The Puzzling Anomaly at 41 Bank Street

 

photo by Jason Kessler

On April 30, 1890, James W. Ketcham purchased the house-and-store at the northeast corner of West 4th and Bank Street from Mary E. Faitoute, paying $24,000 for it and the "two-story frame (brick front) stable on rear," as reported by the Record & Guide.  The price would translate to about $829,000 in 2024.

The West 4th Street house had been erected in 1836.  Ketcham raised its peaked attic to a third floor before selling the property a year later, on April 4, 1891, to John S. Mortimer.  Mortimer renovated the store to a saloon, demolished the stable, and erected a one-story extension at 41 Bank Street.  It served as the residential entrance to the upper floors.

On August 29, 1895, The New York Times reported, "Patrick McIntyre...who was found unconscious Sunday morning at the side entrance to the saloon of John Mortimer, 41 Bank Street, died yesterday."  McIntyre was the well-to-do owner of the Tally-Ho Stables on West 15th Street.  Although McIntyre had left his home that night with "considerable money," according to his son, and his wallet was missing when he was found, police "could find no evidence of foul play," according to the article.

The building caught fire on December 6, 1905.  As Engine No. 72 responded, chaos ensued.  The Evening Post reported that the tender smashed into a runabout in which Henry Cherry and James McGuire were riding at 12th Street and Fifth Avenue, and the battalion chief's wagon "knocked down and bruised" an aged woman at Bleecker and Bank Streets.  The fire damage to 41 Bank Street was minimal, but Cherry and McGuire both suffered broken bones and contusions.

The Mortimer family sold 301 West 4th Street and 41 Bank Street to Stuyvesant Wainwright in 1922.  Around the same time he acquired 303 and 305 West 4th Street and 39 Bank Street.  Six years later, The New York Times said he "remodeled them in an artistic manner and named the group Rosebank."  It was most likely at this time that the distinctive Federal style doorway was installed at 41 Bank Street.  

The entrance is nearly identical to those at 327 and 329 West 4th Street, erected in 1829, and was most likely salvaged from a neighborhood house.  The original, eight-paneled door is flanked by fluted Ionic columns and two half-columns.  They front narrow sidelights and wood carved to resemble stone blocks.  Delicate egg-and-dart carving embellishes the cornice below the transom.

photo by Jason Kessler

The surprising little building at 41 Bank Street prompts a double-take from passersby.  It continues to serve as the residential entrance to the West 4th Street structure.

many thanks to reader Jason Kessler for suggesting this post

The 1840 J. Lee Smith House - 29 Bank Street

 

Like many other Greenwich Village merchants and businessmen, William Harsell invested in real estate as the formerly bucolic hamlet expanded.  A sash and window frame maker, in 1835 he purchased vacant property on Bank Street between West Fourth Street and Greenwich Avenue.  It was not until 1840 that he erected two fine, brick-faced Greek Revival homes on the property.

Like its identical neighbor, the 25-foot wide 29 Bank Street was intended for a merchant class family.  A high stone stoop rose above the rusticated English basement.  The red brick facade was trimmed in brownstone.  Rather than the peaked roof with one or two dormers seen in Federal style houses of a generation earlier, a squat attic floor sat below the simple cornice.  Harsell advertised it as "an excellent House, in a good neighborhood."

As a sash maker, William Harsell was well acquainted with J. Lee Smith, who was a partner in the glass business of Morgan, Walker & Smith.  Smith moved his family into 29 Bank Street and before long was assisting Harsell with his real estate ventures.  The Smiths remained here until February 1845, when an advertisement in the Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer offered both 29 and 31 Bank Street for sale.  It noted, "Apply to Wm. Harsell, or J. Lee Smith."

Robert Niles Eldredge purchased 29 Bank Street.  Born in Mystic, Connecticut in 1812, he came from an old New England family.  His first American ancestor, Samuel Eldred, arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts from England prior to 1641.

Robert Niles and Melinna Louise Eldredge, from Ancestors of Edward Irving Eldrege and His Wife Helen Louise Dutcher, 1925

Listed as a "fishmonger," he was the head of Robert N. Eldredge & Co. in the Washington Market.  He and his wife, the former Melinna Louise Johnson, had four daughters--nine-year-old Melinna Louise; seven-year-old Eliza; Frances Burrows, who was four; and two-year-old Helen.   A son, William Henry, was born on March 2, 1845, just weeks after the family moved in.  Melinna and Robert would welcome eight more children, the youngest, Edward Irving, arriving on September 27, 1857.

Despite what must have been snug conditions in the house, Robert's brother and business partner Nathan Eldredge lived with the family in 1857 and 1858.

The birth of Edward Irving brought the population of 29 Bank Street to 16, including the infant's uncle.  It was possibly the over-crowding that prompted Eldredge to sell the house in April 1859.  The advertisement described it as "well-built and neatly finished" and noted, "Croton water, gas, &c."  

Joseph R. Hoff was almost assuredly acquainted with Robert N. Eldredge.  A produce merchant, he, too, operated from the Washington Market.  He and his wife, Mary Ann, moved into 29 Bank Street in 1859.  The couple had a son, Harry W.  Sadly, less than three years later Mary Ann died on New Year's Day 1862 at the age of 37.  Her funeral was held in the parlor two days later.

In the early 1870s, Joseph began taking in a boarder, one at a time.  In 1873 it was Margaret McCowan, most likely a widow; and in 1876 John Stuart, a metal dealer, lived in the house.

