The Lost Isaac Stern Mansion - 858 Fifth Avenue

 

The figure leaning on the areaway wall provides proportion to the massive home.  American Architect & Building News, April 7, 1900 (copyright expired)

On October 13, 1894 the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that in the first three-quarters of that year plans had been filed for 13 mansions on the Upper East Side at a total estimated cost of $2.13 million.  Within the list was "Isaac Stern's house, 5th avenue and 67th street, $150,000."  That amount would equal about $4.65 million today.

The department store mogul (he was among the three founders and the senior member of Stern Brothers on West 23rd Street) had hired the architectural firm of Schickel & Ditmars to design his residence.  They produced a striking 55-foot-wide Beaux Arts style palace faced in Indiana limestone that clearly announced its owner's wealth and position.

A wide staircase rose to the arched entrance within the rusticated base.  Directly above was a bowed oriel that provided a delightful stone-railed balcony to the columned loggia of the third floor.  The lintels and pediments of the upper openings were elaborately carved, as was the frieze that disguised the attic level.

The interiors were decorated by William Baumgarten & Company, who had earlier been responsible for William Kissam Vanderbilt's "Petite Chateau" on Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street.  Baumgarten brought the French motif inside.  Lena M. Cooper, writing in Architects' and Builders' Magazine, noted that the first floor salon "is in the later prior of the Louis Quinze style, in delicate shades of green."  She deemed it "very effective and dainty."  Here the panels of the doors were mirrored, 18th century paintings decorated the walls, and the fireplace mantel was "peach flower marble, with the typical scrolls, [and] finishing it [are] busts of women coiffed pompadour style, with aigrets, etc."

The reception room, or first floor salon.  Architects' & Builders' Magazine, July, 1902 (copyright expired)

The entrance hall.  Architects' & Builders' Magazine, July, 1902 (copyright expired)

The dining room, Cooper continued, "is one of superb proportions and rich colorings, carried out in Louis Quatorze style."  The "magnificent" ceiling panel was executed by Gabriel Ferier of Paris.  The room was paneled in dark oak, its carvings gilded to resemble bronze.  A 16th century tapestry hung in this room.

The upper stair landing.  Architects' & Builders' Magazine, July, 1902 (copyright expired)

Stern's library, which spanned nearly the entire width of the second floor overlooking Fifth Avenue, was in the Francis I style.  "The furnishings chose for comfort make this room most homelike and interesting," said Cooper.  "Most of Mr. Stern's collection of paintings, comprising examples of the modern French and German schools are hung here."

Two views of the "homelike" library.  Architects' & Builders' Magazine, July, 1902 (copyright expired)

Upstairs, the Sterns' bedrooms were in the Louis XV style.  Virginia Stern's suite of furniture was especially notable.  It was among the last works of Joseph-Emmanuel Zwiener, one of the 19th century's leading cabinetmakers whose clients included King Ludwig II of Bavaria and William II, King of Prussia.

When Isaac and Virginia Michels Stern celebrated their 18th anniversary on March 25, 1898 with a musicale, the Standard Union noted, "The ballroom of the residence, a pure copy of the Louise XVI time, in white and gold, was furnished for the occasion with a platform, and here Josef Hofmann and the Kneisel Quartet...gave selections of music."  The musicale was only the beginning.  Afterward supper was served, "the small tables being arranged in the dining room and hallways and in the Japanese smoking room."  After that was "informal" dancing.

The anniversary party was held in this room.  Architects' & Builders' Magazine, July, 1902 (copyright expired)

The couple had two daughters, May Valentine and Lucille Michels, and a son, Robert B.   The first to wed was Mary, who was married to Arthur Harold Haho in the mansion on April 28, 1904.  It was an unexpectedly understated affair.  The Globe and Commercial Advertiser reported, "The witnesses of the ceremony will be few, but a large reception is to follow."

A much more elaborate wedding took place seven months later when Lucile was married to Gustav A. Wertheim on November 24, 1904.  The groom was 28 years old and the bride 20.  The New York Times reported, "The ceremony was performed in the large main hall, the walls of which were hung and banked with white roses, chrysanthemums, ferns and vines."  

As was common, a wedding breakfast (they were not "breakfasts" as we use the term today) was served after the ceremony.  It was held in the picture gallery.  The New York Times added, "The whole house was decorated with quantities of flowers.  The walls beside the wide, winding marble stairway were hung with trails of red Liberty roses and smilax."  Even the exterior was decorated, the outside staircase banked on each side with pots of yellow and white chrysanthemums and palms.

