J. M. Felson's 1929 218 West 10th Street

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Abraham Schwartz was a builder and real estate developer, head of the A. M. Schwartz Building & Construction Company.  On May 2, 1928, he purchased three three-story apartment buildings at 340 through 344 Bleecker Street and the abutting, five-story apartment house on the southwest corner of West 10th Street.  The next day, The New York Times announced that the old structures, "will be razed and replaced by a modern six-story elevator apartment building containing electric refrigeration and other modern improvements."

Schwartz commissioned the Russian-born architect Jacob M. Felson to design the building.  Completed the following year, the residential entrance was placed at the western end of the West 10th Street side.  The four stores along Bleecker Street were designed with deep arcade show windows that enabled the proprietors to create large displays.  (The corner store was double the size of the other three.)

Completed in 1929 at a cost of $238,700 (about $4.73 million in 2026), Felson's sleek, tripartite 1920s take on the Medieval Revival style included an arched corbel table below the fifth floor cornice, and stepped Tudor-inspired gables with blank shields atop the parapet.  Above the residential entrance Felson placed a carved Renaissance-inspired panel.

Abe Schwartz could not have predicted that the Stock Market would crash the year his building opened.  In August 1931, he lost the property in foreclosure.

A woman who lived here at the time (whose name was not disclosed in newspaper articles) was having an affair with a married Brooklyn man, Valentine C. Bauman.  In the meantime, Ruth C. Bauman was doing some private investigating on her own and tracked down her wandering husband to Manhattan and 218 West 10th Street.  On the evening of November 4, 1931, Ruth and "several of her friends," according to The Brooklyn Standard Union, barged into the apartment.  

Ruth told a judge on January 8, 1932, "There he was sitting on the side of the bed in two-piece underwear talking to a woman in [a] flesh-colored negligee."  According to Ruth Bauman, her husband remarked, "Here I am."  The article said that Ruth was "a free woman today."

The arcade storefronts survived as late as 1941.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Jane Carabine and Margaret Dusseau shared an apartment here as early as 1932.  Margaret came home early on the night of February 26, 1933, to discover her 30-year-old roommate dead.  The New York Times reported, "Gas was escaping from a jet of the kitchen range."  Police called Jane's death accidental.

As early as 1963, Aldo's Italian restaurant occupied the southern-most commercial space.  It was replaced by Boomer's soul food and jazz restaurant around 1972.  That year New York Magazine called it "a casual Village place where spareribs and black-eyed peas are served up with great sounds by the likes of Ray Bryant, Bobby Timmons and Cedar Watson."

The De Santis-Jensen "semi-antiques shop," as described by The New York Times on August 21, 1965, filled the corner space.  Owned by Stuart Jenson and Anthony de Santis, the shop appealed to "the special kind of person who appreciates kookiness as much as we do," according to Jensen.  He told The Times, "Barbra Streisand hasn't been in here, but Tony Perkins has, and so have Eli Wallach, Leonard Bernstein and Anne Bancroft."

photo by The New York Times photographer Bill Allen, August 21, 1965

Living here by 1987 was Glenn R. Purdy, an editor for Travel Agent magazine.  On July 23 that year, Purdy did not arrive at work.  When no one could reach him, senior editor Joe Murphy went to his apartment.  Getting no response from inside, Murphy walked over to the nearby Sixth Precinct station house.

Officers returned with Murphy and entered the apartment.  "They found Mr. Purdy's body on the living room couch," reported The New York Times.  According to one of the officers, the 57-year-old had been stabbed in the back and his pockets had been "ripped apart."  Because there was no sign of forced entry, officials thought Purdy knew his killer.  A bloody kitchen knife was recovered in the apartment.

The building's most celebrated tenant was playwright, librettist and screenwriter Terrence McNally, who lived here with his life partner (and, later, husband), Broadway producer and former civil rights attorney Tom Kirdahy.

Born on November 3, 1938, McNally graduated from Columbia University in 1960.  The next year, he was hired by novelist John Steinbeck and his wife to tutor their two teenaged sons while they traveled.  (McNally was already in a relationship with playwright Edward Albee.)

His first full-length play, This Side of the Door, was produced in 1962, and his Broadway debut came in 1965 when he was just 26 years old.  He would go on to write hits like Love! Valour! Compassion!, Master Class, and The Ritz.

Terrance McNally posed in front of the marquee of his first Broadway musical, The Rink, in 1984.  from the collection of the New York Public Library.

In reviewing his Mothers and Sons in the Observer on March 26, 2014, Rex Reed called the play "a masterpiece," and McNally, "one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced."  He also wrote the books for the musicals Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ragtime.  

McNally addressed gay sexuality and the AIDS crisis.  Writing in The New York Times on March 24, 2020, Jesse Green and Neil Genzlinger said, "His gay stories never came across as a narrowing of theater's human focus but as an expansion of it, and by inviting everyone into them he helped solidify the social change he was describing."

McNally and Kirdahy were still living at 218 West 10th Street when the four-time Tony Award-winning playwright died in Sarasota, Florida on March 24, 2020 at the age of 81.

