Joseph Paterno is the brother of my great-grandfather Dr. Charles Vincent Paterno.
Joseph Paterno of Riverdale, former immigrant newsboy who became a leading builder of New York apartment houses, died yesterday of pneumonia in Doctors Hospital. He was 58 years old.
President of Paterno Brothers, Inc., building contractors of 20 East Fifty-seventh Street, since 1899, Mr. Paterno was a pioneer in the erection of skyscraper apartment houses and built and sold more than one hundred such structures.
Mr. Paterno, with his brother, Michael E. Paterno, and his brother-in-law, Anthony Campagna, built and contributed generously to the Casa Italiana, Columbia University’s center of Italian culture. For this service and for his donations to Italian charities he was made a Commander of the Crown of Italy in 1928.
Mr. Paterno was also a pioneer in the building of cooperatively owned apartment houses, such as 1220 Park Avenue and 30 Sutton Place, and of garden-type apartments in Riverdale. His most extensive construction was in the Columbia University neighborhood.
Was Born Near Naples
Born in Castlemezzano, near Naples, Italy, he was the son of the late John and Carolina Travigno Paterno, John Paterno, a building contractor, was ruined when an earthquake destroyed a public edifice he had erected in Castelmezzano, and brought his family to America for a fresh start, when Joseph was a small boy.
On a raw, gusty day in November, 1889, Joseph, then a newsboy, shivering at his post in Park Row, watched construction of a huge office structure across the street.
“Papa,” he asked, “why do they make the business buildings so high?”
“Because it pays,” his father replied. “The higher the building, the more rent it brings its owner. I would not do so in Italy, but this is the American way.”
The bright-eyed newsboy wrinkled his brow and frowned, while making change for a customer. “But, papa, if that is so why don’t they make the houses and tenements high, too, so they will bring more rent?”
The father smiled and patted his son’s curly head. “You have an eye for business, my son. Perhaps some day you may build some high houses.”
Helped Make False Teeth
From that day it became Joseph’s ambition to build skyscraper apartment houses. He was obliged to quit school and work late at night helping a dentist make false teeth, to meet his share of the expenses of the family, but he never lost sight of his goal.
Finally, he got his chance through his father, who came back in the contracting buisness, forming the partnership of McIntosh & Paterno, which prospered. When the father returned to Italy to die in sight of his beloeved Neapolitan vineyards, he turned over his interests to Joseph.
Joseph selected Morningside Heights as the neighborhood for his first tall apartment house. Then he telegraphed his brother, Dr. Charles V. Paterno, who was taking his degree at Cornell, to enter partnership with him.
Joseph sought financial backing and interested a downtown real estate operator. But the investor was definitely uninterested in the ten, fifteen or twenty story structures Joseph proposed. The Paterno brothers accepted his terms, however, and the block and a half of regular-sized parartments on Morningside Avenue West was built.
His first Ten-Story Building
A host of six-story apartments ensued. It was not until 1904 that Mr. Paterno signed a contract for his first ten-story buildling, the Broadway, at 620 West 116th Street. Afterward other building contractors began following his lead toward taller apartment houses.
Associates of Mr. Paterno described him as a dynamo of energy, a believer in quick construction, who familiarized himself with every detail of his project. “If you want a thing done, do it yourself,” was his motto.
Surviving are his widow, the former Jule. H. V. Wittkower; two sons, Joseph Jr. and Jack; four brothers, Dr. Charles V., Anthony A., Michael E. and Saverio Paterno; and four sisters, Mrs. Anthony Campagna, Mrs. Joseph Miele, Mrs. Rose P. Faiella and Mrs. Armino A. Campagna.
A requiem mass will be held Friday at 11 A. M. at the Roman Catholic Church of Notre Dame, Morningside Drive and 114th Street. Honorary pallbearers were announced as Gaetano Vecchiotti, Italian Consul General; Mayor LaGuardia, Justice Salvatore A. Cotillo, Judge John J. Freschi, City Treasurer Almerindo Portfolio, Raymond A. Wetzler, Harvey Bloomer, John F. Calhoun, Joseph Byrne, Count A. Facchetti-Guigla, I. Carlo Falbo, Richard A. Corroon, Gordon B. MacGillivray, Albert A. Raphael, Generoso Pope and George MacDonald.
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Joseph Paterno’s mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery