The Lost Thomas P. Rossiter Mansion - 11 West 38th Street

 

To the left, a sliver of 13 West 38th Street, remodeled simultaneously by Hunt for Eleazar Parmly, can be glimpsed.  from the collection of the Library of Congress.

Born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1818, Thomas Prichard Rossiter was well established as a painter of portrait and historical scenes by 1851.  In 1838, at the age of 20, he exhibited two paintings at the National Academy of Design and the following year moved to New York City.  He was elected to the National Academy in 1849.

In 1851 he married Anna Ehrick Parmly, the daughter of wealthy dentist and poet, Eleazer Parmly.  The newlyweds sailed to Europe, settling in Paris in 1853.  Rossiter won a gold medal at the Universal Exposition in 1855 for his Venice in the Fifteenth Century.  

In the meantime, in September 1854 a son, Ehrick Kensett, was born.  The following year a daughter, Charlotte C., arrived, and Anna Rosalie was born in March 1856.  Shortly after Anna's birth, Anna Parmly Rossiter died at the age of 26.

Thomas brought his children back to New York City.  At the time, 30-year-old architect Richard Morris Hunt had relocated to New York from Washington where he had worked on the renovation and expansion of the U.S. Capitol building.  He began work on the design of the Tenth Street Studios Building, the first structure in America designed specifically for living-and-studio spaces for artists.  It was this work, almost assuredly, that brought Rossiter and Hunt together.

Peter Paul Duggan created this black crayon drawing of Thomas P. Rossiter.  from the collection of The Frick

Rossiter and his father-in-law gave Hunt his first domestic commission in New York--two mansions at 11 and 13 West 38th Street.  The neighborhood, just feet from Fifth Avenue, was filling with sumptuous mansions as Manhattan's millionaires inched up the avenue.

Completed in 1857, the Rossiter house at 11 West 38th Street was faced in red brick and trimmed in stone.  The artist's deep interest in history may have influenced Hunt's neo-classical design.  He striated the first floor, above a short stoop, by alternating red brick with stone bands.  The arched entrance sat within a portico supported by banded and fluted columns, and neo-Classical swags decorated the entablature.  The composition was copied at the easternmost window to preserve balance.  

Three grouped floor-to-ceiling windows at the top floor were fronted by a stone balcony and flanked by niches, intended for statues.  Thrown open, the windows flooded Rossiter's studio with natural light.

Richard Morris Hunt's watercolor rendering.  from the collection of the Library of Congress.

Interestingly, Dr. Eleazer Parmly, unlike Rossiter, refused to pay Hunt for the supervisory portion of the project.  Hunt finally sued the dentist and won.  Later, in 1896, Engineering Magazine would credit Hunt's lawsuit for establishing "a uniform system of charges by percentage."

In his new mansion and studio, Rossiter began work on large canvases, including George Washington and Family, Washington and Lafayette at Mount Vernon, and Washington and His First Cabinet.  As part of his research for those works, in June 1858 he traveled to Mount Vernon.

Rossiter completed Washington and Lafayette at Mount Vernon 1784 in his 38th Street studio in 1859.  from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The West 38th Street mansion was filled with antiques.  The Springfield Weekly Republican would later recount,

There were large objects of furniture, such as an oak altar-piece, an oaken buffet of the 14th century, and a sarcophagus of the same age, all quaintly carved with elfish heads, figures of animals, flowers and clusters of fruit.  Also a 13th century armoire, or sideboard, ornamented with Byzantine carving.

In 1860, Thomas Rossiter married Mary Sterling, known as Mollie.  The family moved to Cold Spring, New York and Rossiter's brother-in-law, Ehrick Parmly, moved his family into 11 West 38th Street. 

Born in 1830, Ehrick Parmly, like his father and brother, was a dentist.  All three shared an office at 3 Bond Street.  (David R. Parmly lived in New Jersey.)  Ehrick's wife was Lucie Dubois and the couple had a son, George Dubois, when they moved into 11 West 38th Street.  Another son, John Ehrick, was born in 1861 and a third, Dalton, in 1872.

By the time of Dalton's birth, the Parmly family had been gone from the house for about eight years.  It was now home to Israel David Salomon (who went by his middle name) and his wife, the former Henrietta Luna Hendricks.  Salomon was born in 1820 and Henrietta in 1827.  The couple was married in 1864 and moved into 11 West 38th Street.  Two sons would be born in the house, Salomon in 1865 and Sidney Hendricks two years later.

Also living with the family was David's brother, Benjamin Franklin Salomon, who was 35 years old in 1864.  A bachelor, he died on April 12, 1865.  His funeral was held in the drawing room on the 14th.

In 1870, Douw Ditmars Williamson, Jr. and his wife, the former Mary Frances Dodd, moved into the house.  Born in New York City on November 15, 1830, Williamson graduated from Peekskill Academy in 1844.  Although educated in engineering, he entered business as a clerk.  But his mundane business life turned to the stuff of pulp novels starting in 1849 when he traveled to South America.  The 1896 Genealogical Records of the Williamson Family in America recorded:

In 1851 [he] went to Panama and Ecuador; was ten days crossing the Isthmus on a mule; was with Garibaldi in Havana when Crittenden and his filibusters were shot, and was followed by soldiers, day and night, on his return home.

Back in New York, Williamson married Mary Dodd on November 1, 1853.  The couple would adopt George Norman Williamson, the infant son of Douw's brother, Nicholas.  Then, in 1863, they adopted Cornelia Bodwell, the infant daughter of Mary's sister, Abby Lyman Dodd Bodwell.

