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. According to the Trow's New York City Directory of 1872, Charles H Lyons, who lived on site, made butter. Lower class brownstones were built in the 1870s by Effingham B. Sutton.[11][12][13]
By 1879, the street grid had been implemented and two townhouses had been built, one on 444 E 58th Street and another on 446 E 58th Street. In 1886, according to the New York City directory, a laces maker, Jacob Schwab, lived at 444 E 58th St (brownstone). The 1891 map shows no changes. On February 27, 1893, 444 East 58th was sold for $9,525, while its assessment was $6,000. 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.[14][15][16][17][18]
History
Early years: 1901 to 1906
On February 19, 1901, 446 East 58th Street went into an auction, and was acquired by Joseph B Bloomingdale.[19][20]
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. Having purchased the until-then separate 444 East 58th Street and 446 East 58th Street buildings, 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), designed by George F. Pelham. Pelham had earlier designed 422 East 58th Street in 1899, and later designed Stonehenge 58 in 1929 at 58th street in Sutton Place.[21][22][23]
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.[24][25]
The official completion date of 1901 is supported by property management records and archival data. Some modern commercial real estate databases cite a later date, such as 1920 or 1921. Property records and the 1906 birth of cartoonist Crockett Johnson in the building indicate a 1901 completion date, contradicting these later estimates.[26][27][28][29]
On January 15, 1903, Isaac Haft and wife sold their part of the building to Abraham Levy for $46,500. On March 2, 1904, Abraham Levy and the World Realty Company sold 444 East 58th Street to the Schlessinger brothers.[30][31]
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.[32]
Rental building as Sutton Place evolves: 1906 to 1928
Gustav Lewkowitz, his wife Minna Lewkowitz, Herman Fuld, and his wife Therese Fuld purchased 444 East 58th Street on May 16, 1906, and owned it for 22 years until September 1928, when the property was sold to Lawrence T. Berliner.[33][34]
Berliner purchased the property for investment on September 1928, expecting to tear it down and create a bigger, more modern building, but in December 1928, he sold it to Nicholas Zurla.[34][35]
From the Great Depression onwards as a rental building: 1928 to 1984
In December 1928 Nicholas Zurla purchased the building.[35]
On May 7, 1932, the River Book House opened at 444 East 58th Street, by E. R. Armstrong and J. M. Wolcott. Announced in The 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. [36]
In 1937, the building was listed as the residence of cartoonist Lou Sheppard, who looked for original cartoon ideas in Writer's Digest in May that year, and was willing to split proceeds.[37]
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.[38][39]
Rental prices over the years, pre-elevators:
November 4, 1929: $65-$70 for a 2-bedroom/1-bath apartment.[40]
On December 4, 1955, the newspaper ad for an apartment in the building read "58 St 444 E Off Sutton Place, Apartment #10, 4 rooms, modern, 2 floor walk-up, professional & living only. $165/month. After elevator installation, $175/ month".[43]
On May 15, 1966, an apartment listed for $242 as rent controlled, Eat-in Kitchen, French windows, Air Conditioner, sublet 1.5 years.[44]
On December 20, 1970, an apartment on the building was listed to rent for $305 as a "Superior older building off Sutton Place with elevator. Tastefully furnished 2 bedroom apartments".[45]
On December 3, 1972, an apartment was listed with a modern kitchen, A/C, newly decorated for $350.[46]
On September 7, 1984, 444 58th Street became a cooperative, known as 444-446 E 58TH OWNERS CP. Since conversion, the cooperative has maintained the building's pre-war character while implementing modern amenities. As of the 2010s and 2020s, real-estate listings describe the co-op as having an elevator, video intercom, and a common laundry room. On July 30, 2015, Sutton 58 purchased the air rights of 444 East 58th Street for $16,912,626.[48][49][50][4][51][26]
Tenants and demographics
In 1910, the U.S. census recorded primarily immigrant families from Austria, Bohemia, Russia, England, Romania, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and Armenia. Heads of household included bakers, machinists, hatmakers, merchants, decorators, hotel workers, carpenters, plumbers, policemen, bartenders, dressmakers, and janitors. A total of 82 people lived in the building, averaging 3.15 persons per apartment.[52]
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. Occupations included plumbers, cigar makers, librarians, taxi drivers, bakers, clerks, barbers, teachers, druggists, and jewelers. 94 people lived in the building, averaging 3.62 per apartment.[53]
The 1930 census listed tenants from Sweden, Russia, Norway, Holland, Canada, Germany, England, Italy, the Philippines, and Northern Ireland. Professions included building superintendent, glass glazer, fur cutter, grocery owner, teacher, hotel chef, film director, musician (Mario Braggiotti), and dance instructor (Gloria Braggiotti Etting). 66 people lived in the building, averaging 2.53 per apartment.[10]
By 1940, the census reflected fewer immigrants, with residents from France, England, Sweden, Wales, Germany, Austria, and Hungary. Occupations included draftsman, advertising publisher, radio writer, teacher, fashion artist, songwriter (Jerry Seelen), and real estate manager. 57 people lived in the building, averaging 2.19 per apartment.[54]
The first post–World War II census, in 1950, recorded residents from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria, France, Germany, and Canada. Occupations included painter, speech pathologist (Esti Freud), broadcasting editor, clothing designer, sales engineer, and airline reservation agent. 45 people lived in the building, averaging 1.7 per apartment.[55]
Architecture
Form
The building has six floors, with two apartments per floor, and two basement units with private access to the backyard. The common laundry room is located on the ground floor, in between the two units. The basement units are therefore elongated, covering the building from front to back.[56]
The first floor was originally devised to hold two commercial establishments on the front, so apartments have a different layout than apartments on floors 2 to 6.[57][58][59]
A central air shaft exists to allow for a corridor window and a walk-in closet window for apartments B and C.[60][61]
Façade
444 East 58th St façade
The building's façade has a tripartite composition consisting of: 1) rusticated base, 2) a repetitive brickwork shaft, and 3) a crowning top story with round-arched windows and a prominent projecting cornice. The overall design is symmetric, with five evenly spaced bays and a central axis reinforced by the entrance and stacked fire escapes. The window openings are rectilinear in the lower and middle floors, with enriched lintels to the upper level's round arches framed by archivolts and keystones.[2] The current windows open vertically, while the 1940 city records display horizontally opening windows.[62]
444 East 58th St Façade, example of angry mascaron444 East 58th St Façade, example of Corinthian columns444 East 58th St Façade, example of lunette with dragons on top of a cartouche, and two modillions444 East 58th St Façade portion444 East 58th St Façade, example of mascaron in a King motif444 East 58th St Façade, example of mascaron depicting a lady
Initially designed as a walkup, in 1956, the building was upgraded with an elevator.[7]
The building was upgraded between July 2011 and December 2012 to feature a common laundry room.[63][64]
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.[65][66]
Listing photographs from the early 2020s show a renovated lobby with a black-and-white patterned tile floor, mirrored wall panels around the elevator, and updated trim and moldings. These images also show light-colored wall finishes and a modernized elevator door within the building’s original prewar layout.[67]
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.
