The 1864 Isaac L. Devoe House - 134 East 36th Street

Developers George J. Hamilton and Thomas Kilpatrick began construction of a trio of stylish, brownstone fronted houses at 130-134 East 36th Street in 1863.  Just 17.2-feet wide, 134 East 36th Street had the advantage of a corner site, giving it three exposures of light and ventilation.  The home's cutting edge Second Empire style included the nearly obligatory slate-shingled mansard.  The molded, architrave surrounds of the windows sat on bracketed sills.

Completed in 1864, the house was purchased as an investment by wealthy merchant Robert W. Milbank.  He leased the house until 1867 when it was purchased by Isaac L. Devoe.   

Born in Westchester, New York in 1813, Devoe was the principal of the glass firm Isaac L. Devoe & Co. at White and Centre Streets.  He married Mary Ann Harsen in 1841.  The couple had three sons, born every two years like clockwork--Henry I., born in 1842; Theodore, born in 1844; and Frank who arrived in 1846.  

The Financial Panic of 1873 was a devastating economic catastrophe--called the Great Depression by some until 1929.  It would last until 1879 and may have been the reason that Devoe drastically changed his business--from glass to wool.  For whatever reason, the switch was unsuccessful.  On September 1, 1878, The New York Times reported that Devoe had filed a voluntary petition for bankruptcy.  Reporting that his liabilities were $25,000 (about $788,000 in 2024), the article said, "He has no assets."

Isaac and Mary Devoe lost their home to foreclosure.  It was acquired by Dr. Edwin M. Kellogg and his second wife, the former Frances (known as Fanny) Anne Bowen.  

Dr. Kellogg was born in Reading, Pennsylvania on September 20, 1826.  He married Louise H. Chur on April 16, 1867.  His bride died 11 months later at the age of 27.  He and Fanny were married on October 11, 1869.  

Kellogg served on the staff of the New York Homoeopathic Medical College as Professor of the Diseases of Women.  He was also the treasurer of the American Institute of Homoeopathy.  Fanny kept busy with charitable organizations.  She was, for instance, secretary of the St. Barnabas Employment Society, which found work for destitute women.  

In 1886, Kellogg hired the esteemed mansion architect C. P. H. Gilbert to design a replacement townhouse on the site of 134 and 132 East 36th Street.  For whatever reason, the plans were scrapped and the Kelloggs, instead, moved out and leased the two houses to well-to-do tenants.  Occupying 134 East 36th Street were Henry D. Steers, president of the Eleventh Bank, and his family, here in the 1890s; and Francis G. Gorham, an agent of the Bethlehem Iron Co., who lived here in 1900.  Gorham's social position was evidenced in his memberships to the Union League and Harvard Clubs, the Down Town Association and the New England Society.

Frances Bowen Kellogg died at the age of 64 on June 5, 1900.  Her death greatly affected Dr. Kellogg and in June 1905 Dr. Thomas Franklin Smith remarked, "Since the death of his wife...he has kept very much to himself; for the last two or three years he has kept himself confined to the house to a considerable extent."  Smith's remarks were made at Kellogg's memorial service.  He died on June 29, 1905.

Two years earlier, in February 1903, Kellogg had sold 132 and 134 East 36th Street to attorney Arthur Hoffman Van Brunt and his wife, the former Ethel Townsend Edson.  The Record & Guide reported, "The properties will be remodelled  [sic] into American basement dwellings."  The term meant that the stoops would be removed and the entrances lowered to the former basement level.  In 1905, Van Bruner enlarged 134 East 36th Street with a two-story, three-sided bay at the rear.

Born in 1865, Van Brunt's choice of a law career came naturally.  His father, Charles H. Van Brunt, was presiding justice of the Appellate Division of the First Department.  Arthur graduated from Columbia in 1886 and became a partner in the law firm of Joline, Larkin & Rathbone.  

The year they purchased 134 East 36th Street, the Van Brunt's first child, Caroline, was born.  There would be three more: Edson, born in 1906; Arthur, Jr., in 1910; and David Chesterman, who arrived in 1917.

It may have been the growing population of the narrow house that prompted the Van Brunts to move out.  In March 1916, they leased 134 East 36th Street to the family of Willis and Caroline Charlotte Benner.

The Benners would have to find another home the following year.  In 1917, 134 East 36th Street was converted to offices of the Electro-Medical Scientists, headed by Dr. Francis R. Ward.  On May 20, 1917, the Brooklyn Standard Union reported the offices, "comprise the entire building at 134 East 36th street, corner of Lexington avenue."  As a sort of grand opening discount, the article said, "Consultation, advice and examination, including where required, the X-ray, chemical Analysis and Blood Pressure Test for one dollar."  The offer was good for ten days.

The facility offered what were deemed electric cures.  "Here the fact is proved that science has so modified and tamed electricity that the weakest child or invalid can stand its force without fear or pain," said the article.   "At the offices of the Electro-Medical Scientists the current that lights the homes and runs street cars is used and is harnessed to the wonderful machines by which every jar and jerk is removed and it is then sent through the body as softly, smoothly, and pleasantly as a ray of sunshine."

Ward had started his clinic in Chicago, but relocated to New York after "his advertised claims were attacked by the newspapers," according to the New York Evening World on April 20, 1919.  (In fact, newspapers there flatly called him "a quack.")  When asked by a New York Evening World reporter why he was not a member of the Academy of Medicine, Dr. Ward replied, "they won't let me."

Nevertheless, he and his clinic were doing quite well.  The article said, "He treated last year an average of 125 patients daily at $2.40 a treatment, giving him a gross income of $300 a day, or about $9,000 a month."  The gross monthly figure would translate to about $159,000 in 2024.  The Electro-Medical Scientists remained in the house until 1921.  That year Van Brunt leased it to Isabel Smith and Eldred Johnstone, who presumably rented rooms.

