The 1896 Association of the Bar - 38-42 West 44th Street

 

photograph by Epigenius

As the exclusivity of Fifth Avenue spilled down the side streets in the second half of the 19th century, that was not the case for West 44th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.  Instead, it developed into what was called a "stable block"--lined with private carriage houses, livery and streetcar stables.  Change came in the last decade, as gentlemen's clubs and one exclusive school, the Berkeley School for Boys, transformed the block.

In 1875, five years after its founding, the Bar Association of New York erected its building at 5-7 West 29th Street.  Two decades later, the association addressed its increased membership that overtaxed the old building and the migration of clubs northward.  On May 4, 1895, the Record & Guide reported that the Bar Association of New York had purchased the Sixth Avenue Railroad Company's "three-story brick dwelling with three-story brick car stables" at 38 to 42 West 44th Street.  The significant price, $203,550, would translate to a startling $7.6 million in 2025.

Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz's rendering.  Munsey's Magazine, October 1899 (copyright expired)

Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz, son of influential architect Leopold Eidlitz, was given the commission for the design of the new headquarters.  His training in Germany is reflected in his Classic Eclectic-style design, called by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, "severe."  The limestone facade is clearly defined by dentiled intermediate cornices, the second floor of which is embellished with an ornamental frieze.  Double-height, paired Corinthian pilasters divide the third and fourth floors into three bays.

The American Architect & Building News, July 2, 1898 (copyright expired)

The narrower elevation on West 43rd Street was no less impressive, with engaged, fluted Ionic columns dominating the upper section.

The 43rd Street elevation, seen here in 1900.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

As the structure neared completion, on September 20, 1896, The New York Times praised, "One of the most interesting and successful works of recent architecture is the new building of the Bar Association, in West Forty-fourth Street.  That it is so is due to the liberality and intelligence of the association, as well as to the skill of its architect, Mr. Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz."

The building was opened on the evening of October 8, 1896.  The New York Times reported, "The building, beautiful and impressive in its Ionic simplicity, was admired by all."  The journalist described the interiors as being decorated in "the most modern manner," detailing:

Its wood, mosaic, and marble floors are in the latest styles, its hangings are rich and heavy, its carpets are the finest from the looms, its library is renowned for its completeness, and its accommodations for its members are all that could be desired.

While the interiors smacked of an exclusive social club, this was a working venue.  The New York Times remarked, "It does not need a kitchen and a dining room...It needed a place which could be resorted to at all times for purposes of study and research and a place in which the members could all 'assemble and meet together' on occasions."

The entrance as seen in 1896. photo by Wurts Bros. from Munsey's Magazine, October 1899 (copyright expired)

...and as it appears today.  photo by Pattonnh, December 10, 2010

Most important to the members were the 90-foot-long library--which contained 50,000 volumes--the top floor "trial room," and the meeting hall, which had seating for 1,500.  "Desks, tables, and all the paraphernalia that are necessary to aid lawyers in finding conclusive precedents and Judges in deciding argued cases abound--with an abundance of attendants to do the searchers' bidding," said The Times.

The building of the Association of the Bar was the scene of weighty hearings and discussions.  On February 1, 1870, Samuel J. Tilden had explained the need of the association, saying in part, "If the bar is to be merely an institution that seeks to win cases and to win them by back-door access to the judiciary, then it is not only degraded, but it is corrupt."  Tilden stressed its importance to reform the Constitution, the judiciary and make "the administration of justice made pure and honorable."

The Meeting Hall (top) and the Reception Hall.  photos by Pattonhn.

In August 1909, a committee appointed by President William Howard Taft met here "to consider methods of strengthening the Sherman Anti-Trust law," as reported by The Evening Post.  (President Taft's brother, Henry Waters Taft, incidentally, would be president of the Association of the Bar of City of New York from 1923 to 1925.)

Important hearings took place here in 1934 as part of an investigation of Nazi operations in America.  On June 29, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that Congressman Samuel Dickstein had charged, "that the Henry Street Settlement was assisting members of a lower East Side Communist organization," saying it "grew out of an investigation he made recently into Communist activities in connection with the Congressional committee probe into Nazi propaganda in the United States."  The article said, the congressman would resume his "one man hearings of Nazi subversion" at the Bar Association Building.

The Trial Room as it appeared in 1925.  photograph by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

Four months later, on October 19, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported, 

German Ambassador Hans Luther is serving as an agent of the Nazi Party in the United States, charged Congressman John W. McCormack, chairman of the Congressional Committee investigating subversive and un-American activities, in a statement preceding a closed session of the Committee at the Bar Association building, 42 West Forty-fourth street yesterday.

On February 3, 1970, in reporting on the upcoming centennial of the organization, The New York Times remarked, "Since its founding by 200 lawyers to fight corruption in the courts in the days when Boss Tweed controlled Tammany Hall, the city bar association has attracted many of the most distinguished lawyers in the country."  The article said those attorneys had drafted Federal legislation, advised on the appointments of judges, and appeared at hearings and symposiums.  Among the speakers at the centennial here were Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, Governor Nelson Rockefeller and Mayor John Lindsay.

The passionate stances of some members of the Association of the Bar occasionally went beyond hearings and discussions.  On May 14, 1970, for instance, Francis T. P. Plimpton, president of the Association, announced that more than 1,000 New York city lawyers would walk off the job to go to Washington to urge "immediate withdrawal from Indochina." 

And on March 26, 1971, The New York Times reported, "A group of women lawyers and law students took over an open meeting of the Bar of the City of New York last night in what one demonstrator called 'a lawyerlike way' to denounce the association for 'male chauvinist' attitudes."

The well-publicized Knapp Commission hearings took place here starting on October 18, 1971.  They followed a year-long investigation in corruption within the New York City Police Department.

After the attacks on the World Trade Towers on September 11, 2001, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York offered its offices "to firms affected by the attack," as reported by The New York Times on September 13.  A spokesperson, Andrew Martin, explained, "There's not a whole lot we can do, but our building is the biggest asset we have."

photograph by ajay_suresh

Known today as the New York City Bar, the association continues to occupy its 1896 headquarters.  In designating the edifice an individual New York City landmark, the Landmarks Preservation Commission deemed it, "a fine building with dignity and strength in its imposing façade, worthy of the distinguished legal body that uses it."

The 1836 David Whitney House - 75 Bedford Street

 

The imposing house erected by Joshua Isaacs in 1799-1800 at 77 Bedford Street on the corner of Commerce Street stood alone for more than three decades.  In 1836, a flurry of construction began that would fill the block from Commerce to Morton Street with similar two-and-a-half story, brick-faced homes.  

Although Charles Oakley was educated as an attorney, he listed his occupation as "merchant" in 1810 when he married Margaret Roome.  But it was his real estate dealings for which he would be remembered.  By now, Oakley had become perhaps the most prolific developer in Greenwich Village.  In 1836, he erected two identical homes at 73 and 75 Bedford Street.  No. 75 was separated from the Isaacs house by an alleyway, or "horsewalk," to the rear yards.  (It would be later be filled in with the city's narrowest house.)  

The 20-foot-wide houses were an early example of Greek Revival architecture.  Low stoops led to the entrances flanked by narrow sidelights.  The paneled brownstone lintels with carved, modified Greek key designs were an unusual extra. 

Luke Gage, a distiller at 182 Christopher Street, moved into the newly-finished house with his wife, Charity Ama.  Only months later, on June 6, 1837, Charity Ama died at the age of 29.  Her funeral was held in the house on June 8.  Luke Gage left Bedford Street by 1840, when the house was home to Samuel D. Vandenbergh.

Vandenbergh listed his profession as a turner, a person who made spindles and similar wooden items.  He would live here through 1853, after which he moved to New Jersey.

In the meantime, beginning around 1845, Vandenbergh shared the house with the family of Daniel Whitney, a builder.  (At some point during this period, Whitney purchased the house.)  Previously, the Whitney family lived across the street at 80 Bedford Street.  Daniel was the son of Brigadier-General Josiah Whitney and his wife Sarah Farr.  Born in Massachusetts in 1786, he married Hannah Shedd on March 10, 1808.  The couple, who would eventually have 16 children, had moved to New York in 1825.

The Whitney's eldest son, Daniel J., went to San Francisco in 1849, most likely having caught the "gold fever."  On April 11, 1850, the New York Daily Herald reported that he had died in San Francisco two months earlier.  He was 41 years old.  

In the meantime, Benjamin Shurtleff Whitney had headed west as well.  He contracted cholera and died in Vincennes, Indiana six months after his brother, on August 6, 1850 at the age of 27.

William M. Whitney was an enterprising young man.  In 1854 he owned a bakery on Bleecker Street and a dry goods store on Cedar Street.  That year his sister Susanna was teaching in the primary department of School No. 41 on Greenwich Avenue.

