The 1896 August Goldsmith House - 36 West 69th Street

 

Gilbert A Schellenger designed almost every house on the south side of the West 69th Street block between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue in the 1890s.  Interestingly, however, they were not the project of a single developer, but three unrelated operators.  Two of the Schellenger designs stood in stark contrast to his other high-stooped brownstones.

Nos. 34 and 36 were faced in gray brick above limestone bases.   Shallow porches led to the entrances nestled behind fluted Ionic columns that upheld striking, two-story bowed bays.  Designed for George C. Edgar's Sons in 1895, the dignified, 22-foot-wide residences rose five stories.

The entrance to 36 West 69th Street (right) was originally centered, like its neighbor next door.

As construction neared completion on December 21, 1895, the New York Herald reported that George C. Edgar's Sons had sold No. 36 to William Moore for $55,000.  The newspaper had gotten the name more than a little wrong--the buyer was J. F. William Mohr.  The price he paid would translate to just under $2 million in 2023.

Born in Germany in 1848, Mohr was a partner in the cotton firm of Mohr, Hanneman & Co.  He and his wife Clothilde had a daughter, Helene Sophie.  (Another daughter, Clothilde Marie, had died in 1888 at the age of 4.)

The proximity of Central Park to 36 West 69th Street made a ride either on horse or by carriage convenient for the Mohrs.  On Sunday afternoon, April 25, 1897, William took a buggy into the park, but the airing did not end well.  The New York Herald reported that around 5:00 "he was run into by a hansom cab driven by Martin Garrity.  The hind wheel of Mr. Mohr's vehicle was broken off, but he escaped any injury."

Helen Sophie Mohr Zinsser in a theatrical costume later in life.  (original source unknown)

The following year, on October 22, 1898, Helen Sophie was married in All Angels' Church to August Zinsser, Jr.  Following the ceremony, a reception was held in the 69th Street house.

In July 1904, Mohr sold 36 West 69th Street to August Goldsmith.  A wealthy jeweler, he was the principal of Goldsmith, Stern & Co. on Gold Street.  Born in Germany in 1860 as Adolph Goldschmidt, he had anglicized his name upon arriving in America.  He and his wife Devorah had three sons, Arthur J., Richard, and Lawrence Lyon.

The Goldsmiths experienced a terrifying incident the year after they moved in.  On September 28, 1905, the family was at dinner, "when Mr. Goldsmith sent one of the maids, Katherine Gordon, to a bedroom on the second floor to get a letter," according to The Morning Telegraph.  She entered the bedroom, clicked on the light and "was confronted by a man, 6 feet in height, wearing black clothes and a derby hat," reported The New York Times.

The intruder pointed a revolver at Katherine and growled, "Keep still, and I won't hurt you.  Move or scream, and I'll kill you."

The clever chambermaid did not lose her wits, but carefully felt the wall behind her, searching for the light switch.  When her fingers found it, she plunged the room into darkness and bolted out and down the stairs.  She alerted the house that there was a burglar upstairs.  As August Goldsmith headed up the stairs, she warned, "Look out, he has a revolver and may kill you."

While her husband went upstairs, Devorah rushed into the street to find a policeman.  In the meantime, according to The Morning Telegraph, the household was "thrown into an uproar" and the servants "fled in terror."  Four policeman searched the house, and found no one.  They did discover a scuttle to the roof had been pried loose.  The well-dressed thief had gotten away with $55 in cash, a set of gold cuff links and a gold ring.

The Goldsmiths were highly active in charitable and social causes.  By 1909 August was a director of the Educational Alliance, which educated immigrants "to render them desirable citizens," according to The Sun.  On March 8, 1915, the newspaper said, "Some idea of the activities of the Alliance may be gained from the fact that over 3,000,000 persons go through the building every year."  Goldsmith was also involved with the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies.

Devorah worked with the Federation Settlement, along with other socialites with impressive surnames like Lowenstein, Dreyfoos, and Rothschild.

In 1917, the Goldsmiths had a houseguest for the winter season.  Devorah's niece, Mildred Sommerfield, lived in Chicago.   Devorah, who had only boys, suddenly found herself planning a wedding for a young woman.  On May 11, 1917, The American Jewish Chronical reported that Mildred had been married to Robert Goldman at the fashionable Sherry's restaurant on May 1.  The article explained, "They were to have a large wedding some time in June, but the fact that Mr. Goldman has been called to Plattsburg [a military training camp] hastened their plans."

Arthur was the first of the Goldsmith boys to become engaged.  His plans to marry Stella Ruth Metzger were announced in April 1918.

With war raging, August became chairman of the Jewelry Committee of the Liberty Loan Committee in 1918, which pushed for the sale of Liberty Bonds.  He was still working hard for the cause in 1919, when his focus was necessarily redirected to labor problems.

In September, his 200 jewelers, polishers, toolmakers and other staff walked off the job.  Goldsmith was not sympathetic.  "These union men are mad with Bolshevism," he told The Sun.  And so, he felt, if his workers favored the communist way of doing things, he would appease them.  He offered to sell the strikers his entire operation for $300,000.  They could then divide it equally among themselves and run it as they wished.  

