The Beekman Estate - who are they?

I think it's the last vestige of all the old Beekman holdings in Manhattan. Like the Astors, etc. Can't find much on them, but will check later on WestLaw. Maybe an old decision gives the history.

Those two houses are interesting. I walk by every Saturday expecting to find them collapsed. I've tried the doors, but locked of course. The shades are now up on some windows, so somebody's been in there.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/realestate/06scap.html

Scroll down to see more about arch. history. I don't think these are landmarked, so I wonder if the lot + the Bway building that houses Fway will be redeveloped at some point.

Even if they are landmarked, just have someone come with a big crane in the middle of the night and knock them down (let's see who's up on their Manhattan RE history.....).

and now back to our regularly scheduled program:

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/07/realestate/postings-new-england-vernacular.html

I remember that dead-of-night demolition but can't recall who or when.

A Beekman came to NY in the 17th century and had a farm around what's now Beekman Place. Various transactions and accumulations followed until in 1877 a James Beekman died. His son Gerard managed his estate and formed the corporation 30yrs' cites. His sisters' children, by name of Pool and Hoppin, and a brother's children were owners of the corporation. I guess their heirs still are.

Something else: http://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/09/realestate/talking-leaseholds-buying-land-under-a-co-op.html

The dead-of-night dude was Macklowe (at least the most infamous incident). He recently tore down the Drake (?) and now it's a pit until he or his successors get enough $ to develop. What a shame. I thought that was a handsome, though undistinguished building.

Ah, the Pool-Hoppin marriage: Esther P. Hoppin, married on April 30,
1903, Dr. Eugene H. Pool.

From http://www.archive.org/stream/distinguishedfam00aitk/distinguishedfam00aitk_djvu.txt

it was the drake, and yes it was a shame. not that the city is lacking for hotel rooms, but it was a nice building and certainly better than the pit that is there now.

although my husband got food poisoning there one year at a law firm christmas party. along with a number of other party attendees.

Beekman Estate once owned quite a few apartment buildings that co-oped in the '70s and '80s. The Mr. Palmer, who is/was president, lives in one them, 136 E 64th. His son was a VP when he married a while back, so they may be descendants too.

They are, back to Hoppin. Where'd we be without NYT archive?

Yep, me too. Big fan of NYT archives.

dead-of-night demolition: Robert Moses many times, and the Donald at Bonwit Teller. Am I missing any? Probably.

nyc10023, I'm not sure if you're asking about the history of the Beekman Estate, or who they are now, but basically the family NWT alluded to owned a huge farm -- but on the east side, not the west side. As the city grew, much of their land was developed as the usual urban mix. The area around the seat of their estate, around the East River at 50th St., had become slummy by the early 20th century, and so in the 1920s the tenements of Beekman Place were demolished to make way for the Sutton Place-like (but nicer) upscale enclave of apartment buildings that still stand. This was after the Beekman Estates became a company, and (I believe) less of a family business at the early 20th century, and also after a long lawsuit to get rid of height-restricting covenants from the old farm days. The company also developed model tenements in the 1930s. They seemed to have real estate activity here and there in other parts of Manhattan, presumably for redevelopment purposes as in the Streetscapes Q&A that you posted, so I guess they came to own that corner of Broadway a long time ago, and nothing ever happened.

I thought the Drake was in Chicago.

May 3, 2012: The two little buildings at 231 & 233 West 74th Street are now included in a proposed extension to the West End- Collegiate Historic District. The Landmarks Preservation Commission "calendared" the extension to the district on Nov. 16, 2010-- so as of that date the properties must be treated as if they're "in" a Landmark District. In the 2006 NY Times article, it also says they were designed in 1885 by architect William C. Merritt, & were commissioned by William E. D. Stokes (in 1903 he built the Ansonia apartments directly across the street). There is more colorful info on Mr. Stokes in another NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/28/realestate/28scap.html.