While the New York Times did not “cover” our June dedication event, some six weeks later Times reporter Tracie Rozhon wrote an article entitled “Habitats/454 West 35th Street” which appeared in the Sunday Times Real Estate section (August 11).
Some excerpts follow:
—Affixed to the brownstone corner of the building is a small plaque: “On This Site Stood the Elegant Brownstone of the Corpulent Fictional Private Detective Nero Wolfe. With his able assistant Archie Goodwin...” —The bronze plaque is itself based on a fiction. It was placed there this summer by The Wolfe Pack, a group of fans of the mystery writer Rex Stout, whose famous private detective’s address on West 35th Street shifted several times—but never to 454 West 35th Street. —“In New York City, it’s hard to find some one gracious enough to let us put a plaque on their building to honor a man who never existed," Ettagale Blauer, a club member, explained. (Editor: The article goes on in a positive vein to discuss the building itself and some of the neighboring buildings that were renovated and put to good use.) |