The workers had another proposal.  They demanded that Goldsmith turn over the company to them cost-free and that he and his partners "clear out immediately."  Not surprisingly, neither party accepted the other's proposal.

Lawrence Lyon Goldsmith was married to Gertrude T. Winter in January 1926.  The American Hebrew reported on January 8 that the couple "have sailed for France, where they will spend their wedding trip.  They will travel in Spain, Portugal and Germany during January and return to the States later to make their home in New York."  The article mentioned that Lawrence "graduated from Princeton in 1920 and studied at the University of Paris."

Still unmarried, Richard remained in the house with his parents.  Following Devorah's death, August Goldsmith sold 36 West 69th Street to B'nai B'rith in 1930.  On November 10, The New York Evening Post reported, "The club...will move to the Sixty-ninth Street address in a couple of weeks."  (August Goldsmith moved to the Hotel Dorset on West 54th Street, where he died at the age of 73 on May 24, 1933.)

B'nai B'rith operated from the former Goldsmith residence for just over a decade.  In 1937, the Menorah School of Adult Education shared the building.  Then, in 1945, a renovation resulted in two apartments per floor.  The entrance, which was moved to the side, was replaced by a large window. 

Living here in 1950 was actress Joyce Henry.  A 1948 graduate of the University of Michigan, she had spent her summer in Ivoryton, Connecticut playing in a summer stock production of Yes, My Darling Daughter starring Ann Harding, and in Blithe Spirit starring Arthur Treacher.  Back in New York, she studied drama at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre.

Although the entrance has been relocated, the exterior of the Goldsmith house is otherwise little changed since 1896.  There are still two apartments per floor.

photographs by the author

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

The 1896 Edward Curtis House - 33 West 69th Street

 

Henry F. Cook was a one-man band when it came to real estate.  He acted as developer, architect and contractor in constructing speculative houses in the late 19th century.  In 1895 he embarked on an ambitious project of eight rowhouses on the north side of West 69th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue.

Cook designed his row in the Renaissance Revival style, arranging the dwellings in an off balance A-B-B-C-C-D-E-F configuration.  The mirror-image "C" houses, Nos. 31 and 33, were "of Long Meadow stone and coral brick," as described by The Record & Guide.  Side-by-side stoops rose to the balcony-topped entrances.  Rounded bays rose from the basement level through the second floor, terminating in a balustraded balcony.  Grouped windows at the top floor sat atop an intermediate cornice, their interior piers decorated with Renaissance-inspired carvings.

In May 1896 Cook sold four of the eight houses to real estate operator George F. Johnson.  If you anticipated a quick turn-around, it did not happen, at least not for No. 33.  It was not until January 18, 1897 that Dr. Edward Curtis purchased the 22-foot wide house, giving in part payment his elegant home at No. 27 Washington Place.

No. 33 West 69th Street became home to an impressive family.  Edward was born on June 4, 1838 in Providence, Rhode Island.  He was descended from two presidents of Harvard University--Samuel and Joseph Willard.  He graduated "with high honors" from Harvard in 1859 and during the Civil War he was assistant surgeon in the United States Army.  

Dr. Curtis in his Union uniform.  from the collection of the National Library of Medicine

On the night of April 14, 1865 he had been summoned, along with 13 other physicians, to the home of William and Anna Peterson in Washington D.C. where President Abraham Lincoln had been transported after being shot in Ford's Theatre.  The following morning he and Dr. Joseph Woodward conducted an autopsy on the martyred President's body.  Curtis resigned from the military in 1870 and took up private practice in New York City.  He was a lecturer and author, having written books like the 1883 Manual of General Medicinal Training.

He and his wife, the former Augusta Lawler Stacey, had five children, Constance, Marian, George De Clyver, Natalie, and Bridgham.  Augusta and her daughters were visible among society, The Sun reporting on January 16, 1898, for instance, that "Mrs. Edward Curtis and the Misses Curtis of 33 West Sixty-ninth street" would be holding an "informal tea from 4 until 7 o'clock" the next day.

Augusta was extremely active in social and charitable causes.  She was perhaps most involved in the Mary F. Walton Free Kindergarten for Colored Children, of which she was vice-president in 1903.  She held meetings in the house for various groups, like the Women's Municipal League.  

On November 6, 1907 one of the Women's Municipal League meetings addressed the problem of funding.  The New-York Tribune said the women decided "that what it most needs for the furtherance of its work is the sinews of war--namely, money."  A paid worker, they felt, would be able to patrol the Upper West Side to "watch for infractions of the law, collect evidence and see that persistent law breakers were brought to justice."

In 1904 Dr. Curtis retired from practice because of ill health, but he continued his writing.  In 1906 he published his latest book, Nature & Health.  In its preface he said in part:

This book has been written in great part out-of-doors.  Thought out under the open sky, it has been committed to paper by the wayside, on knee or on the flat tops of fences.  Brought forth in such fashion, it is offered not as learning, but as a lure--a lure for the wise living that shall gain from goddess fairer than Hera, than Athene, or than Aphrodite herself, that gift, all Hygieia's own, the priceless boon of health, happiness, and the usefulness of years.

