Dr. Maurice T. Lewis House
404 55th Street | also 5501 4th Avenue | Sunset Park | built 1899
Open on the map6 entries
The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1902
Dr. Maurice Lewis builds a stable for his racing horses on his corner lot despite neighbors' petitions
Dr. Maurice T. Lewis buys the lot at 55th Street and Fourth Avenue from William Wharton in 1899, while residing next door, at 414 55th Street. In 1902 he builds a stable on the property, addressed 412 55th Street, for his carriage racing. Several neighbors petition against it, but he builds it anyway, and the mansion that now stands on the lot follows in 1907.
“Several neighbors were opposed to the stable, but Dr. Lewis built it in spite of their petitions against it.”
- 1907
Dr. Lewis, a physician and bank president, builds a brick and limestone mansion on the corner
Lewis commissions R. Thomas Short, a New York architect who began his career with a private practice in Brooklyn, to plan his residence. The brick and limestone house goes up on the corner of 55th Street and 4th Avenue in 1907, and the Brooklyn Daily News takes note of it at the time. His household there is his wife, daughter and grandchildren, and he stays until he dies in 1931.
“The stately brick and limestone home was built on the corner of 55th and 4th Avenue in 1907, and was noted at the time in the Brooklyn Daily News.”
- 1907
R. Thomas Short, known for ornate Manhattan buildings, gives the Lewis House a restrained Renaissance Revival style
Short's Manhattan work, such as the Alwyn Court apartment building, is known for exuberant ornament, but the Lewis House is classical and restrained, which the landmark report suggests may reflect the conservative taste of its banker and physician client. Standing alone on a corner among row houses and apartment buildings, it is described as the neighborhood's only mansion.
“…the home he designed for Dr. Lewis in a restrained classical style may reflect a conservative taste of his banker/physician client.”
- 1931
Dr. Sonya Monen and her husband buy the house and run their medical practices here
In 1931, the year Dr. Lewis dies, the Lewis family sells the house to Dr. Sonya Monen and to her husband, Dr. Maurice C. Whitehill. They live in it and keep their medical practices there for many years. Monen is named a Lieutenant Commander of the Coast Guard Women's Reserve, known as the SPARS, the first woman physician appointed to that position, and she owns and lives in the house until her death in 1996.
- 1931
Dr. Lewis, physician, banker and director of two companies, dies at home after a long illness
Brownstoner reports that Dr. Maurice Lewis died in the house in 1931 after a long illness. Besides practicing medicine for over 38 years and serving as president of the Bay Ridge Savings Bank, he was a director of the Guarantee Title and Mortgage Company and of Lindsay Laboratories, a medical lab on Ashland Place.
Source: brownstoner.com
- 2018
Thirty people speak for landmarking the Lewis House at a Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing and none object
On March 6, 2018, the Landmarks Preservation Commission holds its hearing on designating the Dr. Maurice T. Lewis House. Thirty people speak in favor, among them Councilmember Carlos Menchaca, representatives of the New York Landmarks Conservancy and the Historic Districts Council, and Sunset Park residents. Community Board 7's chairman sends written support, and no one speaks against.
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