444 East 58th Street

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444 East 58th Street
444 East 58th Street September 2025.png
444 East 58th Street in September 2025
444 East 58th Street
General information
Type Housing cooperative [1]
Architectural style Beaux-Arts [2]
Location444 East 58th Street, New York, NY, US
Coordinates 40°45′29″N73°57′39″W / 40.758077°N 73.960789°W / 40.758077; -73.960789
Completed1901 [3]
Cost$55,000 [3]
Owner444-446 East 58th Owners Corp [4]
ManagementNew Bedford Management Corp [5]
Technical details
Floor count6 [3]
Lifts/elevators1 [1]
Design and construction
Architect George F. Pelham [3]
Other information
Number of units26 [5]

444 East 58th Street is a six-story [3] Beaux-Arts architecture [2] residential cooperative [1] in the Sutton Place [6] neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. [1] Designed by George F. Pelham [3] and completed in 1901 for Abraham Levy & Isaac Haft, [3] the building was originally constructed as a middle-class walk-up rental [3] before being retrofitted with an elevator in 1956. [7] Its tripartite façade, [2] enriched with mascarons, [2] cartouches, [2] and a projecting cornice, [2] exemplifies early twentieth-century Beaux-Arts [2] apartment design. One of only three George F. Pelham commissions in Sutton Place - alongside 422 East 58th Street (1900) and Stonehenge 58 (1928). Converted to cooperative ownership in 1984, [4] 444 East 58th Street has housed a range of notable residents, including cartoonist Crockett Johnson, [8] pianist Mario Braggiotti, [9] and sufragist Joy Montgomery Higgins. [10]

Contents

Site

444 58th Street stands on what was part of the Thomas C. Pearsall Farm in 1815 Midtown East farms.png
444 58th Street stands on what was part of the Thomas C. Pearsall Farm in 1815

444 East 58th Street is located in the Sutton Place neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. [6]

Until 1815, the 444 East 58th Street area was farmland. According to The Iconography of Manhattan Island , Block 1369, which is where 444 East 58th Street lies, was at the Thomas C. Pearsall Farm. [11] According to the Trow's New York City Directory of 1872, [12] Charles H Lyons, who lived on site, made butter, consistent with the first lower class brownstones built in the 1870s by Effingham B. Sutton. [13]

By 1879, the street grid had been implemented and two townhouses had been built, on 444 E 58th Street and on 446 E 58th Street. Close by Riverview Garden had also been erected. [14] In 1886, according to the New York City directory, a laces maker, Jacob Schwab, lived at 444 E 58th St (brownstone). [15] The 1891 map shows no changes. [16] On February 27, 1893, 444 East 58th was sold for $9,525, while its assessment was $6,000. [17] On June 15, 1893, it was sold again, now for $10,250, with an assessment of $6,500. On May 12, 1899, Elenor Koffman sold 444 East 58th Street to John C Mayforth. [18]

History

Abraham Levy and Isaac Haft (1901–1904)

On February 19, 1901, 446 East 58th Street went into an auction, [19] and was acquired by Joseph B Bloomingdale.[ citation needed ]

On March 8, 1901, 444 East 58th street was sold by John C Mayforth to Isaac Haft and Abraham Levy, while 446 East 58th street was sold by Joseph B Bloomingdale to Isaac Haft. [20] With that, Abraham Levy & Isaac Haft were able to consolidate ownership of both properties, and could build the current 444-446 East 58th Street (as called originally), architected by George F. Pelham.

444 East 58th Street was built in 1901 for $55,000, originally as a middle-class walk-up rental building, as reported in Engineering News. [21] [22]

The official completion date of 1901 is supported by property management records and archival data, although some modern commercial real estate databases, which often utilize generalized estimates, cite a later date, such as 1920 or 1921. [23] [24] [25] This conflict was definitively resolved by biographical evidence, as cartoonist David Johnson Leisk (Crockett Johnson) was born in an apartment in the building in October 1906, confirming the structure was completed and occupied well before the later commercial estimates. [26]

On January 15, 1903, Isaac Haft and wife sold their part of the building to Abraham Levy for $46,500. [27] On March 2, 1904, Abraham Levy and the World Realty Company sold 444 and 446 East 58th Street to the Schlessinger brothers. [28]

Schlessinger Brothers (1904–1906)

Hyman Schlessinger and his brother kept the building from March 5, 1904, until they sold it to Gustav Lewkowitz and Herman Fuld on May 15, 1906. [29]

Gustav Lewkowitz and Herman Fuld (1906–1928)

Gustav Lewkowitz and Herman Fuld purchased 444 East 58th Street on May 16, 1906, and owned it for 22 years until September 1928, [30] when the property was sold to Lawrence T. Berliner.