Joseph Hoff modernized 29 Bank Street in 1878 by raising the attic to a full third floor.  Simultaneously, his architect added Italianate rope molding to the entrance, molded lintels above the windows, and a modern Italianate cornice.

The renovations may have been in anticipation of Hoff's remarriage.  By April 1881 title to the house had been transferred to Catherine Hoff.  That month builders W. Wakeman and C. W. White filed plans for a two-story brick extension to the rear of the house.  The renovations cost the Hoffs the equivalent of $29,500 in 2023.

Following Joseph R. Hoff's death around 1884, Catherine operated 29 Bank Street as a boarding house.  Among her boarders in 1885 were J. W. Randall and his wife; and Joseph Diss Debar, his wife, and their two children, Alice and Julia (known as Dodo).  Madame Diss Debar was a spiritualist.

The Diss Debar girls played with the Randall children.  Mrs. Randall formed a close relationship with the girls when Madame Diss Debar went away on a lecturing tour and Alice became ill.  The New York Times later explained, "Mrs. Randall nursed her until she recovered.  The girl conceived a very deep attachment for Mrs. Randall during her sickness."  During that time, Alice told Mrs. Randall that her father was portrait artist and, indeed, she "saw paintings in a finished and unfinished condition in the apartment of the Diss Debars which Alice told her had been painted by her father."

Mrs. Randall was understandably confused, since she knew Joseph Diss Debar was not an artist.  What none of the boarders were aware of, however, was that the Diss Debars were not married.  "Madame Diss Debar" was the widow of portrait artist Paul Noel Mesant and Alice was the child of that marriage.  Joseph Diss Debar had a wife and children in Philadelphia.  Who Dodo's true parents were was unclear.

In April 1888, Joseph Diss Debar and Madame Diss Debar were imprisoned.  By now, the Randalls lived uptown and the girls (Alice was now 14 years old and Dodo was 8) were briefly taken to the Randall house on Alice's pleading.  In court on April 29, Madame Diss Debar's brother, George T. C. Solomon testified to the couple's illicit living arrangements, said he "did not believe that 'Dodo' was his sister's child."  The New York times reported that he went on to say his sister "was bringing up Alice as a spiritualist, and he considered that her home influences were bad, and that it would be desirable to have Alice and Julia out of her control."  The judge had the girls removed to the custody of the Gerry Society (the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children).

Around 1890 Catherine Hoff married Walter Hart.  Her step-son, Harry W. Hoff, now grown, continued to live with them here.

In February 1896, 55-year-old George Vailiant leased a room.  A drafting engineer, he was employed by the Dutton Pneumatic Lock and Engineering Company.  That summer, however, he began having problems at work.  According to Walter Hart he was "a quiet man of good habits and character."  The New York Press said, "He said little about himself or his belongings, but went to his work every day."

Valiant was married, but his wife Emma's relatives had persuaded her to leave him in 1890.  Adding to his problems were the difficulties with co-workers that arose in the summer of 1896.  According to Valiant, he had been working 12 hours a day.  One of the other draftsmen decided that he was "an agent of the secret police appointed to watch and to report upon his actions."  The man was able to convince at least two other workers of his baseless theory.  Finally, on August 3 he was terminated.

Totally dejected, on August 6 Valiant sat in his room, swallowed enough laudanum to kill himself, and began writing.  His letter explained his unfair treatment by his wife's relatives, the conspiracy theorists at work, and his unjustified firing.  He detailed who should receive his drafting instruments and books, and forgave everyone.  His lengthy letter would have gone further, but he noted, "I must hurry this, my dying statement, as I find the narcotic--laudanum--is commencing to affect me."

When Walter Hart had not seen Valiant for a few days, he checked his room.  On August 10, The New York Press began an article saying, "In his room at No. 29 Bank street the badly decomposed body of George Valiant was found yesterday morning."  

After having been in the Hoff family for more than half a century, 29 Bank Street was sold in May 1913.  By the Depression years it was home to Luther Orange Lemon.  Born in Richmond, Indiana and a graduate of Earlham College and Columbia University, he was assistant treasurer of the J. Walter Thompson Company, an advertising agency.

On June 20, 1940, The New York Sun reported on his marriage to Hortense Bleeker in St. Luke's Chapel on Hudson Street.  It signaled the end of Luther Lemon's residency in the Bank Street house.  The article noted, "He and his bride will go to South America on their wedding trip, and after July 4 will be at home in Morristown [New Jersey]."

A renovation completed in 1949 resulted in apartments and furnished rooms within the house.  The configuration lasted until 2013 when it was returned to a single-family home.

photographs by the author

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

The 1861 William J. Van Arsdale House - 10 Bank Street

 

When an employee of the Bank of New York contracted yellow fever in 1798, its offices purchased eight vacant lots on a still unnamed lane in Greenwich Village and erected a branch there as a safeguard against future emergencies.  The street became known as Bank Street.  (The Bank of New York's forethought proved judicious in 1822 when an even more devastating yellow fever epidemic swept the city, triggering an exodus to Greenwich Village.)

In 1860 James Haight, Jr. purchased a parcel of land from John Lozier on the south side of Bank Street between Factory Street (later West Fourth) and Greenwich Avenue.  He constructed five Anglo-Italianate houses on the site, their narrow proportions made up for by their five-story heights.  Each of the brownstone-fronted homes had prominent entrances above a two-step stoop.  Scrolled brackets upheld segmentally arched pediments.  The sills of the upper story windows sat upon miniature brackets.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

From the beginning, 10 Bank Street was operated as a boarding house, home to white collar residents.  In 1862, they included the families of Archibald G. Armour, who ran a livery stable on University Place; Thomas Pelham, a real estate agent; engraver Fred F. Ziegler; and Samuel Vallieu, a meat merchant in the Clinton Market.  Because there were rarely more than five residents listed at a time, it appears that each of the boarders' families occupied a full floor.

The respectable tenants came and went for a decade without drawing unwanted attention to the address.  Then, on June 22, 1872 David A. Gazia was arrested.  He worked as an advertising salesman for a weekly pictorial newspaper published by James Sutton & Co. and was paid on commission.  Gazia submitted an order and received his $15 payment, about $370 in 2023 terms.  When his employers discovered that he had faked the order, he was arrested.

Around the time of Gazia's legal troubles, George H. Foster, the grandson of James Haight, Jr., inherited all five of the Bank Street houses, as well as another around the corner at 249 Waverley Place.  Like his grandfather, he continued to lease the properties.

In 1879 two civil servants lived among the businessmen within 10 Bank Street.  John G. Vannandall was a policeman and William H. Craft a firefighter.  The other boarders were James Morris, a printer; Daniel B. Olds, who ran a blacksmith shop; and Titus W. Sheldon, who was a clerk.

Like David A. Gazia, Sheldon found himself behind bars for forgery in July 1881.  He had cashed a $35 check in the Eighth Avenue tavern of George A. Clark.  When Clark took the check to the Ninth National Bank, he was told that there was no such account there.  Almost simultaneously, Michael Brennan discovered that a check he had cashed for Sheldon was worthless.  The New York Times reported, "Brennan's complaint was of a similar tenor, except that the check which he had accepted was on the Citizens' Bank."  Describing Titus W. Sheldon as "a well-dressed man," the article said he appeared in the Jefferson Market Police Court on July 30, noting, "On the prisoner's person when arrested was found a spurious check for $25 on the National Broadway Bank."  Sheldon pleaded guilty and was jailed.

By the early 1890s, 10 Bank Street was finally a single-family residence, home to William J. Van Arsdale and his wife.  Van Arsdale was born in 1834 in Plattekill, New York, and when he was two years old his parents brought him to New York City.  According to The New York Times, "At the age of fourteen he left school and went to work as an office boy.  A few years later he secured employment in that capacity in the New York Central Railroad offices."  Little by little he moved up until, as explained by The Sun decades later, "There he attracted the notice of Commodore Vanderbilt, and his promotion was rapid."

Van Arsdale amassed significant responsibility within the New York Central Railroad.  He was the confidential clerk of Cornelius Vanderbilt I, became the firm's general counsel, and in 1872 was put in charge of overseeing all the railroad's real estate transactions.  Following the death of his close ally Cornelius Vanderbilt I in 1877, Van Arsdale "was held in high esteem by the present generation of Vanderbilts, and also by all the officers of the New York Central system," said The New York Times in 1897.

A product of New York City's public school system, William J. Van Arsdale was highly involved in the institution.  He had run for the position of Commissioner of the Common Schools of the Ninth Ward as early as 1859, and on June 24, 1895, The Evening World reported that he had been appointed president of the Board of Education by Mayor William L. Strong.  In reporting on his appointment, the newspaper commented, "He is not a Tammany man."

That detail most likely came as a relief to the newspaper's readers.  Van Arsdale was replacing Charles H. Knox, whose corrupt Tammany leadership had led to the headline "Knox Is Out At Last."  The new president now had to deal with the massive problem of over-crowded schools which resulted in, according to the New York Journal on September 20, 1896, "more than 54,000 children" being unable to attend public school.  Among his first efforts was the establishment of the Sites Committee (of which he was chairman) to determine the best locations for new schools and to acquire those properties.  Van Arsdale sounded as frustrated at the inaction of his predecessor as were parents and journalists.  The New York Journal quoted him as saying, "There is no lack of money."

On April 30, 1897, Van Arsdale was at his office in Grand Central Terminal "and attended business as usual," according to The New York Times.  "He appeared to be in good health."  The following morning he was about to leave the Bank Street house to go to the office when he "was stricken with apoplexy," as reported by The Sun.  He died within three hours.  

Perhaps because of the narrow proportions of 10 Bank Street and the subsequent tightness of the parlor, Van Arsdale's funeral was not held here, but at the Bedford Street Methodist Episcopal Church.  His dedication to the school system was more visible in the ceremony than were his 40 years of service to the New York Central Railroad.  On May 4, 1897, The New York Times reported, "There were no pall bearers, but the casket was escorted into the church by four companies of boys from Grammar School No. 3, led by the Principal, B. D. L. Sutherland, and School Inspector Thomas Fitzgerald."  Somewhat surprisingly, while there "was a large representation of the Board of Education," only two representatives of the railroad were present, Chauncey M. Depew and John M. Toucey.  No Vanderbilt made an appearance.

By the turn of the century, 10 Bank Street was again being operated as a boarding house.  Then, on November 4, 1922, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that the George  H. Foster estate had sold "the five old-fashioned 5-story flats at the southeast corner of Bank st. and Waverley pl." to real estate operators Harris and Maurice Mandelbaum, and Fisher and Irving I. Lewine.  The article said, "The buyers announced their intentions of altering the houses into apartments with suites of 2 rooms and bath."

