The Lost American Hotel - Broadway and Barclay Street

 

Lithograph by Antonio Canova, around 1831, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

In the first decades after the Revolution, three refined, Federal style mansions sat at the northwest corner of Broadway and Barclay Street.  Three stories tall with dormered attics, they enjoyed views of City Hall Park.  The corner house was home to Abijah Hammond, who was prominent in the new government, and two doors away at 231 Broadway was the Philip Hone mansion.  Hone was mayor of New York City from 1826 to 1827.

The three houses, 229 through 231 Broadway, can be seen behind the second tree from the right.  from the collection of the New York Public Library.

In 1824, renovations to convert the Hammond house to a hotel began.  The attic was raised to a full fourth floor, crowned with a stone balustrade.  The American Hotel opened on May, 2, 1825.

Close inspection of this watercolor, executed by Alexander Jackson Davis in 1826, reveals the change to the former Hammond mansion. from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The hotel included a store in the basement.  An advertisement in the New-York Evening Post on May 20, 1828 offered,

To rent for one or more years, the store No. 2 Barclay street, corner of Broadway, situated under that large building kept by Boardman & Blake, and known as the American Hotel...The above would no doubt prove one of the most lucrative shaving and hair cutting establishments in the city, having a communication with the above hotel in the rear.

A traveler from London was shocked by the egalitarian dining practices here in 1829.  The anonymous writer's reflections were printed in the New-York Evening Post in December that year.  He said in part, 

In the American hotel, a vast table-d'hote was spread every day at 3 o'clock, not only for the guests of the house, but for others who lodged elsewhere; probably not fewer than a hundred persons dine at this daily.  There was also a smaller dinner serve up a little later, at which the guests in the house, who were disposed to make themselves more select, usually assembled.  But this was as they themselves fancy; for parties are free to live in their own rooms as they please, and may be served as in the hotels of England.

By saying "free to live in their own rooms," the writer referred to the English practice of being served meals in their suites.  He considered, "This boarding-house way of life [is] ever too public to be quite comfortable."

The year following the Englishman's visit, the hotel expanded into the house next door.  Its attic was raised and the facade renovated to match.  

The renovations doubled the size of the hotel.  The Philip Hone mansion (right) remained intact.  New-York And Its Environments, 1831 (copyright expired) 

In January 1838, William B. Cozzens purchased the American Hotel.  He would soon host a high-level guest.  During the Presidential campaign of 1840, Vice President Richard Menton Johnson visited New York City.  On June 10, The Evening Post reported that after a diplomatic welcome by the mayor and common council, "The Vice President then retired amidst the deafening plaudits of the people, to partake refreshments at the American Hotel."  Later that night, he was guest of honor at a dinner at the hotel, "which we understand was a rich repast, the proceedings [of which] were conducted with great harmony and spirit," said the article.

At the time of Johnson's visit, however, Cozzens faced stiff competition.  Elegant hostelries like the Astor House and the United States Hotel lured well-heeled travelers.  In 1842 Cozzens began a year-long renovation-redecoration of the hotel.  According to The New York Times, the new furnishings alone cost $50,000--more than $1 million in 2025 terms.  Cozzens's announcement in the New York Herald on June 20, 1843 read:

Having completed the repairs and alterations of the American Hotel, and the adjoining house (which I have annexed to it) I respectfully solicit from my friends and the public a continuation of their patronage.  The situation is as good as that of any similar establishment in the city.  It fronts on the Park, and the Fountain is immediately opposite.  The house has been newly completed, and everything thoroughly repaired.

The Mexican-American War began in April 1846.  The following year, on May 7, 1847, the city turned out to celebrate 16 victories, including those at "Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey, Buena Vista and Vera Cruz," as reported by the New York Herald.  The newspaper said there were "two hundred thousand human beings in the streets."  The buildings along Broadway were "illuminated," or decorated with flags and banners.   The American Hotel was "splendidly illuminated," said the article and "an excellent band of music played several enlivening airs during the evening, and added much to the festivities of the occasion."

from the collection of the New York Public Library

On June 17, 1853, The New York Times reported on the "extensive conflagration at the American Hotel."  The fire broke out at around 4:00 in the afternoon.  "In the Hotel, where the fire was raging, the utmost confusion prevailed."  Guests attempted to remove their trunks and other baggage, clogging the stairways and halls.

In the chaos, at least two waiters were caught "plundering the rooms," said the article.  Some guests took advantage of the unmanned barroom, taking, "liberal draughts upon the liquor without asking the aid of the barman."  The Times said they "were wandering about the house, singing, dancing, proposing the proprietor's health in maudlin speeches, and otherwise indecently misconducting themselves."  

Their cavalier attitude was highly foolhardy.  The article said that by 5:30, the two top floors "were completely gutted," adding, "Of the amount of damage done to the building by fire and water we cannot form an estimate."  The New York Times dismally opined, "It is not likely, therefore, that, as a hotel, it will ever be opened again."

The hotel was repaired, but it was no longer fashionable.  The more upscale hotels were located farther north by now.  The American Hotel staggered along, helped financially by stores and offices renting portions of the building.  Then, on April 6, 1866, another fire broke out.  This time the entire building was gutted.  On April 12, the Evening Post reported, "A part of the Barclay street wall of the old American Hotel, at the corner of Broadway and Barclay street, which building was burned a few days ago, fell shortly before three o'clock this afternoon."  

The replacement building and the other structures on the block were demolished in 1910 to make way for the Woolworth Building, completed in 1913.