The Eliza Payne House - 499 Broome Street

photo by Beyond My Ken

Sometime after 1767 an east-west road was laid out in the district which two centuries later would be known as Soho.  It underwent a string of names--Bayard's Lane, Bullock Street, Hevins Street and "Orchard Street West of Broadway"--until finally, in 1806 it was permanently christened Broome Street in honor of the current Lieutenant Governor John Broome.

Around 1825 Alfred S. Pell began construction on similar, upscale houses at Nos. 497 and 499 Broome Street.   Because No. 499 sat on the corner of Laurens Street (renamed West Broadway in 1897) it was the more desirable, with extra light and ventilation.

The three-and-a-half story dwelling was faced in brick and featured incised brownstone lintels and a single centered dormer at the high peaked attic level.  The doorway would, most likely, have been flanked by twin Ionic columns, narrow sidelights and a leaded overlight. 

It is doubtful that Pell ever lived in either house.  An advertisement in the New York Morning Courier in 1829 offered No. 499 for sale.  It became home to the family of Hannah C. Payne.  Known to her friends as Eliza, she was the widow of William Payne.  She had three children, Walter, Cecelia and Hannah.

Tragedy struck in January 1834.  Walter joined a group of "sixty or seventy boys skating," according to the New York Journal, on a nearby pond.  The newspaper estimated the thickness of the ice at about 1-1/2 inches.  A boy on the bank noticed Walter and five other boys standing together about 30 feet from shore.  "While thus engaged, a coloured boy came so swiftly towards them as not to be able to stop himself, but ran against them, and they were all precipitated into fifteen feet of water."

The ice was too thin for onlookers to attempt rushing out to rescue them, so a board was pried from a fence.  One boy was saved by that method.  By the time a boat was pulled from dry dock, all the others were dead.  "Five were taken out of the water soon afterwards, and another next morning two of them brothers, being clasped in each other's arms."  Among the dead was Walter Payne.

Sometime after 1837 Eliza married Jacob Haughwout.  By the early 1840's she had opened the Broome Street Saloon in the ground floor.  It was listed as a "porter house"--a tavern where malt liquor such as porter and food were served.  For several years she had leased the cellar to Andrew W. Twist and his wife, who made their home there.  

Twist, who testified in court in 1845 that he rented the basement from "Hannah E. Paine [sic]," described the house by saying that "the upper part was occupied as a porter house, called the Broome Street Saloon, and kept by Mrs. Haughwout and her two daughters."

At around 3:00 on the morning of June 25, 1845 Twist and his wife were awakened by a banging on the basement door.  The saloon watchman told him the house was on fire.  "I saw the flames and smoke through the roof and third story windows," said Twist.  After the fire was extinguished Twist went to the second floor where it had begun.  On the way up he noticed a suspicious detail.  "I saw shavings on the stair case, spread on the steps," he told investigators later.  He added another possibly disturbing item, "I saw things taken out of the house about 3 or 4 weeks before the fire."

Investigators quickly suspected that the Haughwout family had set the fire.  On July 3 the New York Herald ran the headline "Important Arrest--Arson" and reported "Jacob Haughwout, Eliza Haughwout, alias Hannah C. Payne, Hannah F. Payne and Cecelia Payne" had been "charged with setting fire to the dwelling house."  The newspaper called the alleged crime "this atrocious outrage."  The New-York Tribune paused to describe Hannah and Cecelia as "smart, black-eyed looking girls about 15 and 17 years of age."

The family members were tried separately.  The outcome of the proceedings could not have been more dire.  As the New-York Tribune pointed out, arson was a crime "the penalty of which, on conviction, is death."

Eliza's trial was first, beginning on October 15.  Things did not look good when a fire investigator testified that when fire fighters arrived, "the Haughwouts were all there, the house was fired in six or eight places, the beds were untumbled [i.e., not slept in]" and a claim for the insurance had been immediately filed.  Cornelius V. Anderson of the fire department testified that one of the fires had been set in "shavings in the bed quilt" and insisted "the fire could not have originated in any way except by design."

The hope for the family's attorney was that the all-male jury would not be able to sentence three females, two of them teenagers, to death.  Indeed, the Tribune reported "There was an almost general sentiment expressed by persons examined as Jurors against the taking of life as a punishment."

Despite the overwhelming evidence against them, the Haughwouts walked free.  

In 1848 Cecelia Payne was listed as the proprietor of the saloon.  The family was renting upstairs rooms by the early 1850's, with E. J. Perry, a "colorist," living here in 1852.  That year Eliza rented the entire house.  Her ad in The New York Herald on March 23 offered "A three story house, consisting of twelve rooms, with croton water on each floor."  It was leased by Timothy Kendall and Jesse M. Carter, both of whom moved in and listed the building as a hotel.  The Broome Street Saloon was renamed Carter & Kendall Porter House.

Eliza Haughwout, once again widowed, was back by 1856 when she reappeared in the city directories here.   In 1864, despite having a saloon in her home, she threw herself into the work of the Educational Institute for the Benefit of Colored Adults.  On Christmas Eve 1867 the first Sunday school service for non-white adults was held in the house.  On January 4, 1868 The New York Times praised Eliza, saying "The institution of this school is the praiseworthy result of the labors of a widow lady during the past four years."  The article noted that the neighborhood now had a "population of 2,000 colored people."

Among Eliza's tenants in 1870 were the family of Joseph Melfi, a musician, and Peter Muske, "segarmaker."  The saloon was run by Cornelius Murphy.  One of Melfi's young students went missing in 1870.  He placed an advertisement in The New York Herald on June 8 that read:

$50 reward--Lost, an Italian boy answering to the name Francesco de Rago; he is thirteen years old and plays on the harp.  Any person that can give any information that will lead to his apprehension will receive the above reward by applying at Melfli Bros.

