The Solomon Adler House - 116 East 60th Street

 

Vines cling to the upper floor facade.

On June 14, 1872, the Adler family placed a notice in the New York Herald that read, "Wanted--A chambermaid; one who is capable of washing and ironing; city references required. Call at 116 East 60th st."  The successful candidate would be working within a newly built, high-stooped house, one of a row of identical homes along the south side of the block between Lexington and Park Avenues.  Twenty-feet wide and clad in brownstone, its openings sat within molded architrave frames.  Its bracketed cornice was typical of the Italianate style.

Solomon Adler was born in Bohemia in 1816 and immigrated to New York in 1843.  Five years later, the stalwart newcomer traveled to Milwaukee, a settlement with a population of a few thousand--mostly German immigrants--and established a men's store.  In 1852 he partnered with his brother David to form A. & D. Adler Co., which would become one of the largest wholesale clothing firms in the country (the Adler Clothing Company).  While in Milwaukee, Adler was secretary of the town's first Jewish congregation and secretary of its first Jewish cemetery organization.

After retiring, Solomon Adler brought his family back to New York.  He and his wife, Charlotte, had five children--Caroline, I. Richard, Millard, William F., and Leon Nathan.  The youngest, Leon Nathan, entered Columbia College in 1875 to study chemistry.

In the meantime, his brothers quickly established themselves in New York activities.  On June 30, 1874, The Evening Telegram reported, "Quite a number of the most intelligent and influential young men in the Nineteenth ward congregated at the residence, No. 116 East Sixtieth street, for the purposes of organizing an association for the advancement of literature and learning."  The Cicero Literary Association was established that evening and Millard F. Adler was selected its treasurer.

William F. Adler was listed as a "merchant" when he endorsed Civil Justice John B. McKean's reelection in November 1890; and I. Richard Adler was president of Cassidy & Adler, a plumbing supply firm.  The New York Times described I. Richard Adler as being "fairly well known among racing men, having owned a stable of horses."

Solomon Adler died on March 14, 1890 at the age of 74 after what The Weekly Wisconsin described as "a lingering illness."  His funeral was held in the 60th Street house on March 17.  

Solomon Adler left, according to The New York Times, "a large property."  His will left bequests to several Jewish causes, including the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, the Mt. Sinai Hospital, the Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids, the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews and the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society of the New York Asylum.  It also provided a trust estate for Charlotte, "and also remembered his children and other relatives."

I. Richard Adler was appointed executor, with Leon and Caroline (now married to Samuel M. Schwab, Jr.) as co-executors.  Problems quickly developed and on May 25, 1895 I. Richard Adler was removed as executor by the courts.  His siblings charged that "he had misappropriated and lost a large portion of the estate of their father" and that he "spent most of his time in poolrooms and at the race track."  Charlotte accused her son of failing "to account to her for moneys which she was entitled to."  The judge agreed, saying, " I am convinced [of] his unfitness to continue as trusted agent of the testator."

The Adler estate sold 116 East 60th Street in March 1901.  By then, commerce had infiltrated the formerly refined residential district.  The dwelling became a rooming house, home to respectable tenants like S. Meyenberg, who offered "expert individual instruction" in shorthand in 1901.

The high-stooped brownstone eventually relented to the changes to the neighborhood.  On August 13, 1927, The New York Times reported that James F. Meehan had leased the house, saying, "The lessee will alter the building for stores and small apartments."

Meehan hired architect Arthur Weiser to design the renovations.  He removed the stoop and installed a two-story, Art Deco storefront.  The upper three floors were converted to "non-housekeeping apartments," meaning that they had no kitchens."

The house to the right, albeit sans stoop, was a match to the Adler house.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The ground floor space was leased by automobile dealer A. J. Miranda, Jr., Inc. as its showroom.  On September 2, 1928, the Dupont Motors, Inc. announced "a new eight-cylinder car."  It was available as a "convertible sedan, five-passenger sport phaeton, seven-passenger limousine, five-passenger club sedan, seven-passenger touring, sport roadster, convertible coupe, [and] five-passenger victoria."  The prices ranged from $4,500 to $5,900 (the most expensive equal to about $108,000 in 2025).  The New York Times reported, "The cars will go on display next Wednesday at the show rooms of A. J. Miranda, Jr., Inc., 116 East Sixtieth Street."

The New Yorker, January 5, 1929

In 1929, E. A. Van Trump, Jr., Inc. took over the showroom.  They continued to represent Dupont Motors, Inc.

In the meantime, the small apartments above were home to middle-class tenants.  Among them in 1931 was 29-year-old Florence Brown.  The actress was obviously deeply troubled, and when she visited her sister at the Hotel San Jacinto on October 22 that year, she decided to end her life.  Mrs. William Trask-Clark told police that she struggled with Florence "to prevent her from jumping" from her rooms on the sixth floor.  She was unsuccessful and Florence fell to her death.

In January 1932, Arthur H. Gauss leased the second floor of 116 East 60th Street.  He converted it to a "physical culture studio"--essentially what today would be called a gym.

Around 1960, Robert H. Zessman opened Lloyds, a high-end antiques and accessories shop here.  The New York Times described him as "an authority on 18th and 19th century antiques," and said he "sold unusual estate furniture, antiques and well-done copies."  The shop would remain here into the 1970s.

Richard C. Kester was described by The New York Times as "the son of a Florida millionaire."  His father was chairman of the board of the Pompano Beach Bank and Trust Company.  The 28-year-old, who worked at the National Association of Broadcasters, occupied an apartment here in 1969 when he was the victim of a gruesome crime.  On March 4, according to the newspaper, his body "was found bound and gagged and wrapped in a rug in his walkup apartment at 116 East 60th Street.  He had apparently been dead for several days."  It would not be until May 25, 1973 that two men were arrested and charged for the murder.

The Dumas Patisserie opened in the ground floor space in 1973.  Operated by pastry chef Michel Dumas, it offered delicacies like French cheese cake with a bottom of raspberry puree and "something called fraisia (strawberry shortcake with a hint of kirsch)," according to New York Magazine on October 15 that year.  The shop remained at least through 1979.

A renovation completed in 1986 converted the lower floors to a restaurant.  In 2015, Blu on the Park occupied the space, followed by Jade Sixty in 2017, and Maison Vivienne the following year.  Eateries continued to come and go.  In 2019 Ivy Lane opened, replaced by T-Bar Steak & Lounge in 2022.

The Adler house is the last 19th century survivor on the block

In 2021, in anticipation of T-Bar's occupancy, Arthur Weiser's Art Deco storefront was replaced by flush panels and sleek, grouped windows.  The upper floors, however, are virtually unchanged since the Adler family moved in around 1871.  It is completely obscured in the summer months by years-old vines that cling to the facade.

photographs by the author

The 1886 St. Anthony of Padua Friary - 149-153 Thompson Street

The Italian-language parish of St. Anthony of Padua was established in 1866 by Franciscan priests, originally sharing the Free Congregational Church at 149-151 Sullivan Street.  By 1882, the Italian population of Greenwich Village had swelled as immigrants continued to settle in the neighborhood.  The blockfront of West Houston Street between Thompson and Sullivan was sold at auction on January 31 that year.  Despite a raging blizzard, Father Anacletus De Angeles attended the sale.  Happily for the parish, no one else did.  He purchased the property, which held three tenements and a portion of an ale brewery for $27,000 (or about $855,000 in 2025 terms).

Although the property was a bargain, the price depleted the parish's coffers.  A year later, on December 15, 1883, the Record & Guide reported, "The Rev. Father Anacletus De Angeles states that the new church will not be erected for his congregation for some two years, owing to the lack of funds."

Indeed, it would be three more years before the cornerstone of the church proper was laid on June 13, 1886.  The architect, Arthur Crook, personally placed a tin box holding copies of New York City newspapers and other documents into the stone.  The Evening Post reported that the church would front Sullivan Street and, "The monastery will cover the remainder of the lot to Thompson Street."

Appropriate to the parish's roots, Arthur Crook designed the Church of St. Anthony of Padua in the Sicilian Romanesque style.  For inspiration for the friary, however, he turned to Paris.  Faced in rough-cut granite and trimmed in limestone, the four-story-and-basement structure was designed in the French Second Empire style.  The lower three floors were delineated by molded cornices, and the fourth took the form of a slate shingled mansard, interrupted at the center by a stone section capped with a four-sided dome.  A copper fleche crowned the structure.

The first ceremony in the still-unfinished church was held on April 3, 1887.  After vespers, reported The New York Times, priests, led by Archbishop Michael Corrigan, "went in procession to the new monastery at 151 Thompson-street, back of the church, and blessed it."  The Sun said, "Fully 1,000 people gathered in the basement of the new Franciscan monastery in Thompson street" for the ceremony, adding, "The monastery is not yet completed.  It will be dedicated in about six months."  The article explained why the blessing had been done so soon.  "A Catholic church or monastery is usually blessed before it is dedicated, in order that mass can be said in it."

The priests and friars had barely moved into the new building before the seed of a scandal germinated.  In June 1887, Bishop Stephen Vincent Ryan excommunicated one of its priests, Father Dent, for what might be called unpriestly behavior.  The issue might have been forgotten had not, five years later, Dent sued the bishop for $100,000 for slander.  The church and the priests within the Thompson Street building initiated what today would be termed a cover-up.

Among the witnesses called to the stand on May 31, 1892 was Rev. Father Julian D'Arpino, "an Italian priest, of 151 Thompson street," according to The Evening World.  The article said that he, "protested against being sworn as he had not been subpoenaed."  Father D'Arpino's protest was fruitless and Justice Barlett ruled that since he was in court he could testify and he was subsequently sworn.

The following day a young woman who lived on MacDougal Street, Maggie Kenny, "created a sensation," as worded by the New-York Tribune, "by asserting that she had been ordered in confessional by a priest not to testify in the case, and also by suddenly saying that three of the priests at St. Anthony's Church were married."  When further pressed, Kenny identified the priests by name.

