The 1906 Charles Altschul House - 32 West 86th Street

 

The extended Hall family were builders and developers.  William Hall began the tradition that was continued by his sons William W. and Thomas M. Hall.  (They operated both as William Hall's Sons and W. W. & T. M. Hall).  Joining in the  familial trend were Arlington C. and Harvey M. Hall, who worked together; and William H. Hall Jr.  

In 1906, William H. Hall Jr. partnered with W. W. & T. M. Hall in erecting a row of handsome townhouses on the south side of West 86th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue.  Designed by Welch, Smith & Provot, certain pairs were built and owned by William H. Hall, Jr. and others by his relatives, yet they flowed together harmoniously.

Among those William H. Hall, Jr. erected was 32 West 86th Street.  Its neo-Renaissance design included a rusticated limestone base, stone architrave frames of the upper story windows, and a slate-shingled and dormered mansard.

The house became home to the Charles Altschul family.  Born in London on December 31, 1857, Altschul came to America in 1877 and settled in San Francisco where he joined the staff of the banking firm Lazard Freres.  In 1886, he married Camilla Mandelbaum.  The couple had three children, Frank, born in 1887; Edith Louise, who was born two years later; and Hilda who arrived in 1892.

Altschul thrived professionally in California.  In 1895, he was made manager of the London, Paris and American Bank and five years later was elected President of the California Bankers' Association.  Then, in 1901, he relocated his family to New York, where he remained a partner in Lazard Freres.

Charles Altschul (original source unknown)

Frank Altschul graduated from Yale University in 1908 and for the next two years worked in the Mexico City office of the banking firm Hugo Scherer, Jr. & Co.  On November 18, 1910, the Yale Alumni Weekly reported he "expects to return permanently to 32 West Eighty-sixth Street, New York City, about January 1, 1911."

He would find one more person living in the 86th Street house.  On April 30, 1910, "in a private suite at Sherry's," as reported by the New York Herald, Edith had married Herbert H. Lehman.  After the their honeymoon in the South, the couple moved into the Altschul house.

Lehman's father Mayer, like Charles Altschul, was a financier, one of the three brothers who co-founded Lehman Brothers.  Herbert had been a partner in that firm for two years when he married Edith.  

Frank was next to marry.  On November 3, 1912, The New York Times reported on his engagement to Helen Goodhart, a graduate of Barnard College.  The wedding took place on January 9, 1913 in the bride's home.

Herbert Lehman was drawn into the messy impeachment trial of Governor William Sulzer in 1913.  Among the charges was that he had accepted large, personal gifts, presumably in exchange for favors.  On October 8, 1913, Lehman was called to testify to explain his monetary gift to the governor.  The New York Sun printed his testimony in part.

I gave him $5,000 unconditionally.  I knew he was a man of straitened circumstances.  I did not care what he did with his money, whether he paid his rent or bought himself clothes or paid for his office or any other expenses which he might incur.

Lazard Freres placed a notice in the New York Press on July 3, 1916 that read, "We regret to announce that Mr. Charles Altschul has this day retired from our firm."  It added, "Mr. Fred H. Greenebaum and Mr. Frank Altschul have been admitted as partners in our firm."

Charles Altschul now turned his attention to historical research and writing.  His first project was his 1917 The American Revolution in Our School Text Books: An Attempt to Trace the Influence of Early School Education on the Feeling Toward England in the United States.  After pouring over 93 history textbooks used in schools nationwide, he revealed an inherent bias which The Sun on October 21, 1917 called "an American tradition of Anglophobia."  The New York Times would later say it "helped bring a revision in the teaching of the history of the Revolution in public schools."

Charles was involved in other scholarly interests, as well.  He was a member of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and the American Historical Association, for instance.  

Early in April 1927, Charles Altschul suffered a heart attack.  He died three weeks later on April 28.

His son and son-in-law would go on to great success.  In their 2003 Wall Street People, Charles D. Ellis and James R. Vertin wrote, "Frank [Altschul] rose to be one of Wall Street's grand dukes, both in style and influence.  In the 1930s, he served on the governing board of the New York Stock Exchange and became a director of the Rockefeller family bank, the Chase National."  In 1929, Herbert Lehman became Lieutenant Governor of New York under Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt, and in 1933 became the state's 45th governor, holding that office until March 1946.

In the meantime, the West 86th Street block had changed from upscale private homes to boarding houses, shops and apartment buildings by the time of Charles Altschul's death.  No. 32 was converted to the Ann Reno School--a dual purpose facility that taught deaf children and trained teachers.

The daughter of prominent musicians, Anna Reno Margulies was prompted by the deafness of her son to devote herself to teaching the deaf.  After studying with Maria Montessori in Italy, she opened her school in America using the Montessori methods.  The New York Times said here "students were taught to speak and understand conversation with a facility equal to that of persons with normal hearing."

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The Ann Reno School operated from the converted house into the 1950s.  By 1969, it was home to the Society for the Advancement of Judaism Nursery School, which accepted three- and four-year-old children at a yearly tuition of $675 (equal to about $4,880 in 2024).

