Chapter I: Part 1

Old Buildings
_of_
New York City

OLD BUILDINGS
OF
NEW YORK CITY

WITH SOME NOTES REGARDING
THEIR ORIGIN AND OCCUPANTS

NEW YORK
BRENTANO’S
MCMVII

_Copyright, 1907, by Brentano’s_

THE TROW PRESS, NEW YORK

Subjects

BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN
PAGE

NUMBER SEVEN STATE STREET 19

FRAUNCES’S TAVERN 23

SUB-TREASURY AND ASSAY OFFICE 27

BANK OF NEW YORK 29

ST. PAUL’S CHAPEL 33

CITY HALL 39

ASTOR LIBRARY 43

LANGDON HOUSE 45

ST. MARK’S CHURCH 49

RUTHERFURD HOUSE 53

KETELTAS HOUSE 57

RESIDENCE OF EUGENE DELANO 59

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 61

FORMER RESIDENCE OF THE LATE JAMES LENOX 63

FORMER RESIDENCE OF THE LATE ROBERT B. MINTURN 65

GRACE CHURCH 67

SOCIETY LIBRARY 69

CRUGER HOUSE 73

ABINGDON SQUARE 77

GRAMERCY SQUARE 81
Residence of John Bigelow 83
Former Residence of the Late Luther C. Clark 85
Former Residence Of the Late James W. Gerard 87
“The Players”--Former Home of Edwin Booth 91
Former Residence of the Late Samuel J. Tilden 93
Former Residence of the Late Rev. Dr. H. W. Bellows 97
Former Residence of the Late Dr. Valentine Mott 99
Rectory of Calvary Parish 101
Former Residence of the Late Stanford White 103
Former Residence of the Late Cyrus W. Field and the Late
David Dudley Field 105

FORMER RESIDENCE OF THE LATE PETER COOPER AND THE
LATE ABRAM S. HEWITT 107

GENERAL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 111

FORMER RESIDENCE OF THE LATE WILLIAM C. SCHERMERHORN 115

CHURCH OF THE TRANSFIGURATION 117

RESIDENCE OF J. PIERPONT MORGAN 121

FORMER RESIDENCE OF THE LATE THEODORE A. HAVEMEYER 123

FORMER RESIDENCE OF THE LATE SENATOR EDWIN D. MORGAN 125

THE OLD ARSENAL 127

CLAREMONT 129

HAMILTON GRANGE 139

JUMEL HOUSE 143

GRACIE HOUSE 151

BOROUGH OF THE BRONX

GOUVERNEUR MORRIS HOUSE 157

VAN CORTLANDT HOUSE 167

BOROUGH OF QUEENS

BOWNE HOUSE 171

BOROUGH OF RICHMOND

BILLOP HOUSE 175

Old Buildings
_of_
New York City

Introductory

Recently a writer in a periodical stated that “No one was ever born in New York.” It can be safely said that this is an exaggeration. Nevertheless it showed the confidence of the writer that the statement was not likely to startle his readers very greatly.

Probably not one in a hundred of the men in the street know or care anything about the town of fifty or sixty years ago. Still the number of those who were familiar with it then is large, however small in comparison with the whole number. In fact, the number of those whose predecessors were living here when there were not more than a thousand people in the whole place is much greater than is generally supposed.

It was for people belonging to the two latter classes that these pictures were taken. They may even interest some who have known the town for only a generation.

When a man has traversed the streets of a city for fifty years, certain buildings become familiar landmarks. He first saw them perhaps on trudging to school with his books, and has seen them nearly every day since. He experiences a slight shock whenever such buildings are destroyed. There appears something wrong in the general aspect of the town. Of late years these shocks have followed one another so continuously that he may well wonder whether he is living in the same place.

It occurred to the writer that it would do no harm to preserve the pictures of some of the landmarks still standing, especially as they are getting fewer in number all the time, and may shortly disappear altogether.

He regrets that he is unable to show a photographic presentment of many buildings that have disappeared in the last fifty years, or even during the life of the present generation. Some buildings that had a certain historical interest have been razed in the last twenty-five years, as, e. g., the Kennedy house,[1] No. 1 Broadway, taken down to make way for the Washington Building, overlooking the Battery Park, or the old Walton house[2] in Pearl Street near Franklin Square, removed in 1881, or the Tombs prison, removed in 1899.

Among buildings that will be recalled to memory by the older citizens it would have been a satisfaction to have been able to show pictures of the Brick (Presbyterian) Church, that stood, with its yard, on Park Row, taking in the block bounded by Spruce, Nassau, and Beekman streets; or Burton’s Theater in Chambers Street; the Irving House, later Delmonico’s, on the corner of Broadway and the same street; of the old New York Hospital on Broadway near Thomas Street, standing far back with its beautiful lawn and grand old trees; of the St. Nicholas Hotel near Spring Street; of the old Coster mansion (later a Chinese museum), built of granite in the style of the Astor House, near Prince Street; and Tiffany’s place across the way, with the same Atlas upholding the clock over the door; of the Metropolitan Hotel on the next block with Niblo’s Garden; of Bleecker Street with Depau Row;[3] of Bond Street with the large Ward (later Sampson) residence on the corner; the Russell residence on the corner of Great Jones Street; the famous old New York Hotel; the Lorillard mansion at Tenth Street; the large brownstone residence of Judge James Roosevelt, near Thirteenth Street, famous for the hospitality of its owners, and the red brick residence of Cornelius V. S. Roosevelt, grandfather of the President, on the corner of Union Square, having the entrance on Broadway.