More positive press was generated with the visit of Monsignor Satolli, the first Apostolic Delegate to the United States, in June 1895.  A priest traveled to Washington D.C. to accompany Satolli to New York.  They arrived on June 12 and were driven "immediately to the monastery of the Franciscan order, at 151 Thompson street," said The Sun.  The next morning, Monsignor Satolli celebrated the Pontifical high mass in the Sullivan Street church, the first of several services he would conduct.

The monastery was a hive of high-powered church officials over the next few days.  The Sun wrote on June 13, "Archbishop Corrigan called on Mgr. Satolli at the monastery soon after his arrival.  Vicar-General Farley paid his respects later."

On June 4, 1896, The World commented, "In the middle of the block in Thompson street, just below Houston, is the Franciscan Monastery.  The work of the monks there quietly reaches out in every direction among the faithful, and they are always busy doing works of mercy among the poor and afflicted."  An important element in that work was what was perhaps the most cherished possession within the monastery--a relic of St. Francis.  The article said, 

During the past two years the monks have become famous through the wonders attributed to the relic of St. Anthony of Padua.  The blind have had sight restored, the crippled have cast aside their crutches, and even those whom physicians counted as beyond relief have recovered suddenly, so it is said, from illness which science could not fathom of cure.

The World asserted, "Hundreds throng the chapel every Tuesday.  They come from all over the country and from every station in life."

Among the parishioners at the time was Terrence H. Forrest, who lived at 73 Bedford Street.  For years he had suffered from dropsy (known today as edema).  It eventually waned his strength until in the spring of 1896 his condition was dire.  Father McCabe of the Church of St. Anthony of Padua arrived at the house to administer last rites.  He also brought the relic of St. Anthony.  On June 4, The World reported, "He anointed the sick man's body with it while all around prayed, with heads bowed."  

The article recounted, "Almost immediately, it is said, the man rallied, and from that moment grew stronger and stronger until now, his family declare, he enjoys his former health."  Neither Father McCabe nor Terrence Forrest would discuss the matter.  "In the neighborhood, however, the case is much talked about, and Mr. Forrest is looked upon by many as one saved from the grave," said the article.

Nearly two decades later and after being handled thousands of times, the gold case that held the relic was in bad shape.  On June 15, 1914, The New York Times explained, "The receptacle which contained the relic became worn out through much handling."  But now, said the article, the "fathers of the Franciscan Monastery at 151 Thompson Street are exhibiting with a great deal of pride a solid gold receptacle which was made to contain the sacred relic of the bones of St. Anthony."  

Italian-born parishioners had donated "gold rings, bracelets, brooches, pins and coins" to be melted to create the box.  The Times said, "Many of them gave the fathers all of their jewelry...The receptacle is 16-1/2 inches high, and is studded with emeralds, rubies, and pearls."

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

The monastery was the scene of a horrifying tragedy on November 4, 1938.  At 4:00 that morning Louis Adduci, the 26-year-old doorman, smelled smoke.  He ran throughout the halls shouting, "Fire!"  As he headed back down, he was blocked by flames and was forced to jump to the rear yard.  As the fire roared up the wooden staircase, the priests were trapped on the upper floors.  The New York Times reported that they, "had to jump out windows to an adjoining building or cling to ledges."

Brother John Chiazza was a 27-year-old missionary worker who had arrived in America from Italy the previous year.  His room was on the top floor at the rear.  The Times explained, "The flames kept him from the other end of the hall, where a staircase led to the roof."  His charred body was found kneeling by the bed, "with his hands clasped as if in prayer."

Rev. Luige Vitale rushed to a fourth floor window.  "When flames began licking at his feet," according to The New York Times, the 65-year-old "smashed a window with his hand and leaped about fifteen feet to the second-story roof of the settlement house next door."  He fractured a leg in the fall.

The New York Times, November 5, 1938

Firefighters made a "spectacular" rescue of 40-year-old Rev. Virgil Liucci.  Wakened by Adduci's warnings, he tried to get to the hallway, but was forced back by the flames.  After kneeling to recite a short prayer before a picture of St. Anthony, he tied his bed sheet to his cassock and a radiator and started to lower himself to the street.  "The flames were shooting out of the window when he was about to jump," recounted The Times, when he heard the fire engines approaching.  

Like Brother Chiazza, Julius Tappero, the monastery's 65-year-old cook, did not escape the blaze.  His body, too, was found in a kneeling position in his room on the third floor.

The following day, The New York Times reported, "Three of the priests were injured, one burned so badly he was still on the serious list in Columbus Hospital last night."  The priests temporarily moved into the parish's settlement house during the renovations.

A subsequent renovation, completed in 1953, created classrooms and a bowling alley in the basement, and an auditorium on the first floor.  Called Memorial Hall, it became the venue for various meetings, festivities and events, like the St. Anthony's Playgroup's rummage sale in December 1979.

