Reconstructing Tesla's East Houston Neighborhood.

I have undertaken the task of reconstructing Tesla's East Houston neighborhood using information from the city atlases and the Trow's business directories. Links to the sources are available near the bottom of the post.

Bromley Atlases.

The Bromley atlases of New York City (or Manhattan, etc.) are crammed with detailed information, so much so, that they can be difficult to digest. Along with street names and addresses, they strive to present the structural material of buildings (wood, stone, brick), dimensions of buildings (stories, width along street front), street width, along with sewage, water and a host of other information.

The New York Public Library system has the most complete set available online. These can be downloaded and, for those in the public domain, used at will. Those available through their NYPL Map Warper have the highest resolution — and a high resolution may be necessary to read all of the information. A typical tiff format file is approximately 80 MB. The legend to the 1897 set of maps is presented in two parts, below.

From Atlas of the city of New York, Manhattan Island. From actual surveys and official plans by George W. and Walter S. Bromley, 1897.

Below is a portion of plate 8 from the 1897 Atlas. This is the neighborhood around Tesla's 46-48 E Houston laboratory where he worked from July, 1895 on into the 20th century.


From Atlas of the city of New York, Manhattan Island. From actual surveys and official plans by George W. and Walter S. Bromley, 1897. The names of Mulberry, Mott and Elizabeth were added and general map information running beneath E. Houston was eliminated.

Trow's Directories.

Many of the annual editions of Trow's business directories and city directories of New York are available online from Hathi Trust, Archives.org and Google Books. These are presented in converted text as well as the scanned files, among other formats. The text allow word searches but the conversion can induce errors and searches can be incomplete. In one instance, E Houston became B Houston in the text version. In another, extreme case, "ass E Houston b" i" iosoioooher Morris" was "356 E Houston Isselbacher Morris" in the photocopy.

Although it is likely that scan conversion errors made my search incomplete, I did check each information "hit" against the scans of the original document and errors were corrected. My search focused on each reference to E Houston from the 1898 edition. I also checked key addresses in the 1897 directory.

Combining the Information.

The East Houston laboratory was located at addresses 46-48 on the north side of East Houston with Mulberry Street to the west and Mott Street to the east.


Addresses:
North side East Houston, Mulberry to Mott: 42 to 52 (even numbers) Width of block: 171.3 feet.
South side East Houston, Mulberry to Mott: 41 to 55 (odd numbers) Width of block: 175.5 feet.

Guide to the format of occupants of buildings.
Category of business as presented in Trow's. Name of business or owner last name, first name. Address. (Page in directory, 1898, unless otherwise noted.)

E. Houston, northwest corner of Mulberry.

Building address: 40 E. Houston. Lot #: 43. Street front width: 35.1 feet. Five stories. Brick.
Occupants:
Spool Cotton. Pollack, Max. 40 E Houston (p.1008)
Millinery Goods. Hochheimer, Albert, 40 E Houston (p. 717)
Clothiers. Samuels M. and Co, 40 E Houston (p. 284)

E. Houston, southwest corner of Mulberry. (Puck Building, still standing)

Building address: 39 E. Houston. Lot #: 45. Street front width: 118.11 feet. Eight stories. Brick.
Occupants:
Newspapers, Periodicals & c. Puck (w) Keppler & Schwarzmann 39 E Houston. Note: & c. was a way of noting etc.
Puck Quarterly. Keppler & Schwarzmann, 39 E Houston
Puck's Library (m) Keppler & Schwarzmann. 39 E Houston
Puck's Stories (q) Keppler & Schwarzmann. 39 E Houston (p. 755)

E. Houston between Mulberry and Mott, North Side.

Building address: 42-44 E. Houston. Lot #: 25. Street front width: 44.8 feet. Six stories with basement. Brick.
Occupants:
Cigar Dealers. Laredo, Jose 42 E Houston (p. 249)
Roofers, Metal. Borkel, John, 42 E Houston (p. 966)
Braids. Schwaze, George, 44 E Houston (p. 144)
Bicycles & c. Pinover A. & Co. 44 E Houston (p. 96)
Straw Goods Dealers. Marty John & Son 44 E Houston (p.1039)

The Building with Tesla's Laboratory:

