The Much Altered John Perrine House - 332 Bowery

photograph by Anthony Bellov

 
In May 1817, James Van Zandt advertised for sale two mares and a "gig, with a leather top and a good set of harnesses."  He directed potential buyers to see him at 332 Bowery-road.  Van Zandt was most likely a long-term resident in the district, because Bowery Road had been officially renamed The Bowery four years earlier.

James Van Zandt possibly leased the property.  It was owned by David S. Jones in 1824 when the latter sold it to John Perrine.  It appears that Perrine simultaneously purchased the lot next door at 330 Bowery.  Within three years, Perrine had erected a three-and-a-half story, Federal style house and shop at 332 Bowery.  Its peaked roof would have been pierced with one or two dormers.

The Perrine family originally moved into 330 Bowery and leased No. 332.  In 1830 the Thompson family occupied the upper portion while Samuel Clark, a trunk maker, was in the shop.

John Perrine moved his family into 332 Bowery as early as 1836.  He operated his butcher shop in the ground floor space, while his two sons, George E. and Robert P., ran a brokerage business at 129 Bowery.  The brothers' venture ended by 1845.  That year George was working in his father's butcher shop and Robert had moved to Brooklyn.

In 1848, William H. Ho0ple purchased the property.  He leased the commercial space to R. Cook & Son for its umbrella store, and the upper portion to Sarah Shumway, who operated a boarding house.  Murville Shumway, possibly a brother, also lived here.  Sarah's initial tenants were William H. and Joseph W. Cook, proprietors of the umbrella shop; and Charles S. and Elizabeth A. Burrell.  Charles was a carpenter and Elizabeth made bonnets.

The shop of R. Cook & Son was supplanted in 1853 by the Wright & Bailey carpet store.  The fact that the location was still far north of the established shopping district was reflected in a slightly ungrammatical Wright & Bailey advertisement in April that year.

Up-Town vs. Down-Town--Two great dissideratums [sic] in the purchase of any article is Price and Quality, and those in pursuit of Carpeting will find no place where they will be better pleased with both than at Wright & Bailey's, No. 332 Bowery, near Bond-st.  Their stock is varied and excellent, and from their low rents they are enabled to deal more liberal with their customers than down-town establishments.

The shop changed hands again in 1857.  Michael A. Egan moved his dry goods store, The Linen Hall, in that year and quickly faced problems.  On June 2, the New-York Tribune reported that a fire in Egan & Co. had started at 9:30 the previous night, "a consequence of some light goods in the show-window coming in contact with a lighted gas-burner."  The article mentioned, "The building, owned by W. H. Hoople, was damaged to the amount of $100."  

Three days later, Egan advertised what today would be called a fire sale.  The title read, "Great Sale of wet goods--$67,000 worth of dry goods damaged by fire, selling at The Linen Hall, No. 332 Bowery."  One wonders if Egan was exaggerating in his ad.  The figure he cited would translate to $2.5 million in 2026.  

Not long after moving into 332 Bowery, Michael A. Egan realized that someone was systematically stealing his inventory.  At one point, he confided about the thefts to Thomas R. Finley, a trusted clerk who had been with him for about a year.  The New York Times said on October 3, 1857 that Egan "consulted with him on the best plan for detecting the culprit."  Finley fingered a clerk and the porter and the two were fired.  But the shrinkage continued.  The New York Times said, "at length suspicion fell on Finley."

Police arrested Finley in the shop on October 2.  "When arrested Finley had concealed in his pockets and about his person several articles, valued at $15," said The New York Times.  When police searched his rooms on Allen Street, they discovered, "$2,000 worth of crape shawls, embroideries, laces, silks, linens and other costly goods."  Finley was charged with sealing $2,915 in goods from his employer--about $111,000 today.

Around 1859, Hoople enlarged the building.  He raised the attic to a full fourth floor and added an extension to the rear.  Modern, Italianate-style cast metal lintels were placed over the openings and a corbeled cornice installed.  Most likely, an up-to-date cast iron storefront was included in the renovations.

