Gilbert A. Schellenger's 1894 327 West 85th Street

 

As the block of West 85th Street between Riverside Drive and West End Avenue filled with upscale private homes in the last decades of the 19th century, Annie Carney had another idea.  In 1894 she commissioned architect Gilbert A. Schellenger to design a five-story flat building at 327 West 85th Street.

The Engineering Record reported the cost of construction at $22,000--or just under $775,000 in 2023.  The architect's design was a blend of Romanesque Revival and Renaissance Revival styles.  A stoop with solid wing walls rose to the stately, columned portico.  The basement and first floor levels were faced in stone.  Schellenger chamfered the corners of the upper floors, creating a three-sided façade that provided extra light and ventilation to the front-facing apartments.  

The mid-section of the tripartite structure was clad in beige Roman brick and trimmed in brownstone.  Three-story piers terminated in ornate capitals, and spandrel panels were carved in Renaissance designs.  The top section, separated by an ornately carved bandcourse, featured an arcade of windows outlined in bullnose brick that softened the lines.  Between the openings were engaged brownstone columns with carved capitals.  Clustered columns flanked the central arcade.

An advertisement in 1898 offered, "Single apartment, 8 rooms, bath; all improvements; steam heat; hot water; rent $75."  The amount would translate to approximately $2,730 today.

The building filled with affluent residents.  Among the first were Sylvester H. Taylor, president of the Missisquoi Mineral Springs Company and its principal stock owner.  He had graduated from Yale University in 1886.

Louise Jane Hathaway Van Buskirk and her adult son Amzi Hathaway Van Buskirk lived in the building by 1903 when she was looking for domestic help.  Her ad sought a woman "For general housework, good cook and laundress."

Louise's husband, William Henry Van Buskirk, had died in 1868, the same year that Amzi was born.  He was named after Louise's father, Amzi Hathaway.

Amzi's friends and business associates may have believed he would be a life-long bachelor, but on May 22, 1907, the 39-year-old was married to Eleanor Arminger in the Central Presbyterian Church on West 57th Street.

Louise did not need to worry about being left alone.  The New York Times reported, "After a bridal trip through the South, Mr. and Mrs. Van Buskirk will live at 327 West Eighty-Fifth St."  Six years later, on May 22, 1913, Louise Van Buskirk died at the age of 75.  Her funeral was held in the 85th Street apartment.

At the time of Louise's death, Thomas F. Devine had owned the building for at least three years.  A influential builder and real estate developer, he was the head of Thomas F. Devine & Co.  He lived at 327 West 85th Street with his wife Jennie T. and their five children.

Born in New York City in 1862, Devine had not had an easy road to industrial success and financial comfort.  The New York Herald said he "attended the public schools until he was fourteen, when his father's death forced him to become the breadwinner of the family."  First going into the iron and metal trade, he changed courses by dealing in horses.  Finally, he turned to real estate.

Devine's contracting business earned him his fortune.  In 1904, he built the 148th Street section of the subway, and he erected "a number of public schools in Brooklyn," according to The Sun.  The New-York Tribune added that he built "many garages of the new cement type."

Devine's success may have had much to do with his close political ties.  In 1912 he ran for Senate.  On November 3, the night before Election Day, he stepped out of an automobile in front of 327 West 85th Street and was promptly arrested on a charge of "colonizing."  He had registered for the campaign using the address of 101 West 63rd Street, another of the buildings he owned.  The landlady there, a Mrs. Dooley, told investigators "that Devine had not slept under her roof six times in four years."

Thomas F. Devine reacted with a rant that sounds more like 2023 than 1912.  The Evening World reported,

He said that the charge against him was trumped up, instigated by his political enemies, and that the case would never come to trial.  The whole affair, he said, was merely the result of an effort to injure him at the polls tomorrow.

Devine lost the election.  Five days later his name appeared in the newspapers again, and once again the situation suggested questionable ties.  The New York Press reported on the arrests of "Charles Gondorf, long known as 'King of the Wiretappers'; Frederick Gondorf, the 'King's' brother, and Joseph Krakowsky, whose numberless aliases include 'Sir John Gray', 'Joseph Kay', and 'Paper Collar Joe', on a charge of defrauding two Wilmington, N. C., men out of $25,000."  An alleged victim man complained of losing $20,000 to the trio.  The article reported that Thomas F. Devine had supplied their $10,000 bail.

In 1941 the portico and solid stoop wing walls survived.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

That year another resident was in an unflattering spotlight.  Dr. Elizabeth S. Edmonston moved to 327 West 85th Street in 1911.  Until 1910, she had shared her private house on West End Avenue with a well-to-do spinster, Gertrude W. Van Ness, for ten years.  Gertrude's mother had earlier helped Elizabeth financially through medical school.

Gertrude Van Ness died in the Edmonston house on December 3, 1910.  The New York Press later reported that, according to Elizabeth, "five minutes after Miss Van Ness died, Mrs. Fisher glared at her, the doctor, from the opposite side of the bed and said, 'I haven't finished with you yet.'"

"Mrs. Fisher" was Gertrude Van Ness's sister, Julia I. Fisher, and the executrix of her will.  On May 2, 1912, The New York Press reported that Fisher intended to sue the doctor for $12,000 "alleged to have been lent to the defendant by...Gertrude W. Van Ness." During the trial that began on May 5, 1913, things became messy and public. 