When William married, he and his wife, Amelia, moved into what must have been snug quarters in 75 Bedford Street.  They had a baby named William Jr. in 1858, but, tragically, the infant died on December 21 that year.  His funeral was held in the parlor the next day.  (William and Amelia later moved into a fashionable home on St. Luke's Place.)

The string of Whitney funerals at 75 Bedford Street continued.  Never married, Hannah Maria, the eldest daughter, died on Christmas Day 1859 at the age of 48.  The following year, on October 27, Hannah Shedd Whitney died at the age of 71; and three months later, on January 11, 1861, daughter Lucy Jane died.  She was the wife of George B. Revere and was 43.

Living with their father in 1867 were Warren Webster, who worked for the city as an assessor, and Susanna and Caroline Josephine (who went by her middle name).  Josephine would teach in the same school as Susanna in 1870.

Daniel Whitney died at the age of 81 on April 15, 1869.  Perhaps expecting a large turnout to the funeral of the esteemed builder, the family held it in William's commodious home at 5 St. Luke's Place.

Warren, Susanna and Josephine, none of whom married, lived on in the family home.  They took in boarders, advertising in May 1877, "Two large furnished rooms, second floor; also, attic Room, with or without Board."

The Whitneys sold 75 Bedford Street to Frederick Miner, a merchant, in 1878.  Two sons, Lynes O. and Edwin David, were enrolled in the introductory class of the Commercial Course of New York City College that year.  Another son, Charles L., was a produce merchant in the Washington Market by 1886.

George Pepper and his wife boarded with the Miners in 1891.  Pepper was a guard on the Sixth Avenue Elevated.  On the night of May 10, he and his wife were stopped at the corner of Franklin and Varick Streets by Roundsman Londigran.  The New York Press reported, "The policeman asked him what business he had bringing that woman there, to which he replied that she was his wife and they were going to take the [street] car on Hudson street."  (The officer's implication was that he was with a prostitute.)

According to Pepper, Londigran, "then caught him by the throat and prodded him in the ribs with his club, shouting to take his wife and get home."  Pepper attempted to get the policemen's badge number.  It resulted in another prodding with the club and his arrest.  Pepper made a complaint at Police Headquarters.  The New York Press reported, "Londigran says the complaint is a lie, and that he only did his duty."  Pepper was told the case would be investigated.

The affluence of the Miner family was evidenced in Owen's inclusion in the 1901 Club Men of New York.  He was a member of the New York Country Club.  The family would remain here at least through the first decades of the 20th century.

In October 1923, Spaulding Hall and Cyrus Brown purchased 73 through 77 Bedford Street.  The New York Times noted, "the recently acquired property is being remodeled into studios and apartments."  Architect Ferdinand Savignano added a glass-fronted fourth floor, and flooded the apartments with natural light through vast studio windows installed at the rear.

Vast expanses of glass at the rear of the house filled it with natural light.  from the collection of the New York Public Library.

Among the initial residents were Frank K. Gardner and his wife, the former Camilla Winslow Hoff.  Gardner was the general manager of the Cornstalk Products Co.  M. Brooks was a tenant in 1926, when he advertised in The Publishers Weekly hoping to acquire two books, Human Science on Phrenology and Sexual Science, both by Professor O. S. Fowler.

The widening of Bedford Street in the 1930s necessitated the removal of the stoops.  The doorway to 75 Bedford Street was converted to a window and the entrance moved to the rear, accessed on Commerce Street.

All of the houses along the block had lost their stoops in this 1936 photograph.  The doorway of 75 Bedford is now a window.  from the collection of the New York Public Library.

The house was renovated again in 1939.  There was now a duplex in the lower floors, and one apartment each on the top two.

A woman sits in front of the house in 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

A striking renovation completed in 1998 returned 75 Bedford Street to a single family home.  The stoop was restored and the entrance refabricated.  

It was purchased in 2012 by filmmaker James Oakley (who, interestingly, shared his surname with the house's builder) for $5.8 million.  He resold it in 2017 for $7.8 million and the new owner commissioned architect M. N. Ahari to gut renovate the interiors--creating striking modern spaces while eliminating all hint of surviving historic details.

 

photograph by the author

The Philip Muller House - 190 Spring Street

 

Around 1824, Nathanial Paine erected three Federal-style houses at 166 to 170 Spring Street.  (They would be renumbered 186 to 190 Spring Street in 1848.)  Three-and-a-half stories tall, the peaked roofs of each had a single dormer.

In 1827, slavery was abolished in New York.  The area that centered around Minetta Lane, about four blocks to the north of Spring Street, became Manhattan's first black enclave (later known as Little Africa).  Interestingly, in 1827, Thomas Duncan and Francis Hamilton, both listed as "colored," occupied the western house of Paine's row.