The older resident can recall Union Square when the buildings were nearly all private residences, conspicuous among which were the Parish house on the north side and the Penniman (later the Maison Dorée) on the south. He can recall the stately appearance of Fourteenth Street westward of Union Square: the Haight residence on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Fifteenth Street, with its large winter garden;[4] the brownstone house of Colonel Herman Thorn in Sixteenth Street, west of the avenue, standing in its wide grounds (now nearly filled by the New York Hospital); the residence of Mr. and Mrs. August Belmont (so long leaders in society), on the avenue, at the corner of Eighteenth Street, extending with its picture gallery a long distance on the street; the Stuart residence, which shared the block above Twentieth Street with a church; and then the Union Club house at Twenty-first Street. Perhaps of all the landmarks taken down during the time of the present generation, none was so well known as the Goelet house at Broadway and Nineteenth Street, with the grounds extending eastward toward Fourth Avenue. Thousands of people passed every day in the short stretch between the two squares. Mr. Peter Goelet’s penchant for rare and beautiful birds was a never-ending delight to every passing child and adult, and a number were always standing gazing past the iron railing. Peacocks white and blue, Chinese golden pheasants, and many other varieties found a comfortable home in the grounds.

The appearance of the entire city now gives the impression of life and bustle. With the exception of Gramercy Square and Irving Place, there is hardly a spot in the lower part of the city that now has any appearance of repose. Thirty years ago the city presented a wholly different aspect. Fifth Avenue, from Washington to Madison Square, was, in the opinion of the writer, one of the finest residence streets anywhere. At most hours of the day the people on the sidewalks were comparatively few and there was a very small proportion of business wagons and trucks that used the roadway as compared with the numbers that do so to-day. University Place was a street of nearly the same character, as was also Second Avenue from Seventh Street to Stuyvesant Square. This street had a charm of its own. Lined as it was on either side with spacious residences, it gave the impression of a street of homes. The façades of the largest houses were simple and unpretentious, forming a marked contrast to some of the houses uptown to-day.

As regards the matter of repose, it may be said that twenty-five years ago the palm would clearly have been given to Lafayette Place. This short street also had a character of its own. From the Langdon house on the east side near Astor Place to old St. Bartholomew’s Church at Great Jones Street, and from the Langdon (Wilks) house on the west side to the Schermerhorn house opposite the church, almost every building had its individuality. The street was marred by three or four ancient buildings, which for some reason were not removed, such as the stable between the Langdon house and the Astor Library, once the favorite Riding Academy. The Library still (1906) stands, as does a part of the old Colonnade, but an earthquake could hardly have wrought greater changes than has the march of trade.

The large mansion of the first John Jacob Astor stood separated from the Library by a gateway and broad alley reaching to the stables in the rear. Adjoining was a group of houses of the style of those in Washington Square, broad and “high-stooped.” Opposite, on the corner of Fourth Street, stood a church whose portico of granite Ionic columns (each a monolith brought with great trouble from Maine) was one of the wonders of the town. Almost adjoining was the Swan residence, since converted into the Church House of the diocese, and then the Colonnade with its long row of granite Corinthian columns, considered a marvel in its day. Next to these was the “English basement” house of the late Charles Astor Bristed, with arch and driveway leading to the rear, and on the corner the Langdon (Wilks) house, when it was built, the finest in town. Being a short street, blocked at one end and leading only to Astor Place at the other, the drivers of very few vehicles ever took the trouble to turn into it, except the driver of a private carriage, perhaps a closed coach drawn by heavy horses (for the cobble stones were rough); the coachman on a vast hammercloth embellished with fringes and tassels, as was frequently seen forty years ago, the footman sometimes standing behind, his hands grasping two leather loops to hold himself in place. So quiet was the street that on a pleasant afternoon the youngsters who dwelt in the neighborhood carried on their game of ball undisturbed. Perhaps it was this feature of quiet repose which suggested the suitability of establishing there the Library, the churches, the Columbia College Law School, and the Church House.

The writer might go on and refer extensively to other ancient streets and the changed aspect of other places throughout the city, but that is not his present purpose.

There are a few old landmarks that are likely to stand, for example the City Hall, in the opinion of some the most successful building, as to architectural design, in the country.

Abandoned to materialism as the city is and lacking sentiment, nevertheless any proposal to take down the City Hall, or even to alter it ever so slightly, meets with vigorous protests.[5]

Possibly people might object if it were proposed to destroy St. Paul’s Chapel, the oldest church edifice in the city, and so with a few other buildings; but the majority of the landmarks must go and hideous skyscrapers arise, “monuments to greed” as they have been termed, half ruining adjacent properties.

It was with a view of preserving the appearance of some of these landmarks that may be torn down any day that these pictures were taken. Endeavor has been made to present those that have been in existence about fifty years. With two exceptions the buildings represented are now (1906) standing.

Mistakes and errors no doubt appear in the text, and these the writer would be glad to correct. The notes in no sense profess to be thorough. They are, for the most part, mere skeletons of what may be said upon the subjects dealt with.