The stoop and entrance were originally identical to those at 132 East 36th Street, seen here in 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The Van Brunts sold 134 East 36th Street to architect William A. Delano of Delano & Aldrich in 1924.  He converted the house to studio apartments.  Among his tenants were Dr. St. Clair Smith, here around 1927, and operatic soprano Wilma Miller in the 1930s.  Miller played the role of Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto at the Hippodrome on October 26, 1934.

Delano lost the building in foreclosure in 1941.  It continued to house studio apartments until a renovation completed in 2018 returned it to a single family home.

photographs by the author

The Lost Union Dime Savings Bank - Sixth Avenue and Broadway

 

Real Estate Record & Guide Supplement, June 25, 1898 (copyright expired)

Founded in 1859, the Union Dime Savings Institute started out in unassuming offices at Canal and Varick Streets.  Eight years later, it moved to larger quarters at Canal and Laight Street.  Then, in October 1874, despite the country's being mired in the crippling Financial Panic of 1873, the trustees laid bold plans--to move the bank northward to the trapezoidal plot facing the small park that would be named Greeley Square in 1892.

Thirty-six-year-old Stephen Decatur Hatch was given the commission to design the new building.  The architect had designed the elaborate, Second Empire style Gilsey House Hotel three blocks to the south on Broadway in 1868.  He turned to the popular style again for the Union Dime Savings Bank building.

On September 30, 1876, The New York Times reported on the progress of construction, saying the "large and commodious building at the junction of Broadway, Sixth-ave., and Thirty-second-st...when completed, will be an ornament to the upper part of the city."  The article predicted the cost of construction to be $250,000, and said the figure would have been much higher had the economic conditions not drastically cut labor costs.  The Sun chimed in, saying the cost of the land was $275,000, "making the total outlay $525,000."  That figure would translate to about $15.4 million in 2024.

Five floors tall above a basement level, the building was clad in Westchester marble.  "There are also seventeen large pillars of polished Nova-Scotia stone placed on the three sides of the building, which lend a grace and beauty to the whole exterior," said the article.  A three-story, six-sided clock tower wore crown-like, cast iron cresting.  Upon its completion, The Sun described the Union Dime Savings Bank building on January 22, 1877 as "by far the finest structure of the kind in the city."

Nine months after opening in its new home, rumors began circulating that the bank's costly marble palace had overstretched its resources.  On October 24, 1877, the New York Herald said, "The story that the new building was 'too heavy to carry' was repeated with certain additions."  The rumors turned to panic and the New York Herald headlined the article, "Panic-Stricken Depositors Make a 'Run' on a Savings Bank."  The article said that long before opening, "a large crowd of anxious depositors had congregated in the vicinity of the bank and lined the sidewalk opposite, skirting the little garden park at the junction of Sixth avenue and Broadway at Thirty-second street."  Police had to be called in to control the near-riot.

The Sixth Avenue Elevated had opened by 1889 when this photo was taken.  King's Handbook of New York City (copyright expired)

The following day, the New York Herald ran a one-line article, saying, "The run on the Union Dime Savings Bank showed no signed of abatement, and will probably be renewed this morning, notwithstanding the confident assurances of its officers."  Eventually, reason ruled and on November 30 the newspaper concluded an article saying, "The Union Dime's directors are in a pretty safe condition, but there is no margin for wild investment."

Just under three decades after opening its doors, on August 7, 1906 The New York Times reported that the Union Dime Savings Bank had sold the property for $1 million (equal to nearly $35 million today).  The trustees had purchased a plot at 40th Street and Sixth Avenue as its new home.  The article said, "The bank will continued to occupy its property at Broadway and Thirty-second Street until May, 1908."

The majestic structure was worthy of its own stereoscope slide.  from the collection of the New York Public Library.

In fact, the bank did not move out until February 1910 when its new structure was completed.  In the meantime, the property had been resold.  On February 27, 1910, The New York Times reported, "The new English owners will not take title to the old Union Dime building until May 1.  Rumors that the edifice was to be torn down were set at rest yesterday when a representative of the company stated that it was not the intention of the owners to make any improvement for five years at least."

The majestic marble structure survived until 1928.  On November 4, The New York Times published an article on the flurry of construction going on in the district.  It said in part that a project that "will probably not be long delayed, will be the demolition of the old Union Dime Savings Bank Building."  The article commented, "This has long been one of the interesting landmarks of the city."

The article had predicted correctly.  The Union Dime Savings Bank Building was demolished to be replaced by a seven-story, Art Deco commercial building designed by Starrett & Van Vleck which survives.

photo by acronson

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The 1869 Oswin O'Brien House - 128 East 37th Street

 

Prolific architect John G. Prague, who would design hundreds of Manhattan rowhouses before the 1890s, was hired in 1868 by speculative developer and carpenter John Coar to design four upscale homes at 124 to 130 East 37th Street.  Faced in brownstone, they rose four stories above English basements.  Prague's Second Empire design included slate-shingled mansards, nearly obligatory to the style.

The row was completed in 1869.  Oswin J. and Elizabeth G. O'Brien purchased 128 East 37th Street.  The couple had a son, Oswin Jr.  Born in 1826, Oswin Sr. was a stockbroker and member of the New York Stock Exchange.  Additionally, around 1864 he opened "The Palace" department store at the corner of 14th Street and Sixth Avenue.

The O'Brien family sold 128 East 37th Street in 1873 to William Adams Walker Stewart and his wife, the former Frances Loring Gray.  Stewart was a wealthy lawyer.  He would be lost at sea when his yacht, Cythera, disappeared during a  voyage to the West Indies in March 1888.  Eight years before that tragedy, he and Frances sold 128 East 37th Street to his massively wealthy father, John Aikman Stewart, for $17,000 (about $523,000 in 2024).

Born on Fulton Street on August 26, 1822, John A. Stewart was married to Sarah Youle Johnson.  He had served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during the Civil War.  Now he was president of the United States Trust Company and a director in several banks and insurance companies.  He and Sarah, who lived almost directly across the street at 125 East 37th Street, apparently purchased the house for their daughter, Emily, and son-in-law, Robert Waller, Jr.

In June 1882, John Aikman Stewart hired architect James Brown Lord to enlarge the Waller's house by adding a two-story extension to the rear.  It is unclear exactly how long Emily and Robert Waller remained here, but the house was occupied by the aristocratic Van Vleck family by 1889.

Walter Van Vleck was described by the New York Herald as "the dashing sergeant major of the Ninth regiment."  At the Regiment Ball in 1889, 17-year-old Minnie Ahearn caught Van Vleck's eye.  The New York Herald described her as being,

...tall for one of her years, with a fine, well developed figure and might easily pass for a maiden of twenty-five.  Her dark, heavy eyebrows and rich brown hair could attract attention anywhere, while her beautiful eyes and well rounded face have caused many a gallant masculine heart to flutter on the West side since she has been living on Twenty-sixty street with her aunt and guardian, Mrs. Margaret Higgins.

Margaret Higgins kept a close rein on her ward.  But the 40-year-old bachelor and his new sweetheart managed to communicate by love letters sneaked back-and-forth via a young girl.  The romance came to a climax on January 13, 1890, when Minnie Ahearn and Walter Van Vleck both disappeared.  

A week later, with the couple still missing, The Press pointed out the social differences between them.  "Love laughs at locksmiths and scorns all the artificial distinctions of rank, wealth, birth and breeding.  It is, however a long time since Love, the leveler, has shown himself so thoroughly democratic as in the probable elopement of Walter Van Vleck of 128 East thirty-seventh street with Minnie Ahearn of 204 West Twenty-sixth street."  The New York Herald wrote, 

At the residence of the Van Vleck family all was excitement yesterday.  Walter had been telegraphing to his two sisters and mother nearly every day during the week to make excuses for various engagements to dinner parties, &c., for him.  Members of the family are greatly shocked over the affair, because the young lady in the case does not move in the same fashionable set nor in society at all for that matter.

It was later confirmed that the two unlikely lovers had married.

By 1900, John Aikman Stewart was leasing 128 East 37th Street to the John Jay White family.  White and his wife, the former Virginia Grace Hoffman, had a teenaged daughter, Louise Lawrence White.

Interestingly, when the house was leased for winter social season of 1900-1901, the New-York Tribune did not mention Louise's parents.  The article on December 9, 1900 read, "Mr. and Mrs. Lester del Garcia have taken No. 128 East Thirty-seventh-st. for the winter.  It is the home of Miss White."

On May 10, 1903, The New York Times reported on the engagement of Louise to Walter Lispenard Suydam, Jr., saying, "The extreme youth of the couple neither being over eighteen years of age, gives it a touch of the romantic."  The article noted, "The attendants selected are related to nearly all the old Knickerbocker representative branches, including the Suydams, the Lispenards, the Delafields, the Lydigs, the Mesiers, the Hoffmans, the Jays, and a score of others."

Walter Lispenard Suydam.  Portraits of the Presidents of the [Saint Nicholas] Society, 1835-1914 (copyright expired)

Indeed, the couple was so young that on January 28, 1904, in reporting that Louise "gave one of a series of days at home," The New York Times mentioned that she "was Miss White, and she and Mr. Suydam were married last Summer.  Mr. Suydam was then still at college, and his wife had not made her debut in society."

The Suydams appeared in the society columns repeatedly over the next few years.  The couple welcomed a baby girl, Louise Lispenard, in June 1905.  Tragically, she died on January 24, 1906, at the age of six months.

Two years later, Louise had a brush with death.  On February 15, 1907, The New York Times reported, "Mrs. Walter L. Suydam, Jr., who is in town for the Winter at her home, 128 East Thirty-seventh Street, is seriously ill with typhoid fever."

The Suydams remained here until 1909 when the 11-room, two-bath house was sold.  The couple's marriage would end tragically two years later.  In 1911, Louise left Walter for the 22-year-old son of a Brooklyn plumber, Frederick Noble.  They were married in January 1912.  A month later, on February 5, The New York Times ran the headline, "Dies With Youth She Eloped With / Suicide by Gas Ends Romance of Young Noble and the Former Mrs. Suydam."  The article said that their short marriage was troubled, and surmised that Louise discovered she was still in love with Walter.  The two committed suicide together.

In the meantime, the 37th Street house was purchased jointly by Alexander Stewart Walker and Leon Narcisse Gillette, partners in the architectural firm of Walker & Gillette.  They converted the upper floors to apartments and installed their offices in the lower floors.  An advertisement in The New York Times on April 23, 1911 offered, "Two Apartments, 128 East 37th Street, 3 and 4 rooms and bath."

Walker & Gillette was a highly respected firm which, at the time, was mostly responsible for lavish country homes and New York City townhouses.  Among the residences they designed from 128 East 37th Street were the 1914 Warren M. Salisbury estate in Pittsfield, Massachusetts; the 1917 Henry P. Davison mansion at 690 Park Avenue; and Coe Hall in Oyster Bay, Long Island, erected between 1918 and 1921. 