Arthur Crook's imposing granite building continues to play an important part of the parish's outreach as well as an architectural ornament within the district.

photographs by the author

The 1948 Artistocrat Apartments - 45 West 54th Street

 

photograph by Lowell Cochrane

In 1948, the Kleban Construction Company contracted architects De Young, Moskowitz & Rosenberg to design a 13-story apartment building at 45 through 53 West 54th Street.  Completed the following year, the Aristocrat Apartments reflected the last gasps of Art Moderne architecture, teetering on the verge of Mid-Century Modern.

The entrance most vividly anticipated Mid-Century designs.  Its glass-and-brass doors were centered within a wide recess faced in polished marble.  Each row of the upper floor openings, modern versions of Chicago Style windows, were framed in a single, sleek frame.  Set-back corners provided terraces on the 11th floor.  The architects chamfered the corners of the 11th- and 12th-floors, giving those apartments spectacular views in three directions.  The penthouse level sat back, providing additional terrace space to its two apartments.

Potential residents could choose from "two, three-and-a-half, four-and-a-half, and five-room" apartments.

In 1955, six years after its opening, 45 West 54th Street was purchased by Henry Goelet and his associates.  Almost immediately, a plan was initiated to convert the building to a cooperative.

Harry P. Somerville and his wife, the former Mary Thorp, moved into the Aristocrat in 1957, after moving back to New York from Washington D.C.  Born in New York, Somerville began his career in real estate in 1919 after serving with the 69th Infantry of the New York National Guard in World War I.  In 1925 he became manager of the Hotel Bretton Hall. 

As Executive Secretary of the President's Cup Regatta in 1936, Harry P. Somerville (right) hands a clock topped with a model gold speedboat to John A. Remori.  Looking on is Admiral Harry G. Hamlet of the U.S. Coast Guard. from the collection of the Library of Congress.

The Somervilles relocated to Washington when he accepted the position of managing director of the well-known Willard Hotel.  He remained there until 1942 when he joined Broadcast Music, Inc.  He was honored with a testimonial dinner upon leaving the Willard.  Among the letters and telegrams that were read that night was one from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt:

Dear Harry:

What is this I hear about your leaving the Willard?  I am indeed sorry to see you go.  What will I do when I want terrapin?  It has been grand to have you in Washington and this note takes to you my very warm personal regards and every best wish for the future.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Harry Somerville retired as vice president of Broadcast Music, Inc. in 1957.  He and Mary returned to New York and into 45 West 54th Street.

Other early owners of the co-ops were Walter and Belle Lehman.  In 1959, Walter became president of the diamond firm Arnstein Brothers, Eichberg & Co., Inc.  His passion for his job was reflected in his memberships in the Jewelers' Trade Board, the Diamond Dealers' Club, the Diamond Trade Association and the 24 Carat Club.

photograph by Lowell Cochrane

The Dunaeff family lived here at the time.  Son Ray got an early start in modeling and acting under the stage name Ray Weston.  For years the boy landed roles on television shows like the Patty Duke Show, The Nurses, and For the People.  Tragically, he contracted cancer and died at the age of 15 on April 23, 1967.

Bertram H. Hegeman and Novella Wren Henderson Adoue were married in 1964 and moved into 45 West 54th Street along with Novella's daughters from a previous marriage, Pauline and Novella Adoue.  The family maintained a country home in Rye, New York and a winter home in North Palm Beach.  Hegeman was vice president/director of the rental division of Rockefeller Center.

The Hegeman family was visible in society in all three locations.  On December 28, 1967, The Rye Chronicle reported, "Miss Novella Adoue, debutante daughter of Mr. and Mrs. B. H. Hegeman, Westchester Country Club grounds and 45 West 54th Street, New York City, was honored December 21 at a small private dinner in the Rainbow Room followed by the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Show."  The following night, said the article, Novella was "formally presented at the Debutante Cotillion and Christmas Ball at the Waldorf Astoria."  

Debutante entertainments normally lasted for weeks if not months and the article noted, "Miss Adoue will also be presented June 26 at the Westchester Cotillion and another private party given by her parents at home will climax her debutante year."

Pauline (known as Polly) Adoue was married to Frank Scanlon in 1970.  She would go on to become president and CEO of American Health Care Resources.  Novella would remain single.

photograph by Lowell Cochrane

DeYoung, Moskowitz & Rosenberg's 1948 design survives as an important transitional example from Art Moderne to Mid-Century styles.

many thanks to reader Lowell Cochrane for suggesting this post

The James A. Foley House - 316 East 18th Street

 

A laudable recreation of the entrance and window frames replaced the lost originals.  photo by Ted Leather

An advertisement in the New York Herald on November 6, 1867 described the recently built house at 316 East 18th Street:

For Sale--With possession, house and furniture; house 3 stories, high stoop and brown stone front, with all conveniences and in fine order.

It was purchased by the William L. Colby family.  Three stories tall and 20-feet wide, its individual Italianate design was unlike others on the block.  The elliptically arched openings sat within architrave frames, including the unusual doorway.  Its multi-layered frame was capped with a gently arched cornice.  A foliate-bracketed cornice with paneled fascia crowned the design.

