The 1840 Ichabod Price House - 42 King Street

 

Born in 1781, Ichabod Price was a sergeant in the New York State Artillery Corps at the outbreak of the War of 1812.  Decades later, the Arkansas City Daily Traveler would recall, "He suggested to the war department both rifle cannons and conical balls, which now perform destructive work at long distances, but he was not listened to.  President Madison was so well satisfied of the genius of the sergeant that he was commissioned a sergeant in the regular army of the United States."

Price was a successful hatter when he rented the newly built house at 42 King Street in 1840.  It was a year of change for Price, who also relocated his business.  On September 9, a notice in The Evening Post read,

Fashionable Hats--Ichabod Price has removed from 190 to 290 Broadway, one door above Washington Hotel.  Fashionable Hats made in superior style, of the best materials.  The fall fashion is now ready for exhibition.  The public are respectfully invited to call and examine for themselves.

The King Street house was one of a row of identical Greek Revival style homes.  Three stories tall, it was faced in brick above the brownstone clad basement level.  Handsome iron stoop railings descended to wrap the short newels atop sturdy brownstone drums.  In contrast to its heavy stone framework, the elegant doorway was flanked by narrow sidelights.  A delicately dentiled cornice ran along the roof life.

The Prices' two daughters were grown and married, so the couple subleased a portion of their new home to the Brown family.  Charles P. Brown was in the lime business on West Street, and his son James G. Brown was a clerk.

Around 1847 Ichabod Price moved two doors away, to 46 King Street where he died at the age of 81 on February 22, 1862.  

A succession of tenants lived at 42 King Street after Price.  John W. Taylor lived here in 1847.  On September 12, 1849 an auction of the household goods was held.  The announcement explained the furnishings belonged to "a family breaking up housekeeping."  The following year the house was occupied by spring manufacturer William B. Oakley, and in 1853 by James Mettler, a wholesale grocer.

The family of John Brown, an oyster dealer in the Fulton Market, lived here beginning in 1856.  Like the Prices, they rented extra space.  Their advertisement on October 19, 1858 read, "A private family, residing in a very respectable neighborhood, will let a very nicely furnished front room to a gentleman, with fire, gas and bath, on moderate terms.  Inquire at 42 King street."

The mention of "gas and bath" reflects the up-to-the-minute amenities.  Although Samuel Leggett had installed gas lighting in his house at 7 Cherry Street in 1823, it would not become widespread until the 1880s.  And indoor plumbing had only become possible in 1842 (with the opening of the Croton Reservoir) to homeowners who could afford the renovations.

In the 19th century, a common method for widowed women to eke a living was the running of a boarding house.  Mary Cook, the widow of James Cook, lived here starting in 1861, taking in two boarders at a time.  

Patrick and Catharine McKenna moved into 42 King Street in 1871.  McKenna listed his profession as "liquors" in two locations, at 109 and 172 Varick Street.  The couple had barely moved in when tragedy struck.  On November 20, 1871, their son Peter Joseph died 12 days after his first birthday.

McKenna may have been in the liquor business, but an advertisement for a room to rent in the New York Herald on October 6, 1875, indicated the couple would not abide a disreputable tenant.  

A nice front room on second floor to let, furnished--gas, bath and fire; nice for two gentlemen or light housekeeping to respectable people; private house.  42 King street.

Although they briefly retained possession of the house, the McKennas moved to 39 Charlton Street in 1876.  Three years later, they sold 42 King Street to Charles McDonnell and his wife.  The couple maintained a country house near Derby, Connecticut where The Evening World noted that McDonnell enjoyed "working a little farm, of which he was very proud."

McDonnell had good reason to be proud of his achievements.  Born on November 15, 1841 on Anthony Street (later renamed Worth Street), The World said that "while quite small boy Charley tried to earn his own living by selling newspapers."  Newsboys were almost always impoverished and many of them were homeless, living in newsboy lodging houses.  The newspaper said, "He was assisted to an education by friends, and later ex-Sheriff Matthew T. Brennan, Judge Dowling and other prominent Democrats took a great interest in the lad."

Saved from the street by chance, he joined the police force on January 21, 1863.  When he purchased 42 King Street, he had risen to the rank of captain and had been assigned to the Prince Street stationhouse since 1874.  He was known among the force as "Lightning Charley" because of his reputation of apprehending perpetrators with lightning speed.

The World recalled a few of those instances.  "During his term in the old Twenty-eighth Precinct a man named Sheridan killed a German at the corner of Thirty-seventh street and Second avenue, and within two hours the Captain had captured the murderer."  Another case The World recounted was, "One afternoon a poor woman was found lying dead in a pool of blood in a miserable garret in South Fifth avenue, and that night the captain arrested the woman's son, who proved to have been the murderer."

Captain Charles "Lightning Charley" McDonnell, The Evening World, August 14, 1888 (copyright expired)

Charles McDonnell appeared to be near death in the winter of 1886.  He caught pneumonia and, thinking he had recovered sufficiently, on January 15 ventured out of the house.  The New York Herald reported, "While in the street he was suddenly taken sick and had to be conveyed home, and is now suffering from a relapse."  The article said he was "lying dangerously ill at his home, No. 42 King street."

In August 1888, because his wife was at the Connecticut house, McDonnell chose to sleep at the station house.  At 9:00 on the morning of August 14, Doorman McDermott (the officer who interacted with civilians) went to awaken him, since he had apparently overslept.  The Evening World reported, "A gentle shake of the shoulder failed to have the desired effect, and on looking down into the Captain's face, the doorman noticed the stamp of death on his countenance."  He had apparently suffered a fatal heart attack in his sleep.

