The 1860 Jonas and Henrietta Phillips House - 36 West 12th Street

Frederick P. James was the head of the banking and brokerage firm of F. P. James & Co.  In 1854, he erected three upscale homes on the south side of West 12th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.  Abutting them to the east were six rowhouses built by Alphonse Loubat a decade earlier.  Somewhat surprisingly, in 1860 James demolished the 16-year-old Loubat houses and replaced them with elegant, brownstone-faced residences. 

Identical to his original three, the 21-foot-wide homes were four stories tall above a rusticated English basement.  Their fully-arched entrances were crowned by striking arched pediments supported on foliate brackets.  The floor-to-ceiling parlor windows were likely fronted by cast iron balconies.  Molded architrave window frames added to the homes' elegance.

Sarah Semon briefly operated 36 West 12th Street as a boarding house until Jonas N. Phillips and his second wife, Henrietta, purchased it in 1863.  (Phillips's first wife, Esther Peixotto, was deceased.)  

Jonas Phillips traced his American origins to Jonas Phillips who emigrated from Germany through England in 1756.  Born in 1816, Phillips began his career as a ship chandler and, by now, was a surveyor for the city.  In 1856 he was president of the Common Council and in 1857 he served as acting mayor of New York.  As early as 1863, he was president of the Board of Trustees of the Volunteer Fire Department.  Living with him and Henrietta were six children, Walter, Rachel Rosalie, Herman Samuel, Joseph Edgar, Isaac Franklin (known as Frank), and Sydney Aaron.

The Phillips family was prominent within the Sephardic Jewish community and held unusually high social status.  In 1863, Rachel Rosalie visited her uncle in Washington D.C., Adolphus Solomons.  Her diary entry of January 9, 1864 told of her visit to the White House and being "introduced to the president, and Mrs. Lincoln."  She mentioned that Mary Todd Lincoln "was handsomely attired in a Black Velvet dress gored with white satin."  Rachel met Mary Lincoln again three days later at a reception.

Jonas N. Phillips died at the age of 57 on July 19, 1874.  His funeral was held in the house the following morning.

In 1880, the five Phillips brothers still remained in the West 12th Street house with their mother.  Their professions were varied, including an importer, broker, clerk, and canvasser (a manufacturer of canvas fabric).  

Grover Cleveland was elected in November 1884 and was inaugurated on March 4, 1885.  He was the first Democratic President since the Civil War and the Phillips household was ecstatic.  The following day, The New York Times reported, "The 'Phillips Democratic Jollification Club' held a social gathering last evening at No. 36 West Twelfth-street to celebrate the inauguration of a Democratic President."  The article said, "Fifty guests sat down to the tables, and the following toasts were responded to, 'The President,' 'Ex-President Arthur;' 'An Honest Reform of the Civil Service.'"

The Phillips estate sold the house in June 1890 to Nicholas Latrobe Roosevelt and his wife, Eleanor.  Roosevelt was a distant relative of future President Theodore Roosevelt and a fifth cousin of future President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  The couple's residency would be short.  Roosevelt died in the house at the age of 46 on December 14, 1892.  

The house was purchased within weeks by Benjamin Silliman Church and his wife, the former Mary Van Rensselaer Van Wyck.  The couple had one child, Angelica Schuyler, born in 1877.  Born in 1836, Church's impressive American lineage included Mayflower pilgrim John Robinson, John and Priscilla Alden, Governor Jonathan Trumbull, and General Gold Silliman.  Mary Van Wyck Church's pedigree was equally impressive.  Among her ancestors were Pieterse Schuyler, Robert Livingston, Abraham de Peyster, Pierre Van Cortlandt, and Wilhelmus Beekman.

Church was a civil engineer and surveyor and played important parts in the construction of Central Park, the Croton Aqueduct and the Central Park Reservoir.  

Benjamin Silliman Church, from the collection of the New York Public Library

Mary's entertainments appeared regularly in the society columns.  On April 25, 1897, for instance, The New York Times reported on her reception for the Martha Washington Colonial Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.  "The house was elaborately decorated with cut flowers, roses, and lilies being used in profusion," said the article.

The winter social season of 1899-1900 saw Angelica's coming-out.  Among the last events was held in the house on February 1, 1900.  The New York Times reported that Mary "gives a dinner of twelve covers for her daughter, Miss Angelica Schuyler Church.  The guests at this dinner will afterward attend the Charity Ball."

Once introduced, Angelica got into the social whirl.  On March 22, 1901, the New-York Tribune reported, "Miss Angelica Schuyler Church gave a luncheon yesterday at her home, No. 36 West Twelfth-st. to honor Miss Marjorie V. Lea."  The guest list reflected the Churches' high social standing, with surnames including Schieffelin, De Peyster, Hamilton, Van Cortlandt, and Prime.

Angelica would become an accomplished sculptor.  On April 21, 1912, The New York Times remarked, "Miss Church's statuettes of mounted policemen exhibited [at the Tiffany studios] last year created much favorable comment."

Angelica Schuyler Church's 1910 The Rescue / An Episode of Central Park was exhibited at Tiffany Studios.  private collection

By the time of Angelica's exhibition, the Churches had been gone from 36 West 12th Street for five years.  They sold the house to Arthur Farragut Townsend and his wife, the former Marcia Moffat Alley, in August 1906.  

Born in 1865, Townsend co-founded the Manhattan Rubber Manufacturing Company in 1893.  Marcia Townsend was highly involved in women's issues and was treasurer of the Woman's Political Union.  In 1910, four years after moving into 36 West 12th Street, their only child, Arthur, was born.

