New York Herald Tribune 31 May 1946
Dr. Charles V. Paterno Is Dead; Builder Stricken on Golf Course
New York Realty Man Who Erected Castle Village Collapses at Westchester Country Club; Lived on 1,500-Acre Estate on Connecticut Border
RYE, N.Y. May 30 – Dr. Charles V. Paterno, sixty-nine, [correction: age 67] New York real estate operator and builder, died this afternoon after he had been stricken during a golf match at the Westchester Country Club.
While playing a twosome with his brother-in-law, Anthony Campagna, a member of the New York Board of Education, Dr. Paterno collapsed at the tenth hole at 3:30 p.m. and was carried off the fairway by caddies. He was rushed by ambulance to United Hospital, Port Chester, and on arrival was pronounced dead by Dr. Russell Gervais.
Dr. Paterno, builder of Castle Village overlooking Riverside Drive, between 181st Street and 186th Street, and one of the most successful New York real estate operators, lived at Windmill Manor, a 1,500-acre estate in the Towns of North Castle, N.Y., and Greenwich, Conn. [Correction: The Greenwich estate was Round Hill.]
Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Anna Blome Paterno; his son, Carlo M. Paterno, of Ridgefield, Conn., four sisters, Mrs. Joseph Faiella [Rose Irene Paterno] of New York, and Mrs. Joseph Miele [Theresa Marguerite Paterno], Mrs. Anthony Campagna [Maria Stella Paterno] and Mrs. Armino A. Campagna [Christine Alvina Paterno] all of Riverdale, the Bronx, and three brothers, Michael E. Paterno, of Irvington, N.Y., Anthony A. Paterno, of New York, and Frank [Saverio] Paterno, who lives In Italy.
Builder by Accident
Dr. Paterno, a native of Castelmezzano, Italy, was born into a family of builders, but became one himself more or less by accident.
His father, John [Giovanni] Paterno, a contractor in Italy, was ruined financially in 1883 [correction: 1880] when an earthquake destroyed a block of houses he had just built near Naples. To repair his fortune he brought his family to the United States and settled in New York.
Charles Paterno was sent to Cornell Medical College and was graduated in the class of 1899. He no sooner had received his degree, however, than his father died, leaving the family in possession of a half-built apartment house in upper Manhattan.
It was decided that Charles should defer practice of medicine temporarily to help his brother, Joseph, who died in 1939, get the building finished. When it was completed the brothers traded it for a lot farther uptown, then built on that lot. They were carried along by a series of such deals, and in two years Dr. Paterno found himself with a profit of $40,000. Comparing this with a probable two years’ salary to a young physician, he decided to stick to real estate.
His second-choice career brought him tremendous success. He built apartment houses at 280, 285, and 290 Riverside Drive and acquired others, all at which his company, the Skybeam Realty Corporation of Greenwich, still owns, at 45 Fifth Avenue, 21 East Tenth Street, 125 East Thirty-sixth Street, 230 Central Park South, ?61 and 304 West Seventy-sixth Street.
But the buildings and developments for which he was best known were The Castle, his former home near Riverside Drive and 181st Street; Castle Village, the $6,000,000, 600-family apartment development built on the site of The Castle and opened in 1939; Hudson View Gardens, co-operative apartments at Pinehurst Avenue, between 182nd and 184th Streets, not far from Castle Village, and the Marguery, at 270 Park Avenue.
Marguery Was Largest
The Marguery, occupying the block bounded by Park and Madison Avenues and Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth Streets, was said to be the largest apartment house in the world when it was built in 1917-’18. The building which has housed many prominent families throughout the years, was erected on stilts above the underground New York Central Railroad tracks. Dr. Paterno had leased the “air rights” over the property from the New York Central, and the lease reverted the railroad in 1932. Recently it was disclosed that Time, Inc., publishers of “Time, “Life,” “Fortune,” and “The Architectural Forum” magazines, had acquired an option on the building.
Castle Village, with its five red brick towers, is a familiar sight to motorists crossing the George Washington Bridge. The entrances are on Mother Cabrini Boulevard, but the five towers standing in a row form a lofty facade high above the east bank of the Hudson River between 181st and 186th Streets. The development was dedicated by former Mayor F. H. La Guardia in 1929.
The Castle, demolished in 1938 to make way for Castle Village, was a feudal pile reminiscent of a Rhine castle and for years was one of the city’s showplaces. When he built it in 1906 Dr. Paterno fulfilled a boyhood dream. As a youngster he used to row down the Hudson past Fort Washington Point and plan some day to have a castle on the bluff above.
Bought Bennett Tract
Eventually, he became the owner of many acres in the vicinity, including a $5,000,000 tract he bought from the James Gordon Bennett estate, and many acres along the Palisades in New Jersey. In the 20’s he toyed with the idea of building a ninety-story apartment house on the Palisades, but nothing came of it.
The Castle had a tower and turrets and was partly surrounded by a high fortress-like masonry wall twenty-five feet thick at the base. Much of this wall remains to embellish Castle Village.
At the time of his death, Dr. Paterno was chairman of the Skybeam Realty Corporation, which held most of his properties. His son, Carlo, is president.
One of Dr. Paterno’s enterprises was the raising of Christmas trees on his farm at Bedford Hills in Westchester County. He planted more than 1,000,000 trees on the 1,500-acre farm and reportedly realized a handsome profit on sales each December.
Dr. Paterno was married twice. His first wife, Mrs. Minnie Middaugh Paterno, died May 28, 1943 [correction: March]. She had been a musician and for a short time was a concert pianist in the late John Phillip Souza’s band. On Oct. 8 [1943] Dr. Paterno married the former Miss Blome, of White Plains.
Dr. Paterno presented more than 10,000 volumes, comprising one of the finest collection of Italian literature in America, to the Casa Italiana at Columbia University in 1927. Members of his family were largely responsible for the building of the Casa Italiana.