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For decades the southern space on Bleecker Street was home to Manatus, a diner-type restaurant, while the Village Apothecary on the corner enjoyed equal longevity.  They were replaced by the Saint Theo's restaurant and a Pdpaola jewelry store, respectively.

The 1881 Warwick Apartments -- 184 West 10th Street

 

image via nycbuildingadvisors.com

Philip Henry Dugro (who went professionally by his middle name) was not only an attorney, a judge, and a New York State Assemblyman, he was a real estate developer and partner with Herman Raegener in Dugro & Raegener.  In 1880, the pair hired architect F. W. Klemt to design an apartment-and-store building at the southwest corner of West 4th and West 10th Streets.  (In 1881, the year the Warwick apartments was completed, Henry Dugro would be elected to Congress.  He is, perhaps, best remembered for arguing that the reputations of Black citizens had less legal value than whose of whites.)

Construction cost Dugro & Raegener $18,000, or about $570,000 in 2026 terms.  Klemt designed the five-story building in the popular neo-Grec style.  Faced in red brick and trimmed in brownstone, its windows wore prominent lintels, each connected to the next by stone bandcourses.  The entrance was centered on West 10th Street, the stone frame of which included substantial pilasters decorated with incised, stylized flowers.  They upheld a heavy entablature and cornice.  Directly above, creative Lego-like brickwork created a framework for a stone plaque that announced "Warwick."

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Residents of the Warwick were working- to middle-class.  George P. Gabeka, who lived here in 1884, for instance, taught in the boys' department of Grammar School No. 38 on Clarke Street.  And two young women, presumably sisters, placed an advertisement in The New York Times on November 20, 1894 that read:

Chambermaid--Lady's Maid--By two French girls, speaking English; one as chambermaid or waitress, the other as lady's maid; good city references.  184 West 10th St., Simon's bell.

The two women were apparently educated and mannered.  Both a lady's maid and a waiter (the servant who served in the dining room and drawing room) would be necessarily polished and well-spoken.

Living in the Warwick in 1895 was Lizzie Barton, who found herself in a tangled and publicized romance.  Lizzie began seeing a man named Thomas Watson, who turned out to a charming and seductive lothario.  It is unclear if Lizzie was aware that Watson was a married man (with more than just one wife).

On May 3, 1895, Antoinette Watson sued to compel Ella May Watson to provide proof of her marriage to Thomas Watson.  Ella May, in turn, sued Antoinette for $30,000 damages "for the alienation of the affections of Watson, whom both claim as a husband," as reported by the New York Herald.  The enraged Ella May initiated a divorce suit, "on the ground of Watson's relations with Antoinette and another woman named Lizzie Barton."  The two Mrs. Watsons battled it out in court, accusing one another of being a loose woman, each insisting she was the legitimate wife.  It does not appear that Lizzie Barton was ever called to testify.

In the meantime, a saloon occupied the storefront on West 4th Street.  The owner had a serious problem in December 1890, placing an ad in The World that read: "Lost--A saloon license issued for 230 West 4th st; finder rewarded by returning same."

The saloon was operated by Herman Romer as early as 1904.  That year he was targeted by the notorious domestic terrorist group, the Black Hand Society.  On September 2, the New-York Tribune reported that Romer had been marked for the society's "latest financial venture."  The article said that the previous day, Romer "received a letter inscribed with a black hand, a stiletto, a revolver and skull and crossbones."  It read:

Put this in mind and don't forget.  We want you to pay the sum of $10,000, or you will be killed before September 15.  Leave the money at Tompkins Square Park on or before September 14 12 a.m. or any time before then.

The demand would equal more than $360,000 today.

Romer took the letter to the Detective Bureau, which offered a reward of $1,000 to anyone who could identify the sender.  A reporter from the New-York Tribune visited the saloon that night.  Romer told him, "If only one of those fellows could be caught, there would soon be an end to the whole society.  I will do my best to run my correspondent down."  (It appears that Romer survived the threat.)

As early as 1913, Herman Staats owned the Warwick.  He and his family, including son Charles P. Staats, lived in the  building, as well.  Among their tenants in the post-World War I years was James Daly, who worked as a watchman in the city's Dock Department.  Early on the morning of May 3, 1921, he saw a man on the West 58th Street Hudson River pier.  Joseph Collins was a 26-year-old soldier attached to the motor transport corps at the Army base in Brooklyn.  He had most likely been drinking all night and stumbled into the river.  "He was rescued by James Daly of 184 West 10th Street," reported The Evening World.

Fred Kern ran the saloon in January 1920 when Prohibition was enacted.  He did not significantly alter his business.  On August 2, 1922, The New York Times reported, "Sixteen saloons, three groceries, a bird store and a restaurant in Manhattan and the Bronx were raided yesterday by Prohibition Agents."  Among those arrested were "Fred Kern, owner, and Tony Terangelo, bartender, of a saloon at 230 West Fourth Street."

