\n<\/p>\n
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 As laborers returned to New York City following the end of the Civil War, construction resumed and development spread to the Upper East and West sides of Manhattan. Around 1871, Nicholas McCool erected a dozen high-stooped brownstones at 103 through 125 East 78th St., between Lexington and Park avenues.\u00a0<\/p>\n Like its neighbors, 117 East 78th St. was just under 19 feet wide and rose three stories above a high English basement.\u00a0The Italianate design included an arched entrance below a classical pediment supported by foliate-carved corbels.\u00a0<\/p>\n It appears that McCool originally leased the house to a series of tenants.<\/p>\n In 1881, George Frederick Seward and his wife, the former Kate Sherman, moved in.\u00a0 The couple were married in 1870 and had four children.\u00a0Born in 1840, George Seward was the president of the Fidelity and Casualty Co. and a director in several other firms.<\/p>\n George’s uncle, William H. Seward, had served as Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of State.\u00a0It may have been his influence that landed George’s appointment as United States consul to Shanghai in 1861. When he and Kate moved into 117 East 78th St., they had\u00a0just returned to New York from Washington D.C. where he was the American Minister to China.\u00a0He had held that post from 1876 until 1880.\u00a0<\/p>\n Around 1883, Martin Freeman and his wife, the former Henrietta Wise, purchased 117 East 78th St. Freeman worked in the clothing and men’s furnishings business of Henry Wise & Co.\u00a0and had married the owner’s daughter. Martin’s brother, Joseph Freeman, also got a job with the firm and married one of Henry Wise’s daughters.\u00a0Upon the death of Henry Wise, the firm was renamed Freeman Bros.<\/p>\n Martin Freeman suffered from heart disease. On the evening of May 26th, 1902, he died from a heart attack. He was 58.<\/p>\n On May 2nd, 1905, Henrietta Wise Freeman sold 117 East 78th St. to Philip H. Minis for $28,250, just over $1 million in 2026 terms.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Before the Minis family moved in, they hired architect Henry Brooks Price and Hunt & Howells to make what the\u00a0Real Estate Record & Builders’ Guide\u00a0described as “extensive alterations.”\u00a0The residence was enlarged by the addition of a fourth floor.\u00a0It was likely during these renovations that iron stoop railings in a Classical Roman crosshatch design were installed.\u00a0The remodeling cost the Minis family the equivalent of $554,000 today.<\/p>\n Philip Minis was born in Savannah in 1843 and fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War.\u00a0He came to New York City in 1871 and founded the brokerage firm P. H. Minis & Co. Among his most visible clients was William K. Vanderbilt.<\/p>\n He and his wife, the former Roberta Dudley, had one son, Robert B. Minis. According to the\u00a0New York Herald, Minis was a founder of the Metropolitan Club and (ironically) a member of the Union Club.\u00a0By the time he purchased 117 East 78th St., he was a\u00a0partner in the brokerage firm of Minis & Davis.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In October 1911, Philip H. Minis fell ill.\u00a0His condition worsened to pneumonia and he died in the house on October 22nd, 1911 at the age of 68.\u00a0In reporting his death, the\u00a0New York Herald\u00a0described him as “one of the oldest members of the New York Stock Exchange.”<\/p>\n For more on the property and the interesting people that lived here,\u00a0check out the full article.<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n