Julia Fisher and her brother William P. Van Ness testified that Elizabeth had "obtained sums of money from her patient."  The New York Times reported that Van Ness testified to asking Elizabeth "if she did not think it but a poor return for all the kindness of my mother in obtaining a professional education for you to take money from my sister."  

And on May 8, 1913, the Newark Star-Eagle reported that Elma C. Leonhardt, "a trained nurse, testified that while Dr. Edmonston...was treating Miss Van Ness, the woman physician would go to the patient's room, 'smoke a cigar and have a social chat with her.'"  The Daily News added that Leonhardt testified, "She hardly ever entered Miss Van Ness' room that she did not have a big black cigar in her mouth.  She would light one cigar after another and smoke for hours.  The cigars had been cured in her own process."

Dr. Elizabeth Edmonston countersued for "an unpaid balance on $17,117, which, she says, she expended in board and medical attention upon Miss van Ness in the last ten years of her life."  

Elizabeth Edmonston lost the case and was ordered to pay Julia I. Fisher $7,208.  Nevertheless, she prevailed.  On January 8, 1914, The News-Herald reported, "Dr. Elizabeth Edmonston received word Wednesday that she had passed the state medical examination."

Other residents at the time were Rollin A. Spalding, Jr., a 1900 graduate of Yale University; and Robert Hall Ewell.  Ewell was an attorney with O'Brien, Boardman & Platt.  He had graduated from Yale in 1903 and from Harvard University in 1906.  He would leave 327 West 85th Street to fight in World War I.

Thomas F. Devine died in his apartment at the age of 55 on October 22, 1917.  At the time, the Devines' unmarried daughter Gene Marcella still lived with her mother.

Somewhat surprisingly, given that the family was in mourning, on February 9, 1918, The New York Times reported that Gene Marcella Devine was engaged to Leslie James Bailey.  The article said, "The wedding is planned for next June."

Sadly, it would not be a wedding, but a funeral that the Devine children would be attending.  Jennie T. Devine died on June 24, 1918.  Her funeral was held in the Church of the Holy Trinity on West 82nd Street two days later.

In the post-World War I years, musical couple Louis and Claire Svencenski lived here.  Claire was a pupil of Josef Hofmann and a friend of cellist Pablo Casals.  She advertised as a "pianist, accompanist, teacher."  Louis was on the faculty of the Institute of Musical Art and a member of the Kneisel Quartet.  An announcement in Musical America on April 9, 1921 said, "arrangements for Violin Instruction during June, July and August may be made by addressing Mr. Svencenski at 327 West 85th St., New York."

A colorful resident in 1939 was William Bailey.  On December 20, The New York Sun began an article saying, "Fires, sailings, openings and World Series bring them out, and last night's opening of 'Gone With the Wind' was no exception.  There was the inevitable 'free lance reporter' crowding in around the arriving stars."

As celebrities like Olivia de Havilland, Barbara O'Neill and Anne Rutherford filed in, police "armed back a youth in a handsome beaver coat who seemed very much offended by it, protesting that he was a reporter."  William Bailey threatened that "if any harm came to him, it would go hard with the cops."  And then he pulled out a "huge gold shield, the like of which would warm the heart of almost any Ambassador or Deputy Sheriff," said the article.

Unfortunately for Bailey, Detectives Francis J. Murphy and Arthur J. Burns had been around.  They recognized the badge as a fake and brought the 27-year-old to police headquarters.  Bailey's record showed that he had been arrested in Hoboken the previous year when it was discovered "he had a pocket filled with French postcards."  ("French postcards" depicted scantily dressed or fully nude female models.)

Bailey's arrest reflected the changing tenor of the West 85th Street block.  In 1946, 327 West 85th Street was converted to a single room occupancy hotel, with seven rooms per floor.  The brownstone portico and the stoop's wing walls were removed at the time.

The last quarter of the century, however, saw a turn-around in the neighborhood.  In 1974 the building was again renovated, and now houses four apartments per floor.

photographs by the author

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The 1896 August Goldsmith House - 36 West 69th Street

 

Gilbert A Schellenger designed almost every house on the south side of the West 69th Street block between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue in the 1890s.  Interestingly, however, they were not the project of a single developer, but three unrelated operators.  Two of the Schellenger designs stood in stark contrast to his other high-stooped brownstones.

Nos. 34 and 36 were faced in gray brick above limestone bases.   Shallow porches led to the entrances nestled behind fluted Ionic columns that upheld striking, two-story bowed bays.  Designed for George C. Edgar's Sons in 1895, the dignified, 22-foot-wide residences rose five stories.

The entrance to 36 West 69th Street (right) was originally centered, like its neighbor next door.

As construction neared completion on December 21, 1895, the New York Herald reported that George C. Edgar's Sons had sold No. 36 to William Moore for $55,000.  The newspaper had gotten the name more than a little wrong--the buyer was J. F. William Mohr.  The price he paid would translate to just under $2 million in 2023.

Born in Germany in 1848, Mohr was a partner in the cotton firm of Mohr, Hanneman & Co.  He and his wife Clothilde had a daughter, Helene Sophie.  (Another daughter, Clothilde Marie, had died in 1888 at the age of 4.)

The proximity of Central Park to 36 West 69th Street made a ride either on horse or by carriage convenient for the Mohrs.  On Sunday afternoon, April 25, 1897, William took a buggy into the park, but the airing did not end well.  The New York Herald reported that around 5:00 "he was run into by a hansom cab driven by Martin Garrity.  The hind wheel of Mr. Mohr's vehicle was broken off, but he escaped any injury."

Helen Sophie Mohr Zinsser in a theatrical costume later in life.  (original source unknown)

The following year, on October 22, 1898, Helen Sophie was married in All Angels' Church to August Zinsser, Jr.  Following the ceremony, a reception was held in the 69th Street house.

In July 1904, Mohr sold 36 West 69th Street to August Goldsmith.  A wealthy jeweler, he was the principal of Goldsmith, Stern & Co. on Gold Street.  Born in Germany in 1860 as Adolph Goldschmidt, he had anglicized his name upon arriving in America.  He and his wife Devorah had three sons, Arthur J., Richard, and Lawrence Lyon.

The Goldsmiths experienced a terrifying incident the year after they moved in.  On September 28, 1905, the family was at dinner, "when Mr. Goldsmith sent one of the maids, Katherine Gordon, to a bedroom on the second floor to get a letter," according to The Morning Telegraph.  She entered the bedroom, clicked on the light and "was confronted by a man, 6 feet in height, wearing black clothes and a derby hat," reported The New York Times.

The intruder pointed a revolver at Katherine and growled, "Keep still, and I won't hurt you.  Move or scream, and I'll kill you."

The clever chambermaid did not lose her wits, but carefully felt the wall behind her, searching for the light switch.  When her fingers found it, she plunged the room into darkness and bolted out and down the stairs.  She alerted the house that there was a burglar upstairs.  As August Goldsmith headed up the stairs, she warned, "Look out, he has a revolver and may kill you."

While her husband went upstairs, Devorah rushed into the street to find a policeman.  In the meantime, according to The Morning Telegraph, the household was "thrown into an uproar" and the servants "fled in terror."  Four policeman searched the house, and found no one.  They did discover a scuttle to the roof had been pried loose.  The well-dressed thief had gotten away with $55 in cash, a set of gold cuff links and a gold ring.

The Goldsmiths were highly active in charitable and social causes.  By 1909 August was a director of the Educational Alliance, which educated immigrants "to render them desirable citizens," according to The Sun.  On March 8, 1915, the newspaper said, "Some idea of the activities of the Alliance may be gained from the fact that over 3,000,000 persons go through the building every year."  Goldsmith was also involved with the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies.

Devorah worked with the Federation Settlement, along with other socialites with impressive surnames like Lowenstein, Dreyfoos, and Rothschild.

In 1917, the Goldsmiths had a houseguest for the winter season.  Devorah's niece, Mildred Sommerfield, lived in Chicago.   Devorah, who had only boys, suddenly found herself planning a wedding for a young woman.  On May 11, 1917, The American Jewish Chronical reported that Mildred had been married to Robert Goldman at the fashionable Sherry's restaurant on May 1.  The article explained, "They were to have a large wedding some time in June, but the fact that Mr. Goldman has been called to Plattsburg [a military training camp] hastened their plans."

Arthur was the first of the Goldsmith boys to become engaged.  His plans to marry Stella Ruth Metzger were announced in April 1918.

With war raging, August became chairman of the Jewelry Committee of the Liberty Loan Committee in 1918, which pushed for the sale of Liberty Bonds.  He was still working hard for the cause in 1919, when his focus was necessarily redirected to labor problems.

In September, his 200 jewelers, polishers, toolmakers and other staff walked off the job.  Goldsmith was not sympathetic.  "These union men are mad with Bolshevism," he told The Sun.  And so, he felt, if his workers favored the communist way of doing things, he would appease them.  He offered to sell the strikers his entire operation for $300,000.  They could then divide it equally among themselves and run it as they wished.  

The workers had another proposal.  They demanded that Goldsmith turn over the company to them cost-free and that he and his partners "clear out immediately."  Not surprisingly, neither party accepted the other's proposal.

Lawrence Lyon Goldsmith was married to Gertrude T. Winter in January 1926.  The American Hebrew reported on January 8 that the couple "have sailed for France, where they will spend their wedding trip.  They will travel in Spain, Portugal and Germany during January and return to the States later to make their home in New York."  The article mentioned that Lawrence "graduated from Princeton in 1920 and studied at the University of Paris."

Still unmarried, Richard remained in the house with his parents.  Following Devorah's death, August Goldsmith sold 36 West 69th Street to B'nai B'rith in 1930.  On November 10, The New York Evening Post reported, "The club...will move to the Sixty-ninth Street address in a couple of weeks."  (August Goldsmith moved to the Hotel Dorset on West 54th Street, where he died at the age of 73 on May 24, 1933.)

B'nai B'rith operated from the former Goldsmith residence for just over a decade.  In 1937, the Menorah School of Adult Education shared the building.  Then, in 1945, a renovation resulted in two apartments per floor.  The entrance, which was moved to the side, was replaced by a large window. 

Living here in 1950 was actress Joyce Henry.  A 1948 graduate of the University of Michigan, she had spent her summer in Ivoryton, Connecticut playing in a summer stock production of Yes, My Darling Daughter starring Ann Harding, and in Blithe Spirit starring Arthur Treacher.  Back in New York, she studied drama at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre.

Although the entrance has been relocated, the exterior of the Goldsmith house is otherwise little changed since 1896.  There are still two apartments per floor.

photographs by the author

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The Groff School - 228 West 72nd Street

 

In 1898 A History of Real Estate, Building and Architecture in New York City noted that George C. Edgar's Sons & Co. "has, to a great extent been instrumental in building up the West Side from 69th street to 95th street."  The article estimated the firm had built 175 private houses "of a substantial type," and added "The best example of their work is No. 228 West 72d street, a house which has few peers, and none better in that section of the city."

That 25-foot-wide brownstone residence had been designed by Gilbert A Schellenger and completed a year earlier.  Above its understated parlor level above the high brownstone stoop was a swelled bay, two floors tall.   The underside was decorated with elaborate foliate carvings and it was crowned with a striking bronze railing.   The recessed openings of the fourth floor were outlined by delicate picture frame-like molding and separated by paired free-standing Corinthian columns.  A robust cast iron cornice a frieze completed the design.

Interestingly, it was not until April 1899 that a buyer was found for the upscale home.  The New York Times wrote, "It is reported that George C. Edgar's Sons & Co. have sold to Justice Martin J. Koegh the residence 228 West Seventy-second Street.

Koegh had been elected to the New York Supreme Court four years earlier.  He and his wife, the former Katherine Temple Emmet, had a large family--four sons, four daughters and a stepson, Martin, Jr.  In addition to his visible court rulings (he specialized in murder cases), Koegh was active in the Irish-American community.  Katherine was the great-granddaughter of the Irish patriot Thomas Addis Emmet.

The family did not stay at 228 West 72nd Street especially long.  It was sold to Joseph G. Groff in 1904, who renovated it for use as his exclusive boy's preparatory school, the Groff School.

An advertisement in the July 1904 issue of The Century Magazine announced "This school, though limiting absolutely its number of students, has outgrown its present quarters, and will move on August 1st into one of the largest and most handsome houses on the West Side, 228 West 72d Street, equipped with every modern convenience, including an electric elevator."

The Groff School offered "board and rooms (with private shower-baths) unequaled," and "modern bowling alleys, fencing hall, billiard room, etc."  It was, as the advertisement pointedly noted, "decidedly a school for gentlemen only."  (Groff retained sufficient living space in the house for his family, as well.)

The steep tuition millionaires paid to have their sons properly prepared for higher education earned Groff a fortune.  On February 12, 1910 The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that he had purchased "one of the finest estates on the Jersey coast, at Deal Beach...known as Kildysart."  The 50-acre estate had been built for the late Standard Oil vice president Daniel O'Day.  Groff paid over $1 million for the property--nearly 29 times that much in today's money.

The main house at Kildysart held 60 rooms.  Architecture, November 1903 (copyright expired)

The article explained "His intention is to conduct a summer and winter school at Kildysart, much along the same lines as the Groff School in Manhattan."

The activities offered at the Groff Country School--golf, horseback riding and such--were balanced at the Groff School by arrangements with nearby facilities.  A September 1910 advertisement noted "Free use of one of the largest gymnasium in New York.  Also swimming pool and athletic field--all conveniently near."

Earlier that year Joseph C. Groff had had a serious scare.  He and his seven-year old son, Jack, were on their way to Central Park in the family's sleigh on January 16.  The Sun reported "When they reached Columbus avenue Dennis Dehner...driving an automobile, came spinning down Columbus avenue.  Dehner saw the sleigh too late.  Even with the wheels locked by the brake the auto went crashing into the sleigh and crushed it."

Groff was thrown ten feet from the accident while his son "tumbled in the snow unhurt."  Groff's "right shoulder was hurt, but he is not thought to be seriously injured," said the article."  The horse, having been knocked to its knees and cut by parts of the smashed sleigh, was badly frightened.  It headed south on Columbus Avenue dragging the remnants of the vehicle.  The New York Herald said it "ran away, taking the sidewalk and causing a stampede of persons, who fled to doorways."  It was later caught by a policeman at 65th Street.  After filing charges of reckless driving against the motorist, Groff, with a dislocated shoulder, took his son home.

In 1912 Joseph Groff relocated his school to 259 West 75th Street.  The move may have added to his stress and at the end of September, according to the Glen Falls Daily Times, he was "suffering from a nervous breakdown."  Within just two weeks the 42-year-old developed pneumonia.  The complication proved too much and he died on October 11.

No. 228 became a high-end boarding house run by Gertrude B. Winpenny.  Hers was a fantastic story.  Years earlier Gertrude had caught the eye of Bolton S. Winpenny, the eldest son of a wealthy Philadelphia family.  Because his father was adamantly opposed to the romance, on July 4, 1894 the couple eloped to Palmyra, New York.  When the senior Mr. Winpenny found out, he disinherited Bolton--but he offered a carrot.  If Bolton would leave Gertrude, he would receive $60 a week for as long as he stayed away from her.  It was a tempting incentive, equal to about $1,850 a week today.

And so, Bolton disappeared, moving to Yonkers and assuming the identify of David Nally, a presumed bachelor.  Unable to find Bolton's whereabouts, Gertrude sued his father for $50,000 alleging the alienation of her husband's affections.  It never came to trial, but Gertrude was given $12 per week in support.

