229-726: The Hotel Chelsea (also known as the Chelsea Hotel and the Chelsea ) is a hotel at 222 West 23rd Street in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Built between 1883 and 1884, the hotel was designed by Philip Hubert in a style described variously as Queen Anne Revival and Victorian Gothic . The 12-story Chelsea, originally a housing cooperative , has been the home of numerous writers, musicians, artists, and entertainers, some of whom still lived there in
458-515: A New York City landmark in May 1989, it is an irregularly-shaped district consisting of 440 buildings on 28 blocks and parts of blocks, from roughly 15th Street to 24th Street and from Park Avenue South to west of Sixth Avenue. East 23rd Street, which runs between Fifth Avenue and the East River ( FDR Drive ), is one of the main thoroughfares of Gramercy Park . The 22-story Flatiron Building
687-526: A public park called the Thomas F. Smith Park, later the Chelsea Waterside Park . In 2000, the westernmost block of 23rd Street was demolished as part of a reorganization of traffic patterns and an expansion of the park. The expanded 2.5-acre (1.0 ha) park contains a dog run, children's playground, basketball court, and soccer green. Just west of Tenth Avenue, the street passes under
916-648: A $ 220,000 mortgage (equivalent to $ 3,245,000 in 2023) that had been placed on the hotel. At the time, the hotel had seven stores, 319 guestrooms, and 176 bathrooms. Following the sale to the Chelsea Hotel Company, the hotel was operated by a syndicate of Hungarian immigrants represented by David Bard and Frank Amigo. The new operators were tasked with updating the hotel, which had outdated plumbing and electrical wiring; dilapidated elevators; and dirty walls. In addition, Bard had to dispel rumors circulating among existing tenants, who believed that Bard had won
1145-490: A Tammany hero, New York Governor Al Smith , won the Democratic presidential nomination. However, the organization also served as an engine for graft and political corruption , most infamously under William M. "Boss" Tweed in the mid-19th century. The Tammany ward boss or ward heeler ( wards were the city's smallest political units from 1786 to 1938) served as the local vote gatherer and provider of patronage. By
1374-526: A bookcase in his office, with books written by residents. Tippins writes that Bard's inobtrusive management approach, along with the "self-directing population ... and members' willingness to live in the moment", created a strong artistic culture at the hotel. By the mid-1960s, the hotel began to attract artists who frequented Andy Warhol 's Factory studio, as well as rock musicians (who were not allowed in many other hotels). The Austin American described
1603-407: A complex network of independent civic reform groups; each focused its lobbying efforts on its own particular reform agenda. The membership included civic-minded, well-educated middle-class men and women, usually with expert skills in a profession or business, who deeply distrusted the corruption of the machines. The consolidation of Brooklyn, western Queens County and Staten Island with Manhattan and
1832-531: A duel . Tammany continued to support him for a time, but eventually pressure from the public persuaded the organization to no longer affiliate themselves with Burr. Matthew Davis would go on to refine the Society as a political machine, beginning in 1805. The Society, with Davis's guidance, received a state charter as a charitable organization, organized the General Committee of Tammany Hall, and used
2061-513: A family aristocracy. Even though New York State voted for Clinton the following year, Democratic-Republicans could not help but see Clinton's actions as being exactly what Tammany had accused them of. With this, most Democratic-Republicans in New York City turned away from Clinton. When Tammany Hall positioned itself to support the War of 1812 and to support the Embargo Act, many others who supported
2290-415: A four-bedroom penthouse apartment sold for $ 6.44 million. Every New York City Subway line that crosses 23rd Street has a local station there: There is also a PATH station at 23rd Street and Sixth Avenue . In the past, every former IRT elevated line had a station at 23rd Street, most of which were local stations: MTA New York City Transit 's M23 route runs the length of 23rd Street. In 2003,
2519-522: A general housecleaning, and former county sheriff "Honest John" Kelly was selected as the new leader. Kelly was not implicated in the Tweed scandals and was a religious Catholic related by marriage to Archbishop John McCloskey . He cleared Tammany of Tweed's people and tightened the Grand Sachem's control over the hierarchy. His success at revitalizing the machine was such that in the election of 1874,
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#17327648382702748-465: A judge; paid the rent of a poor family to prevent their eviction and gave them money for food; secured employment for four individuals; attended the funerals of two of his constituents (one Italian, the other Jewish); attended a Bar Mitzvah ; and attended the wedding of a Jewish couple from his ward. Tammany Hall took full advantage of the burgeoning numbers of Irish immigrants to gather more votes. By 1855, 34 percent of New York City's voter population
2977-461: A lesser amount for patrolmen). On election day, he gave his policemen some time off to vote, during which time his affiliated Dead Rabbits gang protected polling places. Wood won his second term. The Republicans, who made gains upstate, created a new state charter for New York City in response to this concentration of power in one man, which included more elected (instead of appointed) city department heads and officers. The Republicans also consolidated
3206-454: A major role in the state legislature in Albany. Tammany, for example, from the 1880s onward built a strong network of local clubs that attracted ambitious middle-class ethnics. In times of crisis however, especially in the severe depressions of the 1890s and the 1930s, the reformers took control of key offices, notably the mayor's office. The reformers were never unified; they operated through
3435-422: A mayor. Hewitt had also offended Irish voters by deciding not to review a St. Patrick's Day parade they requested of him. Grant allowed Croker free run of the city's contracts and offices, creating a vast patronage machine beyond anything Tweed had ever dreamed of a status which continued under Grant's successor, Thomas Francis Gilroy . With such resources of money and manpower – the entire city workforce of 1,200
3664-411: A mixture of small and large apartments, so residents of different socioeconomic classes could reside on the same story. Sources disagree on whether the largest apartments had eight, ten, or twelve rooms. Old floor plans show that the apartments were arranged along a single west–east corridor on each floor; these corridors measured up to 8 feet (2.4 m) wide. The largest apartments occupied either end of
3893-466: A month (equivalent to $ 1,216 in 2023). Variety magazine wrote that the Chelsea was "the only landmark building still doing business" from the time when the neighborhood was a major theatrical hub. The hotel's residents included many stage and film stars, artists, and "less conventional celebrities", who stayed despite the lack of modern amenities and the presence of pests. The cheapest units tended to have more issues. For many residents, however, there
4122-485: A narrow wooden staircase. There was also an elevator cage, decorated with rosettes that matched the exterior decorations. The upper stories include a gym and a rooftop spa. The Chelsea was among the first buildings in the city with duplex apartments and penthouse apartments. Above the ground floor, there were originally either 90, 97, or 100 apartments in total. There were ten apartments on each story, ranging from 800 to 3,000 square feet (74 to 279 m). Each floor had
4351-615: A niche off the main lobby. The Chelsea's reputation for "wildness" receded in the 1990s, though the hotel continued to attract artistic tenants under Bard's management. Long-term residents paid up to $ 3,000 a month in rent, while short-term guestrooms cost up to $ 295. Short-term guests also traveled to the hotel for a variety of reasons. Some wished to stay in rooms occupied by particular residents, while others traveled there because of their cheap rates. The guestrooms lacked modern amenities such as minibars, room service, and cable TV. In spite of Stanley Bard's unorthodox approach to rent collection,
4580-429: A plumber's assistant at the hotel since 1957 or 1958, was already familiar with many of the hotel's artistic residents when he assumed the managerial role. He began trying to attract artists who had been rejected from other hotels. Bard did not run advertisements, instead attracting new residents via word of mouth . The remaining co-owners, Joseph Gross and Julius Krauss, continued to work under Stanley Bard. Stanley Bard
4809-468: A political force. During the 1828 U.S. presidential election , Tammany Hall leaders met with Democratic candidate Andrew Jackson and agreed to endorse him after he promised to give them control over the allocation of some federal jobs. After he was elected president, Jackson fulfilled his promise. After 1829, Tammany Hall became the city affiliate of the Democratic Party, controlling most of
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#17327648382705038-469: A protégé of Murphy who became the boss in the Bronx, said Murphy always advised that politicians should have nothing to do with gambling or prostitution and should steer clear of involvement with the police department or the school system. A new challenge to Tammany came from William Randolph Hearst , a powerful newspaper publisher who wanted to be president. Hearst was elected to Congress with Tammany support,
5267-524: A purchase of a pauper's burial ground on Ward's Island and the sale of city property occupying Gansevoort Market near the western end of 14th Street to Reuben Lovejoy, an associate of James B. Taylor, a friend of many of the Aldermen. Other deals included expensive fireworks displays and bribes for ferry and railroad operations (Jacob Sharp for the Wall Street Ferry and various applicants for
5496-408: A refrigerator as well as a stove powered by coal, gas, or steam. One of the larger apartments, suite 920, belonged to the hotel's manager and consisted of three rooms with high ceilings. The apartments on the tenth and eleventh floors were intended for artists, taking advantage of sunlight from the north. These apartments were arranged as duplexes, with artists' studios on the upper level and bedrooms on
5725-585: A room at the Chelsea". Bard generally had a lax attitude toward unpaid rent; he sometimes accepted paintings created by residents who were unable to pay rent, and he started displaying these works in the lobby. Another resident who could not afford rent was hired as a bellhop. Despite Bard's cavalier attitude toward guests' activities, he closely monitored all aspects of the hotel and sometimes refused to rent rooms to people who were disruptive or those that he disliked. Although Bard sometimes did not pay attention to maintenance (leading one resident to say that "the place
5954-596: A separate police force, the Metropolitan Police, from the police forces of Kings, Richmond, and Westchester counties. The Republicans in the state legislature also moved the city mayoral elections to odd years, making the next election for mayor in December 1857. A power struggle followed between Wood's Municipal Police and the newly created Metropolitan Police, as well as between the Dead Rabbits and
6183-588: A setback when, fueled by the public hearings on police corruption held by the Lexow Committee based on the evidence uncovered by the Rev. Charles Parkhurst when he explored the city's demi monde undercover, a Committee of Seventy was organized by Council of Good Government Clubs to break the stranglehold that Tammany had on the city. Full of some of the city's richest men – J.P. Morgan , Cornelius Vanderbilt II , Abram Hewitt and Elihu Root , among others –
6412-419: A significant role in shaping the character of development along East 23rd Street in the early 20th century, constructing six buildings successively along the street and around the block to the corner of 24th. The tallest of these is the 700-foot (210 m) Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower , built in 1909 at the intersection of 24th Street and Madison Avenue. The tower, with its ornate clocktower faces,
6641-445: A springboard to other appointments, and to have his friends placed in various offices. From this position of strength, he was elected "Grand Sachem" of Tammany, which he then used to take functional control of the city government. With his protégés elected governor of the state and mayor of the city, Tweed was able to expand the corruption and kickbacks of his "Ring" into practically every aspect of city and state governance. Although Tweed