The reward would be equal to $1,000 today.

The following year Murphy was, apparently, eager to get out of the saloon business.  His ad on November 21, 1871 announced "For Sale--The First Class corner liquor store...If not sold by Tuesday will be sold on that day, at 10 1/2 o'clock by William Abbott, Auctioneer."

It was purchased by Andrew Hopke.  But he would not remain for long.  In an article entitled "Foul Food" on April 18, 1872 the New York Daily Tribune reported he was guilty of serving ""unhealthy puddings; and very young veal, too small to be eaten."  The following year the saloon was on the market again.  "For Sale Cheap--The lease, stock and fixtures of a first class corner liquor store."

By now Cecelia had inherited the property.  In 1874 she protested the assessment she was charged for the paving of Broome Street.  Surprisingly, she won that petition.

James J. Rafferty took over the saloon and around the same time the upper floors were converted for business purposes and a three-story extension was added behind.  

Arps combined the house with the three story building at the rear, dating from 1874, in 1921.  A row of windows was punched into the second floor facade at the time.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

Morris Mehesy ran his fur business here in 1875.  To increase the visibility of his operation, he placed a showcase on the sidewalk.  But displaying furs outdoors was a risky proposition.  On December 2, 1875 The New York Herald reported "the showcase in front of the store of Morris Mehes[y], at No. 499 Broome street, was robbed yesterday of a sealskin sacque and muff valued at $35."  It was a significant loss, equal to about $840 today.

Mehesy and Rafferty both remained through 1877.  But the following year both were gone, replaced by L. Schwartz & Co., printers upstairs, and Edward Gross who listed himself as "beer."

Having been owned by the Payne family for nearly half a century, the house and its three story rear extension was sold in March 1879 for $8,460--or about $225,000 today.

Louis Schwartz & Co. continued to operate here for several more years, and in 1883 John Carmody took over the saloon, paying his $75 excise license fee each year through 1897.  The following year John J. Dougan took over its operation.  In the meantime, in 1895 Samuel Cashman's hat and cap factory opened upstairs.  That year he employed four men and one woman.  He remained at least through 1899.

In 1906 Otto L. Arps took over the saloon.  Ten years later he purchased the building, described by the Department of Buildings at the time as a "cafe" on the first floor and "lofts (factory) existing" upstairs.  Arps leased the upper floors to various businesses over the years, including J. Spaulding & Sons, Co., the Square Leather Goods Co., and the U. S. Steel Stamping Company.

The Volstead Act went into effect on January 17, 1920, kicking off Prohibition.  Otto L. Arps ignored the law until he was finally discovered by Prohibition Agents in 1925.  The New York Times reported that the bar had been padlocked and that Arps was forced to close the business for two months as penalty.

In the meantime, in 1921 Otto Arps connected 499 Broome Street internally with the building behind, at 361 West Broadway.  The third floor of that building became the offices of the St. George Society, described by The Evening World as "one of the biggest British charitable organizations in the country."  Leonard D. Langley, its almoner, was at his desk at 2:15 on the afternoon of December 19, 1921 when three young men entered the office, shut the door, and pointed a gun at his head.  The crooks took Langley's watch, stickpin, and money, then stole $185 from the safe.  "I told them that they were dirty, damned scoundrels to rob a charitable institution that helps the hungry and down-and-outs," Langley told a reporter.  In an unexpected twist, a few days later, on Christmas Eve, one of the bandits returned and asked Langley for his forgiveness.  He was locked up.

Three months later Langley's office was visited by four gunmen again.  The New York Herald reported on March 15, 1922 that they "became angry when they found that he had nothing more valuable than a $2 watch.  One fired at him, the bullet grazing Langley's abdomen on the left side and inflicting a slight flesh wound."  The four men fled with the watch.  That was enough for Langley.  On November 18 that year the New York Herald reported that he was relocating his office downtown.

Following the repeal of Prohibition, the long standing tradition of a bar on the ground floor of No. 499 was renewed.  On October 29, 1938 The Advocate reported that the Rocco J. Angelo and Michael R. Libonati had received their liquor license for the Gotham Bar & Grill.

In 1946 Joseph and Lillian Lata purchased the property.  They leased the tavern to proprietors, while operating Lil's Cafe on Hudson Street.  Their upstairs tenant in the 1970s and '80s was filmmaker, producer and artist Hart Perry.

Following Joseph Lata's death in 1965, Lillian continued managing the property.  A disturbing incident occurred in 1970 when, according to local reports, a man, convinced that the bartender was having an affair with his wife, strode in and fatally shot him.  According to a relative of Lillian Lata, police forced her to close the bar.  It remained shuttered until February 1972, when brothers Kenn and Bob Reisdorff leased the ground floor and opened Kenn's Broome Street Bar.

Kenn soon bought out his partner. and ran the bar--now in a neighborhood filled with art galleries and shops--until his death in 2014.  Two patrons signed a new lease and continue running Kenn's Broome Street Bar today.  The property is still owned by descendants of the Latas after more than three-quarters of a century.

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The 1927 Beekman Campanile - 450 East 52nd Street

Prior to 1920 the blocks east of First Avenue above 50th Street were home the Peter Doelger Brewery, decaying rowhouses and tenement buildings.  Fashionable society lived toward the center of Manhattan--around the Madison, Park and Fifth Avenue sections.  But that year wealthy literary agent Elisabeth Marbury commissioned architect Mott Schmidt to transform an old rowhouse at No. 13 Sutton Place into a neo-Georgian residence.   By the mid-1920's Sutton Place had become an exclusive enclave, home to residents like Anne Morgan and Anne Vanderbilt.

In 1926 real estate operator Joseph G. Thomas commissioned Van Wart & Wein to design an upscale apartment building at the end of East 52nd Street overlooking the East River, slightly to the south of Sutton Place.   The 14-floor building was completed the following year--a Jazz Age take on Venetian Gothic.

The two-story base of rough-faced stone reflected traditional elements of Gothic design.  The entrance was recessed within a pointed arched opening, and trefoils and tracery embellished the second floor.  The upper floors were faced in rough-faced brick which gave the impression of age.

There were just sixteen apartments within The Beekman Campanile.  The architects took advantage of the riverside location by including a yacht landing and private club, the Montauk Yacht Club.

The building quickly attracted upper class residents.  Among the first was Ralph Pulitzer, Jr., grandson of publisher Joseph Pulitzer.  His sprawling apartment had an additional occupant following his wedding to Bessie Catherine Aspinwall on June 27, 1929.

Living here at the same time was Leonard Outhwaite and his wife.  The couple maintained a 90-foot schooner, the Kinkajou.  On June 30, 1929, according to The New York Times, the "Outhwaite yacht set sail from the Montauk Yacht Club landing at Fifty-second Street and East River."  The cruise would entail 13,000 miles and last eight months.  It did not go entirely smoothly.  Outhwaite had to take over the handling of the vessel himself after Captain Olaf Berg was tragically drowned near England.

On November 27, 1931 the New York Evening Post reported quietly "Mrs. William K. Dick rented an apartment at 450 East Fifty-second Street."  She was Madeleine Talmadge Force Astor Dick, the widow of John Jacob Astor, who died in the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic, and current wife of millionaire William Karl Dick.   It was no doubt the couple's domestic problems which prompted her taking an apartment alone.  Within two years Madeleine divorced William Dick and quickly married Enzo Fiermonte.

One colorful resident in particular, The New Yorker critic Alexandex Woollcott, may have changed the personality of The Beekman Campanile.  In his 1956 book More in Sorrow, Wolcott Gibbs wrote that after the break-up of the Algonquin Round Table its members visited Woollcott here.

While they no longer knew one another intimately, however, almost all of them kept in pretty close touch with Mr. Woollcott.  His apartment at 450 East Fifty-second Street, which Dorothy Parker in a spasm of rascality had named Wit's End, was a comfortable, untidy garret looking down on the East River, and long after the Round Table and the Thanatopsis Club were dead it was still a hangout for whatever members of the old mob happened to be in town.  Sunday breakfast there lasted practically all day, with Mr. Woollcott in rumpled pajamas and an ancient, rather horrible dressing gown, receiving his guests from a throne in one corner with an air that would have done credit to Queen Victoria.

In the meantime the Mayfair Yacht Club with its stunning river views was a favorite among society.  On October 14, 1932, for instance, The New York Sun reported that "Mrs. James H. Snowden gave a luncheon yesterday at the Mayfield Yacht Club, 450 East Fifty-second street."  Its Marine Room featured an orchestra and dancing.  And alcohol.

On February 1, 1933 The New York Sun reported that the "classy speakeasy" had been raided.  Prohibition agents had been tipped off two weeks earlier by a disgusted patron who objected to paying $1 for a bottle of beer in the tough Depression years.  The article said he felt it "was plain highway robbery and he thought something should be done about it."  Something, indeed, was done.  The manager, a beer delivery man, and fifteen waiters and bartenders were arrested.

The Great Depression had little effect on the residents like the Pulitzers, still here in the 1940's, and wealthy tenants like John Hertz and his family, the Thomas L. Chadbournes (whose chef had previously worked for King Edward VIII), the family of John Louis Zauggs, and Henry Wise Miller and his writer and activist wife, Alice Duer Miller.

Seen as it appeared in May 1930, the pine-paneled library of Henry and Alice Duer Miller was decorated with antique furnishings and paintings.  photo by Samuel H. Gottscho from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

Alice Duer Miller's bedroom was more like a Parisian salon.  photo by Samuel H. Gottscho from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

Perhaps the Beekman Campanile's first truly theatrical resident was Noël Coward, who took the former apartment of Alexander Woollcott.  In 1942 film executive Gustoaf Miesegaes, president of Transfilm, Inc., took a nine-room apartment; and in May 6 the following year actress Ethel Barrymore moved into the former duplex apartment of the recently deceased Alice Duer Miller.

Stage and screen star Ethel Barrymore was theatrical royalty.  from the collection of the Library of Congress.

In 1953 film star Greta Garbo took a fifth floor apartment.  The now-retired actress decorated her home in her personal style, including having an antique Swedish skåp (a painted armoire) dismantled and installed as wall panels in a bedroom.  She personally designed several of the colorful rugs.

The pine paneling in this section of the Garbo apartment matched that of the Miller apartment's library.  photo via 6sqft.com

Already living in the building were some of Garbo's friends, like George Schlee and his fashion designer wife Valentina, and Sir William Stephenson.  Other residents at the time included Clare Boothe and Henry Luce (founder of TIME magazine), H. J. Heinz and his wife (whose apartment had twenty-one rooms), Drue, Rex Harrison, publisher Walter Thayer, and actress Mary Martin.

Garbo installed panels from an antique Swedish armoire on the walls of a guest room.  photo via 6sqft.com

Valentina Schlee designed Garbor's wardrobe and by the mid-1940's George Schlee was her financial adviser.  The trio would sometimes attend social events together; but little-by-little Greta's and George's relationship deepened.  According to Richard Alleman in his New York: The Movie Lover's Guide, Schlee was "her escort, her confidant, and often her traveling companion."  It came to a head when, while Garbo and Schlee had adjoining suites in the Crillon Hotel in Paris, Schlee suffered a fatal heart attack.

Alleman writes "When Garbo discovered that Schlee was dead, she reportedly ran from the hotel and left Valentina to deal with the messy details...Garbo's irresponsible behavior is said to have so angered Valentina that she made it clear that she didn't want the actress to attend her husband's funeral.  The two remained neighbors at 450 East 52nd Street for years thereafter but reportedly never again exchanged a word."

