The two-story, two-family brick home on 47 Seaman Avenue across from Beak Street was constructed in 1925.
Described in an early real estate advertisement as “a lovely brick and marble Queen Ann home,” the house is one of a handful of single and two-family homes that add historic character to the Inwood neighborhood in northern Manhattan.
Though rumors persist that the house was once the former residence of Harry Houdini, the legend seems unlikely. His widow, Bess Houdini, however, did indeed live in the neighborhood. Bess moved to 67 Payson Avenue, just blocks away, after Harry’s 1926 death.
While not a Houdini home, the fact that the house stands today, nearly a century after its construction, seems an almost magical feat.
When I was a kid in the 1940s and 50s my dentist, Dr Steinberg, occupied that house. He would fill my cavities without anesthetic because novocaine cost extra and my parents figured I could tough it out for a few seconds. I think his office was downstairs and he lived upstairs.