Dr. Charles V. Paterno, my great-grandfather, is the father of Carlo M. Paterno who is the father of my mother Mina Minton Paterno Schultes.
Dr. C. V. Paterno, Realty Developer
Special to the Brooklyn Eagle 31 May 1946
Rye, N.Y., May 31 – Dr. Charles V. Paterno real estate developer and builder of New York, died yesterday after a heart attack at the Westchester Country Club while playing golf with his brother-in-law, Anthony Campagna, a member of the New York City Board of Education. He was 69.
Dr. Paterno was best known as the builder of Castle Village, a group of five ultra-modern 12-story buildings overlooking Riverside Drive, between 181st and 186th Sts., Manhattan. Dedicated to former Mayor LaGuardia, the development replaced a still more spectacular project, Paterno Castle, a palatial residence resembling a medieval castle on the Rhine. He also built the Hudson View Gardens, co-operative apartments at Pinehurst Ave., between 182nd and 184th Sts., not far from Castle Village, and the Marguery at 270 Park Ave., Manhattan.
Born in Italy, he attended Cornell Medical College and received his degree in 1899. His father died, leaving the family in possession of a half-finished apartment house. To assist his brother complete the structure, Mr. Paterno agreed to defer his medical practice, and his success in the building profession decided him to remain in it.
He gave to charitable and educational institution, one of his gifts including $30,000 to Columbia University to endow the Paterno Libray.
His first wife, Mrs. Minnie M. Paterno, died in 1943. Surviving are his widow Mrs. Anna Blome Paterno; a son, Carlo, recently discharged as a captain in the army; three brothers Michael, of Irvington-on-Hudson; Anthony of Manhattan, and Saverio of Italy and four sisters, Mrs. Anthony Campagna, Mrs. Armino A. Campagna, Mrs. Joseph Miele and Mrs. Joseph Faiella.
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DR. PATERNO DEAD; REALTY LEADER, 69
Built Castle Village and Other Noted Structures – Stricken on Golf Course in Rye
New York Times • 31 May 1946
Dr. Charles V. Paterno, a leading builder and real-estate developer of New York, died yesterday afternoon at the age of 69 after being stricken with a heart attack on the fairway of the Westchester Country Club golf course in Rye, N.Y. He had been playing a match wit his brother-in-law, Anthony Campagna.
Dr. Paterno was carried to the shade of a tree by his caddy. An ambulance was called from the United Hospital in Port Chester, but Dr. Paterno was dead when the hospital was reached.
Born in Italy, Dr. Paterno, who was famous for his construction of the Castle Village and Hudson View apartment groups in Washington Heights, Manhattan, came to this country at an early age with his parents. He was graduated from the Cornell University School of Medicine in 1899.
That year his father, John, a builder, who was engaged in the construction of an apartment house on West 112th Street, died. [507 West 112th Street & 505 West 112th Street] Dr. Paterno and his brother, Joseph, were obliged to assume the responsibility of finishing the job.
Started With Small Capital
With the sale of the completed structure came acquisition of an adjoining undelovped tract in part payment. [509 West 112th Street] This made it incumbent on the two brothers to undertake further building operation. Starting with a capital of $3,000, they completed the second structure with a profit of the same amount.
Thus encouraged, Paterno Brothers started other buildings, each larger than the last, until the concern was a highly profitable one. The financial depression of the year 1907 discouraged Dr. Paterno, however, and he dissolved partnership with his brother, planning to practice medicine finally.
However, a block front at West End Avenue and Eighty-third street was offered to him for building, and he could not resist. [Alameda 255 West 84th Street]
With the construction of this twelve-story, $2,500,000 structure Dr. Paterno was firmly launched in business for himself. The profits were such that he bought a site at 182d Street and Riverside Drive, then almost entirely rural, next door to the James Gordon Bennett estate, and on it built the renowned Paterno Castle, which was for many years a landmark on the Hudson until Dr. Paterno himself demolished it in 1938 to make way for Castle Village.
A Palatial Domain
“The Castle,” the street address of which was 182 Northern Avenue, Manhattan, was a truly palatial domain, resembling a medieval castle on the Rhine. Its stone turrets, designed in a mixture of old English and roman style, enclosed a white marble interior which contained, among other things, a $61,000 organ and a huge swimming pool surrounded by bird cages. The immediate surroundings boasted seventeen greenhouses, and the Palter family entertained there lavishly for years.
In the early Nine(teen) Twenties Dr. Paterno planned the Hudson View Gardens, a cooperative apartment and garden community at the site of old Fort Washington and the highest point on Manhattan island. During the construction many old Revolutionary War cannon balls were unearth. The apartments were opened in 1924. There followed construction of several other modern buildings in the West Side area, into which the forward-looking spirit of Dr. Paterno incorporated many new ideas.
In 1927, just before the depression, Dr. Paterno planned a similar apartment colony atop the Palisades, across the river, on a gigantic scale. There was to be a ninety-story tower, rising 1,000 feet. As the Palisades are 500 feet high there , the tower would have soared 1,500 feet above the Hudson River. A large tract of land was purchased with a view to proceeding with the development, but fate had decreed otherwise.
Built Village in 1939
Dr. Paterno built Castle Village, a group of five ultra-modern, twelve-story buildings rising 300 feet above the river, in 1939. At the same time he removed his home to Windmill Farm, on Route 22, north of Arming Village, Westchester County. His 1,700-acre estate there lies partly in Westchester and partly in Greenwich, Connecticut. Numerous old-fashioned windmills decorating the place have attracted wide attention. Two years ago he applied to North Castle Township for permission to convert part of his estate into a $4,000,000 memorial park with facilities for weddings, baptisms, recreation and also burials. The opposition of neighborhoods caused him to withdraw the application.
Dr. Paterno gave extensively to charitable and educational enterprises. One of this gifts was check for $30,000 to Columbia University to endow the Paterno Library in the Casa Italiana there.
His first wife, Mrs. Minnie M. Paterno, whom he married in 1906, died in 1943. He leaves a widow, Mrs. Anna B. Paterno; a son, Carlo, by the first marriage, who was recently discharged as a captain in the Army; three brothers, Michael of Irvington-on-Hudson, Anthony of New York and Saverio of Italy, and four sisters, Mrs. Marie P. Campagna, Mrs. Armino A. Campagna, Mrs. Joseph Miele and Mrs. Joseph Faiella.