A renovation completed in 1981 resulted in apartments.  There are three each on the first through fourth floors, and two duplex apartments on the fifth and new penthouse level, which is unseen from the street.

photographs by the author

no permission to reuse the content of this blog has been granted to LaptrinhX.com

The Lost Rev. Isaac Van Winkle House - 270 West 93rd Street

 

from the collection of the New York Public Library

The eight high-end residences designed by Little & O'Connor in 1892 of "irregular sizes" wrapped the southeast corner of West End Avenue and 93rd Street.  Their 19th century take on Flemish Renaissance architecture reflected affluence and luxury.  The sumptuous, double-wide home at 270 West 93rd Street just east of the avenue was faced in light-colored brick above a limestone base.  Its entrance above a short stoop was crowned with elaborately carved cresting.  The imposing dormer that fronted the slate-shingled mansard featured engaged columns, a carved shield, and an ornate Flemish style pediment that rose to a finial.

On July 20, 1895, the Real Estate Record & Guide reported that the Mercantile Building Co. had sold the 32-foot-wide mansion to Rev. Isaac Van Winkle.  According to The New York Times, he paid "about $25,000" for the house--or around $936,000 by 2024 conversion.

Born on January 11, 1846, the minister traced his American roots to the Van Winkles who arrived in New Amsterdam in 1636.  Having graduated from Columbia in 1865, he earned his theological degree from the General Theological Seminary in 1869.  Van Winkle and his wife, the former Margaret Kembel Lente, had four children.  The eldest, Edward Kingsland, was 19 years old and the youngest, Gertrude Bayard, was six when the family moved into 270 West 93rd Street.

In the meantime, in 1892 Rev. Dr. John B. Morgan, brother-in-law of J. P. Morgan, had acquired land for the newly formed St. Luke's Chapel in Paris.  The corrugated iron building that rose on the site became known fondly as the "Little Tin Church."   In 1897, just two years after purchasing the West 93rd Street house, Rev. Van Winkle was transferred to Paris as minister to St. Luke's.  

An auction was held on March 11, 1897 of "the entire contents of the colonial mansion of No. 270 West 93d St., belonging to Rev. I. Van Winkle who goes abroad for a prolonged residence," according to the announcement in the New York Herald.  Along with a Weber piano, the inventory included antique furniture, "Turkish and Persian rugs, carpets, marble statuary, bronzes, porcelains, water colors, engravings, bric-a-brac, etc."

The Van Winkle family may have thought they would soon return.  They initially leased the mansion to Joseph Byrne.  He was appointed an examiner in the city's Auditor's Bureau on April 2, 1897.  The Byrne children were no doubt heartbroken when their dog ran away later that year.  A notice in the New York Journal and Advertiser on October 1, read: 

$10 reward--No questions asked for return of female fox terrier, strayed from 270 West 93d st., on Wednesday evening; she answers to name Sweetheart; wore license of 1896 No. 12,983 attached to collar; $5 reward for information leading to her recovery.

As it turned out, Van Winkle's pastorship in France would last nearly two decades.  The house was first offered for sale in March 1899 for $24,000.  It was finally sold to Max Tower Rosen in June the following year.

Rosen was president of the Havana and Key West Cigar Company, and secretary and director of the United States Rubber Reclaiming Works.  Born in Ukraine in 1844, he and his wife, the former Flora Thalmann, had three sons, Walter Tower, Ernest Tower, Felix Tower, and a daughter Jeanne.

    

Max, Flora, and Jeanne (who was 15 years old at the time) spent the summer of 1901 in Europe.  They boarded the steamship Deutschland headed home.  But on October 20, four days before reaching New York, Rosen suffered a fatal heart attack.  The New York Times reported, "His body was brought to this city.  Mr. Rosen was fifty-seven years old."

The Rosen family sold 270 West 93rd Street to Agnes Livingston in 1906, initiating a string of rapid turn-overs.  On January 5, 1907, the Record & Guide reported it had been sold to "an investor."  And on January 25, 1908 the New-York Tribune reported that Charles F. Lambke had sold the mansion.

It became home to Katharine Husbands Dodge, the widow of Loudon Underhill Dodge, who died in 1887.  A Civil War veteran, he had founded the Dodge Art Publishing Company.  Katherine was born on December 26, 1839, the daughter of Joseph Dotten Husbands and Frances Buckingham.  She and Loudon had one son, Joseph Hampton, who was born in 1864.

Katharine Dodge died on May 31, 1911 at the age of 71.  The mansion, described as having "12 rooms and 2 baths," was offered for lease.  The advertisement in The New York Times noted, "Liberal concession to immediate tenant."  It was leased to James G. McGowan for a year, and sold to artist Laura Opper in October 1912.

Laura Opper came from an artistic family.  Although her father, Victor M. Opper, was a businessman and partner in Opper & Levinson, Inc., he was a member of the Salmagundi Club, New York's oldest art club.  Laura, who was mainly a portrait artist, regularly exhibited her work at The Society of Independent Artists.  She studied under William Merritt Chase at the Art Students League and trained at the National Academy.

