30, Victor Herbert was involved in a bizarre accident.  His chauffeur, Frank Sabefe, was taking him to the Knickerbocker Theatre.  They had nearly arrived there when Sabefe slowed the automobile "to fall in behind a street car bound in the same direction," according to The Sun.  As he did so, a wagon owned by the New Amsterdam Gas Company slammed into the car.  The article said, "The horse climbed into the front of Mr. Herbert's automobile and damaged the car to the extent of $200."  No one was hurt and Herbert did not press charges, although he directed his attorney to "settle the question of damages with [the] company."

The truce with the family next door remained in effect until 1911 when Herbert's peace was once again shattered.  That family moved away and Dr. Fery Lulek established his Conservatory of Music in the house.  Moving in with Lulek, writes Neil Gould, were "a violiniste and two pianistes as female artists were then known...eight vocalists, and, together with Mrs. Mary Turner as chaperone, and her daughter 'Miss Jean' as piano coach."  He adds, "As Victor and Theresa watched in disbelief, in they came: eight chirping sopranos, four Steinway pianos (one for each floor) and a pubescent Paganini."

The New York Herald explained on October 23, 1912, the conservatory moved in "a few months ago, while [Herbert] was whipping his new composition, 'The Lady of the Slipper,' into shape."  The article said, "No muse, no matter how domestic, would abide amid such clanging and banging, and the composer's inspiration fled."

Once again Theresa went next door.  Mary Turner agreed to move the pianos to the west wall, away from the Herbert side, and remove the piano from the fifth floor.  It did not work.  Theresa returned, this time suggesting that the conservatory might move.  Expectedly, that was not acceptable and the neighbors ended up in court, with the Herberts charging the conservatory with "disorderly conduct."

Teresa complained in court, "Such technique, such awful method, such attack, such rendition of scales!  It is terrible.  Never have I heard such singing."  

Mrs. Turner then took the stand to defend her students.  "We are sorry if we annoy the Herberts, but what can we do?  We have moved the pianos.  We do not practice all the pianos at one time, as Mrs. Herbert said.  No doubt the Herberts do not enjoy the music.  It is quite likely they do not appreciate our music.  Thank heaven, it isn't the kind of music Mr. Herbert writes.  We play classical music!"

The Herberts lost their case and so Theresa sued again, this time saying the music was a "public nuisance."  But since the law defined a "public nuisance" as affecting "more than one household," her suit was dismissed.  In desperation, Herbert contracted the American Gypsum Company to soundproof his studio.

The New York Herald explained, "He understood that they would make a padded cell of it, so that he could wrestle with the piano to his heart's content and not be disturbed by intramural harmonies.  The walls, ceiling and floor of the room were padded and lined and then the company sent in its bill for $220.55."

The New York Herald, October 23, 1912 (copyright expired)

To celebrate Herbert's 54th birthday, he and Theresa held a dinner party on February 1, 1913.  A few of the guests included tenor Enrico Caruso, Senator James O'Gorman and his wife, producer Joseph Grismer, librettist Otto Hauerbach and "Nathan Burkan, a lawyer, who recently convinced the courts that Mr. Herbert's alleged soundproof studio isn't any such thing."  (The padded room was a failure.)  During the evening a string quartet "played selections from Mr. Herbert's operas and his pieces de salon."

Victor Herbert's morning strolls were soon derailed by malodorous fumes wafting across the Hudson River.  He testified before the State Board of Health on April 29, 1918 about "the evil odors that emanate from chemical plants on the New Jersey side of the river."  He told the commissioners, "It is positively the worst nuisance in the world, and unless something is done to stop it it will mean a serious risk to health to live in the vicinity of Riverside Drive."

The New York Times recounted, "Mr. Herbert said he spent much time composing at home, and was accustomed to indulge in strolls for exercise.  He said he was accustomed as soon as his nose sniffed the presence of an odor not particularly harmonious to avoid it by walking in the opposite direction."

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

On the morning of May 26, 1924, as reported by the Musical Observer, Herbert "left his home, No. 321 West 108th Street, New York, at 11 o'clock in the morning...apparently in the full vigor of health."  Ella drove him downtown.  He worked with his publisher, Harms, Inc., then had lunch at the Lambs.  Shortly afterward, he felt ill and headed to the office of his physician, Dr. Emmanuel Baruch.  Rather coldly, Variety reported that as he was climbing the stairs, "America's foremost composer and one of the most skilled musicians who ever adapted his talent to the theatre dropped dead."

Newspapers filled his obituary with lists of his works: operettas, a grand opera, an oratorio and a cantata, and motion picture scores.  His funeral was held on May 28 at St. Thomas' Episcopal Church.  Variety noted that among the honorary pallbearers were John Philip Sousa, Jerome Kern, Nahan Franko, Senator James A. O'Gorman, and Charles M. Schwab.

Herbert left the 108th Street house to Theresa.  Other than $10,000, which went to Clifford, she and the children shared equally with the rest of the estate, including Camp Joyland.

On August 23, a three-day auction "of the furniture and appointments" of 321 West 108th Street began.  The New York Times reported, "Much of the furniture, rugs and belongings were purchased by the new owner of the house, Captain Damer of Buffalo.  (Various newspapers spelled his name Demar and Dammer, as well.)  Variety mentioned, "The composer's widow and daughter have taken a Park avenue apartment as their city residence."  (Instead, Therese and Ella moved into 1010 Fifth Avenue where Theresa died on February 24, 1927.)

The former mansion was operated as unofficial apartments in the subsequent decades.  Then, in 1965, it was converted to two apartments per floor.  Today there are five rental units in the building.  Happily, much of the interior details survive.

photographs by the author