The 1887 Neo-Grec 351 Sixth Avenue

 

Henry W. Hoops arrived in New York from his native Germany in 1851 at the age of 26.  He became a prominent confectioner and ice cream dealer, was active in politics, and dealt in Manhattan and Brooklyn real estate.  In 1877, he completed construction of a four-story store and flat building at 47 Sixth Avenue (renumbered 351 Sixth Avenue in 1925) in Greenwich Village.

The building was faced in stone above a cast iron storefront.  Its French neo-Grec design differed from the garden variety neo-Grec style in its especially beefy lintels.  Carved with incised foliate designs typical of the style, they were supported by geometric brackets.  Matching brackets upheld the sills.  A prominent metal cornice with panels that matched the lintels completed the handsome design.

Hoops went to the additional expense of custom matching the cornice panels with the lintel carvings.

The shop became home to George Quimby, Jr.'s hardware store, while the three apartments upstairs were home to middle-class professionals.  In 1878, they were William Peppler, a baker; Richard Plunkett, a clerk; and the family of Edward Wilkins.  Wilkins was an officer in the Customs House and his son John worked as a clerk.

Richard Plunkett, who "lived in moderate style," according to The New York Times, had worked in the office of W. & J. Sloane & Co. since 1868.  He had most likely gotten his job through the influence of family members, since The New York Times noted "some of his relatives are valued employes [sic] of the firm."  On October 8, 1878, the 32-year-old "disappeared."  The New York Times reported, "the Messrs. Sloane were surprised by the discovery that he had forged their firm name as the indorsement of a check for $1,500."  (It was a substantial amount, equal to about $47,300 in 2024.)  Further examination of the books revealed he had embezzled cash totaling $6,000.

After hiding out for more than a month, Plunkett was arrested in his apartment on the evening of November 23.  His former employers assumed "that he has been corrupted by bad companions," and told a reporter, "he will be treated as leniently as the law will permit."  To that end, Plunkett agreed to a deal.  He pleaded guilty to the forgery and was sentenced to two years in prison.

The Edward Wilkin family was still living here in 1880.  Edward was described by The Sun as being "of portly build and fine appearance."  He left the apartment at around 7:30 on the evening of December 5, that year.  An hour later, Police Officer William Mulcahy drove "four suspicious looking loungers away from the mouth of the alley" at Clinton Place (later East 8th Street) near Fifth Avenue.  After walking his post, he saw the gang had returned.  "It was then that he noticed something lying on the pavement of the alley," reported The Sun.

It was Edward Wilkin.  He was "stripped of most of his clothing, and without his watch and money."  The Sun said "he was unconscious and presented a pitiable sight."  The article continued, "His coat and overcoat were missing, and his vest and shirt were drawn up about the upper part of his body so that his naked back touched the cold stones."  Wilkin's wife said he always carried his gold watch and chain and "probably had not less than $200."  Two of the crooks were quickly arrested.  At midnight Wilkin was still unconscious in the New York Hospital.

In 1890, Henry Hoops leased the building for five years to George Schmidt.  He moved his family into one of the apartments and around the same time he leased the store to Gustav Pietsch.  Pietsch converted it for his bakery business and he and his wife, Dora, lived in the rear.

In November 1892, the Schmidts' child fell ill, "suffering from a scrofulous complaint," according to The Evening World.  They called F. E. Hemscher, a German physician recently arrived in New York.  According to Hemscher, until three months earlier he had been assistant surgeon with the German Army's 17th Regiment Infantry.  He practiced what was known as the "Baunscheidt system."  It involved "pricking the affected or diseased part with needles" and rubbing the raw surfaces with various oils.

The newspaper reported, "The boy rapidly grew worse, and the attention of Henry Loring, agent of the County Medical Society, was called to the matter by the parents."  Hemscher was arrested for practicing medicine without a license.  He told the court that an attorney had advised him "that as long as he did not make his patients worse he could go on practicing."  The Evening World reported, "Hemscher says he did not make them worse, and was surprised to find himself in a police court."

The devastating economic depression known as the Panic of 1893 prompted prompted The Evening World to raise funds for the poor.  An article on January 25, 1894 asked for donations so "those out of work may tide the present storm."  It listed previous donors, including Gustav Pietsch.  His bakery was apparently doing well despite the overall economic conditions.  This $100 donation would equal more than $3,600 today.

Later that year, on April 10, Dora Pietsch hired a servant girl from Theresa Bienhusse's employment agency.  The World reported, "That day the girl went to bed sick, and Mrs. Piepach [sic] went around to Mrs. Bienhusse and asked for another servant."  The meeting did not go well.  

The next day, The Evening World reported that Theresa Bienhusse had been arrested for assault after Dora Pietsch complained to police "that she was thrown downstairs during an altercation with Mrs. Bienhusse yesterday, and that her right ankle was sprained."  Although Theresa Bienhusse pleaded not guilty, saying that Dora "fell down stairs from sheer excitement," the jury found her guilty.

The actual bakery portion of Pietsch's operation was in the basement.  Living on the top floor in 1895 was the family of John A. Walsh, a letter carrier.  He and his wife Mary had two small children, six-year-old Mary and 15-month-old Willie.  The second floor was occupied by the John McDonald family and Mrs. McDonald's brother, Policeman Thomas O'Shea.

At 5:30 on the morning of January 30, Walsh left for work, leaving his wife and children asleep.  In the meantime, Gustav Pietsch was at work in the basement, preparing the morning's baking.  A dumbwaiter shaft ran from the basement to the top floor.  At about 6:30, a fire broke out in the basement and "shot quickly to the top story," according to The Evening World.  

Hearing a roar, Mrs. McDonald opened the dumbwaiter door, causing a backdraft.  The New York Times reported, "the flames shot out and drove her back.  She screamed, and alarmed the people in the house."  Thomas O'Shea rushed down the stairs shouting, "Fire!" and ran onto the street to send in an alarm.