Walker & Gillette occupied 128 East 37th Street through 1926.  In the 1930s, the house was owned and occupied by well-known stage designer, Norman Bel Geddes and his partner, George Howe.  Bel Geddes was described by The New York Times as "a brilliant craftsman and draftsman, a master of style, the 20th century's Leonardo da Vinci."

In 1936, Bel Geddes designed the "Metropolis City of 1960."  It, perhaps, landed him the job that year of assisting production designer William Cameron Menzies in fabricating the sets for the H. G. Wells science fiction film, Things to Come.

Not everything was so positive for Bel Geddes in 1936.  That year on August 21, the Elmhurst, New York Daily Register reported that Edna Buckler had filed a $2 million lawsuit claiming that the play Dead End was "a plagiarism from her play entitled 'Money.'"  The article said she was suing the play's author, Sidney Kingsley; its producer, Norman Bel Geddes; Random House, which published the drama; and Samuel Goldwyn, who bought the film rights.

A scalloped, arched entranceway was created after the removal of the stoop.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In 1940, following Bel Geddes's sale of the house, it was converted to apartments.  The stoop was removed and a rather dramatic entrance created at the former English basement level.  Otherwise, the exterior was little changed.

At some point the entrance framing was removed.  There are four apartments in the house today, including three duplexes (two of which share the third and fourth floors).

photograph by the author

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The Lost New York Eye & Ear Infirmary - 218 Second Avenue

 

from the collection of the New York Public Library

Having recently graduated from the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital, Drs. Edward Delafield and John Kearny Rodgers established the New York Eye Infirmary on August 14, 1820.  The first such facility in the Western Hemisphere, it was incorporated in March 1822.  By the 1850s, it had expanded its services, becoming the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary.

In 1855, having moved several times and achieved several more medical milestones, the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary broke ground for a new hospital at the northeast corner of Second Avenue and 13th Street.  The New-York Tribune made note of the "decidedly fashionable neighborhood."  On April 26, 1856, The New York Times reported, "Last evening the building recently erected in Second-avenue, corner of Thirteenth-street, specially for the purposes of an Eye and Ear Infirmary, was formally inaugurated by a public meeting in one of its spacious and elegant saloons."

The new Italianate style building was three bays wide on Second Avenue, its slightly protruding central section terminating in a triangular pediment.  The two-story upper portion was separated from the base by an intermediate cornice.

from the 1908 The Development of Ophthalmology in America 1800 to 1870.  (copyright expired)

The examination and admissions rooms were bustling scenes.  The 1864 Catalogue of Columbia University noted, "Over 8,000 cases of diseases of the eye and ear are treated annually at this Infirmary, including all varieties of Conjunctivitis, Amaurosis, Cataract, Tumors of the Orbit, Strabismus, and other affections of the organ of vision."  Patients who were unable to pay were not charged for treatment.  On August 5, 1869, The New York Times pointed out that of the 6,815 patients with eye diseases and the 1,526 treated for ear disorders the previous year, "5,207 were of foreign birth."  Most were treated as out-patients.  "The infirmary accommodates fifty patients," said the article.

from the collection of the New York Public Library

The facility was, as well, a teaching institution.  The Catalogue of Columbia University added, "Every pains [sic] is taken to make this a great and valuable school of Clinical instruction in this important branch of special surgery."

An enlargement to the building was begun in 1870, and on July 3, 1872, The New York Times reported, "another story has been put upon the building, and the rooms have been fitted for the better accommodation of patients.  There are now about sixty beds in the institution."  The architect designed the new fourth floor as a stylish mansard.

from the collection of the New York Public Library

In reporting on the improvements, the newspaper reminded readers, "no fees are ever received by the surgeons as their own perquisite for services done at the Infirmary...Persons who are not absolute paupers, and who desire to make such compensation as they can for professional attendance, are invited to do so."

The New York Eye & Ear Infirmary received rare negative publicity in May 1875 when it was sued for $100,000 damages by the guardian of Edward P. Doyle.  The youth was brought in for treatment of an eye disease.  Dr. Derby used a contaminated brush on the boy's eyes, resulting in his being infected with gonorrheal ophthalmalia (better known as gonococcal conjunctivitis today) and losing his eyesight.

Shockingly today, Judge Van Brunt of the Supreme Court instructed the jury on May 13, "It was not every member of the profession that was supposed to be gifted with the highest degree of knowledge and skill.  All that was to be expected was that he should be ordinarily well acquainted with the appliances and usages customary in such cases, and should give his best exertions to render them successful."  The jury found Dr. Derby innocent.

Modern technology was installed within the Eye & Ear Infirmary in 1881.  On New Year's Day 1882, The New York Times reported, "By means of an Ericsson motor and double boiler, water is now forced to the fourth floor of the building, thus affording suitable bathing accommodations for the patients on that floor."  During the previous year, 524 patients were admitted, while 12,086 out patients were treated--8,368 for eye problems and 2,799 for hearing.  The difference, explained the newspaper were the "919 [suffering] from throat diseases."

King's Handbook of New York City, 1892 (copyright expired)

At the time, the venerable facility was overstretched.  On April 28, 1887, The New York Times said it, "has long been in want of more room and better accommodations."  Fund raising for $275,000 to erect a "good new hospital and dispensary" had been begun.  In order to keep the facility operating throughout the construction, a two-phase building plan was arranged.

On March 15, 1890, former First Lady Frances Folsom Cleveland laid the cornerstone to the first section, directly behind the old building.  Designed by Robert Williams Gibson, The New York Times explained, "The new building is so arranged as to combine with the old one until money can be had to replace it.  The complete hospital will be in three pavilions placed across the lot with open spaces between."

