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stovelift5-blog · 6 years ago

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MULBERRY STREET, Little Italy

In deep and dark November I took a walk straight up Mulberry Street for its entire length, which I had never previously done. It skirts the west edge of Chinatown and cleaves the heart of Little Italy, before ending at Bleecker Street, edging into the south end of NoHo. It’s one of three major north-south streets, along with Mott and Elizabeth, between Centre/Lafayette Streets and the Bowery. It’s teeming with street life with shoppers, tourists and residents and is among the most crowded real estate in New York City.

Little Italy originated in the 1880s, when immigrants from primarily, but not exclusively, Naples and Sicily arrived in New York City and settled in the streets between East Broadway and Houston and Centre/Lafayette Streets and the Bowery. After World War II there was an italian diaspora, as immigrants and their families moved to the outer boroughs and surrounding suburban areas, ultimately leaving a couple of blocks on Mulberry that still have a strong Italian flavor, chockablock with restaurants and coffee/pastry shops; tourism keeps these areas strong.

Today, Mulberry Street begins at Worth Street, but until the 1920s, it extended south one block further, to Park Row, indicated as Chatham Street on this 1885 map. Back then, Mulberry Street was the eastern end of Manhattan’s Five Points, so-called because its center was at the complicated intersection of Worth, Baxter (formerly Orange) and Park (now Mosco). From all accounts, it was a “most wretched hive of scum and villainy” as Obi-Wan Kenobi would say.

Five Points would by all accounts put the West 42nd Street of the 1970s and 1980s to shame for its collection of thieves, brigands, prostitutes, murderers and fiends. “The Deuce” of the 1970s’ 42nd Street had nothing on Five Points, which centered around a 1792 brewery on Cross Street near its intersection with Anthony and Orange Streets, at first known as Coulter’s Brewery, but by 1838 had become a rooming house known as the Old Brewery.

From Kenneth Dunshee’s 1952 account in As You Pass By:

The Old Brewery was a five-story building, old and dilapidated. Along one wall an alley led to a single large room in which more than seventy-five men and women of assorted nationalities and races lived together. This was the Den Of Thieves. The name was appropriate. Along the other wall ran another filthy lane called Murderer’s Alley worse than the first.

Upstairs there were about 75 other chambers, housing more than 1,000 people…men, women and children. The section was a warren, with underground passages and murderous cul-de-sacs, into which the police dared venture only in large numbers, for the Old Brewery for a period of more than fifteen years averaged a murder a night.

Five Points was too tough, too unlawful, too unsavory to last, even in the New York of a century ago. The Old Brewery was razed, the last of the gangs destroyed. Today it bears little resemblance to the bull-baiting, rip-roaring hell it was in 1850.

And from Charles Dickens in America: “Notes For General Circulation” (1842):

What place is this, to which the squalid street conducts us? A kind of square of leprous houses, some of which are attainable only by crazy wooden stairs without. What lies behind this tottering flight of steps? Let us go on again, and plunge into the Five Points. This is the place; these narrow ways diverging to the right and left, and reeking everywhere with dirt and filth. Such lives as are led here, bear the same fruit as elsewhere. The coarse and bloated faces at the doors have counterparts at home and all the world over. Debauchery has made the very houses prematurely old. See how the rotten beams are tumbling down, and how the patched and broken windows seem to scowl dimly, like eyes that have been hurt in drunken forays. Many of these pigs live here. Do they ever wonder why their masters walk upright instead of going on all fours, and why they talk instead of grunting?

By the 1920s, most of the vestiges of the old Five Points had been replaced by court houses, and by the 60s, high rise apartments had obliterated the last of its little wood frame and brick buildings. It’s a shame, though, that some of the buildings of this notorious slum couldn’t have been preserved in some way.

On the above map, most of the streets south of Worth have been wiped out, replaced by buildings like the Chatham Towers, the Daniel Patrick Moynihan US Courthouse, and the New York State Supreme Court Building. North of Worth, between Baxter and Mulberry, is…

…Columbus Park, which was built in 1887, replacing some of the old Five Points tenements. The expansive park was designed by Calvert Vaux, co-creator of Central and Prospect Parks. After going by a variety of other names, it was named Columbus Park in 1911 in honor of the many Italians settling nearby.

Mulberry Street was named on maps as early as the late 1700s and while surrounding streets like Mott, Elizabeth, Worth and Hester took their names from local personalities or war heroes, its moniker remembers groves of mulberry plants in the area when it was first laid out.

A one-block stretch of Mosco Street between Mulberry and Mott is all that remains of the formerly somewhat lengthy Park Street (originally Cross Street), which used to run from Centre and Duane Streets all the way northeast to Mott.

In 1982, the remaining stretch was named for community activist Frank Mosco, who was associated with the Church of the Transfiguration on Mott Street and involved himself with youth outreach, lower-income housing and the elderly, and organized the Two Bridges Little League.

I don’t want to get sidetracked on this odd little remnant — but will have some more information on a future page dedicated to it. I will say that the northeast corner, 100 Mosco, is where Frank Mosco himself lived, and 28 Mulberry, the current home of the Ng Fook Funeral Home, began as the Banca Italia in 1888.

An aspect of Columbus Park, and other downtown parks such as Union Square, are their fairly large pavilion buildings, which allowed parkgoers some shade and shelter from the rain. I gather that for approximately 30 years beginning in 1980, after the pavilion had been overrun by homeless and drug addicts as well as pigeon droppings, the pavilion was shuttered until 2010, when it was renovated and reopened, this time with a ping-pong table, along with a coatroom and public bathrooms.

The pavilion, now with netting that does not allow pigeons to roost, affords interesting views south into Columbus Park and north along Bayard Street.

Who is that guy? Dr. Sun Yat-Sen (Sun Yixian) (1866-1925), the first president of the short-lived Republic of China, which ruled China after the Qing dynasty was overthrown in 1911 and Japanese occupation during WWII and later, the Communist revolution of 1949. The statue, sculpted by Taiwanese sculptor Lu Chun-Hsiung, was erected in November 2011 to commemorate the centennial of the Republic’s foundation. It was originally meant to be a temporary installation, but later gained permanent status.

Interestingly the park lamps surrounding the pavilion have a Chinatown touch, a pair of dragon heads at the lamplighter’s ladder rest. There are other Chinatown-themed designs for NYC lampposts.

At #46 Mulberry, the date of construction is conveniently displayed at the roofline. I don’t know if the rearing horse is a longstanding or recent addition.

At #48, Mulberry takes a midblock northern angle, south of Bayard. This is the formerly infamous “Mulberry Bend,” a locus on the eastern end of Five Points as one of NYC’s worst neighborhoods, as described by photojournalist Jacob Riis in “How the Other Half Lives”:

Where Mulberry Street crooks like an elbow within hail of the old depravity of the Five Points, is “the Bend,” foul core of New York’s slums. Long years ago the cows coming home from the pasture trod a path over this hill. Echoes of tinkling bells linger there still, but they do not call up memories of green meadows and summer fields; they proclaim the home-coming of the rag-picker’s cart. In the memory of man the old cow-path has never been other than a vast human pig-sty. There is but one “Bend” in the world, and it is enough. The city authorities, moved by the angry protests of ten years of sanitary reform effort, have decided that it is too much and must come down. Another Paradise Park will take its place and let in sunlight and air to work such transformation as at the Five Points, around the corner of the next block. Never was change more urgently needed. Around “the Bend” cluster the bulk of the tenements that are stamped as altogether bad, even by the optimists of the Health Department. Incessant raids cannot keep down the crowds that make them their home. In the scores of back alleys, of stable lanes and hidden byways, of which the rent collector alone can keep track, they share such shelter as the ramshackle structures afford with every kind of abomination rifled from the dumps and ash-barrels of the city. Here, too, shunning the light, skulks the unclean beast of dishonest idleness. “The Bend” is the home of the tramp as well as the rag-picker.

Though this stretch can no longer be called a slum, a number of its buildings along the east side of Mulberry Street still stand.

This building, on the northeast corner of Mulberry and Bayard, is the former PS 23 — the first of over 100 buildings that schools architect Charles B.J. Snyder would construct in New York City. The school was dedicated in 1891, when the region was still trying to shake off its Five Points reputation. It was innovative as the first fireproof school building in NYC and featured a community center in the basement, also innovative for the time.

The rough-cut brownstone base featured arched doorways and carved medieval motifs. Above, the orange brick façade was broken by paired windows allowing fresh air and sunshine into the classrooms. The windows of the tower stair-stepped upwards following the course of the interior stairwell. [Daytonian in Manhattan]

Hai Cang Trading, 71 Mulberry.

They may be eyesores, but these shops on the Chinatown-Little Italy border do bang-up tourist business selling shirts and trinkets.

123-125 Mulberry Street, just south of Hester, is home to the Il Cortile restaurant, but I was drawn to the roofline, but I was drawn to #121, which displays “Anna Esposito 1926” on the cornice. The Esposito family was once prominent in Little Italy and I suspect, since this building looks older than it would be if it was built in 1926, that the date marks the birth of Anna. Older photos show the sign as rundown, so it’s been handsomely cleaned up in recent years.

I was drawn to #187 and 189 Hester Street, just east of Mulberry, which are both painted in the red, green and white tricolor found on the Italian flag. At left is Puglia Ristorante, which was the subject of a FNY guest post a few years ago.

I took a detour a block west to 136 Baxter Street at Hester. Readers of FNY may know I’m a fan of stolid brick buildings like this one, former factories or warehouses converted to condos. That happened at this building in 2007, which was named the Machinery Exchange since after its 1915 construction, it served as machinery storage as well as stables for police horses just south of the old NYPD headquarters on Centre Street, itself converted to residential in 1984.

The dome of the old NYPD HQ peeks above Baxter Street. The former NYC Police Headquarters, now Police Building Apartments at 240 Centre between Grand and Broome, and our Bishop Crook across the street at Centre and Grand, come from the same Beaux-Arts era from 1890 to about 1920. While not all Beaux-Arts buildings were public buildings, both of these structures embody the philosophy then espoused that our public buildings, and even our public utilities, should be beautiful; and so they are covered with ornamentation and even some archaic elements that modern-day architects would find wasteful and hardly cost-effective.

It’s hard to believe it, the HQ, constructed from 1905-1909, was empty and abandoned for about a decade from 1973-1983 after the new NYPD HQ in the Foley Square area was built.

Umberto’s Clam House, 132 Mulberry, relocated here awhile ago from its former outpost at the NW corner of Mulberry and Hester Streets. The restaurant gained infamy in its incarnation there when mobster Joey Gallo was shot dead there in 1972:

Joey Gallo had celebrated his 43rd birthday at the Copacabana nightclub with a group of arty friends that included the actor Jerry Orbach, comedian David Steinberg, and columnist Earl Wilson. The party finished and Gallo, his bodyguard, and four women went to Little Italy in downtown Manhattan, looking for a place to eat. The only restaurant open was Umberto’s Clam House on Mulberry Street, owned by the mobbed up Matthew ‘Matty the Horse’ Ianniello. Robert Daley, Deputy Police Commissioner, said the party ate ‘Italian delicacies.’ Gallo and his bodyguard, Pete Diapoulis, sat with their backs to the door. The assassin (from the Colombo mob family) put four bullets into Crazy Joey Gallo at about 5 a.m. Gallo staggered out the front door onto Mulberry Street, where he collapsed and died. Twenty shots were fired in all. The assassin escaped. Pete Diapoulas was wounded. He refused to talk to the police. The shooting left ‘Little Italy’ (the surrounding neighborhood) in an agitated state. Witness said they saw pistols in tenement windows. Deputy Commissioner Robert Dailey said, ‘He made a mistake, Crazy Joe did. He should have gone home to bed last night.’ Museum Planet

Note that “Crazy Joe,” who is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, had a lot of showbiz friends. The line between fame and notoriety can occasionally be blurred, and what’s right and wrong can sometimes be ignored. Bob Dylan eulogized him in a 1970s song.

There’s also an Umberto’s on Arthur Avenue in that borough’s Little Italy, and when I was a kid, I once had lunch with my mother in an Umberto’s branch at 86th Street and 16th Avenue in Bath Beach, Brooklyn.

At #138 Mulberry, the street makes another slight jog, though this Mulberry bend was far less notorious than the one further south. The pediment on the building marks an owner or architect, G.L. Jaeger. In 1884, German physician Gustav Jaeger was the inspiration for the British clothing line, but I doubt he had anything to do with this building.

Christmas New York is a year-round Christmas-themed shop at #142 Mulberry.

The small 2-story brick building with the pair of dormer windows at #149 Mulberry appears older than its neighbors, and indeed it is: it’s the oldest building on Mulberry save for Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral (see below). It was built in 1816 for NY state Assemblyman and Senator Stephen Van Rensselaer (1764-1839), who attained the rank of major general in the US Army before losing the Battle of Queenston Heights (which reversed US efforts to invade Canada) during the War of 1812.