Charles McDonnell's funeral was impressive.  The New York Times reported, "A battalion with music will escort the hearse from 42 King-street to the Grand Central Station."  Eight full companies of police officers marched in the procession, which went "from the late residence of the deceased, at 42 King street, to [St. Anthony's Church], thence to South Fifth avenue, to and through Washington Square, to Fifth avenue, to Fortieth street, to Park avenue, and thence to the depot."  A special train car transported the casket to Birmingham, Connecticut for burial.

Five months later, on January 23, 1889, 42 King Street was sold at auction.  Michael Higgins paid $13,500 for the property.  The figure would translate to about $433,000 in 2024.

Once again the residence became a boarding house.  Living here in 1892 were Peter Thompson and James O'Neill, who were arrested on May 4, 1892 as "policy-dealers," according to The Evening Post.  (Policy rackets were a version of a numbers game or illegal lottery that preyed on the desperate poor.)  A much more respectable resident in 1896 was Lewis C. Von der Hosen, who was appointed a city marshal on March 30 that year.

Disparate tenants continued to live in the house.  In 1903, for instance, Peter C. Hunter and Ignatius Canali lived here.  Hunter was a member of the Caledonian Club and "a faithful employe [sic] of James Stewart, the hide and leather dealer," according to the New York Herald.  Canali, on the other hand, was arrested on October 20 that year with his brother-in-law, Edward Basso, "on a charge of selling bogus naturalization papers."  The two had targeted naïve Italian immigrants, charging them $20 for fake papers.

At the time, the King Street neighborhood was seeing an influx of Italian immigrants.  In 1920, 42 King Street was purchased by John and Olindo D'Anna.  They sold it the following year to Vincezo Lanza.

Lanza was born in San Fele, Italy, in 1861.  He opened a drugstore in Greenwich Village in 1881.  In 1894, he married Maria Antonia Maffia.  They had three children, Frank, Joseph and Mary.  When the couple moved into the King Street house, Lanza's drugstore had been located at Bleecker and Macdougal Streets since 1901.

While living here, the Lanzas converted the house to unofficial apartments, one per floor.  Occupying one of them in 1934 was the Alonzo family.  Joseph Alonzo and his son Frank worked in a toothpaste factory in Jersey City.  The two were arrested with four other men on February 12 that year, charged with "having been involved in the theft of about $27,000 worth of tooth paste...during the past six months," according to the New York Sun.  The in-house ring stole inventory by simply shipping it from the mail room.  It was a significant theft, equal to nearly $600,000 today.

Vincenzo Lanza retired in 1951.  Widowed, he died at the age of 98 on October 11, 1959.  The Villager noted, "He resided at 42 King St., a four-family house which he owned for 37 years."  The article added, "His family ascribe his longevity to the European mode of life-regular habits, rest in the afternoon and 'particular attention to the stomach.'"

In 1967 42 King Street was officially converted to apartments, one per floor.  Other than the iron fire escape, its outward appearance is little changed after 185 years.

photographs by the author

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Rosario Candela's 1929 720 Park Avenue

 

In the decade following World War I, the Presbyterian Hospital, greatly funded in 1868 by James Lenox, moved to Morningside Heights.  In 1925, architects Eliot Cross and J. E. R. Carpenter joined forces with real estate operators Robert E. Dowling and James T. Lee to purchase the site on the northwest corner of Park Avenue and 70th Street.  Something went awry with their plans, and in 1928 they sold the property to MonteLenox.  The firm hired Italian-born architect Rosario Candela to design an upscale apartment house on the site.  

The prolific architect was known for his apartment designs.  In 1927 and 1928 alone he designed 19 apartment buildings, including 720 Park Avenue.  Interestingly, working with him on this commission was Cross & Cross, of which Eliot Cross, one of the previous owners, was a partner.  

The collaboration resulted in a neo-Renaissance style, 17-floor-and-penthouse structure faced in brick above a three-story limestone base.  The spandrels above the first floor windows were decorated with exquisitely carved festoons of fruits and flowers.  The doric columns that flanked the main entrance supported a carved entablature topped by a large, broken pediment.

The top six floors broke free, rising asymmetrically as setbacks, terraces, and bays.  Here the architects introduced neo-Tudor elements, a decision that annoyed T-Square, the architectural critic of The New Yorker.  Calling it "a disturbing pile of architectural motives," he felt the lower portion was "in an orderly enough fashion," but lamented the "jumble of setbacks, stick-outs, bays, battlements and buttresses."

Less put off were the potential residents.  On September 1, 1929, the New York Evening Post reported, "Although not scheduled for completion for a full year, the $6,000,000 apartment house that is to occupy the northwest corner of Park Avenue and Seventieth Street and to be known as 720 Park Avenue, is already 50 percent sold from plans...The building is to be 100 per cent co-operative." 

The article described:

There will be no more than three apartments alike in the entire building.  The suites will range from eleven to twenty-seven rooms, with from five to ten baths, and extra lavatories.  Ceiling heights in the masters' rooms will range from 10 feet to 15 feet.  Ingenious mezzanine floors will contain parts of the service quarters.  Each apartment will have from three to seven log-burning fireplaces.  All apartments above the twelfth floor will have terraces. The plans indicate such luxuries as flower rooms, valeting rooms and breakfast porches.

The interiors of the sprawling apartments were designed by Candela to the owners' specifications.  According to Christopher Gray, writing in The New York Times on September 11, 1988, "Candela told his son Joseph that the commissions for customizing interiors at 720 Park Avenue alone were enough to pay his entire overhead."

Among the original owners were Jesse Isidor Straus, president of R. H. Macy & Co.; Frederick H. Frazier, chairman of the General Baking Company; Middleton Shoolbread Burrill and his wife Emilie; and William E. Iselin and his wife, the former Alice Rogers Jones.  The most colorful of the initial residents was broker Harold Russel Ryder.

