The 1923 Holy Name House - 214 West 97th Street

 

photo by Wurts Bros, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

In August 1868, the first service was held in the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus.  The wooden building sat at what would become the northwest corner of Broadway and 96th Street.  At the time, the district was, according to The Catholic Church in the United States of America in 1914, "a region of vacant lots, with here and there a suburban cottage, while the majority of the inhabitants were squatters who supported themselves by tilling small pieces of ground around their huts."

Notwithstanding its humble beginnings, the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus thrived, and by the end of World War I engulfed the Broadway blockfront from 96th to 97th Street with an impressive stone church and a substantial school building.  In April 1923, Architecture and Building called the Church of the Holy Name "one of the largest parishes in New York City."

Two years before that article, the Holy Name Roman Catholic Church Society had hired architect Raphael Hume to design a recreational building at 214 West 97th Street, adjoining the school.  Hume's career included several structures for the Roman Catholic Church, including the Church of St. John and St. Mary in Chappaqua, New York; and the Church of the Holy Trinity in Hackensack, New Jersey.  Pope Pius XII would make him a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory in 1948. 

The Holy Name House was completed in 1923.  Hume took inspiration from Sicilian Romanesque structures, facing it in variegated red and gray Flemish bond brick.  The doorway, recessed within a large arch supported by clustered columns with Medieval capitals, was surmounted by an intricate tympanum.  Along with a large eagle, it was carved with scenes of boys playing tug-of-war and other activities.  Three double-height arches dominated the third and fourth floors, and the projecting tiled roof was supported by a row of complex brackets.

Architecture and Building called it, "a new venture, the success of which will lead many others in its wake."  The article explained, 

Heretofore the Church, the first consideration in the parish life, has been supplemented by its parish school building.  Now as a further center of parish activity to provide for the entertainment and physical welfare of all of its members there is added to the church group a recreational building which offers to old and young all that the name implies.

The Auditorium.  Architecture and Building, April 1923.

On the ground floor was an auditorium capable of seating 300 people to be used for lectures and meetings, as well as dances and fairs.  Architecture and Building said, "In the second story is the fully equipped gymnasium occupying a space 35 by 90 feet.  The roof provides a children's playground of the same size."  In the basement was a swimming pool, "with shower baths and locker rooms."  The article noted, "There is a water purifying system for the pool."

Alternating patterns of brickwork fills the spaces between the cornice brackets (which also alternate in design). 

While many church-run clubs focused on the boys of the neighborhood, the Holy Name House was equally welcoming to girls.  On July 1, 1925, the Daily News reported on the upcoming Women's Open Swimming and Diving Meets to be held at the Starling Amusement Park.  The article mentioned, "Up at Holy Name House, 214 West 97th st., Miss Christine Murray is looking to the laurels of her girls.  The Holy Name girls are not going to be caught napping.  Margaret Donovan and Mary Frisby are two of her bright youngsters who have their eyes on the prize."

The gymnasium (top) and swimming pool.  Architecture and Building, April 1923

The auditorium was sometimes the scene of neighborhood dances.  On September 23, 1930, The New York Sun reported that The Commerce Catholic Clubs and the Newman Clubs of several schools would be holding monthly dances, the first of which would take place here.  "Music will be furnished by the C0-Ed Jazz Pirates, an organization composed of former Commerce-Julia Richman students."

Mayor John P. O'Brien was here on January 8, 1933 to officially start the Holy Name Club's annual "novice road run."  Individuals and groups came from as far as Long Island vying for six silver cups and medals awarded to the leading individuals, and a trophy and five medals for teams.

In April 1960, the auditorium was the scene of the Veterans' Sports Night hosted by the Father Duffy Post D.S.C. No. 54 of the Catholic War Veterans.  The Irish American Advocate anticipated it would be "the biggest and greatest night of them all," saying, "The place will be jammed with world champions in the various fields of sport."

Starting in 1978, the American Folk Theater used space for its productions.  On April 8, 1981, The New York Times reported, "The American Folk Theater is in its third year as an Off Off Broadway company that is multiethnic and devoted to presenting theater by American talent, onstage and backstage."

Starting in 1990, the parish was under the administration of the Franciscans.  The Holy Name House was renamed the Franciscan Community Center.  Among the services provided are "the Sandwich Line," which in 2024 served 450 lunches a week to the needy.

photographs by the author

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The Lemuel C. Mygatt House - 257 West 97th Street

 

In 1891, prolific developer Edward Kilpatrick began a project that would wrap the northwest corner of West End Avenue and 97th Street with a group of upscale homes.  Designed by the architectural firm of Boring, Tilton & Mellen and completed in 1892, the seven Renaissance Revival style residences created a charming enclave of various heights and roof shapes.  The easternmost houses, 257 and 259 West 97th Street, were separated from the West End Avenue row by the two-story extension of the corner showplace.  Mirror images, they were nearly duplicated by a another pair on the avenue.

