Charles F Noyes 1

Charles Floyd Noyes: Dean of Real Estate

Charles F. Noyes

Charles F. Noyes, the man who would become the dean of American real estate and a major American philanthropist, was born in Norwich, Connecticut, on July 19, 1878 – a time when Manhattan’s skyline still hugged the earth. But at least for a time Charles would hold a real estate record for engineering the highest price ever paid for a property – the majestic building that still towers above the rest of the New York skyline, the Empire State Building.

Charles was the son of Carrie and Charles Dennison Noyes, co-publisher of the nation’s sixth oldest newspaper, the Norwich Daily Bulletin. His life story in business and in philanthropy begins with his own determination to succeed where others might fail. When he was just 10 years old, he battled the blizzard of 1888 to make sure that customers on his newspaper route would get their papers despite the storm’s monstrous snowdrifts. He even had to throw some newspapers into second floor windows, because the snow had drifted to that height.

At age 12, he started his own penny newspaper, and at 14 he invested his earnings to start a newsstand concession on a popular steam ship line. He grew this business until 1905, when real estate became his calling.