Pricey Brooklyn Heights rowhouse, just sold, once was home of banking pioneer
Wells was a founder of AmEx and Wells Fargo
158 Clinton St. (the light-colored house with red-brown trim) was once owned by William Wells, a founder of both American Express and Wells Fargo. Google Maps photo
A 19th century Brooklyn Heights townhouse that topped Brooklyn’s luxury market when it sold last week, asking $6.6 million, was once owned by a banking pioneer who helped found both Wells Fargo and American Express, published reports say.
The house is 158 Clinton St., between State Street and Aitken Place, and it was built in 1847 or 1848.
Henry Wells, born in 1805, was the seventh generation of his family in America. He became a freight agent on the Erie Canal, then started his own express business. In 1844, he, William Fargo and several others formed a company known as Western Express. He then founded another company called Wells, Butterfield and Co. The two firms merged into American Express.