Having an infant in her care did not slow down Marcia Townsend's passionate suffrage work.  On February 23, 1910, for instance, she hosted a meeting of the Equal Franchise Society during which Ida Husted Harper spoke on "The Character of the Opposition."  The following year, on April 1, The Evening Post reported, "The Rev. Henry Frank will speak on 'Women's Political Prospects' at a meeting of the Cooperative Service League for Woman Suffrage on Monday evening, at No. 36 West Twelfth Street."

On July 19, 1913, Marcia underwent emergency appendicitis surgery at New York Hospital.  The New-York Tribune reported that a hospital spokesman said, "Mrs. Townsend, who is called the 'best dressed suffragist,' rallied well after the operation and that all danger was now passed."  The following year, however, on April 19, 1914, Marcia Moffat Townsend died at the age of 49.  

In 1918, Arthur Townsend commissioned major alterations to the house.  At the time, vintage homes in Greenwich Village were being converted to artists' studios with vast northern-facing studio windows.  The stoop was removed and the entrance lowered to below grade.  (The former doorway was converted to a window, the architect deftly mimicking the others.)  At the third and fourth floors, large studio windows were installed in the center and French doors and metal balconies replaced the outer windows.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

An advertisement for one of the upper apartments in the New-York Tribune on June 2, 1918 offered, "Attractively furnished studio apartment, 4 rooms and bath, 2 balconies; and roof, for summer months."  

Among the early tenants were sculptor Enid Vandell, and attorney Shelton Hale.  Hale was the former Assistant Secretary of the United States War Trade.  In 1924, Margaret Leech took an apartment here.  Leech graduated from Vassar College in 1915 and when she moved in was working for Condé Nast.  

Margaret Leech (original source unknown)

Remembered partly today as a member of the Algonquin Round Table, she would win the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1942 and in 1960.  She wrote her novel The Feathered Nest, published in 1928, here.  That year Leech moved from her apartment to a mansion after marrying Ralph Pulitzer, eldest son of publisher Joseph Pulitzer.

In 1943, fledgling cook James A. Beard moved into a second floor apartment at 36 West 12th Street, facing the rear.  John Birdsall, in his The Man Who Ate Too Much--The Life of James Beard, writes: "The kitchen was a converted closet, separated from the bathroom by a partition.  There was no kitchen sink.  He washed dishes in the bathtub."

Fifteen years after moving in, James Beard was being recognized.  Writing in The New York Times on August 29, 1957, Jane Nickerson reported on a course "in international cuisine that will be given at the Lexington Hotel."  Teaching it were Albert Stockli, chef director of Restaurant Associates, and James A. Beard, "the dining and cooking authority whose influence is felt in many areas connected with food."

James A. Beard, from the collection of the UCLA Library

Beard was gay, but feared being discovered as such.  In mid-century Manhattan, homosexuals could still be fired and, in his case, ruined professionally.  He met Gino Cofacci, who would be his "life companion" for thirty years, according to Jon Shadel in his 2017 America's Most Influential Chef was Gay as Hell.  And yet, they did not live together.  John Birdsall explains, "James rented the empty apartment on the first floor of his building at 36 West Twelfth.  Gino could have the bedroom in the new unit, while James would use the rest as his office, keeping his bedroom--officially--in the existing unit upstairs."

James A. Beard left West 12th Street around 1957.  He is remembered today for influencing American cuisine by championing home cooking and fresh ingredients, and establishing American cuisine as an art form.

In 1985, a dramatic renovation/restoration to return 36 West 12th Street to a single family home began.  The remarkable transformation back to its 1860 appearance was completed in 1992.  The stoop and its ironwork were refabricated, the entrance enframement restored, and the studio windows of the top two floors removed and replaced with meticulous reproductions.  The passerby today could not possibly suspect that the Phillips house has undergone a tremendous makeover.

photographs by the author

Emery Roth's 1931 59 West 12th Street

 

photo by Anthony Bellov

Brothers Alexander and Leo Bing were prolific real estate developers in the first half of the 20th century, the name of Bing & Bing earning a reputation for building dozens of gracious apartment buildings, many of them designed by Emery Roth.  On April 2, 1929 The New York Times reported that Bing & Bing had purchased 75 old houses and buildings in Greenwich Village "as sites for a group of sixteen-story apartments."  Leo Bing told reporters that the project would transform the Village, saying it "will rival Central Park West and the fashionable east side within a few years."

Three of the apartment buildings were erected on West 12th Street.  Two of them, including 59 West 12th Street, were Roth-designed.  All were completed in 1931.

The 17-floor 59 West 12th Street was clad in beige brick above a two-story cast stone base.  Large geometric tiles flanked the double-height entrance and a full-width stylized fasces separated the base from the beige brick upper floors.  Above the tenth floor, a series of setbacks created private terraces--typical of Bing & Bing buildings.  They were protected by streamlined, ocean liner-ready railings.

photograph by Anthony Bellov

As construction neared completion on August 29, 1931, The New York Sun described, "A thirty-foot sweep from the entrance foyer to the front of the large living room, made possible by low ornamental iron railings between the two rooms, distinguished the new apartments at 59 West Twelfth street, across from the New School for Social Research."  The 104 apartments included duplexes and roof terraces "of a variety of sizes and arrangement."  Every apartment above the ground floor had a wood-burning fireplace in the living room.

The New York Sun noted:

The apartments are grouped in small suites of large rooms and a bath for every chamber, refrigeration units, equipped kitchens, dining alcoves, dressing rooms, radio outlets and dining foyers are among the features of the building.

Emery Roth released his rendering to the press in the spring of 1931. New York Evening Post, May 16, 1931.

The New Yorker added, "No. 59 West Twelfth Street has one, two, three and four-room apartments, almost all with fireplaces.  Annual rents, from $1,150 to $4,480."  The range would translate to $1,916 to $7,466 per month in 2025.

Tenants in 59 West 12th Street were professionals, like G. Vernor Rogers, vice president of the newspaper and magazine firm, McClure Syndicate; and stockbroker Clarence August Bettman and his wife, the former Marion Keyes.  The Bettmans had two daughters, Margaret and Marion.  The family was still in the building two decades later when Margaret was married to Harry Wallace Faath, Jr. in the Church of the Ascension on November 17, 1951.

Journalist John Lardner, his wife, the former Hazel Cannon, and their children Susan, Mary and John Nicholas, occupied an apartment at mid-century.  Born in 1913, Lardner was the son of sports writer and humorist Ring Lardner.  The younger Lardner joined the staff of the New-York Herald Tribune in 1929.  During World War II he served as a war correspondent for Newsweek, The New Yorker, and The North American Newspaper Alliance.  

While living here, Lardner wrote several books, often relating to sports.  They included The Yanks in the Pacific in 1943; It Beats Working in 1947; and White Hopes and Other Tigers and Strong Cigars and Lovely Women, both published in 1951.

Early in March 1960, the 47-year-old sports writer was hospitalized with a heart ailment.  He was released ten days later and suffered a fatal heart attack in the family's apartment on March 24.

Less respectable was Joseph Cataldo (alias Joe the Wop), who lived here with his wife, the former Thelma West.  Born in Italy on November 16, 1908, Cataldo had a file at the United States Treasury Department Bureau of Narcotics in 1961 that described his modus operandi as "financier for illegal activities including narcotics," and called him, "An important NYC racketeer and close associate of Mafia leader Tony Strollo."

photograph by Anthony Bellov

At the time, Sylvester W. and Beatrice Kriess Altfeld had lived at 59 West 12th Street for at least two decades.  They were born in 1893 and 1899 respectively, and Sylvester operated a handbag firm.

On March 4, 1964, two gunmen entered the lobby and forced the 58-year-old elevator operator, Harold Goldfinger, to take them to the 14th floor.  Apparently aware that the Altfelds had valuable items, they compelled Goldfinger to request Beatrice to open the door.  At the point of a gun, Beatrice told them where her jewelry box was.  The New York Times reported, "Then the thugs knocked the two to the floor and handcuffed them, took the jewels and ran down the stairs to the street."  Beatrice and Goldfinger were both treated at St. Vincent's Hospital with head wounds.  The crooks made off with more than $15,000 in jewelry (about $147,000 today).

The first celebrity to sign a lease was Jimi Hendrix.  Charles R. Cross, in his Room Full of Mirrors, A Biography of Jimi Hendrix, writes, "In the fall of 1969, Jimi leased an apartment at 59 West Twelfth Street in Greenwich Village.  It was the first and only place of his own in New York."  Cross explains that his friend, Colette Mimram, helped decorate it with throw pillows, a tapestry over his four-poster bed, and prayer rugs and bedspreads on the walls.  He writes,

"The place looked like a Moroccan bazaar," recalled Colette.  "You could imagine a hookah sitting in the middle of the floor. There were African textiles all over the ceiling."

Fashion model Devon Wilson shared the apartment with Hendrix.  She was "the closest Hendrix had been to having a real girlfriend," according to biographer David Henderson's 'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky: Jimi Hendrix, Voodoo Child.  The next year, according to Henderson, when Hendrix left New York for a London tour, "he did not want her in England."  (Hendrix had another girlfriend in London, Monika Dannemann.)  Wilson showed up anyway, causing tensions.

Jimi Hendrix and Devon Wilson backstage at Madison Square Garden.  photo via The Selvedge Yard

Hendrix would not return to 59 West 12th Street.  He died from an overdose in London on September 18, 1970.  The 27-year-old had no will.  His father, therefore, inherited his estate, equal to about $4 million today.

Five months later, Devon Wilson plunged to her death from the 8th floor balcony of the Chelsea Hotel.  Whether the incident was an accident, a suicide, or if she were pushed is still a mystery.

In the meantime, Clarence A. and Marion Bettmann still occupied the apartment they moved into in 1931.  On January 28, 1972, The New York Times titled an article, "Court Overrules Wife on Surgery," and reported the heart wrenching story of Marion's struggle to allow her husband to die.  Clarence, now 79, was in the late stages of dementia.  His heartbeat was maintained by a pacemaker, and in late 1971 the battery died.  Because Clarence was "factually incompetent" and unaware of his condition, he could not approve the procedure to replace the battery.  Marion refused.  She told a reporter, "What has he got to live for?  Nothing.  He knows nothing, he has no memory whatsoever.  He is turning into a vegetable.  Isn't death better?"

The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center sued and won.  The battery was implanted in January 1972.  Marion told a New York Times journalist that she "resisted as long as I could and then I gave in."

In June 1985, 29 Bing & Bing apartment buildings were sold to a partnership controlled by Martin J. Raynes and Martin J. Wygod.  The following year 59 West 12th Street was converted to a condominium.

Jimi Hendrix, as it turns out, was just the first of several celebrated residents in the building.  In 2008, actress Cameron Diaz purchased a $2.95 million, two-bedroom apartment.  "She gut renovated the place, calling in the likes of interior designer Kelly Wearstler to work her magic," according to Observer.

Already living here was fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi.  On November 23, 2010, Open House reported he had acquired a third apartment in the building, saying, "The newly purchased space connects the two apartments he already owns on the 14th floor."  (Earlier that year, Mizrahi had purchased yet another apartment on a lower floor, "which he plans to use as his home office," said the article.)

Among Mizrahi's neighbors were actress Marisa Tomei and John Waters.  Tomei's apartment was (unfortunately for Waters) directly above the famous director's.  After what was apparently an overflowed bathtub incident, on February 3, 2012, Observer reported that Tomei was being sued by "several downstairs apartments" for water damage.  The article said, "That includes $15,000 worth of damage to an apartment belonging to downstairs neighbor--and 'Hairspray' director--John Waters."

photograph by Bjeffway

Other notables who have called 59 West 12th Street home are actress and dancer Bebe Neuwirth, actor Jonathon Pryce, actress Lena Dunham, and songwriter Larry Dvoskin.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post

The 1843 Rev. Edwin R. T. Cook House - 62 West 12th Street

 

image via douglaselliman.com

Attorney Daniel A. Baldwin erected an ambitious row of 16 brick-faced rowhouses in 1843 along the south side of West 12th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.  Each of the identical homes was three stories tall above a brownstone English basement.  The doorway was framed in an earred stone frame that upheld an entablature and cornice.  The "ears" were a popular design in domestic Greek Revival architecture (although their origins were, in fact, Egyptian).  Floor-to-ceiling windows graced the parlor level.

It appears that 62 West 12th Street was initially rented.  It was home to Edward Braun, an importer, in the late 1840s.  His family was followed by Italian diplomat Rocco Martuscelli.  He filled the house with French furniture and an exquisite art collection, detailed in an auction announcement in December 1852 as he prepared to return to Naples.  It noted the paintings, "not to be found in this country" had been "selected at great expense."  Included in the collection was Portrait of a Child by Van Dyke; a study for The Last Judgment by Michelangelo (for the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel), noted as "the only one in America;" and landscapes, battle scenes and portraits by other noted artists.

James M. Sloan and his wife, the former Mary Magdalena Safford, next occupied the house.  Sloan was a partner in the drygoods firm of Gage, Sloan & Dater at 83 Chambers Street.  He died here on November 24, 1856 and his funeral was held in the parlor two days later.  Mary Sloan left soon afterward, and from 1857 through 1859, the residence was home to Joseph Park, Jr., a grocer on Sixth Avenue.

Finally, starting in 1860, the house had a long-term occupant.  It was purchased by Reverend Edwin R. T. Cook.  Living with him and his wife, Ann, was his widowed mother, Elizabeth.  Edwin and Ann had at least three children, Philena, Anna, and Robert B. M.

Rev. Cook had organized the Episcopal parish of St. John the Evangelist.  Having worshipped in a rented room for several years, in 1856 the congregation moved into the former Hammond Street Presbyterian Church, renaming it the Bishop Wainwright Memorial Church of St. John the Evangelist.  The Churchman's Monthly Magazine mentioned, "we should judge that Mr. Cook might feel himself no more than justly rewarded by this pleasant change from the upper room in which he has been officiating, to a spacious and convenient temple."

On July 24, 1865, five years after moving into the West 12th Street house, Rev. Cook died.  His funeral in the Wainwright Memorial Church "was attended by a large concourse of people," reported The New York Times on July 28, "among them a large representation of the clergy."  The article said, "Many hundreds passed around the coffin to take a farewell look of a faithful and successful minister of the gospel."

Ann M. Cook lived on at 62 West 12th Street, taking in a boarder after the death of her aged mother-in-law.  Living here in 1879 and '80, for instance, was Yoshinosuke Hasegawa, a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers.

St. Johns Guild operated a Floating Hospital and a Seaside Sanitarium, which provided health care to impoverished New Yorkers.  On March 27, 1883, the Canajoharie Courier reported that a local artist was working on a painting to be donated to a fair to benefit the two organizations "to be held at the residence of the late Rev. Edwin Cook, at No. 62 West 12th street, New York City, Wednesday, April 4th."

In the summer of 1887, the Cook house was one of four along the block that were burglarized.  On August 30, the New York Evening Telegram said, "The people in West Twelfth street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, will be glad when Captain Brogan...unravels the mystery of the several burglaries."  The reporter felt he knew who the perpetrators were.  "The gang hangs out at the corner of Eleventh street and Fifth avenue."

In 1890, Ann Cook leased the house to William C. Field.  Two years later, lecturer W. J. Colville lived here.  On February 14, 1892, he spoke at Steinert Hall on "Evolution and Christianity" and, in the evening, on "The True Ideal of Marriage."

Ann Cook got long-term renters in Harvard graduate Daniel Paine Griswold and his wife.  Like their well-heeled neighbors, the Griswolds maintained a country home.  On November 10, 1895, the New York Herald reported, "Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Paine Griswold have returned from Stockbridge, Mass, to their house, No. 62 West Twelfth street.  Mrs. Griswold has been a great sufferer since her bicycle accident, and still has to use crutches."

The couple remained here until the spring of 1903.  On May 30, that year, The New York Times reported that Robert Cook had sold the house after its having been in the family four decades.  The buyer was the wealthy widow Mary Ann Chisholm, who maintained a summer home in College Point, Long Island.

Mary Ann Chisholm was 75 years old when she purchased the house.  According to The New York Times, she had an annual income of $300,000 a year from railroad stocks and bonds, and Manhattan real estate.  That figure would translate to a staggering $10 million in 2024.

Chisholm had four adult children, Benjamin Ogden, George E., Mary E. Schieffelin, and Margaret C. Hammersly.  Despite their being financially comfortable on their own, she provided each an income of $1,000 per month.  On April 11, George Chisholm, who was "a committee of her person and property," applied to increase her children's monthly allowances to $2,500, or nearly $83,000 in today's money.

Mary Ann Chisholm died in the West 12th Street house on May 21, 1913 at the age of 83.  The New York Sun reported that she left an estate of $5.5 million--around $175 million today.

The Chisholm estate leased the house for decades, carefully vetting the tenants.  An advertisement in the New York Evening Post in 1928, for instance, noted the 10-room, two-bath house was available to a "private family only."

The New School for Social Research began buying up houses along the block in the 1930s, including 62 West 12th Street.  In 1954, it was converted to apartments, at which time the stoop was removed.  Fifteen years later, it appeared that the end was near for the entire row.  The New School for Social Research announced plans "to tear down all the houses from 50 to 62 West 12th Street in order to build educational facilities," reported The Villager on September 4, 1969.  The article noted, "Tenants in the affected buildings plan to form a blockwide organization to demonstrate in front of the New School during registration."  City Council member Carol Grietzer introduced a bill "which would prohibit the destruction of 'sound' residential structures."

photograph by the author

The protests worked and the vintage homes were saved.  In 1985, a renovation to 62 West 12th Street returned it to a single-family home, at which time the stoop was refabricated.  The interior remodeling left none of the Greek Revival details.  It was purchased in 2013 by Robert Duffy, business partner of Marc Jacobs, for $10.25 million.  He sold it in 2017 for $9.5 million, significantly below his $12 million asking price.

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The 1860 Henry Morehouse Taber House - 42 West 12th Street

 

Frederick P. James was the head of the banking and brokerage firm of F. P. James & Co.  In 1854, he erected three upscale homes on the south side of West 12th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.  Abutting them to the east were six rowhouses built by Alphonse Loubat a decade earlier.  Somewhat surprisingly, in 1860 James demolished the 16-year-old Loubat houses and replaced them with elegant, brownstone-faced residences. 

Each of the identical, 21-foot-wide homes was four stories tall above a rusticated English basement.  Their fully-arched entrances were crowned by striking arched pediments supported on foliate brackets.  The floor-to-ceiling parlor windows were likely fronted by cast iron balconies.  Molded architrave window frames added to the homes' elegance.

James sold 42 West 12th Street to cotton broker Henry Morehouse Taber.  Born in Saugatuck, Connecticut on February 8, 1825, he married Mary Elizabeth Philips on October 3, 1855.  The couple had a son, William, who was four years old when they moved in.  Mary was pregnant at the time, but, sadly, their son Kenneth would die in infancy that year.  A daughter, Mary, would be born in 1861, and a son, Sydney Richmond, arrived the following year.

Henry Morehouse Taber, from Henry Morehouse Taber A Memoir, 1918 (copyright expired)

Few New Yorkers could claim an American pedigree as impressive as Taber's.  He descended from three Mayflower passengers: Philip Taber, Francis Cooke, and Kenelm Winslow.  Taber's great-grandfather, Levi Taylor, had served in the French and Indian Wars and had fought with the Connecticut regiment during the Revolution.

Taber and his brother, Charles Corey, headed the cotton brokerage firm of C. C. and H. M. Taber.  Shortly after Henry moved his family into the West 12th Street house, war broke out in the South.  It proved to be a boon to the brothers' business.  Sydney Richmond Taber wrote decades later,

During the Civil War the transactions of the firm reached a considerable magnitude, and shortly after the close of that period they established branch houses or agencies at New Orleans, Memphis, Mobile, Providence, Boston and Fall River.

In 1876, Taber went into partnership with his son, William Phillips Taber, forming the cotton brokerage firm of Henry M. Taber & Co.  In the meantime, Henry and Charles continued working together.  They amassed large amounts of Manhattan real estate; and owned and operated steamers like the propeller-driven Vicksburg and the side-wheeler City of Providence.  Additionally, they operated the Utica Cotton Company and its mills, of which Henry was president.

Mary Elizabeth Taber died in 1888.  In addition to his many business responsibilities, Henry threw himself into civic matters.  He had been appointed a trustee of the Common Schools of the 15th Ward in 1875, and in 1892 became an outspoken critic of police corruption.  As foreman of the grand jury hearing evidence of department misconduct, he was quoted by The Evening World on April 5, 1892, saying,

There is at least $7,000,000 collected annually from the keepers of gambling dens, saloons, concert halls and houses of ill-repute and distributed among the members of the Police Department.  I say at least $7,000,000, for calculation shows that the amount is probably nearer $10,000,000.  I direct this accusation against the entire force, from the Superintendent down to the patrolmen.

The article said, "Mr. Taber's sweeping allegations created not a little talk at Police Headquarters and throughout the departments generally this morning."

Taber's high-profile accusations and the grand jury's findings sparked a State investigation, the Lexow Committee.  The sweeping scrutiny put high-level police officials on trial in 1894 and ended the careers of many.

On October 30, 1897, William Phillips Taber died at the age of 40.  The New-York Tribune noted, "He had been in poor health for some time, but his death was directly due to pneumonia."  Two months later, on Christmas Eve, Henry Morehouse Taber died at the age of 72.

