The 1893 248 West 23rd Street

 

Contractor and real estate developer Isidore Hoffstadt and his wife, Bettie, often worked as a team--Bettie handling the business side and Isidore the construction.  On May 15, 1893, the New York Herald reported that Bettie Hoffstadt had spent $28,000 for the 25-foot-wide, four-story brownstone at 248 West 23rd Street.  On the site, Hoffstadt erected a six-story business building.

The structure went up at lighting speed and construction was completed before the end of the year.  The pace was made possible by the pre-fabricated, cast iron faceted bay that engulfed most of the second through sixth floors.  Above a cast iron base, the bay nestled between beige brick piers decorated with terra cotta tiles and carved "capitals."  A commercial take on Italian Renaissance Revival, the design was capped by an elaborate pressed metal cornice.

Immediately upon its completion, the Hoffstadts sold 248 West 23rd Street to William C. G. Wilson for $86,000, or about $3.2 million in 2026 terms.  The building's early tenants included two disparate lighting companies--The Incandescent Gas Lamp Co. and the Standard Electric Light and Novelty Co.

On March 15, 1894, the cumbersomely named The Plumbers' Trade Journal, Gas, Steam and Hot Water Fitters' Review reported on the former firm's innovation in lighting.  "This burner they claim will distribute the gas evenly allowing a large volume of oxygen to unite with the gas and gives a brilliant mellow light."

The Sun, November 18, 1897 (copyright expired)

In reporting on the Standard Electric Lamp & Novelty Company on September 5, 1896, Western Electrician noted, "The company has prepared a large number of new designs in miniature incandescent lamps for decorative purposes that are very beautiful and of various shades of color and forms."  In addition to the firm's cutting edge technology in electric lighting, it also manufactured "complete X-ray outfits," according to the article.

Other tenants by the turn of the century were Samuel Budd, who made "fine custom shirts;" Demmerle & Co., makers of automobile apparel like cloth caps and dusters; Bennett & Felt, "dealers in mantels," and the somewhat shady The Animal World and The Humane Alliance.

The latter organization was headed by E. C. Vick.  His operation came crashing down when he was arrested on February 25, 1901 for "using the United States mails for fraudulent purposes," according to The New York Times.  Vick placed advertisements in newspapers nationwide that promised that "he would give to all who wished them pet animals of all species" for free.  But there were conditions.

First, the recipient had to take a pair of animals, one male and the other female, and "agree to sell to The Animal World the first of the progeny."  The recipient also had to purchase a $1 membership to The Animal World and the Humane Alliance.  But when the prospective subscriber send off his $1, instead of receiving his pair of gray squirrels or Belgian hares or even Shetland ponies, he received a letter that said, "on receipt of the requisite number of subscriptions to the publications...the animals would be shipped forthwith."  

According to Post Office Inspector Sutton, letters of complaint had come pouring into his office, "by the score from all parts of the country."  Vick defended himself, saying that his arrest was "a mistake" and that he would show that "everything was on the square."

Uncontestedly "on the square" was Demmerle & Co.  Having started out manufacturing cloth caps for automobile drivers, by 1903 it was designing and making entire outfits.  On October 1 that year, the Cycle & Automobile Trade Journal reported on the company's new invention--a "combination garment...intended for use as an overcoat or as pants and coat."  The ankle-length coat could be modified by wrapping the lower portions around the legs, creating "pants."  The article said, "Where it is necessary to straddle a steering pillar to manipulate foot levers, this coat will be found very useful in cold weather as both limbs are protected against the cold and wind."

The lower portion Demmerle automobile coat could be converted to pants.  Cycle & Automobile Trade Journal, October 1, 1903 (copyright expired)

Demmerle & Co. introduced another innovation in automobile apparel that year--"the first automobile gown."   The Evening World explained on January 23, 1903, "The proper attire for the feminine motorist is more difficult to determine than any other style of garment."  At the request of "Mrs. Vanderbilt" (the article did not specify which of the Vanderbilt women), Demmerle & Co. had designed "a tailor suit of tan suede."  The article said the socialite requested "something that would be warm and comfortable and at the same time display her shapely figure."

Demmerle & Co. created this custom-made "automobile suit" for Mrs. Vanderbilt.  The Evening World,  January 23, 1903 (copyright expired)

The Vanderbilt suit sparked an entire line of women's apparel for automobile travel.

Demmerle & Co. did not rely solely on their in-house designers.  On May 21, 1904, Automobile Topics reported, "Mr. L. Mendelsohn, of Demmerle & Co., 248 West Twenty-third street, sailed on Tuesday for Europe...He expects to study the situation in the automobile clothing trade abroad and will return with many novelties."

The Clothier & Furnisher, August 1907 (copyright expired)

Mendelsohn's trip might have surprised many in the industry.  The previous month, 248 West 23rd Street was ravaged by fire.  Boys playing in the vacant lot next door on April 14, 1904 built a bonfire.  It spread into the building through a first floor window.  The New York Times reported that the fire "raged on the first, second, and third floors for nearly half an hour."  The Demmerle & Co. employees were quickly evacuated, but the 50 young women who were employed in Samuel Gordon's shirt factory on the top two floors were trapped.

