Wood's Marble Hall

Wood's Marble Hall at 561 and 563, on the west side near Prince Street, was famous for minstrels fifty or sixty years ago. George Holland became a member of Wood and Christy's Minstrels on October 15, 1857. That was the time of the panic, and Holland felt impelled to offer a semi-apology to the public in leaving the legitimate drama. He stated that times were so bad that the managers of the regular theatres could not pay salaries, and as he had a family to support it was necessary for him to earn money. As soon as times became better he would return to his usual roles; in the meantime he would play his regular parts of low comedy, the only difference being that whereas he usually put red paint on his face, now he was going to put black. The house was torn down in July, 1877.

The Athenaeum

The Church of the Messiah, Unitarian, had been at 724 (later, 728) Broadway, near Waverly Place, from 1839 to 1864, when the congregation moved to other quarters. The church edifice took on a deserted and dilapidated appearance and was bought by A.T. Stewart, who renovated it and opened it as the Broadway Athenaeum on January 23, 1865. Eleven months later, after being completely transformed architecturally, it became Lucy Rushton's Theatre, and the house was dedicated to the legitimate drama; but the lessee failed to pay the government revenue tax and so had to give it up. From this time until 1881, its names and managers were numerous, and the performances ran the whole range from opera to variety. "The Streets of New York" was performed here in 1869 when it was called the Worrell Sisters' New York Theatre. Mrs. Scott-Siddons, with whose husband Sothern, Nelse Seymour, Dan Bryant, and other jokers of the stage had had so much fun, made her American debut here in Shakespearian roles. At one time it was Daly's Fifth Avenue Theatre after that manager's Twenty-fourth Street house had been burned on January 1, 1873; but he had the good taste to see the incongruity of the name and changed it the second year of his management to Daly's Broadway Theatre. It also bore the name of Globe Theatre three several times; but its name was changed for the last time when Harrigan and Hart opened it as the New Theatre Comique on October 29, 1881. The new lessees had made it one of the handsomest theatres in the city; and it became immensely popular with the presentation of Harrigan's various plays with his stock company, which changed very little from year to year, so that every member was well-known to and beloved by the public. The house was destroyed by fire December 23, 1884, and the ground remained idle for a long time; then it became the Old London Street, February 26, 1887, and after a period of vacancy a gymnasium for sporting and sparring exhibitions in 1896. This last building was demolished in September, 1902; and at this date (February, 1911) the lots from 724 to 732 are unbuilt upon.

Hope Chapel

Hope Chapel, formerly a church on the east side of Broadway below Eighth Street, was opened as a place of amusement on March 28, 1853, for lectures, spiritualists, etc. The Davenport Brothers exhibited here their spirit cabinet and mystified their audiences. It became the Broadway Academy of Music in 1864, and a year later, Blitz's New Hall, given over to concerts, etc. Kelley and Leon ran it as a minstrel hall from 1866 to 1870. In 1870, the house became Lina Edward's Theatre for two years, when Kelly and Leon took it once more on November 25, 1872; three days afterwards the building was destroyed by fire.

Grace Church

The southwest corner of Rector Street was occupied at one time by a German Lutheran Church, erected about 1710 by immigrants from the Palatinate who had been driven out of their desolated country by the armies of Louis XIV. The church was burnt in the fire of 1776, but was not rebuilt on this site. In 1809, there were some dissensions within the congregation of Trinity, and a number of the church members withdrew and erected a new church edifice on the site of the "Burnt Lutheran Church." This was Grace Church, which, owing to the upward trend of population, moved to Tenth Street and Broadway in 1846. During the time it was located at Rector Street, it was as fashionable as any church in New York, and its pews commanded higher rents.

The Mansion of Etienne De Lancey

Just above Trinity, between the present Thames and Liberty streets, stood the mansion of Etienne De Lancey, erected about the year 1700. De Lancy was a French Huguenot who had been obliged to leave France at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. He became a wealthy and influential merchant of New York and married into the Van Cortlandt family. One of his sons was James De Lancy, who became chief judge of the province after Morris had been removed by Governor Cosby, and lieutenant-governor under Clinton; another son was Peter, who inherited the mills on the Bronx River at West Farms, and a third was Oliver, who became a brigadier-general of Loyalists during the Revolution.

The Province Arms Tavern

In 1754, Edward Willett, one of the tavern keepers of the city, was attracted by the commanding position of the house and its fine view of the Hudson and rented it from Lieutenant-Governor James De Lancey, the inheritor from his father Etienne, and opened it as a tavern under the name of Province Arms. The New York Mercury of May 1, 1754, says: "Edward Willet, who lately kept the "Horse and Cart Inn" in this city, is removed into the house of the Honorable James De Lancey, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor, at the sign of the "Province Arms," in the Broadway, near Oswego Market." The first event to start it on its long and brilliant career was a public dinner given in 1755 to the new governor, Sir Charles Hardy. Hardy had been appointed successor to Sir Danvers Osborne, who had committed suicide in the garden of John Murray's house, a short distance away on Broadway. The next public dinner of importance was that given in 1756, when the lieutenant-governor of the province, the governors and students of the college, and many prominent merchants and others gathered here and marched to the laying of the corner-stone of King's College, the ancestor of Columbia University. At the conclusion of the ceremony, they all returned to the tavern where they partook of "a very elegant dinner."

Burns's Coffee House

In May, 1763, Mr. George Burns, another of the city's innkeepers, moved from the King's Head in Whitehall Street to the Province Arms, and the place became known as Burns's Coffee House, though still called the Province Arms and the City Arms. A month after Burns assumed control, a lottery was drawn in the tavern for the construction of a light-house on Sandy Hook. Being so close to the Mall in front of Trinity churchyard, the inn became the favorite resort of the English officers, and of the fashion of the city, sharing its honors, however, with another inn, also in a De Lancy house, the Queen's Head at Broad and Great Queen (Pearl) streets, better known as Fraunce's Tavern, and still in existence under the fostering care of the Sons of the Revolution. But it is as the headquarters of the Sons of Liberty that Burns's secures its historic interest and from the fact that notable meetings were held there marking the progress of revolutionary feeling.

The tavern was used for other purposes than for indignation or political meetings of the inhabitants. It was the meeting place of St. Andrew's and similar societies and of the governors of King's College, who probably found it more comfortable to transact business in its genial atmosphere with a bottle of good wine before them than in the cold halls of education. Musical concerts were also given within the walls of the tavern and in the extensive grounds attached. In 1777, these gardens saw a fatal duel between Captain Tollemache of the Royal Navy and Captain Pennington of the Coldstream Guards. The duel was with swords; and a few days after the hostile meeting, Captain Tollemache was buried in Trinity churchyard.

Burns remained here as host until 1770, when he was succeeded by Bolton, who came from the Queen's Head (Fraunce's); later, Hull assumed charge and had the honor of entertaining John Adams and his colleagues, who were on their way to the first meeting of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1775.

The State Arms

When the British left the city in November, 1783, John Cape leased the tavern and changed its name to the State Arms; and on the second of December a great entertainment was given in honor of Washington and the return of peace. It had various hosts until 1782, when the property passed out of the possession of the De Lanceys and into that of the Tontine Association, which demolished the old building and erected the City Hotel on the site, the first building in the city to be roofed with slate.

Dr. Francis says: "So long ago as 1802, I had the pleasure of witnessing the first social gathering of American publishers at the old City Hotel, Broadway, an organization under the auspices of the venerable Matthew Carey." Carey was from Philadelphia and one of the earliest publishers in the country.

The City Hotel

Until the opening of the Astor House in 1836, the City Hotel was the most famous in the city; and it did not lose its prestige entirely until 1850, when it was torn down and replaced by a block of stores. In 1828, the building with lots, taking up the whole block between Thames and Liberty streets, was sold at public auction for $123,000; in 1833 it was damaged by fire. The hotel was famous not only for its excellent fare and service, but more especially for the banquets that were held there and for the distinguished men who were entertained. During the War of 1812, on the twenty-sixth of December of that year, a great banquet, at which five hundred gentlemen sat down, was given to the victorious naval commanders, Decatur, Hull, and Jones. Later, others were similarly honored. On May 30, 1832, upon Irving's return from abroad, he was tendered a banquet with Philip Hone in the chair. The latter describes it as "a regular Knickerbocker affair." On February 18, 1842, during the first visit of Charles Dickens to this country he was entertained at dinner at the City Hotel, with Washington Irving in the chair as toastmaster. There were no clubs in those early days; but the leading hotels, the City and Washington Hall, had their own coteries of evening visitors who gathered for social intercourse and for discussion of affairs in which they were interested. On June 17, 1836 Colonel "Nick" Saltus as president formed the Union Club, the first organization of its kind in the city, and quarters were engaged at 343 Broadway as a club-house, which was opened June 1, 1837. The Boreel building occupies the site of the old hotel at 115 Broadway, and upon its front an appropriate tablet has been placed by the Holland Society.