The cornice introduced a neo-Grec touch to the renovations.  photograph by Anthony Bellov

The store space became home to B. T. Hardy's, a dry goods emporium operated by Benjamin T. Hardy.  He, too, suffered thievery.  On June 7, 1861, The New York Times began an article saying, "Yesterday morning, Mr. B. F. [sic] Hardy, dry goods dealer, at No. 332 Bowery, discovered that his store had been broken into on Wednesday night and robbed of $2,000 worth of silks and laces."

While modern day detectives resort to forensics like fingerprints and surveillance cameras, mid-19th century investigators relied greatly on instinct.  The article said, "From the manner in which the burglary had been effected, the Detectives felt confident that the delinquents were David Bartlett and John Watson, both noted rogues."  Officers Farley and Eustace barged into the rooms occupied by the the pair in a Thompson Street boarding house.  They discovered Bartlett and Watson with another man, John Williams, "engaged in overhauling, assorting and preparing for sale...the entire proceeds of the burglary."

The New-York Dispatch, December 17, 1865 (copyright expired)

In the meantime, Sarah Shumway's tenants continued to be working class.  Living here at the time of the burglary were Hugh Graham and Theron Rykert, both carpenters.  Both would remain through 1863.

On January 22, 1869, Murville Shumway died in the house at the age of 67.  His funeral was held here two days later.  Sarah Shumway continued to lease the upper portion of the building until about 1870.  

William Hoople next leased the building to German-born Henry N. Markert.  He and his family lived upstairs and Henry's bakery occupied the ground floor.  (In 1876, Markert changed the description of his business from baker to "candy.")  Living with the Markerts were four servants and a boarder Julius Willing, who was a clerk.  Willing would live here from 1870 through 1880.  A second boarder, Charles W. See (sometimes spelled Sy) moved in around 1876.  Like Willing, he was a clerk and would remain through 1880.

By the late 1880s, The Bowery had changed.  German beer gardens and music halls lined the thoroughfare and "bawdy houses" were crammed with “degraded women” and drunkards.  The ground floor of 332 Bowery became Charles T. Krauss's saloon around 1888.  By then, the third and fourth floors had been converted to Krauss's "office."  His application for the renewal of the excise (i.e., liquor) license on March 11, 1890 described:

The premises No. 332 Bowery, now occupied as offices, excepting the second floor of the building, at a yearly rent of $720 and on the same conditions as the present lease; Mr. Charles T. Krauss, lessor.

The annual rent would translate to about $2,000 per month today.

The saloon changed hands rather rapidly.  In 1896, Joseph A. and S. W. Weiss operated it as a "concert garden," called The Auditorium.  The partners touted their operation as "high class vaudeville."

New York Journal, November 24, 1896 (copyright expired)

Although the ads described The Auditorium as being family friendly, reformers and police were not so sure.  On December 15, 1896, The New York Times reported that Ignatz Leppel, Henry Montberger and Samuel Margules had been arrested for the unlicensed sale of cigars and soda.  "They are waiters employed by Joseph A. Weiss, who keeps a concert garden at 332 Bowery."

Another waiter, Sam Aronson, was arrested for a much more serious offense the following year.  He and a confederate, Joseph Winthall, attempted to blackmail wealthy stockbroker S. Duncan Leverich, whose wife had recently died.  They sent a letter on April 14, 1897 that intimated that Leverich had murdered his wife.  It said that the sender had evidence that Mrs. Leverich had died "by foul play."  It demanded cash for the information and was signed, "From your friend, D. Corrock, No. 332 Bowery, saloon, city."

After the third letter arrived, Leverich went to police.  He was given marked bills and Leverich met with Aronson and his comrade.  The two were quickly arrested.

If The Auditorium was, indeed, family friendly, that would change in August 1897 when John H. McGurk purchased the building.  The Irish-born saloonkeeper ran the notorious McGurk's Saloon at 295 Bowery, also known as Suicide Hall.  He paid the equivalent of $1.2 million in todays money for 332 Bowery.  

