For some year we’ve had in mind a Christmas visit to Dr. Charles V. Paterno’s country estate, Windmill Manor, at Bedford Hills, and this week, learning that he was to be there and could give us a little time, we drove up. The Doctor has 1,500 acres at Bedford Hills and in 1922 he began the planting of 1,500,000 pine and cedar trees of various species, completing the chore in a few years. We are sorry to have to report that his evergreens have attained such size that they are not salable any more, at least alive. That was the original idea. The enterprising Doctor, who has a medical degree but never had a patient, bought the saplings at a penny apiece, and over a period ending in 1932 sold little Christmas trees in red cans at the rate of thirty or forty thousand a year. They retailed at $1.50 each, including a label reading something like this (the Doctor couldn’t recall exactly): “I am your little Christmas tree. Take good care of me, because if you do I’ll grow bigger and stronger, just like you.” The kids ate this up and Dr. Paterno had a profit annually.
He still has 600,00 trees left. Although the Christmas-tree market was cut off when the trees attained ten feet, the Doctor’s ingenuity wasn’t. There are sixteen miles of bridle paths at Windmill Manor and he set about transplanting 200,000 pines to their flanks. The big idea was that pines are resinous and turpentiney and horseflies are violently antipathetic to resin and turpentine. The result is that in mid-summer, when other Westchester equestrians and their mounts twitch and flinch as the flies buzz merrily, the Paterno guests (the Doctor does not ride himself) jog along in pine-protected comfort. Moving 200,00 trees cost $70,000, but the Doctor doesn’t regret a penny of it. The reason for his may be that he has evolved another scheme, a rather grand-scale one. It’s pretty much of a secret still, but we learned a little about it. Things being what they are generally, the Doctor and some of his outdoors friends are working on a project to turn Windmill Manor into a sort of sportsman’s paradise, right in Westchester. Some four or five years from now – it will take that long to get the place ready – the Doctor expects to reveal to the public a vast playground with facilities for what he considers the four major sports: riding, fishing, golf, and aviation. There are two golf courses already and a third is to be built. Lakes are being created; one has been stocked with 50,000 brown and speckled trout. In due time there will be an aviation field and hangars. One feature of the club will be a blimp taxi service to and from Manhattan with a ship departing from each end every fifteen minutes and a landing field somewhere near Fiftieth Street. We could tell you a little more about his, but you wouldn’t believe it.
Dr. Paterno hasn’t lived at Windmill Manor for the last two or three years, preferring his smaller place at Greenwich, but he runs over there frequently to watch progress. He has two or three hundred men at work now. He drove us by a recently complete concrete dam and noted happily that the lake basin is filing up nicely. We saw several of the windmills from which the place takes its name. There are nine of them all told, each capable of pumping three hundred gallons per minute in a fair breeze. They are not ordinary steel windmills but have huge, colorful stone and wooden towers. No two are exactly alike. We also saw a few of Dr. Paterno’s twenty-five deer. The Doctor is trying to domesticate four that were born last June, and if he succeeds he plans to hitch them to a sleigh and, some Christmas when there’s snow, drive them right down Fifth Avenue.
All of the confirmed Paterno Family buildings are now pinned on a Google map which you can view HERE. Existing buildings have blue pins and demolished buildings have red pins.
Stories of yesterday • Story of Charles Vincent Paterno, builder of some of the tallest buildings of his time in New York • High mountains in the city
“Short, serious, successful”. When Carla Ann Cappiello Golden describes her great-grandfather, based on what has been discovered “from her books or handed down by her relatives”, she uses these three adjectives. Charles Vincent Paterno, of Italian origin and one of the greatest builders in New York, in addition to being a serious and successful man, was short. But why should this be considered primary information? At the end of the correspondence with the woman, the writer wonders about the meaning to be attributed to short: if the term should be understood as practical? However, any doubt disappears as we enter the history of the Paterno. A story in which the obsession with height, in the sense of man’s aspiration to infinity and the desire to rise from earthly things, always returns.
Charles V. Paterno was one of the first builders of skyscrapers destined to draw the profile of the Big Apple. “He did not build today’s skyscrapers – specifies Cappiello Golden – but he created some of the tallest buildings of his time: even 15-storey condominiums”. On her website “Marabella.family”, there is a table on the buildings built in Manhattan by Charles V. and the others Paterno, with a lot of location (most of them are in the Upper West Side), number of floors, name (from Santa Maria to the Colosseum) and fate (“So far I have identified 142 buildings built by the Paternos, of which only 10 have been demolished”).
A prospectus that takes the reader back in time. Because if the first building (San Marino) built by Paterno dates back to 1900, 1885 is the year in which the adventure begins and the future builder arrives, at the age of 7, together with his mother Carolina and his brothers, in America. From Castelmezzano, a small mountain village in the province of Potenza, the Paternos travel to reach the head of the family Giovanni, who first settled in Manhattan and managed to make his way in construction. Charles V., born in 1878 with the name of Canio Paternò, became an American citizen and, after a childhood as a newsboy, graduated in medicine at Cornell Medical School (to pay for his studies he patented a lighting device) finally deciding to continue the profession of his father, who died suddenly. The dreamer boy never stops looking up, building a life up to dreams.
“I am very proud of what my great-grandfather (the father of my mother’s father) achieved as an emigrant – says the granddaughter -. I have never met him (he died in 1946, I was born in 1969) but, thanks to my discoveries, I admire him very much “.
The story is also the subject of Renato Cantore’s book Il Castello sull’Hudson. Charles Paterno and the American Dream (Rubbettino 2012, translated into English in 2017). They are pages on emigration, memory and the aforementioned American dream. It can be said, moreover, that memory and dream are founded in the very existence of Paterno, who, with the fixed idea of height (he climbs on a stool at the time of the photographs), makes his fortune by building in the highest points of the city: it is the giant buildings that remind him of the mountains of the country, the roots. “He was joking about his desire to live in places from which you could see the world from above. “I was born in a mountain village, with the roofs of the houses that seemed to touch the sky. And a certain desire for infinity remained inside me, like a gift of nature ”», we read in the book on Paterno, whose deeds can be traced in the US newspapers. At the time, the “New York Times” described the imposing buildings (and the donation of 20,000 books to the Italian House of Columbia University) of the visionary with his mind in Castelmezzano. «I’ve never been there – answers Cappiello Golden – but I’d like to visit the town» said Dolomites of the South. And just like a mountain is the Paterno Castle that the self made man builds on top of Manhattan to live there with his wife and son. “A structure – comments the niece – unique, romantic”, demolished in 1938 to make room for the garden city, Castle Village, 5 towers, 12 floors, on the street named after Mother Cabrini, patron saint of emigrants.
In addition to it and Hudson View Gardens, Paterno – “a genius” for the mayor of New York La Guardia – gives life to palaces (“The Paterno is my favorite”, says Carla about the building, which is also a film location) «Higher and higher, also thanks to the use of modern, fast and reliable electric lifts». An example is the no longer existing «Marguery, the first real skyscraper for apartments (…), one of the most important building complexes in Midtown».
At 68, the manufacturer passes away. He leaves his last dream unfulfilled: the Paterno Tower, the tallest building in the world, “100-storey tower, higher than the Eiffel Tower (…), destined to look down on the skyscrapers of Manhattan”. Today, his niece wants to “pass it on to young family members, to get to know who was there before”. Among all, Charles Vincent Paterno, with his eyes upwards to feel at home.
Black Cat Witnessed A Romantic Marriage • Mrs. Paterno is Sure “George Dewey’s” Presence Will Bring Her Luck • He Purred His Best Wishes • Marriage at Babylon, in Magistrate’s Library, Sequel to a Sunday Auto Trip From Manhattan
Babylon, Long Island, December 24, 1906 – The log fire in the library of Justice James B. Cooper* blazed cheerily last night, and the squire’s pet cat, George Dewey, black as a coal and a very wise feline, sat purring and winking in front of the fire. When the telephone bell rang in the adjoining room Dewey winked harder and purred more loudly, indicating that he knew something out of the ordinary was about to happen.
And there was, for the operator at central, when she rang up 127A, was really ringing a wedding bell, although she was unaware of the fact.
The message that came over the wire was from Dr. Charles V. Paterno, of 582 West One Hundred and Eighty-third street, Manhattan, who was at the Flagstaff Inn, a West Babylon hostelry, and who announced his desire to be married.
582 West 183rd Street (now Rafael A Estevez Way) today • Google maps • Here Charles lived with his widowed mother and many siblings.
The magistrate is not in quite his usual health and was not anxious to perform the ceremony; but finally consented to do so, as the bridegroom-to-be seemed unwilling to defer his happiness.
