208 East 78th Street House

History and architecture

This charming house at No. 208 is one of a row of six surviving houses (Nos. 208-218) built between 1861 and 1865 as a speculative venture for several Successive developers. As such, they may be seen as representative examples of New York City row house development during the 1860s. The builders, Warren and Ransom Beman and John Buckley, were probably responsible for the design. While the Italianate style had been popular for row house design in New York during the 1850s and 1860s, this row is given particular distinction by the treatment of the elliptically-arched door and window openings, which are very unusual on Italianate-style houses.

The block of East 78th Street between Second and Third Avenues on which this row is located was considered a part of the village of Yorkville at the time of construction. Until 1851 the block was part of the property of the City of New York known as the Coaston Lands. In 1852 the Third Avenue Railroad opened, making it possible for residents of Yorkville to commute to lower Manhattan.

Although the residential sections of the city had gradually moved northward from the lower tip of the island, during the 19th century, the block was still undeveloped in 1861 when Howard A. Martin purchased 200 feet of property fronting the south side of East 78th Street. As a condition of sale, Martin was assessed $128 for the opening of 78th Street in a judgment handed down by the New York State Supreme Court in 1860. Martin subdivided his property into fifteen lots (Nos. 206-234), each 13 feet 4 inches wide; construction had already begun when William H.

Brower, an investment broker, purchased them in 1862. Because each of the fifteen lots was the same width and the same builders were responsible for the construction of all, the fifteen houses in the row were probably identical in appearance even though Brower sold all of the properties to several different owners before construction was completed in 1865. The four-year construction period is long for a row of houses of this type in New York City, but the rate of building was affected by the occurrence of the Civil War during these years.

Jane Ann Lee, a widow, purchased the properties at Nos. 206 and 208 in 1863; after the houses were completed in 1865, she sold them to Benjamin F. Curtis. Among the conditions of sale was that he pay the Croton Water rents for the years 1863, 1864, and 1865. Curtis must have leased out the pair, for the first owner to actually live in one of the houses was Isaac Rosenthal, a dry goods merchant, who purchased them in 1869. No, 206 was demolished about 1962.