Taber's will divided his $1 million estate (in the neighborhood of $38 million in 2024) between Mary and Sydney.  A clause in the will raised the ire of a journalist of the New York Evening Journal.  Taber directed that there be no religious services at his funeral, claiming that "Christianity, so-called, is not the religion of Christ," but that current Christian teachings "encourage ignorance, selfishness, narrow-mindedness, acrimoniousness, intolerance, wrong and mental slavery."

The fact that Taber had been president and treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the First Presbyterian Church prompted the writer to say, "his religion was a sham."  The New York Times chimed in as well, calling him a hypocrite.  The articles sparked a number of letters to the editors of the newspapers in defense of Taber.  One, for example, asserted that a person "may disapprove of this or that theology, and yet highly approve of the good the Church is doing."

Mary Taber inherited the West 12th Street house.  She almost immediately moved to 20 Washington Square and leased her childhood home.  By 1902, it was being operated as a high-end boarding house run.  It was the scene of excitement on the afternoon of March 30, 1904.  The Sun reported, "A husky looking man called yesterday afternoon at the boarding house kept by Mrs. Jane Allen at 42 West Twelfth street and asked for Miss Farrell."  One of the hallboys (servants, usually teenaged boys, kept on staff to run errands) directed the man to the third floor.  The Sun said, "The man didn't go to Miss Farrell's room but dropped into one next to it.  He was ransacking a bureau when a servant came in with some bedclothes."

The thief, Jacob Bososky, knocked the woman over and ran downstairs.  The article said, "Two negro hallboys heard the rumpus and tried to block the intruder when he came downstairs.  He bowled them over and ran through Twelfth street, pursued by the boys."  Two detectives joined in the chase.  After Bososky fled into a Sixth Avenue house, the officers caught him on the third floor.  "He was locked up," concluded The Sun.

Among the boarders in 1908 was William S. Hall, known as Billy in the men's apparel community.  He was described by Men's Wear magazine that year as "a pioneer furnishing goods salesman."  Artists Clara M. Burd and S. H. Eltzner boarded here in 1910.  Burd was both a successful illustrator of children's books and a designer of stained glass window designs.  In the latter capacity, she worked with the Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company and J. & W. Lamb Studios.  Both she and Eltzner were represented in the exhibition of the Architectural League of New York in 1910.

Clara M. Burd created this charming illustration for a children's book while living here in 1911.  image from the collection of the Norman Rockwell Museum.

A month after the RMS Titanic sank, a fundraiser for the victims was held in the parlor here.  The New York Times reported on May 5, 1912, "The sum of $100 was raised for the Titanic survivors by means of a concert given last Tuesday evening at the home of Miss Florence de B. Allen, at 42 West Twelfth Street."  Nine musical artists volunteered their services.

On July 5, 1919, the Record & Guide reported that Mary Taber had hired architects Cross & Butler to convert her childhood home to bachelor apartments (meaning they had no kitchens).  Costing her the equivalent of $176,000 today, the plans listed items like "new dumbwaiter, vent shaft, skylights, plumbing door & remove stoop."  The Department of Buildings noted, "Not more than 15 rooms to be used for sleeping purposes."

Mary Taber's renovations resulted in the loss of the stoop and elaborate entranceway.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Interestingly, Florence de B. Allen remained here after the renovations.  The 1929 New York Blue Book of New York Society listed her living here, as well as consulting engineer Joseph Ezekiel Pogue and his wife, the former Grace Needham; artist Alan Gregg Holbrook and his wife; the Helen Cook, and Mrs. Martha Youngs.

The house was sold for $15.1 million in 2009.  The Real Deal said later, "the buyer's identity was masked by an LLC...But press reports have pegged [actor Tom] Cruise as the buyer."  A remarkable renovation brought 42 West 12th Street back to a single family home.  The stoop was refabricated and an incredibly accurate entrance recreated.  

The facade served as the apartment of Joan Holloway, a character in the television series Madmen.  And it seems that was as close to celebrity the address would achieve.  When the Taber house was placed on the market in 2013 for $28 million, the real estate agent insisted, "The owner of 42 West 12th Street is not Tom Cruise nor any entity related to him." 

photographs by the author

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The Dr. Oliver White House - 52 West 12th Street

 

Financier Frederick P. James was the senior member of the banking and brokerage firm F. P. James & Co.  He erected a row of nine speculative rowhouses on the south side of West 12th street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in two phases, starting with 48 through 52 West 12th Street in 1854.  The Anglo-Italian homes were 21-feet-wide and four stories tall.  A three-step stoop led to each of the highly unusual entranceways within the rusticated first floor.  Here segmental arches supported by Corinthian columns were tucked within the stone doorframes.  At the second floor, handsome cast iron balconies fronted a pair of French windows.  All of the segmentally arched openings of the upper stories sat within molded architrave frames.

The entrance to 52 West 12th Street was originally identical to No. 50, seen here.

The western-most house, 52 West 12th Street, became home to Ann P. Clark, the widow of Thomas L. Clark.  She remained here until 1859, when Dr. Oliver White purchased the house.  That same year, on November 15, White was elected president of the New-York County Medical Society. 

Born in Somers, New York on April 9, 1810, White came from an old New England family.  He traced his American roots to Judge Thomas White of Weymouth, Massachusetts who was a member of the Colonial Court in 1636.  

White started his medical education in the office of his father, Dr. Ebenezer White, Jr., before earning his medical degree at the age of 21 from Yale College.  He was a founder of the Academy of Medicine and of the Society for the Relief of the Widows and Orphans of Medical Men.  In addition to his private practice, he was a consulting physician of the Presbyterian Hospital and of the North-Eastern Dispensary.

Moving into the West 12th Street house with White was Mary Ritter, the widow of Gilbert Ritter, and her daughter Catherine.  Mary most likely served as his housekeeper and would remain here for years.