Laura Opper's Portrait of a Young Girl with Roses.  

Living in the mansion with Laura was an elderly relative, Adolph Opper.  Born in Bohemia, he was a retired lace importer and manufacturer.  He had served on the jury that convicted Tammany boss William M. Tweed in 1877.  Adolph Opper died in the 93rd Street mansion on June 24, 1917 at the age of 87.

Laura also rented rooms in the house.  Charles King Morrison lived here in 1916.  He graduated from Columbia Law School in 1894, and in 1915 partnered with lawyer Eliot Norton.  While living here, he was married to Mildred H. Hoag on June 5, 1916.  

Vocal instructor Cosby Dansby Morris may have taken over Morrison's rooms.  On November 18, 1916, Musical America reported she "has opened her studio at 270 West Ninety-third Street with an unusually talented class."

Mrs. Bernice Vaughn rented rooms from Laura Opper in 1919.  On January 31 that year, she visited a friend, Mrs. Della Cambeir, who lived on the fourth floor of a Lexington Avenue apartment building.  As the two women chatted, they realized the building was on fire.  The New York Times reported they, "started down the stairs, which were burning.  Mrs. Cambier succeeded in reaching the street with her hair and clothing on fire."

Bernice, however, was trapped by a backdraft.  "A burst of flames drove Mrs. Vaughn back into the room.  She was about to leap from the window when Martin J. Murphy, a fireman, shouted for her not to jump."  Murphy and a passerby, Daniel Coughlin (who was a soldier just returned from the war), rushed to the fourth floor of the adjoining structure.  In what must have been a terrifying circumstance for Bernice, the article said, "Murphy straddled the window ledges and passed Mrs. Vaughn to the soldier."  Bernice Vaughn had much to be thankful for.  The article added, "After the fire was under control the firemen found the body of [Samuel] Chonton in a rear room of the upper floor."

Laura Opper died in 1924.  On April 14 the following year, The Sun reported that Ennis & Sinnoti had purchased "for plotage" the ten houses at the southeast corner of 93rd Street and West End Avenue, including 270 West 93rd.  They were demolished to be replaced by the 15-story-and-penthouse apartment building designed by George and Edward Blum which survives.

image via compass.com

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post

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Boak & Paris's 1940 170 East 77th Street

 

Bronx natives, brothers Sidney R. and Arthur W. Diamond both held law degrees from Columbia University.  But they turned their focus to real estate, becoming major players in the erection and management of apartment buildings.

In 1939, the Diamonds hired the architectural firm of Boak & Paris to design a 10-story-and-penthouse apartment building on the site of four vintage brownstones at 166 through 172 East 77th Street between Third and Lexington Avenues.  Clad in beige brick, it was completed the following year.  Typical of Boak & Paris's designs, the central portion was recessed, allowing for dramatic chamfered corner windows.

The cover of the 1940 real brochure showed the original casement windows.

Potential residents could choose apartments of 3, 3-1/2 or 4 rooms with one or two baths.  A brochure boasted, "unusually large rooms, dropped living rooms, dinettes, glass-enclosed stall showers" and "modern steel casement windows specially equipped with fresh air ventilators."  A modern amenity was the "radio outlet in each living room."

Each of the six penthouse apartments had a terrace.  On June 22, 1940, The New York Times reported that Arthur David, president of Edward Davis, Inc., meat dealers, had taken a penthouse "which is to be built to his specification by Sidney and Arthur Diamond."  The article noted, "the house is nearing completion."

Penthouse floor plan -- from the 1941 real estate brochure

Four months later, William H. B. Cooper and his wife, the former Gertrude Cooper, leased the last penthouse.  At the time, The New York Times reported that the building was 95 per cent rented.  Cooper was the son of Senator Charles Cooper.  He and Gertrude had been prominent in Brooklyn society before moving to Manhattan, and owned a summer home in Hempstead, Long Island.

Living here at mid-century were insurance agent James L. Feder, his wife, the former Irma Rosenberger, and their daughter Jane.  Jane had attended the Riverdale Country School before entering Wellesley College.

Theodore C. Garfiel and his wife lived here by the early 1960s.  Born on May 1, 1905, Garfiel graduated from Columbia in 1924 and remained highly involved in the school's alumni activities.  From 1962 to 1964 he served as vice chairman of the board of the Association of the Alumni of Columbia College, and in 1964 was elected president of the association and chairman of the board.

Resident Daniel Greenberg was the only patron in the Golden Goose Bar and Restaurant on West 23rd Street at 10:30 on the morning of February 9, 1971 when a gas explosion tore through the building.  The New York Times reported, "The blast ripped out almost all of the roof of the 20-by-100-f0ot one-story structure, shattered the masonry floor and blew out the windows."  The shock of the explosion broke windows on both sides of the little structure and across the street.

Amazingly, no one was killed.  Five employees were rescued by firefighters.  One of them, waitress Marie Colocrai, was pinned under a table under a pile of debris.  All but one were admitted to Bellevue Hospital.  Daniel Greenberg escaped with head injuries and cuts.