In April 1906, almost immediately after the San Francisco earthquake and fire, William Jackson Dingee purchased the Stern mansion.  Dingee was among the largest real estate owners in Oakland, California.  

On May 2, 1909 the New-York Tribune reported Dingee had sold the residence to the City Investing Company, which "quickly resold" it to Thomas Fortune Ryan.  In reporting on the sale, The New York Times said, "The house, generally speaking, comes within the class of 'million-dollar' mansions...Sitting between Sixty-seventh and Sixty-eighth Streets, Mr. Ryan's new home will be in the heart of the fashionable upper Fifth Avenue colony."  The article added that the mansion "has long been famous for the magnificence of its interior."

Ryan had made his massive fortune in tobacco, insurance and surface railroads.  He and his wife, the former Ida Mary Barry, had seven children.   After being in the mansion a year, Ryan purchased the art gallery adjoining the Charles T. Yerkes house next door.  (Yerkes, who had erected it in 1904, died the following year.)  The Binghamton, New York newspaper the Press and Sun-Bulletin reported, "It is understood that Mr. Ryan intends to tear down the long, low brownstone building...transforming the site into a garden."

It was not the only purchase Ryan made to provide more elbow room.  He purchased the house at 3 East 67th Street and demolished it "so as to protect the light of his home," explained The New York Times.   As it turned out, that vacant lot became more useful than providing light.  On September 12, 1912 The New York Times reported that Ryan had commissioned the esteemed architectural firm of Carrere and Hastings to erect a art gallery on the site.

"The addition will be two stories high and will have a handsome façade of marble in ornamental design with a loggia above the ground floor adorned with two massive Ionic columns, topped with a bronze cornice and a corrugated tile mansard roof," said the article.  The building, which cost $100,000, was to house "Mr. Ryan's collection of paintings and art treasures," as well as private offices for himself and his secretary, a small conservatory.  Thomas Fortune Ryan was an ardent Roman Catholic.  There was also a private chapel decorated by artist James Wall Finn.

Yet another upgrade Ryan did to the Stern mansion was the replacement of the stone-balustraded areaway railing with one of bronze.  It proved to be a frustrating decision when the railing became a tempting target for young vandals.  On April 25, 1913 the Star-Gazette reported that passersby noticed two 16-year-old boys "at work with a hammer and chisel and pocketing bronze bits as they broke them off."  The boys were arrested, but Assistant District Attorney Follette said that "in the last three years over $2,000 worth of bronze railing had been stolen from the Ryan home."

On Ryan's 66th birthday, October 17, 1917, Ida suffered a fatal heart attack.  Society was understandably shocked when he married Mary Townsend Lord Cuyler 12 days later.  The Ryans' other homes were Oak Ridge, in Virginia, a country estate in Suffern, New York, and a residence in Washington D.C.

Thomas Ryan died on November 23, 1928, the tenth wealthiest man in America at the time.  The New York Times remarked, "In a list of the half dozen greatest financiers in the history of this country, Thomas Fortune Ryan's name would rank near the top."  The Press and Sun-Bulletin reported, "The financier's fortune was variously estimated at from $300,000,000 to $500,000,000."

The funeral was held in the Fifth Avenue mansion on November 26, followed by a mass in the Church of St. Jean Baptiste which Ryan had built.  Allan A. Ryan had not spoken to his father since his marriage to Mary.  He was in Europe at the time, but was on his way home.  Also absent from the funeral was Mary Ryan.  The New York Times reported, "She was too ill to leave her home in Oak Ridge, Va."

Mary Cuyler Ryan died at the Oak Ridge estate on July 3, 1937.   The following year, in February, an auction of the Ryan furniture and artwork was held at the Plaza Art Galleries.  The extensive collection took several days to sell.

Architects' & Builders' Magazine, July, 1902 (copyright expired)

The Stern-Ryan mansion next became home to Ferdinand M. Linsler and his wife, Elizabeth Doring Linsler.  Born in Germany, Linsler was a "well-known real estate agent," according to The Times Record.  Although he had operated his business from Midtown, he now moved his office into the mansion.  He and Elizabeth had two daughters, Florence and Emma, and a son, Ferdinand A.

The Stern-Ryan house and the George Gould mansion next door would survive until 1961.  Photograph by Bryon Company, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

Linsler died in 1940.  Ferdinand lived on with his mother at 858 Fifth Avenue.  A bachelor, he died in the mansion on July 19, 1948.  Elizabeth died the following year.  Her funeral was held in the house on October 22, 1949.