All but one of the houses (6 Bank Street, at left) was given vast studio windows on the fifth floor.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Greenwich Village had become the epicenter of Manhattan's artistic community.  As part of the renovation to apartments, four of the five houses, including 10 Bank Street, were given studio windows on the top floor.  They flooded the interiors with northern light, so sought after by artists.

At some point around mid-century 10 Bank Street lost the Italianate framing around the entrance.  Although it still retains its 20th century apartment house door, the property was reconverted to a single family home in 2021.  While the exterior is little changed since the 1922 renovations, nothing remains of the 1861 interiors.

photographs by the author

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

The Altered True Reformed Protestant Dutch Church - 21 Bank Street

 

Repeated remodeling has left the former high-stooped residence less than appealing, architecturally.

Builders Linus Scudder and Henry I. Cathell erected a row of nine Italianate houses on the north side of Bank Street between Greenwich Avenue and Factory Street (later West Fourth) in 1856-57.  Faced in red brick above brownstone basements, they were intended for well-to-do owners.  Full-height French windows at the parlor level opened onto cast iron balconies.  Their segmentally arched lintels matched those of the double-doored entrances.

Henry Evesson and his wife purchased 21 Bank Street in 1857.  The couple had five children.  A prominent builder and real estate operator, Eversson's stature within the industry was evidenced on April 16 that year when the New York Herald reported that he was one of five men "named as commissioners to erect the new City Hall."

Following the death of her husband, Edward Conway, the Evesson's daughter Margaret moved in with her parents along with their granddaughter Fannie M. Conway.  Sadly, the 16-year-old Fannie died on the day after Christmas in 1868.  Her funeral was held in the house two days later.

There would be another family funeral in the parlor on September 1, 1875.  Henry Evesson, Jr. and his family were boarding nearby at 245 West 13th Street where Henry died on August 29 at the age of 42 "after a long and severe illness," according to the New York Herald. 

The Evessons sold 21 Bank Street in 1879 and moved to Hempstead, Long Island.  The house became home to the James Fitzgerald family by 1887 when they were the victims of a bizarre incident.

Part of the family's Fourth of July celebration that year was vanilla ice cream from Ernest A. G. Intermann's ice cream parlor on Sixth Avenue.  They, and 20 other families who ate the ice cream were poisoned, some of whom had to be hospitalized.  The Sun reported, "How the ice cream became impregnated with poison is a mystery.  Intermann has been making ice cream at the place he now occupies for fifteen years, and has built up an extensive trade by the excellence of his production."

It was only the vanilla ice cream that was tainted.  "This vanilla," said The Sun," Mr. Intermann prepares himself from the Mexican bean, and he is therefore as much at a loss as any of his customers to account for the trouble."  Luckily, James Fitzgerald had left over ice cream which was taken for analysis.  And, happily for Intermann, "None of the families affected were disposed to blame the confectionery."

Six years after the disturbing incident, incredible change came to 21 Bank Street.  The True Reformed Protestant Dutch Church had worshiped from a vintage church building at West Fourth and Perry Streets for years.  But according to its pastor, Rev. H. Iserman, by then the "class of people who attend church was gradually moving uptown."  By around 1890 there were only 60 members left and "it looked as if we might become very much embarrassed, financially speaking," he told a reporter from The New York Times.

A member of the dwindling congregation was an architect, Henry S. Ihen.  The pastor conferred with him and came up with a plan.  The trustees purchased 21 Bank Street and Ihen transformed it from a high-stooped residence to a high-stooped church.

"The desire was to reduce the expense, and at the same time encourage the congregation to stay with the church," explained Rev. Iserman.  He applauded Ihen's transformation, saying, "the homelike appearance of the building is so attractive, that we hope to gather in our fold many who could not otherwise be induced to come."  The entire renovation costs ($28,000, or about $940,000 in 2023) had been covered by the sale of the old church.

Ihen raised the building to four floors in order to accommodate the rectory on the top two.  On the exterior, shallow buttresses and stained glass windows added to the ecclesiastic feel of the architecture.  The stoop and entrance were now centered, and a stepped, Spanish Renaissance parapet flanked by finials took the place of a cornice.

A sketch of the renovated building appeared on an 1897 Christmas program.  image courtesy of Sue Ellen Fealko

The church opened on October 29, 1893.  The New York Times was diplomatic, saying "The place does not look much like a church, but it is, nevertheless, one of the most interesting houses of worship in New-York."  The article noted, "The building is equipped with all that a modern church generally contains, but everything is on a diminutive scale."

In the auditorium were "a gallery, a compartment for the organ and choir, a spacious platform, and accommodations for seating 250 people."  Those in attendance would sit on folding chairs.  Space for a Sunday school class was in the basement, along with the kitchen "which will be used on the occasion of festivals, &c."  

On the afternoon of the first service, Rev. Iserman admitted, "This is an experiment as yet, but I think it will succeed."  Indeed, that dedicatory service provided hope with over 300 people attending.

The True Reformed Protestant Dutch Church remained in the altered house for three decades before selling it in 1929.  When he photographed the building on March 19 that year, Perry Loomis Sperr noted, "although this was erected as recently as 1895, it is already about to be abandoned, and will be used in the 1930's by theatrical companies and political clubs."

The parapet was scaled down in the transformation to secular purposes.  from the collection of the New York Public Library.