Ryder's wife was Roma Woody, daughter of wealthy corporation lawyer Charles L. Woody, Sr.  Ryder's partner in the Wall Street firm Woody & Co. was his brother-in-law, Charles L. Woody, Jr.  The Boston Globe noted on June 30, 1930, "In 1928 [Ryder] bought a co-operative apartment at 720 Park av., which represented a total investment, with furniture and decorations, of around $500,000."  That figure would translate to about $8.9 million in 2024.

The newspaper said, "It has been a long while since Broadway has produced such a loose spender as Harold Russell [sic] Ryder, 'Little Boy Blew,' who says he regarded money as he would marbles and thought nothing at all of shooting $1500 on an evening's entertainment."  Ryder spent lavishly, his customary tip to a night club doorman being "a $100 bill," according to The Boston Globe.  But, as it turned out, his spending was a smoke screen.

While Ryder had made millions in the stock market, The Boston Globe explained, "the market crash of last November cost Ryder $3,000,000...But the young man kept up his 'front.'"  The ruse worked for a while, convincing investors to entrust their money to the broker, but eventually one, Frank Bailey, sued him to repay $2,025,000.

In court on June 29, 1930, an attorney for his creditors asked, "Do you realize that you were spending at the rate of $500,000 a year on pleasure?" 

Ryder replied, "Fifteen hundred dollars a night isn't too much to spend.  You have 10 or 15 people as your guests.  You have dinner, go to the theatre, and then to the night clubs.  Why, you are lucky if you get by on $1500." 

The Daily News said Roma Woody Ryder would possibly be called to testify about "the circumstances under which she assigned the luxurious Park ave. apartment [and] the circumstances under which Bailey demanded her jewels."  In the end, Ryder was sentenced to Sing Sing prison for three to ten years.  He was released in 1933, only to be sent back in 1937 after being convicted of defrauding two women of $19,000.

Harold Ryder was the anomaly among the well-heeled, respectable residents.  Despite the ongoing Depression, their names appeared in society pages for debutante entertainments, dinner parties and receptions.

Jesse Isidor Straus was the eldest son of Isidor and Ida Straus, who had perished on the RMS Titanic.  He and his wife, the former Irma Nathan, moved into a sumptuous 17-room duplex, which Candela had given an ultra modern Art Deco decor.  Highly involved in politics and a close ally of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Straus was appointed U.S. Ambassador to France in 1933.

A bedroom (top) and a portion of the library in the Straus apartment.  photos by Samuel H. Gottscho, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

In 1936, The New York Times reported that Jesse Isidor Straus's "health had been slowly failing for many months."  He resigned his post as Ambassador to France in August.  The gravity of his condition was clear two months later when the family was called to his bedside.  On October 5, The New York Times reported that Irma and their three children, along with Jesse's only living brother, Percy S. Straus, were at his bedside when the 64-year-old died.

Candela's Georgian design for the Francis M. Weld apartment stood in start contrast to the Straus duplex.  photos by Samuel H. Gottscho, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

William E. Iselin was described by The New York Times as being "of the prominent New York family of bankers, merchants and yachtsmen."  His wife came with an equally impressive social pedigree.  She was the granddaughter of Mary Mason Jones, a grande dame of 19th century New York society whose white marble mansion sat opposite the Cornelius Vanderbilt chateau on Fifth Avenue.  The couple's summer home was in New Rochelle.

Alice Rogers Jones Iselin became ill in the fall of 1932 and died in the apartment at the age of 82 on October 22.  Her husband survived her by five years.  He died here on January 26, 1937, two weeks after his 89th birthday.

Occupying a 15-room apartment at 720 Park Avenue in the 1950s were Dr. James Craig Joyner and his wife, the former Lucie Burke Alcott.  Born in North Carolina, Joyner had served as a surgeon in the U.S. Navy during World War I.  The couple, who were married in 1948, maintained a summer home in East Hampton.

In March 1959, the Joyners went on a trip "of several days," according to The East Hampton Star.  In preparation for their return, a maid went to the apartment on the evening of March 21 and found a kitchen window open.  The newspaper said, "The window is twenty feet above a second-floor terrace in a wall so smooth as to make a foothold a practical impossibility, police said."  Nevertheless, a burglar had entered and made off with $100,000 worth of jewelry.  The heist would translate to just over $1 million today.

The various wall treatments in the Candela-designed Frederick H. Frazier apartment included full-height paneling in the living room and painted wallpaper in the dining room. photos by Samuel H. Gottscho, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

Living here at the time were William F. R. Hitt and his wife Eugenia.  A retired financier, Hitt was the son of former Assistant Secretary of State Robert R. Hitt.  William's first wife, Katherine Elkins, had been engaged to the Duke of Abruzzi before their marriage in 1913.  The couple divorced in 1921 and then remarried in 1923.  Four years after Katherine's death in September 1936, William married Eugenia Jemison Woodward Jelke.

The couple maintained a second home near Washington D.C.  A noted sportsman, Hitt owned race horses and was a member of the Jockey, the Racquet, and Tennis Clubs of New York; and the Chevy Chase, Alibi, and Metropolitan Clubs in Washington.

Hitt was Eugenia's second marriage, as well.  Her first, to wealthy Wall Street broker Ferdinand Frazier Jelke ended in divorce in 1933.  (During the hearings, Jelke flatly called Eugenia "a dirty little gold digger," according to the Milwaukee Journal on May 23 that year.)  In fact, she had little need for an affluent husband.  She was the daughter of the founder of the Woodward Steel Company of Birmingham, Alabama.  Having begun collecting as a young woman, Eugenia filled both homes with her notable collection of 18th century French furniture and decorative items.

William F. R. Hitt died in the Park Avenue apartment on April 23, 1961 at the age of 81.  Four years later, in June, Eugenie traveled to Baden-Baden, Germany.  The New York Times explained, "Mrs. Hitt visits Baden-Baden, noted for its thermal baths, almost every year."  On June 12, the newspaper said, "She arrived last month with a chauffeur."