It ostensibly appeared that Fred Kern learned his lesson.  He converted his saloon to a funeral parlor.  Notices of funeral services routinely appeared in newspapers.  But, as it turned out, not all of those who visited were paying their respects to a deceased--they were partying in the back room speakeasy.  The ploy worked until September 9, 1923, when two Prohibition agents decided to inspect a hearse that pulled up to the curb.  The New York Times reported that the hearse, "was loaded with a half dozen kegs of beer."

Charles P. Staats and his wife, Marie, still lived here on February 21, 1939 when Charles died.  Among the properties Marie inherited was the Warwick and their country home in New Paltz, New York.

The former funeral home-speakeasy was converted to Lupe's Mexican Restaurant in 1933.  By the early 1940s, the store was divided into two.  The remodeling came with modern arcade show windows.  A barbershop and drugstore now shared the space.

Originally, a cornice ran below the second floor.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The turnover in ownership of the subsequent restaurant-bar frustrated food critics over the coming years.  On November 3, 1999, the New York Post's Cynthia Killian wrote, "The sign on the building is a reminder of times past and the triad of eateries that held sway over the years on the quirky little corner of West Fourth and West 10th.  First came Joe's, then Formerly Joe's and finally, as the sign says, 'Joe's...again.'"  Killian continued saying, "the lights are on, but Joe's not home any more."  In its place, Chow Bar & Grill had moved in.  

Similarly, the next year, on September 20, 2000, The New York Times critic Florence Fabricant groaned, "What was Joe's, then Formerly Joe's, then Joe's Again, then Chow Bar and Grill is now Chow Bar."

In 2010, Comida Mercado Fresca opened in the space, replaced the following year by the Mexican restaurant Empellón, owned by Alex Stupak.  The eatery remains in the space.

image via streeteasy.com

At some point, the storefront was bastardized with a brick veneer and faux Georgian doorway, and the red brick ironically given a coating of brick-red paint.  The intact residential entrance and the idiosyncratic brickwork above it, however, makes the Warwick pause-worthy.

many thanks to reader Frank Hosticka for suggesting this post

The Sadly Altered 1855 James F. D. Lanier Mansion - 16 West 10th Street

 

In 1854, banker and importer Clinton Gilbert, who lived at 50 Tenth Street, joined with iron merchant Henry L. Pierson to erect two speculative mansions at 52 and 54 Tenth Street (renumbered 14 and 16 in 1868).  Almost assuredly nearly identical at their completion in 1855, they exhibited a blend of styles.  Faced in red brick and trimmed in brownstone, their squat, square-windowed fourth floor levels were hold-overs of the Greek Revival style, while the elliptically arched first floor openings drew from the Italianate.   Fluted Corinthian pilasters at the parlor level and arched Renaissance-style pediments at the second floor, however, anticipated the coming Renaissance Revival style.  (The elements survive in 14 West 10th Street.)

The pair of homes were among the most striking along the refined block.  At 36-feet-wide, 54 Tenth Street was more than ten feet wider than most of the others.  It was quickly purchased by James Franklin Doughty Lanier.

Born in Washington, North Carolina, on November 22, 1800, Lanier and his family moved from Madison, Indiana to New York in 1849.  He had married Mary McClure a year earlier, his first wife, Elizabeth Gardner, having died in 1846.  He and Elizabeth had eight children, and he and Mary had three more, one of whom, Katherine (known as Katie) McClure, would be born in the 10th Street mansion on January 7, 1858.

Originally an attorney, Lanier turned to banking in 1830.  He augmented his significant fortune through railroads.  He was the first president of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway.  When he moved his family to New York, he co-founded the banking firm of Winslow, Lanier & Co. with Richard H. Winslow.   

James F. D. Lanier, Indiana and Indianians, 1919 (copyright expired)

Lanier took his son, Charles, into the firm in 1857.  That same year, on October 7, Charles married Sarah E. Egleston and brought his bride to the West 10th Street mansion.  James Frederick Doughty Lanier III was born in 1858, two daughters, Sarah Egleston and Fannie, arrived in 1862 and 1864.  When Sarah became pregnant again in 1870, she and Charles took their expanding family to their newly-built Murray Hill mansion at 28-30 East 37th Street.

In the meantime, the Laniers' massive fortune was evidenced during the Civil War.  With the state in which he grew up teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, James F. D. Lanier loaned Indiana $1 million (around 20 times that much in 2025 terms).  In 1870, the state repaid the debt in full.

Like all wealthy New Yorkers, the Laniers withdrew from the city to fashionable resorts and country homes in the summer.  Late in the season of 1870, it appears that Lanier took 11-year-old Kate on a father-daughter side trip to Saratoga.  On August 12, the Evening Telegram reported, "Mr. J. F. D. Lanier and Miss K. Lanier, of 16 West Tenth street, are also staying at the Clarendon [hotel]."

Unscrupulous dealers mixed plaster of paris and marble dust into their horse feed, which was sold by the weight.  One of the Laniers' expensive carriage horses (The New York Times said, "The animal was worth $700," or $18,500 today) became one of the many victims.  On June 16, 1871, The Times reported that Lanier had applied to the Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals "for a permit to kill one of his carriage horses."  An autopsy revealed a stone of "two and a half pounds, and as hard as granite."