Building address: 46-48 E. Houston. Lot #: 33. Street front width: 42.4 feet. Seven stories with basement. Brick.
Occupants:
Pianos. Electric Self Playing Piano Co. 1144 Bway & 46 E Houston (p. 870)
Tools Central Novelty. 46 E Houston (p. 1087)
Type Writers’ Supplies. Commercial Typewriter Co. 46 E Houston (p.1100)
Lithographer’s Colors and Inks. Hellmuth, Charles (agent for Kast & Ehinger). 48 E. Houston (p.674)
also listed under:
Bronze Powder. Hellmuth Charles. 48 E. Houston (agent for Kast & Ehinger). (p. 173)
Ink Printing. Hellmuth Charles (agent for Kast & Ehinger). 48 E Houston street. (p. 568)

Additional occupants at this address from the 1897 Trow's.
Electrical Instrument Manufacturers. N.Y. Accumulator & Electric Co. 150 Nassau & 46 E. Houston (p.388)
Machinery Dealers, Paper Box. Hobbs Mfg. Co. 46 E. Houston (p. 647)


E. Houston between Mulberry and Mott, North Side, Continued.

Building address: 50 E. Houston. Lot #: 22. Street front width: 20.9 feet. Brick. (Number of floors unspecified)
Occupants:
Delicatessen. Benderoth, Adam. 50 E Houston (p. 336)
Building address: 52 [through 56] E. Houston. Lot #: 21. (Note: On the map, this building continues to end of block and its division into specific addresses is unspecified.) Street front width: 64 feet. Brick. (Number of floors unspecified)
Boot & Shoemakers. Forgione Michael 52 E Houston (p. 125)
Wines, Liquor, and Lager Beer. Gerrety Thomas F. 56 E Houston (p. 1157)

E. Houston between Mulberry and Mott, South Side.

Building address: 41 E. Houston. Lot #: 19. Street front width: 21.3 feet. Brick. Five stories.
Occupants: (none encountered)
Building address: 43 E. Houston. Lot #: 20. Street front width: 20.9 feet. Brick. Three stories with basement.
Occupants:
Millinery Goods. Kaplan Max 43 E Houston (p. 717)
Publishers. Feigin & Minkowitz. 43 E Houston (p.893)

Building address: 45 E. Houston. Lot #: 21. Street front width: 22 feet. Brick. Four stories with basement.
Occupants: (none encountered)
Building address: 47 E. Houston. Lot #: 22. Street front width: 23.6 feet. Brick. Three stories with basement.
Occupants:
Tailors. Levy’s Henry, Son. 47 E Houston (p. 1057)
Building address: 49 E. Houston. Lot #: 23. Street front width: 24.7 feet. Brick with stone front. Five stories.
Occupants:
Feathers, Fancy & Military. Michelson, Pauline, 49 E Houston (p.447)
Bonnet & Hat Frames. Brandt ,Herman, 49 E Houston (p. 107)
also listed under:
Ladies’ and Children’s Caps. Brandt, Henry, 49 E. Houston. (p. 594)
Building address: 51 E. Houston. Lot #: 24. Street front width: 13.5? feet. Brick with stone front. (Number of floors, difficult to read)
Occupants: Barbers. Fischer, Otto. 51 E Houston (p. 74)
Building address: 53 E. Houston. Lot #: 25. Street front width: 25.1 feet. Brick with stone front. (Number of floors, difficult to read)
Occupants: (none encountered)

Building address: 55 E. Houston. Lot #: 26. Street front width: 25 feet. Brick with stone front. Five stories.
Occupants:
Clothes, Cleaners & C. Weiner, Morris. 55 E Houston (p. 281)
Cider & Vinegar. Baltheshofer, Gustav. 55 E. Houston; also wines & liquors. (p. 242)
also listed as:
Wines, Liquors & Lager Beer. Baltheshofer, Gustav, 55 E Houston (p.1145)

Sources: 

The Trow’s Business Directory of New York City (formerly Wilson’s) 1897 and 1898. The Trow Directory, Printing and Bookbinding Company, New York. At HathiTrust. 
Atlas of the city of New York, Manhattan Island. From actual surveys and official plans by George W. and Walter S. Bromley, 1897. From NYPL Map Warper. Free account required.

Martin Hill Ortiz, also writing under the name, Martin Hill, is the author of A Predatory Mind. Its sequel, set in 1890s Manhattan and titled A Predator's Game, features Nikola Tesla as a dective and will be available from Rook's Page Publishing, March 28, 2016.  (More details coming soon.)
His recent mystery, Never Kill A Friend, is available from Ransom Note Press. His epic poem, Two Mistakes, recently won second place in the Margaret Reid/Tom Howard Poetry Competition. He can be contacted at mdhillortiz@gmail.com.

