New York is the paradise of hotels. In no other city do they flourish in
such numbers, and nowhere else do they attain such a degree of
excellence. The hotels of New York naturally take the lead of all others
in America, and are regarded by all who have visited them as models of
their kind.
It is said that there are from six to seven hundred hotels of all kinds
in the City of New York. These afford accommodations for persons of
every class, and are more or less expensive, according to the means of
their guests. Of these, only about fifty are well known, even in the
city, and only about twenty-five come under the head of "fashionable."
The principal hotels are, beginning down town, the Astor, St. Nicholas,
Metropolitan, Grand Central, Brevoort, New York, St. Denis, Spingler,
Everett, Clarendon, Westminster, Glenham, Fifth Avenue, Hoffman,
Albemarle, St. James, Coleman, Sturtevant, Gilsey, Grand, and St. Cloud.
These are the largest, handsomest, and best kept houses in the city.
Each has its characteristics and its special customers, and each in its
way is worth studying.
The _Astor House_ is one of the oldest hotels in the city. It is built
of granite, and occupies an entire block on Broadway, from Vesey to
Barclay streets. It is immediately opposite the _Herald_ office, and the
new Post-office. It was built by John Jacob Astor, and presented by him
to his son William. It was opened for business in 1831, by Colonel
Charles A. Stetson, the present proprietor, and for twenty years was the
leading hotel of the country. In those days no one had seen New York
unless he had "put up at the Astor." People talked of it all over the
country, and in all our leading cities monster hotels began to appear,
modelled upon the same general plan. Those were the palmy days of the
Astor, and if one could write their history in full, it would be a record
worth reading. The old registers of the house would be valuable for the
autographs they contain, for there was scarcely a great or distinguished
man of those days but had written his name in Colonel Stetson's book.
[Picture: THE ASTOR HOUSE.]
The house had from the first a strong flavor of politics about it. The
leading statesmen of the country were always there in greater or less
force, and their admirers kept up a continuous throng of comers and
goers. The house had a decided leaning towards the Whig Party, and
finally it became their New York headquarters. For thirty years Thurlow
Weed boarded here, and the caucuses, committee meetings, and intrigues of
various kinds the old house has witnessed, would fill a volume with their
history. The Astor still keeps its political character, and is one of
the Republican strongholds of the city. It is safe to assert that very
few Democrats now inscribe their names on its register, if they are free
to seek quarters elsewhere.
The misfortune of the Astor is that it is too far down town to be a
fashionable house. It is admirably located for merchants and others who
have business in the lower part of the city, and to whom time is of
value. A few old-time folks, who knew the house in its palmy days, still
stop there, and many whose political faith is in sympathy with that of
the proprietor, make it a matter of conscience to patronize the house,
and Colonel Stetson's well-earned popularity brings him other guests.
Although its glories have faded, the Astor is still a successful hotel,
but in popularity with the general public, it has long since been
eclipsed by the _up town hotels_.
The _St. Nicholas_ is one of the best houses in the city. It shows a
handsome marble front on Broadway, with a brown stone extension on the
same thoroughfare to Prince street, and extends back to Mercer street.
It is handsomely furnished, and is kept on a scale of comfort and
magnificence worthy of its fame. Its spacious halls and sitting-rooms,
on the street floor, furnish one of the most popular lounging places in
the city. Towards nightfall they are full to overflowing. The table is
said, by the lovers of good living, to be the best served of any house in
the city. The hotel is always full, and is very profitable to its
proprietors. It is said to pay better in proportion to its expenses than
any of its rivals. It is much liked by the Western people, who come here
in crowds. There is also a dashing element about its guests which gives
to it its peculiar reputation in the city. It is popularly believed to
be the headquarters of "Shoddy," and certain it is that one sees among
its habitues an immense number of flashily dressed, loud-voiced,
self-asserting people.
The _Metropolitan_ is a handsome brown stone edifice, situated at the
northeast corner of Broadway and Prince street. It extends back to
Crosby street, and has a frontage of about 300 feet on Broadway. It is
one of the most elegant hotels in the city, in every respect. It
contains about 400 rooms, and is always full. It is very popular with
army officers, with Californians and the people of the mining States and
Territories, as well as with the New Englanders. Capitalists and
railroad managers also have a fondness for it. "Shoddy" is to be seen
here also in great force.
[Picture: ST. NICHOLAS HOTEL.]