Fifteen minutes later Paterno, accompanied by the bride-elect, Miss Minnie M. Middaugh of Porterville, N.Y., and by Robert Minor [butler of the Flagstaff Inn], arrived, and, the necessary introductions having been made and a second witness procured in the person of the squire’s son and namesake, the ceremony was performed.
Minnie Minton MiddaughDr. Charles Vincent Paterno
George Dewey also witnessed the marriage, but did not have a speaking part, unless his jubilant purr may be described as speech. Perhaps it served as a wedding march.
The bride wore a gown of blue cloth, with a fetching fur toque, and was not in the least nervous. While the certificate was being filed, Mrs. Paterno held George Dewey on her lap and stroked his black coat and told him what a fine cat he was, and how she was sure his presence at her wedding would bring her luck.
It seems that Dr. Paterno and Miss Middaugh came out from Manhattan in an auto and stopped at the Flagstaff Inn for dinner. Not caring to face the cold wind in the long ride back to town, they decided to remain for the night.
As they were sweethearts and intended to marry soon, the idea of being married then suggested itself and the justice was telephone for. Why the young couple decided to be married by a magistrate and not by a clergyman they did not state. There may have been a difference in their religious beliefs, or they may have been unaware of the fact that there are half a dozen clergymen in the place. Anyway, they chose the civil ceremony and were duly and regularly married.
Dr. Paterno gave his age as 35 years. He is a native of Central Italy, but has lived most of his life in America and speaks English without a trace of accent.
After the ceremony the party returned to the Inn, where a wedding supper was served. They will remain here several days.
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.
Please add your memories of Charles below in the comments. If you’d like to submit a photo to add to Charles’ slideshow, please contact me HERE.
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.
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.
Please add your memories ofJoseph below in the comments. If you’d like to submit a photo to add to Josephs slideshow, please contact me HERE.
Carlo Paterno, my maternal grandfather, is the father of my mother Mina Minton Paterno Schultes.
New York Times OBITUARIES • Tuesday, December 12, 1995
PATERNO – Carlo Middaugh, 88, died on December 11, 1995, in Naples, Florida, where he had been a resident since 1969. Mr. Paterno was the owner of Meadow Lane Farm, North Salem, NY, where he made his home for twenty-four years. Until his retirement, he was in the real estate business in and around New York City. He was also a breeder of purebred Aberdeen-Angus cattle beginning in 1950 and was one of the foremost breeders in the U.S.
Born in New York City, he was the son of the late Dr. and Mrs. Charles V. Paterno. His father, a prominent builder, was best known for the white marble castle he built on Riverside Drive overlooking the George Washington Bridge. Paterno Castle was later torn down and replaced by Castle Village, the first apartment houses in NY City to use the “X” plan. Among his many projects, his father was also remembered for building 270 Park Avenue. His family were also donors of Casa Italiana at Columbia University.
Always community oriented, he was active in civic affairs in Westchester County (NY), where he served on the North Salem Planning Board for fourteen years. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of Northern Westchester Hospital (Mount Kisco, NY) for sixteen years and raised 23 million for a new addition to the Hospital. He served as president of the Hospital for five years.
Mr. Paterno will be remembered in Naples as the builder of “The Corner,” a Renaissance style building which is located in the Old Naples Third Street South Shopping District. He was a member of The Royal Poinciana Golf Club, Naples Yacht Club, The Port Royal Club and The Naples Athletic Club where he served as president for a year.
He attended Yale University where he graduated from the Sheffield School of Science in 1930. During World War II, he served as a Captain for four and one half years in the U.S. Air Force before retiring with the rank of Major.
Mr. Paterno was preceded in death by his first wife of 52 years, Helen Cotillo Paterno and is survived by his wife, Christine Montgomery Paterno; 3 daughters, Carla P. Darlington (NY City), Patricia P. Webb (Richmond, KY), Mina P. Schultes (Wilson, WY) and six grandchildren.
Please add your memories of Carlo below in the comments. If you’d like to submit a photo to add to Carlo’s slideshow, please contact me HERE.
Naples, FL – On September 23, 2016, Patricia “Patti” Ann Paterno Webb passed away peacefully at the age of 77 after a short illness with her husband by her side.
