Taylor & Masley's 1924 312 Fifth Avenue

 

In 1854, Benjamin Wheeler Merriam erected his brownstone-fronted mansion at 312 Fifth Avenue.  Born in 1803 in New Hampshire, Merriam had amassed a fortune importing mirrors and glass, and was one of the founders of Chatham National Bank.  He and his wife Adeliza had four daughters and a son.  Their summer home was at Scarborough-on-the-Hudson.  Merriam died in the house on April 25, 1884.

Members of the Merriam family remained at 312 Fifth Avenue for decades.  On December 27, 1915, the New-York Tribune reported, "Mrs. David Du Bois Sahler died yesterday at her home, 312 Fifth Avenue from pneumonia."  A widow, Adeliza Frances Sahler was the last of the Merriam siblings.  The article noted, "The house at 312 Fifth Avenue was built for Mrs. Sahler's father, Benjamin Wheeler Merriam, in 1854."

In the post-World War I years, the Fifth Avenue block between 31st and 32nd Streets would have been unrecognizable to Benjamin Merriam.  The few mansions that survived had been converted for businesses, the others razed and replaced with commercial buildings.  In 1924 the Houston Construction Company demolished the vintage brownstone and hired the architectural firm of Taylor & Masley to design what their plans described as a seven-story "brick store and office building," on the site.

The process of removing of the Merriam house was nearly catastrophic.  Unthinkable today, business continued downstairs as the upper floors were being demolished.  The Evening Post reported, "Scores of persons attending a jewelry auction sale on the ground floor of the building at 312 Fifth avenue, narrowly escaped injury today when the third floor of the building collapsed."  The second floor held, preventing the structure from pancaking down on the auction attendees.  Nevertheless, two workmen were injured and removed to New York Hospital.

Taylor & Masley gave the new building a sheathing of gleaming white terra cotta.  The spandrel panels of each floor contained Gothic arches on either side of centered faces.  A parapet armed with pointy pinnacles took the place of a cornice.

Among the first tenants was the upscale men's "shirtmakers and haberdashers," H. Sulka & Company.  The firm had branches in London and Paris.  Its custom-made shirts cost "$8.00 upward," according to a 1925 ad--around $140 each by 2024 terms.

H. Sulka & Company offered a full scope of men's furnishings.  Its well-heeled patrons could even be custom-fitted for their underwear.  A 1925 advertisement remarked, "In buying Underwear from us you have the advantage of being unusually well fitting in Union or Two-Piece Suits of our own and other most desirable makes."  The range of items offered was reflected in a December 1927 advertisement of "our holiday offerings."  It urged, "It is not too early to select from our choice French Cravats, Handkerchiefs, Hosiery, Mufflers and Lounge Robes--especially if monograms are required."

An interesting tenant was the Health Developing Apparatus Company, which "leased large space for executive offices" here in December 1931.  The firm patented and sold what today would be described as home gym equipment--like rowing machines.

The Second Sino-Japanese War between China and Japan that broke out in 1937 resulted in a new tenant, the Chinese Women's Association.  In May 1938, a letter to the editor of the New York Sun read:

The destitute civilian war refugees in the devastated areas in China are urgently in need of clothing of every description, such as children's outfits, suits, dresses, sweaters, blankets, underwear, coats, shoes, etc.  This association has for months been collecting clothing for these sufferers.  Three consignments have already been sent to China, and a fourth is about ready for shipment.

 

Donations should be sent directly to our China War Relief warehouse at 115 South Fifth street, Brooklyn.

                             Miss WINO-LINO WANG, Secretary, Chinese Women's Association

By the World War II years, the days of high-priced, custom made shirts for monied customers had passed.  For years starting around 1947, The Rug Mart "House of Carpets" occupied space, joined in the 1950s by tenants like Saraka the "laxative that cures Nervous Constipation," and the Irma Cosmetic Hair Remover company. 

The Fifth Avenue block bustled with activity in 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

 

In the mid-1960s, the Marie Chantel Corporation leased space.  The firm manufactured women's "sauna swimming underwear," promising, "you can lose 7-15 lbs. or more and become 3 inches slimmer in the shortest time (without drugs or starvation diet) if you wear Sauna Swimming Underwear for just 2 hours a day!"

One tenant of 312 Fifth Avenue came under FBI scrutiny in January 1970.  Twentieth Century Industries, Inc. was a holding company that owned, or was part-owner, of "drug, plastics, metals, mining and soft-drink concerns," according to The New York Times.  At the time, Angelo Bruno was described by the bureau as "the No. 1 Mafia leader in the Philadelphia area" and "one of the Mafia's 12-member national governing council."  

On January 16, Manhattan district attorney William I. Aronwald disclosed that a grand jury "was seeking to determine if there was any connection between Bruno and 20th Century Industries, Inc., a holding company with offices at 312 Fifth Avenue." The New York Times explained, "The Manhattan investigation...is trying to learn if certain corporations have received proceeds of organized criminal activities involving gambling, bribery, extortion and loan-sharking."

While the ground floor of 312 Fifth Avenue has been drastically altered, Taylor & Masley's neo-Gothic design has fared much better than its neighbors, two of which were recently demolished and most of the others significantly remodeled.  Although the show windows have been replaced, the terra cotta is nicely intact.

photographs by the author

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The 1957 House of Advent Hope - 111 East 87th Street

 

photograph by the author

Until 1955, two identical brownstone-fronted apartment buildings stood at 109 and 111 East 87^th Street.  In 1933 musicians Charles Louis Seeger, Jr. and his wife, Constance de Clyver Seeger moved into an apartment in 111 East 87^th Street with their 14-year-old son, Peter.  Pete Seeger would go on to be one of America’s best known folk singers and social activists.
 
The Seegers had moved into the then-predominantly German neighborhood of Yorkville.  It had seen an influx of German and Irish immigrants in the 1850s, many of them hired to build the Croton Aqueduct.  Following the horrendous General Slocum disaster in 1904 that killed more than 1,000 German-speaking residents of the Lower East Side, residents migrated north.  Yorkville became Manhattan’s center of the German immigrant community.
 
A German language Seventh-Day Adventist congregation was established in Yorkville in the second half of the 19^th century.  Its building burned in 1949 and a fund-raising drive was begun to purchase a new property and erect a church.  Alfred B. Heiser, a Seventh Day Adventist who may also have been a congregant, was chosen to design the structure.  A 1910 graduate of New York University, Heiser was educated as an engineer, not an architect.  At the time of the commission he was the chief draftsman of the American Can Company.

 
For the site of their new Church of the Advent Hope, the trustees chose the old flat buildings at 109 and 111 East 87^th Street.  The property plus construction costs were projected at $320,000—nearly $4 million in 2023.  Less than one-third was guaranteed by the Seventh-Day Adventist Conference.  Fund-raising for the remainder took time and it was not until 1955 that Heiser filed plans. 
 
The dedication took place in May 1957 with German Consul General Franz Josef Hoffman addressing the congregation.  Heiser had produced a charming, country church in an urban setting.  Faced in randomly laid, rough-cut granite blocks, it was a rustic version of Tuscan Gothic.  Flat-faced limestone piers separated the façade into three vertical sections.  The two Gothic-arched entrance doors sat within a larger, slightly recessed arch that announced, “Haus der Advent Hoffmung / Siebenten Tags Adventisten Kirche.”  (House of Advent Hope / Seventh Day Adventist Church)
 

photograph by Eigenes Werk

A virulent anti-German sentiment pervaded the country following World War I.  In its February 17, 1947 issue, Life magazine published an article entitled "Peoples of New York."  Its description of the German community of Yorkville reflected the still-fresh anti-German sentiment, saying in part, “Dressed in their regional costumes and speaking German, they engage in violent Bavarian folk dances and drink huge quantities of beer…Germans in the city's Yorkville district are fond of uniforms and costumes, and a pro-Nazi Bund flourished before the war.”  The pervasive mindset no doubt had much to do with the dilution of the district’s German language, customs, and identity. 
 
By the last quarter of the 20^th century, the ethnic personality of Yorkville had changed as younger generations of Germans moved away.  The House of Advent Hope eventually discontinued its German language services.
 

Like the side walls, the wall behind the altar was originally unplastered.  photograph by Eigenes Werk

Music was an important part of the church’s function within the Yorkville community.  On December 5, 1986, for instance, The New York Times reported, “The New England Youth Ensemble and the Atlantic Union College Choir will present the American composer Randall Thompson’s rarely heard ‘Nativity According to St. Luke’—the Christmas story in music, pageant and biblical costume—at the Church of the Advent Hope.”  In October 1990 a concert by the New England Youth Ensemble/Collegiate Choir presented “works by Haydn, Handel, Bach, and English composers,” according to New York Magazine.
 
Another rarely performed work presented here in the summer of 1994 was C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters.  On July 10, The New York Times explained, “Screwtape, a senior devil, instructs his nephew Wormwood, a junior demon, in the art of winning over a young man’s soul—not by luring him into a sudden fall into mortal sin but by means of the routine temptations of daily life.”  The readings of C. S. Lewis were accompanied by the music of Benjamin Britten, John Ireland and Frank Bridge.  Music director David I Spelman said the work had been chosen “because we wanted to stick with programming that had a spiritual quality but also goes against the mainstream.”
 
Sitting between modern apartment buildings, Alfred B. Heiser’s quaint country church is a calming presence.  Its German inscription above the entrance is a reminder of an era when Yorkville was the epicenter of Manhattan’s German culture.

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The 1929 Warren Hall / Baptist Tabernacle - 162-166 Second Avenue

 

Founded in 1839, the Baptist Tabernacle left its Mulberry Street location in 1850 and erected a striking Gothic Revival building at 166 Second Avenue between 10th and 11th Street, designed by David Henry Arnot.  In 1886 a large parish house was constructed next door.  Despite its official name, the church was widely known as the Second Avenue Baptist Church.

The Baptist Tabernacle and the parish house are at the right.  The New-York Historical Society building occupied the corner of East 11th Street.  image from King's Views of New York City 1892, copyright expired

By the turn of the century the neighborhood, once filled with the mansions of "some of the best known of New Yorkers," according to The New York Times, was one of immigrants and tenement buildings.  On December 6, 1909 the newspaper said that the Second Avenue Baptist Church, "one of the oldest church edifices" in the city, "has been described 'as a congregation of thirty languages."

But with no more wealthy congregants, debts began to mount and by the 1920s a solution was needed.  At the time, a new concept was sweeping metropolitan areas--the "skyscraper church."   Congregations from coast to coast were demolishing their old structures and erecting apartment or office buildings that incorporated a ground floor church space.  In theory the congregation would reap tremendous income from the rental properties.  Not everyone was thrilled by the concept.  The New York Times, for instance, editorialized, "Must we visualize a New York in which no spire points heavenward?"

