Charles K. Eagle

Last updated
Charles K. Eagle
DiedSeptember 2, 1928
The Briarcliffe, New York City, New York
NationalityAmerican

Charles K. Eagle (d. September 2, 1928) was an American silk merchant who owned one of New York City's largest silk-manufacturing firms in the early 20th century. [1]

Contents

Career

In 1906, Eagle was in business with his brother, John H. Eagle (July 24, 1868 – July 24, 1943), [2] [3] at 487 Broome Street in Lower Manhattan. [4] They established the J. H. and C. K. Eagle Company in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, which expanded into several areas of the United States. [3]

The Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide stated on May 13, 1911, that the lot at the corner of Park Avenue and 21st Street, formerly occupied by the New Amsterdam Hotel, had been purchased by "J. H. & C. K. Eagle, one of the largest of the city's silk manufacturing firms". The address is known as "The Eagle Building" today, the work of architects Warren and Wetmore. [5] Four years later, the firm built, at a cost of $1.5 million, a silk mill factory on Chestnut Street in Kulpmont, Pennsylvania. [6] The American Silk Journal wrote: "This is undoubtedly the largest mill building project ever undertaken at one time by a single firm in the silk trade, and is a very substantial indication of the remarkable success had by the firm of J. H. & C. K. Eagle since the inception of their business." [7] The mill building was sold to a New York company in 2021. [8]

The brothers also constructed Eagle Silk Mill at Water Street and Lamb's Crossing in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, in 1922. [9] They also had facilities in other parts of Pennsylvania, including Phoenixville, Gettysburg and Mechanicsburg. [9]

In June 1925, the brothers sold the Eagle Building, which was described by The New York Times as "one of the finest buildings in the section". Upon the death of John in 1943, The New York Times reported that he retired in 1925, and moved to Pasadena, California, [3] living in the 1920-built Marshallia mansion (now Strub Hall, part of Mayfield Senior School) on Grand Avenue, [10] so it is likely Charles continued on alone for last three years of his life. The company moved to 265 Madison Avenue in Manhattan, but kept space for retail at its former home until 1929, [11] a year after Charles' death.

The Briarcliffe

The Briarcliffe penthouse apartment (left of center), viewed from The Manhattan Club, one block to the southwest, on 56th Street The Briarcliffe from The Manhattan Club.jpg
The Briarcliffe penthouse apartment (left of center), viewed from The Manhattan Club, one block to the southwest, on 56th Street

In October 1923, Eagle moved to The Briarcliffe, at 171 West 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan, from the Rodin Studios diagonally across Seventh Avenue and 57th Street. They lived in Philadelphia before that. [12] At the Briarcliffe, he built himself a 5,573-square-foot [13] penthouse apartment, with a 1,847-square-foot [14] terrace that wraps around the southwestern corner of the building. [15]

During its construction in 1921, and at a cost of $8,000, Eagle had extra steel beams included in the terrace's construction to support extensive garden plantings. "My wife and I have always loved the country and growing things, flowers and birds. Why should we have to leave town in search of the things that made us happy?" [16] [15] As such, the terrace featured flower beds, Japanese pines, a fountain with speckled trout, birdhouses and pheasants and squirrels. [15]

Death

Eagle's wife, Tecla (or Thecla) Jensen, [12] suffered a nervous breakdown during their time at the Briarcliffe. On the morning of September 2, 1928, Eagle, who had been battling a three-week attack of insomnia, committed suicide in the gymnasium of the apartment. He used one of his hunting weapons, a "double-barreled rifle of .44 calibre, surmounted by a barrel of .22 calibre", shooting himself in the right temple. His body was found by his wife's nurse. [1] He had sold the property one month earlier. [15] When his will was probated, his estate had been hit by the Wall Street Crash of 1929, for what was once worth $3.9 million was now worth $141,000. At the time of his death, he owed $3 million to Chase Bank, due in two months. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shamokin, Pennsylvania</span> City in Pennsylvania, United States

Shamokin is a city in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Surrounded by Coal Township at the western edge of the Anthracite Coal Region in central Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River Valley, the city was named after a Saponi Indian village, Schahamokink. At the 2020 United States census, the population was 6,942.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Helmsley</span> American businessman

Harry Brakmann Helmsley was an American real estate billionaire whose company, Helmsley-Spear, became one of the country's biggest property holders, owning the Empire State Building and many of New York's most prestigious hotels. His second marriage to Leona Roberts led to charges of false accounting and tax evasion as well as a celebrated trial, where Harry was judged too frail to plead, but Leona was fined and jailed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warren and Wetmore</span> Architecture firm in New York City

Warren and Wetmore was an architecture firm based in New York City, a partnership established about 1889 by Whitney Warren (1864–1943) and Charles D. Wetmore (1866–1941). They had one of the most extensive practices of their time, and were especially known for having designed many large hotels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred Bossom</span> American architect

