The 1921 David Belais Building - 137 West 14th Street

 

photograph by Carole Teller

The de Peyster family acquired land above Greenwich Village around 1820.  The first de Peyster arrived in New Amsterdam in 1685 and since that time, said the New York Journal, "New York had chosen her generals, jurists and merchant princes" from the family.   Just after the end of the Civil War, James de Peyster erected a handsome mansion on the property, at 137 West 14th Street.

As the turn of the century neared, the once-elegant West 14th Street block was increasingly becoming commercial.  The de Peyster family, however, remained.  When the wedding of Emily Petit and Robert Ralson Crosby was held in the drawing room on December 12, 1898, the New York Journal and Advertiser commented, "This is the spacious old de Peyster mansion, one of the very few of the Knickerbocker homes that are still occupied in the lower part of the town."

When Wilson de Peyster died on March 7, 1911, The Press reminded readers that he "was a member of one of the oldest New York families, being in the seventh generation from Johannes de Peyster, founder of the family, and related to the Beekmans, the Winthrops and the Livingstons."

On January 6, 1917, the Record & Guide reported that Philip Aaronson intended to erect a nine-story loft building on the site of the de Peyster mansion.  Something upset those plans, but not before Aaronson demolished the vintage residence. 

When David Belais purchased the property from the de Peyster family three years later, in November 1920, the New York Herald described it as a "vacant lot."   The article mentioned, "He will erect a six story loft building for his own occupancy," and The New York Times added, "The property has been in the ownership of the de Peyster family for a hundred years."

Belais hired architect Victor C. Farrar to design the building.  The plans were quickly scaled back and a month after The Times article, Farrar filed plans for a "three-story brick and limestone loft building."

Completed the following year, the project cost Belais $30,000, or about $540,000 in 2026 terms.  Faced in limestone above the storefront,  Farrar's design was overall Renaissance Revival, but the many-paned openings, six-over-nine at the second floor and six-over-six at the third, harkened to Colonial precedents.  A dignified, balustraded parapet crowned the design.

A brownstone mansion survived next door, sans stoop, in 1940.  The 3-golden-globes of the Silberstein pawn shop hangs above the 2nd floor of No. 137.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

David Belais was a metallurgist and manufacturing jeweler.  Born in Greenwich Village, he was a graduate of City College and a descendant of an esteemed rabbinical family.  His great-grandfather, according to The New York Times, was "Chief Rabbi of England during the reign of George III."

In the late 19th century, Belais started experimenting with alloys in hopes to find a metal that could substitute platinum.  He found success in 1917 when he formulized "white gold."  The following year he filed for a patent and received it on February 10, 1920, just prior to buying the de Peyster property.

The Keystone, September 1926 (copyright expired)

David Belais was as well-known (if not more so) for being a "friend to animals," as worded by The New York Times.  He founded the Humane Society of New York in 1904 and served as its president without any compensation.

Belais died at the age of 70 "after a long illness," according to The New York Times, on June 5, 1933.  His business was closed.

Four months later, on October 30, The New York Sun reported that Solomon D. and Abraham Silberstein had purchased 137 West 14th Street.  The brothers operated D. Silberstein's Sons pawn shop.

Like all other pawn shops, D. Silberstein's Sons occasionally auctioned off unclaimed items.  Typical was the auction on September 10, 1942 that focused on "diamonds, jewelry, second-hand watches."

On August 3, 1946, The New York Times reported that D. Silberstein's Sons had sold the property.  Renovations completed the following year transformed the building to "factory" space throughout for the Norma Pencil Corporation.  

A 1950 ad termed 137 West 14th Street the "Norma Building."  The Jewelers' Circular-Keystone, August 1950.

Known for its four-color mechanical pencil, the Norma Pencil Corporation improved on the item in 1953.  On September 6, The New York Times reported it "has a new working model of its Multikolor Pencil, containing a ball-point filler instead of one of the customary four different colored leads now used."

The Norma Pencil Corporation occupied 137 West 14th Street into the mid-1960s.  

The building became the Dolphin Center in the late 1960s.  An early presence here was Alternate U, described by the N. Y. Amsterdam News on March 15, 1969 as a "'college' free of grades, credit and age restrictions created to give alienated Americans the tools to correct social injustices."  The school opened on the third floor on February 10 that year.

The article explained that its 1969 catalog included 25 courses:

...ranging in subjects from the King and Kennedys assassinations and the mimeograph as a revolutionary tool to life in Hanoi, anarchism, unidentified flying objects, institutionalized oppression, the Middle East and Marxian economics.

On June 30, 1971, the New York Militant described the Dolphin Center as "a beehive of effective organizing and nonviolent action."  Headquarters in the building, said the article, were "the Psychologists for Social Action, New York Sane Council, Vets for Peace, Medical Committee for Human Rights, Computer People for Peace and other groups."  The newly-formed Women's National Abortion Action Coalition (WONAAC) opened its headquarters here that year.

Also in the building was the Courtyard Playhouse.  In April 1970 soprano Judith Kurz "and others," according to The New York Times, performed in Performance Plus.  And the following year, on May 6, 1971, The Villager reported that the Courtyard Playhouse Foundation "is presenting a new children's show at 1:30 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday throughout the summer."  The children's shows, like Jack and the Beanstalk, produced in May 1974, were favorites for years.

The building was renovated in 2011-12.  The theater space became Theaterlab.  In 2017 the Offside Tavern occupied the ground floor and by 2019, Secret Loft was on the second floor.  During the televised Democratic Presidential Debates that year, "The comedians behind 'Pod Damn America,' a self-described gothic socialist comedy podcast, will offer commentary and riffs at Secret Loft," reported The New York Times.