The cornerstone for the second phase, replacing the 1856 building, was laid later that year.  In 1891, as reported by King's Handbook of New York City, "a hospital wing containing 70 beds was opened for the free treatment of patients."  The complex was enlarged with the building of the Schermerhorn Pavilion in 1903.

photo by Irving Underhill from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

At this writing, the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary has vacated the Romanesque Revival complex (which does not have landmark designation), leaving its fate unclear.

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The Jeremiah and Mary Ann Youmans House - 205 Prince Street

 

John Peter Haff's official profession was "inspector of sole leather."  Additionally, however, he was a recognized authority on agricultural techniques and a speculative real state developer in New York and New Jersey.  In 1834, he completed construction of two Federal-style homes at 203 and 205 Prince Street.  The westernmost house sat on the northeast corner of Prince and MacDougal Streets, affording it additional light and ventilation on the side.  Two-and-a-half stories tall and faced in Flemish bond brick, its parlor floor was originally accessed by a brownstone stoop.  Three dormers punched through the peaked roof. 

It appears Haff leased the houses until his death in 1838.  Around 1850, Jeramiah H. and Mary Ann Youmans purchased 205 Prince Street.  They had at least one son, David S., born in 1837.  In 1851, a daughter, Eliza, was born.  Youmans owned a lumber business (called a "woodyard" in the 1853 city directory) on Washington Street near the Hudson riverfront.

On October 20, the Youmans advertised in the Morning Courier, "Board--One or two large parlors and one bedroom, to let furnished, with board, to a gentleman and wife, or two single gentlemen, in a small private family.  Apply at 205 Prince street, corner of McDougal st."  (MacDougal street was variously spelled MacDougal, Macdougal and McDougal for years.  The confusion was understandable.  It was named after Alexander McDougall, whose father spelled his surname MacDougal.)

In 1853, the couple's boarders were Jessie W. Wadleigh and Dr. Baron Spolasco.  They would have long-term boarders in Charles E. L. Brinckerhoff and his family starting in 1857.  Brinckerhoff and his wife Clara had a 10-year-old son, Charles Rolph.

Born in 1822, Charles E. L. Brinckerhoff dealt in lamps and gas lighting fixtures.  He had two stores downtown, one on John Street and the other on William Street.  His wife, however, was far more celebrated than he.

Born in London in 1828 as Clara Maria Rolph, she was brought to America by her parents in 1833.  Her father, John A. Rolph, was an artist and her mother was a Italian-trained soprano.  Clara was trained in singing by her mother.  Following her mother's death, Clara was trained by leading coaches, including George Loder, conductor of the Philharmonic Society and his wife.

Clara made her concert debut at the age of 16 at Apollo Hall on Broadway.  The principal soprano of Grace Church, she sang the full Christmas service on December 25, 1848, before marrying Charles later that day.  

The famed soprano's image appeared on this sheet music in 1873.  from the collection of the New York Public Library.

Clara contributed greatly to the family's income.  The Youmans allowed her to conduct her voice lessons in the house.  An advertisement in The New York Times in September 1857 read,

Mrs. Clara M. Brinkerhoff informs her pupils and the public, that her season for tuition in Vocal Music will commence on Monday, Sept. 28.  Terms: $40 for a term of twenty-four lessons; single lessons, $2.  Address No. 205 Prince-st., corner of McDougal.  At home on Wednesdays.

The tuition for a 24-lesson term would equal about $1,440 in 2024.

Additionally, Clara was a composer, romance novelist (under the pseudonym Henri Gordon) and lecturer.  Among her best known songs was One Flag or No Flag, published during the Civil War.

The parlor of 205 Prince Street was the scene of four-year-old Eliza Youmans's funeral on May 15, 1855.  The little girl had died the previous day.

The Brinkerhoffs remained in the Youmans house at least through 1862.  On October 25, 1861, Clara advertised,

Madame Clara M. Brinkerhoff, having returned from Europe, will be ready for concert engagements and pupils in singing from the 1st of November.  Address 205 Prince-st., corner of Macdougal.

Jeremiah H. Youmans died at the age of 61, "after a short illness, in full hopes of a blessed immortality," as worded by the New-York Tribune, on May 13, 1862.  His funeral was held in the house on May 16.  Mary Ann was still in mourning when David S. Youmans died on February 9, 1863 at the age of 26.  His funeral, too, was held in the parlor.

Mary Ann operated her home as a boardinghouse for the next six years.  Having buried her entire family, she died here at the age of 57 on August 16, 1869.

Six months later, on February 15, 1870, the "two-story brick house" and lot was sold at auction for $20,250 to Samuel Parsons.  (The amount would translate to about $488,000 today.)  One month to the day later, an auction of the Youman family's furnishings was held.  Among the elegant pieces sold was a "rosewood piano, by Steinway & Sons."

Samuel Parsons continued operating 205 Prince Street as a boarding house.  Among his boarders in 1871 was Ronald MacDonald, an editor.

Parsons made significant changes to the house in 1875.  He removed the stoop, filled in the basement level, and installed a neo-Grec cast iron storefront on what was now the first floor.  It was possibly at this time that the attic was raised to a full floor, taking the shape of a stylish mansard.  Parsons's first commercial tenant was O'Leary Bros., a furniture store.

Around 1886, August Berrmann purchased the property.  The personality of the commercial space underwent a drastic change that year when brewers Bernheimer & Swartz signed the lease.  It was common for breweries to operate their own saloons, thereby assuring that only their own products would be sold.  

