Robert C. Black, a member of the well-known Fifth Avenue jeweler Black Starr & Frost, lived with his wife, Mary Witherbee Black, in a splendid mansion that stood on a large tract where the homes between 958 and 1000 Esplanade now stand. The couple moved to Pelham Manor in the 1870s and originally lived in the home that still stands at 1057 Esplanade, an example of the "Esplanade Villa" style of home offered in the early days of the development efforts of the Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association.