The same year, on October 3, the house was the scene of Marian's wedding to Roger B. Whitman.  Still living with their parents were George and Bridgham, both graduates of Harvard, and Natalie.  With one bedroom now vacant, William Fuller Curtis, their cousin, moved in.  He had been living, interestingly, in the former Curtis house on Washington Place.  No. 33 was now replete with artistic talents.  

Natalie, who was born in 1875, was a member of the Archaeological Institute of America.  She had studied music in France and Germany.  In America she focused on the musical cultures of Native Americans and lectured "before scientific and educational institutions," according to Who's Who in Music and Drama.  Along with article for various periodicals, she was the author of the 1902 Songs From a Child's Garden of Verses, Songs of Ancient America, published in 1905, and the 1907 The Indians' Book.

Constance was a year older than Natalie.  She studied at the Art Students League and was a student of William M. Chase.  Her works were exhibited in the Philadelphia Water Color Exhibition in 1907, and the Paris Exposition, the St. Louis World's Fair.  

Constance Curtis entitled this work White Roses.

William Fuller Curtis had studied art in Paris.  Born in 1873, he had been awarded top prizes in the Corcoran Gallery exhibitions in 1902 and '03 and at the St. Louis Exposition.  Although he did oil paintings and murals, he was best known as a pyrographer.  Writing in House and Garden in 1903, Leila Mechlin said, "In a somewhat analogous way William Fuller Curtis has begun the development of the art of burnt wood, for, leaving behind the common usages of the craft, he has pushed on into the realm of the sculptor and the painter and created a new art.  Neither in Europe nor America, in the past ages nor today, has work of a similar character been done."

By combining painting and wood burning techniques, Curtis created astounding bas relief works.  Some pieces, like his The Golden Dish, incorporated inlaid materials like gold.

This untitled piece by William Fuller Curtis, 52 inches wide, was executed in 1904.  Kaminski Auctions of Beverly Massachusetts.

On November 28, 1912 Edward Curtis died in his home at the age of 75.  The New York Times called him "for years one of the most widely known physicians in this country."  Soon afterward Augusta sold the 69th Street house to Arthur M. and Frances Wolff.  

Their purchase was no doubt prompted by the recent death of their daughter, Emily Rebecca.  Their young son-in-law, Ernest Abraham Cardozo, now was rearing two children, one less than a year old, next door at No. 31.

Like Augusta Curtis, Arthur M. Wolff was highly involved in charitable causes.  He was a supporter of the Dispensary and Hospital for Deformities and Joint Diseases, and was secretary of the Institution for the Improved Instruction of Deaf-Mutes.

The Wolffs did not remain especially long in the house and, while Frances retained possession, by 1917 it was being operated as a boarding house.  One resident, Benjamin Carter, was aboard the Cunard linter Laconia in February 1917 when it was torpedoed by a German submarine.  The Sioux City Journal ran the headline "Great British Liner Sunk By a Plunger / No Warning Given Liner."

While passengers were being hurriedly loaded into lifeboats, the submarine fired a second torpedo.  The vessel sank within 45 minutes.  On February 28 The Sun entitled an article "Laconia Survivors Hours in High Seas," and reported that two American women, Mrs. Mary E. Hoy and her daughter, Elizabeth, died of exposure in their life boat and were buried at sea.  There were 267 confirmed survivors, including Benjamin Carter, and 13 fatalities.

An incident of the war involved another boarder, Joseph J. Doherty, the following year.  Like so many of his countrymen, Doherty had enlisted for service.  On December 10, 1918 the New-York Tribune listed him among those wounded in battle.

The side-by-side stoops can be seen in this photo from around 1941.  NYC Dept of Records and Information Services

The tradition of artists in the house continued with Bertha Menzler Peyton and Bessie Potter Vonnoh, both of whom boarded in the house and exhibited in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts 115th exhibition in 1920.  They were still here the following year when their works were again accepted in the prestigious show.

Betty Van Dyke ran the boarding house at the time.  She leased the property from Frances Wolff for years, finally "surrendering" the lease in 1933.  Fred M. Howard continued operating it as a respectable boarding house until 1939 when Else Alba leased both No. 31 and 33 West 69th Street from Frances Wolff, buying the furnishings from Howard.

In 1955 the former Curtis house was converted to apartments in the basement and former parlor level, with furnished rooms on the upper floors.  The stoop was removed, the original entrance converted to a window, and a rather unsightly doorway installed at the basement level.

It became home to middle-class professionals, like Rita Mary Martin, here in the late 1950's.  She worked as a stenographer in the New Zealand Mission to the United Nations.

Although the fraternal twins have lost their stoops, their former elegance is apparent.

A renovation completed in 1997 resulted in two apartments per floor.  

photographs by the author

The 1896 Theodore K. Pembrook House - 31 West 69th Street

 

Henry F. Cook acted as developer, architect and contractor in constructing speculative houses in the late 19th century.  In 1895 he embarked on an ambitious project of eight rowhouses on the north side of West 69th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue.