Born in New York, New York on October 28, 1938, Patricia was one of the three daughters born to Carlo Middaugh Paterno and Helen Berthold Cotillo Paterno. Preceding her in death are her parents. She is survived by her husband, William Joseph Webb. She is also survived by her son, Hugh Charles Mutch and daughter, Victoria von der Porten Eurton and grandchildren Caroline Eurton, Willem Eurton and Brandon Mutch; along with her two sisters, Carla Paterno Darlington and Mina Paterno Schultes and extended family across the country.
She attended Rippowam School in Bedford, NY and Foxcroft School in Middleburg, VA, lived in NY, CT, KY and Naples, FL until her death. Patti had a remarkable personality, giving heart and beautiful smile. She was loved by many and will be greatly missed by family and friends. In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate a memorial gift in Patti’s honor to The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). A private family celebration will be held at a later date.
For online condolences, please visit fullernaples.com.
Please add your memories of Patti below in the comments. If you’d like to submit a photo to add to Patti’s slideshow, please contact me HERE.
Dr. Charles Vincent Paterno, born Canio Vito Paternò in 1878 in Castelmezzano, Italy, was my great-grandfather whose only child and son, Carlo, was my mother’s father. Dr. Charles was joyfully obsessed with Christmas during the later part of his life. Perhaps this stemmed from a childhood living in a big Italian family of ten children headed by Giovanni Maria Paternò (1851-1899) and Maria Carolina Trivigno (1853-1925) who married each other on Christmas Day in 1872 in Castelmezzano, Italy. I can imagine that this winter holiday was not only very festive for little Charles, as it is for most children, but also a very personal family event to celebrate the love and union of his parents. This aspect could have added an extra layer of endearment and nostalgia to Christmastime for Dr. Charles later in life.
Dr. Charles Vincent Paterno 1878-1946
Maria Carolina Trivigno Paternò 1853-1925
Giovanni Maria Paternò 1851-1899
Charles’ father Giovanni immigrated to New York City, USA, in 1880, Americanized his name to John, and pursued work as a builder. His wife Maria Carolina and their four oldest children followed in 1885. Their additional six children were born in New York City before John died at the young age of 48 in September of 1899. He wished to die in his homeland so their eldest son Saverio Francesco (1876-1950) escorted his ill father from New York City, USA, back to Castelmezzano, Italy, to fulfill this dying wish. Once Carolina, who never remarried, died in 1925, the children reunited their mother and father in a mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York, USA. The union of their parents – made official on a long-ago Christmas Day – was clearly held in high regard in life as well as in death by their ten children.
Christmastime in Castelmezzano, Italy
Charles and his brother Joseph (1881-1939) were tasked with taking over their father John’s building projects in the city. They were so successful that they continued on this path and both developed immensely successful careers constructing apartment buildings in the first half of the 20th Century. Charles was a Spring 1899 graduate of Cornell Medical College but he was never able to practice medicine. The building business abruptly changed his career path shortly after graduation when his father fell ill, and the good fortune – certainly more than a doctor’s salary – kept him there.
Christmastime in NYC 42nd Street & Fifth Avenue 1910 – see more fabulous photos from this collection here
Dr. Charles married his love Minnie Minton Middaugh (1868-1943) two days before Christmas in 1906. This date was a merger of his favorite holiday and his favorite “lucky” number 23. It was the following year that they broke ground on their lavish castle estate along the Hudson River in Washington Heights. On this estate Dr. Charles kept seventeen greenhouses in which he grew a great number of plants including an extensive collection of orchids and poinsettias, the later surely out of his fondness for Christmastime.
Poinsettias in the Paterno Castle hallway leading to the conservatory – see more at MyInwood.net
The Paterno Castle existed from the beginning of the construction in 1907 until it was demolished in 1938 to make way for the Castle Village apartment complex. The Paterno Family – Charles, Minnie, and Carlo – moved into the castle in 1909 which makes it feasible to have enjoyed perhaps as many as twenty-eight Christmas holidays in this magnificent, magical home.
Front of Post Card from Minnie to her son Carlo 6 Dec 1926Back of Post Card from Minnie to her son Carlo 6 Dec 1926 • “This is the picture of our home this morning when I got up – Mother”
In 1919 Dr. Charles set his future-vision on the countryside away from the city and purchased 246 (some say 268) acres known as New Castle Farm in Armonk, the green district of North Castle in Westchester County. Over the years he would add to the acreage accumulating ultimately 1,260 (some accounts say up to 1,700) which he later renamed Windmill Manor and eventually his son Carlo renamed Windmill Farm. It was on this country estate where Dr. Charles’ grandest Christmas fantasies could play out in full expression.