William L. Colby was an important figure in the printing industry, a close associate of Richard March Hoe, the head of R. Hoe & Company.  Hoe invented the rotary printing press in 1843.  Colby, too, improved the printing process.  In his 1885 History of R. Hoe & Company, Stephen D. Tucker noted that around 1858, "Mr. William L. Colby devised a plan for driving the type bed of cylinder presses through a universal joint."  The device was adopted for most of the R. Hoe & Company presses.

Colby and his wife, the former Malvina Walkington, had three sons and three daughters.  (The close relationship between Colby and Roe was evidenced in the name of the Colbys' youngest son: Richard March Hoe Colby.)  The other children were John, Benjamin L., Sarah E., Mary, and Malvina W.  

When the family moved into the East 18th Street house, Richard March Hoe Colby was enrolled at the College of the City of New York.  His brothers, John and Benjamin L. Colby, joined the Roe firm by 1871; and Malvina W. Colby taught in the primary department of Grammar School No. 2 at 116 Henry Street in 1876.

William L. Colby died on March 6, 1881 at the age of 70.  His funeral was held in the parlor three days later.  Malvina survived him by 12 years, dying in the house on August 7, 1892 at the age of 78.  Her funeral, too, was held in the residence.

The former Colby house was occupied by several physicians starting in 1894 with a dentist named Mogovin.  German immigrants Dr. Otto Maier, a gynecologist, and his wife, Dina, occupied the house in 1899.  

Their lives were rocked in the fall of 1899 when Otto Maier was accused of murder.  Nora Seltz was brought to Bellevue Hospital on October 18 "following an operation performed by some person or persons unknown," as reported by the New-York Tribune.  (The implication was that Seltz had had an abortion.)  After the 38-year-old patient died, Dr. Maier and an associate, Dr. Henry Purdy, were arrested and charged for murder.

Police Captain Delaney testified during the trial on October 27, saying "the reason why he had had the physicians arrested was because they had been the last to attend her."

The judge asked, "Was that the sole reason?"

"Yes."

The jury decided that Nora Seltz's death was due to blood poisoning following the earlier operation.  The New-York Tribune reported, "The two physicians were exonerated from all blame."

After having occupied the East 18th Street house for about a decade, the Maiers began a family.  Both 41 years old at the time, their daughter Dorothea was born in 1906 and a year later Herbert was born.  (Herbert would follow in his father's professional footsteps, eventually becoming chair of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery.)

On February 25, 1910, the New-York Tribune reported, "Otto Maier sold to a Mr. Foley for occupancy No. 316 East 18th Street."  "Mr. Foley" was James Foley, a well-known figure within Tammany Hall politics and since 1879 had been chairman of the General Committee of the Twelfth Assembly District.  He and his wife, the former Anne Moran, had eleven children. 

Son James A. Foley, born on June 21, 1882, was also involved in politics.  Three years before his parents purchased 316 East 18th Street, he was elected to the New York State Assembly.  In 1913, he was elected to the New York State Senate.

In the meantime, his brother Frank was a broker with C. I. Hudson & Co. and held the rank of major in the Twelfth Regiment of Infantry.  Frank Joseph Foley was married to Rosa A. Metzner on Long Island on October 8, 1913.  Senator James A. Foley was his brother's best man.

The year 1919 was a significant one within the Foley household.  On May 14, son Edward died.  His funeral was held in the parlor on May 16 followed by a solemn mass of requiem at the Church of the Epiphany on Second Avenue.

Surprisingly, James A. Foley's wedding to Mabel Graham Murphy was celebrated a month later, on June 21.  Shortly afterward, James Foley fell ill.  Described by The Evening World as a "veteran Democratic political leader," he died on August 10.  As had been the case with his son, his funeral was held in the house followed by a mass at the Church of the Epiphany.

On August 12, The Evening World reported, "Hundreds of persons attended the funeral to-day of James Foley...Two hundred and fifty members of the Democratic Committee of the 12th Assembly District escorted the body to the church and later to Calvary Cemetery."  The mourners represented a who's-who of New York politics.  The guard of honor at the gravesite was composed of Tammany chief Charles F. Murphy and four judges and an alderman.  Also present were Governor Alfred Smith and his wife, former Governor Martin Henry Glynn, Police Commissioner Robert F. Wagner, President of the Board of Aldermen Robert L. Moses and other leaders.

The East 18th Street house was now a female domain.  Florence J., Anna M., Mary E., Kathryn and Jane, still unmarried, remained with their mother.  And around the time of James's death, Anne's widowed sister, Elizabeth M. Leary, moved in.

Only two years after the parlor was the scene of two Foley funerals, it was the setting of Elizabeth Leary's.  She died here on April 6, 1921 and, like the others, her funeral was followed by a mass at the Church of the Epiphany. 

Florence M. Foley was involved in a frightening accident on October 12, 1927.  The Brooklyn Daily Star reported, "Edward O'Hare, sixty-five...was struck by an auto operated by Florence M. Foley, 316 East Eighteenth street, Manhattan, at Forty-sixth (Bliss) street and Queen's boulevard."  O'Hare was transported to St. John's Hospital with "multiple contusions of the head, neck and back."