Cook designed his row in the Renaissance Revival style, arranging the dwellings in an off balance A-B-B-C-C-D-E-F configuration.  The mirror-image "C" houses, Nos. 31 and 33, were "of Long Meadow stone and coral brick," as described by The Record & Guide.  Side-by-side dog-legged stoops rose to the balcony-topped entrances.  Rounded bays rose from the basement level through the second floor, terminating in balustraded balconies.  Grouped windows at the top floor sat atop an intermediate cornice, their interior piers decorated with Renaissance-inspired carvings.

On January 2, 1896 The Real Estate Record & Guide reported that No. 31, "one of the handsome row recently completed by Henry F. Cook," had been sold to Theodore K. Pembrook for about $75,000.  (The price would translate to about $2.3 million today.)

Pembrook was a partner in the wholesale dry goods firm of Sweetser, Pembrook  & Co.  He was also a director in the New York Casualty Co. and the Traders' Fire Insurance Co.  Sweetser, Pembrook & Co. was organized in 1868 and by now was described by King's Handbook of New York as "among the most prominent of the dry-goods firms of America."

Pembrook's social status was reflected in his several club members, including the Colonial, the New York Athletic Club, and the Merchant's and the Manhattan Clubs.  He and his wife, the former Bertha Patience Woodruff, had two daughters, Bertha Woodruff and Sara Isabelle.

Mirror images, Nos. 31 and 33 shared a balcony created by the creative hoods above the entrances (now windows).  

The Pembrooks enjoyed an extended stay in Lakewood, New Jersey for the 1897 Thanksgiving holiday.  On November 28 the New-York Daily Tribune noted "Theodore K. Pembrook and William B. Dowd, of New-York, are out for quail these days, with good results.  Their record for four days is eighty-six birds, and on Tuesday they brought in thirty-four quail and two woodcock."  In a separate article the newspaper reported "Mrs. William A. Pembrook is visiting her son, Theodore K. Pembrook, a New-Yorker, who is here for a long stay."

Interestingly, in addition to being a businessman and huntsman, Pembrook had an artistic side.  He had an art studio on West 68th Street and owned the Lyceum Theatre in Elizabeth, New Jersey.  

But things were about to fall apart for the Pembrooks.  On April 10, 1900 The New York Times reported on a judgment against "Theodore K. Pembrook, the artist," for $6,344 (nearly $200,000 today).  In his hearing, Pembrook has said "that there was another judgment against him held by his father's estate for about $8,000."    He claimed he owned no real estate, saying he "did own the property at 31 West Sixty-ninth Street, but it had been foreclosed and sold."  (That was not exactly true.)

In November Pembrook sold the Lyceum Theatre.  He had already transferred his interest in Sweetser, Pembrook & Co. to his mother.  The Pembrooks managed to stay on in No. 31 until August 1903 when Theodore leased the house which he had earlier insisted was not his to Frederick M. Strauss and his wife Julie.  Two years later, on October 5, 1905, Pembrook sold the 22-foot wide house to his tenants.  

Strauss was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  The couple's son, Walter C., was a freshman at Harvard, and son John Francis was an attorney in the law firm of Strauss & Hedges.  More notably, he was a recognized photographer.

Known sometimes simply as J. F. Strauss, he was a co-founder with Alfred Stieglitz in 1902 of the Photo-Secession.  He worked as an associate editor for Camera Work, a quarterly founded by Stieglitz.  The magazine featured a photogravure by Strauss, The Bridge, a haunting shot of the Brooklyn Bridge at night.

J. F. Strauss's The Bridge was taken in 1903.  from the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art

While living in the 69th Street house J. F. Strauss exhibited his works at impressive venues like the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh and the National Arts Club in New York.

Around 1911 the Strausses shared the house with Ernest A. Cardozo.  A widow, the well-to-do attorney had graduated from Columbia University in 1899 and was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.  He was financially comfortable enough to own a Pierce Arrow automobile.

It appears that John Francis left the family home in 1913.  On December 7, 1912 The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that he had purchased Larchmont Manor, the former George Croker estate in Larchmont, New York.  The price he paid would equal just over $2 million today.

Ernest Cardozo was still living with the family in June 1919 when he married Mary Ellen Katon of Cincinnati.  In reporting on the wedding The New York Times mentioned that he also owned a summer home at Allenhurst, New Jersey.

The split, shared stoop was intact when this photo was taken around 1941.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

The Strauss family left the 69th Street house shortly after that.  In 1938 it was being operated as "furnished rooms," and in 1947 a renovation converted it to two apartments per floor.  Sadly, the stoop--so integral to Henry F. Cook's design--was removed, the entrance converted to a window, and a new, unattractive doorway installed in the former basement level.

Among the first residents was opera singer Dino Yannopoulos.  He was no doubt thrilled to receive a letter from the Metropolitan Opera Association dated March 2, 1949 which said in part, "It is the intention of the management to offer you a contract for the season 1949-50."

Other than replacement windows, the tragic loss of the stoop, and an air conditioner projecting through a hole gouged in the brickwork of the top floor, Henry F. Cook's handsome design is essentially intact.

photographs by the author

The Meyer A. Bernheimer House - 9 West 69th Street

 

Architect Alexander M. Welch was known for designing high-end homes, very often on the east side of Central Park.  But in 1895 he was hired by builders James A. Frame & Son to design a row of five 20-foot wide homes on West 69th Street, just off Central Park West.  The developers had purchased the parcel from Clara Sachs for $75,000--or about $2.36 million in today's money.  The firm promised the homes would have "all modern conveniences."

Completed the following year, the Renaissance Revival residences rose four stories above an English basement level.  The rusticated limestone base of No. 9 West 69th Street sat above a dog-legged stone stoop.  The two-story midsection, faced in gray Roman brick, featured a rounded bay.  Decorative blind roundels and palm fronds adorned the lintels of the second floor.  The fourth floor was clad in paneled limestone.

It was sold in October 1896 to John J. and Julia Mitchell.  The couple paid about $50,000 for their new home--in the neighborhood of $1.57 million today.  As was common, the title was placed in Julia's name.  

Mitchell was president of Mitchell, Vance & Co.  Founded in 1854 it manufactured and designed light fixtures, clocks and bronzes, and ornamental metal work.  While Mitchell busily oversaw his well-known business, Julia focused on things more social.  On March 26 1899, for instance, the New York Herald reported "Miss Marion E. Coppernoll gave an interesting talk on 'Famous Folks and Their Families' Friday morning last at the home of Mrs. John Mitchell, No. 9 West Sixty-ninth street."  On the same page an article about Mrs. John H. McCarthy's afternoon luncheon listed Julia as one of the guests.

The Mitchells remained in No. 9 for more than a decade, selling it on April 28, 1908 to Meyer A. Bernheimer.  Interestingly, he immediately transferred title to Alice, Cora A. and Blanche A. Bernheimer.

Bernheimer was one of eight children born to Isaac and Isabella Bernheimer.  He and his brother Jacob were partners in Jacob S. Bernheimer & Bro., the cotton converting firm founded by their father.  Meyer was more visible, however, in his real estate dealings.  His father had branched into real estate and mining interests before his death and Meyer followed suit.  He bought and sold Manhattan properties and owned vast properties in the Far West.  In 1917 he would purchase silver mining properties in Montana.

The Bernheimer girls involved themselves in Jewish causes.  Blanche was involved with the Hebrew Technical Institute and Cora was a member of the National Council of Jewish Women.

The Bernheimer family and their neighbors along the block lived in quiet opulence, surrounded by the trappings of the well-to-do.  Their homes were filled with silver flatware and serving pieces, paintings and sculpture and expensive bric-a-brac.  And they were the constant targets of stealthy burglars.

In 1914 the neighbors organized the Sixty-Ninth Street Property Owners' Association for their own protection.  Meyer Bernheimer told a reporter from the New York Herald, "the property owners decided that there were too many burglaries in the neighborhood and hired special watchmen, one for day and one for night duty."  Unfortunately, the regular policemen bristled at the move, seeing the private watchmen as an insult to their own capabilities.  When the association asked that the watchmen be supplied with special police badges, the police commissioner refused.

One night in December the night watchman, Leo A. Carey, heard a loud police whistle being blown by one of the Bernheimer maids--the signal that help was needed.  He rushed to the house and detained Thomas McCoy.  The New York Herald reported "The man was caught while trying to escape a maid in the Bernheimer home at No. 9 West Sixty-ninth street.  One hundred dollars' worth of silverware had been taken."  (The foiled heist would be valued at about $2,640 today.)

The responding policemen were less than congratulatory to the watchman.  The New York Herald recounted "According to Mr. Bernheimer, Carey hardly had his prisoner locked up when detectives arrived at the Bernheimer home and asked upon what authority Carey made the arrest.  Mr. Bernheimer says that this has been the practice ever since the request for special police badges for the watchmen was refused by the Police Commissioner."  The article noted "That the block needs more protection, the property owners assert, is shown by the fact that in the last few months Carey has made no fewer than seven arrests on charges ranging from burglary to disorderly conduct."

World War I brought with it considerable anti-German sentiment.  It prompted some German-American run businesses and institutions to change their names to something less German-sounding.  One wonders about the conversations that went on within No. 9 West 69th Street before Charles Daly Bernheimer changed his surname to Burnham before joining the United States Army Reserve Corps.

Charles rose to a captain in the Quartermaster Section.  Shortly after the war's end, on June 24, 1919, he married Estelle White King.

The Bernheimer family left West 69th Street within a few years, moving to No. 42 West 58th Street.  Meyer A. Bernheimer died there on October 18, 1928.