The Times said the women "became panic-stricken.  A few of them were induced by three policemen to climb out over the roof to safety, but the majority were taken down in the elevator."  Hugh Norton, known by the building's occupants as Hughey, was the elevator operator.  According to The Spectator, he "stuck by his elevator and ran it up ten times through smoke and flame until every one of the imprisoned girls was brought down to safety."  The New York Times reported, "When the last of the girls were safe in the street the elevator man fell in a faint, completely exhausted."  

In response to Norton's actions, according to The Spectator on April 21, "Andrew Carnegie has just established a fund of $5,000,000 from which such heroes are to be rewarded."

Edward Rhine moved his Rhine & Co. into the building in 1907.  The Millinery Trade Review reported that the firm had "increased their facilities for the manufacture of millinery linings, as well as their sales of millinery lining silk."  

The company had barely settled in when an employer, fabric cutter Joseph Moses, approached Edward Rhine, "with the proposition that for $700 he would give Rhine information leading to the arrest of employees in his establishment who were robbing him," reported the New York Herald on May 26, 1907.  Rhine notified the police and a detective provided him a marked $10 bill and instructed him to make an appointment with Moses.

Rhine met Moses at the corner of Nassau and Fulton Streets on the night of May 25.  After taking the bill, Moses told Rhine that "if he would watch the corner of Bleecker and Carmine Streets later in the evening he would discover a dishonest employee."  At that point, undercover detectives arrested Moses.

Detectives then went to Bleecker and Carmine and waited.  Two men met on the corner, one with a suitcase and the other with a large bundle, and entered a saloon.  The man with the bundle was Sephan Nilan, an employee of Edward Rhine.

The detectives followed the pair into a back room.  The New York Herald said they "found four men clustered about a table, upon which were displayed about $500 worth of fine silks and feathers."  All four were arrested and, according to the article, police would release Moses the next day.

Fairchild's Men's Wear Directory, 1907 (copyright expired)

In 1912, Demmerle & Co. employed 78 workers, 29 of whom were females and 3 were teenagers between 14 and 16 years old.  By then, the firm had expanded into full automobile wardrobes, including footwear and chauffeurs' uniforms.

The Savoy Waist and Dress Company occupied the top floor in 1914 when another example of heroism during a fire took place.  At around 6:00 on the night of October 15, Mabel Snedecker, the firm's owner, discovered that the back stairway was in flames.  A series of full-width, balcony-like fire escapes fronted the 23rd Street facade and Snedecker directed her workforce of 60 young women toward the fire escapes.  As they exited the building, they saw that "hundreds of persons" had gathered on the street below, "according to the New York Herald.  The article said, "In the excitement two girls fainted."

The building-wide, platform-like fire escapes that saved the lives of the Savoy Waist and Dress Company employees were still in place in 1940.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Calling their employer a "heroine," the New York Herald said, "They were carried down the fire escape to safety on Miss Snedecker's back before the firemen arrived."  The newspaper said that, while the fire was confined to the top floor, the Savoy Waist and Dress Company factory was "entirely destroyed."

In 1914, the ground floor space became home to the American Soda Fountain Company.  It would remain at least into the 1920s.

By the early Depression years, apparel firms had migrated northward and 248 West 23rd Street began seeing a different type of tenant.  In February 1930, for instance, the Skinnell Silver Plating Company moved into the building.

In the mid-1960s, A Dinnerman Storage occupied at least one of the lofts, and in 1974 the Printmaking Workshop was in the building.  The New York Amsterdam News explained on July 20 that year that the organization "endeavors to make art a part of each student's life experience--using their own creative images as the catalyst."

Healthy Chelsea, a health food store, occupied the ground floor space in the mid-1980s.  It remained until 2009, replaced by a dentist office, a frozen yogurt shop, and finally a tax consultant firm in 2015.  

The storefront has been modernized with unflattering panels; however, the upper floors remain essentially intact.  Although there was never an official renovation to residential, there are six apartments in the building today.

photographs by the author

Walter H. Jackson's Cornish Arms Hotel (The Broadmoor) - 315 West 23rd Street

 

Founded in 1791 "for the advice and assistance of Englishmen in distress," the Sons of St. George focused greatly on supporting British war brides following World War I.  But in 1925 it turned its attention to a construction project--an upscale hotel.

On May 24, 1925, The New York Times reported, "The American Order [of] Sons of St. George...laid the cornerstone yesterday afternoon of the new Cornish Arms Hotel, 311-323 West Twenty-third Street, the new national headquarters of the organization."  Designed by Walter H. Jackson, the article said, "The new building will be twelve stories high, of brick and concrete fireproof construction, and will cost with full equipment $1,500,000."  (That figure would translate to more than $26 million in 2024.)

The Cornish Arms Hotel opened on December 5, 1926.  In addition to its 340 guest rooms, there were a ballroom, lodge and club rooms for the Order of St. George, a lounge, and dining rooms.  There was also a foreign exchange office for international guests.  