In 1928 the trustees demolished its masterful church and the parish house and hired hotel and apartment building architect Emery Roth to design a 15-story combination "apartment hotel" and church building on the site.  Their choice in architects may have been prompted by Roth's skyscraper church, the Hotel Carteret, which he had designed for the Chelsea Presbyterian Church two years earlier.

A 1929 real estate brochure featured the building on the cover. from the collection of the Columbia University Libraries

Completed in October 1929, Warren Hall was entered at 166 Second Avenue.  The Baptist Tabernacle entrance was on the opposite end of the building, at 162 Second Avenue.  The doorways reflected the stark differences in their purposes.  The round-arched entrance to Warren Hall was flanked by fluted pilasters that terminated in Art Deco urns of flowers.  Between, a bas relief panel depicted scantily-clothed figures on either side of a basket of fruit.  In severe contrast, the entrance to the church was unmistakably ecclesiastical.  Its pointed Gothic arch and heavy double gates with Gothic tracery sat below a crenellated entablature carved with the church's name.  On either side were bas relief torches, symbols of inspiration and knowledge.  Roth's only other nod to the ecclesiastical motif came as three angels that served as the balcony bases at the third floor.

photograph by Beyond My Ken

A brochure for Warren Hall insisted that the neighborhood was on an upswing, saying, "This district, so rich in City tradition is once more coming into prominence as a desirable location for the modern home."  It boasted two- and three-room apartments "each consisting of large living room, foyer, kitchen, bath and several roomy closets."  The three-room suites came with "large Dining Alcove Rooms."  The advertisement noted, "Kitchens are equipped with artistic dressers [i.e., cupboards], gas range and mechanical refrigeration, and are lighted by windows."

Warren Hall brochure, 1929,  from the collection of the Columbia University Libraries

The fifteenth floor, or penthouse, held four apartments.  They were "designed in the form of country bungalows, yet have all the city conveniences, large private roof gardens and wood-burning fireplaces," said the brochure.

Residents of the 15th floor enjoyed outdoor space.  Warren Hall brochure, 1929,  from the collection of the Columbia University Libraries

Although Warren Hall opened in the fall of 1929, it would take a few months before the Baptist Tabernacle was completed.  On March 3, 1930, The New York Times reported, "Six nationalities worshiped in their own languages yesterday at the first regular Sunday services of the Baptist Tabernacle in its new edifice in the fourteen-story apartment house at 164 Second Avenue."

The church engulfed the entire ground floor other than the Warren Hall entrance.  The New York Times explained that the congregations of the Second Avenue Baptist Church--the Italian Baptist Church, the First Estonian Church, the Russian Church, the Polish Church, and the Chinese Baptist Church--were "housed under one roof and incorporated into the tabernacle."  Their "three chapels, standing side by side from north to south, occupy all of the ground floor of the $1,200,000 apartment house, and are connected by a corridor extending from the separate entrance for the church," said the article.

Change would once again come.  In 1953 stores were installed at street level, signaling a vast reduction in floor space for church use.  It was a temporary fix, and four years later the church space was converted to the Gate Theatre.

In August 1959 the Gate Theatre produced a revival of The Drunkard.  The New York Age commented that it "has been acted more often in the United States than any other by an American author--except possibly 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.'"  Indeed, Matt Conley who had the title role had already played it more than 1,000 times.

By 1964 the Cricket Theater shared the space with the Gate.  In addition to offering plays for children on weekend afternoons, it presented serious drama, like Athol Fugard's The Blood Knot that dealt with racial tensions, which opened on March 2, 1964.

On September 17, 1970 The New York Times reported that Robert L. Steele had purchased both theaters.  Continuing to use the name the Gate Theater, the article said he "plans to present a new musical, 'Stage Movie," the following month.

Around the same time, part of the former church space (presumably the basement) was converted to a nightclub, Sanctum Sanctorum.  The New York Times called it "a so-called 'juice bar,'" meaning that it did not have a license to sell alcohol.  But patrons found other ways to get high. 

On April 18, 1973 The New York Times reported that Sanctum Sanctorum had been ordered temporarily closed "because of drug selling and other unlawful activity."  The closing, said the article, was "part of the Mayor's campaign to close the several nonalcoholic discotheque-like enterprises that have attracted youthful clientele and a number of drug dealers."

The owners, Jerry Sands and CinemaDisco Corporation, argued that the club was a private facility.  State Supreme Court Justice Sidney A. Fine disagreed, saying their contention "is really a dance to camouflage the illegal activity."

The Gate Theater continued until 1977, replaced by the Theater for the New City.  Known familiarly as TNC, it was founded in 1971 in the West Village.  A sort of triplex, the space now held three theaters, named after Joe Cino, Charles Stanley, and James Waring.

In 1978, according to The New York Times, the theater commissioned Sam Shepard to write Buried Child, which premiered here the following year.  It became the first off-off-Broadway play to win the Pulitzer Price.  In 1984 the theater would premier two Heiner Muller plays, Hamletmachine and Quartett.