On the evening of July 7, Eugenie left "the fashionable Brenners Park Hotel" and returned four hours later.  She noticed nothing wrong until the following afternoon.  The yellow leather case that contained her jewelry and $4,000 in cash was missing.  Eugenie placed the value of the stolen jewelry at $250,000--about $2.45 million today.  Police questioned each member of the staff, convinced it was an inside job.

Astoundingly, a month later, on August 7, The New York Times reported that police had recovered the jewels.  A 35-year-old telephone operator of the hotel, Elisabeth Krelemann, had stolen the case, then became panicked by the intense police search.  She left the case on a train luggage rack to be discovered by a railway official.

Upon Eugenie Woodward Hitt's death here in 1990, she bequeathed the bulk of her furniture and art (valued at over $50 million) to the Birmingham Museum of Art.  One item, a bronze wall clock, went to the Chateau de Versailles.

Marcia Brady Tucker had moved into 720 Park Avenue in 1969 after selling her magnificent townhouse across the avenue at 733 Park Avenue.   Her husband, Carll Tucker died at their country home, Penwood, in 1956.  The New York Times said, "when she had to vacate a previous Park Avenue residence, Mrs. Tucker donated her collection of 19th-century English children's portraits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and to the Cincinnati Museum of Art."  Nonetheless, her apartment here was magnificently furnished.  She died in the apartment on December 21, 1976 at the age of 92.

On December 11, 2005, Josh Barbanel commented in a article in The New York Times, "If you can afford the many millions you need to live at 720 Park Avenue--and you squeak past the co-op board--you will find yourself in a building with all the advantages New York has to offer.  It is one of the great old Park Avenue luxury apartment buildings, with tasteful 12-room apartments and neighbors who grace the social pages, the business pages, and the lists of the world's richest people."

Among them were Mark and Nina Magowan, who had purchased their 7,000-square-foot, 14-room duplex apartment in 1986 from Caroline Lynch.  Magowan was president of Vendome Press.  

While the couple had renovations done, they retained the original Candela interiors--drawn from French 18th century precedents.  On March 20, 2016, The New York Times described the apartment's, "ornate and sometimes whimsical boiserie paneling...plaster cameo moldings, overdoor painted inserts and four marble wood-burning fireplaces."

The article mentioned that the 29 apartments at 720 Park Avenue had "been home to various captains of industry and entrepreneurs, like Leonard Liggio, the founder of Barnes & Noble, and Randolph D. Lerner, the former owner of the Cleveland Browns."

photographs by the author

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The Dr. Oliver White House - 52 West 12th Street

 

Financier Frederick P. James was the senior member of the banking and brokerage firm F. P. James & Co.  He erected a row of nine speculative rowhouses on the south side of West 12th street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in two phases, starting with 48 through 52 West 12th Street in 1854.  The Anglo-Italian homes were 21-feet-wide and four stories tall.  A three-step stoop led to each of the highly unusual entranceways within the rusticated first floor.  Here segmental arches supported by Corinthian columns were tucked within the stone doorframes.  At the second floor, handsome cast iron balconies fronted a pair of French windows.  All of the segmentally arched openings of the upper stories sat within molded architrave frames.

The entrance to 52 West 12th Street was originally identical to No. 50, seen here.

The western-most house, 52 West 12th Street, became home to Ann P. Clark, the widow of Thomas L. Clark.  She remained here until 1859, when Dr. Oliver White purchased the house.  That same year, on November 15, White was elected president of the New-York County Medical Society. 

Born in Somers, New York on April 9, 1810, White came from an old New England family.  He traced his American roots to Judge Thomas White of Weymouth, Massachusetts who was a member of the Colonial Court in 1636.  

White started his medical education in the office of his father, Dr. Ebenezer White, Jr., before earning his medical degree at the age of 21 from Yale College.  He was a founder of the Academy of Medicine and of the Society for the Relief of the Widows and Orphans of Medical Men.  In addition to his private practice, he was a consulting physician of the Presbyterian Hospital and of the North-Eastern Dispensary.

Moving into the West 12th Street house with White was Mary Ritter, the widow of Gilbert Ritter, and her daughter Catherine.  Mary most likely served as his housekeeper and would remain here for years.

Taking in boarders was not unusual even for affluent homeowners, and on January 14, 1862, White advertised, "Furnished rooms for gentlemen.--Very superior accommodations for those who wish a desirable home, with meals at option; house first class."

In 1868, the boarders were George W. Delavergne and George G. Porter (who were both druggists), and Scottish-born Adam Kerr, his wife Rebecca, and their adult daughter Jane.  Dr. White assuredly had known Delavergne and Porter prior to their taking rooms in the house.  The former ran a drugstore at 208 Sixth Avenue, and Porter had two pharmacies, one on Broadway at 42nd Street and the other at 138 Sixth Avenue.

Despite being surrounded by medical men in the house, Jane C. Kerr's consumption was fatal.  She died "at the residence of Dr. O. White," as reported by the New York Herald, on July 10, 1868 at the age of 24.

Among White's good friends and patients was his neighbor,  the highly influential newspaper publisher and politician Thurlow Weed, who lived at 12 West 12th Street.  When leaving a West 14th Street bakery on January 8, 1878, the 81-year-old tripped on a rug and fell to the pavement.  Alderman Morris was in the bakery and took Weed in his carriage to his home.  Expectedly, Dr. White was called in.  The New York Times reported that he, "found the patient suffering from slight concussion of the brain...Dr. White said last night that he did not anticipate any serious result from the injuries."