The City Hotel was conducted by Willard and Jennings, the former of whom was the general factotum of the establishment, while the latter looked after the provender and liquid refreshments, these latter being of incomparable quality and so famous that when the hotel was dismantled the bottles remaining in the cellar were sold at fabulous prices. Willard was never seen anywhere except in the hotel; he was a man of cheerful disposition and indefatigable energy and was possessed of so wonderful a memory that he remembered every traveler who had ever stopped at the hotel; and if the same guest were to visit the hotel again, Willard could at once greet him by name, tell where he was from, his business, and the room he had occupied. There is a well authenticated anecdote that when Billy Niblo moved from Pine Street and opened his suburban "Garden" many of his old customers were invited to be present at the opening. Willard neither accepted nor declined the invitation; and on the appointed evening a number of the bonvivants of the town waited upon him to escort him to Niblo's. After bustling about and looking into all sorts of places for a while, he announced to his friends that he could not accompany them as he had no hat, and that some one had taken an old beaver which had been lying about for years and which he claimed was his. A hat was procured from Charles St. John, the celebrated hatter, whose place was directly opposite, and the party sallied forth with the best-known man in the city, who, strange to relate, would have been compelled to ask his way if he had gone more than a block from the City Hotel.

St. Paul's Chapel

In 1840, there were still living several people who remembered when the site of St. Paul's, between Fulton and Vesey streets, was a wheat field. The church edifice, or more properly, chapel, was erected by Trinity Corporation upon part of its farm in 1765, and opened the following year when the Rev. Mr. Auchmuty preached the dedication sermon. It is one of the three buildings of a public, or semi-public, character, dating from pre-Revolutionary days that still stand upon the island of Manhattan*. (The others are Fraunce's Tavern at the corner of Broad and Pearl streets, and the Roger Morris, or "Jumel," mansion on Washington Heights.). During the great fire of 1776 it was saved by the comparative flatness of its roof which permitted people to stay upon it and extinguish the burning brands which otherwise would have set it on fire.

After his inauguration in 1789 Washington attended the service at St. Paul's given in honor of the occasion; and as Trinity was still in ruins, he continued to attend St. Paul's during the time New York was the capital of the country. Governor George Clinton of New York also attended services at the same place, and the pews occupied by these distinguished men on opposite sides of the church are appropriately marked by mural tablets, one bearing the coat of arms of the United States, and the other, that of New York. Within the churchyard the visitor can find upon the tombstones many of the historic names of the city. This yard is a favorite resort of many of the women clerks of the down-town district who come here with book and luncheon on the hot days of summer and pass the noon hour in the shade and coolness of the trees.

Upon the Broadway front of the church is a mural tablet to the memory of that gallant Irishman and soldier, Major-General Richard Montgomery, one of the earliest victims of the Revolution. He was killed in the assault upon Quebec, December 31, 1775. His body was recovered by the British commander, Sir Guy Carleton, and buried with appropriate honors. In 1818, the State of
New York caused his remains to be removed to St. Paul's from Quebec with high honors, and the United States erected the tablet. Montgomery had been an officer of the British army and had been at the siege of Quebec under Wolfe. His prospects of advancement being poor, he resigned from the army and came to America, first settling at Kingsbridge. He married Janet Livingston, and thus became allied with one of the most powerful families of the province. At the outbreak of the Revolution he was made a brigadier-general and was ordered as second in command to Schuyler in the Canadian expedition of 1775. Owing to Schuyler's illness, the command devolved upon Montgomery, who was made a major general before the fatal assault upon the citadel of Quebec. Upon the bold promontory of Cape Diamond, one can read from the river St. Lawrence a sign maintained by the Canadians, "Here Montgomery fell, December 31, 1775."

The Equitable Life Insurance Building

The Equitable Life Insurance building, opposite Trinity, may be considered as the pioneer of the modern high office buildings. It was erected in 1870, and for many years afterwards the United States Weather Bureau had its quarters on the roof. In the course of time, the building was over-topped by its neighbors, and the bureau found lodgment in the tower of the Manhattan Life Insurance building at a height of three hundred and fifty-one feet above the street. In 1887, several additional stories were added to the Equitable Building.