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A Clear Photo of the Building that Housed Tesla's East Houston Laboratory

I decided to continue my search for photos of the buildings which housed Tesla's labs by looking for photos of nearby buildings, in particular by Googling adjoining addresses. In doing so I've come across a good, clear photo of his East Houston Street laboratory building.

Tesla moved into the sixth and seventh floors of 46-48 East Houston in July, 1895 after his previous laboratory on South Fifth Avenue burned down. His Houston Street lab was the last address that is referred to as a laboratory in Manhattan in his Carlson biography. As demonstrated in a previous post, the Houston Street laboratory building was torn down in 1929 when Houston Street was widened and a subway line was installed beneath the street.

The photograph below is marked 45-49 East Houston, 9-26-1929. When I first saw it, I thought, interesting, across the street from Tesla's lab at 46-48.

East Houston Street, September 26, 1929. Parcels 45 to 49, (622) R.103 S.1. Subway Construction Photograph Collection. New York Historical Society #83675d. 

This photo was found at the New York Historical Society Tumblr page and will be referred to below as the September 1929 photo.

Pondering this photo I thought, wait a minute: they tore down both sides of E. Houston in 1929? Answer: No, they didn't. The Puck Building on the southwestern corner of Mulberry and East Houston is still standing. Could they have torn down a few buildings on the south side? Or was this photo mislabeled?

The 1930 G.W. Bromley Atlas divided E. Houston, north and south, into two different plates. Below is a composite. Note the disappearance of the buildings on the north side and the presence of the buildings on the south side.

From: Plates 23 and 19, Land Book, City of Manhattan, G.W. Bromley & Co, New York, 1930, New York Public Library. The sites of two buildings comprising 42-44 and 46-48 East Houston are marked and highlighted in yellow. By 1930, these were part of a vacant lot.

Below is a photo of the south side of East Houston between Mott and Mulberry and on to the Puck Building. These buildings were not demolished. The photo is from June 3, 1933.

From: New York Public Library Digital Collections, Image ID 719461F. South side of East Houston looking west from Mott, including the corner of Mulberry and the Puck Building.

The two buildings down from the empty lot in the September 1929 photo were the correct size for 42-44 and 46-48 E. Houston Street (seven stories for Tesla's lab) and abutted the corner. Also, the building in back (right side of photo) corresponds to the former police headquarters and has a vertical section with two tones as did the portion of the headquarters that was in the middle of the block.

1934 photograph of the former police headquarters at 300 Mulberry looking across East Houston after East Houston had been widened. Note the two-toned building in the middle of the block, marked by an arrow. This corresponds to the building on the right side of the September 1929 photo.

If the September 1929 photo was the north side of East Houston and, indeed, Tesla's laboratory, it would have been taken from the southwestern corner of Mott and East Houston (note the presence of a street sign in the upper right corner) and looking northwest. So, was this the case? The first clue I noticed is the One Way sign. If this is indeed the north side of the street and Tesla's lab then East Houston at this time was one way going west. The photo below looks from Elizabeth Street west down East Houston and includes Mott and, incredibly, the site of Tesla's laboratory, the taller building in the left upper corner (marked by an arrow).

From: New York Public Library Digital Collections, Image ID 719463F. This photo is helpfully labelled: East Houston Street, north side, west from Elizabeth Street, to but not including Mulberry, after crossing Mott Streets. Also shown (right) are Nos. 281 to 285 Elizabeth Street, at, adjoining and north of the N.W. corner of East Houston Street. These houses were later demolished to facilitate the construction of the Independent System Subway (Eighth Ave. subway); their site is now (1937) being used as a playground and Park. July 17, 1929.

Note that you can see the rear ends of cars along East Houston, pointing west. Therefore East Houston was One Way, going west. 

The next thing I noticed in the September 1929 photograph was the street sign blacked out by shadows. I know a little about Photoshop, so I took the sign and played with the contrast in Levels. Voila.

Photoshopped image of the street sign in the September 1929 photograph showing E Houst[on] and Mott.

Below is another photograph of the north side of East Houston between Mulberry and Mott although it mostly focuses on the west side of Mott. The building prominent and in the center is the back side of the former police headquarters which at one time extended from Mulberry to Mott. This corresponds well to the above 1934 photo of the police headquarters after the widening of East Houston. Note the two-toned building and the white ghosts of bricked-over windows. The tall building on the left hand side of the photograph is Tesla's laboratory, although only brick can be seen.

