By Yigal Rechtman ©
Created: December 8, 1998
Updated:
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The house on 86 Fourth Place in Brooklyn appeared first on a map(1) from 1869(2). An earlier map, from 1857 does not show it. Accordingly, the twelve years' gap between these records (1857-1869) probably contains the event of the land being purchased and house built. Other houses in that area date c.1863, and for dating purposes this is the estimated year for the erection of 86 Fourth Place. The street was legally opened on March 14, 1853(3), some two decades after the opening of Clinton Street(4) (December 4, 1834) and Court Street(5) (March 15, 1835).
The house itself, once built as a single family house, has four stories and a basement. The land includes a back and a front yard (that may not have been included in the original land purchase; see below). Looking at the interior of the building, the original floors can be seen on the garden floor that was used as a kitchen. A tin ceiling is evident in almost all the floors, and probably was installed by the original purchasers. The house has two fire places (kitchen and living room) that account for the present day "curves" along the Southern walls. It was gas-lit, and evident are the old gas pipes that were capped but are still visible on the garden and first floor. It is one of a group of four similar houses (nos. 86-80 on Fourth Place) that may have been designed and developed simultaneously.
The location is described on all deeds as 125 North of the intersection of Court Street and Fourth Place and running parallel to Court Street. Thus we learn that Fourth Place - unlike its parallel Laquer Street(6) - was always known by that name. The house is located on Block 374 which consists of the square formed by Court Street, Laquer Street, Clinton Street and Fourth Place. The land is described as lot number 25.
Tenants: This period also signifies an unusual record for historic research: gas meters. An inscription on a meter(7) for the "Top Apt." says that on June, 1923 the meter was in the name of DE SIMONE.
The record from February 3rd, 1910 shows a mortgage taken on the house by Jane and Florence J. MARTINE. The grantor of the mortgage is the South Brooklyn Savings Institution(8). The Mortgage was recorded a day earlier, on February the 2nd "at 6 minutes after 2pm". One of the purchasers, Jane was a widows of Mr. George MARTIN. This 1910 mortgage may have been a second mortgage taken on top of a mortgage from c.1900 (see below). The purchasers entered a debt of $2,000 with an annual interest rate of 5%. In addition to the standard language and all reinforcements of the mortgage, a $10.00 fee was levied for "recording tax" by the register of Kings county. Dominc NARDONE later transferred the house to his mother, in 1936. Dominick's father and Concetta's husband was deceased at the time of the purchase(9) -- apparently, accroding to her great-grandson "Her husband died sometime around 1918 or 1919 after falling (I believe on Columbia Street), hurting his knee and eventually dying of gangrene. They rented across the street on Fourth Place at the time (I'm not sure of the address, but my mother knows). He left her a widow at 32 with 6 children, one a newborn (my great uncle Alfred - known as Louie). She never remarried."
On January 26, 1931, Florence J. MARTIN had sold the house to Dominick NARDONE. Her address at the time was 272 South Broadway, Yonkers. The amount of the purchase is $100 in cash and $4500 in debt. The same date, also has on record the mortgage given on a house by the two ladies, Florence J. MARTIN and Jane MARTIN to Mr. NARDONE. It seems like the sellers had financed the buyer for the amount of $4,500. The sellers' mortgages are said to be all paid in full (as of August 1, 1930). The mortgages(10) that the two ladies had are described as one for $2,000 (apparently from 1910) and prior mortgage of $1,000 from an earlier time (possibly 1900 if we assume it was a 30 years mortgage that expired in 1930).
In 1936, On the sixth of March, Dominick NARDONE transferred the house to his mother's name: Concetta NARDONE. Per Joseph BLESHMAN(11) the house belonged to an "old widow until the around 1968." It is most likely that he was referring to Concetta. Indeed, when the house was sold in the late 1960s, the contracts includes in addition to the usual language ("Said premises being known and designated as 86 fourth place, brooklyn, New York") a hand written note adds "...Premises conveyed to Concetta NARDONE by Dominick NARDONE by deed dated 5/26/1936". I originally surmized that this language implied a transfer of an estate. In fact, this was a transfer from Concetta's son Dominck to his mother's name for purposes which are yet to be determined.
