Straus & Endler / J A Stevenson
Straus & Endler / J. A. Stevenson, 13-15 W. 27th St. (2006)

This 11-story mid-block loft building constructed in 1907 just west of 5th Ave. has signs on both the east and west walls, including these for

Strauss & Endler / Coats
J. A. Stevenson / & Co. / Gowns and / Dresses

Strauss & Endler, Coats was located here from 1914 to 1918. Strauss remained here independently for several more years (until 1922). William Strauss was the son of Edward Strauss, a dry goods merchant who immigrated from Württemberg, Germany. He appears as a 10-year-old in the 1880 U. S. Census living on East 60th Street in Manhattan. In 1900, however, Strauss is listed as age 24, born Jan. 1876. This leaves us unsure about the birth date... Rubin Endler (1878-1950) was an immigrant from Bialystok, Poland, probably in the 1890s. Endler continued in the coats manufacture trade into the 1940s, with several more partnerships (Hamilton & Endler, 13 E. 26th St., 1919; Endler & Levy, 30 W. 31st St., 1923-24; Endler & Weiss, 226 W. 37th St., 1930s) and with his own companies (Rubin Endler Inc., 226 W. 37th St. and Endler Models Inc., 263 W. 38th St., 1940s).

In 1905 James Andrew Stevenson (1857-1923) is listed in Trow's New York City Directory in partnership with Anne E. Brown at Stevenson & Brown, Costumes, 85 5th Ave. (near 16th St.). Anne Brown was in business with her husband, Frederick Brown, as a dressmaker and then skirts and "costumes" manufacturers from around 1900. The Browns lived at two notable New York addresses between the years 1905 to 1913: Ardsley Hall at 320 Central Park West and The Apthorp Apartments (Clinton & Russell, 1908) on Broadway at 79th St.
Stevenson seems to have gone off on his own by around 1907 and moved the business to 13-15 W. 27th St. in 1909. They stayed here until 1915/16 and closed by 1917. Two sons were also to some degree involved in the business: James Andrew Stevenson, Jr. (1888-1983) and Eugene Colton Stevenson (1890-1958). Stevenson appears in the U. S. Census of 1920 surrounded by his family living on Malba Drive, Whitestone, Queens. James Jr. is 30 and a lawyer. Eugene is 28 and a stock broker. 10 years later James Jr. was still living in Whitestone, Queens, now with his widowed mother, Louise, a younger brother, Malcolm, and a sister, Helen (also a widow), age 24.

This ad for the J. A. Stevenson & Co. appeared in The American Cloak & Suit Review, Dec. 1913.

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