The sun., 1897-05-09
A CITY RAMBLE IN 1S47.
vuERE WELL-RNoWN NEW YORK
rpsI LIVED HlLFA CENTURY AGO.

-. R..Ideptiai Districts OF the City at That
p.r,od-Faahion That Clustered Around
1ou.r PIrth Avenue ana the NsiEhberinE
s,r.et,-Weii-Known Famiiies Downtown.
,rv veternn Kniokorbockor Of to-day who
=. iu.t Of age in 1s47 and familiar with tho
s,,v streets and society OF that day may now bo
s,ncied as walking through Now York's streets
onc OF these May mornings with grandson
and engaged in comparing the residential por-
,Ions OF tho city as situated below Madison
,ounre half century ago with those now reach
Inc 10 the Harlem heights. The veterans recol-
Lotions would. as the ramble continued. per-
hans. day by day supply typographical and
sarial picture Of the New York Of his own early
ssy something like the following:
Vast Twenty. third street, from Madison square
over 10 tho East River, presents vista OF vacant
lots. with here and there a few taxable lots liza.
bio to a rate Of about per cent. West Twenty
third street, toward Sixth avenue-now like
Iondons Regent street or tho Rue de la Paix
IN Paris or the Freidrichstrasse in Berlin-dis.
olays only three vacant lots, while new four.
.tory houses OF brownstone, with courtyards In
front, show doorpatcs bearing such names as
J.w Leavitt q thriving dry goods jobber; John
Newhouse an eminent Knickorbocker and John
pucr, an oracle on insurance law, and q de.
,ccndant OF the patriot Lord Stirling, who was
destined 10 DCCOmo great SnleI JUSTICE OF
the Superior Court. All householders dwell
amid q scmi.suburban quietude, dream.
ing not at all of the commercial pal.
aces that are in time to displace their
lares and penates and drive away both hearth.
stones and crickets. Three blocks lower down
in the street groups Of sightseers are examining
anew row Of fifty brick villas Of uniform archi-
lecture with deep gardens In front guarded by
decorative iron palings and named London Ter
race; after the style of houses yet to be seen on
old Kensington road. London Terrace is the
home OF Azariah c. Flagg. recently Comptroller
OF the State. and twelve years later to fill tho
same office in municipal government and intro.
duce Andrew H. Green to legal fame. 1t is also
the home OF Samuel Constant, a popular ner.
chant and Of William A. Kobbe. a valuable and
enterprising auctionecr. long a valued citizen.
Although the row is few years old. the quaint
houses continue to attract strangers.
II the ramblers turn into Eleventh avenue
thev would, when looking northward. view the
area constituting the West End avenue of to-
day as q waste of unfenced ground. And IL the
ramblers looked also northward in either Tenth
or Ninth avenue they could have readily counted
the number Of buildings within view. for the
city directory at these points drew residential
line at Twenty third street.
When in the course of the 1s47 ramble Four
teenth street was reached vacant lots would be
ness block OF 1897 between Sixth and Fifth ave
Here Here resided Charles Gould. a semi.millionsire
banker whose daughter was long afterward a
matrqplyy, belle Of San Francisco IS as the wife Of
viii William % HssteG. Robert cosate T RoSert sl"fa L.
all eminent merchants of the day and In all the
social swims Here. too; lived renowned lawyers
like Seth p. Staples IA high authority on patents).
R0nnay n nj he mn
Of Appeals). whose recent wedding with the
beautiful young daughter Of sylvanus Rapaije
able world; Edgar s. Van Winkie Whose legal
attest to any abstract of title was guarantee
s me and e. saf Of thin he
spingler estate; whose residence was q show
Tho venerable tree that now in these bright May
days gladdens with its foliage the eyes Of the
noble army OF shoppers was comparatively
'SSnt On the S East Fourteenth street block at tho
minds eye Of the veteran would see the ample
mansion Of Moses H. Grinnell: ex-Congressman
snS Of a hi Thh
sser G
+. Penniman. an esteemed host and millionaire
and such rich and honored men as Jonathan
both powerful meresstile names in is47ii,
gachs McEvsrs. Frederick Bronson. and
Eh 1. then one lot the
worth more than sioo 600. and It was Isss purchss
able then for twenty. On the Fourteenth street
lived Cornelius '. 8. Roosevelt, a retired hard.
ware merchant and millionaire grandfather Of
Marshall. retired ship master and millionaire,
whose corner residence was then being prepared
III the ev,1d Wedding Of his daughter with William
Liith avenue might seq, two doors below -Four
&ougham before his basement house, yet a
achelor residence. although society knew he
daughter Of Commodore @ % Matthew Il ' G. S'f Perry.
And walking southwark toward Washington
parade ground mot yet christened by the Park
q Ben Aymar. Lindley Murray Hoffman. James
ei Judge Aaron, vanderpoei. best known from I'M
as,Ss ais Congressional deep bass voice as the KIN
dsh Wolfe Bra
up the avenue). robert b. Minturn (the charm
aTs,psd ins psdann,hsopis James Lenex TO be similarly
Henry Bergh lretired ship builder, miiionaire.
societies for the Prevention Of Cruelty TO Ami.
mals nas and to Cbildrenl Augustus Zerega. Samuel
each side OF his new mansion near Ninth street,. ire
and Henry @. De Rham. whose now quaint.look-
d bnanss aos bey YET eIsh " the wreck
Had the ramblers looked up Fifth avenue
when turning ont Of Fourteenth street they
gould have seen the modest house of tho elder
Leary hard by, in which his son, the Treasurer
q eiTammany Hall and the financial adviser Of
Mrs. Paran Stevens. died. and in which Miss
Ieary still celebrates cosey o'clock teas. Noar
Fifteenth street, and bounded by several vacant
lots, were the new houses Of Daniel B. Fearing
end Frederick Gebhardt (the latter the father OF
Frederick Gebhard who long ago dropped the
final t" from the family surnameI. AtSixteenth
etreet were the now brownstone mansions of the
broIhers Kingsland and Of George Griswold, and
N Thirty sixth street that OF Sidney Mason. one
Of The crack dinner and ball givers Of the period.
When the ramblers, after exploring lower
fifth avenue reached the Termination and
fnrned into Waverley- place they saw between
University place and Macdougal street massive
brick mansions with stable news in the rear.
After the London fashion. slangily termed MIL
gonaire Row." in which resided ex.Mayor
stephen Allen doomed 1ve years later to meet
S Death IN the burning of The Hudson River day
Sat SGat Henry Clay, City Chamberlain Shepherd
leather swamp in Gold street,. John J. Phelps.
John 0othout. Nat Hubbard lthe pride OF the Pro.
auce Exchange, that owns his marble bust). his
fSon'inlaw. Frank Saltus, Henry Chauncey (the
rpanama rhnama Railway king) Apollo r. Wetmore,
gillian G. Rhinelander (among the earliest OF
new fork's multi-millionaires(, George G: How
and. James Boorman (who had moved TO WASH
fran