In the meantime, Mary Walsh was awakened by the commotion.  She approached the dumbwaiter just as the build-up of heat and pressure caused it to explode.  "The flames struck Mrs. Walsh in the face, setting her nightdress on fire and burning her badly."  The room was quickly engulfed in flames.  Mary grabbed her children, one under each arm, and headed to the window and the ice-covered fire escape.  To get there, she had to plunge through the flames.  

The Evening World reported that the barefoot mother made it down one floor on the fire escape, then stopped.  Both she and the children were in horrific shape. 

From the children the night clothes had been burned and the flesh peeled from their bodies as the mother stood on the ladder," said the article.  "Her hair had been burned from her head, her face and arms were black from the flames, and there was a deep, ugly mark across her shoulders, where a falling beam struck her as she ran through the fiery room.

Alfred Pitcher, who lived around the corner on West Fourth Street, had heard the explosion.  He made it to the rear yard just as the exhausted woman was about to throw her children to the snowbank below.  Pitcher called out for her to wait, climbed to the top of an outhouse, then yelled, "Now!"  Mary Walsh tossed the infant to Pitcher, who passed him to another neighbor.  He then climbed the fire escape, retrieved the other child, and helped Mary down.

The Evening World reported, "Meanwhile the other families in the house had been aroused and were making a made rush for the street."  The article said, "All of the people, with the exception of Mrs. Pietsch, were out of the house when the firemen arrived."  A fire fighter rescued Dora Pietsch who "was so frightened she stood in her rooms and cried."

An ambulance transported Mary Walsh and her children to the New York Hospital.  The Evening World reported, "The surgeon thought that the two children would die, but the woman might recover."  

The Evening World reported, "The flames were quickly extinguished.  The firemen couldn't say exactly how they started.  It might have been that the baker's ovens had been overheated."  

Twelve days later, on February 11, The Sun reported, "Mary Walsh, 6 years old, who, before being rescued by her mother, Mrs. John A. Walsh, was burned by a fire at her home, at 47 Sixth avenue...died in the New York Hospital yesterday."

Henry Hoops suffered the equivalent of $94,000 damages to his building.  (His tenants, of course, lost nearly everything.)  He made repairs, which were completed within a few months.

Henry Hoops died in 1914, 14 years after the title to the Sixth Avenue building was transferred to his son, Henry Jr.

In the years after World War I, the former bakery was a restaurant/nightclub.  With Prohibition in full swing, at midnight on Saturday December 30, 1923, Mayor John Francis Hyland and his wife made "a tour of Greenwich Village," as reported by The New York Times, which said, "They did not leave their automobile on their inspection of the Village."  Following the "tour," police made four arrests.  Among them was Charles B. Walters who was arrested at 47 Sixth Avenue, "charged with possessing a flask of whisky."

In 1929, four years after the address was changed, 351 Sixth Avenue was renovated by architect Ferdinand Savignano.  There were now seven apartments in the upper floors.  Living here in 1935 was mural artist Herman E. Zimmerman.  He did several Works Progress Administration murals, including the 1938 Chemistry & Industry for the main post office at Wilmington, Delaware; and Construction on the Miami Erie Canal in the Tipp City, Ohio main post office.

The Daniel Reeve store was still in the building in 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The ground floor shop became a Daniel Reeves grocery store.  The extensive chain had 297 stores in the New York City area in the 1920s.  By 1941, when it merged with Safeway, Inc. there were 408 Daniel Reeves grocery stores.

In the late 1950s and into the 1960s, the ground floor was occupied by the Fugazy Travel Bureau, Inc., and in the 1970s by the Pier 16 housewares store.

While the storefront has been gently altered, its 1877 cast iron piers are intact.  And, despite a serious fire in 1895, the upper floors are unchanged after nearly 150 years.

photographs by the author

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The Eugene and Josephine Arnstein House - 16 East 80th Street

 

image via streeteasy.com

Developer Anthony Mowbray began construction of a trio of high-stooped rowhouses at 16 through 20 East 80th Street in 1884.  Designed by McElfatrick & Sons & Debaud in the Queen Anne style, they were faced in brownstone at the basement and parlor levels, and red brick above.  Interestingly, while construction was still ongoing in July 1885, Mowbray brought in architect William E. Mowbray (presumably a relative) to make minor "internal alterations" to 16 East 80th Street.  The changes were most likely requested by Anthony Mowbray's potential buyers August and Josephine Schmid.

August Schmid arrived in America from Switzerland at the age of 12.  His father co-founded the Lion Brewery and, after learning the fundamentals of the business, August traveled to Munich to study beer making.  In 1879, he was made a full partner and, by now, he had amassed a fortune.

Their new home was completed in 1886.  August Schmid would not enjoy his impressive residence for long.  On June 7, 1889, the New York Evening Post reported, "The funeral of the well-known brewer, August Schmid, took place at ten o'clock this morning at his late home, No. 16 East Eightieth Street and was largely attended."  The article said representatives "from nearly every prominent German organization, as well as from the different brewing and malting associations," attended the service.  Josephine inherited approximately $1 million--about 34 times that much in today's money.  She stepped into her husband's position as a partner in the Lion Brewery.

On February 9, 1893, shortly after her 21st birthday, Josephine's eldest daughter, also named Josephine, died.  Her funeral was held in St. Patrick's Cathedral.  

At the time, Asbel Parmelee Fitch and his family lived at 1388 Lexington Avenue.  Two years later, in the fall of 1895, the Real Estate Record & Guide reported that Fitch had sold the house to Josephine Schmid, "for a consideration of $27,000 in a trade for a larger residence in East 80th Street."  Fitch and Schmid no doubt knew one another well, since he was a director in the Lion Brewery.  (Josephine did not intend to live in the Lexington Avenue house.  Instead, she would erect a striking mansion at 807 Fifth Avenue.)

Including his Lexington Avenue property, Fitch paid $75,000 for the 25-foot-wide East 80th Street house, according to The New York Times on October 29, 1895.  (The figure would translate to about $2.8 million in 2024.)  He and his wife, the former Elizabeth A. Cross, were married in 1874 and had three children, Elizabeth (known as Bessie), Ashbel, Jr., and Ella.  The family's country home was in Tarrytown-on-the-Hudson.