In the meantime, Williamson and his brother, Nicholas, founded the Novelty Rubber Co.  Douw Williamson was, as well, an inventor and in 1870 designed an improved traction engine and a steam plow.

Douw Ditmars Williamson, Jr., from the collection of the Century Association.

Despite his swashbuckling past, the Century Association described Douw D. Williamson as "of a retiring, quiet disposition."  Ever expanding his resume, in 1875, he established a chemical works in Long Island City.

The new St. Patrick's Cathedral opened on May 25, 1879.  Its architect, James Renwick, Jr., immediately began designing the archbishop's residence and rectory at the southwest corner of Madison Avenue and 51st Street.  In the meantime, the archdiocese leased the former Williamson mansion.  Four years later, on April 25, 1882, the New York Herald reported, "The new residence of Cardinal McCloskey, which stands back to back with the Cathedral...is very nearly ready to be occupied."  

Cardinal John McCloskey.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

Born in March 1810, Cardinal John McCloskey was appointed the second archbishop of New York by Pope Pius IX on May 6, 1864.  At the time of the New York Herald's article, McCloskey was in ill health.  It explained, "it is said that the Cardinal will not move until his health is better.  His home is at present at 11 West Thirty-eighth street, from which the furniture is now being removed."

Next to occupy the mansion was lace importer Richard Muser and his wife, Cecelia.  On January 4, 1885, The New York Times reported that a defective flue in the basement had started a fire in the house.  It resulted in $500 worth of damages, or about $16,800 in 2026.  On August 13, 1893, The New York Times reported that three days earlier Richard Muser's body had been discovered "at the lodge gate of his Summer home at Suffern, N.Y., with two bullet holes in his head."  The newspaper said there were "divided opinions as to the cause of his death."

The Musers had left West 38th Street several years earlier.  By 1889, No. 11 was home to John O. Donner, his wife, the former Mary Elizabeth Van Arsdale, and their teenaged daughter.  The New York Times described Donner as a "prominent and wealthy man, connected with Havemeyer & Elder in the sugar business."  The family's country estate was in Ramsey, New Jersey.

Mary Donner was experiencing health issues at the time, and on July 17, 1889 she sailed to Europe for treatment.  Accompanying her was her daughter; Mary's physician, Dr. Ruppaner; a nurse; a governess; and the daughter of Marshall T. Davison (apparently as a companion of the Donners' daughter).  The doctor left the party in Vienna and they traveled on to San Remo, Italy.

In February 1890, John O. Donner received a cable informing him that Mary was "in a critical condition," as reported by The New York Times.  He sailed on the steamer Zoller on February 26.  On March 1, The New York Times reported that a cablegram from San Remo announced the death of Mary Elizabeth Van Arsdale Donner.  The article said, "He will not hear of her death, therefore, until he arrives in Europe."

The West 38th Street residence next became home to Elbert Ellery Anderson and his family.  Born in 1833, he was the son of Henry James Anderson, a renowned professor of mathematics and astronomy, the grandson of librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte (who brought Italian opera to America), and a descendant of Founding Father William Ellery, from whom Elbert got his middle name.  As a teen, Elbert accompanied his father on a Dead Sea expedition.  He famously carved his name "E. E. Anderson" onto the wall of the Temple of Abu Simbel, which is visible today.

Elbert Ellery Anderson (original source unknown)

Anderson served in the Civil War, after which he began his law practice.  In 1887, President Grover Cleveland tasked him to investigate the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railways.  He and his wife, the former Augusta Chauncey, had two children, Henry James and Peter Chauncey.

Peter Chauncey married May Ogden and brought his bride to live in the West 38th Street mansion.  Their daughter, May Ellery, was born in 1891.  The little girl died at the age of 10 on November 9, 1901 and her funeral was held in the house two days later.

On February 24, 1903, The Chicago Tribune reported that Elbert E. Anderson "went to a matinée with his eldest son on Monday afternoon and spent the evening with his family.  About 5:30 this morning Mrs. Anderson heard him call for assistance.  He was almost unconscious when she reached his bedside, and he died in a few minutes."

Anderson's funeral was too large to hold in the house.  It was held in the Church of the Transfiguration on February 27.  Within the church were judges, politicians, and military figures.  The New-York Tribune reported that his estate "would probably be found to be nearly $1,000,000."  (That figure would translate to about $36.8 million today.) 

Peter Chauncey Anderson and his family remained in the house until 1912, when it and the neighborhood mansions were demolished to make way for the Lord & Taylor department store building, completed in 1914.

photograph by Jim Henderson

The 1908 Barbey Building - 15-17 West 38th Street

 

On April 12, 1861, the very day that the first shot was fired on Fort Sumter, an announcement appeared in the New York Herald that Mrs. Ogden Hoffman's French and English Boarding and Day School had "removed to 17 West 38th Street."  The double-wide mansion, which sat just west of Fifth Avenue, had previously been home to artist Thomas Pritchard Rossiter.

By the end of the century fashion had moved further north.  Elegant mansions and private girls' schools were quickly being replaced by commercial buildings.  On June 20, 1908 the Real Estate Record & Guide reported that Mary L. Barbey had purchased the property for $170,000--a staggering $4.87 million today.

Mary Barbey, well recognized in real estate circles, wasted little time in demolishing the old residence and by the first week of August the architectural firm of Delano & Aldrich had completed plans for a replacement structure. 

