The Amazingly Transformed 45 East 74th Street

 

Surprisingly, the pristine Victorian facade is only about 20 years old.  photograph by the author

In 1879 architect James E. Ware designed a row of six brownstone-fronted houses at 37 through 47 East 74th Street.  Four stories tall and 19-feet wide, they were designed in the popular Queen Anne style.   The developer, John Davidson, sold 45 East 74th Street to Addraetta (known as Addie) W. Goodwin in 1881 for $32,500 (about $889,000 today).  Addie was a self-reliant woman.

She was born on September 30, 1849 in South Berwick, Maine,  where her father, Mark Fernald Goodwin, owned a large farm, a brick-making factory and a lumber business.  Unmarried, Addie was a real estate operator, one of the few professions in the 19th century in which women could compete on a nearly equal basis with their male counterparts.

Six years before moving into the East 74th Street house, on May 6, 1875, Addie's father died and she inherited the 100-acre ancestral estate, becoming the sixth generation of Goodwins to own it.  Her mother, Dorcas Bartlett Frost Goodwin, continued to live in the house, while Annie summered there.

Then on September 30, 1884 Addie married shipbuilder  and former cabinetmaker Nathaniel Knowlton in South Berwick.   Knowlton retired from boat building and the couple moved permanently to the Maine farm where he "specialized in fruit culture."

Addie leased the East 74th Street house for several years.  An advertisement in the New York Herald on September 22, 1889 gave the rental price at the equivalent of about $5,000 per month in 2022 dollars.  She sold it to real estate operator John T. Farley in March 1891 for $25,000, who resold it in January the following year to Samuel W. Korn for $36,000.  His astounding short-term profit would be around $336,000 today.

Born in 1845 at Ostrow, Germany, Korn arrived in America in 1855, his family first settling at Olean, New York.  He and his wife, Jennie, had two sons, Albert and Harold, and a daughter, Florence.

Korn had been involved in his brother's retail clothing store in Olean, taking over control after his brother's retirement.  He begun his New York career in 1870 by partnering in the wholesale clothing business Korn & Holzman.  Upon his partner's death in 1888, the firm's name was changed to S. W. Korn & Co., and after his sons were brought into the business, to S. W. Korn, Sons & Co.

Never forgetting his German rooms, Korn was a member of the Freundschaft Club.  He was also highly involved in Jewish charities, and in 1895 became a trustee of the Jewish Theological Seminary.  The family's summer home was in West End, New Jersey.

The Korns had been in the East 74th Street residence for more than a decade before Samuel transferred title to Jennie in October 1904.  The delay was somewhat surprising, since the wives of wealthy businessmen commonly held title to real property as a matter of security.

The house was the scene of Florence's wedding reception on October 15, 1907.  She was married to Milton Lehman in the Madison Avenue B’nai Jeshurun synagogue.

The following summer the Korns leased the house to the Smith family.  The family narrowly dodged a horrific tragedy while staying here.  Susan Smith took her two children, four-year-old Mary and 16-month-old Michael, to see the Labor Day parade on September 7, 1908.  While they stood among the crowd, two horses, spooked by a band, "plunged wildly," as worded by the New York Herald.

Mary and Michael Smith, following their harrowing ordeal.  The Evening Telegram, September 7, 1908

The Evening Telegram reported that the horses jumped to the sidewalk, "striking the two children with their front feet [they] tore them from the mother's grasp."  The article continued, "The two children were knocked down, and falling directly under the horses, were about to be trampled upon, when the horses were seized by a policeman and held back while some of the many spectators dragged the children to safety."  They were taken to a nearby house when "it was found that except for shock and fright, they were all right."

Samuel W. Korn died in the East 74th Street house on December 21, 1909 at the age of 61.  He left $5,000 to various charities, and bequeathed the New Jersey house to Jennie, along with an annuity of $2,500 per year (about $76,800 today).  Men's Wear magazine noted, "It is stated in his will that no other bequest is made in behalf of Mrs. Korn, because he made ample provision for her during his life."

Jennie Korn remained in the house until 1926, when she sold it to Dr. Roy Upham and his wife, the former Edna Norma Tingley.  Born in Dartmouth, Massachusetts on March 16, 1879, Upham had studied medicine in New York, Vienna, London and Cairo.  By now he was a well-known gastroenterologist, and in addition to his practice lectured at the New York Medical College.

45 West 74th Street, seen here when the Uphams owned it, is the high-stooped house to the right.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Living in the house with the Uphams in 1940 were their cook, 36-year-old Martha Pasour, and John Simon, the houseman, who was 59.

Dr. Roy Upham was widowed when he died at the age of 76 on January 5, 1956.  His brilliant career was lauded by the newspapers reporting on his death.  He had founded the National Gastroenterological Association, as well as the American College of Gastroenterology, and in 1954 was named the outstanding alumnus of the year by the New York Medical College.

Later that the year, the vintage house was "awkwardly renovated," as worded by a restoration architect years later, into a multi-unit dwelling.  The renovations, completed in 1957, resulting in the removal of the 19th century architectural details, including the stoop, and giving the façade a veneer of brick.

Then, in 2009, Italian film producer Valerio Morabito purchased "the distressed townhouse," as described by The New York Times's Robin Finn later, for $10 million.  He hired renowned restoration architect Joseph Pell Lombardi to fix the mid-century vandalism.  The results were astounding.

Lombardi fashioned a reproduction 19th century Italianate façade with only the minutest hints--like the somewhat suspicious cornice--that this was not a 125-year-old survivor.  A columned portico sat above the stone stoop, and Renaissance-inspired pediments crowned the parlor and second floor windows.  The remarkable rehabilitation cost Marabito as much as he had initially paid for the property.

image via joseph pelllombardi.com

On November 15, 2013 The New York Times reported, "An ugly duckling townhouse that was the beneficiary of an ambitious $10 million neo-Roman makeover to restore its original 1879 panache with a striking façade of imported Italian limestone and a cornice that hides a rooftop soaking pool sold for $26 million."  The buyer was chief executive of commercial developer firm SOHO China, Zhang Xin.

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The Former Stables at 15 East 13th Street

 

As late as 1859, a 20-foot-wide house stood at 15 East 13th Street, between Fifth Avenue and University Place.  But around 1861 the Smith family had replaced it with a three-story livery stable.  Faced in brick, it originally would have had centered bay doors on the ground floor, two loft openings on the second for hoisting hay and heavier supplies, and space for at least one employee to live.  Behind the building, as with all stables, was an odorous manure pit.

The proprietors routinely worked with their customers to help sell vehicles or horses they no longer needed.  On July 3, 1868, for instance, an advertisement in the New York Herald offered, "For Sale--Four handsome Shetland ponies, kind, gentle and well broken to saddle or harness," and on February 12, 1876 an ad read, "For Sale, 2 horses, 1 Hamiltonian mare, 1 Canadian pony."

The latter sale was possibly the last.  That year the stable building was converted for business purposes.  It became home to a painting company run by a man named Doubleday, and the carpentry shop of Daniel Mitchell, who lived on West 41st Street.

By 1890 John Williams ran the carpentry shop.  The other tenant was a small silverplating business.  Williams was apparently doing well, and in October 1892 was looking to expand his staff.  His advertisement read, "Two good jobbing carpenters wanted."  (Jobbing carpenters were given jobs that they could complete without direct supervision.)

The silver firm, which presumably operated from the upper floors, was the scene of a tragedy on March 12, 1891.  Eighteen-year-old John Freeman worked there as a clerk and, apparently, had the duty of shutting down the shop at the end of the day.  He reached over to turn off a dynamo which ran the machinery, and, according to the Troy Daily Times, "his body came in contact with the machine.  He dropped dead in his tracks."

In September 1892 John Williams sold his lease to Bebbington & Bollard, run by Samuel Bebbington and Washington L. Bollard.  It appears they were concerned about security during their set-up period, and on October 8 advertised, "Wanted--For temporary: watchmen, official stands, capable men; none but responsible and experienced parties need apply.  Bebbington & Bollard, 15 East 13th st."

The little building continued to see a turnover in tenants.  In 1895 the carpenter shop of Corbett & Peterson moved in, but on August 5, 1897 advertised, "Carpenter Business for sale; two years' lease; machinery; cause, sickness."  The space became home to Graham Brothers, electricians.  It advertised "motor and dynamo repairs and supplies.  Motors inspected and maintained by contract."

A rather unexpected tenant, dressmaker Juliette Tallet, was in the building in 1907.  Despite operating from a converted stables, she catered to the carriage trade.  The high-end fashions she created were reflected in a law suit she brought against English musician Archibald Robinson that year.  She claimed she had "made a silk dress for Mrs. Robinson, the price being $500, but never had received the money."  The cost would translate to more than $15,000 today.

John Gordon took space in the building around the same time.  A mason and builder, he branched into real estate development in 1911, leasing the Billopp estate on Staten Island, described by The Sun as "the most historical spot on the island."  On March 28 the newspaper reported, "The name of this man and what he proposed to do with the property did not develop until yesterday, when it became known that John Gordon, a mason and builder at 15 East Thirteenth street, this city, was the lessee and that he proposed using the property as a summer bungalow colony."

The estate was historic, indeed.  The centerpiece of the 200-acre grounds (originally 1,100 acres) was Bentley Manor, built for Captain Christopher Billopp prior to 1680.  The Sun said the stone house "is with little variation just as it was when Billop [sic], who was a sailor, used to sit on his porch and survey the broad expanse of the Lower Bay on the south and Raritan Bay on the west.  It was Billop [sic] who in his ship, the Bentley, sailed around Staten Island in a day, thereby making it a part of the State of New York."

Bentley Manor was historically important for other reasons, as well.  It was here that Lord Howe of the British army met with members of the Continental Congress, including Benjamin Frankin, John Adams, and John Rutledge, after the Battle of Long Island to discuss a peace proposal.

Happily, and somewhat unexpectedly, John Gordon preserved the venerable mansion.  He grouped his cottages around Bentley Manor, making it the focal point.  Even before ground was broken, on July 1, 1911 he advertised:

Attention Campers!

Tents or sites for rent on the historic Billop [sic] property at Sea Breeze Beach, Tottenville, S. I.; excellent water; accommodations; write for particulars.  John Gordon 15 East 13th, N.Y.

When William P. Goldman & Bros, clothing manufacturers, purchased the building and the one next door at 13 East 15th Street  from the estate of U. J. Smith in June 1920, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide commented that it was the first sale of the property "since before the Civil War and [the buildings] were formerly private stables."

The buyers held the properties only for a year, selling in July 1921.  In the interim, they had lopped off the third floor of 15 East 13th Street.

The building became home to the Rotograph Co. at the end of 1933.  The printing firm catered to left-leaning political groups, and advertised in the Communist newspaper The Daily Worker.

The Daily Worker, December 13, 1933

Among the publications printed here were the New Pioneer and Health and Hygiene, the title of which gave little hint to its contents.  But it drew the attention of the Special Committee on Un-American Activities of the House of Representatives in 1938.  

Among the questions Representative Harold Gerard Mosier asked Ralph de Sola on the stand was, "For a few months you were managing editor of Health and Hygiene, which was edited at the offices of the Communist Party, as one of its publications was it not?"

De Sola, who had edited the publication under the pseudonym of John Edward Gray, replied, "It was edited in the same structure where the Communist offices were, 15 East Thirteenth Street." 

Having already stepped away from the Community Party, De Sola was forthcoming in his testimony.  He explained in detail how the New Pioneer targeted school children without using party labels.

For example, in the back issues of the New Pioneer, if you will search them, you will find stories which will prove that George Washington was a reactionary, that while Lincoln had a part in the Civil War in freeing the slaves, he was nothing more than a middle class lawyer and really created a situation which split the country up further and removed the slaves from a feudal ownership and transferred them to an economic ownership; and so forth.

The dawn of the 21st century saw a much different type of tenant.  Marquet Patisserie was included in Robert Sietsema's 2004 The Food Lover's Guide to the Best Ethnic Eating in New York City, who said, "This reasonably priced patisserie might have been transported from Paris."

Today the building is home to Patisserie Fouet.  Despite its many incarnations and renovations, the little building still exhibits its humble roots as a pre-Civil War stables.

photographs by the author

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The George A. Archer House - 307 West 82nd Street

 

A split stoop is shared by 307 and 309 (left) West 82nd Street, leading to their side-by-side entrances.  (The lamp post handily marks the line between the two houses.)

Charles Berg was a partner with Edward H. Clark in the architectural firm of Berg & Clark.  Like several other architects, he was a real estate developer, as well.  In 1887  he began construction on a row of five upscale homes on the northside of West 82nd Street, between Riverside Drive and West End Avenue.   Completed the following year, the firm had designed the Romanesque Revival homes in an A-B-C-B-A pattern.  

The A models, including 307 West 82nd Street, were romantic and fanciful, with a rounded bay that provided a balcony to the third floor, and picturesque dormers that sprouted from the tiled roof.  Both the basement and parlor levels were faced in brownstone with rough-cut bands that created a striped effect, while the upper floors were clad in ironspot Roman brick and trimmed in terra cotta.  A sweeping, split stoop lead to the arched entrance. 

George Augustus Archer and his wife, the former Lavinia Frost, purchased 307 West 82nd Street.  The couple, who had been married on May 4, 1869, had three children: Annie Mililani, and twins George and Kate.  Annie was 18 when the family moved in, and her siblings were 14.

Archer was an architectural engineer with an office at 39 Cortlandt Street.  The family often summered at Newport, Rhode Island, where Archer's yacht, the Lady Direct, was moored.  

Annie (who, interestingly, had been born in Honolulu) pursued a career in art.  By 1899, she was a member of the Municipal Art Society, showing her works at respected exhibitions.  In its March issue that year, The Architectural Review reported on the Architectural League Exhibition, commenting:

The bronze lamp by Miss Annie Mililani Archer possesses much...charm, and the writing trays, candle-sticks and Egyptian pipe-rack are interesting, as showing examples of an effort to apply better ability to the simple things in daily life.

George Archer's expertise was called into service following the horrendous fire in the Asch Building--the event better known today as the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire--on March 25, 1911.  On that day 144 employees, most of them young women, perished.  Archer was selected as one of 45 architects and engineers who composed the coroner's jury.  The Evening World said they had "expressed their willingness to serve, notwithstanding the great personal sacrifices entailed.  In this, they declared, they were moved by the imperative need for taking every possible means to prevent the recurrence of similar tragedies."  Their findings resulted in the beginnings of strengthened fire codes and better work conditions.

George A. Archer died at the age of 80 in the West 82nd Street house after a brief illness on March 24, 1914.  His wake was unusually short and the funeral was held in the drawing room the following day.

Kate was married at the time, but George and Annie were still living at home.  Each of them inherited $100,000 (more than $2.5 million in today's money), with Lavinia receiving, essentially, the rest of the estate.

Lavinia, George and Annie remained in the West 82nd Street house until 1920.  That year Annie was listed in the Who's Who Among Craftsmen for her metalwork.  She would eventually turn to painting and by the 1940's, now living in Tucson, Arizona, would focus heavily on desert landscapes.