Now, in 1913, Gertrude decided to move on.  Still unaware of her husband's location, she informed her father-in-law that she would allow a divorce for the sum of $10,000 (more than a quarter of a million today).  It put the long-hiding Bolton on a mission to discredit her.

On March 19, 1913 The Yonkers Herald reported "Mrs. Winpenny has been living in the fashionable West End avenue district of New York City, No. 228 West 72nd street."  The article said that Gertrude had recently taken in a taken in a new boarder, Mrs. Alice Johnson.  She had no way of knowing that the woman was a private detective hired by her husband.

Using evidence provided by Johnson, Bolton Winpenny turned the tables on his wife, suing her for divorce and claiming she was having extramarital affairs with at least two men, Walter McClelland and John Stoddard.  In court Alice Johnson testified "she had attended a theater with Mrs. Winpenny and a John Stoddard, that they went to supper afterward, and on the way home in a taxicab, Stoddard hugged and kissed Mrs. Winpenny, and the two smoked cigarettes together."  Even more shockingly, she told about "the visits of McClelland to the house and that he stayed sometimes all night, at other times staying until 2 o'clock in the morning."

Gertrude Winpenny's boarding house closed soon after the embarrassing trial and publicity.  An announcement in the August 1914 issue of The Century informed readers of the "new residence" of the Coates School in the 72nd Street house.  "Mrs. Isabel D. Coates will receive in her home a limited number of girls who wish Art, Music, Languages, etc.  Students may select their own Circular on application."

By 1920 the personality of West 72nd Street was changing as its mansions were either being converted to apartments and stores or demolished for modern structures.  On June 8, 1920 the New York Herald reported that 228 West 72nd Street "will be altered into high class apartments."

Now called the Teasdale Residence, the renovated house provided apartments for unmarried women and girl students.  Women's hotels and apartments had been popular for several decades, since females began entering the workforce with professions like shop girls, secretaries and garment workers.  They provided a safe, affordable place to live.  

The New York Times, February 6, 1921 (copyright expired)

Within a few years the building accepted men as well.  Charles R. Macauley, a former cartoonist with The World, and his wife had the fifth-floor apartment here in 1922.  They took in a house guest, Countess Tamburini, when her husband, portrait artist Count Arnaldo Tamburini, left for Rome to do a portrait of Benito Mussolini at the end of the year.

At around 3:00 on the afternoon of January 30, 1923 the Countess received a telephone call.  The caller said that a man had been taken to Roosevelt Hospital badly hurt and the card in his pocket had her name and number.  She and Mrs. Macauley hurried to the hospital, only to find out they had been duped.  

When they returned, they found the door to the apartment had been forced open and much of the Countess's jewelry had been stolen.  She estimated the value at around $105,000 in today's money.  The Daily News noted "The thieves had overlooked antiques valued at $22,000."

Happily, all the loot was discovered by police in a Harlem pawn shop on February 3.  Two days later the Daily News reported "Countess Tamburini, who is staying at the Macauley residence, was informed of the recovery yesterday and left her breakfast unfinished to cable the good news to her artist husband, now in Rome."

Countess Tamburini admires a recovered pearl necklace.  Daily News, February 5, 1923

In 1931 a school once again moved into No. 228.  A notice in local newspapers read "Windsor P. Daggett announces a summer term of speech and acting at his Voice and Color Theater, 228 West Seventy-second street, opening July 6."  

The use of the word "theater" was perhaps misleading and by 1933 the facility was renamed the Daggett School of the Spoken Word.  That year the it announced two new courses for the spring term: "Public Speaking for Professional and Business Men" and "Phonetics, Voice and Speech Control."

By 1936 the former basement level had been converted to a bar and grill owned by former prize fighter Carey Phelan.  He was at the Rockaway Beach Hotel on Labor Day that year when he became engaged in a conflict with professional golfer Bea Gottlieb.  She charged him with rape and felonious assault in the ladies' restroom, while he countered that she had "marked him for the victim of her allure."

Carey Phelan took a cigar break between court sessions.  Daily News, March 4, 1937

According to Bea's story, he followed her into the ladies' room and attacked her.  According to his, after he showed her where the restroom was, she said the lights were out.  He testified, "I went in to find the light.  She threw her arms around my neck.  Then I turned on the light."  Phelan declared in court "that the whole case was a shake-down attempt" and that Bea had offered to drop the charges for $50,000.

The basement level had sprouted a storefront by 1941. NYC Dept of Records & Information Services  

On March 9, 1937 the jury acquitted Carey Phelan of all charges.  Dejected, Bea Gottleib went home and swallowed a box of sleeping powder mixed with whiskey.  When her attorney was unable to contact her, he called the police who found her unconscious at around 11:15 that night.  Two days later doctors announced her condition had greatly improved.

A renovation to 228 West 72nd Street completed in 1948 resulted in a restaurant and cabaret in the basement level and two apartments each in the upper stories.

The restaurant was home to Mrs. J's Sacred Cow by 1970.  The popular eatery had been established in 1947 and was known for its steaks and lobster and entertainment.  An advertisement in New York Magazine on April 25, 1988 noted it was "The place where the girls sing to you."  Mrs. J's Sacred Cow remained in the space into the 1990's.