The residence-turned-church was now converted to the meeting rooms, the Greenwich Village Music Hall, and the Knickerbocker Forum.  On November 10, 1934, the New York Sun announced "'Hansel & Gretel' by Humperdinck will inaugurate the series of operas for children and young people at the Music Hall, 21 Bank street, on Saturday afternoon," and a month later, on December 14, 1934, the Columbia Spectator reported, "The Red Flannel players have extended an invitation to all members of the football team to attend tonight's showing of 'The Greed for Gold' at the Greenwich Village Music Hall."

The Knickerbocker Forum provided a venue for meetings and lectures.  On November 1, 1935, the Columbia Spectator announced, "James Wechsler '35, former editor of The Spectator and author of the recently published 'Revolt on the Campus' will discuss his book tomorrow at the Knickerbocker Forum, 21 Bank Street."

But the lifespan of the venues would be short-lived.  In 1936, architect Abraham Grossman converted the building to apartments, two per floor.  This final metamorphosis stripped away almost any hints of Henry S. Ihen's church architecture (although the buttresses survived), lowered the entrance to the former English basement level, and squared off the parapet.

The converted building in 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Easily (and understandably) overlooked today, 21 Bank Street can claim little architectural interest.  But its remarkable history holds its own with any of the more intact vintage structures along the picturesque block.

photograph by the author

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

The Thorn Walling House - 94 Bank Street

 

In 1752, Sir Peter Warren died, leaving his 300-acre estate on the outskirts of Greenwich Village to his three daughters.  Charlotte, who was married to the Earl of Abingdon (the namesake of Abingdon Square), inherited Warren's Greenwich Village mansion "with fifty-five acres of land around about it."

While the house survived for decades, the land around it saw streets being laid out as Greenwich Village gradually expanded.   Among them was Bank Street.  It was named for the Bank of New York which bought eight buildings lots in 1798 in case it should have to establish a branch north of the city were an epidemic to break out.

Twenty-four years later, that epidemic hit.  In 1822, yellow fever washed over New York City, killing thousands.  Bank Street saw rapid development as New Yorkers fled north, exploding the population of Greenwich Village.  William Buckland played a role in that development.

Listed as a mason in directories, Buckland was, in fact, a builder and real estate developer.  He purchased vacant land at the corner of Bank and Greenwich Streets in 1838 and began construction of three 18-foot-wide houses.  Completed the following year, the Greek Revival style residences copied the elements of their more upscale contemporaries.

No. 86 (renumbered 94 in 1867), like its identical neighbors, was two-and-a-half stories tall, the short windows of its attic floor replacing the dormers of the outgoing Federal style.  Brownstone drums at the foot of the stoop originally held decorative iron newels.  Because of the slender width of the house, the parlor windows were noticeably narrow, and the pilasters on either side of the doorway appear stilt-like.

The house was home to James Cronkright, a real estate agent, in the mid-1840's.  By 1851, the widow of John Braiden lived here.  Eliza Braiden worked as a nurse and she took in one boarder at a time.  Renting a room from her in 1851 was J. D. Dexter, a lawyer with offices at 76 Nassau Street; followed by Thomas C. Jones, a chemist (or pharmacist), whose drugstore was nearby at 757 Washington Street.  Eliza Braiden remained until about 1866, when Thorn Walling acquired the house.

Born on January 7, 1811, Walling had married Mary Jane James around 1831.  A poultry dealer in the Washington Market, he was highly involved in the butchers' and the grocerymen's organizations.  The Wallings spent their summer months in New Jersey.  Their comfortable financial situation was hinted at on June 15, 1860, when The New York Times reported that Walling had sailed his vessel in the annual regatta of the Jersey City Yacht Club two days earlier.

Mary Jane Walling died on November 3, 1872.  Her funeral was held in the Bank Street house two days later.  Thorn remained in the house, alone, until his own death on May 10, 1880.  Six months later, on November 12, the house was sold in an executor's sale for $6,800 (about $186,000 in 2023).  

The buyer, Patrick Lilly, resold 94 Bank Street in 1886 to Elizabeth and Thomas Fitzpatrick, making a significant profit.  The $7,860 they paid would equal about $234,000 today.  The couple immediately hired builder and architect W. H. Walker to modernize the dwelling.  The attic was raised to a full floor, an Italianate cornice installed, and the windows updated with sheet metal cornices and tiny corbels below the sills.  It may have been at this time that the wrought iron stoop newels were removed.

Thomas was a fire inspector for the city, the foreman of the Exempt Firemen's Association, and a trustee of the Common Schools.  As Eliza Braiden had done, the Fitzpatricks took in one boarder at a time.  In 1891 it was John McVeattie and his family.  That year both families nearly lost their home.

Across the street stood the seven-story Wilson Building, which caught fire at about 11:30 on the night of April 16.  The Evening World reported, "During the first hour after midnight the neighborhood was the scene of a very lively panic."  Firefighters fought the inferno until 4:00 a.m., leaving "a mass of smoking, smouldering ruins" which "tells the story this morning of one of the most disastrous fires that has visited New York in many years," said the newspaper.

The intense heat caused homes in the immediate vicinity to catch fire.  "Numerous tenements and private houses in Bank and Greenwich streets were threatened with destruction when the fire was at its height, and the occupants fled in terror from their homes."  The article said "in several of the buildings all the furniture in the rooms fronting on the street was destroyed, and the houses themselves [were] scorched and burned, and flooded with water."

Among those was 94 Bank Street.  The Evening World said it was "occupied by the families of Thomas Fitzpatrick and John McVeattie.  They were also driven out of the house, which is badly damaged."  The Evening Post added that the house was "burned on the side nearest the fire, but the flames did not work very far into the rooms."  It may have been Fitzpatrick's firefighting background that saved his home.

The Fitzpatricks would remain in the Bank Street house for years, continuing to take in a boarder and his family.  In 1893 Robert J. Lusk, a commissioner of deeds, lived in the house.

After having lived at 94 Bank Street for more than a quarter of a century, Thomas Fitzpatrick died in the house on April 26, 1913 at the age of 72.  In reporting on his death, The Evening Post commented, "He had been a member of the School Board of old Greenwich Village and a member of the general committee of Tammany Hall."

The house next became home to the Massey family.  In October 1917 Walter F. Massey left home to fight in World War I.  He was deployed with Company B, 129th Engineers with the American Expeditionary Forces in France.

When the house was sold seven years later, in July 1924, The Sun mentioned its venerable history.  "The property is a portion of a plot originally conveyed by Sir Peter Warren to his son-in-law, the Duke [sic] of Abingdon."

No. 94 Bank Street was divided into two duplex apartments in 1955, a configuration that remains.  Despite a coat of bubblegum-colored paint, the Walling house looks much as it did when the Fitzpatricks gave it a facelift in 1886.

photographs by the author

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

The Jacob C Bogert House - 66 Bank Street

 

The Bank of New York purchased eight plots of land in Greenwich Village for a northern branch when yellow fever broke out in New York City in 1798.  The lane took the name Bank Street.  A second deadly epidemic erupted in 1822, causing panicked throngs to flock to Greenwich Village.  The population explosion sparked a flurry of construction, making builders like Andrew Lockwood busy men.  Throughout the 1830's and '40s, he operated Lockwood & Company from 17 Tenth Street and erected rows of speculative houses in Greenwich Village.  

In 1841 Lockwood erected two dissimilar side-by-side houses at 52 and 54 Bank Street (renumbered 64 and 66 in 1866).  Three stories tall and faced in red brick, 54 Bank Street was an ample 26-feet wide.  Its entrance, flanked by narrow sidelights, sat atop a two-stepped porch.  A narrow horse walk, or passageway to the rear yard sat adjacent to the doorway.  A simple wooden cornice with block modillions completed the design.

Another well-known builder, Jacob C. Bogert, was living on Broome Street at the time, but by 1851 he had moved his family into the Bank Street house.  He and his wife, the former Almira Frost, had five children, John A., Harriet Louisa, Catharine A., William Patton, and Susan M.

While, like Lockwood, he constructed speculative residences in Greenwich Village, he also worked on commission.  In 1854, for instance, he billed the city for $721 (about $24,000 in 2023) for "sundry work and material for altering" the old brownstone Superior Court Building on Chambers Street.  (Four years later the city would plan construction on the lavish Tweed Courthouse on the site.)

In the decades before apartment houses, it was not uncommon for even affluent families to accept boarders.  For the entire time the Bogert family lived here they had a boarder, William H. Hall, who ran a boot and shoe business on Pearl Street.

The Bogerts' son, John A., enlisted in the 9th Regiment in 1861.  He would attain the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, serving in the 103rd Regiment, United States Colored Troops.  (Black Union soldiers were commanded by white officers only.)  On February 9, 1863 he wrote his father a letter from Camp Bliss in Virginia, requesting that he immediately send his commission and "all other papers" which he left at home so he could collect payment for his service.  He added, "please be very careful and mail it with as much care as you can so that you may be sure it will arrive safe and all right."

When the family received the letter, they were preparing to move.  In 1862 Jacob C. Bogert had begun construction of a handsome home on the plot next door, at 56 Bank Street.  He moved his family into the completed residence in 1863, and leased his former home to Dr. James Ross.  

The city took on the problem of infectious disease epidemics in April 1864 by organizing the Council of Hygiene and Public Health.  It inaugurated a "system of sanitary inquiry" by which inspectors were appointed throughout the city to investigate "fever-nests and insalubrious quarters."  Dr. James Ross was appointed the inspector of the 15th District on the Lower East Side.  His area of responsibility, filled squalid tenements, stretched from 14th Street at the north, to Rivington Street, and from Avenue B to Clinton Street.  Ross nevertheless found time to tend to his Greenwich Village patients.  He advertised office hours "until 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m."

Dr. Ross and his family remained at 66 Bank Street until 1870, when Charles W. Crosley took over the lease.  Crosley was a manufacturer of "silk and worsted trimmings" at 920 Broadway.  The Crosley family stayed for nine years.  

In 1879 William P. Bogert and his wife, the former Emma Sebring, who had been living next door with William's parents, moved into the house.  The couple were married in 1865 and had two children.  Like his father, William was highly interested in public education and had been appointed to the Board of Education in 1865.

After the family had owned 66 Bank Street for more than half a century, the estate of William Bogert sold it to Charles Duttweiller in 1904.  He and his family had owned and lived at 68 Bank Street since 1887.  Charles died on June 10, 1916.  His daughter, Anna, inherited 66 Bank Street, and sold it to John R. and Flora A. Sulzer in 1920.

image via the NYC Dept. of Records & Information Services

Sulzer was born in Switzerland and was a member of the accounting firm Riedell & Sulzer.  Earlier in his career he had been the C.P.A. for the Central Park Riding Academy.  He and Flora had one son.

Only two years after moving in, John R. Sulzer died in the Bank Street house on March 9, 1922.  His estate transferred title to the property to Flora two months later.