The architects released this rendering in August 1908.  Real Estate Record & Guide, August 8, 1908 (copyright expired)

On August 8 the Real Estate Record & Guide wrote, "When completed the structure will be 12 stories in height...It has been designed for both offices and lofts."  The article pointed out the architects' somewhat surprising color scheme, saying it "will be in marked contrast with the conventional light brick, limestone and terra cotta of the majority of new structures in the uptown section."

The base would be faced in "dark red marble, with bronze trimmings."  The upper floors were clad in dark red brick and red terra cotta to create an overall monochromatic structure.

The architects' take on the "Modern French" style was noteworthy.  The second through twelfth floors were framed within a single elliptical arch.  The full-height piers between the grouped openings took the form of engaged fasces that sprouted from elaborate terra cotta urns.  Above the top floor a panel--surrounded by sumptuous decorations--announced the construction date.  Massive terra cotta urns stood guard along the parapet.

photo by Sean Khorsandi

The cost of construction added another $150,000 (or around $4.3 million today) to Mary Barbey's outlay.  The costs were actually higher, since she had purchased the property at 13 West 38th Street as well, which allowed the architects to add fenestration to the eastern wall--an enormous marketing point when it would come to renting the spaces.

The completed Barbey Building filled with unexpected bedfellows--mostly publishing firms, millinery houses and architectural offices.  Among the latter was the Société des Architects Diplome par le Gouvernement Francais.  A chapter of the American Federation of Arts, it had been organized in November 1904.  The following year space was leased to Columbia University "to be used in connection with the Architectural School," according to the Record & Guide on May 18, 1912.  By 1919 there were no fewer than eight architectural offices in the Barbey Building, including John Allyne Gade, Scopes & Feustmann, and John C. Greenleaf.

The offices of the Print Publishers' Association of America were here by 1911.  Also in the building were the Detroit Publishing Company, the Home Review Publishing Co., and the Macauley Company.  

In its column "Books" on January 7, 1917, The St. Louis Star and Times reviewed two new releases by Macauley Company, Just a Woman, by Eugene Walter; and The Mark of the Beast, by Reginald Wright Kauffman.  It was most likely the latter that landed the firm's president behind bars later that year.  The review said:

Since 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' nobody has dared to write the truth about the South, until now.  Reginald Wright Kauffman has done it in this fearless novel.  His 'House of Bondage' was rightly called 'The Uncle Tom's Cabin of White Slavery,' and 'The Mark of the Beast' is an 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' of a new and amazing kind.

On December 12 that year The Sun reported, "Leo S. Furman, president and treasurer of the Macauley Company was arraigned before Magistrate Nolan in the Jefferson Market court yesterday."  He had been charged by Special Agent Bamberger of the Society for the Suppression of Vice "with selling an indecent book."  In evidence were 2,043 copies of the offending book.  Furman furnished $300 bail until his formal hearing.

Another publisher, Wadsworth Music & Publishing Co., released this sheet music in 1918.  from the collection of The Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection, Johns Hopkins University

Among the millinery-related firms in the building were the Walter Mfg. Co., makers of braids and trimmings which moved in in 1915; the firm of Aaron Michel which manufactured "novelties in flowers, feathers and ornaments," according to The Illustrated Milliner in 1916; Irvin A. Weil, wholesale flowers and feathers dealer; and trimmed hat maker J. I. Guedalia.

photo by Irving Underhill, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

There were, of course, tenants unrelated to the architectural, publishing or millinery fields.  Two artists had their studios in the building.  It was here that sculptor William Ordway Partridge worked on his statue of Thomas Jefferson.  Commissioned by Joseph Pulitzer to stand on the grounds of Columbia University in front of the Pulitzer School of Journalism, it was unveiled on June 2, 1914.  Also in the building was the studio of artist and poet Robert Burns Wilson.  Following his death in April 1916 The Sun reported, "Between thirty and forty of his paintings are now on exhibition at 15 West Thirty-eighth street."

An ample bust was a feature more associated with women of loser morals than to refined ladies.  And so, the Ovida Corset Company devised a solution for well-endowed society women--the Reducing Brassiere.  The Corset and Underwear Review said it "is practically the only garment of its kind on the market."

The New York Times, April 19, 1914 (copyright expired)

The success of the undergarment forced the firm to move in the spring of 1915.  In its March edition The Corset and Underwear Review reported that the firm's move to West 37th Street "has been made necessary owing to the constantly increasing popularity of the 'Ovida Reducing Brassieres."

The ground floor store was leased to the Allegretti Chocolate Cream Company in 1918, while architects, milliners and publishers continued to fill the offices.  In 1920 the publisher of The American Milliner moved in.  Architects Grenville Temple Snelling, Samuel A. Hertz, and John C. Greenleaf all had offices here at the time.  (The rent for a full-floor in 1920 was the equivalent of $115,000 per year in today's money.)

The Broman Hat Co. opened its "new, handsome showrooms," as described by The Millinery Trade Review, in July 1921.  The article said, "The fall presentation includes many smart conceptions derived from late Paris creations, developed in hatters' plush, Lyons velvets, felts.  The new showrooms speak well for the judgement of the firm, being handsomely decorated and admirably situated."  Other millinery firms in the building at the time were the Seaman Hat Co., Inc., and H. Rubenstein, agent for Joseph Dryer's Le Roy hats.

The Millinery Trade Review, August 1921 (copyright expired)

Expectedly, the tenant list of the Barbey Building changed in the second half of the 20th century.  The stationery firm, Coronet Industries, Inc., moved in in 1964 and by 1972 Uniclub, a mail order business, was here.