In 1949 the mansion and the former George J. Gould residence were demolished to make away for two 10-story apartment buildings designed by Robert L. Bien.

photo Cityrealty.com

LaptrinhX.com has no authorization to reuse the content of this blog

The Benjamin W. C. Massett House - 310 West 20th Street

 

By the early 1850's the block of West 20th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues was lined with comfortable brick- or brownstone-faced homes.  The three-story house at 109 West 20th Street (renumbered 310 in 1868) was home to the Massett family.  At 25-feet-wide, it was intended for a well-to-do family and its floor-to-ceiling parlor windows and elliptically arched third floor windows (the cutting edge in domestic fashion) reflected that.

Benjamin W. Carey Massett was born in England in 1817.  He had arrived in the United States around 1843.  That same year he and his wife, the former Harriett Hart, had their only son, William Carey. 

An educator, in 1851 Massett co-founder the Massett & VillePlait's School.  An advertisement for the school in September 1859 read:

Messrs. Massett & Villeplait's Classical, English and French School--Eighth Year--No. 1,057 Broadway, between 29th and 30th sts., for the instruction personally by them of twenty-five boys, in the Latin, Greek and French Languages, Mathemetics, English and English Literature, with special reference to college or commerce...The instruction is individual, thorough, complete, systematic, disciplinarian and philosophical.  Mr. Massett, having returned from Europe, can be seen at the School till noonday, or at his residence, No. 109 West 20th-st., after 3 P.M.

Living with the family, at least by 1859, was Benjamin's brother, Stephen Massett.  He had taken a much different career path than his brother and was well-known nationally as a songwriter and singer.  

Interestingly, the brothers worked together in at least one instance.  In 1853 sheet music for "I'll Look for Thee, Mary" was published with an illustration of Stephen Massett.  He had composed the music and Benjamin had written the lyrics.

Stephen Massett, from the collection of The Huntington Library

In 1858 Stephen made a world tour.  The American did not especially impress the critic of the London Herald, who wrote on  April 27, 1858:

Mr. Stephen Massett, I hear, leaves in the next steamer for New York, with a view to a circuit of the entire Union, when he will give his 'Reminiscence of Travels in many Lands' (introducing appropriate warblettes--that is, songs--for each clime), in which he has been so successful in 'many lands.'  Mr. Massett, it appears--vide the correspondence of the 'Thunderer'--had a very narrow escape of getting his throat cut when among the mutinous sepoys [Indian soldiers serving under the British].  No doubt, as Mr. Massett cannot rightly phlebotomize his wind pipe, he will illustrate the event by some gurgling roulades.

His "circuit of the entire Union" seems to have gone more smoothly.  On February 3, 1859 the New York Herald reported, "Mr. Stephen Massett is in Richmond, Virginia, where his entertainment of 'Song and Chit-Chat' has made quite a sensation."

The outbreak of what Northerners called the War of the Rebellion changed the lives of the Massett family forever.  William Cary, whom The Buffalo Commercial described as "a noble youth...of high scholarly acquirements," had graduated from Columbia University and was in China at the time, "engaged in mercantile pursuits."  

Young William rushed home to join the 61st Regiment of the New York Volunteers.  Within nine months he had attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel.  On June 1, 1862 he led his unit at the battle of Fair Oaks, near Richmond Virginia.  He was killed in action at the age of 23.  His body was brought home with another Manhattan soldier, killed in the same battle, and they were given a double funeral in St. Thomas' Church on Houston Street.

The Buffalo Commercial wrote, "The death of his brave son, so far from disheartening [Benjamin] Massett, only served to fire his heart with greater enthusiasm and increased loyalty.

Despite his age (he was 45 years old) Benjamin joined the Union Army on November 26, 1862.  One can imagine Harriett's pleas with her husband to stay home after she had just lost her only son to the war.  But, according to The Buffalo Commercial later, "on every occasion and under all circumstances, [he] exhibited the utmost loyalty, declaring his desire to take an active personal share in the great struggle."  He was given the rank of Major of Cavalry.  

Eight months later Harriett's worst fears came true.  On July 31, 1863 the New-York Tribune reported, "The telegraph has briefly announced the death of Major Massett, at Memphis."  The article said, "Throwing his whole soul into the good work, he spared neither body nor mind in the faithful performance of his duties, and died, as he had lived, true, faithful, loyal."