The _New York Hotel_ is a plain red brick structure, occupying the entire
block bounded by Broadway and Mercer street, and East Washington and
Waverley Places. It has recently been refitted and improved, and is one
of the most comfortable houses in the city. In one respect, it may be
regarded as the counterpart of the Astor, since like that hotel, it is
noted for its political complexion. It is the favorite stopping place of
the Democratic politicians visiting the city, and is mainly patronized by
members of that party. It is very popular with the Southern people,
large numbers of whom come here to spend the summer, to escape from the
heat of their climate, or to pass the winter to enjoy the delights of the
city. The guests of the New York generally stay a long time, and the
house is said to do a good business.
The _Grand Central_, on Broadway, between Bleecker and Amity streets, and
extending back to Mercer street, is a new house. It was opened in
August, 1870, and is the largest hotel in America. It rises to a height
of eight stories, or 127 feet, exclusive of the Mansard roof, above the
street. Including the central dome, it is ten stories in height. The
fitting up of the house is very handsome and elaborate, the furniture and
decorations having cost over half a million of dollars. The dining-room
will seat 600 persons at once.
The _Fifth Avenue Hotel_, at the junction of Broadway and Fifth avenue,
and between Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth streets, is generally regarded
as the best house in the city. It occupies the most conspicuous location
in New York, and is one of the finest buildings of its kind in the world.
It is constructed of white marble, is six stories in height, above
ground, and fronts on Fifth avenue, Broadway, Twenty-third and
Twenty-fourth streets. The land and building are valued at over
$1,000,000, and are owned by Mr. Amos R. Eno, by whom the house was
built. The proprietors are Messrs. Hitchcock, Darling & Co.
The hotel was begun in 1857, Mr. Eno having more faith in the rapid
growth and prosperity of the city than most persons had at that day. The
wise heads laughed him to scorn, and called his house "Eno's folly."
They said it might make a popular summer resort, but would never take
rank as a first class city hotel. It was too high up town. Undismayed
by these criticisms, Mr. Eno went on with his work, and in 1860, the
marble palace, to which he gave the name of the _Fifth Avenue Hotel_, was
opened to the public. By this time the city had grown so fast as to make
the need of this house imperative, but the first years of the war laid a
burden upon it which only the most skilful financial management could
overcome.
The hotel is the most perfectly appointed in the city. The ground floor
along Broadway and Fifth avenue is let out in stores. The main entrance
is on Fifth avenue, and is ornamented with a fine marble porch. From
this, the visitor enters into the spacious reception hall, tiled with
marble and handsomely frescoed. A marble counter at the lower end
encloses the offices of the hotel, and on this counter is laid the
Visitor's Register, of which several fresh pages are filled daily with
the names of new-comers. Opposite the office are the stairs leading to
the basement, in which are the billiard-rooms, storerooms, etc., of the
house. The hall upon which the office opens extends through to the rear
of the building. On the south side of this hall is the reading-room, in
which are to be found the daily papers of the leading cities of the
Union. Opposite the reading-room is the bar-room, one of the most
elegant apartments of the house, and beyond this is the handsome and
well-appointed barber-shop. There is a private entrance on Twenty-fourth
street, used mainly by gentlemen, another on Twenty-third street, and
still another on Broadway. Each is in charge of a door-keeper, whose
duty it is to exclude improper personages. Along the Twenty-third street
side are suites of private apartments on the ground floor, occupied by
permanent boarders.
The various floors are reached by means of an "elevator," the first ever
used in this country. Similar arrangements are now in use in all the
large hotels. The main stairway commences immediately opposite the
office. It is of white marble, and massive in its design. Ascending it
the visitor finds himself in a spacious hall, at one end of which is a
corridor at right angles to this hall. At the end nearest the stairs is
the dining-room, a magnificent apartment. When the tables are filled
with a handsomely dressed throng of guests at the dinner hour, this room
presents one of the most brilliant sights that can be witnessed on the
continent. The bill of fare comprises literally everything that is in
season. Back of the dining-room is the kitchen, an immense
establishment. Everything connected with it goes on like clock-work,
however, so perfect is the system upon which it is managed. Beneath the
kitchen are the machines for warming and ventilating the hotel. By means
of these a perfectly comfortable temperature is maintained in all parts
of the house, and the smells of the kitchen are kept out of the halls and
chambers.
[Picture: FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL.]
At the end of the hall upon which the dining-room opens, are the parlors
of the house. These are among the most magnificent rooms in the country.