This unusual portrait of Garbo was taken in 1925 by German-American photographer Arnold Genthe from the collection of the Library of Congress

Garbo died on April 15, 1990 leaving an estate estimated at around $200 million.  Her sole heir was her niece, Gray Gustafson Reisfield.  She and her husband, Dr. Donald Reisfield, used the Beekman Campanile apartment as a pied-à-terre until moving in permanently in 2012.  Following Gray Reisfield's death in 2017 the three-bedroom apartment was put on the market for $5.95 million.  Multiple offers came in and it sold later that year for $8.5 million.

The Beekman Campanile--home over the decades to millionaires, celebrities and a speakeasy--has changed little since the glittering Gatsby Era along the East River when it was first opened.

non-credited photographs by the author
many thanks to film historian John Chalupa for suggesting this post

The Belvedere Garage - 250 West 80th Street

James Renwick Dimond, who went professionally by his first initial and middle name, had made a name for himself while still in his early 20's.  Born on February 9, 1880, he joined father's firm, the Architectural Iron Works of New York City, after graduating from Stevens Institute with a degree in engineering.  At the turn of the century he was involved in real estate development (The Record & Guide would later call his significant holdings near Pennsylvania Station "The Dimond Mines").  In 1902 that business and his interesting in the advancement of the automobile came together.

That year he began construction of a three-story structure the type of which New York had never before seen.  In its May 1902 issue the New York Athletic Club Journal reported "The first building to be erected in New York especially for the storage of automobiles will be completed within a few weeks.  It occupies the site at 250 West Eightieth street, and is to be known as a 'garage,' which is the French term for an automobile station."

Faced in beige Roman brick, Dimond's garage took on the familiar configuration of a stable.  A centered, double-doored bay was flanked by a doorway to the left and a window on the other right.  Simple stone bandcourses and an understated metal dentiled cornice were the extent of architectural decoration.

Dimond had already lined up his tenants before construction began.  The main occupant would be the newly-formed automobile firm Padelford & Bell.  The Motor World reported the building would become its "storage station and salesroom."  In the same issue the magazine noted that Banker Bros. were temporarily on West 66th Street, explaining, "As soon as their new quarters at 250 West Eightieth street are completed they will remove to that place."

Padelford & Bell opened in May 1902.  The Horseless Age reported "They can store ninety vehicles.  The place is being equipped with a complete complement of tools for all kinds of repair work...Banker Brothers have an office in this building, which is now the Eastern headquarters for the 'Peerless' machines."

Padelford & Bell was the New York agent for the Columbia electric automobiles and the garage reflected that.  The New-York Tribune noted "The building is well equipped in every way and was built especially for this business.  It has a fully equipped machine shop and electric apparatus in charge of experience workmen."

By May 3, 1903 the firm name was C. L. Bell & Co.  The cost of the car would equal about $135,000 today.  The Automobile May 1903, copyright expired

Within the year changes were made to the management of Padelford & Bell and it became C. L. Bell & Co.  The changes apparently did not work out and by 1904 the firm was no longer listed at the address.

The De Witt Allen-Auto Co. was incorporated in 1904 and moved into the 80th Street garage.  It was run by E. J. Cabot, Thomas D. De Witt and W. A. De Witt.  

The operation had barely gotten off the ground when tragedy struck.  Mike Daly worked as a car washer.  On January 9, 1904 The World reported that he "fell down an elevator shaft to-day in the De Witt Allen Company's automobile repository."  He was killed instantly.  The young man and his wife had a two-year old child.

Like C. L. Bell & Co. had done, De Witt Allen catered to both gasoline and electric powered cars.  A 1908 listing said the garage could accommodate "125 gasolene and 50 electric cars" and handled "repairing; recharging electrics."

At the time, Thomas D. De Witt--despite having a fortune garnered in the De Witt Coal Company and being a member of many clubs, according to The Sun--was temporarily sleeping above the garage.   An intense disagreement had boiled up within the family when his two sons, Thomas and George (who were involved in the automobile business with their father), tried "to induce him to divide his estate, but that he refused," according to The Sun.  

The family rift was so serious that De Witt left their home on West 78th Street early in 1908.  His wife and sons sold the house, moved to New Rochelle, and cut off all contact.

Around August 7, 1909 De Witt became ill.  He notified a friend, actress Ollie Lowe, who realized the seriousness of his condition and arranged an apartment for him on West 104th Street.  She sent a telegram to his family which went unanswered.  De Witt's condition worsened and on August 12 he was taken to Flower hospital where he died the next day.

His son, Thomas, spoke for the family saying that "they would not pay any of the [funeral] expenses" and that Ollie Lowe could do as she liked in the matter.  When a reporter from The Sun called the family and notified them that a friend had arranged to have the body cremated, Thomas replied "Well, it's too late to talk about it, anyway," and hung up.

The untidy shake up in management seems to have been the end of the De Witt Allen Auto Co.  Just over a week later J. Renwick Dimond leased the building to the Mutual Taximeter Cab Company and the Franklin Automobile Company.

The Sun, November 19, 1909 (copyright expired)

In 1913 J. Renwick Dimond got personally involved in the automobile industry.  Motor and Accessory Trade said "Following an irresistible desire to become more closely affiliated with automobile matters," he co-founded the Dimond-Warren Company.  In 1915 a reorganization resulted in a new name, the Dimond-Apperson Motor Car Company.   On January 1, 1916 Chas. E. Miller's Annual Magazine Section reminded its readers "He built one of the first garages in New York City at 250 West Eightieth street."  Interestingly, however, he never made use of that building for his own company.

