#in wurt's tag at least | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cameoappearance · 5 years

Text

Don’t Starve character age masterpost

The big-head-small-body art style makes it difficult to tell how old a character is beyond “would they get a seniors’ discount or not”, some canonically adult characters act quite childish, and Klei stopped setting specific ages for characters after the first three, but there are some clues nevertheless rather than pure fanon.

Sorry about it being a million miles long; press J to skip on desktop, and on mobile you may want to stop now and go add “dash stretcher” to your blacklist. (Updated 22/05/2022)

Wilson:

Consistently described as 30s or early 30s, from the very beginning. (Old Q&A, old Facebook post archived via screenshot - the original Tumblr post is from 2014, the Facebook post might be a bit older)

Can grow a full, long, hairy, magnificent beard, although he doesn’t start with it. (This might be why the Yilson skin never got off the ground.)

Has been to grad school (and didn’t enjoy it much). A Tumblr user who’s changed their name at least three times since posting this copied his old journal entries off a previous iteration of Klei’s website.

Willow:

Word of Klei shifted a bit in the early years; she was described as “maybe late teens” in the earliest Q&A (in an old dev stream, partially transcribed on the old Klei forums; I found this on the wiki but I had some trouble opening the spoiler tags in the archive site they used for the citation) and then bumped up to early 20s in a later answer.

From the Ashes is a flashback, and not a recent one. Compare child-Willow’s face (right side) with her other recent cinematic appearances (left side); child Willow is never rendered with the long chin often seen on adult Willow, although sometimes adult Willow is shown with about the same distance between mouth and chin as her childhood self. Adult Willow’s nose also takes up a much larger portion of her face, though it remains the same shape.

On the character selection/curio cabinet screen, she’s described as “a candid woman whose penchant for fire often gets her into more than a little trouble“.

Wolfgang:

The very earliest Word of Klei said he was “about 40s”. They changed Willow’s age a little since then so that’s not ironclad, but Wolfgang is probably still older than Wilson and younger than Maxwell.

Wendy:

Described on the character selection/curio cabinet screen as “a morose young lady with a sisterly bond so powerful, it transcends death itself“.

Word of Klei is that she’s younger than Wigfrid, the context of this being that as of 2015 they only differentiate between children and adults in terms of age.

Referred to as “little buddy” by Woodie, “Mademoiselle %s” by Warly (the only other ones he calls mademoiselle are Wurt and, oddly enough, Lucy the axe), and “scary Wendy girl” (or, when she’s attacked somebody, “creepy girl”) by Wolfgang, who calls Willow, Wigfrid, and Wickerbottom “torchlady”, “stronglady” and “brainlady” in addition to their names. If she sets something on fire, Wanda says "Children these days, always playing with fire."

Lucy refers to her as “that creepy girl” in one of her chatter lines after Woodie turns back to human: "I think that creepy girl is mad at you." That probably goes with this Wendy examine quote for the werebeaver: "He pinky-promised I'd get to ride on his shoulders. Such lies."

The flavor text for her Hallowed Nights 2018 costume is “a dress for a supernatural child”, and her Snowfallen set is called the Snowchild.

On the one hand, she’s the same height as Willow, Wilson, or Wickerbottom in the Forge trailer, whereas Wigfrid looks slightly shorter and Wolfgang is much taller. On the other hand, a) Wolfgang calls her “very tiny %s” instead of just “tiny %s”, and b) I was 5′5″ by the time I was 13, myself.

While this is circumstantial evidence and wouldn’t be very compelling on its own, it rounds off everything else that her large eyes, round head and small nose make her character design one of the youngest-looking. The only other character who has all three is pre-Constant Charlie, although Wormwood has similarly large eyes and no nose, Willow has the same big eyes but has a longer face shape and nose, and Wigfrid has a similar nose and face shape but her eyes take up a much smaller portion of her face.