A postcard for the "New Cornish Arms Hotel" included still-surviving rowhouses.

Jackson faced the neo-Renaissance style structure in beige brick trimmed in terra cotta.  Within the two-story concrete base were six stores.  Deep light courts behind the main elevation provided natural light and ventilation to the interior rooms.  Fireproofing was augmented by concrete floors throughout "covered with carpets," according to Buildings and Building Management on January 4, 1926.  The journal noted, "The grand ball room, banquet rooms and club room are on the 12th floor.  The floors of these rooms are laid in maple; the wainscots are marble, and walls and ceilings are ornamental plaster."

A typical floorplan (above) and the 12th floor layout (below).  Buildings and Building Management, January 4, 1926 (copyright expired)

The Cornish Arms management initiated an unusual marketing ploy.  An advertisement in the December 6, 1927 edition of The Scientific Monthly was titled, "A New Hotel Without 'Ups'!  It's Never Been Done Before!  One Price of All the Rooms!"  It said in part, "This convenient and comfortable new hotel has only one price for a single room and bath, $3.00 per day.  Double rooms for two, with bath, $4.50.  (The single room price would equal about $52.50 today.)

The meeting rooms were quickly popular for groups like the International Baseball League, which held its meetings here on the night of August 29, 1927.  (The International League is one of two Triple-A minor leagues today.)  Two days before the meetings began, The Evening Post mentioned that "the Dublin Bohemians and the I. R. T. Celtics, two newly organized Irish teams...are seeking admission to the International League."

Somewhat surprisingly, the Cornish Arms Hotel opened during Prohibition--the legislation that put thousands of hotels out of business across the country.  The Cornish Arms management was caught side-stepping the liquor ban.  On April 10, 1930 The New York Times reported that in an unprecedented move, United States Attorney Tuttle had filed a suit "to padlock the entire Cornish Arms."  Undercover agents had booked rooms in the hotel as guests and "asked bellboys and other employe[e]s to serve liquor to them."  Tuttle sought to make an example of the hotel by shutting it down.

The hotel's attorneys did not dispute that liquor had been served, but argued that the management "could not be held responsible for violations by employe[e]s."  But at trial on June 23, 1930, two agents, Ralph Navarro and John J. Dowd, testified that on December 28 they had slipped into a "beefsteak dinner" of railroad and steamship agents in the grill room.  They described pitchers of beer and "a large table where liquor was being served."

The following day, Federal Judge John C. Knox rendered his decision.  The management of the Cornish Arms Hotel no doubt breathed a deep sigh of relief when he refused to close down the hotel.  While he admitted he believed liquor had been served, he merely issued an injunction against further sale of liquor and warned the management that a violation would result in a charge of contempt of court.

Perhaps not coincidentally, a major figure in bootlegging, Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, lived here at the time.  In 1931, he and his associates initiated a hit on a rival gangster, Joey Rao.  He was sitting on the stoop of a social club on East 107th Street when Coll and his gang drove by, riddling the scene with submachine gun and shotgun fire.  Coll missed his target, but killed a five-year-old boy on the sidewalk and wounded four other children.

Coll was tracked down, arrested, and held for trial.  His lawyer successfully planted doubt in the minds of jurors over the credibility of a witness, and Coll was acquitted.  According to Michael Lerner in his 2007 Dry Manhattan, Prohibition in New York City, "Once free, Coll returned to his luxurious apartment in the Cornish Arms Hotel in Chelsea, and immediately resumed his battles with Dutch Schultz's gang for the city's beer-running operation."  

Coll's illicit career was cut short when he entered a phone booth in the London Chemists drugstore directly across the street from the hotel on the night of February 7, 1932.  The next morning The Bristol [Virginia] News Bulletin began an article saying, "Young Vincent Coll who was poison with a pistol and most feared of the Gotham 'guns,' got his load of lead in a telephone booth at 12:45 a.m. today.  A machine gunner chopped him down cooly [sic] and deliberately in a West 23rd Street drugstore."

In October 1933, the Cornish Arms Hotel was purchased by the Knott Hotel chain in foreclosure.  The New York Times reported, "some minor alterations are planned for the hotel."  The article noted, "Although at one time it catered to transients, the Cornish Arms now has a large number of permanent guests."

The remodeled meeting room and barroom seen in this advertising postcard were likely part of the Knox Hotel upgrades.

In June 1941, two recent high school graduates from Morgantown, West Virginia arrived in New York.  One of them was Don Knotts, who was set on auditioning for the Major Bowes Amateur Hour radio show.  Daniel de Visé, in his Andy and Don, writes, "Don quickly secured a job as an elevator operator at the Cornish Arms Hotel."  When not taking guests up and down in the elevator, Knotts made money with a friend doing ventriloquism.  Daniel de Visé writes, 

A few weeks into his New York odyssey, he finally landed an audition for Camel Caravan, another talent showcase.  Don showed up with Danny and did his routine for a matronly woman.  When he was finished, she told him, "You seem like a nice boy.  Why don't you take your dummy and go home and go back to school?"