The father and son were buried next to one another in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn.  Harriett remained in the West 20th Street house, leasing one room for additional income.   An advertisement in 1862 described "A furnished back parlor on the first floor to let to a gentleman and wife or to a single lady, with privilege of cooking in the basement."

Stephen Massett was not so patriotically moved as his brother and nephew.  His appearances at venues like the Brooklyn Atheneum continued to be announced in newspapers throughout the war.  Interestingly, however, he is no longer listed in the 20th Street house after 1862.

By the early-1870's William D. Tallman had purchased 310 West 20th Street, and it is possibly he who updated it.  The parlor floor received pressed metal lintels with classical pediments.  It may have been at this point that the parlor windows were shortened, as well.  Molded cast metal cornices were placed over the brownstone lintels of the upper floors and the arched openings of the top floor were flattened to match the others.

Tallman did not move his family into the remodeled house, but leased it in 1874 to his business partner, James Pearson.  They had run a gentlemen's furnishing store on Sixth Avenue since August 3, 1865.  Pearson paid a yearly rent of $900--around $20,800 today.

Pearson was born in County Donegal, Ireland in 1843, and was married to the former Annie Jane Hume.  The couple had one child, Jane (known as Jennie), who was born in 1869.  Also living with them was Annie's widowed mother, Ruth Hume.

In November 1883 Pearson was elected alderman.  Troubles arose between him and his business partner-landlord the following year when Pearson realized that he was being cheated.  To make matters worse, Annie's brother, policeman Harry J. Hume, was conspiring with Tallman.  They were syphoning off the business's funds behind Pearson's back.  

Pearson had steadfastly trusted his partner, who took care of the financial matters of the business.  When asked in court on March 20, 1886, "Did you know that it owed a pretty large debt?" Pearson replied, "No sir.  My partner, Mr. Tallman, had charged of the financial affairs.  He kept the books."  Pearson went on to testify, "There was a conspiracy, I think, between Hume and Tallman to rob me of my business."

Pearson testifies in court.  The Sun, March 21, 1886 (copyright expired)

The relationship between Annie and her brother was no doubt precarious in the months leading up to the trial, so one can only imagine the level of  tension in the parlor of 310 West 20th Street on January 23, 1886.  The funeral of their mother, Ruth Hume, was held there that afternoon.  Harry Hume had to sit through the service with his sister and brother-in-law while the court case was looming.

During the court proceedings, Pearson was closely grilled about another issue--an ongoing investigation into corruption within the Board of Aldermen.  It was suggested that he was receiving bribe money.  Pearson denied the accusation.

But the pressure did not subside and Pearson stepped down from his position.  On October 12, fourteen other aldermen were arrested in what The New York Times called "an earthquake in boodledom."

That night a reporter rushed to 310 West 20th Street.  The New York Times wrote, "a gentlemen who said he was a friend of the family answered the door bell.  He stated that Mr. Pearson had been at his place of business during the day and at his home early in the evening, but would not say whether he was in the house then.  Of one thing the gentleman was certain, that Mr. Pearson would be found when wanted."

Pearson was eventually wanted.  He was indicted for bribery and released on bail.  He, Annie and Jennie moved to a cottage in Paterson, New Jersey.  The Evening World later explained, "His indictment ruined his business and he found a new field of labor in Paterson where he removed."  

On the night of June 9, 1890 Pearson got on the wrong train going home.  When he realized his mistake and saw that the Paterson-bound train was about to leave, he jumped from the one he was on.  The Evening World reported, "He miscalculated the distance or his foot slipped and he fell to the ground directly in front of the incoming train, which struck him and threw him several yards with great violence."  He was just 47 years old.

In the meantime 310 West 20th Street was being operated as a boarding house.   Among the residents in 1894 was Annie Moore.  An Irish immigrant, her two sisters were servants in the homes of well-to-do Brooklynites.  Lulu Moore found herself in a terrifying situation that year: she was pregnant. 

In desperation, she went to Dr. Irving J. Cook on West 94th Street, who performed an abortion on July 2.  The following day the young woman, apparently in shock, appeared at 310 West 20th Street to see Annie.  The Evening World reported that she took "the body of her child with her."

Annie convinced her sister to stay overnight (exactly what was done with the fetus's remains is unclear).  The following day her other sister, Sally, visited Lulu in Brooklyn "and Lulu told her that she was very ill," according to court testimony later.  When Lulu's condition worsened, she gave Sally Dr. Cook's card.