Living in a fifth-floor apartment at the time were Frank and Mildred Knight.  During the 1930s and '40s, Knight was a well-known radio personality, the announcer for the Longines  sponsored Symphonette, a weekly program of light classical music, and its Choraliers program.  In the 1950s he was the announcer of the Columbia Broadcasting System's television program Chronoscope.

Born in St. John's, Newfoundland, Knight served with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during World War I, and studied medicine at McGill University before turning to acting.  He landed several Broadway roles, but discovered his voice was best suited to radio.  He first worked as a news reporter in 1926.

In 1952, The New York Times television editor Jack Gould said that Knight delivered his commercials "with an almost cathedral formality.  They tend to induce such a feeling of social inadequacy that a viewer might be forgiven if he found himself wondering whether he was really eligible to buy the product."

In 1970, Knight teamed with Jack Benny to narrate the recording The Golden Age of Radio, produced by the Longines Symphonette Society.

At around 9:45 on the evening of October 9, 1973, a fire broke out in the Knights' bedroom.  Mildred, who was 77 years old, had been bedridden for several years.  Knight, who was two years older, was unable to get her out of the apartment as the fire spread.  She was burned to death and Knight seriously injured.  The fire was confined to the couple's apartment.

Ten days later, The New York Times reported, "Frank Knight, who was a radio and television personality in the days of Graham McNamee, Ted Husing and Kate Smith, died yesterday at the Lenox Hill Hospital.

Known today as Diamond House, at some point its multi-paned casement windows, so important to the Boak & Paris design, were replaced.

many thanks to reader Lowell Cochran for suggesting this post

photographs by the author

no permission to reuse the content of this blog has been granted to LaptrinhX.com

The John F. Vanrpier House - 35 Charlton Street

 

Following his duel with Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr was forced to leave New York City and his estate just south of Greenwich Village, Richmond Hill.  In 1817,  John Jacob Astor I, who was 34 years old at the time, purchased the mansion from Burr and took over the land lease of the grounds from Trinity Church.  (The long-term lease would make Astor 103 years old when it expired.)

The mansion was moved, the hill on which it stood was leveled, and streets were laid out--one of them named for Dr. John Charlton, the president of the New York Medical Society.  Within a few years, Astor began erecting rows of smart brick homes.

It appears Astor had an antagonist.  On October 13, 1828, the New York Spectator reported, "Yesterday morning about 6 o'clock, a fire was discovered in a new house No. 35 Charlton street, which was destroyed, and the adjoining house No. 33 was materially damaged.  As the buildings were in an unfinished state, it was no doubt the work of an incendiary."  The Daily Advertiser reminded readers, "A few months ago, several houses were destroyed by fire at the same place, which was the work of an incendiary."

The arsonist merely slowed Astor's progress.  In 1829, the row--including 35 Charlton Street--was completed.  Like its neighbors, it was 25-feet-wide and two-and-a-half stories tall above an English basement.  Faced in red Flemish bond brick, its dormered attic sat beneath a peaked roof.  

No. 35 Charlton Street became home to William H. Bell, a seemingly entrepreneurial man.  He made additional income in 1830 by lending his name to a product.  An advertisement in the New York Spectator that August included his testimonial, "Having used the Saponaceous Compound for the last eighteen months, I have the satisfaction of saying that I entirely concur in the above certificate."

Two years later he advertised in the New York Daily Advertiser for a business partner and investor:

 A PARTNER IS WANTED—Who can command the above sum [$15,000], or near that amount, in a manufacturing establishment now in successful operation, producing now 100 per cent, on the cost of the article manufactured.  The advertiser feels warranted in saying that with the additional sum above stated with what is already invested, an independent fortune can be realized in a very few years, and proofs will be given of the most satisfactory character to persons calling on him at 35 Charlton street, in the evening after 8 o'clock.  No persons need call unless they can command at least $10,000.

The investment in the arcane business Bell was asking for would translate to a half a million in 2024 dollars.

On February 10, 1834, the "brick house and 31 years lease of lot No. 35 Charlton st." was sold at auction.  It was purchased by John J. Earle, a Customs House officer.  He and his wife had a young adult son, John S.

The family took in two boarders, Samuel U. D. Arrowsmith and his young wife Catharine in 1838 or early 1839.  Tragically, Catharine G. Arrowsmith died at the age of 18 on August 11, 1839.  Her funeral was held in the parlor the following afternoon.

John J. Earle was summoned for jury duty in January 1842.  And this was no routine case.  John Caldwell Colt, the brother of gun maker Samuel Colt, was charged with the hatchet murder of printer Samuel Adams.  He had then packed the body in salt and shipped it to a non-existent address in New Orleans.  Earle managed to evade service, telling the judge he had already "formed an opinion."

John J. Earle retired in 1845.  Two years later John S. Earle was appointed an Inspector of the Common Schools.  

John F. Vanriper (sometimes spelled Van Riper) purchased the house and took over the land lease in 1851.  He was a drygoods merchant and owned his building at 594 Greenwich Street.  He and his wife had an eight-year-old daughter, Clara, and a son, Dennis.