In October of 2019 Wendy received official clarification on her age: she is 8-10 years old by Word of Klei. This was further narrowed down when her rework confirmed that she and Abigail were Jack Carter’s children (mentioned in William Carter Puzzle #3, and puzzles #1 and #4 have datestamps with years) and included an approximate date for when she was taken to the Constant in a piece of splash art. The Compendium update gave her a birthday as well, making it possible to determine her exact age: Wendy and Abigail were born on November 11 1903, and Wendy’s last diary entry before being taken to the Constant was on April 16 1914, making her ten years and five months old.

WX-78:

We now know that WX’s mind was either uploaded or copied from a human. We don’t know much about that human, but they were old enough to work alongside Wagstaff as a scientist, so what’s most likely is that they were an adult with a university degree. However, we don’t have confirmation of that, and the possibility exists that they were instead a young relative who Wagstaff was training as an apprentice. We’re not likely to learn much about it from WX’s quotes, because they have little if any memory of their human life and seem to be missing a lot of knowledge of human customs and Earth things even where it doesn’t concern them personally. Still, they’re... probably an adult.

While most interpretations of their human silhouette give them shoulder-length hair, it could potentially be a beard or large sideburns instead, which would also be evidence of adulthood if so.

Wickerbottom:

Obviously she’s got wrinkles and a bony face; she’d get the seniors’ discount.

Warly calls her “Mme. Wickerbottom/Mme. %s”, the abbreviation for Madame. Woodie calls her “ma’am”.

Her quote for failing to cook is "Perhaps later. Not all old ladies enjoy cooking, you know." Similarly, one of her encumbered quotes is “I’m more spry than I look!” and her quote for the moon hot springs is “My old feet could use a good soak.”

Talks to and about everyone like they’re very young (for instance, calling Maxwell a “sweet boy when you peel away the ego”), so her quotes don’t really indicate whether anyone else is younger than the rest of the group, but they do point to her seeing herself as considerably older than the other DST survivors, and as mentioned she refers to herself straight-up as old/an old lady.

Woodie:

Has a big beavery beard and prominent cheekbones, is a fully fledged lumberjack, acts like a dad to Webber, Wurt, and Wendy (calling them “kiddo” and “little buddy”, promising Wendy a piggyback ride on the werebeaver)

Wes:

Wolfgang calls Wes “tiny oddman”, “clownman” and, after he revives someone, “nice, weird little man”. Woodie calls him “buddy”. He’s the only human man who doesn’t have facial hair in any skin, but he does appear to be a grown man. His facial structure supports this, since he has a longish nose and a fairly large chin.

Maxwell:

Wrinkly, balding, has a big nose and chin, even more exaggeratedly so in his NPC form and official art from before the All’s Well That Maxwell update. Gets defensive about his age when presented with dentures. Complains about his teeth getting too old to eat jerky. His quote for Volt Goat Chaud-Froid is “Just because I’m old doesn’t mean I like gelatin.” He looks middle-aged rather than elderly, but he’s certainly not a young man, except in the Untriumphant skin.

He looked similar to his current appearance at the time of the Final Performance, at least agewise (can’t speak for things like his Survivor skin having a mouthful of fangs). However, he aged noticeably over the course of the William Carter Puzzles, developing more wrinkles in later pictures. (Which is a little concerning since the dates only span five years, although that may have been retconned later/been a mistake, based on a developer comment about that storyline starting in the 1890s. If Maxwell did indeed age that poorly between 1901 and 1906... Stress? Side effect of using lots of shadow magic? Lousy genetics and bad skincare?)

The Unshadow Suit goes with the Untriumphant head, and suggests that he still looked somewhat like that when he first met Charlie, because its description is "This look hearkens back to a simpler time. You are missed, Charlie."

Wigfrid:

Older than Wendy by Word of Klei.

Spent many years training herself to be strong, courageous, and confident, possibly for the role of Wigfrid the Valkyrie specifically.

Webber:

The Steam page for singleplayer Reign of Giants characterises him as “a young boy who lives inside the spider who tried to eat him long ago”.

He’s described on the character selection page as “a polite young monster”.

In his Victorian skin, he’s described as “this lively young lad”, and the individual pieces are “Schoolboy X”.