The top floor was home to the Art of Our Century Gallery.  According to the Village Preservation Blog, in August 2020, "Art of Our Century Gallery was inspired by legendary art world figure Peggy Guggenheim's 1942-1947 gallery on 57th St."

Today Victor Farrar's 1921 storefront has been decimated.  But close inspection reveals that an elegant wavecrest frieze carved into the limestone survives--a relic of a time when patrons shopped for white gold-and-diamond cocktail rings and bracelets here.

many thanks to artist Carole Teller for suggesting this post

The Painting Industry Building - 45 West 14th Street

 

Although West 14th Street would not be lined with handsome brick and brownstone mansions until the 1840s, at least one business catered to the pioneering homeowners in the district by 1830.  Florist William Wilson & Brother, which operated at 45 West 14th Street, earned two awards in the American Institute of the City of New-York's Third Annual Fair that year--first place in the Table Bouquet category, and second place in Floral Design.

A half a century later, Wilson's florist shop sat within a bustling commercial thoroughfare.  The private homes had been converted to business purposes or were being used as boarding houses.  In the mid-1880s, the furniture store of Bruner & Moore Co. operated next door at 41 and 43 West 14th Street.

Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, May 25, 1878 (copyright expired)

In 1886, Bruner & Moore Co. acquired 45 West 14th Street and replaced their three vintage buildings with matching, five-story, brownstone-fronted neo-Grec-style structures.  Each of the identical buildings was three bays wide and shared a continuous cornice.  They were completed in 1887.

In an advertisement in The Sun on October 9, 1887, Bruner & Moore Co. boasted, "Having enlarged our warerooms we are now able to exhibit the largest and handsomest assortment ever offered in all the choice designs and novelties of the season."

Bruner & Moore Co. left West 14th Street early in 1893.  On February 15, The Carpet and Upholstery Trade Review noted that carpet and furniture dealer Julius Lewin had taken over two of the buildings--43 and 45.  J. Lewin & Co. advertised its opening on March 21, 1893 with "this unequalled bargain."  Lewin offered a "6-feet oak extension table, with 3 extra leaves, and 6 oak dining chairs" for $6.50.  (The sale price would translate to about $234 in 2025.)

A bachelor, Julius Lewin found romance four years after opening his store here.  On October 7, 1897, Furniture World reported that he would marry Bertha Heineman in Webster Hall on October 29.  "A large number of the groom's friends in the trade are recipients of an invitation," said the article, "and will tender their congratulations on the evening in question."

A fire on the top floor of 45 West 14th Street on June 25, 1900 resulted in the equivalent of $193,000 in damages today.  The Furniture Trade Review noted, however, that J. Lewin & Co. was fully insured.

The three neo-Grec buildings were essentially unchanged in 1941.  No. 45 West 14th Street is marked by the Menter sign over the storefront.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Apparel firms occupied the upper floors of 45 West 14th Street in the post-World War I years.  Among them were S. & B. Summer Clothing and the Admiral Shirt Company.  But the tenant list would greatly change by the outbreak of World War II as offices replaced factories.

The first appears to have been the ungainly-named New York State Board of the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic.  On January 18, 1941, The Advocate reported that association "held its first meeting for the new year at its headquarters, 45 West 14th st."  It was joined in 1955 by the newly organized Painting Industry Insurance Fund.  By 1958, 6,000 union members and 4,000 spouses made use of its Dental Center here.  The U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare's Digest of Prepaid Dental Care Plans in 1958 explained, "employer contributions to the Insurance Fund finance the dental program."

On August 19, 1959, The New York Times reported that the Painting Industry Building Corporation had purchased 45 West 14th Street "for cash."  A separate article noted that the building "will be altered for occupancy by a single tenant."

Those alterations included a remodeling of the facade.  William J. Conklin of the architectural firm of Mayer, Whittlesey & Glass removed the brownstone and replaced it with glass fronted with a screen of projecting arcades of steel and bronze.  The 1967 AIA Guide to New York commented, "Hopefully, this witty and elegant refacing of a tired facade will inspire its neighbors to follow."

In 1971 the building housed offices like the Painting Industry Pension Fund, the Painting Industry Annuity Fund and the Painting Industry Insurance Fund.  

The painters' unions were investigated by Federal and state law enforcement agencies beginning in the late 1980s.  On June 22, 1990, The New York Times reported that 12 men, "including eight top painters' union leaders," had been indicted and "accused of participating in a Mafia-led conspiracy."  The article continued,

The indictments portrayed the Lucchese organized crime family as the secret power in the city's multimillion-dollar painting industry for more than a decade...The Mafia imposed a hidden 10 percent tax on municipal contracts for painting subways, bridges, schools and highways and on bills paid by private developers who built skyscrapers and apartment buildings.

Among those indicted were "two suspected chiefs in the Lucchese family--Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso and Peter (Big Pete) Chiodo--as well as two painting company executives and eight top officials in the city's painters' union, the International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 9."

Until June 1989, James D. Bishop served as secretary-treasurer of the International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades District Council No. 9.  The New York Times said he "was influential in the city's construction trades from 1973 to 1989."  Starting as a bridge painter after leaving the Marine Corps, he became active in Local 806 and in 1973 was elected secretary-treasurer of District Council 9.

Bishop, it seems, was not ready to resign.  Law enforcement officials "said he had been forced out by leaders in the Lucchese crime family," said The Times.  Bishop's abrupt removal, apparently, was prompted by the mob's suspicion that Bishop was cooperating with investigators.  And, indeed, on May 18, 1990, The New York Times described him as "an important witness in a major labor-racketeering investigation."

