46 West 55th Street

46 West 55th Street is in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is along the southern sidewalk of 55th Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. The land lot covers , with a frontage of and a depth of . The building is on the same block as the Rockefeller Apartments; the townhouses at 15, 13, 11, 7, and 5 West 54th Street; and the University Club of New York and The Peninsula New York hotel, all to the east. Other nearby locations include the houses at 10, 12, 26, and 30 West 56th Street to the northeast; the 53W53 skyscraper to the southwest; and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to the south. The surrounding area was once part of the common lands of the city of New York. The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 established Manhattan's street grid with lots measuring deep and wide. The specific site of 46 West 55th Street was sold to grocer Stephen V. Albro in 1851, though the site remained vacant for the next two decades. Upscale residences were constructed around Fifth Avenue following the American Civil War. In February 1869, John W. Stevens is recorded as having acquired a set of lots measuring on the south side of 55th Street, about east of Sixth Avenue. Stevens hired architect Thomas Thomas to build five Italianate-style brownstone townhouses at 44 through 52 West 55th Street, on the south side of the street. The house at number 46 was listed as being about east of Sixth Avenue. ==Architecture==

46 West 55th Street had originally been designed by Thomas Thomas as part of the grouping of rowhouses at 44–52 West 55th Street. The first four stories of the house are slightly bowed outward onto 55th Street. The first story on 55th Street is made of limestone, while the other stories are clad with red and black bricks in Flemish bond. The western and eastern facades are clad with red brick and contain stone parapet walls at the top. ==History==

After 46 West 55th Street was constructed in 1869, it served as the residence of Louise A. Alker, who was listed as one of the house's two owners. Felicia S. Lowndes, the other owner of the house, did not live in it. The two women may have been related; The house served as a residence for the Alker family until 1886. Katherine B. Elkins, whose father was politician Stephen Benton Elkins, was reported as being born in the house that year. Another owner rented the house at some point to sisters Maria L. and Elizabeth P. Grouard, who ran a girls' school there, At the time, James H. Young was listed as the owner, along with Charles S. Brown and Charles W. Barnes. and it was resold to Sadie S. Dearborn the following March. who was a military surgeon. Bissell hired E. L. Tilton to design a 2- and 4-story extension, to be constructed by R. J. Mahoney for an estimated $10,000. According to New York City Department of Buildings records, the basement, first floor, and second floor were extended into the rear yard. When he resided in the house, Joseph Bissell studied the use of radium in the treatment of cancer, opening a radium hospital in the city. Joseph Bissell died in December 1918. and was subsequently recorded as living in Great Neck, New York. Physician James Ramsay Hunt was recorded as having acquired the old Bissell residence and took out a mortgage for $35,000. He lived in the house with Alice St. John Nolan Hunt and their children James Ramsay Hunt Jr. and Alice St. John Hunt. The Hunts' daughter Alice recalled that the family hosted weekly dinner parties with medical and business professionals at the house. James Ramsay Hunt had his office in the house in his later life. The building continued to be occupied by his widow Alice, but the Bowery Savings Bank ultimately foreclosed on the building in 1940. 46 West 55th Street was sold in 1943 to lens manufacturer Dioptric Instrument Company. The house was then occupied by Harry Sidney Newcomer and Marian Newcomer, both of whom were medical doctors. H. Sidney Newcomer sold the house in 1954 to investment company Edward A. Viner & Co, which used the house as an office. At the time, the cellar had a laboratory while the top two stories were a duplex residential unit. and the house was then used by several companies, mainly fashion and garment firms. The house had become totally commercial by 1987 when clothing merchant Jean Robert Ltd. bought the house and renovated the ground floor and the windows. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the house as a city landmark in 2010. , the house contained offices for Vessel Technologies. ==See also==