After moving into the house, Van Rensselaer served on the New York State Constitutional Convention, the Erie Canal Commission, and the US House of Representatives. He amassed a fortune of $10M, worth multibillions in 2018 money. His family owned sprawling estates in New York and plenty of NYC properties, and this modest building was not his primary residence. In 1842, the house was moved from the corner of Mulberry and Grand to its present location. When the environs became Little Italy, the wealthy Stokes family acquired it and turned it into “The Free Italian Library and Reading-Rooms” in 1894.

The building has hosted a succession of restaurants and other businesses over the decades, at present the Aunt Jake’s trattoria.

The Piemonte Ravioli Company was established in 1920 by an immigrant from Genoa. In 1955 Mario Bertorelli from Parma took over the store, which he and his son, Flavio, continue to operate. They array a full line of fresh pasta which they make daily in their warehouse in Woodside. The variety of pastas include: ravioli, tortellini, manicotti, cannelloni, stuffed shells, gnocchi, cavetelli, linguine, fettucini, lasagna. Homemade and dried pastas fill the racks from end to end. The pastas are stuffed with everything from spinach and cheese to seafood, meats, and vegetables. [Place Matters]

Piemonte has two entrances on Mulberry and Grand Streets, interrupted by Alleva on the corner. Both shops feature signage in the Italian flag tricolor. Both 190 and 192 Grand Street were also constructed by Stephen Van Rensselaer, both buildings in 1833 in the popular Federal style of the early 1800s.

Pretty much the epicenter of Little Italy is the corner of Broome and Mulberry, with two of its ancient bastions, Caffé Roma and Grotta Azzurra. Caffé Roma has two old signs, a classic neon and a constantly renewed and repainted building ad, one spelled the Italian way and one in English.

Traditionally Mulberry and Broome were Neapolitan territory. In the early 20th Century the Ronca brotehrs from Naples opened a cappuccino, espresso and Italian pastry shop on this corner. The Roncas sold to Vincento Zeccardi in 1952, who renamed it but kept it close to the old Ronca name. His descendants (some of whom were “connected”) continue to run Caffé Roma, maintaining original elements of the place such as a saloon clock over the espresso machine, dark green pressed tin ceiling, and handwritten recipe book. Directly across the street was Umberto’s Clam House, now the Crudo Oyster Bar. Mobster Joey Gallo breathed his last at Umberto’s when it was located nearby on Mulberry Street.

The original Grotta Azzurra (“Blue Grotto”), named for a picturesque sea cave in Capri, opened in 1908 and lasted until 1997, serving fare to the likes of Enrico Caruso and later on, Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack. The restaurant reopened in 2003.

I don’t know much about the magnificent corner building, #390 Broome Street at Mulberry. I can say that until the early 1970s, when SoHo was more manufacturing and industrial in character, there was a real possibility that Broome Street would have been shadowed by an elevated expressway, the Lower Manhattan or Lomex, which would have connected the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges with the Holland Tunnel, but traffic czar Robert Moses’s plan was thwarted. (I wonder if a tunnel is feasible, since the Canal Street traffic is miserable.)

Since I am both a Philistine and have the culinary tastes of a 12-year-old, I’ll skip the clam pizza that Pasquale Jones at Mulberry and Kenmare is renowned for, but don’t let me stop you. I did dig the retro neon sign, which has the curves and proportions of other classic shingle neon signs that have mostly disappeared from the NYC-scape.

On the southeast corner here’s 188 Mulberry on the corner of Kenmare, which is sort of magnificent in its sooted glory; it seems to have not gotten the power-washing that a lot of area buildings have received. On the ground floor is Mulberry Iconic Magazines. I didn’t have my backpack with me, but if I had I may have wandered in to see if they had this month’s Mojo, a British classic rock magazine.

#205 Mulberry is the former NYPD 14th Precinct House, long converted to condominiums and retail. It was built in 1871 and has French Second Empire characteristics such as a slanted roof with dormer windows. The architectural style was popular in the 1870s and 1880s.

Spring Lounge, at the SW corner of Mulberry and Spring Street, has been around since the speakeasy days of the 1920s, despite what the sign says, at first surreptitiously dispensing beer in growlers. It has operated under a variety of names since then such as Chappy’s and Wilson’s 10:30, but has been the Spring Lounge since the 1970s. It attracts interesting neighborhood denizens. “You find this place, get on the sauce and suddenly one quick beer turns into 11 or 12…”

After years as an empty lot, this odd, incongruous building at #47 Prince at the NW corner of Mulberry, designed by hotels architect Gene Kaufman, finally went up in 2016. It was briefly home to the Miss Paradis restaurant.

The McNally-Jackson independent bookstore, on Prince just west of Mulberry, is always a look-in when I’m in the area. They’ve always been seemingly resistant to the charms of Forgotten New York the Book, though, since for 11 years I’ve never found it in the NYC section!

St. Patrick’s “old” Cathedral, 260-264 Mulberry Street between Price and East Houston, is called “old” to differentiate it from its “newer” cousin uptown, St. Patrick’s Cathedral at 5th Avenue and East 50th, designed by James Renwick Jr., opened 1878 and finished in 1888. Old St. Pat’s, NYC’s original Catholic cathedral, is quite a bit older, having started construction in 1809 and completed in 1815, making it one of the oldest buildings in Chinatown/Little Italy. In March 2010 Pope Benedict XVI announced that it would become Manhattan’s first basilica, a church that has been accorded certain specific and ceremonial rites only the Pope can bestow.

In 2010, FNY did a post on the church, so if you’re curious, I’ll direct you there.

Though the churchyard and its graves are gated off and inaccessible, I did manage a few shots over the gates. Among the burials are the Venerable Pierre Toussaint and Stephen Jumel, whose uptown mansion in Sugar Hill is Manhattan’s oldest remaining private residence. The catacombs are occasionally open to the public.

“Dagger John” Hughes, the first Archbishop of the Diocese of New York, was originally interred in the Old St. Patrick’s churchyard. Though his remains were moved uptown to the “new” St. Patrick’s at 5th Avenue, he is memorialized here. “He became known as ‘Dagger John,’ both for his following the Catholic practice wherein a bishop precedes his signature with a cross, as well as for his aggressive personality.”

For some interior views of Old St. Patrick’s, see the Newtown Pentacle.

#263 Mulberry, across the street from Old St. Patrick’s, is the parish rectory, or priests’ residence. It was built in the mid-1840s, while John Hughes was still the Archbishop; the Second Empire-style mansard roof was likely added in the 1870s.

Tiny Jersey Street is wedged between the New York Public Library Mulberry Branch building and the Puck Building (see below). the alley runs for two blocks, crossing Lafayette before ending at Crosby.