At some point in the first half of the 20th century, the Victorian window surrounds were shaved flat.  The original entrance frame was intact.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Five months later, on March 29, 1928, Anne Moran Foley died in the East 18th Street house at the age of 81.  The New York Times reported, "This was learned yesterday in the Surrogate's Court when her son, Surrogate James A. Foley, failed to take his place on the bench in the morning."  The article noted that she was survived by seven of her eleven children.  Once again, a Foley funeral mass was held in the Church of the Epiphany.

The last of the Foley family to occupy the house was Kathryn.  When she sold it in April 1962, The New York Times commented, "The house had been in the seller's family for fifty-three years."  

photograph by Ted Leather

At some point before 1941, the Foleys had shaved off the window surrounds and modernized the stoop railings.  Still a single family home, in 2007 the owners initiated a two-year renovation.  It was apparently at this time that a period-appropriate entrance frame and window surrounds were fabricated.

many thanks to reader Ted Leather for suggesting this post

The Norman - 37-43 West 93rd Street

 

Cast iron lamps with milk glass globes once flanked the one-stepped stoop.  image via cityrealty.com

A Polish immigrant, Julius Tishman founded his real estate development company, Julius Tishman & Sons, in 1898.  Less than a decade later, the company was erecting substantial buildings, like The Norman, completed in 1909 at 37 to 43 West 93rd Street.  Designed by Charles B. Meyers, the structure had cost the Tishmans $225,000 to construct--a considerable $8 million in 2025 terms.

The Norman's two-story rusticated base was faced in limestone, its six upper floors in gray brick.  Meyers successfully married Beaux Arts and Renaissance Revival styles in the design--with the French slightly trumping the Italian.  The impressive entrance was framed with foliate carvings and flanked by pilasters carved with heavy bellflowers.  Scrolled brackets upheld a triangular pediment filled with a massive cartouche surrounded with ferns and flowers.  It announced the building's name.

photograph by Anthony Bellov

The openings of the second floor were fronted with lacy French balconettes.  Faux, stone balustraded balconies appeared at the third floor, and two iron-railed balconies clung to the fourth.  Frothy cartouches adorned the windows of the top floor, and elongated brackets hung with wreaths supported the cornice.

Advertisements for The Norman offered apartments of "6, 7 and 8 Rooms and 2 Baths" with "3 lavatories [and] large closet room."  Rents ranged from $1,000 to $1,500 per year (about $3,000 a month for the most expensive in today's terms).

Among the early tenants was Alice Minnie Herts.  A graduate of Normal College and the Sorbonne, Herts got involved in social work before founding the Children's Educational Theatre in 1903.  Its purpose, she wrote in 1911, was:

...to make our thousands of immigrant children better citizens; to educate them; to develop their sympathies and their characters; to give them the possible sort of a good time, and to counteract the evil and sordid influences of tenement and factory.

The stalwart educator enlisted Samuel Clemens to serve as the board's president.  He was quoted in Good Housekeeping in November 1913 saying, "I consider [the Children's Educational Theatre] the greatest citizen-making force of the century."

Alice Minnie Herts, The Children's Educational Theatre, 1911 (copyright expired)

Whether Alice initially shared an apartment with her brother, Isaac H. Herts, and his wife, is unclear.  They too, lived in the building.  He and Benjamin H. Herts, his and Alice's brother, had founded the interior decorating and furniture design firm Herts Brothers in 1876.  The influential concern furnished the New York Produce Exchange, the Knickerbocker and the St. Regis hotels, and William Backhouse Astor, Jr.'s steam yacht, the Nourmahal.  The firm closed in 1908.

Alice Herts was a close friend of portrait painter Elsie Dodge Pattee.  The daughter of a wealthy dry goods merchant, she had lived in France before returning to New York in 1912.  Alice took charge of re-introducing Pattee to Manhattan society.

On January 5, 1913, The New York Times reported, "Miss A. Minnie Herts has sent out cards for two receptions to introduce Miss [sic] Elsie Dodge Pattee...They will take place in Miss Herts's home, 37 West Ninety-third Street."  And on January 19, the newspaper announced, "Miss A. M. Herts...will be home this afternoon for Mrs. Elsie Dodge Pattee."

The social spotlight would focus more directly onto Herts two months later.  On March 12, The New York Times reported that she and Jacob Heniger had been married the previous day in Alice Minnie Herts's apartment.  The article mentioned, "Mr. Heniger is also interested in educational work," and closed, "After a short trip through the South Mr. and Mrs. Heniger will live in this city."

Indeed they did.  They retained Alice's apartment in The Norman.  And while Jacob Heniger was "interested in educational work," it was not his profession.  He held the position of Inspector of Tenements, earning $1,500 per year (about $44,200 in today's money).

In the meantime, the couple's neighbors in the building were white collar merchants, lawyers and doctors.  Among them were Charles F. Hofferberth, president of the Hofferberth Troy Company, a lumber concern; and lace salesman Walter E. Bennett.  Bennett began working for Goldenberg Bros. & Co. in 1888 at the age of 15.  Now he traveled throughout the South for the firm.