They are furnished with great taste and elegance, and their windows look
out immediately upon Madison Square. There are also several private
parlors adjoining the public rooms. Along the Twenty-third and
Twenty-fourth street sides of the house are corridors, not quite so wide,
but longer than the main corridor, and leading off from it. The three
constitute one of the pleasantest promenades to be found. The floors are
covered with the richest carpets, into which the feet sink noiselessly.
In the day a half twilight prevails, and at night a rich flood of
gaslight streams along their entire length.
The upper floors are occupied with private parlors, rooms for guests,
etc. There are in this hotel pleasant quarters for 800 persons, and a
greater number can be accommodated in case of necessity. There are 100
suites of rooms, besides the ordinary chambers. Each suite comprises a
parlor, chamber, dressing-room, bath-room and water-closet. The number
of permanent boarders is about 300. The transient arrivals average about
300 per day, sometimes amounting to about twice that number. The house
is expensive, but its accommodations are unsurpassed, and if one can "get
his money back" anywhere in the city he can at this hotel.
The house is mainly patronized by people from other parts of the State,
from New England, and from the West. It is the most fashionable
establishment in the city, and will doubtless hold its present rank as
long as its energetic proprietors retain the control of it.
Towards eight o'clock in the evening, the hotel presents its most
attractive features. It is full to overflowing. The lower halls, the
reading and sitting-rooms are filled with well-dressed men, guests and
citizens, who have sauntered here from all parts of the city.
Four-fifths are smoking, and the air is hazy with the "vapor of the
weed." The hum of conversation is incessant, but the general tone is
well-bred and courteous. In the farther end of the great hall a group of
stock brokers may be seen comparing notes, and making bargains for the
sale and purchase of their fickle wares. The clink of glasses makes
music in the bar-room, and beyond this you may see the barbers at work on
their customers in the luxurious shaving saloon. Doors are opening and
shutting continually, people are coming and going. Porters are pushing
their way through the crowd bearing huge trunks on their shoulders. The
office bell is sounding incessantly, from a dozen different chambers at
once, and the servants are moving about in every direction to execute the
orders of the guests.
On the floor above the scene is as animated, but of a different
character. Every one here is in full dinner dress, and all are on their
good behaviour. The grand dining-room is crowded with guests, who are
doing ample justice to the sumptuous viands set before them. The parlors
are thronged with ladies and gentlemen, and the corridors are filled with
promenaders. The toilettes of the ladies are magnificent, and they can
be seen here to better advantage than at any ball or evening party. You
may see here some of the loveliest and most refined women, and some of
the coarsest and vulgarest, some of the most courtly gentlemen, and some
of the most insufferable snobs. If you will join the quiet-looking man
moving through the throng as if seeking some one whom he cannot find, he
can give you many an interesting bit of gossip about the various persons
whom you will encounter in your walk. He is the detective of the house,
and is on the watch for improper characters. Well-dressed thieves will
make their way into hotels in spite of the precautions of the
proprietors. Here a guest is comparatively safe. The detective is
argus-eyed, and knows everybody. Let a pick-pocket or thief but show his
face in this place, and his arrest is sure. All night the corridors are
patrolled by watchmen to make sure of the safety of the sleeping guests.
The house is absolutely fire-proof.
The cost of conducting such an establishment is immense, but the profits
are in proportion. The average profit of this house is said to be about
a quarter of a million of dollars per annum.
The hotels that have been mentioned are all conducted on the American
plan of full board, or one charge for every expense. This enables a
guest to calculate his expenses exactly, and has many other advantages.
Many of the most fashionable houses are conducted on what is called "the
European plan," in which a separate charge is made for room, meals, and
every service rendered. It is said that this is more economical than the
other plan, and that it is less profitable to the proprietors. It is
adopted by the Hoffman, St. Denis, Glenham, Brevoort, Coleman, St. James,
Albemarle, Clarendon, Everett, Grand, Gilsey, and several other prominent
houses.
The leading hotels of the city lie very close together, the majority of
them being in the vicinity of Union and Madison Squares. This is found
to be an advantage, as strangers find it pleasant to visit friends who
are staying at other houses. The business of hotel keeping in New York
is generally very profitable. A large outlay is required at the opening
of the house, for furniture, etc., as much as from $200,000 to $500,000
being expended on the fitting up of a first-class house. The furniture,
plate, etc., of the Fifth Avenue and Grand Central Hotels are valued at
the latter sum for each establishment. If the house meet with success, a
moderate sum will suffice to supply its current wants. The business is
all cash, and large amounts of money are received daily. The annual
profits of the Fifth Avenue Hotel are said to be about $250,000; those of
the St. Nicholas about $200,000. Other leading houses, when well
managed, are said to clear about twenty per cent. on the sum invested.