That the Mutual Taximeter Cab Co. was in trouble in 1916 was evidenced in an advertisement in The Evening Telegram on July 2.  "Taxicabs, with meters; closing out; cash or time."

Dimond sold No. 250 West 80th Street to the Rosales family, which renamed it the Belvedere.  They operated another location in the Bronx until selling it in the summer of 1920.

The Evening World, August 7, 1922 (copyright expired)

A bizarre incident occurred on the night of November 6, 1939.  As he re-positioned automobiles, the Belvedere's night foreman, Joseph Reyes, had to temporarily park several on the street.  The Sun reported "One was a large sedan belonging to Harold Aranow, a merchant tailor, of 90 Riverside Drive."  Only a few minutes later he "was astonished" to see flames and smoke shooting from the rear of the car.

The original configuration of the ground floor is evident in this photo of about 1941.  Portable gasoline pumps sit on the sidewalk outside.  via the NYC Dept. of Records & Information Services

Reyes grabbed a fire extinguisher and put out the fire.  Then looking up the street he saw another car ablaze near West End Avenue.  He turned in a fire alarm and just as the responding firefighters extinguished that fire, another car around the corner burst into flames.  A fourth car fire broke out minutes later on West End Avenue.   Before he could set another automobile on fire the arsonist was caught by an apartment building porter "who brought him down in a flying tackle after a short chase."  Ironically Morris Brietman made his living as a chauffeur.

Once considered ground-breaking, the garage drew little attention over the subsequent decades.  In 1999 it was joined internally with Nos. 2231-2239 Broadway.

many thanks to reader Suzanne Wray for suggesting this post

The Lost Beinhauer Farm -- Fifth Avenue and 51st Street

The farm as it appeared when J. J. Sawyer created this painting in  1833.  Valentine's Manual of the City of New York, 1919 (copyright expired)

Born in Marburg, Germany, Frederick Beinhauer came to America in the latter part of the 18th century.  According to his great grandson, William S. M. Silber, "He was practically penniless when he reached this country, but he cast around to see what opportunity the New World afforded him."  He found work on several vegetable farms in Brooklyn while taking note of how his employers sold their goods.  Silber wrote, "with characteristic German thrift, [he] diligently accumulated his savings for bolder flights."

Following the end of the American Revolution land formerly owned by the Crown was offered for sale or lease.  Beinhauer initially leased a large portion of "The New York Common Lands" for his "garden farm."  It occupied much of what is now the site of the New York Public Library and Bryant Park.  Shortly afterward he married Wilhelmina Christina Zeiss, daughter of the prominent physician and surgeon William Zeiss.  Wilhelmina was not a typical farm wife.  She had been educated in Europe and was "esteemed a woman of marked talent and ability."

In 1800 Beinhauer gave up the lease and acquired a parcel of land slightly north, facing what would be Fifth Avenue.  There were already some farm buildings on the land from the previous owner.  He paid the city 430 pounds for the land, or about $31,000 in today's money.  The purchase came with an odd stipulation somehow still in effect from Colonial days.  Beinhauer was obligated to pay an annual quit-rent "of four bushels of good, merchantable wheat on the first day of May in each and every year."  And he dutifully did so until 1816 with the city withdrew the conditions "by the payment of $133.33."

After a succession of purchases, in 1813 Beinhauer's farm engulfed what roughly would become 51st Street to 53rd Street, from Fifth to Sixth Avenue.  From here each day the "market wagon" transported produce downtown to the Washington Market and the "Fly" Market.  The once penniless German immigrant was now a notable competitor of the Brooklyn and New Jersey produce farmers.

Frederick and Wilhemina Beinhauer's lives in the rural district that would become bustling Midtown seems to have been quiet ones.  Devout Lutherans, they would have had to travel some distance to worship in a German language church.  But, according to William Silberg decades later in Valentine's Manual of the City of New York, "They regularly rode in the old family gig to and from their homestead to service on Sunday...and stopped at the homes of their children in turn on the way home for the noonday meal of the rest day."

Wilhemina Beinhauer died in 1829 and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery.  Three years later a cholera epidemic swept over Manhattan, indiscriminately taking the lives of the rich and the poor.  Being so far north of the city, it most likely seemed to Frederick Beinhauer that he was safe.  But on August 23, 1832 he showed symptoms of the disease.  He died the same day and was buried next to his wife.

The Beinhauer farm was sold in 1834 in parcels--grossing $21,000.  The section that included the Beinhauer homestead--the Fifth Avenue blockfront from 51st to 52nd Streets, was purchased by Ernest Keyser.  He had started out as a butcher and then made a fortune as what The Sun termed an "ice speculator."   The Market Book, in 1862, recalled that he was "one of the pioneers in the ice-trade in this city; through hot and cold, night and day, he was ever busy at work, and by promptness and frugality, he has filled his 'cream-pots' (as he called his earnings) full to overflowing."

Keyser's wife was the former Mary Valleau.  Despite their wealth, the couple apparently resided contentedly in the old Beinhauer farmhouse.  They might have been more contented had the advance of the city not crept nearer and nearer to their property.  Fifth Avenue, also known as the Middle Road, was opened (although it would not be paved for many years to come) and in 1846 the city granted the block directly across from the Keyser property, from 51st and 52nd Street and Fifth to Madison Avenues, to the Catholic Church as the site for the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum.  

The sudden increase in traffic around his property seems to have annoyed Keyser and in June 1842 he petitioned the Board of Aldermen "for the regulation of the Middle Road, or Fifth Avenue."

Keyser retired in 1844, but continued his work in politics.  He was an active member of the Democratic Whigs and participated in the functions of the Seventeenth Ward meetings.