It was not long after that incident that White was diagnosed with "valvular disease of the heart," according to The New York Times.  He "withdrew himself from the harder and more exacting duties of medical practice, although still continuing his relations with a few of his oldest patients."  White died in the West 12th Street house on November 7, 1879.  The New York Times remarked, "There was little hope of his recovery at the advanced age of 69."  The article added that his death, "removed from the ranks of the medical profession in this City one of its oldest and most valued members."

Interestingly, the funeral was not held in the house, as would have been expected, but at the First Presbyterian Church down the block at Fifth Avenue.  The New York Times reported on November 11, "Many members of the medical profession, including representatives of the Academy of Medicine and the Medical Society of the County of New-York, were present."  Notably, also attending the service was Thurlow Weed.

A surprise of sorts came with the reading of Dr. Oliver White's will, which had been executed in 1874.  Upon his death, The New York Times had mentioned, "Dr. White leaves a considerable fortune, but no direct heirs."  But six months before his death, White had added a codicil that gave Catherine O. Ritter, the daughter of his former housekeeper, an annuity of $3,000 (about $94,500 in 2024).  The Sun reported on December 23, 1879, "The testator says in the codicil that since the will was executed Catherine O. Ritter became his wife."

Mrs. Olive S. Grote next occupied 52 West 12th Street.  Among her domestic staff in 1883 was Christopher Herbert, a server.  (A position directly under the butler, he would serve in the dining room or as needed throughout the day.)  Mrs. Grote discharged him early in April and shortly afterward he became the principal suspect in the burglary of a neighboring house.  The New York Dispatch said, "Hence the detectives had their eyes upon him."

Around April 15, police received a tip that Herbert was planning to burglarize the Grote house with the help of another servant.  Three undercover detectives were deployed to the office of Dr. Gay at 49 West 12th Street, directly across the street, to maintain surveillance.  The Sun reported, "They watched the progress of his arrangements and saw that the way was smoothed for him to enter the house between the hours of eleven and one o'clock in the middle of the day, when Mrs. Grote and her servants were away or occupied up stairs."

On April 20, 1883, Herbert set his plan in action.  The Sun reported that he arrived at noon "and found the door open, as previously arranged with a supposed confederate."  Herbert went directly to Olive Grote's bedroom and filled a bag with "silk dresses, jewelry, and a sealskin sacque worth $800."  When he walked out the front door, the detectives were waiting for him.  His would-be haul would amount to more than $25,000 today.

Within five years, the residence was being operated as a high-end boarding house.  Living here in 1887 was the colorful Yates Ferguson.  Born in Westchester County in June 1823, he was one of the original '49'ers who went West during the California Gold Rush.  He returned to New York in 1853 and went into business exporting California wines and fruits.  The widower died of a heart attack in the West 12th Street house on March 2, 1887.  The New York Times noted, "His funeral will take place at his mother's residence, at Purdy's Station."

An advertisement in The Sun on September 30, 1888 offered, "Two large, handsomely furnished front rooms to let, with or without board."  The boarders were, overall, respectable, like Mrs. Mary B. Smith, who donated $1 to the College Settlement on Rivington Street in 1892; and M. Rivero, the director of the Grand Conservatory of Music, who lived here in 1899.  

John S. Cornwell's name, however, appeared in the newspapers on March 25, 1898, for a less admirable reason.  He had been arrested the previous day "on a charge of having passed a worthless check for $25 on Martin Mahon, proprietor of the Hotel New Amsterdam."

By 1913, it appears 52 West 12th Street had changed from a boarding house to a rooming house.  A cleverly-worded advertisement in The New York Times on July 1, 1913 read, "Are you looking for cool rooms, well-managed house?  Summer rates."

Two residents went off to fight in World War I.  On October 1, 1918, the New-York Tribune reported that Lucien J. Rode had been promoted to Second Lieutenant.  Two months later, on December 7, The Official U. S. Bulletin provided less happy news.  Mary C. Vanamee received word that her son, Lt. Parker Vanamee, had died "of disease" overseas.

In 1941, the rustication of the ground floor and the window enframements survived.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Captain Floyd Keeler purchased 52 West 12th Street in 1919.  He hired architects Rich & Mathesius to make $10,000 in renovations to the house.  

Keeler had served in the war and was now in charge of the New York City headquarters of Federal Government's "paid-advertising campaign to obtain recruits for the United States army," according to the Editor & Publisher on June 26, 1919.  He told the publication, "I don't believe there is any doubt but that the campaign will prove a whopping success."

Born on January 21, 1885 in North Salem, New York, Keeler was educated at Trinity School and graduated in 1906 from Columbia University.  In 1920, with the war ended, he became vice-president and a director of Frank Seaman, Incorporated, one of the largest advertisement agencies in the U.S.  A widower, his two daughters lived with him.  An anti-Prohibitionist, he wrote the article "Prohibition Does Not Prohibit" for The Atlantic.

When Jacob Perlow purchased 52 West 12th Street in May 1949, The New York Times commented, "The building formerly in a choice, private-home section, was converted into eight apartments."  It would be renovated two more times, the last, completed in 1985, resulting in a doctor's office in the basement, and a total of five apartments on the upper floors.  Sadly, during one of the renovations, the rustication of the ground floor was smoothed over, the striking entranceway was removed, and the window details shaved off.

photographs by the author

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H. I. Feldman's 1937 565 West End Avenue

 

photo via compass.com

Greatly because of the tireless work of Cyrus Clark (known as the Father of the West Side), West End Avenue never saw the incursion of commerce, like Broadway did.  Instead, by the turn of the last century, it was lined with sumptuous brick and brownstone mansions.  Those quickly, however, quickly gave way to apartment buildings as New Yorkers' taste in domestic living changed.