Large fortunes have been made by not a few keepers of hotels in New York.
The large hotels depend entirely upon transient guests for their success.
The city has, perhaps, the largest floating population in America.
Thousands come and go daily, even in the summer months, and these are
mostly persons who have money to spend. Bridal parties are constantly
arriving, and these are not inclined to be the most economical in their
expenditures. In the spring and fall, the Southern and Western merchants
come to New York in great numbers to buy goods, and are among the best
customers of the hotels. Thousands, on business, and for pleasure, come
and go daily, and they all pour a constant stream of money into the
coffers of the hotels.
The smaller houses, while they compete with their great rivals for
transient custom, rely chiefly upon their permanent guests. These are
filled with families who have come to them to avoid the trouble of
keeping house, and who remain all through the fall, winter, and spring.
In the summer they go to the watering places, so that they pass their
whole lives in hotels. They are mostly persons of wealth and fashion.
As may be supposed, the atmosphere of a hotel is not very favorable to
domestic privacy, and such establishments are vast manufactories of
scandal. People imagine that they are living privately, but their every
action is subject to the inspection and comment of the other inmates of
the house. The hotels are not the safest places for the growth of the
domestic virtues. Indeed, it may be said that they furnish the best
means of destroying them entirely. Neither are they the best place for
the training of children. This last, however, may be a minor
consideration, for the wives who live at the hotels seem, as a rule, to
take care that there shall be no children to need training. Small
families are a necessity at such places, and they remain small in that
atmosphere. If another Asmodeus could look down into the hotels of New
York, he would have some startling revelations to make, which would no
doubt go far to corroborate the gossip one hears in the city concerning
them.
The proprietors of the city hotels are very active in their efforts to
exclude improper characters from their houses, but with all their
vigilance do not always succeed in doing so. One is never certain as to
the respectability of his neighbor at the table, and it is well to be
over-cautious in forming acquaintanceships at such places. Impure women
of the "higher," that is the more successful class, and gamblers, abound
at the hotels. The proprietor cannot turn them out unless they are
notorious, until they commit some overt act, for fear of getting himself
into trouble. As soon, however, as his attention is called to any
improper conduct on their part, they are turned into the street, no
matter at what hour of the day or night.
Hotel proprietors are also the victims of adventurers of both sexes.
These people live from house to house, often changing their names as fast
as they change their quarters, and they are more numerous than is
generally believed. One man who made himself known to the police in this
way, used to take his family, consisting of a wife and three children, to
the hotels, and engage the best rooms. When his bill was presented, he
affected to be extremely busy, and promised to attend to it the next day.
By the next day, however, he had disappeared with his family. His trunk,
which had been left behind, was found to contain nothing but bricks and
rags, or paper.
Another adventurer would put up at the most fashionable hotels, and when
requested to pay his bills would feign madness. He would rave, and sing,
and dance, call himself Nebuchadnezzar, or George Washington, or some
such personage, and completely baffle the detectives, who were for a long
time inclined to believe him a _bona fide_ madman. In this way he ran up
a bill of one hundred and seventy-one dollars at the Fifth Avenue Hotel,
which he never paid.
Others do not seek to obtain lodgings at the hotels, but confine their
efforts to securing meals without paying for them. They get into the
dining-rooms along with the crowd at the meal hour, and once in and
seated at the table are generally safe. Some two years ago as many as
thirty-four of this class were detected at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in a
single month. These men as they leave the dining-room generally manage
to secure a better hat than that they deposited on the stand in entering.
Under the regime of the Lelands, the Metropolitan Hotel had a colored man
stationed at the door of its dining-room, who proved more than a match
for the most expert thief.
All first class hotels keep private detectives and watchmen on duty at
all hours. The business of these men is to keep guard over the upper
part of the house, to prevent thieves from entering and robbing the rooms
of the guests. Suspicious persons are at once apprehended, and required
to give an account of themselves. Some queer mishaps often befall guests
of the house who are not known to the detectives.
Bold robberies are often effected at the hotels of the city. Some time
ago a thief was captured at the St. Nicholas, and upon being searched a
gold watch and chain, and five different parcels of money were found upon
him, all of which were identified by guests as their property.