Lanier retired that year "on account of ill-health," according to The New York Times.  Charles Lanier stepped into his father's former position at Winslow, Lanier & Co.  James Lanier's health problems worsened and on August 27, 1881, he died in the West 10th Street mansion.  Somewhat surprisingly, the funeral was not held in the parlor, but at the University Place Presbyterian Church.  The New York Times reported, "There was a large attendance and the congregation included many old and well-known citizens of New-York."

Following her expected year of mourning, Mary Lanier returned to social life.  On February 1, 1883, for instance, the New York Evening Telegram announced, "Mrs. J. F. D. Lanier, No. 16 West Tenth street, gives a german [sic] next Tuesday."   ("Germans" consisted of three-meter dances and included the waltz and allemande.)

Katherine married civil engineer Miles Standish in Grace Church on July 2, 1890.  The New-York Tribune noted that the groom was "a direct descendant of Miles Standish of the Plymouth Colony," and reported that the ceremony "was followed by an informal breakfast, served at the home of the bride's mother, Mrs. James F. D. Lanier."  The newlyweds moved into a nearby mansion at 27 Fifth Avenue.  

Mary received a terrifying note on May 4, 1896.  Signed "R. Wilson," it said in part, "I have just learned that an attempt is to be made at once to blow up your house with dynamite...This is what comes of starving men, without work, money or bread."  The writer closed saying, "If you want further particulars, send word to me before 2 o'clock to-morrow.  No. 127 Bowery."

Understandably, Mary Lanier was upset and frightened.  R. Wilson, who was actually Edward G. Meserve, was arrested on May 7.  The New York Press said, "Miles Standish, of No. 27 Fifth avenue, her son-in-law...will appear against him today."  In court, Standish told Magistrate Mott that although money was not explicitly expressed in the note, "It's a case of malicious annoyance."  He said, "Mrs. Lanier is an old lady, and he undoubtedly meant to extort money from her."

Meserve's attorney said that his client was merely acting out of concern for Mrs. Lanier's welfare.  Surprisingly, Magistrate Mott said that, "so far as he could see, there was nothing criminal in the letter," reported the New-York Tribune.  "After calling the man a liar, a sneak and a coward, the Magistrate discharged Meserve."

Mary McClure Lanier died of pneumonia in the mansion on June 21, 1903 at the age of 82.  In reporting her death, the New York Herald mentioned, "After her husband's death in 1881, Mrs. Lanier devoted herself to charitable work."

The following year, on January 22, The New York Times reported, "Lawyer John G. Milburn of Buffalo, in whose residence in that city President McKinley died, has purchased from Charles Lanier the four-story dwelling 16 West Tenth Street.  Mr. Milburn will occupy it upon his removal to this city in the near future."

Born in England in 1851, John George Milburn was induced to emigrate to America in 1869 by a letter from his 18-year-old sister, who lived in Batavia, New York.  He married Mary Patty Stocking in 1875.  In addition to his law firm, he was president of the 1901 Pan-American Exposition (or World's Fair) in Buffalo.  (President William McKinley was a house guest during the fair.  He was shot at the exposition on September 6 and died in at the Milburn house on September 14.)

Before they moved into the West 10th Street mansion, the Milburns made minor renovations.  On February 27, 1904, architect William Welles Bosworth filed plans for a $1,500 remodeling.  (The figure would translate to $54,500 today.)

Now in New York, Milburn joined the law firm of Carter, Rollins & Ledyard, the name of which was changed to Carter, Ledyard & Milburn.  He would represent high-powered clients like the Metropolitan Street Railway, the Standard Oil Company and the New York Stock Exchange.

New York State Men Biographic Studies, 1910 (copyright expired)

John and Mary had three sons, Devereux, born on September 19, 1881; John George Jr., born in 1882; and Ralph, who was born in 1888.   In 1899 Devereux and John entered Oxford University where Devereux first exhibited his athleticism.  He was on the university's rowing, swimming and polo teams.    

John George Milburn, Jr. married Madeleine Scatcherd on June 2, 1906.  The New York Herald reported that following their "ensuing three weeks at the seashore," they would live at "the residence of Mr. Milburn's parents."

John George Milburn, Jr. (original source unknown)

On June 22, 1913, The New York Times reported that Devereaux Milburn, the "well-known polo player," was engaged to Nancy G. Steele.  Saying that he graduated from Oxford in 1903 and Harvard in 1906, the article said, "He is perhaps best known as the star of the American polo team in England in 1909."

The John G. Milburns spent the summer of 1914 in Europe.  On July 14, the New York Herald reported that John and Mary would board the Lusitania that day and would be in Europe "until the end of September."  The article added, "With them will be Mr. and Mrs. G. Milburn, Jr., and the Misses Patty and Dorothy Milburn."  (The "misses," of course, were the daughters of George and Nancy.)