Because of the rapid turnovers in the residents over the coming years, it appears that 190 Spring Street was being rented.  Living here in 1830 were the families of Charles M. Davis, who did not list a profession; and John Nicholas, a mason.  Sharing the house with Maria Kerns, the widow of Joseph Kerns, in 1836 were John Bentley, a tailor; and Jacob Moore, a saddler.

Apparently operating as a boarding house in 1845, it must have been tight quarters for the families of tailor Henry Platte; Adam Harlish, a cabinetmarker; Herman Benedix, a "segarmaker;" and bootmaker Paul Brehm.

Paul Brehm still occupied the 16-foot-wide house when it was sold at auction on February 8, 1851 for $4,300 (about $177,000 in 2025).  It was purchased by another bootmaker, Philip Muller, who moved his family into the upper floors and opened his shop on the ground floor. 

Philip and Eva Muller took in five boarders in 1851, two of whom likely worked for Muller.  Joseph Dirlmier and Joseph Tilmare were both shoemakers.  The other men, William Burger, Philip Finkmauer, and George Sehilling were all cabinetmakers.

On June 29, 1862, The New York Times headlined an article, "A Fire In Spring-Street," and reported that at 2:00 that morning, while the occupants of 190 Spring Street were asleep, a fire broke out in the shoe store, "owned and occupied on the first floor by Mr. Miller [sic]."  Fortunately, the fire was confined to the shop and, additionally, Muller was "fully insured" for the $700 damages (nearly $22,000 today).

While he and his wife continued to own and live here, it appears that Philip retired around 1876.  That year Henry Otto operated his tailor shop in the ground floor space.  In the basement was a "beer saloon" run by Jacob Hensle.  The configuration would cause problems in 1878.  Every year since 1876, Otto leased his shop to the city as a polling place.  (In 1876, for instance, he received $35 for the day's use.)

On December 21, 1878, the New-York Tribune reported, "Captain McDonnell, of the Eighth Police Precinct, was again before the Board of Police yesterday, in regard to his alleged fault in selecting polling places for the last election at Nos. 190 and 205 Spring-st. where it is alleged that liquor was sold."  In questioning, "Captain McDonnell admitted that No. 190 Spring-st, had a beer saloon in the basement under the polling-room."

Henry Otto's tailor shop was replaced in 1879 by Claude M. Boland's business, whose family lived upstairs with the Mullers.  His self-applauding listing in the city directory that year read:

Boland, Charles M. machinist, engineer, inventor and manufacturer of over-stitching sewing-machines for furs, gloves, &c., patented April 23d, 1878, 190 Spring st.

Interestingly, on October 3, 1890, Philip and Eva Muller transferred title to 190 Spring Street to Jacob Weindorf as a "gift," according to the Record & Guide.  In return, Weindorf gave the couple a "life lease" on the property, assuring they would have a home.

In the meantime, tenants who shared the upper floors with the Mullers continued to come and go.  Two young Italian immigrants, cousins Michael and Nicolo Pierro lived here in 1890.  The pair would be pulled into a dramatic, and finally fatal, incident that year.

Nicolo Pierro seduced a young woman, Pasquelina Robertielio, who lived at 156 Mott Street.  The "ruination" of a young Italian woman in the 1890s was a serious situation.  Nicolo "refused to have anything more to do with her," according to court testimony later.  

Michael accompanied Nicolo to Pasquelina's house in January 1891 where he tried to make peacemaker between the pair.  Michael later recalled, "At the close of the conversation Pasquelina said, "All right.  But if Nicolo doesn't marry me I will kill him."

Things became even more dire when Pasquelina found out she was pregnant.  The wedding was set for March 1, 1891, but Pierro did not show up.  Then the would-be bride discovered that he intended to sail to Italy the following day.  Pasquelina waited outside 190 Spring Street all night.  Finally, Nicolo stepped out of the door.  The Evening World reported, "Crazed by the thought that she was about to become a mother and driven to desperation by her lover's duplicity, she pulled down the pistol he had given her and shot him down."

Nicolo managed to stumble back to his room.  In court on May 20, Michael Pierro testified that his cousin, "told him that Pasquelina had shot him."  He died a few minutes later.

In August 1907, real estate operators Lowenfeld & Prager purchased the vintage house.  The following year they sold it to Guiseppe Sabbatino.  After decades of several families sharing the upper floors, 190 Spring Street was finally a single-family home.  Sabbatino was described by The Sun as "a wealthy real estate man."