Lavinia sold 307 West 82nd Street in 1920 to Ida Grant, who seems to have rented rooms.  Living here in 1925 was illustrator Genevieve Cowles.  She exhibited eight works in the Architectural and Allied Arts Exposition that year.  (Cowles had stepped away from magazine and book illustration during World War I to work on ship camouflage for the U.S. Navy.)

Genevieve Cowles painted this self-portrait around 1930.

On June 20, 1932 the New York Evening Post reported that Roger Vidal had leased 307 West 82nd Street, noting, "It will be altered into one and two-room apartments and made ready for occupancy about July 1."

The house was acquired by Gallivan Gables in 1950.  He initiated another renovation, completed in 1953, that resulted in two apartments each in the basement and parlor levels, and four furnished rooms on each of the upper floors.   The configuration lasted until 1971 when there were now two apartments on every floor.

Living here that year was 24 year old Donald Phillips, alias Roy Browne.  A petty criminal, his life came to an abrupt end on May 10, 1971 when he and two other men were shot to death by unknown assailants.  The New York Times reported, "The dead men were found in a stolen 1969 Cadillac parked in front of 1115 Walton Avenue, the Bronx.  The police are seeking two gunmen."

In 1989 a penthouse level, unseen from the street, was added to 307 West 82nd Street, to accommodate a duplex apartment extending to the fourth floor.  

photograph by the author

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The Lost Madison Avenue Temple - Madison Ave and 65th Street

 

from The Decorator & Furnisher, October 1885 (copyright expired)

Congregation B'nai Jeshurun ("Children of Jeshurun"), incorporated in 1884, was the second oldest Jewish congregation in New York City.  In 1864 it erected a synagogue on West 34th Street, between Broadway and Seventh Avenue, deemed by the New Amsterdam Gazette later, "undoubtedly the largest Hebrew place of worship in New York."  While it owned the structure, it leased the land on which it stood and in 1884, with that lease expiring, the congregation chose to move.  On April 30, 1885 the New Amsterdam Gazette explained:

The growth of the city, however, of late years necessitated the congregation to look for another place of worship more suitable for the now remarkably increased and wealthy congregation, and more convenient to the large number of members residing uptown.

The New York Times reported on March 4, 1884, "The congregation B'nai Jeshurun has purchased from Newman Cowen a piece of property on the west side of Madison-avenue, about 25 feet south of Sixty-fifth-street, being about 75 feet from on the avenue, for $75,000."  The equivalent price the congregation paid for the vacant lot would be more than $2 million today.

Things quickly moved forward and two weeks later, on March 21, The New York Times reported that plans for the new structure had been filed.  The firm of Schwarzman & Buchman received the commission, and a recently-hired architect was given the project.  The New Amsterdam Gazette wrote, "The plan of the edifice, which was selected by competition, is the work of Don Rafael Guastavino, a Spanish architect of great ability."

Trained in Barcelona, Guastavino had arrived in New York only three years earlier.  He would become known not only for his often exotic designs based in Moorish and Byzantine traditions, but for his Guastavino Arch, an incredibly strong structural arch veneered with interlocking tiles.

The New York Times reported, "The front of the synagogue will be of brick and built according to the Byzantine style.  In the basement will be a large school-room.  The synagogue will seat nearly 1,100 persons and will cost about $65,000."  Although the New Amsterdam Gazette called the congregation, "now one of the wealthiest in New York," the trustees made a cost savings move.  "The old synagogue...will be torn down and the stone will be used in the erection of the new building," said The New York Times.

New Amsterdam Gazette, April 30, 1885 (copyright expired)

Construction proceeded quickly.  In reporting on the cornerstone laying on August 7, 1884, The New York Times remarked, "The edifice is already far advanced toward completion, and will be dedicated about Dec. 1 next.  The  basement rooms will, however, be ready for occupancy after the the October festivals."

The "fine new building," as described by The New York Times was dedicated on March 25, 1885.  The Real Estate Record & Guide said, "There was a large and fashionable gathering, and the ceremony was of an impressive character."  The New York Times remarked, "The interior of the new synagogue was modeled after the first synagogue erected in Europe, at Toledo, Spain, and is in the style of the Spanish Renaissance.  The front, which is of Philadelphia brick and stone, is of the byzantine style, with Moorish combinations and a portico in the Moorish style."

The New Amsterdam Gazette added, "Care has been taken for an abundance of light; the side aisles receiving light through large side windows and semi-circular tops, while the main aisle is lighted through the immense circular front and dome windows, and a beautiful line of half-circular ones located on each side of the frieze of the center aisle.  All the windows are glazed with fancy cathedral glass."  The stained glass windows were fabricated by Lampert & Co.

The New Amsterdam Gazette continued:

The grand organ, certainly one of the finest in the city, was built by George Jardine & Son, the builders of the Cathedral organ.  The most prominent feature of the building, which cannot fail to attract the attention of every visitor, is the exquisitely carved and beautifully decorated desk designed for the reader of the Books of Moses, situated in the rear of the halls.  It is constructed in the form of a balcony.