He did.  But, despite the disappointment, he eventually would become a familiar face on television and motion picture screens.

The Cornish Arms Hotel continued to be a favorite meeting spot for union groups, sports and fraternal organizations.  An interesting gathering was the "dinner meeting" held by the Legal-Forensic Committee of the Professional Photographers of America, Inc. on April 8, 1964.  The topic of discussion was the "techniques of photographing motor vehicle accidents" for police, according to The New York Times.

A major change had taken place at the time.  While the upstairs meeting rooms saw groups coming and going, the hotel itself was being operated as a senior care facility.  But by March 19, 1976 when the Senate Subcommittee on Long-Term Care for the Elderly held hearings, things had degraded.  The New York Times reported that one resident, Rebecca Jaffe, testified, 

...that residents were seldom bathed, that there were fights among alcoholics and other residents and that she was frequently harassed and threatened because she had complained of conditions there.  She also said that medicines, such as amphetamines, were distributed by the switchboard operator at the facility.

Among the residents at the time was artist Ellis Wilson.  Born in 1899 in Mayfield, Kentucky, he studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and became a force in the Harlem Renaissance.  He worked for the Federal Art Project from 1935 to 1940, and received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1944.

Americans were exposed to his work when his mid-century painting Funeral Procession was the subject of "The Auction" episode of The Cosby Show in 1986.  Purchased by character Clair Huxtable, it hung over the family's fireplace for the remainder of the eight-season series.

Ellis Wilson's The Procession became well known to television audiences in the 1980s and 90s.  Aaron Douglas Collection, Amistad Research Center, Tulane University.

Ellis Wilson died on January 2, 1977.  In reporting his death, The New York Times noted, "He was 76 years old and lived at Cornish Arms Home for Adults, 315 West 23d Street."

On May 2, 1982, The New York Times reported, "the former Cornish Arms Hotel is being converted from a home for the elderly into a cooperative called the Broadmoor, with 74 open-plan apartments (fixtures included) ranging in price from $94,000 to $280,000."  

At some point, the cornice, an integral part of Walter H. Jackson's design, was removed.  Otherwise, the outward appearance of the former Cornish Arms Hotel, including the iron and glass marquee, survives.

photographs by the author

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

The Sorely Abused John Ward House - 326 West 23rd Street

 

The family of John Ward moved into the newly built house at 326 West 23rd Street around 1851.  It stood out among the Italianate mansions that filled the block with its handsome mansard roof--a nearly obligatory element of the French Second Empire style.  Four stories tall above a high English basement, the 21-foot-wide residence was faced in brownstone.  A cast iron balcony fronted the floor-to-ceiling parlor windows.

The Press published a sketch of the house on February 8, 1890.  (copyright expired)

John Ward listed his profession as "paperstainer" in 1851, changing it to "printer" in 1853.  That year the family advertised, "Boarding, two single gentlemen can be accommodated with board in a small, respectable family."  Their ad was answered by Jacob Ostrander, Jr., who was a bookkeeper.

A series of occupants, most likely renters, followed the Wards.  Richard Martin, who ran a coal and wood business at 344 West 23rd Street, lived here in 1856 and 1857; followed by John Edwin Brown by 1860.  Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Brown was a broker.  The 30-year-old died here at the age of 30 on November 25, 1861.

Around 1868, George Thomas Vingut purchased 326 West 23rd Street.  Born in Havana, Cuba, he had married Sarah Augusta Floyd on February 27, 1867 at the nearby Church of St. Vincent de Paul.  The house quickly filled with children.  George Floyd Vingus was born on March 19, 1868; followed by Harry Kermit in March 1871; Maria Augusta Floyd on November 13, 1873; Mary Elizabeth Kermit in 1877; and Benjamin Van Horne Vingut on December 23, 1879.  The social standing of the Vingut family was evidenced in all of the children's baptisms being held in St. Patrick's Cathedral--George's being performed by Archbishop McClusky personally.

The family moved to Eighth Avenue around 1876 and leased the 23rd Street house to street railroad operator Jacob Sharp.  The New York Times would later recall, "He was born of humble parents on a sort of a farm in Montgomery County, N.Y., in 1817, and for 20 years remained on it."  The newspaper said that for his first 20 years he was more focused on manual labor than in acquiring an education.  When his father died in 1837, the young man turned to rafting timber down the Hudson River to New York.

He sold materials to New York City for the construction of piers and bulkheads and before long, according to The New York Times, "he controlled the trade in his line."  The uneducated man next turned to street railroads in 1850 and formed Sharp & Co. to construct a railroad from the Battery to Manhattanville in northern Manhattan--The Broadway Railroad.  That project, faced with intense opposition from powerful figures like Alexander T. Stewart and D. H. Haight, stalled.  When he leased 326 West 23rd Street he was president of the Twenty-third Street Railroad and a director in the Bleecker & Fulton Railroad.

