Old Taverns of New York

Ball at Castle Garden

The honor and respect shown to Lafayette culminated in the great ball given at Castle Garden on Wednesday, September 14, which, it is said, for splendor and magnificence surpassed anything of the kind ever seen in America. Six thousand persons attended, which included all the beauty and fashion of New York and vicinity. The castle, which was a circle, was enclosed with an awning to the height of seventy-five feet, the dome being supported in the center by a column, dressed with the colors of the Cincinnati. It was a magnificent affair, long remembered in the city. Lafayette and a large party went from the ball on board the steamboat, James Kent, chartered by the committee to take the nation’s guest up the Hudson.

Clubs

There were several social clubs in the city holding their meetings at hotels, and Fitz-Greene Halleck, the poet, a man whose society was sought and desired, appears to have been a member of every club in the city, great or small. He was one of a small circle who met occasionally at the City Hotel. Tuckerman says: “There was a select club many years ago in New York, the members of which dined together at stated intervals at the old City Hotel on Broadway; the utmost freedom of intercourse and good faith marked their prandial converse, and one day when a sudden silence followed the entrance of the host, it was proposed to elect him to the fraternity, that they might talk freely in his presence, which was frequent and indispensable. He kept a hotel after the old régime, was a gentleman in his feelings, an honest and intelligent fellow, who prided himself upon his method of serving up roast pig – in which viand his superiority was such that the gentle Elia, had he ever dined with the club, would have mentioned him with honor in the essay on that crispy and succulent dish. The proposition was opposed by only one individual, a clever man, who had made his fortune by buying up all the bristles at Odessa, thus securing a monopoly which enabled him to vend the article to the brushmakers at an enormous profit. His objection to Boniface was that he was famous for nothing but roasting a pig, and no fit associate for gentlemen. ‘Your aristocratic standard is untenable,’ said Halleck, ‘for what essential difference is there between spurs won from roasting a porker or by selling his bristles?’ and amid the laugh of his confreres, mine host was elected.”

The Bread and Cheese Club was organized in 1824 by James Fenimore Cooper. It included among its members conspicuous professional men in science, law, letters and philosophy, of whom were Fitz-Greene Halleck, William A. and John Duer, Professor Renwick, Philip Hone, James De Kay, the great naturalist, Charles Augustus Davis, Dr. John W. Francis, Charles King, Verplanck, Bryant and Sands. The selections for nomination rested entirely with Cooper; bread and cheese were used in balloting and one of cheese barred the way to membership. The club met at Washington Hall fortnightly and for fifteen years, either here or at the houses of its members were entertained nearly every distinguished person who visited New York during that period. Meetings of the club, often a large assembly, were attended by members of Congress and distinguished strangers, among whom were often found Daniel Webster, Henry R. Storrs, William Beach Lawrence and the French minister, Hyde De Neuville.

A little later was the Book Club. Although said to have been founded by the Rev. Dr. Wainwright, and in spite of its name, it was rather convivial than literary. Philip Hone describes it as a club which met every other Thursday at Washington Hall, “where they sup, drink champagne and whisky punch, talk as well as they know how and run each other good humoredly.” He did not understand why it should be called a Book Club, for the book of subscriptions to expenses was the only one it possessed. He declares that they were a very pleasant set of fellows, and sat late. The first time he met with them after being made a member of the club was in March, 1835, and when he came away at one o’clock he left them at the supper table. The party that evening consisted of about twenty, viz.: Davis, President Duer, Charles King, Wilkins, William Kent, Harvey, Arthur Barclay, Isaac Hone, Halleck, Ogden Hoffman, Patterson, Blunt, Dr. Francis, Baron Behr, Mr. Trelauney, author of “The Younger Son,” Beverly Robinson, etc.

Semi-Centennial of Washington’s Inauguration

The semi-centennial anniversary of the inauguration of Washington as the first President of the United States was celebrated in the city of New York by the Historical Society on the 30th of April, 1839. At twelve o’clock an oration was delivered in the Middle Dutch Church by John Quincy Adams, the venerable ex-President of the United States, to a numerous and appreciative audience. At four o’clock the members of the society and their invited guests dined at the City Hotel. The president of the society, Peter G. Stuyvesant, sat at the head of the table, with two venerable contemporaries of the American Revolution, General Morgan Lewis, once governor of New York, and Colonel John Trumbull, the one at his right hand and the other at his left. Among the guests were William Pennington, governor of New Jersey, General Winfield Scott, Commodore Claxton, Samuel Southard and other distinguished individuals, together with delegates from other historical societies. Mr. Adams was toasted, and replied in a speech in which he claimed for the era of the American Revolution the title of the heroic age of America, and that it deserved this title with more justice than the title of heroic age bestowed upon the early history of Greece. In the course of the evening speeches were made by General Scott, Commodore Claxton of the American Navy, Mr. Southard and others, and an original ode was sung.

In 1842, John Jacob Astor was the owner of the City Hotel, and by deed dated March 9th of that year conveyed to his granddaughter Sarah, wife of Robert Boreel, and daughter of Dorothea Langdon, a life interest in the property after his death, which after her death is to be divided among her children. The deed states: “Whereas I am desirous of providing by deed for my granddaughter Sarah, wife of Robert Boreel, and of disposing in the manner in these presents expressed, of the property which in my will I had designated for her,” etc., “and whereas her husband is an alien, and although one of her sons is born in the state of New York, other children may be born to her without the United States, who will be aliens,” etc. “Now these presents,” etc. The property is described as “all the lands and buildings in the city of New York now known as the City Hotel.” The deed allows her, in case the buildings are destroyed by fire to mortgage the land for the purpose of rebuilding and under certain conditions she may sell the property and place the proceeds in trust. The deed seems to be confirmatory or supplementary to the will.

The City Hotel Ends Its Career

Chester Jennings was still the landlord of the City Hotel in 1847, and it was in the following year or soon after that it terminated its career as a house of entertainment, which, including the City Tavern on the same site, had lasted for very close to one hundred years, an eventful period in the city’s history. The building was taken down and on its site was erected an office building seven stories high which was called the Boreel Building. It was the largest and for a long time was considered the finest building devoted to office purposes in the city. It was a conspicuous structure and well known to the citizens of New York. Sarah Boreel died in 1897. Her heirs sold the property in 1901.

Plans had been made to acquire this and contiguous properties in order to erect an immense building. This, in the course of three or four years, was accomplished, and under the same control, the United States Realty Building and the Trinity Building, the two sometimes called the Twin Trinity Buildings, were erected.

On April 6, 1906, the Board of Estimates and Apportionment passed a resolution by which an exchange of land was made by the city and the owners of this property. Temple Street, between Thames and Cedar Streets, and Thames Street, between Broadway and Trinity Place, were vacated, and in return Cedar Street was widened on the south side between Broadway and Trinity Place or Church Street, and a new Thames Street was laid out between Broadway and Trinity Place, with lines somewhat different from those of the former street, but covering nearly the same ground. This exchange of land allowed the United States Realty Building to be constructed so as to cover what had been formerly two blocks, extending from Broadway to Trinity Place.

The large double brick house No. 39 Broadway, built in 1786 by General Alexander Macomb, and occupied by Washington when President of the United States, with the houses adjoining it on either side, was opened in the year 1821 by William I. Bunker and was known as Bunker’s Mansion House. It became quite famous, being considered, in its most prosperous days, as a very large and commodious house. Kept with the utmost neatness and attention and usually filled with the best of people, being largely patronized by southern families, it possessed much of the comfort and quiet refinement of a private residence. Bunker, who was a very courteous and affable man, succeeded so well that in the course of a few years he sold out and retired from business.

In the year 1833 Stephen Holt erected on Fulton Street, from Pearl to Water, an hotel, which was the largest and most magnificent building for hotel purposes, up to that time, in the country. It was at first called Holt’s Hotel, afterwards the United States Hotel, and its rate of one dollar and a half a day was thought to be exorbitant. Here steam was used probably for the first time in an hotel to save labor. Passenger elevators had not yet been thought of, but baggage was carried to the upper floors by steam power, and it was also used in turning spits, grinding and cleaning knives, etc., but the main purpose of the engine was the digging of an artesian well, which was sunk to the depth of over five hundred feet, and subsequently put down much further. Holt’s experiment proved to him disastrous. The expenses exceeded the receipts. He failed and the hotel passed into other hands. The next large hotel to be erected in the city was the Astor House, three years later.

The advent of the railroad and the great increase of travel created a decided change in the taverns or, as they had come to be called, hotels. It was no longer the custom of the landlord to meet the traveller at the door and welcome him as a friend or attend in person to his comfort. It was the beginning of a new era, in which the old tavern and the old-style landlord is unknown. With the opening of this era the story which I have undertaken to tell about the Old Taverns of New York comes to an end.

1

New York Gazette or Weekly Post-Boy.

2

New York Gazette or Weekly Post-Boy.

3

New York Mercury.

4

New York Gazette.

5

New York Evening Post.

6

Dayton.

7

Dayton.