At the turn of the century, the saloon was run by Peter Mutthiessen.  He was fined the staggering amount of $1,630 on February 27, 1903 by State Excise Commissioner Cullinan.  The Albany newspaper The Argus explained, "Matthiessen trafficked in liquor at 205 Prince street, New York city, and violated the liquor tax law by having his barroom open [on Sunday]."  

The storefront was boarded up and obviously under renovation when this photo was taken in 1941.  On the side of the building an R & H Beer (Rubsam & Horrmann brewery) sign can be seen.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The estate of August Herrmann sold the property in March 1906 to Albert J. F. Sibberns and his wife, Clara L.  Calling his saloon a "café," it became what today would be called a sports bar and a training venue for boxers and wrestlers.  

In 1909, the Bridgeport, Connecticut newspaper The Farmer reported that Young Evans was in town.  "He has put away some clever boxers, including Tommy Devlin of Philadelphia, Joe Percenti of Chicago, Bob Smillie of Salem, and Johnnie Dohan of Brooklyn," said the article.  "He is willing to take on any promising youngster in this State at 136 pounds.  Communicate with his manager, Al Sibberns, 205 Prince street, New York."

The bar was also the headquarters of the Bugs Association baseball team.  Al Sibberns played centerfield for the group.

Sibberns was not the only trainer who worked from the saloon.  In 1915, according to the Brooklyn Standard Union, boxer Johnny Hayes's manager was Chick Kenney, and Dummy Dragon's was Louis Masso.

Albert J. F. Sibberns declared bankruptcy in November 1916.  The Sun reported that he had liabilities of $7,610 and assets of $300.

A saloon would remain here until Prohibition.  The space continued to house a restaurant or tavern throughout most of the 20th century.  

The building was returned to a single family home in the 1970s, its owners replacing the storefront infill with handsome arched windows reminiscent of a Dickensian London bookshop.  The renovation earned the owners a 1979 Certificate of Appreciation by the Association of Village Homeowners for "enhancing the surroundings with renewal of facades in a way appropriate to the historic character of the district."

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Isaac F. Duckworth's 1868 58 White Street

 

Samuel and Abraham Wood had been partners in their real estate development business for years when when they purchased an old building at 58 White Street in 1866 as the site of a modern loft and store structure.  The project caused them problems almost from the start.  In court years later, a nephew, Samuel A. Wood, would testify that "Mr. Alexander" had initially prepared the plans.  (He was likely referring to architect Charles A. Alexander.)  But the final plans, he said were submitted and accepted by "I. F. Duckworth."

"What was done with the plans of Mr. Alexander?" he was asked.

"They were rejected, and he afterwards sued Samuel and Abraham Wood."

Duckworth was prolific in the neighborhood known today as Tribeca, often utilizing the new cast iron façade technology.  But for 58 White Street, the material would appear only in the Corinthian columned storefront.  The upper floors were clad in white marble.  He carried the design of the paneled side piers to the second floor, where their diamond motif was copied into the spandrels below the windows.  The diamonds changed to circles at the second floor, and alternated again on the fourth and fifth.  Duckworth's Second Empire design placed engaged columns between the segmentally arched openings.  Prominent intermediate cornices defined each floor, and a complex terminal cornice of brackets and dentils supported a triangular pediment that announced the date that construction began.

The Alexander-Wood law suit would not be the last litigation over 58 White Street.  Abraham Wood died intestate in 1868, just as construction of the building was completed.  In 1873, the extended Wood family crowded into court to argue over his 50 percent of the property.  (The case was settled in November 1879 when Samuel Wood paid Abraham's estate $30,000 for the share, about $908,000 in 2024.)

In the meantime, Fisk, Clark & Flagg had moved into the ground floor space in 1868.  Catering to the carriage trade, the haberdashery offered high-end items like "kid and dogskin gloves," "patent pantaloon drawers," "Russian braces [i.e. suspenders]," and "neck dressings."

The upper floors were leased to textile and apparel firms, like Thorne, Carroll & Co., a "jobbing house" for "hosiery, gloves, underwear, &c."  Among its employees was E. Haight, who was hired as the firm's bookkeeper in 1869.  On his way to work in October 1879, he stopped into the store of M. A. Dauphin at 319 Broadway and spent $2 on two tickets in the Louisiana State Lottery Company.  The drawing was scheduled for October 14 and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle said "without paying special attention to numbers on them, Mr. Haight slipped them cautiously into his pocketbook."

When the numbers were telegraphed from Louisiana on  the morning of October 15, Haight discovered he had won half of the second prize of $10,000.  The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, "A reporter called yesterday at Thorne, Carroll & Co.'s store at 58 White street, and [found] Mr. Haight all beaming with smiles behind a labyrinth of open boxes."  Although the prize would equal just over $150,000 today, Haight intended to be sensible.  "Although a bachelor, he thought that be would find good use for this timely gift."

Cloak makers Wronkow & Finn occupied space here by 1883.  The firm engaged in the common practice of "home work"  or "piece work," by which independent workers received patterns and fabrics, constructed the garments in their homes, and were paid by the piece.   It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.  Firms required less rented square footage, for instance, and sewers had the flexibility to care for their small children at home.

David Lichenstein, who lived on Henry Street in the impoverished Lower East Side, was one of Wronkow & Finn's home workers.  But management became suspicious that he was "stealing remnants of cloth and cloak trimmings," reported The New York Times on August 22, 1883.  "In several instances he took more cloth and trimmings away from his employers' store than he returned," said the article.  A detective followed Lichenstein, who discovered he was selling fabric and trimmings "to street peddlers for about one-third their value."  He was arrested and held on $500 bail.

