The socially prominent Rhinelander family traced its American roots to Philip Jacob Rhinelander, who arrived in the New World in 1686.  In 1886, an offal dock sat on Rhinelander land at the northwest corner of 89th Street and Lexington Avenue.  (An offal dock was where the waste from slaughter houses and the carcasses of dead horses and other animals were brought to await removal by the city.)  Two years, later, the Estate of William C. Rhinelander replaced the odorous facility by hiring architect Henry Janeway Hardenberg to design six private homes on Lexington ..read more

  The development firm of Gordon, Levy & Co. was busy erecting tenement buildings in the late 19th century.  On March 6, 1900, architect Charles B. Meyers filed plans for another--a six-story "brick flat" at 256-258 East 10th Street.  Completed the following year, it cost Gordon, Levy & Co. $50,000 to erect--about $1.85 million in 2024 terms. Meyers clad the neo-Renaissance style structure in red brick above a rusticated brownstone base.  Unusual for the normally symmetrical style, the entrance was placed off center.  Renaissance style carvings decorated th ..read more

  photo by Deansfa In the first years of the 20th century, aristocratic West End Avenue morphed from a street of brick and brownstone mansions to one of apartment buildings.  In 1910, the Salisbury Realty Co. demolished the high-stooped residences at the southwest corner of West End Avenue and 98th Street and commissioned the architectural firm of Schwartz & Gross to design a high-end apartment building. Twelve stories tall, The Strafford was completed in 1911.  Above the spartan, two-story stone base, it was clad in red brick and trimmed in limestone and terra cotta.&nbs ..read more

  from the collection of the new York Public Library Cornelius Roosevelt Duffie Jr. was born on August 6, 1821.  He descended from old and distinguished New York families, including the Roosevelts, Bleeckers, and Baches.  (His mother, Helena Bleecker, the daughter of James Bleecker, died 11 days later after his birth.)  His father, Cornelius Sr., was the founder and first rector of St. Thomas's Church. Cornelius Jr. graduated from Columbia College in 1841, and from the General Theological Seminary in 1845.  Three years later, after serving briefly as curate in Trini ..read more

  Although much of the 1869 architectural details have been removed, the original entrance doors survive. John and Myer Hayes (presumably brothers) erected a row of six Italianate homes along the north side of West 47th Street Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues in 1869.  John Hayes designed the houses, as well.  Just over 18-feet-wide and three stories tall above English basements, each featured beefy, cast iron stoop railings and newels, arched entranceways with peaked pediments, and molded, architrave window frames. The western-most house, 437 West 47th Street, became ..read more

  Thomas Crane and Alexander McDonald--a granite merchant and stone cutter respectively--got into real estate development by erecting a row of five high-end homes on the south side of East 35th Street between Lexington and Park Avenues.  Completed in 1860, they reflected the increasing affluence of the Murray Hill neighborhood. Among the row was 81 East 35th Street (renumbered 129 in 1867).  Nearly identical to its neighbors, it featured brawny stone stoop newels and railings with urn-shaped balusters.  The double-doored, arched entrance was crowned with an impressive arc ..read more

  In 1896, architect John Hauser designed a row of eight brownstone-fronted houses at 302 to 316 West 98th Street for developer William H. Picken.  Sitting between two mansion-lined thoroughfares--Riverside Drive and West End Avenue--they were intended for well-heeled owners.  Completed in late 1897, Hauser had designed the row in two models, repeating the A-B configuration down the line. The easternmost house, 302 West 98th Street was designed, overall, in the Renaissance Revival style.  Hauser splashed it with touches of Romanesque Revival--in the medieval ca ..read more

  The New York Architect - June 1911 (copyright expired) The Forty-Sixth Street and Broadway Realty Co. was specifically organized to erect a unique theater at 206 to 212 West 46th Street.  Before ground was broken, on July 2, 1910, the Record & Guide reported that Henry B. Harris and Jesse L. Lasky had signed the lease.  The two producers envisioned a cabaret in New York City based on the restaurant-nightclub-theater in Paris, the Folies Bergère. Designed by Herts & Tallant, the Folies Bergère cost $200,000 to erect--about $6.62 million in 2024.  The windowless ..read more

  The balcony, stoop, and areaway railings originally matched those of 56 West 9th Street, at right. In 1853, builder Reuben R. Wood erected three exceptionally handsome homes at 10 through 14 Ninth Street (renumbered 54 to 58 West 9th Street in 1867).  Their three-step porches were protected by brownstone wingwalls surmounted by beefy iron Italianate railings and newels.  The double-doored entrances and parlor windows sat within fully arched openings.  At the second floor, a common balcony stretched the width of the three homes, its railing matching that of the porches a ..read more

  As early as 1836, the family of Tobias Ryckman owned the two-and-a-half story house at 27 Charlton Street.  It and the neighboring residences had been erected by John Jacob Astor I within the past decade on land owned by Trinity Church.  Because Astor had paid the land rent decades in advance, the Ryckmans were free of that obligation. Living with Tobias and Rachel Ryckman were their unmarried daughter Rachel and their daughter Hannah M., the widow of Benjamin Wiggins.  Another widow, Eliza Ives (whose deceased husband was Seth Ives), also lived with the family, and wa ..read more