River Street House Where
Fictional Det. ‘Philo Vance’
Was Created Is Endangered
Salvation Army Plans To Raze It,
But GOHS May Object To Plans
By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
ONEONTA – Hidden behind a row of overgrown trees on River Street is a literary legacy.
As S.S. Van Dine, Willard Huntington Wright (1888-1939), wrote 12 novels starring dandy detective Philo Vance – and Bob Brzozowski, Greater Oneonta Historical Society executive director, believes that they were written here.
“We know his novel ‘The Man of Promise’ (196) was partially written in the cupola of 31 River Street,” said Brzozowski. “It’s set in Greenwood, which is based on Oneonta. H.L. Mencken called it ‘the Great American Novel’. We believe he wrote some of the Vance novels here as well.”
The heritage will remain, but the house, neglected for year, is about to succumb to the ravages of time.
The Salvation Army, whose local operation is growing, bought the property in March, first to build a parking lot, then expanding its building.
“We need more room,” said Maj. Sharon Harford, the veteran commander who is retiring at the end of May. “We want to expand our food pantry, and the city is looking to us to create a warming station for the homeless when the temperature drops.”
The first stage will include demolition of the house, creating a parking lot and a children’s play area. Following a future capital campaign, Harford says the building itself will be expanded.
Brzozowski was first made aware of the prospective demolition during the weekly Community Conversations session.
In researching the home’s history, he found that it was not listed on the 1890 map of Oneonta, but by 1903 was listed as belonging to H.E. Huntington & Co. Further research revealed the connection to Wright.
Mencken, along with George Nathan, edited the literary magazine “The Smart Set” and brought Wright aboard.
During Wright’s two-year tenure there, he published works by Joseph Conrad, D.H. Lawrence, Ford Maddox Ford, Ezra Pound and William Butler Yeats, among others.
Wright’s maiden aunts, Bertha and Julia Wright, owned the River Street home. Though he was not a native of Oneonta, his father, Archibald Wright was, and the son, along with his brother, modernist painter Stanton MacDonald, is believed to have spent time here as a child.
Stanton, the elder son, was named after his childhood friend Willard Huntington, the son of Solon Huntington and the brother of Henry Huntington who Collis Huntington, one of California’s “Big Four,” brought into the business and was his eventual successor.
Wright’s portrait, painted by Stanton, hangs in the Gallery in Washington.
Wright spent time in New York City, writing and publishing for the Smart Set in 1912, but he was soon dismissed for publishing unconventional and sexually explicit stories.
“He had a nervous breakdown and, for a few years, he only had access to detective novels,” said Brzozowski. “He thought, ‘I could write better than this.’”
It was a gamble that paid off: All 12 novels, starting with ‘The Benson Murder Case’ in 1926 and ending with ‘The Winter Murder Case,’ posthumously in 1939, were best-sellers. He died at age 50 shortly after the publication of ‘The Gracie Allen Murder Case.’
Oneonta historian Ed Moore labeled Wright as a “mystery story writer and creator of Philo Vance, one of the most famous detectives in history”.
Wright also wrote twelve 20-minute screenplays for Warner Brothers, and all but two of the novels were turned into feature-length films, with William Powell and Basil Rathbone both starring as Vance.
“We don’t know if he wrote any of the scripts in Oneonta,” said Brzozowski. “But we want to try and do a dramatic reading of one of his novels.”
Brzozowski has written to the Planning Commission and the Common Council about the proposed demolition, and plans to address the GOHS board during its meeting on Wednesday, May 1.
“I want people to know this is happening,” he said.