The following year, on March 7, 1908, the Record & Guide reported that Sabbatino had contracted architect Max Muller to "improve" 190 Spring Street.  It is unclear exactly what the renovations entailed.

The Sabbatino's son, Nicholas was a musician by 1913.  He was apparently, as well, an obnoxious predator.  Around 6:00 on  the evening of December 23 that year, Patrolman Koelbe noticed Sabbatino hanging around the corner of Spring and Sullivan Streets.  Koelbe said later that Sabbatino was "carrying an umbrella and watching young girls leave a factory."  One after another, Sabbatino propositioned the girls, who were reportedly between 15 and 16 years old.

According to The Sun, Koelbe recounted, "I walked over and asked him where he lived and he said he lived in Spring street.  I said to him: 'If you don't go away from here, I'll lock you up.'" 

The smug musician replied, "Lock me up."  He was well aware he had nothing to fear even if he were arrested.  At the time, he had been apprehended at least six times, convicted, and in each instance his sentence was suspended.

Koelbe walked away, but "kept his eyes on the young man and afterward did lock him up," said The Sun.  This time, however, Sabbatino's fate would be far different.  Convicted again, Sabbatino's sentencing was scheduled for February 26, 1914.  He faced Judge Wadhams in General Sessions, who The Sun said, "approves of heavy fines and long terms for mashers." 

Wadhams declared, "The streets of our city can only be maintained as safe places in which girls and women can go to and from their work by the punishment of those who interfere and annoy them while on the streets." He sentenced Nicholas Sabbatino, "to five months on Blackwell's Island for annoying young girls on their way home from work."

Appropriately, given the long history of Muller's shop here, M. Cuzzi's Shoe Repairing occupied the store in 1941.  While the Sabbatinos still owned the building and lived here, a sign next to the residential entrance notes "ROOMS."  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The Sabbatino family lived here at least through 1941.  By 1950, the upper floors were converted to apartments.  It became a center of the folk music scene.

Paul Clayton moved in around 1957.  Born in 1931, Clayton was instrumental in reviving folk music in the 1950s and 1960s.  Shortly afterward, Roger Abrahams took an apartment.  While living here, he recorded with Dave Van Ronk.  In his Bob Dylan's New York, A Historic Guide, Dick Weissman described 190 Spring Street as:

...an apartment building where a few folk singers and fans lived.  On Sunday evenings there were regular jam sessions.  The different apartments were basically divided into different music factions.  There was the bluegrass apartment, the ballad apartment, and so forth.  Future folklorist Roger Abrahams, professional folk singer Paul Clayton, and Village folk singer Gina Glaser were often in attendance.

The atmosphere at the time was captured in Robert Cantell's When We Were Good, The Folk Revival:

Roger Abrahams recalls the Sunday evening sings in Paul Clayton's apartment at 190 Spring Street; Pete Seeger, Dave Van Ronk, Theo Bikel, Bob Gibson, and Odetta made regular visits there.  Clayton had been collecting songs in the mountains above Charlottesville, bringing them to his Village companions with the bloom still on them.

A renovation completed in 1964 resulted in a two-family home.  An advertisement in The Villager on December 17 described the "Unique Upper Duplex" as, "two story, living room, fireplace, skylights, gourmet kitchen, dining area, bedroom, bath, beamed ceiling, paneled balcony."  The listed rent was $325, just over $3,000 per month by today's conversion.

It was during that alteration that the facade was substantially remodeled, the lintels removed and the dormer enlarged.

In the turbulent political and social 1960s, James C. Hormel was in Washington D.C. and a founder of The New Party.  He later described it as "the perfect environment for my own rebellion."  In his autobiography, Fit to Serve, Hormel says,

Within the span of three years, from 1965 to 1968, everything in my life changed.  I went from being a model husband and father to a divorcé; from a Republican to a very left-wing Democrat; and from a timid person to someone on the verge of taking charge of his life.

Part of that change was Hormel's acknowledgement of his homosexuality.  When Nixon won the presidency in 1968, Hormel writes, "I had to face the reality that The New Party was over."  He continues:

I went back to New York and moved into a skinny townhouse at 190 Spring Street in Soho, which was still like any other Italian neighborhood in the city, with grandmothers keeping watch from their windows and laundry strung out to dry.

Hormel not only moved into the lower triplex in 190 Spring Street, he purchased the building.  He remained here until 1972 when, while he was out of town, an electrical fire broke out, heavily damaging the building.  Later that year Hormel sold the property and moved to Hawaii.  (From 1999 to 2001, Hormel served as United States Ambassador to Luxembourg, the first openly gay man to represent the country as an ambassador.)