Living here by 1932 was Oscar Rosenthal, who formerly manufactured children's clothing.  It is unclear if the Depression drove him out of business, but according to The New York Sun, he had "suffered financial reverses."  His situation eventually overwhelmed him. 

On the evening of January 22, 1933, he visited his sister and her husband, Edward J. Solomon, who lived in the Chalfonte Hotel on West 70th Street.  Solomon was disabled and confined to a wheelchair.  When Rosenthal's sister left the room, the 66-year-old pulled a handgun from his coat and shot himself in the head.  The New York Sun said that Solomon, "who sat in a chair a few feet away, was powerless to prevent the act."

A renovation completed in 1954 resulted in a separate apartment on the third floor.  The outward appearance of the house, with its quirky, skinny side door, is virtually intact since the Bogerts updated the ironwork sometime after the Civil War.

photographs by the author

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Jacob G. Dyckman's 1837 126 Bank Street

 

The original configuration of the attic windows can be glimpsed in the house to the right.

In 1837 Jacob G. Dyckman erected a row of three speculative houses on Bank Street, between Washington and Greenwich Streets.  The 53-year-old was a descendant of Jan Dyckman who established his farm in upper Manhattan in 1661.  A director of the Northern Dispensary, he was active in politics, having been elected to the state legislature in 1828, and holding the position of alderman when he began construction of the Bank Street houses.

Two-and-a-half stories tall and faced in Flemish bond brick, the houses were examples of the emerging Greek Revival style.  A short brownstone stoop led to the single-doored entrance, flanked by paneled pilasters.  A three-paned transom allowed daylight into the entrance hall.   Squat windows punched through the fascia board at the attic level.

Dyckman retained possession of the houses, leasing them as rental properties.  His first tenants in 116 Bank Street (renumbered 126 in 1866) were unmarried sisters Amelia and Elizabeth Felter, and Aaron B. Pell, a grocer on Washington Street.

Despite his busy civic schedule, Dyckman was actively involved in real estate.   That was evidenced on February 28, 1840 when he advertised two commercial properties for rent, and three residences, including "the new two-story brick house, No. 116 Bank street."  His new tenant did not stay especially long.  In April 1843 he advertised this house and the one next door to let.

His next tenant was retired coal dealer John A. Boyce.  By the early 1850's a Mrs. Robinson operated the little dwelling as a boarding house.  An advertisement in the New-York Daily Tribune on August 14, 1852 offered, "Two fine, airy furnished or unfurnished rooms to let, with good board, suitable for two gentlemen and their wives.  Also, good accommodations for a few single gentlemen.  Privilege of bath, &c.  Address Mrs. Robinson, No. 116 Bank-st, near Abingdon-square."  Her boarders in 1853 were Benjamin F. Britton, a fancygoods dealer at 149 Broadway; and bookseller Joseph Wilson.

In 1855 Jacob G. Dyckman sold 116 Bank Street to builder Albert G. Bogert.  While Bogert's contracting office was located nearby at 105 Bank Street, he seems to have operated the real estate operations of the business from his home.  An advertisement on February 28, 1859, for instance, read:

To Let--The upper part of house 52 Bank street, consisting of six rooms, with wardrobes, and all modern improvements, to a small, genteel family.  Inquire of A. G. Bogert, 116 Bank street.

Samuel Edsall owned the property following Bogert.  Like Dyckman, he did not live in the house, but leased it.  It was being operated as a rooming house by 1883.  An advertisement that year listed accommodations ranging from $2 to $4.25 per week, the most expensive equaling about $119 in 2023.

Renting a room here in 1888 was 21-year-old Lizzie Wood.  She had taken care of her paralyzed father, William Van Winkle, until he was removed from their home at 44 Commerce Street to a hospital.  Around that time she met Joseph Wood, an ice vender, and after a short courtship, they were married.

It did not take long for Wood's abusive personality to emerge.  The New York Herald wrote, "She regretted the act before a month was over, and only found temporary relief when her husband was given a short term for burglary."  When he was released, he promised to change.  According to the New York Herald on August 29, 1888, "his wife tried to encourage him in this resolution.  He retaliated by beating and abusing her, until a month ago, when she left their home."

A friend of Lizzie found her work as an actress in a play on Staten Island, and she rented a room at 126 Bank Street.  But, as is often the case with abusive spouses, Joseph Wood was not about to let his wife walk out on him.  On August 27, 1888, Lizzie returned home from Staten Island.  Wood was waiting for her in the hallway.  The New York Herald reported, "He struck her a brutal blow in the face.  He kept on striking her until she was one mass of bruises.  When the ruffian was satisfied he left hurriedly and escaped."

Lizzie managed to drag herself to the rear stairway leading to the basement, where she remained "in agony" all night.  Another renter who was going to the rear yard the next morning around 8:00 discovered her.  "Her lips were swollen so she couldn't talk, and it was with difficulty that she could give any explanation of her condition," said the article.  Another tenant helped to move her to her room, and then an ambulance transported her to St. Vincent's Hospital.  There doctors doubted that she would survive.  A search was launched to find Joseph Wood.  "It is believed that he is hiding in Jersey City, and the police there have been requested to look out for him," said the New York Herald.

The heirs of Samuel Edsall sold the house to William Conklin on March 1, 1894 for $7,000 (about $227,000 in 2023).  It continued to be operated as a rooming house for decades.  