Unfortunately, when the landlord increased the rent a reported 300 percent in 1984, the Theater for the New City was forced to relocate, moving out a few years later.  The space that had seen the introduction of award winning drama became a Mayfair Supermarket in 1996.

photographs by the author

many thanks to reader Graham Nash for requesting this post

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The 1925 Lemberger Shul - 256 East 4th Street

On April 4, 1859, August and Elizabeth Janson transferred the 24-foot-wide lot which would become 256 East 4th Street to Freiderick Bender.  The deed noted that the property "is part of the estate of Petrus Stuyvesant, deceased."  Sixty years later, in 1919, the Bender family sold the property, which now held "a four story front and rear building."  Both the structures were described as "tenements."

The neighborhood had greatly changed in those six decades.  It was now crowded with immigrant families from Hungary, Poland, Ukraine and Germany.  In 1925, the Lemberger Congregation purchased the buildings and hired architect James J. Millman to design a shul, or synagogue, on the site.  The congregation took its name from its native city, Lemberg, at the time the center of the Lwów Voivodeship of Poland.  The city is known today as Lviv, Ukraine. 

The new building was faced in red brick and trimmed in stone.  Millman's understated design relied mostly on Gothic arches over the openings.  Projecting brickwork between the second and third floors, and on either side of the central rondel above the entrance provided interest.  There were two entrances, one above a short, centered stoop, and another to the right for the women worshipers.

It is unclear whether the rondel was always bricked in, or if it originally contained a rose window.  In either case, it almost certainly displayed a Magen David, or Star of David.  Set within the parapet is a stone Decalogue, representing the tablets of Moses.

A force behind the erection of the new synagogue was the congregation's president, Leon Stand.  A Tammany assemblyman, he had been involved in Democratic politics for years.   Two of his five children were also politicians--Murray W. Stand was an alderman, and Bert Stand was secretary of the New York State Athletic Commission.  

In the fall of 1926, the Lemberger Congregation gave a Leon Stand a dinner "in appreciation of his work for the building of the new synagogue," as reported in The New York Times.  The 58-year-old fell ill soon afterward and died on October 28.  Ironically, he was never truly able to appreciate the synagogue which he was so instrumental in making a reality.

On the top floor of the building was a hall, used by the Lemberg Sech Benevolent Society.  On the evening of January 28, 1939 there were about 60 members conducting a meeting there, while on the first floor another 250 persons were witnessing the wedding of Ylonda Reiz and Moses Schwartz.  Suddenly four gunmen broke into the fourth floor meeting. The New York Times reported that they "escaped with about $300 in dues and an estimated $200 in cash and jewelry taken from men and women at the meeting."

Among those robbed was Max Rothman, who lost a watch and chain valued at about $838 by today's standards.  Two days later, he spotted two of the youths, 19 year old Matthew (known as Max) Uchansky and 20 year old Edward Usakowski, standing on the corner of Third Avenue and 13th Street.  Rothman found a policeman and had them arrested.  On March 24, 1939 the two were sentenced to serve from 10 to 30 years in prison at Dannemora, New York.

A third robber, 22 year old Benny Amatsky, was also caught and sent to Dannemora.  Oddly enough, while he pleaded guilty, The New York Times reported that he "insisted that Uchansky was not an accomplice."  When questioned by the judge, however, he refused to identify the supposed other offender.

Then, three months after being incarcerated, Amatsky wrote to District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey offering to name all parties involved in order "to have Uchansky freed."  He wrote a similar letter to Uchansky's sister, Lucy.  Assistant District Attorney Whitman Knapp went to the prison, and got the names of two accomplices--Joseph Gordon (who had been shot dead two weeks after the synagogue robbery), and Sigmund Wisnowsky, aka "Mal."  Wisnowsky was found in prison on an unrelated burglary charge.

On July 31, 1940, The New York Times reported that Wisnosky, "on the witness stand yesterday admitted he had taken part in the holdup and swore that Uchansky had not."  The misidentification of Uchansky by the witnesses, said Judge George L. Donnellan, was "an honest mistake because of Uchansky's strong resemblance to Sigmund Wisnowsky."  Now, Donnellan, the same judge who had sentenced Uchansky, set his conviction aside and freed him.

It was not the only surprising twist to the case.  On August 22, 1940, Judge Jonah J. Goldstein freed two of the convicts on suspended sentences "because they had aided in bringing about the exoneration and discharge of the wrongly accused man."  The sentences were held "in abeyance, contingent on their future good behavior," said the judge.

While the neighborhood continued to be the center of New York City's Ukrainian population, by the late 1960's it was also highly Hispanic.  Around 1970 the former synagogue building became home to the Spanish language Iglesia Bautista Emmanuel, or Emmanuel Spanish Baptist Church.

In August 1976, the church was broken into and desecrated.  The New York Times reported, "The organ was set on fire, windows broken, obscenities were spread on the walls, and the washroom was vandalized."  It was the first of a string of arsons and vandalism in neighborhood churches.

In October, the Damascus Christian Church at 289 East 4th Street was destroyed by fire, and a week later the pastor of the Eglesia El Divino Maestro, at 250 East 3rd Street, received a telephone call saying, "Your church will be next."  All three of the churches were evangelical Protestant, Hispanic congregations.  A spokesman for the Accion Civica Evangelica, a civic and social-action group, explained, "Hispanic churches are most vulnerable because they are new to the neighborhood and not fully accepted."   It is unclear if the perpetrators were caught.