Taking in boarders was not unusual even for affluent homeowners, and on January 14, 1862, White advertised, "Furnished rooms for gentlemen.--Very superior accommodations for those who wish a desirable home, with meals at option; house first class."

In 1868, the boarders were George W. Delavergne and George G. Porter (who were both druggists), and Scottish-born Adam Kerr, his wife Rebecca, and their adult daughter Jane.  Dr. White assuredly had known Delavergne and Porter prior to their taking rooms in the house.  The former ran a drugstore at 208 Sixth Avenue, and Porter had two pharmacies, one on Broadway at 42nd Street and the other at 138 Sixth Avenue.

Despite being surrounded by medical men in the house, Jane C. Kerr's consumption was fatal.  She died "at the residence of Dr. O. White," as reported by the New York Herald, on July 10, 1868 at the age of 24.

Among White's good friends and patients was his neighbor,  the highly influential newspaper publisher and politician Thurlow Weed, who lived at 12 West 12th Street.  When leaving a West 14th Street bakery on January 8, 1878, the 81-year-old tripped on a rug and fell to the pavement.  Alderman Morris was in the bakery and took Weed in his carriage to his home.  Expectedly, Dr. White was called in.  The New York Times reported that he, "found the patient suffering from slight concussion of the brain...Dr. White said last night that he did not anticipate any serious result from the injuries."

It was not long after that incident that White was diagnosed with "valvular disease of the heart," according to The New York Times.  He "withdrew himself from the harder and more exacting duties of medical practice, although still continuing his relations with a few of his oldest patients."  White died in the West 12th Street house on November 7, 1879.  The New York Times remarked, "There was little hope of his recovery at the advanced age of 69."  The article added that his death, "removed from the ranks of the medical profession in this City one of its oldest and most valued members."

Interestingly, the funeral was not held in the house, as would have been expected, but at the First Presbyterian Church down the block at Fifth Avenue.  The New York Times reported on November 11, "Many members of the medical profession, including representatives of the Academy of Medicine and the Medical Society of the County of New-York, were present."  Notably, also attending the service was Thurlow Weed.

A surprise of sorts came with the reading of Dr. Oliver White's will, which had been executed in 1874.  Upon his death, The New York Times had mentioned, "Dr. White leaves a considerable fortune, but no direct heirs."  But six months before his death, White had added a codicil that gave Catherine O. Ritter, the daughter of his former housekeeper, an annuity of $3,000 (about $94,500 in 2024).  The Sun reported on December 23, 1879, "The testator says in the codicil that since the will was executed Catherine O. Ritter became his wife."

Mrs. Olive S. Grote next occupied 52 West 12th Street.  Among her domestic staff in 1883 was Christopher Herbert, a server.  (A position directly under the butler, he would serve in the dining room or as needed throughout the day.)  Mrs. Grote discharged him early in April and shortly afterward he became the principal suspect in the burglary of a neighboring house.  The New York Dispatch said, "Hence the detectives had their eyes upon him."

Around April 15, police received a tip that Herbert was planning to burglarize the Grote house with the help of another servant.  Three undercover detectives were deployed to the office of Dr. Gay at 49 West 12th Street, directly across the street, to maintain surveillance.  The Sun reported, "They watched the progress of his arrangements and saw that the way was smoothed for him to enter the house between the hours of eleven and one o'clock in the middle of the day, when Mrs. Grote and her servants were away or occupied up stairs."

On April 20, 1883, Herbert set his plan in action.  The Sun reported that he arrived at noon "and found the door open, as previously arranged with a supposed confederate."  Herbert went directly to Olive Grote's bedroom and filled a bag with "silk dresses, jewelry, and a sealskin sacque worth $800."  When he walked out the front door, the detectives were waiting for him.  His would-be haul would amount to more than $25,000 today.

Within five years, the residence was being operated as a high-end boarding house.  Living here in 1887 was the colorful Yates Ferguson.  Born in Westchester County in June 1823, he was one of the original '49'ers who went West during the California Gold Rush.  He returned to New York in 1853 and went into business exporting California wines and fruits.  The widower died of a heart attack in the West 12th Street house on March 2, 1887.  The New York Times noted, "His funeral will take place at his mother's residence, at Purdy's Station."

An advertisement in The Sun on September 30, 1888 offered, "Two large, handsomely furnished front rooms to let, with or without board."  The boarders were, overall, respectable, like Mrs. Mary B. Smith, who donated $1 to the College Settlement on Rivington Street in 1892; and M. Rivero, the director of the Grand Conservatory of Music, who lived here in 1899.  

John S. Cornwell's name, however, appeared in the newspapers on March 25, 1898, for a less admirable reason.  He had been arrested the previous day "on a charge of having passed a worthless check for $25 on Martin Mahon, proprietor of the Hotel New Amsterdam."

By 1913, it appears 52 West 12th Street had changed from a boarding house to a rooming house.  A cleverly-worded advertisement in The New York Times on July 1, 1913 read, "Are you looking for cool rooms, well-managed house?  Summer rates."

Two residents went off to fight in World War I.  On October 1, 1918, the New-York Tribune reported that Lucien J. Rode had been promoted to Second Lieutenant.  Two months later, on December 7, The Official U. S. Bulletin provided less happy news.  Mary C. Vanamee received word that her son, Lt. Parker Vanamee, had died "of disease" overseas.

In 1941, the rustication of the ground floor and the window enframements survived.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Captain Floyd Keeler purchased 52 West 12th Street in 1919.  He hired architects Rich & Mathesius to make $10,000 in renovations to the house.  

Keeler had served in the war and was now in charge of the New York City headquarters of Federal Government's "paid-advertising campaign to obtain recruits for the United States army," according to the Editor & Publisher on June 26, 1919.  He told the publication, "I don't believe there is any doubt but that the campaign will prove a whopping success."

Born on January 21, 1885 in North Salem, New York, Keeler was educated at Trinity School and graduated in 1906 from Columbia University.  In 1920, with the war ended, he became vice-president and a director of Frank Seaman, Incorporated, one of the largest advertisement agencies in the U.S.  A widower, his two daughters lived with him.  An anti-Prohibitionist, he wrote the article "Prohibition Does Not Prohibit" for The Atlantic.

When Jacob Perlow purchased 52 West 12th Street in May 1949, The New York Times commented, "The building formerly in a choice, private-home section, was converted into eight apartments."  It would be renovated two more times, the last, completed in 1985, resulting in a doctor's office in the basement, and a total of five apartments on the upper floors.  Sadly, during one of the renovations, the rustication of the ground floor was smoothed over, the striking entranceway was removed, and the window details shaved off.

photographs by the author

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Louis Adams's 1890 29 West 12th Street

 

photo by Anthony Bellov

When the Emmet family acquired the 25-foot-wide lot at 29 West 12th Street in 1816, there was little else in the neighborhood.  That was not the case seven decades later when the heirs of Laura A. Emmet sold the "three story building, used as a bakery," according to the New York Herald on December 8, 1888.  Now surrounded by refined homes, the old structure was purchased by architect Louis Adams for $15,200.

Three months later, Adams filed plans for a "five-story brick and stone flat" on the site to cost $20,000 (just over $1 million in 2024).  Completed within the year, its stoic design featured little decoration.  The pierced, brownstone areaway wall gracefully morphed into the wing walls of the short stoop.  The openings of the brownstone-clad entry level were given delicate frames and a prominent, dentiled band course introduced four stories of brown Flemish bond brick.  A bracketed cornice capped the structure.

Adams reserved one of the apartments for his family.  On February 7, 1891 his wife advertised, "Wanted--An intelligent young woman for general housework.  Adams, 29 West 12th st."

The Huckel family moved into the building in the spring of 1890.  Rev. William M. Huckel was on the board of managers of the Seamen's Church Institute.  Living with him and his wife Christiana was their adult son, John Frederick Huckel, who was a publisher.  

Around 1895, John traveled west, settling in Kansas where he married Minnie Frances Harvey.  (Minnie was the daughter of Fred Harvey, founder of the Harvey House chain of restaurants and hotels that lined the railroads in the West.)  John Huckel would write several books, including American Indians: First Families of the Southwest, and Navaho Sandpainting: The Huckel Collection.

Rev. Huckel was assuredly well acquainted with resident Henry Rogers, who was manager of the Seamen's Mission and the New-York Bible and Prayerbook Association.  Born in 1820, he came from what the New-York Tribune called "old Colonial stock."  On his mother's side, he descended from John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  His wife, Mary Livingston, was descended from Robert Livingston the Elder, the first Lord of the Manor of Livingston in New York.

Another resident with early American roots was Robert H. Hutchins, a direct descendant of John Alden of Plymouth, Massachusetts.  A bachelor, he attended private schools before entering Trinity College.  He received his law degree at Columbia Law School and was now a partner with attorney David B. Ogden.

On January 22, 1909, the New York Evening Post reported that the 39-year-old Hutchins "died early this morning in his bachelor apartments at No. 29 West Twelfth Street, before the arrival of medical aid."  The article said he had taken "some poison by mistake," explaining, "For the past few months Mr. Hutchins had complained of pains in his head.  He took several kinds of medicine, and recently had used powders to produce sleep."

It was generally assumed that Hutchins had taken an accidental overdose of phenacetin.  The pain reliever had been prescribed by Dr. Victor C. Pedersen two days earlier when Hutchins consulted him for "what he supposed to be neuralgia."  On January 23, however, The New York Times reported that the autopsy revealed the attorney had instead died "of cerebral hemorrhage."

Louis Adams died at the age of 70 on September 7, 1911.  His funeral was held in his apartment two days later.  No. 29 West 12th Street was inherited jointly by Albert I. and Genevieve Adams.  In 1919, Albert transferred his half to his sister.

By now Frederick W. Kendrick; his wife, the former Elizabeth P. de Aguilar; and her son from a previous marriage, F. Paul de Aguilar, lived here.  The New York Social Register listed them at the address as early as 1918.  F. Paul de Aguilar had only recently returned to New York.  The New-York Tribune noted, "Mr. de Aguilar served with the regular cavalry in 1916, and later was transferred to the air service as a private in the World War."  He was still living here in August 1920 when his engagement to Gladys Newbold Black was announced.

The Great Depression does not seem to have greatly affected the residents of 29 West 12th Street.  In 1940, Jane and Elizabeth M. Fullman, presumably sisters-in-law, lived here with a three-year-old daughter Martha Fullman.  The women had a live-in maid, Claudia Hore.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

The following year, however, change came.  A renovation resulted in three apartments and "two class 'B' rooms" on the first floor, and two apartments and six class B rooms each on the upper floors.  The Department of Buildings explained, "All Class 'B' rooms to accommodate one (1) person in each room."  That configuration is still in place with a total of 36 residential units in the building.  

Outwardly, however, Louis Adams's reserved design is essentially unhanged after more than 130 years.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post.

uncredited photographs by the author

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