Gilsey House NYC

Via Wikipedia

Gilsey House was designed by Stephen Decatur Hatch for Peter Gilsey, a Danish immigrant merchant and city alderman[2] who leased[2] the plot – which included the grounds of the St. George Cricket Club – from Caspar Samlar for $10,000 a year.[2][3][4][1] It was constructed from 1869 to 1871 at the cost of $350,000,[1] opening as the Gilsey House Hotel in 1872.[4][5] The cast-iron for the facade of the Second Empire style building was fabricated by Daniel D. Badger,[3][1] a significant and influential advocate for cast-iron architecture at the time;[2] the extent to which Badger contributed to the design of the facade is unknown.[1]

The hotel was luxurious – the rooms featured rosewood and walnut finishing, marble fireplace mantles, bronze chandeliers[4] and tapestries [1] – and offered services to its guests such as telephones, the first hotel in New York to do so.[3] It was a favorite of Diamond Jim Brady and Oscar Wilde, Samuel Clemens was a guest,[4][6][7] and it attracted the theatrical trade[3] at a time when the area – which became known as the "Tenderloin" – was becoming the primary entertainment and amusement district for New York's growing population,[8] with numerous theatres, gambling clubs and brothels.[2]

Comments

[Printing Services]

Lovely illustrations of the GILSEY HOUSE. I really wanted to visit the place and hopefully it will come true this year. :)

- Bruce