Sharp and his wife had four children, three of whom were still alive.  Two daughters were married, while George C. Sharp lived with his parents.  He died here on January 2, 1880 and his funeral was held in the drawing room on two days later.  Contrasting Jacob Sharp's humble roots with his current condition, the Middlebury Register said that George died "in a house worth $50,000."

The Evening Telegram, October 19, 1886 (copyright expired)

The Press described the residence saying, "'Jake' Sharp's house, at 326 West Twenty-third street, comes in the Mansard era."  The Middlebury Register noted that Mrs. Sharp, "took to painting, simply for recreation," and said, "Her whole house is filled with oil paintings, some of them quite creditable under all the circumstances."

After 33 years of litigation, the Broadway Railroad was finally opened in 1884 and was an immediate success.  Sharp and his wife enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle in the West 23rd Street house and at their "extensive and beautiful farm new Rome [New York]," as described by The New York Times.

But the opponents of the Broadway Railroad had not given up.   The New York Times reported, "In the first flush of victory came the...investigation into the rumors that were rife concerning corruption deep and flagrant" around the Board of Aldermen's granting the railroad franchise.  On October 19, 1886, The Evening Telegram reported, "Jacob Sharp was arrested at his house, No. 326 West Twenty-third street, at eight o'clock this morning."  He was indicted by a grand jury that morning and his trial set for a few months later.

On Christmas Day 1886, the New Haven Daily Morning Journal and Courier reported, 

Jacob Sharp has been under the weather for some days past.  He is suffering from his old dyspeptic troubles, for which he put himself on a milk diet.  He is able to move about the house, but has not been out of doors in two weeks.  He still lives in his hired house at 326 West Twenty-Third street, and the sign, “For Sale,’’ still hangs on the front balcony.  

Sharp was put on trial in 1887.  It was called by one newspaper, the most important trial "since 'Boss' Tweed's."  He was found guilty and on June 14 sentenced to four-and-a-half years in State Prison.  The ordeal had taken a severe toll on Sharp's health, however.  His condition was so bad that on November 29 the Court of Appeals overturned his conviction in return for $40,000 bail--around $1.1 million in today's money.

Sharp and his wife went to the country house for a few weeks.  On January 4, 1888, The New York Times reported, "Jacob Sharp returned from his health trip to the country yesterday.  It has evidently been decidedly beneficial in his somewhat feeble health."  But, in fact, the decades-long ordeal had broken the millionaire.

On the night of April 6, 1888, Sharp died in his second floor bedroom.  The New York Times reported, "His death was sudden, his enfeebled heart ceasing to act after a violent and exhausting fit of coughing."  Sharp's obituary noted, "The disgrace attending his indictment and arrest was keenly felt, and the added ignominy of a public trial was borne with difficulty."

The next morning The Evening World reported that undertaker Charles Benedict "affixed to the front door of the house, this morning, the usual crepe symbol of mourning, and many a passer-by half stopped as his eyes fell on the sable draping."  The family, offended by the unrelenting treatment Sharp had endured, rebuffed most sympathizers.  The New York Times said on April 7, "The house 354 [sic] West Twenty-third-street...was kept tightly closed yesterday and very few callers attempted to enter the house."  The funeral was held in the drawing room, but the family kept it so private that the hour of the ceremony was not announced.

The "For Sale" sign in front of the house mentioned by the New Haven newspaper in 1886 had been removed, possibly because of the Vinguts' concern for their tenant.  In July 1887, title to the property was transferred by the family to Sarah A. Vingut, who ironically died a month later, on August 20.  

The house was sold on June 30, 1891 to Thomas Stokes, who paid $22,250, according to the Record & Guide (about $770,000 in 2024).  It appears he leased it to a proprietor who ran an upscale boarding house.

A Mrs. Waddington (possibly the landlady), took in her sister, Rosalie Dodge, in January 1893.  Rosalie was married to millionaire Jacob L. Dodge, described by The New York Times as "a wealthy young man about town" and "a man of fine appearance."  Dodge owned two sloops, the 60-foot Arrow and the 26-foot Coquette, which he sailed mostly on the Long Island Sound.  The Dodges had a summer estate at Huntington, Long Island.  Rosalie moved in with her sister after discovering that Dodge "had been untrue to her with a woman at the Hotel Vendome."

At their separation hearing on August 2, 1893, details were revealed that Rosalie, no doubt, had wanted to keep secret.  The New York Times reported, "She made no reference to the fact that she had lived with her husband before the formal ceremony until after that fact was accidentally brought out by Frank A. C. McLewee, a witness."  In fact, Rosalie and Jacob had lived together for ten years without being married.  Nevertheless, she testified, "He introduced her to his mother and relatives as his wife, and she executed deeds and mortgages with him."  

The couple had been married for four days before they separated.  Their divorce was granted on August 3, 1883.

William J. Stewart and his wife lived here in 1895.  Mrs. Stewart was treasurer of The Co-Operato, which opened a year earlier at 301 West 18th Street.  It  was described by the New York Charities Directory as, "A co-operative home for self-supporting and self-respecting women of unexceptional reference as to character, regardless of creed."  The residents were charged $2.50 and $3 per week, "with privilege of laundry."