The movement of the synagogue away from Midtown created a problem.  The congregation's cemetery was located on 32nd Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues.  On February 23, 1887, The New York Times reported, "The old plot, which is only 40 by 100 feet, has become so desecrated by the refuse and rubbish which is thrown there that it has been thought advisable to remove the bodies."  The congregation met the day after the article to approve moving the bodies to Cypress Hills, Brooklyn.

The rabbi of B'nai Jeshurun was Rev. Henry S. Jacobs, a "fluent and graceful speaker," according to The Menorah, who was "gifted with a remarkably pleasant voice, and is one of the best orators among the rabbis of the city."  King's Handbook of New York said that under him, the congregation held "conservatively to the old Mosaic standards...paying little regard to the changeful spirit of the nineteenth century."

He was succeeded in April 1893 by the Hungarian-born Rev. Dr. Stephen Seymour Wise, an outspoken critic of Tammany Hall who was described by Tammany leader Richard Croker as a "narrow old man."

from King's Notable New Yorkers, 1899 (copyright expired)

Rev. Wise remained seven years, preaching his last sermon on June 3, 1900.  The New-York Tribune commented, "He took charge of the Madison Avenue Synagogue in April, 1893, and leaves it for a poorer cure in Portland, Ore."

In November that year, the Rev. Joseph M. Asher of Cambridge University in England, was invited to "preach on trial."  Newman Cowen, the president of the congregation, told the New-York Tribune "that Mr. Asher is expected to be the rabbi of the congregation."  And, indeed, he was installed on December 22, 1900.  The comments of the Rev. Dr. Gustav Gottheil of the Temple Emanue-El, who conducted the installation, may have hinted at problems to come.  The New-York Tribune reported, "Dr. Gottheil emphasized the necessity of toleration and magnanimity.  He also called to the incoming rabbi's notice that he would find ideas more advanced here than where he formerly labored."

Despite the warning, Asher could not accept new ways of Congregation B'nai Jeshurun.  On February 15, 1908 the New-York Tribune reported, "Its ritual was not sufficiently orthodox for the new rabbi and he resigned and took charge of [a] smaller but less modern congregation."  

The congregation struggled to find a long-term leader.  Asher's successor, Dr. Benjamin A. Tintner, resigned in December 1910.  He was replaced by Dr. Judah L. Magnes, who immediately began a series of far-reaching changes.  The Sun reported on December 19, 1911 that "he announced that it was his intention to 'further Judaism as it has been handed down to us by the Jewish people.'"  The article said, "One of Dr. Magnes's first acts was to shut down the organ and abolish the mixed choir.  The women singers were discharged and a choir of male voices was substituted."

from King's Handbook of New York (copyright expired)

Dr. Magnes's insistence on strict orthodoxy caused a rift within the congregation.  A member told a reporter from The Sun, "The enthusiasm with which the new plan was received seems to have waned and the young people, upon whom we depend, are anxious to have the music restored and the services made attractive."  On December 20, The New York Times added, "Strong differences of opinion, it was learned yesterday, have arisen in the congregation of B'nai Jeshurun Synagogue at Madison Avenue and Sixty-fifth Street as to the desirability of certain change in the direction of orthodoxy."

Dr. Judah Magnes resigned in January 1912, and was be replaced by Dr. Barnet Elzas.  The congregation's focus soon turned from infighting over religious ritual to its physical location.   In 1915 it decided to relocate to the opposite side of Central Park, and on January 15, 1916 the Record & Guide reported, "The Congregation B'nai Jeshurun has been granted permission by to court to sell its synagogue property...to the Alliance Realty Company."

The New York Times, on May 3, reported, "Madison Avenue is about to lose one of its most imposing religious structures in the demolition within a few weeks of the synagogue of the Congregation B'Nai Jesurun."  The final services had been held the previous Saturday and the congregation had arranged temporary quarters while its new synagogue at 257 West 88th Street was being constructed.

As it turned out, Raphael Guastavino's magnificent Byzantine-inspired structure was not demolished, but otherwise obliterated by the architectural firm of Rouse & Goldstone.  The firm remodeled it into a neo-Federal commercial building that bore no resemblance to its former self.

from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

The building, at 746 Madison Avenue, survives, albeit heavily altered.

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Horace Ginsbern's 1938 155 and 165 West 20th Street

 

Horace Ginsbern was, apparently, a take-charge sort of man.  The principal in the architectural firm Horace Ginsbern & Associates, he was also the president of the Horace Realty Company, Inc.  And then, in 1938, he formed the  155 West Twentieth Street, Inc., with himself as president.  The two latter firms purchased the 23,500 square-foot vacant lot at the northeast corner of Seventh Avenue and 20th Street.  The New York Times, on March 12, 1938, reported, "Plans for erecting a modern apartment house on a plot in the Chelsea area were announced yesterday."  Ginsbern, expectedly, would be the architect for his project.