Alfred Charles Bossom, Baron Bossom GCStJ FRIBA was an architect in the United States who returned to his native England and became a Conservative Party politician. He also wrote books on architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">834 Fifth Avenue</span> Residential skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

834 Fifth Avenue is a luxury residential housing cooperative in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. It is located on Fifth Avenue at the corner of East 64th Street opposite the Central Park Zoo. The limestone-clad building was designed by Rosario Candela, a prolific designer of luxury apartment buildings in Manhattan during the period between World War I and World War II. 834 Fifth Avenue is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious apartment houses in New York City. It has been called "the most pedigreed building on the snobbiest street in the country’s most real estate-obsessed city" in an article in the New York Observer newspaper. This status is due to the building's overall architecture, the scale and layout of the apartments, and the notoriety of its current and past residents. It is one of the finest buildings designed by Rosario Candela, according to The New York Times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">57th Street (Manhattan)</span> West-east street in Manhattan, New York

57th Street is a broad thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Manhattan, one of the major two-way, east-west streets in the borough's grid. As with Manhattan's other "crosstown" streets, it is divided into its east and west sections at Fifth Avenue. The street runs from a small park overlooking the East River in the east to the West Side Highway along the Hudson River in the west. 57th Street runs through the neighborhoods of Sutton Place, Midtown Manhattan, and Hell's Kitchen from east to west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allerton Hotel for Women</span>

The Allerton Hotel for Women, today known as Hotel 57, is a hotel located at 130 East 57th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is a seventeen-story brick, limestone, and terra cotta building designed by Arthur Loomis Harmon in 1920. It was built on the southwest corner of Lexington Avenue and 57th Street by the Allerton House Company at a cost of $700,000. It originally had stores on its ground floor. The hotel intended to accommodate six hundred business and professional women and also shelter young girls. When completed in 1923, the Allerton Hotel had room for four hundred tenants. Its occupancy was filled prior to completion and there was a long waiting list. After opening it was so popular that another establishment of its kind was anticipated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">One57</span> Residential skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

One57, formerly known as Carnegie 57, is a 75-story, 1,005 ft (306 m) supertall skyscraper at 157 West 57th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in the Midtown neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The building has 92 condominium units above a 210-room Park Hyatt Hotel that serves as the flagship Hyatt property. The tower was developed by Extell Development Company and designed by Christian de Portzamparc. It was the first ultra-luxury condominium tower along a stretch of 57th Street called Billionaires' Row.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">432 Park Avenue</span> Residential skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

432 Park Avenue is a residential skyscraper at 57th Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, overlooking Central Park. The 1,396-foot-tall (425.5 m) tower was developed by CIM Group and Harry B. Macklowe and designed by Rafael Viñoly. A part of Billionaires' Row, 432 Park Avenue has some of the most expensive residences in the city, with the median unit selling for tens of millions of dollars. At the time of its completion in 2015, 432 Park Avenue was the third-tallest building in the United States and the tallest residential building in the world. As of 2023, it is the sixth-tallest building in the United States, the fifth-tallest building in New York City, and the third-tallest residential building in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Springs Mills Building</span> Office skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

The Springs Mills Building is a 21-story office building at 104 West 40th Street in Manhattan, New York City, just west of Sixth Avenue and Bryant Park. The Modernist building sits on an L-shaped lot that extends back to 39th Street and rises to a thin glass hexagonal tower. An early example of the International Style in New York, the building was designed by the architectural firm Harrison & Abramovitz and built in 1961–1963. Its northern facade on 40th Street is designed to comply with the 1961 Zoning Resolution, enacted soon after the building's construction started, while its southern facade on 39th Street conforms to the older 1916 Zoning Resolution.

111 West 57th Street, also known as Steinway Tower, is a supertall residential skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Developed by JDS Development Group and Property Markets Group, it is situated along Billionaires' Row on the north side of 57th Street near Sixth Avenue. The main portion of the building is an 84-story, 1,428-foot (435-meter) tower designed by SHoP Architects and completed in 2021. Preserved at the base is the 16-story Steinway Building, a former Steinway & Sons store designed by Warren and Wetmore and completed in 1925, which originally carried the address 111 West 57th Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billionaires' Row (Manhattan)</span> Collection of residential skyscrapers in Manhattan, New York

Billionaires' Row is the name given to a group of ultra-luxury residential skyscrapers and the area surrounding them around the southern end of Central Park in Manhattan, New York City. Several of these buildings are in the supertall category, taller than 1,000 feet (300 m), and are among the tallest buildings in the world. Since most of these pencil towers are on 57th Street, the term can refer to this street, too.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ritz Tower</span> Residential building in Manhattan, New York

The Ritz Tower is a luxury residential building at 465 Park Avenue on the corner of East 57th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It was built from 1925 to 1926 as an apartment hotel and was designed by Emery Roth and Thomas Hastings for journalist Arthur Brisbane, who was the developer. The Ritz Tower is about 541 feet (165 m) with 41 stories, making it the tallest residential building in New York City upon its completion. Because it was initially classified as an apartment hotel, the building was constructed to a greater height than was usually permitted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Park Avenue Tower</span> Skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

Park Avenue Tower is a building on Park Avenue, between 55th Street and 56th Street, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The office building developed by Park Tower Realty opened in 1986 and has a height of 561 feet. Park Avenue Tower has 36 floors, which can be reached with seventeen elevators. Designed by Murphy/Jahn Architects in postmodern style, Park Avenue Tower is made of stone, steel and glass. The floor plan of the building is a square with flattened corners and the tower narrows as it increases in height. There is a pyramid-shaped structure on the roof of the building that is not visible from the street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madison Belmont Building</span> Office building in Manhattan, New York

The Madison Belmont Building, also known as 183 Madison Avenue, is a commercial building at the southeast corner of Madison Avenue and 34th Street in Murray Hill, Manhattan, New York. It was designed by Warren & Wetmore in the Neoclassical style and built in 1924–1925. The Madison Belmont Building has a "transitional" design that deviates from Warren & Wetmore's other commissions, combining elements of the Neoclassical style and more modern influences from the Art Deco style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">224 West 57th Street</span> Commercial building in Manhattan, New York

224 West 57th Street, also known as the Argonaut Building and formerly as the Demarest and Peerless Company Building, is a commercial building on the southeast corner of Broadway and 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, just south of Columbus Circle. The building consists of two formerly separate structures, the A. T. Demarest & Company Building and the Peerless Motor Car Company Building, both used by automobile companies. Both structures were designed by Francis H. Kimball and erected by the George A. Fuller Company with similar Gothic Revival and Romanesque Revival architectural details.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sherwood Studio Building</span> Apartment building in Manhattan, New York

The Sherwood Studio Building was an artists' apartment building at 58 West 57th Street, at the southeast corner with Sixth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was constructed in 1879 as artists' apartments. It was demolished in 1960 to permit the construction of a large apartment building called Hemisphere House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">689 Fifth Avenue</span> Office building in Manhattan, New York

689 Fifth Avenue is a commercial building in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, at the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 54th Street. The building was designed by Warren and Wetmore and constructed from 1925 to 1927.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Briarcliffe</span> Residential building in Manhattan, New York

The Briarcliffe is a 13-story, 35-unit residence at 171 West 57th Street, at the northeastern corner with Seventh Avenue, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Located just north of Carnegie Hall, the property was built as a hotel in 1922, designed by architects Warren and Wetmore, and converted to its current purpose as condominiums in 1999. The Briarcliffe is part of Billionaires' Row and shares a city block with the Alwyn Court to the north and 165 West 57th Street, One57, the Nippon Club Tower, the Calvary Baptist Church, and 111 West 57th Street to the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl Blackwell</span> American businessman

Samuel Earl Blackwell Jr. was an American businessman who was a celebrity promoter and, later, celebrity tracker. In 1939, he founded Celebrity Service, which spawned The Celebrity Bulletin in 1952.

References

  1. 1 2 "MERCHANT A SUICIDE BY RIFLE IN HOME; Charles K. Eagle Kills Himself With Hunting Weapon in Penthouse Apartment.ACT LAID TO INSOMNIA Wife's Nurse Finds Body in Gymnasium at 171 West 57th Street-- He Had Just Sold Building. Called Good-Night to Wife." – The New York Times , September 3, 1928
  2. ↑ JH & CK Eagle Silk Mill Co., Thomas, Photographer, 1916-1924
  3. 1 2 3 "JOHN H. EAGLE; { Retired Shamokin Silk Maker Dies in Pasadena, Calif., at 75" – The New York Times, July 25, 1943
  4. ↑ The Trow (formerly Wilson's) Copartnership and Corporation Directory of New York City (1906), p. 206
  5. ↑ The Eagle Building - Park Avenue and 21st Street – Dayton in Manhattan
  6. ↑ Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide (1915)
  7. ↑ American Silk Journal (1915)
  8. ↑ "Former mill in Kulpmont sold to LLC based in New York" – The News-Item , October 14, 2021
  9. 1 2 BELLEFONTE INDUSTRIES, Eagle Silk Mill – Pennsylvania Historic Resources Series, 2006
  10. ↑ "Our beloved Strub Hall home turns 100!" – Mayfield Senior School
  11. ↑ Campaign Expenditures, United States. Congress. Senate. Special Committee on Campaign Expenditures, William Edgar Borah (1925), p. 8
  12. 1 2 Supreme Court Papers on Appeal from Order (1925)
  13. ↑ "Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Won’t Profit From Briarcliff Penthouse" – Observer, March 3, 2017
  14. ↑ "171 West 57th Street, PH" – Corcoran
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 "A Wallflower Overshadowed by Its Neighbors" – The New York Times , October 28, 2007
  16. ↑ The New York Times Magazine , June 15, 1924
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.