A descendant, Lottie G. Keyser, created this charming drawing of the property from memory in 1900.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

It seems that Ernest and Mary went abroad or to the country in 1846.  An advertisement appeared in the New-York Daily Tribune on August 29 offering "To Let--A House in Fifth-avenue, between 51st-st. and 52d-st.  Said house contains five large rooms and three bedrooms, with barn attached and garden.  Inquire of Ernest Keyser."

On August 15, 1858 the cornerstone was laid for the imposing marble St. Patrick's Cathedral on the block south of the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum.  The area directly around Keyser's formerly tranquil suburban farm was becoming noticeably less so.  He made his dissatisfaction known in May the following year when the Board of Aldermen was presented with the "Remonstrance of Ernest Keyser, against widening sidewalks in Fifth Avenue."

Mary Keyser died on January 19, 1868 at the age of 77.  The New York Herald announced her funeral  would be held two days later "from her late residence, Fifth avenue, corner of Fifty-first street."

At the time of Mary's death the wooden collection of farm buildings was quickly becoming an anachronism as mansions began appearing on the avenue.  A year earlier Mary Mason Jones had begun construction of her massive marble home on the east side of Fifth Avenue between 57th and 58th Streets and railroad mogul and financier Henry Keep's impressive mansion was just a little more than two blocks to the south of the Keyser property, at No. 601 Fifth Avenue.

Seven months after his wife's death, Ernest Keyser sold the former farm to Henry Keep.  The Stockholder reported "Mr. Henry Keep, one of the most wealthy railroad men in the United States, has bought two hundred feet square on Fifth avenue and West Fifty-first and Fifty-second sts., on which he proposes to erect a magnificent art gallery at a cost of a million and a half dollars."

That art gallery was not for Keep's personal use.  He had offered $1.5 million (more in the neighborhood of $27.8 million today) to anyone willing to establish a National Academy of Art.  He would not live to see his project through, however.  He became ill early in 1869 and he died on July 30 that year.

Keep's estate was estimated at nearly $77.5 million in today's dollars.  In addition to her other bequests, his wife, the former Emma A. Woodruff, inherited "the twelve lots of land situated on Fifth avenue, on the westerly side thereof, and on Fifty-first and Fifty-second Streets...being the premises purchased by me of Ernest Keyser, to have and to hold."

If Henry Keep had assumed his wife would forge ahead with his plans for a National Academy of Art, he was mistaken.  She did embark on other charitable projects, like her gift of $100,000 to the new hospital building of the New York Ophthalmic Hospital in 1874 and the erection of the Keep Memorial Home for Old Ladies in Watertown, New York.

On January 8, 1874 she married Judge William Schley of Savannah, Georgia.  The couple remained in the Keep mansion as other palaces rose around it.  Years later the New-York Tribune would remember "When Mr. and Mrs. Keep moved to their new brownstone house, at No. 601 Fifth-ave, it was the only house of any pretensions in Fifth-ave. above Forty-second-st."  But that was certainly not the case now.

In 1878 Emma sold the former Beinhauer property--with its wooden farm buildings still standing--to William Henry Vanderbilt.  The barn and another large structure were first to go, leaving the house the last of the improbably surviving Colonial relics.  And then it, too, was demolished to make way for Vanderbilt's "Triple Palace," which would house himself and his wife, Louisa, and their unmarried daughters Emily and Margaret.

from the collection of the New-York Historical Society

In 1919 William Silbert oriented modern readers regarding the location of the Beinhauer buildings: "The dwelling house stood at a point that was exactly in front of the court that formerly divided the two buildings, and it remained standing after all the other farm buildings had been removed, and until the contractors began excavating for these modern palatial residences."  The Vanderbilt mansions were demolished in 1945.

photograph by the author

Nicholas Whyte's 1869 393 Broadway

In 1868 Nicholas Whyte opened his architectural practice in New York City.  As early as the 1840's the two-story structure at No. 393 Broadway had been used for commercial purposes, home to Abraham Kastor's fancy goods store.  Among Whyte's first commissions came from William Montrose who hired him to design a replacement loft and store building on the site of that vintage structure.  Whyte's replacement would reflect the modern, post Civil War era that was taking over this section of Broadway.

Completed in 1869 the 25-foot wide building incorporated two relatively new trends--the French Second Empire style which was sweeping Europe at the time and a cast iron facade.  Like most storefronts of the period it featured fluted Corinthian columns.  The upper section was divided into two parts by a molded cornice above the third floor.  Blind balustrades filled the spandrels between the floors of each section and engaged columns separated the openings.

The building became home to the dry goods business of Holzinger & Bruckheimer which had operated for years at No. 112 Chambers Street.  The firm was marginally entangled in an unspeakable tragedy in 1877 that centered around its porter, 40-year old Henry Hausmann.

Born in Germany, he lived with his wife of 11 years and three children in a tenement at No. 19 Chrystie Street.  The two boys, John and Adam, were 9 and 4 years old respectively, and their sister Martha was "a bright little girl of six years," according to The New York Herald.   Two other children had died in childhood.

Hausmann had worked for Holzinger & Bruckheimer since 1871.  His job was menial, consisting of janitorial duties and other tasks as needed.  According to him, it was at about the same time that his wife began drinking.  The New York Herald described her as "a cheerful, comely but, said to be, excessively careless woman, indisposed to attend to any domestic duty, and with a mind frivolous and unsettled."  Although she repeatedly promised Hausmann that she would reform, she "was so addicted to liquor that she neglected her household duties and made her home wretched."

The newspaper explained that he "has had, time and again, occasion to complain of her neglect of himself and the children.  Meals have not been prepared, the house has been in disorder and no care has been take to make the place homelike."  And his patience was further tested when he suspected his wife of carrying on an affair with Oscar Hobenstein.  

When Hausmann returned home on November 12, 1877 his wife was drunk, there was no fire in the stove and no meal prepared.  He asked why she had still not done the washing, which had laid in the basket for two weeks.  She said she had asked Oscar Hobenstein over that afternoon to install a pulley for the clothesline, but he was able to get only one done.  It was the last straw for Hausmann.