From: New York Public Library Digital Collections, Image ID 721774F. Mott Street (where the car is parked) looking northwest across East Houston.

Previously:
Tesla's Houston Street Laboratory
Tesla's Grand Street Laboratory
Tesla's South Fifth Avenue Laboratory
Tesla's Liberty Street Laboratory


Martin Hill Ortiz, also writing under the name, Martin Hill, is the author of A Predatory Mind. Its sequel, set in 1890s Manhattan and titled A Predator's Game, Rook's Page Publishing, features Nikola Tesla as a detective.  

A Predator's Game is available in soft-cover and ebook editions through Amazon and other online retailers.
 
His recent mystery, Never Kill A Friend, is available from Ransom Note Press. His epic poem, Two Mistakes, recently won second place in the Margaret Reid/Tom Howard Poetry Competition. He can be contacted at mdhillortiz@gmail.com..

Continue reading →

Setting the record straight on Nikola Tesla's East Houston laboratory.

Note: I have come across a clear photo of the building which housed Tesla's laboratory on East Houston which I present in a more recent post. The evidence that it is, indeed, the correct building is partly based on what is written below.

I have undertaken a fair amount of research regarding Nikola Tesla and 19th century Manhattan for my upcoming thriller, A Predator's Game. (Rook's Page Publishing, March 30, 2016).

In doing so, I've come across a number of articles that purport to pinpoint the location of Tesla's East Houston Street laboratory, its history and what became of it. I'd like to correct some of their errors. In summary, the building where Tesla had his East Houston laboratory stood from 1895 to 1929.

Let's have some background. On March 13, 1895, Tesla lost all of his work in a fire at his previous laboratory.

By a fire which almost completely gutted the six-story and basement building at 33 and 35 South Fifth avenue, this city, on March 13, Mr. Nikola Tesla, the electrician, lost all of the apparatus with which he has been carrying on his professional experiments. He occupied the entire fourth floor. When the floor gave way his apparatus fell to the second story where it lay in unrecognizable ruin. It was not insured. March 20, 1895, Electrical Engineer Magazine, p. 275 as presented at Tesla Universe.

As described in W. Bernard Carlson's biography of Tesla: "With his depression finally waning, Tesla rented a new laboratory on two floors of a building at 46 East Houston Street in July 1895." Carlson, W. Bernard. Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age (p. 218). Princeton University Press.

This address is referred to as 46-48 E. Houston in Tesla's correspondences. The address was located on the north side of E. Houston just east of the corner of Mulberry and two blocks from Broadway.

This was a new seven story building. Tesla's laboratory occupied the two upper floors. Liana Grey, of tenement-museum.blogspot.com, did some excellent research into the past history of this section of street. In 1894, the building occupying this space was torn down. It was called "Dramatic Hall" and had descended from theater to dance hall to "a nightly abode of an army of tramps."

Grey quotes extensively from an 1894 Daily Tribune article about the destruction of Dramatic Hall and the plans for the new building:

Workmen yesterday began to tear down the four story building on the north side of Houston Street midway between Mulberry and Mott Streets, which was a well-known place of amusement in war times when the next block in Houston Street was known as "murderer's row." The building was called "Dramatic Hall" for 20 years after the war, although it degenerated to a dance hall with a bar-room on the first floor, and regular theatrical performances disappeared from the place forever. Several years ago, it was turned into a cheap lodging house and became the nightly abode of an army of tramps, fairly earning the significant name of "Scratch Hall." It became such a breeding place for disease that the Health Board revoked its license. In late years it had been occupied as a furniture warehouse. A seven-story business structure is to be erected on the site of the old building.


Interestingly, one of the more famous 19th Century/early 20 Century addresses in Manhattan was just around the corner: 300 Mulberry Street. This was the central police headquarters and in the mid-1890s housed the office of the president of the police board, Theodore Roosevelt.

So, with this as background, let's look at the maps. First, here is 1891 Manhattan. This would have been at the time of Dramatic Hall and before the new seven story building was built.





Illustration from: Bromley, George Washington. Atlas of the city of New York, Manhattan Island. 1891 Pl. 8. The David Rumsey Map Collection. davidrumsey.com

The street bisecting the page top to bottom is Mulberry. Note the numbering of the north side of E. Houston "42" and "48." In this map, Dramatic Hall would have been the third building from the corner. Note also, the police department on Mulberry. At this time it connects to the Health Department and spans the block. It is bordered by St. Barnabas chapel and across the street from San Salvatore church. (Also across the street from the police station was the New York press station for reporters.)

