The Joseph E. McCormack House - 112 East 61st Street

 

In the late 1860's and early 1870's brothers Joseph E. and William G. McCormack were erecting rows of high-stooped brownstone homes in the neighborhood around Lexington Avenue and 61st Street.  Joseph and Eliza J. McCormack moved into one of them, at 112 East 61st Street.

Identical to its neighbors, the three-story and basement house was faced in brownstone and was 18.6-feet-wide.  The parlor level openings wore triangular, Renaissance inspired pediments, and the architrave frames of upper floor windows sat on bracketed sills and wore molded lintels.  An ornate cast metal bracketed cornice crowned the structure.

Not long after moving into their new home the couple suffered unspeakable tragedy.  Their only son, Thomas A. McCormack, died on the evening of April 6, 1871.  He was three months short of his third birthday.  The little boy's funeral was held in the parlor on April 8.

The house next became home to Dr. Bernard Sachs and his wife, the former Bettina R. Stein.  The couple's daughter, Alice S. Sachs, was born on September 15, 1888.  Sachs was the youngest of five children.  His brother Samuel was a partner in the banking firm of Goldman, Sachs & Company.  His eldest brother Julius founded the Sachs Collegiate Institute for Boys, where Bernard finished his early education.

Dr. Bernard Sachs around 1900.  (original source unknown)

After graduating from Harvard, Sachs studied medicine in Europe.  He focused on nervous system disorders in children and in 1887 described the fatal genetic neurological disorder he called Amaurotic Family Idiocy (later renamed Tay-Sachs Disease).  He wrote several books, including the 1895 A Treatise on the Nervous Diseases of Children for Physicians and Students.

Around 1895 112 East 61st Street became home to another physician, Dr. Abram Brothers.  He and his wife, the former Minnie Epstein, had three children, Viola, Madeleine, and Arthur J.  

An obstetrician, like his predecessor Brothers was well regarded in the medical community.  He was the author of medical articles and was a professor of diseases of women at the New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital, and visiting surgeon to Beth-Israel Hospital.  He operated his private practice from the house.  A Renaissance Man of sorts, Brothers was also an author, violinist and actor.  

Minnie's story was no less colorful.  According to the family, while her mother was pregnant with her in New Orleans, a Southern gentleman somehow attacked her.  Her father retaliated by shooting him, and then fleeing.  Reportedly, Mrs. Epstein then followed her husband in a canoe paddled by a Native American.  They settled in New York where Minnie was born and where her father became the city's first kosher butcher.  While her husband tended to his medical practice and wrote articles, Minnie dealt in real estate, buying and selling properties in Manhattan and Brooklyn.  

Viola took an interest in the arts.  Her father taught her to play the violin.  She left school at the age of 16 to pursue a musical career.  Viola Brothers Shore would go on to become a poet, biographer and playwright.  She would win several Ellery Queen awards for her mystery stories, like the 1932 Murder on the Glass Floor.

In 1904 the Brothers family took a summer house in Sea Cliff, Long Island.  They were there on October 15, 1910 when "after a long illness," according to the Times Union, Abram Brothers died.  The 61st Street house was sold to Virginia Kent Magee that year.

She was the widow of Louis J. Magee and, like Minnie Brothers, dealt in real estate.  She hired architect John H. Van Pelt to modernize the outdated brownstone.  He added a two-story addition to the rear, removed the stoop, and added a sweeping bowed oriel at the former parlor level.  The renovations cost Virginia Magee the equivalent of $177,000 in 2023.

The entrance was moved to the former English basement, below sidewalk level.

She briefly leased the remodeled house to J. W. Schiffern.  Then, by 1913, Baron and Baroness Alfred Von de Ropp were living here.  The couple had two children, Harold and Vera.

As might be expected, entertainments in the house were notable.  On December 4, 1913, for instance, The Sun reported that Baroness de Ropp would be giving a reception that afternoon for former First Lady Mary Dimmick Harrison, wife of Benjamin Harrison.  Gatherings were not exclusively social.  On February 6, 1915, The New York Times announced, "The Baroness de Ropp has sent out invitations for 11 o'clock Saturday morning, Feb. 13, at her residence, 112 East Sixty-first Street, to hear Mme. Grevitch speak on the war in Servia [sic]."

While debutantes received most of the social attention as they came of age, young men of society were nonetheless celebrated.  On December 17, 1915 The New York Press reported, "The Baron and Baroness Alfred de Ropp of No. 112 East Sixty-first street will give a large dinner party to-morrow evening at Sherry's in honor of their son, the Baron Harold de Ropp.  The guests will be from the younger set."

Vera was married to Major Eric Fisher Wood, Assistant Chief of Staff to General Edwin F. Glenn in Los Angeles on April 20, 1918.  While the wartime wedding may have had military overtones, there was no question that this was the marriage of a titled bride.  The New York Times reported that Vera "wore a white satin robe draped with tulle and a tulle train bordered with satin, silver braid, and orange flowers."

There was another wedding around the same time.  Virginia Kent Magee was now Mrs. Stephen Swete Cummins.  She and her husband briefly moved into 112 East 61st Street.  Then, on October 2, 1919, Virginia arranged an auction of the artwork and furnishings.  An advertisement said the "complete antique and modern appointments" had been "chiefly collected in Europe by the owner."  

Included in the sale were an 18th century watercolor portrait of George Washington, English and French prints of the same period, oil paintings, antique Oriental rugs, a Sheraton bracket clock, Delft, pewter, a "fine Old English luster chandelier," a Queen Anne tall case clock, and other antique and modern furniture.

