The William and Phebe Baldwin House - 53 West 74th Street

 

The firm of Colleran & Brother & Hughes acted as both architect and developer.  In 1889 it broke ground for a row of four high-end residences on the north side of West 74th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue.  Completed the following year in an A-B-A-B configuration, the 20-foot-wide houses were four stories tall above high English basements and faced in brownstone.  

The deeply rusticated parlor and second floors of 53 West 74th Street were distinguished by a pronounced rounded bay.  A dog-legged box stoop meandered up to the arched doorway, which was protected by iron-and-glass doors and outlined by delicate rope molding.  A fearsome lion's head decorated its keystone.  Intricate Renaissance Revival panels embellished these levels and also appeared at the bases of the parlor openings.  

The architect switched gears, turning to neo-Grec for the planar faced upper floors.  The windows sat within elaborate carved architraves.  Equally ambitious was the pressed metal cornice with its paired, scrolled corbels and decorated fascia panels.

Max Weil purchased all four houses from Colleran & Brother & Hughes in January 1891.  When he sold them at auction on July 3, William Burnet Baldwin placed the winning bid of $43,900 for No. 53.  (The price would translate to just over $1.5 million in 2026.)

William Burnet Baldwin was born on November 27, 1850 to Jesse Baldwin Jr. and the former Phebe Ann Burnet.  He and his wife, Irene, had at least one son, William R.  Also moving into the house was Phebe Baldwin.  (Jesse had died in December 1881.)

Baldwin was a builder and just two months after moving into 53 West 74th Street he began construction on two two-story stables on West 76th Street near Amsterdam Avenue.  

Phebe Ann Baldwin died in the house at the age of 84 on April 13, 1894.  Her funeral was held in the parlor three days later.

Somewhat surprisingly, William and Irene sold 53 West 74th Street for a tidy profit to their son, William R. Baldwin (who was living in Illinois by now), in March 1896 for $47,250.  The transaction initiated a flurry of deed transfers.  The same day, William R. Baldwin transferred the title to Samuel F. Adams who sold it almost immediately to Jacques Richard Simon.

Born in San Francisco on April 9, 1859, Simon was the head of the silk importing firm J. R. Simon & Co.  His substantial concern maintained a buying office in Yokohama, Japan and employed representatives in China, Hong Kong and France.

Simon married Virginia (known as Jenny) Rosenbaum on April 2, 1889.  When they moved into 53 West 74th Street, they had three children: six-year-old Lloyd Nutenson, two-year-old Grace Mignon, and Albert Richard, who was an infant.  Two more children would be born in the house: Carolina in 1904 and Virginia Dorothy the following year.

Jacques Richard Simon (original source unknown)

Like all their neighbors, the Simons maintained a domestic staff.  Living with the family were the children's governess and three other servants.

On July 28, 1912, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle described 19-year-old Amy A. Michaels as "among the very pretty girls of the younger set."  The article said, "She is to marry a Manhattan man, Lloyd N. Simon."  (Lloyd was now 22 years old.)

Among the Simons' domestic staff who did not live with the family, of course, was their chauffeur, Paul Kearney.  On the afternoon of April 23, 1915, he was driving Jacques Simon in Long Island City.  A group of boys were playing ball at Ninth Street and Jackson Avenue around 3:00.  The Brooklyn Daily Star reported, "One of the players knocked the ball out into the street, and Harrigan fielded it."  "Harrigan" was 18-year-old Dennis Harrigan.  In chasing the ball, he "stepped right in the path" of the Simon vehicle.

Kearny slammed on the brakes, but not quickly enough to avoid hitting the teen.  Although Harrigan was knocked to the pavement, Kearny's quick reaction resulted only in "contusions and lacerations."  Harrigan was taken by ambulance to a hospital where it was reported, "His condition is not serious."

Jacques R. Simon sold 53 West 74th Street to Robert Reed Moore on July 15, 1919.  He and Jennie moved to 300 West End Avenue where Jacques died two years later from arteriosclerosis.

Moore was president of the Commercial Trust Company and of the cotton brokerage firm of Robert Moore & Co.  (Moore's brother, Edward, was a partner in the latter.)  The family moved into 53 West 74th Street just in time to announce the engagement of E. Louise Moore to Theodore Guy Converse on October 7, 1920.  The prospective bride had made her debut two years earlier and the New-York Tribune said, "They both are popular members of society."

The family received a shock on June 14, 1921.  Kirk Moore was the son of Robert's brother, Edward.  The 26-year-old checked into the Hotel Pennsylvania at 11:30 that morning and ten minutes later threw himself from the window of his 17th-floor room.  

Reporters came to the West 74th Street house for information.  Robert Moore said that "he could not understand why his nephew should want to take his own life as he was a most estimable young man and apparently was happy and had everything to live for."

Despite the tragedy, E. Louise's wedding took place as planned the following month, albeit much more subdued.  She and Theodore Guy Converse were married in Christ Church in Greenwich Connecticut on July 16.  The New York Times noted, "Owing to both families being in mourning, only relatives and intimate friends are to attend."  The New-York Tribune noted that the reception would be held "at the country home of the bride's parents."

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The Moores' residency at 53 West 74th Street would be short-lived.  They sold the house on August 3, 1922 to Dr. José Maria de Bermingham and his wife, the former Emily McElroy.

Born in Brooklyn on February 23, 1876, De Bermingham attended the St. John's Military School.  A medical prodigy, he graduated from the New York University Medical School at the age of 20 in 1896.  He served as assistant bacteriologist in the Pasteur Institute for a year before becoming the bacteriologist of the New York Nose and Throat Hospital in 1898.

Like most wives of prominent men, Emily was involved in charitable works.  A former English teacher, she was a founder of the Aytoun Society, which operated a day nursery.

When the couple purchased 53 West 74th Street, De Bermingham was already suffering from chronic nephritis (known only a generation earlier as Bright's Disease).  The 49-year-old physician died in the house on February 13, 1925.  One month later, on March 15, Emily McElroy de Bermingham died of pneumonia.

Emily's will was extremely generous to her long-time lady's maid, Pauline Lee.  On April 11, 1925, the Cleveland, Ohio newspaper The Gazette reported that she left Pauline $10,000.  The legacy would translate to $180,000 today.

The following month, on May 26, The New York Times reported that 53 West 74th Street had been sold for $50,000.  The buyer was Jeannette M. Thurber, known nationally as a patron of classical music.

Born in Delhi, New York to violinist Henry Meyers and Annamarie Coffin Price on January 29, 1850, Jeannette was educated at the Paris Conservatory.  Her husband, millionaire grocer Francis Beatty Thurber, died on July 4, 1907.  The couple had two daughters, Mariannne and Jeannette.

In 1884 Jeannette sponsored the city's first Wagner festival and the following year founded the National Conservatory of Music of America and the American Opera Company.  

Jeannette Meyer Thurber, photo by Bryon Company from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

Two years after moving into 53 West 74th Street, Jeannette Thurber's name appeared in newsprint for a much different reason.  Her daughter, Jeannette, married Washington E. Connor in 1913.  Once a partner of Jay Gould, he had retired in 1910.  The younger Jeanette was described by The New York Times as "a member of an old, socially prominent family," and said she "was known as one of the foremost authorities on the history of Florida, where she owned the ruins of the old Franciscan mission at New Smyrna."

Jeannette Connor died on June 6, 1927 without a will.  Then, on September 6, Washington Connor discovered a will "at their Summer home at Onteora, New York," according to The Times.  Although Jeannette had voiced her intentions to leave her Florida estate to the Florida Historical Society, the newly found will left her entire estate to her husband.

Jeannette Thurber sued on November 4, 1927, charging her son-in-law with "duress and undue influence in the execution of the will."  She also charged that it "was not signed by Mrs. Connor in the presence of the attesting witnesses, nor did they sign it in the presence of each other. "

Jeannette prevailed and on February 27, 1928, The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported that the "ancient Franciscan mission erected in 1696...will become the property of the Florida State Historical society...in compliance with the wishes of its owner, the late Jeannette Thurber Connor."

Jeannette M. Thurber leased the West 74th Street house in October 1930 to Ruth Guedalla and Annie Isaac.  At the end of their five-year lease, Jeannette rented it again.  And by the time she sold 53 West 74th Street to real estate operator James H. Cruikshank in February 1939, The New York Times described it as a "four-story rooming house containing eighteen rooms."

Among Cruikshank's earliest roomers was photographer Tet Arnold von Borsig.  He placed third in the Long Island Photograph contest with his photograph Piping Rock Horse Show in November 1941.  On July 2, 1944, The New York Times reported on the newly released Chinese Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Alan Priest.  The article noted that the illustrations were photographed by Tet Borsig.

An unknown photographer snapped this photo of Tet Arnold von Borsig in 1936.  from the collection of the Sprengel Museum.

And on October 25, 1946, the Northport Journal reported on a 34-picture exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum.  "All of the pictures were taken and arranged by Tet Borsig, 53 West 74th street," said the article.

A renovation completed in 1969 resulted in a duplex in the basement and parlor levels, and apartments and furnished rooms in the upper floors.  The configuration lasted until 1980 when the three upper floors were converted to two apartments each.

photographs by the author

The Juan and Emilia Sala House - 13 West 74th Street

 

In 1889, construction of five rowhouses began on West 74th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue.  David T. Kennedy was the contractor and his wife, Carrie S. Kennedy, handled the business end of the project.  Designed by Daniel Burgess, the four-story-and-basement homes were completed in 1890.  A blend of neo-Grec and Queen Anne styles, they were clad in red brick and trimmed in brownstone.

The basement and parlor levels of No. 13 were faced in rough-cut brownstone.  An especially sumptuous, colorful stained-glass arched transom decorated the parlor window and an equally elegant fan of wrought and cast iron filled the tympanum of the entranceway.

A bowed oriel dominated the second floor and the stone-framed, elliptically arched third-floor windows were crowned with voussoirs.  Scrolled volutes introduced the stone gable that fronted the slate-shingled mansard level.  Its triangular pediment was filled with complex foliate carving.

The completed house quickly passed through several hands.  On October 13, 1890, The World reported that Carrie S. Kennedy had sold it to "A. V. Goodfellow for $44,500."   On November 1, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that the house was sold to Thomas K. Egbert.  And two months later, on February 3, 1891, an advertisement appeared in the New York Herald:

The elegantly decorated four story extension house, No. 13 West 74th st.; parlors hung in tapestry; will be sold at a bargain, including handsome gas and grate fixtures if desired.  Apply on premises.

The buyers were Juan Sala and his wife, the former Emilia Chadric.  Born in Barcelona, Spain in 1834, Sala was taken to the West Indies as a boy.  There, according to The New York Times, "he established a large business both at St. Thomas and Puerto Rico."

Emilia was born in Curacao in 1854.  She and Juan had one child, Aurora, born in 1881.  The family moved to New York City in 1887, four years before buying 13 West 74th Street.

Upon arriving in New York, Juan Sala co-founded Sala, Hoheb & Co., export and commission merchants.  Upon Hoheb's retirement, the firm was renamed J. Sala & Co.  

Juan Sala (original source unknown)

Emilia quickly became part of Upper West Side society.  On January 29, 1893, for instance, The World reported, "Mrs. J. Sala, of No. 13 West Seventy-fourth street, gave a small dance on Friday evening."

Aurora's wedding to William Eadie Kotman was held in the parlor at 8:00 on the evening of November 17, 1893.  The World called the bride, "a very lovely girl of sixteen," while the New-York Tribune said she, "is only fifteen years old."  Her parents were, apparently, fudging on the facts.  Aurora Sala was just 12 years old.  Her husband was 21.  The World said, "The newly married couple will live in Mexico."

Emilia was the victim of a horrifying incident on April 10, 1895.  At around 8:45 that night, she and her niece, Anita Font, intended to visit Emilia's nephew at 89th Street near Columbus Avenue.  They hailed a cable car at 74th Street.  Emilia had just stepped onto the lower step when the conductor lunged ahead.  Anita, who had only one foot on the step, was left behind.

Emilia Chadric Sala (original source unknown)

Emilia ordered the conductor to stop and, according to her, "He shoved me gently inside the door, saying, 'Oh, she'll get the next car, and be right up after you.  I am behind time now, and can't be stopping and starting every second."  At 89th Street, Emilia rose to leave the car.  She later explained:

I am somewhat stout, as you can see, and may have been rather slow in my movements.  At any rate, the conductor bawled out at me, 'Come, hurry up!'...I took care in stepping from the platform to the step, and had just placed one foot on the ground, when I heard the signal bell ring.

Before Emilia could completely disembark, the cable car jerked forward and left her lying upon the avenue pavement.  A crowd assembled around her and two men "half led and half carried me to my nephew's home," she said later.  Two doctors arrived.  "They found that my left arm had been broken in two places.  I was also cut and bruised about the head and face," she said.  The angry socialite added, "Of course, I intend to sue the company, if only to teach them a lesson."

It appears that around the time of the unfortunate incident Aurora's marriage had failed.  She was back in the West 74th Street house and in the Salas' Long Island summer estate by 1896.  An ardent horsewoman, she exhibited in the annual National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden.  That year her trainer showed Fanny Fern and American Fashion.  (The New York Herald explained, "Unfortunately, it is not considered good form for ladies to appear in the ring of the Madison Square Garden.")

It seemed that the Sala family would be returning permanently to the West Indies in 1898.  When the United States declared war on Spain following the sinking of the USS. Maine in Havana Harbor in February that year, "Sala took the matter very much to heart," according to The New York Times.  However, said the newspaper, "his friends remonstrated with him, and finally induced him to remain."

Whether the stress of the Spanish-American War affected Sala's health is unknown.  But he died in the house on June 17, 1898 at the age of 61.  His funeral was held in the parlor on June 19.

By then, Aurora Sala Kortman was divorced from her husband.  Interestingly, Aurora, rather than her mother, inherited the West 74th Street house.

Aurora married Thomas Joseph Regan in January 1905.  The groom was the secretary and treasurer of the Whitney Realty Company.  On the 22nd, the New-York Tribune reported that they were "among the bridal couples staying at the Lakewood Hotel this week."  

Aurora Sala Kortman Regan (original source unknown)

The following month, on February 20, Emilia Chadric Sala died at the age of 50.  Aurora and Thomas remained in the West 74th Street house.  Their summer home was in Old Westbury, Long Island.  Still an ardent horsewoman, Aurora annually exhibited her thoroughbreds in the New York Horse Show.  She later acquired a horse farm in Lexington, Kentucky where her thoroughbreds "achieved wide recognition," according to The New York Times.

The couple quickly filled their homes with children.  Tragically, their first, Thomas Jr., who was born in 1905, died in infancy.  But the next year, Constance was born, followed by Jean in 1908 and Gordon in 1913.

The Regans, of course, maintained a small domestic staff.  And in 1920, Aurora seems to have been having problems retaining a maid.  On December 22, she advertised, "Maid, French; must be pleasant, willing and obliging.  Mrs. Regan, 13 West 74th."  Seven months later, on June 25, 1921, she advertised again.  "Chambermaid, French, speaking no English preferred; must be willing, careful, and obliging."

In December 1924, the Regans applied with an employment agency for a butler.  Jack Archer came with sterling references, including one from Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt II.  Archer had been a footman for the Vanderbilts "and had given satisfaction there," according to The New York Times.

Regan, whom The Times described as "a tall, dapper Englishman who appeared to be a well-trained and trustworthy servant," started work in the Regan house at mid-December.  On Christmas Eve, a week after Regan moved in, the family returned home to find him gone.  They told police that the house "had been ransacked and everything of value that the thief could lay his hands on had been taken."

On December 27, The New York Times reported, "Mr. Regan and his family are most anxious to find the butler and they are even more eager to know the whereabouts of a collection of jewelry, including a pearl necklace and several pieces set with diamonds, some of which are valued as antiques and others for their sentimental as well as intrinsic value."  Also missing from the house were "fine linens and some choice pieces of porcelain."  The value was estimated by Regan as about $10,000--about $183,000 in 2026.

In attempting to find Jack Archer, the police went to extremes.  On the day of the article, the sailing of the White Star liner Cedric was delayed by 90 minutes as detectives searched the vessel.

Just over two weeks after the crime, on January 8, 1925, The Sun reported that Jack Archer, "the suave, efficient butler," had been arrested in Montreal after he attempted to sell some of Aurora Sala's jewelry.

Archer's crime slightly tarnished Constance Regan's debutante season.  Nevertheless, her entertainments continued and on January 30, 1925, her parents hosted a dinner party in her honor.

Jean Regan's photograph was published in The Spur on March 1, 1927.  The caption said that she was introduced to society "this winter."   (copyright expired)

The following winter season was Jean Regan's debut.  Like her mother, she was an accomplished horsewoman.  On October 10, 1931 before the first of her debutante entertainments, the New York Evening Post reported that she had won second prize in the jumping event at the Piping Rock Club's horse show.  

A marquee had been added over the doorway as early as 1940.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Several years before then, Aurora had sold the Kentucky farm and acquired another, Pilot Knob, near Nashville, Tennessee where she turned to breeding race horses.  Calling her an "internationally known horse breeder," The New York Times remarked, "In 1928, one of her yearlings brought the world record top price for a horse of that age, $75,000."  Her Pilot Knob farm stabled more than 100 thoroughbreds.

Aurora was at Pilot Knob on July 19, 1940 when she died at the age of 58.  Three years later, in January 1943, Thomas J. Regan sold 13 West 74th Street.

After having been home to one wealthy family for half a century, 13 West 74th Street became a rooming house, repeatedly sold and resold.  When Leon Schiffer and Sora Jalowsky purchased it from Sol Grobman in April 1952 and then resold it within the month, The New York Times described it as a "fourteen-family house."

A renovation completed in 1973 resulted in two apartments per floor in the basement through fourth floors, and one in the fifth.  The configuration lasted until 1982 when the basement and parlor were combined as a duplex.  Six years later, that apartment was expanded into a triplex.

Living here by 1990 was Tonne Goodman, vice president of advertising for Calvin Klein.  Starting out as a model, she had formerly worked with Diana Vreeland at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute, worked at The New York Times and as a stylist for LIFE magazine.  She would go on to join Anna Wintour at Vogue in 1999 as the magazine's fashion director.

Another renovation in 2010 resulted in two triplex apartments.  Although the brownstone has been painted, overall the exterior of 13 West 74th Street is remarkably intact.

photographs by the author

The Leonard Paulson, Jr. House - 307 West 74th Street

 

In 1836, the New York Orphan Asylum purchased the two blocks from 73rd to 75th Street, and Riverside Drive to West End Avenue as the site of an orphanage, opened in 1840.  Thirty-five years later, Frederick Law Olmsted began transforming Riverside Drive and Riverside Park.  As mansions rose along the wide thoroughfare and naturalistic park, the institution's property value soared.  In 1893, the New York Orphan Asylum announced that its northern block was for sale. 

Eight of the plots were purchased by wealthy businessmen.  The Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide described them as, "a syndicate of eight gentlemen who will build homes for themselves."  To ensure architectural harmony, they agreed on a single architect--C. P. H. Gilbert, whose reputation for designing high-end residences was well established.

Among the "syndicate" was Leonard Paulson, Jr.  Born in 1846, the son of a merchant tailor, he was a partner in Buckingham & Paulson, dealers in cotton yarn.  The firm was established in 1877.  A member of an old New York family, he was a member of the Sons of the Revolution, the Founders and Patriots, and the Society of Colonial Wars.

The Paulsons' 24-foot-wide mansion sat at 307 West 74th Street where a short, asymmetrical stoop fronted the limestone basement.  The first floor projected slightly away from the yellow brick upper floors, creating a stone-balustraded balcony.  A round, two-story bay dominated the mid-section, the wide stone frieze of which was decorated with elaborate carvings.  A Florentine inspired arcade dignified the fourth floor.

Orphans assembly on the grounds of the New York Orphan Asylum.  The newly-build Paulson house can be seen in the background, just to the left of the Asylum building.  image by Byron Company, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

The Paulsons had three daughters, Blanch Paege, Florence Patty, and Marjorie.  The house was the venue for the first of the sisters' weddings.  On November 14, 1899, the New-York Tribune reported that invitations had been sent out "for the wedding of Miss Blanche Paege Paulson and Dr. John Joseph Nutt, on Saturday afternoon, December 2."  The article said the ceremony would take place in the Paulson residence, "and will be followed by a small reception to the relatives and intimate friends of the couple."

The marriage of Florence Patty Paulson (who had been Blanche's maid of honor) on June 4, 1901 captured society's attention.  On May 22, the New York Press reported, "Romance surrounds the approaching marriage of a wealthy New York girl and a young Italian nobleman, whose engagement was announced formally last night at a dinner given to a few intimate friends."  Florence had captured the heart of Marquis Virgilio Barsotti.  The New York Press said his "estates near Naples are famous throughout Italy."

Father M. J. Lavalle of St. Patrick's Cathedral officiated the ceremony in the West 74th Street mansion.  The New York World noted, "Baron Golotti was the Marquis's best man, and Mrs. John Joseph Nutt, the sister of the bride, the matron of honor."  Following their honeymoon, the newlyweds sailed to Italy on June 15.  The New York World commented flatly, "The Marquis is rich."

Four months after her sister's high-profile wedding, Marjorie traveled to Lincolnton, South Carolina to visit friends, the Rineharts.  The New York World reported, "There she met [Leonard] Richardson, a well-to-do young farmer, who fell desperately in love with her."

Marjorie became the target of what the newspaper termed, "ardent Southern wooing."  Only weeks after arriving in South Carolina, she wrote home, telling her parents that she had accepted Richardson's proposal of marriage.  They wrote back, "All right, but wait a year; come home first."

Marjorie obeyed, but her love was stronger than her parents' wishes.   She "slipped away" from 307 West 74th Street on Christmas Day and boarded a train to South Carolina where she and Leonard Richardson were married.

A reporter from The New York World visited 307 West 74th Street.  On December 28, the newspaper quoted Leonard Paulson who said, "Oh, it's all right.  He is a fine young fellow and has one of the best farms down South.  I simply didn't want to lose my daughter quite so soon, that's all."

At the time of Marjorie's elopement, the view from the Paulsons' parlor windows was undergoing change.  In 1901, the New York Orphan Asylum sold its remaining property to multi-millionaire Charles M. Schwab.  He demolished the orphanage and began a five-year construction project of a massive, block-engulfing estate with park-like grounds and a monumental French Renaissance style chateau.  

In the meantime, Blanche and her husband were living with her parents.  The couple appeared regularly in the society pages.  On August 23, 1902, for instance, the New York Herald reported, "Dr. and Mrs. John Joseph Nutt, of 307 West Seventy-fourth street, are at Kineo, Moosehead Lake, Me., for the remainder of the season."

On February 4, 1905, the Record & Guide reported that Leonard Paulson had sold 307 West 74th Street."  The New York Times mentioned, "This house was specially constructed for Mr. Paulson and faces the new residence of Charles M. Schwab."

The buyers were John and Mary M. Munro.  A director of the Metropolitan Realty Co., John was one of four children of the massively wealthy publisher George Munro, who died in 1896.  The couple had one daughter, Mary Watson Munro.

The Munros were socially visible.  On December 16, 1909, for instance, The New York Times reported, "Mrs. John Munro of 307 West Seventy-fourth Street entertained yesterday with a luncheon at Sherry's."  The winter social season of 1915-16 saw their names appearing in the society columns more frequently, as it was Mary Watson Munro's debutante year.

It began when The New York Times announced on November 15, 1915, "Mr. and Mrs.  John Munro of 307 West Seventy-fourth Street will give a coming-out reception for their daughter, Miss Mary Watson Munro, on Dec. 4."  Then, on New Year's Eve, the couple hosted a dinner at Sherry's at which "they introduced their daughter, Miss Mary W. Munroe [sic]," as reported by The Sun on January 1.  The article said, 

Their dinner guests, numbering 100, were seated in the suite adjoining the large ballroom, and after dinner there was dancing, interspersed with exhibition dances by professional people.  There were the regulation observances of New Year's eve, with the darkened supper room just before midnight, and afterward dancing was resumed in the grand ballroom.

Mary Watson Munro, The New York Times, February 13, 1916 (copyright expired)

Two years later, on March 23, 1918, the Munros announced Mary's engagement to Joseph Bryan Chaffe, Jr.  The wedding took place in the Central Presbyterian Church on April 23.  With World War I raging in Europe, the wedding had a decided military atmosphere.  The groom's brother, Ensign Blackshear Chaffe of the U.S. Navy was the best man, and among the ushers were Major Frank A. Cook and Lieutenant George Schurman of the U.S. Army.  A reception was held in the West 74th Street house.