Devereaux served as a major in the field artillery in France during World War I.  In 1917, he served as an aide-de-camp for Major-General James H. McRae.

Devereaux Milburn in uniform in France in 1917.  History of Buffalo and Erie Country, 1920 (copyright expired)

On November 26, 1920, the Record & Guide reported that John G. Milburn had sold the West 10th Street mansion for $75,000 (about $1.17 million today).  The New York Times said that the purchasers were artist Thomas Bevans and his illustrator wife, Margaret (known as Marjorie).  Although The Times said they "will occupy the premises as a residence," the couple remodeled the interiors to "studio apartments."

Among their first tenant was portrait artist Leo Mielziner and his wife, the former Ella Friend McKenna.  They moved in on October 1, 1921.  Born in December 1869, one of seven children to Rabbi Dr. Moses Mielziner and Rosette Levald, he studied art in Paris.  He and Ella had two grown children, Kenneth and Jo.  (Kenneth would become an actor and MGM Story Director, and Jo Mielziner would win five Tony Awards for his stage designs.)

Leo Mielziner in 1924.  from the collection of the Library of Congress.

The Mielziners and their landlords had a rocky relationship from the beginning.  On December 30, 1921, the New York Herald began an article saying, "Two artists glared at each other in Essex Market Court yesterday.  One, the complainant, was Leo Mielziner.  The other, the defendant, was Thomas Bevens [sic].  Greenwich Village sat breathless in the courtroom."

Because Mielziner did not approve of the wording in the lease for his studio apartment, he did not sign it.  He paid Bevans the rent for October, and subsequently paid it to his lawyer while awaiting a newly worded lease.  The Mielziners held a party on December 18.  As their guests arrived, Thomas Bevans stood in the ground floor doorway directed them, "Oh, yes, he lives on the top floor, but he doesn't pay any rent," according to Mielziner.  The New-York Tribune reported that at one point during the party, Margaret Bevans, "slammed the door open and yelled, 'Pay your rent!'"

The Bevans sold the building to the Pagliacci Land Co. in March 1931.  In reporting the transaction, The New York Times mentioned that John Barry Ryan, son of the millionaire Thomas Fortune Ryan, lived next door at 18 West 10th Street.  Only five months later, on August 4, The Times reported that Pagliacci Land Co. had sold 16 West 10th Street to John Barry Ryan.  (Thomas Fortune Ryan had died in 1928, leaving one-fifth of his more than $200 million estate to John.)

Unfortunately for John Barry Ryan, he suffered what was diplomatically termed "reversals."  On November 24, 1934, The New York Times reported that the Central Hanover Bank and Trust Company had foreclosed on 16 West 10th Street.

In 1940, the once magnificent mansion was renovated to apartments, two per floor.  The 1855 exterior architectural elements were removed and a coating of stucco applied.  

Other than its substantial width, little was left as evidence of the mansion's former striking appearance.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The apartments continued to attract artists.  Living here in the 1940s were Jon Carbino, Frances Kent Lamont, and Albert Urban.  Born in 1905, Jon Carbino was known for his muscular, animated Depression Era style.  Frances Adams Kent was born in 1899 and her portrait sculptures evolved to Art Deco figures and, by the time she lived here, as modern abstractions.  

Albert Urban fled Germany during the Nazi regime.  He died here at the age of 50 in 1959, The New York Times commenting, "His work hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and in the Rosenwald Collection of the National Gallery in Washington."

Around 1975, the former Lanier mansion was acquired by Modern Psychoanalytic Studies, described by the Department of Buildings as an "eleemosynary institution chartered by the University of the State of NY."  The facility converted the basement and first floors to a "professional school."  Called the Peterson House today, rather astoundingly (given the butchering of the exterior) much of the 1855 interior details remain.

many thanks to Seth Weine for prompting this post

photographs by the author

The 1896 Everard Storage Warehouse - 277-283 West 10th Street (667 Washington Street)

 

Born in Dublin, Ireland in 1831, James Everard arrived in New York with his family when he was four years old.  Following his father's death, the youth worked as a brick mason to help support his family.  Like the hero of a Horatio Alger novel, Everard purchased real estate with his savings, eventually establishing his own masonry jobbing business, opening a brewery in Greenwich Village (at a time when most New York brewers were German), and erecting a sumptuous Turkish bath at 26-30 West 28th Street.

Everard's brewery, founded in 1885, was originally named Shook & Everard and produced "ales and porter."  It was located at the northeast corner of West 10th Street and Washington Street.  By 1893, when a factory inspection noted its 35 men worked 59 hours per week and nine hours on Saturdays, the name had been changed to the James Everard's Breweries.

That would be the last inspection of the brewery at this location.  Everard moved the operation to 12 East 133rd Street, demolished the West 10th Street structure, and hired architect Martin V. B. Ferdon to design a massive storage warehouse on the site.  On August 4, 1894, the Record & Guide reported that the "huge ten-story warehouse which Brewer James Everard is about erecting on the northeast corner of Washington and West 10th streets" was projected to cost "a quarter of [a] million dollars."  That figure would translate to about $8.87 million in 2024.

