The gardens in the rear of these two houses were the largest in the row, extending through the block to Nineteenth Street, a part near the Belden house being formally laid out with box-edged walks and flower beds, while the rest was turfed and shaded by large trees, a few of which survived until a year or two ago, when they were cut down to make way for the new building of the National Arts Club, the present owner. Mr. Tilden, joining with the other owners on the square and the owners of the houses on Irving Place, had all the wooden fences in the angle formed by these houses removed and an open iron fence put in their place. As there were no houses on Nineteenth Street, there remained an unusual effect of greenery and trees for New York City.
_Former Residence of the Late Rev. Dr. Henry W. Bellows_
Dr. Bellows was a distinguished clergyman. Born in 1814, he graduated at Harvard and at the Cambridge Divinity School, and in 1838 became the pastor of the First Unitarian Church, New York, and so continued for forty-four years. Dr. Bellows was an accomplished orator, his extemporaneous speeches being remarkable for their lucidity and style. He published numerous lectures and pamphlets, but is best known throughout the country for his work as president of the United States Sanitary Commission during the Civil War. Under him the commission distributed supplies amounting to fifteen millions of dollars in value and five millions of money. The results of the experience of the commission in their work of reducing the suffering in war have been copied abroad.
_Former Residence of the Late Dr. Valentine Mott_
Dr. Mott was a distinguished surgeon, and one of the best-known citizens of the small town of sixty or seventy years ago. He previously lived at the easterly end of Depau Row. For many years Dr. M. resided in Paris, during the reign of Louis Philippe, whose physician he was. In 1841[26] a ball was given for the Prince de Joinville at the Depau Row house, and during the Civil War the Comte de Paris and brothers were entertained at the Gramercy Square house.
This rectory has been the home of many clergymen celebrated in the community. One of the early rectors was Dr. Francis Lister Hawks. Born at Newbern, N. C., in 1798, he was ordained in 1827 and was conspicuous in the church up to the time of his death in 1866.