According to Concetta NARDONE's great-grandson, Glenn Welch(12), "[Concetta] was the owner of the house, ... from 1936-1972. She passed away on November 15, 1973, the same day she became a great grandmother for the fifth time". While living nearby on 2nd Place and Clinton, Concetta's grandson also recalled visiting the house: .".I spent every Sunday afternoon/evening at that house (in addition to many weekday afternoons walking home from St. Mary's grammar school) while growing up. .. My mother was Concetta's granddaughter, Elizabeth, the first child of Concetta's daughter Lillian (and husband, James Buonato)." About the family and their living arrangements in the 1930s and 1940s, we know from Glenn Welch that "Lillian and James (along with their 5 children) lived on the top floor of the building. My great-aunt Mary (another of Concetta's children) lived on the third floor with her three children (she was divorced). They had numerous tenants over the years on the second floor and Concetta lived in the ground floor apartment..."
Records dating 1968 onwards are very detailed and easy to search for: In May of 1972(13) Concetta NARDONE sold the house to Michael and Crystal SCHIANO. The SCHIANO's had paid some $23,500 which was secured by the Hamilton Federal Savings and Loan Association of Brooklyn (active bank in Carroll Gardens until about 2000 when it was sold to North Fork Bank, located on 2nd Place and Court Street). The sale was at the same time that James, Cocetta's son was retiring from Chase Manhattan Bank (now JP Morgan/Chase) after fifty years of service(14). The family moved to her son's house in New Dorp Beach on Staten Island. James was married to Lilian when Concetta joined them after the sale.
The SCHIANOs moved in from a few houses down: their prior residence was on 31 Fourth Place - across Clinton Street. An interesting fact can be noted about this transfer of ownership: this is the first deed that mentions a front yard: "in an to a court yard in front of the premises 20 feet by 33 feet 5¼ inches". This stipulation is added in at the bottom of the mortgage and seems to reflect a change in the front of the house from a front that was different at the earlier contracts. One informant tells us that the SCHIANOs divorced afterwards(15). Their names however appear in the sale to the KRIDERs in 1978, as husband and wife. Another new feature that appears on the Certificate of Occupancy from December of 1972 is the change in plumbing and in January of 1973, a license for construction was given. These two show that the SCHIANOs were either complying with some new regulation of sewage or that they were intending to reconstruct parts of the house as part of a long-term stay plan they had. As it turns however, they had moved on after six years only.
Tenants: An inscription on a gas meter for the fourth floor, dated November 16, 1974 states that the meter was in the name of PESINO. Later on(16), another tenant is inscribed by the last name of KNAPP (dated October 24, 1975).
On October 3rd, 1978(17) Richard (Rick) J. and Rita Potoncy KRIDER had purchased the house from Michael and Crystal SCHIANO. This time the description of the front yard is well incorporated in the language of the contract, as well as a reference to a "reel" and "page", apparently the microfilms in City Hall of Brooklyn (as we know, in 1968 a reorganization effort yielded microfilms of all deeds from that year on). The mortgage, taken from Independence Savings Bank on 130 Court Street, was for $48,000 with monthly payments of $386.51 until November, 2003. Prior to their move to 86 Fourth Place, the KRIDERs too had lived around the block, on 377 Clinton Street. They were soon to sell the house due to a job relocation move to Chicago. Not mentioned in the legal work, but known for her "cuteness" is Tory KRIDER, who was born in the period the SCHIANOs resided in 86 Fourth Place, and was about 4 years old when the house was sold to Joseph BLESHMAN and Lucia VASSALO.
From 1981 the house was owned by Joseph BLESHMAN and Lucia VASSALO. They have bought their house also with Mr. BLESHMAN's father, Norman as an owner and as co-signer on their mortgage from Citibank, N.A. Their previous address - according to an emerging pattern - was from around the corner, on 148 Clinton Street. On June 12, 1981(18) their name was transferred to the house's deed record from the KRIDERs, who gained on the house the largest gain in its history, more than 2½ its time cost: it was sold for $126,000 vs. $48,000 in purchase). The BLESHMAN had two children and both attended the local school, P.S. 29. Both children were born during the BLESHMAN/VASSALO residence on Fourth Place(19).
In April of 1995 Hara PERSON and Yigal RECHTMAN toured the house for the first time. They have been living on 303 Beverley Road in Brooklyn for five years. Yigal came from Israel in 1989 and Hara, who grew up on Verandah Place in the nearby neighborhood of Cobble Hill. Their daughter Liya was enrolled in a pre-school in Brooklyn Heights. Hara and Yigal bought the house from the BLESHMAN/VASSALO family on September 15, 1995. While the BLESHMAN/VASSALO family had used three of the four floors of the house, the PERSON/RECHTMAN family had renovated the third floor and made available for a renter. They used the duplex on the garden and parlor floors.
Photo of House
See photo from 1940
Additional Photos (source: Glen Welch)
Notes
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