The 1881 Warwick Apartments -- 184 West 10th Street

 

image via nycbuildingadvisors.com

Philip Henry Dugro (who went professionally by his middle name) was not only an attorney, a judge, and a New York State Assemblyman, he was a real estate developer and partner with Herman Raegener in Dugro & Raegener.  In 1880, the pair hired architect F. W. Klemt to design an apartment-and-store building at the southwest corner of West 4th and West 10th Streets.  (In 1881, the year the Warwick apartments was completed, Henry Dugro would be elected to Congress.  He is, perhaps, best remembered for arguing that the reputations of Black citizens had less legal value than whose of whites.)

Construction cost Dugro & Raegener $18,000, or about $570,000 in 2026 terms.  Klemt designed the five-story building in the popular neo-Grec style.  Faced in red brick and trimmed in brownstone, its windows wore prominent lintels, each connected to the next by stone bandcourses.  The entrance was centered on West 10th Street, the stone frame of which included substantial pilasters decorated with incised, stylized flowers.  They upheld a heavy entablature and cornice.  Directly above, creative Lego-like brickwork created a framework for a stone plaque that announced "Warwick."

image via streeteasy.com

Residents of the Warwick were working- to middle-class.  George P. Gabeka, who lived here in 1884, for instance, taught in the boys' department of Grammar School No. 38 on Clarke Street.  And two young women, presumably sisters, placed an advertisement in The New York Times on November 20, 1894 that read:

Chambermaid--Lady's Maid--By two French girls, speaking English; one as chambermaid or waitress, the other as lady's maid; good city references.  184 West 10th St., Simon's bell.

The two women were apparently educated and mannered.  Both a lady's maid and a waiter (the servant who served in the dining room and drawing room) would be necessarily polished and well-spoken.

Living in the Warwick in 1895 was Lizzie Barton, who found herself in a tangled and publicized romance.  Lizzie began seeing a man named Thomas Watson, who turned out to a charming and seductive lothario.  It is unclear if Lizzie was aware that Watson was a married man (with more than just one wife).

On May 3, 1895, Antoinette Watson sued to compel Ella May Watson to provide proof of her marriage to Thomas Watson.  Ella May, in turn, sued Antoinette for $30,000 damages "for the alienation of the affections of Watson, whom both claim as a husband," as reported by the New York Herald.  The enraged Ella May initiated a divorce suit, "on the ground of Watson's relations with Antoinette and another woman named Lizzie Barton."  The two Mrs. Watsons battled it out in court, accusing one another of being a loose woman, each insisting she was the legitimate wife.  It does not appear that Lizzie Barton was ever called to testify.

In the meantime, a saloon occupied the storefront on West 4th Street.  The owner had a serious problem in December 1890, placing an ad in The World that read: "Lost--A saloon license issued for 230 West 4th st; finder rewarded by returning same."

The saloon was operated by Herman Romer as early as 1904.  That year he was targeted by the notorious domestic terrorist group, the Black Hand Society.  On September 2, the New-York Tribune reported that Romer had been marked for the society's "latest financial venture."  The article said that the previous day, Romer "received a letter inscribed with a black hand, a stiletto, a revolver and skull and crossbones."  It read:

Put this in mind and don't forget.  We want you to pay the sum of $10,000, or you will be killed before September 15.  Leave the money at Tompkins Square Park on or before September 14 12 a.m. or any time before then.

The demand would equal more than $360,000 today.

Romer took the letter to the Detective Bureau, which offered a reward of $1,000 to anyone who could identify the sender.  A reporter from the New-York Tribune visited the saloon that night.  Romer told him, "If only one of those fellows could be caught, there would soon be an end to the whole society.  I will do my best to run my correspondent down."  (It appears that Romer survived the threat.)

As early as 1913, Herman Staats owned the Warwick.  He and his family, including son Charles P. Staats, lived in the  building, as well.  Among their tenants in the post-World War I years was James Daly, who worked as a watchman in the city's Dock Department.  Early on the morning of May 3, 1921, he saw a man on the West 58th Street Hudson River pier.  Joseph Collins was a 26-year-old soldier attached to the motor transport corps at the Army base in Brooklyn.  He had most likely been drinking all night and stumbled into the river.  "He was rescued by James Daly of 184 West 10th Street," reported The Evening World.

Fred Kern ran the saloon in January 1920 when Prohibition was enacted.  He did not significantly alter his business.  On August 2, 1922, The New York Times reported, "Sixteen saloons, three groceries, a bird store and a restaurant in Manhattan and the Bronx were raided yesterday by Prohibition Agents."  Among those arrested were "Fred Kern, owner, and Tony Terangelo, bartender, of a saloon at 230 West Fourth Street."

It ostensibly appeared that Fred Kern learned his lesson.  He converted his saloon to a funeral parlor.  Notices of funeral services routinely appeared in newspapers.  But, as it turned out, not all of those who visited were paying their respects to a deceased--they were partying in the back room speakeasy.  The ploy worked until September 9, 1923, when two Prohibition agents decided to inspect a hearse that pulled up to the curb.  The New York Times reported that the hearse, "was loaded with a half dozen kegs of beer."