In 1922 Dr. Charles started planting 1.5 million various pine, cedar, and fir trees intended to become perfected hybrid Christmas trees. For each sapling he paid a penny each and over a period of time until 1932 he sold little Christmas trees in red cans with the message: “I am your little Christmas tree. Take good care of me and I’ll grow big and strong just like you.” They sold for $1.50 each and approximately 30-40,000 little trees were sold each year for ten holiday seasons. Many of these trees eventually grew too big to be sold as Christmas trees and remain to this day as part of the sprawling forest of the upscale residential community still known as Windmill Farm.
At his Windmill Manor estate Dr. Charles kept about twenty-five deer. In 1937 he was planning to domesticate four of the young deer so that he could train and hitch them to a sleigh. His grand dream was to steer his deer-drawn sleigh down Fifth Avenue in New York City on a snowy Christmas Day, perhaps seated cozily with his three youngest granddaughters. Surely this would have delighted so many onlookers, old and young alike…and the child’s heart of the man holding the reins. Sadly Dr. Charles died in 1946 before his magical Christmas dream became a reality.
Michael Campagna, Jr. (1924-2020), grandson of Dr. Paterno’s older sister Celestina, wrote “I am Dr. Charles V. Paterno’s [grand] nephew. In the late 1920s, my mom used to take me to Paterno Castle and Uncle Charlie used to let me swim in the indoor pool at the Castle. It was really a big treat in those days. At Christmas time, Uncle Charlie used to dress up as Santa and make visits to all his nephews and nieces at their homes and deliver all kinds of wonderful gifts.”
I would like to think that Dr. Charles would have been overjoyed to have a great-grandchild born on Christmas Day which I was in 1969, twenty-three years after his passing. Before researching and reading about my great-grandfather Paterno, I had no idea how fond he was of Christmas. As his parents’ union surely made Christmas extra-special for Charles, it is my great grandfather’s fondness for Christmas that helps me feel more sentimental and adoring of the holiday.
Helen Laura Ritzmann (14 Aug 1911 – 22 May 1988) and Carlo Middaugh Paterno (23 Nov 1907 – 11 Dec 1995) were my maternal grandparents. Helen was adopted by her step-father Salvatore Albert Cotillo (19 Nov 1886 – 27 Jul 1939) when she was approximately 18 years of age. Helen’s mother Ida Sophia Berthold (15 May 1894 – 8 Jun 1977) married Judge Cotillo sometime between 1915 (divorce from first husband John Herbert Ritzmann) and 1929 when Helen was 18 years old and adopted. At this writing I do not have evidence of their recorded marriage.
L to R: Ida Sophia Berthold Cotillo, Ruth Middaugh Brown Lawrence, Helen Laura Ritzmann Cotillo Paterno, Carlo Middaugh Paterno, James A. Farley Jr., Sarah Leticia Campbell Cotillo, Boyd Paterno Brown
“Helen Berthold Cotillo and Carlo Middaugh Paterno became engaged on her birthday of August 14, 1934. We married on my birthday on November 23, 1934. Her age was 23 and mine was 27.
Judge Cotillo performed a civil ceremony in his home [at 1172 Park Avenue] because of his great desire to do so. The formal Catholic service was held at the Castle in the evening.
The famous operatic diva, Rosa Ponselle, sang at our wedding. Ring bearer was the son of James A. Farley who was Postmaster General in the presidential cabinet of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Postmaster General and his wife, Bess, were close friends of the Cotillos.
Our honeymoon night was spent in the Tower of the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria at 49th and Park Avenue. It was Glenn Lybarger, my boyhood mentor-confidante, who chauffeured us into the city prior to the honeymoon cruise.