Virginia leased 112 East 61st Street to Harold C. Whitman, and then sold it to him the following year, in May 1920.  He, too, used it as a rental property.

In its section titled "Where Prominent People Live," the 1920 Valentine's City of New York listed Arthur Brisbane at 112 East 61st Street.   Among the best known newspaper editors of the period, he and his wife, Phoebe Cary had six children.  He was the editor of the New York Mirror at the time of the family's residency.  

There would be a relatively rapid turnover of occupants.  In 1924 John R. Green purchased the house, followed by cotton broker Adolph Eugene Norden.  Norden was a member of the firm A. Norden & Co. founded by his uncle, Adolph Norden.  The wealthy young man was separated from his wife, Rensa Wyenberg, who lived in Amsterdam.

While never divorced, Norden's relationship with his wife was apparently strained.  When he died at the age of 49 in the East 61st Street house on February 25, 1932, The New York Times mentioned only his mother and brother as his survivors.  Nevertheless, he left one-quarter of his estate, reported by The New York Sun to be the equivalent of $11 million in 2023, to Rensa.

No. 112 East 61st Street continued to be home to well-to-do residents.  On February 2, 1966, The New York Times reported that Mrs. M. Dreher Armstrong had hosted a cocktail party "honoring Miss Liane Augustin, the Viennese Singer."  Mrs. Armstrong was the committee chairperson for the upcoming Viennese Opera Ball at the Waldorf-Astoria.

The family of plastic surgeon Dr. Teresita Mascardo followed Mrs. Armstrong.  She established a medical office in the basement level.  They remained here until 1999 when Dr. Mascardo purchased the former home of Seymour Durst just steps away at 120 East 61st Street.  In reporting the sale, The New York Times said, "Dr. Mascardo and her family...will make the house their residence and also the home of the Woman to Woman Plastic Surgery Center."

Although the brownstone has been painted and architecturally unsympathetic windows installed on the upper floors, the McCormack house retains most of its integrity since Virginia Kent McGee completed renovations in 1910.

photograph by the author

many thanks to reader Ted Leather for suggesting this post

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The Dewey Apartments - 850 West End Avenue

 

photo by Anthony Bellov

Residents of the Upper West Side were already embracing the concept of apartment living in March 1898, when the architectural firm of Neville & Bagge filed plans for a six-story flat at 850-852 West End Avenue.  The owner of record was listed as Mary E. Dempsey, whose husband, William Dempsey was conveniently named as the builder.  The upscale structure would cost the Dempseys $50,000 to construct, or about $1.7 million in 2023 money.

A month later war broke out with Spain.  Commodore George Dewey attacked the Spanish fleet on May 1, 1898, in a stunning victory now known as the Battle of Manila Bay.  He immediately became a national hero and was later promoted to Admiral of the Navy.  

The Dempseys christened their rising apartment building The Dewey.  Completed in 1899, it competed with the lavish mansions that lined West End Avenue.  Neville & Bagge had designed it in the Renaissance Revival style, with notable Beaux Arts influences.  The entrance sat within a columned portico above a short stoop.  The two-story rusticated base featured stone balconies at the second floor.  Stone brackets that upheld the gently bowed bays of the third through fifth floors were carved with portraits of Dewey.

The top portrait bracket suggests its sculptor was slightly more skilled than that of the lower example.  photos by Anthony Bellov

There were two apartments of seven or eight rooms per floor in The Dewey.  Rents ranged from $900 to $1,200 per year, or about $3,350 per month in today's money for the most costly.  Residents would enjoy the latest in amenities, like electric light, steam heat, "hot water; elevator, hall and telephone service."  "Hall service" referred to the uniformed "hall boys" on staff to perform tasks like delivering mail and packages, running errands and such.  An advertisement boasted, "superb hardwood cabinet trim and artistic decorations throughout; dining rooms fitted with handsome china closets; servants' toilet rooms."

New-York Tribune, April 16, 1899 (copyright expired)

Among the first of the residents were Charles H. Lammer and his wife.  He was a commission merchant downtown and the stresses of business were taking their toll.  Only months after their moving in, on October 23, 1899 the New York Herald titled an article, "Lammer Crazed By Business Cares."  Indeed, the previous morning the 42-year-old had been committed to the insane pavilion of Bellevue Hospital "for examination of his mental condition."  The article said, "He complained that his nerves had been overwrought from excess of work," adding that Lammer's doctor "is of the opinion that Mr. Lammer's complaint is only temporary."  It is unclear whether he was ever released.

The names of almost all of the residents appeared in the New York Social Blue Book, the Club Men of New York, or the Club Women of New York directories.  Among the initial families were those of Vermilyea Campbell Dorland, James Leeming, Leonard Benton and William Augustus Windsor.

James Leeming lived here with his wife and son, Harry.  Born in Canada in 1857, Lemming was the general freight agent of the Erie Railway.  The family's country home was in Cranford, New Jersey.  In December 1902 they spent a week in Chicago, then boarded a train to New Jersey where friends had planned a Christmas celebration in James's honor.