Charles P. Staats and his wife, Marie, still lived here on February 21, 1939 when Charles died.  Among the properties Marie inherited was the Warwick and their country home in New Paltz, New York.

The former funeral home-speakeasy was converted to Lupe's Mexican Restaurant in 1933.  By the early 1940s, the store was divided into two.  The remodeling came with modern arcade show windows.  A barbershop and drugstore now shared the space.

Originally, a cornice ran below the second floor.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The turnover in ownership of the subsequent restaurant-bar frustrated food critics over the coming years.  On November 3, 1999, the New York Post's Cynthia Killian wrote, "The sign on the building is a reminder of times past and the triad of eateries that held sway over the years on the quirky little corner of West Fourth and West 10th.  First came Joe's, then Formerly Joe's and finally, as the sign says, 'Joe's...again.'"  Killian continued saying, "the lights are on, but Joe's not home any more."  In its place, Chow Bar & Grill had moved in.  

Similarly, the next year, on September 20, 2000, The New York Times critic Florence Fabricant groaned, "What was Joe's, then Formerly Joe's, then Joe's Again, then Chow Bar and Grill is now Chow Bar."

In 2010, Comida Mercado Fresca opened in the space, replaced the following year by the Mexican restaurant Empellón, owned by Alex Stupak.  The eatery remains in the space.

image via streeteasy.com

At some point, the storefront was bastardized with a brick veneer and faux Georgian doorway, and the red brick ironically given a coating of brick-red paint.  The intact residential entrance and the idiosyncratic brickwork above it, however, makes the Warwick pause-worthy.

many thanks to reader Frank Hosticka for suggesting this post

A Little Building with a Big History - 148 West 4th Street

 

Two two-story frame houses with brick fronts were constructed on the south side of Fourth Street near Sixth Avenue a generation before the potters' field to the east would be transformed into fashionable Washington Square.  By the 1840s, the fashionable brick- and brownstone-faced homes that had spilled west along Fourth Street stood in stark contrast with the humble houses.

The eastern of the pair, 192 Fourth Street (renumbered 148 West 4th Street in 1863), was home in the 1840s to Dr. Edward Vanderpool.  It was purchased by William E. Berrien in 1851.  He and John Keyser operated a construction business known as Keyser & Berrien.

The house was converted for the firm's offices, and the smaller building in the rear yard became its carpentry shop.  Three years after completing the renovations, Keyser & Berrien was the victim of treachery.  On June 5, 1854, The New York Times reported, "On Saturday morning, about 4 o'clock, a fire occurred in a carpenter's shop, in the rear of 192 Fourth-street, in the occupation of Messrs. Keyser & Berrian [sic].  The building was filled with light lumber, which burned with great fierceness."  Damage to the stock (which was entirely lost) and to the building was $5,000 (about $187,000 in 2024).  The article said, "The fire is supposed to be the work of an incendiary."

Keyser & Berrien replaced the rear building with a four-story brick structure.  The carpentry shop occupied the lower level and rooms were rented upstairs.  The tenants were often carpenters, suggesting they were employees.

By 1863, William Berrien was operating the business alone.  Highly successful, he lived in a high-stooped brownstone on West 47th Street and invested heavily in real estate.  

In the summer of 1863, Berrien discovered his gold watch and silver snuffbox, which had been sitting on his desk in the office, were missing.  Shortly afterward, police arrested Henry Randin, "a French lad 14 years of age," as reported by The New York Times.  Berrien valued the two items at $140, more than $3,500 today.  Randin had the watch in his pocket when arrested.

The teen explained that he had received the watch and box from a boy named Hart.  The article said, "but the story was not believed, and Justice Quackenbush committed the accused for trial in default of $500 bail."  William Berrien got his watch back, but the silver snuffbox seems to have been sold already.

Around 1875, William Mitchell purchased the property.  The front building became one of the offices of the John Rockett & Co. coal business (the other was on South Fifth Avenue), and the lower floors of the rear building were rented to Utter & Lefferts, builders, operated by Thomas Utter and James B. Lefferts.  The following year, John Hackett took over the John Rockett & Co. coal business.

William Mitchell transferred title to the property to his son John M. Mitchell on October 30, 1880 as "a gift."  John Hackett closed the coal office in February 1894.  The following year, builder F. H. Wakeham, who had occupied the rear building as branch office, left.

Real Estate Record & Guide, July 6, 1895 (copyright expired)

Builder Charles H. Van Aken signed a lease for both buildings.  On June 6, 1896, the Record & Guide reported that John M. Mitchell was spending $2,000 on renovations for Van Aken, who doubled as the contractor and architect.

