THE SPITE HOUSE OF MELROSE AVENUE (1899)
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.
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Around the turn of the last century, Melrose Avenue in the Bronx was widened. The land that the city needed to perform this expansion was purchased from private owners. In some cases, however, it left some very-difficult-to-build-on lots. Such was the case with a lot on the corner of East 161st Street and Melrose Avenue.
From The Strand Magazine, 1899.
“This odd building stood on the corner of 161st Street and Melrose Avenue, New York City. It was a bit over 4ft. in depth, 17ft. frontage, and one and a-half storeys high, with a basement and sub-basement built under the broad sidewalk, extending to the curb. The house itself was of wood, on a steel frame, and had a slate roof.
“Its owner was an eccentric tailor, who lived and carried on his trade below the street. The interior consisted of a small show-room, a store-room, and spiral iron stairway going down to the ‘lower regions.’
“The upper storey seems to have been constructed merely as a finishing touch. It was reached by an iron ladder from the store-room. The entire construction, appointments, and fittings were very ingenious, and were all the ideas of the owner.
“The story of the house was that the original lot was cut away in opening the avenue, save only the few feet occupied by the building. A controversy arose between the tailor and the owner of the adjoining property regarding the disposal of the small strip, and the tailor becoming enraged because his neighbour would neither sell his property nor pay the price the knight of the shears demanded, built this odd structure out of spite.
“The [Strand] photo was taken [1897] just at the completion of the building, and before the street had been fully paved. It shows, however, the dimensions of the building, and also the construction under the street, etc.”
The building appears to have existed for some time, becoming the office of a local veterinarian in the 1930s.
By the 1940s, a clam house joined the vet, although it is a good likelihood that there was no inside dining!
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