The country's entry into World War I was felt deeply by two families of The Norman.  In 1916, Theodore Rousseau enrolled in the U.S. Army.  The following year, on December 13, 1917, David Maurice Wolff, who had been working in the stock brokerage firm of H. P. Goodschmidt, enlisted with the 213th Aero Squadron.  The Evening World remarked that the 22-year-old Wolff, "became interested in aeronautics soon after war was declared."  Rousseau trained in Plattsburg, New York and Wolff at Mineola, Long Island.

Wolff's mother, Grace, was now alone.  David M. Wolff, Sr. had died in their apartment on September 6, 1913.  The younger Wolff boarded the converted ocean liner S. S. Tuscania on January 27, 1918, one of 2,000 American troops on the ship.  One can imagine the terror Grace Wolff felt when she read the headlines on February 7.  The banner of The Buffalo Commercial read, "Transport Carrying Yankee Soldiers Victim Of U-Boat."  A torpedo from a German submarine had struck the troop carrier.

On February 8, The Evening World remarked, "Wolff is the only son of his widowed mother, Mrs. Grace K. Wolff, with whom he lived at No. 37 West Ninety-third Street."  Happily, the following day The New York Times reported that David "cabled his mother, Mrs. Grace Wolff, at her home...yesterday that he had arrived safely."  

Isaac H. Herts, "a pioneer in the furniture business in New York city, and founder and president of the firm of Herts Brothers Company," as described by the New York Herald, died "after a prolonged illness" in his apartment on January 11, 1918 at the age of 70.

Retired insurance man James H. Crawford lived here at the time.  A widower, he hosted a benefit concert in his apartment on March 15, 1920 for Lille University in France.  After receiving his guests, he excused himself and went into a bedroom.  The New-York Tribune said, "His body was found in his room a few minutes" later.  The 70-year-old had apparently suffered a heart attack.

Other residents around the same time were P. J. O'Leary, head of the O'Leary Lumber Co.; and Dr. Michael Mislig.  By the Depression years, Justice John J. Freschi and his wife, Mary; and wholesale lumber merchant Cornelius E. Kennedy were occupants.

P. J. O'Leary  American Lumberman, December 16, 1922 (copyright expired)

Born in 1876 in Greenwich Village, John J. Freschi graduated from New York University and New York University Law School.  He was appointed to Special Sessions by Mayor John Purroy Mitchel.  Freschi headed the Italian-American committee for the re-election of Mayor James Walker in 1925.  Walker re-appointed him to Special Sessions in 1931.  

On April 25, 1931, The New York Times reported that Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt had appointed Freschi to the Court of General Sessions.  In that capacity, The Times would remark years later, he "presided at many sensational criminal trials."

Cornelius E. Kennedy was a life-long bachelor.  Born in Burlington, Vermont in 1870, he founded C. E. Kennedy, Inc. in 1906.  His firm dealt in both American and Canadian lumber.

On the evening of December 30, 1938, Kennedy was struck by an automobile at the corner of 93rd Street and Central Park West.  The 69-year-old died in Harlem Hospital four days later.

The cornice survived as late as 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Calling him, "a leader among Americans of Italian descent in this city for many years," on July 30, 1944 The New York Times reported on the death of Judge John J. Freschi.  The article said, "The jurist was stricken in his chambers in the Criminal Courts Building on July 20."  He had suffered a ruptured appendix.

In recalling Freschi's career that had included "sixty notable trials," the newspaper said:

He sat in the kidnaping trial of Galla and Sacoda in 1938, the first kidnaping case tried in New York that resulted in a death verdict under the Lindbergh law.  He also presided over the trail of Louis (Lepke) Buchalter for extortion in 1940 when the latter received a sentence of 30 years to life imprisonment before his execution on a murder conviction.

John J. Freschi's funeral was held in St. Patrick's Cathedral on August 1.  The New York Times estimated that 1,000 persons attended the mass of requiem.  Among his honorary pallbearers were Mayor Fiorello La Guardia and U.S. Senator Robert F. Wagner.

image via cityrealty.com

The Norman was converted to a cooperative in the third quarter of the 20th century.  In doing so, none of the apartments were reduced in size.  At some point, the cornice, which was showing damage at early as 1941, was removed.  

In September 1999, a four-bedroom, two-bath co-op sold for $599,000.  Within a decade, property values had risen.  In February 2007, a three-bedroom, two-bath apartment sold for $1.6 million.  

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post.

The Lost August Schulz House--435 West 53rd Street

 

August Schulz's cooper shop at the right replaced an earlier structure.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

In September 1881, The New York Times called the Hell's Kitchen district, “one of the most miserable and crime-polluted neighborhoods in this City,” adding, “there is more disease, crime, squalor, and vice to the square inch in this part of New-York.”  In his 1882 New York by Gaslight, James D. McCabe, Jr. described the wooden residences here as the "wretched abodes of misery, and often of vice and crime."