Uniclub received unwanted press in April 1972 when Bess Myerson, the Consumer Affairs Commissioner, warned the public "not to buy" from the firm.  In what The New York Times called "an unusual move," she said in a statement it and five other mail-order houses "consistently disappoint consumers by non-delivery, late delivery and delivery of damaged or defective merchandise."

Not long afterward, a possibly shadier business, Finderhood, Inc., operated from the building.  Run by George Feldman, it was described by New York State's Attorney General Louis J. Lefkowitz in December 1977 as a "worthless money exchange."  The State Supreme Court prohibited the firm "from advertising and representing that their money-exchange service of members a realistic means of borrowing or obtaining money," as reported by The New York Times on December 4.

Feldman was in hot water again only four months later.  The Attorney General discovered that Finderhood, Inc. promised "Library of Finder's Fee Opportunities Regularly $235...take it FREE!"   The library was a listing of fees paid by individuals seeking investors.  But when readers sent in their $1, they received an application requiring payment of $129.95 for a one-year membership to the "free" library.

In 1985 Lord & Taylor, whose department store was around the block on Fifth Avenue, leased the Barbey Building for its corporate offices, while subleasing unneeded space.  On November 2, 1986 Lisa Foderaro, writing in The New York Times, explained that employees going from the store to the headquarters, "must walk outside, taking the bad weather with the good."

To remedy that, Lord & Taylor made a deal with the owner of 13 West 38th Street.  Foderaro wrote, "soon a crane will hoist a bridge weighting seven and a half tons over it.  The two elements of Lord & Taylor will be united and employees will be able to save time and avoid cold gusts by taking the 21-foot enclosed passageway."

Lord & Taylor closed its Fifth Avenue department store and the 38th Street headquarters in January 2019.  Recently a renovation to the Barbey Building was completed.  All traces of Delano & Aldrich's red marble base have been obliterated, but the upper floors are stunningly intact.

photographs by the author

many thanks to Sean Khorsandi for prompting this post

LaptrinhX.com has no authorization to reuse the content of this blog

The Solomon Strauss House - 221 West 38th Street

 

In 1855 well-dressed ladies and gentlemen strolled through the magnificent Crystal Palace on Reservoir Square (today's Bryant Park).  It had been opened two years earlier for the Exhibition of Industry of All Nations.  Just over a block away to the west, at 221 West 38th Street, Frederick List and his family lived in a handsome brownstone-clad residence.

List was described in directories as a "segarmaker."  Based on his impressive home, he most likely owned a significant cigar-making business.  Four stories tall above a high English basement and three bays wide, its parlor floor featured full-height windows and and an elegant arched entrance.  The segmentally arched openings of the upper floors were fully framed and capped with flat molded cornices.   An ornate pressed metal bracketed cornice completed the design.

In 1857 Solomon Strauss and his wife, Frederica, purchased the house.   A wealthy merchant, he was the principal in the downtown drygoods store of Solomon Strauss & Co.  When the family moved in, Henry Solomon Strauss was attending the Free Academy of the City of New York.  His younger brother, William, would also graduate from the school and later from the Columbia University Law School.

Solomon Strauss died on December 12, 1878 at the age of 55.  His funeral was held in the parlor three days later.  By now Henry was in in the corset business at 79 White Street and William had had his own legal practice since 1872.  He was dabbling in politics, as well.

On October 31, 1880, The New York Times reported that William had been nominated for assemblyman of the 15th District.  The newspaper heartily gave its endorsement, saying "he is a candidate entirely worthy of support.  His father was the late Solomon Strauss, who was an old and respected merchant at the time of his death."

The Strauss family remained in the residence until the mid-1880s'.  In 1886 it was home to the Robinson family.  Robert H. Robinson was in the shoe business and William H. Robinson devoted his private time to breeding and showing pedigree dogs.

Living with the family was another dog breeder, Crump Ormsby.  On November 18, 1887, the New York Herald reported, "The organization of the American Toy Dog Club, for some time past under consideration, has been effected."  Ormsby was elected secretary of the new organization.  The article noted, "Some of the members object to the name and want it changed to Pet Dog Club."

There were four dogs in the house.  Ormsby's Pug, "a winner of many prizes in England and one in this country," according to The Sun, and Pug's daughter, Gypsy, which had not yet been shown.  The Robinsons' had a thoroughbred Newfoundland puppy, Raven, and another dog.

The neighbors, too, were dog lovers.  According to William, "all are respectable families, and all but one keep fine dogs."  Nevertheless, someone in the neighborhood had a grudge against the four dogs in the Robinson house.  On January 13, 1888 The Sun reported, "Two valuable dogs were poisoned on Tuesday night in the back yard of 221 West thirty-eighth street, and the whole neighborhood, being a sort of metropolis for fancy dogs, is in a considerable state of excitement."

Gypsy and Raven had been let out into the yard at around 8:00 that night.  "When they were let in through the back parlor window, Gypsy at once went into convulsions and died.  Raven was discovered dead under a chair," said the article."  William Robinson suspected "that a servant in some of these houses has been bribed to kill the dogs by some jealous fancier."

The house was sold at auction on March 7, 1894, after which it became a "theatrical boarding house," as described by The Sun.  Among the earliest residents were actor Henry Maeder Pitt and his wife, actress Margaret Pitt, who lived on the second floor.  Henry had made his first appearance on stage at the age of 14.  

Margaret was not at home on the afternoon of March 7, 1898.  Another boarder, actress Lucky Mackin, heard moaning coming from their rooms and entered.  Pitt was on the bed and a doctor was sent for, but the actor died ten minutes after he arrived.  Policeman Holland put in his report that Pitt had killed himself by drinking carbolic acid.  Coroner Zucca agreed, without doing an examination.