Most of Manhattan’s obscurer alleys, from Extra Place to Cortlandt Alley to Staple Street are aligned north-south against the grid. Jersey Street unusually runs east to west, from Mulberry across Lafayette, ending at Crosby. It was apparently laid out as early as the 1820s and for a short time was called Columbian Alley (a poetic name for the USA is Columbia, for the sailor of the ocean blue in 1492). In 1829, the name was changed to Jersey Street — perhaps one of the neighbors was from the English Channel island of the same name.

The famed Puck Building takes up the entire block between Lafayette, Mulberry, the alley Jersey Street and East Houston. It was built as a printing plant between 1886 and 1893 by the publishers of the satirical magazine published between 1877 and 1918. It has recently been home to both the New York Press weekly and Spy monthly, though both left the building before going out of business (I write for New York Press’ online successor, SpliceToday). Some of the Puck Building was shaved off when Lafayette Street was extended south.

I had never noticed it before, but what is that thing on the Puck Building on the corner, just below the top floor?

One block of Mulberry Street edges into NoHo above East Houston, before succumbing at Bleecker Street.

A look at one of the Bleecker Street IRT #6 train station’s gorgeous wall plaques, before heading to further adventures.

Please help contribute to a new Forgotten NY website

Check out the ForgottenBook, take a look at the gift shop, and as always, “comment…as you see fit.”

12/16/18

Source: http://forgotten-ny.com/2018/12/mulberry-street-little-italy/

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stovelift5-blog · 6 years ago

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American – $351: San Francisco / Newark – Panama City, Panama. Roundtrip, including all Taxes

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stovelift5-blog · 6 years ago

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AUTO REVIEW: 2019 Subaru Forester

By Frank S. Washington, AboutThatCar.com, NNPA Newswire Contributor

DETROIT – Even before my week test driving the 2019 Subaru Forester was up my opinion had been reached. It was very satisfying to the point of being a very impressive midsize crossover that delivered on a number of levels.

Under the hood was a 2.5-liter Boxer engine, meaning horizontally opposed four-cylinder that made 182 horsepower and 176-pound feet of torque at 4,400 rpm.

The Forester had an EPA rating of 26 mpg in the city, 33 mpg on the highway and 29 mpg combined.

This new engine provided more than enough oomph in day-to-day driving. I really don’t care for CVTs but this one was not bad. Acceleration was good and it was fairly quiet, for a continuously variable transmission.

The first driving characteristic I noticed about the Forester was its handling. It was Go-Kart precise. Just the slightest turn of the wheel and the midsize crossover went in the direction the wheel was turned. Reaction time to driver input was almost instant.

Styling was new for 2019 too. Subaru said it was more rugged. The exterior had shoulder lines that followed around the pillars to emphasize height and strength. Prominent wheel arches emphasized the standard Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive system’s functionality. Subaru is one of the few manufactures that make all-wheel-drive standard.

The front, side and rear under guards were also standard on all models, with color finish according to trim line. New LED headlights were standard on all models. The wheelbase was increased to 105.1 in. from 103.9 in., with the gain benefitting rear seat legroom, which is now 39.4-in., a 1.4-in. increase.

I got into the rear seats and found them comfortable. There was plenty of headspace, hip room and I think three people could sit in the back seat in relative comfort. And because the Forester sits deceptively high, the drive tunnel was not that much of an intrusion into the interior space.

What’s more, the moonroof was larger than most I’ve seen.

Subaru’s signature hexagonal grille incorporated active grille shutters, which optimize aerodynamics to help reduce fuel consumption. Wider rear door openings and a steep C-pillar angle make ingress/egress and installing a child seat easier. All Forester models feature lower body side cladding, which helps protect against mud, rocks and other road debris.

My only complaint was that the frame for the C-pillar glass was light gray while the rest of the interior was black. I could see it out of the corner of my eye, and it was distracting. I thought it was a vehicle in my blind spot at first, and then I thought it was somebody in the street and after I discovered what it was it was still disconcerting.

As Subaru said, there was outstanding outward visibility. Strategically designed pillars and generous glass area ensure an excellent all-around view from inside, and all models feature a standard rear vision camera. But they need to dump that light gray frame for the C pillar window.

Anyway, that was my only gripe. And I believe that is a choice of interior color. The cargo space was upped during the redesign to 76.1 cu. ft. with the rear seats folded. The automatic lift gate width was 51.3 inches. This Subaru Limited trim also had roof rails with integrated tie-down hooks.

I thought the interior was really nice. It was soft black leather with gray stitching. It was particularly nice around the front door panels; so supple that it felt like a thick cloth.

The instruments were black with white numerals reversed out. And the vehicle seems to have had just about every creature comfort: stop/start, automatic lock and unlock, eyesight driver-assist technology, torque vectoring, Bluetooth, a navigation system, heated front seats, power driver’s seat, satellite radio, voice controls, it had dual 2.1 USB jacks in the rear, plus one more in the front and an auxiliary jack and 12V socket.

It had its own Wi-Fi hotspot, lane departure alert and assist, blind spot alert, rear view camera with cross-traffic alert, a navigation system, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, cloud apps, streaming capability, ride modes, and adaptive cruise control. And there was a pod atop the dash that gave you average mpg; mine was 22.9, then mpg in real time, range, interior and exterior temperature, the lock and the climate control reading.

The 2019 Subaru Forester was a great vehicle with great handling, a very good ride, good gas mileage and good interior space with what they called a panoramic sunroof. The sticker I thought was astoundingly low, $33,465.

Frank S. Washington is editor of AboutThatCar.com

Source: https://www.blackpressusa.com/auto-review-2019-subaru-forester/

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stovelift5-blog · 6 years ago

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DOJ Won't Charge New York City Police Officer In Eric Garner's Death

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Source: https://consent.yahoo.com/collectConsent?sessionId=3_cc-session_4d463511-eda6-4378-a1e3-5106ca0aec46&lang=en-us&inline=false

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stovelift5-blog · 6 years ago

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The Trolls Experience Pop Up Transforms a Historic NYC Building in Midtown

The former Society House of the American Society of Civil Engineers, a historic landmark located at 220 West 57th Street, has been transformed into a one-of-a-kind immersive experience for families based on DreamWorks Pictures’ hit animated movie Trolls and the new Netflix series, Trolls: The Beat Goes On. DreamWorks Trolls The Experience encompasses 12,000-square feet of the Cyrus L.W. Eidlitz designed building, which was constructed between 1896 and 1897. Eidlitz’s other work includes the first New York Times building for which Times Square was named, St. Peter’s Church in the Bronx and parts of Bell Laboratories which have been incorporated into Westbeth Artist Residences. The over 100 year old structure is now outfitted with the latest interactive technology put together by Feld Entertainment, the producers of Disney on Ice and Sesame Street Live, to create a fun and memorable experience for parents and children.

