THE WINDSOR TERRACE ASH HOLE (1903)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** Nobody likes an ash hole. It is a given fact. They’re a nuisance. They’re an eyesore. And everyone would rather they go somewhere else than stick around and continue to bother them. So, when a wealthy real estate operator and contractor, a Thomas McCann, who owned the land in Windsor Terrace where the ash hole was to go – what today comprises the backyards of Nos. 637 – 641 17th Street – determined to sell the land to an ash hole operator, all hell broke loose. For many years a dumping ground for the Street Cleaning Department and various contractors, the triangular plot of land, was now up for sale to the City. McCann, the owner, claimed the land to be quite valuable at $12,500. The City, though, thought it was really only worth less than half of that, at $5,700. The City’s real estate expert, the man who’s opinion about land might have mattered the most, and “who went over the property carefully,” thought it was worth only $1,132. The neighbors, who would have to deal with the ash hole if it moved in next door, seemed to be the only ones who really knew the value of living next to an ash hole – $500. In the end, the […]
THE “SPITE WALL” OF CALDERVILLE (1919)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** We have all heard of the “spite house.” It is a type of building – constructed on an impossibly small piece of land – existing for a single purpose. That purpose? Spite. In 1919, Marcus Siegelman produced a variation on this theme. He built a spite “wall.” BAD WALLS MAKE BAD NEIGHBORS Sitting in his backyard one day, Siegelman watched as two holes began to appear through the brick wall at the end of his yard. That brick wall was the side of his neighbor’s house, and those holes were about 15 feet up from ground level. Small at first, they eventually grew to the shapes of a couple of large rectangles. Siegelman immediately had his suspicions, but he waited to see what would happen. Slowly, after they were made perfectly squared, into the new openings were installed a couple of sash windows. Siegelman, who lived at No. 1627 10th Avenue in what was known at the time as Calderville (but is referred to today as Windsor Terrace), was now suddenly at war with his neighbor, E. L. Morris, a former policeman who lived at No. 192 Windsor Place (the house behind his with the new windows). For Morris now had a perfect view into Siegelman’s backyard – and his home. […]