In 1936, the Sari Corporation, of which Mose Goodman was president, demolished five rowhouses at the northwest corner of West End Avenue and 87th Street.  Goodman hired Hyman Isaac Feldman to design a modern apartment building on the site.  Completed the following year, 565 West End Avenue was the last word in domestic architecture.  By recessing the central portions of both elevations, Feldman allowed for additional corner-wrapping windows.  Most importantly, his Art Deco design relied on color.  Bold red-orange bands contrasted with the beige brick.  The architect gave the one-story base a tiger-stripe effect with black brick against the orange.

photo via compass.com

An advertisement that offered apartments of "2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 rooms," called 565 West End Avenue a "distinctive new 20-story building.  The last word in modern planning.  Unusual layouts."  The suites featured "sunken living rooms," a popular trend.

Among the early renters was Julius Huehn, who signed a lease in 1937.  The bass-baritone had made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1935 in Lohengrin.  Born in 1904, he would become known for his Wagnerian roles before enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1944.

Julius Huehn, image via bach-cantatas.com

When the Kotzen family left town in the fall of 1939, they sublet their apartment.  Their ad provided a vivid description of the apartments.  "For Rent--Complete apartment--large living-room, foyer, kitchen, Frigidaire; beautifully furnished; radio; linen, china.  A real home."

Apartments like the Kotzens' were home to other white collar residents, like Paul M. Wald Jr., secretary of the J. S. Wald Company, Inc., a trucking firm, who signed a lease in February 1941.  

photo by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the New York Public Library

Charles Korman lived here by May 1945 when he was called to testify before the United States Congress House Committee on the Judiciary.  His testimony did not start out well.  When asked, "Now, Mr. Korman, were you ever known by any other name?", Korman replied, "No, sir."

After Special Counsel Boris Kostelanetz then asked, "Were you ever known by the name of Coleman?", Korman answered, "No, sir."

"C-o-l-e-m-a-n?"

"Yes, sir, I used to be known as Coleman."

When he was arrested two decades later on June 17, 1964, Charles Korman was still living at 565 West End Avenue.  He and Samuel (Augie) Weiss were charged with bookmaking.  The Internal Revenue Service agents responsible for the arrests said they ran "a $100,000-a-day gambling trade" from a garment center hotel.  United States Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau explained the operation, "amounted to millions each year" and that "Korman was said to have handled $35,000 a week in bets."

Astonishingly, less than a year later, on February 19, 1965, the Nassau, New York Newsday, reported that Charles Korman had been arrested again for bookmaking.  He and three cohorts ran "a thriving book making business that took in more than $5,000 a week in the city's garment district."

photo via compass.com

In the meantime, the William Pechter family lived at 565 West End Avenue in the 1940s.  Pechter was the owner of the Pechter Baking Company.  On May 14, 1943, 21-year-old Morton H. Pechter was inducted into the U.S. Army.  He obtained a medical discharge on November 9, 1944.  But his civilian life was quickly disrupted.

On May 28, 1945, military police arrested Morton Pechter at his apartment here.  He was sent to the guardhouse at Mitchel Field, Long Island, charged with "desertion, obtaining a false and fraudulent medical discharge and defrauding the Government of mustering-out pay."  (Pechter had received $210 mustering-out pay.)

Pechter fought back.  His attorney presented briefs to Judge Clarence G. Galston in United States District Court on June 21.  The New York Sun reported Pechter "claims that he received a legitimate medical discharge and that his rights as a citizen and civilian have been violated by the Military Police in arresting him, putting him back in uniform and imprisoning him."

Morton Pechter won his legal battle.  Five years later, on November 13, 1949, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on his marriage to Alese Betty Cohen.  The article noted, "Mr. Pechter was graduated from Dartmouth College with the class of 1943.  He is a member of Pi Lambda Phi, Phi Beta Kappa, and was on the varsity crew while at Dartmouth.  He is associated with the Pechter Baking Company."  No mention was made of his military service.

Vera King Kramer was a former Zeigfeld Follies showgirl.  She divorced Milton J. Kramer, part owner of the Edison Hotel, in 1955.  When she moved into 565 West End Avenue, she was seeing a married, retired NYC detective, Bradley Hammond.

On December 28, 1956, the Bridgeport Post reported, "Police tentatively listed as 'suspicious' today the death of a former Ziegfeld Follies beauty in an apartment where she had been drinking with a retired detective."  The article said the 52-year-old was "in her bed, wearing pink and blue pajamas.  Her right eye was blackened and her right cheek bruised."

Remarkably, considering his professional background, Hammond's story changed repeatedly.  The New York Times reported that he said, "he had fallen asleep in the living room of Mrs. Kramer's apartment...while watching television.  He awakened at 10 A.M. yesterday, called out to Mrs. Kramer and she replied, he said."  He said he then went to his own apartment, returning at 3 p.m. to find her body.

But then, according to the Bridgeport Post, he explained away the bruises saying they "drank excessively in her lavish split-level apartment on West End avenue," Vera "fell down two stairs into the sunken living room and that he carried her to bed."  According to Hammond's second story, he then watched television until he fell asleep.  At 2:00 the next day he walked Vera's dog and an hour later discovered she was dead.

A photo of 58-year-old Bradley Hammond shielding his face from reporters was published next to a picture of Vera King Kramer in The Taylor Daily Press on December 30, 1956.

Readers across the country read the salacious details that included infidelity, sex, and possible murder.  The Syracuse, New York newspaper The Post-Standard reported, "Neighbors said the red haired Mrs. Kramer had retained much of the beauty that won her jobs in the Follies and also in George White's Scandals."  The newspaper added that she had an income of "at least $25,000 a year through alimony and investments."  (The figure would translate to about $280,000 in 2024.)  Hammond, noted the article, "had received 15 citations for heroic police work."

Somewhat remarkably, the cause of Vera King Kramer's death was officially listed as a cerebral hemorrhage.  Hammond was cleared of any suspicion.

