You Say Stanton.(The Talk of the Town)(Elizabeth Cady Stanton)

In 1974, Immy Humes, a high-school senior, was doing some research in the women's history archive at Radcliffe's Schlesinger Library when she noticed a faded piece of stationery. According to the letterhead, it had belonged to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the suffragette and women's rights leader. "Sifting through letters, thrilled to touch paper that touched her hand, I noticed her address: 250 West Ninety-fourth Street," Humes recalled recently. "Imagine!" Humes had grown up at that very address, in a sixteen-story brick building, where she still lives. Until February, the only hint of Stanton's residence was a brass plaque that neighbors installed after Humes reported her discovery. Now, however, there is a more conspicuous reminder: a new brown awning adorned with twelve-inch-high letters. After more than eighty years, 250 West Ninety-fourth Street is "The Stanton," complete with new uniforms on order for the doormen, and plans for women's history materials in its basement media center.

"We're doing this for ourselves, not to say, 'Hey, look at this fancy West Side building, they're getting really hip,' " Marty Katz, a member of the building's co-op board, said. Katz, who chaired the board's naming committee, said that he came up with the idea for the name change. Last year, he made a PowerPoint presentation at a residents' meeting. The first reason to support his proposal: "To honor Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the historical significance of this location in her life." Slide No. 7: according to real-estate agents, "Named buildings generate increased interest among co-op buyers."

Whether to name was one quandary; what to name was another. Most residents fell into one of three camps--"Stanton"-ites, "Cady Stanton"-ers, or just the number, please--and though in a building-wide vote almost two-thirds were in favor of "The Stanton," the dissenters remain vocal.

"To me, in my bones, 'The Stanton' sounds wrong," Immy Humes said. "It's invisible! She was bad, she was radical, she was ornery--no compromise. So when they want to make everything nice and tidy, it seems against her spirit."

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