Bonus: The Jane Hotel
Not in Lower Manhattan but worthy of note, The American Seamen’s Friend Society Sailors’ Home and Institute was constructed in 1907-08 and is now more commonly known as the Jane Hotel. The American Seamen’s Friend Society (ASFS), which had been established in 1828, was a Christian organizations concerned with improving the social and moral welfare of seamen. Equipped with a swimming pool, a bowling alley, a concert hall, and a billiard rooms, the building offered alternatives to the waterfront dives, dance halls, and saloons.
In addition to attending to the sailor’s moral character, ASFS also cared about their physical well-being. The American Seamen’s Friend Society Sailors’ Home and Institute was operated as a hotel for all seamen. It also provided free housing for sailors who were sick, shipwrecked, or plagued by poverty, giving them accommodations in rooms that were built to resemble ship cabins. According to an article in Harper’s Weekly from 1909, the light at the top of the polygonal comer tower “[flashed] a welcome up and down the river.” In 1912, after theTitanic sank, many of the surviving crew members found refuge at the American Seamen’s Friend Society Sailors’ Home and Institute.
Join us on an upcoming Tour of the Remnants of NYC’s Maritime Past led by Untapped Cities’ Chief Experience Officer, Justin Rivers: