"Stone Croft" on the Esplanade, Once the Home of Henry B. B. Stapler

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"Stone Croft" is a beautiful home with a beautiful stable (later, a carriage house) that still stands on the Esplanade not far from Huguenot Memorial Presbyterian Church.  It once was the home of Henry Beidleman Bascom Stapler.  Stapler was an attorney who also served for a time as Assistant District Attorney in New York City.  

Stapler was an important early resident of Pelham Manor who was actively involved in the Pelham Manor Protective Club for several years before the incorporation of the Village of Pelham Manor in 1891.  I have written about Stapler before.  See Fri., Apr. 03, 2009:  Biography and Photograph of Henry Beidleman Bascom Stapler, an Active Member of the Pelham Manor Protective Club in its Latter Years.

Henry Beidleman Bascom Stapler

Stapler owned a lovely home that still stands on the Esplanade.  He named the home "Stone Croft."  

Stone Croft with Stables (Later, Carriage House)

Partially Visible to the Right of the Home.

Stone Croft was one of a group of three "country homes" built in Pelham Manor in the late 19th century.  The other two were:  The Dogwoods built by Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Black adjacent to and somewhat "behind" Stone Croft; and "Myne Owne," once the home of Benjamin F. Corlies.  Neither The Dogwoods, nor Myne Owne still stands.  The carriage house that served The Dogwoods still stands.  It has been converted into a beautiful home located at 1 Country Club Lane, Pelham Manor.  

I recently ran across a very brief newspaper notice with important information about the stables built to serve Stone Croft.  The item mentions the architect, the masons, and the carpenter who built it.  It is quoted immediately below.

"Pelham Manor.
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H.B.B. Stapler is about to build an elegant stable.  F. Carles Merry prepared the plans.  The material will be native stone; the style to match the house.  John New & Son, masons, and Samuel W. Dassler, carpenter, have the contracts."

Source:  Pelham Manor, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Jul. 18, 1892, Vol. 1, No. 92, p. 1, col. 2.

What follows is a brief biography of H.B.B. Stapler published in 1907.

"HENRY BEIDLEMAN BASCOM STAPLER, son of James and Maria (Beidleman) Stapler, was born February 24, 1853, at Mobile, Ala.  His parents died during his early life, and he entered college under the guardianship of Miss Sarah Stapler, an aunt, from Wilmington, Del.

The year after graduation he was classical instructor in the Hartford (Conn.) High School, and at the same time began his course in the Yale Law School, which he completed in 1876.  During his college course he won several prizes in English composition, and at the end of the Second year in the Law School the Jewell Prize for the highest marks in examination.  During the second year of his law course he was also instructor in history in the Hopkins Grammar School.

After a clerkship with Fowler & Taylor in New York city, he was admitted to practice in May, 1878, and the following September formed a partnership with his classmate, John L. Wood, which continued ten years, after which he practiced alone.  From 1891 to 1893 he was Assistant District Attorney of the City and County of New York, and was then with George P. Breckenridge in the law firm of Stapler & Breckenridge.

Mr. Stapler died of pneumonia at his home in Pelham Manor, Westchester County, N. Y., December 1, 1906, at the age of 53 years.  He was a vestryman of Christ Church.

He married, November 10, 1880, Helen Louisa, daughter of J. T. and Martha J. Gause, of Wilmington, Del.  She survives him with a daughter and three sons."

Source:  Obituary Record of Graduates Of Yale University Deceased During the Academical Year Ending In June, 1907, Including The Record Of A Few Who Died Previously, Hitherto Unreported [Presented at the Meeting of the Alumni, June 25, 1907], pp. 755-56 (New Haven, CT:  Yale University, 1907).

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