Iglesia Bautista Emmanuel remains in the converted synagogue--the Christian cross in the rondel happily coexisting with the Jewish Decalogue above it.

photographs by the author

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The Charles Downer Hazen House - 42 East 75th Street

 

The original window treatment can be seen in the upper floors of the house to the right.

In 1881 the architectural firm of Thom & Wilson designed a row of four 19-foot wide, high-stooped brownstone houses at 38 through 44 East 75th Street for developer Terence Farley.  Completed the following year, the four-story dwellings were designed in the neo-Grec style, with prominent cornices above the openings and bracketed, cast metal terminal cornices.

The Seligman family moved into 42 East 75th Street.  Philip Seligman was a partner in Seligman Brothers & Co., makers of men's suits; and Joseph C. Seligman made his living as a clerk.  Their residency would be relatively short lived, and in 1886 Nathaniel Harsh moved in.

On the morning of September 11 that year Harsh was walking along East 76th Street with "a valuable little terrier in his arms," as reported by The New York Times.  He caught the attention of three corrupt dog catchers--John Kennedy, Joseph Walker, and John Hughes.  They were, it seems, paid according to the number of strays they rounded up.  And so, they set their sights on Harsh's dog.

When the dog catchers attempted to snatch the dog away, "He clung to the animal and was roughly handled," said the newspaper.  "The tussle attracted a large crowd."  Harsh steadfastly held on to his pet until a police officer arrived and arrested the dog catchers.  Harsh told a reporter he had had "a similar adventure with dog catchers" a year earlier.

The Harsh family's tenancy was even shorter than the Seligmans'.  By 1888 it was home to wealthy bachelor Jackson Goldman.  A grain dealer, he was a member of the New York Produce Exchange.  

Among Goldman's domestic staff in 1891 was Hannah Hynes.  She was a waitress, the 19th century term for a higher-level maid who served in the dining room and parlor.  She came to the rescue of another servant girl in August that year.

Kate Williamson, who worked in the Presbyterian Hospital, was walking along Madison Avenue near 75th Street when she was accosted by Thomas Lawson.  The Press said, "She repulsed him, when he attempted to grasp her by the throat, and she ran away."  But Lawson followed and, in a panic, she ran into the basement of 42 East 75th Street.

Recognizing Kate's peril, Hannah, whom The Press said, "is stalwart and bold," quickly armed herself with an umbrella and rushed to Kate's defense.  "Hannah laid the umbrella over Lawson's head and jabbed him with the point of it until he ran off, the two women following him and uttering the cries for help that attracted the policeman," said the article.  Lawson turned out to be a serial assaulter.  As Kate and Hannah told their story in the station house, fully a dozen other women appeared to file complaints.

On the evening of April 19, 1893, Jackson Goldman was married to Marion Mayer in the drawing room of her father's home on East 56th Street.  Soon afterward Goldman sold the East 75th Street house to Joseph C. Hatie and his wife, the former Amanda Hobson Heyl.  Hatie was president of the Mutual Fire Insurance Co.

Long-term owners finally came in 1896 when Leopold and Leonora B. Rossbach purchased 42 East 75th Street.  Rossbach was the principal in J. H. Rossbach & Brothers, dealers in "hides, leather and goatskins."  The couple had four children, H. Harry, Walter S., Lawrence B. and Helen R. Rossbach.

In 1900 the Rossbachs hired architect E. Lowenbein to make renovations to the house.  They were apparently minor, interior updates, costing about $16,000 in today's money.  The architect was called back three years later to do additional updates, also minor.

Wealthy Jewish families, not welcomed in resorts like Bar Harbor or Newport, created their own summer destination in the area around Long Branch and Elberon, New Jersey.  On April 1, 1909 the New-York Tribune reported, "Leopold Rossbach has bought the summer home of Colonel R. C. Clowry, president of the Western Union Telegraph Company, situated at Elberon, N. J., at the corner of Lincoln and Elberon avenues."

In 1916 the Rossbachs moved to 9 East 88th Street.  They leased the 75th Street house to Charles Downer Hazen and his wife, Sarah Duryea.  Born in Barnet, Vermont on March 17, 1868, Hazen came from an old New England family.  His first ancestors arrived in Massachusetts in the 17th century.  After graduating from Dartmouth College, he studied at Johns Hopkins University, and in Europe.  He was teaching history at Smith College in June 1901 when he married Susan, a 1896 graduate of the school.

The Hazens had moved to New York City in 1915, a year before leasing the Rossbach house.  He had been offered a position at Columbia University.  While living here he would write prodigiously.  Among the 15 academic works published after 1917 were Fifty Years of Europe, 1870-1919; French Revolution and Napoleon; Modern European History; Contemporary American Opinion of The French Revolution; and The Letters of William Roscoe Thayer.

Leopold Rossbach died at the age of 65 on March 5, 1918.  He left an estate valued at around $49 million in today's money.  The following year, in February, Leonora Rossbach sold 42 East 75th Street to the Hazens.

Somewhat surprisingly, Charles and Sarah soon leased the house to Edward Robbins Wharton.  Living with him was his unmarried sister, Nancy.  Wharton was the divorced husband of socialite and author Edith Wharton.  Edward and Nancy summered at Pine Acre, the estate purchased by their mother, Nancy C. Wharton, in 1892.

Interestingly, society journalists followed the movements of the Whartons separately.  On September 23, 1920, for instance, The Evening Telegram noted, "Miss Nancy C. Wharton, who spent the summer in Lenox, Mass., will be at No. 42 East Seventy-fifth street for the winter."  

Edward Robbins Wharton (original source unknown)

It was, perhaps, at the instigation of the Whartons that in 1923 the Hazens hired architect James E. Casale to modernize the 75th Street house.  The neo-Grec elements of the upper floors were shaved off, the stoop removed, and the entrance lowered to the former basement level.  Casale transformed the two lower floors with romantic neo-Gothic details and leaded glass French windows at the second floor.

On February 8, 1928 Edward Robbins Wharton died at 42 East 75th Street at the age of 78.  On February 11 The New York Times reported, "The will of Edward Robbins Wharton of 42 East Seventy-fifth Street, New York City, divorced husband of Edith Wharton, the novelist, was filed here this afternoon."  Among his bequests were two months' pay for his domestic staff, and "expenses from New York to Lenox for the burial."

Charles and Sarah Hazen moved back to 42 East 75th Street.  Charles died on September 18, 1941 at the age of 73.  Sarah sold the house now long afterward and in 1945 it was converted to apartments.  There were now a duplex in the basement and first floors, one apartment and a furnished room each on the second and third, and one apartment on the fourth floor.

The configuration lasted until 1988 when a doctor's office was installed in the ground floor, and the upper section was converted to two duplex residences.

photographs by the author

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The 1934 Midtown Memorial Chapel -- 171 West 85th Street

 

Architect and developer John G. Prague erected a row of four 18-foot-wide, brick-and-brownstone homes at 167 through 173 West 85th Street in 1889-90.  Designed in an A-B-A-B configuration, they formed two balanced pairs, each of which shared a split stoop.

Gustav Helmstetter purchased 171 West 85th Street.  A confectioner, his factory at 554 Broome Street turned out sweets like "chocolate colored coffee drops."  His wife and three young adult daughters entertained regularly.  On January 8, 1896, for instance, The Press reported, "The members of the Tuesday evening dancing class...gave a social at the home of one of the patronesses, Mrs. Helmstetter, No. 171 West Eighty-fifth street.  The guests were received by Mrs. Helmstetter, Miss Helmstetter, Miss Elizabeth Helmstetter and Miss Carrie Helmstetter."

The Helmstetters retained possession of the house until 1913 when they sold it to real estate operator Henry Wendt. Wendt was, as well, a secretary and director of the Crystal Hygiene Ice Company.  He and his family maintained a country home in Pearl River, New York.  Like the Helmstetters, they would remain in the house for years.

Henry, Jr. graduated from Harvard in 1927.  His marriage to Anne Marie Homer at Lake George, New York on June 2, 1932 garnered extensive social attention.  His brother, John R. Wendt, was his best man.

A year later, nearly to the day, the Wendts sold their home to the Corporal Holding Company, Inc. for $27,500--or about $550,000 in today's money.  On June 17, 1933 The New York Sun noted, "The owner has the right to alter the present residential building for any other lawful use on paying off $2,500 of the principal."  And alter it, they did.

Four days later the newspaper announced, "The house at 171 West Eighty-fifth street...will be altered and rebuilt as a four-story funeral chapel."  Architect B. Robert Swartburg's plans called for changing the residence "to a mezzanine and 4-story building" with penthouse.  The alterations, costing nearly $600,000 by today's standards, including removing the stoop and pulling the facade forward to the property line, extending the building to the rear, and installing new floors, iron stairs, and an elevator.

Completed the following year, the Midtown Memorial Chapel was a modern blend of neo-Gothic and Renaissance Revival styles.  Faced in variegated cast stone, its tripartite design sat upon a two-story base.  A prominent marquee sheltered the ground floor, above which grouped stained glass windows wore pressed copper hoods below an arched corbel table.  The two-story mid-section was dominated by a charming copper-clad faux balcony that echoed the hoods below.  Four stone urns fronted the "penthouse," or fifth floor, which sat slightly back.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

In the basement was the embalming room, while the office and "showroom" were on the ground floor.  The second floor, with its impressive wall of stained glass windows, held the chapel, and a "reposing room," was on the third floor.  On the fourth floor were the caretaker's apartments.

The Midtown Memorial Chapel became a favorite among prominent Jewish families and within the entertainment industry.  Augustus Yorke, for instance, died at the age of 79 in Hollywood, California on December 27, 1939.  A member of the old vaudeville team of Yorke & Adams, his funeral has held here on January 7, 1940.

The funeral of Frieda Hart, mother of lyricist Lorenz Hart, was held here in 1943, and on July 31, 1949 the chapel was the venue of Mike Ziegler's funeral.  Described by Billboard magazine as a "veteran outdoor showman," he had been in show business for 35 years and operated his own carnival.

But perhaps the most publicized funeral was that of Emanuel "Mendy" Weiss, on March 5, 1944.  The 37-year-old had been electrocuted in Sing Sing prison at 11:07 the night before.  He, Louis Capone, and racketeer Louis "Lepke" Buchalter (reputedly the head of the underworld's enforcement group called Murder, Inc.) had been convicted of the September 1936 murder of Joseph Rosen.

Buchalter, who was suspected of having ordered as many as 80 murders, professed innocence, and both Weiss and Capone insisted they had been framed.  As he was led to the electric chair, Weiss said, "I'm here on a framed case.  I'm innocent and God and Governor Dewey know it...Give my love to my family and everyone.  And--I'm innocent."