!90 Spring street and the house to its left were originally identical, part of Nathaniel Paine's group.

The venerable house with an astounding history still contains two residences.

photographs by the author

The 1931 Union League Club - 38 East 37th Street

photograph by ajay_suresh

A membership to an exclusive social club was obligatory for high society gentlemen in the 19th century.  In 1863, 70 well-to-do New Yorkers added another, forming the Union League Club.  The New York Times, reported, "The only requisite for membership, besides unblemished reputation, should be an uncompromising and unconditional loyalty to Nation and a complete subordination thereto of all other political ideas."

The new venture was successful, with the Union League Club equaling or surpassing the Union Club as New York City's most distinguished gentlemen's social club.  In March 1881, it opened the doors to its sumptuous new clubhouse on Fifth Avenue at 39th Street.

The neighborhood around the clubhouse gradually changed over the decades.  On February 10, 1929, The New York Times remarked, 'The removal of the Union League Club has been rumored for several years, because of the northward trend of trade and towering business establishments."  President of the club, Alfred E. Maring added that, "some of the members have expressed a desire for newer quarters, maintaining that the present clubhouse lacks some modern conveniences."

At a meeting on February 25, 1929, the members voted to sell the leasehold of the current clubhouse.  A $3 million budget was authorized to purchase property and erect a new structure.  The proposed site, at the southwest corner of Park Avenue and 37th Street, was currently occupied with the former mansions of Robert Winthrop, John Crosby Gage, and the current home of Annie Burr Jennings.

On September 12, 1929, architect Benjamin W. Morris "submitted plans to the membership for the first time," reported The New York Times.  The article noted the building would cost "about $1,000,000."  

Benjamin Wistar Morris's rendering was published in The New York Times on December 29, 1929.

Ground was broken in December 1929.  The New York Times said that edifice would be "constructed of red brick with generous use of limestone trim.  The general character of the architecture is that of the eighteenth century, English and Colonial."  Morris's interiors, said the article, "have been developed to preserve the atmosphere which time has lent to the old clubhouse" and would "reproduce as far as possible the arrangements with which the members are familiar."

The cornerstone was laid on June 4, 1930 and construction was completed in November 1931.  The eight-story building's neo-Classical design was greatly influenced by Georgian prototypes.  In the end, the project went far above budget.  On February 24, 1931, The New York Times had reported, "Its cost was put at well above $4,000,000 yesterday."  

The two-story entrance on 37th Street sat within a bowed pavilion dignified by Corinthian pilasters.  Above it was a stately Palladian window crowned with a beefy limestone voussoir.  

photograph by M. M. Dwyer

Along with offices and a visitors' room on the ground floor was an art gallery.  The first floor consisted of a "club lounge," billiard room and cafe.  On the second floor were the "club hall" and library.  The main dining room and private dining rooms occupied the third floor.

Wives and other female guests entered on Park Avenue.  They would take a "special elevator," as described by The Times, to the fourth floor, the front of which, said the article, "is given up to the ladies' dining room and the ladies' lounge."  The remainder of the floor held squash courts and the gymnasium.

The women's entrance can be seen on Park Avenue in this 1931 photo by Wurts Bros.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

The upper floors held 63 bedrooms, each with a private bath, described by the newspaper as "better than the ordinary hotel rooms."  The article commented, "A feature of the new building will be a golf practice room.  Adjacent to this is a room devoted to all sorts of Turkish baths, &c., for the use of the members."

A surprising detail that Benjamin W. Morris included in the plans was a bar.  On February 24, 1931, The New York Times explained, "In the expectation that prohibition will end soon, provision has been made at the new clubhouse of the Union League Club...for the operation of a large, sumptuous bar, when and if the land goes wet, to attend to the tastes of the members who have shown themselves in recent tests to be preponderantly wet."

The Union League Club held a farewell dinner in the old clubhouse on January 19, 1931.  The new building was formally opened with a private dinner on February 12.  In reporting the event, The New York Times remarked, "President Hoover, who like all Republican Presidents since Lincoln, is an honorary member, was unable to be present."

Eight years later, the Federal Writers' Project's New York City Guide commented, "Of the many professional, political, and social clubs in this section, the most famous is the Union League Club, which occupies spacious quarters in a modern building at 38 East Thirty-seventh Street."  Calling the club a "stronghold of Republican conservatism," it recalled, "During Theodore Roosevelt's Bull Moose insurgency the club signified its displeasure by banishing his portrait from the library, but after his defeat restored it to its original place."