The 60-year-old would not have a chance to testify.  On May 17, 1990, he backed his Lincoln sedan out of a parking space at an apartment building in Whitestone, Queens.  A man walked up to the closed drivers' side window and fired eight shots through the glass.  Bishop was hit "at least three times in the head and chest," according to The New York Times.  He put his automobile in forward gear and drove about 150 feet before striking a wooden fence.  His body was found slumped over the wheel.  Prosecutor Michael G. Cherkasky declared, "It was absolutely a mob hit--no doubt about it."

Bishop's death ultimately did not derail the Government's case.  Eleven of the 12 defendants pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison, including Paul Kamen, who replaced Bishop as secretary-treasurer of District Council 9.

William J. Conklin's Modernist facade stands out along West 14th Street.  In 2010 the AIA Guide to New York City, which hoped in 1967 that "it will inspire its neighbors to follow," said, "They didn't."

photographs by the author

The Lost Scotch Presbyterian Church - 53 West 14th Street

 

G. Stacy produced this cabinet-card of the Scotch Presbyterian Church in 1863.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

A schism developed within the First Presbyterian Church (better known as the Wall-Street Church) in 1756.  Unable to resolve the heated issue, a faction broke away, forming the First Associate Reformed Church.  (The name eventually became the Scotch Presbyterian Church).  One historian would later describe the turmoil as a disagreement over which version of the Psalms to use, while King's Handbook of New York in 1892 would recall, "The chief cause of the formation of the new society was difference of opinion regarding the use of musical instruments in the church."

The congregation erected its first church on Cedar Street, and in 1836 began construction of a handsome Greek Revival structure on the corner of  Grand and Crosby Streets.  The wealth of the congregation was reflected in the cost of that building, completed in 1837.  According to the New-York Daily Tribune, it cost "$120,000, of which the edifice cost $80,000."  That total outlay would equal just under $3.8 million in 2024.

The Cedar Street church.  rendering by Alexander Jackson Davis, May 15, 1830, original source unknown.

The Grand Street church, etching by F.B Nichols, B. Forrest, and William Wellstood, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

As fashionable society moved northward, so did the Scotch Presbyterian Church.  On May 10, 1852, the New-York Daily Tribune reported that the trustees had applied to the State Supreme Court "for leave to sell the church and grounds at the north-east corner of Grand and Crosby sts."  The article explained, "The object is to remove the church further up town, not above 14th-st."  Most of the "principal members" of the congregation, said the article, had already moved to the upscale neighborhood just west of Union Square.

West 14th Street was lined with the brick and brownstone mansions of millionaires like Frederick Havemeyer, his cousin William Havemeyer, and Andrew Norwood.  The church acquired property on the north side of 14th Street just east of Sixth Avenue and extending through to West 15th Street.  In 1853, "a still more costly structure" was erected, according to J. Alexander Patten in his 1874 Lives of the Clergy of New York and Brooklyn.  A schoolhouse was built on the 15th Street portion of the plot.  

King's Handbook of New York described the new church as "a large stone building, in the Italian Gothic style."  The architect borrowed elements of Sicilian Gothic, notably in the close-fitting portico, the rounded openings, and the wheel-like rose window.  Long corbel tables ran below the eaves, while the unusual tower rose to a crenellated peak.

The school behind the church operated as both a private day school and a Sunday school.  It was self-sustaining, operating on a fund of $50,000 "obtained from certain real estate bequeathed for the purpose by Alexander Robertson," according to Patten.

The Scotch Presbyterian Church was routinely the venue for meetings of the New York Presbytery, including clerical trials.  On November 11, 1890, for instance, The Sun reported that the Presbytery had met the previous day "to investigate the charges brought by the Rev. E. P. Payson of the Prospect Hill church against the Rev. R. H. McCready of Montgomery, Orange county."  Payson accused McCready of accepting a gift from his congregation of $400, "to which he is not entitled."

A much more sensational trial began here two years later.  On November 11, 1892, The Evening World wrote, "The trial of the famous Briggs heresy case before the Presbytery of New York begins this afternoon in the Scotch Presbyterian Church in West Fourteenth street."  The prosecuting committee had been working on its case against the Rev. Dr. Charles Augustus Briggs for more than a year and a half.  The Evening World explained, "The charge against Dr. Briggs accuses him of teaching doctrines to the students of the Union Theological Seminary which are in conflict with the Bible; and contrary to the Presbyterian standards."

Rev. Charles Augustus Briggs, from the collection of Columbia University's Burke Library

Among his purported heresies were the suggestion that there may have been errors in the Holy Scripture, that Moses was not the author of the Pentateuch, and that the Book of Isaiah was not written by Isaiah.  

Nearly a month later, on December 5, Briggs was called to testify on his own behalf.  The indignant clergyman presented a raft of evidence, The Sun reporting,

He submitted the whole of the Scriptures, the Old Testament in Hebrew and the Septuagint version, the Greek New Testament, the King James version of the Bible, and the revised version.  He also submitted the Standards of the Church, which had already been offered by his opponents.  He read several extracts from the Confession, and followed them up by submitting a great mass of documentary evidence.

Each time Briggs made what appeared to be a salient point, the onlookers in the galleries exploded in applause.  The Sun said it, "showed very plainly where the sympathy of the galleries was."  Enraged prosecutors finally threatened to clear the galleries "if the offense was repeated."

In the end, Briggs was excommunicated and defrocked in 1893.   He converted to Episcopalianism and thrived within that church.

