120 East 65th Street, ca. 1911.

No. 120 (the farthest building on the right) was originally built in 1874 as one a series of speculative brownstone-fronted homes (nos. 120-130). Because of the locomotives that once traveled down the middle of Park Avenue (previously called 4th Avenue) the homes east of Park were originally not hugely desirable. Once the railroad was moved underground in 1875, the value of these attractive homes increased greatly. No. 120 was the home to a series of well-to-do merchants. In 1897 is became the St. Joseph’s Home for Babies, an orphanage run by Dominican nuns.

By 1902 the structure was a private home again and undergoing a massive renovation. Owners Isaac Chauncey McKeever and his wife Julia commissioned architect S. E. Gage to transform their Victorian rowhouse into a neo-Federal house. The most striking new feature was the stoop turned sideways with dogleg configuration (meaning it included a sharp bend).

Today the home, with the unique stairs, still sits directly next to a series of Victorian rowhouses that look exactly as it once looked.