The Society House, which sits near the section of Broadway once known as Automobile Row, has had many tenants over the decades including the Ajax Rubber Co. which used the first floor as a showroom for Stearns-Knight automobiles in the 1920s, and Schrafft’s restaurant in the 1930s. The transformation of the 19th century French Renaissance Revival style building into the colorful, furry and glittering world of Trolls took hours of work and tons of materials, 24,000 hours to be exact (just to create the props!). The carefully crafted scenery throughout the show helps to fully immerse you in the experience. On Untapped Cities’ visit to the experience, Nicole Feld, Executive Vice President and Producer at Feld Entertainment, pointed out that part of what makes the experience really memorable are the vibrant colors and textures. There are twelve different colors and over 207 yards of fur throughout the scenery, enough to stretch across two football fields! Over 20,000 square feet of solid colored and glitter vinyl were used to cover the walls, and more than 122 custom-mixed paint colors were created to bring the fictional land of Trolls into the real world.

Beyond these decorative materials, the experience is also chuck full of state-of-the-art technology. As guests make their way through different rooms of the experience, they have certain tasks to complete to help the peppy pink Troll Poppy plan and pull off a Best Day Ever Celebration. James Shea, the Show Director of Trolls The Experience, says that what sets Trolls apart from other pop-up experiences is this immersive story that guests become an active part of. The first step in preparation for the party is the Hair We Go Salon where everyone gets a Trolls makeover complete with signature sky reaching hair. There is even an available upgrade if you want to go for a full Trolls-transformation with full-face makeup and a premium Troll hair wig based on your favorite character.

Next, it’s into Branch’s Musical Mashup area where guests create a custom beat with touch activated sensors. Of course you need decorations for a party, so after the music making, guests board the Caterbus to catch flying “gems.�� The Caterbus is 30 feet long and 10 feet wide, making it the size of an actual school bus, and is ringed with over 150 yards of fur. Finally, it’s time to round up all your friends from Critter Creek by sending out invitations via high-fives delivered on a giant touch screen wall. Once all of the guests have been invited, the music is mixed, and the decorations are up, it’s time to party!

Sparkle on Caterbus – Guest take a ride on the Caterbus where they help Guy Diamond collect floating glitter to decorate Poppy’s Best Day Ever celebration. Photograph Courtesy of Feld Entertainment, Inc.

Critter Creek – The virtual play zone, Critter Creek, allows guests to engage in a collaborative game where they “high-five” critters on the interactive wall to invite them to Poppy’s Best Day Ever celebration. Photograph Courtesy of Feld Entertainment, Inc.

The Best Day Ever Celebration features an interactive 3D-dance party where guest wear “Glitter Goggles” to see their Troll friends literally pop off the screen. The holographic and LED display technology was originally created for Michael Jackson’s This Is It concert series. On the 10-foot tall and 25-foot wide screen, made up of 1.5 millions pixels, the Trolls characters come to life to the tune of Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling” from the Trolls soundtrack. The dance party room is decorated with flower lights that contain 504 color changing nodes. After you’ve danced your heart out, the grand finale is a photo-op with Poppy herself at Memory Mile, the final leg of the journey. This is where you will assemble a scrapbook with tokens you’ve collected from each phase of the experience.

The 3D dance party at Poppy’s Best Day Ever celebration comes to life through magic party lights and colorful visuals, allowing kids and parents show-off their dance moves to chart-topping tracks from the Dreamworks Trolls soundtrack. Photograph Courtesy of Feld Entertainment, Inc.

Feld says that as a mother in New York City herself, it is hard to find activities like the Trolls Experience that the entire family can enjoy and become immersed in. She feels that this unique and interactive activity will help families create memories to last longer than a twenty four hour post on Instagram. The Trolls Experience is open now through May 2019. Tickets can be purchased online and must be reserved in advance for timed entry.

Next, check out Untapped Cities Tours and Events this Week

dreamworks, feld entertainment, interactive theater, kids, pop-up, things to do, Trolls the Experience

Source: https://untappedcities.com/2018/12/03/the-trolls-experience-pop-up-transforms-a-historic-nyc-building-in-midtown/

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stovelift5-blog · 6 years ago

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How Beauty Product Claims Come to Be

Eight out of 10 customers recommend! Ninety percent of users saw results instantly! Effective for 80% of participants!

We’ve all seen the claims that come stamped on the side of beauty product packaging and emblazoned in glossy magazine ads. They lend credibility to the product and entice us to make a purchase. But where do those claims come from?

The origin of the claim is just as important as the claim itself. The same holds true with statistics. Data can be read a number of ways and the entity behind the data could have a vested interest or lack real credentials, making their claims suspect.

Some things are easy to gauge on your own, like finding makeup that compliments your skin tone. But for the times when the benefit isn’t so obvious or isn’t a sure thing, it helps to know where the marketing hype comes from.

Third Party Product Testers

Leading market researchers like The Benchmarking Company help determine the effectiveness of products and customer satisfaction. Product testing can be conducted within controlled parameters to assess the efficacy and account for variables. Those findings are what become the beauty product claims.

When you see claims that note what percentage of users saw a certain result after using a beauty product, it likely came from a third party product testing company. The company creates standards and benchmarks that are used to accurately measure results compared to a baseline. The results from each participant are compiled together to reach the overall percentage.

In addition to the visible results, duration or length of time may also make its way into the claim. The results from third party testing can be phrased in different ways to highlight benefits, but in general, these types of claims tend to be the most reliable.

Expert Beauty Resources

Sometimes beauty publications or professionals will take a closer look at products to determine which ones are worth buying. Often they test out the product themselves and then rate the product or give it a seal of approval.

One common example of this is the Allure Best of Beauty Awards. Allure is a women’s magazine that focuses heavily on beauty products, makeup techniques, and the latest looks. Every year they award Best of Beauty designations to products in 16 categories largely based on their editor reviews. Many companies prominently display the Best of Beauty badge on their packaging to back up their efficacy claims.

User Evaluations

When you see a claim that includes a phrase like “4 out of 5 women surveyed,” that’s an example of user evaluation or self-assessment. This information can be collected in a number of ways.

Third Party Facilitator – A third party can conduct self-assessment surveys and polls for a company, which helps add legitimacy to the findings. The facilitator will recruit users, have them use the product for a specified period and then ask the users a serious of questions.

Company Surveys – Other times the product manufacturers will conduct the user surveys themselves. However, these aren’t as reliable since the company has a vested interest in getting positive results.

Beauty Sites and Resources – Allure also uses reader reviews to give out their seal of approval. In February, online surveys are sent out to subscribers who vote for their favorite products. For 2017, 49 beauty products were given the Readers’ Choice award. Beauty stores like Ulta and Sephora also collect thousands of user reviews that find their way into marketing claims.

