Joseph B. and Josephine H. Bissell House

History and architecture

The Joseph B. and Josephine H. Bissell House was originally constructed as one of five Italianate style brownstone row houses designed by architect Thomas Thomas and built in 1869 by owner and builder John W. Stevens. When the Bissell House was initially constructed, many row houses were being built on the side streets in the area below Central Park while larger mansions were being constructed along Fifth Avenue. By the early 20 century this area was the city’s most prestigious residential neighborhood and was known as Vanderbilt’s Row because of that family’s involvement in maintaining the elite character of the neighborhood.

The house was purchased by Josephine H. Bissell in 1903 and she hired prominent architect Edward L. Tilton to alter the house by removing the traditional Italianate style brownstone facade and its high stoop and replacing it with a more fashionable neo-Classical style brick and limestone facade with an American basement plan.

The Bissell House facade is a rare example of a private residential commission by Tilton, who is particularly associated with the design of libraries. The facade features a bowed front, red and black brick laid in a Flemish bond pattern and limestone details including two prominent cornices with block modillions and scroll brackets. Mrs. Bissell lived in the house with her husband, Dr. Joseph B. Bissell, and their children and sold it shortly after his death.

Dr. Bissell was a surgeon who did pioneering research in the treatment of cancer with radium. Several prominent physicians lived in the house in the first half of the 20th century. The next owner was Dr. James Ramsay Hunt who lived and maintained an office in the house. Dr. Hunt was a preeminent neurologist who is known today because several neurological disorders bear his name. In 1943, Drs. Harry Sidney Newcomer and Marian Anastasia Staats Newcomer purchased the house.

Dr. H. Sidney Newcomer was an inventor as well as a physician and his wife, Dr. Marian Newcomer, was the author of a book that provided medical advice to laypersons. Gradually the house went from residential to non-residential use and it is currently owned by a clothing manufacturer based in Italy.