At the time of the highly publicized trial, the Scotch Presbyterian Church was preparing to move again.  West 14th Street, once a residential enclave of wealth and fashion, was now one of stores, boarding houses and apartments.  In 1892, Dr. Charles Henry Parkhurst said the trustees "exhibited cowardice" in planning to move uptown.  The Examiner, a Baptist newspaper, came to their defense.  "A Protestant church cannot sustain itself below Fourteenth Street," it stressed, adding, "It must move or die."

When this photograph was taken by Robert L. Bracklow on September 16, 1887, commerce was already engulfing the block around the church.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

The trustees had acquired the southwest corner of Central Park West and 96th Street.  They commissioned the architectural firm of William H. Hume & Son to design what The New York Times would call "an imposing Romanesque pile" on the site.  

On October 2, 1893, The New York Times reported, "For the last time the congregation of the Scotch Presbyterian Church assembled yesterday morning in the old edifice in Fourteenth Street, near Sixth Avenue."  The following month, on November 28, The World reported, "The old Scotch Presbyterian Church...will hereafter be known as 'Metropolitan Hall,' the Rev. C. H. Yatman having held the first of a series of daily revival services there last night."

The article recalled, "Only last year Dr. Charles Briggs was tried there for heresy, but from now on the building will be the scene of a religious movement that knows no creed.  At 8 o'clock last night there were a thousand people in the hall."  The current revivalist movement was a renewal of what was known as the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century.  The World said, 

The interior of the church has been entirely remodelled and now looks more like a pleasure resort than a place of worship.  The pews have been taken out and replaced by chairs and upon the stage-like platform stands a piano.  The spirit of the Presbyterian Assembly has departed.

The building's life as Metropolitan Hall was relatively short-lived.  On May 11, 1895, the Record & Guide reported that Nathan Straus had purchased the church.  "We are informed that this property will be improved by the erection of a large mercantile building and will probably be occupied by R. H. Macy & Co," said the article.

Straus replaced the church with a commercial building, but not for R. H. Macy & Co.  (In 1897 a Macy structure was erected directly across the street at 56 West 14th Street).  Straus leased the new building that engulfed the entire former church property through to West 15th Street to Samuel D. Babcock & George P. Slade.  That building was demolished for an apartment building, completed in 1962.

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The R. H. Macy & Co. Annex - 56 West 14th Street

 

In July 1871, when Albert Levi broke ground for a four-story brick store at 56 West 14th Street, just east of Sixth Avenue, the district had transformed from high-class private homes to boarding houses and stores.  On Sixth Avenue, steps away from Levi's site, Rowland Hussey Macy had operated his fancy goods store since 1858.  Macy had started out with a small shop, living above it with his family.  Starting in 1863 he expanded into neighboring buildings until his mish-mash of eleven buildings would engulf the Sixth Avenue blockfront from 13th to 14th Streets and around both corners.

Astoundingly, only two months after Levi's building plans were filed, the brick building on 14th Street was completed.  On September 4, 1871 an announcement appeared in the New York Herald:

Albert Levi has removed from his old established stand, 321 Canal street, to the more centrally situated store, 56 West Fourteenth Street, where he will open on Tuesday, the 5th inst., under the firm of Albert Levi & Bro., with an entire new stock of fine watches, jewelry, sterling silver ware,  &c.

By the last decade of the century, the district known as the Ladies' Mile was lined with lavish emporiums.  The Sixth Avenue elevated, opened in 1878, conveniently transported women shoppers to the district.  The former Albert Levi & Bro. building had become home to Rothschild's millinery and fancy goods store by 1893.

Nathan and Isidor Straus had controlling interest in Macy's at the time (Roland Macy had died in 1877).  Like Macy, they continued to expand the massive Sixth Avenue store, adding two annexes on West 13th Street in 1892 and 1894.  And they were not finished.

In April 1897, the architectural firm of Schickel & Ditmars filed plans for a $90,000, "nine-story-and-basement brick store" on the site of the old Albert Levi building for Nathan and Isidore Straus.  The construction costs of this latest annex would translate to about $3 million in 2023.

The slim limestone-clad structure--what would be called a sliver building today--was the tallest in the neighborhood.  Its effervescent Beaux Arts style design included handsome carved angel heads above the storefront that flanked a panel announcing the store's name.  The rusticated second and third floors featured a vast arched window and a French style balcony above a carved cartouche.  Massive snarling lions' heads supported fruit-carved brackets beneath the ninth floor balcony.  A copper cornice crowned the edifice.

Until recently, the blank panel held faded but legible lettering that read "Macy's."

As had been the case with Albert Levi's building, construction proceeded at a lighting-fast pace.  On December 13, 1897, eight months after the plans were filed, an R. H. Macy & Co. advertisement in The Evening Post was titled "Christmas Presents for Everybody."  It said in part:

Our New Entrance to the main store (open to-day) is another step of progress in our constant effort to improve our facilities and add to the comfort of our customers.  It is at 56 West 14th Street and opens into our Newest Building, a beautiful and artistic addition to the architectural attractions of 14th Street.

The ad said that at the Macy Annex, "You can shop there all day with perfect comfort."

In June 1902, R. H. Macy & Co. hired the architectural firm of De Lemos & Cordes to do $50,000 in renovations to the West 14th Street building.  (The architects had designed the massive department store building of Macy's greatest competitor, Siegel-Cooper, on Sixth Avenue in 1896.)  The New-York Tribune noted that "new corridors and staircase are to be put in."  The tremendous outlay is surprising, considering that in July 1901 R. H. Macy & Co. had announced it would erect a massive, 1.5 million-square-foot department store significantly north of the Ladies' Mile, on Herald Square.