The first exhibition in the art gallery in new building opened on November 12, 1931.  Consisting of only American artists, the exhibition included works by Karl Anderson, Hobart Nichols, F. Louis Mora, Chauncey F. Ryder and others.  

Art exhibitions became regular events.  On November 14, 1935, for instance, The New York Times reported, "The Metropolitan Museum of Art has lent twenty-seven paintings by American artists for a special exhibition at the Union League Club, to be opened today to card holders."

The affluent members of the Union League Club were not greatly affected by the Great Depression.  Nevertheless, they were not oblivious of the struggles of others.  On December 25, 1935, The New York Times reported, "The assembly room of the Union League Club on Park Avenue rang with the joyfulness of several hundred underprivileged children from the congested areas of lower Manhattan who were guests of the club yesterday at its annual Christmas party."

The following year, newspapers announced the upcoming preparations for the Christmas party.  Star baseball player Lou Gehrig would be here to hand out the Christmas presents, and the WPA Federal Theatre Circus was scheduled to provide a two-hour show for 200 "crippled and needy children."  After that, the young guests would enjoy a turkey dinner.  

The planned festivities piqued the attention of "a score of boys from the East River waterfront," reported by The New York Times.  They lurked around the neighborhood of the Union League Club on Christmas Eve.  When the busloads of children arrived, the boys moved in.  "Old hands at the art of 'gate-crashing' and the 'Tiny Tim racket,' they tagged onto the end of the first busload of afflicted youngsters and limped past the doorman," reported The Times.  Once inside, they dispersed among the crowd, donned paper hats and mixed within the joyful throng.

Lloyd Taylor, who was in charge of the affair, quickly noticed the uninvited guests.  He later told a reporter, "Well, it's Christmas."  

A major change to the venerable club came in 1937 when, on January 15, The New York Times reported, "The Union League Club, whose membership has been closed to all but Republicans since it was organized in 1863, voted last night to lift this restriction."

It would take decades for another restriction to be removed.  On February 20, 1953, a meeting of bankers "interested in auditing" was held at the Union League Club.  Bertie G. Hale, a vice-president of the Bank of Georgia, traveled from Atlanta to participate.  Unfortunately, as reported by The New York Times, "when Mrs. Hale presented herself she was turned away, informed that women were not permitted in the quarters where the meeting had been scheduled."

Three decades later, in July 1987, the New York City Human Rights Commission formally accused the Union League Club of discriminating against women.  A month before the trial was scheduled in November 1988, the club passed a resolution to admit women.  Perhaps sarcastically, Mayor Ed Koch commented, "They now accept [the law] fully, with a certain amount of joy."

While social changes affected the racial and gender mix within the Union League Club, one steadfast rule remained--the dress code.  While the outside world turned to sneakers, jeans and open collars, the necktie and jacket ruled within the clubhouse.  It was a rule that became stingingly evident to internationally known sculptor Mark di Suyero in 1989.

Di Suyero was scheduled to receive an award here from the Sculpture Center, an art school and gallery, on the evening of December 7 that year.  Newsday reported, "some 240 people were waiting to honor him," but the the guest of honor never made it to the venue.  He arrived wearing, according to his nephew, Enrico Martignoni, "a pair of white, high-top basketball shoes, a pair of pants and a couple of shirts and a sweater."  The doorman loaned him a jacket and tie, but the sculptor, in protest, put the jacket on backwards.  Neither the doorman nor the artist was willing to back down.  Di Suvero was not admitted and he left.  Newsday said, "Neither the Sculpture Center nor the Union League Club would comment."

photograph by Jim Henderson

Today, amid the trappings of paneled walls, chandeliers, and leather club chairs; and surrounded by oil portraits of distinguished former members, a visitor to the Union League Club experiences the civilized, hushed environment Benjamin Wistar Morris created nearly a century ago.

many thanks to Paul McNamara for hosting me and touring the club.

The 1889 Albert Edmond Symington House - 275 West 73rd Street

 

William J. Merritt & Co. erected scores of houses in Harlem and the Upper West Side in the 1880s and 1890s.  In one month alone in 1888, Merritt & Co. advertised 38 new houses within a two-block area around West End Avenue between 73rd and 75th Streets: four on West End Avenue between 73^rd and 74^th Streets, seven harmonious dwellings on the corner of 75^th Street and West End Avenue, and the entire block—27 houses in all—on both sides of 73^rd Street between West End Avenue and Broadway (then called the Boulevard).