By the early 1940's No. 9 was the sole survivor of the 1896 row.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

By the Great Depression years the former Bernheimer house was being operated as a respectable rooming house.  Among the tenants in 1937 was Peyton Fentrell McLamb.  A graduate of West Point he was married to Esther Marie Johnson that year.  His bride was a graduate of the University of Kansas.

photo via streeteasy.com

After surviving, essentially, as a private residence for eight decades, No. 9 West 69th Street was converted to apartments in 1977.  It was the last standing house of the 1896 row.  Much of Alexander Welch's handsome interior elements survive while the exterior is nearly unchanged.

photographs by the author

The 1892 William E. Diller House - 62 West 69th Street

Beginning in 1892 the south side of West 69th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue filled with groups of rowhouses erected by several developers.  Most interesting is that all of them used the same architect--Gilbert A. Schellenger.  The result was an architecturally cohesive block despite the various owners.

Among the earliest were the eight Renaissance Revival style houses at Nos. 48 through 70 West 69th Street which Schellenger designed for Dr. William Edward Diller.   Diller was apparently pleased with the row, for he moved his family into No. 62.

Like every other house on the block, No. 62 rose four stories above an English basement.  A stone stoop rose to the entrance which was flanked by fluted Corinthian pilasters.  They upheld sturdy foliate brackets which, in turn, supported a second floor balcony.

A diminutive engaged column that clung to the facade between the parlor windows sprouted an angled bay which supported a second balcony.  Intricate carvings covered the base of the bay and filled the spandrel panels of the parlor level and the second floor.  The openings of third floor wore molded cornices and those of the fourth triangular pediments.  A cast metal cornice completed the design.

Delicate carved panels, now painted, filled the panels.

Dr. Diller was born in New York City on July 31, 1858.  A graduate of the University of Virginia, he married Elizabeth A. Crawford in 1884.  The couple had two daughters, Mary Elizabeth and Virginia Crawford Diller.  The successful physician added to his significant wealth by speculating in real estate.  He and Schellenger would work together on several other projects.  

Dr. Wm. Edward Diller - University of Virginia, Its History, Influence, Equipment and Characteristics, 1904 (copyright expired)

The family lived quietly in the house, garnering little attention.  The Diller name appeared in newspapers only in relation to William's buying and selling of properties.  In August 1900 Diller sold his 20-foot wide home to John C. Duenhauer.

Born in Bavaria in 1847, Duenhauer was listed as a butcher as early as 1870.  He and his wife, the former Marie Louisa Jung (known as Mary), were married on May 28, 1878.  They had five children, Rose, John F., May, Frederick, and William Leonard.

John Duenhauer was no store front butcher.  An advertisement in The Sun on March 7, 1909 described his operation on Spring Street as "City Dressed Prime Beef and Provisions."  His customers included hotels, steamships and restaurants.   Living with the family in the 69th Street house that year were three servants, 37-year old Hungarian-born Anna Manak, the cook; Mary Holdstetter, the 21-year old maid who was also born in Hungary; and Sophie Green, the 24-year old Irish-born laundress.

Despite the family's comfortable finances, it appears that John saw no reason to overspend on the children's educations.  In 1902 William was enrolled as a sub-freshman in the Free Academy of the City of New York in the "Language Course, Classical."  The sons would eventually all be taken into their father's business.

Young William was apparently more free with his money.  Only his name appeared in society columns.  Such was the case on August 1, 1909 when The New York Times reported that the 20-year old was a guest "at the Friday night card party at the Warwick Arms" in Point Pleasant, New Jersey.

On April 6, 1913 May's engagement to Frederick H. Knocke was announced.   The wedding took place in the 69th Street house on October 8 that year with Rose as her sister's attendant.  The New York Times described the rose point lace veil as being "caught up with sprays of lilies of the valley, and [the bride] carried a shower bouquet of lilies of the valley."  On her satin gown was the diamond bow-knot given to her by the groom.

Frederick and John J. branched out that year by incorporating the Roydi Realty Corp.   The brothers pooled $20,000 to start their firm (more than half a million in today's dollars).  By 1915 they took William into the business as secretary and director.

The original stoop can be seen in this 1941 photo.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Marie Louise Dauenhauer died on New Year's Day 1920 at the age of 64.  Her husband and son, Frederick, remained in No. 62 for another decade.  John died on April 1, 1930 at the age of 82 and Frederick left soon afterward.

By 1932 the house was being leased as unofficial apartments.  It was not until 1958 that an official conversion was completed, resulting in two apartments on each floor.  It may have been at this time that the stoop was removed to create a more open entrance to the former basement level, and a metal replacement installed.

The original stoop was a straight version of the one next door.

Among the tenants in the 1970's were Ralph Alswang and his wife, Betty.  He was described by The New York Times as "the Broadway scenic designer who turned a stunning series of stage successes into a career as one of the nation's foremost designers of theaters."  After having designed the sets of hits like The Rainmaker, A Raisin in the Sun, and Sunrise at Campobello, Alswang switched careers to design theaters.

He won acclaim for his designs of playhouses like the Palace and Uris Theaters on Broadway, the Latin Theater in Las Vegas, the New Orleans Civic Center, and the Pine Knob Pavilion in Michigan.

Betty Alswang died in 1978.  The following year, on February 15, Ralph suffered a fatal heart attack in his apartment.  He was 62 years old.

