George Washington Hotel (New York City)
George Washington Hotel | |
Location | Gramercy Park, Manhattan, New York, NY |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°44′23″N 73°59′05″W / 40.739627°N 73.984647°W |
Built | 1930 |
Architect | Frank Mills Andrews, John Peterkin |
Architectural style | French Renaissance Revival |
Website | freehandhotels |
NRHP reference No. | 100003931 |
Added to NRHP | May 20, 2019 |
The Freehand New York Hotel is located at 23
.History
Located adjacent to the Baruch College and School of Visual Arts campuses, the hotel was opened in 1928 as the George Washington Hotel. At different times it has been used both as a brothel and as a boot-legging house during Prohibition.
In the 1980s, the hotel was raided by the police.[1] For a period of time the building was in receivership; its demolition was prevented by support from a local historical society. The hotel was later purchased at auction, and space was leased to not-for-profit Educational Housing Services in the mid-1990s. Much of the space was under sublease to the School of Visual Arts except for apartments still occupied by original (non-student) tenants who pay stabilized rent, and who are still protected under NYC rent laws. SVA broke the sublease and built a new dorm on 24th Street in mid-2016. The ground lease for the property was bought by investment firm Alliance Bernstein in 2016. The company developed the property into a hotel[2] which is now known as the Freehand/New York.[3][4]
In 2019 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[5]
Notable people
The building was occupied by many famous writers, musicians, and poets. These include W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, who lived there in the 1930s; Auden even dedicated a poem to the hotel.[6] Another was Keith Haring, who lived in the building as a student at SVA.
In the late 1960s,
See also
- List of former hotels in Manhattan
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets
References
- ^ "7 Seized in Drug Raid At Hotel on East Side". The New York Times. March 29, 1983. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ Solomont, E.B. (July 18, 2016). "AllianceBernstein pays $100.4M for George Washington Hotel's ground lease". The Real Deal. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
- ^ "Freehand/New York". Freehand Hotels. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
- ^ Marsh, Julia; Rosner, Elizabeth (March 27, 2018). "Owners of famed Manhattan hotel want rent-stabilized 'hoarders' out". New York Post. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
- U.S. National Park Service. May 31, 2019. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
- ^ "W.H. Auden: Ode To The George Washington Hotel". The New York Times. March 8, 1981. Retrieved December 24, 2020.