Living at 565 West End Avenue by the late 1990s was attorney and preservationist Lori Zabar.  Born on July 16, 1954, she was the granddaughter of Louis Zabar, founder of the well-known Zabar's grocery.  She held degrees from Barnard College, the Columbia School of Architecture Historic Preservation, and the New York University School of Law.  Zabar was the first Director of the New York City Historic Properties Fund at the New York Landmarks Conservancy, and sat on the board of Landmark West.   She was the author of Zabar's: A Family Story, with Recipes.  Lori Zabar died on February 3, 2022 at the age of 67.

Jonathan Larsen, who lived at 565 West End Avenue by 2011, was the son of former Time, Inc. president Roy Larsen.  Born in 1940, he served as a correspondent and editor of Time magazine, and from 1974 to 1979 edited New Times.  From 1989 until 1994, he edited the Village Voice.

photo via compass.com

The 2010 edition of the AIA Guide to New York City likens the striking Art Deco styling of 565 West End Avenue to the famous "architecture on the Grand Concourse" of the Bronx.

many thanks to reader Lowell Cochrane for suggesting this post

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The Lost Park Lane Hotel - 299 Park Avenue

 

The American Architect, November 5, 1924 (copyright expired)

Leonard Schultze and S. Fullerton Weaver formed the architectural firm of Schultze & Weaver in 1921.  Their first commission was on the other side of the continent, designing the Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel.  In 1922, they received their first New York commission--to design the Park Lane Hotel that would engulf the Park Avenue blockfront from 48th to 49th Streets.  

On September 19, 1922, the New-York Tribune reported that the "thirteen-story hotel apartment which the 299 Park Avenue Company will erect...will contain 600 rooms."  The article said, "Close to $11,000,000 will be involved in the project."  That amount, which including leasing the site from the New York Central Railroad, would translate to a staggering $200 million in 2024.

To ensure light and ventilation on all sides, the owners reserved a 50-foot-wide strip of property at the rear as a private street called Park Lane.  Schultze & Weaver further assured natural light and air to all the suites by designing the building in an H configuration.  The architects drew their inspiration for the Park Lane from Renaissance Italy.  Clad in red brick above a limestone base, the upper floors were sparsely decorated with balconies and pediments.  Schultz & Weaver reserved the bulk of the ornament for the ground floor.  Aristocratic doorways were capped by broken pediments, and the two Park Avenue wings were joined by a single-story, arcaded section that held the main dining room.

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

The New-York Tribune said, "The apartments will vary from one to six rooms in size, although the building will be so constructed as to be able to furnish any number of rooms in one suite...The central portion of the Park Avenue facade will be occupied by a restaurant, which will be for the use of the public as well as tenants in the building." 

The lobby carried on the Italian theme with a polychromed wooden ceiling.   The Architectural Forum, November 1924 (copyright expired)

A private entrance on 48th Street accessed the main ballroom.  "There also will be a smaller ballroom to accommodate between 250 and 300 persons," said the New-York Tribune.  Larger suites included maids' rooms, and additional servants' rooms were included on each floor, "so that tenants having personal maids may have them adjacent to their suites if they so wish," explained the article.

Because the Park Lane was an apartment hotel, suites did not have full kitchens, only a "serving pantry."  Therefore, reported the New-York Tribune, "Meals will be served in the apartments from the kitchen below with no extra room service charge."

The American Architect published a photo of "a typical living room" in the Park Lane on November 5, 1924.

On March 1, 1924, as the Park Lane neared completion, the Record & Guide wrote, "While the apartments will be rented by the year and be unfurnished, there will be complete hotel service throughout."  Rents started at $2,940 a year for a two-room apartment (bedroom, bathroom, pantry and living room).  That figure would translate to $4,400 per month today.

Real Estate Record & Guide, March 1, 1924 (copyright expired)

According to The Architectural Forum in November 1924, the larger suites included "boudoirs or dressing rooms," which had "proved a very attractive feature, and one which has been shown to have a strong appeal to women."  The magazine was especially taken with the "ample closet space."  The main closet, which included a window, "is large enough to store a trunk in, with enough spare space to walk around it" and could store "about 20 suits or dresses."

An advertisement for the Park Lane in 1924 called the residential hotel "the pioneer example of a new type of metropolitan living," saying the building "combines the comfort of the highest class of residence with the advantages and conveniences of hotel operations."  

The main dining room.  The Architectural Forum, November 1924 (copyright expired)

Among the initial residents was one of its designers, S. Fullerton Weaver.  A bachelor, Weaver came from a distinguished family of Fairfax Court House, Virginia.  He was the great-great-grand nephew of President James Buchanan.  His summer home, Spencecliff, was in East Hampton, Long Island.  On June 3, 1929, The New York Times reported that Weaver's engagement to Lillian Leacock Howell had been announced.  They were married on June 27 in the Howell residence on East 84th Street.  The New York Times reported, "Following the ceremony there was a reception in the Tapestry Room of the Park Lane, which was decorated with cybotium [sic] ferns."

Other early residents were Clarence M. Wooley, president of the American Radiator Corporation; C. H. Duell, former chairman of the New York Republican Party; and Chris G. Hupfel, secretary of the Hupfel Brewing Corporation, founded by his father John C. G. Hupfel. 

The extended Hupfel family owned real estate, as well, and for years, Chris Hupfel and his brothers had been harassed by a former tenant, Mrs. Kossara Spanaljowitch, the sister of the Serbian Ambassador to France.  In 1917, she was committed to Bellevue Hospital for ten days.  She sued Chris Hupfel and two of the doctors for $250,000 each for conspiring to have her declared insane.  She additionally accused Hupfel of having tried to persuade her to become a German spy during World War I.