6870-458: A subsequent renovation of the building. After Bard's children David and Michele became involved in the hotel's operation during the 1990s, they completed a $ 500,000 renovation of the facade in 1990 and renovated one of the sixth-floor rooms. David Bard upgraded the lobby's equipment, and the family subdivided the ground-level ladies' reception room into a set of offices, but they left the ceiling murals intact. The reception desk had been relocated to
7099-476: A target of prohibitionists and reformers. At the start of the 1850s, the city economy began to pick up and Tammany members would profit. The City Council of New York during these years would be known as the most corrupt up to this time. The new City Council of 1852 swept in Tammany politicians to replace the outgoing Whig ones, who did little with their power. The new council was made up of two sets of 20 members,
Hotel Chelsea - Misplaced Pages Continue
7328-469: A terminal on the shore of the Hudson River at Pier 63, which aligned with the western end of 23rd Street. The ferries traveled to Jersey City , located opposite Manhattan. By the beginning of the 20th century ferries were already aging and deteriorating under heavy use, and in 1942 the terminal itself was demolished. In the late 1980s, boat enthusiast John Krevey converted an old railroad barge on
7557-486: A third of the vote. After the war, Mozart Hall aligned itself more closely with Tammany, and gradually lost influence. It disbanded in 1867. Tammany's control over the politics of New York City tightened considerably under Tweed. In 1858, Tweed capitalized on the efforts of Republican reformers to rein in the Democratic city government to obtain a position on the County Board of Supervisors, which he then used as
7786-400: A total of 1,670 apartments, housing 5,000 total residents. At the time of construction it was the largest residential complex in the city. In 1857, the merchant Amos Eno bought a land parcel at the intersection with Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street. He built the luxury Fifth Avenue Hotel on this site by 1859. The six-story-high structure, which was designed to accommodate 800 guests, became
8015-537: A traitor to the Democratic-Republican Party. Clinton's uncle, George Clinton, was jealous of Burr's achievements and positions. However, George was too old to compete with young Aaron Burr, and so he left it to his nephew. One of Burr's political cohorts and the author of Burr's biography was a businessman, a newspaper editor, and a sachem of the Society named Matthew L. Davis. Other Burr operatives included William P. Van Ness and John Swartwout,
8244-663: A twenty-member Board of Aldermen and a twenty-member Board of Assistant Aldermen. This new council would be known as the Forty Thieves. Each Alderman had the power to appoint police (including precinct officers) and license saloons within his district. Together, the Aldermen possessed the power to grant franchises for streetcar lines and ferries. Each Alderman also sat as judge in criminal courts, determining who sat for juries and choosing which cases came to trial. On paper, these aldermen received no pay. A number of real estate deals followed with suspicious transaction amounts, including
8473-456: A variety of cultures, including Thai , Italian , Spanish and French cuisine. 23rd Street contains some upper-class areas with expensive real estate. One 2,500-square-foot (230 m ) office space between Park and Lexington Avenues was leased for $ 240,000 per year in March 2017, while a 1,000-square-foot (93 m ) apartment three blocks east was being sold for $ 1 million. In July 2015,
8702-477: Is a mom-and-pop store named Chelsea Guitars and a private event space known as the Bard Room. The main staircase, at the center of the hotel, is illuminated by a rooftop skylight and is only accessible to guests. The walls of the staircase were once lined with photos created by residents. The staircase originally had iron railings and marble treads. The center of the building is surmounted by a pyramid accessed by
8931-589: Is a broad thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Manhattan , one of the major two-way, east-west streets in the borough's grid . As with Manhattan's other "crosstown" streets, it is divided into its east and west sections at Fifth Avenue . The street runs from Avenue C and FDR Drive in the east to Eleventh Avenue in the west. 23rd Street was created under the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 . The street hosts several famous hotels, including
9160-471: Is capped by a high mansard roof . The Hotel Chelsea has thick load-bearing walls made of masonry, as well as wrought iron floor beams and large, column-free spaces. When the hotel opened, the ground floor was divided into an entrance hall, four storefronts, and a restaurant; this has been rearranged over the years, with a bar and the El Quijote restaurant occupying part of the ground floor. The Chelsea
9389-623: Is clad with purple marble. In addition, various paintings by residents are hung on the beige-pink walls, and the lobby's ceiling is decorated with frescoes, roses, and garlands. Adjacent to the lobby is the Lobby Bar, which contains mosaic-tile floors, a marble bar, art from former residents, and old chandeliers. This bar, formerly storage space, has several pieces of mid-century modern furniture and vintage furnishings such as lamps. Other decorative elements include skylights , floor tiles, brick walls, and trellises covered with vegetation. Next to
Hotel Chelsea - Misplaced Pages Continue
9618-568: Is located across FDR Drive, along the East River coast. Stretching south to 18th Street, the 2-acre (0.81 ha) public space is built on the site of a concrete plant and parking lot. The street ends at the New York Skyports Seaplane Base , which opened in 1962. The seaplane base, which is part of a marina , also contains a parking lot whose entrance and exit is located at the eastern end of 23rd Street. On
9847-543: Is located on the south side of East 23rd Street at the street's intersection with Fifth Avenue and Broadway, occupying the triangular parcel bounded by these two avenues and 22nd Street. The origin of the term " 23 skidoo " is said to be from wind gusts caused by the building's triangular shape or hot air from a shaft through which immense volumes of air escaped, producing gusts that supposedly lifted women's skirts. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MetLife), headquartered at 1 Madison Avenue at East 23rd Street, played
10076-465: Is made of red brick. It is grouped into five sections, with projecting pavilions at the western end, center, and eastern end of the facade. These pavilions flank two groups of recessed bays. The main entrance within the central pavilion remains largely intact, although the storefronts on either side have been modified over the years. There are several brass plaques next to the main entrance, commemorating notable residents, and another plaque mentioning that
10305-565: The Brooklyn Bridge was begun, land was set aside for the Metropolitan Museum of Art , orphanages and almshouses were constructed, and social services – both directly provided by the state and indirectly funded by state appropriations to private charities – expanded to unprecedented levels. All of this activity, of course, also brought great wealth to Tweed and his friends. It also brought them into contact and alliance with
10534-480: The Brooklyn Navy Yard ). Davis announced that the Society was going to provide proper burials for these soldiers with a monument dedicated to their memory on nearby land owned by a fellow sachem. The remains were, in fact, reburied. The Society led a flotilla, on April 13, 1808, in thirteen boats, to Brooklyn, with each boat carrying a symbolic coffin. A dedication ceremony was held at Wallabout Bay and
10763-399: The Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, on the south side of the street between Eighth Avenue and Seventh Avenue . The rectangular land lot covers approximately 17,281 square feet (1,605.5 m), with a frontage of 175 feet (53 m) on Madison Avenue to the west and a depth of 98.75 feet (30.10 m). Seven land lots were combined to make way for the hotel, which
10992-669: The City University of New York system, was a successor to the Free Academy. Founded by businessman and City College alumnus Bernard Baruch , the campus includes the Lawrence and Eris Field Building at the southeast corner of Lexington Avenue and 23rd Street in Gramercy. The 16-story building, opened in 1929, is the oldest structure that is part of Baruch College. The New York Public Library contains two branches on
11221-646: The Equitable Life Assurance Society . The same bank placed a $ 300,000 mortgage loan on the hotel that December (equivalent to $ 8,337,000 in 2023). By March 1884, the Chelsea Association Building was nearly complete. One account in The New York Times described the Chelsea as "the most profitable and popular of [Hubert and Pirsson's] enterprises". The Chelsea began accepting residents in 1884 and
11450-775: The Fifth Avenue Hotel and Hotel Chelsea , as well as many theaters. Several skyscrapers are located on 23rd Street, including the Flatiron Building , the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower , and One Madison . As with other numbered streets in Manhattan , Fifth Avenue separates West and East 23rd Street. This intersection occurs in Madison Square, near Madison Square Park , both of which are part of
11679-542: The Flatiron District . West of Sixth Avenue, West 23rd Street passes through Chelsea . East of Lexington Avenue , East 23rd Street runs along the southern boundary of Kips Bay and the northern boundaries of Gramercy and Peter Cooper Village . Since 1999, an area north of 23rd Street around the park has been referred to as NoMad . West 23rd Street, which runs through the heart of Chelsea, contains many art galleries and several theaters. For much of
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#173276483827011908-671: The French First Republic after the French Revolution toppled the Ancien Régime ("old rule"), in 1793. By 1798, the society's activities had grown increasingly political. High-ranking Democratic-Republican Aaron Burr saw Tammany Hall as an opportunity to counter Alexander Hamilton 's Society of the Cincinnati . Eventually Tammany emerged as the center of Democratic-Republican Party politics in
12137-528: The High Line , a 1.45-mile (2.33 km) elevated linear park built on the structure of the former West Side Line railroad. The High Line contains both a staircase and an elevator entrance from 23rd Street. On the north side of 23rd Street, just west of the High Line, is "HL23", a residential building that hangs over the narrow linear park. London Terrace is located across Tenth Avenue, occupying
12366-494: The Irish Famine of the late 1840s. After 1854, it expanded its political control even further by earning the loyalty of the city's rapidly expanding immigrant community, which functioned as its base of political capital. The business community appreciated its readiness, at moderate cost, to cut through regulatory and legislative mazes to facilitate rapid economic growth. By 1872, Tammany had an Irish Catholic "boss". In 1928,
12595-604: The Straphangers Campaign listed the M23 as one of the slowest in the city, winning its "Pokey Award" for going at an average speed of 3.7 miles per hour (6.0 km/h). In 2016 it was converted to a Select Bus Service route, with bus rapid transit components such as exclusive bus lanes and all-door bus boarding, to speed up service. Additional service is provided by the M9 and M34A SBS east of Second Avenue, both in
12824-525: The superstructure to support the weight of two additional stories if the building were expanded. The walls support floor beams made of wrought iron ; these floor beams are not supported by intermediate columns, creating large column-free spaces. The floor beams were covered with plaster to prevent fire from spreading. As another fireproofing measure, the hotel used as little wood as possible. Ceilings measured 12 to 14 feet (3.7 to 4.3 m) high. The basement measured up to 30 feet (9.1 m) deep and housed
13053-489: The "boss". Charles Murphy was the highly effective but quiet boss of Tammany Hall from 1902 until his death in 1924. "Big Tim" Sullivan was the Tammany leader in the Bowery and the machine's spokesman in the state legislature. Republican local organizations were much weaker, but they played key roles in forming reform coalitions. Most of the time they looked to Albany and Washington for their sphere of influence. Seth Low ,
13282-609: The 1830s and 1840s, the Society expanded its political control even further by earning the loyalty of the city's ever-expanding immigrant community, which functioned as a base of political capital. During the 1840s, hundreds of thousands of Irish immigrants arrived in New York City to escape the Great Famine and Tammany saw its power grow greatly. Tammany Hall's electoral base lay predominantly with New York's burgeoning immigrant constituency, which often exchanged political support for Tammany Hall's patronage. In pre- New Deal America,