The makeup industry is a significant segment of the global economy. The latest projections estimate that the industry will jump from $460 billion in sales in 2014 to $675 billion by 2020.

The increase is in large part due to the rapid increase in products being brought to market. Not all of those products are worth the money that’s spent. Pay careful attention to the claims that are made and who they come from to determine if a product is worth the investment.

Source: http://lipstickandluxury.com/how-beauty-product-claims-come-to-be/

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stovelift5-blog · 6 years ago

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The 1868 rowhouses built into Bloomingdale’s

Stand at 59th Street and Lexington Avenue and look up at the Art Deco main entrance of Bloomingdale’s.

As you take in the enormity of this low-rise, black and gray department store, you might think it consists of one uniform building extending all the way to Third Avenue.

But halfway down 60th Street, you’ll see a modern-day time capsule connecting the Lexington Avenue and Third Avenue ends of the store.

Here is a stretch of cream-colored rowhouses with fanciful details and the kind of mansard roofs that were all the rage in the Gilded Age city.

These rowhouses, once known as 162-170 East 60th Street, were built in 1868 and actually predate the Bloomingdale’s store by 18 years.

“The five buildings, a picturesque side-street surprise that has escaped demolition at least once, were developed as a tide of post-Civil-War rowhouses swept up the East Side,” wrote Christopher Gray in the New York Times in 1990.

The rowhouses “were probably like others on the street shown in later views: high-stooped brownstones in the Italianate style, three windows wide, with a low fourth floor under a modest mansard roof,” wrote Gray.

Bloomingdale’s acquired the rowhouses the way they acquired the land on the rest of the block from Third to Lexington Avenues and 59th to 60th Streets—in pieces in the late 19th and early 20th century.

In the 1880s, three were turned into a store annex, and at some point they may also have served as a loading dock.

Today, these five former upscale residences sandwiched in the middle of Bloomingdale’s go unnoticed by most shoppers, even with the old “Bloomingdale Brothers” sign over the street-level windows.

[Second image: pdxhistory.com]

Tags: 60th Street rowhouses by Bloomingdale's, Bloomingdale's department Store NYC, Bloomingdale's NYC, Bloomingdales 59th Street, rowhouses mansard roof NYC

This entry was posted on May 13, 2019 at 6:19 am and is filed under Defunct department stores, Fashion and shopping, Random signage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2019/05/13/the-1868-rowhouses-built-into-bloomingdales/

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stovelift5-blog · 6 years ago

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Growing Lack of Affordable Housing Leaves Low-Income Families with Few Options

“…important factors contributing to the lack of affordable housing are the expanding wage gap between corporate executives and their employees and the ongoing assault on labor unions, which for decades helped to insure wage growth and better working conditions for their members.” (Photo: iStockphoto / NNPA)

By Christopher G. Cox, Publisher and Managing Editor, www.realesavvy.com

A recent study by the Urban Institute reports that in communities across the nation home prices and rents are exceeding the reach of an increasing number of households.

“For every 100 extremely low-income households, there are only 29 adequate, affordable, and available rental units. That means two parents who both work minimum-wage jobs might wait years to find a safe, affordable place to live with their two kids,” the report states.

According to Michael Washburn, president at Exit Realty of the Carolinas, based in Charleston, S.C, there are a number of troubling factors that contribute to this problem.

“Rules and regulations that govern where and how housing developments can be built,” Washburn said, “vary widely from one municipality to another. Government and the private sector have to come together to streamline the process of building homes and apartments,” he adds.

One possible solution to dealing with this problem, says Washburn, is offering developers property tax incentives that make it possible to reduce the cost of land acquisition. Another more long-term answer is expanding public transportation. Modern light rail systems enable residents to have a reliable, economical commute from areas where housing is more affordable to areas where their jobs might be located.

“It doesn’t help much to have an affordable rent,” Washburn said, “if you have to buy a car and pay all the costs associated with buying gas, maintenance and insurance.”

This growing lack of affordable housing is particularly acute in Charlotte, NC, said LaWana Mayfield, who represents District 3 on Charlotte’s City Council, because of rapid population growth fueled largely by individuals who have relocated from high-cost-of-living cities hoping to find a more affordable lifestyle.

Mayfield also notes that the hosting the national nominating conventions of the nation’s two major political parties puts a city in the national and international spotlight, spurring massive growth and sudden attention that can be disruptive. Charlotte hosted the Democratic National Convention in 2012 and has been selected as the site for the Republican National Convention in 2020.

Other important factors contributing to the lack of affordable housing, said Mayfield, are the expanding wage gap between corporate executives and their employees and the ongoing assault on labor unions, which for decades helped to insure wage growth and better working conditions for their members.

Despite these external historical factors, Mayfield strongly believes there is an important role for personable responsibility when weighing the many elements that go into purchasing a home.

“Home buyers need to take the time to do the research on an area where they are considering buying and understand the current market trends,” she said. “We are bombarded in the media with the idea that we should spend money, but it’s important to understand the long-term impact of your investment for both your family and your community.”

Mayfield emphasizes that just because a buyer qualifies for a mortgage at a certain level, does not mean that obtaining that budget-stretching mortgage is the best decision in the long run. “Just because you can pay it,” she adds, “does not mean you should.

“For example,” she continues, “suppose a couple qualifies for a $500,000 mortgage. Rather than buying a home for that amount, they might do better to buy a house that costs $150,000 and spend $50,000 fixing it up. That would give them more financial flexibility to consider other investments or to cope with an unanticipated event such as the loss of a job.”

Source: https://www.blackpressusa.com/growing-lack-of-affordable-housing-leaves-low-income-families-with-few-options/

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stovelift5-blog · 6 years ago

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Wednesday 190313 – Photo of the Day

Upcoming Events and News:

Beyond the Whiteboard: Beginner ‎/ Experienced ___________________________________________________ Some of our favorite reads this week: The People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day Ask a Swole Woman: How Sore Should I Be After Lifting Weights? Prominent Doctors Aren’t Disclosing Their Industry Ties in Medical Journal Studies. And Journals Are Doing Little to Enforce Their Rules

Responses

Source: https://crossfitnyc.com/2019/03/13/wednesday-190313-photo-day/

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stovelift5-blog · 6 years ago

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The James Bailey House - 10 St. Nicholas Place

When 9-year old James Anthony McGinnis found himself orphaned in 1856 in Detroit, he learned to fend for himself. Five years later he was working in a circus. McGinnis took the name of the circus manager who had taken the boy under his wing, thereafter being known as James Bailey. By the 1870's Bailey was a major player in the circus field; his show aggressively competing with Phineas T. Barnum's as the nation’s premier circus. That competition was eliminated in 1880 when the two managers joined forces, creating Barnum & Bailey's Circus, "The Greatest Show on Earth." Bailey, who was a genius at marketing and public relations, preferred to work in the background, allowing Barnum to take credit for many of his innovations. The business made Bailey a millionaire and in 1886 he began planning a new residence. As wealthy New York families moved ever northward, he anticipated that the developing Hamilton Heights in Harlem would become the next exclusive residential district. The New York Times described the area as “particularly desirable and all the houses that have been put up in this neighborhood are handsome, well-built, elegant structures, and the locality is free from many objectionable features.” Bailey purchased the lot at the northeast corner of 150th Street and St. Nicholas Place and hired New Jersey-based architect Samuel Burrage Reed to design the building. Reed had just published his House-Plans for Everybody – For Village and Country Residences, Costing from $250 to $8,000. Bailey's home could cost far more. On July 31, 1886 The Record & Guide reported on the plans, saying that it "will be built of limestone and in the early English style." (Today we call it Romanesque Revival; although Reed would splash the design with Renaissance Revival and Queen Anne elements.) The article noted "a turret 69 feet high, also of stone, will be built on the southwest corner" and said "The porches will be tiled."

The date 1887, the year Bailey anticipated the project to be completed, is carved into the chimney back. Startlingly, the beautiful (and expensive) Henry F. Belcher oculus windows in each of the gables, are above the interior ceiling line, which makes them invisible from the interior, and because of the lack of light inside, cannot be appreciated from outside.

"It will be finished in hardwoods and will be furnished with steam head and all the latest improvements. The work throughout will be thoroughly first-class." Bailey had given the contractor a one-year deadline; but that did not happen. Finished in 1888 the mansion was fit for a showman--a 62-by-100-foot fantasy of limestone spires and arches, Flemish Renaissance gables and eclectic dormers, a corner tower with a conical cap, and a "boxed" porch supporting a spacious balcony, Even more striking than the castle-like façade were the interiors, designed by Joseph Burr Tiffany, cousin of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Each of the 29 rooms in the 8,250 square foot home was intended to awe. The Architectural Era described the conservatory as being "of iron and glass" and noted the numerous woods used throughout the residence– quartered oak in the two-story entrance hall where the polished floors held complex mahogany inlaid designs; black walnut in the office; hazel wood in the parlor and sycamore in the library. Intricate carpenter’s lace framed the archways between rooms on the main floor. Hand painted wallpaper and frescoed ceilings, art glass chandeliers and carved wooden fireplace surrounds filled the home.

Hall & Garrison executed the intricate woodwork found throughout the house.

The Architectural Era announced, "The windows are of plate glass, cylindrical in the tower, with art glass transoms and each window has inside blinds [shutters]." Those transoms and stained glass windows--upwards of 100--were executed by Henry F. Belcher. He held at least 22 patents for his process, by which thousands of glass pieces, often triangular, were laid out then sandwiched tightly between layers of asbestos. A molten lead alloy was poured in to fill the gaps. When the exterior surfaces were removed the complete, intact panels emerged. (Belcher's company was in business only from 1884 to 1890, most likely owing to the high cost of the windows.)

This window, unfortunately washed out in this photo because of the bright sunlight, is deeply inset within the parlor overmantel.

The sub-basement held the necessary if not glamorous areas--"fuel, steam furnace, refrigerator, etc.," said The Architectural Age. In the basement level, directly above, were the kitchen, laundry and servants' quarters, "together with store-lockers, bath-room, dumb waiter, etc., all thoroughly fitted and finished." The family's bedrooms were on the second floor, and the third was divided into "billiard and art rooms and two chambers, together with an observatory above."

Cast iron gas lamps sprout from the gate posts in this undated photograph, and the stone urn on the porch balcony holds an exotic plant. The female figure on the porch is presumably Ruth McCadden Bailey. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

Millionaires like Bailey required private stables to house their several vehicles, horses and, most often, living accommodations for at least a coachman and one or two stable hands. On August 29, 1886 the Record & Guide had reported "James A. Bailey is going to build a model brick two-story stable, with terra cotta trimmings" on the north side of 150th Street between St. Nicholas Place and 10th Avenue. Samuel B. Reed, understandably, received this commission too. Later Bailey would place the overall cost of construction for his entire property at $160,000--or around $5 million today.

The magnificent "Bailey window," on the landing of the grand staircase included Bailey's monogram. The letters were executed in reverse to be read from the outside.

The Baileys country estate The Knolls, was in Mount Vernon, New York. Only eleven years after the Harlem mansion was completed, the family moved there permanently. While some historians feel that Bailey had become disenchanted with the neighborhood which was not developing as he anticipated, the sale advertisement explained "Owing to his absence in Europe, will be sold at a great sacrifice."

The sale advertisement included a sketch. New-York Tribune, May 21, 1899

The advertisement, in May 1899, touted "The interior finish is in rare and costly woods; elegant mantels, open fire-places, steam heat, electric lights, open plumbing, beautifully decorated throughout." A quick succession of owners followed. The mansion and stable were purchased by Henry Acker. In 1904 he sold the property to Max Marx, who almost immediately resold it to millionaire contractor John C. Rodgers. With Rodgers and his wife in the house were their son, John, Jr. and his wife.

The original chandelier in the dining room survives.

The Rodgers' stable no longer housed horses and carriages, but motorcars. It was a situation that resulted in a horrific tragedy on April 1, 1906. The New-York Tribune reported "Two women were run down by a speeding automobile in New Rochelle yesterday and injured so seriously that one of them died a few hours later...and the other is not expected to recover." The deceased victim was 73-year old Alvina Stein, and the other was her 70-year-old sister, Betty Kuchler. They had just left church services. The article said "After the accident, the automobile, which contained two well dressed women and two men, ran on at even greater speed, the occupants not even stopping to see whether the women were injured." There was no doubt that police would be determinedly looking for the culprits--Betty Kuchler was not only the mother of the Charles W. Kuchler, president of the New Rochelle Board of Aldermen, but of Police Commissioner Henry Kuchler. Witnesses had jotted down the license number of the car. It was registered to J. C. Rodgers, Jr. Investigators arrived at the St. Nicholas Place mansion that evening. The younger Mrs. Rodgers expressed surprise. "We have had the machine about two months, and as far as I know it was not out today." Betty Kuchler lingered in the hospital for two days before dying. But even before then, the widespread press coverage had not escaped the notice of John C. Rodgers, Sr., who did his own investigating. On April 2 he walked into the New Rochelle courthouse with his chauffeur, 20-year-old John Johnston. On April 3 The Sun wrote "When young Rodgers's father, John C. Rodgers, the subway contractor, was told of the accident he blamed his son for running away and insisted that Johnston should give himself up." John, Jr. refused to talk to reporters, but his father issued a statement: According to my son's story, and I think he has told me everything, the party were returning from Larchmont for dinner and going at a moderate rate of speed when the accident happened. As they approached a bridge over the road a four horse milk wagon came from the opposite direction. When our party was almost upon the team the leaders swung sharply across the road directly in the machine's way. It was so sudden that Johnston had no time to shut off and to avoid running into the team. He ran the machine up on the bank until it began to go over. He further explained that in order to keep the car from overturning, he "wrenched around the front wheels" and tore down the bank toward the elderly women. He called the group's speeding away from the scene "a clear case of stage fright in its worst form." Johnston was held on a staggering $10,000 bail and held for trial. Rodgers Sr. paid his legal expenses. In a surprising turn of events, both Johnston and John C. Rodgers, Jr. were indicted for manslaughter in the second degree on April 16.