On January 29, 1903 the New-York Tribune reported that Nathan Straus had sold 56 West 14th Street, "formerly the annex to R. H. Macy & Co's. store in Fourteenth-st.," to coffee importer Hermann Sielcken.  Sielcken had paid "more than a million dollars" for the structure, or 32 times that much in 2023 dollars.  "Mr. Sielcken said that he had no intention of using the building for his business," said that article explaining that he purchased the property as an investment.  "The building is practically new and is one of the tallest buildings in West Fourteenth-st."

The article noted that Henry Seigel, R. H. Macy & Co.'s nemesis, intended "to erect a large drygoods store" on the site of the former Macy's main store.  "He was asked last night if he would lease or had leased the annex, but he declined to talk on this matter."  The secret came out two days later.  The Chicago Tribune reported on January 31, "Henry Siegel authorized a statement to the effect that he had leased the ten [sic] story building running through from 56 West Fourteenth street to 55 to 61 West Thirteenth street, from Herman Sielcken, who purchased the property a few days ago."  Siegel's 21-year lease came with the staggering rent of $70,000 per year.

Women in shirtwaists and exuberant millinery pass the former Macy's Annex around 1904.  from the collection of the Library of Congress.

Ironically, a month later Herman Sielcken sold the building to the Fourteenth Street Realty Co.  Two of its directors were Edmund E. Wise, a nephew of the Strauses and attorney for R. H. Macy & Co., and William W. Fitzhugh, the firm's auditor.  

If Seigel originally intended to demolish all of the old Macy's properties, it never happened.  Ruined by scandal, falsification of books, and misappropriation of company funds, he was imprisoned in 1914.

As the fashionable shopping district continued to migrate northward, West 14th Street became a center of lower-end stores.  In February 1918, with World War I still raging, the U. S. Army's Quartermaster Department announced it would lease 56 West 14th Street "for distribution purposes."

Two years later, on October 17, 1920, The New York Times reported that Acker, Merrall & Condit had purchased and moved into the former Macy & Co. annex building.  "More than $200,000 has been spent in remodeling the structure, and the firm's removal there is an important commercial change and addition to the one-time shopping section of Fourteenth Street," said that article.

Acker, Merrall & Condit had long roots, going back to a business founded in 1820.  The firm imported luxury commodities, like fine wines, "fancy groceries," and cigars.  The ground floor was leased to Kanter's Department Store, which dealt in a variety of goods from "gent's furnishings," to dry goods, shoes and furs.  The store remained through 1926, after which a Sears, Roebuck & Co. branch occupied the space for two years.

Although it retained possession of the property, in 1931 Acker, Merrall & Condit relocated.  The Hale Desk Company signed a ten year lease starting on May 1 that year for all but the ground floor space.  The firm used the upper floors, where well-dressed women had once shopped for kid gloves and feathery hats, as an office furniture warehouse through 1939.

That year The New York Sun reported that the Noma Electric Corporation had purchased the building, calling it "an important transaction in the Fourteenth street section."  Founded in 1925 by Albert Sadacca, the firm was an offshoot of his family's Christmas light manufacturing company, the National Outfit Manufacturers Association.  Reorganized in 1953 as Noma Lites, Inc., it was reportedly the largest maker of Christmas lighting decorations in the world at one point.  The firm remained in the building until its closure in 1965. 

A close-up of the 1904 photograph shows the original first floor appearance and a panel placed over the Macy's sign above the entrance.  (Note the little boy in the sailor suit.)  from the collection of the Library of Congress (cropped)

The building next became home to TICO Plastics, here until 1971, and art book publishers Clarke & Way, Inc. which closed in 1970.  The painted Macy's sign above the storefront survived, protected for some years by an added panel.  By 2011, when the building was granted individual landmark designation, it was greatly faded, but still legible.  Recently, however, the signage that had survived since 1897 was painted over.

Although the ground floor has been brutalized, the upper portion of the former R. H. Macy & Co. Annex building remains essentially intact.

photographs by the author

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post

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

The Much-Abused Frederick C. Havemeyer House - 313 West 14th Street

 

Little hint of the former mansion's architectural beauty and opulence remains.

In the first years of the 1840's sumptuous brownstone mansions began appearing on West 14th Street, from Union Square west to Ninth Avenue.  The 25-foot-wide residence completed around 1843 at 193 West 14th Street (renumbered 313 in 1868)  left no question as to the vast wealth of its owner.

The Italianate style mansion rose four stories above an especially high English basement.  Its stone stoop rose to an arched entrance under a prominent cornice supported by foliate brackets.  The architrave windows sat on molded sills upon tiny brackets, and were crowned by gently arched lintels.  The handsome cornice included paired, scrolled brackets and a paneled fascia with central rosettes.

Although the stoop was removed in 1925, the mansion (left) otherwise retained its 1840 appearance.  from the collection of the New-York Historical Society.

Sugar refiner Frederick Christian Havemeyer Jr. moved his family into 193 West 14th Street.  His father and uncle, William, had opened a sugar refinery in 1807.  Upon their retirement in 1828, Frederick Jr. and his cousin William took over, renaming it W. F. & F. C. Havemeyer.  By the time Frederick's family moved into the West 14th Street residence, both were wealthy, and William was mayor of New York City.  (The cousins' close relationship may have prompted William to move into a house nearby at 113 West 14th Street around 1867.)