Around 1899, Luke L. Fitzgerald (whose surname was spelled variously as Fitz Gerald and FitzGerald) and his wife, the former Elizabeth (known as Lizzie) Gay, purchased the house.  Fitzgerald was an auctioneer.  The extended Fitzgerald family filled the house.  

Living with her parents were 20-year-old Julia Annie and her husband, rubber merchant Edgar Howard Brown.  On January 13, 1899, the couple had a baby girl, Elizabeth.  Additionally, son Louis G. Fitzgerald and daughters Lulu and Adelaide lived here.  Adelaide would graduate from Normal College in 1901 and take her teacher's examination that year.

Louis G. Fitzgerald died on March 23, 1909.  His funeral was held in the drawing room on the 27th.

Nine years later, on December 1, 1918, Luke L. Fitzgerald died.  Elizabeth survived him by nearly two years, dying here on October 22, 1920.  Her funeral was held in the house on October 26, after which her casket was removed to the nearby Church of St. Columba for a requiem mass.

The 23rd Street house was sold in December 1923 to Michael Taggart, "who will occupy," according to The New York Sun.  Instead, Taggart significantly altered the structure, removing the stoop, installing a commercial space at sidewalk level, and furnished rooms on the upper floors.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

The Rhozis family rented rooms here from around 1936 through 1940.  Charatamas Rhozis and his son Harry (who changed the spelling of his surname to Rozis), were on the Government's radar for continually voting for Communist candidates while living here.

A renovation completed in 1967 resulted in two apartments per floor above the ground floor commercial space.  Little remains of the former mansion's appearance when well-heeled families lived here.

photographs by the author

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

The John Scott Boyd House - 336 West 23rd Street

 

In the 1850s, elegant homes were being erected along the block of West 23rd Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues.  Among them was 336 West 23rd Street, completed around 1855.  It was home that year to John Scott Boyd and his wife, the former Sarah Anna Root.

Like similar homes along the block, the Italianate style Boyd residence was three stories tall above a high English basement.  Faced in red brick and trimmed in brownstone, its double-doored entrance sat above a high stone stoop.  Its floor-to-ceiling parlor windows were most likely fronted by a cast iron balcony.

John and Sarah were born in Albany in 1820 and 1821, respectively, and were married there on June 23, 1851.  They had two sons in 1855--Robert Lyman, who was two years old, and John Scott, who was one.  The following year Marie Scott was born, and Allan Stuart Boyd would arrive in 1860.

John's grandfather, James Boyd, had founded the Albany Brewing Company in 1796.  In 1850, when he and his brother David I. Boyd took over the business, it became Boyd Brothers & Company.  The 1886 History of Albany and Schenectady Counties N.Y. said, "Their products are shipped through the New England States and to New York City, in which they have a depot on West Street."  John relocated to New York City in 1844 to oversee that end of the business.  

The wealthy brewer was visible within Manhattan's commercial circles.  He was elected to the Chamber of Commerce in 1865 and by 1869 sat on the board of the Electric Life Assurance Society.  The Boyds were interested in the conditions of the less fortunate, as well, and were members of the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor and of the American Home Missionary Society.  His social standing was evidenced in his membership in the exclusive Union League Club.

The Boyds moved to 28 West 38th Street around 1874.  The West 23rd Street house became home to Cuban-born attorney Don Antonio Fernandez de Avis y Bramosio.  Born in 1827, he had "ranked very high in his profession as an advocate in Havana," according to The New York Times, and had been a member of the Havana City Council.  But following the Cuban uprising of 1868, the Government ordered his arrest for treason because of his support of the rebels.  He escaped to the United States, after which he was condemned to death in Cuba.

A widower, the exiled attorney became a citizen of the United States, and on April 25, 1876 married Maria Dolores Francisca de Asís Agramonte y Zayas-Zamudio. The groom was 49 and his bride was 22. The couple had a strong connection with the ongoing rebellion at home. The New York Times said Dolores (who "is reputed to be quite young and very beautiful") was "a relative of the family of Agramontes who so especially signalized themselves in the Cuban struggle for freedom."

Don Antonio died in the spring of 1878.  The New York Times reported that he "was reputed to be worth about $1,000,000 at the time of his death."  Of his massive estate, equal to about $31.5 million in 2024, Dolores received the house and "the jewels, furniture and ornaments" in her use, plus $40,000 (about $1.25 million today).  On July 16, 1879, six properties from the estate were sold, including 336 West 23rd Street.

The house was purchased by journalist Edward Jones Hale and his wife, the former Sarah Jane Walker.  The Southerner was born on his father's plantation in Chatham County, North Carolina in 1802.  His mother died when he was seven and his father when he was nine.  He became the ward of his namesake Colonel Edward Jones.

Privately tutored, he showed remarkable literary talents as a boy.  In 1825, at the age of 23, he purchased the Carolina Observer, renamed it the Fayetteville Observer, and was on his way "to amassing a considerable fortune," according to the Biographical History of North Carolina decades later in 1917.  On May 24, 1828, he and Sarah were married.