The Sun reported that Thomas T. Riley and his wife "arranged the Christmas tree celebration at the Lakewood Hotel."  Then, early on Christmas morning, Riley received a telegram saying that Leeming had been taken off the train in Buffalo suffering from appendicitis.  The Sun said, "A later telegram said he had died at a Buffalo hospital after an operation."

photo by Anthony Bellov

A respected tenant was Rear Admiral William Augustus Windsor, whose wife was the former Rachel Josephine Noble.  Born in Virginia in 1842, he was trained as a railroad engineer, but with the outbreak of Civil War joined the navy.  He served not only in that war, but the Spanish-American War.  In 1898 he was made chief engineer of the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  He retired in 1903.  Admiral Windsor died in his apartment here on August 29, 1907 and he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Unexpected and unseemly attention was focused on The Dewey in the winter of 1908.  William S. Bassett was the property clerk at the Soldiers Home of the United States Government in New York City.  He enjoyed what The Brooklyn Daily Eagle termed, "a night of revelry in the downtown section of the city" on January 31.  At 2:00 in the morning, he ended up at Rosenberg's saloon.  According to Bassett, he "drank three glasses of beer and then fell asleep."  He told police he did not wake up until 8:00 that night only to discover that he had been robbed of his gold watch, $54 in cash, and papers.  Suggesting that he had been drugged, he filed charges of grand larceny against Harry Rosenberg, who was arrested.

Rosenberg's story was much different.  He brought witnesses to court to substantiate his version.   As reported in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, he told the judge that "after coming into the saloon Bassett began spending money like a real millionaire, insisting on treating everybody who entered the place and showering money on musicians, waiters, cabbies and bartenders."

Finally, he turned over his valuables to the Rosenberg for safe keeping and fell asleep.  And, according to witnesses, Bassett was not asleep those 18 hours.  "Bassett," said the article, "had been very disorderly in the saloon, shooting his revolver and raising a disturbance all day Saturday."  When the police arrived at the saloon to arrest Rosenberg, he showed them Bassett's items, which had been stored behind the cash register, just as he testified.  A sheepish William S. Bassett left court with his watch, money and papers, and the charges against Rosenberg were dropped.

Living here at the time were the William Lichtenstein family.  Surprisingly, Eugene R. Lichtenstein received his certificate to practice optometry in January 1909, and his brothers Solomon W. and Charles A. received theirs five months later. 

Mrs. Lichtenstein joined friends on a trip to Brighton Beach on Sunday August 13, 1911.  When she reached the shore, she realized the bag that had been tied around her waist was missing.  In it were a "valuable pin set with two diamonds," $30 in cash and a storage receipt for two fur coats.  She notified police, but it was not located.  Four days later Eugene placed an advertisement in The New York Times offering a $150 reward--a significant $4,500 today.

Other residents included Lawrence Dade Alexander, a stockbroker, and his wife, the former Oline St. John; and pediatrician and author Emelyn Lincoln Coolidge.  Dr. Coolidge was born in Natick, Massachusetts in 1861.  The unmarried woman had not allowed her gender to hamper her ambitions.  She attended the Women's Medical College in New York and received her medical degree from Cornell University in 1900.  Since 1902 she had edited the "babies' page" in the Ladies' Home Journal, and was the author of The Mothers' Journal.

Emelyn Coolidge got her female independence and interest in pediatrics honestly.  Her mother, Harriet Abbott Lincoln Coolidge, was an author and reformer who focused on improving the condition of infants in foundling hospitals and instructing new mothers in the care of infants.  She was the author of several books, like The Model Nursery and What a Young Girl Ought to Know.

Dr. Coolidge was still living in The Dewey in 1922.  By now she had written How to Feed the Baby from Birth to Three, The Mother's Manual, The Home Care of Sick Children, and several others.

The intricate limestone carvings include strange creatures, including two (bottom) that battle over a pineapple.  photos by Anthony Bellov

By the 1920's, most of the well-heeled residents of 850 West End Avenue owned motorcars.  The vehicles sometimes caused them trouble.  

On Saturday, August 15, 1925, 21-year-old Harry A. Valk had two musical comedy stars, The Fairbanks Twins--Madeline and Marion--in his car along with Lee Carter.  Madeline had been appearing on Broadway in Mercenary Mary and was about to take the show to Chicago.  Marion was slated to take her place here.  Neither scenario would play out.

Marion sat in the front seat with Harry and the others were in the back as Valk was driving along Riverside Drive.  The New York Times reported, "As the machine approached Ninety-eighth Street, according to Valk, a taxicab  swerved alongside, crowding the touring car to the curb, where it overturned."  Doctors at first feared that Madeline's spine had been broken, but at the hospital she was diagnosed with a "wrenched back" and cuts.  Marion was seriously lacerated, requiring 17 stitches in one wound on her arm.

Two years later, on July 26, 1927, 27-year-old salesman Irving Kaufman was driving in traffic on the Fallsburgh-Woodbourne road upstate.  Growing impatient, he "pulled his sedan out of line to pass other cards," according to the Sullivan County Record.  He struck a 70-year-old man who died an hour later.  Kaufman pleaded not guilty and was jailed awaiting the decision of a grand jury.  A week later he was charged with second degree manslaughter and held on $3,500 bail (a significant $54,500 in 2023 money).

English-born actress Marie Dayne moved into The Dewey in 1929.  She had met her husband, entertainer Milton Douglas, in 1924 and three days later they were married.  Now, on April 2, 1930 The Newburgh News reported, "Having married in haste and repented at leisure, Marie Dayne, actress, of 850 West End avenue, appeared yesterday before Referee Burr in an undefended divorce suit."   The article noted that they had been separated for a year and "three months ago, said Mrs. Douglas, she obtained evidence he had transferred his affections to a women in The Bronx."

The scandal did not damage Marie's career.  She went on to Hollywood where she appeared in films like the 1934 Song at Eventide and the 1935 Be Careful, Mr. Smith.