Number Seven State Street

This house was built by Moses Rogers, a prominent merchant of the latter part of the eighteenth and the first part of the nineteenth century. He was a native of Connecticut, his mother being a daughter of Governor Fitch of that State. He was in business as early as 1785 at 26 Queen (Pearl) Street. In 1793 the firm name was Rogers & Woolsey, his partner being William Walter Woolsey, his brother-in-law, Mr. Rogers having married Sarah Woolsey, a sister of the wife of President Dwight of Yale College. In that year he was living at 272 Pearl Street, near Beekman, “in a large house with hanging garden extending over the yard and stable.”[6]

Mr. Rogers was a merchant of high character and public spirit. In 1793 he was an active member of the Society for the Manumission of Slaves. He was a governor of the New York Hospital from 1792 to 1799, and in 1797 treasurer of the City Dispensary. From 1787 until 1811 he was a vestryman of Trinity Church, and in 1793 was a member of the Society for the Relief of Distressed Prisoners.[7]

In the year 1806 he was living in the house here presented. His sister had married the celebrated merchant and ship owner, Archibald Gracie. His children were: (1) Sarah E. Rogers, who married the Hon. Samuel M. Hopkins; (2) Benjamin Woolsey Rogers, who married Susan, daughter of William Bayard; (3) Archibald Rogers, who married Anna, daughter of Judge Nathaniel Pendleton; and (4) Julia A. Rogers, who married Francis Bayard Winthrop.[8] In the year 1826 Benjamin Woolsey Rogers was living in the next house, Number Five State Street, but after his father’s death he moved to Number Seven and lived there until 1830.[9] William P. Van Rensselaer, grandson of General Stephen Van Rensselaer, married successively two of the daughters of Mr. Rogers. The house during the ownership of the Rogers family was the scene of many notable entertainments. These entertainments were frequently referred to by older members of society who have now passed away. In 1830 the house was occupied by Gardiner G. Howland.

The queerly shaped front was to a certain extent a necessity. State Street takes a sharp turn and the house was built at the apex of an angle. The interior was doubtless an improvement on other houses. The ceilings were high, and the staircase, instead of being in the hall as in older houses, is at the side. It is winding, of an oval design, with mahogany balustrade. The skylight was of stained glass, made in England, showing the coat of arms.

During the Civil War, the house was taken by the Government for military uses, and afterwards became the office of the Pilot Commissioners.

It is now the house of the mission of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Fraunces’s Tavern

In the year 1671 Col. Stephen Van Cortlandt built a cottage on the corner of Broad and Pearl (then Queen) streets, to which he brought his bride, Gertrude Schuyler. The house overlooked the waters of the river and bay. In the year 1700 he deeded this property to his son-in-law, Etienne de Lancey, probably wishing to retire to his manor on the Hudson. De Lancey was a French Huguenot of rank who had left his native country on the revocation of the edict of Nantes. He came to New York where he established himself as a merchant. On these premises he built a hip-roofed mansion several stories in height, of small yellow bricks imported from Holland. In dimensions and arrangement it ranked among the best in the colony. The property descended through his son James to his grandson Oliver. This part of the town having by that time become the business quarter in 1757, the house was abandoned as a residence and became the warehouse of De Lancey, Robinson & Co. On January 17, 1762, the building was transferred to Samuel Fraunces, who converted it into a tavern under the name of the “Queen’s Head,” and announced that dinner would be served daily at half-past one. In April, 1768, in the long room, the Chamber of Commerce was inaugurated with John Cruger as president.

On November 25, 1783, the day of the evacuation of the British, a grand banquet was given by Governor Clinton to General Washington and the French minister, Luzerne, and in the evening the “Queen’s Head” and the whole town were illuminated. More than a hundred generals, officers, and distinguished personages attended the banquet and thirteen toasts were drunk commemorative of the occasion. Ten days later Washington here met his generals for the last time. After a slight repast Washington filled his glass and addressed his officers as follows: “With a heart full of love and gratitude, I must now take my leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.”[10] In silence his former companions then took a final farewell of their chief.

This is one of the oldest buildings in the city, as the great fire of 1776 doubtless swept away most of those of earlier date. During the last century the building has gone through various vicissitudes, mostly on the descending scale. A year or two ago the ground floor was occupied by a saloon. Lately the building has been completely restored by the Sons of the Revolution and now presents very nearly its original appearance.

Sub-Treasury and Assay Office

The Sub-Treasury is built on the site of the original City Hall. In 1789 this was altered and repaired for the use of the first Congress and named the Federal Hall. The balcony of the Hall was the scene of Washington’s inauguration as President, in commemoration of which the statue was erected.

In 1834 the building was demolished and the present structure erected for the Custom House and was used as such until 1862.

The Assay Office is the oldest building in Wall Street, having been built in 1823, for the New York branch of the Bank of the United States. It became the Assay Office in 1853.

Bank of New York

The oldest bank in the country is the Bank of North America in Philadelphia, incorporated by act of Congress, December, 1781, and by the State of Pennsylvania a few months afterwards. Very great losses had occurred from the repudiation of the Continental bills of credit. All the States had issued bills of their own and kept on “making experiments in finance which did not depend on specie as a basis.” Currency was expressed in pounds, shillings, and pence and the currency in circulation was a motley conglomeration of guineas, doubloons, pistoles, Johannes pieces, moidores, and sequins. Thus arose the necessity of a bank that should both assist the Government and benefit the people at large.

On February 26, 1784, a meeting of the principal merchants and citizens was held at the Merchants’ Coffee House. General Alexander McDougal was chosen chairman, and it was unanimously decided to establish a bank. Subscription books were opened at the offices of John Alsop, Broadway, Robert Bowne, Queen Street, and Nicholas Low, Water Street, and the shares were rapidly taken.

On March 15, 1784, the following officers were chosen: General Alexander McDougal, president; Samuel Franklin, Robert Bowne, Comfort Sands, Alexander Hamilton, Joshua Waddington, Thomas Randall, William Maxwell, Nicholas Low, Daniel McCormick, Isaac Roosevelt, John Vanderbilt, and Thomas B. Stoughton, directors; and William Seton, cashier.

The bank commenced business at what was formerly the old Walton house in St. George’s (now Franklin) Square. It stood on the east side of Queen (now Pearl) Street, almost opposite the present establishment of Harper Brothers, the publishers. The building (erected 1752) will be remembered by many people to-day as it was only taken down in 1881, but its appearance during its declining years gave a faint idea of its original dignity. In 1787 the business of the bank was moved to Hanover Square, Isaac Roosevelt having been chosen president in 1786.

In 1796 a lot was bought at the corner of Wall and William streets from William Constable for eleven thousand pounds (New York currency). Strange to say, there is no record of the dimensions of the lot, but the present building doubtless stands on part of it.

Early in 1797 steps were taken to remove the house then standing and to put up a new building, and the corner stone was laid by Gulian Verplanck, then president, on June 27th. Mr. Verplanck died in 1799 and Nicholas Gouverneur was chosen president. The corner stone of the present building was laid on September 10, 1856, and the building completed in 1858.[11]

St. Paul’s Chapel

This chapel built in 1764–66 is the oldest church edifice in the city. The first rector was the Rev. Dr. Barclay, who was succeeded by the Rev. Dr. Samuel Auchmuty. The steeple is in the style of one of Wren’s designs. After the burning of Trinity in 1776, it was used as the parish church. The pews that during the war held Howe, André, the officers of the army of occupation, and the young midshipman who later became King William IV were, when peace was concluded, occupied by the former “rebels” Washington, Clinton, and their followers. After his inauguration, in the Federal Hall in Wall Street, Washington and the members of both houses came in solemn procession to St. Paul’s, where services were conducted by Bishop Provost, Chaplain of the Senate, and a _Te Deum_ was sung.

The square pew on the left with the national arms on the wall was the one used by Washington as long as New York remained the capital. The corresponding pew on the right, designated by the arms of the State, was that of Governor Clinton. On the chancel wall are marble tablets to Sir John Temple, the first British consul general, and to Colonel Thomas Barclay, the eminent loyalist, son of the Rev. Dr. Barclay, rector of Trinity Parish. Colonel Barclay succeeded Temple as consul general of “His Brittanick Majesty.” There is also a tablet in memory of the wife of William Franklin, Tory Governor of New Jersey, and several others. The only other reminder of pre-Revolutionary days is the gilded crest of the Prince of Wales over the pulpit canopy. As everyone knows, at the east end of the yard facing Broadway are monuments to three eminent Irishmen who rose to distinction in this country--Emmet, Montgomery, and MacNeven, one at the bar, another in the army, and the third in medicine. Emmet was the brother of the Irish martyr, Robert Emmet;[12] Montgomery settled in New York before the Revolution, married a daughter of Chancellor Livingston and fell at Quebec;[13] MacNeven, like Emmet, had taken part in the Irish rebellion of ’98, acting with him as one of the Directory of Three. Both were imprisoned at Fort George in Scotland. He later served in Napoleon’s army as surgeon.

George W. P. Custis, who was one of Washington’s family, spoke of St. Paul’s as being “quite out of town.” No doubt the great fire of 1776, which stopped when it got to the Chapel yard, left the Chapel standing isolated from buildings below it; but Custis, to get there from St. George’s (Franklin) Square, must have had to go some distance “down town.” It tends to show that the water front of the city was covered with buildings before the central part. The fact that the commissioners for making a plan of the future city early in the last century arranged for so many streets running to the water and for so few running north and south would also seem to indicate that they thought easy access to the rivers was of prime importance.

Mr. Astor, with his wonderful foresight, was the first man to realize that the “backbone” of the island was, in after years, to show the greatest advance in the value of real estate.

The City Hall

The plans of the architect who designed the City Hall, John McComb, were accepted in the year 1803, but the building was not completed until nine years later.

It is not always an agreeable business to devote one’s time to destroying a myth which has become lodged in the affections of the people, but sometimes it rests on so slight a foundation that there is nothing gained in keeping it alive. We have lately seen how the tradition that Washington Irving used to live in the house on the corner of Irving Place and Seventeenth Street had no foundation in fact, except that he had a nephew who lived next door. And so the story so often repeated in newspapers and guide books that the City Hall was finished in brownstone at the back because the city fathers thought that nobody of any importance would ever live to the north of it might, it seems, be set at rest, although the attempt is not made for the first time. The story reflects on the intelligence of the people of the day. The reason was economy, but not joined to deficiency of foresight.

The Common Council of that day, instead of being obtuse on the subject were quite the other way, and show by their records that they took a highly optimistic view of what they call the city’s “unrivaled” situation and opulence. They state their belief that in a very few years the hall that they were about to build would be the _center_ of the wealth and population of the city. It was at first arranged to build entirely of brownstone, and the contractors got their work done as far as the basement, as can readily be seen to-day. Then the views of the Common Council underwent a change. A halt was made and McComb was requested to make an estimate of the cost in marble.

From an interesting article appearing in the _Century Magazine_ for April, 1884, written by Mr. Edward S. Wilde, it seems that the committee’s report states: “It appears from this (the architect’s) estimate that the difference of expense between marble and brownstone will not exceed the sum of $43,750, including every contingent charge. When it is considered that the City of New York from its inviting situation and increasing opulence, stands unrivaled ... we certainly ought, in this pleasing state of things, to possess at least one public edifice which shall vie with the many now erected in Philadelphia and elsewhere ... in the course of a very few years it is destined to be the center of the wealth and population of the city. Under these impressions the Building Committee strongly recommend that the front and two end views of the new hall be built of marble.”

The corporation then authorized the use of marble on three fronts. The brownstone of the rear received its first coat of white paint only a few years ago, as nearly anyone who reads this can testify. In 1858 the cupola was destroyed by fire and was restored in a poor manner, but Mr. Wilde says: “Notwithstanding this change and the damage done less by time than by stupidity, the hall stands to-day unsurpassed by any structure of the kind in the country.”

Astor Library

The Astor Library was founded in accordance with the terms of a codicil to the will of the first John Jacob Astor. It was opened in 1854. His son William B. Astor added a wing to the original building (the present central portion) and presented five hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the library fund.

In 1881 another wing was added by his grandson, John Jacob Astor.

The Langdon House

This house was usually called the Langdon house, although it was never occupied by the family of that name. Mr. Walter Langdon’s house, directly opposite, was built much later. About 1845 the first John Jacob Astor wished to present his daughter, Mrs. Walter Langdon, with a city residence and built this house for her during her absence abroad. He built merely the shell of the house, and on his daughter’s return gave her the sum of thirty thousand dollars for the purpose of decorating it. _Carte blanche_ was given to a famous decorator of that day, and he proceeded to finish it in a style hitherto unknown in the city. The result was that in the end the cost of the interior had risen to sixty thousand dollars, considered a very large sum at that time. A great deal of attention was paid to plaster and stucco ornamentation and woodwork. The most attractive feature of the house was the main staircase, which was made in England especially for the house. This staircase was rectangular and of a dark rich colored wood, was beautifully carved and of a very graceful design. It was lighted by a large stained-glass window overlooking Astor Place. The reception rooms were on the left of the main hall with a conservatory in the rear. At the right were the library, staircase, dining room, and offices. Mrs. Langdon, however, returned to Europe and continued to reside there until her death. Meanwhile it was arranged that the house should be occupied by her daughter, who had married an English gentleman, Mr. Matthew Wilks. Mr. and Mrs. Wilks continued to live there until the house was taken down in 1875.

The property had a frontage of about two hundred and fifty feet on both Astor Place and Lafayette Place (now Lafayette Street), from which it was shut off by a high wall. The enclosed courtyard was laid out as a garden, with large trees, and the rear was occupied by the stables. The garden contained a ring large enough for riding purposes.

Of course during the Forrest-Macready riot in 1849 the house was almost in what might be called the storm center. In the midst of it one of the servants, who thought he had secured a perfectly safe point of observation on the roof, was killed.

St. Mark’s in the Bowery

When Stuyvesant retired from office, after the British occupation, he withdrew to his “Bowerie” or farm near the site of the present church, then two miles out of town. In 1660 he built a small chapel near his house for the people of the little village that sprang up about the farm, as well as for his own family and the slaves, of whom there were about forty in the vicinity. This chapel was torn down in 1793, and the Petrus Stuyvesant of that day offered to present the ground and eight hundred pounds in money to Trinity parish if it would build a church there. This offer was accepted. In May, 1799, the church was finished and the body of it has remained intact to the present time, but there was no steeple before 1828. One pew was reserved for the governor of the State, and the corresponding pew on the other side for “Mr. Stuyvesant and family forever,”[14] each pew being surmounted by a canopy.[15] The negro servants (slaves) sat in the rear of the congregation.

In a vault under the chapel the governor’s body had been placed after his death, in 1672, and in 1691 the body of the English governor (Sloughter) was also placed there.

In building the church Stuyvesant’s remains were removed and placed in a vault beneath the walls of the new edifice. The stone which may be seen fastened to the outer wall bears the following inscription: “In this vault lies buried Petrus Stuyvesant, late Captain General and Governor in Chief of Amsterdam in New Netherlands, now called New York, and the Dutch West India Islands, died A.D. 1671–2, aged 80 years.”

In July, 1804, the church was draped in mourning for the death of Hamilton, and was so kept for six weeks.

Second Avenue

_Former Residence of the Late Lewis M. Rutherfurd_

Lewis M. Rutherfurd was one of the most noted astronomers that this country has produced. As a young man, he began the study of the law with William H. Seward, and was admitted to the bar in 1837 and became associated with John Jay and afterwards with Hamilton Fish. But his tastes were entirely in the direction of science, and he decided to abandon the law and apply his attention to scientific research. With ample means, he had full opportunity to devote his life to the pursuit of his favorite study, astronomical photography. He spent several years of study in Europe and, on his return, he built an observatory in New York, the best equipped private astronomical observatory in the country. He made with his own hands an equatorial telescope and devised a means of adapting it for photographic use by means of a third lens placed outside of the ordinary object glass. He was the first to devise and construct micrometer apparatus for measuring impressions on the plate. It is said that he took such pains in the construction of the threads of the screws of his micrometer that he was engaged three years upon a single screw. He worked for many years at the photographic method of observation before the value and importance of his labors were recognized, but in 1865 these were fully acknowledged by the National Academy of Sciences. The remarkable results that he obtained were all secured before the discovery of the dry-plate process. His photographs of the moon surpassed all others that had been made. When overtaken by ill health he presented his instrument and photographs to Columbia College, and his telescope is now mounted in the observatory of that university.

He was an associate of the Royal Astronomical Society, president of the American Photographical Society, and was the American delegate to the International Meridian Conference at Washington in 1885, preparing the resolutions embodying the results of the labors of the conference. He received many decorations and honors from the learned societies of the world, but his dislike of ostentation was such that he was never known to wear one of the decorations, emblems, etc., that were conferred upon him.[16]

The Mansard roof has been added to the house since its occupation by the Rutherfurd family and the entrance removed from the avenue to the side street.

When the house and grounds of the late Hon. Hamilton Fish, on Stuyvesant Square, were sold a few years ago, it was said that there had been no transfer of the site except by devise or descent since the time of the old Governor. The same might be said of this property. Stuyvesant’s house, in which, it is said, the papers were signed transferring the province to the British Crown, stood close to this spot. The house is the property of Rutherfurd Stuyvesant, a son of Lewis M. Rutherfurd.

The Keteltas House

An example of an old Second Avenue dwelling, the residence of the Keteltas family on the corner of St. Mark’s Place.

Washington Square

_Residence of Eugene Delano_

This house was formed by uniting two of the fine old residences on the north side of Washington Square. The interior has been admirably reconstructed. The house was formerly occupied by Edward Cooper (son of the late Peter Cooper), who was, at one time, Mayor of the City.

First Presbyterian Church, Fifth Avenue

This church, representing the oldest Presbyterian organization in the city, was formed in 1716. The building was erected in 1845.

An Old Fifth Avenue House

_Former Residence of the Late James Lenox_

James Lenox was born in New York in 1800, and was the son of Robert Lenox, a wealthy Scotch merchant. He graduated from Columbia College in 1820 and entered upon a business life, but on the death of his father in 1839 he retired and devoted the rest of his life to study and works of benevolence. The collection of books and works of art became his absorbing passion, and eventually he gathered about him the largest and most valuable private collection of books and paintings in America. In 1870 he built the present Lenox Library. The collection of bibles is believed to be unequaled even by those in the British Museum, and that of Americana and Shakespeareana greater than that of any other American library, in some respects surpassing those in Europe. He conveyed the whole property to the City of New York. He was the founder and the benefactor of the Presbyterian Hospital.

Another Old Fifth Avenue House

_Former Residence of the Late Robert B. Minturn_

Prior to the Civil War, the principal merchants and bankers were among the most prominent men in the city. The multimillionaire had not then appeared. The ships of Howland & Aspinwall, N. L. & G. Griswold, A. A. Low & Brother, and Grinnell, Minturn & Co. carried the flag to the farthest quarters of the globe, where their owners’ credit stood second to none. For speed the American clipper was unsurpassed. These “vessels performed wonderful feats--as when the _Flying Cloud_ ran from New York to San Francisco, making 433¼ statute miles in a single day; or the _Sovereign of the Seas_ sailed for ten thousand miles without tacking or wearing; or the _Dreadnought_ made the passage from Sandy Hook to Queenstown in nine days and seventeen hours.”[17]

Mr. Minturn was a philanthropist and one of the best citizens the town ever had.

The house is now the residence of Thomas F. Ryan.

The Society Library

In the year 1700 the Public Library of New York was founded under the administration of the Earl of Bellomont, and seems to have progressed as the city grew, being aided from time to time by gifts from interested persons on the other side, several folio volumes now in the Society Library having been presented by friends in London in 1712, and in 1729 the Rev. Dr. Millington, rector of Newington, England, having bequeathed his library to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, it was presented to the New York Public Library. The library, being in charge of the corporation of the city, was evidently not managed in a manner satisfactory to the people in general. In the year 1754 it was determined that a more efficient library was a necessity. In that year the present Society Library had its origin, and what had been the Public Library of the city was incorporated with it. Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer[18] states that it had its source in a movement started by Mrs. Alexander, who suggested to some of her friends that a circulating library should be established, the subscribers to collect sufficient money to send to England for the newest and best books. A list was made headed by Messrs. William Smith, Philip, William and Robert Livingston, John Morin Scott and William Alexander. After subscription books had been opened and the lieutenant governor (De Lancey) and council had “set their official seal” on the venture, a considerable sum was raised and an institution was regularly organized and later received a charter from Governor Tryon. Down to the time of the Revolution, the collection was constantly increased by the purchase of books, but during the Revolution, with a large part of the city destroyed by fire and what remained being under the control of a hostile army, the library suffered greatly. Mrs. Lamb[19] states that “four thousand or more books disappeared at the outbreak of the Revolution and were supposed destroyed, but many were hidden away for safe-keeping and reappeared after the war.”[20]

In December, 1788, a meeting of the proprietors was called, trustees were elected, and the library again resumed operations.

The library was kept in a room in the Federal Hall in Wall Street and was used as the library of Congress. The first building put up for its use was on the corner of Nassau and Cedar streets in 1795, but the growth of the city compelling a change, a new building was erected in 1840 on the corner of Broadway and Leonard Street. The Library has occupied the present building in University Place since May, 1856.

The membership of the library has been from the start among the most prominent and respectable citizens. Many of the original shares of 1754–58 have remained in the same families to the present time, as those of the Auchmuty, Banyer, Beekman, Clarkson, Cruger, De Peyster, De Lancey, Harrison, Jones, Keteltas, Lawrence, Livingston, Ludlow, McEvers, Morris, Ogden, Robinson, Rutherfurd, Smith, Stuyvesant, Van Horne, and Watts families; and from 1790–96 those of the Astor, Bailey, Barclay, Bowne, Coles, Delafield, Fish, Gelston, Greenleaf, Jay, Kemble, Kingsland, Lenox, Low, Lee, Le Roy, Oothout, Peters, Prime, Ray, Remsen, Roosevelt, Sackett, Schermerhorn, Schieffelin, Swords, Titus, Townsend, Van Zandt, Van Wagenen, Van Rensselaer, Verplanck, Waddington, Winthrop, and Woolsey families.

Cruger House

Many old New Yorkers remember the Cruger house in Fourteenth Street about halfway between Sixth and Seventh avenues, when it was occupied by the late Mrs. Douglas Cruger.[21]

The house, having a frontage of seventy-five feet, stood in the middle of a courtyard extending on either side about one hundred feet, separated from the street by a high wall. Now the courtyard has disappeared and the house, crowded closely on both sides by high buildings, seems completely dwarfed. Decorated with fire escapes and signs it has fallen from its high estate, and the whole street, formerly a quiet dwelling street, is now nearly given over to trade and noisy bustle. The entrance hall, twenty-five feet in width, extended from front to rear eighty-five feet, a wide staircase rising from the center at the end, the conservatory at the rear being of the width of the house. The rooms on either side were rather curiously divided, losing somewhat in what might have made a more imposing effect, not, however, enough to prevent their being an excellent place for the disposition of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum, which leased the house in 1873 for five years. The house is described in the annual report for that year as a “large and elegant building surrounded by spacious grounds, upon which grounds new galleries may be built, should they be required....”[22] The rooms certainly had more unobstructed light than could be found in most private houses. It is now occupied by the Salvation Army.

Abingdon Square--Greenwich

The peculiarity of the Greenwich section of the town is that it has retained an individuality that no other section has retained. It is very much of an American quarter. The streets are lined with well-kept, comfortable brick houses, dating back sixty years or more, many of them with the elaborately ornamental iron railings and newel posts that are disappearing so rapidly. There is a marked paucity of the conventional tenement house, and although factories and warehouses are crowding it on all sides, its people cling with a stolid determination to their ancient homes.

This square is taken as representative of this quarter of the city, although it is rather in the streets adjoining that the houses are most representative of old dwellings of sixty or seventy years ago. Before the arrival of Henry Hudson, there was an Indian village here near the site of Gansevoort Market, but Governor Van Twiller turned the locality into a tobacco farm. By 1727 it became covered with farms and was joined to the city by a good road very nearly following the line of the present Greenwich Street.

The region was always noted for its healthfulness and when an epidemic of smallpox broke out Admiral Warren invited the Colonial Assembly to meet at his house. This made Greenwich the fashion, and for nearly a century when epidemics occurred the people flocked out of town to that village. At one time the Bank of New York transferred its business there.

No history of this part of the city can be written without some reference to that bold Irish sailor, Admiral Sir Peter Warren. Post captain at the age of twenty-four he, in 1744, while in command of the squadron on the Leeward Islands station, in less than four months captured twenty-four prizes, one with a cargo of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds in plate. He also served at Louisburg, Gibraltar, and elsewhere. When at length he tired of a seafaring life, although still young, he decided upon making his home in New York, and proceeded to anchor himself for a time at least by marrying a New York woman, Miss De Lancey. He bought three hundred acres of land at Greenwich, built a house and laid out the grounds like an English park. Here he resided for some years, and then went to England and entered Parliament.

He died at the age of forty-eight and lies buried in Westminster Abbey, with a fine monument by Roubillac above him. After Lady Warren’s death the property was divided into three lots, one lot going to each of the three daughters. The lot containing the house fell to the eldest daughter, Lady Abingdon, and was sold by her to Abijah Hammond, who afterwards sold it to the late Abraham Van Nest. The remainder was sold off in small parcels after three roads had been cut through them, the Abingdon, Fitzroy, and Skinner roads.[23] The first corresponds to the present Twenty-first Street, the second was almost on a line with Eighth Avenue, and the third was part of the present Christopher Street.

Gramercy Square

Now that St. John’s Park has been destroyed, Gramercy Park is the only private park in the city--that is, one restricted in its use to owners of houses facing it. Fifty years ago it had more seclusion. A high and dense hedge surrounded it on the inside of the iron fence. For some reason this was removed and never replanted. Now people in the park might almost as well be in the middle of the street. The figure on the fountain was then a Hebe perpetually filling her cup with water. In former days the children that played in the grounds had an annual May festival on the first of the month. One of the young girls was chosen queen. Dressed in white and crowned with flowers, she led the festivities around the Maypole, under the trees. Later they all withdrew to the house of her parents, where a collation was served and the dancing continued until the children were sent home by their parents and to bed.

A number of men who have been prominent in the city’s life are living or have lived in houses about the square. We might mention John Bigelow, Stuyvesant Fish, James W. Gerard, Edwin Booth, Samuel J. Tilden, Dr. Bellows, Dr. Valentine Mott, Cyrus W. Field, and David Dudley Field.

Gramercy Square

_Residence of John Bigelow_

Mr. Bigelow, one of the best-known citizens of New York, was admitted to the bar in 1839 and in 1850 joined William Cullen Bryant as editor of the New York _Evening Post_. He continued as one of the principal editors until 1861, when he was appointed consul at Paris, and on the death of Mr. Dayton became United States Minister, remaining so until 1866.