The following afternoon Rabbi Aaron Liss performed his funeral services.  It was attended by about 50 friends and family.  The New York Sun reported, "Following brief orthodox services at the Midtown Memorial Chapel, 171 West 85th street, his brother, Murray Weiss, told reporters that Weiss was innocent.  'The whole story will break and the truth will be told within a year,' he said."

The Midtown Memorial Chapel left West 85th Street in 1952.  The building became home to the Jewish Society for the Deaf.  The second floor chapel was converted to an auditorium, and the other floors now contained committee rooms, offices and a social hall.  

The Jewish Society for the Deaf offered "information, referral and counseling services for the oral and sign making totally deaf."  Despite its name, the organization advertised as being "non-sectarian."

Living in caretaker's apartment in 1953 was the building's superintendent, Julius Magassy.  The 60-year-old somehow got into serious trouble that year.  On October 30 the Ossining, New York Citizen Register reported that he "was rescued from the North [i.e. Hudson] River off 88th Street yesterday by an electrician."  The article explained that Joseph Kaich was driving along the Henry Hudson Parkway "when he saw the man struggling in the water."  Kaich quickly pulled over, took off his jacked and dived into the water, pulling Magassy to safety.

By 1979 the offices of Escalera Puertorriqueña (Stairway to Puerto Rico) Head Start were here.  In a letter to the House of Representatives Sub-Committee on Economic Opportunities that year, the group described "special education services to our handicapped children, an After-School Program for graduates of the Head Start Program, a Video-tape program servicing all aspects of Head Start, [and] a pre-school health program."

The property was next acquired by Dorot, here at least by 1990.  Founded in 1976 "to affirm the Jewish communal commitment to honor older members of the community," it still serves up to 100 elderly.

Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin, in his Putting God on the Guest List, wrote, "Dorot means 'generations'--generations of Jews together bringing light into lives that would have been otherwise darkened.  Dorot operates a soup kitchen and distributes clothing to home-bound elderly Jews."  In 2000 the group's Kosher meals for the Homebound provided an average of 73 meals per day.

The original structure resembled the rowhouse to the right.

The building received a $1 million renovation in 2000, which included an additional story that valiantly attempts to meld with the existing architecture.  Although, sadly, the leaded glass windows of the second floor have been lost, Swartburg's romantic 1933 design is greatly intact.

photographs by the author

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Gross & Kleinberger's 1913 11 West 25th Street

The 25-foot wide, four-story brownstone house at No. 11 West 25th Street was built in a prestigious location.  Steps away from Fifth Avenue and Madison Square, it was next door to the fashionable Trinity Chapel where some of Manhattan's wealthiest families worshiped.   But by end of the 19th century the neighborhood had mostly ceded to commerce as millionaires migrated north.

On August 3, 1912 the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that Benjamin Barnett had purchased the property.  "Mr. Barnett will erect a loft building on the site."  Barnett and other investors formed The 11 West 25th St. Co. and within the week of buying No. 11 took out a $135,000 building loan--a significant $3.61 million today.  

The developers wasted no time.  The architectural firm of Gross & Kleinberger was hired to design a 12-story loft and store building and on August 17--just two weeks after the purchase of the property--plans were filed.  

On September 8, 1912 The New York Times reported "One of the latest additions to the many tall lofts now in course of construction in the mid-town zone is a twelve-story structure, now well under-way at 11 West Twenty-fifth Street...It will be of fireproof construction throughout, with a facade of enameled terra cotta."

Gross & Kleinberger released this rendering to the press.  The New York Times, September 8, 1912 (copyright expired)

On June 21, 1913, as construction was nearing completion on No. 11, the Record & Guide commented on the flurry of development along the block.  In an article entitled "West 25th Street / Loft Buildings Displacing More Private Dwellings There," it detailed eight buildings under construction, mentioning that "At 11 West 25th street plastering and interior equipment is being installed."

At the time terra cotta clad commercial buildings in the neo-Gothic style were rising throughout Manhattan; the most notable being Cass Gilbert's masterful Woolworth Building under construction downtown.  Gross & Kleinberger followed suit, embellishing No. 11 with shields, crockets and other Gothic elements.  

Construction was completed in the summer of 1913 and tenants were signing leases by August.  Among the first was the Singer Sewing Machine Company which took the ground floor store and basement level.

Interestingly, both offices and factories shared the upper floors.  Apparel firms like H. I. Cohen,  the Madison Carnet Company and John O. Powers took floors.  H. I. Cohen, who leased the 7th floor, hit the ground running.  He ran two wants ads in The New York Times on November 29, 1913.  One read "Jobber wants Spring samples of silk waists; also contractors wanted to take out work," and the other "Jobber looking at Spring skirts from $2 to $7.50."

Another initial tenant involved in the garment trade was Joseph A. Herzberg, maker of women's dresses.  He had serious problems in 1914, but they were not associated with his business.  Herzberg and his wife had been married in 1888, but lately their relationship had soured.  He moved out of their home when, according to him, "she threatened to pour kerosene over the bedclothing and set fire to the bed while he was asleep."  

On October 20, 1914 The Sun reported that he told a judge "that once in the Fifth Avenue Building his wife hit him with her fist and cut his face with her rings and on another occasion she chased him out of his office at 11 West Twenty-fifth street, threatening to shoot him."  On that occasion, as Herzberg ran down the block in terror, his wife shouted "Stop, thief!  Murder!  Police!"  Herzberg filed for separation on the grounds that his wife "treated him so cruelly that it is unsafe for him to live with her."