Ashbel Parmalee Fitch, The National Magazine, December 1893 expired)

Born in 1848, Fitch had deep American roots, descending from William Bradford of the Mayflower.  A graduate of Columbia Law School, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1887 through 1893.  When he purchased 16 East 80th Street, he had been Comptroller of New York City for two years.

Ashbel Jr. was attending Yale in 1897.  On June 22, he boarded the Richard Peck in New Haven headed to New York City with three other Yale students.  When the boat landed, the 20-year-old and his companions were promptly arrested "on charges of intoxication, disorderly conduct, and malicious mischief," as reported by the New York Evening Post.  The captain complained "that they were noisy, smashed beer bottles on deck, and did various objectionable things."

The captain said he was "especially goaded" into pressing charges "by young Fitch's conduct."  The Evening Post quoted him:

He told me that his father was the Comptroller of New York, and that he would have me discharged from my job, and that he would have any policeman broke who attempted to arrest him.  He blustered up a great deal, and I called Policeman Snydecker aboard, and he, with three other officers, placed the young men under arrest.

In court, Magistrate Meade let the four go, but not before admonishing them, "you should be ashamed of the disgrace you have brought on yourselves, your parents, and your college."  One can imagine the more severe talking-to Fitch received at home.

More positive press centered around the Fitch daughters.  On January 5, 1898, The New York Times reported on Ella's debutante reception in the house, "an event of widespread social interest."  The article said, "There was a large attendance of fashionable people."

Ella was married to Henri George Chatain on November 15, 1902 in the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church.  The reception was held in the East 80th Street house.  In reporting on the wedding, The New York Times commented, "Mr. Fitch has made his daughter a wedding present of a house on West End Avenue."

In the meantime, Fitch was defeated in the election for Comptroller in 1897.  Two years later, he co-founded the Trust Company of America, becoming its first president.  He was, as well, a director of the Bowling Green Trust Company, the Germania Bank, the Title Insurance Company of America, and the American Light and Traction Company.

The first hint that Ashbel Fitch's health was failing came in the fall of 1903.  On November 1, The New York Times reported, "Ex-Controller Ashbel P. Fitch, President of the Trust Company of American, who has been seriously ill at his house, 16 East Eightieth Street, for three weeks, is reported as improving, although still seriously ill."

Five months later, on April 19, Elizabeth Cooke Fitch was married in the drawing room to Harold Webster Ostby.  The decision not to have a church ceremony was almost assuredly based on Ashbel Fitch's health.  Nevertheless, The Sun reported, "There were many guests at the reception afterward.

Three weeks later, on May 3, 1904, Ashbel Parmalee Fitch died "from a stroke of apoplexy," according to The New York Times.  His funeral was held in the drawing room where his daughter had been married.  The Evening Post reported on May 6, "The gathering was so large that many persons were compelled to stand on the sidewalk, admission to the house being impossible."

The following year, Elizabeth Fitch sold 16 East 80th Street to Eugene and Josephine Mendelbau Arnstein.  Before moving in, they hired the architectural firm of Janes & Leo to remodel the outdated residence.  While the architects retained a stoop, they replaced the brick and brownstone facade with limestone.  The toned-down Beaux Arts design featured a large, arched parlor window, a full-width balcony at the second floor with an elaborate French railing, and a balustraded stone balcony at the fourth floor.

The New York Architect, 1907 (copyright expired)

Born in Germany in 1840, Eugene Arnstein was a manufacturer of paints and varnishes.  He and Josephine had four adult children.  As had been the case with August Schmid, he would not enjoy his home long.  The couple was in Munich, Germany on October 10, 1907 when Arnstein died at the age of 67.

The first floor had just three rooms--the parlor, music room, and dining room.  The New York Architect, 1907 (copyright expired)

At least two of Josephine's children, Edna and Hugo, lived with her.  In 1909, Hugo and his brother Leo partnered to found The Thread-Tight Company, a "plumbing, heating, and gas fitting business," according to Domestic Engineering on September 18 that year.

Although Josephine rarely appeared in society columns, Edna did.  On February 27, 1910, for instance, The New York Times reported, "Miss Edna Arnstein gave a fancy-dress dance at her home, 16 East Eightieth Street, on Saturday evening.  The first prize, given for the most attractive costume, was won by Miss Dorothy Drey, and the second by Miss Rene Seligman."

In May 1914, Josephine leased 16 East 80th Street to James J. Imbrie and his wife, the former Marie McCrea Pritchett.  Imbrie was the principal of the financial firm Imbrie & Co.  The couple had five children, James, Jr., Dorothy Jane, Janet Morris, Marie Dawn, and Robert McCrea.  The mansion on their Englewood, New Jersey summer estate in Englewood, New Jersey was inspired by Washington's Mount Vernon.

The house was originally similar to the as-yet unchanged neighbor to the right.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Joseph Arnstein sold the house in October 1916 for the equivalent of $1.5 million today.  The Sun remarked, "The new owner will occupy the property."  If Irving C. Miller and his family did move in, their residency was not long-lived.  By 1920, architect Albert H. Stursberg was leasing the house.  In July that year, he designed $10,000 in alterations for the residence.

Mrs. R. M. Morriss Betts occupied 16 East 80th Street in the 1930s.  She announced the engagement of her daughter, Marjorie Morriss MacCollom (from her former marriage to Donald Hoyt MacCollom) to Benjamin T. Fairchild 3d on June 27, 1938.  The couple was married in St. Thomas' Church on October 7, the El Paso Herald-Post noting the bride "wore the white satin gown lavishly trimmed with rosepoint and duchess lace which has been in the Fairchild family for generations."

A renovation to 16 East 80th Street in 1962 resulted in the removal of the stoop and the lowering of the entrance to the basement level.  There were now 19 apartments in the once-opulent mansion.  A subsequent remodeling reduced the number of apartments to 16.