Lawrence Berliner (1928–1928)

Berliner purchased the property for investment on September 1928, [30] expecting to tear it down and create a bigger, more modern building, but in December 1928, he sold it to Nicholas Zurla. [31]

Nicholas Zurla (1928–1982)

From December 1928 [31] until 1982, Nicholas Zurla's companies (or companies belonging to his heirs, as he died in 1978), controlled the building, still as a rental building.

On May 7, 1932, the River Book House opened at 444 East 58th Street, by E. R. Armstrong and J. M. Wolcott. Announced in Publishers Weekly as a new neighborhood bookshop, it was styled to serve the growing Sutton Place community and took its name from the nearby East River. [32] Although little is known about its subsequent history, the shop reflected the cultural development of Sutton Place during the interwar years, when the district was attracting affluent residents and small literary ventures.

In 1937, the building was listed as the residence of cartoonist Lou Sheppard, who advertised his services in Writer's Digest that year. [33]

In the mid‑1940s, 444 East 58th Street housed the Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, directed by Dr. Howard A. Rusk, a pioneer of modern rehabilitation medicine. The Institute, which later became affiliated with New York University and evolved into the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, was among the first comprehensive rehabilitation centers in the United States. Contemporary medical journals and directories list the Institute at this address, with staff including physical therapists such as Irene Hargraves. [34] [35]

Rental prices over the years, pre-elevators:

In 1956, a major improvement was performed: the addition of an elevator. [7]

Rental prices over the years, post elevators:

Barry Levites and Howard Parnes (1982–1984)

On March 4, 1982 Barry Levites and Howard Parnes purchased the building. [43]

The Cooperative Years (1984-present)

On September 7, 1984, the 444 58th Street became a cooperative, known as 444-446 E 58TH OWNERS CP. [4] Since conversion, the cooperative has maintained the building's pre-war character while implementing modern amenities. The building features an elevator, a video intercom system, and a common laundry room in the basement. The co-op board's purchasing policies are flexible, generally allowing for co-purchases, parents buying for children, gifting, and pied-à-terres, and the building permits cats but prohibits dogs. [44] [23]

Sale of air rights

On July 30, 2015, Sutton 58 purchased the air rights of 444 East 58th Street for $16,912,626, which allowed the cooperative to be debt-free. [45] [46] [47]

Tenants and demographics

1910 census

In 1910, the U.S. census recorded primarily immigrant families from Austria, Bohemia, Russia, England, Romania, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and Armenia. [48] Heads of household included bakers, machinists, hatmakers, merchants, decorators, hotel workers, carpenters, plumbers, policemen, bartenders, dressmakers, and janitors. [48] A total of 82 people lived in the building, averaging 3.15 persons per apartment. [48]

1920 census

The 1920 census recorded a higher proportion of U.S.-born residents, alongside immigrants from Bavaria, Germany, Russia, Puerto Rico, Austria, Hungary, Canada, England, Ireland, Holland, Poland, and Slovakia. [49] Occupations included plumbers, cigar makers, librarians, taxi drivers, bakers, clerks, barbers, teachers, druggists, and jewelers. [49] 94 people lived in the building, averaging 3.62 per apartment. [49]

1930 census

The 1930 census listed tenants from Sweden, Russia, Norway, Holland, Canada, Germany, England, Italy, the Philippines, and Northern Ireland. [9] Professions included building superintendent, glass glazer, fur cutter, grocery owner, teacher, hotel chef, film director, musician (Mario Braggiotti), and dance instructor (Gloria Braggiotti Etting). [9] 66 people lived in the building, averaging 2.53 per apartment. [9]

1940 census

By 1940, the census reflected fewer immigrants, with residents from France, England, Sweden, Wales, Germany, Austria, and Hungary. [50] Occupations included draftsman, advertising publisher, radio writer, teacher, fashion artist, songwriter (Jerry Seelen), and real estate manager. [50] 57 people lived in the building, averaging 2.19 per apartment. [50]

1950 census

The first post–World War II census recorded residents from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria, France, Germany, and Canada. [51] Occupations included painter, speech pathologist (Esti Freud), broadcasting editor, clothing designer, sales engineer, and airline reservation agent. [51] 45 people lived in the building, averaging 1.7 per apartment. [51]

