The 1903 Hotel Darlington - 402 Eighth Avenue

 

photograph by Anthony Bellov

In 1902, the northern edge of Manhattan's Chelsea district was just seeing the influx of industry.  That year, still eight years before the opening of the magnificent Pennsylvania Station one block to the north, Isidor H. Kempner broke ground for a hotel and saloon at the northeast corner of Eighth Avenue and 30th Street.  Designed by the well-known architectural firm of Buchman & Fox, it cost Kempner $25,000 to erect, or about $940,000 in 2026 terms.  

The architects drew inspiration from Colonial prototypes.  Faced in red brick above the ground floor, the Hotel Darlington was three stories tall and stretched 64 feet down West 30th Street.  Its turret-like upper corner was likely capped with a shallow, conical "witch's hat" roof.  The second floor openings wore Georgian-inspired splayed lintels with layered keystones, while the treatment of the top floor windows was slightly less exuberant.  

In the rear of the saloon, which was initially run by Howard Babcock, was a large meeting space, Gallagher's Hall.  It was rented to various social, political and labor groups.  The space had a separate entrance on the side street.

From the beginning, the Hotel Darlington got an unsavory reputation.  Shortly after midnight on September 11, 1904, William F. McLean, an unmarried bookkeeper, checked in with a woman named Dora Callahan.  Within a few hours, McLean was dead.

The New York Herald said flatly that McLean "is said to have been a drug fiend."  According to Dora, who was held as a "suspicious person," a little while after entering the room, "McLean took two hypodermic injections of some drug."  The New York Herald reported, "When she awoke at 4 o'clock in the morning she could not arouse her companion and a physician was called in.  McLean was dead."  The following day, The Evening World reported that the 22-year-old Dora Callahan had been released.  "The evidence failed to show her in any way responsible for the man's death," said the article.

On July 26, 1905, the Excise Board revoked Howard Babcock's liquor license "under the provisions of the Ambler Law," according to The Evening Post.  (The Ambler Law restricted the sale of liquor on Sunday.)  The revocation was short-lived, apparently, and before long Gallagher's Hall was again routinely booked.

In its June 19, 1909 issue, for example, The Moving Picture World reported, "The regular meeting of the Picture Machine Branch Local 15, I. A. T. S. E., was held at Gallagher's Hall, 402 Eighth avenue, to an overflowing attendance."  The union rented the room each Monday night.  

And on February 11, 1911, the Irish American Advocate reported on the "third annual social and dance" of the Ancient Order of Hibernians the previous week.  "The affair was one continual round of pleasure from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.," said the article.

Meanwhile, residents upstairs continued to draw unwanted publicity.  On May 16, 1911, The New York Times reported that the Secret Service had broken a counterfeiting ring that "had for its object the flooding of Alaska with counterfeit money."  The Federal agents had seized a printing plant in Hoboken where the fake bills were being made.  The newspaper said, "The plot started six weeks ago, when some of those under arrest lived at 402 Eighth Avenue."

Despite the often nefarious goings on upstairs, the meetings in the rear of the saloon were respectable--at least for the time being.  On July 10, 1913, Building and Engineering News reported that the "Park-Presidio District Senator Scott Club" was formed here; and four months later, on November 7, The Evening Telegram reported, "Seven hundred and fifty members of the [Chauffeurs and Taxicab Drivers Local No. 267] attended a meeting held in Gallagher's Hall, No. 402 Eighth avenue."  Taxicab drivers had been on strike and the meeting was held to consider the owners' offer.

Renting a room here beginning in 1925 was Russian-born Sam Hysso.  The 32-year-old came to New York City to study art at the National Academy of Design.  Unfortunately, things were not working out for him.  Three years later, The New York Times said he still "spoke English badly," adding, "It was said at the school that he seemed to be unhappy."  

Provincetown, Massachusetts was a summer art colony at the time.  In the summer of 1928, Hysso traveled there, but his solitude and unhappiness continued.  The New York Times said his only confidant there was "a small boy."  Hysso, said the article, was known as the "loneliest artist in Provincetown."  That boy told the town's police chief that Hysso complained that he was "tired out and sick of life."  As a storm was brewing on the afternoon of August 5, the artist told someone he was going out to "study the cloud effects."  He wandered out into the sand dunes and was never seen again.

Towering business buildings provided the ground floor business a constant supply of patrons. via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In 1933, with Prohibition in effect, Michael F. O'Day signed a lease on the former saloon and meeting hall.  He installed an eatery, O'Day's Restaurant, in the front and a dining room in the rear.  By then, the neighborhood had filled with factory and office buildings, resulting in a brisk business.  In 1953, O'Day testified that he served 300 persons each day.  

That year, while O'Day was ostensibly at home and sick, five of his seven employees were arrested for running a gambling joint in the dining room area.  Under questioning, O'Day insisted he was ignorant of the operation.  "Well, it is a cinch I wouldn't sacrifice my livelihood, a good business," by allowing illegal activities, he insisted.

photograph by Anthony Bellov

The building was sold in 1952 and 12 years later a renovation resulted in an "eating and drinking" establishment on the ground floor and four apartments each in the second and third.  At some point the brick facade was painted mint green and the brownstone trim a rosy-pink.  Forty-six years after it opened here in 1980, the Molly Wee Pub and Restaurant continues to serve the busy Penn Station community.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post.