Calling the building "the finest storage warehouse in the city" a year later on August 24, 1895, the Record & Guide reported, "Mr. James Everard has just completed the very handsome storage warehouse on the corner of Washington and 10th streets."  The article said that no flammable materials were used, only "stone, brick, steel and other fire-proofing."  The sturdy construction made the floors capable of holding 400 pounds per square foot.

Ferdon's Romanesque Revival design featured a two-story arcaded base of undressed granite and a gently curved corner.  The six-story mid-section was defined by two molded intermediate cornices.  Paired openings separated by brick pilasters with stone bases and capitals created soaring arches that terminated in double-wide arched windows.  Pediments on each side of the cornice announced "Everard."  Taking advantage of the river views, an observation tower perched upon the curve of the cornice.

The Record & Guide glowed, "The building is architecturally a distinct and attractive addition to the neighborhood in which it is situated...It is without [a] doubt the best located, built and arranged edifice in the city to-day for storage purposes."

An observation tower provided 360-degree, unobstructed views of the city.  Real Estate Record & Guide, August 24, 1895 (copyright expired)

A year after the building opened, tragedy struck.  On August 10, 1896, Christian Bray and Frank Bulger were painting the cornice, sitting upon a wooden scaffold.  The New York Times reported, "When they tried to lower the scaffold one of the ropes slipped and Bray slid from the scaffold."  Bulgar managed to grab a window sill and "crawled to a place of safety."  The 50-year-old Bray, however, fell the 12 stories to the sidewalk, where he was instantly killed.  "Bulger says that the dead man was married and had a family," said the article.

The vast array of companies and individuals that used the facilities was evidenced in the periodic auctions of goods, the storage charges of which had gone unpaid.   In May 1907, for instance, Everard hired auctioneer Edward P. Holahan to hold an auction.  The listing ranged from small items owned by individuals--like Thomas McElroy's "one case [of] effects" and Marie Varbusk's "three packages scenery"--to corporate storage like The 1900 Washer Co.'s "100 washing machines," C. J. H. Robinson's 12 barrels of wine; and the Lehigh Valley Railroad Co.'s five chests of tea.

Newspapers nationwide reported on the scandalous elopement of James Everard's daughter Olga Julia in 1909.  On December 3, The Sun reported, "Society circles are somewhat surprised today at the report from Greenwich, Conn., that Olga Everard, daughter of James Everard, a wealthy brewer, had married William Williams, her mother's secretary."  The article said, "She was eighteen years old on December 1, and was to receive a large sum of money from her father at that time.  Mr. Everard is nearly eighty years of age, and Olga is his only daughter."  

Williams had originally been Everard's chauffeur.  James Everard's initial anger--which threatened to disinherit his wayward daughter--cooled.  The Sun later explained that Olga and Williams "were soon forgiven by the brewer, who installed his son-in-law as his private secretary."

Everard died in 1913, leaving nearly all of his $2 million estate to Olga, including the West 10th Street building.  (Her romantic eye wandered again the following year.  Now 23, she divorced Williams and wed the oft-married, 56-year-old actor Robert Hilliard.)

The Everard Storage Warehouse continued as before under Olga's ownership.  On May 9, 1914, for instance, a sheriff's sale was held of "six hundred and four sacks of seed potatoes," the storage charges for which were unpaid.

Another tragedy occurred here on April 6, 1917.  James Keating was working on the fourth floor that day when the 50-year-old "lost his balance and fell one story through the elevator shaft," according to The Evening World.  "He landed on the elevator on the third floor and was instantly killed."

It appears that by 1926 Olga Julia Everard Williams Hilliard had only one tenant.  That year the building was described in city documents as "for storage of tea."  Within three years she leased the West 10th Street structure to Shephard Warehouses, Inc.  The firm described its operation as "merchandise storage and distribution, express and general trucking, pool car distributers."  Now known as the Shepard Storage Warehouse, it may have been at this time that the pediments with the Everard name were removed.  (When the wonderful observation tower was lost is unclear.)

In 1942, the title to 277-283 West 10th Street was transferred to the 677 Washington Street, Inc. of which Roy H. Becker was president.  He was, not coincidentally, also president of Shepard Warehouses, Inc.  Title was transferred again in 1952 to the R. H. Becker & Co.  For decades going forward it would cater to a variety of tenants that stored goods like paper and twine, carpeting, hangers and even grave vaults.

Martin V. B. Ferdon's focus on fireproofing in 1884 proved critical nearly a century later.  On February 14, 1971, a three-alarm fire destroyed the Rolling T Trucking Company garage next door at 275 West 10th Street.  The New York Times reported the blaze spread to a building on Charles Street "and to Shepards Warehouse, a 12-story building at 667 Washington Street."

Three years later, the Rockrose Development Company appealed to the Board of Standards & Appeals to convert "the former warehouse...to residential use with two stores on the first floor," as reported by The Villager on October 24.   The approval would require zoning map changes, since the parcel was in a district "in which residential uses were not permitted."