In 1961, the University of Virginia's *Alumnae News* reported that recent graduate Patty Moffitt had moved into an apartment at 444 East 58th Street while beginning work at First National City Bank. [52]

Architecture

Form

The building has 6 floors, with 2 apartments per floor, and 2 basement units with private access to the backyard. [53] The common laundry room is located on the ground floor, in between the two units. [53] The basement units are therefore elongated, covering the building from front to back. [53] The first floor was originally devised to hold two commercial establishments on the front, [54] so apartments have a different layout than apartments on floors 2 to 6. [55] [56] A central air shaft exists to allow for a corridor window and a walking closet window for apartments B and C. [57] [58]

Façade

444 East 58th St facade 444 East 58th Street September 2025.png
444 East 58th St façade

The building's façade exemplifies the Beaux-Arts [2] style through a tripartite composition consisting of a rusticated base, a repetitive brickwork shaft, and a crowning top story with round-arched windows and a prominent projecting cornice. The overall design emphasizes symmetry, with five evenly spaced bays and a central axis reinforced by the entrance and stacked fire escapes. The hierarchy of window openings progresses from rectilinear lower and middle floors with enriched lintels to the upper level's round arches framed by archivolts and keystones. [2]

444 East 58th St Facade, example of angry mascaron Angry Mascaron.jpg
444 East 58th St Façade, example of angry mascaron
444 East 58th St Facade, example of Corinthian columns Corinthian Columns.jpg
444 East 58th St Façade, example of Corinthian columns
444 East 58th St Facade, example of lunette with dragons on top of a cartouche, and two modillions Dragons Lunette.jpg
444 East 58th St Façade, example of lunette with dragons on top of a cartouche, and two modillions
444 East 58th St Facade portion Facade portion.jpg
444 East 58th St Façade portion
444 East 58th St Facade, example of mascaron in a King motif King Mascaron.jpg
444 East 58th St Façade, example of mascaron in a King motif
444 East 58th St Facade, example of mascaron depicting a lady Lady Mascaron.jpg
444 East 58th St Façade, example of mascaron depicting a lady

Ornamentation is integral to the composition. The cornice features paired modillions and carved soffit panels, creating a pronounced shadow line. The arched openings are accentuated with archivolts and keystones, often carved as mascarons or other sculpted heads. Additional decorations include cartouches, leafy grotesques, and high-relief panels of swags, garlands, and wreaths. The entrance is framed by paired columns with simplified classical capitals supporting an entablature with a decorated frieze. Stringcourses and belt courses further organize the elevation. The façade materials consist of a buff or grey brick field contrasted with limestone, cast stone, or terra-cotta trim for lintels, arches, keystones, and sculptural reliefs. [2]

Interior

Initially designed as a walkup, in 1956, the building was upgraded with an elevator. [7] The building was upgraded between July 2011 [59] and December 2012 [60] to feature a common laundry room. The lobby and common areas have all been renovated since the building's conversion to a co-op, with the most recent updates occurring prior to 2021. [61] [62] The renovated lobby space employs a modern, high-contrast, monochromatic palette while maintaining the building's traditional symmetry and layered millwork. Key design features include a polished black and white tile floor laid in a striking geometric pattern. The walls are finished with a combination of textured light gray wall coverings and large panels of antiqued, mottled gray mirror surrounding the elevator doors. These mirrored panels contrast sharply with the elevator's matte black doors and the traditional, white-painted wood trim and moldings throughout the space. [63]

Notable residents

Over time, 444 East 58th Street became home to a range of residents active in cultural, professional, and civic life. The building's Sutton Place location and modest scale made it accessible to individuals working in the arts and public affairs, several of whom achieved recognition in their respective fields, as seen below.

Reception and cultural significance

In 1928 the New York Times called 444 East 58th Street "a good example of the type of house in that section of the city", referring to Sutton Place. [30]

On May 7, 1932, the River Book House opened at 444 East 58th Street, by E. R. Armstrong and J. M. Wolcott. Announced in Publishers Weekly as a new neighborhood bookshop, it was styled to serve the growing Sutton Place community and took its name from the nearby East River. [32]

See also

Further reading

References

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  6. 1 2 Wilson, Claire (June 15, 2003). "If You're Thinking of Living In/Sutton Place; Prestigious Address With Villagelike Feel". The New York Times . Retrieved November 14, 2014. ...Sutton Place, a tidy and somewhat out-of-the-way Manhattan enclave that runs from 53rd to 59th Streets between First Avenue and the East River.
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