The stone facade of the Diller house has been painted and the entrance door replaced.  Nevertheless, even with its missing stoop, the residence retains most of its architectural integrity after more than a century and a quarter.

photographs by the author

The 1893 Charles F. Schmidt House - 30 West 69th Street

Real estate developers George C. Edgar's Sons began construction of six high-stooped brownstone residences on the south side of West 69th Street, just off Central Park West, in 1892.  Designed by Gilbert A. Schellenger in the Renaissance Revival style, the 21-foot wide homes were completed the following year.  No. 30 was somewhat more reserved in its decoration than some of its fraternal neighbors. 

The entrance above the dog-legged stoop was framed in a simple egg-and-dart design and and capped by a triangular pediment.  The strait-laced upper floor openings featured paneled pilasters that upheld molded lintels at the second and fourth floors.  The openings of the third floor wore architrave frames.  The restrained decoration gave an air of polite respectability.

George C. Edgar's Sons sold the newly-completed house to Charles F. Schmidt on October 6, 1893.   Born in Bremen, Germany in 1832, he had come to New York at the age of 20 and became an American citizen.   Charles and Ella Schmidt had a son and four daughters.  

In 1856 Schmidt had established the wine importing firm of Schmidt, Schmidt & Co.  (It was later renamed Charles F. Schmidt & Co. and then, in 1868, Charles F. Schmidt & Peters.)  Now Charles, Jr. was involved in the firm as its secretary and a director.  It dealt in high-end French wines and was the sole American agent, for instance, for Veuve Clicquot Ponpardin of Rheims; Cruse & Fils Freres of Bordeaux; and for Jules Regnier & Co of Dijon.

For the most part, only the wealthy could afford motorcars in 1905.  Motorists were routinely fined $5 or so for speeding violations and released; but Charles seems to have been going far faster than most on April 24 that year.  The New York Herald reported that he "was held in $300 bail for trial" for "speeding his automobile on Sunday afternoon in Fifth Avenue, between Seventy-ninth and One Hundred and Eighth streets."  Magistrate Mayo was serious.  The bail would equal more than $8,800 today.

Before the end of the year Schmidt's health began to fail.  Around December could no longer go to his office.  His condition continued to decline and he died in the 69th Street house at the age of 74 on January 26, 1906.  The Sun called him "one of New York's prominent German merchants."

Not only do the striking stained glass transoms of the parlor windows survive, but so do the interior shutters.

On December 5, 1908 the Record & Guide reported that Ella had sold No. 30.  The article mentioned the high-end nature of the block.  "Both sides of this street are built up with handsome private dwellings."  Interestingly, the buyer was Ella's daughter, Adelaide, and her husband George L. Degener, Jr., who, along with their 7-year old son, George, Jr., already lived in the house with the Schmidt family.

For a while nothing changed other than the holder of the deed.  Ella, Charles, Jr., and the still-unmarried Elizabeth Schmidt remained in the house with the Denegers for several years.

George L. Degener was the senior partner in the stock brokerage firm of Degener & Co.  Like his father-in-law, he was born in Germany.  He graduated from Amherst College in 1892.  The Degener summer home, Cozy Cotz, was in Quogue, Long Island.  

George, Jr. graduated from Williams College in 1924 and entered his father's firm as a partner.  The following year, on October 24, his engagement to Marie De La Roche Anderson was announced. 

The wedding was to be a splendid event planned for March 23, 1926 in the fashionable Brick Presbyterian Church on Fifth Avenue.  The Colony Club was chosen as the venue for the reception.  But the imposing ceremony was derailed by the death of Marie's grandmother.  The invitations to the wedding and reception were withdrawn.   And while the wedding transpired on the appointed day, it was a decidedly understated affair; taking place in the Park Avenue apartment of the Robert Olyphants with "only the immediate members of both families being present," according to the New York Evening Post.

The newlyweds moved into the West 69th Street house.  Nine months later, on Christmas Eve 1926, George L. Deneger 3d was born.

As with all moneyed couples, George and Adelaide's movements were followed in the society pages.  On May 3, 1928, for instance, the New York Evening Post reported that they "are returning from Europe tomorrow on the Aquitania."  It would be George's last trip abroad.  On May 25, 1929 he died after a long illness at the age of 57.  His estate of approximately $3 million today was left entirely to his wife.

Adelaide almost immediately left No. 30.  In January 1930 she leased the house to Marguerite Moras and moved to No. 575 Park Avenue.  Moras paid a yearly rent of $4,350; or about $5,540 per month in today's dollars.

It is unclear how long Marguerite Moras remained in the house; but it was being operated as a rooming house after mid-century.  In 1997 a conversion was made of the "Class B rooms to Class A apartments."  

Only two of the original row survive.  No. 30 has changed little, even retaining its wooden, double-hung windows.

photographs by the author

The William Orr Barclay House - 32 West 69th Street

In the first years of the 1890's Gilbert A. Schellenger nearly single-handedly designed the entire southern block of West 69th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue.  He would be responsible for 21 rowhouses and three flat buildings on the block.  Surprisingly, they were not the projects of a single developer, but three unrelated operators.