After being repeatedly arrested, John McGurk jumped bail in 1902 and fled to California with his wife and daughter, reportedly taking along half a million in cash.  Two years earlier, he had sold 332 Bowery to Michael J. Adrian for $28,000.  The two men could not possibly have been more different.  In reporting the transaction, the Record & Guide said on June 2, 1900, "Mr. Adrian is president of the German Exchange Bank, but buys [the property] for his own account.  The building will undergo extensive alterations."

The German Exchange Bank sat next door, at 330 Bowery (aka 54 Bond Street).  Adrian's restoring the saloon space to a respectable business would be beneficial to his bank's reputation and certainly would make his female customers more comfortable in doing business in the bank.  Within weeks of the purchase, Adrian hired architects J. Bockell & Son to renovate 332 Bowery with a new storefront.  The building became home to three makers of "caps and cloth hats"--S. Kraviz & Son, Einhorn & Waldman, and H. Meyerowitz.

In 1941, George M. Adrian, presumably Michael J. Adrian's son, was listed as the owner of 332 Bowery.  The family continued to possess the property until 1963, when it was sold to Seymour Finkelstein.

A glass store occupied the ground floor in 1940.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Steve's Deli occupied the ground floor in the mid-1980s.  By the turn of the century, the ever-changing Bowery saw the rise of modern apartment and store buildings.  The environment was reflected in the opening of Thai restaurant Godunk in 2025, described by The New York Times food critic Florence Fabricant on December 2 that year, "a room done in beige tile and burgundy leather."

Cast iron piers survive on the sides of the much-altered storefront.  The brick above has been painted, but overall the upper floors look much as they did around 1859 when William Hoople made his significant renovations.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post

The Lost Jotham Force House - 305 Bowery

 

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

As early as 1821, Jotham Force occupied the two-and-and-half story house-and-store at the northeast corner of the Bowery and First Street.  The Federal-style building was one of at least two brick-faced, nearly identical structures.  Two bays wide and two-and-a-half stories tall, its gambrel roof harkened to the Dutch residences generations earlier.  The commodious attic was illuminated by two dormers each on the back and front, and an arched window flanked by quarter-round openings on the side.

Born in 1791 in Bergen, New Jersey, Force could trace his American roots to Benjamin Force, who arrived in Massachusetts before 1689.  He married Catherine Earl on April 20, 1811.  Force was a cordwainer, or a maker of new leather shoes (as opposed to a shoemaker, who sometimes repaired or refashioned used footwear).  It is likely that he operated his business in the ground floor shop.

The store and its upstairs rooms saw a rapid turnover of occupants.  In 1830 James S. Smith, who lived on Cherry Street, ran a grocery store here while David Marsh, Jr. lived upstairs.  Joshua Moore and his family lived here in 1835 when he joined neighbors applauding streetcar service on the Bowery.  A letter to the Common Council said in part that they, "do not consider the single track of rails, nor the running of the cars any way injurious to our interest; but think the conveyance in Rail Road Cars a great public convenience."

In 1842, Samuel Riker and his wife, Helena, purchased 305 Bowery and took over the grocery.  Around this time, a small addition was placed at the rear to access the upper floors.  It took the address of 2 First Street.  The alteration made possible a second commercial space.  The Rikers now shared the upper floors with the family of Isaiah Valleau, a shoemaker, who opened his business in the new shop.

Samuel Riker died early in 1850.  Helena J. Riker leased the grocery to Vanbergen & Browning, run by William Browning and Nicholas Vanbergen.  Browning and his family moved into the upper floors with Helena Riker.  (Valleau, his family, and his shoe store had left by then.)  Two years later, on April 7, 1852, Helena sold the "2 story brick house and lot of ground No. 305 Bowery," at auction.  It was purchased by Heinrich Martens (who sometimes listed his name as Henry).