Today disparate storefronts mark the lower two floors, but above, the 1897 mansion is remarkably unchanged.

photographs by the author

The Daniel and Julia Butterfield House - 23 West 94th Street

The three houses Gilbert A. Schellenger designed for real estate developer Thomas Auld along West 94th Street, between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, in 1885 were a mere 16-feet wide.  Their lack of width was made up for in their Victorian charm.  Schellinger's two slightly different designs--one with a full-width balcony at the second floor, the other with smaller version, one bay wide, above the entrance--were configured in an A-B-A pattern.

Among the A designs was 23 West 94th Street.  Like its neighbors, its basement level was clad in rough cut brownstone, the parlor floor in planar stone, and the two upper floors were faced in red brick, their openings framed in limestone quoins.  Vying for attention was the elaborate terra cotta spandrel panel between the second and third floors.  Schellenger splashed the overall Renaissance Revival design with touches of Queen Anne--seen in the sunburst motif iron balcony railing and in the dogtooth brickwork below the pressed metal cornice.  Despite its narrow width, the house was intended for a well-to-do buyer.  The architect's plans, filed on September 4, 1885, projected the construction cost at $555,000 by today's standards.

Auld advertised the "three story and extension private dwellings," touting "cabinet throughout," referring to the high-end hardwood flooring and woodwork.  The family of Sam Heidelsheimer moved into 23 West 94th Street.  

Born in German in 1840, Heidelsheimer and his wife, the former Mary Sidenbach, had three children, Irving, Helen and Blanche.  It appears that Mary's brother, Milton Sidenbach, lived with the family, as well.  He died at the age of 25 on July 22, 1890, and his funeral was held in the house two days later.

The Heidelsheimers sold the house to Julia L. and Daniel Butterfield in March 1897.  The couple was well known in social, political and military circles.

Eleven years earlier, on September 26, 1886, the New-York Tribune had reported, "News of another wedding on this day, as far away as London, greatly interested New-Yorkers.  It was that of General Daniel Butterfield and Mrs. Julia L. James...which was celebrated in the light of the beautiful old stained glass window of St. Margaret's, Westminster, where Sir Walter Raleigh was buried."  General Butterfield had distinguished himself throughout the Civil War.  During the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant, Butterfield was Assistant Treasurer of the United States.

General Daniel Butterfield, from the collection of the Library of Congress

Julia Lorillard James in 1861, prior to her marriage to Butterfield. from the collection of the Julia L. Butterfield memorial Library.

Julia Lorillard Stafford had married her first husband, stockbroker Frederick Plummer James, at the age of 18 in 1841.  He died in 1884.  They had built Craigside, the magnificent stone country house in Cold Spring, New York, now used by the Butterfields.  Four years before purchasing the West 94th Street house, the couple had hosted a Russian Imperial Grand Duke at Craigside.  In appreciation, the Tsar presented Julia with an elaborately decorated sleigh.

A turn-of-the-century, hand-tinted postcard depicted Craigside.

The Butterfields' ownership of 23 West 94th Street would be relatively short-lived.  They sold it on August 7, 1900 to Edward M. L. Ehlers for $22,000, just under $700,000 in today's money.  General Butterfield died at Craigside the following year, on July 17.

Living with Ehler and his wife, the former Henrietta Howard Cargill, was their son, Dr. Edward C. Ehler.  The Butterfields and the Ehlers had a close, personal relationship.  Edward M. L. Ehler was a colonel during the Civil War, and Julia Butterfield named him as one of the three executors of her will.

Ehler was born in Denmark on January 31, 1840.  He served under Daniel Butterfield at the battles of Fredericksburg and Antietam.  Following the war, Ehler joined the Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association.  In January 1897 he was appointed a council officer of the firm, and in 1900 elected a director.  In 1882 he had taken the post of Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Freemasons.  He retired from Mutual Reserve Fund Life in 1907, while retaining his position with the Lodge.

Henrietta Ehlers died on December 30, 1907.   Ehler and his son continued to live in the 94th Street house.  The Sun remarked that the senior Ehler was "an extremely genial man and was much sough after as an after dinner speaker.  He was an orator of much power."

On May 28, 1917 Edward M. L. Ehlers died in the house at the age of 78.  The Sun noted, "He was one of the best known Masons in the world."  His funeral was held in the Grand Lodge Room of the Masonic Hall on West 24th Street.  

The following year Dr. Edward C. Ehlers and his wife, the former Mary Ann Rogers, moved to Essex Falls, New Jersey.  He retained possession of the West 94th Street house, leasing it that year to actress Madame Pilar-Morin.

Madame Pilar-Morin, The Moving Picture World, January 22, 1910 (copyright expired)

Born in Barcelona, Spain, Madame Pilar-Morin had appeared on stage in London and New York, and was a silent film actress for Edison Company in 1909 and 1910, starring in eight films.  She then turned to "silent drama," or pantomime.  She defended her art to a reporter from The Billboard who interviewed her in "her studio at 23 West 94th Street" in April 1920.  "What is the difference between my art and the art of the screen?" she asked.

Ehlers next leased the house to Spanish poet Joaquin Casanovas.  He welcomed a notable house guest in 1922.  On November 14, the New York Herald reported, "Marcos Coll, sculptor, of Barcelona, arrived yesterday by the Royal Spanish Mail liner Montserrat with a life size marble statue, 'The Poem of Peace,' symbolizing American manhood and womanhood, he says."  The statue would be exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The following year, Casanovas published the book, Marcos Coll's "Poem Of Peace," in which he called the artwork, "a great masterpiece of sculpture which expresses the American message of democracy."