Like the Earles, the Vanripers took in a boarder.  Living with the family in 1853 was 21-year-old Abram Moor Bogert.  Unfortunately, the parlor was the scene of his funeral on August 14 that year.

In 1861, the Vanripers' boarder was drawing teacher Francis Melville, who worked at Public School No. 42 on Allen Street.  That year there would be another funeral in the house.  Clara  Vanriper died at the age of 18 on December 16, 1861.

Each of the Charlton Street houses had a small stable or house in the rear yard.  In July 1866, John F. Vanriper hired contractors Sinclair & Williams to alter his wooden stable building.  Unfortunately, three years later, on January 8, 1869, the New York Herald reported at that 4:00 the previous afternoon, fire had broken out in the stable.  "It spread with remarkable rapidity, communicating to the adjoining stables--five in number--and before a sufficiency of water could be thrown upon the burning pile these buildings, with their contents, were almost totally destroyed."  Happily, all the horses were saved.

Around the same time that Vanriper rebuilt his stable, he raised the attic of the house to a full third floor with a modern Italianate cornice.  The change from Flemish bond to running bond brick as well as the color still testify to the alteration.

Around 1872, the Vanripers moved to West 21st Street and leased 35 Charlton Street to Theodore E. Allen, a tobacco merchant.   The Allens were new parents, and on January 22, 1872 they placed an advertisement in the New York Herald seeking, "A young girl to take care of a baby."  Later that year, in August, they advertised, "Wanted--A Protestant girl to do general housework."

In February 1881, the Vanripers sold 35 Charlton Street to Charles F. and Hannah W. Thompson for $9,500 (about $281,000 today).  Thompson, who owned a house painting business and paint store, was born in Newburgh, New York and came to Manhattan at the age of 11, apprenticing in the paint shop of Bootman & Smith.  The firm later became Hathaway & Thompson, and in 1875 Charles Thompson bought out his partner.

He and Hannah had previously leased a house a block away at 29 Vandam Street.  Moving into 35 Charlton Street with them was David M. Edsall, a clerk and notary public, who had boarded in the Vandam Street house.  Thompson and Edsall would be fast friends for years.

On the afternoon of October 17, 1897, the two men were far uptown in a buggy on Seventh Avenue and 135th Street when tragedy struck.  Edsall was driving the vehicle when he heard the panicked whistle of Mounted Policeman McGee.  A horse pulling a light rig had been spooked and was galloping up the avenue.  The New York Times said, "Between this vehicle and the curb was a bicycle ridden by a woman.  The shrieks of the pedestrians warned the men in the buggy to halt."

Edsall attempted to drive onto 135th Street, but it was too late.  The runaway horse slammed into the rear of the buggy.  The newspaper said Thompson "was hurled headlong over the dashboard" and Edsall was "thrown to the sidewalk."  The female bicyclist "was caught in the debris of the two wrecked wagons and also thrown violently to the sidewalk."

David Edsall suffered three broken ribs.  The New-York Tribune reported, "Mr. Thompson was apparently dead when picked up."  But at a hospital later, the 73-year-old "gave signs of life."  His condition was dire.  The New York Times reported, "Thompson was suffering from concussion of the brain and several terrible lacerations of the face.  He was semi-conscious for some time."

Charles F. Thompson would never fully recover.  On January 22, 1900, the New-York Tribune wrote, "For over two years he had been partially rational, recognizing the members of his family and continually begging them to take him home."  Doctors diagnosed him with meningitis.  

Thompson's 76th birthday was on January 9, 1900.  The following day he lapsed into unconsciousness.  In the decades before intravenous feeding, he went without nourishment for ten days, finally dying on January 20.  In reporting his death, the New-York Tribune mentioned that he "had lived continuously in the Eighth Ward, probably longer than most persons now living."  His funeral was held in the parlor on January 23.

David M. Edsall remained in the Charlton Street house with Hannah.  She sold it to Dr. Thomas John Hillis and his wife Bertha in April 1904.  The couple may have known Hannah from years before, since they had been boarding at 51 Charlton Street.  Interestingly, they inherited David Edsall as a boarder.  He would remain in the house at least through 1918.

Born in 1852, Hillis graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1882.  He was a prolific author of medical articles on issues ranging from the manifestations of syphilis to the "general use of alcohol as a beverage and its value as food."

Dr. Thomas John Hillis died on February 21, 1926.  The house was converted to unofficial apartments within a year.  Among the tenants in 1928 was McLane Tilton, III, who had graduated from the University of Virginia the previous year.  He was now a partner in a law firm with T. Walter D. Duke.

Harry A. Wilson and his brother Dr. Charles H. Wilson lived at 35 Charlton Street when World War II broke out.  In 1941, Dr. Wilson joined the U. S. Army.  On July 1, 1943, the Mount Vernon, New York Daily Argus reported, "Major Charles Henry Wilson...is being held a prisoner of war by the Japanese, the War Department announced yesterday."  He had been captured at Corregidor.  