Martens made changes.  While still listed as a "grocer," he converted part of the ground floor to a beer saloon.  When summoned to testify about a murder case in January 1861, he identified himself to the court saying, "I live at No. 305 Bowery, and keep a grocery and liquor store there."  

The murder involved two patrons, Edward Doyle, a young butcher, and John Sexton, a 26-year-old Irish immigrant.  The two entered the saloon between 5:00 and 6:00 on the evening of January 14, 1861.  According to Martens, "Doyle seemed to be under the influence of liquor, but [Sexton] did not appear to be greatly affected; he asked for a glass of beer and invited those present to drink with him."  Martens said, "they had no quarrel while at my house; it was about 6 o'clock when they left."  Less than an hour later, John Sexton was found dead on the stoop of 205 Bowery.  Doyle was acquitted and, although Sexton's death was listed as a homicide, the case was dropped.

When the Civil War broke out, Heinrich Martens's son, Henry, joined the Union Army.  Unlike many soldiers, he safely returned home after the conflict.

In 1869, Martens sold the property to Albert B. and Ann B. Dill.  Living upstairs with them was John Phillips, who was involved in the saloon with them.  Surprisingly for the time, Ann B. Dill was listed as a co-owner of the establishment.

The saloon was taken over by McNulty & Hennessy in 1873.  William Hennessy, who lived at 83 East 1st Street, divided his time between the tavern and his plumbing business on East 5th Street.

By then, the Bowery neighborhood had changed from one of refined private homes to a boisterous district of saloons and music halls.  The upper floors of 305 Bowery were converted to rented rooms which McNulty & Hennessy operated as the Clinton House.

Among the roomers in 1875 was Irish-born James H. McKenny.  He got into a fight with John Riley on Saturday night, November 6 that year.  The New York Herald reported that it "resulted in McKenney receiving a stab wound in the left side.  Riley was arrested."

The disrespectable tenor of the neighborhood was reflected the following year when two roomers were arrested.  The New York Herald reported on August 22, 1876 that "Thomas Varley and Thomas Nolan, of the Clinton House, No. 305 Bowery, [had been] charged with drugging and robbing Celestine Peuzler, a brewer, of Plymouth, Ohio, of $220 and checks for $2,000."

Daniel W. Patterson complained to police that on March 18, 1878 that he, Alexander Darragh, John M. Asbe, "together with several others," engaged in a game of faro at 305 Bowery.  The New York Herald reported, "The complainant alleged he lost $1 on the game and that [Darragh and Asbe] acted as dealers."  The pair were arrested, but Patterson's story quickly fell apart.  The article said, "When the prisoners were brought forward, Mr. Patterson at first said he lost his money during the hours of eleven and two o'clock of the day named, and then asserted it was between six and ten o'clock in the evening.  Finally his story became so contradictory that the Judge dismissed the complaint."

Eugene L. Armbruster photographed the corner in 1924.  from the collection of the Library of Congress

Simon Bower leased the saloon in 1879 and would continue to operate it through the turn of the century.  Under his management, in 1896 the Clinton House became what police called a Raines hotel.  The Raines Law, enacted on March 23, 1896, intended to curb the consumption of alcohol.  It included an exception to the Sunday liquor laws: patrons could be served alcohol with a meal.  Saloon owners circumvented the rules by giving customers a sandwich and, supposedly, a room. 

A disturbing incident occurred here on July 30, 1897.  The New-York Tribune reported, "A man about twenty-three years old, fairly well-dressed, yesterday afternoon shot himself dead in the toilet room of a Raines law hotel at No. 305 Bowery."  There was nothing on the body by which to identify him.

Raines hotels often doubled as brothels.  In 1900, the Annual Report of the State Superintendent of Elections described 305 Bowery as "being maintained for immoral purposes."  And in 1902, Francis V. Greene was removed from the Police Department for patronizing the saloon.  His charges said, "common prostitutes did solicit men for the purpose of sexual intercourse," adding that, "evil disposed persons and common prostitutes did commit whoredom and fornication to the great damage and common nuisance of all good people of the State of New York."

As early as 1908, Thomas (aka Bart) O'Connor and James  Brown, ran the saloon as O'Connor & Brown.  In its May 8 issue that year, Collier's ran an exposé on disreputable dives.  A problem, said the article, "is that certain of the most disreputable places are protected by certain of the prominent politicians."  Among them, it said, was "Bart" O'Connor's saloon at 305 Bowery.  O'Connor, it seems, was well-connected with Tammany Hall officials.

Despite signage that obscures the dormers of 305 and 307 Bowery in 1941, the 1820s appearance was apparent.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The less-than-respectable tenor of the Bowery neighborhood did not improve in the post-World War I years.  On the night of January 19, 1925, for instance, Patrolman Raymond E. McCarthy attempted to arrest a man in the restaurant at 46 East 1st Street whom he suspected had a jug of wine.  Martin Smith, who lived at 305 Bowery, was there.  He and several other men attacked Officer McCarthy and "beat him [and] took his hat and policeman's stick from him, after throwing him out of the place," reported The New York Times.  Smith was charged with felonious assault.

Against all odds, 305 Bowery and its near twin at 307 Bowery, survived while other vintage structures were replaced with apartment and commercial buildings.  On February 24, 1966, The Villager reported that 305 Bowery was on the Landmark Preservation Commission's list of structures proposed for individual landmark status.  Four years later, on January 29, 1970, the newspaper reported on urban renewal plans, noting "Site 2 was approved on condition the structure at 305 Bowery, under consideration for landmark designation, not be demolished."

It and 307 Bowery survived the redevelopment until 2009 when they were demolished for a residential building called Extra Place Apartments.

image via apartmentfinder.com

The Lost Polhemus Grocery Store - 361 Bowery

 

In 1932, the steps to a second floor entrance on East 4th Street had been removed, leaving the door hoovering above the sidewalk.  photo by Charles Von Urban from the collection of the New York Public Library.

The family of Peter Valentine lived in the Federal style house at the southeast corner of the Bowery and Fourth Street in 1827.  A butcher whose shop was on Fulton Street, Valentine's frame house was two-and-a-half stories tall with prominent dormers at the attic level.   It assuredly was built with a commercial space at ground level, and the Valentines entered their upstairs space at 396 Fourth Street (later renumbered 48 East 4th Street).

By 1833, the Crumbie family occupied the building.  James Crumbie ran a drugstore downstairs, while Robert Crumbie was a printer.  In 1834, the store space was divided.  James's pharmacy now shared it with Jesse Baldwin's grocery.  

The neighborhood was high-end, its side streets lined with brick and stone mansions.  When the Harleem Rail Road Company proposed to lay a second track up the Bowery in 1834, Jesse Baldwin, Jr. joined residents and merchants in protesting.  Their petition to the Common Council read in part, "Your Petitioners are convinced, that the present single track is a very serious injury to their property, and also a great nuisance to the public, particularly on the Sabbath."

Pharmacies like James Crumbie's sold "patent medicines"--over-the-counter remedies that often touted panacea-like results.  Among the items Crumbie sold in 1837 were Beckwith's Anti-Dyspeptic Pills, an advertisement for which promised to cure (in part):

...almost every variety of functional disorder of the Stomach, Bowels, Liver and Spleen; such as heartburn, acid eructations, nausea, headache, pain and distention of the stomach and bowels, incipient Diarrhea, Cholic, Jaundice, Flatulence, habitual Costiveness, loss of appetite, sick headache, sea-sickness, &c, &c.  They are a safe and comfortable Aperient for Females during pregnancy and subsequent confinement, relieving sickness at the stomach, headache, heartburn and many of the incidental nervous affections.

In 1840, Abraham Gerrits Polhemus opened his grocery in the store and moved his family into the upper floors.  Born in 1812 in Rockland County, New York, Polhemus came from an old Dutch family.  He and his wife Phoebe had three children, including an infant, Mary, when they moved in.  Six more would be born in the house, the last being Geneva Gerrits, born in 1865.

The typesetter for this 1840 ad grossly misspelled his surname.  A. B. Wright's Commercial Directory, 1840 (copyright expired)

The Polhemus family remained here through 1875.  By then, the Bowery neighborhood had greatly changed.  Following the Civil War, saloons and music halls invaded the district.  Polhemus's decision to leave may also have been prompted by the plans to erect the Third Avenue El over the Bowery.  The project, completed in 1878, threw the shops along the street into shadow.

Polhemus leased the building.  Its upper floors were operated as a boarding house in 1876, and Isidor Isaacs ran a clothing store in the former grocery.  In 1879, Thomas Madden leased the store and opened his "first class oyster and chop house" in the space.  He paid Abraham Polhemus $12 per month in 1882, an affordable $369 by 2024 conversion.

Thomas Madden's oyster and chop house did not last long.  In January 1882, he sold everything from furniture to crockery at auction, the announcement saying, "everything must be sold and removed immediately."

Madden initiated a makeover of the space.  He renewed his lease with Polhemus in 1883 and paid $75 for his excise--or liquor--license, and opened a saloon.

Thomas Madden (who lived on West 10th Street) operated his saloon until 1894, when Charles and Annie Bauer took over the business.  (Madden and his wife Mary continued to lease the building, however.)  The neighborhood had greatly degraded by now.  Only about a block away, at 392 Bowery, was Columbia Hall, better known as Paresis Hall (a term referring to syphilitic insanity), known for prostitution and cross-dressing patrons.

The storefront was updated around 1933.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

The Bauers' business had not been opened long before it was raided for operating on a Sunday.  In 1894, the future President Theodore Roosevelt was made a police commissioner and he initiated a string of reforms, including the raiding  of saloons.  August Albert (presumably the Bauers' bartender), was arrested on October 28, 1894.  It appears he was treated leniently by Justice Grady in the Essex Market Police Court.  The magistrate was visibly unhappy with Roosevelt's reforms.  He berated the arresting officer saying, "I want no reign of terror in Capt. Cortright's precinct because a Republican Police Commissioner is the leader of the district."

In January 1897, more than half a century after their family moved into 361 Bowery, Mary, Leonora and Ramona Polhemus sold the property to Thomas and Mary A. Madden.  They continued to rent the saloon space to the Bauers, who took over the upper floors as well around 1902, operating it as the Dewey House hotel.  (Annie Bauer was listed as the proprietor of the hotel, and the excise license was issued in her name.)

The Bauers did well financially.  In 1915, Charles was also a director in the Central Brewing Company and in the Central Cigar Manufacturing Co.  The couple's son, Ernest C. H. Bauer, helped run the business following World War I, and in 1918 held the excise license.

Prohibition brought an end to the Bauers' saloon.  The space became home to Louis Ruhe's extraordinarily unusual business around 1923.  Ruhe dealt in exotic animals, providing them to circuses and other entertainment venues.  While he operated the business end here, he obviously housed the larger animals elsewhere, as evidenced in a shipment he received in 1923.  On February 14, The New York Times reported on the unusual cargo on the Hamburg-American liner The Hansa, which arrived the previous day:

The Hansa brought a large collection of animals and birds consigned to Louis Ruhe of 361 Bowery.  The collection includes eight elephants, four camels, four zebras, four black bears, six polar bears, several llamas, 100 monkeys of various species, antelopes and 20,000 canaries.  The livestock all suffered from seasickness during the rough voyage, Captain Karl Graales, the master, said, the elephants being least affected by the rolling of the ship.

Later that year, on September 1, an advertisement in the New York Billboard read, "Male Chimpanzee.  Big Size.  Perfect Condition.  $800.00.  Louis Ruhe 361 Broadway, New York."  And the following year, an ad in the newspaper said simply, "Louis Ruhe--Animals and Snakes."

The Old Landmark tavern opened here in 1934.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

With the repeal of Prohibition, 361 Bowery once again housed a tavern, The Landmark.  When the management advertised in a pro-union newspaper, it caught the unwanted attention of Congress's Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States in 1939.