Next day from wedding night in the Waldorf Towers, Helen and I embarked on the Grace Line’s Santa Rose for the long cruise from New York via the Panama Canal to the Pacific and up to Los Angeles. Here we took the ocean liner Luraline to Honolulu for a great time there. Our honeymoon was a half-year of newly married bliss.” Carlo M. Paterno in his book My Family page 53
Post card (front) from The Ambassador, Los Angeles, CaliforniaPost card (back): Darlings, That husband of mine has been at the desk for hours and I haven’t been able to write the letter I promised last night. P.S. He doesn’t know how to spell any better than I do. But the worse he spells the more I love him (if that is possible)). Love to you all, xxxxx HelenA key given to me by my grandparents, presumably from their honeymoon. Pink Palace of the Pacific, The Royal Hawaiian HotelFrom Carlo M. Paterno’s book
Helen B. Cotillo to Wed in Autumn – Troth to Carlo M. Paterno to Be Made Public Formally at Birthday Luncheon – Parent Will Be Hosts – Prospective Bride Graduate of the New Rochelle, Castle and Finch Schools • Sunday, August 12, 1934
Supreme Court Justice and Mrs. Salvatore A. Cotillo will give a luncheon on Tuesday at the Westchester Court Club to celebrate the birthday of their daughter, Miss Helen Berthold Cotillo, and at the same time to announce formally her engagement to Carlo M. Paterno, son of Dr. and Mrs. Charles V. Paterno of this city and Mount Kisco, NY. Only close friends of both families will attend the luncheon.
Miss Cotillo attended the New Rochelle, Castle and Finch Schools. She is interested in social service work and finds recreation in horseback riding, swimming and golfing.
Mr. Paterno attended the Riverside Country and Milford Schools, and was graduated from the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale in 1930. He is a member of the Phi Gamma Delta and Vernon Hall, and a junior member of the Westchester Country Club. He is an expert horseman and golfer.
He is manager of the real estate holdings of his father , the well-known builder. Young Mr. Paterno is president of the 335 West One Hundred and First Street Corporation and vice president of the Karlopat Realty Corporation.
Mrs. James A. Farley, wife of the Postmaster General, was the ranking guest at luncheon yesterday of Supreme Court Justice of New York and Mrs. Salvatore A. Cotillo, who entertained at the Westchester Country Club. The party was in celebration of the birthday anniversary of Miss Helen Berthold Cotillo, daughter of the hosts, and also to formally announce her engagement to Mr. Carlo M. Paterno, son of Dr. and Mrs. Charles V. Paterno of New York and Mount Kisco. Among others at the luncheon were Mr. Charles (Minnie) Paterno, Signora Grossardi, wife of the Italian consul general in New York; Mrs. Howard Chandler Christy and Miss Rosa Ponselle.
L to R: Mrs. Minnie Paterno, Helen Berthold Cotillo, Mrs. Ida Cotillo
Luncheon Honors Helen B. Cotillo – Mrs. James A. Farley Hostess to Prospective Bride of Carlo M. Paterno • November 9, 1934
Mrs. James A. Farley gave a luncheon yesterday at the Central Park Casino for Miss Helen B. Cotillo, daughter of Supreme Court Justice and Mrs. Salvatore A. Cotillo, who marriage to Carlo M. Paterno will take place on Nov. 23 at Paterno Castle. The other guests were: Mrs. Cotillo, Mrs. Charles Paterno, Mrs. Thomas Sheridan, Mrs. John Dietz, Mrs. Harry Conay, Mr.s Howard Chandler Christy, Mrs. Gene Pope, Mrs. Henry Hughes, Mrs. Edward McDermott, Mrs. Daniel H. McKitterick, Mrs. James A. Foley, Mrs. Michael Delehanty, Mrs. Albert Frankenthaler, Mrs. C. Russell Feldman, Mrs. Frank Cooper, Mrs. Isadore Wasservogel, Miss Beth Leary and Miss Rosa Ponselle of the Metropolitan Opera Company.
Miss Cotillo Wed to C. M. Paterno – Daughter of Supreme Court Justice Married at Castle Overlooking Hudson – Ponselle Sisters Sing – Member of Bench, Bar, Congress and President’ Cabinet Are Among Notables Present • November 24, 1934
One of the largest weddings of the late Autumn season was that of Miss Helen Berthold Cotillo, elder daughter of Supreme Court Justice and Mrs. Salvatore A. Cotillo, to Carlo Middaugh Paterno, only son of Dr. and Mrs. Charles V. Paterno, which took place last night at The Castle, the medieval residence of the Paternos overlooking the Hudson, almost within a stone’s throw of the George Washington Bridge.
The ceremony took place in the large conservatory, which had been transformed into an outdoor garden by means of silver birch trees and tropical and subtropical plants. There was a temporary altar at one end of the room, arranged against a background of the birch trees and flanked by seven-branched cathedral candelabras, the lighted tapers casting a soft glow during the ceremony, performed by the Right Rev. Mgr. Alphonsus Arcese, who was assisted by the Rev. Salvatrore Cafiero. During the service Rosa Ponselle of the Metropolitan Opera Company sang “Oh, Promise Me.”
Miss Carmela Ponselle, also of the Metropolitan Opera Company, sang the wedding march from “Lohengrin” as the bridal party made its way from the hallway through the conservatory to the altar. The procession was led by two flower girls, Sally Cotillo [Sarah Leticia Campbell Cotillo], sister of the bride, and Ruth Brown, grand-neice of Mrs. Paterno. [Correction: Ruth Brown was the granddaughter of Minnie Minton Middaugh Brown Paterno. Ruth’s father was Lyndon Middaugh Brown, son of Minnie and her first husband Rufus Lincoln Brown.] Then came a page, James A. Farley Jr., son of Postmaster General and Mrs. James A. Farley; the bride’s mother, who was matron of honor, and the bridge, who was escorted by her father to the altar, where she was joined by the bridegroom and his cousin, Boyd Brown, the best man.
The Bridal Costume
The bride wore an empire gown of white chiffon velvet, made with long, fitted sleeves and a full court train, rounded at the end. The gown was embellished with a dropped yoke of point lace. Her veil was of old rose point lace, and had been worn by the bridegroom’s mother at her twenty-fifth wedding anniversary [in 1931]. She carried a bouquet of white cattleya and butterfly orchids and pansies.
The flower girls wore Grecian frocks of pale pink velvet, with caps of the same material, trimmed with forget-me-nots and sweetheart roses, and carried colonial bouquets of the same flowers. The page was in a black velvet Eton suit. Mrs. Cotillo, the bride’s mother, wore a costume of white Florentine lace, embroidered in silver thread, and carried butterfly orchids in pastel shades.
After the ceremony the bridal couple received the congratulations of relatives and friends in the ballroom. They were assisted by the bride’s mother and Mrs. Paterno, the latter of whole wore a gown of silver cloth appliquéd in seed pearls and a corsage of white and purple orchids. Later there was dancing. A buffet supper was served by Sherry in the conservatory. The entire Paterno residence was thrown open for the festivities.
Official of the United States and Italian Governments, judges of various courts, members of the bar and other outstanding persons were invited to the wedding. Many of those unable to attend sent telegrams of congratulations, including Augusto Rosso, the Italian Ambassador, and Governor and Mrs. Herbert H. Lehman.
The Guests
Among those who accepted invitations were: Commendatore Nobile Antonio Grossari, Italian Consul General at New York, and Mrs. Grossari; Dr. Pierre Pasquale Spinelli, Deputy Consul, and Mrs. Spinelli; Postmaster General and Mrs. James A. Farley, former Governor and Mrs. Alfred E. Smith, former Ambassador James W. Gerard and Mrs. Gerard, Secretary of State Edward J. Flynn of New York and Mrs. Flynn, State Senator and Mrs. John J. Dunnigan, Judge and Mrs. George Murray Hulbert, Judge and Mrs. John C. Knox, Judge and Mrs. Martin T. Manton, Judge Edward R. Finch of the Court of Appeals and Mrs. Finch, Justice and Mrs. Edward J. Glennon, Justice and Mrs. Francis Martin, Justice and Mrs. James O’Malley, Justice and Mrs. Alfred H. Townley, Justice and Mrs. Irwin Untermyer, Justice William Harman Black, Justice and Mrs. Joseph M. Callahan, Justice and Mrs. John F. Carew, Justice and Mrs. Albert Cohn, Justice and Mrs. William T. Collins, Justice Edward S. Dore, Justice and Mrs. Alfred Frankenthaler, Justice and Mrs. Ernest E. L. Hammer, Justice Samuel H. Hofstadter, Justice Edward R. Koch, Justice and Mrs. Edgar J. Lauer, Justice and Mrs. Timothy A. Leary, Justice and Mrs. Aaron J. Levy, Justice Richard P. Lydon, Justice and Mrs. Philip J. McCook, Justice and Mrs. John E. McGeehan, Justice and Mrs. Edward J. McGoldrick, Justice and Mrs. Charles B. McLaughlin, Justice and Mrs. Julius Miller, Justice and Mrs. Kenneth O’Brien, Justice and Mrs. Samuel I. Rosenman, Justice and Mrs. Peter Schmuck, Justice Bernard L. Shientag, Justice and Mrs. Aron Steuer, Justice and Mrs. Louis A. Valenta, Justice and Mrs. John L. Walsh, Justice and Mrs. Isidor Wasservogel, Justice and Mrs. Charles C. Lockwood, Justice and Mrs. John H. McCooey, Surrogate and Mrs. James A. Delehanty and Surrogate and Mrs. James A. Foley.