Edward Jones Hale.  Biographical History of North Carolina, 1917 (copyright expired)

Hale was an ardent Confederate and his newspaper became a target of General William T. Sherman, who ordered it destroyed.  The Biographical History of North Carolina noted, "The last issue of the paper was printed while the Confederates were retreating through the town and copies were handed to the soldiers as they passed by."  The Union Army burned the Fayetteville Observer building to the ground.  Hale, who had converted his fortune into Confederate bonds, "was left with only his honor and his loyalty."

In 1866, Hale and his family moved to New York City and began anew, opening a printing business, E. J. Hale & Sons.  Still loyal to his roots, Hale's firm specialized in printing works by Southern authors targeted to Southern audiences.

Hale died in the 23rd Street house at the age of 80 on New Year's Day 1883.  His funeral was held in the parlor on January 4.  While the New York Evening Post, apparently willing to forgive his rebellious background, listed many of the distinguished mourners, The New York Times said merely, "There were many floral offerings."

An auction of the Hale furnishings was held on March 25.  The announcement provided a glimpse into the Hales' high-end Victorian home.  It listed, "a fine rosewood piano, valuable oil paintings, engravings, marble and Parian figures, four pier mirrors," and such.

Frank Seely, a wealthy real estate developer, and his wife, the former Hattie Boggs, purchased the house in September 1890.  Hattie seems to have been more involved in society than her predecessors had been.  On February 14, 1892, for instance, the New York Herald reported, "Mrs. F. Seeley, of No. 336 West Twenty-third, will give a large dance Thursday evening, February 18."

Like their neighbors, the Seelys maintained a household staff.  On April 17, 1910, Hattie advertised in The New York Times, "Chambermaid, &c.--Protestant white girl as chambermaid and waitress in small private family; best references required."  (Chambermaids had the often unpleasant duties of housework while waitresses served in the drawing and dining rooms.  Hattie's combining of the two job descriptions revealed that the Seelys were either a step below the wealthiest families or carefully parsimonious.)  The following year she was looking for a new cook.  "Protestant white woman as good plain cook in small private family; must be very neat."

Isabella Elsuer, a nurse, lived with the family in 1913.  That year, on February 3, she dropped into St. Vincent de Paul's Church on 23rd Street near Sixth Avenue.  While she knelt in prayer, John Grahn snatched her purse.  He was quickly caught and explained, according to The New York Times, "that he had been cold and hungry and had stepped into the church to be out of the rain."  Because Isabella Elsuer refused to appear against him in court, he could not be convicted of robbery.  Nevertheless, he was sent to the workhouse for six months on a charge of disorderly conduct.

John Seely died on May 21, 1916.  His funeral, which was private, was held in the house on the evening of the 23rd.

The house was next home to Charles C. and Hattie Klingelhoffer.  Charles was a founder of the New York Athletic Club and a retired manufacturer of carbonated beverages.  He died on August 10, 1933, leaving Hattie with an estate of $1,328,670, according to The New York Sun.  The figure would translate to $30.2 million today.

On November 2, 1940, The New York Times reported, "J. Malloy & Sons [sic], funeral directors, who have been in the Chelsea section for more than seventy-five years, bought from Lulu Seymour the four-story building at 336 West Twenty-third Street."  The lower two floors of the house were converted for the Molloy Funeral Chapel.  The stoop had already been removed for the proposed widening of West 23rd Street.  A stained glass window was now installed where the former doorway had been.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

The following year Molloy Funeral Home expanded into the former bank next door at 338 West 23rd Street.  It was taken over by the Horne-Dannecker Funeral home in 1957, which remained at least through 1999.

The second floor stained glass window is evident in this 1983 photograph.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

A remarkable renovation-restoration, completed in 2011, brought 336 West 23rd Street back to its 1855 appearance.  The stoop, entrance and the window cornices were refabricated, including period appropriate Italianate iron stoop railings and newels.  It is a two-family residence today.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for requesting this post

photographs by the author

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

The Lost Anthony Tiemann House - 40 East 23rd Street

 

The Tiemann house was a slice of rural America within the city in the mid-19th century.  In the background are the towers of the Fourth Avenue Presbyterian Church.  from Henry Collins Brown's "Fifth Avenue Old and New 1824-1924) copyright expired.

Johan Anton (later known as Anthony) Tiemann was born in Carlshafen, Germany in 1778.  At the age of 17, in order to avoid military duty, he relocated to England.  Two years later he took the bold move to travel to America.  In his 1858 The United States Democratic Review, Conrad Swackhamer recalled, "Landing in the city of New York with a capital of just a single English pound, he at once commenced a career of industry and honesty."

Around 1801 Tiemann married Mary Newell.  Her first American ancestors were Anthony Newell and his wife, who landed in Charleston, Massachusetts around 1630, and Nicholas Wyeth who settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts about 1640.

The young couple initially moved into a house on Nassau Street, where their first son, Daniel F., was born on January 9, 1805.  There would be three other children, Mary Ann, Julius W., and Nicholas S.

