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Have you ever passed by an interesting residential building in New York City and wanted to know more about its history? In this series, Brick Underground teams up with Tom Miller, creator of\u00a0Daytonian in Manhattan,<\/a>\u00a0a blog about Manhattan buildings and other historic architecture. Each week, we run an excerpt from the Daytonian\u2019s archives with a link to the full article.<\/em><\/p>\n Around 1871 developer Nicholas McCool erected a row of identical Italianate-style homes on the north side of East 78th Street between Lexington and Fourth avenues (renamed Park Avenue in 1888).\u00a0Three bays wide and three stories tall above high English basements, they were intended for affluent families.<\/p>\n McCool sold 121 East 78th St<\/a>. to Dr. Elijah B. Middlebrook, who had just relocated to New York City from Connecticut.\u00a0Shortly before the purchase, he was embroiled in a court battle in Connecticut.\u00a0He assaulted attorney W. K. Seller in the courtroom and openly called him a liar.\u00a0Middlebrook paid a $600 fine (a significant $16,900 in 2026) and the\u00a0New York Herald\u00a0reported that he “exiled himself from Bridgeport rather than endure the ignominy of imprisonment.”\u00a0<\/p>\n The property was passed down to a series of inheritors until it was sold in 1933 to R. Keith Kane, according to an article in The New York Times that noted it “will be altered at a cost of $10,000.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The renovations (equal to a quarter of a million today) included removing the stoop and lowering the entrance to below grade, converting the original entrance to a window, and adding a new floor.\u00a0Astoundingly, the architect matched the former entrance with the existing parlor openings, copied the original architraves for the top floor windows, and reinstalled the 1871 cornice.<\/p>\n Born on July 3rd, 1900, attorney Richmond Keith Kane was a 1926 graduate of Harvard Law School. The year before purchasing 121 East 78th St., he joined the law firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.\u00a0He\u00a0and his wife, the former Amanda Stewart Bryan, had four daughters: Shelah, Anne Tennant, Hope Stewart and Constance H.\u00a0 Their country home was in Wickford, Rhode Island. Amanda was highly involved in civic and social affairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n The family moved to Washington D.C. in 1940 after Kane became special assistant to the U.S. Attorney General “in the enforcement of new foreign-registration laws.\u201d When relations between the French Vichy Government and America became strained the following year, the consul left East 78th Street and No. 121 was leased to Frederick S. Bailey and his family.\u00a0<\/p>\n R. Keith Kane was appointed assistant to the Secretary of the Navy in 1943 and in 1945 was an advisor to the United States delegation to the United Nations Conference on International Organization.<\/p>\n Former securities executive Aftab Islam, and his wife, Theresa Havell, lived here as early as 1999 with their six children and a live-in nanny. The couple was married in 1979.\u00a0Theresa was described by\u00a0The New York Post\u00a0as “a Wall Street wizard.”\u00a0She was the founder “of the highly successful Havell Capital Management.” Islam, on the other hand, called himself a “house husband” and had not worked since 1990.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n By 1999, things were not going smoothly for the couple.\u00a0According to\u00a0The New York Post,\u00a0they slept in separate bedrooms.\u00a0Before going to bed on April 21st, Theresa told Aftab that she wanted a divorce.\u00a0According to\u00a0The New York Times,\u00a0“she awoke just before 5 a.m. as Mr. Islam began beating her with a barbell he used to work out in their home.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Theresa was hospitalized with a fractured skull.\u00a0Islam was taken away by the police and later sentenced to eight years in prison.\u00a0<\/p>\n New owners renovated in 2002.\u00a0It was most likely during this remodeling that architectural elements of the ground floor, faithful reproductions of the 1871 versions, and a charming bay window were installed.<\/p>\n For more on the property and the families that lived here, check out the full article.<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\nMajor renovations<\/h2>\n
Domestic violence<\/h2>\n