Living here in 1933 was 27-year-old Paul Garns, the manager of the Montclair Theatre in New Jersey.  The Great Depression appears to have been taxing his lifestyle, and on December 7 that year the Bloomfield Mail reported that not only had Garns disappeared but "also $3,500 in receipts."  The article concluded, "Police are searching for him."

A major change came to The Dewey in 1942 when it was converted to a single-room-occupancy hotel.  There were now 18 SRO rooms per floor.  And, as might be expected, the residents were no longer all respectable and upstanding.

Two of them, Patricia Harrison and Marie Martini, composed a tw0-person theft ring.  The young women (Patricia was 28 and Marie was 25) would ensnare a male victim and while one had him preoccupied in a rented room, the other would clean out the pockets of his clothing.  They could be confident that the thefts would go unreported, since the victims were unlikely to go the crimes to police and expose their own embarrassing transgressions.  

Unfortunately for the women, that would not be the case with Edward Lovell.  On March 15, 1946 they took him to a hotel in Midtown.  When he got dressed, he realized a $700 diamond ring, his wallet and a fountain pen were missing.  He notified police and Harrison and Martini were arrested.  They both pleaded not guilty.  

On February 12, 1948, undercover Federal narcotic detectives Costarella and Valerio went to room 104 where a drug deal had been previously arranged.  Once inside, they displayed their badges and searched the occupants, discovering a large amount of heroin.  Much to the dismay of the officials, the case was dismissed because Costarella and Valerio searched the men and their room without a search warrant.

photograph by Anthony Bellov

A renovation completed in 2017 converted the former Dewey into a "studio hotel" with 15 "Class A units" per floor.   While, sadly, nothing remains of Neville & Bagge's once luxurious interiors, the exterior appears almost exactly as it did when wealthy socialites moved into the building in 1899.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post

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The Lost John Aitken House - 72 East 56th Street

 

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

On March 25, 1881 Luke and Martha A. Slater purchased the 20-foot-wide brownstone at 72 East 56th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues.  They paid Samuel Zeimer $35,000 for the four-story residence, or about $957,000 in 2023.

Born in Fishkill, New York in 1832, Slater was of "Dutch and Yankee heritage," according to The New York Times.  As a boy he left home to work in a machine shop in Newburg, New York and before he was 21-years-old opened his own firm, the Redfern Iron Works.  Slater focused on ship repairs.  In 1875 he closed that company and established a new partnership with Alexander Reid named Slater & Reid.  The New York Times later said the firm had repaired "three-fourths of all the foreign vessels that entered the port of New-York."

Luke Slater would not enjoy his handsome home for especially long.  On June 26, 1887 he suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 55.  His funeral was held in the house three days later and he was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Tarrytown, New York where the Slaters' country home was located.

Martha left East 56th Street almost immediately afterward, never to return.  An advertisement in the New York Herald on October 8 offered, "To Rent Furnished--four story brown stone house to private family; perfect order."

In 1903 she leased the house to Eleanor Claire Hughes Munde.  Her renowned husband, Dr. Paul Fortunatus Munde had died the previous year.  Her wealth and social station were reflected in the reception held in the house following her daughter Natalie Morris Munde's wedding in St. Bartholomew's Church on April 26, 1905.  Among the guests were several members of the Roosevelt family, the Frederick Dent Grants, Mrs. J. Pierpont Morgan, the Augustus D. Juilliards, Mrs. Henry Lewis Morris and other high-level socialites.

Before the wedding, the New York Herald had announced that Eleanor "will probably pass part of the coming summer in Europe."  What was certain was that she would not be returning to 72 East 56th Street.  In February Martha A. Slater had sold the house to John Aitken.  Six months later the New York Herald commented, "John W. Aitken is remodelling [sic] No. 72 East Fifty-sixth street into the American basement type of house."

Aitken had hired architects Foster, Gade & Graham to transform the outdated brownstone into a modern Edwardian home.  The all-encompassing plans, filed in May, called for new facades, a rear extension, and new internal stairs and walls.

Construction was not quite completed when this photo was taken.  The stone parlor window railing has not yet been installed.  The Brickbuilder, September 1908 (copyright expired)

Foster, Gade & Graham created a charming Colonial Revival home faced in red brick and trimmed in white stone.  An ample arched fanlight crowned the entrance and the grouped parlor windows were fronted by a stone faux balcony.  The second story windows opened onto an iron-railed balcony, their splayed lintels typical of Colonial architecture.  The mansard featured two dormers behind a brick parapet.

The first and second floor plans reflect the extension Aitken had added to the rear.  The Brickbuilder, September 1908 (copyright expired)

Aitken was a member of the dry goods business Aitken, Son & Co. founded by his father.  A 1901 graduate of Princeton University, he and his wife, the former Ethel Ralson, had been married in her parents' home in Chicago in 1902.  When they moved into their newly remodeled home, they had a baby son, John William, who was born on May 28, 1904.  The couple would have two daughters, Barbara and H. Jean.

The family's summer home, Cumbernauld, was at Oyster Bay, Long Island.  Twelve years after Foster, Gade & Graham had remodeled their townhouse, the firm was called back to improve the country estate.  On August 11, 1917 the Record & Guide reported that the architects were designing a one-story garage and wing, a two-and-a-half-story chauffeur's cottage, and a farmer's cottage of the same size.

That year the United States entered World War I.  Although John Aitken was 38-years-old, he entered the navy, attaining the rank of lieutenant.  While serving with the transport division at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, he met Chief Yeomanette Harriet D. Berry.  Shortly after the war, in January 1920, John and Ethel Aitken were divorced in Reno, Nevada.  Four months later, on April 23, John and Harriet D. Berry were married.  