While at Paris he published “Les États Unis d’Amerique.” This work corrected the erroneous views of the French as to the relative commercial importance of the Northern and Southern States and was effective in discouraging the supposed desire of the French Government for the disruption of the Union.

Mr. Bigelow also conducted the negotiations leading to the withdrawal of the French army from Mexico. In 1875 he was elected to the office of Secretary of State of New York. He has published “The Life of Samuel J. Tilden,” of whom he was one of the three executors; “The Mystery of Sleep” and numerous other works. He has been honored by degrees from various colleges and universities.[24]

Gramercy Square

_Former Residence of the Late Luther C. Clark_

For many years this house was the residence of Mr. Clark, the well-known banker. It is now the house of the Columbia University Club.

Gramercy Square

_Former Residence of the Late James W. Gerard_

Mr. Gerard was an eminent lawyer. Born in this city in 1794, of French ancestry on his father’s side, he graduated from Columbia College in 1811, and in 1816 took the degree of M.A. and was admitted to the bar. A man of great public spirit, he, in 1824, procured the incorporation of the House of Refuge for Juvenile Delinquents, the first institution of the kind in the country. Formerly, the police or “watchmen,” as they were called, wore no uniforms. Occasionally, an ordinary looking man would be seen wandering about the streets, and, if the wind happened to turn aside the lapel of his coat, one might observe a small metal shield. This was the only indication of his office. Mr. Gerard publicly advocated the adoption of a uniform and by letters, addresses, and persistent action accomplished his purpose. He wore the new uniform at a fancy dress ball given by Mrs. Coventry Waddell, who occupied a Gothic villa, with tower, turrets, etc., on Fifth Avenue, at the top of Murray Hill, and entertained a great deal.

Mr. Gerard devoted much of his time to charitable institutions and was especially interested in the public schools of the city. He was a capital speaker. His speeches were witty and always in good taste. That he was in constant demand, in his prime, at dinners both public and private, is readily perceived by looking through the pages of Mayor Philip Hone’s diary.

Gramercy Park was founded in 1831 and this is said to be the oldest house facing it.

Gramercy Square

“_The Players_”

Edwin Booth, perhaps the most distinguished American actor, was born in Maryland in 1833. He made his first appearance in 1849 and was ever after devoted to his profession, playing throughout this country and also abroad.

He was crushed by the affair of the assassination of President Lincoln and retired from the stage for a year, but never lost his personal popularity. He opened Booth’s Theater in Twenty-third Street in 1869 and for thirteen years maintained the most popular revivals of Shakespeare’s tragedies ever known in the city. Although forced into bankruptcy in 1873, he retrieved his fortunes by earning two hundred thousand dollars in fifty-six weeks.

In 1882 he went to Europe and was received with the greatest favor. In 1888 he purchased the building here shown (formerly the residence of Valentine G. Hall), remodeled and furnished it and presented it to actors and the friends of the drama as “The Players,” a complete gentleman’s club. Booth made his home at “The Players” from the date of its opening until his death, which took place in this house June 7, 1893.[25]

Gramercy Square

_Former Residence of the Late Samuel J. Tilden_

Mr. Tilden had a great reputation for skill as a lawyer. He was also a thorough politician, being chairman of the Democratic State Committee of New York for thirteen years. Nominated for President in 1876, he received a majority of the popular vote, but owing to the fact that the votes of several States were disputed, the celebrated Electoral Commission was appointed, consisting of senators, judges, and representatives. The commission divided on party lines and gave the disputed votes to Mr. Hayes. The house is formed by combining two, one formerly having a front similar to that of “The Players,” and the other with a front corresponding to the brick house adjoining on the west. The larger house had belonged to the Belden family. Both the Hall and the Belden houses once had ornamental iron balconies at the main floor with canopies similar to those now seen attached to the fronts of the houses on the west side of the square, and were alike in appearance, excepting that the Belden house had the coat of arms carved in high relief over the door. One of the beautiful Misses Belden married the late Dudley Field, another the late Colonel Talmadge.

The gardens in the rear of these two houses were the largest in the row, extending through the block to Nineteenth Street, a part near the Belden house being formally laid out with box-edged walks and flower beds, while the rest was turfed and shaded by large trees, a few of which survived until a year or two ago, when they were cut down to make way for the new building of the National Arts Club, the present owner. Mr. Tilden, joining with the other owners on the square and the owners of the houses on Irving Place, had all the wooden fences in the angle formed by these houses removed and an open iron fence put in their place. As there were no houses on Nineteenth Street, there remained an unusual effect of greenery and trees for New York City.

Gramercy Square

_Former Residence of the Late Rev. Dr. Henry W. Bellows_

Dr. Bellows was a distinguished clergyman. Born in 1814, he graduated at Harvard and at the Cambridge Divinity School, and in 1838 became the pastor of the First Unitarian Church, New York, and so continued for forty-four years. Dr. Bellows was an accomplished orator, his extemporaneous speeches being remarkable for their lucidity and style. He published numerous lectures and pamphlets, but is best known throughout the country for his work as president of the United States Sanitary Commission during the Civil War. Under him the commission distributed supplies amounting to fifteen millions of dollars in value and five millions of money. The results of the experience of the commission in their work of reducing the suffering in war have been copied abroad.

Gramercy Square

_Former Residence of the Late Dr. Valentine Mott_