In 1898, A History of Real Estate remarked that "sound judgment and wide experience" was necessary for the contractor who did repair work.  Calling him a mason builder, the article said, "Mr. C. H. Van Aken, of No. 148 West 4th street, while not devoting his attention wholly to repairing and overhauling, is one of the most successful and reliable contractors in that line of work in the city."

Like William Berrien, success in the building trade made Van Aken well-to-do.  By 1912, he was a trustee in the West Side Savings Bank.  He had incorporated with William S. McCotter and Joseph N. Ely to form the McCotter Construction & Improvement Company, which operated from this address.

In the meantime, the architectural firm of John H. McCullough & Sons had its offices here as early as 1906, possibly in the second floor of the front building.  Working with their father were Willis I. and Thomas J. McCullough, along with architect John H. Ellingsgard.

On February 12, 1906, Willis I. McCullough was on a streetcar when Frank Preston, "better known as 'Peggy' Bingeman," according to the New York Herald, plucked a diamond stud from his shirt.  The New York Times said, "in spite of his youthfulness [he] is known half way across this continent as one of the cleverest pickpockets."

Preston was captured and on March 10 The New York Times reported that Preston, "broke a record yesterday by being tried twice in the same day of two offenses, convicted and sentenced on both."  According to the New York Herald, he had been sentenced not only for this theft, but for "sealing a diamond pin from Louis Pulvermacher" on a Madison Avenue car on October 20.  Before announcing the sentences, Judge McMahon said, "New York is overrun with pickpockets.  Inspector McLaughlin of the Detective Bureau has asked the aid of the Judges of this court in suppressing them, and he shall have it."

The article closed saying, "He will not have a chance to break the law again for four years and three months."

John H. McCullough's Sons would operate from the address through 1921.

By 1917, Charles H. Van Aken had purchased the property from Mitchell.  Possibly seeing the success of his neighbors on either side--The Pepper Pot nightclub and restaurant, and The Mad Hatter tearoom--Van Aken transformed part of the rear building to The Samovar, which offered "luncheon, tea, dinner, special dishes."

Official metropolitan Guide, May 4, 1919 (copyright expired)

The success of The Samovar prompted Van Aken to expand.  In 1922 he did made more renovations to the rear building, creating a "restaurant with dancing" on the first floor, and offices on the second through fourth.   The front building where he had run his construction offices for decades became The Leprachaun restaurant.

Patrons in The Samovar, apparently around Halloween.  photograph by Jessie Tarbox Beals, from the collection of the New-York Historical Society.

It was most likely Prohibition that brought and end to The Samovar.  But in 1947, owners Anthony and Margaret Cimenti, who lived on Carmine Street, made renovations, returning the ground floor of the rear building to a "restaurant and cabaret."  It was a short-lived venture, however, and in 1953 the first and second floors of that building became art studios, with one apartment each on the third and fourth.

The entrance to the rear (marked Dancing Diner) between 148 and 150 W. 4th can be seen in this 1941 tax photograph. image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In the 1970s, what The Villager described as a "gypsy reader parlor" operated from the front building.  After "complaints from local residents and reports of illegal occupancy," the occupants were forced out.  The storefront became The French Peasant.  On November 16, 1978, The Villager wrote, "If you like French Cuisine but not French restaurant prices, you should check out The French Peasant...This quaint, tiny (seats about 30), unpretentious eatery features a homey, candle-lit upstairs dining-room and is the kind of romantic setting for which the French are famous."

The rear building can be seen in this 1932 photograph in the collection of the New York Public Library.

Around 1999, Le Frite Kot opened in the space.  By then, the passageway to the rear building had been filled in for over two decades.  More recently, Vol De Nuit, a "Belgian Beer Bar," moved into the building.  A refacing of the facade created a presence so bland that the little building with the big history is easily overlooked.

many thanks to reader Jason Kessler for suggesting this post

photographs by the author

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The 1836 Augustine E. Pressinger House - 317 West Fourth Street

 

In April 1835 Charles W. Hawkins purchased ten building plots from Samuel Bayard along Fourth Street, between Bank and West 12th Streets.  A merchant, Hawkins lived at 98 Greenwich Street.  Within the next four months he resold the 20-foot-wide plots to six men, all of whom were builders or were involved in that trade.  Solomon Banta and Abraham Frazee made up the construction company of Frazee & Banta, James Vandenberg and Aaron Marsh were also builders, while Henry M. Perine was a mason and Richard Taylor was lime dealer.  A year later, ten houses were  completed, or nearly completed, on the plots, presumably constructed by their several owners.

Each of the nearly identical brick-faced homes was two-and-a-half stories tall above an English basement.  Like its neighbors, 47 Fourth Street (renumbered 317 West 4th Street in 1863) was Greek Revival in style.  A short stoop led to the entrance where Doric pilasters flanked the single door.  The attic windows pierced a wide fascia board below the dentiled cornice.

By the late 1840s, it was home to the Richard P. Berrien, Jr. family.  Berrien, like Richard Taylor, was a lime merchant.  He and his family would remain here through 1856, taking in one or two boarders at a time, like DeForrest Ellison, a blindmaker here in 1851; and bookbinder Charles Starr who listed the address in 1853.