Cook arrived and would not let Sally nor anyone else in the room.  Lulu's condition continued to deteriorate, but when Sally called for Dr. Cook again, he refused to come.  On July 13 Lulu was taken to Flatbush Hospital, where she died two hours later.

The fact that she was several social rungs below the physician did not stop Sally from having him arrested for murder through "a criminal operation."  He countered that the servant girl was blackmailing him.  In court he testified, "I did not perform a criminal operation.  She may have done so herself."

Interestingly, when the house was lost in foreclosure in 1898, it was Mary Tallman, William Tallman's wife, who bought it with Jennie Goodspeed, possibly her sister.  The women paid $4,500 for the property--about $143,000 today.

The boarders at 310 West 20th Street continued to get into legal trouble over the years.  On June 17, 1908, for instance, the New-York Tribune reported that Alfred Henry was "locked up, charged with making handbooks."  "Making handbooks" referred to operating an illegal betting operation.

Alfred M. Schlaegel, who lived here in 1913, became an unwitting victim of the notorious Gopher Gang on the night of July 28.  The Sun reported that the gang "which has been quiet for a month, broke loose at Tenth avenue and Nineteenth street last night with knives and attacked a policeman and two passersby who went to the policeman's assistance."

The gang was making a "great racket" at about 10:00 that night and policeman Hayes Keepers warned them to be quiet.  The Sun reported, "seven boys, each with a knife, pounced upon him."  Alfred Schlaegel and another passerby, 20-year-old Arthur Meyer, ran to help him.  

A set of double entrance doors were in place as late as the 1940's.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Hayes Keepers used his nightstick as a weapon, but his would-be rescuers had only their hands.  The newspaper said Keepers "got only a cut on the chin.  His uniform was slashed to pieces."  The other two were not so lucky.  The article said that Arthur Meyer was in the New York Hospital "with seven knife wounds in his face and body.  He is expected to die."  Arthur was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital with a deep wound in the back.  "His condition is serious."

Once the home of Civil War heroes and an internationally-known singer-songwriter, 310 West 20th Street is filled with tiny apartments today.   The exterior doors have been removed and the stoop and areaway ironwork replaced, leaving just one of the newels installed by William Tallman surviving.

photographs by the author

LaptrinhX.com has no authorization to reuse the content of this blog

Misery and Tragedy -- No. 227 East 21st Street

In 1811 Commissioners’ Plan laid out on paper the streets and avenues that would criss-cross Manhattan above 14^th Street.  Country estates and farms, including the vast Stuyvesant holdings on the east side would one-by-one disappear as homes and businesses moved ever northward.

By the 1840's  a three-story brick house appeared on the former Stuyvesant land at what would be numbered 227 East 21^st Street.  At 23-feet-wide, it was most likely the house of a merchant class family.

But the neighborhood would quickly change.  By the early 1850's the 21st Street house and at least three other nearby homes were owned by Bernard Earle, who operated them as immigrant rooming houses.   His name would appear in court documents for decades for the unsafe and unsanitary conditions of his properties.

In October 1860 No. 227 was inspected by Department of Buildings officials.  Their report showed “no ladders, or stairways leading to the scuttles.”  (Scuttles were the roof top hatches which provided both ventilation and escape.)   Two years later the situation was unchanged, a condition which the Department blamed on Earle’s “refusal or neglect to comply.”  The city initiated a suit against Earle and according to the Semi-Annual Report of the Department of Buildings on December 31, 1862, he "immediately complied with the requirements of the law,” .

The year that Earle finally complied with the fire laws, 227 East 21st Street was filled with Irish working-class immigrants.  In 1862 Trow’s New York City Directory listed the inhabitants as Patrick Quinn, a laborer; John Sweeney, a mason; John Denny, “moulder;” John Fitzpatrick, another mason; Margaret Fraley, “widow of Patrick,” who made candies; and Julia Kurley, widow of Andrew, who made her living doing washing.

The Draft Lottery was instituted in 1863 to increase the Union troops who were fighting in the South.  Corrupt handling of the procedure resulted in upper class families buying immunity for their sons.  The result was that the draft was bottom-heavy with indigent immigrants.  Among them was J. Gordon who was living in 227 when his name was called on August 26, 1863.

Although the tenants continued to be overwhelmingly Irish throughout the war years, by 1867 the first German name appeared.  John H. Hanekamp moved in and immediately took advantage of the opportunities in his new land.  