13511-921: The 1840s for Tammany Hall, which became preoccupied with fights between political gangs fighting over turf. These gangs included the Dead Rabbits , the Bowery Boys , Mike Walsh's Spartan Association, the Roach Guards , the Plug Uglies, the Wide-Awakes, and Captain Isaiah Rynders ' Empire Club. Rynders was the leader of Tammany's Sixth Ward and a member of the General Committee who was also said to have been responsible for coordinating all political-related gang activity. Many of these leaders coordinated their activities from saloons, which became
13740-471: The 1880s, Tammany was building local clubs that appealed to social activists from the ethnic middle class. At its peak the machine had the advantage of a core of solid supporters, and usually exercised control of politics and policymaking in Manhattan; it also played a major role in the state legislature in Albany . Charles Murphy acted as boss from 1902 to 1924. "Big Tim" Sullivan was the Tammany leader in
13969-664: The 1900s, the Chelsea was accepting a larger number of short-term visitors. A Chicago Tribune reporter wrote in the late 20th century that the co-op had never "had a heyday", as many wealthy residents were already moving uptown after the hotel was completed. The building was officially converted to an apartment hotel in 1905. At the time of the conversion, the Chelsea was divided into 125 units. Small studios that had been converted from maids' quarters were available for as little as $ 1.50 per night (equivalent to $ 51 in 2023), while units that had one or two bedrooms cost up to $ 4–5 per night (equivalent to between $ 136 and $ 170 in 2023). In
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#173276483827014198-724: The 1940s and 1950s, and many original design details were removed during that era. A 1946 article in the Troy Record noted that artists lived in 25 of the Chelsea's 300 units and that the hotel no longer served traditional celebrities. The structure also hosted office tenants such as the World Congress of the Partisans of Peace on the ground floor. Bard had grown exasperated of the tenants' complaints by 1947, when he sold most of his shares to desk clerk Julius Krauss and plumber Joseph Gross, retaining five percent of his shares in
14427-608: The 1950s led to a drop in rail traffic throughout the United States, and the viaduct was effectively abandoned in 1980. The Twenty-third Street Railway , a street railway originally operated as horse cars and later electric traction , was chartered on January 29, 1872. In 1893, the Twenty-third Street Railway was leased to the Houston, West Street and Pavonia Ferry Railroad , which in turn
14656-537: The 21st century. As of 2022, most of the Chelsea is a luxury hotel. The building is a New York City designated landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places . The front facade of the Hotel Chelsea is 11 stories high, while the rear of the hotel rises 12 stories. The facade is divided vertically into five sections and is made of brick, with some flower-ornamented iron balconies; the hotel
14885-413: The Bowery , and the machine's spokesman in the state legislature. In the early 20th century, the two men promoted Tammany as a reformed agency dedicated to the interests of the working class. The new image deflected attacks and secured a following among the emerging ethnic middle class. In the process Robert F. Wagner became a powerful United States Senator , and Al Smith served four terms as governor and
15114-410: The Bronx in 1898 multiplied the power of these reform groups, so long as they could agree on a common agenda, such as consolidation itself. There was no citywide machine. Instead, Democratic machines flourished in each of the boroughs, with Tammany Hall in Manhattan the most prominent. They typically had strong local organizations, known as "political clubs", as well as one prominent leader often called
15343-695: The Cell Theatre, across the street from the SVA Theatre. In 1849, James Renwick Jr. constructed the Free Academy Building for the City College of New York , following a statewide referendum two years prior that had allowed the construction of the school. The Gothic Revival building was located at the intersection of Lexington Avenue and 23rd Street. The building was demolished in 1928. Baruch College , an institution within
15572-552: The Chelsea Association died around 1941, and the hotel went bankrupt around the same time. The New York Bank for Savings repossessed the building at an auction in approximately July 1942. That October, the Bank for Savings sold the hotel, along with the adjacent brownstone house at 229 West 22nd Street, to the Chelsea Hotel Company at an assessed value of $ 561,500 (equivalent to $ 8,282,000 in 2023). The buyers took over
15801-532: The Chelsea Room opened in the basement that October, after the former Star Lounge's space had been gutted. The Chelsea's 15 shareholders put the hotel up for sale in October 2010, when there were 125 short-term guestrooms and 100 apartments. Real-estate experts estimated that a buyer would have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to renovate each room, overcoming tenant opposition and restrictions posed by
16030-432: The Chelsea a "shabby institution". The hotel, which was recognized for both architectural and historical significance, thus became one of the city's first official landmarks. Later the same year, Bard decided to redecorate the lobby after the release of Warhol's film Chelsea Girls drew attention to the hotel. The staircase was also cleaned in phases from top to bottom. The popularity of Chelsea Girls —along with that of
16259-404: The Chelsea as one of Manhattan's "literary shrines", in part because of the presence of residents such as Edward Eggleston and Jane Cunningham Croly . Other early residents included painter Rufus Fairchild Zogbaum , poet Henry Abbey , and actress Annie Russell . By the end of the 19th century, the co-op was in decline due to the suspicions of New York City's middle class about apartment living,
16488-531: The Chelsea one of the "last ornate landmarks of a Little Old New York locality". Batchelder's Restaurant leased the Chelsea's restaurant space in early 1930. During that decade, the Chelsea Hotel remained popular among artists and writers because of the low rents, the friendly atmosphere, and the fact that the residences provided large amounts of privacy. Because many of the old apartments had been subdivided, each floor had various winding corridors leading to
16717-420: The Chelsea's artistic clientele, the rooms are decorated with artworks collected between the 1970s and the 1990s, in addition to headboards with splattered-paint patterns. Some rooms retain original fireplaces and stained glass windows. The guestrooms also have design features such as wooden nightstands , closets with wallpaper, and marble-clad bathrooms. During the early 19th century, apartment developments in
16946-413: The Chelsea. BD Hotels attempted to correct several violations of city building codes and obtain documentation on tenants who were not registered with the city government. The new operators also opened a basement lounge and restored the ballroom. Krauss wished to increase the number of short-term guests and renovate the retail space. The hotel stopped leasing apartments in 2007; filmmaker Sam Bassett became
17175-481: The Common Council's authority was expanded so it would also elect the city's mayor, who had previously been appointed by the state government. In 1834, the state constitution was amended to require the city's mayor to be elected by direct popular vote. Also in 1834, Cornelius Van Wyck Lawrence , a pro-Tammany Democrat, would become the first mayor ever elected by popular vote in the city's history. Throughout
17404-622: The General Committee to decide leadership within the Democratic-Republican party in New York City from that point forward. In December 1805, Dewitt Clinton reached out to Burr's supporters to gain enough support to resist the influence of the powerful Livingston family. The Livingstons, led by former New York City mayor Edward Livingston , backed New York Governor Morgan Lewis, who presented a significant challenge to Clinton. The Tammany Hall sachems agreed to meet with Clinton in secret, on February 20, 1806, and agreed to back him, on
17633-671: The Hotel Chelsea from August 1978. The building has been a designated New York City landmark since 1966, and on the National Register of Historic Places since 1977. The emergence of many new hotels after the American Civil War contributed to the increase of prostitution in the area. By 1876, there were so many brothels in the area bounded by 23rd and 57th Streets , between Fifth and Seventh Avenues, that New York City Police Department captain Alexander S. Williams nicknamed this strip of land " Tenderloin ". Referring to
17862-772: The Hudson River to a floating jetty called Pier 63 . A restaurant was opened on the pier. The lightship Frying Pan and the fire vessel John J. Harvey were also originally moored to Pier 63, with both listed on the National Register of Historic Places . In 2007, the barge was moved to Pier 66 on 26th Street. On January 1, 1825, the New York House of Refuge , a jail for juvenile delinquents, opened on Broadway between 22nd and 23rd Streets. The jail housed prisoners up to 16 years old who were serving long jail sentences, including boys who were being imprisoned until at least age 21 and girls until at least age 18. During
18091-555: The Irish , rise in American politics from the 1850s into the 1960s. Tammany usually controlled Democratic nominations and political patronage in Manhattan for over 100 years following the mayoral victory of Fernando Wood in 1854, and used its patronage resources to build a loyal, well-rewarded core of district and precinct leaders; after 1850, the vast majority were Irish Catholics due to mass immigration from Ireland during and after
18320-621: The Loco-Focos and the conservatives of the Hall. At the age of 28, in 1840, Wood was put up by Tammany Hall for a U.S. congressional seat, which he won. After Wood's service in Congress, he became a successful businessman through real estate dealings and was elected mayor of New York City in 1854. William Tweed said of Wood, "I never yet went to get a corner lot that I didn't find Wood had got in ahead of me." In his first term as mayor, Wood ensured
18549-582: The M23 in 1989. During the 1870s, the Sixth Avenue Elevated was built, significantly increasing the number of customers who shopped at stores along the route. Elevated lines with stations on 23rd Street were also constructed along Ninth Avenue in 1867, Third Avenue in 1878, and Second Avenue in 1880. By the middle of the 20th century, they were all demolished. Several New York City Subway stations now serve 23rd Street (see § Public transit ). In 1869, Pavonia Ferry opened
18778-404: The Manhattan street grid , as one of 15 east-west streets that would be 100 feet (30 m) in width, as opposed to minor side streets that were designated as 60 feet (18 m) in width. The plan also reserved the 240 acres (97 ha) of land bounded by 23rd Street, Third Avenue , 33rd Street and Seventh Avenue as the "Grand Parade", an area upon which development was prohibited. Instead,
19007-750: The Manhattan Campus of the VA NY Harbor Healthcare System, is located at 423 East 23rd Street, near the northeast corner of the intersection with First Avenue. Near 23rd Street's eastern end is the Asser Levy Public Baths . Built at the beginning of the 20th century, the baths were named after Asser Levy , one of the city's first Jewish settlers. In 1980, the baths were added to the National Register of Historic Places. Stuyvesant Cove Park
19236-517: The New York City elections afterwards. In the 1830s the Loco-Focos , an anti-monopoly and pro-labor faction of the Democratic Party, became Tammany's main rival for votes by appealing to workingmen. However, Tammany's political opponent remained the Whigs. During the 1834 New York City mayoral governor election, the first city election in which the popular vote elected the mayor, both Tammany Hall and
19465-401: The Tammany candidate, William H. Wickham , succeeded the unpopular outgoing reformist incumbent, William F. Havemeyer (who died shortly thereafter), and Democrats generally won their races, delivering control of the city back to Tammany Hall. A noted statue of John Kelly is located in the hall, the work of Irish sculptor Robert Cushing . The mayoral election of 1886 was a seminal one for
19694-595: The Third Avenue railroad). Aldermen would also resort to creating strike legislation to obtain quick cash: a spurious bill would be introduced that would obviously financially harm someone, who would then complain to legislators. These legislators would then kill the bill in committee for a fee. As the press became aware of the Forty Thieves tactics, a reform movement instigated for a change in the city charter in June 1853 so that city work and supply contracts were awarded to
