William Earl Dodge Stokes Sr., (above), better known by the initials in his first three names, was quite a character way back in the day, but long forgotten until the success of the Steve Martin-Selena Gomez-Martin Short comedy series on Hulu, "Only Murders in the Building."

The program's building is called the Arconia, an apartment complex on the West Side of New York City. The actual building shown in the series is the Belnord, built in 1908 and spanning an entire block on 86th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. Its most famous feature is its archways leading to an interior courtyard. Inside the building are 200 apartments.

However, I can't help but think that in real life, the Arconia is the Ansonia, a West Side hotel built by W. E. D. Stokes, and one of its original residents when it opened in 1904.

Construction started in 1899, but was often delayed, partly because Stokes insisted on supervising. The hotel was finished 18 months later than planned, and Stokes went over budget by about $1 million, an incredible amount at the time. He named the hotel Ansonia after his maternal grandfather, Anson Greene Phelps, who founded a Connecticut town by the same name. When it opened, the Ansonia was the biggest, fanciest hotel in New York City, the first to be air conditioned.

(What may have been the only murder in the Ansonia occurred two years after it opened. Dead was Al Adams, one-time king of the New York City numbers racket. Adams resided in a suite at the Ansonia. City coroner Julius Harburger thought Adams was murdered, and set out — in vain — to prove the crime was committed by Stokes. Finally, it was decided Adams committed suicide.)

Among other Ansonia residents over the years were composer Igor Stravinsky, conductor Arturo Toscanini, opera star Roberta Peters, and baseball legend Babe Ruth. The building was converted to condominiums in the 1990s.