Construction progressed at lightening speed.  Eight months after Ginsbern purchased the plot, his building was completed.  And on November 23 The Sun reported that all 120 apartments--ranging from one-and-a-half to four rooms--were rented.  They were marketed as having "all modern conveniences, 24-hour doorman service, dropped living rooms, cross ventilation, roof deck."   Seven stores lined the Seventh Avenue side.

Ginsbern's six-story apartment house (it was, actually, two identical buildings, at 155 and 165 West 20th Street), was a near match to his 1212 Grand Concourse, erected a year earlier.  Faced in yellow brick, its Art Deco elements, like stylized chevron patterns, were executed in brick (possibly a Depression Era cost savings).  Ginsbern wrapped the corner windows, a modern innovation, and placed the fire escapes on the Seventh Avenue side within a recess and on 20th Street within light courts--making them less obtrusive and creating dimension.  The only non-brick ornaments were the cast concrete Art Deco pendants along the parapet.

Among the initial residents was Alex J. Vincent.  On the night of November 29, 1938 he walked to the Chelsea Chop House at 248 Eighth Avenue for dinner.  Suddenly, patrons heard a gunshot and a bullet struck 35-year-old Henry A. Schickling in the thigh.  

Police questioned the customers and discovered the shot had come from the revolver of George Paige, who managed a paper company nearby on Eighth Avenue.  He had a permit for the firearm and explained he was "shifting his belt holster from one side to the other when the weapon, in some unexplained manner, was discharged," as reported by the Long Island Star-Journal.

An ambulance arrived to take Schickling to the hospital.  Alex Vincent announced that he, too, had been shot.  The newspaper said that he "was examined by an ambulance surgeon, who could find no wound."  Nevertheless, the 46-year-Vincent insisted he had been shot.  The Long Island Star-Journal reported he "finally consented to go home."

Also among the first residents were Clyde Smith Thompson and his wife, Olive Bishop.  Born in Cincinnati, Thompson was the son of a newspaper publisher and a descendant of Smith Thompson, Secretary of the Navy under President James Monroe and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was a self-made man, starting out in business as a bellboy and eventually founding the Thompson-Carroll advertising agency in Cleveland, Ohio.  He was now in charge of the outdoor advertising accounts of the J. Walter Thompson Company.

By placing the fire escapes in light courts, Ginsbern preserved the visual integrity of the main facade.

Despite hard economic times, the building remained fully occupied in 1941.  A typical 3-room apartment that year rented for $85, just under $1,500 per month today.

Throughout most of the 20th century, the residents of the two buildings came and went, drawing little attention to themselves or the buildings.  There was a tragic fire in 155 West 20th Street in June 1966, however.  It was confined to the apartment of Catherine Alice Dineen, a registered nurse who had been supervisor of a Manhattan chest clinic since 1956.  Dineen was badly burned and was taken to St. Vincent Hospital where she died nearly six months later at the age of 55 on December 1.

In 1975 Greek immigrant 24-year-old Paul Katritsis lived here.  He worked with the Tidal Marine International Corporation, a Greek-based firm that purchased and operated oil tankers.  That year the firm was charged with "misrepresenting the price of oil tanks to obtain massive loans for subsidiaries of Tidal Marine."  The New York Times reported that the "fraudulent scheme...allegedly obtained bank loans of more than $60 million."  Among the 11 people indicted was Paul Katritsis, who was sentenced to four months in prison and three years of probation.

Also found guilty in absentia, "as a fugitive" according to The New York Times, was the firm's president, Charalambos Amanatides, who was said to be living in Greece.  He was discovered in London by an FBI agent in 1982 and extradited to the United States where he was sentenced to seven years in prison.  Somewhat surprisingly, when released on parole in March 1983 he moved into 155 West 20th Street (quite possibly the apartment of Paul Katritsis).  

On the afternoon of July 5, 1985, Amanatides was standing on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 97th Street when he was shot in the back and killed.  The bullet, fired from street level, passed through his body.  No one claimed to have seen or heard the shooting.

But Katritsis and Amanatides were not typical.  The residents of 155 and 165 West 20th Street continue to draw little attention.  Horace Ginsbern's striking Art Deco building, on the other hand, deserves its share.

photograph by the author

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The Morris K. Jessup House - 111 East 19th Street

 

In 1855, former Congressman and New York State Attorney General Thomas J. Oakley erected two narrow, Anglo-Italian houses at 65 and 67 East 19th Street, directly behind his own mansion on Gramercy Park.  Each two bays wide and four stories tall, they were clad in brownstone.  The openings within the rusticated first floor were fully arched.   Those on the upper floors were segmentally arched and wore handsome molded lintels.  The two residences shared a continuous cornice.

Morris Ketchum Jesup leased 65 East 19th Street (renumbered 111 in 1866) from Oakley.  Born in Westport, Connecticut in 1830, he was a partner in the banking firm of Clark & Jesup.  Four years before moving into the East 19th Street house, he married Maria Van Antwerp De Witt, daughter of the Reverend Thomas De Witt of the Collegiate Dutch Church.  Maria came from an old Colonial family.  The couple, who would have no children, maintained a country home, Belvoir Terrace, in Lenox, Massachusetts.