19923-554: The Whig party, from their headquarters at the Masonic Hall, battled in the streets for votes and protected polling locations in their respective regions from known opposition voters. During the 1838 state election for governor, the rival Whig party imported voters from Philadelphia, paying $ 22 a head for votes in addition to paying for votes at their polling places. Tammany Hall operatives continued their practice of paying prisoners of
20152-491: The aftermath of the riot, and disgruntled insiders began to leak the details of the extent and scope of the Tweed Ring's avarice to the newspapers. Specifically, O'Brien forwarded the city's financial accounts to The New York Times . The New York Times , at that time the only Republican associated paper in the city, was then able to reinforce stories they had previously published against the ring. The Committee of Seventy
20381-445: The album Blonde on Blonde , written by Chelsea Hotel resident Bob Dylan —attracted many aspiring artists and actors to the hotel during the late 1960s, in spite of its rundown condition. About half of the rooms were occupied by permanent residents by the early 1970s; although new residents had to pay at least $ 400 (equivalent to $ 3,138 in 2023) per month, older residents were protected by rent regulation and paid as little as $ 155
20610-441: The almshouses for votes and also paying for votes at their polling places. The Tammany Hall " ward boss " served as the local vote gatherer and provider of patronage. New York City used the designation "ward" for its smallest political units from 1686 to 1938. The 1686 Dongan Charter divided the city into six wards and created a Common Council which consisted of an alderman and an assistant alderman elected from each ward. In 1821,
20839-451: The apartments rather than accept monetary compensation. The building also attracted wealthy widows, government officials, and a variety of other middle- and upper-class professionals, though Hubert refused to disclose residents' names for the social registers. These residents largely moved from other apartment buildings. There were also 30 servants, mostly immigrants from Germany and Ireland. In 1898, Lippincott's Monthly Magazine described
21068-461: The area was to be used as an open space for military training, as well as an assembly point in the event the city was invaded. At the time, some thought that the Grand Parade might become a "central park" for the city, but the grounds were gradually reduced over the course of time. By 1847, the open area was 7 acres (2.8 ha), comprising the land of the current Madison Square Park. By
21297-655: The artists were there by design". The Chelsea was located in what was then the center of New York City's theater district, with venues such as the Booth's Theatre and the Grand Opera House nearby. Its early residents represented a wide variety of groups, from unmarried professionals to large families. Many of the hotel's early guests were authors and artists. According to the Real Estate Record and Guide , many construction suppliers and workers moved into
21526-469: The backing of James Gordon Bennett 's New York Tribune , as the champion of workingclass Irish and German immigrants against the "kid glove, scented, silk stocking, poodle-headed, degenerate aristocracy." The Republicans attempted to combine their efforts with Tammany, but the deal could not be consummated, making it a three-candidate race, which Wood won with 38.3% of the vote. It was Wood's second and last term as mayor, serving until 1862. Mozart Hall
21755-404: The basement kitchen to each floor. When the hotel opened in 1884, the ground floor was divided into an entrance hall, four storefronts, and a restaurant for tenants who did not have their own kitchen. The lobby was originally furnished with a marble floor and mahogany wainscoting . On the left wall of the lobby was an elaborate fireplace mantel , which remained intact in the late 20th century. To
21984-452: The beginning of the 1960s, the Chelsea Hotel was known as the "Dowager of 23rd Street", and the surrounding area was populated with what Tippins referred to as "tawdry bars and low-rent offices". Nearly all of the entertainment venues in the area had been replaced with stores and apartments. Most of the hotel's occupants were long-term residents, who rarely moved away due to the low rental rates. Nouveaux Realistes artists also began to frequent
22213-606: The building into a movie theater in 1938. By 1960, it was demolished to make room for the Penn South residential complex. Booth's Theatre was opened in 1869 at the intersection with Sixth Avenue. It was sold in 1881 for half the cost of its construction, becoming a dry-goods store. In 1889, the entrepreneur Frederick Freeman Proctor opened Proctor's Theatre , a theater between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. Proctor used innovations such as electric lighting and phonographs in his "continuous daily vaudeville" theater. In 1907,
22442-478: The building is on the National Register of Historic Places . On the upper floors, the brick is interspersed with white stone bands. The hotel has flower-ornamented iron balconies on its second through eighth stories, which were constructed by J.B. and J.M. Cornell. These balconies were intended as "light balconies, after the Paris fashion"; according to author Sherill Tippins, the balconies were meant to "add charm to
22671-459: The building staff. The success of this model led to other "Hubert Home Clubs", including the Chelsea. Hubert believed that such clubs could help entice middle- and upper-class New Yorkers to live in apartment buildings. After constructing several more Home Clubs in the 1880s, Hubert decided to construct a structure in Chelsea. In contrast to previous clubs, where residents were selected according to their beliefs and socioeconomic status, Hubert wanted
22900-564: The building. During this era, the hotel often served as a gathering place for left-wing and socialist activists; for instance, one of the ground-floor spaces was occupied by left-wing organizers who supported the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine . Bard again became involved in the hotel's operations by the early 1950s. By then, additional apartments had been subdivided, and the interiors had been significantly modified. The floors had been covered with linoleum;
23129-626: The city were generally associated with the working class, but by the late 19th century, apartments were also becoming desirable among the middle and upper classes. Between 1880 and 1885, more than ninety apartment buildings were developed in the city. The architect Philip Hubert and his partner James W. Pirrson had created a "Hubert Home Club" in 1880 for the Rembrandt, a six-story building on 57th Street that had been built as housing for artists. This early cooperative building had rental units to help defray costs, and it also provided servants as part of
23358-487: The city. Burr used Tammany Hall as a campaign asset during the election of 1800 , in which he acted as Democratic-Republican campaign manager. Some historians believe that without Tammany, President John Adams might have won New York State's electoral votes and won reelection. Early cases of political corruption involving Tammany Hall came to light during the group's feud with local politician Dewitt Clinton . The feud began in 1802 after Clinton accused Aaron Burr of being
23587-488: The committee supported William L. Strong , a millionaire dry-goods merchant, for mayor, and forced Tammany's initial candidate, merchant Nathan Straus , co-owner of Macy's and Abraham & Straus , from the election by threatening to ostracize him from New York society. Tammany then put-up Hugh Grant again, despite his being publicly dirtied by the police scandals. Backed by the committee's money, influence and their energetic campaign, and helped by Grant's apathy, Strong won
23816-748: The condition that the Clintons would once again acknowledge Aaron Burr as a Democratic-Republican and stop using "Burrism" as a reason to object to their ideas. The Clintons readily agreed to these conditions, but did not intend to honor them. When the Sachems caught wind of this, the feud between Tammany Hall and Clinton resumed. Tammany Hall became a locally organized machine dedicated to stopping Clinton and Federalists from rising to power in New York. However, local Democratic-Republicans began to turn against Tammany Hall. From 1806 to 1809 public opinion forced
24045-421: The creative culture that Bard helped create within the hotel. Critics also appraised the hotel's interior—which was reputed for its uncleanliness in the mid- and late 20th century—and the quality of the hotel rooms themselves. The Chelsea has been the setting or inspiration for many works of popular media, and it has been used as an event venue and filming location. The Hotel Chelsea is at 222 West 23rd Street in
24274-400: The demolition of an apartment once occupied by Bob Dylan . Tilley resigned after seven months, citing tenant harassment. Elder took over direct management of the hotel in 2009. Under Elder's management, the hotel phased out long-term leases in favor of 25-day leases. By 2010, ninety long-term residents remained; another forty had moved out during the previous three years. A nightclub known as
24503-404: The development of houses further north in Manhattan, and the relocation of the city's theater district. The 1893 economic crash , and the lasting effects of another crash in the 1900s , further strained the Chelsea Association's finances. During the 1890s, many of the Chelsea Association's original stockholders either died, moved away, or had become involved in legal and financial controversies. By
24732-622: The different portions of 23rd Street: the Muhlenberg branch on West 23rd Street and Seventh Avenue, and the Epiphany branch on East 23rd Street west of Second Avenue. The Epiphany branch, which is located in Gramercy/Kips Bay, opened in 1887 and moved to its current location, a Carnegie library on 23rd Street, in 1907. It was renovated from 1982 to 1984. The Muhlenberg branch, also a Carnegie library, opened in Chelsea in 1906 and
24961-422: The different rooms. The low rents in particular attracted artists like John Sloan and Edgar Lee Masters . There was controversy in late 1934 when then-manager Jerry Gagin commissioned a series of satirical paintings from John McKiernan, depicting three politicians. Knott Hotels president William Knott ordered Gagin to remove the murals, but Gagin refused, and the murals were instead covered up. The last member of
25190-415: The dining room, and added kitchenettes to existing apartments. In addition, the hotel's American floor numbering system was changed to a European floor numbering system; for instance, the second story, directly above ground level, was renumbered as floor 1. The Knott family extended their lease by another 43 years in 1922, agreeing to pay a total of $ 6,196,000 (equivalent to $ 88,710,000 in 2023) through
25419-593: The disclosures, the Federalists won control of the state legislature and the Democratic-Republican Party maintained a slim majority of the local government in New York City. Matthew Davis convinced other sachems to join him in a public relations stunt that provided income for the Society. The shallow graves of some Revolutionary War soldiers who died in British prison ships were located in Wallabout Bay (near
25648-528: The early 1870s. Platt was the key organizer of most of these committees, the first of which was the Fassett Committee of 1890. This first committee featured testimony from Croker's brother-in-law, revealing gifts of cash surrounding his hotel business. The recorded testimonies resulted in no indictments and the Democrats would not suffer in the elections of 1890 or 1892. In 1894, Tammany suffered
25877-767: The eastbound direction. Tammany Hall Tammany Hall , also known as the Society of St. Tammany , the Sons of St. Tammany , or the Columbian Order , was an American political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789, as the Tammany Society . It became the main local political machine of the Democratic Party and played a major role in controlling New York City and New York state politics. It helped immigrants, most notably
26106-479: The effects of the organisation, Tammany was frequently criticised in the 19th century for being directly responsible for the nativism , anti-Catholic sentiment , and the rise of the Know Nothing Party in the preceding century due to fears about Tammany's influence and tactics. The Tammany Society was founded in New York on May 12, 1789, originally as a branch of a wider network of Tammany Societies ,
26335-425: The election handily, and spent the next three years running the city on the basis of "business principles", pledging an efficient government and the return of morality to city life. The election was a Republican sweep statewide: Levi Morton , a millionaire banker from Manhattan, won the governorship, and the party also ended up in control of the legislature. Croker was absent from the city for three years starting at