Woodie calls him “kiddo” and “the kid”, as does Winona; Wolfgang calls him “monsterchild” (tiny or otherwise), “small bug boy”, “tiny child”, and “nice kid” (in the same sentence as “creepy monster”, admittedly), WX-78 addresses him as “SPIDER CHILD” when taunting him with gummi spiders, Wigfrid also addresses him as “spiderchild %s” by default, Warly calls him “petit monsieur”, and Maxwell calls him “this child” to his face when he’s revived someone and “the monster child” when he’s talking about Webber getting tangled in a ball of twine. Wanda makes a similar comment for a firestarter Webber as she does for a firestarter Wendy: "All children want to do these days is set fire to everything."

He mentions his family a lot, particularly his mom, his dad and his grandpa.

His character design alone doesn’t give anything away since he looks like a spider atop a bipedal body and he grows a silk beard, but pretty much every description of him by other characters or narration points to him being a kid.

Walani:

Seems to have been gainfully employed in the past, in some sort of naval capacity, based on her quotes for Gunpowder Barrels ("Hmm, was I in charge of keeping these stowed?") and the Captain Hat ("If only the boss could see me now."). Puzzlingly enough she also says Deerclops eyeballs remind her of her boss. That’s about all I’ve got to go on.

Warly:

Has a beard. Has very sharp cheekbones, especially on his DST sprite. Has childhood photos on the walls of his house/his mother’s house in his cinematic. Has very light-coloured hair that many fans have interpreted as grey or greying, though in Taste of Home and the Salty Dog cinematic it’s just brown. Old enough to be a knowledgeable and successful chef, which doesn’t usually happen overnight.

Wilbur:

He appears to be a full-grown ape, but different monkeys and apes have different ages of maturity, so how many actual years old he is would be a wildly varying estimate depending on what species he is/most closely resembles, what with his chimp-like face and New-World-monkey-style tail. Chimpanzees reach adulthood at 13-14 years, whereas capuchins are adults at 4-8 years and spider monkeys at 4-5 years.

Woodlegs:

Has completely white hair and a huge white beard. I’m not sure exactly how much of his wizened look comes from the passage of time and how much comes from living in harsh conditions as a pirate (wind, sun, and sea spray in his face all the time, bad food, poor sanitation, fighting a lot and not always winning, etc; the same conditions that led to him losing both legs and several teeth), but he’s one of the oldest-looking characters of all.

Winona:

Charlie is suggested to be her younger sister (Winona says being followed by a meeping mandrake is “exactly what having a little sister’s like”), but they don’t look like they’re in totally different age groups in the photo shown in Next of Kin, so Winona's probably 2-5 years older, although they could be as little as a year apart. They could even be fraternal twins, hypothetically; Charlie’s face is rounder and her nose is smaller in the photo, and that plus her characteristic large eyes makes her look distinctly younger than Winona, but that might instead be because they inherited different features from their parents. On the other hand, perhaps Charlie’s around 7 and Winona is around 12, and they look the same height because one or both of them is sitting down.

At least, they were 0-5 years apart originally; Charlie may or may not have aged as the Night Monster after 1906 but Winona wasn’t taken to the Constant until 1919.

That extra 13 years suggests that Winona is in her late thirties or her forties as of her arrival in the Constant, depending on how far apart in age they are exactly and how old Charlie was (somewhere in her twenties, probably) when she disappeared. She doesn’t look like she’s all the way into middle age, though, so she’s probably more like Wolfgang‘s age than Maxwell’s.

Wilba:

Still under Queen Malfalfa’s charge (Wilba’s introduced after being grounded for irresponsibly losing the crown), so probably a child or adolescent pig-person. As with the other nonhumans her numerical age is hard to guess. Were she human I’d say preteen to early teens, since once she’s ungrounded her parents let her do what she wants and go wherever she wants.

Wormwood:

Their cinematic shows the moment they first came to exist, but they begin blooming by the end of their first day of life, and in real life only fully grown plants sprout flowers (what with flowers being plants’ means of reproduction), so like WX they were presumably physically/neurodevelopmentally adult from the moment they hit the ground. They do however act very enthusiastic, innocent, and naïve. It’s frankly impossible to tell how long ago the cinematic was; they look and act exactly the same in-game, but could have lived through an indefinite number of years in the Constant before becoming playable.

