Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Thank you Nick. From the photo it appears that the structure was razed subsequent to 7/17/1935 and prior to 1/6/1940, the date of the aerial photo (or did I overlook the house in the photo). My photo was dated circa 1940, so it may have been the last photo of the building as it stood in the Fall of 1939, I’m guessing. It looks like the property ended up being a parking lot next to 55 Knolls Crescent in the early 1950s. Sad.
Your second photo apparently was taken around 1902. Close inspection shows the words “Spuyten Duyvil” laid out on the embankment underneath the pedestrian overpass to the train station. I’m sure that they are all gone now, but can you identify any of the buildings on the hill to the left of the station?
I wonder what the story is of the boat the O.H. Notter (or Hotter, as best that I can make out). She doesn’t look seaworthy in the picture, lol.
ChatGPT estimates the population to be between 7,000 to 12,000 in 1940, depending on the boundaries chosen. Intuitively, that seems high.
Thanks for these, Nick. I wonder when the building in your last photo was razed. 2575 Palisade Ave seems to be in its location now and that building was constructed in 1958, according to NYCityMap.
Do you have the link to the aerial photo in your first picture? I’d like to see the building that seems to be just out of frame to the right. I’ll post a photo of it below (circa 1940, Getty Images, credit FPG). Palisade Ave and Edsall Ave can be seen below it (about an inch at this scale). It’s a beauty and I’d like to know its history.
Thank you, Peter. Would this 1924 aerial photo show the Berrian-Johnson house (circled in yellow)? The resolution prohibits greater detail, but it seems that the house is facing the East River and Inwood. It also seems to show an large cleared area in front of the house, giving us an idea of what a denuded expansive view the area would have had in the Revolutionary Period. Edgehill Church is in the red heart showing the two locations relative to one another described in the article in post #1648.
The Villa Rose Bonhuer, newly constructed, is shown in the orange hexagonal, I think.
I have no idea what the building in the blue star was. It might have been located at what is now 2521 Palisade Ave which was built in 1986 (according to NYCityMap site).
Your post #1762 above has the photo of the gavel.
Regarding the photo of sfp1979’s great great uncle, Evert Berrian Snedeker, I believe that the negative was NOT reversed. The cardigan sweater shows the left overlapping the right (the button holes on the left flap, the buttons on the right flap) as is the custom for men’s clothing. There doesn’t appear to be any buildings close to the circled house that would match that seen in the post #4876, either. I don’t think that that photo is of the Berrian-Johnson house.
I would guess that when the house was first constructed, many trees may have been felled or perhaps (not likely) there was only brush then. I’m glad you had that experience. I’ve taken it upon myself to visit the various graves of my relatives throughout the States…a somewhat weird endeavor, for sure! I’ve even found the building lot where my father, together with my grandfather, build a home in Harlan, Iowa. I have a picture of him with his family standing before the unfinished house, him being 10 years old at the time. I understand your feelings.
A hop, skip and jump away from KHS in Henry Hudson Park? Glad you found where the house was. Were you able to determine the orientation of the house with regard to the Hudson River?
Thanks for this, Stephanie, as always.
I suppose that we can infer that no “no-sublet” clause existed and that the lease was periodically renewed in good faith, since it wasn’t mentioned in the article. As far as I know, a tenant in good standing cannot be evicted until end of the lease. I wonder if that eventually happened. Housing was in great demand after WWII. Willian J. Levitt jumped on the opportunity with the Levittown development on Long Island beginning in 1947 and then in Pennsylvania and still later in New Jersey.
Blackbird1 shows us the 1930 Census indicating Rea Irvin living at an address without a street number on Kapock St on April 27th of that year. How could he not have had that as his primary address unless he was pulling some skulduggery? As you point out, on September 6th of that year the NYT published that a transfer of title of the Berrien-Johnson property had occurred sometime before that date (logically speaking) to Rea. He might have been planning to move when the census was taken or shortly thereafter when the notice of sale was announced, or perhaps it was just a serendipitous spur-of-the-moment thing for him.
I found the “Warrior” essay regarding the Irish Terrier interesting. Smart dog who knew where to get first-aid! Is this from a 1925 issue of The New Yorker? If so, I don’t understand how this demonstrates Rea not having the Kapock house, which is in the Spuyten Duyvil district, as his primary location in 1930. Also, I’m not sure that the neighbor’s dog, the Irish Terrier, fought Rea’s dog; the essay mentions “an opponent”. I’m sure that I have probably missed something. Would you point me in the right direction?
Thanks again for all this.
Thank you for the link to NYC Then & Now. It’s a fascinating map. Alas, zooming in doesn’t improve the definition at all for my neighborhood. It’s interesting to see the changes. I can recall the flower arrangement that the Parks Department planted in front of the Manor house. It really was breathtaking to see the hundreds of flowers neatly planted in the grid pattern, with the marble fountain in the center. The last time I was there, probably 10 years ago, the fountain was boarded up with plywood sheets. From the 2024 photo is seems to be completely missing. Sad.