26564-491: The election of Fernando Wood , the first person to be supported by the Tammany Hall machine, as mayor in 1854, Tammany Hall would proceed to dominate the New York City political arena until Fiorello La Guardia 's mayoralty after the election of 1933. After Fernando Wood's losing reelection run for U.S. Congress in 1842, he left politics for a while to work on his shipping business. A power vacuum of sorts existed through
26793-468: The evicted tenants had failed to pay rent; according to BD Hotels officials, some tenants owed more than $ 10,000. BD Hotels was fired in April 2008 and subsequently filed a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the hotel's operators. Andrew Tilley was hired to manage the hotel in June 2008 and continued to serve eviction notices to tenants. The hotel was involved in other controversies such as a disagreement over
27022-660: The exception of the two-year period of 1823–1824, and Tammany Hall's influence waned. Martin Van Buren and his Albany Regency soon began controlling the policy of Tammany Hall. This included pushing for the state referendum that eventually granted the right to vote in New York State to all free white men in 1821. After voting rights were expanded, Tammany Hall could further increase its political power. Tammany Hall soon began to accept Irish immigrants as members and eventually became dependent on them to maintain viability as
27251-540: The extralegal services that Tammany and other urban political machines provided often served as a rudimentary public welfare system . Irish immigrants became even more influential during the mid-1840s to early 1850s. With the Great Famine in Ireland, by 1850, more than 130,000 immigrants from Ireland lived in New York City. Since the newly arrived immigrants were in deep poverty, Tammany Hall provided them with employment, shelter, and even citizenship sometimes. For example,
27480-419: The fees required to become citizens. Judges and other city officials were bribed and otherwise compelled to go along with the workings of these committees. In exchange for all these benefits, immigrants assured Tammany Hall they would vote for their candidates. By 1854, the support Tammany Hall received from immigrants would firmly establish the organization as the leader of New York City's political scene. With
27709-560: The feud between Tammany Hall and the Clintonites intensified, as each party continued attacking each other. One of the Clintonites, James Cheetham, wrote extensively about Tammany and its corrupt activities, using his position as State Printer and publishing his work in the American Citizen newspaper . Tammany Hall did not take lightly to these activities and managed to remove Cheetham from his position as State Printer. At
27938-440: The first 10 years, the jail held 1,120 prisoners. In 1854, the prison moved to Randall's Island in the East River . A collection of four-story houses called London Terrace was built on the block bounded by 23rd Street, 24th Streets, Ninth Avenue, and Tenth Avenue in 1845. London Terrace was rebuilt in 1930, with the houses being replaced with 14 apartment buildings that each had sixteen to eighteen floors. The new complex had
28167-585: The first of which had been formed in Philadelphia in 1772. The society was originally developed as a club for "pure Americans". The name "Tammany" comes from Tamanend , a Native American leader of the Lenape . The society adopted many Native American words and also their customs, going so far as to call their meeting hall a wigwam . The first Grand Sachem , as the leader was titled, was William Mooney, an upholsterer of Nassau Street . Although Mooney claimed
28396-578: The first two decades of the 20th century, the hotel hosted events such a merchandise sales; meetings of local groups, like the Chelsea Society of New York and Syracuse University Club of New York; and educational lectures. Following the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912, several guests from the Titanic were also given rooms at the hotel. The managers sometimes removed guests' corpses from
28625-458: The flaming cellar, while two more firefighters were killed by the blast of flame and heat on the first floor. The site is now the location of Madison Green , a 31-story apartment building. On September 17, 2016, several bombs detonated in New York and New Jersey . One of these was a pressure cooker bomb that exploded on West 23rd Street between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue , injuring 31 people. A New Jersey resident, Ahmed Khan Rahimi,
28854-437: The floors were made of marble, and there was also hardwood floors and doors. In addition, the fireplace mantels were made of onyx , and the fireplaces contained andirons with rosettes. Every apartment had its own bathroom, and many units also had servants' bedrooms. Only the largest apartments had kitchens; everyone else received meals from the restaurants or a caterer. There were 67 apartments with kitchens, each of which had
29083-577: The fold those elements outraged by the reformers' attempt to outlaw Sunday drinking and otherwise enforce their own authoritarian moral concepts on immigrant populations with different cultural outlooks. Tammany's candidate, Robert A. Van Wyck , easily outpolled Seth Low , the reform candidate backed by the Citizens Union, and Tammany was back in control. Its supporters marched through the city's streets chanting, "Well, well, well, Reform has gone to Hell!" A final state investigation began in 1899 at
29312-485: The full block to Ninth Avenue between 23rd and 24th Streets. The Hotel Chelsea, New York City's first co-op apartment complex, was built at 222 West 23rd Street in 1883. The Emunah Israel synagogue, built in the 1860s as a Presbyterian church , is located a few doors to the west at 236 West 23rd. The block of 23rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues is part of the Ladies' Mile Historic District . Designated
29541-715: The future of the labor political movement, but the ULP was not to last, and was never able to bring about a new paradigm in the city's politics. Tammany had once again succeeded and survived. More than that, Croker realized that he could use the techniques of the well-organized election campaign that the ULP had run. Because Tammany's ward-heelers controlled the saloons, the new party had used "neighborhood meetings, streetcorner rallies, campaign clubs, Assembly District organizations, and trade legions – an entire political counterculture" to run their campaign. Croker now took these innovations for Tammany's use, creating political clubhouses to take
29770-426: The group gave referrals to men looking for work and legal aid to those who needed it. Tammany Hall would also provide food and financial aid to families with sick or injured breadwinners. In an example of their involvement in the lives of citizens, in the course of one day, Tammany figure George Washington Plunkitt assisted the victims of a house fire; secured the release of six drunks by speaking on their behalf to
29999-413: The hotel and had at least four bedrooms, while mid-sized two- and three-bedroom units were placed next to these. The smallest units, targeted at unmarried men and women, were arranged near the stairs and elevators at the center of the building. A variety of styles and materials were used in the apartments to fit each tenant's taste. Originally, the interiors were ornately decorated. The dadoes and some of
30228-475: The hotel as having "400 rooms, 150 kitchens, and 150 fireplaces". The hotel was physically decaying during that time, though the facade was cleaned. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the Hotel Chelsea as a city landmark in March 1966, a decision ratified by the New York City Board of Estimate that June, despite opposition from a local planning board, which called
30457-495: The hotel had "some glittery (and, to some old-liners, scary) clientele among rock musicians and such". The hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. Bard and the Chelsea's residents had planned a centennial celebration in November 1983, though the celebration was delayed by a year. Bard said at the time that he wanted "to keep the atmosphere kooky but nice, eccentric but beautiful", rather than updating
30686-488: The hotel in March 1921, establishing the 222 West Twenty-third Street Hotel Corporation to operate the Chelsea. The lease initially ran until 1942. By then, half of the Chelsea Association's original stockholders remained, and many parts of the hotel needed to be repaired or upgraded. Shortly after taking over, the Knotts split up some of the apartments, added a reception desk at the bottom of the Chelsea's grand staircase, closed
30915-529: The hotel in a poker game and wanted to raze it. The United States Shipping Board leased the ground and second floors in late 1942, and members of the United States Maritime Service used the space as the U.S. Maritime Service Graduate Station. In 1944, architect Morris Whinston filed plans for $ 5,000 (equivalent to $ 69,000 in 2023) worth of alterations to the hotel. The Chelsea started to become associated with bohemianism during
31144-418: The hotel in the 1960s, and pop artists often collaborated there by 1962. The New York Community Trust installed a plaque outside the building in 1962, detailing the hotel's history. Other plaques honoring specific residents were installed in the mid-1960s, including those for the author Thomas Wolfe and the poet Brendan Behan . Stanley Bard became manager in 1964 after his father died. Stanley, who had been
31373-412: The hotel the next month. Gene Kaufman was hired to design a renovation of the Chelsea, which was funded by an $ 85 million loan from Natixis . Kaufman intended to change the room layouts and renovate vacant retail space in the basement and ground floor. Residents protected by state rent regulation laws were allowed to remain, but the staff were fired. Chetrit also moved to evict a tattoo parlor and some of
31602-439: The hotel to keep up with the surrounding neighborhood's gentrification . He accommodated residents' creativity and maintained close relationships with tenants, to the point that residents spoke with staff "as they were family" and walked behind Bard's desk to get their own mail. The hotel also attracted many tourists who wanted to experience its "eccentric" nature, although the staff mainly catered to long-term residents. The Chelsea
31831-424: The hotel's city-landmark status. Stanley Bard's son David made a bid to buy the Chelsea, as did developer Aby Rosen and hoteliers Ian Schrager and André Balazs . A Doughnut Plant shop opened at the hotel in early 2011. Real estate developer Joseph Chetrit announced in May 2011 that he had bought the hotel for $ 80 million. Chetrit stopped taking reservations for new guests that July and officially took title to
32060-431: The hotel's finances remained stable in the 1990s. The Bards continued to renovate selected rooms as part of a wide-ranging rehabilitation, and they also renovated the lobby. By the end of the 20th century, three-fourths of the hotel was occupied by long-term residents, and monthly rents ranged from $ 2,000 to $ 5,000. Bard wished to maintain the hotel's character, showing preference to artists over other potential tenants. There
32289-530: The hotel's manager. At the time, three-fifths of the hotel's 240–250 rooms were occupied by permanent residents. Temporary guestrooms and permanent residents' rooms were interspersed. As a result of rising expenses, there were fewer penurious artists living in the Chelsea compared to the mid- and late 20th century. A nightclub called the Star Lounge opened in the Chelsea's basement in early 2007. In 2007, an arbitrator ruled that Bard's family owned 58 percent of
32518-642: The hotel's ownership to the Knott Corporation, a Delaware company , in September 1927. By the end of the 1920s, the Chelsea had been further subdivided into more than 300 rooms. The Knotts had replaced the lobby's paintings with wallpaper, and they had moved the original lobby furniture to make way for a heater on a banquette . Most of the hotel's bellhops and waiters were African-American by this time. Switchboard operators and desk clerks called residents by their nicknames. The Asbury Park Press called
32747-428: The hotel's value but that his partners had a majority stake in the operation. In addition, Bard was ordered to pay back $ 1 million and gave Marlene Krauss and David Elder control over the hotel for ten years. The hotel's board of directors ousted Bard in June 2007, after Krauss and Elder claimed that Bard had allowed tenants to stay even if they had fallen far behind on their rent. Krauss and Elder hired BD Hotels to manage
