The Delmonico's Hotel
was located at 25 Broadway, in two buildings at 21-27 Broadway, facing Bowling Green,
on the southwest corner of Morris Street.
Delmonico family
operated the hotel from 1846 to 1856, then it changed hands and was renamed
Stevens House.
In 1845, Delmonico family owned a restaurant at 56 Beaver Street, a lodging house at 76 Broad Street and a farm in Brooklyn. On July 19, 1845, the Great Fire killed 30 people and destroyed about 345 buildings in Lower Manhattan, including Delmonico's lodging house at 76 Broad Street.
The Great Fire also destroyed buildings on both sides of Broadway at Bowling Green, including the six-story Adelphi Hotel.
Delmonico family leased, for a period of ten years, a parcel of land on Broadway, on the southwest corner of Morris Street, near Bowling Green, and began to construct their hotel on the site in the months after the fire. Delmonico's Hotel was completed by May 1846 (only the first building at 25 Broadway) and opened its doors on June 1. It was the first major hotel in New York to operate on the European plan (meals were a la carte) and there was also a bar. It was managed by Lorenzo Delmonico and his brother Constant Delmonico.
The Evening Post (May 26, 1846) reported: «The Messrs. Delmonico have recently erected a large building as a hotel at No. 25 Broadway. The house is handsomely furnished throughout, ... The well-earned reputation of Delmonico will no doubt cause it to be much frequented».
Delmonico's Hotel added the second building at 23 Broadway by June 1847.
According to Putnam's Magazine (April 1853), it was a favorite hotel with foreigners, and kept up its reputation for excellent cookery. According to Stokes (Iconography of Manhattan Island, ...1926), «Until 1856, it vied with the Astor House as the finest hotel in the city».
On April 13, 1854, Lorenzo Delmonico sold the the hotel at auction. The premises, with 77 feet on Broadway by 125 feet deep, was subject to a lease until 1856 at about $10,000 per annum. It was bought by W. Smith. Lorenzo continued to manage the hotel until the lease expired on May 1, 1856.
Lorenzo Delmonico leased the south-western wing of the Irving House, facing on Broadway and Chambers Street. This new restaurant opened on July 7, 1855.
On October 23, 1855, Smith & Noble (at 157 Pearl Street) advertised (New York Herald) the "Delmonico Hotel" to lease from May 1, 1856. The advertising continued through to March 1856.
The lease of the plot of Delmonico's Hotel expired on on May 1, 1856 and it was closed. Patrick O'Grady (1819-1891), one of New York's old time hotel men, bought the hotel, renamed it Stevens House and opened in 1856, after renovation. Stevens House was demolished in 1919 to make way for the Cunard Building.
All business units owned and managed by the Delmonico family closed by 1923, but the tradition of the name continued. In September 1929, another Delmonico Hotel, an apartment hotel of 32 stories, opened on the corner of Park Avenue and 59th Street. The new hotel had the assistance of a number of old Delmonico employees, including Nicholas Sabatini, chef at Delmonico's from 1912 until 1923.