The "Bailey window" on the staircase as it appears from outside. The small opening below is a stained glass window inset into the overmantel of an excruciatingly charming inglenook.

In April 1910 Rodgers sold the mansion to Dr. Louis Schaefer. The German-born chemist had founded the Schaefer Alkaloid Works in Maywood, New Jersey and owned other chemicals plants both in New York and New Jersey. Schaefer and his wife, Olga, had four children. Two of their daughters were married and living in Germany. Moving into the mansion with their parents were the unmarried Bertha and Ludwig, who, like his father, was a doctor. Things were not going well between Louis and Olga and on May 10, 1911 they separated. The following year, on November 26, Schaefer died in the house. His estate, estimated at $1,555,844 (or about $22.6 million today) was divided primarily among the four children. Newspapers were impressed that his will provided Olga an annuity of $10,000 per year--a comfortable $273,000 in today's money. It also contained an unusual clause regarding the mansion. The Sun reported that it "provided that the contents of his Manhattan home, including his books and paintings, were to go outright 'to those of my children that have not married at the time of my death,'" and that those children had "the right to lease the residence as a home until 1931 at a rental of $1,000 a year, and could buy it for $60,000."

The widow's watch provided breathtaking views.

That clause triggered a battle between Bertha and Ludwig. Before too long Bertha was married to Dr. Franz Koempel. She gave notice to her uncle, the executor of the estate, that she wanted to buy the mansion. Ludwig countered, saying he wanted to buy it and contended that his sister's marriage "deprived her of her right to occupy the house." A law suit was initiated, and because the sisters in Germany had children, they were involved and their fathers had to be served papers. The problem was that the men were in the German army and with Germany engaged in war both were on the battlefront.

Restoration of the "iron and glass" conservatory at the back of the house has not yet begun. The extensive limestone and bluestone retaining wall was listing badly and collapsing at the rear of the property. It was deconstructed and rebuilt by English stone mason, Colin Peters, with some of the work done hands-on by Jenny Spollen and her cousin, Haihua Xu.

Settling the estate became even more complicated when England entered World War I. The Sun explained that a "large deposit" of funds was held in the London branch of the Deutsches Bank of Berlin. The money "was seized by the British Government immediately following the declaration of war." It took years for the Schaefer heirs to receive their inheritance. In the meantime Ludwig and Bertha came to terms and January 1916 she and Dr. Koempel purchased the mansion from the estate. Dr. Franz Koempel's medical office was on East 86th Street. His practice was tagged as "German" in directories for decades. The couple would remain in the former Bailey mansion until 1950.

Apartment buildings were closing in when this photo was taken on September 1, 1935 from the collection of the New York Public Library.

By now James Bailey's high-end residential neighborhood had noticeably changed. The arrival of the Lenox Avenue subway in 1904 and the collapse of Harlem real estate prices around the same time resulted in the district's becoming the center of Manhattan's Black population. Rather than mansions, it was apartment buildings that were being built.

A pretty room leading to a private porch admits light into the main house through a set of stunning etched glass panels.

For years when passing the home while walking to Wadleigh High School on West 114th Street, one teen-aged girl had dreamed of living in the castle on 150th Street. In 1951 the grown-up girl, now married to an NYPD detective, got her wish. Marguerite and Warren Blake purchased the nine-bedroom Bailey house from which Marguerite ran the M. Marshall Blake Funeral Home for decades.

A small fire on the upper floors in 2000 prompted firefighters to break out several of the upper windows. The Blakes, by now, had retired and replacing the windows or repairing the increasingly leaky slate roof of the landmark structure was impossible for the elderly pair. Not yet willing to sell, they moved out. The now empty property continued to deteriorate.

Finally, at the age of 87, Marguerite Blake put her dream house on the market in 2008 for $10 million. The Blakes's inability to maintain the hulking property was apparent. Water had continued to seep in through roof. Plaster had fallen from some of the ceilings. A stifling odor, the result of years of dog urine, defiled the grand spaces. Despite it all, much of the architectural fabric of the Bailey house remained remarkably intact. The exquisite cabinetry, the fixtures like doorknobs and chased hinges, and (other than those lost in the fire) the etched and stained glass windows had survived. There were no takers. A writer for New York Magazine toured the forsaken mansion, calling it “a modern Grey Gardens.” Deliverance came on August 9, 2009 when physical therapist Martin Spollen and his wife, Jenny, purchased the the mother of all fixer-uppers for $1.4 million. The couple embarked on a daunting project, one that would be considered inconceivable for most. Priority was given to the roof--the source of the ongoing water damage. The roof was repaired and slate singles replaced to the precise specifications of the original--down to the pattern of the tiles. Several of the Belcher windows were in danger of being lost as their own weight caused them to sag and threaten to collapse. Expert glass conservators Tricia Somers and Victor Rothman restored the scores of transoms and windows, at times meticulously recreating tiny missing mosaic pieces. The Spollens set up a work-working shop in the basement where Jenny's cousin, skilled carpenter Haihua Xu, reproduces missing or damaged wooden elements. While Martin Spollen carries on his physical therapy practice, Jenny dedicates her full time to the restoration of the mansion--a hands-on labor of devotion. Their astonishing house has always been a private home. Historian Michael Henry Adams remarked that the house “could have been lost 100 times” by being divided into apartments, the interior detailing lost in a conversion to a school or business, or being razed for a modern apartment building.

The end of the restoration project is years away. But the Bailey mansion is safely in good hands. Without the passion of the Spollens for the house and its historic importance it would most likely have continued to decay despite its landmark status. photographs by the author

Source: http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-james-bailey-house-10-st-nicholas.html

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