(The below brochure profile of the Paterno Brothers contains inaccuracies for which I have footnoted corrections at the bottom of this post.)
The Creators of New York • Elected 1989 • A Hall of Fame honoring the gifted, visionary and energetic individuals who created the best of New York City’s built environment – its transportation and service infrastructure, its office towers and its residential buildings • The Real Estate Board of New York, Inc.
The Paterno Brothers: Charles, Joseph, Michael and Anthony
Giovanni Paterno arrived in New York from Castelmezzano, Italy, in 1884 (1), and immediately resumed the building trade he had pursued in his native village. In America, his four sons, as well as two sons-in-law (2), continued the Paterno tradition as builders for several decades. Although the four Paterno brothers did not build together after 1907 (3), their many individual projects, in prime Manhattan residential districts, reflected a shared vision of luxury, high-rise apartment living.
At the senior Paterno’s death in 1899, his two eldest sons, Charles and Joseph, completed his two unfinished apartment buildings.
Although Charles Paterno earned a medical degree at Cornell University, and was the head of a Belleview Hospital clinic, he was an active partner with Joseph in Paterno Brothers until 1907 (3). Shortly after opening a medical practice (4), Charles purchase a block front on West End Avenue and 83rd Street where he put up a twelve-story, $2.5 million apartment building (5). He went on to build The Marguery at 270 Park Avenue in 1918, whose 137 apartments were “the last word in refined elegance.” With the profits from these ventures Charles (6) purchased rural acreage at 182nd Street and Riverside Drive, and built himself a turreted Rhenish castle, complete with a $61,000 organ, a swimming pool surrounded by aquariums and seventeen greenhouses. Paterno Castle was his home during the 1920s while he constructed Hudson View Gardens (cooperative garden apartments at Fort Washington) and several other units in the neighborhood. In 1938 he demolished his private castle and erected the five twelve-story buildings above the Hudson still known – and sold – as Castle Village. Its unique site plan, in the form of the letter X, gave each apartment a spacious view and streams of sunlight. Charles died in 1946.
Joseph, who had been helping to support the family as a dentist (7), went into the construction business full time at his father’s death. Reasoning that if bigger were better for commercial structures, the same should be true for residential ones, Joseph planned an apartment tower on Morningside Heights. With his brother Charles, he sought investors willing to back a ten to twenty story building. Lacking the financing for the larger structure Joseph finally settled for a six-story residence and constructed several walk-ups near Columbia University. In 1904 he finally secured a contract for a ten-story apartment house at 620 W. 116th Street, and never settled for building smaller structures again. Although most of his buildings were near Columbia, Joseph also built cooperative, skyscraper apartments at 30 Sutton Place and 1120 Park Avenue, as well as garden apartments in Riverdale. Joseph was decorated by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1932 for building and supporting Columbia’s Casa Italiana, a project supported by the entire family. He died in 1939.
The other Paterno brothers also created elegant apartment houses in Manhattan. Michael E. (1889-1946) built 775 Park Avenue, a six million dollar thirteen-story plus penthouse building, which included maisonettes, duplexes and simplexes. Designed by the Italian architect Rosario Candela who was known for his spacious and luxurious residential buildings, the apartment house had ample closets, 659 square foot living rooms and fireplaces in nearly every library, dining and living room. Michael also built apartment houses at 1172 Park, 1105 Park, 1020 Fifth Avenue and 2 East 67th Street. During World War II, he applied his talents toward building FHA housing in Norfolk, Virginia.
The last surviving brother, Anthony (d. 1959) also built war housing beyond New York City. In his hometown, however, he constructed apartments on West End, Fifth and Park Avenues. His five million dollar 1040 Fifth Avenue housed some of New York’s wealthiest families when it opened in 1930.
Two family members who, after training with the Paterno Construction Company, also built luxury residences were Anthony and Armino Campagna, the husbands of two of Giovanni’s daughters. (8)
Full brochure below:
(1) Giovanni Maria Paterno (1851-1899) arrived in New York City, NY, USA in 1880.
(2) All five Paterno sons and all five Paterno sons-in-law were involved in Paterno construction. (source) Saverio, Charles, Joseph, Michael, and Anthony Paterno and sons-in-law Victor Cerabone, Anthony Campagna, Ralph Ciluzzi, Joseph Faiella, and Armino Campagna.
(3) Charles and Joseph did not build together as The Paterno Brothers after completion of The Colosseum which was initiated in 1910.
(4) Charles never opened his own medical clinic and never practiced medicine after earning his degree. He was a member of the Cornell University Medical College Class of 1899, the same year his father Giovanni died. (source)
(5) I think this description is referring to the 12-story Alameda built in 1914 though it’s not an exact match to any confirmed Dr. Charles V. Paterno buildings. (source)
(6) Charles built his castle in 1907, long before the Alameda and the Marguery. (source)
(7) Joseph never attended medical or dental school and never worked as a dentist. There is some evidence that he may have worked for a dentist making false teeth as a night job. (source)
(8) Anthony and Armino Campagna married into the Paterno family but they were also second cousins of the Paterno siblings. (source) Three other men, who married into the family, participated in Paterno construction projects. They were Victor Cerabone, Joseph Faiella, and Ralph Ciluzzi. (source)