The second and third houses from the corner were near matches to 257 and 259 West 97th Street, seen at the right.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The basement and stoop of 257 West 97th Street were faced in rough cut brownstone.  The planar parlor level featured a recessed, faceted bay.  A gentle, wave crest band introduced the upper floors, which were clad in beige brick and trimmed in limestone.  The architects gave the second floor windows Queen Anne style panes, and fully arched the third floor openings.

Kilpatrick sold the house to Lemuel Carrington Mygatt and his wife, the former Sophia H. Weidemeyer, on March 28, 1892 for $19,000--equal to about $656,000 in 2024.  Born in 1849 in Chazy, New York, Mygatt graduated from Williams College in 1870.  He taught at the Collegiate School on West 77th Street.  Lemuel and Sophia (who was known as Sophie) had seven children, Lambert, Jessie C., Kenneth, Gerald, Francis S., Anna Hubbell, and Isabella Carrington.  

Three years after they moved into the 97th Street house, Lambert was the victim of what the New York Herald called, "highwaymen of tender years."  In September 1895, "a band of juvenile highwaymen," the oldest of whom was 13 years old, began holding up school boys, threatening them with clubs.  Two weeks into their crime spree, on November 9, they targeted 11-year-old Lambert and his school friend, Thomas Crane.

The New York Herald reported, "Both boys made an effort to escape, but the young rascals made them surrender their money, amounting to a little over $2."  Lemuel Mygatt, along with other victims' parents, demanded action.  The gang was apprehended on November 12 and remanded to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children awaiting their hearings.

Lemuel Carrington Mygatt, via collegiateschool.org

In 1897, Lemuel Mygatt was appointed headmaster of Collegiate School.  The oldest school in the United States, it had operated since 1633.

The Mygatt family had two live-in servants.  Their cook did double-duty as the laundress (a situation that would not have been found in more affluent households).  She earned the equivalent of $700 per month.  

The family's summer home was in Essex, New York on Lake Champlain.  The five-bedroom house sat on five acres.  Interestingly, the family did not take the servants with them to their summer home in 1903.  Instead, Sophie placed an ad that read, "Good wages to two girls; cook and laundress and the other chambermaid and waitress; to go with family to country, near New York, for the summer."  

The family was at the summer house on July 23, 1910, when Lemuel Carrington Mygatt died.  In reporting his death, George William Knox of the Century Association wrote, "Mr. Mygatt for years fought the bravest of fights against death.  Smitten with a fatal disease which gave him great pain, he showed no sign and uttered no complaint to his friends." 

Sophie never returned to the Essex house.  She leased it every summer after her husband's death.

Still living in the 97th Street house with her were Jessie (who was a member of the American Physical Education Association), Kenneth, Gerald, Francis and Isabella.  The population would increase by one in 1913.  Maximillian Langdon Van Norden was the son of Anna Hubbell Mygatt and her husband, Rev. Dr. Charles Van Norden.  Anna had died in 1896 and Rev. Van Norden died in 1913.  The young man now moved into his grandmother's house.

Jessie was married to Alton S. Keeler in the parlor on June 1, 1915.  The Sun noted, "The wedding will be a small one, only relatives and a few intimate friends being invited to the ceremony."

Three months later, on September 1, the New-York Tribune reported that Gerald would be married to Ruth Lapham on September 11.  The wedding took place in the Congregational Church of New Canaan, Connecticut.  Kenneth Mygatt and Max Van Norden were members of the wedding party.

Van Norden had graduated from Stanford University in 1905 with a degree in geology and mining.  He changed focus, however, and in 1915 was a partner in the real estate firm of Van Norden & Wilson.  When America entered World War I, he went off to fight in Europe.

Sophia Mygatt leased 257 West 97th Street to Mrs. May Corey in 1917 for three years.  At the end of the lease, the house became home to the Thomas A. Williams Democratic Club.

Among the first events the club hosted was the June Walk on June 26, 1920.  The Evening World predicted it would be "the greatest public June Walk in the history of the city," and said, "more than 5,000 mothers and children of the neighborhood are expected to participate."  June Walks were popular events for children, ending with picnics, games and prizes.  This one included a large parade with six bands.  The Evening World reported, "The features of the parade include a float of 'Old Mother Hubbard,' and the various nursery rhymes, prizes being offered for the best dressed king and queen, the best decorated baby carriage, the prettiest babies and a baseball game by the boys."