Frederick and his wife, the former Sarah Louise Osborne Henderson, were married in 1831 and now had nine children.  A tenth child, Warren H., was born in 1849.  

Frederick Christian Havemeyer and Sarah Louise Osborne Henderson Havemeyer.  original sources unknown

The following year Sarah became ill.  After what the New York Herald called a "lingering illness," she died on the morning of January 7, 1851 at the age of 39.  Her funeral was held in the parlor two days later.

There would be second funeral in the house that year.  Little Warren died on September 9.  His tiny casket sat in the parlor until his funeral on September 11, 1851.

Although there was, of course, at least one nurse on staff in the Havemeyer mansion, Frederick enlisted the help of his mother and mother-in-law, Catharine Billiger Havemeyer and Mary Osborne Henderson, to help rear the children.  Several of the older boys were sent off to exclusive private boys' schools.  In 1853 14-year-old Theodore went to Mr. Betts' School in Stamford, Connecticut, and the following year his two younger brothers, 7-year-old Henry and 9-year-old Thomas, were sent to the Bellport Academy on Long Island.  

In November 1859 Havemeyer listed the West 14th Street mansion for sale.  The advertisement boasted, "This House is new, and has just been finished in the very best manner."

It was purchased by Washington Smith, who had formerly lived nearby at 241 West 19th Street.  Also moving into the house was his son, Washington Irving Smith.  They were partners in Washington Smith & Son, a pottery factory.  Originally called Greenwich Pottery, the firm did not make decorative jardinières or terra cotta plaques, but a much more utilitarian product--sewer pipes. 

Following the senior Smith's death, the firm's name was changed to Washington I. Smith & Co.  Trow's New York City Directory, 1865 (copyright expired)

Sadly, Smith would not enjoy his opulent new home for long.  He died on January 27, 1863 at the age of 54.  Once again a funeral was held in the parlor.  Smith's estate sold the mansion at auction on April 1 that same year.

It was purchased by wealthy tobacco merchant Albert S. Rosenbaum and his wife Elizabeth.  The couple had a son and four daughters.  Born in Germany, he had gone to California during the 1849 Gold Rush.  The New York Times said, "by dint of great business tact, shrewdness, and industry [he] rapidly accumulated money, which he invested advantageously in San Francisco real estate.”  Now back in New York, he founded his tobacco business and became a director in the street railroads like the Third Avenue Surface Railroad Company, the Morris Avenue Railroad Company and the Brook Avenue Railroad Company.  

Upscale neighborhoods like this were closely guarded by foot patrolmen.  Officer David Walsh was in charge of the beat on the night of April 22, 1869 when he interrupted a break-in.  The New York Herald reported that he caught Andrew Leaney and Jeremiah Shaunessy trying "to enter the dwelling house of Albert S. Rosenham [sic], No. 313 West Fourteenth street."  Despite being caught in the act, both men pleaded not guilty.

A daughter, Leonora, was born in August that year.  Tragically, she died just under eight months later.  As had been the case several times before, her funeral was held in the parlor on April 24, 1870.  

Within the decade, the once exclusive block saw the incursion of commerce.  Wealthy homeowners migrated north, and in December 1889 the Rosenbaums moved to the former Bonesteel house at 5 East 73rd Street.  The family retained possession of 313 West 14th Street, leasing it.

West 14th Street was rapidly becoming the center of Manhattan's wealthy Latin community.  No. 313 West 14th Street became what newspapers called a "Spanish boarding house."  Its residents were both influential and well-to-do.  On November 11, 1897, for instance, The Sun reported on the arrival in New York City of two Cubans, injured in the Spanish-American War.  One of them was F. B. Caballero, described by the newspaper as "an officer in the insurgent army."  The article said, "He is wounded and has come for surgical treatment.  He will stop temporarily at No. 313 West Fourteenth street."

On August 17, 1898 the Cuban Arteaga family arrived in New York and took rooms at 313 West 14th Street.  The New York Times reported, "the father has been a commission merchant [in Venezuela] for several years.  The visit to New York was in the interest of property which the elder Arteaga owned in Cuba."  Traveling with their parents was Ricardo, a correspondent in the Spanish department of Henry W. Peabody & Co., and Augusto, "a harmlessly demented lad seventeen years old," according to the newspaper.

On the day they settled into the boarding house, Augusto wandered away.  Challenged with what possibly would be diagnosed as autism today, he was hopelessly lost in the city.  The family extended their stay for four months before giving up hope, leaving only Ricardo behind to search.  A year later, on September 11, 1899, The New York Times wrote, "his brother believes that he may yet be found alive in some asylum in New York or vicinity, and has offered a reward for any information concerning his whereabouts."  It is unclear if Augusto was ever found.

The boarding house would operate for years, accommodating well-to-do Hispanic New Yorkers.  On January 14, 1903, for instance, the Musical Courier reported, "Mrs. Manuela Agramonte, wife of Emilio Agramonte, the well known teacher of music, died at her home, 313 West Fourteenth street, Monday.  She was fifty-seven years old and a native of Cuba."

Five months later, on May 1, The New York Times reported, "Bernardo Bueno, thirty-seven years old, a Cuba sugar and tobacco plantation owner, said to have been a millionaire...committed suicide yesterday afternoon by shooting himself at 313 West Fourteenth Street."  Bueno had been a captain in the Cuban army during the Spanish-American War, and had come to know Theodore Roosevelt.

A reporter visited 313 West 14th Street and spoke to Edward Agramonte, Manuela's son.  According to him, "Bueno had 400 men employed on his plantation around Santiago de Cuba, on which was machinery valued at $100,000."