With their divorce pending, the Aikens had sold 72 East 56th Street in November 1919 to Arthur N. Peck and his wife, Ella.  Peck was the head of the stockbrokerage firm Peck & Co.  The couple had a son, Arthur K. and a daughter Ruth P.  Their summer home was in Woodmere, Long Island.

Two views of a bedroom, most likely a guest room, during the Peck residency.  photo by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

When the Pecks moved into 72 East 56th Street, commerce was inching into the formerly exclusive neighborhood.  They would remain only through 1925, after which the basement level was remodeled for a restaurant, Gus Christo, and the upper floors to apartments.

A writer for the humor magazine Judge reported the "important news" on December 11, 1926 that "Gus [Christo] has opened a place at 72 East Fifty-sixth that's a darb--best meals in town!  I get a free meal for this ad!"

In 1941 the basement restaurant had large windows and a shop has been installed at the parlor level.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In the mid-1940s photographer Harriet Arnold lived and worked from an apartment here.  In its March 1945 issue, Popular Photography said she "has successfully solved one photo-economic problem, to wit, how not to pay additional rend for a studio."  That solution made for tight conditions, however.  "Miss Arnold lives in a one-and-a-half room apartment...which means that she lives, eats, sleeps, entertains, and works in one room."

Harriet Arnold sets up a fashion photo shot in her tiny studio apartment.  Popular Photography, March 1945

In 1950 D. D. and Leslie Tillett opened the House of T. Fabrics here, selling drapery and upholstery materials.  Their fashion-forward designs reflected mid-century tastes.  On June 15, 1951 The New York Times reported on a new collection "enlivened with the hot colors and amusing patterns usually associated with Mexican designs."  The journalist was amused by one multi-colored print called Bouillabaisse.  "Drawings of the recipe's ingredients, including octopus, clams and different shell fish, are printed in stripes on the fabric."

In 1979 Les Petites Gourmandes opened in the former Gus Christo space.  The New York Times's food critic Mimi Sheraton said, "Walking back into the small dining room of Les Petites Gourmandes is like taking a step back in time to an intimate supper club of the mid 1930's or early 40's."  She called the French restaurant's menu "as stylish as its décor."  The restaurant remained well into the 1980's.

By then the Jay Johnson Gallery and the America's Folk Heritage Gallery operated from the building.  But the end of the line for the former residence was on the near horizon.  It and the surrounding properties on 55th Street and Park Avenue were demolished to make way for the Park Avenue Tower, designed by Murphy/Jahn Architects, which opened in 1986.

photo by Epicogenius

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George H. Van Auken's 1901 78 Greene Street

 

The family of stock broker George Carpenter lived in the two-and-a-half story Federal style home at 78 Greene Street in the early 1840's.  The elegance of the neighborhood and the affluence of its residents were reflected in the sale of the Carpenters' furnishings when the family moved out in 1848.  The listing included a costly rosewood piano and mahogany parlor furniture.

Following the Civil War, the district became increasingly commercial.  By 1887 the former Carpenter house had been replaced with a business building owned by Sol Cohen.  He ran his seal and fur cap manufacturing business from the address.  At the turn of the century, the structure was inadequate and Cohen hired architect George Van Auken to design a replacement loft and store building on the site.

In its March 1901 issue, Cloaks & Furs announced, "The old building now occupying the premises at 78 Greene street, will shortly be removed to make room for a modern six-story loft building.  Sol Cohen, the well-known fur importer...is the owner."

Indeed the building would be "shortly" removed.  Ground was broken on March 10, 1901 and the lightning-fast construction was completed five months later on August 31.  The building had cost Cohen $30,000, or about $987,000 in 2023 terms.   Van Auken's Beaux Arts style brick-and-stone building stood out on a block almost exclusively lined with cast iron structures.  The wooden storefront within the two-story base was flanked by sturdy, rusticated stone piers.  On either side of the projecting show window were double doors--one for the store and the other to the upper floors.

The grouped windows of the second floor sat within a picture-frame-like surround of carved stone with a frothy French cartouche.  Similar grouped windows appeared in the three-story midsection.  Their expanses of glass allowed natural light to pour into the workspaces.  Van Auken alternated red brick and white limestone to create a striped effect.  A prominent stone cornice introduced the top section, where the openings were flanked by intricately-carved stone panels.  A cast metal bracketed terminal cornice crowned the design.

Working with his father was Michael L. Cohen.  In 1901 they employed ten men and two women who worked 54 hours a week in their factory making fur apparel.  Surprisingly, the Cohens moved northward within a few years.  Lofts were rented to apparel and textile firms like Frischknecht, Heilbrun Company, embroideries; F. Schmidt & Co., maker and importer of gloves, which occupied the second floor; and Weil Bros., dealers in "woolens and ducks."  (Duck is a type of canvas fabric.)

Two employees were involved in horrific incidents in 1903 and 1904.  The first involved accountant John J. Chase, who was hired by Frischknecht, Heilbrun Company in December 1902.  Described by the Brooklyn Daily Standard as "a tall man, well built, strong and robust," Chase lived in Brooklyn with his wife and three children.  On the morning of March 17, 1903, he left home, promising his 3-year-old daughter Valery that he would arrive home early to celebrate her birthday.  The article said he gave his wife 50 cents to buy her a new doll.  "Stopping only long enough to imprint a kiss on the lips of his other two children, a boy and girl, a few years older than Valery, Chase started for his work."