At the time, among improvements that had been made to 58 White Street was the installation of an elevator--a marked improvement over the hoist.  (Hoists were the open shaftways through which freight was hoisted up and down by pulleys.)  But 19th century elevators did not come with the safety features regulated by law today and that proved tragic on September 15, 1884.  The Brighton Cloak and Suit Company, headed by Morris Finn, occupied several floors in the building.  The following day, The Evening Post reported, "Charles Gillen, a fourteen-year-old messenger boy employed by the Brighton Cloak Company at No. 58 White Street, fell through the elevator well to the floor below yesterday and was instantly killed."

Four months later, the Brighton Cloak and Suit Company would suffer misfortune again.  On January 12, 1885, The New York Times reported, "A fire started yesterday morning in the subcellar of the six-story building No. 58 White-street., occupied by Morris Finn's Brighton Cloak and Suit Company, and the smoke was so dense as to alarm the foreman of Hook and Lauder Company No. 8. who sent out a third alarm."  Brighton Cloak Company used the basement for storage.  Although firefighters were able to confine the blaze to the cellar and basement, estimates of the damage to the firm's stock was between $5,000 and $6,000 (around $188,000 on the higher end today).  Less than two weeks later, Hannigan & Bouillon, a store on Grand Street, announced a "Great Sale," explaining it had purchased Brighton Cloak and Suit Company's "entire stock of cloaks saved from the fire of January 11, at 25 cents on the dollar."

It may have been the fire that prompted the Brighton Cloak and Suit Company to leave 58 White Street in 1886.  It was replaced by the newly-founded Blumenthal & Erdman, which leased four floors.  The firm manufactured and imported "embroideries, laces, etc."   In 1888, Illustrated New York wrote, "in their spacious salesroom can always be found a full and carefully-selected assortment of the latest novelties and most desirable styles in this department of trade."

Linen importer Leopold Pinkus & Co. operated from the building in the early 1890s.  In 1892, business troubles resulted in the firm's owing a European supplier, Jaffe Bros. & Co., a large amount of money.  So much was owed, in fact, that in October Leopold Pinkus was informed John Henry Luis, a representative of Jaffe Bros. & Co., was on his way to New York "to adjust the account due by Mr. Pinkus to his firm," as reported by The World.  Jaffe Bros. & Co. was the not only creditor breathing down Pinkus's neck.  He owed tens of thousands to other firms. 

Before Luis landed in New York, Pinkus was gone.  On October 18, 1893, The World reported, "it was alleged that Mr. Pinkus disappeared from his office Oct. 11, that he had not been there since and that his house at No. 319 West Eighty-seventh street was closed and creditors could not find him."  On October 17, a judge attached the assets of Leopold Pinkus & Co.

Another tenant in the 1890s was Charles Falkenberg, shirt makers.  In 1895, the firm employed 122 men, four boys under 18 years old, three women, and four teenaged girls.  They worked 51 hours per week.  Another shirtmaker, J. Sternglanz & Co., moved into the building on February 1, 1897.  It would remain at least through 1903.

No. 58 White Street continued to house textile and apparel firms in the post-World War I years.  In 1919, Dezell & Cunningham, dealers in "white goods, wash goods and silk and cotton fabrics," was here.  And in 1923, the newly-formed Ferdinand Sichel opened his cotton goods converting and importing business in the building.

One tenant distinctly not in the dry goods business was Jungmann & Company, which moved in around 1923.  The firm dealt in chemicals and drugs.

Drug & chemical Markets Buyers' Guide-Book, 1925

Dezell & Cunningham was still in the building in 1929, sharing the address with Gribbon & Co., importers of cotton handkerchiefs; and the Rindeman-Salinger Company, which dealt in cotton and linen ticking.

The Tribeca renaissance arrived at 58 White street by the 1960s, when the Abraham Ellis Foundation, Inc. had its offices here.  Around 2015 the Jane Lombard Gallery opened in the ground floor space.  Each of the upper floors, where workers once toiled over sewing machines, now contains one sprawling apartment.

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The 1852 Janes, Beebe & Co. Building - 356 Broadway

 

On January 14, 1850, the estate of Charles Graham advertised the "five-story brick building and stable" at 356 Broadway for sale.  (The stable was accessed by the carriage path known as Benson Street which ran behind the property.)  The ad mentioned, "The building...is arranged for a first class boarding house.  It is leased until 1853."  The property was purchased by Peter Lorillard II whose massive fortune had was made in the tobacco company founded by his father and uncles.

Although the lease of the boarding house did not expire until 1853, Lorillard apparently negotiated a deal.  On May 16, 1852, the New York Herald reported, "The dwelling house 356 Broadway, has been taken down.  The owner, Peter Lorillard, intends erecting a fine store...It will be five stories high, with a brown stone front."  Lorillard anticipated construction, which cost him $20,000 (or about $781,000 in 2024) to be completed in August that year.  The article noted, "Davis & Co. are the architects."

Davis & Co. designed the loft-and-store building in the new Second Empire style.  The architects treated the storefront almost exactly as the second through fourth floors--foregoing the ubiquitous cast iron fronts that were gaining popularity in the district.  The segmentally arched openings were separated by engaged columns and flanked by square pilasters.  Each of the upper floors was defined by a molded intermediate cornice.

It was the fifth floor that stole the show.  A slate-shingled mansard, it was dominated by a single, elaborate French dormer.    Fussy volutes terminated in stone urns, copies of those that perched on either side of the fourth floor cornice.  The dormer sprouted a dramatic, pointed finial.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Months before construction was completed, Lorillard  leased the building to Janes, Beebe & Co., makers of ornamental ironwork.  The foundry was located in the Bronx.  The Broadway store offered patrons a glimpse at the firm's vast array of items, ranging from garden fountains, urns and statues; to "kitchen furniture" like ranges; to gazebos, and even household items like umbrella stands.