Suicide in the 19th century was a serious and shameful charge.  A journalist from The Sun challenged Zucca, noting that Pitt's lips were not burned.  There was no empty bottle of carbolic acid to be found, but there was a bottle of chlorodyne, an opiate often used as a sleeping aid.  The reporter strongly suggested that "Pitt took an [accidental] overdose in order to induce sleep."  The coroner never changed his report, however, and Pitt's memory was forever tainted by the suggestion of suicide.

Other theatrical figures in the house were Agnes Findlay, vaudeville entertainer B. Frank Bush and his wife, Cora Maud, and William Mack.  

Margaret Pitt was still living here in 1902 when her dramatic death scene in Camille was rudely interrupted.  On March 28, The Morning Telegraph explained, "She was alone and the stage was darkened.  Just as she remarked for the fiftieth time, 'Oh, if Armand were only here,' she cast her bewildered gaze upon the stage just aft the tormenter, and, there, to her horror, saw approaching quietly, but steadily, her sixty dollar feather boa."  When she realized that it was a rat causing the boa to move across the stage, she panicked.

"With a wild, unaffected scream, Margaret Pitt jumped out of the character, sprang upon the table and yelled for help...The audience noted the action of Miss Pitt and cheered wildly.  Being a New Jersey audience, they all thought it belonged to the play."  A stage hand kicked the rat into the orchestra, precipitating a riot.  "Men, women and children crushed each other in the wild scramble for safety, and the house was partially emptied, after which 'Camille' was dropped and the rest of the time filled in with specialties."

The article noted, "Miss Pitt is back in New York.  She could not cure her shattered nerves, and for the time being is indulging in bromides at her apartments, at 221 West Thirty-eighth street.  Her physician says that she is suffering severely from prostration of the nervous system."

For some reason the tenant list changed from actors to chauffeurs around 1904.  The residents over the next decade included John Ryan, Alfred Panier, George Theobold, Leon Lehereux (chauffeur to George Gould), and Eugene F. Aymar, all professional automobile drivers.

One resident not in the chauffeuring profession in 1916 was boxer Jean Constant, the French light-weight champion.  He set up a sort of gym in the basement and on March 23 offered to give a free boxing lesson to Michael Seranti, who worked in the kitchen.

For some reason the 18-year-old was carrying the equivalent of $240,000 today in cash and Panama Canal bonds in the pockets of his waistcoat.  He told a reporter later, "Constant and a friend he had there tried to make me take the waistcoat off, but I would not.  Then Constant knocked me out with a blow on the point of the jaw.  When I recovered consciousness both men were gone and so was my $10,000."

Constant was, of course, arrested.  But three days later he was released "because evidence of theft was lacking," according to The New York Press.  "The man who stole the money, it was said, wrote two letters clearing the fighter and returning $2,000 of the missing property."

John Couldis signed a 21-year lease on the building in August 1920.  The basement level became home to Schiavi's Italian Restaurant.  The change in what had been an elegant residential neighborhood became evident two years later, on August 25, 1922.

The New-York Tribune reported, "Ralph H. Oyler, director of the Government Narcotic Division, and three of his detectives won a hard fight with fifteen men in a spaghetti restaurant at 221 West Thirty-eighth Street early yesterday.  Four men were arrested on charges of selling heroin at $70 an ounce."

On August 29, 1957 The New York Times reported on "plans for modernizing 221 West Thirty-eighth Street, in the heart of the garment district."  The article noted, "It was vacated recently by Schiavi's Italian Restaurant, which had been there for thirty years and is going out of business."

The architectural firm of Sapolsky & Slobodian installed offices in the former parlor floor, and updated the step-down restaurant in the basement.  The Department of Buildings insisted that the upper floors "remain vacant."  That stipulation lasted until 1990 when another restaurant moved into the parlor level and the upper floors were converted to offices.

The bedraggled building--once one of the elegant homes of wealthy merchants along the block--is somewhat of an eyesore today.  And yet its patrician past is easily discerned behind the fire escapes and garish signage.

photographs by the author

many thanks to reader Ted Leather for requesting this post

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

The Lost Franklin Simon Store - Fifth Avenue and 38th Street

The show windows were curtained in this 1922 photograph, suggesting they were being redressed or it was a Sunday.  photograph by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

Franklin Simon was born into a humble family on the Lower East Side of Manhattan on February 7, 1865.  His father, Henri, was a wood carver and cigar maker and his mother, Helen, was a seamstress.  At about the age of 13 Simon got a job as a "cash-boy" at the Stern Brothers dry goods store on 23rd Street making $2.50 per week.  

By the 1890's Simon had greatly advanced within the company.  On a buying trip to Paris he met Herman A. Flurscheim, a Stern Brothers' supplier.  The business relationship became friendly and they soon planned to open their own business in New York, importing French fashions.

In 1901 newspapers reported that Franklin Simon had leased the brownstone mansion of Caroline Schermerhorn Astor Wilson at No. 414 Fifth Avenue.  She and her husband, banker Orme Wilson, were in the process of erecting a lavish mansion at No. 6 East 64th Street.  

The fledgling Franklin Simon & Co. renovated the house, replacing the facade and gutting the interiors.  Opening day was in February 1902; but things did not go as well as planned.  It would still be a few years before retailers like Tiffany & Co. and B. Altman & Co. invaded this area of Fifth Avenue.   Simon and Flursheim's new venture lost $40,000 that year--about $1.2 million today.  But things soon turned around.