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The 1821 John J. J. Gourgas House - 64 Bedford Street

 

When Bedford Street was laid out in 1799, the Village of Greenwich was a sleepy hamlet nearly a day's ride from New York City to the south.  In 1819, merchant Isaac Jaques purchased land which included three building lots at 64 through 68 Bedford Street.  Working with masons James Vandenberg and Isaac Freeman, he filled the parcels with three identical, Federal-style homes in 1821.

Like its identical neighbors, 64 Bedford Street was two-and-a-half stories tall.  Its Flemish bond red brick was trimmed in brownstone.  Typical of the style, two prim dormers punched through the peaked roof.

Isaac Jaques initially leased the house to middle class families.  In 1836, it was shared by the families of Joseph Albertson, a "carter" (or driver of a delivery wagon), and Robert O. Christian, who was listed as a fishmonger at the Clinton Market.  Four years later, Emily McDonald, the widow of James McDonald, rented the house and took in two boarders, Francis Gouldy, who was in the lumber business; and Lewis Stanbrough, a cabinetmaker.

The house was sold at auction in 1848, described in the announcement as "house 20 feet front, 32 feet 5 inches deep."  It continued being operated as a boarding house, run by the widow Jane H. Legrand until 1857, when it was purchased by John James Joseph Gourgas.

Born on May 23, 1777 at Lake Geneva, Switzerland, Gourgas came from distinguished Huguenot families.  He traveled to America in 1803 and established a store on Broadway selling "very choice French, English, German and American fancy goods and perfumery," according to an ad in 1842.  When he moved his family into the Bedford Street house he was already retired.  His wife, Louisa Maria Smith, had died three years earlier, in Febrary 1854.  The couple had three sons, John Jr., Frederick William, and Louis; and two daughters, one of whom was Ulbiana E. H. Gourgas.

John James Joseph Gourgas in his Masonic sash, from the 1938 John James Joseph Gourgas 1777-1865 

In February 1854, three years before Gourgas purchased 64 Bedford Street, his wife died, and the following year John Jr. passed away.  Moving into the house with him were Frederick and Ulbiana.

Gourgas was best known for his Masonic activities.  He was a founder and the first Secretary General of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Northern Supreme Council.  An ardent supporter of Freemasonry during a time of anti-Masonic sentiment, he was honored more than a century later with the establishment of the Gourgas Medal, the highest award of the Scottish Rite, in 1945.

On the afternoon of September 19, 1863, Frederick William Grougas died "suddenly" in the house, as reported by the New York Herald.  The term often suggested a heart attack or stroke.  He was 50 years old.  The following year, John J. J. Gourgas moved to West 10th Street, where he died on February 14, 1865 at the age of 88.  His death was attributed to "old age."

The Bedford Street house saw a succession of occupants--almost assuredly renters--over the next decades, like Joseph H. Smith, who sold stoves in his shop at 437 Hudson Street.  He and his family were here in 1872 and '73.   Samuel R. Rowley occupied the house in 1878 and '79.  

Halsted C. Hynard purchased 64 Bedford Street around 1880.  Like his predecessors, he was middle class.  He dabbled in Greenwich Village real estate.  (It may have been Hynard who added pressed metal cornices over the brownstone lintels of the door and windows.)  In April 1896, his personal estate was appraised at $17,541.00--or about $657,000 in 2024.

At the time of the appraisal, Hynard had been gone from Bedford Street for 11 years.  He sold the house to Oliver A. Farrin on April 1, 1885 for $8,500 (about $278,000 today).

Living here in the early 1890s were Kate Vincent and her husband.  Kate had a prestigious New York pedigree.  Her father was Thomas Sutphen and her mother was Content Morris.  Both the Sutphens and Morrises were Colonial families.  Kate's mother, who lived in Colt's Neck, New Jersey, came for a visit in the summer of 1893.  Tragically, the 88-year-old Content Sutphen died here on July 8.

The vintage house narrowly escaped demolition in the first years of the 20th century.  On December 25, 1903, The New York Times reported that "a Mr. England" had sold the house to "the owner of the adjoining corner of Bedford and Morton Street."  The article said he "will improve the entire plot."

The plans for an apartment house on the site most likely were derailed by the city's announcement a few months later that Seventh Avenue would be extended south through Greenwich Village, eradicating buildings just steps from the Morton Street-Bedford Street corner.

By 1915, 64 Bedford Street was operated by a Mrs. Gorrini as a low-level rooming house.  Among her tenants were Robert Decker and his wife and daughter, who lived on the first floor in the rear.  Decker worked as a "sandwich man" in the theater district--wearing a sandwich board advertising the latest productions.  The New York Herald explained, "Decker makes a dollar a day for dragging his way among Christmas shoppers with flat boards slapping at him from front and rear.  Each week the words on the board are changed to fit the message, but to Decker nothing changes save the seasons."

On December 14, 1915, Decker was on his way to work when his shoe hit a snow-covered parcel in the gutter.  Inside were "several baubles," as described by the New York Herald.  He stuffed the package into his pocket and continued on to work.

Back home, he gave the items to his wife.  The newspaper said, "she tossed them on the broken stand which serves them as dressing and dining table, as well as pantry and kitchen.  There was a ring with some shiny stones in it, and Mrs. Decker, needing food and some undergarments for herself and her daughter, approached a pawnbroker.  He gave her $2 for it."

What the Deckers did not know, was that the "baubles" were part of an $8,000 jewel heist.  They were stolen from the country home of Mrs. Alvin Ford Miller of Pelham Manor, New York on December 8.  The platinum ring set with diamonds that Mrs. Decker pawned for $2 was valued at $500 (more than $15,500 today).  

A few days later, Mrs. Decker took a watch and chain to the pawnbroker.  "Are they worth anything," she asked.  By chance, an undercover detective was in the shop at the time.  The New York Herald reported, "The pawnbroker's eyes widened as he picked up the watch and chain, and the detective, scarcely believing he was seeing a real transaction, edged up to the woman."  After questioning her, Detective Clare followed her to 64 Bedford Street.  There, Mrs. Decker brought out the jewelry "from a bundle of rags."  The detective, understandably, assumed that Robert Decker was a thief.  He went to 42nd Street and arrested the sandwich man.