By then the family had moved far north of the established city.  In 1806 Tiemann had begun experimenting with the manufacture of colored paints (white lead paint had been developed in Philadelphia two years earlier).  In 1807 he "built for this purpose the pioneer establishment in the country, in the vicinity of the south-west corner of Twenty-third-street and Fourth avenue, then considered far out of the city," according to The United States Democratic Review.  Tiemann moved his family into a charming farmhouse nearby, at what would later be numbered 40 East 23rd Street.

Tiemann's success in creating colored paints changed the industry.  In 1895 historian Chauncey Mitchell Depew, writing in 1795-1895, One Hundred Years of American Commerce, noted "His first products were rose pink, Dutch pink, French green, and blue.  The manufacture of Prussian blues was begun in 1809, and in 1820 chrome yellow was added to the products of this firm."

The inventive Tiemann did not limit his efforts to paints.  On July 8, 1818 the Lancaster Intelligencer reported that he had acquired a patent for his dog-powered engine (apparently a type of hamster-wheel).  He had already been using dog power in his factory and insisted that "able dogs can easily be procured and trained for this object."  The article noted, "Those which Mr. Tiemann has employed for some years, have invariably been healthy and robust, and apparently delighted with their employment."

Tiemann's application listed the uses for his machinery, including:

...for pumping water, irrigating meadows, gardens, &c. grinding paint, corn, bark, and other articles, turning the grinds one, the lathe, carding and spinning machines, washing machines, working churns, assisting rope makers, threshing and cleaning grain, cutting straw, tobacco, shingles, dye-wood, &c. chopping meat, &c. and for a great variety of purposes.

Tiemann told a reporter that he "intends to apply the same power for propelling boats, for which he has also obtained a patent."

In 1829 Tiemann's paint factory had grown to the point that he erected a new, substantial plant in the village of Manhattanville, near the Hudson River around 120th Street.  Interestingly, while the family erected a second residence near the new factory, they retained possession of the wooden 23rd Street house.  (This may have been partly due to son Daniel's political aspirations.   Historian J. Frank Kernan recalled in 1885 that in 1838 he "resided on the corner of Twenty-third Street and Fourth Avenue, and represented the old sixteenth ward in the board of aldermen.")

The sprawling paint Manhattanville paint factory in 1854.  The Illustrated American Biography, 1854 (copyright expired)

In March 1834 the Anthony Tiemann & Co. was reorganized as a co-partnership with Anthony as president and his three sons as partners.

Mary Ann was married to Charles Davis in the family's Manhattanville house on July 21, 1836.  Tragically, she died at the age of 22 just seven months later, on February 12, 1837.

Daniel F. Tiemann, his wife and son were still living in the East 23rd Street cottage with his parents.  He was the only alderman in the district.  On July 4, 1839 he left the house with his son, headed to the Harlem Railroad train depot at the corner of 23rd Street and Fourth Avenue (where the former paint factory had stood).  Just as they were leaving, his wife called him back "with a request to take a cup of coffee," said The United States Democratic Review.  "He did so, and this delay, in all probability, saved his life and that of his son."  

Their train had pulled into the station by the time they left the house.  They were about 100 yards from the depot when the locomotive's boiler exploded.  The United States Democratic Review reported, "several persons were instantly killed and a large number of others dangerously scalded and wounded."  As the only city official around, Daniel Tiemann took control of the situation, sent for physicians and other assistance and appropriated wagons to transport the wounded.

In 1858 Daniel was elected Mayor of New York City.   In reporting on his New Year's Day reception Harper's Weekly wrote, "Prominent among the visitors was Mr. Anthony Tiemann, the father of Daniel F. Tiemann.  Father and son heartily congratulated each other.  The venerable father then took his seat near where his son was standing, and his countenance beamed with joy and happiness, while the unceasing tide of well-wishers pressed on and passed away."

Daniel F. Tiemann, from the collection of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery

Somewhat surprisingly, despite their wealth and new status as parents of the mayor, Anthony and Mary continued to live in the little wooden cottage.  It was by now a curiosity, surrounded more and more by modern dwellings as the city continued to push northward.  In 1847 Madison Square had been opened just steps away to the west and was increasingly ringed by high-end homes.

On December 23, 1862 Anthony Tiemann died at the age of 84 in the farmhouse he had called home for nearly six decades.  The amount of his estate was kept private, although the New York Evening Express mentioned that he left $500 to the First German Methodist Episcopal church--just over $13,000 in today's money.

Mary survived her husband by two years.  She died at the age of 78 on December 29, 1864.  The New York Times reported, "The funeral will take place on Saturday, Dec. 31, from her late residence, No. 40 East 23d-st., at 1 o'clock."

Mary Tiemann's funeral was perhaps the the last gathering in the venerable wooden house.   It was demolished in 1868 to make way for the massive Young Men's Christian Association building designed by James Renwick, Jr.   

Harper's Weekly, October 1869 (copyright expired)

That building survived until 1902, replaced by Clinton & Russell's 304 Park Avenue South which survives.

photograph by the author