Wolfgang calls him “leafy green man” and Woodie calls him “budding bud”, so I guess he must not look that much like a child in DST at least. Warly calls a reviver Wormwood “a kind little veg”. (He also refers to Wormwood as his “salady friend” on another occasion, which is irrelevant but adorable.) Winona calls him a “big bean sprout” at one point and a “gross little guy” when she finds one of his compost wraps.

The minimum age Wormwood can be at the beginning of the game is 7 days, because he was born on a full moon and we can tell from his overnight bloom that it’s lush season at the time. (We also know it’s before Return of Them because the moon isn’t cracked, but that doesn’t tell us much that we couldn’t already have guessed.) However, Hamlet starts on the first day of temperate season and a new moon. The setting of Lunar Roots also appears to be in or near the deep rainforest biome, but Wormwood’s in-game spawn is less heavily wooded and usually near the junction of the rainforest and wild plains biomes.

All this indicates that some time has passed and Wormwood’s wandered around a bit between being born and waking up with the Maxameleon in his face and 60 days to go before the Aporkalypse, but we have no way of telling how much time, just “at least a week”.

Wheeler:

Has extensive experience travelling the world by air (in balloons mostly), apparently by herself. She never mentions her parents at all, though she does mention her grandma a few times.

Her dusk quote is "Getting dark. But I can stay up past my bedtime." However this is probably her being playful, rather than literal; Woodie has a similar dusk quote.

Her quote for hungry teenbirds is "Teenagers. Always hungry." That suggests that she isn’t one herself, but has known and/or been some.

Wagstaff:

Has grey hair, a big grey moustache, wrinkles, stomach problems, and terrible eyesight (though you don’t have to be old for that last part). Founded a radio company. Nostalgically recounts how he made a lot of money selling snake oil in his youth, as if it were quite some time ago.

Wortox:

His Uncorrupted skin items are referred to as “Forest Fawn X”, so between that and his status as apprentice to Krampus, he must be fairly young in his cinematic.

However, that’s also the first time he ever took somebody’s soul, whereas in-game he’s used to it (ambivalent over whether to be okay with it, but accustomed to the process), so I’m guessing it was years ago for him. His character selection screen description says he’s taken many souls in his time.

Oddly enough the survivors seem exactly the same as they are now when young Wortox bothers Wilson and Wes, but Wortox is native to another plane of existence, so time might run differently between there and the Constant.

Wolfgang calls him “scary horn man”, and he’s “buddy” to Woodie like most characters.

When looking at a Lavae Tooth, Wortox says his mother still has his somewhere, suggesting that Krampus-like imps lose their baby teeth and grow new ones before adulthood just like humans do; when he sees the Lavae themselves, he says “I remember when I was that age.”

Wurt:

Wurt’s title is “The Half-Pint”, an old-fashioned nickname for a child. Her character selection description characterises her as “a curious young Merm trying to expand her horizons”, and her main menu/Steam page blurb from her update describes her as “a young and impressionable merm”.

Wendy and Webber treat Wurt as a peer; Wurt and Webber are the only ones Wendy talks about playing with in her character examine quotes, discounting a line about “playing with fire” for a firestarter Wormwood.

Warly calls her “mademoiselle” like Wendy, “little one”, and if she kills someone, “a horrible little creature”. Wigfrid calls her “small beastie” and “little beast”; Wolfgang calls her “tiny fish girl”, and “tiny swamp monster” for a murderer Wurt. Woodie calls her “little bud”. If she’s going around hitting people, Maxwell says “This is no time for childishness!” as his examine quote for her and Willow calls her “a real little terror”. Maxwell also calls a firestarter Wurt a “tiny green demon”. Winona calls her “kiddo” and “kid”.

Walter:

Walter refers to himself as a kid, but also makes reference to “the younger kids”, so he’s the oldest of the DST children. (Wilba might be his age or slightly older but she’s not in DST.) He also complains that toys and candy are “for little kids” or “kid stuff” and that he’s too old for them, and empathises with teenbirds’ awkward adolescence. My guess is that he’s 12 or 13, perhaps plus or minus a year; the same age range as a typical middle school student in modern Canada or America.

He refers to most of the human adults (Wilson, Wolfgang, Maxwell, Woodie, Wickerbottom, Wigfrid, Winona, and Warly) as Mr. %s or Ms. %s; the exceptions are Willow and Wes, who he doesn’t seem to respect as authority figures, possibly because of his passion for fire safety and distrust of clowns respectively.

Warly doesn’t use any particular title for him, Winona calls him “kid” in her quote for a Walter who’s revived somebody, and Wolfgang calls him “boy who tell the scary stories”. Woodie calls him “kiddo” when he’s a ghost. Wurt calls him “pine boy”.

Unlike Webber or Wurt his introductory description from the Steam and Klei forums pages for his update doesn’t reference his young age, nor does his Compendium page, but one of his skin sets is called the Boy Detective.

Wanda:

Unlike every other character, Wanda has an Age meter, so her age can be measured directly. She enters the game at the age of 38. Of course, now that she’s in the Constant her aging process works even more strangely than everyone else’s, progressing forwards at unnatural speed but also able to be reversed by years at a time, and she can physically be as young as 20 or as old as 79. (She can’t go back further than 20, and she dies at age 80.) But presumably 38 was the age she was before her timeline broke.

Charlie:

Seems to be an adult at the time of the William Carter Puzzles. My guess is that she’s meant to be in her twenties, although I couldn’t say whether that’s early, late, or mid twenties. (Hypothetically she could be 18-19 in her earliest appearance - bearing in mind that the William Carter Puzzles span multiple years - or she could be in her early to mid thirties and happen to be big-eyed and babyfaced, at the other extreme.) As the Nightmare Queen she vaguely looks older in most shots, but it’s mostly because she has a more jaded and regal expression compared to her old wide-eyed look, and she looks about the same when she opens her eyes all the way to grin evilly in the Forge cinematic. She does seem to have a different, longer chin shape in the DST era than she does in the William Carter puzzles, however.

#don't starve #dont starve #don't starve together #dash stretcher #the maxwell's island crew #forbidden knowledge

136 notes · View notes

jutetower8-blog · 5 years

Text

The Lost Charles Boyd Curtis House - 9 East 54th Street

A hansom driver sits in his high seat behind his cab in front of the Curtis mansion. The sumptuous residence to the right belonged to Dr. Robert F. Weir. photograph by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

In the years immediately following the end of the Civil War the family of John S. Meyer moved into the newly-completed brownstone house at No. 9 East 54th Street. The block, between Fifth and Madison Avenues was lined with similar four-story residences by the mid-1870's.

On November 1, 1877 Andrew Ellicott Douglass purchased the house for $45,000. The price tag, equal to more than $1 million today, reflected the upscale tenor of the block.

Born at West Point, New York on November 18, 1819, Douglass and his wife, the former Sarah Cortelyou Cornell, were married in 1847 and had one daughter, Isabel. While he was a highly successful businessman--the president of the Hazard Powder Company--and held memberships in the Century Association and the Church Club, his true passion was American anthropology. His academic interests were reflected in his memberships--the American Society of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Numismatic and Archaeological, the Linnaean, Ethnological and American Geological Societies, and the Anthropological Societies of Washington and Paris.

Douglass's purchased of the commodious house followed by one year Isabel's marriage to Charles Boyd Curtis. The newlyweds and their two-month old son, Ellicott, moved in with the Douglasses.

The marriage was Curtis's second. The new father, at 50 years old, was 21 years older than Isabel. Born in 1827 he came from an early New England family and had served in the Civil War. Although he was admitted to the bar in 1850, by now he had given up law and was listed as a commission merchant.

Like this father-in-law, his passion was not in his business. His expertise in art was recognized internationally. In 1880, for instance, The American Art Review noted that he was preparing a new book, the Catalogue Raissoné of the Works of Velasquez and Murillo. "The plan on which the author proceeds is a novel one. He begins by examining all the old Spanish authorities,--Pachero, Palomino, Paez, Cean Bermudex, Tubino, etc. All the pictures mentioned by these writers are to be classified according to subjects, to be fully described, and to be traced down to their present owners, wherever that is possible." The expensive and exhaustive work took another three years to complete.