In the Broadway showroom, patrons browsed through a sample of statues of animals and people, fountains, and household items.  Janes, Beebe & Co. catalogue, 1858 (copyright expired)  

Janes, Beebe & Co. subleased space in the building to auction house George W. Lord & Co.  The firm seems to have specialized in the sale of books, and on December 2, 1853 began a seven-day sale of more than 20,000 volumes of  "choice English books."  In 1854, the firm was reorganized as Jordan & Norton.  It continued with its specialty, advertising an auction sale of "a large collection of miscellaneous books, old and new" on September 20 that year.

Jordan & Norton's residency would be short.  It was replaced the following year by the music publisher F. J. Huntington.  In addition to sacred music, the firm published the periodical the Pioneer.

The wide array of items designed and manufactured by Janes, Beebe & Co. was evidenced in the announcement of its new 1857 line.  Along with fountains, animals, vases, and statuary "suitable for public parks, private grounds and conservatories," it offered complete garden houses, and "settees, chairs, horse mangers and hay racks, feed troughs for swine and poultry, garden-bordering, &c. &c."

This "summer house" came with an ornamental fountain.  Janes, Beebe & Co. catalogue, 1858 (copyright expired)

Examples garden furniture appeared in the firm's catalogue.  Janes, Beebe & Co. catalogue, 1858 (copyright expired)

In 1858, Janes, Beebe & Co. erected the first documented cast iron fountain in Savannah, Georgia.  (A copy of the fountain was made in 1876 to be exhibited in the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia.)

The copy of the Savannah fountain on display at the Philadelphia Exhibition.

The completion of the laying of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable was celebrated with "public rejoicings" in New York City and in London on September 1, 1858.  Businesses were closed and, in preparation for a torchlight parade, the buildings along Broadway were "illuminated."  (The term referred to elaborate decorations.)  The Common Council's Detailed Report of the Proceedings included the various decorations, noting:

From the gilded eagle that ornaments the fourth story of the establishment No. 356 Broadway, streamers hung.  From the first floor a temporary balcony projected with a front of canvass [sic], rows of upright muskets with candles stuck in the barrels, and the couplet,

 

"The Cable with its peaceful tricks

Makes of muskets candlesticks."

An advertisement in 1859 said in part, "A fountain on the lawn, or a few vases filled with flowering plants, properly disposed, form one of the most attractive features of villa decoration.  These articles, possessing all the beauty of finely-wrought marble, are now made of cast-iron, and at prices which enable all persons of taste to gratify desires for this kind of ornamentation."  It went on to say there were over 30 sizes and styles of garden vases, ranging from $2 to $24.  (The most expensive would translate to about $925 today.)

Shortly afterward, Janes, Beebe & Co. was reorganized as Janes, Fowler, Kirkland & Co.  In February 1860, the firm obtained what was perhaps its most prestigious commission, the construction of the cast iron dome over the U. S. Capitol Building in Washington.  

The Horticulturist Advertiser, January, 1860 (copyright expired)

On December 18, 1863, tragedy struck.  The New York Times reported that between 10:00 and 11:00 that night a police officer "discovered a fire on the first floor...The flames spread throughout the building with great rapidity and in a short time the entire building was destroyed."  

The top three floors were occupied by E. S. Higgins & Co., which suffered losses equal to $1.4 million in today's money.  While the interiors were gutted, Davis & Co.'s stone facade survived.  The Lorillard estate renovated the ruined structure, however none of the tenants, including Janes, Fowler, Kirtland & Co., returned.

The repaired building became home to "notions and hosiery" dealers Butler, Pitkin & Co. and dry goods jobbers David Valentine & Co.  

Evening Post, March 5, 1868 (copyright expired)

Working for Butler, Pitkin & Co. in 1868 was 16-year-old William H. Ralston.  The teen was sent to the Mechanics' and Traders' Bank on May 26 that year to make a deposit.  A month later the bank records showed a shortage of $350 (a significant $7,430 in 2024 terms).  Suspected of the crime by George D. Pitkin, Ralston turned himself in to police on July 1.  The New York Times reported that he told them "he had spent the money."

David Valentine & Co. failed in 1874, while Butler, Pitkin & Co. remained in the building at least through 1881.  Around 1893, C. Bruno & Son moved into 356 Broadway.  The firm made and imported musical instruments.  

In 1894 C. Bruno & Sons held interviews for a highly specific position.  An advertisement in The World on March 7, 1894, read:

Wanted, three experienced mandolin makers; none but first-class workmen need apply.  Call March 8, at 2:30 P.M., 356 Broadway upstairs.

Catherine Lorillard Wolfe had inherited 356 Broadway around 1886.  In 1897 she hired the architectural firm of Snook & Sons to do interior alterations, including the addition of an elevator.

C. Bruno & Son would remain at 356 Broadway at least through 1912.  In 1916 Puck & Mack Company operated from the building.  The firm dealt in "files, tools and general hardware."  Its success was such that in 1920 it purchased the building at 452 Broadway and left No. 356.

The ground floor became a restaurant in 1929, run by the 359 Broadway Restaurant Corporation.  By 1941 it had been replaced by an office furniture store.

The Tribeca neighborhood saw significant change in the last quarter of the century, as loft buildings were converted to residential use and storefronts became cafes and galleries.  For years the ground floor of 356 Broadway was home to B. K. Sweeney's restaurant and bar, and in 1984 the upper floors were converted to 18 residential condominiums.  It was most likely at this time that the magnificent mansard was violated, its French dormer replaced with a utilitarian row of windows.

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