He went downstairs to the saloon and brought back two pints of beer.  He poured her a glass, "telling her at the same time that from that [time] forth they would see each other no more."  She assumed that, again, he was threatening to leave her and taunted him.  Hausmann sat in silence for a while, and then stood up giving "the woman a furious glance," and walked into the bedroom where the children were.  Mrs. Hausmann heard the crack of a pistol shot and Martha's cry "Mama!"  She rushed to the door to see blood pouring from the girl's chest.  As she grabbed up the girl and rushed from the room another shot rang out.  And then a third.

Before Mrs. Hausmann could return to the room there were two more shots "followed by a heavy fall upon the floor inside."  Hausmann had fired two shots into his own chest.  Martha died minutes later and Adam survived only until the next morning.  John and his father were taken to the Chambers Street Hospital where Hausmann gave his deathbed explanation.  "I shot the children because I did not want them to suffer after I had passed away, for I knew very well that she would not care for them, and I wanted to take them with me."

It was not the end of the pitiful story.  Little John survived, but two years later The New York Herald reported "This terrible lesson had no effect on the wretched mother, who continued in her career of dissipation."  She and Oscar Hobenstein (whom the newspaper frankly called "a miserable tramp") moved in together.  Upon the death of John's grandfather in Germany, he began receiving an annuity of $1,000 (about $26,000 today).  But he never saw the money.  Instead it "furnished means for a continued career of dissipation to the guilty pair."  That lasted until the first week of November 1879 when John's mother swallowed poison.  

According to The Herald, "Hobenstein's supply of rum thus was cut off and he began to shift for himself."  He abandoned the boy and died homeless a week later.  What became of the now 11-year old John is unknown.

Catherine Lorillard Spencer owned No. 393 Broadway at the time.  Following her death in 1882 it was transferred to Lorillard Spencer, Jr. and his wife, Caroline.  But somewhat surprisingly, it was not an inheritance.  He paid the estate $115,000 for the property, or just under $3 million today.  

Spencer would soon have to find new tenants.  In 1883 Holzinger & Bruckheimer filed for bankruptcy after decades in business.   The building became home to firms like Richman, Schmidt & Wolf, cloak manufacturers, and Puffer & Sons' Mfg. Co., makers of soda fountain fixtures.

On December 12, 1890 the Spencers sold No. 393 to John W. Love.  The price, $125,000, gave the couple a tidy profit.  The ground floor became one of two locations of the Eugene P. Peyser menswear store.  

The sale price of the $24 overcoat in this 1894 advertisement would be equal to about $725 today.  The Evening World, December 7, 1894 (copyright expired)

After Puffer & Sons' Mfg. Co. was absorbed into the American Soda Fountain Co. in March 1891 the firm left No. 393.  

In November 1898 Hall's Safes placed understated ads in city newspapers that read simply "New Store, New Stock  393 Broadway."  Headquartered in Cincinnati, the firm would remain in the building for decades.  It may have been the firm's heavy products that prompted John W. Love to install a new elevator shaft in 1901.

Sharing the building with Hall's Safes in 1906 were Ch. Weiss, a musical instrument firm; Smith & Angell, dry goods; A. B. Cohen, hosiery dealers;  and the upholstery firm of Eastern Mfg. Co.

Ch. Weiss was a most interesting tenant.  The firm manufactured hitherto unheard of instruments which it promised parents would be easily learned by their children.  An ad for the Pipeolion, for instance, said "any child who can count can learn to play" it.  It was touted as being able to mimic instruments ranging from the cornet to the pipe organ.

New-York Tribune, September 1, 1906 (copyright expired)

New-York Tribune, September 7, 1907 (copyright expired)

Despite its somewhat quirky products, Ch. Weiss would stay on in the building at least through 1912.  In the post World War I years import and export firms of Silva, Bussenius & Co., Teja & Alonso, and Szel Import & Export Co. moved in.  The Hall Safe company, renamed Hall-Marvin Co., was still here in the 1930's.

The family of John Love retained possession of the building until December 1941.  In reporting on the sale The New York Times mentioned "The sellers had held the property for more than half a century."  At mid century the Norwalk Lock Co. was among the tenants, carrying on the tradition set by Hall Safe Co. in 1898.

The personality of Broadway had greatly changed by the turn of the century.  The sprawling gallery space called the Supermarket was in the building by 2015.

It was about the same time that communications agency Exposure America converted the ground floor to an event space.  It was later taken over by musician Dotan Negrin who marketed it as 393 NYC, a venue for pop-ups.  Here artist Jerkface staged an exhibition and the Herschel Supply Co. and Malin & Goetz opened short-term shops.

photograph by the author

The Capt. Jacob Miller House - 113 East 30th Street

The family of Edgar Henry Richards lived at No. 113 East 30th Street by the mid-1870's.  His house was one of a row built about two decades earlier in the Anglo-Italianate style.  Instead of the high stoop appearing throughout the city, these 19-foot wide homes had short stoop of just five steps.  Above their rusticated bases were three stories of planar brownstone.  The elliptically arched upper openings sat on molded sills supported by brackets.   Each house wore an arched pediment, like a diadem, above the bracketed cornice.

Born on March 20, 1811, Richards was described by The Sun as a "wealthy retired merchant."  He had married Mary King in 1856 and the couple had two sons, James Gore King Richards, born in 1859, and Frederick Gore King Richards, who arrived in 1863.

Mary was one of eleven children of James Gore King and the former Sarah Rogers Gracie.  Her father had served in Congress in 1849 to 1851, had been president of the Erie Railroad, and founded the banking firm now named James G. King's Sons.  Her mother was the daughter of Archibald Gracie (whose summer estate is now New York City's mayoral mansion).