Mrs. Alvin Ford Miller was in court on December 17 to see Decker tried for grand larceny.  His and his wife's testimonies convinced the judge that, indeed, he had found the jewelry and had no idea of its worth.  He was released "free but penniless," according to one newspaper.

The Deckers had some hope, however.  Mrs. Miller had offered a $500 reward for the return of her jewelry.  Those hopes were dashed when, a day after the trial, Mrs. Miller was asked if Decker would receive the reward.  The Sun reported, "she said that he would not, as the reward called for the return of all the jewels."  Decker had found only a portion of the loot.

On September 24, 1920, the New-York Tribune reported that Michael Rubino had purchased 64 Bedford Street.  Born in Italy in 1867, he and his wife Maria G. had 13 children.  Rubino died at the age of 88 in 1947, and Maria died in 1953.

The sheet metal cornices over the openings survived in 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The house continued to be home to multiple Rubino siblings.  On August 4, 1960, The Village reported, "A garden party was given by the Rubino sisters, Edith, Helen and Gilda, at their residence, 64 Bedford St., one evening recently."  Along with a buffet supper, the the guests were entertained by Meyer Horowitz's Village Barn Show.  

Despite what must have been tight quarters, the house was also home to brothers Michael V. and Joseph A. Rubino, and their sister Anna and her husband Michael DeGeorge.  

Michael V. Rubino was well-known in Greenwich Village, first as a lightweight boxer who fought under the name of Porky Young.  He gave up boxing to train, and among his first students at the Greenwich Village Settlement House was Gene Tunney, who would become the World Heavyweight Champion.  Throughout the 1940s he worked with the Police Athletic League teaching youngsters to box and during World War II he was the Director of Recreation for the Board of Education under the Works Progress Administration.  He was also the founder of the Greenwich Village Sporting Club, which raised money for needy children.

When Michael V. Rubino died at the age of 75 of a heart attack on September 6, 1972, six of his siblings survived--five of them (Joseph, Edith, Helen, Gilda and Anna) still living at 64 Bedford Street.  The Rubino family remained in the house at least into the 1980s.

It was purchased in 2011 by investor Barry Schwartz, who owned the house next door at 66 Bedford Street.  According to Curbed, the family bought the property "for guests."  They joined the two residences internally with a doorway at the rear of the parlor level.  At some point, the sheet metal window cornices were removed and paneled lintels, appropriate to the Federal style, were installed.

photographs by the author

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George F. Pelham's 1927 Beekman Hotel - 575 Park Avenue

 

photograph by Deans Charbal

On October 16, 1926, an advertisement appeared in the New York Evening Post that announced, "A City Home Palatial in Appointments and Conveniences."  Construction of the Beekman residential hotel was nearly complete at the time and "reservations" were being taken.  Designed by George F. Pelham for the 571 Park Avenue Corporation in the Italian Renaissance style, it loomed 15 stories above the southeast corner of Park Avenue and 63rd Street.  Pelham's tripartite design included a three-story rusticated base, and a nine-story midsection faced in variegated brick.  Stone balconies both carried on the Renaissance motif and provided interest.  The three-story top section sat above a decorated bandcourse.  It was distinguished by double-height terra cotta arches with engaged columns.

Potential tenants could chose among suites of "2, 3, 4 rooms or larger with private bath for each chamber."  Like transient hotels, residential hotel suites did not have kitchens.  To make up for this, the ad explained, "They contain individual serving pantries with automatic refrigeration and circulating ice water."  Residents would enjoy "unexcelled maid service."  On the ground floor was the Beekman Restaurant, described in the advertisement as being "owner-managed" and providing "a type of service and a quality of food that would delight the epicure."  Completed early in 1927, the Beekman Hotel cost its owners $600,000 to erect--or about $10.3 million by 2024 conversion.

Among the first residents were Benedict J. Greenhut and his wife, who signed a lease in July 1927.  He was the son of Captain Joseph B. Greenhut, who had distinguished himself in the Battle of Gettysburg.  In 1902, Benedict and his father purchased the massive Siegel, Cooper & Co. department store on Sixth Avenue.  Two years later, they purchased the Benjamin Altman store across the avenue, merging the two as the Greenhut & Co.  Upon Captain Greenhut's death in 1918, Benedict became president of Greenhut & Co.  The store failed that year, however, Greenhut's other business interests and extensive real estate holdings preserved his wealth.

The couple's moving into the Beekman Hotel in July may have upset their summer plans.  For whatever the reason, they did not occupy the five-room suite they had reserved for eight weeks at the Briarcliff Lodge in Briarcliff Manor, New York.  The following year, on November 22, 1928, The Larchmont Times reported that Greenhut had been ordered to pay the luxury resort the $110 per day rental--a total judgment of $4,480 "less cost of meals."  (The Greenhuts' bill, equal to $78,600 today, reflects the amounts that well-heeled New Yorkers spent on summer accommodations.)

Morton D. Hutzler and his wife, the former Antoinette Salomon, were also initial residents.  Born in 1878 in Baltimore, he was initially associated with his family's business, the Hutzler Brothers Department Store.  In 1905, he changed course, purchasing a membership on the New York Stock Exchange.  He became a member of Salomon Bros. & Hutzler in 1910.

The Hutzlers chose an unexpected spot to spend the summer of 1928.  On August 25, The Reform Advocate reported, "Mr. and Mrs. Morton D. Hutzler of 575 Park avenue, New York, will visit Chicago before returning to their home.  They have been vacationing at Battle Creek, Michigan."

On September 29, 1927, the New York Evening Post reported, "Mr. Thomas W. Strong has taken an apartment at 575 Park Avenue.  He will come down from Lenox on Saturday, where he has just sold his place."  The wealthy bachelor would not enjoy his new home for long.  He died on September 7, 1928.  Strong's will received national press coverage when it was revealed he had left his chauffeur of 20 years, Thomas Walsh, $25,000 (a significant $445,000 today).  The wife of a nephew, Cyril K. dos Passos, told The New York Times that Walsh was "worth every cent he got," noting that he had "proved faithful and able."