35 Charlton Street in 1941, the year Dr. Wilson went to war.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

A year later, the Japanese loaded Wilson and other captives onto a prison ship for transfer.  It was in Takao Harbor near the Philippines on December 15, 1944 when American planes sank the ship, killing Wilson.

Harry A. Wilson remained in the Charlton Street house at least through 1947 when his brother's estate was settled.

A renovation completed in 1957 resulted in apartments of various sizes, including a duplex.  An advertisement for one of them in The Villager on July 2, 1959, offered a "1-room apartment with kitchenette and bath."  A subsequent remodeling in 1989 resulted in a triplex and a duplex apartment (they share the second floor).  In 2012, the house was purchased by comedian, filmmaker and actor Louis C.K. for $6.5 million.

Born Louis Székely, he earned six Emmy Awards and three Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album.  He also won three Peabody awards, three Writers Guild of America awards, and a Screen Actor Guild award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.  He sold 35 Charlton Street in April 2023.

photographs by the author

no permission to reuse the content of this blog has been granted to LaptrinhX.com

The 1918 Harvey D. Gibson House - 52 East 69th Street

 

In 1881 developer William a. Hawkinson completed a row of five high-stooped houses at 50 to 58 East 69th Street.  Each 18-feet wide, they were designed by Lamb & Wheeler.  The first resident of 52 East 69th Street was Anne White Schermerhorn Suydam, whose husband Charles Suydam died on December 31, 1882.

In the first years of the 20th century, the outdated brownstones in the neighborhood were being replaced by sumptuous, modern mansions.  Banker Henry P. Davison purchased the southwest corner of Park Avenue and 69th Street in 1916 as the site of his new home.  Included in the parcel were 50 and 52 East 69th Street--50 as part of his site and 52 to guarantee that no apartment building was erected next to his mansion.

Davison was well acquainted with another banker, Harvey Dow Gibson.  As his own residence was under construction, on December 27, 1916, The American Architect reported that Davison had sold "to Harvey Gibson, vice-president of the Liberty National Bank, the lot at 52 East Sixty-ninth Street.  Mr. Gibson will erect a dwelling for his own occupancy."

The close relationship between the two financiers was reflected in Gibson's choosing the same architectural firm that had designed the Davison mansion--Walker & Gillette.  Completed the following year, the architects' neo-Georgian design complimented the Davison house.  Both sat on a limestone base and were faced in the same Flemish bond red brick.  

The fluted columns that flanked the entrance of 52 East 69th Street supported an entablature decorated with rosettes and bellflowers.  Full-relief rams' heads upheld its cornice.  The paneled lintels of the second floor openings were carved with neo-classical urns and swags.  The fifth floor, behind a brick parapet, took the form of a steep, slate shingled mansard with two pronounced dormers.

Born in 1882 in New Hampshire, Harvey Dow Gibson graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine in 1902.  He started with American Express before moving to the Liberty National Bank where he quickly rose to vice-president.  He married Carrie Hastings Curtis on June 10, 1903.  

The couple's 32-acre summer estate, Land's End, was in Locust Valley, Long Island (where the Davisons' country home, Peacock Point, was also located).  The mansion there, built in the 1850s, was given a Georgian remodeling by Walker & Gillette.  The Gibsons also owned a home at 5 Rue Mesnil in Paris.

Henry Dow Gibson in 1917, the year he moved into 52 East 69th Street.  from the collection of the Library of Congress

America entered World War I in April 1917, just as the Gibsons were preparing to move into their town home.  Henry Davison was appointed chairman of the War Council of the American Red Cross and The New York Times reported that Davison "called upon" Gibson to become the Red Cross Commissioner in France.  Both he and Davison traveled to the war front throughout the remainder of the war.

The year 1917 was additionally eventful for Gibson when, in addition to his new house and Red Cross position, he was promoted to president of the Liberty National Bank, as reported in The American Elite and Sociologist Blue Book.  (Upon Liberty National Bank's merger with the New York Trust Company, Gibson became president of the latter organization.)

Gibson was, according to The New York Times, "a close friend of Helen Keller."  He would eventually be treasurer of the Helen Keller Foundation and a trustee of the American Foundation for the Blind.

Untypical of millionaires, Gibson was driving himself on the night of June 20, 1921.  As he entered the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 56th Street, former tennis champion Beals Wright, who was drunk, smashed into Gibson's automobile.  According to the policeman who witnessed the collision, "As soon as he became disentangled from the Gibson car...Wright continued up the avenue."  The New-York Tribune reported "at Fifty-sixth Street, it is alleged, [Wright] struck and upset a horse-drawn carriage, driven by Denis Ryan."  The tennis star was arrested for intoxication and reckless driving.  Gibson was apparently unharmed.

Domestic clouds were forming over the East 69th Street house before long.  On July 1, 1925, The New York Times reported, "Mrs. Harvey Dow Gibson of New York, wife of the President of the New York Trust Company, has filed a petition for divorce in the Paris courts." 

