The Afred Rossin House -- No. 15 East 62nd Street

In 1871 brothers David and John Jardine worked both as real estate developers and architects.  Before the century was up, they would line blocks of the newly-developing Upper East Side with long rows of brownstone homes.  But this year they worked on a project as architects only; designing six neo-Grec style homes for contractors William H. and Charles Gedney.

Like Charles T. Wills, W. H. Gedney & Son, would play a major part in building and construction in the second half of the 19^thcentury.  Their speculative homes at Nos. 11 through 21 East 62^nd Street would be completed in 1872—handsome Victorian residences with broad stoops and carved stone railings sure to lure merchant class homeowners.

By at least 1891 respected dermatologist Dr. Sigmund Lustgarten was living in No. 15.  That year he had written “The Primary Cause of Death Following Burns to the Skin, with Therapeutic Observations” published in the Medical Record.  Born in Vienna, he came to New York in 1889 and became the visiting dermatologist at Mount Sinai Hospital.  He instructed “many of the leading dermatologists of this city,” said The New York Times later; and was a consultant for the Montefiore Home and other institutions.

Dr. Lustgarten and his wife sold the 62^nd Street house in March 1899.  Shortly thereafter The New York Times revealed the buyer as Frank C. Hollins.  But as was often the case, Hollins was apparently acting as an agent to keep the actual purchaser’s name temporarily unknown.

A month later the same newspaper reported on the society wedding of Alfred Rossin and Clara Lewisohn.  The couple was married in the “the newly completed residence of the bride’s father, 9 West Fifty-seventh Street, one of the most beautiful of New York’s newer houses.”  Among the guests that day were some of Manhattan’s wealthiest and best known Jewish citizens, with names like Rothschild, Untermeyer, Stern and Guggenheimer.

The newlyweds would move into the former Lustgarten house—but not before updating the old Victorian.  Rossin commissioned C. P. H. Gilbert, who had recently completed massive mansions for Isaac D. Fletcher and Franklin Winfield Woolworth, to transform the old brownstone into an up-to-date mansion.

Gilbert stripped off the drab stone façade and replaced it with gleaming limestone.  The resulting Beaux Arts beauty bore no resemblance to its former self.  A rusticated basement and parlor floor base supported a bowed second story façade which, in turn, acted as a spacious balcony at the third floor. 

Prior to its remake, No. 15 matched its next door neighbor (right) -- photo by Wurts Bros, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UAYW1J2RFV&SMLS=1&RW=1280&RH=915&PN=3#/SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UAYW1J2RFV&SMLS=1&RW=1280&RH=915&PN=3

Rossin was President of the Public National Bank; and while he busied himself with things financial, his wife was involved with the Hebrew Technical School for Girls as its president.  Working along with her was her father, investment banker Adolph Lewisohn, who served as vice-president.  The school came under fire in January 1917 when Felix Warburg laid plans to update the curriculum.

Warburg was a banker and member of the conference board of the Rockefeller Foundation, which planned to revise primary and secondary education nationwide.  Shocking (and unacceptable) to traditional Edwardian minds was his announcement that Latin and Greek would be replaced by French and German in the “modern school.”  He fired back at criticism saying “It is questionable whether a child can be taught what he ought to know under our present system,” and Adolph Lewisohn back him up.  According to the New-York Tribune on January 22, 1917, he “said the community needed more schools like the Hebrew Technical School for Girls.”

Not far away, at No. 40 East 68^th Street, was the grand mansion of John Daniel Crimmins.  The wealthy contractor had created the lavish home by combining two older row houses.  On November 9, 1917 the aging widower died with seven of his ten children at his bedside.  Within three months of the funeral, the Crimmins family moved out of the family home.

On March 16, 1918 The Sun reported “The Crimmins family…will occupy the dwelling at 15 East Sixty-second street, a small house, in the future.”  Alfred and Clara Rossin used their house, valued at $97,000, as partial payment for the Crimmins mansion, which they purchased for $350,000.

Apparently the “small house” on 62^nd Street was not sufficient for the Crimmins siblings.  Just a year later, on May 5, 1919, The Sun reported that the house was sold to Howard Elliott for $110,000.  “The new owner plans to occupy the house after making extensive alterations,” said the newspaper.

The 59-year old railroad executive and his wife had two married daughters and a son.  He was President of the New York, New Haven & Hartford and the Northern Pacific Railroads.  He was, as well, a director of 17 other railroads, director of the American Railway Association, and sat on the boards of numerous other concerns.