Renting a room here in 1935 was 26-year-old Irving Eckholm, whose drinking got him into trouble.  He told police that on the night of September 13, "while wandering between one bar and grill and another," he met 20-year-old dishwasher, Henry Kozak on Third Avenue between 17th and 18th Streets.  The Brooklyn Daily Eagle wrote, "He treated Kozak to several drinks, then left to visit a friend in Flatbush."  

When Eckholm got off the subway at the Newkirk Avenue station, he realized that Kozak had followed him.  Kozak demanded money.  The two got into a fist fight, during which Kozak escaped with Eckholm's wallet and his spectacles.  (The wallet contained only 53 cents.)  Enraged, Eckholm opened a police alarm box, and gave a description of Kozak, who had fled into the subway.

Using red lanterns, police stopped the train at the next station and arrested Kozack.  He was charged with assault and robbery for his 53 cent larceny.

As late as 1941 the original attic windows were intact.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Artist Bruce Handiside Mitchell and his wife Olivia Dehn moved into 126 Bank Street in the 1940's.  Born in Tayport, Scotland in 1908, his works now hang in venues like the University of Arizona Museum of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  It was most likely Mitchell who renovated the attic floor to a studio, with a wall of windows that flooded the interior with northern light.  Mitchell died in 1963.

The charming house remains a single family home today, part of Jacob Dyckman's remarkably intact trio of 1837 houses.

photograph by the author

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The 1863 Jacob C. Bogert House - 68 Bank Street

 

Jacob C. Bogert was listed as a builder in city directories.  In 1863 he completed a project for himself and his family, a handsome 25-foot-wide residence on Bank Street between West 4th and Bleecker Streets.  Three-and-a-half stories tall above the high basement, the attic within the peaked roof was punctured by graceful dormers.  The entrance and windows wore gently curved "eyebrow" cornices.

Bogert and his wife, the former Almira Frost, had five children, John A., Harriet Louisa, Catharine A., William Patton (known as Willie), and Susan M.  While Bogert kept busy in construction, he was also highly involved in the public school system.  Since the 1840's he had been a trustee in the Board of Education.  

John A. Bogert had joined the 127th New York Volunteer Infantry in 1861, and the summer that his family moved into the Bank Street house he was involved in the siege of Charleston, South Carolina.  In October 1864 he was assigned as provost marshal at Beauford, South Carolina (meaning that he was responsible for its government), and in February 1865 was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 103d U.S. Colored Infantry.  (The officers overseeing Black troops were always white.)  Letters from the war regularly arrived at the Bank Street home.

William Bogert did not fight in the conflict.  In 1865 he was appointed to the Board of Education and in 1865, at the age of 24, he married Emma Sebring.  The couple moved into the Bank Street house where they would have two children.

John was discharged in 1866.  He moved into the Bank Street house with his parents, went into the marble business, and married Mary Elizabeth Vrendenburg.  Both were "members of old and honored families of Holland Dutch origin," said the 1900 History of Westchester County.  

On December 21, 1869 John and Elizabeth welcomed a son, Albert Cole.  Tragically, four months after his son was born, John A. Bogert died at the age of 34.  Uniformed members of the 127th Regiment filed into the Bank Street house for his funeral on April 17, 1870.  Albert would follow in his father's footsteps, first entering the marble business and then earning accolades for his valor in World War I.  

Catharine A. Bogert married Louis K. Bell in 1872 and they, too, moved in with her family.  Louis was vice-president and secretary of the Oil, Paint and Drug Publishing Company and of The Druggists Circular.  In 1886 the Bells had a baby girl, Myra Louise.  (Sadly, she would die at the age of 9 in 1895.)

The parlor of 68 Bank Street would see a series of funerals over the succeeding years.  Harriet Louisa, who never married, died on October 15, 1874 at the age of 34.  Her mother died in 1881, and Jacob C. Bogert died at the age of 73 on May 12, 1884.

The house was inherited in equal parts by the three surviving children.  Susan and Catherine transferred their portions to William in October 1885.  The property was sold at auction on April 19, 1887.

It was purchased by Charles and Catharine A. Duttweiler for $16,850--about $495,000 in 2022 terms.  The couple immediately hired architect E. Haight to make renovations.  His plans read, "building to be raised."  The changes apparently affected the rear extension of the residence only.

The Duttweiler, who had a daughter, Magdalena, took in selected boarders.  In 1894 John Whitaker Watson and his adult daughter took rooms with the Duttweilers.  Described by The Weekly Press as a "well known literary man," he was known professionally as J. W. Watson, and wrote for Harper's publications and Frank Leslie's Magazine for years.  (Following the Civil War he was editor of Frank Leslie's Magazine.)  Watson was, perhaps, best known for a single poem, "Beautiful Snow," which appeared in a November 1858 issue of Harper's Weekly.  The Weekly Press said the poem "moved the London Athenaeum to admiring praise."

When Watson and his daughter moved in, he was already suffering from heart problems.  They led to his death here on July 19, 1896 at the age of 69.

The attic dormers can be seen in this 1941 photograph.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Charles Duttweiler died a widower at the age of 76 on June 10, 1916.  As had been the case so many times before, his funeral was held in the parlor two evenings later.  Magdalena inherited the house and continued living in it until her marriage in 1920.  That year she converted 68 Bank street to bachelor apartments--a term that meant they had no kitchens.

That configuration changed in 1936 when H. B. Horwood completed another renovation that resulted in two apartments in the basement, one on the parlor level, two each on the second and third floors, and one on the fourth.

photographs by the author

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