32976-453: The hotel. Nonetheless, the Chelsea's reputation as an artists' and authors' haven remained intact. Although there were frequent remarks about the "downright creepy" atmosphere, many residents remained in spite of the decline in both the hotel and the surrounding neighborhood. Bard dispelled concerns by saying that any major crime at the hotel was covered by the media due to the Chelsea's bohemian nature. According to Laurie Johnston of The Times ,
33205-556: The hotel. The opening of the New York City Subway 's Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line in the late 1910s had spurred development in the surrounding area, although the Hotel Chelsea remained in use as an apartment hotel . One of the ground-level stores was leased to the Greater Engineering Company in 1920. Knott Hotels, a family-owned firm that operated numerous budget hotels in New York City, leased
33434-401: The hours needed to support it. Hewitt turned out to be a terrible mayor for Croker, due to his nativist views, and in 1888 Tammany ran Croker's hand-picked choice, Hugh J. Grant , who became the first New York-born Irish American mayor. Although Hewitt ran an efficient government, Croker viewed Hewitt as being too self-righteous and did not grant Croker the patronage jobs he was expecting from
33663-610: The idea for the building. A construction materials dealer named George M. Smith applied for the hotel's building permit ; he was one of several members of the Chelsea Association's building committee. By contrast, a contemporary New-York Tribune article described "some 50 people of means" as having been responsible for development. Hubert identified a vacant site on 23rd Street between Eighth and Seventh Avenues, which had been occupied by James Ingersoll's furniture store, as well as an adjoining townhouse on 22nd Street. Hubert paid Ingersoll $ 175,000 (equivalent to $ 4,863,000 in 2023) for
33892-399: The increased number of bribes he would receive for police protection of both legitimate and illegitimate businesses there – especially the many brothels – Williams said, "I've been having chuck steak ever since I've been on the force, and now I'm going to have a bit of tenderloin ." There were several Broadway and Off-Broadway theaters being built along West 23rd Street beginning in
34121-556: The intersection of 23rd Street and Fourth (now Park) Avenue . The building was designed by Peter Bonnett Wight in a style evocative of Doge's Palace in Venice . However, by the beginning of the 20th century, it had been demolished and replaced with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower . In 1878, the Stern Brothers department store opened between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. The building, designed by Henry Fernbach ,
34350-542: The kitchen, laundry, refrigerators, coal rooms, engines, and machinery for gas-powered and electric light. As planned, the hotel had three passenger elevators and two steam-powered freight lifts. When it was completed in 1884, the hotel had speaking tubes ; pressurized steam; a telephone in each room, connecting to the hotel manager's office; and 1,800 lights powered by either gas or electricity. The hotel contained then-innovative features such as electricity, steam heating, and hot and cold water. Dumbwaiters transported food from
34579-518: The largest hotel in the world at that time. The hotel served as the headquarters of the Republican Party and was used by Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Chester A. Arthur . When the Prince of Wales , Edward VII , visited the hotel in 1860, the commercial appeal of the adjacent neighborhood was greatly increased. The area bounded by 14th and 23rd Streets between Sixth Avenue and Broadway
34808-447: The last long-term resident to sign a lease at the hotel. Many hotel residents feared that the plans would change the character of the hotel, one of the few remaining non-gentrified places in Chelsea, and they expressed concerns that the new manager was not accommodating toward them. At the time, Krauss and Elder were evicting tenants and were planning a renovation of the hotel. Elder denied that tenants were being targeted, saying that all of
35037-444: The late 1950s, the Chelsea had begun to accept black residents, starting with the printmaker Robert Blackburn , and European artists were increasingly moving in. David Bard had sold all of his remaining hotels and spent large amounts of his time talking to the artists and authors who resided there. His son Stanley, who would later manage the hotel himself, recalled being jealous of the hotel because David spent all of his time there. By
35266-615: The late 19th century and early 20th century its western end was the site of the Pavonia Ferry at Pier 63, just north of the current Chelsea Piers . In 1907, a small lot of land on the north side of 23rd Street, between Twelfth and Eleventh Avenues , was acquired by the Commissioner of Docks and Ferries . The land was transferred to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation in 1915, becoming
35495-665: The late 19th century. By the turn of the century, the street contained a "Theater Row", which was a prominent fixture in American theater . 23rd Street remained New York's main theater strip until the Empire Theatre opened on Broadway some twenty blocks uptown, ushering in a new era of theater. In 1868, Pike's Opera House (later the Grand Opera House) was built at Eighth Avenue and 23rd Street for several million dollars. The film company RKO Pictures converted
35724-557: The late 20th century after falling into a state of disrepair. The Krauss and Gross families took over the hotel in 2007 and were involved in numerous tenant disputes before the Chelsea closed for a major renovation in 2011. The hotel changed ownership twice in the 2010s before BD Hotels took over in 2016, and the Chelsea reopened in 2022. Over the years, the Chelsea has housed many notables such as Arthur Miller , Bob Dylan , Arthur C. Clarke , Patti Smith , Robert Mapplethorpe , and Virgil Thomson . The Chelsea received much commentary for
35953-643: The latter of whom dueled with De Witt Clinton in 1802 in New Jersey. In 1803, Clinton left the United States Senate and became Mayor of New York City. As mayor, Clinton enforced a spoils system and appointed his family and partisans to positions in the city's local government. Tammany Hall soon realized its influence over the local political scene was no match for that of Clinton, in part because Burr's support among New York City's residents greatly faded after he shot and killed Alexander Hamilton in
36182-533: The lease's projected expiration in 1985. The Hotel Chelsea continued to serve as a "headquarters for painters and writers", as described by the New York Herald Tribune . The Hotel Carteret was erected to the east in 1927, blocking eastward views from the Chelsea. To attract more tenants, the Knotts decreased prices for rooms at the eastern end of the hotel. In addition, the Knott family transferred
36411-402: The lobby is the El Quijote restaurant, which has occupied the hotel since 1955. The restaurant is decorated with a marble terrazzo floor, a rough-hewn ceiling, red-vinyl dining booths, and chandeliers. Among the decorations are a series of murals depicting scenes from the book Don Quixote , as well as oil paintings. El Quijote contains a private bar next to its main dining room. Prior to 2018,
36640-539: The local Common Council to crack down on Tammany Hall. The resulting investigations found that a number of Tammany officials were guilty of embezzlement and illegal activity. For example, one official, Benjamin Romaine was found guilty of using his power to acquire land without payment and was ultimately removed from his office as City Comptroller despite the Council being controlled by Democratic-Republicans. Following
36869-470: The lower floors". The balconies were also intended to indicate that the interiors were ornately decorated. French doors lead from some apartments to the balconies. The building is topped by a high mansard roof . The central pavilion has a pyramidal slate roof. There are brick chimneys on either side of the pyramidal-roofed pavilion. In addition, the pavilions on either end of the facade are topped by brick gables with large arched windows. The remainder of
37098-445: The lower level, and were in high demand when the Chelsea opened. The twelfth floor contained a space accessible only from the rooftop promenade; this was intended as a clinic. Tenants could also use a ballroom under the roof. By the 1980s, the hotel had been subdivided into 400 rooms, many of which retained their original thick walls and fireplaces. This was reduced by the 2000s to about 240 or 250 units (some with multiple rooms). All of
37327-410: The lowest bidder, franchises were awarded to the highest bidder, and bribery was punished harshly. Fernando Wood attempted several small business ventures in the city during the 1830s while simultaneously increasing his involvement with Tammany Hall. These early business attempts failed, but by 1836, at the age of 24, he became a member of the Society and became known for resolving the dispute between
37556-655: The middle of the 19th century, there was a railroad, the Hudson (later West Side) Line , running from the current Hudson Yards area between 30th and 32nd Streets south to Chambers Street . At the time, the city prohibited steam locomotives from operating below 30th Street because of the risk of the train's steam boiler exploding, so passengers from points north were forced to switch to horse-drawn trains . The horse-drawn line's stops were located at 23rd, 14th , Christopher and Chambers Streets. The West Side Line caused so many accidents between freight trains and other traffic that
37785-622: The nativist Bowery Boys . Tammany Hall did not put Wood up for reelection in December 1857 in light of the Panic of 1857 and a scandal involving him and his brother, Benjamin Wood . As a result of the scandal, Fernando Wood left or was expelled from Tammany in 1858 to form a third party, the Mozart Hall Democracy, or Mozart Hall , named after their building at the corner of Broadway and Bleecker Street. Wood ran for mayor in 1859, with
38014-407: The new building to house as diverse a group of residents as possible. Hubert planned a structure as a self-contained, purpose-built artists' community, based on a concept by the philosopher Charles Fourier . The structure, later known as the Chelsea Hotel, was originally known as the Chelsea Association Building and was to be developed by the Chelsea Association. It is unknown who specifically devised
38243-577: The new party were a direct threat to their own status as the putative champions of the working man. Having inadvertently provoked George into running, Tammany now needed to field a strong candidate against him, which required the cooperation of the Catholic Church in New York, which was the key to getting the support of middle-class Irish American voters. Richard Croker , Kelly's right-hand man, had succeeded Kelly as Grand Sachem of Tammany, and he understood that he would also need to make peace with
38472-543: The nickname " Death Avenue " was given to Tenth and Eleventh Avenues. In 1929 the city, the state, and New York Central agreed on the West Side Improvement Project, a 13-mile (21 km) project that eliminated 105 street-level railroad crossings and cost more than US$ 150 million (about US$ 2,661,628,000 today). A viaduct, the High Line , replaced the street-level tracks and was dedicated on June 29, 1934. The growth of interstate trucking during
38701-403: The non-Tammany "Swallowtail" faction of the Democratic Party to avoid the threat that George and the ULP posed, which was the potential re-structuring of the city's politics along class lines and away from the ethnic-based politics which had been Tammany's underpinning all along. To bring together these disparate groups, Croker nominated Abram Hewitt as the Democratic candidate for mayor. Not only
38930-522: The non-rent-regulated residents. That September, resident Zoe Pappas formed the Chelsea Tenants Association, which about half of the remaining residents joined. The Chelsea's managers ordered that all artwork be placed into storage in November, prompting more tenant complaints; a rooftop garden tended by residents was also destroyed. From 2011 to 2013, residents filed a large number of lawsuits against Chetrit. Tenants complained that
39159-530: The onset of the Lexow Committee, residing in his homes in Europe. Still, Tammany could not be kept down for long, and in 1898 Croker, aided by the death of Henry George – which took the wind out of the sails of the potential re-invigoration of the political labor movement – and returned from his stay in Europe, shifted the Democratic Party enough to the left to pick up labor's support, and pulled back into
39388-524: The organization. Union activists had founded the United Labor Party (ULP), which nominated political economist Henry George , the author of Progress and Poverty , as its standard-bearer. George was initially hesitant about running for office but was convinced to do so after Tammany secretly offered him a seat in Congress if he would stay out of the mayoral race. Tammany had no expectation of George being elected but knew that his candidacy and