For a year, in 1861 and '62, Morris's brother, James Riley Jesup, lived with the couple.  He was described by the 1898 Prominent Families of New York as "a leading member of the bar."

On July 11, 1863 the nation’s first attempt at a military draft played out in New York with a lottery.  To avoid service, the wealthy were permitted to purchase exemptions for themselves or their sons to avoid fighting in the Civil War.  And despite the resultant Draft Riots--a bloody three-day reign of terror and carnage unlike anything seen in the country before--the policy continued.  On September 4, 1864, The New York Times titled an article, "Substitutes in Advance of the Draft," and listed among those providing a paid stand-in "Morris K. Jessup [sic], 65 East 19th-st."

Morris K. Jesup, from the collection of the Library of Congress

Jesup's avoidance of military duty was, perhaps, balanced by his organizing of the United States Christian Commission, which helped provide care for wounded soldiers.  He had already, in 1860, helped to found the Five Points House of Industry in New York to help immigrants, and over the course of his life would donate massive amounts of money to the poor, both in America and abroad.

Thomas J. Oakley had died on May 11, 1857, but the house remained in the family.  His daughter, Matilda Cruger Oakley, who would marry the millionaire William Rhinelander, would eventually inherit the property.

The Jesups left East 19th Street around 1868.  The house was next leased by the Rev. William Tufnell Sabine, of the Church of the Atonement on Madison Avenue at 28th Street.

Born in New York City on October 16, 1838, he graduated from Columbia College in 1859, and from the General Theological Seminary three years later.  In 1868 he married Theresa Schieffelin, who came from one of New York's most socially elite families.  The couple, who would eventually have seven children, had a country estate in New Lyme, Connecticut.

The Sabine's country home was erected around 1795.  from the collection of the Florence Griswold Museum

Although Sabine would be elevated to a bishop in 1902, it was a single decision for which he would forever be remembered.  The well-known actor George Holland died in December 1870.  Following his funeral, The New York Times headlined an article on December 29, "Pharisaical Delicacy," and reported that Joseph Jefferson, an equally famous actor, had gone to the Church of the Atonement on the suggestion of one of Holland's female relatives.  While Rev. Sabine was in the course of making the arrangements, Jefferson happened to mention that Holland had been an actor.

On hearing this announcement, Rev. Mr. Sabine immediately exclaimed that he strongly objected to officiating at the funeral if such was the case.  Instead of complying with the request he referred his visitor to the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in East Twenty-ninth-street, near Fifth-avenue, which he spoke of 'the little church around the corner,' telling him at the same time that they might 'do it [i.e., the funeral service].

The article said Jefferson left "with his feelings greatly shocked."  Forever more, the Church of the Transfiguration would be popularly known as The Little Church Around the Corner (so much so, in fact, that many people forgot the true name), and it became the unofficial church of the theatrical community. 

The Sabines remained in the East 19th Street house until around 1880.  It had a series of occupants over the next few decades.  On December 14, 1888, The Evening World announced, "Private funeral services over the remains of the late Lyman Fisk, the retired hotel-keeper, were held this morning at the family residence, 111 East Nineteenth street."

Living here by the mid-1890's was designer W. Howard Bartle, who specialized in book covers.  Like many financially-comfortable men and women in the 1890's, he enjoyed bicycling, and in May 1897 the Cyclist's Touring Club Gazette he had joined the world-wide organization.  Based in England, the club was open to amateur cyclist world-wide.  He remained here at least through 1900.

Bartle designed this cover in 1901.  (copyright expired)

Another artist, muralist T. Gilbert White, leased the house after Bartle.  He was living here in 1911 when he executed the murals Discovery of Kentucky and Treaty of Sycamore Shoals of the Wautauga River for the Kentucky State Capitol building. 

Matilda Rhinelander died in 1914 and the following year 111 East 19th Street was offered for sale.  The advertisement described it as a "four-story private dwelling; twelve rooms and three baths; all improvements; excellent order."

It became a social hot spot after it was purchased by Ed Alford toward the end of the Great Depression.  Known for his lavish entertaining and diverse guest lists, there seems to have been little quiet time in his home.  On November 27, 1948, for example, The New York Age reported, "We're willing to wager our last shirt that just about the grooviest affair this coming Sunday will be the cocktail shindig the Virgin Islanders of NYC are pitching at the spacious home of Ed Alford, 111 East 19th St. for the St. Thomas PAL Xmas party for underprivileged kids in the Virgin Islands."

On May 7, 1953 Jet magazine reported, "The decision of Back Bay Boston dilettante Ed Alford to sell his New York house and take a prolonged world tour writes 'finis' to an era of gracious entertaining.  For years the East 19th Street mansion has been the scene of the town's smartest interracial parties...It also has given rise to some of Gotham's choicest chit-chat as personalities vied for top favor with the wealthy and generous patron of arts."

Although it was never converted to apartments, the house has little surviving original detailing inside.  The exterior, however, is remarkably preserved.  The six-bedroom  property was recently placed on the market for $6.5 million.

photographs by the author

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Rouse & Goldstone's 1907 810 Broadway

 

The Thomas Faye family had purchased the land at 810 Broadway in 1820.  By the 1890's their former residence, like the other once elegant homes in the area, had been converted for business.  When it was sold in June 1906, the Record & Guide commented, "This is the first time the property has changed hands in 86 years."