Another wealthy bachelor in the Beekman Hotel at the time was Edward Dean Richmond, who traced his American roots to 1635.  The grandson of Dean Richmond, the first president of the New York Central Railroad, he graduated from the University of Virginia in 1915.  Shortly afterward, he moved to New York "to engage in the investment banking business and to manage his family's estate," according to the New York Sun.  In addition to banking, Richmond was secretary and director of the United States Dairy Products Company, and secretary of three major corporation.

Richmond's library was later described as "splendid."  The American Art Association called it "a remarkable collection of Oscar Wilde manuscripts, first editions and associated items."  It included first editions of James Boswell, Samuel Johnson, George Moore, Rupert Brooke, Aubrey Beardsley and others.

On November 14, 1929, The New York Times reported on the engagement of Elizabeth Cecilia Detwiller to Edward Dean Robinson.  The article listed the 37-year-old Robinson's numerous club memberships, which included the St. Nicholas Society, the Mayflower Descendants, Society of Colonial Wars and Society of the Cincinnati.

The wedding was planned for January 25, 1930 in St. Bartholomew's Church.  But shortly after the announcement, Robinson fell ill.  On January 16, The New York Times reported, "Owing to the illness of Edward Dean Richmond, his marriage to Miss Elizabeth Cecilia Detwiller...has been indefinitely postponed."  The article explained that Richmond, "who has been ill at his home, 575 Park Avenue, suffered a relapse yesterday."  

Unfortunately, the wedding would never come to be.  On July 4, 1933, Robinson died at the age of 41.  The Sun commented, "His long illness compelled him to withdraw from most of his business activities."

Another Beekman resident who suffered a long ailment was Benedict J. Greenhut.  He fell ill in 1931, his condition worsening to the point that he was confined to bed in November.  He died in the apartment at the age of 61 on March 29, 1932.

Resident Henry Theodore Leggett had a broad resume.  Born in Brooklyn to Theodore Leggett, one of the founders of the Francis H. Leggett Company, he was the administrative assistant to Herbert Hoover during World War I.  At the time, the future President was head of the Food Administration.  A member of the Union Club, Leggett was a well known artist by the time he moved into the Hotel Beekman.  He died in his apartment on March 24, 1947, at the age of 74.

In 1946, the first Macy Foundation Conference was held in the dining room here.  Sponsored by the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, they "brought together at regular intervals some of the greatest minds of the twentieth century," according to Jean-Pierre Dupuy in his 2000 book On the Origins of Cognitive Science.  The group pioneered what would be known as the cybernetics movement.  It would meet at the Beekman Hotel every year through 1952.

In 1950, the Beekman Restaurant closed.  It was replaced by the famous Park Avenue French restaurant Voisin, which had operated from 375 Park Avenue since 1913.  The fame of the restaurant earned it a place in Ian Fleming's 1956 Diamonds are Forever.  Set in 1953, Fleming's spy James Bond is staying at the Hotel Astor.  The author wrote, "Bond...had his fourth shower of the day and went to Voisin's where he had two Vodka Martinis, Oeufs Benedict and strawberries."

The closing of the Beekman Restaurant foreshadowed the closing of the Beekman Hotel.  In 1951, the building was converted to apartments, nine each on floors two through fifteen, and five in the new penthouse level.  The "Hotel" was dropped from its name and the building was now known as The Beekman.

Another change in the restaurant would once again foretell of changes in the building.  In 1962, Voisin moved to the Colony House at 30 East 65th Street.  A renovation completed two years later resulted in reconfigured apartments.  In 1969, The Beekman was converted to a cooperative.

The residents continued to be white collar professionals, like Frank Schulman, the chairman of four paper manufacturing companies; and Michael J. Merkin, the senior vice president and director of the Federation Bank and Trust Company, chairman of the Lewis Asphalt Engineering Company, a director of the Edison Savings and Loan Association, and the First Westchester Corporation.  He was also a director of the 1964 New York World's Fair and president of the 575 Park Avenue Corporation.

The former Voisin's space became Le Perigord Park, formerly on East 52nd Street.  It received an unusually tepid review by Raymond A. Sokolov of The New York Times on June 23, 1972, who sniffed in part, "Its menu is among the most unremittingly complex French bills of fare in the city.  The food does not quite fulfill one's expectations, but it is very good all the same."

Attorney Moses Polakoff was one of several well-known attorneys living in The Beekman in the 1970s.  On February 6, 1977, he received a telephone call from another resident, Sylvia Sherman, who lived on the 15th floor.  The 60-year-old worked for a real estate firm and Polakoff had recently drawn up her will.  She said succinctly, "I'm going to jump, Moe.  Take care of my things."

Polakoff blurted, "Wait a minute," but the 60-year-old had already hung up.  He notified an building employee who went to Sherman's apartment and found an open window.  Sylvia Sherman had leapt to her death.

Born on the Lower East Side in 1896, Moses Polakoff was a widower.  His wife, Ruth Kitsch, whom he married in 1924, died in 1955.  He was appointed an Assistant United States Attorney in 1921, then resigned in 1925 to establish his private practice.  He became best known for representing notorious gangsters like Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky.  He remained in his apartment until his death at the age of 97 on June 14, 1993.

Equally well-known was lawyer and politician Louis J. Lefkowitz, who was married to Helen Schwimmer.  Lefkowitz had served in the New York State Assembly in the late 1920s, and in 1957 was elected New York Attorney General.  Known as "the people's lawyer" he spurred investigations and initiated laws to protect the public against such dangers as unscrupulous cruse ship operators and unregulated theater ticket sales.  Following his death at the age of 92 in 1996, the State Office Building at 80 Centre Street was renamed in his honor.

Another celebrated attorney, Chauncey Belknap, and his wife Dorothy Lamont lived here in the 1970s.  Born in 1892 in Roselle Park, New Jersey, Belknap was orphaned at the age of 3.  He graduated from Princeton University in 1912 and the Harvard Law School in 1915.  His career started at the top--he became legal secretary to Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes of the United States Supreme Court.

