The New York Times-20080127-Where Charming Buildings Housed Horses

Return to: The_New_York_Times-20080127

Where Charming Buildings Housed Horses

Full Text (913  words)[Author Affiliation] E-mail: [email protected]

THREE decades ago, at nighttime on West 18th Street between the Avenue of the Americas and Seventh Avenue, there weren't even enough people to get up a poker game. After the box makers and plumbers and electrical suppliers all went home, the street was empty. Now, as this street full of old stables evolves, it is home to not one but two huge party spaces, with a total of 60,000 square feet.

This low-slung, sunny block is memorable for the charming two-story buildings on the south side, originally private stables. They survive intermittently from 126 through 140 West 18th, part of a longer row built beginning in 1864, nearly identical structures designed with the same curved-arch facades but put up by different people.

According to research by Gale Harris of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the first in the group were Nos. 122, 124 and 126, built by Elisha Brooks, a partner in the Brooks Brothers clothing store. He lived on 16th Street off Fifth Avenue at the time, and kept No. 122 for his own use. No. 124 he sold to his brother John, and No. 126 -- today the sole survivor of the three -- he sold to Thomas Vyse, a straw-goods dealer who lived on 17th Street off Fifth.

The entire row, stretching from 122 through 146, were among the 500 stables listed in the 1869 city directory. Coachmen typically lived with their families above the stable, perhaps also with a groom or two -- and a quick check of the names in the directory suggests that the Irish were talented at the reins.

Horses were still an essential part of the New York economy: in 1872 The New York Times reported a mysterious plague, perhaps distemper, sweeping through stables in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Several dozen horses died on a single day in October, including one at 132 West 18th, which at that time was the stable of Nathaniel McCready, a steamship operator and railroad investor who lived on 22nd Street.

Because of the illness, deliveries of coal, ice and other goods were curtailed; garbage pickup was reduced; and the horse-drawn streetcars in Manhattan were operating barely a quarter of their fleet.

The rich family's stable, with expensive coaches, tack and horses, required trained labor. On May 23, 1880, The Times carried an advertisement from a respectable coachman seeking work, who had been in the Royal Artillery five years and had the best testimonials. The ad asked inquirers to call at 130 West 28th Street. On June 3 of that year, the census recorded the occupants of No. 130 as the Irish-born William Spence, 43, a coachman; his English-born wife, Susanna; and their son and four daughters.

By the 1890s, although many town-house owners had moved farther north, this block of West 18th Street remained in the stable business. In 1896, the B. Altman department store on Sixth Avenue built a five-story stable for its delivery fleet at No. 135.

After 1900, a wider span of businesses moved in. Charles Hellmuth, who made printers' ink, built a fairly typical factory building at No. 154 in 1906, designed by Adolph Schoeller. What sets the Hellmuth Building apart -- indeed far apart -- are the heavily molded terra-cotta ledges over the doorways. Cushionlike brackets with oozing Art Nouveau floral forms flank central panels with Hellmuth Building in otherworldly lettering, with the L's overlaid.

By the mid-20th century, 18th Street was full of metal fabricators, electrical-supply stores, plumbers and similar operations. While it still has businesses like the venerable Nagel Roofing, established in 1919 and now in the old stable at No. 128, there are also new arrivals, like Michael Aram, whose handmade metalwork is on display at No. 136.

Today, the street is in the midst of a new transition, and the two big buildings on the north side of the block are leading the way. In 1998, the old B. Altman stable became the Altman Building, an event space with 15,000 square feet just inside the big old arched doorways. Lacoste recently had a fashion show and reception there, and scores of people spilled out carrying canvas tote bags emblazoned with its crocodile trademark.

A similar business established on 19th Street by the entrepreneur Alan Boss in 1992 was expanded through the block, to 125 West 18th Street, in 1999. Called the Metropolitan Pavilion and offering 45,000 square feet of space, it is next door to the Altman Building, and the two businesses have used this to their advantage, connecting the buildings for use as one mega-event space.

Mr. Boss started a flea market on the Avenue of the Americas in 1976, when the big old department stores there were like derelict ocean liners littering some far-off shore. He lived nearby and remembers the area as desolate. If I hadn't had dogs, I wouldn't have gone out at night, he said.

Now, where stables once stood on West 18th Street, he can barely keep up with the demand for event bookings. We're turning business away, he said.

[Illustration]PHOTO: ON FOUR FEET OR ONLY TWO: West 18th Street in 1906, left, and today, above. The B. Altman stable is on the left; the row of stables on the right dates to the 1860s. The building at No. 154, below, is distinguished by its fanciful lettering and terra-cotta decoration. Charles Hellmuth made printers' ink there, starting about 1906. (PHOTOGRAPH BY OFFICE FOR METROPOLITAN HISTORY); (PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARILYNN K. YEE/THE NEW YORK TIMES)