The following year, on March 13, 1926, The New York Times reported that Gibson had married Helen Whitney Bourne in Berne, Switzerland.  The article said the marriage "is of wide interest in New York.  Mrs. Bourne obtained a divorce from George Galt Bourne in Reno in October, 1924, and Mr. Gibson and his first wife, the former Miss Carrie H. Curtis, were divorced in Paris last Summer."

On May 15, 1933, The New York Times reported that the 51-year-old banker "broke his collar-bone yesterday when he was thrown from his horse while hurdling a fence near his estate, Land's End, Locust Valley."  The millionaire spent the night in the North Country Community Hospital.

About two months later, the Land's End house was burglarized.  Then, on August 13, Gibson reported $200 in cash was missing from the residence.  The Gibsons may have had a light-fingered servant in their employ.  The New York Times recalled, "The theft follows another and larger loss in the same manner several weeks ago."

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Interestingly, although Harvey and Helen Whitney Gibson continued to live in the East 69th Street house, Carrie Gibson had received it in the 1925 divorce.  It was not until February 2, 1935 that The Sun reported that Gibson "acquired the town house he occupies at 52 East Sixty-ninth street, at an indicated consideration of $90,000" from Carrie (who was now married to Griffith E. Thomas of the U.S. Navy).  The price would equal about $1.9 million in 2024.

Harvey Dow Gibson died "of a heart ailment," according to The New York Times on September 12, 1950.  In reporting his death, the newspaper called him a "banker of world-wide fame," and noted that he had served as a "Red Cross leader in both World Wars."

Helen Whitney Bourne Gibson's daughter, actress Whitney Bourne, who married Roy Atwood in 1956, inherited the East 69th Street house.  On December 24, 1964, The New York Times headlined an article, "Actress Buys East Side House" and reported that Whitney Bourne Atwood had sold 52 East 69th Street to Jayne Mansfield.  The article noted, "Miss Mansfield plans alterations to the residence."

Jayne Mansfield and husband Matt Cimber with their newborn son and her four other children.  Los Angeles Times, October 22, 1965.

Mansfield had married her third husband, Italian-born director Matt Cimber exactly three months earlier, on September 24, 1964.  The couple separated on July 11, 1965.

Two months before that, on May 10, 1965, the Long Island City newspaper Star Journal reported, "Actress Jayne Mansfield's East Side town house at 52 East 69th street, Manhattan, was burglarized yesterday of $51,000 in jewelry."  The amount of the heist would translate to about $473,000 today.

Mansfield was in Biloxi, Mississippi appearing at the Gus Stevens Supper Club in the early summer of 1967.  After midnight on June 28, a driver for the club chauffeured the actress and three of her children, her attorney, and her romantic partner Sam Brody on a trip to New Orleans where Mansfield was to appear on an afternoon television show.  The automobile slammed into the rear of a tractor-trailer, killing Mansfield and the two other front seat passengers.

The former Gibson house later became home to Peter M. Robbins.  It was sold in 2022 to historian, author, and collector of Old Master paintings Davide Stefanacci for $9.1 million.

photographs by the author

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The 1853 John P. Faure House - 238 West 11th Street

 

Linus Scudder was a well-known builder in Greenwich Village in the decades prior to the Civil War.  In 1852, he broke ground for two identical 20-foot-wide, brick-faced homes at 38 and 40 Hammond Street (renumbered 238 and 240 West 11th Street in 1864).  Three stories tall above brownstone English basements, they were completed in 1853.  Trimmed in brownstone, they were capped by wooden bracketed cornices, each of the closely-spaced corbels dripping an onion-shaped finial.

No. 38 Hammond Street was first home to Charles Griffith, a merchant at 61 Cedar Street.  He and his family lived here until about 1858, when broker Henry Pray was listed at the address.  He and his wife Abby had a teenaged daughter, Sophia.  

Sophia A. Pray died on May 1, 1862 two months before her 20th birthday.  Her funeral was held in the parlor three days later.

It was common for even affluent homeowners to take in a boarder.  L. Blanchard lived here on August 20, 1863 when The New York Times reported on the draft lottery held the previous morning at 10:00 to bolster the Union Army's troops.  At the headquarters at 185 Sixth Avenue, crowds had gathered to witness the pulling of the names from "the wheel of destiny," the article saying they "tremble while they hear."  Among the names drawn that day was L. Blanchard's.

The Faure family purchased 238 West 11th Street around 1869.  Born in 1814, John R. Faure was a partner in the dry goods commission business of Faure & McCash and a director in the Excelsior Fire Insurance Co.  Sharing the house with him and his wife Catherine were their adult son John P. Faure and his wife, the former Lucie J. Halpin.  John P. was a wool merchant, specializing in hosiery.  (Interestingly, Lucie Halpin was an author during the Civil War years, writing under the pseudonym of Miles O'Reilly.)

Like their predecessors in the house, the Faures took in a boarder.  In 1870, for instance, it was Elie Bonin, an attorney, and in 1879 William V. Smith, a surveyor, lived with the family.

John R. Faure died on April 6, 1874 at the age of 60.  He was buried at St. Peter's Stone Church Cemetery in Dutchess County.