The main ballroom.   The Architectural Forum, November 1924 (copyright expired)

On the afternoon February 9, 1925, Chris Hupfel was headed home on Lexington Avenue between 45th and 46th Streets when Kossara Spanaljowitch stepped out from the crowded sidewalk and began firing a gun.  The New York Times reported, "Mr. Hupfel was struck by two shots.  One entered his left cheek and the other his neck on the left side, barely missing the spinal column, and lodged near the nasal cavity."

The 50-year-old was taken to Bellevue Hospital and Spanaljowitch was quickly apprehended.  At the stationhouse she denied having shot Hupfel, but admitted having "had trouble with the family" for years.  Six months later, on August 4, the New York Evening Post reported that Spanaljowitch "was today committed to the State Asylum for Insane Criminals at Matteawan."  She had been diagnosed as "suffering from paranoia, with 'mania-depressive traits," according to the article.

The family of James A. Moffett Jr. were also early tenants of the Park Lane.  He and his wife, the former Adelaide Taft McMichael had four children.  Moffett's father had been president of the Standard Oil Company of Indiana and later vice president of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey.  The younger Moffett joined the Standard Oil company on October 1, 1906.  On June 10, 1924, The New York Times reported that he had been elected a vice president of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, saying, "Mr. Moffett now ranks among the highest officials of the Standard Oil organization."

Society columnists followed the movements of Park Lane residents closely.  On October 6, 1924, for instance, the New York Evening Post reported, "Mr. and Mrs. George E. Dunscombe, who have been at the Ambassador, have gone to their apartment, 299 Park avenue."  On February 20, 1935, The New York Times reported that the couple "gave a dinner last night in the Empire Room of the Waldorf-Astoria," and the following year, on May 28, 1936, the newspaper reported, "Mr. and Mrs. George E. Dunscombe gave a dinner last night in the Starlight Roof Garden of the Waldorf-Astoria."

The entrance to the main dining room.  Arts & Decoration September 1924 (copyright expired)

Like all monied New Yorkers, residents of the Park Lane spent their summers elsewhere.  On June 26, 1925, the New York Evening Post reported, "Mr. and Mrs. A. S. Healy have closed their apartment at the Park Lane and are passing the summer at the Westchester-Biltmore Country Club at Rye, N. Y."  The article continued, "Mr. and Mrs. David Huyler have also closed their apartment there and have gone to their country house.  Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Offerrman of the Park Lane will pass the summer at the New Monmouth Hotel, Spring Lake, N. J."

On August 18 that year, the New York Evening Post reported, "Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Colt came in from Currey Farm, Garrison, N. Y., and are at their apartment in the Park Lane for a day or two.  Mrs. Colt was a luncheon hostess yesterday at the Park Lane.  Among her guests was Mrs. Charles D. Dickey of Villa Nova, Pa."  (On the same page, the newspaper noted, "Mrs. George Dunscombe entertained Mrs. Charles D. Orth, jr., at luncheon yesterday at the Park Lane.")

A retired exporter, Richard C. Colt had graduated from Yale in 1885.  His wife, the former Mary Adelaide Sloan, was the daughter of Samuel Sloan, described by The New York Times as the "famous railroad builder noted for his philanthropy."  The couple had three adult children.

Maude Emery Smith was the widow of Alfred Holland Smith, president of the New York Central Railroad.  He was killed in a fall from his horse in Central Park on March 8, 1924, leaving Maude with an estate "of several million dollars," according to the New York Evening Post.  Her country home was in Chappaqua, New York.

It seemed that scandal was about to erupt in the Park Lane in the fall on 1926.  During the last week of October, interior decorator Harold F. Le Baron moved into Maude Smith's apartment.  Two weeks later, however, it was discovered that the two had been secretly married in Maude's apartment on October 23.  No explanation of why the marriage was kept secret was disclosed.

Benjamin Joel Duveen and his wife, the former Gertrude Moss, lived here at the time.  The couple had two children, Benjamin and Rhoda.  Duveen was the son of Sir Joseph Duel Duveen of England and was associated with the family's high-end art gallery, Duveen Brothers, at 720 Fifth Avenue.   Gertrude died in the apartment on February 2, 1927 at the age of 39.

The dressing room of the Hamilton Kerr apartment in 1930.  photo by Samuel H. Gottscho from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

In June 1932 James A. Moffett began receiving alarming letters.  The first demanded $30,000 or his daughter Margaret would be kidnapped.  Just three months after the infamous Lindbergh baby's kidnapping, the threats were taken seriously.  The New York Age reported on July 2, "This letter was followed by others until one came that stated that Mr. Moffett would receive a telegram informing him how to send $30,000."  Moffett turned the communications over to police, who alerted telegraph companies to notify them immediately of any messages intended for Moffett.  Moments after 18-year-old William H. Duff sent his final telegram, he was arrested.

With the crisis behind them, the Moffetts returned to their upscale lifestyle.  On December 29, 1933, The New York Times reported from Palm Beach, Florida, "James A. Moffett entertained tonight with a dinner aboard his yacht, the Bidou."  Among the guests were Mrs. William Randolph Hearst, and Lady Mendl.

Attorney George J. Gillespie and his wife, the former Leonore  Tierney, lived here by mid-century.  An attorney, he was highly involved with the Roman Catholic Church and served as the consul for the Archdiocese of New York.  He was made a Knight of St. Gregory by Pope Pius XI in 1921, and later made a Knight of Malta.  Upon his death at the age of 82 on February 17, 1953, he left Leonore a trust fund of nearly $3.5 million in today's dollars.

from the collection of the New York Public Library

On July 8, 1965, The New York Times reported, "Demolition of the 14-story Park Lane Hotel has begun in preparation for a 42-story office tower."  The article noted that the "new building of stainless steel, glass and granite" would be designed by Emery Roth & Sons, reminiscing that the Park Lane had been "a gathering place for New York Society."

many thanks to reader Peter Alsen for suggesting this post

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