Elliott came from a distinguished family.  His father, Charles Wyllys Elliott was a historian and author of several books.  The Elliott family traced its American roots to John Eliot who settled in Natick, Massachusetts in 1631 and was known as “The Apostle to the Indians.”  On his mother’s side was Samuel Howard, a member of the Boston Tea Party of 1773.

The Elliotts moved into No. 15 in 1919 -- photographs from the Library of Congress

Following his wife’s death in 1925, the semi-retired Elliott lived on in the 62^nd Street house with his son, Howard Elliott, Jr.  Three years later he traveled to Cape Cod to spend the summer in the home of his daughter, Mrs. Frederick Wilson.  There, on July 8, 1928 he suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 67.

Elliott’s entire estate of about $2.25 million was divided among his family.  On October 29, 1929 the house was sold to real estate operator Charles Brown.   He held the property for only 48 hours.  The New York Times, on November 1, wrote “After an ownership of two days, the five-story limestone residence at 15 East Sixty-second Street was resold yesterday by Charles Brown.”  The newspaper added that the buyer “plans to rebuild the house and occupy it.  The alterations will include the installation of an electric elevator.”

Earlier that year Jennie, the wife of wealthy banker Henry White Cannon, died.  New Yorker socialites were no doubt shocked a year later on September 18 when the 80-year old married Miss Myrta L. Jones.  The Times reported that “After a wedding trip the couple will live at 15 East Sixty-second Street.”

Cannon was a member of the board and a former president of the Chase National Bank.  His illustrious financial career included having been appointed Controller of the Currency by President Chester A. Arthur in 1884 and serving as a delegate to the International Monetary Conference in Brussels in 1892.

Myrta’s family was well respected in Cleveland society; but Henry’s pedigree was impeccable.  On his mother side was Peregrine White, born aboard the Mayflower on November 20, 1620 while the ship was moored in Cape Cod Harbor.  His grandfather fought in the Revolutionary War and died a prisoner of the British in Manhattan.

The millionaire’s age did not prevent him from fathering a son, Harry.  Each winter the family would travel to Daytona Beach where Cannon had owned a house on South Beach Street.  Henry Cannon’s health was been failing for some time in 1934, and it was at the Florida home in April, that he died.

Myrtle and little Harry accompanied the body back to New York and Cannon’s funeral was held early in May in Delhi, New York, where he was born.

No. 15 East 62^nd Street became home to Dr. Johan H. W. van Ophuijsen, an eminent psychiatrist and director of the Creedmoor Institute for Psychobiologic Studies.  Born in Sumatra, he was associated early in his career with Dr. Sigmund Freud and Dr. Ivan Pavov—pioneers of psychoanalysis.

He came to New York by invitation of the Psychanalytic Institute to teach in 1935.  He would teach there from 1938 to 1948.  He served on the psychiatric staffs of Mount Sinai and Lenox Hill Hospitals, and beginning in 1946 was attending psychiatrist at the Veterans Administration.

The New York Times would write of him, “Dr. van Ophuijsen stressed the importance of the role of the father in the psychological rearing of children, taking sharp issue with experts who had ‘told but half the story,’ he said, in blaming psychoneurotic symptoms—which in this country made many young men unfit to bear arms during the recent war—on the mother.”

Ophuijsen renovated a lower floor in the house as an office where he personally saw patients.  As well as living in here, he founded the Van Ophuijsen Center in the house.  In May 1950 he was stricken with a heart problem, “but flew to Detroit to read a paper before the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting,” said The Times.

Four weeks later, on Wednesday May 31, the 68-year old psychiatrist said good-night to his last patient of the day.  A few minutes later he suffered a heart attack and died in the house on East 62^nd Street.

The Beaux Arts mansion continues to be home to the Center, a philanthropic, non-profit institution that carries on its founder’s work.  Outwardly, it remains relatively unchanged since mansion architect C. P. H. Gilbert transformed an outdated Victorian to an modern Edwardian for wealthy newlyweds.

non-credited photographs by the author

The 1903 Van Norden Mansion -- No. 8 East 62nd Street

Until the turn of the last century East 62^ndStreet between Fifth and Madison Avenues was lined with 1870s brownstone rowhouses.  But now Manhattan’s mansion district had engulfed the neighborhood and one-by-one the old homes were either razed or drastically remodeled.  Among them was No. 8 and it, too, would soon fall victim to the trend.

Built between 1879 and 1880, it was one of a row of eight matching homes constructed by architect-developers Breen & Nason.  During the 1890s it was home to the William H. Falconer family and Mrs. Falconer routinely announced her “at homes” through the newspaper society pages.

When real estate operator Thomas J. McLaughlin purchased the Falconer residence, it was the end of the line for the old brownstone.  McLaughlin commissioned John H. Duncan to design a replacement mansion on the site.  Duncan, who had recently been busy designing fine homes for millionaires like Philip Lehman and Elias Asiel, produced a five-story limestone mansion in the popular Beaux Arts style.   

Construction began in 1902 and was completed the following year.  The American basement design provided for a dramatic entranceway a few steps above the sidewalk.  Double doors with heavy French grillwork sat within a deep recess under an exquisitely-carved address cartouche surrounded by palms and ribbons.  Duncan provided a balcony for every floor, with either carved stone or handsome iron railings; each accessed by French doors.

The American Architect and Building News made note of the handsome entranceway on September 5, 1903 (copyright expired)

Although The New York Times said the house “compares favorably with any of the fine residences built speculatively east of Central Park,” it was not sold until the following year.  On August 11, 1904 the newspaper said “The price is not announced, although it is known that the house has been held at $270,000.”  That would translate to just under $7 million today.

The buyer was Warner Van Norden, President of the Van Norden Trust Company.  The Year Book of the Holland Society of New Yorkcalled him “a descendant of one of the oldest Dutch as well as one of the oldest Huguenot families that have figured in the early history of the city.”

Now 63-years old, the widowed banker and capitalist had been President of the National Bank of North America until January 1902, when he organized his trust company.  Deeply religious, he was a prominent member of the Board of Foreign Missions, a director of the American Tract Society and the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor.

Van Norden had two sons, Warner Montagnie and the Rev. Theodore L. Van Norden, and a daughter.  When the 22-year old Emma joined the Salvation Army in October 1892, she had shocked Manhattan society.  At the time Van Norden dismissed reporters.  “Both he and his daughter were sorry that comments upon the fact had been printed, because Miss Van Norden’s action was entirely her own affair, and the family wished that no further talk might be made about it,” reported The New York Times on December 10 that year.

Captain Cox of the Salvation Army said she “was simply a good young woman who had joined the army on the same footing as any other girl less fortunate in the possession of affectionate parents, plenty of money and hosts of friends.”

Emma’s enthusiasm and hard work led to her becoming the private secretary to General William Booth after several years.  Her allegiance to the Salvation Army cost her some friends.  The Times later said “she was absolutely loyal to the army.  She would never go anywhere unless the army uniform was recognized, and this attitude cost her many friends in the circle in which she had been accustomed to move.”

By the time her father purchased the 62^nd Street mansion, she was traveling more than she was home.  “In carrying out her army work it was necessary for Miss Van Norden to travel extensively,” said The Times on August 29, 1906.  “It was said of her that she had visited every land where the army had a post, and this means that she had been practically all over the world.”

When she was not traveling, Emma lived in the house with her father.   In August 1906, while she was in Scotland, Warner Van Norden was in ill health.  The woman, now 35 years old, was riding in a carriage with friends, including her cousins Ottomar Van Norden and the Rev. Dr. Oliver H. Bronson, on August 21.  The party was traveling from Glen Shee to Blairgowrie when the horses bolted “overturning the carriage and throwing out the passengers with much force,” as reported by The Times.

Emma sustained horrible injuries, including a fractured skull and the newspaper account described “a portion of the brain protruding.”  She survived for a week, dying on August 18.  In reporting her death, The New York Times mentioned “Her father has been in bad health for some time, and the news of Miss Van Norden’s accident and death has rendered his condition serious.”

To made matters worse, only a few months later, in December, the funeral of Warner Van Norden’s sister, Cornelia Van Norden Bedford,  was held in the 62^nd Street house. 

The address is carved into the cartouche, from which exquisitely-carved fronds spread.  The motive is carried out in the doorway grill ornamentation.

Nevertheless, Warner Van Norden recovered and lived on in the 62^nd Street house.  His son, Warner, took over the presidency of the Van Norden Trust Company following his retirement.  Unfortunately, the junior Van Norden’s business acumen fell far short of his father’s.

Warner Van Norden died on New Year’s Day 1914.  Manhattan’s banking and social circles were shocked when it was revealed on October 15 the following year that the one-time millionaire had died penniless.  “The banker’s financial misfortune was brought about by his efforts to lift his son, Warner M. Van Norden, out of the financial hole into which the latter had fallen while President of the Van Norden Trust Company and also President of the Nineteenth Ward Bank, according to testimony of the Rev. Theodore Langdon Van Norden, another son, who appeared at the Appraiser’s hearings,” reported The Times.

The senior Van Norden had given his son everything he owned and had mortgaged the 62^nd Street house—assessed at $150,000—to the amount of $501,657.  His gross personal property amounted to $84,963 at his death; while his debts totaled nearly $450,000.

The following year in November the estate leased the house to Joseph P. Grace of W. R. Grace & Co.  Mrs. Grace lost little time in opening its doors for entertaining.  On Tuesday, January 4, 1916 she gave a dance in honor of her niece, Margaret Kent.

By the 1920s the mansion was home to the John Alexander Manson family, including Manson’s wealthy mother-in-law Mrs. George Sloane.  Mrs. Sloane had another daughter, the well-married Mrs. Albert Henry Flint; and a son, Parker Sloane, President and founder of the Roosevelt Savings Bank.  Newspapers followed the movements of the socially-prominent family; and on August 29, 1920 The Sun and the New York Herald both reported “Mrs. George Sloane of 8 East Sixty-second street is entertaining at the Mountain House, Lake Mohonk, her daughter, Mrs. Albert Henry Flint.  Her son, Mr. Parker, is at the Homestead, Hot Springs, Va.”

Two years later, on November 22, 1922, the New-York Tribunereported on Margaret Sloane Manson’s upcoming debut, which would include a dance at the Ritz-Carlton on January 2, 1922. 

Margaret Sloane Manson was a debutante in 1922 -- the New-York Tribune Nov. 20, 1922 (copyright expired)

The Mansons spend the summer in Europe in 1924, but returned in time for Margaret’s marriage to Clinton Elliott Jr. in the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in November.  By the mid-1930s it was Parker Sloane who was living in the house; but its days of a single-family mansion were drawing to a close.

In 1946 the residence was converted by architect James E. Casale.  There was now a doctor’s office on the first floor, a duplex above, followed by two apartments on the third floor, one on the fourth, and two on the fifth.   Shortly thereafter author Thomas O. Heggen and actor Alan Campbell took the duplex apartment.  Tragically, on May 19, 1949 Heggen was found dead in his bathtub.  The Oxford Illustrate Literary Guide to the United States later said “Heggen’s death, the result of an overdose of sleeping pills, was ruled a suicide.”

A sneak thief made his way into the apartment of Mrs. Rosalind Diener on February 18, 1957.  Rosalind’s sister, Mrs. Leona Diener Weitz of Cleveland, Ohio, had been a house guest for more than two weeks and both women were out that afternoon.  When Mrs. Weitz returned around 5:30, “she discovered that the four-room apartment had been ransacked,” reported The Times the following Day.

Most of the $77,000 in stolen furs and jewelry belonged to the visiting sister.  “The police said the missing property included two expensive mink coats, as well as diamonds, rubies and other gems in platinum settings.”  The women’s lost property would amount to approximately $600,000 today.

The house enjoyed its short time in the cinema spotlight when it appeared as the home of wealthy socialite Claire Gregory in the 1987 romance crime thriller film Someone to Watch Over Me.

In 1992 architect Emilio Ambasz paid $3.2 million for the mansion which he used as his home and office, along with the rental-producing apartments.  Then in May 2007 real estate investor Keith Rubenstein agreed to pay $35 million for No. 8 East 62^ndStreet.  According to brokers, he beat out entertainer Madonna, who offered 25 percent less.

The New York Times reported on May 27, 2007 “Now Mr. Rubenstein is planning an extensive renovation to restore the mansion, listed as having 14,000 square feet on six levels, to a single-family home.  He is planning to add a pool and a Russian steam bath, in a renovation that he said could take up to two years to complete.”

Today the distinguished Beaux Arts façade has been carefully restored and, as Thomas McLaughlin intended in 1902, No. 8 East 62^ndStreet is a private home to a very wealthy owner.

photographs by the author