By the 1890s, Catherine's widowed cousin, William L. Elseffer lived with the family.  His wife, Amanda Shaw, had been "a writer of considerable abilities," according to the 1895 History of Dutchess County.  Elseffer had "attained considerable celebrity as a civil engineer," said The New York Times.  He worked on the development of Central Park, engineered the drainage of the salt meadows between Jersey City and Newark, and in 1887 issued a report to the United States Senate on the Pacific railways.  Elseffer died at the age of 71 on January 2, 1898.  His funeral was held in the house two days later.

The following year, on October 20, 1899, Catherine A. Faure died at the age of 85.  She was buried next to her husband at St. Peter's Stone Church Cemetery in Dutchess County.

By the time of his mother's death, John P. Faure had turned his professional attention from hosiery to civic matters.  He had been appointed a Trustee of the Common Schools of the Ninth Ward on December 19, 1888, and in 1894 was appointed secretary of the influential Committee of Seventy.

The committee was organized in September that year as a response to public dissatisfaction with political corruption, notably in Tammany Hall.  Among its stated principles were that "municipal government should be entirely divorced from party politics and from selfish personal ambition or gain," and "the economical, honest, and businesslike management of municipal affairs has nothing to do with questions of national or State politics."

When reform Mayor William Lafayette Strong took office in 1895, he appointed Faure Commissioner of Charities.  By 1897, Faure was secretary of the St. John's Guild, which provided medical treatment to the children of New York's poor.  The group maintained a Floating Hospital and Faure was chairman of its governing committee.  And when the Spanish-American War erupted in 1898, he became highly involved in Red Cross work.

On July 7, 1898, The New York Times reported, "The Floating Hospital of St. John's Guild yesterday made its first excursion of the season down the North River and bay to the Seaside Hospital of the Guild, with 440 mothers and sick babies and children aboard."  The article said, "Nearly a hundred women, carrying sickly infants in their arms, had already been waiting over half an hour on the pier, so as not to miss the chance of giving their dear ones an opportunity to have a day's outing on the water."  Also on board that day were John P. Faure, who "appeared in a delightfully cool-looking yachting suit, and was accompanied by Mrs. Faure."

The esteem in which the public held John P. Faure was reflected in a letter to the editor of The New York Times on September 1, 1901.  Signed "Conservative Republican," it read:

Allow me to call your attention, for Mayor of Greater New York, to Mr. John P. Faure, former Commissioner of Charities and member of the School Board, a philanthropist, by whose extraordinary efforts 40,000 poor women and children, through St. John's Guild, have been permitted to get fresh air and be restored to health.  Doubtless hundreds of lives have been saved by his humane, but unselfish, devotions to their welfare.

Like all well-heeled New Yorkers, the Faures summered outside of the city.  They spent the summer of 1902 at the fashionable Peninsula Hotel at Seabright, New Jersey.  On August 16, the hotel hosted a "progressive euchre" in the dining hall.  "The spacious hall was cleared and decorated for the occasion, and presented a scene of beauty.  Mirth and jollity reigned supreme," said the New-York Tribune.  Although Lucie Faure did not win the first prize of a cut glass and silver cracker jar, she was awarded a parasol.

In 1904, the Faures acquired a summer home in Ossining, New York.  They were there in 1912 when John headed to Manhattan for business on the morning of June 19.  The next day, The Sun began an article saying, "John P. Faure, Commissioner of Charities under Mayor Strong, dropped dead of heart failure on the station platform at Ossining yesterday.  The unexpected passing of an express train had startled him.  He was 67 years old."

It does not appear that Lucie returned to West 11th Street.  In 1914 the house was occupied by Harry X. Stinson and his wife.  Like John P. Faure, Mrs. Stinson was interested in reform issues and was corresponding secretary of the International Pure Milk League, which lobbied to have inspections of dairy farms and cattle every six months.

Lucie Halpin Faure sold 238 West 11th Street to Charles W. Knight in March 1920.  The Real Estate Record & Guide reported he "will alter [it] into high class studio apartments."  Knight apparently changed his mind, and on July 20, 1921 the New-York Tribune reported he had sold it, saying, "the house will be renovated by the new owner."

Those renovations did not come for another six years.  A fourth floor with a vast, sloping skylight was added, the third floor windows were extended, and a charming multi-paned window was installed at the parlor level.  Among the tenants living here by 1936 was Hila C. Meadow, whom Congress's Special Committee of Un-American Activities tracked through 1940 as voting for the Communist Party ticket.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

In 1987 the house was renovated again, resulting in a duplex apartment in the basement and parlor floors, one apartment on the second, and a duplex on the third and fourth.  Among the residents was Brazilian-born handbag and accessories designer Carlos Falchi.  Born on September 26, 1944, he began his business in Greenwich Village.  Having once worked as a busboy at a Park Avenue South restaurant and nightclub, his high end bags would eventually sell for as much as $5,000.

Falchi sold his unit in 2013.  The purchasers bought the other two apartments in 2021 and 2023, and are currently returning 238 West 11th Street to a single-family home.

many thanks to reader Scott McDowell for requesting this post

photographs by the author

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