Secondly, here is 1897 Manhattan. This would have been after the new building was built and occupied by Tesla. Now that the Dramatic Hall is gone, two large buildings fill the space from 42 to 48 East Houston. Tesla's laboratory, 46-48 (highlighted in green), is the second from the corner. Also, the Police Department expanded to take over the Health Department building.

From: Bromley, George Washington. Atlas of the city of New York, Manhattan Island. 1897 Pl. 23. New York Public Library Archives.

Next, here is 1899 Manhattan. What a difference two years make. Elm Street plowed over most of the buildings in back of the west side of Mulberry Street eliminating San Salvatore Church. Greater New York consolidated into one city in 1898.Tesla's laboratory is again highlighted in green.

From: Bromley, George Washington. Atlas of the city of New York, Manhattan Island. 1899 Pl. 23. New York Public Library Archives.


Interestingly, fire followed Tesla here. (No, they were not caused by his electrical experiments.) In this article from 1900:

Fire in the seven-story building at 46-48 East Houston street early Thursday morning damaged many of the early delicate models and machines in the laboratory of Nikola Tesla, the inventor. What the damage is cannot be told yet, as Mr. Tesla, who is South for his health, is the only one who knows their value. Western Electrician Magazine, March 17, 1900, p. 179.

There are other maps to be found over the next three decades, but these two describe what happened to the buildings.

From: Bromley, George Washington. Atlas of the city of New York, Manhattan Island. 1927 Pl. 23. New York Public Library Archives.

Above, in 1927, 46-48 E. Houston is intact. Police headquarters moved out in 1909 and has been replaced by Traffic Court.

 From: Bromley, George Washington. Atlas of the city of New York, Manhattan Island. 1930, Pl. 23. New York Public Library Archives.

Above, in 1930, the buildings along the north side of East Houston are razed to widen the street and lay down a subway line underneath. In case there is any doubt as to the nature of the white spaces, let's take a look at some photos and illustrations from the times.

I have not found any direct photos of the north side of East Houston at the time when Tesla's laboratory was there. There are, however, photos and illustrations of 300 Mulberry Street, Police Headquarters. First to make clear this distinct building was indeed 300 Mulberry Street and Police Headquarters, here is an illustration from 1868.

Police Headquarters, 1868.

Let's look at a later illustration.

Police Headquarters, 1887. New York City Public Library Archives.

The above illustration is dated 1887. It seems likely that the building on the right-hand side and in the background is the Dramatic Hall. It is four stories as the above news story describes and is set back from what would be the corner of Mulberry and East Houston.

 Let's look that as a photo. This is from 1913. Now on the extreme right, set back from Mulberry, we have a seven story building. This contains Tesla's laboratory on its sixth and seventh floors, seen only as a sliver in the back of the nearer building.

300 Mulberry, Post card. 1910. From New York City Public Library Archives.

Pay attention to the now former police headquarters. Below is a photo of the building in 1934. The buildings on the right side have been razed (as shown in the 1930 map), along with Tesla's laboratory.

North side of East Houston looking east past the corner of Mulberry. The former Police Headquarters is now at the corner of the street.

Below is a drawing of the area from a "Bird's Eye" perspective, 1904. Tesla's laboratory building is highlighted in yellow.

Excerpted from: Bird's Eye View of New York City, 1904. New York Public Library. 

Part Two: Tesla's Grand Street Laboratory. (Substantial new material added: November 23, 2015)
Part Three: Tesla's South Fifth Avenue Laboratory.
Part Four: Tesla's Liberty Street Laboratory.
Part Five: A Clear Photo of the Building that Housed Tesla's East Houston Laboratory.

Martin Hill Ortiz, also writing under the name, Martin Hill, is the author of A Predatory Mind. Its sequel, set in 1890s Manhattan and titled A Predator's Game, Rook's Page Publishing, features Nikola Tesla as a detective.

A Predator's Game is available in soft-cover and ebook editions through Amazon and other online retailers.


His recent mystery, Never Kill A Friend, is available from Ransom Note Press. His epic poem, Two Mistakes, recently won second place in the Margaret Reid/Tom Howard Poetry Competition. He can be contacted at mdhillortiz@gmail.com.

Continue reading →