In 1857 the families of John L. Pasman and Elisha P. Cronk moved in.  Pasman was a tailor and Cronk was a produce merchant.  They would share the house into the early 1860s.

By 1868, real estate operator Cyrus W. Price owned 317 West 4th Street.  He sold it in June that year to his son-in-law, Augustine E. Pressinger for $8,500 (about $180,000 in 2023).

Augustine had married Mary Davis Price in her father's parlor on May 2, 1853.  The newlyweds relocated to Lebanon, Tennessee.  The couple suffered unspeakable heartbreak when two of their children, Mary Augusta and Winfield Scott, died of diphtheria on the same day, May 29, 1862.  It was possibly that tragedy that prompted the Pressingers to return to New York City.

Born in London, England on December 13, 1824, Pressinger was in the storage business with a warehouse at 568 Washington Street.  When he and Mary moved into the West 4th Street house they had four children: Austin Edmund, Salletta May, Arnott Milton, and Whitfield Price.  

In addition to his storage business (which was so successful that by 1872 he had expanded into a second warehouse at 505 Washington), Pressinger was highly active with the Seventh Regiment.  In 1851, before his marriage, he had been promoted to captain.  

Mary was not content with rearing children and hosting teas.  Among the few enterprises in which women could flourish in the 19th century was real estate and, like her father, she bought and sold Manhattan properties.  It may have been Mary's knowledge of real estate that prompted an updating to the vintage residence.  The attic was raised to a full floor and a new cornice with scrolled brackets was installed.

Augustine E. Pressinger died at the age of 52 on January 31, 1877.  Mary and the unmarried children remained at 317 West 4th Street until 1885 when she sold the house on April 9 to Georgine E. E. Poppe for $12,500 (about $410,000 today).

Poppe would retain possession of the house for decades, taking in respectable boarders seemingly just one at a time.  In 1904 and '05 William O'Hara lived here.  He earned a $600 per year pension from the police department.  And in 1923 Captain Edwin A. Quinn of the fire department boarded in the house.  That year, on May 24, he was awarded the Bennett Medal for bravery in a fatal fire on East 13th Street on November 3, 1922.

That day a fire broke out in a factory that made "nitro-cellulose novelties," as described by The Brooklyn Standard Union.  The material "created an unbearable heat" and intense flames.  Five young women employed in the factory died, but thanks to Quinn's heroic efforts, three others survived.  The article explained, "Entering a blazing third-floor window from a ladder, Capt. Quinn advanced with a hose line, and after darkening the fire about him, crept along the floor and rescued three young women."

Georgine E. E. Poppe sold 317 West 4th Street to the Retzker Realty Company in October 1926.  The firm operated the property as a rooming house.  A fire escape was attached to the front facade, and the 19th century stoop ironwork was replaced by solid masonry wing walls.

Shutters with pierced decorations hung at the windows not fronted by the fire escape in 1941.  The railings of the stoop have been replaced with wing walls.  The approximate original appearance of the house can be seen in 313 West 4th Street, at right.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

One resident found herself under the microscope of the Congressional Committee on Un-American Activities in 1945 and 1946.  Helen R. Bryan was looked upon with suspicion because of her position as executive secretary of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee.  The group provided financial aid to organizations in foreign countries like the Cuban National Association for Aid to the Victims of the War in Spain.

A renovation completed in 1968 resulted in three apartments within the building.  It was most likely at this time that the solid wing walls of the stoop were replaced with iron railings, more appropriate to the structure.

photographs by the author

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The 1836 Henry D. Thayer House - 315 West Fourth Street

 

In the spring of 1835 merchant Charles W. Hawkins lived at 98 Greenwich Street.  That year he purchased ten vacant lots on Fourth Street between Bank and West 12th Street from Samuel Bayard.  Within the next four months he resold the 20-foot-wide parcels to six men, all of whom were builders or otherwise involved in that trade.  Solomon Banta and Abraham Frazee made up the construction company Frazee & Banta, James Vandenberg and Aaron Marsh were also builders, while Henry M. Perine was a mason, and Richard Taylor was a dealer in lime.  A year later, ten houses were nearly completed on the sites, presumably constructed by their several owners.

Each of the nearly identical, brick-faced homes was two-and-a-half stories tall above an English basement.  Like its neighbors, 45 Fourth Street (renumbered 315 West 4th Street in 1863) was Greek Revival in style.  A short stoop led to the entrance where Doric pilasters flanked the single door.  The attic windows pierced a wide fascia board below the dentiled cornice.

By 1840 Joseph Fennimore, a carter, lived in the house.  It is unclear how long he remained, but in 1851 it was home to two families, the Finches and the Tallmans.  Whether the families were related is uncertain, but they would live together for years.

George Finch was a builder.  In his spare time, he volunteered at the Harry Howard Hose Company No. 55 on Christopher Street.  Living with him and his wife was his mother-in-law, Lavina Allen.  The parlor was the scene of 87-year-old widow's funeral on December 26, 1854.  

Tunis Tallman was a cabinet maker, whose shop was at 609 Hudson Street.  His son, Abraham S. Tallman, would go into the drygoods business around 1856.

The two families left West Fourth Street in 1863.  They were followed in the house by Thomas Forbes, a clerk, and his family.  Joseph Forbes, possibly Thomas's father, listed no profession in city directories, suggesting he may have been elderly and retired.

The Forbes family sold 315 West Fourth Street in 1868 to Nelson D. Thayer, a collector for the city.  Thayer was born in Schenectady on November 6, 1818 and moved to New York City in 1829.  He married Margaret Eliza Brown in 1840 and the couple had six children, Joanna, Lovina Ann, Margaret Jane, Irene, Seth Nelson, and Ella.  Highly involved in civic affairs, he had been elected to the City Assembly in 1857 and held the position through 1866.  In 1859 he was elected Fire Commissioner, as well.  

It was most likely Thayer who updated the home's appearance by raising the attic to a full third floor, and installing beefy, cast iron Italianate railings and newels to the stoop.

The muscular cast iron stoop ironwork survived in 1941.  The approximate appearance of the original third floor can be seen at right.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Middle-class households like the Thayer's would have had one or two servants, such as a cook and chamber maid.  In August 1869 Margaret advertised for "A German girl, to do general housework."

Like most of their neighbors, the Thayers took in a boarder.  In 1871 it was policeman William H. Christie, and the following year Harriet Habermehl lived with the family.  Harriet died on August 27, 1873 "at the residence of N. D. Thayer," according to her death notice in the New York Herald.  It described the 73-year-old as "the relic [i.e., widow] of Henry."  Her funeral was held in the house the following day.

Over the next few years the Thayers' boarders were Irene Pierce, a teacher, here from 1874 through 1876; and attorney Henry Winans the following year.

The Thayer family left 315 West Fourth Street in 1878, and the house continued to be home to middle-class families for decades.  Then, in 1926 architect George Provst was hired to convert the building to bachelor apartments--meaning that for the most part, they did not have kitchens.  The Department of Buildings warned, "not more than two families cooking independently on the premises," and "not more than 15 sleeping rooms in building."  

An advertisement for one of the two apartments within the "remodeled dwelling" that did have a kitchen was advertised for rent in 1933.  Rent for the two-room apartment was $35 per month, or about $750 in 2023.

Among the tenants here in the mid-1940s was inventor Shepard J. Goldin.  Goldin did not attempt to change the world with ground-breaking inventions, but focused on improvements to everyday objects.  While living here in 1946, he received patents for an "ornamental design for chess pieces," and an "illuminated watch clip and mirror."  The latter was an "attachment for watches in form of a flashlight mount for casting light on face of watch, having mirror over center of crystal."  Earlier he had patented an improved eyeglass case.

A renovation completed in 1963 resulted in a duplex apartment in the basement and parlor floors, and two apartments each on the upper floors.  Then, in 1996, the house was returned to a single-family home.  New stoop ironwork based on the surviving areaway fencing replaces the Italianate examples.

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The 1836 Joseph Potter House - 313 West Fourth Street

 

In the 18th century William Bayard's estate sat within the northwestern section of Greenwich Village.  (It was to Bayard's handsome Georgian home that Alexander Hamilton was taken following his duel with Aaron Burr in 1804.)  Following his death in 1826, his heirs began selling off portions of the Bayard Farm.

In April 1835 Charles W. Hawkins purchased land along the recently named West Fourth Street (the lane had been called Asylum Street until around 1834).  He divided the lots and resold them within the subsequent months.  Among the buyers was mason Henry M. Perine, who erected a two-a-and-half story brick faced house at 43 West Fourth (renumbered 313 in 1864).

Designed in the emerging Greek Revival style, its squat attic level replaced the dormers and peaked roof of the Federal style.  The single-doored entrance featured sidelights and an ample transom that allowed sunlight into the foyer.  Perhaps most eye-catching were the handsome iron stoop railings.  Their graceful design included palmettes above and below a central wreath.

The flat blades within the empty spaces at the bottom of the railings were boot scrapers, a necessity before paved streets.

By the early 1840's the West Fourth Street residence was home to attorney Joseph C. Potter and his wife Cornelia.  The family took in a boarder, James Ferris.  

Ferris was a weaver by trade.  Most likely unknown to the Potters, he had served time in the state prison twice for forgery.  He found himself in trouble again after a confrontation on February 1, 1842.  Ferris was drinking in the nearby porterhouse run by Henry Osborn when Peter Nodine came in looking for his son.  One way or another the two men got into a heated fight.  In court on April 20, Nodine claimed, "while there, Ferris assaulted him and bit the end of his thumb off."

Ferris brought a witness, a boy named Potter who may have been related to Joseph and Cornelia.  Potter worked in the tavern and testified that it was Nodine who made the assault and swore that Nodine "attempted to knock Ferris's brains out with a decanter."  The jury had to decide between the charges--one that Ferris had bitten off the thumb of Nodine, and the other charging Nodine with "attempting to gouge [Ferris's] eye out."  Ferris was found guilty and Nodine was acquitted.

On October 11, 1843 Joseph and Cornelia had a baby girl, Cornelia Livingston Potter.   Sadly, the Potters' parlor was the scene of the her funeral a year-and-a-half later, on May 13, 1845.

By 1851 Edward H. Jacot and his family lived here.  A coal and hardware merchant at 15 Gold Street, his was an substantial business.  On August 20, 1853 he announced the receipt of a shipment of "Steam and gas tubes--One thousand lap-welded English boiler tubes, 2 to 3 inches; 20,000 feet English gas tubing."

Jacot was born in 1811.  He had married Christina Isabella Forbes in 1833.  The couple had at least one daughter, Isabella.  The family's residency was short-lived.  In 1854 liquor importer Morris Livingston and his family, who had previously lived on Eighth Avenue, moved into the house.  

In 1862 Frederick Livingston was enrolled in the introductory class of the Free Academy of the City of New York.  It was possibly the boy's age the prompted a servant to look for a new job that year.    An advertisement in the New York Daily Herald on November 14 read:

Wanted--A situation by a young American woman, to take care of children; has some knowledge of running a sewing machine.  Best city reference.  

As the Potters had done, the Livingston family took in a boarder.  In 1873 William Latson, a driver, rented rooms, and in 1876 Henry M. Parr, who made his living as a clerk, listed his address with the family.

In 1879 313 West Fourth Street became home to the Henry M. Parr family.  Parr was in the produce business at 459 Greenwich Street, and Henry Jr. was an attorney.  The Parrs would remain here for years.  After it was sold to D. Sylvan Crakow in 1902, it was operated as a boarding house by a "Mrs. Borden."

On Friday, October 14, 1904, a middle-aged couple, James O'Neill and his wife, appeared at the door as asked for a room.  The Buffalo Enquirer said, "To Mrs. Borden, the landlady, they said, half-laughingly; that they were on a second honeymoon trip, but they told her nothing of their home."

The O'Neills seemed to have been on a spontaneous visit to the city.  "They said they might stay a week and see some of the wonders of New York," Mrs. Borden later explained.  On Sunday morning they planned to explore the city, but did not come down for breakfast.  The Buffalo Enquirer reported, "Their plans made for a day's outing, death claimed Mr. and Mrs. James O'Neill yesterday, just as their holiday dawned."  Mrs. Borden found them dead in their rooms.  The gas valve had not been fully closed and they died in their sleep.

In 1927 the house underwent a renovation which resulted in a tea room in the basement  and "non-housekeeping apartments" on the floors above (the term referred to the fact that they had no kitchens).  The configuration lasted until 1968 when the former tea room was converted to an art studio and gallery.  There were now one apartment on the parlor floor and two each on the floors above.

The art studio was home to the gallery of British artist Fiona Banner in the early years of the 21st century.  The space was regularly the scene of one-person exhibitions, like the debut of French artist Anne-Marie Schneider in February 2006.

A gut renovation in 2018 brought the venerable house back to a single-family home.  While the 1836 exterior is remarkably preserved, nothing of the original survives inside.

photographs by the author

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The Tiny Store and House at 326 West Fourth Street

 

An alleyway possibly led between the houses at 324 and 328 West 4th Street in the pre-Civil War years.  It is unclear when the little two-story building there was built, but it first appears in city directories in 1871 when it was the butcher shop of Charles Fredericks.  Interestingly, Fredericks and his family did not live in the second floor residential space, but nearby at 18 Jane Street.  

By 1879 the Edwin and Sarah E. Hill ran their business from the location.  Edwin was a goldbeater and Sarah was a "stamper."  Like Fredericks, they chose not to live in the upper floor (possibly using it as storage).  Their home was at 794 Sullivan Street.  They operated from 326 West 4th Street until around 1885.  That year Joseph A. Jackson moved his painting business into the ground floor.

William Bishop lived in the upper portion in the early years of the 20th century.  On the night of April 5, 1907 he was on the southbound Seventh Avenue streetcar, apparently coming home.  Most likely because the car was crowded, the 72-year-old chose to ride on the front platform.   At the intersection of 23rd Street the streetcar smashed into another one traveling eastbound.  The violent collision sent the passengers "almost in a panic," according to the New York Herald, which added, "Men and women jumped into the street."

Bishop had chosen a dangerous position and he "was thrown into the street and injured," according to the article.  He and the conductor were both taken to a hospital.

In 1943 the newly-organized 326 West Fourth Street Bakery opened in the building.  But it would have to find a new home the following decade.  A renovation completed in 1956 resulted in one apartment on each floor.   The show window was replaced with paired openings and a veneer of brown brick that rose to a peaked parapet was added.