In October 1925, Dr. Ehler sold the house to real estate operators Nathan Slater and L. M. Stone.  They held it for three years, before selling it to Margaret Anne Marshall.  She agreed to wait for the tenant's five-year lease to expire before moving in.

The narrow house continued as a single-family house until 1984, when a renovation resulted in a duplex apartment in the basement and parlor floor, and two apartments each on the upper floors.

Although it appears that little, if anything, remains of Gilbert A. Schellinger's 1885 interior detailing, the exterior is, happily, greatly intact.

photographs by the author

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The 1892 Henry A. Maurer House - 110 West 75th Street

 

Gilbert A. Schellenger was in his mid-30's when he opened his architectural office in New York City around 1880.  He became a favorite of developers on the Upper West Side, eventually becoming the second most prolific architect in the district.  Among the 45 rows of townhouses he designed on the Upper West Side was a group of four for Julius Gottlieb in 1891.

The brownstone-fronted, high-stoop homes stretched from 106 through 112 West 75th Street.  Designed in the Renaissance Revival style, the openings of the parlor floor created a long arcade along the row.  The mirror-image center houses presented an imposing appearance with their shared dog-legged stoops and the pseudo-balconies that connected the angled bays of the second floor.  Double-height fluted pilasters at the second and third floors, and delicate Renaissance-inspired carved panels gave the four-story homes an imperious presence.

The row was completed in 1892, and Gottlieb leased 110 West 75th Street to Henry Arthur Mauer.  He and his wife, the former Laura L. Yuengling, had two children, Linda Louise, who was six years old in 1892, and Henry, Jr., who was two.  

Born in New York City on July 19, 1860, Henry was a partner with his father in the Henry Maurer & Son brickworks.  According to an annual report of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen, the firm was "considered one of the oldest manufactories of firebrick in the United States."  The factory was located in a New Jersey town not coincidentally named Maurer.

Two small children did not prevent Laura from entertaining in a high style.  On February 19, 1896, for instance, The Press reported, "Mrs. Henry A. Maurer of No. 110 West Seventy-fifth street gave the first reception of her series of three yesterday afternoon.  Mrs. Maurer was handsomely gowned in pink and lavender brocade and was assisted in receiving by Mrs. G. C. Claussen and Mrs. Thomas Noland Pell, who wore white satin and brocade."

On January 19, 1902, the New York Herald announced, "A social affair of much importance to take place a week from Thursday next will be the reception and entertainment given by Mrs. Henry A. Maurer, of No. 110 West Seventy-fifth street, to the members of the Auxiliary Committee of the Riverside Day Nursery, which, by the way, has materially enlarged its sphere of usefulness during the present season."

The Maurer family was faced with possible upheaval when, ten months later the "choice and valuable" houses making up Julius Gottlieb's 1892 row were sold at auction.  Happily for them, Henry Maurer placed the winning bid on the house his family had called home for a decade.  

Upon the death of Henry's father in 1904, he became president of Henry Maurer & Son.  Brick and Clay Record said of him, "He was a self-made man, leaving school in his sixteenth year, thru necessity, and commencing work in a brick plant with his father."

Linda's engagement to Edwin J. Beinecke was announced in December 1907.  The wedding took place in the Church of the Divine Paternity on Central Park West and 76th Street on April 22, 1909.  (Beinecke would become president of the Sperry & Hutchinson Company, a trading stamp firm.  His collection of Robert Lewis Stevenson materials would become the largest in the world.)

While the Mauers did not own a country home, they were annual visitors to fashionable resort hotels.  On August 26, 1910, for instance, The New York Times reported the the family had arrived at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire "by automobile" today.

Laura was forced to make a difficult and no doubt disturbing decision in 1911.  Her widowed sister, Emma A. Hewes, was suffering from dementia.  Laura and her other sister, Mrs. S. E. Clausen, had her committed to a sanatorium on January 6.  The New York Times reported, "they said Mrs. Hewes suffers from delusions, one being that her husband still is alive, and she is traveling abroad with him."

Henry A. Maurer fell ill in January 1921 and died in the 75th Street house shortly afterward, on January 25 at the age of 61.  Laura and Henry, Jr. remained in the house.  The next year, after the end of the mourning period, Henry's engagement to Stewart Anway was announced.   They were married in 1923.

A renovation completed in 1949 resulted in an apartment on the top floor.  The configuration remains today.  Although the brownstone has been painted and the windows replaced, the 1892 residence otherwise is little changed.

photographs by the author

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The 1889 Albert J. Elias House - 18 West 71st Street

 

The row of four brownstone houses that Gilbert A. Schellenger designed for John Ruddell in 1889 was intended for well-heeled families.  Each would cost the equivalent of about $573,000 today to construct.  Four stories high above an English basement, the Renaissance Revival style residences had prominent cornices above the entrances, decorative carved courses below the third and fourth floors, and substantial stone stoop railings and newels.

In May 1890 Ruddell sold 18 West 71st Street to Albert J. and Rebecca Lyon Elias for $36,000, just over $1 million in today's money.

