HE KNOWS HIS JEWELS ARE SAFE (1892)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** When the daughter of a Tammany Hall “boss” is married, how does the new son-in-law protect their wedding gifts? By installing a jewel vault in the cellar of his brownstone, of course! THE JEWEL VAULT ON WASHINGTON PARK When Dr. Alexander F. Carroll married the eldest daughter of Brooklyn Democratic Boss, Hugh McLaughlin, in 1890, the New York Times reported that the “wedding gifts were of the most costly and elaborate nature.” “So valuable were they,” New York’s paper of record continued, “that when Mr. and Mrs. Carroll moved to their Washington Park home they had a great burglar-proof vault built under the sidewalk.” Apparently, all of the Boss’s numerous friends and supporters “remembered the happy couple substantially” which presented them with a good problem to have – how to safeguard their extreme amount of new-found jewel wealth. A list of the bridal presents “covered three columns in the Eagle,” noted The New York Sun, the presenters of which included then-President Cleveland. The value of the gifts were variously estimated at “from $100,000 to $200,000.” Mrs. Carroll was “very much worried because she has had to keep the mass of gold and silver received at the time of her marriage in the house and has had private detectives watching the premises.” […]
The Burning of Mayor Wood’s Home (1855)
One of the buildings involved in yesterday’s horrific conflagration in the East Village had at one time been the residence of a New York City mayor infamous for his suggestion during the Civil War that New York City secede from the Union. According to an 1855 New York Times news-story, that mayor, Fernando Wood, lived at No. 121 Second Avenue (today, No. 123). Apparently, this 4-story and basement single family residence would be his home for many years. The fiercely political 2-term mayor was known for his leadership of Tammany Hall and for a system of massive patronage in city government that would eventually lead to emergence of Boss Tweed. Wood’s initial image, though, was one of anti-corruption, as, while living at his Second Avenue home, he was hailed for rooting out the extensive corruption that was rife within the New York Municipal Police Department at the time. According to the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District Designation Report, 123 Second Avenue was constructed in 1834. It subsequently underwent numerous alterations over the years, one of which likely occurred around 1911 when Second Avenue was famously widened – it was in that action that the building’s stoop and yard were removed. The numbering, also, was altered at some point. The current No. 121 Second Avenue was previously No. 119 Second Avenue, and today’s No. 123 Second Avenue (Wood’s residence) was then No. 121 Second Avenue. Follow @BrownstoneDetec ———————————————————————————————————————– The Brownstone Detectives The story you just read was composed from historical […]