Charles Boyd Curtis original source unknown, via green-wood.com

The Douglasses and Curtises not only shared the 54th Street townhouse, but a summer estate, Locust Wood, in Rye, New York. The Curtis population gradually increased with the births of Charles Boyd, Isabel Woodbridge and Ronald Eliot Curtis. For long stretches the families would see little of Andrew Douglass. He had retired in 1876, the year of Isabel's wedding, and had thrown himself full-time into his study of anthropology. The Wisconsin Archeologist later wrote "Since 1876, Mr. Douglass devoted much of his time to the study of the Indian artifacts of the United States. He spent ten winters cruising along the Floridan Coast, locating over fifty Indian mounds, many of which he excavated." When he was at home he, like his son-in-law, spent hours writing and his essays were widely published. (Incidentally, Douglass should not be confused with the identically-named Andrew E. Douglass, born in 1867, who also left his name on archaeology.)

As the turn of the century approached, Fifth Avenue just steps away had seen the rise of palaces, most notably those of the Vanderbilt families. The Douglass's brownstone was decidedly out of fashion, architecturally. In May 1899 Douglass commissioned the architectural firm of York & Sawyer to give it a substantial make over. Their plans, filed on June 2, called for a "new front, brick extension and interior alterations." That hardly described the transformation.

York & Sawyer removed the stoop and pulled the facade nearly to the property line. The rusticated stone base was fronted by a columned portico which upheld a balcony at the second floor, or piano nobile. Three stories of Flemish-bond red brick were given understated Beaux Arts touches, like the effusive cartouches below the cornices of the second floor openings. A full-width stone balcony introduced the steep copper-clad mansard level.

The interiors, of course, were also transformed. The architects avoided fussy French decor, so popular at the time; but focused on English prototypes. The families apparently whole-heartedly embraced the do-over, for period photographs show the rooms filled with new furniture. Only a few antique pieces were kept.

The dining room (top) with its exquisite plaster ceiling and leaded windows, had both gas and electric lighting. One of Curtis's large artworks hangs in the library. Interestingly the graceful staircase seen through the doorway seems to be original and survived the extensive remodeling. photos by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

The renovations were completed by the end of 1900 and on December 20 the New-York Tribune noted "Mrs. Charles Boyd Curtis, of No. 9 East Fifty-fourth-st., has issued invitations for at homes on January 8 and 15." ("At homes" were necessary to prevent confusion among socialites as to who was receiving and who was calling.)

The New York Times society column preferred to call the January 8 at home a "reception," and the following day said it "was practically a house warming, as it was the first entertainment given at their residence since its rebuilding." Entertainments would temporarily end following the winter season that year.

Rather unexpectedly, there were no sliding doors between the major rooms like the music room (top) or parlor--just portieres. photos by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

On September 30 Andrew Ellicott Douglass died in the 54th Street house at the age of 82. The Wisconsin Archaeologist lamented "Anthropological science has thus lost a sincere friend." Earlier that year he had presented a collection of over 22,000 specimens to the American Museum of Natural History. In writing his obituary, Harlan I. Smith wrote "Although suffering from an infirmity of old age, Mr. Douglass was enthusiastic and cheerful to the last. He was a man of great patience, charitable to those who differed from him in opinion, and of a gentle and courteous nature."

On October 18, 1902 Isabella Curtis was married in Christ Church at Rye, New York. The New York Times reported "The ceremony will be followed by a reception for relatives and intimate friends only, as both families are in mourning, at Locust Wood, the country home of the Curtises at Milton Point, near Rye."

Charles Boyd Curtis died "unexpectedly" in the 54th Street house late on the night of March 25, 1905. The New York Times recalled his book on Valesquez and Murillo, saying it "is often referred to as an authority." He was buried in Greenwood Cemetery where Isabel erected a 20-foot tall Celtic cross created by Tiffany Studios to mark his grave.