Back in New York, he co-founded the law firm of Stetson, Jennings & Russell.  The New York Times recalled later, "His partners included Raymond B. Fosdick, who had been Under Secretary General of the League of Nations; Robert Patterson, a former Federal judge and Secretary of War; and Robert M. Morgenthau, Manhattan District Attorney.  Dorothy Belknap died in 1980.  Her husband survived her by four years, dying in their apartment here on January 25, 1984.

In the early 1990s, Woody Allen leased a suite here not as his residence, but as an editing space.  On November 2, 1995, The New York Times writer Ira Berkow interviewed the filmmaker, actor and comedian "in his home-away-from-home, the suite at the Beekman Hotel on Park Avenue where he edits his movies."  In her The Unruly Life of Woody Allen, Marion Meade wrote that rather than being driven, "he preferred walking the thirteen blocks to his office at 575 Park Avenue, usually following the same route."

By then, Le Perigord Park had been gone for several years.  It had been replaced by Huberts in 1987, which gave way to the Park Avenue Café by 1993.

photo by Deans Charbal

After nearly a century, George F. Pelham's dignified neo-Italian Renaissance structure survives unchanged outwardly.  

many thanks to reader "Fregan" suggesting this post

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The John and Clara Stanchfield House - 36 West 86th Street

 

In 1886, the year he was elected mayor of Elmira, New York,  John Barry Stanchfield married Clara S. Spaulding.  Born on March 13, 1855, Stanchfield was educated as an attorney.  He had been District Attorney of Chemung County, would serve in the New York State Assembly from 1895 to 1896, and run for Governor in 1899.

Clara, who was born in Elmira in 1849, was a schoolmate and intimate friend of Olivia Clemens, wife of author Samuel Clemens.  According to Clemens's biographer, R. Kent Rasmussen, Clara had accompanied "Livy" to England in 1873 when Samuel Clemens was working on A Tramp Abroad.  The close relationship resulted in John Stanchfield's assisting Samuel Clements with legal entanglements following Olivia's death in 1904.

John Barry Stanchfield - from the collection of the Library of Congress

John and Clara brought their children, Alice and John Jr., to New York City around the turn of the century, where John became a partner in the law firm of Chadbourne, Stanchfield & Levy.

On July 4, 1908, the Real Estate Record & Guide reported that developer William H. Hall, Jr. had sold the 25-foot wide house at 36 West 86th Street, saying, "This dwelling is the sixth one out of a row of 8 recently completed."  The neo-Renaissance style rowhouse had been designed by Welch, Smith & Provot.  Sitting upon a rusticated limestone base, its red brick midsection was trimmed in limestone, and its fifth floor took the form of a steep, slate shingled mansard with two brick dormers.  John and Clara Stanchfield paid $80,000 for the residence, equal to nearly $2.75 million in 2024.

The Stanchfields retained their large home in Elmira.  Because of their deep ties there, when Alice became engaged to Dr. Arthur Wright in 1912, a "large wedding at the Elmira home" was planned, according to The New York Times.  Those plans were upended when Clara fell ill.  On April 28, the newspaper reported, "it was decided to have a quiet wedding at the New York house.  Mrs. Stanchfield, who is convalescent, was present."

The article noted, "The house was beautifully decorated with flowers from the Elmira estate; lilacs, Japanese quince, and other Spring flowers were used in profusion."  Following the ceremony, 150 guests attended the reception.

In January 1915, the Stanchfields sold 36 West 86th Street to Horace A. Saks, of Saks & Co.  He and his wife, the former Dorothy Drey, had two children--John Andrew and Edna Jane.  The family's summer home was in Elberon, New Jersey.

Born on July 14, 1882 in Baltimore, Saks graduated from Princeton in 1903.  He founded the department store with his father, Andrew; his uncle, Isidore; his brother, William A.; and P. A. Conne.  Horace Saks was a leader in the store's expansion and was largely responsible for its move to Fifth Avenue and 49th Street.

Horace and Dorothy filled the 86th Street residence with art treasures.  The New York Times later remarked that Saks "was a collector of portraits and of Chinese porcelains, of which he had a large and valuable collection."

Horace A. Saks, The New York Times, November 28, 1925

On November 25, 1925, Saks was at work when he first complained of a carbuncle on his cheek.  He consulted Dr. A. A. Berg, who sent him "without delay" to Mt. Sinai Hospital for treatment.  The New York Times reported, "when the wound was examined, it was found that septic poisoning had already developed.  Measures were taken to combat the infection, which had spread through his system."  Despite the doctors' efforts, Saks died within forty-eight hours.

Horace A. Saks's funeral was held in the 86th Street house on November 29, 1925.  At the time of his death, he was also a director of Gimbel Brothers, Inc., and among the honorary pall bearers were five Gimbel brothers.

On August 5, 1927, when The American Hebrew announced that Dorothy Saks was "passing the summer in European centers," the West 86th Street neighborhood was drastically changing.  Businesses were encroaching onto the formerly exclusive residential block.  How long Dorothy remained is unclear, but in 1945 her former home was converted to apartments.

That changed in the late 20th century when 36 West 86th Street became the Bard Graduate Center's academic facility.  A restoration-renovation completed in 2000 resulted in two additional floors (unseen from the street) and an expansion at the rear.  The new spaces accommodated a 75-seat lecture hall, digital imaging center, library, classrooms and offices.  A second renovation combined 36 West 86th Street internally with 38.  The exteriors of both houses survived wonderfully intact.

photograph by the author 

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The Lost Polhemus Grocery Store - 361 Bowery

 

In 1932, the steps to a second floor entrance on East 4th Street had been removed, leaving the door hoovering above the sidewalk.  photo by Charles Von Urban from the collection of the New York Public Library.