Among them was 435 West 53rd Street, owned by J. P. Giraud.  Its builder had designed the two-story clapboard structure with an attempt at the Italianate style.  By the early 1870s, Girard leased it to German immigrant August Schulz and his family.  Abutting the house to the east was Schulz's two-story brick cooper shop, where he made or repaired barrels, casks, tubs and the like.

At 5:45 on the morning of November 24, 1872, an overheated boiler in the cooper shop set fire to the beams of the floor.  The fire patrol was on the scene for one and a half hours before extinguishing the blaze.  The New York Herald reported, "The fire extended to the adjoining frame building, No. 435, also occupied by Schultz."  Damage to the house was only $100 (about $2,500 in 2025), but the shop was ravaged.  The Central Patrol's Report of Fires and Alarms noted, "Stock, Tools, Machinery almost totally destroyed."  (The second floor of the shop was a total loss and was not rebuilt.)

The New York Herald mentioned that Schulz had no insurance on the destroyed machinery, valued at the equivalent of nearly $80,000 today.  The financial hit may have been too much for Schulz to withstand.  On February 24, 1876, he sold the cooper business to J. Schmuck.

The estate of J. P. Giraud leased the two buildings to Marietta Desaye and Jacques Deveaux on May 1, 1883.  They operated the dwelling as a rooming house, with tenants like Michael Delaney.  He worked as a laborer for the city in 1887, earning $2 per day.  Other roomers were a dressmaker who advertised in 1889 that she "works at home on reasonable terms."

Major change came in the early 1890s, when Zaisser Bros. took over both the former cooper shop and the house proper for its dyeing and dry cleaning plant.  The facility was unseen by customers, who dropped their items off at either of two stores, one on West 53nd Street and the other on Columbus Avenue.

Purchasers' Guide and Commercial Register, 1894 (copyright expired)

In 1894 Zaisser Bros. employed a large staff.  Working in the combined buildings were nine men, a teenaged boy, 14 women, and 21 teen girls.  They worked 57 hours throughout the week and another seven on the weekend.

Virgil Thurkauf took over the leases prior to 1897, moving his "silk dyeing factory" into the location.  Next door, at 429 and 431 West 53rd Street was what The New York Times described as "a large four-story brick stable and ice factory."   A fire there on August 3, 1897 "caused great excitement," said the newspaper, which noted that the structure "was completely wrecked." 

The blaze spread to the tenement behind, on West 54th Street, and to the Thurkauf buildings.  The New York Times reported that 433 and 435 West 53rd Street sustained damages of "about $10,000," or around $351,000 today.  

As Zaisser Bros. had done, Virgil Thurkauf employed a significant staff, but surprisingly none were female.  In 1904, it consisted of 19 men and two teenaged boys who worked 60 hours per week.  (The added hours from Monday to Friday made up for the fact that they did not work on the weekends.)

from the collection of the New York Public Library

It was common for tenement dwellers to sleep on fire escapes and rooftops during the hot months.  Behind 433 West 53rd Street was a five-story building where Thomas Lundy and his wife lived.  On July 2, 1904, the New York Sun reported that he "went home last night at 10 o'clock.  He went to the roof, lay down near the edge at the rear and went to sleep.  Some time later he rolled off."

The brick chimney of 433 West 53rd Street was stabilized by a "taut wire cable."  Miraculously, as Lundy plummeted five stories, his "body struck this slanting cable and he was shot swiftly to the roof" of No. 433.  The article said the only injury he sustained was a bruise on his forehead, "caused by his feet colliding with his face."  It concluded, "His wife put him to bed for the rest of the night."

The destroyed ice factory at 429-431 West 53rd Street had been replaced by the Bleaks Dairy Company's four-story brick stable by now.  In an astonishing case of deja vu, it was consumed by a fire that broke out just after midnight on January 2, 1907.  The Annual Report of the Committee on Fire Patrol noted that it spread to 433-435 West 53d Street...occupied entirely by Virgil Thurkauf, as silk dyer."  The Albany, New York newspaper The Argus reported, "The burning of the dyeing establishment was accompanied by explosions of chemicals, rendering greater the danger to the firemen and helping to spread the flames."  The series of fires and subsequent patchwork of repairs resulted in 433 West 53rd Street's being partially clad in brick and in wood.  Somewhat amazingly, the former house remained little changed, outwardly.

The American Silk Journal, August 1912 (copyright expired)

Virgil Thurkauf, who was born in France, had established the firm in 1881.  On April 1914, The American Silk Journal noted that his sons, Virgil, Jr. and William, were now associated with the company.  That year the firm erected a new plant at 438-440 West 54th Street, directly behind and connecting to the two ramshackle buildings.  Astonishingly, the project, which included "all the modern machinery and devices for turning out the best possible work," did not include updating the 53rd Street properties.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

By 1945 the property had been taken over by the city, and that year, on May 18, "the premises known as...433-435 West 53rd Street and 438-440 West 54th Street" were sold at auction.  The quirky relics of Hell's Kitchen's past survived until 1964, when they were demolished for a seven-story residential building.