2190 Broadway

by Tom Miller

In 1870 William J. Carlin and his wife, Alice, purchased the eastern blockfront of the Boulevard (later Broadway) between 77th and 78th Street.  On July 9 that year, the Real Estate Record & Builders’ Guide recorded that architect John Brady had filed plans for a 25-foot wide, three-story brick, “second-class dwelling” on the otherwise vacant block for “Mrs. Carlin.”

William was a blacksmith and initially operated his business around the corner on West 78th Street.  By 1899, however, he had moved it into a structure on the Boulevard.  On April 15 that year the Record & Guide commented that his “horse-shoeing establishment” sat in the middle of the block.

In 1901 Carlin replaced that structure with a three-story “carriage repair” shop at 2190 Broadway, the title of which was in Alice’s name.  When a friend, James A. Maguire, was arrested on November 21, 1905 for illegal voting, William came to his rescue.  The Morning Telegraph reported two days later, “The bail bond, for $5,000, was signed by William J. Carlin, a blacksmith, of 2190 Broadway, who remarked that the property he gave as security had been bought by him forty years ago for $2,500 and was now valued at $40,000.”  (The valuation of the property would translate to about $1.27 million in 2023.)

…union members had appeared at the store and threatened him “with bodily harm and threatened to break the windows and otherwise destroy property” unless he stopped trading with Sanford Butter & Egg.  

Carlin again relocated his business to West 78th Street in 1909, moving into a “one-story frame shop.”  A renovation of 2190 Broadway resulted in a store at ground level and offices above.  One of them was home to Snowber & Smith’s real estate office by 1911.  Interestingly, both M. Francis Snober and Raymond T. Smith were lawyers.  In addition to their real estate office, they both conducted their legal businesses from the address.  They would remain at least through 1917.

In 1920, the ground floor space was home to Maison Helen, a women’s millinery shop.  It soon became the grocery store of Herman Eisner, who ran afoul with the dairymen’s union.  Eisner purchased goods from Sanford Butter & Egg Co., a non-union firm.  When that company sued the union in the spring of 1926, Eisner testified on its behalf.  He stated that in April union members had appeared at the store and threatened him “with bodily harm and threatened to break the windows and otherwise destroy property” unless he stopped trading with Sanford Butter & Egg.

One of the upper floor offices was rented by Gus Wagner in 1926.  Describing himself as a “former Government Detective,” he had formed the American Detective System.  His advertisements were placed in men’s magazines throughout the country.  A typical ad read, “Be a Detective.  Work home or travel.  Experience unnecessary.  Particulars free.”  Another said, “Detectives Earn Big Money.  Travel.  Excellent opportunity.  Great demand everywhere.  Experience unnecessary.”

Another Gus—Gus Brackman—took space in 1927.  He imported lighting fixtures, specializing in antiques that he had electrified.  He also converted customers’ household items or heirlooms, like vases, into lamps.

“Detectives Earn Big Money.  Travel.  Excellent opportunity.  Great demand everywhere.  Experience unnecessary.”

Owner Florence M. Harvey gave the little building another renovation in 1941.  It was most likely at this time that a shiny Art Moderne façade was applied, its panels apparently composed the structural glass known variously as Vitrolite, Carrara glass and Sani Onyx.  A modern arcade entrance was installed which provided for generous window displays.  The entire building became home to G & S. Linens which remained through 1947.  The store sold bed and table linens and accessories, like the embroidered handkerchiefs and such necessary for a new bride’s trousseau.

The sleek black building remained astonishingly unchanged for decades.  Its upper floors housed offices in the latter part of the 20th and early 21st centuries, like that of attorney at law Marc Andrew Landis, here in the late 1990s into the 2000s.  In 2005 Laina Jane Lingerie occupied the ground floor shop.

Then construction began on an apartment house at the corner of Broadway and 77th Street in 2013.  Simultaneously, developers internally joined the three-story structures along the block, including 2190 Broadway.  A renovation of the facades made them both architecturally harmonious and uninteresting.

Tom Miller is a social historian and blogger at daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com

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