The charming little storybook house has changed little since its mid-century makeover.

photographs by the author

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The 1868 Hugh McCutcheon House - 349 West Fourth Street

 

Matthew Kane was a manufacturer of window sashes.  The explosion of construction in the years following the Civil War increased both his business and his fortune.  He invested in real estate in 1868, completing a row of four upscale Second Empire style homes on West Fourth Street between West Fourth Street and Eighth Avenue.  Designed by the prolific team of brothers David and John Jardine, the homes were faced in warm orange brick and trimmed in brownstone.  Three bays wide, their most eye-catching feature was the fashionable slate-shingled mansard level, each holding two dormers.

Among them was No. 349, which he leased to Hugh McCutcheon who had recently brought his family from Newburgh, New York.  McCutcheon had been born there in 1832 and was married to the former Catherine Hurd.  The couple had four children when they moved in, 14-year old Robert Homer, 10-year old Amahel, Maria, who was five, and one-year old Carrie.  Sharing the house with the family was another Newburgh couple, J. B. Lindsay and his wife, Jennie.

The McCutcheon house is the second from the left.

McCutcheon ran a "fixtures" store at No. 96 Bleecker Street.  Not long after the family settled into their new home Robert was enrolled in the collegiate course of the City University of New York.

Tragedy struck in October 1873 when Jennie Lindsay died at the age of 29.  Her body was taken from the house on the 13th to be sent to Newburgh for burial.  It appears J. B. Lindsay left the West Fourth Street house shortly after, possibly moving back to Newburgh.

The McCutcheon family were long-term tenants, leasing the house at least through 1880.  They then moved west, to Indianapolis, where Hugh McCutcheon died in August 1883.

Matthew Kane died around 1898 and on May 4, 1899 his heirs sold the row of houses to Pincus Lowenfeld and William Prager.  It appears that all of the homes became boarding houses, and while the tenants of No. 349 were middle class, holding white collar jobs, at least one of them was less than respectable.

Clarence Mallory had worked as a collector for the commission merchant firm of S. Fish & Co. before abruptly leaving his job in September 1902.  As a collector, he had received monies owed the firm by clients, sometimes visiting them in person to do so.  On the evening of September 15 he was on an Eighth Avenue streetcar far uptown when, as it approached the intersection of 104th Street, a man began running after it, yelling at the conductor.

The New York Press reported "When he swung aboard he was out of breath, but he immediately seized a young man, and as soon as his breath returned he began to shriek.  'Police! Police!' he cried with all his might."

The young man was Clarence Mallory and his captor was his former boss, David Temmer.  The New York Press said Mallory "seemed astonished and the passengers wondered if the man was crazy."  His continued shouts of "Police!" drew the attention of Patrolman Quinn.  Temmer told him "I want this man arrested.  He was our collector and kept all the money."

Indeed, after Mallory's hasty departure from the firm, it was discovered there was a shortage of $1,800 in cash--more in the neighborhood of $55,200 today.  The breathless Temmer said "I spotted him on that car and hopped on and grabbed him.  I wasn't going to lose such a change, even with the people around."  At the station house Mallory was searched.  He had a silver sugar bowl and half a dozen silver spoons on him, which he claimed he had purchased at an auction.  After that, according to the New York Herald, "Mallory had nothing further to say."

The period just before and after World War I saw several tenants holding Government jobs.  In 1912 Anna E. Pidgeon was hired by the State Civil Service Commission as an "attendant," possibly in a jail or prison.  And in 1915 Joseph P. Boyle landed a superintendent position in the State Civil Service's Bureau of Employment at a salary of $2,000 (about $52,500 today).  In 1919 he was still living in No. 349 and earning the same pay.

In 1930 No. 349 was purchased by Sanford M. Treat.  He continued leasing rooms in the house, prompting the necessary installation of a fire escape.  At the time the molded lintels were intact.  Before long, however, they were shaved off.  Happily the other Victorian details--the understated entrance, the dormers and fish-scale shingles--were preserved.

A renovation completed in 1961 returned it to a single-family home.  The unsightly fire escape was removed, bringing the McCutcheon house back nearly to its 1868 appearance.

photographs by the author

The 1868 Matthew Kane House - 345 West Fourth Street

 

Matthew Kane's sash making business was highly successful by the mid-1860's.  His firm manufactured the wooden widow frames to be installed in new construction, and in the early years after the end of the Civil War there was no shortage of that in New York City.

He invested in real estate in 1868, completing a row of four upscale Second Empire style homes on West Fourth Street between West 13th and Horatio Streets.  Designed by the prolific team of brothers David and John Jardine, the homes were faced in warm orange brick and trimmed in brownstone.  Three bays wide, their most eye-catching feature was the fashionable slate-shingled mansard level, each holding two dormers.

No. 345 anchored the row to the south (i.e. right).