Others were Representative and Mrs. Joseph A. Gavagan, Representative and Mrs. Martin J. Kennedy and Representative and Mrs. Vito Marcantonio, Public Welfare Commissioner Edward Corsi and Mrs. Corsi, Dr. Charles Amoroso, Deputy Commissioner of Correction and Mrs. Amoroso, Assistant Attorney General William J. Mahon, Controller-elect Frank J. Taylor and Mrs. Taylor, President Bernard S. Deutsch of the Board of Aldermen and Mrs. Deutsch, Borough President Samuel Levy of Manhattan and Mrs. Levy, District Attorney and Mrs. William Copeland Dodge, Commissioner of Public Works H. Warren Hubbard and Mrs. Hubbard, James J. Dooling, Frank Kelley, State Senator Thomas I. Sheridan and Mrs. Sheridan, former Sheriff John E. Sheehy and Mrs. Sheehy, Water Supply Commissioner John J. Dietz and Mrs. Dietz, Commissioner and Mrs. Edward P. Mulrooney, former Mayor and Mrs. John P. O’Brien, former Surrogate and Mrs. John P. Cohalan, George J. Ryan, president of the Board of Education, and Mrs. Ryan, Dr. and Mrs. Angelo Patri, Assistant District Attorney Felix Benvenga, Chief Magistrate James C. McDonald, Magistrate and Mrs. Thomas I. Aurelio, Judge and Mrs. Joseph F. Caponigri, Judge and Mrs. Morris Eder and Judge and Mrs. Myron Sulzberger.
Also Agnostino De Biasi, Italo Falbo, Marcello Girosi, Francesco Macaluso, Mr. and Mrs. Generosa Pope, Louis Wiley, Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Burkan, Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Boston, Captain and Mrs. Irving L. Evans, Mr. and Mrs. Herman Goodstein, Dr. Joseph Kahn, Mr. and Mrs. George Z. Medalie, Mr. and Mrs. Ferdinand I. Pecora, Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd P. Stryker, Mr. and Mrs. Henry W. Taft, Mr. and Mrs. George W. Whiteside, Assemblyman and Mrs. Salvatore Farenga, Mr. and Mrs. Lucius Boomer, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Chandler Christy, Baron and Baroness Bernardino Gailuppi, Mr. and Mrs. Henry V. Allien, Mrs. and Mrs. Michael J. Delehanty, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Gerli, George Burling Prince and Dr. and Mrs. Martin Stein.
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle • 24 November 1934Letter written to Ida Berthold Cotillo (mother of Helen Cotillo Paterno) by Carlo Paterno while on their honeymoon. Postmark is 11 December 1934.
December 10th – Dear Judge and Mother, It was a grand surprise to hear your voices last night. It sort of made me feel that everything was alright. I do hope Sally is feeling better by now. Well Judge I’m afraid I don’t win my bet about Helen packing…
… my pants but she has tried very hard and is handling everything very well. You should see Helen checking over my laundry when she sends it out and when it returns. Now that’s a pretty good start. Of course I’ll admit it’s a hard job to get Helen to write. Helen’s excuse is that I keep her busy day and night…
… The trip on the Santa Elena was really most enjoyable and the various ports and cities that we visited were very interesting and great fun to see. Today we lunched at the Brown Derby the drove through Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Los Angeles. Tomorrow we are planning to visit some fo the studios….
… Helen has been grand and has put up with all my peculiar traits so far. Evidentially we will be married for years and years as we have started planning our golden anniversary. Much love to you all and again many thanks for all the cooperation in making our wedding such a success. Helen promises a long long letter tomorrow. Your son, Carlo
For Mother xxx For Judge xxx For Sally xxx For Aunt Hattie xxx For Uncle Bill xxx For Anna xxx
Darlings, That husband of mine has been at the desk for hours and I haven’t been able to write the letter I promised last night. PS – He doesn’t know how to spell any better than I do. But the worse he spells, the more I love him (if that is possible). Love to you all, xxxxxx Helen.