An advertisement in the New York Herald on April 24, 1909  seems to have been reaching out to English-speaking boarders as well.  It read, "Spanish-American Board, Granada House, 313 West 14th; good opportunity to learn Spanish Free."

On July 15, 1914, the president of Mexico, Victoriano Huerta bowed to international pressure and resigned.  Before leaving, he sold or removed the valuable works of art in the presidential palace.  On October 29, 1914, the New-York Tribune reported that "in spite of revolutions and business depression the Mexican government has purchased several valuable paintings by old masters, which are now in this city.  The pictures were brought here from Europe by Dr. Juan Valez, a Spanish art expert, and member of the Royal Academy, who has just arrived from Europe and is staying at 313 West 14th st."  Valez was on his way to Mexico with more than 50 paintings "by Spanish, French, Dutch and English masters," said the article.  "Some of the canvases are 300 years old."

According to Peter Hulme in his The Dinner at Gonfarone's, Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío boarded here in the spring of 1915.  He would have been in the company of many Mexicans nationals who had fled the ongoing upheaval at home.

On March 20, 1916 an article in the New York Tribune titled, "Latin Refugees Still Fear [Pancho] Villa" began by saying, "Behind the curtains of the high-ceilinged old sitting room of La Granada, that boarding house of all the world, at 313 West Fourteenth Street, a little group of Mexican refugees daily refight the battles across the border."  Included in the group was Dr. Juan Velez--who had first stayed here on his way to Mexico with the paintings for the presidential palace.  He had just returned from there three days earlier and was animatedly relating the situation at home to his compatriots.  "His black eyes gleam with fervor, his thin, black-bearded face looks suddenly ferocious, and he is making furious lunges in the air with a knife,' said the article.

On January 19, 1924, the Real Estate Record & Guide reported that the estate of Albert S. Rosenbaum had sold 313 West 14th Street.  "It is the first sale of the parcel since 1863," said the article.  The new owner, Dr. James A. Clark, removed the stoop and installed his doctor's office in the basement level, and lived in the upper portion.  

In 1941 the Dr. James A. Clark residence was the last along the row to hint at the block's former appearance.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Dr. Clark would live and practice from the address through the 1950s.  Then in 1960 the building was renovated as apartments, two per floor.  The early Victorian architectural elements were shaved off in a effort to make the building appear more modern.  Today the sadly abused structure gives little hint of its former opulence.

photographs by the author

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The James McCreery House - 325 East 14th Street

 

Born in Ireland in 1826, James McCreery arrived in the United States when he was about 20 years old, settling first in Baltimore.  He relocated to New York City to join the drygoods firm of Upson, Pierson & Lake on Broadway.  In 1851 he married Fanny Maria Crawford and the couple moved into the fine house at 173 East 14th Street (renumbered 325 in 1868), between First and Second Avenues. 

It was one of a recently-erected row of 23-foot-wide, Greek Revival homes.  A high stoop rose above the English basement to the entrance.  Here the architect gave pilasters highly unusual Egyptian lotus capitals decorated with carved anthemia.   The influence of the Italianate style was reflected in the stoop ironwork, the floor-to-ceiling parlor windows, and the ornate bracketed cornice.

Heavily weathered today, the Egyptian capitals were highly unexpected.

Interestingly, McCreery's brother, John, moved briefly into the house with the newlyweds.  John was a partner in the McCreery & Goulding drygoods firm at 18 John Street.  He was no longer listed at the 14th Street address by 1853.

James and Fanny would have four sons: James Crawford, born in 1853; Andrew born in 1857; Robert Samuel, who arrived in 1860; and William John, born three years later.  Just before William John's birth, the family moved to 15 Washington Place, across the street from Cornelius Vanderbilt I.  McCreery had risen within Upson, Pierson & Lake following the retirement of Upson.  By 1867 he would take control of the firm, changing its name to McCreery & Co. and becoming one of the city's wealthiest businessmen.

James McCreery, image via Notable New Yorkers 1869-1899 (copyright expired)

McCreery rented the 14th Street house, advertising in the New York Herald on April 16, 1862:

East Fourteenth Street--To rent, the three story and attic brown stone, high stoop House 173 East Fourteenth street, between First and Second avenues, 23-1/2 feet front, to a private family only.

The James Brady family lived here in the 1860's, and while McCreery's ad stressed "private family only," it did not prohibit the taking in of a boarder, as was common.   From 1864 through 1869 Frederick Sackett Hanford rented a room while he attended Columbia University.  The young man's home was in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

Following Brady's death at the age of 69 in January 1870, 325 East 14th Street became home to the Thomas Le Claire family.  Sharing the house was Le Claire's sister-in-law, Margaret Dean, as well as her adult daughter, Frances, son-in-law, Washington L. Jaques, and their children.  

The year 1872 would be a traumatic one for the family.  On June 25, Frances and Washington's eight-month-old son George Brower Jaques died.  Their youngest child, his little casket sat in the parlor until his funeral two days later.  And then, only three months later, Margaret Dean died at the age of 63 "after a lingering illness," according to The New York Sun.   

There would be a third funeral in the house three years later.  Thomas Le Claire contracted Bright's disease, a kidney condition known today as nephritis.  He died at the age of 58 on June 25, 1875 and his funeral was held in the house on the 27th.

By now 14th Street had become the center of Manhattan's theater district.  Catherine Charles, the widow of John Charles, was a close friend of the McCreerys.  Catherine purchased 325 East 14th Street and began operating it as a "theatrical boarding house."

Among her more tragic boarders was William Carleton who took a room in 1884.  An Irish-born actor, author, and playwright, he had been known as the Great Carleton.   The New York Herald noted, "Not many years ago he was quite a favorite before the footlights, earned a handsome salary, and was hailed with delight on the 'Square' as a good fellow, because he spent his earnings freely and indiscriminately."

But when he rented his room from Catherine, he had not worked in two years.   He made some money by writing songs and plays, and received help from the Actors' Fund Association.  The New York Herald explained his fall, saying "But by and by there came a change.  William sought the wine cup too frequently and neglected his business...His clothes began to look shabby, his appearance changed and people on the square no longer pressed forward to welcome the comedian and playwright."

He lived over a year in the 14th Street house where, according to the newspaper, Catherine Charles "by words and kindness, endeavored to make things pleasant for the actor.  She said he was always so gentlemanly in his manner and so cheerful in disposition that no one could fail to like him."  Carleton's continued drinking prompted the Actors' Fund to cease supporting him, and living in a boarding house became too costly.  He left in May 1885 to take a furnished room a block away at 316 East 14th Street.

Carleton became ill early in August 1885.  The New York Herald said that Catherine and one of her boarders, a Mrs. Chandler, "brought the sick scion many nourishments.  They saw that he wanted for nothing during his illness, and when he was able to get about again, he was profuse in his thanks."  But the once-proud thespian and writer was broken.  And on August 19, 1885 the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that the odor of gas in the rooming house was traced to Carleton's room.  "When the door was forced open he was found dead, lying across the bed."

Catherine's boarders in the 1890's included opera house proprietor Wallace H. Frisbie, Irish comedian Edward J. Heffernan, Eva Marshal (described by the New York Herald as "the high kicking soubrette"), vocalist Charles Burt, and actor Charles DeForrest and his actress wife Vera.

On December 19, 1899, the New York Morning Telegraph reported, "It takes something pretty strong to make the average boarders in a theatrical house complain, but there were many present in court to make all sorts of charges against [Charles] DeForrest, who, by all accounts, had left the place looking like a Kansas ranch after a friendly call from an ably built cyclone."

Vera testified that her husband had come home drunk "and terrorized the boarding house by smashing furniture, bombarding doors with crockery, and otherwise making life a horrible reality for all concerned."  When Policeman Fletcher started up the stairs, "he met a wash basin sailing down in his direction and ducked his head in time to avoid a collision."  DeForrest barricaded himself in his room while "along the hallways actors and actresses stuck their heads out to note the progress of the storm.  Broken crockery and pieces of chairs were strewn along the hall."  

DeForrest was arrested, but only after a struggle.  The article said, "Charles was not a thing of beauty when arraigned.  His head and face had been battered until his countenance resembled that upon a copper cent after a train had passed over it."   Referring to Officer Fletcher, he complained to the judge, "There was no reason why he should have assaulted me."  The magistrate promised, "I am going to inquire into that," but in the meantime he held the actor in $500 bail.

Two boarders who were most definitely not involved in the theater arrived on April 3, 1902.  Signing in as Mr. and Mrs. Harry Place, the couple were in reality Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, known to authorities as the outlaw and member of Butch Cassidy's "Wild Bunch," Sundance Kid, and his wife, Etta Place.  By now, the aging Catherine Charles had help from her niece in running the house, and at least two biographies of the Sundance Kid refer to 325 East 14th Street as "Mrs. Thompson's."  The couple remained only until July 10, 1902 when they sailed to South America on the steamer Honorius.

The Sundance Kid and Etta Place posed for his photograph at DeYoung's Studio at 857 Broadway while staying here.

As she had done with William Carleton, Catherine maintained close relationships with many of her boarders.  Jerry Clayton was one of those.  A partner in the Stanton-Olifan Trio, well known to vaudeville audiences, he enlisted in the Army in 1917.  When he was killed in action on September 3, 1918, the Government listed his next of kin as Catherine Charles.

One of Catherine's longest-lasting boarders was Frank J. Hurley, a vaudeville acrobat who went by the stage name Frank Rossi.  He moved in around 1892 and as the decades passed, began helping his aging landlady.  It was a kindness that did not escape the appreciation of Catherine Charles.  

On May 16, 1922 she rewrote her will.  Interestingly, it was witnessed by J. A. McCreery, presumably the grandson of James McCreery.  The will gave her entire estate to Frank Hurley, "in recognition of his helpful assistance to me in carrying on the business of the house and in attending to my personal wants while I was in suffering health."  After having run the boarding house for more than four decades, Catherine died on June 28, 1922.

Around 1932 the basement level was converted to an Italian restaurant, Lido Dell' East.

The Daily Worker, October 26, 1932.

A renovation in 1954 resulted in six furnished rooms per floor in the upper stories.  At the time the Spanish restaurant Il Faro had operated on West 14th Street since 1927.  In 1968, The Underground Gourmet reported, "Il Faro has moved eastward to somewhat fancier quarters at 325 East 14th Street, but prices and menu remain virtually unchanged."

Il Faro eventually moved west again, to 823 Greenwich Street.  By 1993 the restaurant space was home to the Filipino restaurant, Manila Garden.  The New York Times food critic Elaine Louie said of it on October 5, 1994, "Napkins are linen, flowers are fresh, and drinks aren't soda pop."

That same year the upper portion of the house was converted to apartments, one per floor.  Around the turn of the century the Crocodile Lounge moved into the restaurant space.  Today, of the long row of homes, the McCreery house is the best preserved.  With little imagination the passerby can imagine its well-dressed occupants alighting from their carriage before the stoop.

photographs by the author

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