Kane retained ownership of the row, leasing each of the houses except one.  He had lived nearby at No. 317 West 13th Street, but upon completion of the row moved his family into the southernmost house, No. 345.  Sharing the residence with him and his wife, Catherine, were their sons, William and Matthew, Jr., and daughters Isabella and Katherine (known as Kate).

By 1871 Matthew, Jr., had joined his father's firm.  Now named Matthew Kane & Son, it enjoyed large commissions like the contract to supply the window sashes for the proposed armory on Ninth Avenue and 23rd Street.  A resolution before the Board of Supervisors on June 29, 1873 agreed to pay Kane $25,023.18 for labor and materials, or about $550,000 today.

That year Kane was summoned for jury duty at the trial of William M. Tweed.  His was no small case.  The trial was to decide the fate of "Boss" Tweed of Tammany Hall.   Tweed was accused of 220 counts of corruption and fraud.  Given the large civic contracts Kane enjoyed, it is not surprising that he was eager to avoid having to sit on the jury.  He was dismissed after being questioned by the attorneys, The Evening Post explaining, he "was 'firm as a rock' in his opinion."

The West Fourth Street house was the scene of Catherine's funeral on March 6, 1877.  She had died three days earlier at the age of 61.

A much happier affair in the parlors took place on October 27, 1881 when Isabella W. Kane was married to George W. Horton.  The New York Times reported "The parlors of Mr. Kane's residence were lavishly decorated with tropical and domestic plants and flowers, and during the ceremony the bride and groom stood beneath a floral bell."  High society names like Shepherd, Gedney, Havemeyer, Voorhis and Starr were among the guests, as were John Jardine, who had designed the house, and his wife.  The reception supper was provided by society caterer Clark.

Two years later, on April 19, 1883, Katherine A. Kane married William R. Ward here.  Kate's husband was a partner with his mother, Emily, in E. M. & W. Ward, a men's furnishings store on Broadway which been founded by his deceased father many years earlier.

Despite the store's long established reputation, business began to slow.  Matthew Kane helped the couple out by loaning them a large amount of cash for the business.  But it was a losing battle.  On December 15, 1886 The New York Times reported "The business was been gradually rusting out, and was not, it is said, sufficient to afford a living to the three families who depended upon it."  Emily and William Ward made assignment of the store, essentially declaring bankruptcy.  At the time the business owed Matthew Kane $20,000--more than half a million in today's dollars.

In the meantime, Kane was lobbying the Board of Estimate to make improvements to Greenwich Village.  The Evening Post reported on December 28, 1885, Kane and a few others, "representing citizens on the west side of town, [were] asking for an appropriation of $200,000 for the purpose of erecting suitable buildings on the site selected for Gansevoort Market."

Matthew Kane died around 1898 and on May 4, 1899 his heirs sold the row of houses to Pincus Lowenfeld and William Prager.  No. 345, which had been home to the Kane family for more than three decades, became a boarding house.  White collar residents came and went for the next few decades.  

In 1934, during the harsh Great Depression years, the house was converted to apartments, two per floor.  Among the initial residents were artists Raymond Baxter Dowden and his wife, the former Anne Ophelia Todd.  The year 1934 was an important one for Dowden.  Not only were he and Anne married, but he joined the faculty of the Cooper Union School of Art and Architecture.  

Raymond Baxter Dowden executed One Glass Eye in 1934, while living here.  from the collection of the Cooper Hewitt

Both would have successful careers.  Raymond Dowden's paintings and drawings would be exhibited at the Whitney Museum, the Chicago Art Institute and the Hunt Botanical Library.  Anne Ophelia Todd Dowden taught at the Pratt Institute and Manhattanville College and was a freelance illustrator for magazines like Life, House Beautiful, and Natural History.  She was renowned for her botanical works.

In the 1940's the brownstone lintels had been shaved off.  A sign advertises apartments.  via NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

As mid-century approached, the tenants appear to have become increasingly blue collar.  Longshoreman Ardin Perrin lived here in 1949 at a time of labor unrest.  He filed assault charges against three seamen who were, according to the Daily News, "involved in recent factional disturbances in front of National Maritime Union headquarters at 346 W. 17th St."  Taking fellow rough-edged union members to court was probably not a good idea and Perrin had a change of heart.  On December 8 the Daily News reported that he "told Magistrate Morris Ploscowe that he had suffered no permanent injuries and wished to withdraw his charges."

By the dawn of the 21st century No. 345 had been converted to co-ops.  In 2006 comedian Louis C. K. (whose real name is Louis Székely) and his wife, artist Alix Baily, purchased an apartment in the building for $250,000.  It appears that they quietly laid plans to buy up the building.  Although they divorced in 2008, in 2013 they purchased a second, for $475,000, and in January 2016 a third, this time spending $564,900.

A marble mantel survives from 1868. photo via StreetEasy.com 

In the meantime, the brick of the facade has been painted barn red, the brownstone details shaved flat, and the 19th century ironwork replaced.  On the whole, nevertheless, the Kane house is relatively intact on the exterior.

photographs by the author