The buyer, Samuel Mandel, was president of the Apartment Construction Co.  But this site was not destined for an apartment building.  On February 2, 1907, the Record & Guide reported that the architectural firm of Rouse & Goldstone was designing an "8-story loft building" to cost $150,000 (or about $4.25 million today).

Completed before year's end, the building was a commercial take on the French Gothic style.  Now nine stories with the mansard roof, its tripartite design included a two-story, cast iron storefront with vast show windows.  The iron-framed windows of the four-story mid-section created, essentially, a glass wall framed by an elliptical arch.    Stylized Gothic elements decorated the top section--heraldic shields, pinnacles, and a fluttering, carved banner below the eighth-floor cornice.

photo by Beyond My Ken

Many of the initial tenants were involved in the millinery business, including Judd & Co., Spear & Co., Charles S. Merton & Co., and the Silk Web Hat Band Co.  One, however, that was definitely not hat-related was the Direct Line Telephone Company of San Francisco, which leased the third floor.

Spear & Company, which manufactured "motor and outing caps," was typical of the original tenants.  The American Hatter, January 1908 (copyright expired)

In 1912 "Willoughby and a Square Deal" had operated nearby at 814 Broadway for years.  On March 27 that year, the Bulletin of Photography reported, "The increasing business of 'Willoughby and a Square Deal' is responsible for his having to move to a new location.  Three floors will be occupied at 810 Broadway, New York City, after May 1st."  

Willoughby was among the best known of the New York City photographic equipment and supply retailers.  One item he introduced soon after moving into 810 Broadway innovated photographic printing.  A description of the Ware Automatic Printing Machine in the Bulletin of Photography sounds far ahead of its time.  By using electric light, the machine "always makes the same exposure unless the indicator is changed; therefore, every print has a uniform color."  The article promised, "Vignetting, dodging, and doctoring of negatives is easily accomplished by a very unique method...The incandescent arc or Cooper-Hewitt light is recommended." 

A model demonstrates the Ware Automatic Printing Machine.  Bulletin of Photography, May 1, 1912 (copyright expired)

Like the automatic printing machine, Willoughby kept up with the changing trends.  In its "Things New Photographic" section in August 1914, The Camera wrote, "If you use a motion-picture camera you ought to buy your film from Willoughby, 810 Broadway, New York City."

Abel's Photographic Weekly, November 8, 1913 (copyright expired)

Another tenant who kept up with the times was Golland Sons & Co., here by 1915.  The firm was listed in The Automobile Trade Directory that year for manufacturing "motorists' clothing."

Charles G. Willoughby moved his business to the Herald Square district in the fall of 1916.  Still in 810 Broadway was an original tenant, Charles S. Merton & Co.  That year it marketed its "sports hats," to the modern woman.  One ad told retailers, "they give you the right sort of hat to sell for Autoing, Golfing, Skating, Woods Wear, Tennis, Summer Resort Wear, for Travelling, for the Rainy Day, etc."

The Millinery Trade Review, October 1916 (copyright expired)

Following World War I, Finkelstein & Maisel took the second floor for its factory and showrooms.  The firm was a wholesale manufacturer of "men's and young men's fine clothing."  In 1921 workers of several other apparel firms went on strike.  Labor troubles in the first half of the 20th century often involved violence and intimidation, and this instance would be no different.

On May 26, a "committee" from the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America strode in and demanded Finkelstein & Maisel "to throw open all its books, ledgers and even bank accounts to inspection...in order that it might be learned whether or not the firm had been manufacturing clothes for any firm against which a strike is in force."  Abraham Finkelstein, the head of the firm, was incensed and ordered the men out, declaring he "would never consent to such arbitrary interference with his business."  He told a reporter from the New York Herald, "If we lived in Russia, I would understand such high handed methods.  But here in New York City it would seem impossible that such things could happen."  

Finkelstein had always employed union employees and paid union wages.  Nevertheless, after he told an Amalgamated official "just what I thought of the demand," his 500 workers were ordered off the job by the union.  Finkelstein complained, "Their only answer was to call out all my workmen, who haven't the faintest idea why they are not allowed to work."

The building was updated in 1932 by architect Elwood Hughes.  The second story store space was now an additional factory floor.

Edmund Vincent Gillon photographed the building around 1978.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

In the late 1960's and early 1970's, the ground floor space was home to the Andrew Murphy Bar & Grill.  It was replaced around 1979 by the Ace Galleries, which sold a wide variety of goods, including "antiques, furniture, Oriental/Chinese rugs, silver and paintings," according to an ad in New York Magazine on March 26, 1979.  The changing neighborhood was affecting the tenant list upstairs as well.  In 1977 one of the former factory lofts was now the art studio of Fay Lansner and Phillip Pavia.

Major change came in 2000 when a renovation resulted in one apartment on each of the upper floors.  But through it all, Rouse & Goldstone's 1907 exterior design has survived virtually intact.

photographs by the author

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