The William J. Davenport House, 73 Manhattan Avenue

by Tom Miller

In 1891, William Howe designed and erected six three-story-and-basement houses at 73 through 83 Manhattan Avenue for William John Davenport.  The Queen Anne-style row was designed in an A-B-C-C-B-A configuration.  Each of the 16-foot-wide homes cost $8,500 to build, or about $294,000 in 2025.

Davenport reserved the southernmost house, 73 Manhattan Avenue, for his family’s use.  Its corner location at 103rd Street, with the resulting additional natural light and ventilation, made it the most desirable of the row.  The basement and parlor levels were faced with rough-cut brownstone.  The end blocks of the elliptically arched parlor openings were carved as faces.  The upper floors were clad in brick.  A double-height, shallow three-bay oriel terminated in a triangular pediment fronting a paneled parapet.

Born in 1828, Davenport married his cousin, Sophia W. Davenport, who was 12 years his junior.  The Manhattan Avenue row was, apparently, his sole foray into real estate development.  Around 1853, he and his brother, Stephen Henry, founded the produce firm W. J. & S. H. Davenport.

Also moving into the Manhattan Avenue house was Sophia’s windowed mother, Olive.  (Interestingly, upon William’s marriage to Sophia, Olive became both his aunt and his mother-in-law.)

Davenport was highly involved in politics.  At what The New York Times called “a large gathering of ‘machine’ Democrats” on November 25, 1894, delegates to the upcoming Democratic State Convention were elected.  The article said that Davenport “was chosen unanimously” as State Committeeman from the Twentieth Ward.

Born in 1828, Davenport married his cousin, Sophia W. Davenport, who was 12 years his junior.

On February 17, 1897, Olive Davenport died at the age of 82.  Her funeral was held in the parlor two days later.

Families along the block maintained a small domestic staff.  In October 1897, Sophia advertised, “Housework—Girl to do general housework at 73 Manhattan ave.”  Two years later, she was looking for a cook, “Neat, competent girl; private family.”

In 1899, William John Davenport retired.  The New York Times explained that “an affection of the heart compelled him to give up the active duties of his business.”  He died on October 31, 1903, apparently from a heart attack, at the age of 75.

Just over a month after Davenport’s death, his estate sold the house to Clara R. Lapham for $20,000 (about $714,000 today).  The negotiations, it appears, enabled Sophia Davenport to remain in the house.  She was still listed here as late as 1906.  An advertisement that she placed in The New York Times on October 27 that year suggests that her late husband had been a bit of a hoarder.  “For Sale—File of New York Times from 1891 to 1903.  Mrs. W. J. D., 73 Manhattan Av., N.Y.”

On January 30, 1908, Clara R. Lapham lost the property in foreclosure.  The title was purchased by Stephen H. Davenport, William’s brother and former business partner for $16,500.  The following year, Sophia moved to the home of her niece, Elizabeth Davenport, at 319 West 22nd Street, where she died on January 29, 1914.

Stephen Davenport leased the house for several years.  Robert Neppert and his wife rented it around 1911.  In 1913, The New York Times explained, “Mrs. Neppert and her husband occupy the first floor of the house, while two upper floors are rented to a number of lodgers.” 

In August 1913, William and Kate Calder moved into a suite on the second floor.  The couple had lived in the Berkshires, but their home was destroyed by fire.  Six weeks later, on September 29, Mrs. Neppert told all the roomers that they would have to stay away from the house the next day because she had hired a rat exterminator to fumigate it.  The next morning, she reminded everyone.

The exterminator had explained to Mrs. Neppert that he would fumigate “with cyanide of potassium and sulphuric acid.”  Inhaling the fumes, he warned, “would be fatal.”  When Kate Calder left that morning, Mrs. Neppert reminded her, “Don’t enter the house until you see me.  I want to clean the whole house thoroughly and the fumes are poisonous.”  The 60-year-old promised she would comply.

When the house was empty, the worker placed pails containing cyanide of potassium in each room.  Then he hurriedly went from room to room, adding sulphuric acid to the pails.  “In each case he made his escape before the chemical action had proceeded very far,” said The New York Times.  He then retreated to the sidewalk, telling Mrs. Neppert he would be back at 4:30.

Mrs. Neppert recalled that Kate Calder had received a letter that morning saying that a friend might visit.

The exterminator returned, took the key from Mrs. Neppert and entered the house with a cloth over his mouth and nose and began opening all the windows.  “A minute or two [later] he reappeared calling that a woman lay dead on a bed in the room on the second floor front.”  Mrs. Neppert recalled that Kate Calder had received a letter that morning saying that a friend might visit.  “She probably wanted to arrange her rooms in anticipation of a visit from her friend,” Mrs. Neppert surmised.  The New York Times reported, “Mr. Calder was prostrated when he heard of his wife’s death at 6 o’clock.”

The following year, on August 6, 1914, an advertisement in The New York Times read, “Large, front room; private corner house, dressing room; ample closets; suitable for one or two; Summer rates.”

The former Davenport house continued to be operated as a rooming house for nearly four decades.  On February 7, 1952, the New York City Planning Commission approved a low-rent housing project that would engulf 22.5 acres, the Frederick Douglass Houses.  The “superblock” eradicated the Davenport row as well as all the buildings from 100th to 104th Street, from Manhattan Avenue to Amsterdam Avenue.

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