He walked to the elevated train station at 52nd Street.  About 50 other passengers waited on the platform with him.  As they filed onto the train, Chase lost his footing and fell between the car and the platform.  The Brooklyn Daily Standard said, "The train was in motion by this time."  Chase's right leg between the knee and thigh was pressed up against the third rail.

Passengers and train employees rushed to his aid, but he was tightly wedged in.  After he endured twenty minutes of agony,  a "wrecking car" was brought in to jack up the train enough to extract Chase.  The Brooklyn Daily Standard's headline succinctly capture the horror:  "Man Roasted To Death in 20 Minutes by 3d Rail."  Chase's death was not merciful.  He had lived through the ghastly ordeal, not dying until he reached the hospital.

At the time 25-year-old Lillian Read had worked as a "confidential stenographer and typewriter" for F. Schmidt & Co. for two years.  A native of Chicago, her position might be called an executive administrative assistant today.  The Post-Standard said, "She was attentive to her duties and is said to have performed them satisfactorily."  Her value within the firm was evidenced in her enjoying two-weeks off in the summer of 1904.

Lillian returned from that vacation on August 10.  The Post-Standard said she "appeared for business this morning as usual, but seemed to be somewhat downcast."  At noon the office staff, including her boss F. Schmidt, left for lunch.  Lillian, however, remained behind.  The article said, "Instead, she went into the private office of Mr. Schmidt, a small room partitioned off.  She locked the door and seated herself in a chair seat near the window.  Taking a bottle of carbolic acid, she drank the contents."

When Schmidt returned and found his office locked, he looked into the transom and saw Lillian slumped in the chair.  The door was broken open and she was taken to a hospital where she died.   The Post-Standard remarked, "There is much mystery as to the case of the suicide."

Other apparel companies moved into the building.  In 1909 the Powerful Clothing Company; and Priest & Reiss, both makers of waists (a popular, tailored women's blouse); and Borut Cloak Co., manufacturers of children's cloaks occupied lofts; while Reinhard Mfg. Co.'s salesroom was in the store space.  Reinhard Mfg. Co. had been incorporated in 1907 to manufacture silk ribbons.

In 1912 the South Norwalk Hat Co. moved into the building.  The firm not only manufactured men's hats, but "renovated" damaged goods.  Retailers who had damaged goods, like straw hats, brought them to South Norwalk Hat Co. for repairs.

The American Hatter, June 1912 (copyright expired)

Also in the building at the time were P. Moshkowsky & Son, makers of infants' wear; Nicholas Apfelbaum, manufacturers of women's underwear; and Tanner Souvenir Co., run by Walter S. Tanner, makers of leather goods.

In the fall of 1915, the ground floor space was used as a polling place for the Presidential election.  Hired "watchers" were common at polling sites, dispatched there to guard against voter intimidation.  This year throngs of suffragist watchers turned out across the city to ensure that no influence was being made against their cause.  The New York Times reported on October 20, "Some of the men at the polls seemed to take delight in assuming a facetious attitude toward the women watchers, declining to give serious answers to their questions."  

The need for the watchers, however, was evident.  The article reported:

For example, in the polling place at 78 Greene Street...a man, according to the suffragists, began the morning with electioneering.  The woman watcher on duty at once complained, but he did not stop.  The watcher, without wasting words, telephoned to headquarters, and within a few minutes Mrs. Frank H. Sumner arrived in an automobile, she being one of the minutewomen, ready all day long for just such emergencies.

Seeing what was going on for herself, the stalwart Mrs. Sumner got back in the automobile and drove to Police Headquarters where she made a formal complaint.  Within a few minutes a policeman arrived to move the electioneering man along.  "There was no more trouble in or around that booth," reported the newspaper.

By the Depression years, the garment district had moved northward, above 34th Street.  New types of tenants now occupied 78 Greene Street, like the hardware manufacturer Geringer and Weiss.  Working conditions at the time were difficult and The Daily Worker went so far as to describe Geringer and Weiss on January 18, 1934 as a "wholesale hardware sweatshop."  

Just having a job during the Depression was not enough to make the employees compliant.  In June 1933 The Hardware and Crockery Workers Union was organized and in January 1934 the workers of three factories, including Geringer and Weiss, walked out on strike.  The Daily Worker reported, "The shops are completely paralyzed, with the picketers refusing to permit any trucks to collect or deliver merchandise."  They demanded "better working conditions, specifically the decrease of working hours of the inside and outside men to 40 and 48 hours, respectively."

The industrial nature of the district was reflected in B & Z Steel occupying the building by the mid-1950's.  The firm dealt in "steel shelving, partitions, etc." according to a 1957 trade directory.  Three decades later, it was still here when a renovation, completed in 1985, resulted in a mixed-use building--retail, office space, and one apartment.  It was most likely at this time that a fire escape was installed, necessitating the gouging out of a portion of the cornice.  B & Z Steel now used space as a showroom.  Here metal filing cabinets, bookcases and shelving in several colors could be purchased.

The installation of a fire escape resulted in the cutting away of a third of the 1901 cornice.

By then, the Soho neighborhood had been almost completely transformed into one of Manhattan's art centers.  Visual artist Patsy Norvell worked from the building in 1991.  A pioneering feminist artist, she had founded the A. I. R. Gallery in 1972, the first in America to exhibit only women's works.

On January 2, 2007, Alison Gregor wrote in The New York Times, "B & Z [Steel] is one of the last operating businesses from the 1950s in what used to be an industrial neighborhood."  While the firm had moved its headquarters to Brooklyn, owner Robert Zeisel retained space in the building as a showroom.

Unlike so many of the Soho loft buildings, 78 Greene Street has never been converted to residential, other than the single apartment created in 1985.  Its bold red-and-white design continues to stand out among its neighbors as it did in 1901.

photographs by the author

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The 1891 Monterey Apartments - 351 West 114th Street

 

A portion of the cornice at left  was destroyed in a serious fire in 1974.

On April 19, 1890 the Real Estate Record & Guide reported that H. Morton Moore had hired architect Thomas O. Spier to design "a seven-story brick and stone flat" on the south end of the trapezoidal block facing 114th Street, between Morningside and Manhattan Avenues.  Morton seems to have had confidence in the newly-developing area.  He lived nearby at 221 West 113th Street.

The developer also had confidence in an up-and-coming architect.  Thomas O. Spier had graduated from Princeton University just three years earlier.  The young man was up-to-date on the architectural trends of the day.  While he chose a  tried-and-true style style, Romanesque Revival, as the overall design for the building, he splashed it (or at least intended to) with brave new elements of the emerging Prairie style--crisp vertical and horizontal lines, and a deeply overhanging flat roof.

Spier's 1890 rendering reveal an interesting hybrid of the Romanesque style, with which New Yorkers were comfortable, and the revolutionary Prairie style, being touted by Midwest architects like Frank Lloyd Wright.  from the collection of the Linda Hall Library

In the end, the Monterey was slightly less daring.  Most noticeably, the roofline was scaled back to a more expected cornice and frieze.  But Spier managed to salvage much, retaining the clean lines and short seventh floor windows, keeping the stone voussoirs of the upper floor openings snug against the facade, and splitting the two upper sections with a wide stone band devoid of the slightest decoration--highly unusual in a Romanesque Revival structure.

Spier bowed to tradition on the striking ground floor level.  Clad in chunky, undressed brownstone blocks, it featured large arched openings.  Most impressive was the entrance, which projected slightly away from the façade.  Above the maw-like doorway and ornately carved spandrels, the entablature announced the building's name.

Within the intricate spandrel carvings are snarling, flying griffins. 

This would be one of the promising architect's last works.  In January 1892, the year after the Monterey was completed, The New York Times announced that he would be designing the new athletic clubhouse on the campus of Princeton, his alma mater.  Four months later, on May 6, the Vermont Phoenix reported, "while examining a revolver at his home in South Orange, Mass., he slipped on the smooth floor, and the weapon was discharged, the ball entering his forehead.  He never regained consciousness and died within an hour."

Potential Monterey tenants could choose apartments of seven or eight rooms.  An advertisement in 1892 touted upscale amenities, "Passenger elevator all night.  Hot Water.  Roof walk."

Among the initial residents were the Thynes, who lived on the third floor.  Early on the morning of July 28, 1896, Kate Thyne went to the market.  When she returned around 10:00, she may have noticed another tenant, Bertha Guba, in the rear yard hanging laundry.  (There was no building on the northern half of the block yet).  Bertha and her husband lived on the first floor.

As Kate approached her apartment door, she realized it had been forced open.  The New-York Tribune reported, "Entering, she saw a burly burglar ransacking a bureau, in which she had some valuable jewelry."  Kate screamed and the thief escaped out a rear window and down the fire escape.  Right behind him was Kate, who thrust her head out the window and screamed again.

The burglar would not get far.  Kate's screams had attracted the attention of Bertha Guba.  The New York Herald noted, "Mrs. Guba is slight, but is athletic and courageous."  As the man dropped from the fire escape ladder to the yard, "Mrs. Guba pluckily seized him by the collar with both hands, and held him firmly in her grasp, while the big, strong man vainly struggled to break away and escape," said the New-York Tribune.  Pedestrians and neighbors, hearing Bertha's and Kate's combined cries for help rushed to the rescue.  Several men held the crook until a policeman could respond.

At the station house, Michael Brown was found to have jewelry valued at $100 (about $3,300 in 2023) in his pockets.  Kate Thyne, upon returning home, discovered that all the rooms had been ransacked.  The New York Herald noted, "Mrs. Guba's neighbors now consider her a heroine."

Other early residents were the family of wealthy attorney Frederick Prentiss. Forster.  He and his wife had eight children, a fact that no doubt prompted them to build a private mansion at 270 West 84th Street in 1897.  

At the turn of the century, Mary Jordan Baker and her widowed father, George B. Baker lived in the Monterey.  Mary, who would never marry, was an accomplished singer.  On January 8, 1902, The Musical Courier wrote, "Miss Mary Jordan Baker, a charming young soprano, is in demand as a drawing room singer.  She has not only the voice but the presence required for that style of singing."  Two months later the Jacksonville, Florida newspaper the Times-Union said, "It is unusual to hear so cultivated a voice."

Mary seems to have abandoned her singing career by 1907, focusing instead on charitable works and social clubs.  That year she was a patroness of a benefit for the East Side Clinic for Children.  She was still living in the Monterey in 1922 when she was secretary and treasurer of the Rubinstein Club, a women's organization formed for "the study and rendition of musical compositions."

Among the Bakers' neighbors were John North Abbott, his wife, the former Violet Gardner, and their architect son, Gardner.  A married son, John Jay Abbott, was a banker who lived in Chicago.  John North Abbott had earlier been a railroad executive, and was now a director in the National Railway Publication Co.

Gardner Abbott was a partner in the architectural firm of Abbott & Tompkins.  An 1895 graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he was described by the New-York Tribune as "a young man of great promise and of charming personality."  He was in no apparent hurry to marry, and was 31 years old when his engagement to Grace Halstead Palmer was announced in 1903.  