The New-York Free Academy had opened on January 15, 1849 with the purpose of providing an education to young men who were financially unable to attend college.  It was now known as the College of the City of New York, and John H. Hanekamp enrolled, no doubt with the hopes to improve his life.  His dreams seemed to have come true.  He was still living here in 1871 (and still the only German among a tenant list of Irish) when he was now listed as "grocer."

On March 11, 1878 a baby boy was born to Philip and Mary Dunn.  Like Hanekamp, Joseph James Dunn (he later added an “e” to the family name, making it "Dunne") would elevate his station through education.  He attended the public school nearby on 23^rd Street and would eventually study in the offices of McKim, Mead & White before launching his own architectural career.

The lower floor of the house was converted for business around 1882 when P. Vorrath opened his “bar fixtures, horse, wagon, etc.” business here.  A large bay door was installed for Vorrath’s wide-spread business.

Vorrach did not last long and soon the shop was taken over by the G. H. Witte & Brother grocery store.  George H. Witte lived  upstairs with his wife, Meta.  Their presence reflected the increasing German population of the area.

On January 14, 1888 The Evening World commented on the new store.  “G. H. Witte & Bro., grocers, of 227 East Twenty-first street, have their store packed as full of nicely selected goods as it will hold, and report that business is good, although it is quiet since New Year’s.”  The newspaper diplomatically described the store’s low-income patrons.  “Their customers are the families of men on salary, and who buy, not sparingly, but with a sensible view to economy.”

It would not be merely the wives of neighborhood laborers shopping here.  Bonfort’s Wine and Spirit Circular noted on February 10, 1888 that Witte had a license to sell alcohol—no doubt a lucrative sideline for the grocer.  His business was such that in January 1892 he hired architects Kroenke & Bindervald to install a new show window at a cost of more than $6,500 in today's dollars.

George Witte's landlords were Henry and Meta C. Plump.  They may very well have also been his in-laws; for in January 1897 they sold one half interest in the property to Meta Witte for $8,000.

The Germans heavily outnumbered the Irish in the area by now and it was reflected in the names of the tenants at 227.  Two of them, Henry Pfeiffer and John Schlemeyer, paid for their recklessness on July 5, 1891.  According to The New York Times the following day, the men “amused themselves by cleaning an unloaded pistol” in the house.  The problem for Pfeiffer and Schlemeyer was that the pistol was not unloaded.  The handgun went off, “and Pfeiffer received a severe wound in the breast.”  He was taken to Bellevue Hospital and Schlemeyer was arrested.

The residents of 277 East 21^st Street were panicked on December 22, 1902 when fire broke out in the tenements directly behind at 226 and 228 East 22^nd Street.  Although the residents of 227 East 21st Street seem to have been mostly German, The New York Times described the house as being “occupied principally by Italians.”

Along with the neighboring structures, the building was evacuated in fear that the tenement fire would spread.  The thought of losing what little possession they had was terrifying for the immigrant families.  The Times reported “The police early went through these houses and drove all the tenants out into the street.  There was a scene of wild excitement, many of the Italians insisting on going back to their flats and carrying out their most precious belongings.”

George H. Witte’s grocery business continued to succeed and in 1903 he picked up additional income “for furnishing supplies for schools,” as recorded in Department of Education records that year. 

Life for impoverished families in the tenements and converted houses like No. 277 was grim.  In 1902 the building was deemed unsafe by Building Department inspectors.  And repairs could not fix the insufferable summer temperatures residents endured which caused misery and, often, death.  To provide temporary relief from the heat and misery of the tenements, churches annually hosted one-day picnic excursions.

In 1904 St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church announced that year's outing would take place on Wednesday, June 15. The side-wheeler The General Slocum had been hired for the 17^th annual event and participants could expect a trip up the East River to a picnic grove.

The unmarried 26-year-old Meta Seeman, who lived here, made plans to go.  And George Witte allowed his 11-year-old son, John, to miss school that day so he, too, could join in the fun.  It was a regrettable decision.

The happy excursion ended in New York City’s greatest loss of life until the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.  Fire broke out below decks and spread with vicious fury.   Within 15 minutes The General Slocum had burned to the water line.  Only 321 of the 1,300 mostly women and children on board survived.  The rest perished by fire or drowning.  Neither Meta Seeman nor John Witte would return to East 21st Street that day.