As a matter of fact, in 1905 the store expanded, erecting an annex next door to the south.  On October 10 The New York Times reporting on its opening, saying "This addition runs from the basement to the fifth floor, almost doubling their space...They are making a special display of Paris models in dresses, suits, gowns, coats, evening wraps, &c, from the leading French houses."

Herman A. Flurscheim continued to live in Paris and choose the merchandise for importing; but he was definitely not out of touch with the New York store.  On July 7, 1908 The New York Times reported he would be boarding the steamship Kronprinzessin Cecelie the following day to return to Paris.  "With this trip he will have crossed the ocean 150 times."

As was the case with many large firms, Franklin Simon & Co. hosted annual outings and entertainments for its employees.  On January 2, 1909, for instance they had "a merry evening" at Alhambra Hall, as described by The New York Times.  "The occasion was a vaudeville entertainment given by the firm, followed after by a reception."  More than 650 employees were there.

On November 6, 1909 the Record & Guide reported that Franklin Simon had hired the architectural firm of A. J. Robinson Co. to make $500 worth of alterations to No. 414, including a bridge and new doors connecting the original building to the annex.

But the continuing success of Franklin Simon & Co. again necessitated larger space by the end of the following year.  On February 2, 1911 The Times reported that the firm had spent a staggering $900,000 ($24.5 million today) for the property between No. 414 and the Brick Church on Fifth Avenue and the West 38th Street property behind the store.   The article said the store "will erect a modern building on the Fifth Avenue plot, and will also erect a new ten-story building on the Thirty-eighth Street plot." 

Plans by architect Edward Necarsulmer were drawn up in March and on May 6, 1911 the Record & Guide reported that 400 tons of steel had been ordered for the $1.2 million project.  

Necarsulmer's annex to the south and the 12-story building to the west made no attempt at architectural congruity.  The original corner structure still hinted at its domestic beginnings.  from the collection of the New-York Historical Society

The additions were opened in March 1912.  The 12-story structure on West 38th Street housed the firm's non-retail operations--offices, tailoring shops and the mail order department, for instance.  

On April 18, just one month after the new buildings opened, the RMS Carpathia steamed into New York harbor carrying the survivors of the RMS Titanic.  One of them, Margaret Hays, disembarked with two little French children, now orphaned.  She and officials from the Children's Aid Society embarked on a two-continent search to discover their identities.  In speaking to reporters on April 21 Margaret added "Will you also please state that the children were outfitted to-day without charge by Franklin Simon & Co. of 414 Fifth Avenue.  No request was made to them to do it, but as soon as they heard that the children were in the store they offered us whatever they needed."

Franklin Simon & Co. was not done growing.  On March 7, 1914 the Record & Guide reported the store had leased "for a long term of years" the Gattle Building on 38th Street.  "The securing of this space by Franklin Simon & Co. is another evidence of the growth of the retail business in this section of Fifth Avenue."

The history of the store was recapped by The Evening World following Herman A. Flurscheim's death in June 1915.  The article recalled that in 1902 "it occupied a single building at No. 414 Fifth Avenue.  Now it occupies practically the whole block front in Fifth Avenue, between Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Streets, with several adjacent buildings in Thirty-eighth Street."  The article noted "The business will be continued by Mr. Simon under the same personnel as in the past."

After leasing the Orme corner for 15 years, Franklin Simon & Co. purchased it in August 1916.  In reporting the sale The Sun added "When leased that part of Fifth avenue was free of trade, Franklin Simon & Co. being the first department store to locate north of Thirty-fourth street."

Six months later Edward Necarsulmer was called back to totally redesign the Fifth Avenue buildings.  Working with a $24,000 budget--about $470,000 in today's money--he updated the facades; yet oddly enough still did not architecturally unify them.

In addition to perks like the annual parties, in 1919 a profit-sharing plan was added to the employees' benefits.  The first year's bonus equaled five percent of their salaries.  Franklin Simon & Co. made it clear that those employees who had been absent because of "war service" would share equally in the new benefit.

Expansion continued in January 1920 when Franklin Simon & Co. purchased the 12-story building on 37th Street abutting its 38th Street structure.  The additional 90,000 square feet were remodeled by architects Maynicke & Franke for six floors of selling space and the upper six for stock rooms, shipping, receiving and delivering.

Shopping at Franklin Simon was not an inexpensive affair.  A $19.75 beach costume in this 1922 ad would be equal to nearly $300 today.

In an article entitled "Correctly Hatting the Boy" in May 1920, The American Hatter explained that Franklin Simon & Co. separated its men's and boys' hat departments by a full five floors.  Franklin Simon & Co. felt that combining men's and boy's hat departments "is neither considerate of the man who comes to buy a hat, nor kind to the little fellow, who is often shy or frightened in the presence of strangers.  And few refined women like to be thrown in with strange men when they are shopping for children, especially if the little fellow is hard to please or may develop tantrums."

Edward Necarsulmer--now a partner in Necarsulmer & Lehlbach--was yet again commissioned to rework the Franklin Simon & Co. store in 1922.  On June 14 The New York Times reported "The new front will be of granite and Indiana limestone and the window frames and metal trimmings will all be of bronze."  The article promised "By the new plan the front will appear as one building with one large central entrance."

A handsome stone balustrade crowned the roof line.  The American Architect December 20, 1922 (copyright expired)

The result was finally what appeared to have always been a single structure.  A two-story rusticated limestone base morphed into granite at the upper floors, interrupted by vast expanses of glass.   The design won "First Prize of the Fifth Avenue Association for Buildings Altered in 1922" as reported in The Architectural Review on December 20.

