Yesterday, we put together an article for our friends at Curbed NY, walking through the grand hotels along Broadway, adapting excerpts from Untapped Cities founder Michelle Young‘s latest book Broadway that was released this past week. There are 13 featured or mentioned in the book, which contains over 200 vintage and present-day images of the famous street in New York City. Here’s an excerpt of the article on Curbed, click over to read the full list of hotels.
Astor House
Image from Library of Congress
Astor House was the first luxury hotel in New York City, situated on Broadway between Barclay and Vesey Street across from City Hall. It had running water before the Croton Aqueduct was completed in 1842, and its distinguished guests included Abraham Lincoln, who gave a speech there before his presidential election. In 1913, the hotel was demolished in phases to accommodate the construction of the subway.
Pabst Hotel
Pabst Hotel, Times Square. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.
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The Pabst Hotel opened in 1899 at what is now One Times Square—close to its brewery at 49th Street. The hotel, according to the New York Times, had five bedrooms on each of the upper floors, and in “early 1900 the owners added a conservatory on top of the portico, an extension of the Empire-style restaurant on the second floor.” The construction of the IRT subway went through the basement of the hotel and in 1902, owner Gustave Pabst, vice president of the brewing company, sold it to Adolph S. Ochs, publisher of The New York Times. The New York Times Building was built on the same triangular plot, and still stands today, one of the emptiest but most profitable buildings in Midtown. It is also where the New Year’s Eve Ball is stored.