The board approved the changes and in 1978 a conversion designed by architect Bernard Rothzied was completed, with twelve apartments per floor.  A subsequent renovation resulted in three, four or seven apartments per floor with two duplex units in part of the 11th and 12th floors.  At some point most of the Washington Street cornice was removed, leaving an awkward, unfinished appearance.

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Milbank House - 11-13 West 10th Street

 

Born in Albany, New York around 1806, Richard Henry Winslow was a direct descendant of Edward Winslow, Governor of the Plymouth Colony.  He came to New York City around 1831 and went into the brokerage business.  His prominence came with the discovery of gold in California and the subsequent "great railway era."  On New Year's Day, 1849, he and James F. D. Lanier (who lived directly across the street) formed a partnership, originating the railroad bond system.  According to The New York Times later, "At this time, Western railroads hardly existed even in idea." 

Investors realized large profits and by 1852 Winslow & Lanier was negotiating "$1,600,000 in a single day, while sales varying $100,000 to $500,000 a day were of common occurrence," wrote The New York Times on March 9, 1861.   The daily sales would equal more than $18 million in today's money.

In 1847 Winslow erected a 28-foot-wide home on the fashionable block of Tenth Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.  His massive wealth allowed him the luxury of purchasing the vacant lot next door for his 27-foot-wide garden.  The brick-faced Greek Revival residence was three-and-a-half stories tall above a brownstone English basement.  A wide stone stoop led to the entrance, originally framed by stone pilasters upholding a substantial entablature.

The house was originally three bays wide with an ample garden to the right.

Winslow and his wife, the former Rachel Ann Robertson, had three daughters, Emma Henrietta, Julia Adelaide, and Geraldine Augusta.  In 1853 Winslow hired architect  F. de Moulnier to design the family's country residence, Compo House, in Westport, Connecticut.

The Winslow country estate.  from the collection of the Library of Congress.

In 1856 the Winslows moved permanently to Compo House, quite possibly because of Milbank's failing health.  It forced him to retire in 1859, and, according to The New York Times, he "continued steadily to decline."  Richard Henry Winslow died at the age of 55 on February 14, 1861.

The inventory of the furnishings within the Winslow townhouse reflected the family's wealth and luxurious lifestyle.  Interesting, all the Winslow furniture was, without exception, of rosewood.  A listing in May 1857 mentioned, "Magnificent suits of rosewood furniture, richly and elaborately covered, in crimson and gold satin damask, consisting of sofas, tete-a-tetes, arm Volaire, Predue and parlor chairs, solid rosewood centre tables, beautifully carved rosewood etageres with mirror backs, rosewood seven octave pianoforte, made by Chickering," and on and on.  The inventory noted, "Billiard room--Billiard table, balls, cues, chandeliers, chairs, &c."

The house was initially leased to affluent families.  Merchant Augusts C. Richards was here in 1856 and '57, followed by Hanson K. Corning who remained a few years.  Born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1810, he was the principal in Corning, Bents & Co.  The New York Times described him as "one of the most highly respected merchants of this City."   The Cornings moved to Madison Avenue in 1861.

The house next became home to Bartholomew O'Connor and his widowed mother, Hannah.  O'Connor's father, Michael, had died around 1809.  Bartholomew was active in the Roman Catholic Church and in Irish causes.  

An intimate friend of O'Connor was Irish-born Daniel Joseph Devlin, a respected businessman and City Chamberlain.  During the Civil War, he was among those who recruited and financed the Irish Brigade of the Union Army.  He, as well, helped found the Society for the Protection of Destitute Roman Catholic Children in the City of New York.  Upon Devlin's death on February 22, 1867, his body was brought to the O'Connor home, where his funeral was held.  The entire Common Council attended the ceremony.

The O'Connors moved permanently to Staten Island in 1867.  The house was leased for a year to real estate agent William Dehon King, and then to Sarah B. Cadle.  

The spacious garden provided extra light and ventilation to the mansion.  A rental advertisement on April 9, 1875 described it as, "three rooms deep, windows in middle rooms; marble mantels and grates in all the rooms," and noted the garden was 27-feet by 100.

For several years it was operated as a high-end boarding house.  Mary K. Buckminster, a widow, had only four boarders in 1879 (the fewer the boarders, the more exclusive the house).  Frank Andrews was an organist, Lorenze Reich was a dealer in imported wines, W. A. Hayward was a manufacturer of "badges and medals," and Maria Phahler was a dressmaker.

The boarding house was being run by Mary Walters in 1883 when she became victim to "a boarding house raider," as described by the New York Herald.  Charles Raymond was arrested on March 31 and charged with "robbing fashionable boarding house keepers."  Well dressed and impeccably mannered, he told Mary he was arranging accommodations for his parents, who were arriving from Nebraska.  "He was particularly desirous to have comfortable apartments for his mother," said the article.  After inspecting the rooms, he rushed off to meet his parents at the train station.  It was not until then that Mary realized he had pocketed valuable items.  Raymond had repeated his scheme a dozen times before being caught.