Born in New York City in 1853, Elias was by now a busy man.  He was the head of the brokerage firm Albert J. Elias & Co. and was highly involved in a number of street railroads.  He was president of the Dry Dock, East Broadway and Battery Railroad Company; the Forty-Second Street, Manhatanville and St. Nicholas Av. Railroad; the Third Avenue Railroad Company; and the Kingsbridge Railway Co.  He was, as well, a director in the Southern Boulevard Railway and a former School Commissioner.

Albert and Rebecca had three children.  When they moved into their new home Henry H. was seven-years old, Elizabeth Lyon was four, and baby Josephine was just one-year old.  

On the night of March 17, 1895 a servant saw a man sneak out of the basement door.  The World reported, "She screamed and ran to the district telegraph call and summoned a messenger."  At around 10:45 a boy ran into the 68th Street police station and told Sergeant Ryan "that burglars were in the house of ex-School Commissioner Albert J. Elias."   As responding officers ran down West 71st Street toward the house, neighbors quickly threw on their coats and followed.  The World said, "A crowd of fifty people gathered in front of the house when they saw the police running."

As it turned out, it was a love-struck servant girl and her clandestine beaux who had caused the uproar.  A thorough search found no intruder and nothing missing.    "It is the opinion of the police that one of the domestics had been entertaining a male visitor," said The World.

Around the turn of the century the Eliases modernized their home with decided French touches.  Ornately grilled entrance doors were installed and a full-width copper-clad oriel was added to the second floor.

In 1898 Joseph Reinheimer was fired from his job as a street car conductor for "agitating his fellow workmen."  (He was most likely lobbying them to union.)  The New York Times reported that "he declared that Mr. Elias was the cause of the discharge."  In response, Reinheimer sent a threatening letter to Rebecca.  Police Captain Donohue concluded that the best way to calm things down was to find a job for Reinheimer.  The New York Times said, "that was done.  Nothing more was heard from Reinheimer."

But Reinheimer would be heard from again four years later.  The family went to the Atlantic Highlands in New Jersey for the summer season of 1904.  Albert's father, Jacob Elias, who lived nearby on West 69th Street, agreed to stop by the house now and then to check on things.  

When Jacob went to the 71st Street house on the morning of July 21, he discovered a man lurking in the basement areaway--it was Reinheimer.  According to Elias, "Reinheimer pulled a revolver and said, 'It's a ----- good thing you're here and not your son.  I'd soon fix him with this.'" 

Upon the family's return, two officers were detailed to watch the house.  On the evening of August 7 Detective Sergeant Downing arrested Reinheimer at his home.  Upon seeing the officer, Reinheimer muttered, "I know what you want me for."  The New York Times reported, "The detective said that Mr. Elias told him he had nothing to do with the discharge of Reinheimer."

Street Railway Journal, 1892, (copyright expired)

The Elias family would live on in the 71st Street house for decades.  It appears they traveled to Europe for the summer of 1910.  Rebecca hoped to find a position for one of her servants in their absence.  Her advertisement read, "Lady wishes position for her first class chambermaid; will assist with waiting."  ("Waiting" was the term for serving in the dining room or at tea or receptions.)

In 1928 Dr. Moses Lobsenz, who owned 16 West 71st Street, purchased the Elias house.  In reporting the sale on May 25 The New York Times noted, "this was its first transfer of ownership in thirty-eight years."  It appeared that the end of the line for both houses was on the near horizon.  The newspaper reported, "A builder who plans to erect a nine-story apartment house is negotiating for the plot."

The deal never came to pass, however, and 18 West 71st Street became home, next, to the Fitch family.  They were followed by Gustav Neuzkirk who leased the residence from the 18 West Seventy-first Street Corp. in 1932 and '33.  In 1933 part of the house was used by the Miss Dorothy Studios, which offered "modern and stage dance" lessons.

It appears that 18 West 71st Street was being operated as a rooming house in the 1940's.  Among the residents in 1944 were Michael E. Scharf and his bride Ellen.   But trouble soon upset the newlyweds' happy home.  In order to marry Michael, Ellen had had to get a divorce from her former husband, Gosta Ljungdahl.  She did so in May 1943 and, according to the Suffolk County News, "as soon as she had obtained her liberty, married Michael M. Scharf."

But Gosta Ljungdahl did not disappear from their lives.  He protested the divorce on the grounds of fraud.  Two of Ellen's witnesses, Walter Christman and Richard Wilens, were arrested for perjury for falsely testifying that they had found Ljungdahl in a hotel with a woman in a negligee.  It was all too much for Michael Scharf who left Ellen in February 1944.  Ellen was back in court in May, facing charges of obtaining a divorce by fraud.

Pfc. Irving Fink lived here in 1945.  The soldier was an accomplished violinist, formerly with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra.  He was now a member of the 39th Army Air Force Orchestra.  Following a performance on the night of February 17 he and 30 other orchestra members stopped in a cafeteria at 50th Street and Sixth Avenue.  Fink had his violin with him--but it was not just a violin.

The New York Sun explained, "The violin [is] said to be 250 years old."  Crafted by master violin maker Giavonni Paolo Maggini, it was valued at about $28,500 in today's money.

Suddenly Fink realized his violin was gone and the entire group of soldiers headed out of the cafeteria to catch the culprit.  The New York Sun reported, "Police said the soldier musicians caught up with [Samuel] Goldman on a subway platform, recovered the instrument, and meted out a swift going over to the Bostonian."

A renovation completed in 2010 resulted in a total of three apartments.  

photographs by the author

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