The family of Peter Valentine lived in the Federal style house at the southeast corner of the Bowery and Fourth Street in 1827.  A butcher whose shop was on Fulton Street, Valentine's frame house was two-and-a-half stories tall with prominent dormers at the attic level.   It assuredly was built with a commercial space at ground level, and the Valentines entered their upstairs space at 396 Fourth Street (later renumbered 48 East 4th Street).

By 1833, the Crumbie family occupied the building.  James Crumbie ran a drugstore downstairs, while Robert Crumbie was a printer.  In 1834, the store space was divided.  James's pharmacy now shared it with Jesse Baldwin's grocery.  

The neighborhood was high-end, its side streets lined with brick and stone mansions.  When the Harleem Rail Road Company proposed to lay a second track up the Bowery in 1834, Jesse Baldwin, Jr. joined residents and merchants in protesting.  Their petition to the Common Council read in part, "Your Petitioners are convinced, that the present single track is a very serious injury to their property, and also a great nuisance to the public, particularly on the Sabbath."

Pharmacies like James Crumbie's sold "patent medicines"--over-the-counter remedies that often touted panacea-like results.  Among the items Crumbie sold in 1837 were Beckwith's Anti-Dyspeptic Pills, an advertisement for which promised to cure (in part):

...almost every variety of functional disorder of the Stomach, Bowels, Liver and Spleen; such as heartburn, acid eructations, nausea, headache, pain and distention of the stomach and bowels, incipient Diarrhea, Cholic, Jaundice, Flatulence, habitual Costiveness, loss of appetite, sick headache, sea-sickness, &c, &c.  They are a safe and comfortable Aperient for Females during pregnancy and subsequent confinement, relieving sickness at the stomach, headache, heartburn and many of the incidental nervous affections.

In 1840, Abraham Gerrits Polhemus opened his grocery in the store and moved his family into the upper floors.  Born in 1812 in Rockland County, New York, Polhemus came from an old Dutch family.  He and his wife Phoebe had three children, including an infant, Mary, when they moved in.  Six more would be born in the house, the last being Geneva Gerrits, born in 1865.

The typesetter for this 1840 ad grossly misspelled his surname.  A. B. Wright's Commercial Directory, 1840 (copyright expired)

The Polhemus family remained here through 1875.  By then, the Bowery neighborhood had greatly changed.  Following the Civil War, saloons and music halls invaded the district.  Polhemus's decision to leave may also have been prompted by the plans to erect the Third Avenue El over the Bowery.  The project, completed in 1878, threw the shops along the street into shadow.

Polhemus leased the building.  Its upper floors were operated as a boarding house in 1876, and Isidor Isaacs ran a clothing store in the former grocery.  In 1879, Thomas Madden leased the store and opened his "first class oyster and chop house" in the space.  He paid Abraham Polhemus $12 per month in 1882, an affordable $369 by 2024 conversion.

Thomas Madden's oyster and chop house did not last long.  In January 1882, he sold everything from furniture to crockery at auction, the announcement saying, "everything must be sold and removed immediately."

Madden initiated a makeover of the space.  He renewed his lease with Polhemus in 1883 and paid $75 for his excise--or liquor--license, and opened a saloon.

Thomas Madden (who lived on West 10th Street) operated his saloon until 1894, when Charles and Annie Bauer took over the business.  (Madden and his wife Mary continued to lease the building, however.)  The neighborhood had greatly degraded by now.  Only about a block away, at 392 Bowery, was Columbia Hall, better known as Paresis Hall (a term referring to syphilitic insanity), known for prostitution and cross-dressing patrons.

The storefront was updated around 1933.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

The Bauers' business had not been opened long before it was raided for operating on a Sunday.  In 1894, the future President Theodore Roosevelt was made a police commissioner and he initiated a string of reforms, including the raiding  of saloons.  August Albert (presumably the Bauers' bartender), was arrested on October 28, 1894.  It appears he was treated leniently by Justice Grady in the Essex Market Police Court.  The magistrate was visibly unhappy with Roosevelt's reforms.  He berated the arresting officer saying, "I want no reign of terror in Capt. Cortright's precinct because a Republican Police Commissioner is the leader of the district."

In January 1897, more than half a century after their family moved into 361 Bowery, Mary, Leonora and Ramona Polhemus sold the property to Thomas and Mary A. Madden.  They continued to rent the saloon space to the Bauers, who took over the upper floors as well around 1902, operating it as the Dewey House hotel.  (Annie Bauer was listed as the proprietor of the hotel, and the excise license was issued in her name.)

The Bauers did well financially.  In 1915, Charles was also a director in the Central Brewing Company and in the Central Cigar Manufacturing Co.  The couple's son, Ernest C. H. Bauer, helped run the business following World War I, and in 1918 held the excise license.

Prohibition brought an end to the Bauers' saloon.  The space became home to Louis Ruhe's extraordinarily unusual business around 1923.  Ruhe dealt in exotic animals, providing them to circuses and other entertainment venues.  While he operated the business end here, he obviously housed the larger animals elsewhere, as evidenced in a shipment he received in 1923.  On February 14, The New York Times reported on the unusual cargo on the Hamburg-American liner The Hansa, which arrived the previous day:

The Hansa brought a large collection of animals and birds consigned to Louis Ruhe of 361 Bowery.  The collection includes eight elephants, four camels, four zebras, four black bears, six polar bears, several llamas, 100 monkeys of various species, antelopes and 20,000 canaries.  The livestock all suffered from seasickness during the rough voyage, Captain Karl Graales, the master, said, the elephants being least affected by the rolling of the ship.

Later that year, on September 1, an advertisement in the New York Billboard read, "Male Chimpanzee.  Big Size.  Perfect Condition.  $800.00.  Louis Ruhe 361 Broadway, New York."  And the following year, an ad in the newspaper said simply, "Louis Ruhe--Animals and Snakes."

The Old Landmark tavern opened here in 1934.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

With the repeal of Prohibition, 361 Bowery once again housed a tavern, The Landmark.  When the management advertised in a pro-union newspaper, it caught the unwanted attention of Congress's Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States in 1939.

The venerable wooden building survived until 1948.  The one-story structure erected on the site as an extension of the abutting building at 359 Bowery survives.

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