39617-417: The place of the saloons and involving women and children by sponsoring family excursions and picnics. The New Tammany appeared to be more respectable, and less obviously connected to saloonkeepers and gang leaders, and the clubhouses, one in every Assembly District, were also a more efficient way of providing patronage work to those who came looking for it; one simply had to join the club, and volunteer to put in
39846-431: The plots and promised Ingersoll an apartment in the new building, as well as membership in the Chelsea Association. Hubert, Pirsson & Co. filed plans in early 1883 for a " cooperative club apartment house " on the site at an estimated cost of $ 350,000 (equivalent to $ 9,726,000 in 2023). In August 1883, the Chelsea Association obtained a $ 200,000 mortgage loan for the building (equivalent to $ 5,558,000 in 2023) from
40075-468: The police force was responsive to his needs and convinced commissioners to allow him to fire officers not performing their duties. He was then accused of only hiring Democrats to replace those fired officers. Wood defied tradition and ran for a second term as mayor in 1856, which irked some of his Tammany associates. During the campaign, his police force acted as his henchmen and Wood took a portion of their salary for his war chest ($ 15 to $ 25 for captains and
40304-740: The political backing of the Clinton family in this era, whereas the Schuyler family backed the Hamiltonian Federalists , and the Livingstons eventually sided with the anti-federalists and the Society. The Society assisted the federal government in procuring a peace treaty with the Creek Indians of Georgia and Florida at the request of George Washington in 1790. It also hosted Edmond-Charles Genêt , representative of
40533-420: The president of Columbia University, was elected the reform mayor in 1901. He lacked the common touch and lost much of his working-class support when he listened to dry Protestants eager to crack down on the liquor business. Murphy wanted to clean up Tammany's image and sponsored progressive era reforms benefiting the working class through his two protégés, Governor Al Smith and Robert F. Wagner . Ed Flynn ,
40762-421: The project was creating health hazards, although the city's Building Department found no major violations of building codes. Following a lawsuit in December 2011, a state court ordered Chetrit to clean the air in the hotel. King & Grove Hotels was hired in January 2012 to operate the hotel, and Chetrit proposed a rooftop addition shortly afterward, which the LPC approved despite concerns from residents. Chetrit
40991-511: The prompting of newly elected Theodore Roosevelt. This Mazet Investigation was chaired by Republican assemblyman Robert Mazet and led by chief counsel Frank Moss , who had also participated in the Lexow Committee. The investigation revealed further detail about Croker's corporate alliances and also yielded memorable quotes from police chief William Stephen Devery and Croker. This was also the committee that began probing Croker about his holdings in ice companies. Despite occasional defeats, Tammany
41220-450: The restaurant sat 220 people; the Dulcinea and Cervantes rooms at the rear comprised nearly half of the restaurant's seating capacity. These rooms were removed in a 2022 renovation, which also reduced the restaurant's capacity to 45 or 65. Since 2023, the hotel has also contained the Café Chelsea bistro , located within three rooms. The bistro includes vintage decorations, some taken from the Lord & Taylor Building . Also at ground level
41449-543: The restoration of the Union as it existed before the war with slavery in place, or, alternately, peace without reunion (espoused by an extreme faction). William M. Tweed , most of Tammany's politicians, and many prominent businessmen were in the "War" faction, while Mozart Hall was the center of the "Peace" Democrats in New York. While the division between Tammany and Mozart had worked in Wood's favor in 1859, in 1861 it caused Republican George Opdyke to be elected, over Wood and Tammany's C. Godfrey Gunther , with barely more than
41678-477: The rich elite of the city, who either fell in with the graft and corruption, or else tolerated it because of Tammany's ability to control the immigrant population, of whom the " uppertens " of the city were wary. James Watson, who was a county auditor in Comptroller Dick Connolly 's office and who also held and recorded the ring's books, died a week after his head was smashed by a horse in a sleigh accident on January 21, 1871. Although Tweed guarded Watson's estate in
41907-417: The right of the lobby was a reception room decorated in white maple, a plush-and-velvet carpet, and old-gold surfaces. Three interconnected dining rooms, reserved for residents, were placed behind the lobby. These rooms had decorations such as stained glass , carved gargoyles, and fleurs-de-lis . Next to the lobby was a manager's office, whose ceiling had gold trimmings and a mural with clouds and angels. There
42136-508: The roof features dormer windows and additional brick chimneys. Atop the roof was a brick-floored space, which could be adapted into a roof garden or promenade. The center of the roof was interspersed with hip roofs , beneath which were duplex apartments; residents of these duplexes had direct access to the roof. The Hotel Chelsea has thick load-bearing walls made of masonry, which measure 3 feet (0.91 m) thick at their bottoms and taper to 20 inches (0.51 m) at their tops. This allowed
42365-464: The same time, Clinton attempted to cooperate with Tammany Hall in order to create a state dominated by Democratic-Republicans. In an attempt to persuade Tammany sachems, he pulled his support for Cheetham, who was his protégé at the time. Cheetham's loss of Clinton's support angered him, and he responded by releasing details of Tammany and Clinton's attempts at cooperating to control the state. On September 18, 1810, James Cheetham died after an attack that
42594-450: The skill behind Tweed's system ... The Tweed ring at its height was an engineering marvel, strong and solid, strategically deployed to control key power points: the courts, the legislature, the treasury and the ballot box. Its frauds had a grandeur of scale and an elegance of structure: money-laundering, profit sharing and organization. Under "Boss" Tweed's dominance, the city expanded into the Upper East and Upper West Sides of Manhattan,
42823-405: The south side of East 23rd between First Avenue and Avenue C, Peter Cooper Village was one of MetLife's experiments in middle-income community building until it was bought by Tishman Speyer . Peter Cooper Village was a sister project to MetLife's Stuyvesant Town , which was built across 20th Street to the south. 23rd Street was designated in the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, which established
43052-444: The state voted to provide the Society $ 1,000 to build a monument. The Society pocketed the money and the monument was never built. However, Tammany Hall did not learn their lesson, and instead of fixing the problem of corruption, Wortman, one of the chief powers at the time, created a committee, consisting of one member from each ward, that would investigate and report in general meetings who were friends or enemies. During 1809–1810,
43281-406: The street, the sixty-story, 618-foot-tall (188 m) One Madison , was built in 2013. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch bought One Madison's top four floors for $ 57 million. The Woman's Press Club of New York City was located at 126 East 23rd Street. It existed from 1889 to 1980 as an organization for female journalists and authors. A large hospital run by the Veterans Health Administration ,
43510-553: The structure quickly attracted authors and artists after opening. Several factors, including financial hardships and tenant relocations, prompted the Chelsea's conversion into an apartment hotel in 1905. Knott Hotels took over the hotel in 1921 and managed it until about 1942, when David Bard bought it out of bankruptcy. Julius Krauss and Joseph Gross joined Bard as owners in 1947. After David Bard died in 1964, his son Stanley operated it for 43 years, forming close relationships with many tenants. The hotel underwent numerous minor changes in
43739-428: The tallest structures in Manhattan, at approximately 180 feet (55 m) tall. According to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission , the Chelsea's design was evocative of the demolished Spanish Flats on Central Park South . The front facade of the hotel, on 23rd Street, is 11 stories high and is divided vertically into 25 bays . The rear of the hotel rises to a height of 12 stories. The 23rd Street facade
43968-431: The theater was converted to an RKO cinema, and 30 years later, it was destroyed in a fire. During the late 19th century, Bryant's Minstrels also performed a minstrel show in Proctor's Theatre. Modern theaters include the Chelsea Bow Tie Cinemas, on the south side of West 23rd between Seventh and Eighth Avenues; the SVA Theatre, operated by the School of Visual Arts on the north side of West 23rd one block west; and
44197-421: The top role in the early organization, it was a wealthy merchant and philanthropist named John Pintard who created the society's constitution and declared it to be "[a] political institution founded on a strong republican basis whose democratic principles will serve in some measure to correct the aristocracy of our city." Pintard also established the various Native American titles of the society. The Society had
44426-472: The units had a unique layout. The rooms were accessed via wide marble corridors and varied significantly in decorative motif. Following a renovation that was completed in 2022, some decorative features, such as entry halls and doorknobs, were redesigned with monograms containing the hotel's name. There are approximately 155 rooms, divided into 125 single-room units and 30 suites; the largest units are two-bedroom apartments with en-suite kitchens. As an allusion to
44655-402: The walls had been painted over; and the skylight above the Chelsea's main staircase had been sealed. Bard, Gross, and Krauss jointly operated the hotel through the rest of this decade. The El Quijote restaurant, operated by a group of Spanish immigrants, moved to the Hotel Chelsea in 1955. The next year, inspectors found that the hotel had accumulated sixteen violations of city building codes. By
44884-556: The war joined Tammany Hall. In fact, during this time, because of its success in establishing political opinion, Tammany Hall was able to grow stronger and even gained support from Federalist members who supported the war. The Native American titles of the Society were disused during and after the War of 1812 in response to attacks from Native Americans on White Americans. During this time we see Tammany Hall's earliest application of its most notable technique—turning support away from opposing parties and rewarding newly joined members. This
45113-475: The week prior to Watson's death, and although another ring member attempted to destroy Watson's records, a replacement auditor, Matthew O'Rourke, associated with former sheriff James O'Brien provided city accounts to O'Brien. Further, Tammany demonstrated inability to control Irish laborers in the Orange riot of 1871 that also began Tweed's downfall. Campaigns to topple Tweed by The New York Times and Thomas Nast of Harper's Weekly began to gain traction in
45342-421: Was "no life outside the Hotel", so they did not feel compelled to move. By the early 1970s, residents were increasingly unable to pay rent because of a general economic downturn, and Bard was forced to evict some residents to reduce expenses. The hotel was in decline by the mid-1970s, with graffitied walls and a cockroach infestation. Residents removed some of the stained-glass windows and iron grates for scrap. It
45571-419: Was 175 feet wide and 86 to 96 feet (26 to 29 m) deep. Before what became the Hotel Chelsea was developed, a furniture store had stood on the site; it burned down in 1878, and the site remained vacant for four years afterward. The furniture store and the land had belonged to James Ingersoll, who was affiliated with the Tammany Hall political ring in the 1870s. When the Chelsea was finished in 1884, there
45800-463: Was Hewitt the leader of the Swallowtails, but he was noted philanthropist Peter Cooper 's son-in-law and had an impeccable reputation. To counter both George and Hewitt, the Republicans put up Theodore Roosevelt , the former state assemblyman. In the end, Hewitt won the election, with George out-polling Roosevelt, whose total was some 2,000 votes less than the Republicans had normally received. Despite their second-place finish, things seemed bright for
46029-418: Was a church on either side of the lot. The Hotel Chelsea was designed by Philip Hubert of the firm of Hubert, Pirrson & Company . The style has been described variously as Queen Anne Revival , Victorian Gothic , or a mixture of the two. It was one of the first Victorian Gothic buildings to be erected in New York City. At the time of its completion, it was the city's tallest apartment building and one of
46258-416: Was a major player in city politics through the 1860s and was successful in getting additional school wards for German communities. During the Civil War , Democrats were divided between " War Democrats " – who wanted victory on the battlefield but objected to what they considered radical Republican legislation and the erosion of civil rights by Abraham Lincoln – and " Peace Democrats ", who favored
46487-408: Was also a barbershop, as well as a restaurant, cafe, laundry room, billiards room, bakery, fish-and-meat shop, and grocery on the ground floor and basement. Hotel staff lived in another building behind the main hotel, connected to it by a tunnel. As of 2022, the hotel's lobby is decorated with inlaid ceilings and mosaic-tile floors. The lobby contains furniture in various colors, while the front desk
46716-436: Was also an art gallery and a basement bar named Serena. Unfounded rumors of a potential sale were circulating by the end of the 20th century. Marlene Krauss, the daughter of Julius Krauss, told Bard to stop renewing long-term residents' leases in 2005. Meanwhile, longtime resident David Elder (the grandson of Joseph Gross and the son of playwright and screenwriter Lonne Elder III ) filed a lawsuit in 2005 to have Bard removed as
46945-402: Was also extended once again to the state legislature, where a similar patronage system to the city's was established after Tammany took control in 1892. With the Republican boss, Thomas Platt , adopting the same methods, the two men between them essentially controlled the state. The 1890s began with a series of what would be three political investigations into Tammany operations, reminiscent of
47174-422: Was among the first buildings in the city with duplex and penthouse apartments , and there is also a rooftop terrace. The hotel originally had no more than 100 apartments; it was subdivided into 400 units during the 20th century and has 155 units as of 2022. The idea for the Chelsea arose after Hubert & Pirsson had developed several housing cooperatives in New York City. Developed by the Chelsea Association,
47403-504: Was common to see drug users in bathrooms and drug dealers in the hallways, and a brothel also operated openly within the hotel. Resident suicides and fires were frequent, as were robberies. Robbers held several residents hostage in a 1974 robbery, and the Chelsea was damaged in a 1978 fire that killed one resident. The death of Nancy Spungen at the hotel in 1978, and the death of her boyfriend— Sid Vicious , who had been charged with her murder—the next year, brought further negative attention to
47632-602: Was composed of Irish immigrants, and many Irish men came to dominate Tammany Hall. Tammany Hall also served as a social integrator for immigrants by familiarizing them with American society and its political institutions and by helping them become naturalized citizens . One example was the naturalization process organized by William M. Tweed . Under Tweed's regime, "naturalization committees" were established. These committees were made up primarily of Tammany politicians and employees, and their duties consisted of filling out paperwork, providing witnesses, and lending immigrants money for
47861-476: Was consistently able to survive and prosper. Under leaders such as Charles Francis Murphy and Timothy Sullivan , it maintained control of Democratic politics in the city and the state. The politics of the consolidated city from 1898 to 1945 revolved around conflicts between the political machines and the reformers. In quiet times the machines had the advantage of the core of solid supporters and usually exercised control of city and borough affairs; they also played
48090-401: Was consolidated into the Metropolitan Street Railway on December 12, 1893. The Metropolitan Street Railway was leased by the Interurban Street Railway on April 1, 1902, and the latter went bankrupt six years later. The Metropolitan Street Railway separated on July 31, 1908, becoming the 23rd Street crosstown bus route. Originally called the M18-15 and then the M26, the route was renamed
48319-440: Was elected mayor on a Fusion ticket and became the first anti-Tammany mayor to be re-elected. A brief resurgence in Tammany power in the 1950s, under the leadership of Carmine DeSapio , was met with Democratic opposition, led by Eleanor Roosevelt , Herbert Lehman , and the New York Committee for Democratic Voters. By the mid-1960s, Tammany Hall had ceased to exist. Although not common in modern interpretations and evaluations of
48548-492: Was elected to the State Senate, his true sources of power were his appointed positions to various branches of the city government. These positions gave him access to city funds and contractors, thereby controlling public works programs. This benefitted his pocketbook and those of his friends, but also provided jobs for the immigrants, especially Irish laborers, who were the electoral base of Tammany's power. According to Tweed biographer Kenneth D. Ackerman: It's hard not to admire
48777-410: Was essentially available to him when needed – Croker was able to neutralize the Swallowtails permanently. He also developed a new stream of income from the business community, which was provided with "one stop shopping": instead of bribing individual officeholders, businesses, especially the utilities, could go directly to Tammany to make their payments, which were then directed downward as necessary; such
49006-474: Was formed in September 1871 by prominent reformers to examine the misdeeds of the Tweed ring. Tweed was arrested and tried in 1872. After he died in Ludlow Street Jail in 1878, political reformers took over the city and state governments. Following Tweed's arrest, Tammany survived, but was no longer controlled by Protestants and was now dependent on leadership from bosses of Irish descent. Tammany did not take long to rebound from Tweed's fall. Reforms demanded
49235-410: Was held together with Scotch tape"), he helped curate the artistic community there, providing artists with materials and looking after their children. The hotel also came to be known as a place where creative and eccentric figures stayed. Bard stated in 1975 that he had friendships with tenants, not "tenant–landlord" relationships, and residents were free to walk into his office and talk with him. Bard had
49464-432: Was his patronage of immigrants. The origins of Tammany Hall were based on representing "pure" or "native" Americans. This meant that the Hall dismissed immigrants such as the Irish and Germans, although the Germans were more politically averse. On April 24, 1817, discontent with this treatment led to a huge riot during a Tammany general committee session. Until his death in 1828, Clinton would remain Governor of New York, with
49693-514: Was later detained in connection with the bombings. 23rd Street was historically one of the city's fashion hubs, and the street still contains many clothing stores. There are also several major retailers with stores located on the street, such as Best Buy and The Home Depot . Restaurants, cafes, fast-food outlets and other eating establishments on 23rd Street are mostly oriented toward office workers, and many of these establishments provide catering services. These restaurants offer cuisine from
49922-445: Was less strict than his predecessors, allowing residents to combine apartments on the basis of a handshake deal . Residents could install their own art, and pets might be allowed based on Stanley's whims. Film director Ethan Hawke , a onetime resident, recalled that Stanley charged residents different rates based on whether he liked them; a headline in The Wall Street Journal proclaimed that "If Stanley Bard likes your wife you'll get
50151-406: Was massive by contemporary standards, standing seven stories high and measuring 200 feet (61 m) wide. It became one of the largest cast-iron structures in New York City. A second notable hotel on the street, the Hotel Chelsea , was built between 1883 and 1885, with the first portions opening in 1884. It was New York's tallest building until 1902. Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen lived in
50380-455: Was one of Manhattan's first skyscrapers. For four years, until the construction of the Woolworth Building in 1913, it was the tallest building in the world. It also owned a building across the street, which was the location of the 23rd Street Fire that killed 12 firemen. A new apartment building, the current Madison Green , was announced for the site in the 1970s, but the building itself was not constructed until 1982. Another skyscraper on
50609-451: Was ordered to fix additional building violations in May 2012 after tenants alleged that the renovation created toxic dust and allowed mold and rust to spread. Other tenant lawsuits included a dispute over a deceased tenant's artwork and a complaint over disrupted gas, heat, and hot water service. In addition, Chetrit sued Bard in early 2013, claiming that Bard had overrepresented the hotel's value. 23rd Street (Manhattan) 23rd Street
50838-533: Was possibly Tammany-related. Between the years 1809 and 1815, Tammany Hall slowly revived itself by accepting immigrants and by secretly building a new wigwam to hold meetings whenever new Sachems were named. The Democratic-Republican Committee, a new committee which consisted of the most influential local Democratic-Republicans, would now name the new Sachems as well. When Dewitt Clinton decided to run for president in 1811, Tammany Hall immediately accused Clinton of treason to his party, as well as attempting to create
51067-488: Was renovated in 2000. On October 17, 1966, the street was the location of New York's deadliest fire until the September 11 attacks , in terms of firefighters killed. The " 23rd Street Fire ", as it came to be called, began in a cellar at 7 East 22nd Street and soon spread to the basement of 6 East 23rd Street, a five-story commercial building that housed a drugstore at street level. Twelve firefighters were killed; two chiefs, two lieutenants, and six firefighters plunged into
51296-463: Was soon dubbed Ladies' Mile . In 1908, the hotel was demolished and replaced by the Toy Center . By about 1860, Irish immigrants had displaced African-Americans living in Five Points , the latter of whom later resettled all over Manhattan. A thousand African-Americans eventually settled in an area bordered by 23rd Street on the south, 40th Street on the north, and Sixth Avenue on the east. The National Academy of Design building opened in 1863 at
51525-455: Was still cheap; nightly room rates were about one-third that of more upscale hotels uptown, and studios there were less expensive than others in the neighborhood. By the mid-1980s, the hotel largely catered to the punk subculture , and it was 80 percent residential by the late 1980s. The hotel building itself remained in a state of disrepair: for instance, a balcony fell off the facade in 1986, injuring two passersby. The balcony's collapse prompted
51754-403: Was structured as a housing cooperative . Two-thirds of the original apartments were owned by Chelsea Association stockholders, and the other third were rented out. Almost from the outset, the Chelsea was one of the most popular of Hubert's Home Clubs, and there were more prospective tenants than available apartments. Tippins wrote that, "from the beginning, the Chelsea was a home for eccentrics and
51983-426: Was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1928. Tammany's influence waned during the 1930s and early 1940s, when it engaged in a losing battle with Franklin D. Roosevelt , the state's governor (1929–1932) and later U.S. President (1933–1945). In 1932, after Mayor Jimmy Walker was forced from office when his bribery was exposed, Roosevelt stripped Tammany of federal patronage. Republican Fiorello La Guardia
52212-554: Was the case for Federalists who joined the Society. Tammany Hall managed to gain power, as well as reduce Clinton and his followers to just a small fraction. In 1815, Tammany Hall grand sachem John Ferguson defeated Dewitt Clinton and was elected mayor. However, in 1817, Clinton, with his success on the Erie Canal project , gained so much popularity that, despite his weak position after the War and Tammany's immense efforts, he once again became Governor of New York and Tammany Hall fell again. Another factor leading to Clinton's popularity
52441-438: Was the control Tammany had come to have over the governmental apparatus of the city. Croker mended fences with labor as well, pushing through legislation which addressed some of the inequities which had fueled the labor political movement, making Tammany once again appear to be the "Friend of the Working Man" – although he was careful always to maintain a pro-business climate of laissez-faire and low taxes. Tammany's influence
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