McGeehan House

4701 Fieldston Road | Riverdale | built 1938

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.

1938
Allan B. Bates designs a brick Colonial Revival house for Rose and Justice John E. McGeehan
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Architect Allan B. Bates designed this two-and-a-half-story house, built in 1938 for Rose and John E. McGeehan under the Fieldston Property Owners Association's strict design rules. It is faced in Flemish-bond brick, with a gabled portico on Tuscan columns, multi-pane windows, a decorated cornice and a side wing holding a garage at grade. The Landmarks Preservation Commission called it remarkably intact.
“…designed by architect Allan B. Bates and built in 1938 for Rose and Justice John E. McGeehan…”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1940
The house's first owner, Justice John E. McGeehan, rules against Bertrand Russell's City College appointment
The house's original owner, John E. McGeehan, was a Bronx Democrat and former District Attorney who was named to the State Supreme Court's 1st District bench in 1933. He sat on the bench until 1950. He is best remembered for his 1940 opinion, described by the Landmarks Preservation Commission as reactionary, in the case that kept the philosopher Bertrand Russell from being appointed a professor at City College.
“…best known for his reactionary opinion in the case that barred Bertrand Russell from being appointed to a professorship at City College in 1940…”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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