Grace lived on Staten Island.  Gardner visited her there around April 1, 1904 and on his way back on the ferry "contracted a chill," according to the New-York Tribune.  It developed into pneumonia and on April 9, the "well-known young architect" died in the Monterey apartment just weeks before the scheduled wedding.

By 1915, educator and author Walter Lowrie Hervey lived here.  Born in Mt. Vernon, Ohio on September 28, 1862 he graduated from Princeton University in 1886.  He had been dean of the Chautauqua School of Pedagogy since 1894.  Among the educational books he wrote were Picture Works, Daily Lesson Plans, and Introductory Second Reader.

In 1898 Hervey became a member of the Board of Examiners of the New York City Board of Education, a position he would hold until retiring in 1932.   His wife, Antoinette, was an early female photographer and a member of the Pictorial Photographers of America.

In 1936 Harlem was becoming the center of Manhattan's Black community.  That year the Monterey was renovated, with now five apartments per floor.  Among the first tenants after the remodeling were newlyweds Jay Williams Clifford and his bride Grace Gross.  On November 20, 1937, The New York Age reported, "The Cliffords have taken a sumptuous apartment, at 351 West 114th street, that brings to mind the beauty of the luxury of the homes of the late Madame A'Lelia Walker."

Born in Ohio, Clifford's father William H. Clifford had been a prominent Black Republican leader there.  The New York Age said "his mother [Carrie Williams Clifford] was a nationally known race woman, a playwright, and poetess of distinction."

Clifford had already made his own name in the advancement of Black Americans.  In 1917, a decade before marrying Grace, The Crisis reported, "The Bureau of War Risk Insurance at Washington D. C., has added a Negro to its staff, Lieutenant Jay Williams Clifford, formerly of the 367th 'Buffalo' Infantry, to look after the interests of the 400,000 Negro soldiers and sailors, who carry approximately $2,500,000,000 insurance."

On November 20, 1937, The New York Age wrote of Clifford, "Jay's years of Government employment certainly has been unique and inspirational--starting in the service of his country as first Lieutenant of Infantry in the World's War in 1917."  He had been Vault Custodian with the Register of the Treasurer, a United States Narcotic Agent, and a United States Inspector of Customs.  His educational background was equally impressive.  He attended the Case School of Applied Science, Michigan University, Columbia University, and Howard University.

A colorful resident at the time was Inez Dunker, who repeatedly appeared in print for her entertaining.  On July 13, 1940, for instance, The New York Age reported that she "is entertaining as her houseguests Mrs. Wilbur Marshall and her two children, also Miss Lillian Duffy, her sister, all from Toledo, Ohio."  

Inez's son from a previous marriage, Dudley A. Clarke, was stationed at Ogden, Utah during World War II.  Of course, when he came home on leave in 1942 she entertained.  The New York Age reported on November 28 that Sergeant Clarke "spent his ten days furlough in the city visiting his mother, Mrs. Inez Dunker...On Friday, Mrs. Dunker entertained at dinner in honor of her son."

A year later, on November 20, 1943, the newspaper announced, "Mrs. Inez Dunker...well-known Harlemite tendered a dinner party for members and friends of her club, Women's Progressive Circle, Sunday evening."

Inez would hold a very special gathering in her apartment on July 9, 1948.  The New York Age wrote that the "well-known civic and fraternal leader of charitable activities, tendered a lovely wedding reception in the honor of her son, Dudley Clarke and his bride, Vivian Marshall, Sunday evening."  The article noted the guests enjoyed "a delightful collation consisting of champagne, cordials, turkey, Virginia ham and hors d' oeuvres."

Another notable resident was Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder.  Born in Alabama in 1910, by the time he and his wife moved into the Monterey he was a well-known bandleader.  Amazingly, while he secured his band a regular spot at The Cotton Club, had established a residency in the Savoy Ballroom, and negotiated a contract with Decca Records, he could neither read nor write music and could not play an instrument.

"Lucky" Millinder died at the age of 56 on September 29, 1966.  image from Billboard magazine, 1944.

Una Mae Carlisle and her husband John Bradford also lived in the Monterey.  Born in 1915, Una's mother taught her to play piano, and she was performing at the age of three.  Fats Waller discovered her in 1932 while she was working as a radio and live performer in Cincinnati.  She recorded with Waller in the 1930s, and in the 1940s recorded for Bluebird Records with musicians like Lester Young, John Kirby and Benny Carter.

Carlisle because the first Black woman to have a song appear on the Billboard chart, Walkin' By The River, which she wrote in 1941.  She was also the first Black to host a national radio show, "The Una Mae Carlisle Radio Show."  She died of pneumonia in 1956 at the age of 41.

In 1974 a fire broke out in the Monterey, causing significant damage.  By then the building and the neighborhood in general were suffering decline.  The Monterey's owner was apparently unwilling to take on the costs of repairs and disappeared.  Without a landlord, the tenants who did not leave banded together, collecting rents and managing the building as best they could--this despite a $53,000 back tax bill, more than 200 housing code violations, and a fire damaged structure.

The group persevered and on October 16, 1977 The New York Times reported that the building was on the way "to being owned and operated" by the tenants.  Two decades later, the newspaper revisited the building, finding that the 36-unit Monterey had successfully undergone the transformation "after a city-financed rehabilitation."  Happily, despite the fire, the Monterey is as eye-catching as it was in 1891.

photographs by the author

no permission to reuse the content of this blog has been granted to LaptrinhX.com