He designed a group of six homes in 1892 for developer George C. Edgar's Sons.  Completed the following year, the 21-foot wide residences were faced in brownstone and designed in the popular Renaissance Revival style.

Schellenger did not hold back with his lavish ornamentation.  The paneled pilasters that flanked the entrance upheld jutting foliate brackets below a Juliette balcony.  To its side an angled, then rounded bay rose two stories.  The fourth floor openings wore elaborate broken pediments, one of which engulfed paired windows.

A window sits today where the original entrance was located.

On November 30, 1893 The New York Herald reported that George C. Edgar's Sons had sold No. 32 for $80,000--around $2.3 million today.   The purchaser was Mrs. Sophia Kepner, widow of millionaire brewer Samuel K. Kepner.   Sharing the house with her would be her daughter, Clara and her husband William Orr Barclay, whom she married in November 1883; and their two daughters, Sylvia Hortense and Beatrice.  

William Barclay was a founder of Barclay & Co., manufacturers of drugs.  By now he was senior member of the firm.  

The Barclays moved among the top echelon of high society.  They had been invited, for instance, to a ball in the home of Mrs. A. Newbold Morris in December 1884.  Other guests included Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, her son John Jacob Astor, Jr., Gouverneur Morris and his wife, the Ogden Goelets and Ward McAllister and his wife.

The Barclays did not own a summer home, preferring to stay at fashionable resort hotels.  In the summer of 1895, for instance, they were at Churchill Hall in Stamford, New York in the Catskills.  The New-York Tribune noted that Clara had taken up bicycling there, saying it "has become a great fad with Stamford guests on these fine roads, especially with the ladies."

Following her mother's death Clara was named executrix of her estate.  She seems to have given herself a bargain price on the 69th Street house.  On June 5, 1897 the Record & Guide reported she had paid the estate $36,000 for the property, about half of what her mother had spent.

The Barclays spent the summer season of 1900 in Atlantic City.  Clara and William would have just one more summer together.  William died at the age of 45 in the 69th Street house on October 17, 1901.  His funeral was held in the drawing room three days later.

Early in 1903 Clara found herself without a butler.  On March 4 she hired Edgar Bell.  The 28-year-old had worked "at several fashionable resorts as a waiter," according to the New-York Tribune.   The Evening World added "Tall, handsome and possessed of a cockney accent as thick as a London fog, he was an ideal butler."

The other servants were impressed with his noble bearing.  "Before he was in the house six hours the other servants whispered that he was the discarded son of a baronet.  In twenty-four hours he was a duke," said The Evening World.

Almost immediately Bell initiated a romance with one of the maids.  The flirtation would be his undoing.  

Four days later the butler disappeared, along with "a diamond ring valued at $1,000, a gold watch studded with diamonds, and also several smaller diamond rings, pearls and precious stones."  The loot was worth nearly $75,000 in today's dollars.

Bell headed to Boston where he booked passage back to England.  But he could not get bring himself to leave his sweetheart behind and sent the maid a letter.  The Evening World said "The girl could have loved a butler, but she hated a thief."  She turned the letter over to Clara.

On March 19 the New-York Tribune reported that Bell had been arrested and "several thousand dollars' worth of precious stones" recovered.  The Evening World added "A willing witness against him at the trial will be the honest serving maid whose love turned to hate when she found that Bell was a thief."

Coaching parties were a favorite form of recreation among the upper crust.  By now new destinations for the parties were the society race tracks like Belmont Park and Morris Park.  On May 22, 1904 the New-York Tribune reported on four coaches that visited the parks the previous day.  "Mrs. William Orr Barclay took out a party to the races on the coach Good Times, while Alfred G. Vanderbilt drove the Pioneer, as usual, to Ardsley." 

The following year in December Clara sold No. 32 to Frederick W. Rothschild and his wife, Sara.  As was customary, the title was placed in Sara's name. 

Rothschild was a wealthy cotton merchant with offices at No. 15 Mercer Street.  The family summered in Long Branch, New Jersey.  Their upscale lifestyle was reflected in a dinner party there for 30 couples with a ride on his yacht in August 1908.  The New York Times reported "Mr. Rothschild's guests enjoyed a two-hours sail down the Shrewsbury before the feast."

Like Clara Barclay, Sara ran into a problem with a servant.  In January 1909 she hired 22-year old Charlotte White as a children's nurse.  Two months later Charlotte resigned and soon thereafter Sara realized her $300 fur coat was missing.  It, of course, did not take police long to track the culprit down.  The New York Herald, on March 15, reported on her arrest and said "The police expect to recover the coat on information furnished by Miss White."

The stoop still survived when this tax photo was taken.  But the boarded-up parlor floor windows and what appears to be construction tarps at the second floor suggest the renovation to apartments had begun.  via NYC Depart of Records & Information Services

The Rothschild family remained in the house at least into the 1920's.   Eleanor, still unmarried, was listed here in 1922.

In 1943 the house was converted to apartments and furnished rooms.  It was at this time that the stoop was chopped off and the entrance moved to the former basement level, a few steps below the sidewalk.

photographs by the author