At the time of Curtis's death, William Rockefeller had been battling the incursion of commerce along the section of Fifth Avenue known as Millionaires' Row for several years. His own house stood at the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 54th Street. In 1901 he purchased 5 East 54th Street and in 1904, when the St. Regis Hotel threatened to break through the block, he purchased Nos. 3 and 7. Now, in 1906, he bought the Curtis house. On September 29 the Real Estate Record & Guide commented "the purchase by Mr. Rockefeller effective shuts the St. Regis out of 54th st."

The Curtis family seems to have leased their home from Rockefeller. Isabel and Elliott were both still listed at the address in 1908. But following Sarah Douglass's death in 1910, they moved on, replaced in the mansion by Mrs. David Wagstaff.

Although Rockefeller stubbornly stayed on in his brownstone mansion, in 1914 he finally faced the cold facts. On April 11 The Sun reported "William Rockefeller, who lives at the northeast corner of Fifth avenue and Fifty-fourth street has decided that trade has gained too much of a foothold in his section for him to prevent further expansion and yesterday leased the dwelling at 9 East Fifty-fourth street for business purposes. Up until least year it was occupied as a dwelling."

William Rockefeller's house was on the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 54th Street. photo by Byron Company, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

London art dealer E. M. Hodgkins signed a lease at $10,000 a year--more than a quarter of a million in today's dollars. The Sun added "The house will not be altered, as it could not be improved on for the purpose it is to be put to. Mrs. David Wagstaff lived in the dwelling up to last year."

The building saw a variety of tenants over the next decades. Following Hodgkins, Charles & Heller, ladies' tailors was here until 1921, after which Adolphus Gayne, Baron de Meyer leased the property. Despite his noble title, Gayne was best known as a celebrity and fashion photographer. He took the portraits of divergent figures from actors John Barrymore and Lilian Gish to King George V. In 1913 he was appointed as the first official fashion photographer for Vogue magazine.

New-York Tribune, June 4, 1922 (copyright expired)

The photographer's stay was short lived. In 1922 the former house filled with a variety of tenants. Interior decorator Agnes Foster Wright took the top floor, while other spaces were leased to Madame E. Ritchie, "gowns," dressmaker Miriam Bouslogue, and Mabel A. Barnet. The ground floor was taken by K. and W. Hat and Cap.

The following year the Rockefeller estate sold No. 9 to the Mandel-Ehrich Corporation, which simultaneously purchased Nos. 3, 5 and 7 and 12 East 55th Street. The former mansion was leased in November 1923 to Emile Villemin for use by the Librarie des Annals.

Along with the Library, the property now housed other organizations, like the Alliance Francaise and the Overseas Service League where Brigadier-General Lord Thompson spoke about World War I on March 7, 1925. In 1927 the Overseas Service League lobbied theater managers to provide entertainment for disabled World War I veterans. Its efforts resulted in blocks of ten seats being set aside in certain theaters, like the Roxy, for soldiers wounded in battle.

By the outbreak of World War II, the street level of No. 9 had been converted to a storefront, home to society clothier Boué Soeurs de Paris. On April 18 it was the scene of a fashion show and entertainment to benefit the Red Cross War Fund of Greater New York. It included an auction of autographed books by noted French and American authors.

When Wurts Bros. took this shot on a much-changed East 54th Street, Soeurs announced its name in letters applied to the second floor facade and on the awning. from the collection of the New York Public Library

The annual fashion shows of Boué Soeurs were anticipated events among female members of society. On March 16, 1950 The Times remarked "Femininity personified is the keynote of the spring and summer collection of Boue Soeurs 9 East Fifty-fourth Street."

But the days of fashion shows were coming to an end. On December 7, 1950 The New York Times reported "Plans for the erection of a fourteen-story business building on Fifty-fourth Street, near Fifth Avenue, were announced yesterday." The last of the Boué Soeurs shows was held in its salon on October 4, 1951. A replacement building, engulfing Nos. 3 through 9, built by the Knickerbocker Construction Corporation, was completed in 1955.

Source: http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-lost-charles-boyd-curtis-house-9.html

0 notes