As the decades passed, the block changed.  Twentieth century apartment buildings replaced the old structures.  But the little brick house at 277 somehow clung on.  Its residents continued to be low-income and not always law abiding.  On April 9, 1932 The New York Times reported on the arrest of 19-year-old Edward Lyons.  Lyons was involved in the payroll robbery of the United Parcels Service Company.   Both he and his accomplice, 16-year-old Lawrence Wright, were held without bail.  Wright confessed to having taken part in 16 hold-ups within the past year.

Four years after Lyons was arrested the house was converted to apartments—two per floor.  At some point the structure was slathered in a stucco-type material and a parapet with inset brick diamond shapes installed.

In 1963 Lillian Roxon would sign a lease here, bringing a touch of quiet celebrity to the old building.   Born in Savona, Italy as Lillian Ropschitz, she arrived in New York City in 1962.  She wrote articles for several publications about the hippie movement, but more importantly about the rock music scene.  In 1968 she began writing what would be the first rock encyclopedia. The massive Lillian Roxon’s Rock Encyclopedia was published in 1970.  The intense stress to make deadlines took a toll on Roxon.  She told an interviewer following the publication “It was a very high price to pay.  I lost my friends, my health, my looks.”

During the writing of the encyclopedia, Roxon developed asthma.  On the morning of August 10, 1973 friends entered her apartment at No. 277 East 21^st Street to find the 40-year-old dead from an asthma attack.

According to long time resident Pam Makie, other musicians who lived in the house in the 1990's were Johnny Thunders of the New York Dolls, and Paul Dugan, a founding member of Big Lazy.

The venerable house with its often miserable history is outwardly careworn.  Inside the squalor endured by 19^th century immigrant families has been replaced by modern appliances, drywall and varnished floors.  

photo http://www.townrealestate.com/rental/id-926583/227-East-21st-Street-2-Gramercy-Park

photographs by the author

LaptrinhX.com has no authorization to reuse the content of this blog

Thomas S. Godwin's 1877 43 Murray Street

 

Charles H. Jones purchased the brick house at 43 Murray Street, formerly the home of Josiah S. Bennet, in 1851.  Converted for business, in the post-Civil War years it was occupied by the E. S. Osborne's Harness Warerooms.  Osborne held a sale in September 1875, advertising: "Best value ever given in New York City--Horse Blankets at agents' prices' good Stable Blankets $1.50; good outside Blankets, $2 up."  Quite possibly Osborne was liquidating his stock because he had been told to move.

Jones had leased the property to developer George V. Davis, who demolished the old building and hired architect Thomas S. Godwin to design a modern loft and store building on the site.   Construction began in 1876 and was completed the following year.  Godwin designed the six-story structure in the neo-Grec style.  Above the cast iron storefront, the red brick façade was trimmed in sandstone.  The architrave frames of the openings on the second through fourth floors wore prominent cornices, while the earred lintels of the fifth story windows were decorated with incised carvings.  Unusual brick frames enclosed the top floor windows (bricked shut today), and a cast metal neo-Grec cornice completed the design.

Among the early tenants of 43 Murray Street were Kimball, Gaullieur & Co., "segars;" Mitsui & Co., importers of Japanese "porcelains and fancy goods;" and William B. Dean, manufacturer of "bar and hotel glassware."

Kimball, Gaullier & Co. had been formed in 1873, just four years before moving in.  The Metropolis of To-Day said, "This firm have a national reputation as manufacturers of fine cigars, and as importers and dealers in leaf tobacco."  The firm relocated after 1884 when it became Kimball, Course & Co.

Another glassware firm, J. R. Gibney, was in the building by 1883.  Like William B Dean, its items were for practical use rather than decorative.  New York's Leading Industries in 1883 said his stock "includes complete lines of demijohns, bottles, and flasks, fruit jars, jelly glasses, goblets, tumblers, lamp chimneys and kerosene goods generally."

William B. Dean combined its glassware with metal to make these bar squeezers.  The House Furnishing Review, July 1893 (copyright expired)

An unexpected tenant was the publisher of the newspaper Le Messager Franco-Americain.  The 1883 American Newspaper Directory described it as "French, republican; daily four pages, semi-weekly twelve pages, weekly sixteen pages."  Founded by H. de Mareil in 1859, a yearly subscription for the semi-weekly cost the equivalent of $269 today.

American Newspaper Directory, 1883 (copyright expired)

De Mareil sold his newspaper (along with the "furniture, machinery, type, fixtures, good-will and title") in February 1883 to Lailemand & Martin for $30,000 (about $80,700 today).  The new publishers quickly found themselves in trouble.  The New York Times said on August 8, 1883 that the business "had been conducted successfully until last February," but now it "was being run at a loss and the proprietors became in arrears to their employe[e]s to the amount of $600."  Lailemand & Martin attempted to sell the newspaper on August 7.