Although Merritt often acted as his own architect, he hired Charles T. Mott to design 18 upscale houses in 1887 that wrapped the northeast corner of West End Avenue and 73rd Street.  The ambitious project would take two years to complete.  Although somewhat overshadowed by its hulking neighbor at 280 West End Avenue, 275 West 73rd Street was nonetheless eye-catching.

Four stories tall above a high English basement, Mott gave the house a full-height, tower-like bay.  It was clad in planar stone while the remainder of the facade was undressed brownstone.  The tower was rounded at the basement and parlor levels, then morphed into sharp angles--its windows affording views in three directions.  Red clay tiles covered the conical cap of the tower and the steep attic roof.

The house became home to the Albert Edmond Symington family.  An attorney, Symington was a member of Symington, Symington & Symington.  Born in New York City on October 24, 1862, he graduated from Yale in 1883 and received his law degree from Columbia in 1887.

Symington married Edith Louise Harris in 1889, the year he purchased 275 West 73rd Street.  They would have five children while living here--William Harris, born in 1890; Edith Harris, born the following year; Hazen, who arrived in 1893; James Mansfield, born in 1894; and Albert, born in 1910.  Unfortunately Edith died at the age of one, and Albert died in infancy.  The family's summer home was in Seabright, New Jersey.

Edith's American roots were deep.  Her first ancestor, Thomas Harris, arrived in Rhode Island in 1686.  Her parents, Civil War veteran Lieutenant-Colonel William Hamilton Harris and the former Edith Witt, were prominent in society, despite their being newcomers to Manhattan.  The couple moved from the Midwest in 1889, the year the Symingtons were married, and lived nearby on West 75th Street.

The Symington boys received privileged educations.  They attended the Taft School, a preparatory institution, before entering Yale--William in the class of 1912 and James in the class of 1916.  

Attention was focused on Hazen in 1911.  On November 12, The New York Times announced, "Mrs. William Hamilton Harris will give a luncheon at Sherry's on Nov. 15 for her granddaughter, Miss Hazen Symington, the debutante daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Symington of 275 West Seventy-third Street."  It would be the first of several events for Hazen that winter season.

Three years later, on March 31, 1914, The New York Times reported that Edith and Hazen "are at their town home" after spending a few weeks in Miami, Florida.  The Sun added, "They will be at 275 West Seventy-third street until they open their summer place in Seabright."

This would be no ordinary summer there.  On June 28, 1914, The New York Times reported that Hazen had married George De Forest Lord in St. George's Church by the River Side in Seabright, New Jersey.  The article said, "The wedding breakfast and reception were at the Rumson Country Club, and afterward the bridal party drove to the Symington villa at Monmouth Beach."  

The Symingtons left 275 West 73rd Street that year, leasing the house first to J. E. and Eliza Morris.  Their tenants starting around 1917 was the Hackett family.  On November 5, 1918, Bernard Augustus Hackett, who was 33 years old, was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Quartermaster Section of the U.S. Army.  The family remained in the West 73rd Street house at least through 1919.

A top floor occupant surveys the scene in 1941.  At the time, the tiled roof, the stoop and sturdy wing walls, and double-doored entrance survived.  image from the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Albert Edmond Symington died in 1930.  At some point Samuel Shaw, who owned the corner mansion, purchased 275 West 73rd Street and continued to lease it.  Living here in the early 1930s was actor, playwright and lecturer Frank Ferguson (not to be confused with the character actor of the same name, popular in the late 20th century).

Frank Ferguson, The New York Times September 10, 1937

Born in Boston in 1863, Ferguson started his career as a singer in light opera there.  He later became the dramatic critic for periodicals like The Saturday Evening Herald and The Boston Home Journal.  He was the author of more than 40 plays, one of which, Lucky Jim, ran for nine years in America and England.  For two years he served as the director in the dramatic department of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, taught drama at Long Island University in Brooklyn, and lectured at Columbia University and the University of Chicago.  A bachelor, he died while living here on September 10, 1937.

The estate of Samuel T. Shaw sold the house in 1946 to the 280 West End Avenue Corporation.  In 1961, it was converted to apartments, two per floor.  It was possibly at this time that the stoop was removed and the entrance lowered to below grade.  

While the apartment configuration remains, in 2010 the entrance and stoop were restored by EAB Architectural Designs, PLLC.  Although the roof tiles have been replaced with shingles, and the entrance is noticeably narrower, the refabrication of the stoop returns the house more closely to its 1889 appearance. 

photographs by the author