As with its June Walk, the Democratic Club worked for the neighborhood residents.  In 1923, the New York Morning Telegraph reported that the Thomas A. Williams Democratic Club intended to present a petition to the Transit Commission "for extra downtown Broadway-Seventh avenue subway express trains" on the Upper West Side.  The petition said that during rush hours

...it is impossible for large numbers of persons to board express trains arriving at Ninety-sixth street; that women and older persons are subjected to indignities by reason of the mob-like crowds; that often they are forced to listen to objectionable language.

In 1924, Dr. Edward Miller moved into 257 West 97th Street and would remain until 1956, when he sold it to Fred H. Hill, who immediately resold it to Leon Hecht.  Hecht converted the house to two duplex apartments.

Only 257 and 259 West 97th Street survive from the 1892 complex.  Unlike its fraternal twin, 259 retains its stoop and much of its original appearance.

photograph by the author

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Frederick V. Osthoff, Jr.'s 1900 309 West 97th Street

 

In 1882, Frederick V. Osthoff, Jr. received his certificate in architecture from the Free Night Schools of Science and Art of the Cooper Union.  Understandably, when Frederick V. Osthoff, Sr. acquired the plot of land at 309 West 97th Street as the site of an apartment house in 1899, Frederick Jr. was his architect of choice.

The five-story, Renaissance Revival style structure was completed in 1900.  Osthoff clad the building in gray-brown brick and trimmed it with stone and terra cotta.  The first floor featured stone banding and dramatic, alternating stone and brick voussoirs.  Interesting, three-story vertical brick frames with stone quoins embraced each vertical row of windows within the midsection.  Their spandrels were framed in foliate terra cotta.  The openings of the fifth floor sat below arched tympana carved with Renaissance motifs.

Each apartment had eight rooms and a bath.  The $62.50 per month rent would translate to about $2,180 in 2024.  Among the initial residents was its builder, Frederick V. Osthoff, Sr.  George W. and Richard H. L. Osthoff, presumably sons, also lived here.  George was a clerk and Richard a plumber.  (Frederick Jr. lived on West 24th Street.)

Fullerton Wells was admitted to the New York Bar in 1899, the year he and his wife, Ruth, moved into 309 West 97th Street.  Born in 1878, he was a graduate of New York Law School.  Like most socialites, Ruth Wells was involved in charitable works.  On December 19, 1901, the New York World reported, "Do not be shocked if you receive by mail a package containing a little silk stocking.  It will have been sent to you by several society women of the upper west side, and they will expect you to help them supply more than eight hundred poor little children with warm clothing by filling it with your spare cash."

Among those "society women," was Ruth Wells.  She and each of the other members of the Silk Stocking Committee had contributed $50 to the fund, a generous $1,850 today.

Gibson Arnoldi, president of the New York Cobalt Finance Corporation, and his wife moved into the building after experiencing a tragedy.  In 1908 they lived nearby at 315 West 97th Street with their three year old daughter.  In January, the little girl's nursemaid, 22 year old Annie Mulrooney, took her along when she went to visit her niece who was sick with scarlet fever.  According to The Sun on January 21, 1908, "Mr. Arnoldi heard of it and yesterday caused Annie's arrest."

The newspaper quoted Health Commissioner Darlington as saying, "the danger of spreading of disease would be lessened if more persons would act as Mr. Arnoldi had."  In court, Annie's attorney pleaded that it was her sister's fault, not hers, since Mrs. Heims had "persuaded her to come to her flat and bring Mr. Arnoldi's little girl with her, as that was the only way she could get away."

When the attorney was finished, Annie's sister suddenly stood up in the rear of the courtroom.  "It was my fault, your Honor," she said, "and I have left my sick child to come down here and tell you."

The judge was aghast.  "Do you mean to say that you have come out of a room where there is scarlet fever down to this courtroom to endanger the health of all these people here?"

He ordered Mrs. Heims out of the court "in all possible haste."  The Evening World reported, "To be sure that she would not tarry Justice Wyatt promptly discharged the nurse girl."

Tragically, the Arnoldis' daughter succumbed to the disease.  Perhaps unable to remain in that apartment, the couple moved to 309 West 97th Street.  Mrs. Arnoldi turned her grief to activism and founded the Infant Science Academy to educate mothers about health and hygiene.  A reporter from the New York Journal visited her here in April 1909.  She insisted, "Every mother in the land ought to understand the science of caring for an infant," and blamed the "enormous infant mortality in this city during the past year" largely on "utter ignorance of parents."  She said, "I have paid a bitter price for what knowledge I do possess.  I paid the price so many parents pay--I lost my first child."