It was only natural that the Richards family did their banking through James G. King's Sons.  But that resulted in one awkward intra-family situation in 1877.  On Friday evening, February 16, Mary's brother, Frederick, stopped by the 30th Street house to make sure that it had been Edgar who removed one of his safe deposit boxes from the bank vault.  The box contained securities worth approximately $4 million today.

One can imagine the fumbling for an explanation Frederick experienced when he was told that neither Edgar nor Mary had removed the box.

The Sun called the caper "one of the most daring and mysterious sneak robberies known to the police" and said "there is not the slightest clue to show who committed the theft."  Rather astonishingly, Frederick King attempted to deflect blame onto Richards, telling reporters "when Mr. Richards left the boxes at the banking house he did not inform the firm that they contained valuables.  If he had done so they would have been placed where it would have been impossible for thieves to have got at them."  Luckily for Richards, according to The Sun, "The securities were all registered, and of no use except to the owners."

Mary King Richards died in 1890 at the age of 74.   The following year James married Alice Haliburton King, daughter of Lt. Colonel Cornelius Low King (and no relation to his mother's family).  The newlyweds remained in the 30th Street house with elderly Edgar.

Two more Richards funerals would held in the house.  On July 18, 1892 friends and family assembled for the service for Frederick Gore Richards, who died suddenly at just 30 years old.  And two years later, on August 4, 1894, Edgar Henry Richards died at the age of 83.

In 1895 James sold his childhood home to Commander Jacob William Miller and his wife, the former Katherine Wise.  The couple had three children, 20-year old Henry Wise Miller, 17-year old Dorothea, and 15-year old Charlotte Everett.

An 1867 graduate of the Annapolis Naval Academy, Miller's fortune came from his position as vice-president of the St. Louis, Fort Scott and Wichita Railroad Company and, after 1886, as general manager of the Providence and Stonington Steamship Company.

But it was for his military service that he was best known.  He was among the original members of the Naval Reserve Association of New York and now served as Commander of the First Naval Battalion of the New York Naval Militia.

Shortly after moving into No. 113 the family had a terrifying brush with disaster.  On November 8, 1896 The New York Press entitled an article "Typhoid Fever Is Carrying Off The Four Hundred" and reported that the disease had targeted Manhattan's wealthiest families.  "Half a dozen families have been assailed, and in some cases two and three members have been prostrated.  There have been several deaths."

It noted "The two children of J. W. Miller of No. 113 East Thirtieth street were taken ill of the fever in the summer."  They had thankfully both recovered by the time of the article.

In fact, Dorothea's coming-out took place that season.  On November 23 The Evening Telegram announced that "Mrs. J. W. Miller, of No. 113 East Thirtieth street, will give a tea this afternoon to introduce her daughter, Miss Dorothea M. Miller."

At the time her father was experiencing difficulties with his officers.  Finally, on June 11, 1897 The New York Times reported that he had stepped down.  "The resignation is no surprise to the members of the battalion, who have criticized him for not being sufficiently painstaking."  An anonymous friend came to his defense, saying "There is no money in the position, and Commander Miller's services and attentions to the battalion have been purely gratuitous."

There seems to have been more behind the resignation, however.  Just a month later, on July 16, The Times reported "Gov. Black has appointed Jacob William Miller of New York Captain of the Naval Militia of the State."

Because of his position, it was not always Katherine who was responsible for the entertainments in the 30th Street house.  On February 20, 1898, for instance, The New York Times reported "Capt. Jacob W. Miller, commander of the Naval Brigade of New York, gave a dinner party at his home, 113 East Thirtieth Street last night."

The Millers' summer home, Buena Vista, was in Bar Harbor, Maine.  They frequented other fashionable resorts, as well.  On September 1, 1902, for instance, The New York Herald reported that "Mr. and Mrs. Jacob W. Miller and family, of No. 113 East Thirtieth street, are spending a few weeks at Newport."

Captain Jacob W. Miller, Biographical Sketches of Distinguished Officers of the Army and Navy, 1905 (copyright expired)

Henry was not with them on that visit.  Two years after he graduating from Harvard in 1897, he had married Alice Duer.  The families did spent time together in the summer seasons, however.  On July 8, 1903 The New York Herald noted "Mr. and Mrs. Jacob W. Miller and the Misses Miller...are at their summer residence, Buena Vista" and added "Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wise Miller will spend the summer with Mr. and Mrs. Miller."

Charlotte was married on June 16, 1906 to Robert Bonner Bowler.  The following year, on September 20, Dorothea married James Otis Post.

Jacob and Katherine lived quietly on in the 30th Street house.  On March 6, 1918 Jacob caught a cold.  It rapidly worsened to pneumonia and he died in the house two days later.

Katherine Wise Miller went on to be a recognized author.   She died on October 5, 1940 at the age of 86.  

The 30th Street house was used by the Society for the Relief of Half Orphan and Destitute Children until 1948, when it was purchased by the American Field Service.  On June 30 The New York Times reported that "After extensive alterations" the house would be used as the group's headquarters and for "its International Scholarship Program."

The non-denominational American Field Service was organized during World War I as a volunteer ambulance corps.  During the second World War, according to The New York Times in 1946, it "served as a volunteer ambulance corps as long as there was a wounded soldier to transport."  Now that the war was over, "the voluntary services it proposes to do for peace and good international relations is as brave and useful as the work it performed under enemy fire."

The American Field Service sold No. 113 in November 1959, although it remained in the location at least through 1961.  It then became home to the First Zen Institute of America, Inc.  Founded in 1930, it was the first of five Zen centers in the city by 1977.  The Institute remains in the house, which (other than an unnecessary coat of blue-gray paint) looks much as it did when millionaire Edgar Henry Richardson's bank box was stolen.

photographs by the author