A year later, on October 1, 1884, the house was targeted again.  James Wilson sneaked into the house "and picked up $200 worth of clothing," reported the New York Herald.  "Annie Gillen, a servant in the house, discovered him in the parlor, and, dropping his plunder, he fled, but only to run into the arms of a policeman."

The residence was again a single-family home when family of Jarvis Slade moved in.  It was also the end of the lavish garden.  In 1888, a one-story addition was added to the house, designed by eminent architect Ernest Flagg.  At the same time he updated the outdated Greek Revival architecture with a more Italianate style doorway, ironwork, and segmentally arched openings.  Perhaps because of the unlucky connotation of "13," the family now used the address 11 West 10th Street.

The handsome entrance was part of the 1888 remodeling.

Born in 1816, Slade "came from an old New York family," according to The New York Times.  He and his wife, the former Hannah Thomas Patten, had eight children.  

Seventeen-year old Henry Lewis Slade created headlines in 1891.  He was in love with Olivia Hoe, the daughter of millionaire Robert Hoe, but, according to The Sun, "Mrs. Hoe, the girl's mother, was opposed to the match."  And so the couple sneaked away to St. Mark's Church on September 29 and "were married without notice, it is said, to their family."  Rev. Dr. J. H. Rylance knew that the bride's mother was against the marriage, but, said The Sun, "as he saw that the two were firmly decided upon marrying, and as they were of lawful age, he agreed to perform the ceremony."  The fury of Olivia Hoe's parents could only have been doubled when her sister, Laura, and Ernest Trow Carter, who came along supposedly as witnesses, were married immediately afterward.

Marshall Perry Slade graduated from Harvard in 1881.  He updated his classmates in in the Secretary's Report in 1892 saying in part, "As I have no intention of marrying, my residence will probably continue to be, for the next five years, under the parental roof at 11 West Tenth Street, New York."  He would not change his mind until seven years later at the age of 38 when he married Jane Rosetta Carson.

Hannah Patten Slade died on September 27, 1893 at the age of 68.  Her funeral was held in the 10th Street house three days later.  Another funeral would be held in the parlor just over five years later.  Jarvis Slade died on January 3, 1899 at the age of 83.  His funeral was held on January 6.

Still living in the house were Elizabeth Almy Slade, George Patten Slade and his wife, the former Cornelia Wheeler Strong.   They remained for about two years, selling it in 1901 to Joseph Smith Auerbach.  He and his wife, the former Catharine Hone, had four children, John Hone, Kathryn Hone, Helen Hone (who died in infancy), and Helen Dunscomb.  One by one, the Auerbach children were married, John in 1909, Helen in 1911, and Kathryn in 1913.  

As World War I raged, in the fall of 1918 Joseph and Catharine offered up their home to the Red Cross.  On October 11, 1918 The Sun reported, "With more than 1,000 Red Cross Nurses always quartered in New York on their way to or from the front, it is necessary for Father Knickerbocker to bestir himself and show them how much he thinks of such brave women...Last night, with music and speeches and modest feasting, the new Nurses Home at 11 West Tenth street, was opened."  The article said, "It is a large house, large enough to have a big dancing room--nurses take to dancing, it seems to furnish the kind of relaxation they need.  There is a reading and writing room; and every afternoon tea will be served by the Junior League."

The Auerbachs would not return to West 10th Street.  On January 3, 1919 The Sun reported that they had sold the house to Jeremiah Milbank.  Nine years earlier the millionaire had purchased the houses at 118 and 120 West 13th Street "as a gift for the Ladies' Christian Union."  Now he did the same with the Auerbach house.  The Sun explained that the Ladies' Christian Union "is to establish a young woman's home as a memorial to Mr. Milbank's wife," adding, "The Ladies' Christian Union at present maintains five homes in the city."  

Before the end of the year the one-story extension had been raised to full height, the architect closely matching the detailing of the venerable original house, including the bracketed 1888 cornice.

A variation in brick color testifies to the additional floors above former the one-story wing.

The facility was known as the Milbank House, and was continually run by the Ladies' Christian Union, providing housing to unmarried women until 1994.  (At which time, according to The New York Times, "$130 a week gave young businesswomen tiny rooms and served them two meals a day in elegant surroundings.")  The former mansion sat empty for two years, until New York University purchased it in June 1996 for $3.9 million to house its Global Law School program.  

At the time of the sale, real estate broker Arlene Nance commented, "It has the most magnificent, sunny parlor, which should be landmarked, and a library with books donated by Irving Berlin.  Although a lot of people suggested it, [the Ladies' Christian Union] would never cut up that gorgeous twin parlor."

New York University, not necessarily known for its sympathetic treatment of historic interiors, did not greatly alter the Milbank House.  That changed after Bear Stearns executive Warren Spector and his actress wife, Margaret Whitton purchased it in 2007 for $34.5 million.

The couple renovated the massive 16,560-square-foot mansion, eliminating any hint of the 19th century in favor of clean 21st century lines and surfaces.  Spector placed the mansion on the market in 2018 at just under $60 million, reducing it to $50 million the following year.

photographs by the author

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