I seem to recall there being photos of the station in total disrepair…rusting away, in posts on this site. I’m sorry that I can’t be more specific. As a boy, I would on occasion in my wanderings in Van Cortlandt Park reach that area on the Putnam Trail and I can recall seeing the remains of the station, together with the stone samples that were placed there to see the effects of weather on the different types of stone. I recall climbing on them, which was a challenge for a boy. I didn’t know what they were or why they were there until I found out on this site. They were the choices for the construction of the Grand Central Terminal, I believe.
What you posit could very well be true! Two things: do we know the date of the postcard picture and (I don’t know if it matters) do we know the orientation of the house relative to the compass? The lighting of the picture indicates relatively strong sunlight. Was it morning or was it late afternoon? A mystery 8^)
I see a possible similarity between the right ears of the two gentlemen. Beyond that, there isn’t enough detail to say for sure.
When we compare your photo with that of Thomas’s postcard picture I would say that they are not the same house. I compare the number of columns from the end of the house to the steps, four in the postcard picture (including the one right at the steps) and three in your photo. Also, comparing the capitals at the top of the columns we can see different designs. Further, there are decorative fillets where the columns meet the roof in your photo that are not there in the postcard picture. I think that the house in your photo is not the Berrien-Johnson house.
tmara2, thanks for the photos. I believe that you are correct in thinking they are of Hedley Oval. The elevated station has what looks like the signal building and crew quarters that are a part of the 242nd Street station.
Could you provide a link to the first photo? The aerial view includes my old apartment building that was completed in 1923. It also shows the carousel building adjacent to the North stair entrance to the train. I’m interested in that, too.
Karlreinsons (Karl?), the pastry chef was Teddy, who, I think, had Parkinson’s Disease. I watched in amazement when he would approach a cake with the icing bag very noticeably shaking, and then make beautiful designs with no shaking. The baker and owner was Placid Calluso. His wife was Marie, I think. I always addressed her as Mrs. Calluso. They had one child, a girl named June, or Junie as we called her. She and my older sister (by 5 years) were great friends.
Wouldn’t that take the cake if Thomas’s photo has Evert Van Wicklen Snedeker in it! That elderly gentleman standing on the left could be in his late 50s, early 60s, I would guess.
I’ll do a little detecting…this is a photo taken in the afternoon of an early Spring day of your great-great uncle in his 40’s around 1925. How’d I do? A wild guess as to his height and weight…5” 8”, 150lbs.
A handsome man. What did he do for a living?sfp1979, you can type your message and then click on the last icon in the task bar above the area you wrote in (the icon that has the box with the mountain range and moon). That will open up a box in which you click on the camera icon. That will open up File Explorer for your computer (I’m assuming that it is stored on you computer). Click on the file that has the photo. That location will then be automatically pasted into the rectangular box next to the camera icon. Then click “OK”. I think that that will work for you. I’ll keep my fingers crossed 8^)
I have a memory of walking with my Father down to the Younkheere Lumber Yard at 3320 Bailey Ave, which is where ChatGPT says Younkheere’s was located in 1946, in order to get a few 1 x 8 x 8 ft boards that he needed in order to make built-in book shelves for the livingroom of our apartment at 4652 Manhattan College Pkwy. It was a long walk back with me carrying one end of the planks, with the middle of them undulating up and down in sync with our steps…hard work for a 10 year old. We rested often. That was my first experience interacting with a lumber yard. It was sufficiently interesting that I still can picture the inside, cavernous to a boy. I can almost remember the smell.
I appreciate the history in this topic. Thank you, Nick.
Yes, I can see the walkway on Saxon Ave that leads to the courtyard on Google Maps. A very interesting history. Thanks.
Hi DrDan.
Building One, which appears to have its main entrance at 74 VCPS, doesn’t have any commercial areas facing the streets that I can see. Per the NYCityMap site, the building was constructed in 1928. Was the pharmacy within the apartment building and available only to the co-op owners? Was that also the case for the grocery store?
The building at 50 VCAW was also erected in 1928, according to NYCityMap. If the dates of construction cited in NYCityMap are correct (and that’s a big “if”), then the building was first used in another fashion before accommodating the grocery store and the pharmacy.
I used to walk from my apartment at 4652 Manhattan College Pkwy (Spuyten Duyvil Pkwy until the name change in 1953), across the construction of the Major Deegan in Van Cortlandt Park, up VCAW and along Sedgwick Ave to DeWitt Clinton HS from 1950 to 1954). That was after I gave up riding the city bus down Broadway and changing busses at either W 238th or W 231st. I think that we were issued bus passes, but my memory is fuzzy now. A few times, in order to vary the route, I would use the stairs at the beginning of VCPS and walk along that street to Mosholu Pkwy, then down to the HS. Good times!Thank you, Thomas, for the follow up. I look forward to reading your article, And, yes, I’m Jonathan Baker, Jonathan to you all.
.