John Munro was retired in June 1921 when he was called for jury duty.  But this was no ordinary jury.  Prohibition had gone into effect in January 1920 and Munro was chosen as one of 23 "merchants, manufacturers and brokers" to sit on "the Extraordinary Grand Jury of the Supreme Court" that would hear the cases of "4,000 alleged violations of the Mullan-Gage dry law in this country," according to The Evening World on June 7.

On August 2, 1931, John Munro died in the West 74th Street house.  His funeral was held in the drawing room three days later.

Mary M. Munroe sold 307 West 74th Street in 1939 and it was converted to apartments, two per floor.  The tenants came and went, bringing little attention to the address until 1984 when things drastically changed.

On October 10 that year, police raided the ground floor apartment leased by Sheila Devin.  Four days later, The New York Times began an article saying, "A raid on an Upper West Side town house has shut down a $1 million-a-year prostitution ring that catered to an affluent clientele around the world, according to police, who said yesterday that they were waiting for the head of the ring to turn herself in."  Sgt. Raymond Wood of the Manhattan Public Morals Squad called Devin, "the most professional madam we've ever come across."

Sheila Devin was, in fact, Sydney Biddle Barrows, a descendant of William Biddle, a Quaker shoemaker who arrived in America in 1681.  New York Magazine, on December 10, 1984, explained that she had been educated at the Rumson Country Day school and Stoneleigh-Burnham in Greenfield, Massachusetts.  Sgt. Wood said, "she has a management degree and once received the 'Female Executive of the Year' award from the management firm that employed her."  Her deep-rooted pedigree earned her the nickname, The Mayflower Madam.

Nine months after the raid, on July 19, 1985, Sydney Biddle Barrows pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution.  The New York Times reported, "She was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine."  Barrows told a reporter, "Handling things this way was the only way I could protect the women and my clients."

Things returned to normal for the tenants of 307 West 74th Street.  In 1993, a penthouse level, unseen from the street, was added.  The two fourth-floor apartments were now converted to duplexes.

photographs by the author

The Edward and Marianne Faulkner House - 305 West 74th Street

 

Although architect C. P. H. Gilbert is best remembered for the sumptuous palaces he designed in the first years of the 20th century--like the of magnificent Joseph R. De Lamar and Felix M. Warburg mansions--he was responsible for designing scores of upscale rowhouses on the Upper West Side in the 1890s.  Among them was 305 West 74th Street, one of a row of seven residences designed in 1893 for developer Thomas McIntyre.

Although each had its own personality, the Renaissance Revival-style homes created a harmonious group.  Four-and-a-half stories tall, the basement and first floor of 305 West 74th Street were clad in limestone.  A short stoop led to the double-doored entrance.  The relatively stoic decorations of this level relied mostly on the handsome row of scallop shells carved into the entrance entablature.

The second through fourth floors were clad in gray Roman brick.  Gilbert created a Palladian effect for the windows at the second floor with fluted terra cotta Scamozzi pilasters that upheld a molded cornice topped with an ornate tympanum filled with flowers and a shield.  The projecting portion of the second and third floors provided a balcony or sleeping porch at the fourth floor protected by a solid stone railing.  Atop the copper cornice, a wide dormer fronted the Spanish tile mansard.

The row was completed in 1894 and 305 West 74th Street was purchased by Edward Daniels Faulkner and his wife, the former Marianne Gaillard, on December 14.  Faulkner was born in New York City in 1853, and Marianne was born in Mobile, Alabama in 1859.  Faulkner attended the College of the City of New York.  He was the co-owner of the upholstery firm of Johnson & Faulkner and his financial and social status was reflected in his memberships in the Union League, the Players' and the Ardsley Clubs.

Edward Daniel Faulkner (original source unknown) 

In 1898, the Faulkners acquired their summer home near Woodstock, Vermont.  On October 13, the Vermont Standard reported that they had purchased "the Woodward Mansion property, so called," and that contractors and decorators had been hired "to put the property in first-class repair, with several modernizing changes, at a cost of something like $10,000."  The following year, on December 30, 1899, the Woodstock, Vermont newspaper Spirit of the Age reported that the mansion had been "remodeled and the grounds about it graded and improved--all making a beautiful residence of the fine old mansion."

Edward Faulkner's profession required him to travel to France annually.  It may have been during one of these trips that he became enamored with the French Bulldog breed, and at least one of the creatures lived in the couple's West 74th Street house.  On March 19, 1898, the Idaho Ketchum Keystone reported, "The French bulldog, after waiting for years for the social recognition in this country that it has long enjoyed abroad, is at last to be taken up by New York society."  The article explained that an exhibition of wealthy owners had "formally introduced these ugly little canines into the most exclusive society" at the Waldorf-Astoria.  Among the millionaires strutting their pups were Richard Howland Hunt, James L. Kernochan, Whitney Warren and Edward D. Faulkner.

Faulkner was, additionally, an inventor.  He invented "a loom for the weaving of tapestry--which it was said could not be done," according to the Vermont Standard later.  The invention resulted in his being made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by the Government of France in January 1902.

On November 12, 1913, The Evening Post reported that the Faulkners had sold the house for $70,000, or about $2.2 million in 2025.  At the time, Edward Faulkner suffered from arthritis and he and Marianne spent more and more time in Vermont.  He died there on August 28, 1926 at the age of 75, the Vermont Standard noting, "He had long been partially crippled."

Faulkner's will left Marianne $3 million (about $51.6 million today), and $2 million to be "distributed among fourteen officers, directors and employes [sic]" of his firm, as reported by The New York Times.  He additionally left $1 million to establish a fund "for the study, treating, alleviation and cure of arthritis;" two $50,000 funds for the benefit of the Police and Fire Departments; and several other large charitable requests.

Marianne Faulkner almost immediately began putting her fortune to beneficial causes.  She was instrumental in establishing the first arthritis clinic in the country, at New York City Presbyterian Hospital and later would construct a $1 million wing to the Mary Hitchcock Hospital in Hanover, New Hampshire in her husband's name.

In the meantime, the Faulkner's had sold 305 West 74th Street to Louis E. Kleban.  Born in Russia in 1873, he was the president of the real estate and development firm of Louis E. Kleban & Sons, Inc.  The firm would construct impressive buildings like 275 Central Park West.  He and his wife, Matilda, had six children.

The Klebans' residency would be short-lived.  After they sold the house to Edward M. Gardner in August 1925 it became unofficial apartments.

Among the tenants living here that year were Elliot Griffis, who advertised himself as "teacher of piano playing and theory;" and aspiring interior decorator Clarisse Ord Ryan.  On October 17, 1925, the Army and Navy Register reported, "Since going to New York to follow the profession of interior decorator, Miss Ryan has become well known as the manager of the unique 'Corsir Shop' of the department of interior decoration" at Macy's.  Another early resident was artist Nell Sewell Johnson.  She exhibited watercolors in the annual Pennsylvania Academy of Art while living here in 1927.

The house was officially converted to apartments, two per floor, in 1929.  It continued to attract tenants involved in artistic endeavors over the decades.  Living here in 1965 was musician Alfred Schnitzler, and in 1977 fledgling actor Patrick Swayze and his wife, Lisa, moved in.

Swayze and Lisa Miemi had married two years earlier.  Born in Houston, Texas in 1952, Swayze relocated to New York City in 1972 to study dance at the Harkness Ballet and Joffrey Ballet schools.  He and Lisa had been living in a basement apartment before he landed the role of Danny Zuko in the Broadway production of Grease (replacing John Travolta).  

Patrick Swayze and Lisa Niemi in 1990.  photograph by Alan Light

In her Patrick Swayze, One Last Dance, Wendy Leigh writes, "Now that their financial situation had improved considerably, he and Lisa moved out of the West 70th Street basement and into a more salubrious apartment at 305 West 74th Street."  The role transformed Swayze's career.  Leigh writes,  "Patrick was an overnight sensation in Grease.  'To me, he was more Danny Zuko than John Travolta was,' Zetta Alderman, who saw the show more than once enthused."

There are still two apartments per floor in the Faulkner house.  Despite decades of grime and replacement doors and windows, the building survives essentially intact.

photographs by the author

The Norrie and Sybil Sellar House - 52 West 74th Street

 

With the fortune he garnered in the Singer Sewing Machine Company, Edward C. Clark invested heavily in property in the developing West End--what we call the Upper West Side today.  On October 14, 1882, two years before the completion of his Dakota Apartments, Clark died of malarial fever.  The millionaire left a stretch of property on West 74th Street (from No. 18 through 52) to his one-year-old grandson Frederick Ambrose Clark.

In 1902, Frederick Clark, now a young man, commissioned architect Percy Griffin to design a row of homes on the property.  Griffin, who is not well known today, worked almost exclusively in the stately neo-Georgian style, and the 18 homes of the 74th Street row would be an architectural tour de force.  Completed in 1904, the 25-foot-wide brick-and-stone residences rose five floors with three-story rear extensions.  Each cost, according to The New York Times, $110,000 to construct, or about $3.88 million by 2024 terms.

The Architectural Record, November 1906 (copyright expired)

The Architectural Record, in November 1906, said the block "presents the appearance of a composite whole well studied in its entirety for silhouette fenestration and general composition."  The article added that Griffin, "has varied the individual facade treatments to give to each house a distinctive character, yet to preserve in its composition certain lines, which allow it to properly take its place in the block."

An advertisement in The Sun on October 2, 1904 boasted, "NO residences have ever been offered for rental in New York City comparing with these in construction, equipment, appointments and detail.  They have been designed and built with the careful attention to details of construction given only to the highest class houses built for private ownership."