The venerable wooden building survived until 1948.  The one-story structure erected on the site as an extension of the abutting building at 359 Bowery survives.

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The Lost Gotham Inn - 298 Bowery

 

While the large sign on the front of the building said "Gotham," the arch over the garden entrance touts another popular name, "Bowery Saloon."  from D. T. Valentine's Manual of the Corporation of the City of New-York, 1862.  (copyright expired)

No one seemed to know exactly when the original part of 298 Bowery was erected.  In April 1878 the New-York Tribune said, "It is said to be one hundred years old, and was originally used as a farm-house."  The wooden building was two-and-a-half stories tall with a peaked roof and a double height veranda.  At some point around the turn of the 19th century, it was converted to a roadhouse.  A two-story commercial extension with a dignified rooftop balustrade was added to the front, blocking about two-thirds of the old facade.  

In 1813 the inn was operated by George McKay, and by 1822 was being run by John Mackey.  The history of the building nearly ended two years later.  The minutes of the Common Council of April 26, 1824 included the notation: "A Petition of George Warner for permission to remove a frame building No. 298 Bowery was referred to the alderman & Assistant of the 8th Ward with Powers."  For whatever reason, the petition was denied.

Instead, John Rikeman took over the tavern.  Apparently cost-conscious, he placed an advertisement in the New-York Evening Post on April 18, 1829 seeking:  "Billiard Table--Any person having a good Billiard Table to dispose of cheap, may hear of a purchaser by applying at 298 Bowery."

Owners of the roadhouse continued to come and go.  John Rikeman was succeeded by Harry B. Venn in 1831, followed by Benjamin True, then S. W. Bryham in 1836, who sold it to Edwin Parnell, in 1839.  It appears to be Parnell who named it the Bowery Cottage.  He announced his proprietorship on May 14:

Bowery Cottage, 298 Bowery--The subscriber would respectfully inform his friends and the public that, having taken the above establishment (formerly kept by Ben True), and having improved, refitted and supplied his bar with the choicest of liquors and cigars, hopes by assiduous attention to the comfort of his guest, to merit a liberal share of patronage.

                                                                             Edwin Parnell 

Around 1843 George V. Ryerson took over the operation, but his tenure would be a short-lived.  On January 12, 1844, the Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer reported that "three men pleaded guilty to the charge keeping a disorderly house."  It was the polite 19th century term for a brothel.

The inn and tavern were taken over by Henry (sometimes referred to as Harry) B. Venn in 1844.  A volunteer fireman, he was, according to Augustine E. Costello's 1887 Our Firemen: A History of the New York Fire Departments, "quite a prominent fireman."  Costello added, "No man was better known or had a larger circle of friends."

Venn, who renamed the business Gotham House, moved his family into the house proper, which was the hotel portion of the roadhouse.  He took advantage of the spacious yard.  Pleasure gardens--outdoor spaces where food and entertainment could be enjoyed in the warm weather--had been popular in New York since the 18th century.  His announcement in the New York Herald in 1846 detailed his coming attractions:

H. B. Venn, announces to his friends and the public, that his fall arrangements of musical entertainments will be resumed in the most attractive style, this evening, Tuesday, 1st September.  In order to secure the general approbation which this style of rational recreation has experienced, he has engaged the well known public favorites--Messrs. Knease, Lynch, Mrs. Sharp, Miss Bruce, &c., during the season.  Every available talent will be employed, and it is unnecessary to say that he is determined to secure from his friends that support that they have extended to him with liberality, and to promote the comfort of all who visit "Gotham."

Unlike his predecessor, Venn ran a respectable operation.  Propriety was reflected in his family life as well.  His daughter, Mary E. Venn, remained in the house into her young adult years while she taught in the Primary Department of School No. 32 on Orange Street.

Because Henry Venn was a volunteer firefighter, the Gotham House became a meeting place for firefighters, as well as other groups.   On April 30, 1854, for instance, an announcement in the New York Herald notified "The members and honorary members of Pacific Engine Company No. 28" to meet that day "at the house of H. B. Venn, 298 Bowery, to join in the funeral obsequies of the late members of the Fire Department who lost their lives at the fire in Broadway on the 25th instant."

And later that year, on November 4, a meeting of "hotel keepers and venders of liquors" meet here to "organize ourselves into a society, to be known as the 'Fifteenth Ward Liberty Vigilance Club."  The purpose of the organization was purportedly to protect "our homes, property, and our rights as freemen, against the unjust and tyrannical fanaticism of those who would rob us of the precious heritage of freedom bequeathed to us by our fathers."  Despite the noble ring to the goals, they were, in fact, window dressing on the real purpose--to support New York gubernatorial candidate Horatio Seymour.

Another important group to meet at the Gotham House (or the Gotham Inn, or the Bowery Saloon, depending on whom one was talking to), was the Gotham Base Ball Club of New York, organized in 1852 in the meeting room.  The Gotham Base Ball Club made the Gotham House its clubhouse, and it became the site of several annual conventions of the National Association of Base Ball Players.  The original president of the club was Cornelius V. Anderson, who had been the chief engineer of the Volunteer Firemen from 1837 to 1848.  According to the 2013 book, Base Ball Founders, "His portrait was prominently displayed at Henry Venn's Gotham Cottage at 298 Bowery, the ballclub's headquarters."

In 1858 Edward Bonnell, also a firefighter, took over the operation of the hotel portion.  He renovated the rooms, advertising them as "convenient, cozy and desirable as the best-furnished parlors of a Broadway hotel."

It did not take the volunteer firemen long to muster following the first shot of the Civil War on April 12, 1861.  On April 21, The New York Times announced that a regiment composed of firefighters from the Fifth Fire District, Company E, were to rendezvous at the Gotham House.

Throughout the war the tavern continued to be the meeting spot for the firefighters.  On February 3, 1863, The New York Times reported on the Fire Department's election of Chief Engineer that day.   "The members of the various fire companies will, at various carriage-houses, between the hours of 7 and 9 this evening, formally signify their preference by ballot.  The returns will be immediately carried to 'The Gotham,' No. 298 Bowery, where they will be counted by the inspectors, and the result announced about midnight."

Henry B. Venn died in March 1879 at the age of 68, having made a significant mark on the fire department and in the history of baseball.  He had retired about 14 years earlier, the Gotham House being operated by John Bolin in 1865.

The tavern was the scene of a highly-publicized murder on April 28, 1872.  At around 4:00 that morning, John Halloran was "sitting quietly" in "the Gotham drinking and gambling saloon," as worded by the New York Herald, when city marshal James Burns approached him.  Burns demanded that Halloran stand up, and as he rose, Burns shot him in the chest.  The newspaper said "There had been some ill feeling between the parties, but just previous to the shooting Halloran had not said a word to Burns nor given him any provocation whatever."

On May 7 the New York Herald announced that John Halloran had died "from the effects of the wound."  Prosecutors were now dealing with a first-degree murder case.  The trial concluded on July 11.  Burns was found to have "a dangerous and chronic unsoundness" of mind and was committed to the County Lunatic Asylum.  The Sun reported, "The prisoner and his wife were overjoyed at the escape from the dread alternative of the gallows."

The end of the line for the Gotham Inn came in the spring of 1878.  The New-York Tribune reported, "The 'Gotham Cottage' at No. 298 Bowery, is to be torn down, and a new building is to be erected in its stead...It has been used as a liquor saloon, variety theatre, and club house, and has been closed several times by the police on complaint of persons who have lost money in gambling.  In 1871 it was the scene of the killing of John O'Halloran by James Burns."

The site of the Gotham Inn was replaced a row of four-story tenements, designed by Marc Eidlitz, and the four-story American Dime Museum at the corner of Houston Street, designed by architect Charles Mettam.  Portions of the Eidlitz structures survive.

The site as it appears in 2022.

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