Helen Burns lived here by 1911.  She and her sisters were entertainers and that winter they went on the road with a musical show.  While they were gone, John Gregor began courting their widowed mother.  Gregor, who lived in the neighborhood at 131 West 96th Street, was the head orderly of the J. Hood Wright Hospital.  When Helen and her sisters returned to New York in the spring of 1912, "they objected to his visits," according to The Sun, which said a "feud" formed between Helen Burns and John Gregor.

The bad feelings came to a head on the night of August 21, 1912.  Helen was "reclining on her couch in the front room," according to The Sun, when "a big stone came through the window, bringing a good part of the glass with it."  Helen jumped up and, looking through the smashed window, saw Gregor across the street.  She ran downstairs and just as she approached the street doors, another stone came crashing through the glass.

Helen had Gregor arrested for disorderly conduct.  At the stationhouse he insisted he knew nothing about stones being thrown.  When asked how his hand was cut, he said, "the glass dropped out and cut him as he leaned against the front door."  The Sun reported, "Magistrate O'Connor wants to hear the mother's side of the case before he disposes of it."

For some reason, Mrs. Henry Bertram Clark lived here while her banker husband lived in Chicago.  She shared her apartment with her niece, Laura G. Baird.  On January 10, 1914, they went to the theater with two houseguests.  The New York Herald said, "They were late and not wishing to keep the taxicab waiting, they hurried downstairs, leaving furs and jewelry unprotected, although the apartment was securely locked."

While they were gone, a man knocked on the door of the neighboring Bradley apartment and asked for someone they had never heard of.  Mrs. Bradley said she later saw him across the street.

It seems the man was checking for an unoccupied apartment.  When Mrs. Clark and her niece returned, they found the lock had been removed from the door and their apartment was ransacked.  Laura lost the most.  The New York Times said the thief had made off with "her jewelry, valued at $15,000" and also stole the money and railroad tickets of the two guests.

Laura Baird not only put private detectives on the case, but placed an advertisement in the newspapers that read:

LARGE sum of money given to person who entered apartment 309 West 97th st. Friday night; no questions asked; satisfactory arrangements for return of jewelry and sending money; can be discussed over telephone or whatever way they desire.  L. G. BAIRD, 309 West 97th.  Telephone, 1780-Riverside.

On January 29, John Ward, who was also known to police by two aliases, was arrested in his home on West 136th Street.  He was picked out by Mrs. Bradley in a lineup and charged with the burglary.  It is unclear whether Laura Baird's jewelry was recovered.

The family of Dr. Chauncy Rea Burr lived here at the time.  Burr was born in Portland, Maine in 1862 and he and his wife, the former Frances Brewerton Ricketts, had three daughters, Frances Dorothy (who went by her middle name), Gladys Violet Livington, and Julia Marguerite Ricketts.  

When America entered World War I, Dorothy offered her support.  The New-York Tribune said she became "active in war work in New York and was connected with one of the hostess houses."  (Hostess houses were run by the Y.W.C.A. "for hospitality and service to women who visit men in the military camps.")

The family maintained a cottage in Dr. Burr's hometown of Portland, Maine.  They were there in the summer of 1918 when tragedy occurred.  The New-York Tribune reported on July 28 that Dorothy had gone swimming at Great Diamond Island.  "Miss Burr was unable to swim and got beyond her depth.  She shouted for help and Sergeant McLaughlin swam out to her."  The soldier was Leo P. McLaughlin, an artilleryman from Fort McKinley.  Sadly, both drowned in the struggle to save her.

Newlyweds Samuel and Cleola A. Alexandre moved into 309 West 97th Street in 1920.  The two had met at a dance in Dallas, Texas in June 1919.  Samuel told Cleola he was a violist and was trying to save enough money to go to Boston to further his studies.  Cleola's mother invited him to stay at their house and he remained there for seven months.

Cleola was also a musician and the following year her father brought her to New York "to perfect her musical education," according to the Brooklyn Standard Union.  Samuel followed, booked a room in the same hotel, and "began to press his desire for a marriage."   The two married secretly in Brooklyn's Borough Hall.  When her parents found out about the marriage, they also discovered that Samuel was not a trained violinist, as he had said, but a waiter.  Cleola's mother "at once started suit for an annulment of the marriage" on the grounds of fraud, said the newspaper.

The case ended up in court on April 4, 1922, and it did not go well for Cleola's mother.  Justice Stephen Callaghan denied the application.  He ruled that, "it is no disgrace that a man is a waiter, because in many instances it is a very lucrative occupation."

The building received a renovation in 1972.  There are still two apartments per floor today, and outwardly Frederick V. Osthoff, Jr.'s interesting structure is little changed.

photographs by the author

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