It was a last-minute attempt to avoid the inevitable.  Four days later the newspaper was sold at a foreclosure auction.  The purchaser, Hector Rogowski promised to pay the employees, to pay the $28 light bill so the printing could continue, and to settle the outstanding rent bill of $200.

But a year later things had not improved.  On October 4, 1884 The Evening Post reported, "The editors, reporters, and printers employed in the office of Le Messager Franco-Americain, at No. 43 Murray Street...are still on strike.  The strikers number about thirty, and refused to work on October 1st because they had received no pay since September 3d."  The newspaper closed permanently shortly afterward.

C. A. Mann & Co., perfume makers, were here by 1886.  At a time when street odors of rotting garbage and horse manure offended delicate sensitivities, the firm produced "Triple Extracts" especially "for the handkerchief."  A refined lady could hold a pre-dipped hanky to her nose when odors were encountered.  An advertisement in 1883 promised, "Our perfumes combine richness of fragrance with delicacy and permanence of odor."  Among the scents listed as "Perfumes of the First Rank" were Lady of the Lake, Prairie Flower, and New Mown Hay.

In 1885 Charles H. Jones sold the building to Edith Tinker.  She sued the Metropolitan Elevated Railway Company in 1894 for damages to her property.  In her suit she claimed her property extended to the middle of Murray Street.  It did not, of course, and her suit fell flat.

The post-World War I years saw publisher O'Shea & Co., the patternmaking firm of John Kunst Co., and bookbinder N. Kantor in the building.  In 1921 the neighborhood was plagued with a gang of safe crackers.  Detectives used the Woolworth Building as a vantage point to scan the rooftops with field glasses in hopes of catching the crooks in the act of breaking into "scuttles," or rooftop hatches.

The New York Times reported on May 12 that while they detectives scanned the buildings, the thieves "attacked eight safes in five offices and escaped with money and jewelry valued at $260."  The amount stolen paled to the damage inflicted on the safes.  To date the damage to the 22 safes "would amount to approximately $15,000," said the article.  Unfortunately for N. Kantor, his was one of the safes to be broken into.  The crooks made off with $60 in cash.

In 1924 John Kunst, founder of the tool and die manufacturer John Kunst Company, purchased the building.  It was probably at this time that the top floor windows were bricked in.  He moved his factory into the upper floors and around 1929 renovated the ground floor for a restaurant owned by A. R. Mitchel.  A decade later the space became the Alanjo Cafe and Restaurant run by Al Klose ("better known as just Al," according to The New York Sun on December 12, 1939).

A renovation to the building completed in 1965 updated the ground floor restaurant.  The Blarney Star Bar and Grill would be a popular destination for decades.  There were now "storage" on the second and third floors and a tool factory on the top two floors.  

On April 30, 1971 transit patrolman John O'Shaughnessy stopped in the Blarney Star after getting off duty.  At around 1 a.m. two armed men stormed in and announced, "This is a stickup."  O'Shaughnessy drew his revolver and a gunfight ensued.  O'Shaughnessy was hit in the hand and two patrons were wounded.  William McCarthy was shot in the neck and Francis MacIntyre in the leg.  One of the hold-up men was fatally wounded and the other escaped.  O'Shaughnessy was cited for his action on June 5, 1972.

The upper floors were converted to apartments--one per floor--in 1982.  The Blarney Star forged on as usual.  Best known for its once-a-week music, on March 17, 1995 The New York Times reported on the Irish music of Brian Conway, John Nolan and Don Meade.  "In Ireland, a good-time jam session in a pub is known as a craic, and that's just how this concert promises to end."  And on June 5, 1998, the newspaper noted that Joe Burke, "a leading figure in traditional Irish music," would be playing there.

The September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center interrupted the good times at the Blarney Star.  On October 19 The New York Times reported, "The Blarney Star, at 43 Murray Street, which booked Irish traditional music once a week, is in an area still officially closed to all but locals and relief crews and has been forced to relocate its music events temporarily to the Irish Arts Center."

Music was back in the Blarney Star in May 2002 when Irish singer Andy Irvine performed.  Then, after having been in the space for four decades, the Blarney Star made way for Woodrow's Restaurant around 2012.

photographs by the author

LaptrinhX.com has no authorization to reuse the content of this blog