Franklin Simon & Co. continued to break ground in employee relations and marketing.  In 1923 its catalog featured photographs of live models in addition to the expected fashion sketches.   Simon introduced a parking lot for customers, "blue light sales" (as customers looked on salespeople would marked down items with a blue pencil), and an outlet store that sold out-of-season goods off site. And by the mid-1920's an annual "fashion promenade," or live fashion show, was held in the store.

Franklin Simon died at his country home in Purchase, New York on October 4, 1934 after what The New York Times called "a two-year illness."  The policies he had instituted continued, including the lavish employee entertainments.

On February 12, 1936 The Times reported that the employees "will attend a Valentine Day ball Friday night at the Hotel Astor in a ballroom decorated to resemble a ship with lower and upper decks for dancing.  Stage and radio stars will appear in an entertainment program."

But without a president at its helm, the company was acquired by the Atlas Corporation later that same year.  The firm had already controlled Bonwit Teller, Inc. for several years.  Immediately following the take over came a rash of resignations among top management.

Nevertheless Franklin Simon continued as a major Fifth Avenue player.   On September 29, 1938 a complete remodeling of the street floor sales area was completed.  It included the removal of the old wall that separated the two buildings.

Then in September 1949 Atlas Corporation sold Franklin Simon & Co., Inc., called the "oldest specialty store in the country" by The New York Times, to City Stores Company.  The organization operated department and specialty stores along the east coast.  Four years later City Stores merged Franklin Simon with City Specialty Stores.

City Stores had also acquired the well-known furniture store, W. & J. Sloane, which had operated at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 47th Street since 1912.  In December 1961 the announcement was made that W. & J. Sloane would be relocating to the old Franklin Simon building.

The opening took place on January 16, 1962.  The Times said "and like any homemaker who has just moved, [it] presented an appearance of busy disarray."  In fact, the $2 million remodeling was still underway.

W. & J. Sloane had established a long-held reputation for providing quality furniture and period reproductions.  In the spring of 1965 they introduced a novel marketing scheme with its House of Years--furniture place in room settings.  The New York Times reported on April 27 "Fred Vestal, who designed the six-room house, chose timeless floral fabrics and rugs, rather than the currently popular op-styles, which the store also offers."  And three months later the store introduced another innovation--an art gallery.  Customers could now buy not only furniture to decorate their homes and apartments, but artwork.  The 3,000 square foot gallery opened with 150 original works.

On July 28, 1979 The New York Times reported that the City Stores Company had submitted bankruptcy petitions.  The article noted "W. & J. Sloane, one of the country's largest furniture chains, has its principal store at 38th Street and Fifth Avenue."  It signaled the end of Franklin Simon & Co. stores, but the firm announced it "would continue to operate its profitable 50-store chain of W. & J. Sloane.

But only two years later, on July 9, 1981 City Stores announced that it had agreed "to sell a portion" of the Fifth Avenue building for more than $10.5 million.  The following day The New York Times reported that the buyer, the Porterfield Corporation, would "transform that structure into a high-rise, multipurpose building with offices on top of a scaled-down Sloane store."

The ambitious plans lagged until, on January 12, 1984, The Times reported "After 140 years of selling furniture to Manhattanites who expected to find the best--and more often that not did--W & J Sloane is closing its flagship store at 8 West 38th Street."

The New York Times real estate columnist Richard D. Lyons commented on the 30-story granite and glass replacement building on January 17, 1990.  He said the new tower, which engulfs the blockfront from 37th to 38th Streets, would "help restore the high-toned look to an area that had become burdened with fast-food restaurants, cheap electronic stores, cut-rate rug bazaars and souvenir stands."

photo via witkoff.com 

Violence, Crime and Poverty -- The Lost No. 508 W. 38th Street

In 1938 residents gather on the porch.  What was possibly once a shop has been converted to a garage.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

On August 18, 1881 Mamie, John, William and James Wilson, ages 12, 10, 7 and 6, were “rescued from a place called ‘Hell’s Kitchen,’” by Officer J. D. Frederick, as reported in the New-York Tribune two days later.  The policeman had a warrant to remove the children from the care of a neighbor after both parents were sent to prison.

The Wilson children were found at No. 551 West 39^th Street with “a Mrs. Fitzpatrick, a vicious woman living in a shanty.”  The newspaper said “The block in which this place is situated is considered one of the lowest and most dangerous localities in New York; across the street from ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ is ‘Battle Row,’ and not far distant is ‘Sebastopol,’ two notorious resorts for criminals.  It is made up of miserable huts and shanties built among the rocks…There was no doubt that if left to grow up surrounded by such influences and under the care of such guardians, these four children would soon have been initiated into lives of crime and vice.”

Many of the ramshackle wooden buildings, as noted by the Tribune, were given names by the locals.  Hell’s Kitchen where the Wilson children were found, would lend its name to the entire crime-ridden neighborhood from approximately 34^th street to 59^th, and Eighth Avenue to the Hudson River. 

That same year The New York Times called the area “one of the most miserable and crime-polluted neighborhoods in this City” and said “there is more disease, crime, squalor, and vice to the square inch in this part of New-York.”  Even the police were intimidated by the tough and dangerous residents.  Looking back on his time here, a police sergeant told a Times reporter on September 18, 1892 “You were always on the defensive and carried your life in your hand if you made the streets safe for decent people.  If you chose to skulk and let the hoodlums have their own way, you were a good fellow, and never wanted for a cigar or a drink, and I have heard that some officers profited to a greater extent by being discreetly deaf, dumb, and blind.”