In the meantime other spaces were leased to apparel and millinery firms like F. A. Harris Co.  On March 1914 it was looking for "Milliners and preparers; first-class operators only."  Other firms in the building at the time were the Ascot Manufacturing Co., and Kasse & Goldberg, makers of cloaks and suits.

At the time the high-end retailers along Fifth Avenue above 32nd Street were battling the encroachment of loft buildings along the side streets.  The hundreds of factory and shop workers mobbed the sidewalks and spilled onto upscale Fifth Avenue.  Refined shoppers were loathe to battle the hoards of workmen and the fashionable tone of the avenue was threatened.  The Save New York Movement was born.

The Movement established a “restricted zone” and encouraged manufacturers to avoid it.  The mayor supported the program and initiated zoning restrictions for construction going forward from 32^nd Street to 59^th Street, from Third to Seventh Avenue.   The pressure convinced fur manufacturers Friedman, Schindler & Co. to move into No. 11 in 1916.  On the same day that The Evening Post reported that the firm had signed a lease, The Save New York Commission applauded the move in print.

Celluloid had been patented in 1869 but its use for making jewelry became highly popular in the 1920's.  Among the tenants of No. 11 in 1922 was A. Reinheimer & Co. which made celluloid buckles and buttons in its 7th floor factory.  On the afternoon of July 27 a fire broke out while most of the firm's 100 employees were at lunch.

A pedestrian was nearly hit by a shower of glass from a window, blown out by the heat.  He turned in a fire alarm, but by the time the fire fighters arrived the blaze had spread to the sixth floor, occupied by dress makers Hahn & Benjamin, and to the eighth, where embroider company Robert David, and furriers Harris & Victor leased space.  The mostly female workers in the building scrambled to escape.  The New-York Tribune reported "Some of them were carried down by elevators, others went down fire escapes at the rear of the building and about 150 ran to the roof and made their way across the Townsend Building, at the Broadway corner."

Although the blaze was extinguished within 20 minutes, it did considerable damage.  The 7th floor was essentially gutted and the 6th and 8th were heavily damaged.  The total loss was estimated at $50,000 (just under $750,000 in today's dollars).  And if the loss of its factory was not enough, A. Reinheimer & Co. was soon hit with a summons from the Fire Department which charged the firm "with unlawfully having celluloid in its premises without a permit."

Even as the Garment District moved northward above 34th Street, No. 11 continued to lease to apparel and millinery firms.  Enterprise Accessories, Inc. was here in the early 1930's.  In 1934 it was embroiled in labor conflict with the International Pocketbook Workers Union, which fought for higher wages for its members.  Enterprise Accessories, Inc. decided simply to move its operation to Greenfield, Massachusetts, where wages were cheaper.  But with the nation in the throes of the Great Depression, the National Recovery Administration stepped in.

On August 27, 1934 The New York Times reported "The first move under the NRA to prevent employers from moving their plants from this city to communities with lower work and wage standards and to escape higher union obligations was announced yesterday by the Regional Labor Board."  A representative of the Labor Board stressed, "if this firm is allowed with impunity to lock out its union members and to remove to another place for the purpose of obtaining cheap labor there will be an exodus of such firms from New York."

Other apparel firms in the building in the 1930's and '40's were the Beauty Brassiere Company (makers of "brassieres, bandeaux, and corsets"), the Lace Process Corporation, and Hexter Millinery.  World War II brought extra business to the Fisher-Mair Uniform Company.  But the firm's greed brought not only unwanted publicity but Government action.

Enlisted men were issued uniforms at no cost by the military; however many purchased additional uniforms from retailers like Fisher-Mair.  In the summer of 1944 sailors complained to the Office of Price Administration that they were being charged $45 for uniforms that should cost $28.  Werner Ilsen, the regional enforcement executive, investigated and disclosed "The overcharges were for Navy 'blues'--woolen blouses and pants--and for 'skivvies,' a cotton basque-type undershirt."  Fisher-Mair Uniform Company was sued by the Office of Price Administration for violating ceiling prices and for "having failed to keep proper records."

The second half of the 20th century saw the neighborhood changing once again.  By 1966 the offices of the Lift Extension Institute were here.  Formed in 1913, the philanthropic institution has a goal "of prolonging human life through hygiene and disease prevention."  Over the years its officers had included William Howard Taft, Alexander Graham Bell, William James Mayo and Russell Henry Chittenden.

No. 11 was home to the Capricorn Gallery by 1968.   That year in November a benefit exhibition and sale of original costumes and scenic designs and posters of the City Center of Music and Drama was held here.

In 1984 the advertising agency of J. J. Gross & Company was in the building, and by the late 1990's Haas Company occupied the store level.  On September 24, 1997 The New York Times' food columnist Florence Fabricant wrote "A little-known source for baking equipment at low prices is the Haas Company."  The described the firm as "Mainly a wholesaler that sells just about everything for professional kitchens, from whisks to Traulsen refrigerators."

At the time Frenchway Travel Agency occupied offices on the eighth floor.  The all-female firm specialized in getting the fashion industry to exotic spots for photo shoots and such.

Gross & Kleinberger's Edwardian Gothic building has survived more than a century with almost no change--unlike the Nomad neighborhood in which it sits.

photographs by the author