Anchoring the row to the west was 52 West 74th Street.  Instead of a centered, porticoed entrance, its doorway was placed to the side of a full-height protruding bay.  Three stories of brick trimmed in stone sat above a limestone base, while the fifth floor was discreetly tucked behind a pierced stone parapet.  Inside were 21 rooms (including a billiard room and library), five bathrooms and an elevator.  An advertisement touted a water filter, silver safe, and wine refrigerator.

Clark did not sell the houses, but rented them.  By 1909, Norrie and Sybil Sellar occupied the house.  That same year they purchased the former summer home of Le Grand L. Benedict in Cedarhurst, Long Island.  Norrie Sellar had been a cotton broker, but on February 24, 1909, The Wall Street Journal announced the 36-year-old had been admitted into partnership with the brokerage firm of Dick Bros. & Co.  

Sybil, the daughter of millionaire William Watts Sherman, had grown up in the family mansion at 838 Fifth Avenue and in Newport.  

Norrie and Sybil Sellar, images via househistree.com

Norrie was Sybil's second husband.  Her marriage to John Ellis Hoffman had ended in divorce.  Living with the couple were two children, Audrey Annie (from the first marriage), and Norrie Sherman; and five servants.

The socially-prominent Sellars appeared in society columns repeatedly.  On July 28, 1910, the New-York Tribune reported they had sailed for Europe, noting they "will spend the next six weeks in Scotland."  The Sellars were likely headed to Andrew and Louise Carnegie's Skibo Castle where they were occasional houseguests.

The Sellars were home in time for Sybil to attend the fashionable New York Horse Show with her half-sister Mildred Sherman on November 12.  A known fashion plate, Sybil arrived "in a gown of black velvet, with a mink hat, a mink muff and a mink scarf," according to the New-York Tribune.

Sybil's up-to-date fashion sense had irked a society journalist from The New York Times a year earlier when her choice of headgear blocked the view of the stage at the Metropolitan Opera.  A March 28, 1909 article said, 

At the premier of 'Falstaff' Mrs. Norrie Sellar, in a parterre box, wore a huge hat, huge as to width, and set back on her head to form a wide spreading but not towering frame.  Of light beaver or velvet, it spread out each side beyond her shoulders, and was so fastened to the back of her head as to rise like a frame that slanted from the right shoulder almost diagonally across the head.

The Sellars left 52 West 74th Street in 1913.  Two years later the Clark Estate rented it to George W. Hill "for a term of years," as reported by the New-York Tribune.  When the country entered World War I, the Hills made an extraordinary gesture for the war effort.  On May 12, 1918, the New York Herald reported on some houses and estates being "tendered for hospital sites," while other "patriotic [citizens] make fighters contented."  Rooms in mansions of millionaires like Joseph Pulitzer and Whitelaw Reid were being used by the Red Cross for making surgical dressings or teaching "first aid, home dietetics, hygiene and the like."  The article said, "Among the numerous other houses where Red Cross work is going on mention may be made of the home of Mrs. George W. Hill, 52 West Seventy-fourth."

On April 2, 1921, the Clark Estate sold the residences along the 1904 row.  No. 52 became home to the Milton C. Blum family.  The head of the textile converting firm Milton C. Blum, Inc., Blum and his wife, the former Florence Rice, had two children, Margaret, born in 1905, and Milton Jr., born in 1909.  Florence was the daughter of philanthropist Henry Rice.  

The Blums' residency would be relatively short-lived.  In February 1925, The New York Times reported that Blum had sold 52 West 74th Street to "the well-known physician, Dr. Arnold J. Gelarie," noting, "The building contains an elevator and is considered one of the finest on the west side."

The following month, the Harry A. Jaffe Galleries held an auction of the Blums' furniture and artwork.  Among the items mentioned in the announcement were, "distinctive home furnishings, rare English and Italian antiques, Chinese jades and porcelains, tapestries and textiles."

A bachelor, Arnold James Galerie was born in Poland and graduated from the university at Jena, Germany.  During World War I, he worked with the Government as Expert Bacteriologist at the Quarantine Station at the Port of New York.  A specialist in "rheumatic diseases," he was associated with the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.

On January 19, 1935, the Brooklyn Times-Union reported that Gelarie had been appointed chief of staff and director of medicine and laboratories at Beth Israel Hospital in Passaic, New Jersey.  The article noted, "Dr. Gelarie is the author of numerous medical papers, and also has made contributions on advanced medicine and experimental research to various medical publications."

Despite the considerable commute to his new position, Gelarie remained at 52 West 74th Street at least through 1943.  Major change came in 1946 when the residence was converted to the Park Terrace Nursing Home.  The Department of Buildings documented 14 beds on the ground floor, 19 beds on floors two through four, and 17 beds on the fifth floor.

In 1964, the published room rates here were $7.56 per day and $230 per month.  (The monthly rate would translate to about $2,250 today.)

The Park Terrace Nursing Home operated until February 7, 1975 when the United States Department of Health Education and Welfare shut it down for fire safety violations.  The New York Times reported, "the New York State Department of Social Services had arranged to transfer the home's patients to other facilities."

A renovation completed three years later resulted in two apartments per floor.

photographs by the author

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