Just a block south of the original “Hell’s Kitchen” building where the Wilson children had been was a similar structure at No. 508 West 38^th Street.   Three stories tall, it was faced in clapboard.  Scores of impoverished tenants crammed into its filthy rooms.

The history of crime and violence at No. 508 West 38^th Street extended decades before the incident with the Wilson children.  Poverty often went hand-in-hand with frustration, anger, crime and heavy drinking.  Two of the tenants at No. 508 in 1868 were 55-year old John Corson, a coal cartman, and his wife Rebecca.  Corson was crude, vicious and a heavy drinker.  The Sun, who described him as “a thick-set and repulsive looking man,” on November 23, 1868 reported that he “was in the habit of beating his wife, and he was doing so on Saturday night.”  This time, however, would be far worse than normal.

A newspaper later reported that on Saturday night, November 20, 1868 Corson “reached home late at night intoxicated.”  The door to the meager apartment was broken in; evidence that Rebecca had tried to prevent her drunken husband from entering.  The enraged John Corson flew into a violent, uncontrolled frenzy upon gaining entrance.  The Sun later said “without the least provocation, it is alleged, [he] knocked down and beat his wife in the most brutal manner.”  The scene was described as a “wreck” with the “stove pipe, a broken stove, pans, an old kettle, and a bundle of rags lying scattered around.”

Rebecca Corson tried in vain to escape from her brutal husband’s assault.  Police later reported that “the little furniture they possessed was broken to pieces, and the only bedstead they owned was smashed.”  Rebecca struggled and “It was said that he chased the woman from room to room of their narrow dwelling, and then knocked her down, and jumping upon her, succeeded in stamping her body and face to an unrecognizable mass.”

The shocking act was even more than Hell’s Kitchen residents would tolerate.  Tenants, drawn by the screams and commotion, held “the murderously inclined husband” until Sergeant James from the 20^th Precinct arrived and arrested him.   The Sun noted “The husband was, of course, intoxicated, and when taken into custody pretended to know nothing of what had occurred.”

In the meantime, Rebecca lay unconscious on the floor on a pile of rags.  Her battered appearance was described by the newspaper as “a hideous spectacle.”  Police could piece together some of the happenings of that evening.  “The floor and walls of the room were sprinkled with blood, and a handful of hair lay on the floor near the stove, giving evidence of a terrific struggle.  The blood was traced into the inner room, where the fiend had evidently dragged his victim when the work had been finished.”

Rebecca had suffered not only serious cuts and bruises, but her skull had been fractured.  She died early in the morning the following day.  Three months later Corson was still incarcerated in The Tombs awaiting his murder trial.

Reformer Jacob Riis photographed conditions in a typical Hell's Kitchen flat around 1890 -- from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=24UAYW0J9I3Z

Late on the hot summer night of August 23 1870 two tenants, James Keenan and August Boer got into an argument on the sidewalk outside the house.  In true Hell’s Kitchen manner, it was settled with a knife.  Keenan delivered a severe head wound to Boer who was given “surgical attention at the Station-house,” according to The New York Times.  Keenan was arrested and Boer was able to return home to No. 508 West 38^th Street.

Blacksmith Peter White lived here in 1899 when a friend, Nathan Kronman, was arrested on charges of murdering his wife.   When Kronman’s case was adjourned on August 11 for further investigation—meaning that the accused man would sit in The Tombs for an extended period—White came to his aid.  With the help of fruit dealer William Young who lived three blocks away, he provided bail for Kronman’s release.

While other Manhattan neighborhoods changed—improving or declining—over the decades; Hell’s Kitchen remained essentially the same.  The dilapidated building at No. 508 West 38^th Street remained the home of destitute tenants into the Depression years.  And apparently the drinking habits of the occupants did not change, either.

Early on the morning of February 22, 1932 Jacob Gredlinger opened up his small cigar making shop at No. 142 West 31^st Street.  To his shock and surprise the stove was already burning, fueled by his cigar boxes, and a man was slumped in a chair, a burned-out cigar hanging from his mouth.

Gredlinger left the shop at a much higher rate of speed than he had entered.  He rushed to the West 30^th Street police station, directly behind his shop, “and announced he had a burglar to deliver.”  The Times reported “Policemen surrounded the shop and entered cautiously with drawn revolvers.”

It took much shaking to rouse James McAvoy, who was still drunk.  The 41-year old, who lived at No. 508 West 38^th Street, “could not recall how he entered the place, but it was evident that he had bent the weather-eaten bars and raised a rear window.”

Like so many of the occupants of No. 508 over the past 80 years, McAvoy was arrested.  He spent the next five days in the workhouse.  The history of crime and poverty at No. 508 was drawing to a close, however.

Cars, possibly taxicabs, used the adjoining lot for parking on July 21, 1934.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

Within a few years the dilapidated structure was demolished to be replaced with the four-story Shubert Theatrical Warehouse.  Nevertheless, Hell’s Kitchen retained its seedy reputation until the turn of the 21^st century when developers began transforming the neighborhood into one of expensive high-rise residences.  As trendy cafes replaced old shops, real estate agents, tried hard to disguise the area’s sordid past by marketing Hell’s Kitchen as “Chelsea Heights.”

                                                                                       

In 2007 the entire block where No. 508 West 38^th Street had stood was erased.  On the site, once part of Manhattan’s—if not America’s—most notorious district, rose the soaring luxury apartment complex named 505W37, designed by Handel Architects.

photo http://nyrej.com/39762