Photo by Susan Blackburn Photography.
Photo by Susan Blackburn Photography.
The Victorian Stick style house was built by Edward R. Stevens Jr. in 1877. The house features a wrap-around porch with low-pitched roof turret and porte-cochere. “I love the painted black and white checkered floor of the front porch. It gives the house a bit of a whimsical welcome for friends and family. I love to decorate the porch for the different seasons, Christmas being my favorite,” shared Larissa.
Stevens’ close friend Charles Cooke Lester, a young attorney, purchased three vacant lots in 1876 for $3,500. Lester immediately deeded the southern half of the three lots to Stevens for $1,750. The friends built nearly identical houses. The houses have the same floorplan, but Lester’s house, 754 North Broadway, was constructed of brick, while Stevens’ house was constructed of wood. Each house has its own distinctive front gable decorative detailing. Stevens’ features a decorative curved brace and vertical pierced board siding with intricate cut-outs and Lester’s features ornate brickwork with beautiful scrollwork. An 1876 article in The Saratogian wrote “E.R. Stevens is just finishing a very attractive and conveniently arranged cottage on upper Broadway. The outlook is fine, commanding a splendid view of the village and the distant mountain ranges.” Stevens and his wife Isadore lived in the house, although often they rented it to others during the summer season.
Stevens was born in New Orleans where his father operated E.R. Stevens & Co., described in an 1857 New Orleans Bee newspaper ad as “importers and wholesale dealers in cutlery, guns, pistols, perfumery, fancy goods, paper, stationery, school and blank books, playing cards, & ….” Similar to his father, Stevens operated a book and music store at 322 – 324 Broadway that carried a variety of goods. On December 21, 1871, The Saratogian highlighted its advertisers, including Stevens, in “Santa Claus Prospecting”—
"Chief of all, however, among those who tempt old Santa, are those who deal in books and fancy articles. At the head of the list is E. R. Stevens Jr., whose assortment of holiday books and toys, articles of vertu, and elegant little keepsakes of all kinds, is well worth examining. We cannot stop to enumerate all that Stevens offers. His counters are brilliant and inviting and his shelves shine with the handsomest of volumes."
E. R. Stevens’ holiday offerings were regularly noted in The Saratogian. Another article wrote, “Some of the most elegant volumes for holiday gifts that we ever saw are on exhibition in the showcases of E. R. Stevens' Bookstore. He has all the standard authors, including some very fine translations of the best German classics.” One can only imagine that his home was decorated for the holidays and gifts from his store were wrapped under the Christmas tree.
Stevens operated his store until 1888. He then went to New York where he connected with a trading company of Japanese goods. He passed away at the age of 42 in New York. Isadore remained living in the house until 1907. She later became the proprietor of the boarding house at 637 - 641 North Broadway known as the “The Maples.” From 1908 until 1911, 748 North Broadway was rented by Albert E. Cluett who was associated with Cluett, Peabody, & Company – a shirt, cuff, and collar manufacturer located in Troy. Isadore passed away on July 24, 1913. Albert C. Coleman, Isadore’s brother who was a manager of the United States Hotel, was named her executor. He rented the house to others. Albert passed away in 1917 and the following year the property was sold to Andrew Moreland, a vice president of the Adirondack Trust Company. Moreland moved to New Jersey and sold the house in 1919.
Rita Hayden received the house as a wedding present from her parents in 1919. Rita married Theodore A. Knapp, an attorney, and they had two sons, Lohnas and Robert. Rita and Theodore divorced in 1939. Rita was regularly featured in the social pages of The Saratogian. She served as the Chair of Surgical Dressings for the local Red Cross chapter during World War II where she organized women to make surgical dressings for service men. She was a pianist and would often host discussions about music at her home for the Practice Club of Saratoga Springs. In addition, she was active member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and served as president of the Flower and Fruit Mission of Saratoga Hospital. Rita resided at 748 North Broadway for 43 years until she sold it in 1962.
James Cox Brady of Far Hills, New Jersey purchased 748 North Broadway to be a summer cottage for him, his wife Eliot, and their four children during the Saratoga racing season. Brady inherited a vast estate, including his father’s business, Purolator Products, manufacturer of oil filters. After graduating from Yale University, Brady took a job at the Consolidated Gas Company in the Bronx shoveling coal by the side of Italian and Polish immigrants for $23 a week despite being a director of the company that he had inherited from his uncle. According to his New York Times obituary, “He had remembered the advice of his uncle, who said, ‘a man couldn’t direct a business well unless he knew how to do even the humblest job in it.’”
Photo by Susan Blackburn Photography.
Photo by Susan Blackburn Photography.