Crockett Johnson, between his birth in 1906 and his sister's birth in 1910. He was an American cartoonist, children's book illustrator, and writer.[6]
Mario Braggiotti, in 1930, with his younger sister Gloria. He was a pianist, composer and raconteur, whose career was launched by George Gershwin, who became his friend and mentor.[10]
Gloria Braggiotti Etting, in 1930, with her older brother Mario. She was a dancer, newspaper columnist, photographer, and writer, later married to Emlen Etting.[10]
Joy Montgomery Higgins, in 1934. She was an American suffragist, social worker, writer, and cultural advocate who championed women's rights, community welfare, and the arts.[8][70]
Isaac Don Levine, in 1936. He was a 20th-century Russian-born American journalist and anticommunist writer, who is known as a specialist on the Soviet Union.[71]
Jerry Seelen, in 1940. He was a prolific American lyricist and screenwriter whose career spanned radio, television, and musical theater from the 1930s through the 1960s.[54]
Esti Freud, from 1943 until at least 1960. She was an Austrian-American speech therapist (logopedist / speech-language pathologist) and Sigmund Freud's daughter-in-law.[72][73][74]
Carl A Berntsen Jr, in 1948. He was an American physician, pathologist, and medical historian.[75]
Peter Turgeon, from 1949 till at least 1964. He was an American stage, film, and television actor, as well as a stage manager.[79][80]
Detlev F. Vagts, in 1958. He was a leading scholar of international law, known for his long career at Harvard Law School and his contributions to the study of international economic and business law.[81]
Nicolai Abracheff, in 1978. He was an abstract painter and director of the Abracheff School of Art.[83]
Luther Greene, from around 1959 to 1987. He was a theatrical producer, particularly active in New York in the 1930's and 40's, turned landscape architect in the 1950's.[84][85]
Drue Heinz, actress, philanthropist, arts patron, and socialite, owned apartment GE, the same unit previously occupied by Luther Green, sold by her Estate in 2020.[86]
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.[34]
On May 7, 1932, the River Book House opened at 444 East 58th Street, by E. R. Armstrong and J. M. Wolcott. Announced in The 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.[36]
Between around 1959 and 1987, Luther Greene, who lived and had a workshop and garden at a ground apartment. The apartment was featured at Architectural Digest in November 1979, where it was described as "... a shell grotto quite worthy of eighteenth-century Bayreuth or nineteenth-century Bavaria" and the article finishes with "... remarkable underground New York apartment. The wonders will no doubt continue."[85]
Sometime between 1987 and 1991, when Architectural Digest published a new story about the same ground apartment, the space went through a transformation, now under Drue Heinz' ownership. The five-ambients turned into a very long library, hosting primarily Ecco Press backlist, and back numbers of Anteaus Magazine, plus two rooms far away from each other "... and author who missed his plane and the critic who reviewed his latest book unfavorably." The grotto was re-architected by Pietro Cicognani, of Ciocognani Kala. Per the article "The apartment has the feeling of a cloister, of a library in a monastery". The bookshelves could still be seen in the 2019 photos as the apartment went for sale by the Estate of Drue Heinz.[87][56][86]
12"Several Suites Leased In Midtoivn Buildings: Joy M. Higgens Will Occupy Unit in East 58th Street". New York Herald Tribune. March 31, 1934. ProQuest1243070788.
↑"THE BUILDING DEPARTMENT.: List of Plans Filed for New Structures and Alterations". The New York Times. May 12, 1889. ProQuest95681472.
↑Digital Collections, The New York Public Library. "(cartographic) Plate 19:, (1879)". The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
↑"IN THE REAL ESTATE FIELD: Many Upper West Side Flats Change Hands -- Big Deal on Upper Eighth Avenue -- Court Leases New Quarters -- Gilsey House Leased for Eight Years". The New York Times. March 2, 1904. ProQuest96434736.
↑Lillie, Frank Rattray; Moore, Carl Richard; Redfield, Alfred Clarence (1941). The Biological Bulletin. Retrieved October 15, 2025.
↑"Apartment Leasing Brisk In Midtown Buildings: Miss Joy M. Higgens to Occupy East 58th Street Suite". New York Herald. April 5, 1934. ProQuest1114852497.
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